brent: this is "dw news," live from berlin. tonight, a nation under lockdown. italy's radical measures to fight the coronavirus. the entire population of 60 million has been told to stay at home and restrictions imposed on travel and public gatherings. we will bring you the latest on the outbreak there and around the world. also coming up, president for life? russia's parliament backs vladimir putin's plans for the

constitution clearing the way to allow him to stay in power until the year 2036. and it is super tuesday round two in the race for the democratic party's presidential nomination in the u.s. can joe biden deliver the knockout blow to bernie sanders? and will introduce you to a tiny polish horse named bombel, who has just made it into the guinness book of world records. ♪ i'm brent goff. to our viewers on pbs in the united states and all around the world, welcome. it is an unprecedented move. italy has expanded its response to the coronavirus outbreak. the entire country is now under a lockdown. restrictions were originally applied only to northern regions. now they are nationwide.

italians have been told that they should only move around for work, urgent health needs, or in emergencies. they also need to carry documents declaring their reasons for traveling. italy has currently confirmed more than 10,000 cases and more than 630 deaths from the virus. reporter: a rare sight in rome. the coliseum with few visitors. it was so silent, you could almost hear the ancient romans cheering on their favorite gladiators. modern-day romans seemed willing to accept the government's antivirus lockdown, if regretfully. >> i have seen the government directives. they are quite precise. they must be followed, and everything must be done to ensure they are respected. >> i live here and it is always full of people. but is morni there is no one. it's not nice, this reality. reporter: the government's measures restrict people to all but essential travel.

commuting for work is allowed, if people have documentation proving it is necessary. the measures will stay in place until at least the third of april. as he announced the national lockdown, italy's prime minister had a message for young people. >> i am about to sign a decree that we can sum up with the expression, "i stay at home." we understand that young people want to socialize. we have seen the images, photographs, where the nightlife is, the fun, where people drink in outside bars. it's no longer possible for us to allow this because of the risk of infection. reporter: across town in the vatican, pope francis urged catholic priests to have the courage to go out and help those afflicted with the coronavirus.

perhaps he had seen the photo of a nurse, exhausted by the battle against the disease. the picture has gone viral on social media. brent: for more now, we want to go to the italian city of naples, where journalist alex matthews joins us. alex, it is good to have you on the program. i mean, the whole country is under lockdown. it is unprecedented and it sounds dramatic. what is it like? alex: it's been a very big change, particularly here in naples where i am, over the past few days. the news of how bad the situation has been in the north is certainly spreading down in that fear as well. travel is, as we have heard, very restricted, so you cannot move easily from region to region. you need to stay in your own commune. here on the coast that means checks at ports for people going to islands such as capri. as well as checks for people going on trains to go long distance. and everything about normal life

seems to have slowed down. the piazzas are very empty, there are not many people in restaurants, there are barely any tourists here. the nightlife right now if i look out the window is very, very -- well, there's nothing there because everything has to close down at 6:00 p.m. i went to the supermarket today and in order to make sure that people could keep a distance of one meter away from each other, they were ticketing people. so you were given a number and then 15 minutes you wait around outside the store, and only then were you allowedo enter into the supermarket to buy your goods. brent: so people are being told that they should stay at home, at least for the time being. but what about people traveling to italy? can't people still travel to the country? alex: they can if they can prove that they have a real emergency or a real need to be there, but

it is very ill-advised. from the german government as well as many other governments, they are saying unless you absolute need to travel to italy, you should not. is becoming increasingly difficult. various airlines are canceling their flights, refusing to fly to italy now until the beginning of april at least. but advice from governments such as germany follows the lines of advice that you're getting from the italian government as well, which is please stay at home, don't travel unless you absolutely have to. brent: alex matthews joining us tonight from naples, italy with the latest on a country under lockdown. alex, thank you. the european union is earmarking 7.5 billion euros to help cushion any economic shocks from the coronavirus outbreak. the eu commission chief ursula von der leyen says that number could increase to 25 billion euros. today, european union council president shared a rare get-together of leaders by videoconference.

the eu is coming under fire for its noticeable silence since this outbreak began. the coronavirus is set to cause unprecedented disruption to german football with some matches being played without fans for the first time. that is going to hit one of the biggest clashes in the june -- german bundesliga, which will now take place behind closed doors on saturday. before that, gladbach will play cologne on wednesday, also in an empty stadium. reporter: german football is known for attracting a sea of supporters. last week, some fans in gladbach took precautions against the coronavirus. but the same seats will be empty dung their next home match against rival cologne. setting a historical precedent for the top-flight in germany. >> it primarily affects the fans, but of course it will also hit the teams hard.

as you can imagine, there are financial consequences. we will have to see whether it is just going to be for this game, or whether it is going to affect more games. what is the next stage? reporter: answers to those questions are left up to local health authorities and german football. the stadium at gladbach seats over 50,000, and the club says it is set to lose an estimated two million euros in revenue for their upcoming match. under the circumstances, fans forced to miss the action understand the idea of safety first. >> on the one hand, i think that is good for people's health. i think you have to make sure that safety comes first for people. games will unfortunately get canceled, then. this is already the case in italy. games without fans are already planned. reporter: the home match, arguably the league's biggest rivalry, will be without the 80,000 spectators normally on hand.

and bundesliga clubs bayern munich, both in the bavaria region, will not have fans at their next home matches either. now many fans are wondering just how long the coronavirus will continue to disrupt football in germany. brent: as coronavirus cases worldwide cross the 118,000 mark, tonight we ask, can anything be gleaned from the country where the outbreak began? china. now, we all remember these scenes from late january and early february. to new -- two new hospitals built in two weeks in wuhan, all part of what the world health organization described as the most ambitious, agile, and aggressive disease containment effort in history. an effort that the global health body says worked. it's part of a report the w.h.o.

posted last month after a visit to china. first, he's more -- here's more on china's response, not all of which has been without controversy. reporter: it all began here at this food market in wuhan, china. a mysterious virus born in its shops, triggering a wave of illnesses. the internet, soon filled with pictures of hospitals at breaking point. and the body bags piling up on buses. images brought to the world by citizen journalts risking life and liberty. >> i am not even scared of death. you think i'm afraid of the communist party? reporter: china scrambled its massive resources in the most ambitious containment efforts ever seen. >> this is something all chinese peoplere involvein.

each person will pitch in and play their part. reporter: health works from acro china hded to the frt lines ofhe outbrea putting themselves in harm's way. >> of course we are worried. and so are our relatives. but we are nurses and we will do our job as long as we wr the unifm. reporter: the scope of china's response is unpcedented. new medical centers built in days. universal temperature monitoring. ntroversl strict cial stancing res that included locking down a city of millions. lping to stop the spread. and meticulous contact tracing. in wuhan, 10,000 epidemiologists aggressively tested everyone a coronavirus patient had been in contact with. hundreds of thousands were tested at fever clinics like this.

scientists returning from a fact-finding mission praised the efforts. >> this is a ridly escalating epidem in diffent places thate have goto take a perfasto prevent pandemi it' actually,hathina monstratess wherehis goes is withi the conol of ou decisis to ply thisind of rir and approach to this disease. reporter: experts say the china playbook is a blueprint for the world. but the question is can they, and will they follow it? brent: here's a brief look at some of the other stories italianheadlines city of naples, that are making headlines around the world. turkish president's erdogan says he will not stop migrants crossing into greece but he also announced a summit to take place next week in istanbul the european leaders to seek a solution to the crisis. two months after hosting a summit on the libya conflict,

germany's chancellor has hosted libya's eastern commander in berlin. angela merkel reiterated the importance of a cease-fire and a political solution during the talks. the general and his rebel forces have been fighting the u.n.-backed libyan government for control of the capital tripoli since last april. malawi security forces have fired tear gas to break up protesters as a pro-democracy activist handed himself into police. timothy was wanted in connection with his call for fresh elections following last year's disputed presidential vote. last month, the constitutional court annulled those ballot results, citing irregularities. but the incumbent president has to greenlight any fresh election. the british rep and led zeppelin have won a long-running copyright dispute over there hit, "stairway to heaven."

an appeals court ruled they did not steal the song's opening riff. they could have faced millions of dollars in damages. you're watching "dw news." still to come, we want you to meet bombel. at less than 60 centimeters tall, he has made into the guinness book of records as the world's tiniest stallion. no horsing around. russia's lower house of parliament has backed president putin's plans to allow him to stay in office until the year 2036. he told the duma today that the changes to the constitution are necessary to guarantee the country's future stability. currently, the russian president can only serve two consecutive terms. if the changes are approved, that limit would remain, but putin would be allowed to run again by effectively pressing a reset button after his current term ends in 2024.

>> we are not passing amendments for a year or so, or even for a decade. i hope that they will be in power over a longer historical perspective. at least 30 to 50 years' time. and in such a long run, people must have guarantees that regular changes of power are secured. we need to think of the future generations. so, i don't think it is worth removing the number of presidential terms from the constitution. brent: russian president vladimir putin there. we spoke to our correspondent emily sherwin in moscow and we asked her for more about what these constitutional changes will mean. emily: these measures essentially, if they are passed and if the constitutional court here in russia approves them, they mean a kind of reset button for presidential terms here in russia. after all, president putin is currently in his second of two consecutive terms.

his term in office ends in 2024, and according to the current constitution he cannot run again after that. now, these measures could remove that hurdle and could mean he could run again in 2024. we just heard him saying that he does not want term limits to be gotten rid of overall, but essentially since he started his term in office people have been discussing what will happen next, and when he announced constitutional changes in january, experts here have been theorizing about what that could mean for putin himself, what role he could take on, and it seems that he does want to stay president in what observers here have been calling a kind of sting operation to keep him in power. brent: that was emily sherwin there reporting from moscow. a new report by the u.n.'s world meteorological organization says the past decade has been the hottest in human history. the report also says 2019 was the second hottest year since records began.

presenting the findings in new york today, the wmo secretary-general said that the outlook is bleak. >> we have also broken records in carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide concentrations, and out of those, carbon dioxide is the most important one. so far in his lifetime, several hundreds of years. this is a problem that does not go away. brent: a problem that does not go away. for more i am joined by laura peterson from the world meteorological organization at the u.n. in new york. it is good to have you on the show. the magnitude and speed of changes to the global climate, it is alarng. what are the main findings of this report? laura: so, the ipcc has long told us that ery facti of a degree of warming matters. and essentially that is what this report is really showing

us, that we are continuing to see warming. as you said, we have seen the second hottest year on record last year, and that was even without the presence of el niño, which usually adds an extra warming effect. we are also really seeing the warming continuing, it really does matter. the report headlines a number of human factors that have been observed through 2019. from the increase of the majority of new displacements and being linked to weather and climate regions -- reasons. to thousands of deaths being associated with heat waves, which without climate change would have been especially unusual. and also for an increased prevalence of the spread of dengue fever, which is another thing to really be concerned about. i think this report shows nicely the concerning scientific facts of the warming, the melting of the ice, but also the human

factors. brent: we have been told by the u.n. that we have basically 12 years if we want to take measures to mitigate the effects of climate change. does this new report substantiate that time horizon? laura: it does. and it shows that we really are accelerating towards some of the goals, the limits of the paris agreement. we also even saw a forecast from the u.k. office in the past couple months that said there was a 10% chance of us reaching 1.5 degrees in the next five years. so, i think that overall we are still having the same timescales in mind for reachi these goals, but with every year that passes, the pressure is really on to actually mobilize some strong climate action to really tackle this. brent: laura pederson from the world meteorological organization joining us tonight from the one in new york. laura, we appreciate your insights tonight.

former u.s. vice president joe biden is aiming for a knockout blow to senator bernie sanders as the fight for the democratic presidential nomination enters its next crucial round. voting is underway now in six states which are holding primaries on this super tuesday ii, including that important battleground state of michigan. biden and sanders are both in their late 70's. our correspondent alexandra von nahmen asks, do the voters really care? alexandra: here's the current front runner, former vice president joe biden, at the age of 77. his rival bernie sanders is one year older. the self-proclaimed democratic-socialist campaigns tirelessly despite having suffered a heart attack. they both hope to oust the incumbent in the white house, president donald trump. his age, 73. but does age really matter?

>> i prefer a younger candidate, but i also really appreciate experience. >> the wisdom and experience is definitely important, but i think it is also equally important to have those younger candidates that can relate better to the younger majority. >> as a millennial, i mean, i like to see my voice represented, obviously. >> as long as the mental capacity is there, then a candidate can serve to their ability. alexandra: older or more experienced politicians aren't unusual in u.s. politics, but there has never been a moment in american history when so many top contenders for the presidency have been in their 70's. meaning questions about age-related infirmity are taking a new volume and importance. joe biden's verbal gaffes for example have become so regular that his critics are openly

discussing whether he is fit for office. while many young voters criticize his vision for america as being too oriented towards the past. bernie sanders seems popular among young voters who hope for big systemic change. but on inauguration day he will be 79 years old, a year past the ever-rich lifespan of the american male. because the president is such a powerful position, it is natural for voters to be concerned with the health of the candidate, says mark rom, a professor for public policy at georgetown university. >> the voters will also need to look very carefully at who the vice presidential candidates are. it is not unreasonable to think that one of those vice president candidates may become presidents, should the president become incapacitated or die while in office. alexandra: at the young democrats chapter in fairfax, virginia, they agree here that

having a good running mate and a good team is important, but what they do not seem to agree on yet is a candidate. >> i prefer joe biden. i think he has been mostly doing a good job in the senate, and he did mostly a good job as a vice president for barack obama. i did not agree with everything he did, but i trust that at this point he is our best option for stabilizing the government, and also america's place in the world. >> i believe bernie sanders has the best chance. i believe, that i think he is touching into something that donald trump touched into when it comes to the despair of the country. a lot of people feeling that the economy is not best serving us right now. >> i am looking for the individual who really is going to bring people to the polls. i think that is really important. because if we don't bring people to the polls, we are going to find ourselves in the same position we were in 2016. alexandra: that is why they say they want to support whoever ends up coming the nominee and challenges donald trump.

brent: now here's a story about the tiny horse in poland, but not just any tiny horse. this tiny horse is a stallion called bombel, and he has just made it into the guinness book of records. reporter: a mini stud hits the big time. bombel, the world's tiniest stallion, according to the guinness book of world records. the spotted appaloosa likes to strut his stuff with his friend, maserati. maserati is not yet fully grown, but bombel is. his growth was stunted. >> you might think that because he is a small horse, he needs less care. but it is just the opposite. he needs our special attention because he is of small stature. it is a genetic disorder. reporter: that makes him susceptible to certain health issues. but overall he is perky, and he is exactly 56.7 centimeters tall.

bombel can trot and gallop like any other horse, and he loves to meet the mares, even if they tower over him. but he is a stallion. he puffs his chest, he wags his tail, he squeals, and he stomps the ground with his tiny hooves. bombel is very friendly. that is why his owners bring him to visit sick children in hospitals, to engage in equine assisted therapy. but they cannot ride him. >> you can see here what the therapy looks like. for example, the children count the spots on bombel and maserati's fur. it's a happy memory and a great experience for these kids. they have fun. >> because bombel is so small, he can go many places easily.

he's like a little car that can be parked easily. bombel uses the elevator in a hospital. his size is a real plus. reporter: he's the pint-size the pride in the barnyard. and he is already four years old. the 56.7 centimeter stallion, larger-than-life. brent: if you have ever wanted to own an original picasso never had the money, think again. you could own this piece by the spanish master for just 100 euros. it is being raffled in paris with tickets sold to raise money for charity. the painting's real value is estimated between $2 million and $3 million. the raffle will be held at the end of the month. proceeds will go to the anti-poverty charity, care. here is a reminder of the top story we are following for you. italy has imposed nationwide restrictions on travel and

public gatherings as it battles the outbreak of the coronavirus. the country's 60 million people have been told to stay at home. don't forget, you can get all the latest news and information around the clock at our website at dw.com. after a short break i will be back to take you through "the day." stick around for that. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

one the best thing. at. thank you watson a comparison for us twenty four the headlines this hour. french president emmanuel maccoll makes a call for calm of the spread of the corona virus as the cases hearing from so move closer to two thousand offer meeting. with the twenty seven leaders of the pda michael said that would be a coordinated european response to the outbreak which is now present. in every state. in china signs of a return to normal life presidency jim paying visits the city of wuhan where the outbreak began china has recorded. a significant