: tonight, the world of football in morning. diego married donna -- diego maradona has did. the football star has suffered a heart attack. we will look at his life and legacy on and off the page. the coronavirus pandemic in

germany is worse than ever. the answer may be a nationwide lockdown the ones intended to save christmas, now necessary to save lives. it is the -- in ethiopia, people flee the tigray region. the message to the outside world, we will handle this crisis our way. ♪ to our viewers joining us on pbs in the united states and to all of you around the world, welcome. he is considered one of the greatest football players ever to have graced the pitch and he is with us no more. diego maradona died on wednesday of an apparent heart attack. he was 60. his defining moment, when he

captained argentina to victory against west germany in 1986. >> [speaking german] --maradona had been in poor health but his death stunned fans around the world. anchor: a goal that only diego maradona could conjure up. with his left fist, maradona produced one of football's most iconic scenes at the 1986 world cup. he single-handedly knocked england out of the tournament with his hand of god and then went to lead argentina to victory in the final against west germany. prior to that peek at the age of 26, maradona had already lived an intense life. born in 1960, he grew up with his seven siblings in a poor neigorhood in the southe suburbs of buenos aires. he grafted his way to

professional football. he arrived at barcelona in 1982. there, he became to conquer and cap devise -- and captivate europe with his left foot. he arrived in naples, leading them to their first-ever serie a title and a uefa cup. then, an argentinian world cup when in 1986. he hung up his boots and his beloved boca juniors in 1997. maradona retirement sawmaradona -- retirement saw maradona fall on tough times. obesity, drug addiction. but after a successful detox

including a long stay in castro's cuba, maradona returned to the spotlight, this time in politics where he supported the latin american left at every opportunity. he made a return to the football pitch as coach of the argentine national team. he coached them for two years leading to defeat to germany in the world cup semifinals in south africa. he passed through the united arab emirates and mexico before he returned to argentina. to his adoring fans, he was akin to a god. in his death, his legend will live on eternally. brent: sports journalist sergio rosenthal joins us from point us areas. this is obviously very sad news.

what more can you tell us about his passing? reporter: very, very sad day. i think that, as you told recently, would be a legend. maradona, from now on, would be a legend. i, as a journalist, engineer, and whatever, i want to remember him on the field, making goals, fighting. trying to forget about his personal life. really, i don't care because of course i did not agree with all kinds of what he said. people must remember diego

maradona as one of the most important football players, soccer players. i pref to remember diego maradona as a player. what he did in the world cup. everybody now around the world, as you say also, he came from a very low class. that is the point. it is very hard for a guy who came from a very low class, to have a lot of money or whatever he wants. brent: we wanted to be look at some of the first reactions we have been getting from fans in argentina. take a look.

>> i can't believe it. it is incredible. you think all the bad things can happen but that you see that they can't. it turns out we are all mortals. i am digesting it. i feel a bit like it is a bad dream. i want to believe that it is a joke. the first thing my 12-year-old son said to me was, "mom, married donna -- "mom, maradona died. " >> totally shocked, hurt. to be frank, i think he was a great guy who did not have very good relations around, was taken advantage of a lot. brent: sergio, could you tell us, what does he mean to the people in argentina?

>> as you know, we are an u nder-developed count, not like europe, with education, it is a young country. we can make a soccer player like god. you know what that means. diego maradona was the best player inside the football field and that is it. as i told you, i and i think that people must remember diego as the best player. all what he did for the national team, especiay -- for napoli. i was a couple of times in italy. it was amazing and i would walk on the street and people would kiss my shirt because i as in an argentine shirt.

they would say, i am from argentina. of course. they kissed my argentina national team t-shirt. that is it. we are here for only a moment my friend. brent: sergio rosenthal, sports journalist joining us tonight from buenos aires. we appreciate you sharing your memories and thoughts with us tonight. thank you. all right, let's talk about this larger than life mythical figure that was diego maradona. for that, i am joined by tom. how would you describe him? a sublime footballer who had an

illustrious career. tom: absolutely. arguably the best player ever to have played the most popular game in the world. he is a titanic figure in the world of football. he won trophies on many continents. he won probably the biggest sporting competition that exists in the world, the football world cup come for a country, argentina, that is crazy about football. there were plenty of players who will achieve more in the game just in terms of numbers of trophies, but there are very few who will ever be remembered in the same way that he will be. is just regarded by very many people is the most gifted player ever to have played the game. brent: he was talented. he was also tormented. he was battling his personal demons especially later in life, wasn't a? >> that is true. it was in naples that diego

maradona developed a habitor alcohol and cocaine abuse that led him to being banned from playing the game on several occasions. maradona develed associations with the local mafia in naples during his time there. but we are talking about a player who embodies an astronomical rise from adversity from his talent for playing the game, then i think suffered naturally due to the kind of intense limelight that is attached to the adoration and acclaim that he received in public life. brent: i think that is also what sergio was trying to get at, that the extremes it has life are difficult for us to imagine. talk about the merit donna magic. -- the maradona magic. >> for those who have seen him

play, i think everybody can conjure images of maradona flicking the ball around, keeping it so closely at his feet as he dodges tackles and flies down the wing. producing finishes that are so cheeky and unbelievable that no one else would have ever come to the idea of trying different things that he may look so effortless. brent: does he deserve the title of the greatest footballer of all time? tom: that is kind of an open question. maradona was voted as the player of the century alongside brazilian player pele. if you ask anybody who the greatest footballer of all time is, his will definitely be one of the first names that comes to mind. brent: diego maradona, dead at the age of 60. tom, thank you.

let's take a look at some of the attributes pouring in on social media. sadness from the three clubs maradona played four. boca juniors -- napoli tweeting, "always in our hearts. ciao, diego." fc barcelona tweeting,thank you for everything, diego. " usain bolt tweeted this picture of the pair doing the lightning bold move. he tweeted, "rest in peace to the legend, maradona." is considered to be a question not of if and brother when and how much. german chancellor angela merkel and regional leaders expected to announce changes to the nationwide partial lockdown in place since the beginning of november.

the tighter restrictions are expected to be eased during the holiday and then reimposed as 2020 becomes 2021. although the number of new coronavirus cases in germany is no longer increasing exponentially, the number of daily deaths from covid-19 is at a record high. for more, we want to bring in our chief political editor. she is on the story for us in berlin. we thought the german chancellor was going to come out hours ago to announce these changes but we are still waiting. reporter: seven hours now. it is increasingly feeling like one of those eu summits. the 16 state premieres and angela merkel, they know they have to come up with something. 10 days ago, they agreed to disagree on where to take the partial lockdown until christmas and whether to ease up.

they promise to the bigger plan for the next couple of weeks up to now and they will have to deliver whatever happens. we understand that they lockdown and nitty-gritty of schooling issues and who pays for what, but also on how much germans will be allowed to enjoy the christmas season and what that means for christmas shopping. we have learned that there is talk of having new measures in place for larger shops. 25 square meters for every customer is larger shops so that christmas shopping does not simply take place online. there is a new redline being debated. before, that figure was 50. that of course raises a lot of questions over whether -- over what the new redline will be and whether they are feeling the pressure of a new looming

exponential growth in covid-19. brent: remind us of why these tighter restrictions, why they are needed now? reporter: they were needed a couple of weeks ago when suddenly, infections were 23,000 a day plus. angela merkel did the math and said she expects some 19,000 by christmas. that shows you how suddenly the infections can start galloping away. that has been somewhat contained. we are down to 18,600 and something today. but, the deaths are a clear indicator that not just are the emergency room is filling up with more covid-19 patients in germany, but also there are more deaths that indicate there is a stress limit being reached within the german health system.

christmas or not, the state premier will have to ensure that germany does not go past that point, a difficult return to some kind of control over the infections here. brent: the chancellor wanted tighter restrictions weeks ago. now, when we talk about germany losing its grip on this pandemic. how do we describe that? how did it happen and who do we blame? reporter: it depends on who you ask. those who disagree, about a quarter of germans do not feel that the current measures are adequate. some call for even stricter measures. but about a quarter are doubtful about that. there is a small minority os taken that protest to the streets here in germany. overall, germans were told from the beginning that there would be no master plan. that seems to have worked but

that kind of transparency with the public. some states find today harder sell than others to explain to people why there is now a priority when it comes to schools, but also keeping shops open. every state premier seems to have different priorities and that is what is proving differently this evening. brent: as always, thank you. let's have a look at other developments in the pandemic. france is relaxing restrictions. shops, movie theaters, and museums will gradually reopen but large gatherings will remain bad. new south wales has eased social distancing measures and allowed others to get back to work.

a dining band goes into effect in los angeles. the state of california faces a record number of new infections. asking the international community not to interfere in his country's tigray region. he said to surrender by tonight or face an assault on their city. communications remain almost completely cut off to tigray, which is home to about 6 million people. many have been forced to flee to refugee camps. >> this baby boy does not even have a name yet but he has already been through much more than he should have. i gave birth in the hot desert with no one to help me, his mother says.

she has been waiting for help at a refugee camp for two weeks. many people here have similar stories and there are new arrivals every day. more than 40,000 people have fled the fighting in tigray across the border into sudan. >> people have come into all sorts of conditions with absolutely nothing. no money, no more clothes, food, contact. it has caught everyone here off guard to help. it is a painful first few days and weeks. >> it is hard to get a true sense of what is happening on the ground in tigray. some reports speak of thousands of people dead but this is difficult to verify because of a internet blackout, media restrictions, and telephone guidelines. th are threatening and ofnsive if the leaders of the tigray liberation front do not surrender. the prime minister of ethiopia,

who won the nobel peace prize last year, does not appear to be pushing for a peaceful solution. he has demanded the international community staying out. >> the highly aggressive rhetoric on both sides is provocative and risks placing already vulnerable and frightened people in danger. reporter: over the border in sudan, people who made it out of tigray are just trying to get by. the young mother hopes that her child will not be forced to grow up in a refugee camp. brent: for the latest, i am joined by samuel, a journalist in the ethiopian capital. the deadline that the if the opium government gave tigray's leaders -- that the ethiopian government gave tigray's leaders has expired. do we know what is going on in the ground? reporter: we have been waiting

for any kind of announcement. we have been reading the social media because the ethiopian government seems to use social media to distribute formation. misinformation. there has not been any updates. at this moment, we really don't know if they have advanced to acally heading to -- or if they are just waiting by the suburbs, which has a population more than0000. at the count, that was done in 2007. brent: we know that is the capital of the tigray region. do we have any idea tonight how civilians in that city are doing? >> we have no information. human rits watch senan email if you hours ago saying that

everyone involved in this conflicthould watch out and protec people. victims heading to the sudan is telling colleagues that the conflict is affecting more than the official numbers. you can only guess where this conflict is heading. brent: your neighbors in sudan, they have been talking about this problem. ethiopia's government has told the international community that this is a domestic problem. we know that is not true. there are warnings that this conflict could desbilize all of east africa. reporter: it might as well. the ime minister insists that he has been using his twitter accoun to say the kind of steps he has taken for the country to come to this conclusion including offering some kind of

mediation. even sending the olympian to try to bridge the gap. he is saying this is the end. he wants to fight the tp lf at the heart of its power, and if they can capture them and bring them to justice, that is the ki of conclusion he is looking . he said he is only looking to meet with african leadersh as a cotesy call. there will not be any mediation on the government side. brent: do we know what is happening to the tens of thousands of people who have become refugees and fled to neighboring sudan? reporter: reminding all of us the need for a united nations, some of its importance. we are watching it from a distce and bei very touched. thousands of people are at t

mercy of u.n. organizations. the partners in the u.n. continue to appeal to international donors who help them because there are too many of them coming. the question we have been asking us, how do you prepare this, thounds of people showing up at your border? they will be overwhelmed. they are asking for help. brent: samuel and the capital of ethiopia with t latest on the situation in tigray. here is a reminder now of the top story. argentine football legend diego maradona has died at the age of 60 after suffering a heart attack at his home in buenos aires. he underwent surgery for a blood clot on his brain earlier this month. he is widely regarded by football fans as one of the greatest players of all time.

german regional leaders meeting tonight are expected to extend lockdown measures into december and the new year. measures are expected to be loosened to allow for christmas holiday gatherings. new measures are set to be announced in the next half-hour. you can always get dw news on the go. download our app from google play and the app store. if you are part of the new story , you can be part -- if you're part of a news story, you can use the dw app to send us photos and videos of what is happening. it has been more than a year since a blaze tore through notre dame cathedral in paris. restorers have completed a vital step. when the fire broke out in april 2019, the building was already under repair. existing scaffolding was deformed by the heat and officials were worried that taking it off could cause

further collapse. further tragedy has been avoided. they have removed tons of scaffolding. the next step is protecting the damaged spire from the rain. officials have pledged to reopen the cathedral to the public by 2024. that is some good news tonight. you are watching dw news. after a short break, i will be back to take you through the day. we will be right back. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] c aptioninperformed by the national captionininstitute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

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♪ >> welcome to "live from paris" -- world news and analysis from france 24. these are the headlines. football jimmy is the diego member donna has died. three days of national mourning have been declared in argentina. the footballer will lie in state at the presidential palace. he postmortal examination is to be held. we will go live to our correspondent in buenos aires for the latest. fans have taken to the