this is news coming to you live from berlin turmoil in european football 12 of the continent's top football clubs announce they're forming their own new super league wafer says it will consider all available measures to stop them also in the program the e.u. and us are warning russia of consequences of russian opposition leader election avani dies in custody his personal doctors say without intervention he may only have days left to live. and germany's green party has a chance for the very 1st time to win the top job in germany it's placing of its

faith in a new leader to take on america's conservatives this september. well i'm terry martin good to have you with us a massive shakeup in european football 12 top clubs from spain italy and england have announced the formation of a new breakaway super league the new midweek competition will be independent of european football's governing body you way for the super league is expected to be highly lucrative been include many of europe's top money making teams like manchester united ac milan and rail madrid as well as the 12 founding clubs another 3 are expected to join before the 1st season which according to a statement will start as soon as practicable. well you wave has threatened to sanction clubs that take part in the break whately they realize they released

a statement rather saying the cult club's concerned will be banned from playing in any other competition at domestic european or world level and their players could be denied the opportunity to represent their national teams. well for more on this we're joined by jonathan crane from d.w. sports good to see you jonathan how much of an earthquake is this for european football well there's no getting away from it really if this super league goes ahead it will transform the face of european football and and the traditional structure is if you like it would really damage the integrity of those you wait for competitions like the champions league now i see you a fair it was planning its own reforms of the champ is a glow actually to stave off such a stretch without rumors therefore speculation as that stretch used as a negotiating tactic by these big cups this is the 1st time terry that they've actually laid that cards on the table and said what they're expecting and we can have

a look at how this leak might take shape as you mentioned 12 found this so far that will eventually rise to 15 they hope 5 of the clubs that qualify on merit they play this in mid week 2 leagues of 10 teams and then the top 3 in each of those groups would go shoot for knockouts to decide it's the winner and now what this amounts to critics say is effectively a close salt for all but the biggest clubs in europe excluding or the other a financial power grab that's being backed by the american bank j.p. morgan and those taking part will get hundreds of millions of euros just the competing i can see them just sucking the money out of this old football european football what does this mean for the future of the champions league the europa league only what having your wife is saying they're going to ban these teams it would effectively render those competitions you've mentioned a 2nd class competitions without the biggest clubs in europe now you read that you

a full statement understandably they are absolutely furious about this they're saying clubs would be banned in taking part in domestic leagues a player has banned even from taking part in the world cup. no i mentioned the ad reforms they were hoping to reform the champions league your way for to include bowl games and obviously bring about more money that was due to be rubber stamped today it's unclear now given what's happened whether that will even take place the backlash has been fierce not just from you a fair we've had backlash from european governments the european union south and found groups none more so than the found groups and those clubs involved found supports his supporters europe recording the simply irresponsible and anti competitive servant by greed and so there's going to be legal challenges ahead just what about this people are very emotional obviously about football there are some noticeable absences from this super league lined up at this point so far german teams for example are not. wasn't yet know by munich who of course the reigning

european champions no brasil dortmund so far now those are the 2 german clubs you would expect to take potshots while waiting for comment from them but a couple of reasons may be found in germany do you control club members have the controlling say so perhaps given the way the wind is blowing perhaps say well they weren't there to get it passed the fans anyway also the people in charge of those clubs unlike prop some of the other clubs involved in this if they do have a bit more of an emotional connection perhaps former players they do know about the traditions of these european competitions and maybe that's holding them back no parasangs or man as well another big club so far have not said they will take papa johns and train from sports thanks so much you're welcome. now let's take a look at some other stories making headlines around the world today emergency teams are racing to contain a wildfire on south africa's table mountain the blaze started on sunday and reached parts of the university of cape town burning the historic campus library and

forcing hundreds of students to evacuate at least one firefighter has been injured . the been emotional scenes of airports in new zealand and australia after these reopen borders for the 1st time in over a year a new travel bubble means people can travel freely between the countries without. tight restrictions and but nations have kept $1000.00 cases low the moscow has expelled 20 czech diplomats a day after prague ordered out 18 russian officials who it said were military spies russia have promised to retaliate saying the czech republic was trying to really to please the united states. well the european union has called on russia to give election avani immediate access to his doctors in the last few minutes news agency interfax reports that the jailed opposition leader has been moved to a medical facility yvonne these doctors have warned he could die within days of not

given urgent treatment the 44 year old has been on hunger strike for 3 weeks after being denied access to his own medical team united states has warned russia of consequences if he dies in prison. earlier i asked russia analyst constantine whether the e.u. will be able to put pressure on russian president vladimir putin regarding the bonnie's condition i think that putin believes that the e.u. is weak and that it won't basically smash any china over nobody's health and i think that also because all the very important events of the sweet something's going to happen between russia and belittles bloss on the 21st of april putin speaks to both houses of parliament that's his annual address in which some people say he's also going to announce some momentous things concerning domestic and foreign policy so because of that he's not going to do anything at

least until he bring now says the speech of his he's a summit with leadership or because he doesn't want to be c. is being under pressure but because of this it also it is also very dangerous because as the doctor state every day does count i think my suspicion is if there was a passel of people by chance america all by pope francis to putin that may could make a difference generally i think the kremlin takes pleasure in showing that it's inflexible in in its edge into to witness number one enemy. constraint there now germany's green party has just announced its candidate for chancellor her name is on elena babcock and she has been a rising star in german politics will represent the green party in its 1st ever run for the chancellor a she's up against medicals long governing coalition of conservatives the greens

have made considerable strides in recent elections with current polls ranking it the 2nd most popular party nationwide. she is the rising star of german politics and elaine a 40 years old leader of the german green party. the climate debate has served as a springboard for the greens triumph in recent years climate protection exit from coal renewable energy there are other topics that babcock has fought for since the beginning of her career. when supply movie we had less than 30 years to really make a change to base our way of life our prosperity on climate neutrality that is the task of our generation. and was born in 1900 in north western germany and now lives in the east of the country near berlin she and her husband have 2 young children. their block has

a degree in international law and spent several years abroad in the us london in brussels she became politically active in the green party in 2008 focusing on foreign and security issues she soon became a member of parliament 1st at regional level then in 2013 she entered the boom to stock the german parliament at the age of only 32 she quickly earned respect for her thoroughness and knowledge of detail from day one she radiated confidence. by reason back you know you me i know you can be have a skip and such a colleague will you take a question and it's yours as a new suit yes yes go ahead but not in the fast beat sure. yeah. since 2018 she has been the cold leader of the green party at the national level alongside robert habeck they have breathed new life into the party it's more

popular than ever with aniline of germany would get a chancellor who speaks fluent english a useful tool in international diplomacy she wants to make europe an important global player you have and especially on foreign policy and security issues already the obama administration called in the past for europe to engage share more and i think your brain has to face this challenge. bareback was long seen as the number 2 behind robert habeck so her nomination is the green party candidate came as a surprise to many if the greens continue rising in the polls on a lean a bit about could succeed angle americal after the september elections and germany would have its 2nd female chancellor. our chief political editor make it a coffee is following this the green party has chosen an early enough ballot box to represent it in this in the september's election what are babcock's chances of

becoming the next chancellor. ha there's a lot of ifs but looking at the strength of the greens now and at this moment in time where the greens made picking a stance a counter that looks like dropping an album and i got a magical zone party isn't broiled in a power struggle between its leaders the cd unita amin acid and the leader of its small sister party in bavaria markel so into the songs aren't looking that terribly bad anymore only a couple of months ago we probably wouldn't have even asked that question so it's still just over 5 months to go until there are general elections here in germany the greens are looking strong and they've just chosen someone who is a bridge builder within their own party and who stands for something new and fresh even within the green party so very interesting times just tell us how close the

greens or right now to actually catching up with merkel's c.d.u. c.s.u. alliance they're in the polls. while they are in the low twenty's that depending on which poll you look at and i'm going to merkel's c.d.u. c.s.u. was around $26.00 before the pandemic then went up into the low thirty's and is now back to where they started off in the mid twenty's $2627.00 so it's within reach depending on how they manage to now pick a leader and whether the man is to sow the kind of stability that the greens are suddenly making their own political brands ok what about party the c.d.u. c.s.u. seat as you alliance there why i can't. choose a candidate themselves. well they will eventually but because they are very divided on whether it should be the c.d.u.

i mean that's it to succeed it to become the i'm going to mak calls the stuff follow in their footsteps as the deed of the c.d.u. party but the polling is pretty bad for him michael souter is a lot stronger in the polling as both generally he's above 50 percent he's even beyond that above 70 percent if you ask conservative follow as and i mean that's it it would be seen as a natural successor is hovering around 17 percent so suddenly it's an uphill struggle this is something that is traditionally results between the 2 contenders of between the contenders who want to be this and with 16 years of another machall that's somewhat out of practice and this is now showing they're in the midst of a bruising fight which is going to proceed throughout today or tomorrow and we hope the posse set in the hopes that they will be able to time and who the dieter is within that space of time but it's clear that the greens just beat them on that one

to get a thank you very much i was our chief political editor make it a couple. you're watching d.w. news up next got a documentary film looking at women in thailand thanks for. the green. you feel or even the. truth. i'm neal be on the green friends post to me it's clear we need such a. joint project dive into the green transformation for me for you for the campaign.