>> this is dw news live from berlin. britain's royal family issues a statement about claims of racism. buckingham palace says the queen is saddened by the challenges faced by prince harry and his wife meghan, and the accusations of racism made by the couple will be addressed in private, not in public. back in court. the white former police officer

accused of murdering george floyd. the judge presiding over the trial begins choosing a jury. german football, national team coach stepping down a year early. we will tell you what he now has in common with german chancellor angela merkel. ♪ >> i'm brent goff. to our viewers, welcome. buckingham palace is sending a message. in a statement released today, the british royal family says it is saddened over the allegations of racism made by prince harry's wife. buckingham palace says the issue of racism will be dealt with, but privately. we will take you to london for the very latest in a moment. let's listen to what meghan markle said.

meghan: also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he is born. oprah: what? who is having that conversation with you? hold up -- meghan: there are several conversations. oprah: there are conversations with you? meghan: with harry. oprah: about how dark your baby would be. brent: dw's charlotte joins us from london. we know this was an explosive interview, serious allegations. tell us what the royal family has said in resnse. charlotte: yea those allegations, particularly that claims that you just heard in

the interview clip that are going to need to have annswer of some kind. the royal family general does not complain, does not explain. but allegations of this nature being leveled at an unnamed member of the royal household, this was not going to go away without it bei addressed by the royal family. we do know that have a statement, and i will read it to you because some of the wording is interesting. it says, the whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how chaenging t last few years have been for harry and meghan. the issues raiseof race are coerning. they are taken seriously and will be addressed by the family privately. harry and meghan and archie will always be much ved members of the family. although this is playing out in public and raises qstions, regarding race and mental health, and freedom of the press, ultimately, this is a

family issue, a private issue being played out on aublic sphere. that is something the wanted to address in t statement. we also heard that they want to addrs it privately, and that is key. what they are attempting to avoi is a big public showdown, an airing of the dirty laundry that has bn raised in these terview. this is the royal family's attempts to calm the situation and shut down the story. brent: we saw that early today when prince charles was asked anpublic about the accusations and he simply ignored the question. the u.k. public have had 24 hours since that interview was aired in the u.k. what has been the reaction? charlotte: absolutely everybody is talking about it. you do not need to be a fan or a critic of theoyal family to be engaged in the issues that have been raised here.

i am sure you can imagine it has been a huge topic on television today, and one prominent presenter here in the u.k. has had to step down from his role because we saw just how heated the debate was, play out on our television screens this mornin those both for or against harry and meghan and the way in which they have aired their grievances here, but it is fair to say, it has not been an overelmingupport for harry and meghan, there haseen a degree of criticism in the way that it is played out, particularly those who are fans ofhe royal family,hinking th is a discipline -- disloyal way for these problems to be had. brent: charlotte, thank you. the judge presiding over the trial of the former police

officer accused of murdering george floyd in minneapolis last year has begun choosing a jury. this election was supposed to start yesterday but was delayed after an appeals court ordered the judge to consider an extra murder charge against derrick ch auvin, on the right of your screen. he is accused of murder and manslaughter. the killing of george floyd last may, a black man, sparks violent unrest in cities across america. our correspondent joins me now in front of the courthouse where this trial is taking place. it must really be almost an impossib task to select an unbiased jury for this case. how is this being done? reporter: absolutely right about this. this is the only existing theoretical matter, because how

can you assure that those 12 jurors and up to four alternates who will be chosen and have to be chosen for this process here, for the trial, that they can truly be impartial. that is what they are aiming for. impartiality was no pre-existing notions or understandings or deep opinions by the potential jurors. how does this work? this process -- it means the judge, the defendants, and prosecution can ask potential jurors specific questions and examine their impartiality. if one of those parties, judge, defense team, or prosecution wants to dismiss them, they can do this. that means, that really someone is impartial, but for some specific reason, does not like

this specific juror. the challenge is that you can end -- can't end up with a jury of 10 black people and to white people, that will never fly. brent: derek chauvin is facing two charges right now. second-degree murder manslaughter. can you explain the difference? reporter: yeah. second-degree murder is the unintentional -- causing the death of a person unintentionally and not planned. the second degree manslaughter charge is causing the death of a person by being negligent, and it happens because you are negligent and that is why the person dies. a, unintentional causing the death of a person is a second-degree murder charge, and so to speak by accident, but by

negligence of the perpetrator, causing the death of another person, that is the manslaughter charge. brent: you were in minneapolis last year when the protests broke out after george floyd was killed. how is the city and how has it been preparing for the trial? reporter: it is quite a difference. downtown is literally still like a ghost town. any building@ ew here behind mer around is still bordered up, blocked with concrete barriers with fencing, barbed wire, razor wire. there are 2000 national guards here in town, and they are not here because there is no signs of violence. 12 law enforcement agencies created a platform where they

coordinated every step they might have to take further along in the trial or during the trial, so this is now minneapolis prepared. for whatever should or could happen here as of now, all peaceful. brent: dw's correspondent in front of the courthouse in minneapolis. thank you. here in germany, a scandal over face masks. a lawmaker from german chancellor angela merkel is quitting over payments he received for brokering face mask deals for authorities. and another stepping down saying he made 600,000 euros. >> what is being called the mask affair surfaced at the end of february, when police searched the offices of a parliament member. he is thought to have accepted

over 600,000 euros by a mass producer to lobby for its products, but it does not stop here. a lawmaker with chancellor angela merkel's party admitted that his company received euros to act as a mediator for mask purchases. prosecutors are carrying out an initial review. both members have announced their departure from the conservative bloc's parliamentary group. one person plans to keep his seat. for the opposition party, this is not enough. further scrutiny is needed. >> clarity must be provided to the public. millions of people fear for their existence and have seen freedom restricted. the impression cannot be that the few want to do business from parliament are exploiting this crisis for their own benefits. >> the sister partys say they

want to conduct a comprehensive investigation into such practices and introduce a code of conduct that would prevent them. >> we need to go a whole step further and make it clear that what is legally possible is not necessarily acceptable for us. we need a code of conduct that clearly states thatt is not ssible or acceptable under any circumstances to benefit financially from the already active role as a member of parliament. >> the scandal risks battering the cdu party ahead of two important regional elections taking place on sunday. recent polls have shown a dip in the party's numbers. not good news for the cdu just six months before the country's parliamentary elections. brent: the european parliament has voted to strip parliamentary

immunity from three of its members who led the 2017 independence referendum. they are the former presidenof spain's catalonia region, and two other one in -- one time catalan officials. they went on to win seats in european parliament. they could face a charge of sedition, that the independence referendum was illegal. earlier, dw spoke to one person and asked whether he expects to be extradited. >> we are living here since three years and four months. this is the third european warrant against us. the rest were dropped or refused . in my case, refused by the german justice. we will see what will be the decision of the belgium, but

they decide to refuse extradition and probably, it is a possibility they will decide the same in our case. we don't know exactly. brent: what does a loss of immunity mean? i am joined by professor martin hager, a professor of criminal law at the humboldt university in berlin. it is good to have you on the program. as we have just heard, it is not clear whether those colleagues will be extradited from belgium. now that they have lost their parliamentary immunity, how high are the chances that a belgian court could rule against their extradition? prof. hager: it is not easy to say. you must keep in mind that there are two accusations against them. the spanish authorities accuse them of corruption and rebellion.

if you look in the european documents, from spain to belgium, you see there was a list of offenses for which the national courts are not entitled to verify the criminality. one of the listed offenses is corruption. it means for corruption, the extradition is the normal answer. but rebellion is not a part of this offense. that means, we have the same case three years ago in germany and a higher court that decided it is possible to extradite him for corruption but not rebellion, because there is not a similar events under german law similar to rebellion in spain. if the belgian courts have the

same opinion that it is possible to extradite him for a miner ofnse, with the maxum penalty of only five years. brent: as you clearly lay out, this is about a lot more than a simple extradition case. this case is highly politically charged. how could that influence the decision on extradition? prof. hager: within the framework decision of european arrest warrant, there is no explicit norm which says it is not legal are not possible to extradite someone on the basis of political reasons only. if it is only a political case, but it could be a case with a political background, for example that it is a normal

criminal case, but it will probably be background, but not a poor political case. brent: professor hager with humboldt university in berlin. we appreciate your time and insights. prof. hager: thank you. brent: let's bring you up to speed on some of the other stories making headlines around the world. russia has signed a deal to produce 10 million doses of the sputnik v coronavirus vaccine in italy. the first eu country to reach such an agreement. the drug is still being reviewed. the united nations has condemned the police killing of nine people during raids against suspected insurgents in the philippines. groups say that the government's president is targeting activists. they are promising a full investigation. u.s. special envoy for climate, john kerry, held talks in brussels to curb global warming.

the u.s. degree joined the paris climate accord -- the u.s. rejoined the paris climate accord. the standoff in myanmar between military rulers and protesters demanding a return to democracy shows no sign of ending. several local media outlets have been suppressed. at least 50 people have been killed since the army seized power, and dozens more government opponents have been arrested in the latest confrontations. >> a moment of peace for defiance. sister anne rose knelt in front of riot police, saying she was prepared to die to say protesters. minutes later, the protest turned violent as police attempted to disperse the crowds. protesting has become increasingly dangerous as police and soldiers have used tear gas,

rubber bullets, and live rounds on crowds. last night, residents took to the streets to show solidarity with hundreds of protesters trapped by authorities. police fired stun grenades at the supporters, and finally the trapped protesters were allowed to leave. when the sun rose, protesters marched once again. they carried makeshift shields, but stayed for only a few minutes. >> at night, we could not sleep. actually, we do not want to go out, but we are going out anyway. we have been going out for 22 days, and we are going out every day. we keep fighting for the fallen heroes. we will fight until we win.

the military also attempted toi. >> day one, the military pulled the platform, but we managed to report back on satellite and social media. we have regarded the two journalists, and just now, two senior other -- >> protesters say they will continue to gather across the country, daily lives of defiance -- acts of defiance. brent: a supreme court judge in brazil has thrown out corruption convictions against the former president. the annulment opens the way for lula to challenge the current president's hard-line.

he was popular and then he was engulfed in scandal. he said the charges were fabricated against him to sideline his front runner position in the 2018 presidential race. journalist sam is in san palo. lula says he has been vindicated. brazil's president says that the court's decision is clinically motivated. who is telling the truth? sam: it is a very's -- sam: it is a very subjective question and it depends on what side of the fence you sit. from the beginning, lula has always claimed as far as his defense that his convictions were politically motivated to stop him running again in the 2018 elections. it is true that the cases against him presented very weak

evidce, and recently, we have seen the judge to convict him, also appring to collude with the prosecutors in the case. of course, he is saying he has been vindictive. the current president always said that the supreme court is persecing him and stoppg him from passing laws, whether to enable citizens to own more handguns, or laws of this kind. ry much depends on what side of the fence you sit and will polarize brazil further. brent: how popular is lula in brazil? brazil is still in the midst of the deadly pandemic, could lula become president again jac -- again? sam: oh, lula again currently leads the opinion

polls, the latest opinion polls by a small margin. he has a rather large rejection rates, but his rejection rate is lower than current president bolsonaro's. what we are seeing is most of the respected analysts in brazil and political consultancies, saying that lula does have a good chance of running for and winning the presidency, and that is likely where you would see the rejection rate fall. right now and brazil, people essentially want income, jobs, and health care, and they will look back on lula's time in the presidency when brazil grew and poor people became wealthier. they will look back on that with fond memories compared to what is happening now. brent: are we likely to see lula in court again anytime soon? sam: that seems very unlikely

om where we stand right now. oh week is a long time and brazilian politics, let alone, a year and a half until the nt election season starts. steoe ppl think it is unlikely due to the slo bwnzirae scourte involved and that he will stand any other trial anytime before next year when the election season kicks off. they tnk that is unlikely. brent: sam with the latest from san palo. thank you. sam:hanks very much. brent: in sports, german football, the national coach will step down after this summer's european championships. the 61-year-old famously lifted the world cup in brazil, but is -- his side has struggled. many say that he has overstayed his time at the top. ♪ >> germany's>> 2014 trial to was

his crowning glory. he decided to plow on in search of more success. four years later, and the mood was very different as germany returned from the world cup in russia, having been dumped out as holders in the group stage. fans were in shock, but still, the coach vowed to continue. more disappointing results followed, and the six-nil hammering by spain led to widespread calls for him to step down. he had been do stay uanil the 2022 world cup, but ahead of qualifying games later in march, he has decided to give clarity. he has announced he will leave after the european championship scheduled for june. he will hold a press conference on thursday, but in a statement

said, i am taking this step very consciously, with enormous gratitude, but at the same time, and unbroken level of motivation as far as the euros are concerned. >> the timing of his decision is good. it means there will not to be any speculation about contracts during the euros. now it means a decision has been taken and there is clarity. and it could even give the team a boost in knowing that it is the coach's last tournament and will want to make use of that. >> liverpool's german coachas already ruled himself out of the running to replace him. >> if that is the question we want to ask, or as a coach of the german national team, no. >> the euros are being postponed from last year because of the coronavirus which means the successor will have little time to stamp his authority on the team.

the world cup kicks off in november next year, assuming that germany qualifies. brent: you are watching dw news, live from berlin. i will be back to take you through "the day." and italy, one year since the pandemic lockdown began. why the nightmare could happen again very soon. we will be right back. ♪

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