brent: this is "dw news," live from berlin. tonight, the poisoning of alexey navalny, the spies that tried to kill him have been following him for years. an investigation claims a hit squad tied to russian intelligence tailed him for years, including the summer. also coming up, the german president urges people to forgo christmas shopping and get-togethers as the country heads for a new, tougher

lockdown. the united states begins the most ambitious vaccination campaign in its history as an intensive care nurse in new york state receives the very first coronavirus vaccine. plus, he gave us "the spy who came in from the cold." writer john le carre has died at the age of 85. his name became synonymous with the cold war espionage thriller. ♪ brent: i'm brent goff. to our viewers on pbs in the united states and all of you around the world, welcome. there's a new development around the poisoning of alexey navalny. a new-media investigation has found a group of russian spies followed him for years, including the day this summer

when he was poisoned. the agents for the russian security service fsb are reportedly part of an intelligence team specializing in toxins and nerve agents. alexey navalny is still recovering in germany after collapsing on a russian domestic flight back in august. doctors found that he had been poisoned with the nerve agent novichok. the investigation discovered telecom and travel data showing the fsb agents tailing him, including on that day last summer, when he almost died. joining me here in the studio now to discuss this development is my colleague. what do we know -- pablo, what we know about those identified in the investigation? pablo: eight people, all working for the russian domestic security service. almost all of them have medical training or training with chemical weapons.

especially with the research and development of this novichok agent, part of a soviet family of poisons essentially used in 2018 in the poisoning of sergei skripal and his daughter. we know as well that they work out of s -- fsb offices across moscow and three of them are reported to have followed him to the city of siberia back in august. brent: what proof is there for the allegations? lisa: ballin cap -- pablo: ballinkat went deep into this and we spoke with one of their investigative journalists earlier. this is what he told us. >> in russia, privacy is nonexistent with data laws. through the data market we examined passenger manifests for

fligs that looks suspicious and looked for people who had travel itineraries that closely matched that of navalny. he flew into one city in siberia and left from another city oblique later. these are about 300 kilometers from each other. we are looking for people with roughly the same itineraries. if you have the opportunity to poison and opposition figure, you will arrive before and leave after. we found three people with the same flight itineraries and were really surprised as we looked more into these people, these people along with their colleagues had followed navalny for 30 trips. practically every time he went around russia as a presidential candidate, these people had the exact same travel itinerary. these were not just normal officers, they are ones with medical weapons chemical training that matched what he suffered. brent: pablo, this is explosive

information. how has navalny reacted? pablo: three years of your life being followed, 30 trips. incredible. navalny, as you can imagine, is incredibly angry about this and it is not the first time that it appears there was some sort of attack on his life. he spoke about a trip he took with his life over the summer with his wife where suddenly his wife began to feel incredibly ill. at the time he feared something was odd, but he couldn't put his finger on it. now he realizes the symptoms she had at the time were similar to the ones he had when he was wise and. as i said, he's incredibly angry and this is what he had to say. >> i know who wanted to kill me, i know where they live, their fake names, their real names. i have photographs of them. pablo: saying he has photographs

and names, of course. at the moment moscow says there is no evidence that navalny was poisoned and that there is nothing to investigate. brent: of course that's what we expect coming out of the kremlin. but this is explosive information. thank you. here in germany, a tougher lockdown is coming. today the german president pleaded with the public to abide by the new restrictions as the country struggles to fend off a surge in covid-19 cases. germany will enter a stricter lockdown on wednesday after weeks of a partial lockdown that failed to drive down infection numbers. pablo foley elias -- shine meyer and other leaders are asking the country to prepare for a season like no other. >> last minute christmas shopping, like no other in any

other year. polls show around three quarters of germans backing the measure of shutdown, but opinions on the high street are mixed. >> if everything had closed at the beginning of november, it would have been ok, maybe we could have had a normal christmas. >> we have to go shopping now because stores will close from wednesday, but it's understandable the stores have to shut down. >> i think it isn't good for anybody to close everything the week before christmas. >> most shops make their biggest earnings right now. it will be difficult, financially, for a lot of people. >> germans have been under a partial lockdown for the past six weeks with bars, restaurants, and other leisure facilities closed. new rules include closing schools and prohibiting alcohol consumption and public. in the face of continuously high

infections and deaths, the german president appealed to the public to take responsibility. >> we are not completely at the mercy of the virus. it is up to us and we know what to do. you can postpone the celebrations. friends and relatives will be happy to get their presence at a later point. what matters now is to preserve health and save lives. >> with germany heading into a near full lockdown, this year christmas will be far from ordinary. brent: now to a big milestone in the united states fight against coronavirus. the country has begun administering their first doses of coronavirus vaccine. doctors, nurses, and other at risk troops are first in line

for the shots, with the u.s. death toll read -- nearing 300,000. they hope that today will mark a turning point in the fight against the pandemic. >> a moment of hope in the u.s. for the front line workers honored with receiving the first coronavirus vaccinations in the country. >> this is the beginning of the end for covid. together as a community, as a nation, we can put an end to this. >> the first recipients seemed eager to convince others that the vaccine was safe. >> it's important that people are confident in the science of the vaccine. >> advisory panels have determined that the benefits of the shot far outweigh the risks, yet one in three people in the u.s. say they won't take it. >> i'm not interested, will never take it over my dead body.

>> out of think i would even fool with it because i don't no one so that has this and i know a lot of people. >> getting a vaccine to the willing poses another challenge. because the country is so big and the concoction so fragile. it must be kept at a chilling -70 degrees celsius, or -95 fahrenheit. a deep temperature requiring massive amounts of dry ice. despite all this, u.s. officials are preparing for the largest vaccination campaign in the history of the country. front-line workers and the elderly are also first in line to be inoculated. as cases climbed sharply, authorities have set a goal of vaccinating every willing american by midway through next year. also in the u.s., it is the important final milestone for joe biden on his path to the

u.s. presidency. members of the electoral college are convening today and all 50 states to officially cast presidential votes and formally designate biden as president-elect. one of the first states to hold the vote was pennsylvania, who cast all 20 votes for biden and his vice presidential running mate, kamala harris. joe biden is set to easily pass the 270 market, with 306 electoral votes. even as he moves closer to the white house, donald trump is still refusing to accept of the election outcome and his defeat has left republicans divided over the party path forward. >> trump supporters, rallying for him again. they won't accept that their president lost the election and they are determined to keep him as their leader. 73 million americans voted for

trump, making them a formidable force. >> he loves america. he loves america. he does not quit on america. that is why america will not on him. >> i would like trump to start a new party, if you wanted to. >> the republican party is changing real fast. we will be represented by the soldiers, the veterans, the hard-working people of the country, not the corrupt politicians who steal everything from us. >> many want to take the republican party down a more moderate path, to strengthen their case they talk about this man, abraham lincoln. he was the president who ended slavery, won the civil war, and was a republican. he was the man anti-trump republicans turned to when they wanted to involve reason and

everyday values into moral arguments. the political action committee set up by former republicans was to prevent donald trump from being reelected. i wanted to hear their thoughts from rick wilson, one of the cofounders. >> i'm worried about the more competent, smart, presentable version trump that will come down the pike it a w years. to me that is a in norma's lay concerning impact. they are going to be driving the party further and further into the trump space, authoritarian, nationalist, regimented >> a also want to hear from the man about whether he will be the driving port for -- driving rce for republican party unity.

>> i think that the republica party will have, will have some disagreements and fractures, but the biden administration and left-wing will be a force for cohesion among conservatives. if he wants to have influence, he wants it in a party that has representation in the house and senate. he doesn't want to start a new party. >> is supporters leave no doubt that they want donald trump and his family, telling the gop they can either follow them or risk falling apart. countries across europe tightening coronavirus restrictions after a surge in new infections. parts of southern england will be going into a stricter new doctrine. the netherlands and the other

republics are implement measures. there has been progress -- progress reported over u.k. you trade talks. britain leaves the eu single market in just over two weeks. the prime minister of escwa teenteni has died after tractint -- later hospitalized. since 2018 he had been prime minister of the country. sudan removed as state sponsors of terrorism by the u.s., upgrading them to financial assistance to help the struggling economy.

washington placed tough sanctions on sudan in 1993, claiming they were harboring militant groups, including al qaeda. anxiety and terror tonight in nigeria after boys were kidnapped from a school in the northern part of the country. it prompted a rescue operation katsina in -- operation in katsina. parents say the government has repeatedly failed to keep their children safe. >> his school uniforms are still hanging on the wall. but the pupils are gone, taken in a violent attack by dozens of gunmen on motorcycles when they were asleep in their dormitories. one of the lucky ones, this boy managed to escape. "when i decided to run, they

pulled out a knife and threatened to kill me. but i ran away quickly. i ran into the crowd so they couldn't get me. i turned my clothes inside out so they wouldn't recognize me. i ran. i climbed over rocks and ran through a forest. -- forest." officials say 300 and 33 peoples are listed as missing from the boys boarding school in it is not certain how many are in the hands of the kidnappers. some may have managed to flee. the attack from bandits who pray on civilians in this part of the country. as the anguish of parents is growing, so is there anger at the government's failure to stop the attacks and bring their children back. "we are begging this government

to strengthen so that our children will come home. this is my call to the federal government and all agencies who can help." and nine the government set on monday that they are in contact with the objectors -- abductors and are negotiating. the parents here are praying that their sons will be returned to them unharmed. brent: the belarusian opposition leader, sviatlana tsikhanouskaya , has called on germany to lift the visa requirement for belarusian citizens. she made the call during a visit to berlin. during a meeting with president steinmeyer, she predicted that they would ultimately be successful. our vladimira spoke with her after that meeting.

>> you are just coming from the talks with the president of germany. what were you talking about? >> we discussed the role of always seeing the assumption great prizes. that all of the sea continues to try to, try to token eyes for future negotiations in belarus. then we talked about assistance of germany in ballard we discussed the visa question, just to simplify getting visas for those who are under pressure

or for injured people. >> yesterday you said less people would be protesting on the streets, that the energy is not more really there. what do you think, how long can this protest continue? flex they are looking for different ways of protesting. they are changing forms of protesting. like now they use underground methods of protesting and all this stuff. they are strengthening their organizations, their trade unions. please don't tell that to me, that the protest movement is in prison, no way. >> is there interest in mpower change in belarus? >> you know, we will have to ask russia about this. the main question is, the people

themselves, do they want the power to change? they want to build a new democratic country. this is what matters. >> what gives you hope that you will succeed? >> what gives me hope that we will succeed? >> to reaching the victory. >> the people. our unity, our understanding of this regime, the violence, the tortures of this regime cannot be forgotten. we want to renew our identity. now we realize that we are a nation, we are united. we want to be belarusians, not a part of russian. a lot of europeans think that belarus is russian in part. but we are a separate country with a separate identity. now that we understand that, w

are proud that we are belarusians. independence is extremely important for us. we are fighting for this and we know that it will change. brent: sports news, now the all-important draw for the europe top club tournament. munich facing off against the italian club and other games include liverpool against leipzig and manchester city with last season's runners-up against barcelona. the first games of the matches over two legs are due to take place in the middle of february. as you saw, all four buddhist league teams have made it to the knockout stages and some consider that a shock because buddhist league -- bundesliga has been referred to as a

farmers league, called lesser quality. but two clubs beyond the contenders have already shown their worth this season. >> one of them, looking to return to their glory days of the 1970's. the other, lookingo prove that their historic run last season wasn't a fluke. lot oit was nearly 10 years froe oldest player on the roster being born. he ended the drop by picking up the points against madrid and milan. in the final group stage match, there was joy in defeat after the -- after learning that had advanced. >> we made it through and my team deserves a lot of respect

and pride for that i'm very proud of the guys. leipzig, who first earned promotion in 2016, he made it to the champions league finals last season and they did it without the services of vanna, making the model look more impressive at the helm. in a tough group that included last seasons finalists, they needed a win last week against manchester united in their final group stage match to advance. the bowls stampeded through. >> congratulations to my team for getting to the next stage. it was a big win for us after the experience last year when the lads were burning to get there again and they did it. two we -- two years ago, no buddhist league a sides even made it. but last season two teams

reached the final four. can they repeat that success and shake the farmers league tag once and for all? brent: the british spy novel author john le carre has died. he was 89. best known for his intricate cold war thrillers, a number of which were turned into movies. his real name was david cornwell and he found some of the inspiration for his novels while working for the british secret service. >> for the best-selling author, the world of espionage with an endless source of inspiration. a spy turned novelist with a writing career that spanned six decades, with 25 novels to his name. the cold war was their main backdrop. he worked for the british intelligence service of the early 1960's. many of his bestsellers were made into movies, like "the spy

who came in from the cold," starring richard burton. his stories were often set in germany, where he had spent time as a young secret agent. >> it was in some mysterious way my destiny to write about germany and one way or another. >> for him, the world of espionage was always a metaphor for the human condition. he didn't stop writing with the ll of the berlin wall, though he was this is -- disillusioned with what came after it. >> "tailor of panama was my first novel with no ideological content, speaking to the new postwar era and my own disappointment that there was no energy for the reconstruction of the world when the cold war ended. >> john the car -- john the

carry -- john the car -- john sviatlana tsikhanouskaya -- john kres harrington -- john le carr e, pasng away. brent: first, a total eclipse of the sun. ♪

♪ >> you're watching live from paris. here is what is coming up on the program. the u.s. electoral college set to seal joe biden's presidential victory in spite of donald trump's attempts, withstanding his assault on the election results. u.s. covid-19 deaths top 300,000. just as vaccinations begin. americans who work in health care will be the first to get the protected shots. the u.s. lapse sanctions on turkey for purchasing a russian missile system. ankara