♪ brent: this is dw news live from berlin. tonight, guilty of crimes against humanity. that is the verdict delivered against the formal -- the former rebel commander of uganda. the court ruled the lord's resistance army commander committed torture and murder and he enslaved children. he faces life in prison. also coming up, and iranian diplomatic convicted of plotting to blow up crowds of people in

france. tehran condemns the verdict describing it as a legal and a violation of international law appeared and pandemic positives. pioneering scientists are using technology from covid-19 vaccines to develop a powerful weapon in the battle against cancer. plus, they protested in moscow and now they say they are paying the price. we will speak to friends and relatives of those arrested in protest against the sentencing of kremlin critic alexey navalny earlier this week. i'm brent goff. to our viewers on pbs in united states and around the world, welcome. the international criminal court convicted a former rebel commander of war crimes including murder, rape and systematic forced marriages. judges found he was a former

commander in the lord's resistance army. he is the first commander to be put on trial and convicted by the court. after sentencing, he could face life in prison. >> children's drawings of executions, mutilations, torture aching these pictures helps them process what they have been through. in northeastern uganda, more than 60,000 children were abducted and abused as child soldiers or sex slaves. more than 100,000 ugandans were murdered over the course of 25 years. the former commander of the lord's resistance army was among those responsible for these crimes. the icc has found him guilty of 61 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity and for the first time ever, a conviction has been handed down for forced pregnancy. >> forced marriage, torture, rape, sexual slavery,

enslavement, forced pregnancy, and outrages upon personal dignity. >> he himself was once a victim. he was a child soldier and tortured and abused before becoming a perpetrator. almost every family in uganda as victims to mourn. after was also abused. he now stands up for victims and survivors and was nominated for the nobel peace prize in 2015. >> it is a good move, head facing justice. justice delayed is justice denied. a lot of people did not -- a lot of people died for they could save. >> the court must decide on the sentence. after being found guilty on 61 counts, he faces a life sentence. brent: earlier, i spoke with a psychiatrist in trauma -- psychiatrist and trauma therapist in uganda. he says the verdict was vital for the victims of crimes to be

able to move on with their lives. >> for a long time, describing the dramatic activities including sexual violence, abduction. now justice has been achieved to some extent. we can focus on the symptoms of trauma victims have trauma and also the consequences of trauma including depression, anxiety, and loss of life. we can move on to addressing the effects of the trauma, which is posttraumatic trip stress disorder -- post-traumatic stress disorder and other complications. in which we can now address the effects of trauma including reparation. brent: speaking earlier from uganda. here are some of the other stories making headlines around the world.

u.s. president joe biden is pushing ahead with plans to change the direction of u.s. foreign policy. you will not support saudi arabia's military offensive in the long-running war in yemen. he plans to halt the withdrawal of thousands of u.s. troops from here in germany. u.k. regulators have stripped china's state television channel of its broadcasting license, forcing the channel off the air. the british media watchdog said it was against u.k. broadcasting law for china's communist party to control the channel. beijing has hit back, accusing the bbc of inaccurate reporting on covid-19 in china. iranian -- in iranian diplomat has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for masterminding a foiled bomb attack in france in 2018. the man was based in austria when he was arrested.

his request for diplomatic immunity was rejected. he did not attend the court hearing in antwerp and refused to testify at his trial last year in which prosecutors said he had been behind a plan to attack an exiled iranian opposition group meeting in france. iran has condemned the verdict, describing it as illegal and a violation of international law. dw correspondent barbara bezos is in brussels. good evening to you, barbara. what is the background here? >> the background is straight out of john look hairy. this is the spy that came from vienna. this man was the resident of the iranian secret service at the embassy in vienna for years. he had been working throughout europe, all over the place. italy, the czech repubc, germany, france, traveling constantly. in that sense, abusing his

diplomatic status. what he did was he imported a handy package of explosives on a regular flight from tehran to vienna. then travel to luxembourg, handed the package complete with the explosive, designator and everything you need to make a bomb to a iranian belgian couple who were on their way to go to paris and blow up or at least cause big damage during and at this big meeting of the iranian opposition organization that ets every year. there were international guests. for instance, the former lawyer of dald trump, rudy giuliani, many members of parliament from european countries. this was a big event. the political fallout would have been tremendous. luckily for everybody involved, the israeli secret service who has an eye on everything iranian

throughout the world gave a tip to the belgians, the french and the germans and they could pick these people off the road before anything could happen. brent: is this court ruling going to affect the tense relations that already exist between i run in the west -- iran and the west? >> the relations cannot get really worse. they can only get better. what this means is iis a political message of european countries to the government in tehran. the message says, we see you. we know what you are doing. this has been going on in europe for years. three years ago, there were attacks in -- attacks against kurdish politicians in the netherlands. there was an aborted plot foiled in denmark. these attacks are commonplace. the european governmen are saying we will not tolerate this anymore. this is the reason why they have picked up this group and they are ready to throw him into jail

just to tell tehran we do not tolerate this anymore on our soil. you will have to withdraw these people. brent: barbara with the latest from brussels. thank you. just days after launching a military coup, myanmar's generals have blocked internet access to facebook. the social media up is a popular news source in myanmar. it has been used extensively to coordinate the growing campaign of civil disobedience. among those opposing monday's coup, which saw the arrest of the elected leader are the country's medical staff who say they are refusing to work for the military government. >> this video of protesters in mandalay on thursday was shared on social media. it could be one of the last for a wild. resistance to the coup had been

surging on facebook with calls for civil disobedience. the platform was often used by the government to make announcements. the new military government's move to block facebook owned apps has left many in the dark . >> would have no access to news. i feel so said. it gives me a pain in my chest. >> locking face but means the freedom of young people is restricted. this military coup has started costing us our jobs in our education is in trouble. with armed soldiers back on the streets of major cities, most of the protests have been under the cover of darkness. residents bank pots overnight and hung car horns. -- and honked car horns. among those who have shown opposition our medical personnel

-- opposition are medical personnel. >> this government was not voted for by us. we do not accept them or work under our command. we have stopped providing serves at government hospitals. instead, we will consider providing free medical services through external doctors and any other ways. >> that comes after the detention of civilian leaders on monday, plunging the utheast asia nation under military role. she has not been seen in public since she was detained. she is being charged for illegally importing walkie-talkies. the military has justified its coup by alleging widespread voter fraud during november's election, which saw her win by a landslide. brent: the technology being used in a number of covid-19 vaccines promises to be a powerful new weapon in the fight against cancer.

today is world cancer day and we are taking a closer look at a new treatment tailor-made for each patient thanks to the manipulation of messenger rna. >> a customized vaccine created for an individual patient's particular tumor. fast, effective and with few side effects. that is the promise of new mrna technology in the fight against cancer. malignant tumors can slip past the body's defenses for years with camouflage so clever the immune system does not notice the invader. or it is too weak to keep the cancer cells at bay. typical treatment involves surgery followed by chemotherapy toestroy any leftover cells. >> a doctor cannot change the biology of this disease. we know that latent tumor cells can survive inside the body for a long time and they can wake up and start to divide and

proliferate again. >> the messenger rna vaccine is a totally different approach. it is injected into muscle tissue where it provides the blueprint for a specific tumor protein. once it has the bluepnt, the body then produces its own tumor modules. the immune system recognizes them as foreign and produces antibodies. the body is then armed with knowledge of its enemy. >> it is basically reversing the production process instead of making it in a laboratory with all the technical procedures. it starts out inside the patient's body. which ultimately produces it on its own to teach the immune system what it needs to know. >> the mrna vaccine in the study is made by german pharma company beyond tech whose covid-19 is based on the same technology.

cura vac and moderna are also using mrna technology in the fight againscancer and covid. goal is to give cancer sufferers personalized vaccinations in the near future. >> this is a real milestone. we are no longer talking about months or years until it is ready. just weeks. the significance and potential efficacy have opened up a whole new playing field. >> much work remains to be done, but oncologists worldwide are confident the new technology will become a powerful weapon in the fight against cancer. brent: this really is the positive out of this pandemic. let's go now to our science reporter. good evening to you. we got a vaccine against a virus. people understand that, but how close are we to having vaccines against cancer? >> maybe not as close as we

would like to be. yes, definitely. we now have this technology for the first time ever approved and on the market. we will give cancer research in that field a boost. as we heard in the report, once it is approved it is a matter of weeks of getting a cancer patient that treatment, but it is not yet there. there are still more studies that need to be conducted before we can get an approval process started and we do not know yet exactly how effective it will be. it might just be in addition to the -- an addition to the toolbox and not replace other treatments. brent: we know a lot of people around the planet have been in lockdowns. how has that affected the fight against cancer? >> again, we do not rely have the definite data on that yet, but there is research that suggests that simply because

cancer screenings were postponed, people did not go to the hospital to get their treatments, we might see a little bit of a spike in cancer cases in the upcoming months and years. we might detect more late stage cancer is simple because those people were not diagnosed as early as they could be during this pandemic and that might also impact mortality simply because the earlier you detect cancer, the better you can treat it. brent: the earlier you can find it, that is a sign you are in good health care system. the pandemic has expose the inequalities of health care systems around the world. how does that impact cancer care? >> it does impact cancer treatment as well of course. at the moment, one out of five will get cancer at some point in their life. when we look at the data what is

going to happen in the next two decades, research suggests we will see an increase in cancer cases, especially in low and middle income countries. that is because people simply will live longer in these countries and the longer you live, the higher your chance of developing cancer at some point. there is also some socioeconomic change in those countries that impact lifestyle. people drink more alcohol or smoke more and that is a higher risk for developing cancer. this will be a burden for tse health care stems because they do not have access to high-quality treatment like high income countries. i went to give you one example. if children are diagnosed with cancer in low income countries, 70% of them will not survive the following five years, whereas in high income countries, the majority will survive the same time. we have to work on that

inequality because the best cancer treatment cannot make an impact if it is not available in low income countries. brent: what is even worse is knowing there is a treatment available and you do not have access to it. thank you. the coronavirus pandemic has turned children's lives upside down with schools closed, activities canceled. it is not just their education that is suffering. restrictions and lockdowns are having an impact on their development and their general well-being. german chancellor angela merkel hosted a virtual meeting with citizens about family issues. she promised to work toward reopening daycare centers and schools to give children back a piece of normality. children from poor backgrounds or at a higher risk. in germany, children's organizations are calling on the government to provide more support for young people. >> a real kick about with

friends feels like a fantasy. for children like nine-year-old luna, growing up during the pandemic has meant missing out. >> the hardest thing is spending days, the weeks and months without having much contact with other people. i am missing them. it has changed my character a bit. i have been lonelier, without anyone to do things with. and i have really missed that. >> before the pandemic, around 30 children would come to this afterschool club in berlin every day. now they are making do with one-to-one activities for a couple of hours a week. some relied on the club for a hot meal. to make sure they did not go hungry, the director prepares 10 to 20 meals a day for the kids

to collect. most things children need cannot be packed up to take him. from an education perspective, it is the encouragement we give everyday that is being lost. that is what is really difficult. at the moment, we cannot carry out our everyday work in terms of inspiring the children, showing th new perspectives. the conversations we have here often open up a whole new world for these children. that is not possible right now. and that is really sad. >> the crisis has hit children from poor families especially hard. one in every five children in germany is growing up in or at risk of poverty with a household income of less than 60% of the national average. they often have less space at home, like the equipment they need for online learning and restrictions have made it harder to access support. >> the children growing up in

poverty, this is a hard year, a lost year when it comes to their education and social development. they just will not be able to catch up. so it is important we support these families now and do not wait until the crisis is over. >> childhood cannot be put on ice. for all children's resilience, this will have long-term consequences. brent: thousands of people have been arrested across russia this week in massive protest against the imprisonment of kremlin critic and opposition leader alexei navalny. 500 people are being held at one detention facility near moscow. outside, friends and relatives wait for news. our correspondent spoke with them. >> who is number 15 in the line,

this woman asks. she is one of the volunteers outside of the detention facility, a 2 hour drive from moscow. these people have been standing in the freezing cold since the early morning. they want to help their friends and relatives, people who were arrested during the protest. some of them are waiting for their sentence. some are already serving it. >> we have collected warm things. this is a sweater. this is a blind date. we do not know if our friends have anything to cover up with. there are socks, underwear, t-shirts and gloves in case. all of this is awful. i even cried a few times. my friends are in there. >> more than 7000 people have been arrested across russia in the past 10 days. the police were particularly

brutal during the last protests in moscow and st. petersburg on the weekend and after alexey navalny -- alexei navalny's sentence. some are random passersby. several cases are being arrested, the police say. authorities argue the protests were not authorized and posed a security threat. in reality, the police officers themselves have at times become a security threat to some innocent passersby. these young people say they spent up to 12 hours at the courthouse after being detained. apparently, they had to sleep on the floor. they were sentenced to several days in prison. since prison space seems to be running out, they have had to wait for hours in a police bus. it is stuffy, one young man explains. he says he has spent seven hours

in here so far. it is now afternoon in front of the detention center. the queue has barely moved. the authorities are taking their time accepting the packages and are searching each one carefully. >> this is also surreal. we do not know what all this will lead to, but we want to continue fighting for our rights and our freedom. of course, we are also scared, but many people want to keep fighting for their future on the streets. >> more 500 people are said to be in detention behind this fence and more young people are expected to arrive here from moscow courts soon, especially if the protests continue. brent: in the united states, a man who was left badly disfigured by a car crash is now able to smile again.

22-year-old joe from the state of new jersey just underwent the world's first face end up hand transplant. doctors say the procedure was a success. >> i want to share my story to give people hope in the world. i am grateful to have received a face and double hand transplant, which will give me a second chance at life. >> it has been six months since joe's operations and speech is still difficult for him. the fact he can talk at all is a medical sensation. for 23 hours, six teams of surgeons at new york university hospital operated on him. the result was the successful transplant of a donor's face and both hands. the doctors waited until now to go public because they wait -- they wanted to make sure a complicated surgery would remain

sex will overtime. similar traplants h been successful but failed. in july 2018, the 22-year-old had an accident in which he suffered severe burns and lost his lips, eyelids and fingertips. head 20 reconstructive operations, which resulted in the limited use of his hands and face. in the summer of 2019, this complicated transplant became a possibility. and it was successful. now he sports a new look. >> as soon isolate for the new time, -- i saw it for the first time, i went along with it. i kept going with it. >> but he has not completely recovered from the operations. every day, he has five hours of physical therapy. joe is far from hang reached the end of the road, but he has

a message for others beginning a difficult journey. >> there is always light at the end of the tunnel if you never give up. brent: amazing story. you are watching dw news live from berlin. after a short break, i will be back to take you through the day. tonight, u.s. troops stationed in germany will be staying in germany. we will explain after the break. ♪

>ú■ogfvfvfvfvfvfvfvfvfvfvfvo■

>> hello. it's 10:00 p.m. here in paris. you watching "live from paris." the eu foreign policy chief is arriving in moscow and is expected to confront the kremlin over the jailing of its top credit, alexey navalny. -- its top critic, alexey navalny. and america is back, so says joe biden. he emphasizes a more diplomatic approach to foreign relations and announces changes in policy on yemen. a prominent lebanese shiite publisher was found shot dead in his car o