ah, the internet knows all sheets, creators want everything and the digitize everything. the hot commodity in this global experiment. our data, smart devices are embedded in our daily lives tracking where every life we headed to a futuristic utopia, poor but digitize the nightmare. the internet of everything starts january 17th on d, w. ah, you're watching d. w. news. asia coming up in india considers changing the legal age of women to married and the debate is fierce over its goals and what problems it's meant to solve will take a closer look. and when even a candle is

a crime, hong kong sentences, yet another activist, this time for commemorating the tenement square student protests plus with a month to go before the winter olympics kicking off in bay. jing will look at the spectacle that'll be on display and the human suffering that won't ah, i melissa chan, thanks for joining us. india struggles with gender equality. it's a country where we still see issues of gender, wage gap, dowry harassment, child marriage, the denial of right to education to girls. while the situation has improved over the past few decades, they're still a long way to go to address some of these problems. the government of india has come up with a new bill aimed at increasing the legal age of marriage for women. t w's many are

chaudhry reports from delhi. i think this also has been 3 points counter points, agreements and disagreements. these young girl is going women are debating the right agent to get married to avoid it will often but they are associated with an organization or then care which helps girls and women from economically disadvantaged backgrounds pursue and complete their education. yeah. yeah. do you think that is going to be one then you've been my dear friend, do you want to be independent enough to dignity that you she wants a more excuses as well because you guys are getting them at ground level has a majority more often than not child marriage has a good chance at education and financial independence and leads her wonder able to health risks. according to unicef, at least 1500000 girls get mattered in india before they turn 18 every year. the government has now introduced

a new bill that expands already existing laws against child marriage. the government of india had proposed to raise the minimum legal age of matters for women from 18 to 21 years. calling it a step towards gender equality and women empowerment. the government says this move will help women to complete that education and access employment opportunities and that it will also help in bringing down infant and maternal mortality rates. and many here have celebrated the move as a positive and a progressive change. no, my bob of me, but this law will raise awareness and fear among parents who marry off their daughters as an early age and think they don't have the right to education in isn't going that i get then to go. i didn't, i didn't know they get or anything, nancy an or that head or issues. so if they get married later on, they can be made up the board. why do i sold? i've been been nicer. but there are others who said this could be a blow to their decision making ability c, b, m. i mean, if we get the right to choose our leader by casting votes at age 18,

that we should have the right to decide when and who to marry, how quantity they let that, i think the existing laws should be implemented better 1st, instead of imposing an age requirement on us existing laws should be properly enforced. many women's rights activists. c, increasing the age of marriage will not resolve issues of education and mortality. they need more grassroots leveling kit and more the, the founder of or then care is of the same opinion. she adds the law could also have repercussions for young couples who married because they want to. it's only the suicide norms and attitudes that we need to work on. once that goes towards understanding or the boy starts understanding the value of education, marriage, or no marriage. they will continue to study after a long gap because of who would restrictions the women here i'm making the most of their time together. it is their hope that lawmakers have their best interests at

heart on the way to woods equality in india. ah, to hong kong now where a court has sentenced lawyer and democracy activists chow hung tongue to 15 months in prison, her crime, inciting people to commemorate the 1989 tiana min massacre. chow was arrested last year just hours before the june 4th anniversary. after calling on hong kong to take part in a candlelight vigil. police had banned the annual event siding cove. it restrictions ciao was already serving a 12 month sentence for defying the ban. in 2020 to day, chow accused hong kong courts of criminalizing free speech. dozens of hong kong activists have been arrested or jailed under beijing's national security law, of which chow has been a strident critic. here she is, add a protest. last april. it's actually a mapping of muslims 1st and for hong kong,

i would say the government always criticized us. the active as the, the, the pro, them up as a can for this stabilizing hong kong i thing is the government that has a kid and all that's destabilizing hong kong is destroying this, the and farming of state. but at the of security that people have been living in d, w, correspond at phoebe kong has been following the trial. she has more on chow and the significance of the case. what shall home toe is a $36.00 yo barrister and also the 5 chairman of the now defunct home co lions, which is on the, on the visual organizing group of the very iconic commemoration in hong kong. over the past 3, that is over 3 decades actually. but the alliance was a forced to the soap in 2021 after police investigation under the national security law, and also a serious over of arrest on this call. members,

including chow hung tone and a chairman, the check in of a permanent pro democracy that goes in hong kong. that how home tone is one of the key factors in commemoration campaign, the hong kong, which was very iconic because these campaign has a basically distinguish home home from the rest of china. that hong kong used to be one of the remaining places on chinese soil to a legally commemorate to tenement crackdown, which was still remaining as a political took blue in china. but now it seems that this all has gone a more repressive hong kong facing tighter control is happening in the context of a general shift on china's part to greater authoritarianism. this had made its hosting of the winter olympics, a controversial political point. we are now exactly one month away from the start of these games in beijing like the last time the country hosted the organization,

the venues, the staffing will likely go without a hitch. china had impressed the world with its work on the summer olympic games back in 2008, which had rolled out spectacularly. if anything, this will run even better, dw is clifford coon and joined us now in the studio. clifford. you were based in bay jean during the olympic games last time, 2008 as was i so much has changed since then. what kind of country was china then and where does it stand today? i think what's interesting is, 1st of all, china hasn't actually changed that much in the interim, or what you have is a lot more of china it's, it's the now the world heard biggest economy is become much more of a player internationally. but in terms of how the country is run, it hasn't changed that much with the exception that we see this huge focus now on she, jim ping, and these are very much going to be the she, jim ping, alec olympics. i think i'm what's also changed. i think is how the world views

china back in 2008. you remember ever was looking at china with a certain amount of hope and expectation that may be add that increased wealth and power would lead to a democratization or whatever in china. i think most of those ideas about engaging with china's away driving change have largely been swept aside now by the by the way that, that she campaign has imposed a very, very strict rule there. and the country is trying to aim for a 0 kobe policy. how is that impacting the gains? well, this is very interesting because it could mean there's no spectators at the games. for one i saw today the rules that cheering isn't allowed, that you can only applaud. yeah, he's a fellow and i want to marry ok. yeah. i'm so in some ways the games will look a little bit like the national people's congress with everyone applauding. but am, i think the 0 covert policy. i mean, it's been very successful so far in containing, in containing an covered. but how that's going to, how that's going to work in terms of, in terms of an international event like the olympics is,

is very open. now want to pivot to human rights. i mean activists including those from the persecuted, weaker and tibetan minority groups. and also of course people who care about hong kong have called for a boycott of the games, sports and politics forever. there is a debate about where you can divorce the 2. i want to run at 2 voices of the 1st one is from the international olympic committee. president thomas bar have a listen. we are not a super world government. and aware, rosie i, you see, quote, a song for even address her issues her for her, which her no, not a as un security council or no, no, no, we're cheese server no g 20 her has her solutions. ironically, that is the same kind of rhetoric that people from china always tell me when i

bring up the fact that 2 nearly lugers are in changing towns when they talk about it that and having their lands occupied by china. all they say is it's complicated . well, clifford, is it complicated, there have been a few diplomatic boycott sir, for example, what's the latest and does try to even care about this? i think was interesting. i mean, in 2008 people were calling for a boycott as well. we had a very am harsh track down on tibetans in march of 2008. you as you recall, i am but, and people people didn't seem to really take it seriously. i think people know a lot more by china now and how they view china has changed whether china cares about us. i still think that it wants the olympics to be a success and it's very important for china's and international image that the olympics it should be a success. so i think they, they definitely do care about it. one thing that i'm trying to think about is and contacts historical context out when have the games thing boycotted am and when have people talked about it and decided against it? boycotts are an interesting one. a lot. some people say that are just don't work at

all and some people say that can actually make things happen. i mean, we saw that the boycott of south africa ultimately led to apartheid em, near the end of apartheid am and by isolating south africa that way, am with ad china because of its international power. am boycotting is very difficult because china holds a lot of the economic power so that people are loath to to go for a full boycott. i think boycott cambia effective. definitely. and indeed china boycotted the 1980 olympics in moscow. the u. s. lead boycott. so, you know, anything they say, but not politicizing the olympics, you know, is clearly just a question of which olympics and that's what interesting it is. right. and then i think em and china hasn't been in the it takes that long as well. it's only 1984 that they 1st competed in any sort of significant way. so am but whether this, sir, whether a boycott, i think a diplomatic boy called us for we're probably going to see, but people can't just ignore the issue any more. i think that's the big change

between now and back then is that, you know, we know now what china is doing in since young and into beth. and so if you compete in the olympics, you go there with that understanding. and i think that's the biggest change, clever cleaning, we're gonna have to get you back in for a post mortem after the games. thanks so much for joining us. well, that's it for tuesday, while you're pondering the pros and cons of debating winter olympic games will leave you with the new official multilingual song for these olympics that china has just released. see you tomorrow and good bye. there's a swing her likeness. no generally covers that. oh, i got some hot tips for your bucket list. ah, magic corner check hot spot for food and some great

cultural memorials to boot d w. travel off we go. oh, the battle against cove it the only common variant is putting healthcare systems around the world to the test. vaccination campaigns are accelerating while restrictions are intensifying once again. but are these measures enough to stop the spread of omicron fax data and reports? you know, weekly covert 19 special every thursday on d. w ah, ah rift opens up over europe's energy future plans to label nuclear power on natural gas plants as sustainable investments have been met with anger among member states will discuss why she lied

to investors about technology that didn't work there and was found that elizabeth holmes is found guilty of fraud and turning trash into train is leaving the young indian entrepreneurs making sustainable sneakers as a state of your business on what's in berlin. welcome to the program. what is green energy? that is the question. at the heart of the brewing row over the european commissions plans to designate nuclear energy and natural gas as green investments if voted through if voted through by the used member states, it would open the technology's up to billions of yours in funding. the commission points out that nuclear plants produce 0 c o 2 and that natural gas is helping countries phase out more polluting fossil fuels like cold. but.