♪ >> this is "dw news" live from berlin. democracy deferred -- elections in hong kong are delayed for year. chief executive carrie lam says the surgrge in coronavirus is te reason. germany has responded by suspendiding its extradition treaty with the territitory. also we speak with a member of the coronavirus task force in israel. is time taking for tiktok?

president trump threatens to ban the app over concerns it could allow beijing to spy, and media reports microsoft is in talks to buy it. berlin's famous club scene has been silent for months because of the pandemic, but frustrated ravers are moving underground -- or, rather, outside. ♪ it's good to have you with this. scheduled for september have been postponed for a year. chief executive carrie lam says the delay is necessary due to a surge in coronavirus cases, but opposition lawmakers are not convinced and accuse the government of using the pandemic as a retest to thwart democracy.

-- using the pandemic as a rereason to thwart democracy. >> it was a very, very difficult decision to postpone the legislslative council election, which takes place every four yeyears, but i it's necessary to fight off the coronavirus, to protect people's health and uphold public safety. we also have to ensure the election process is fair and open. ironically, to curb the pro-democracy protests, hong kong's chief executive has activated a rarely used, nearly century old emergency power dating from british colonial times. stat allows for short-term only delays to elections -- thatt allows for short-term only delays to elections. >> thehe decision to postpone te 2020 election n has notothing to

with politics, has nothing to do with the likely outcome of this round of elections. >> dismayed by the delay, the oppoposition warns o of a constitutional crisis. >> peoeople will n not trust ths one coununtry, two sysmm anymome because it is against the promises made by the chinese government some 20, 30 years ago in hong kong. >> around half the 70 members of hong kong's legislative council are appointed by the beijing-backed govovernment. after a year of violent p protet and the imposition of a heavily criticized security law, the opposition had been optimistic. for the first time, there were hopes of a democratic majority. beijing will not let that happen and sees the rising number of

coronavirus cases as an opportunity to delay the vote. >> let's bring in our political correspondent for more on this. what more can you tell us? simon: the foreign minister said this decision to postpone these elections and also to disqualify a dozen opposition candidates from taking part in them was a further encroachment on the basic rights of hong kong citizens, including the right to free and fair elections. they said the german government is really worried about the general situation there, also the arrests of democracy activists, and that is why they've chosen to take this action now. i should say quite a few people in berlin have questioned if this will really make a difference. some have said that, in fact, hong kong provides more judicial assistance to germany than the other way around. of course, the german government

has always said that it looks at every extradition case individually and would not extradite anyone who they thought might suffer further penalties or persecution as a result. potentially, this may not change anything, but opposition parties have been calling for it for a while, saying beijing is involving itself too much in hong kong, and this decision to postpone the election seems to have really pushed the government over the line. >> opposition parties have been pointing to this for sometime. why do you think the government decided to take the decision now? >> i think we have seen a range of other countries -- britain, australia, new zealand, canada, i think, have all canceled elections or suspended them. the u.s. has taken tough action. germany has been trying to get a comment position within the

european union. that has been difficult to do. not all countries have been keen to stand up to china in the same way, and i think perhaps germany has felt that now we've got to take a stand and show that we mean business, at least by this single measure related to extradition. >> good to talk to you. let's check in on corel event -- on developments in the coronavirus pandemic. vietnam reported its first pandemic death. the country had previously been praised for containing the contagion. the british prime minister says he will be imposing new restrictions after a new spike of coronavirus infections. germany has added three northern spanish regions to its list of high risk designations. anyone arriving from those areas will have to produce a negative virus test or go into quarantine two weeks. with the pandemic closing

economies down, it was expected there would be damage, but it is becoming clear how devastating the pandemic has been in europe. gdp numbers show many economies that experienced years of growth are now deep in the red. the euro zone as a whole is officially in its worst ever recession. >> cash registers are humming again across europe. iconic landmarks a really quiet in spring -- eerily quiet in spriring are alive with activity once again. it's becoming clear is that the economic damage done in europe between april and june was of historic proportions. that was the period when strict lockdowns brought large parts of the continent's economy to a virtual standstill. the data for that period is becoming available, and the news is as bad as anything the eu has ever seen. it means the european economy has entered its deepest

recession in postwar history. spain's economy contracted by a massive 18.5%, compared with a near 14% drop in france and a near 4% drop in italy. german gdp fell by nearly 12%. with covid-19 cases rising again, there are fears of a second lockdown. even without that, the pandemic's economic impact is likely to be felt for many months to come. in barcelona, beaches normally full with tourists are far quieter than normal. a local rise in infections is keeping travelers away. >> now to other stories making headlines -- officials in portugal say at least two people have been killed and dozens injured after an intercity trade -- train collided with a maintenance vehicle. hundreds were on board. the train was traveling from lisbon to the northern city of

brock. british filmmaker alan parker has died at the age of 76 after a long illness. he started his career in advertising and later shshot to fame i is t the director of fils like "bugsy malone," "mimidnig express," "frame," and "mississippi burning." -- "fame" and "mississippi burning." and activist was detained after defying a ban on protests coinciding with the anniversary of the president's election, which the opposition regards as fraudulent.. opposition lawmakers had called for demonstrations against corruption in the country's slumping economy. our correspondent is inn harare, which is still under lockdown. tell us what happened today.

>> what happened today i is the planned demonstrations failed to take off as planned because protesters were not a allowed to assemble. ththe government deployed army police into t the neighborhoooos and cities across the country. there was a heavy police and army presence in several places so people would not go out to protest. those e that came e out to prort includuded a known activist whoo was arrested while wavaving a placarard along one of the roads in central harare. people were mostly confined indoors in fear of the army and police that had been deployed on the streets.

>> what is driving people onto the streetsts? why are people frustrateted? >> there is rising in patients -- in patients -- impatience against the goverernment. the president promises to change the fortunes of the economy, but a lot of people are rankled bebecause they feel the economys worsening, and also issues of corruption in different parts and departments of government -- wewe have had d ministers bebeig arrested for just abusing covid-19 resourcrces. the minister of health was sick and is now facing corruption charges. >> the opposition says the government is using lockdown rules to crack down on critics. is that a air assessmenent? -- a

fair assessment? >> there is a delicate balalance bebetween tryrying to control te spspread of the coronavirus and also using coronavirus rules to clamp down on critics, so you find that yeses, the opposititn could be justified, judging from what has happened in the past few months when the lockdown was imposed on the country. >> our correspondent reporting for us. thank you so much. israel has suffered a surge in coronavirus cases in recent weeks. one of the most densely populated and poorest cities in israel is a hotspot. it's also home to an ultra orthodox population. municipality set up a task force to contain the pandemic, and our course on to see how it is working.

>> morgenstern is on his way to the main synagogue in the synagogue and the home to an ultra orthodox c community.. the synagogue is closed because of the panandemic. people have to p pray outside. morgenstern, who works as a lawyer, manages in his free time a corona tasask force. >> there is a stigma in the general public against the ultra-orthodox. people think they are infecting people, but it's not true. i don't think there is any other community that keeps the rules as strictly as we do. over 2400 residents are currently infected with covid-19, and there are new cases every day. this is one of the most densely populated cities in israel.

>> -- [translating] we have apartments where people share one bathroom, one shower. if one person gets sick, evevyone gets s sick. many d do not have smartphones. they cannot get information online. but there is information on billboards. the minister has set up a so-called war room to deal with the crisis. they worked every day of the week except shabbat, where some ultra-orthodox communities forbid the use of modern technologies. morgenstern's team rely on them. every neighborhood is isolated to help people who have testeded positive for the virus.

"we believe the more cases we move out, the lesss corona will spread in the city." a family of eight needs to be placed in quarantine in jerusalelem. they are taken by ambulance to one of f the hotels t that h han turned into quarantine centers run by the israeli military. morgenstern is back on the road. thee virus keepsps him busy alae time. it's hard. it's veryy difficult and very demanding, but i don't give up. someone is watching over us. taking up the task to keep the virus from spreading further, just like the rest of the country, which is in the midst of the second wave of the pandemic. >> here in berlin, coronavirus restrictions have shut down the city's famously wild nightlife. clubs have been close for months

and there's no sign they might reopen soon. that has some ravers raving mad. some are defining authorities undertaking the parties to city parks. just a warning -- this report contains flashing images from the start. >> berlin's club scene is world-famous, but corona is threatening its existence. clubs like this one have been empty for months. a vaccine is the only hope for many owners. >> we have already seen examples of rock showing that it really does not work. in south korea, they thought they had the pandemic under control because they had hardly any new cases. then they opened the clubs, and they had their first case in a club w within the week,k,hich meant the clubs havee to be closeded down again. >> people are itchingng to dance again. illegal raves have been taking

place weekly. up to 5000 are thought to have attended one last saturday. lara was one of them. she wanted to remain anonymous. >> just look around you. at every football match, there are at least 22 people on the field. with substitutes, you got up to 30 or 40 people, and they were very quick to allow that again. sure, with restrictions, but this catategorical ban ignores e needs of the party community. >> but ravers seem to be ignoring the threat of the coronavirus. >> i think the problem with a lot of people is they cannot understand why open air options are not being made available. they don't see an infection risk because there have been numerous large events, such as

demonstrations, with no infections. it would appear that there is little danger of infection, so i guess people say, why not make it legal? and if it is not made legal, they do it illegally. >> many club owners have asked district authorities to allow open air events. they have been waiting months for a decision. >> it cannot be that hard to just make green spaces available when it is possible to set up a security cordon and some portable toilets. people are doing it anyway. i think most of us would cooperate if there were an official location cordoned off with a limit of 50 or 100 people and you had to wear a mask. >> with fall and cooler weather fast approaching, the window of opportunity for open air events is closing, and with it,

possibly many of the city's beloved clubs. >> you are watching "dw news." still to come, a story of birds and beer. we find out why drinkers in a small town in germany are getting their feathers ruffled by some unwanted visitors. first in the u.s., three people have been charged in connection with the hacking of prominent twitter accounts two weeks ago. prosecutors say a 17-year-old from florida was the mastermind behind the hack that duped people into making bitcoin donations. it affected some of the network's most high-profile accounts including that of former president barack obama, democratic candidate joe biden, microsoft founder bill gates. twitter said the hack targeted some of its employees who had access to its internal systems. u.s. tech giant microsoft is reportedly0 in talks to -- reportedly in talks to buy tiktok. meanwhile, president trump is

discussing an executive order to force tiktok out of the nation. >> tiktok bills itself as a digital playground, but now it is turning into a battleground between the u.s. and china. with americans suspicious of its owners, the beijing-backed app may have exploded in recent years, but not everyone is a fan . >> would you recommend people download the app on their phones tonight, tomorrow, any time currently? >> only if you want your privacy in the hands of the chinese communist party. >> the struggle over digital technology is intensifying. on the u.s. side, facebook, twitter, apple. on the chinese side, tiktok and chinese giant huawei also the

target of a u.s. campaign. cartoons have been spreading in chinese media, this one depicting uncle sam, sis -- asserting the u.s. is threatened by competition. the huawei band is part of what pompeo -- the battle may be over tiktok, but the war is about vying for supremacy. at stake -- not just profit but power. >> our business correspondent following the story in new york. there has been talk of the u.s. banning tiktok. why would microsoft want to buy it? >> basically because tiktok has been quite a success story, surpassing 2 billion downloads already in april.

it's very popular, especially with youngerer crowds.s. older people tend to go on instagram and such. one question ultimately would be the price. tiktok belongs to chinese company bytedance, and might be worth alone about $50 billion. >> we've heard the president is preparing an executive order against tiktok. what can you tell us about that? >> all that we know so far is a person familiar with the matter -- there's a lot that we do not know, but u.s. president donald trump could ban tiktok in the united states, but that also could get tricky because china could retaliate can make it more difficult for u.s. companies to access the chinese market. >> what is behind the mistrust of tiktok?

>> there have been charges for quite some time that the chinese government actually might get access not just in the u.s. but also the u.k. or germany, to access privacy data of users. tiktok always said, for example, in the u.s. the other servers are u.s.-based so they do not get access, but obviously, there is a suspicion that privacy data gets transferred to beijing, so therefore, tiktok has been under quite some criticism, skepticism from regulators and authorities for quite some time. >> thank you. now for a story of beer and birds. the german state of bavaria is well known for its love of beer and its immense production of the beverage, but in one small town, drinkers are going thirsty and all because of a pair of feathery fiends.

>> a bird call that is likened to machine-gun fire. or perhaps a mischievous laugh. they -- these storks have made their yearly journey from africa and chosen a place to nest in a small germantown of bavaria. normally it is seen as a sign of good luck if a store chooses your roof to nest in, but not for this brewery owner. the protected species in germany chose an inconvenient spot to nest this year. "we already had one last year on the roof of the brewery, and the young storks -- when they come back, they often come back to the same place, so they look for a place to build their nests, and they did it in the chimney of the brewery." beer production was forced to be suspended, and christian needed a special craftsman to carefully move the nest so production could resume, but then came the coronavirus lockdown.

"we had already planned that when the nest was built we would be able to raise it, but when it was finished, we were in full lockdown. no craftsmen were available." with no trades person available, christian was forced to wait as his beer stocks began to run low. the baby storks have since hatched, and with covid reststrictions slightly lifting, the nest could be moved next week. >> the craftsman is coming next week. he is going to build the elevation. we hope to be able to start brewing beer in the next week, but we have to wait five or six weeks until the beer is ready, so around mid-september. there will be a short period of time in which we will have to find other solutions. >> while beer might run dry at this brewery for a few weeks,

the storks seem unfazed by the trouble they've caused and may be plotting a return to this spot next year. >> we have good news for marine life in greece. divers have removed 500 kilos of fishshg net that were entangled in the wreck of woworld r ii submarinine. in a five-day cleanup operation, greek and dutch volunteers suspended divers to work on the submarine whihich sank after hitting a mine. orgaganirs say m millions ofof ananimals die afafter becoming ensnared in nylon deaths each year. the nets will be recycled and used to produce sox, swimwear, and carpets. -- used to produce socks, swimwear, and carpets. carrie lam has sususpended hong kong elections for a year. germany says it is suspending

its extradition treaty with the territory because of the postponement. you can always get "dw news" on the go. download our app on google play or the app store and that will give you access to the latest news around the world as well as push notifications for breaking news. if you are part of a new story -- news story, you can use the dw app to send us photos and videos of what is happening where you are. and you can get the latest headlines by following us on twitter @dwnews. thank you for watching. ♪

one twenty four .com. the scale of europe's economic crisis lay bad this friday at twelve point 1% contraction in the euro zone the largest drop on record coming up we'll look at the picture in spain and in france to countries where the corona virus is on the rise again. millions of muslims mock the eat holiday despite the pandemic authorities in mecca introducing socially distance measures. the holy sites. and hong kong delays crucial elections for twelve months the