try our services. oh, be our guest at frankfurt airport city. managed by frappe arch lou. sh. ah ah, this is d w. news live from berlin. pope benedict. the 16th is lay to rest at about to thousands of faithful gather for a funeral ceremony. presided over by pope francis. it's the 1st time in 2 centuries that is sitting hope has conducted such a right for his predecessor, also on the program. mounting fears over a new fast spreading cove. it fine

t invariance. it's been detected to nearly 30 countries so far, and scientists say it's the most contagious version of cove at 19, yet off the u. s. investigates this national soccer coach over a decades old incident of domestic violence. ah, i'm glad else as well come to the program. pope francis has presided over the funeral of his predecessor bennett. pope benedict in rome. the pontiff bless benedict's coffin at the end of her mass, making a great effort to stand in a gesture of respect. frances has largely been confined to a wheelchair in recent months. thousands of people gathered and saint peter's square foot funeral mass, including germany's president and chancellor benedict was the 1st german in almost

500 years. the li, the catholic church, is stunned the world by choosing to step down in 2013 due to ill health, become in the 1st pope in centuries to deuce. during the funeral service, frances paid tribute to bennett its wisdom and sacrifices with confidence. we now offer our final farewell to pope meritus benedict from him to commend him to god are merciful and loving father own. but he is too increasingly gentle. sony speaking sancho may the god of our fathers through jesus christ, his only son in the holy spirit to lord and to give her of life and deliver pope ameritas benedict her from death. d that he may sing god's praises in the heavenly jurors. son in expectation of the resurrection of his mortal body on the last day. oh correspondence, jack barrick was at the funeral mass and we asked him to give us his impression of

the service. the funeral of pope ameritas vanity, the 16th appears to be very much as the vatican had suggested, that it would be with scaled back. still somber, and very respectful to the former cove. there have been many people that have arrived from all over the world. i've spoken to nuns from tanza near from burundi, from many people from all over the world. 11 of those nuns that was tons from tanza near said that she find it very sad, the funeral, but profoundly beautiful. a lot of people that have turned up to this funeral really have done so in a private capacity. we know that the german chancellor and allow shouts and the president frank votes of sy my were here, but also the belgian king believe, turned in attend up in a private capacity as did the former queen of spain, sophia, lots of people that we've been listening to and hearing to is a speaking to on the streets, have a personal story to tell about hope vanity. he was, it appears quite

a hands on pope and previous in his, in his job as a cardinal, and was very personally supportive to people. i think a lot of people felt a personal connection and decided to attend the funeral. here in rome to day, the coffin that was on display. the wooden coffin is being sealed with zinc and then put into another wooden coffin and will be moved them into the croc gatos under the basilica of saint peter. here at the vatican city for the foreseeable future. cheperdak reporting there from rome and i am now joined in the studio by john barrick, who was covered the former pope benedict's election back in 2540 w jon at bennett. it has requested a simple funeral. what was your impression of the ceremony today there? where it was simpler? in a, in comparison with kind of similar to a sitting pope would experience. it was based on the same ceremony. but sir,

the wound, fewer of the trappings, ultimately it was the decision of frances what form it would take. he obviously went along with the wishes of benedict. it was basically the kind of recreate mass that a bishop would have in, in any country. now for the past 10 years, there were 2 living popes in the vatican. how do you think benedict death will change things? now for frances, i don't think it will change very much actually because per benedict despite what people feared with a pope ameritas in the, in the vatican that there would be, he would be a focus for opposition to that to the new pope. in fact, benedict was very tactful and he remained very much in the background. but francis has been quietly introducing his own reform program, making quite significant changes to the church. and i think he will just simply continue doing that. you will have a covered benefit. it's election i reported from the papal trips that he, that he made. would you have any personal memories?

gosh, yes, many. i think when it comes to mind is in 2006. when he went to the united kingdom, the 1st state visit by pope's united kingdom. i remember he's going to scotland. i was on that occasion travelling in the papal plane at the village of him really close up and so on. and but when he got out of the car very come back little car, holy root palace was greeted by queen elizabeth and it was he had some difficulty getting out of the car. he was already quite old and frail, but daughter and the queen also queen elizabeth, was not the youngest woman any more. and she took him by the arm and helped him and the 2 of them. so dawdled a bit over the over the over the grass and she said to him, it's very difficult with the small cars getting, getting out of the car. microphones were open and we journalists heard it and it suddenly struck me. so thought i'd not had before that there was a strange similarity between the 2 of them. both people who were immensely

loyal, are immensely dedicated and disciplined and we're prepared to sacrifice their lives and their person lives relates to an ideal, into an institution, whatever you think of the monetary, or, or papacy. and what strange, concurrence. and it's that is that they both died the same year. it is indeed now many will remember benedict as the pope who step down. but about his papers, what stands out for you when i think one of the things, it's not often recognized as that he was the 1st hope to really embrace the problem of the child abuse scandal. he introduced reforms in the church to try and prevent any future abuse of children. and he met with victims of child abuse in a very private way, not in a public way. and but we know from those victims that he

listened with great compassion. he was, they said on occasion afterwards that he wept as they listen to their stories. now, frances has praised benedict as a great communicator of faith. what did he mean by that? what he was, he was a fine theologian. it's extraordinary. his career. he was, he was the child of a policeman from a small village in bavaria, and his mother was a cook. and at $31.00, he was a full professor. as a german university, he introduced a theological magazine community which became one of the most important theological magazines in the world. translated into many languages. he wrote 25 scholarly works . even the archbishop of canterbury, who is of course not a roman catholic but the head of the anglican communion, said in his tribute to him, benedict was one of the greatest theologians of the 20th century. our religious affairs expert john, very bad. thank you john. let's have

a look at some of the other stories making headlines around the world. today. aid agencies say hospitals in the afghan capital, cowboy, overwhelmed by a cases of respiratory illness among chill cases of pneumonia have spiked in the recent winter months, and doctors are having trouble treating patients due to a lack of drugs and health work. the british national weather service has confirmed that 2022 was the hottest year on record in the u. k. they reported that the average temperature for the year was 10 degrees celsius. adding that soon and use climate change was responsible for us. republicans in the house of representatives of again failed to elect the speaker following a 6 vote. conservative kevin mccarthy's bid to lead the republican majority in the house is being blocked by a group of right wing hardliners. germany has joined

a growing list of countries to impose mandatory covert tests on travelers from china, which is facing the surgeon infections. the european union has recommended all its members, states, follow that policies starting monday. china as, as said, the travel restrictions are discriminatory. the outside china health experts are concerned about how quickly a new cobit variant is spreading the all microns supp very and x b b point one. point 5 is currently spreading rapidly. the united states official data last week showed it accounting for over 40 percent of cases. there's quite fine to say it is the most contagious version, a version of it 19, yet the world health organization says it has been detected in 28 other countries, mainly in europe. the sub variant was 1st discovered in october. dr. deeps graziani is expert on epidemiology and global health at queen mary

university and london. and she's joining us now from a person australia. now, should we be worried about this new variant and how dangerous is it? yes, we should be. we're, it is laportia. asia suggest that this is a barrier that doesn't just escape immunity really well, perhaps the most in a basic 18 so far. but is also able to infect cells better. so it binds more closely to the part of the cell, allowing device to enter more, which means that it's also likely to be more transmissible. we're already seeing the facts in places when spreading. so for example, in new york, where this band is already dominant, we have seen associated with a higher rate of hospitalizations. and what's really concerning is that this is now spreading in many other parts of the u. s. in parts of europe in the u. k. in canada, and it's very likely going to be the vein that becomes dominant across europe in

a few weeks time to touch upon this, but how effective are the vaccines against it? so unfortunately, only have the board data and looking at the board, it looks like it needs vaccines and matching unity, but even the by minute vaccine, better than p, this variance. what that means in the real world. of course, we don't know, you know, it's possible for example, the protection against infection is low protection against severe disease is maintained. but of course, we want to know that until it's back to the extent that you know we have data. but in the meantime, we need to adopt the policy principle and use a vaccine plus approach vaccines and other measures to controls trends. now the, on the conversion was very, very infectious about the illnesses were less serious. so can we expect to build a system become more serious now? i think the answer to that is, we don't know, it does seem to bind more to cells,

which could be a mom percent vector. that is a, potentially, it has a potential to be more serious, but again, it was on so that we're not going to have until we study, you know, hospitalizations and people are being infected now. but regardless of it in, that's more transmissible and growing as rapidly as this is growing, can cause quite a bit of severe disease even, you know, if per infection it doesn't increase the risk of severity. now it will countermeasures can governments of health officials curb to curb the spread of this parent. so as i said, vaccine only approach is not sufficient. this is a bit in that spreading very rapidly against the background of high vaccination, high immunity in the population. so that means measures like ventilation, air cleaning, wearing well, fitting high quality mouse. that's a, b, 2 or, and 95 mass as well as a reducing social contact indoors. and, you know, testing before meeting people in isolating if you just are not feeling well. what

we need is a multi layered approach because we cannot rely on a vaccine only approach, but also getting boosted if you are eligible, as many countries are offering right now. so can, can we expect more lockdown stone as well? i don't that. i don't, i doubt that they will be a need for downs, but we certainly need measures. as i said, this is a different to be early on. the crown i was the 1st originally and so there is going to be a level of escape from vaccines. and new york, as i said, is seeing a huge surge of hospitalisation, so we can expect that to happen. now the countries i'm, we need to preventing bi monthly. it measures by which, i mean, this is a nation. all of these together will make a big difference of that if you go to sunny, expert on epidemiology and global house. thank you for sharing your expertise with

us by our german health officials. our meeting today to discuss how to save the country's health system. waves of winter viruses have pushed many hospitals to the edge, forcing the country to face problems that have been accumulating for years. children's hospitals, i had especially hard in december, each clinic had on average, less than a single free bed. this is largely due to a long last in trend which is seen the number of children's hospital beds across the country for more than a 3rd. from about 31992 about 18000. today, that's despite enormous spending in 2020. the last year for which comprehensive data is available, germany spent 441000000000 euros on healthcare. that's the most in europe. by far, meanwhile, many doctors and nurses are leaving the service. a government study predicts that

9000 people are quitting the medical profession every year in an aging society that will require more medical care. in the future than ever before. one big effect will be the closure of many clinics in the countryside. dan dunsen, nurse dagmar is working days in this hospital are numbered. st. joseph's hospital in the rural ad now area is set to close soon and best to close at the put the jacket over. her husband was very worried that she'd freeze before getting home if more than 50 other hospital employees are also affected by the closure. yet, often on saturday from we all have our families living here and there won't be any more emergency care on site yellow. there's actually a lot of fear for sick orse during the week, there's only one ambulance to serve. 15000 people, the nearest hospitals are at least a 30 minute drive away. and st. joseph is just one of many hospitals that are

closing this year on average one hospital in germany closed down every month. many have to few patients combined with high maintenance costs and staff shortages w. okay, that's who clump a few do you? there's a lot of discussion regarding more remote areas from him. doctors are also increasingly unsure about going to small towns and villages because they're worried that these might have no future company. not that combination just makes it incredibly difficult. sheila, up in the hospitals, parent company is working with the mayor and other local stakeholders to provide medical care on site. but in just a few weeks, the company will lee. but a lot of residents here down that's long enough to put real solutions in place. dozens gather in the town market square to fight for their health care. because

that's where tax the side it a high time to stop thinking that people in rural areas are 2nd class citizens and to stop treating them that way or taxpayers and have the same right to health care as city dwellers, lately for long before got in violence lima, she's not the only one who's angry and concerned, including you both ankles. our region needs a hospital in one fella, accidents happen to us. it gets slippery and people fall. people have heart attacks like everywhere in the world, their mothers who want to give birth. where should we go? was on in me a give it to todd bushes. mom, nathaniel rotten about it because i've worked at this hospital for 31 years. i can't, and i don't want to move away from here to be closer to work or to access health care. would i isn't i fishing was all blue for better or for worse, many people here will have to turn to other clinics in the region. few believe that there will be a solution any time soon. i don't know now is, i mean, gal, he's

a doctor and also member of parliament for the green party here in germany. now germany has many hospital with too many patients and to few staff hospitals in rural areas. areas for example, are closing because to few patients and costs are too high. can you help us understand this discrepancy? well, good afternoon. sure. of that all. and the most important current reason why a hospitals have to close that they are in shoals of due to high costs, caused by inflation and high energy prices. often combined with low income q 2 are used number of patients in corona and a like of personnel. this certainly is a great problem. that's the current situation in the long if you, we infect to have too many hospital beds in germany as a whole, but the situation is very different from region to region. we do have over supply mainly and urban centers that the source shortage of hospital care in some rural

areas. as you mentioned already, our current hospital financing system that is based exclusively on case payments on d. r g. payment is a problem for several hospitals, but mainly for small group hospitals and this brings them into problems mainly. so from your perspective, what are the most important changes that need to be made urgently? well, all right, we need to reduce the role of economics, the economy, bresser in hospitals, and we need to reform the whole health system for medical and nursing issues and quality of care. i have to prevail more than in the past. we need more ambulance care instead of inpatient treatment. that is good for the patients, for health finances and for this cause personnel. here we start with a reform and pay the same amount of money for some operations and procedures

independent of whether a patient is treated on an inpatient or outpatient basis. this is an incentive to, to read more patients outside of hospitals. we need a deep reform of our hospital financing system. the separate payment for each patient, the so called d r t system must cause false incentives, thoughts i numbers of inpatient and told high cost for the reform that the government commission recommends is good. we have a government carry commission that made report quite a shortly in december. they recommend to pay a precautionary cost at rates between 40 and 60 percent of the previous budget and to reduce the case payments to the rest. that means that half of the bachelor would be guaranteed to the hospital. it mainly helps rural hospitals, and we need a more active hospital blan policy based on hospital levels and clear definitions. what each hospital asked for to $11.00 is matthew to that's all part of the land

reform. so one a problem, one big problem is staff shortages wise. it's still not possible to ensure a good payment and work good working conditions for nurses. well, it's not a problem of payment, mainly it's, it's a homemade brooklyn we accept the nursing staff and it's mainly a problem in for, for merson. and also now for doctors are mainly for the nurses and we have several nursing staff and a strong economic pressure for about the last 20 years during the presidency our g system and we reduced in that time the nursing staff considerably. nurses need to care to high number of patients each in germany. that's different, for example, from the united states and also from a great britain. that's a main reason why so many nurses have left. charles, now we are going to implemented you in determine how many nurses are required for one patient or for 10 patients. and so for more thus,

we hope to bring back the nurses to the phone with trumps. a respective law was enacted in all of them. and we also need more university place for medical students because there's more and more a lack of doctors as well. but that of course, helping only on the long run long run, which i'm a doctor and member of parliament. i mean, girl, thank you very much for your time. i think the mother of both her daughter and united states smithfield. giovanni rana has admitted she reported the u. s. national teen coach grad browser for historic incident of domestic abuse specialities under investigation by the u. s. football federation after revealing his quote shameful behavior towards his now wife. the incident has exposed the rifts plaguing the us team in the recent world. cup and carter were ran out. one of the teams, star players only had a limited role. the rain is and the bird houses have known each other for

decades, but the family friendship became a family feud during football's most important tournaments. obviously, this is not a positive time for soccer in this country, environment, national teams. and it's a tough time for the families involved, and i'm just hopeful that we can find resolution to this quickly after it's harty. geo raina. the dorman midfielder before the world cup. he rediscovered his form after a series of injuries. but once in guitar, he didn't start a single game for the us. because greg hauser raised concerns over rain his attitude, he told a leadership conference last month, he's made a player thought to be raina. apologize for his conduct. the story took a twist on choose day, went by, the seemingly out of the blue admitted to kicking his now wife when they were 18

revealing this because quote, during the world cup and individual contacted us soccer saying they had information about me that would take me down the final twist came late on wednesday. joe's mom danielle rayna said she was the one who contacted us soccer about the house has passed off his comments at the conference. she said it was especially unfair that her son was, quote, still being dragged through the mud when greg asked for and receive forgiveness for doing something so much worse at the same age. cloudy arena g o z, dad and former teammates of greg also revealed he'd been in touch with the officials about his son's lack of gain time. both rain of parents denied any threat, so blackmail hauled his job. his coach, meanwhile, is currently under review, pending the outcome of an investigation. when it comes to our head coaching position that we have right now, greg burn halter until the investigation and the review takes place is still under

consideration for the head coach shop over us men's national team to finally synonymous with us soccer. the futures with the national team now uncertain and another sports, you know. so all the emitter maya, one of germany is most celebrated alpine skills has died at the age of $72.00 at m . i was known as gold halsy after winning to gold metal and downhill and sign them at the 1976 windsor game field. her fame in germany. it's alive, she try that hand as a pop star work as a fame. tributes, ios, the president thomas buck said miss maya was a, quote, very charming and credible ambassador of you want. cindy w news is a reminder of all top stories. po francis has presided over

a funeral mass voice predecessor benedict. the 16th after the batch of cannon ro, thousands of the faithful attended this story raked. mos benedict has been entered in a simple wooden coffin, and the crypt beneath. said, peter, what's that? i said, for now from me and the new steam, i'll have an update for you at the top of the old post. don't go away is asia is up next. and i remember there's a lot more news, entertainment, sports, and business on the w dot pole. all went out there in berlin. thanks for watching with

you a they all share relief in peaceful coexistence, nbc st. george, near paris. this is nothing unusual. ah, each of the world's major religions has its own place of worship. it. it's a unique place of exchange hosting many inter religious services. i

focus on you in 60 minutes on d w. ah, i'm just kinda, i think that tags and in the end is a me, you are not a lot us to you anymore. we will send you back. are you familiar with this reliance as of the what's your story. ready i mean, wasn't i was women, especially victims of vine and seen a lot of them take part and send us your story. we are trying always to understand this new culture. so you are not a visitor, not against you, want to become a citizen in phil migrants, your platform for reliable information sometimes

a seed is all you need to allow big ideas to grow. we're bringing environmental conservation to life with learning pass like global ideas. we will show you how climate change and environmental conservation is taking shape around the world and how we can all make a difference. knowledge grows through sharing, download it now for free. this is the w use asia coming up today. same, same, both different to same sex couples, ask india's supreme court to recognize their marriages. i speak to a lawyer in both in the case and we meet one of the couples. we have 2 children together. we put them to bed every night. then we think of them and we need to then .