measures are being taken. what is the latest research so. information and context. the coronavirus an update to the code in the new special monday to friday on d.w. . a possible shot in the arm for europe's tourism industry the european union is preparing to welcome american travelers again beginning this summer as vaccination campaign in the u.s. it's tried. also on the show german companies remain cautiously optimistic about the coming months but they're not without their doubts look at new figures on business sentiment and europe's largest economy. and testing employees for coping $1000.00 is one way for business to beat back the pandemic but it's a cost that some can barely afford. to show up see beauty in berlin

well it's a move certain to please europe's beleaguered tirzah industry the e.u. will shift policy and allow american tourists were fully vaccinated against coburn 1000 to enter the block beginning in summer the e.u. commission president on the line shared the plan the plans will change in an interview with the new york times on sunday for more than a year the e.u. has banned non-essential travel from most countries in an effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus rule change policy ignace can progress with vaccinations in the u.s. for almost 95000000 americans have already been vaccinated. now reopening the e.u. to americans would be a game changer for a very battered tourism industry on the european continent a big cities like paris depend on millions of visitors are also top tourist attractions like noise funston castle and germany they welcome thousands of people a day and well more than 2 thirds of all trips in the e.u. originate from within the bloc itself the us is the next biggest market. followed

by china all in all the e.u. welcomed half a 1000000000 international tourists last year before the pandemic that late that led to well over 300000000000 euros in revenue the tourism accounts for 10 percent of that use gross domestic product and also nearly a 10th of jobs that's an average of course but some countries much more reliant on tourism than others let's go now to our financial correspondent in frankfurt contribution for more on this conrad good morning how hopeful should this news leaves europe's biggest tourist destinations good morning stephen well of course it depends on the region here in germany here in frankfurt for example people are actually waiting for time chinese tourists who return as we have the airport nearby many chinese tourists change flights there usually you know when there's normal travel conditions and then they often spend a day or 2 here in frankfurt going shopping and this is what you know many of the shop owners here in the city will tell you we need them back america is very

important for in particular the mediterranean region you know americans love to go to italy to greece to the greek islands to turkey to the turkish islands but as soon as it gets to turkey they start to get nervous because of not only the you know the security things that you have in mind but also of course because of corona when it comes to you know the hotels themselves they've done a lot to you know have hygiene in place of protection for their guests in place so far it hasn't always helped them they have been heavily restricted and continue to do so. conrad are we seeing any more clarity on travel within the e.u. itself that's such a big portion of the tourism industry in the block. it's a very important question for the tourism industry in particular as germans love to travel. i have to say the rules are not clear if you want to travel you have to check out the internet talk to your travel agent look at embassies website if you

don't have a chairman for example if you have i don't know if possible but if you are europe and if you want to travel you have to check with your embassy website and then you find out what the conditions are the bel-air out. for example have been pretty generous for quite a while but it doesn't make sense to say things now they change by the minute by the day so you better check out yourself right contribution in frankfurt thank you . germany business confidence in the country edge slightly higher in april that according to a new survey from the munich based evo institute but the increase was smaller than economists had expected and pessimism about businesses among businesses rather about the future also increased a closely watched survey showed that the resurgence in front of us cases and production bottlenecks are hampering the german economy germany introduced nightly curfews store closures and stricter contact regulation but you'll asians in parts

of the country with high infection rates over this past weekend. and joined now by he's deputy director of the institute and behind those monthly surveys going to have you on the show how should we look at this new monthly barometer is this positive news or is this negative news. morning from unique. actually decide which. industries booming. it good. for industry products sorry for my phone write a skype account here so these are good news. bottlenecks and you need your products in keeping canary upstream in general and you still have the problems in the service sector this contact is has a virus and. i imagine that those are much more outweighed by industrial production is that fair to say germ of course really well known for its manufacturing capacity

in this case the imprint of the service industry must be pretty small on the overall. suck in this summer is something happening with money it's got a conduit and yeah you are lots o. d. and the industry is out waiting to hear back development in the contect into intensive branches so we are going on the upswing here the german economy is that way and could wait and you should despite decertify to late in his final exit in the immediate problems we just mentioned that there is new reason for optimism once the tourism branch for example across europe with this news that the e.u. would begin to welcome back americans were fully vaccinated and what would that mean in germany revival in terms of how significant could that be. respect to across a value added services a it would be more as a psychological factor that you see that yes some hope for the sector in germany so

this would be a good sit no it will also for the german tourism sector in general and from the economic cycle economic perspective this erroneous martin pick might be so you can't underestimate it's hard to watch the aspect of potential incoming offered pro-forma tourists in germany. what is the german economy what are german businesses waiting on more than anything is it basically i guess immunization this vaccinations right is that the clear thing that they're waiting for. yes actually so you're waiting for the need security and economic plan any group planning and just. the younger you are in general. all right those with evil institute in munich thank you so much thank you or let's take a look now at some of the other business stories making headlines. hong kong and

singapore announced plans to open a travel ban on allowing quarantine free travel beginning in late may and travel order was initially slated for november it was postponed after a virus like it call it comes after australia new zealand launched a travel bubble last week. several 1000 cubans have taken to the water to demand the end of the nearly 60 year old u.s. trade embargo after a short lived of reproach when under the obama administration relations between havana and washington came tense once again under donald trump biden ministration has not yet made cuba a priority. or portugal is the largest producer of lithium in europe and one day it may be home to the largest mine in the continent for the rare metal is an essential component for the batteries using mobile phones and electric vehicles but opposition is growing to plans it could make that happen. no to mining yes to life. that's the slogan used by protesters or poles to a mining project

a plant and also in northern portugal while these mountains are rich in lithium locals do not want this to become europe's let him producing hob. the freak he kill usually she'd mouse my brothers and i grew up here keeping the culls that's why for me it's even more meaningful because i know this area ever since i was a kid. i'm not against lithium but i'm not in favor of polluting my village another villages like mine to do pollute cities. in the region is recognised as a place of important agricultural heritage by the un british minor savannah resources plans to invest more than 100000000 euros in the project it is now trying to allay fears that mining operations will destroy the local way of life so. the. designs are practices and we have our. management.

to deal with. the projects development they are hoping portuguese authorities will give it the green light as soon as possible but for many here a sustainable mining project sounds like an oxymoron. widespread testing is a critical tool for battling the spread of covert 19 at a cost that many businesses are now having to shoulder such as in germany where workplace testing has recently become mandatory for. bookseller much you know tittle has to offer her staff a coronavirus test twice a week with her business already under strain because of the pandemic the additional costs are hard to bear if you had terrible left and the financial burden for a small store like this is extremely high including part time staff where a team of 8. this sets us back to 1000 euros over a 6 week period i think that's really

a lot of money if you get it. but originally the tests had to be carried out by train staff or an external service she says this would not have been possible without taking out a loan now staff can administer their own tests at home. daughter tells me i'm able to since we work several days per week you would really have to take a test every day i don't mind out of myself as a person of this i don't know if it's a reliable as you think the accuracy rate is 70 percent and. 200 kilometers further north in the state of mecklenburg western pomerania the 50 staff at this power plant have been getting tested since march the test kits cost $5000.00 euros a month masks and disinfectant add to the cost employees are also offered a free meal to limit their risk of getting infected outside the workplace. prone to exclaim vision is proof it's really important for us there are 3 shifts

a day we need to do this in order to make sure it remain operational as i think it would be a catastrophe if we had staff hour during shifts we wouldn't have enough people to fill in we can barely find cover or called for. pamela bogan haagen from the north german business association is calling on the government to offer more financial support. by me i want to guns and i if there are a whole lot of companies especially small and medium sized enterprises that are really struggling to pay for this they are demanding that the government consider how to support these companies cover these costs but of course new phenomena bookseller much tina tittle isn't holding out much hope of that happening with a pandemic showing little sign of abating she's left with no choice but to fend for herself. we talked about that high vaccination rate in the u.s. it could have an unexpected side effect with businesses saying they faced short staffing due to the lack of overseas seasonal workers hotels restaurants and other businesses and tourist destinations are warning that they might even have to cut

services that's because other countries face pandemic travel restrictions and people may not be able to get vaccinated in time to get a visa to work in the u.s. for the summer season businesses say they've had trouble filling jobs with locals despite higher unemployment. that's it for me and the business even here here in berlin thanks for watching it's always. in the book you are known and people. can learn from the economy for. exposing and justice the global news that matters d.w. many times. their story their very own personal trauma. people who survived the catastrophe remember. and they

share private footage with us that has never been seen before. back to chernobyl starts of april 26th on t.w. . the countryside of the north eastern congo is beautiful and the soil is rich and fertile and yet the people here live in poverty and constant fear of attack by armed militias over 120 such groups have been operating for more than 2 decades on the territory of the democratic republic of the congo along its northern borders to south sudan uganda and rwanda neither the government nor tens of thousands of un peacekeepers have been able to stop them and the people suffering inevitably leads

to more suffering as victims join one rebel group or the other soon about they killed my father. they killed every one of my family that's the only reason i became a fighter. a woman grieves for her murdered child an all too common side in the north eastern congo the militias killed around 2000 people here in 2020 alone the worst of them called themselves the allied democratic forces or.