brent: this is dw news live from berlin. the secretary of state makes an unannounced visit to afghanistan. anthony blinken was in kabul to brief officials on plans to withdraw u.s. troops by september. the stop came hours after u.s. president biden announced plans to end america' is longest war. also coming up tonight, germany reports based -- reports its highest number of new covid

cases in three months. doctors warn hospitals are filling up. will people asked to accept new limits on their freedoms to stop the virus? ♪ and thousands of images to tell the story of the pandemic, but this touching ocho captures what has been a dramatic year. we'll get a close-up of the winner of the world press photo contest. ♪ plus, a biological breakthrough -- scientists create embryos mixing human and monkey cells. it could help or transplant patients, but is it ethical? ♪ i am brent. tower viewers watching on pbs in the united states into all of you around the world, it is good to have you with us.

u.s. secretary of state anthony blinken has made an unannounced visit to afghanistan. it happened just hours after president biden confirmed all american troops will leave the country by september 11. blinken said his visit was to demonstrate america's commitment to the country. he told the afghan president that their partnership was changing, but enduring. president ghani said he respect the decision and expressed gratitude for sacrifices made by u.s. troops. as u.s. and nato troops prepared to exit afghanistan, there is concern about a possible security breakdown and resurgence of the taliban. many afghan women are especially worried about what could happen next. reporter: this woman is a teacher at a private school in the afghan capital of kabul. this is her dream job. but now, she fears her career and entire life are under threat. >> today, they told us not to go too far from our homes.

what will happen when foreign troops leave our country? it will be especially hard for women. >> we won't be safe, even within our own four walls. reporter: from the outside, nothing much about life in kabul appears to have changed. but as people digest the news that u.s. and other nato troops will finally leave afghanistan, there is growing concern. >> is a worrying situation, and people believe that if the foreign troops leave the country, there will be a civil war. ♪ reporter: much of the anger here is directed at the taliban, which nato forces hoped to beat into submission. instead, the islamist group now controls large areas of the country. >> our demand to the taliban is

to make peace with the afghans and the government. reporter: but many here are also pointing the finger at nato troops who have been on afghan soil for almost 20 years. >> before troops came here, we didn't have any problems with our lives. if the u.s. military pulls out, people will be able to unite and see peace restored. reporter: peace though looks a long way off. afghanistan's security situation is dire. any like this teacher now fear things will only get worse. brent: earlier, we spoke to a woman who works for learn, which is an afghan nonprofit dedicated to the rights of children and women. we asked if young women such as herselfeel abandoned by the withdrawal of international troops. >> women are more educated, more brave right now. in the past, women didn't aut. there were many revolutionary

women back in the day who started educating and now the international community wants to full out without assurance that the people left behind, will they get education, will the girls in my community become health workers in the future or are more -- or are going to die because of postpartum hemorrhage? it is something i feel abandoned and at the same time, i don't know if i am going to be accepted in the new afghanistan that is in the making right now. brent: a woman speaking with us earlier. for more, we go to correspondent carolina chimoy in washington covering the story for us. carolina, good evening to you. the longest war in u.s. history is coming to an end this year. what is the reaction there among americans? carolina: brent, as you know, there are at least two different

worlds here and one of the worlds is washington, the experts that think tanks and politicians around the country, and people who are right now struggling with a different problem, the pandemic. these are american citizens. as for the political part, congress is quite divided on this question. some republicans support biden's decision to withdraw the troops from afghanistan, a decision initiated by republican and former president donald trump. but there is, for example, republican senator mitch mcconnell, the minority leader in the senate, who says this is reckless and a great mistake. other republicans in the house of representatives joined him, and say this is a capitulation from the u.s. part of the international side. but also some democrats criticized president biden, saying this decision could motivate the taliban to destabilize the country and others like left wing democrat bernie sanders completely agree

with biden and say it is a great decision to withdraw troops from afghanistan and bring an end to the longest war america has had. brent: in his speech yesterday, carolina, president biden mentioned 21st-century challenges facing the united states. he listed china and is concerned about russia. is that coming through for americans, or are americans, are they tired of foreign conflicts? carolina: the huge topic in the states, and i would say around the world, for every citizen, not for politicians, not for experts, but all all for the simple people who just want to go to work and put food on their people, and that is the pandemic and the consequences of it. people have no food on their

table because they have lost their job or lost a family member in the pandemic. that right now is the main concern for most americans afghanistan is far away, brent. remember in 2001, when george w. bush was president and started this war, that was only a couple weeks after the terror attacks of 9/11. so people here in the united states were shocked by the pictures we all know from back then, the twin towers falling apart, people in that chaos, and most americans act vented support the war. but that was 20 years ago. the country is a different country the country has changed and the challenges are different, as you mentioned, china, russia, probably not afghanistan. brent called -- brent: carolina chimoy helping us understand the issue in washington. thank you. germany provides the second-highest number of troops on the ground in afghanistan up to the u.s. they offer training and support

to afghan security forces. this year, germany agreed to extend its military deployment because of the worsening security situation in the country. but when u.s.-led forces pull out, so will the german contingent. earlier, we spoke to thomas silverthorne, state secretary in the german defense ministry, a member of parliament for chancellor angela merkel's conservatives. we asked if the german mission in afghanistan has been accomplished. >> first of all, the military goal to deploy troops to afghanistan was to avoid future threats to us from afghan soil. this military goal has been accomplished. beyond the military perspective, goals have not been fully achieved and remains a question for political leaders and all actors in afghanistan on

how to find reconciliation, peaceful development, elections and stabilization of society, which has been suffering for four decades already from civil war. brent: that was thomas silber horn speaking with the german defense ministry. let's look at other stories making headlines. u.s. president biden's administration announced a new round of sanctions against russia, including expulsion of 10 russian diplomats. this is in response to alleged interference in last year's presidential election in the hacking of u.s. government agencies. the russian foreign ministry has condemned sanctions, saying a response is inevitable. derek chauvin, the former minneapolis police officer accused of the murder of george floyd, will not testify in his own trial. chauvin told the judge he was invoking his fifth amendment right. closing arguments in the trial is scheduled monday.

demonstrators pay tribute to hundreds killed following unrest after the myanmar military takeover in february. this comes after security forces arrested a main leader of the campaign against military rule and after the army opened fire on protesting health care workers in the city of mandalay. germany' is coronavirus vaccine is picking up pace. on thursday, the countryside record number of daily vaccinations, but it is also seeing the biggest rise in new infections since january. new, national-level controls have been approved by the country's cabinet, but could take another week to be passed by parliament. with hospitals filling up, doctors are warning the time is running out. reporter: in germany's intensive care wards, this is what the third wave looks like, more than 29,000 new cases reported thursday -- the highest number since early january.

doctors are warning that in parts of the country, only 10% of intensive care beds are unfilled. the head of germany' as public health institute is alarmed. >> it is clear that we need to act now on all levels. above all, the decision-makers need to take action. we need to reduce contacts now, break the infection chain now and save lives and the health of many people. reporter: but not all decision-makers share that sense of urgency, in particular, some regional leaders have been reluctant to implement tough restrictions. now, chancellor merkel is introducing a change in law to grant the central government temporary powers to enforce lockdowns in areas with high infections. but even for the health minister, this could be too little too late. >> i already said a week ago that we needed extra measures and that we need to take firm action.

time is not on our side. and everyone already has the option to be taking measures. they need not wait for the lot to be finalized. reporter: the new, nationwide regime mandates school closures and contact restrictions when infection rates hit defined levels. much of the public supports tough action. critics say the focus is too much on limiting personal freedoms. for instance, with the proposed introduction of nighttime curfews. >> a lot of people my age will just meet at home in secret. curfews won't get this under control. people will meet privately. >> i don't like it. you can't do that with people. >> i also like to be outside and meet people, but i think we just need to shut things down for four weeks. >> those who didn't follow the

rules before won't listen to these new laws, but those who did obey the like they are being treated like fools. restrictions in some parts of germany have been high for much of the pandemic, but as laws are tightened, people here are having to face the fact that coronavirus not only costs lives, it corrodes liberty as well. brent: for more, i am joint by a member -- joined by a member of the german bundestag, the parliament, for the greens, as well as a medical doctor. good to have you on the program. there is massive testing in germany, the vaccination rollout is gaining speed, but the last 24 hours showed the highest number of new cases in more than three months. why is that? >> as we look to the measures which are taken to action in germany, they are too late and too little. if we look at the numbers, the total numbers are rising at a

very, very rapid rate, especially as we look to our hospitals. we have a rising number of people who need intensive care treatment, especially younger people. and coming through the second wave, they are more sick and they need longer treatment. and all this puts pressure to our health care system. and as a doctor, i am very, very concerned about the situation at the moment. brent: you have worked as a medical doctor for the covid-19 emergency team here in berlin. how do you assess the situation? how bad are things right now? >> they are very bad. at the moment, about 90% of our patients who are hospitalized have the new variant b-117, first discovered in great britain. we also see those patients hospitalized, about 40% need intensive care treatment, which is much higher than before.

and also, if you look to the hospitals, we never had such a shortage of intensive care beds in all 13 months, when we look at the situation right now. this all describes how serious the situation already is, and the numbers are still going up. that is why i, as a politician but also as a doctor, emberley calling for much more restrictive measures taken to action. we really need this at the moment now. otherwise, my colleagues in the hospital will struggle and face really catastrophic situations. brent: let me ask you, before the easter holiday, german chancellor angela merkel wanted to see a hard lockdown over the easter holidays, but that did not happen. she did get support for it. are we now seeing the consequences of that? if there had been a hard lockdown, would have so many people in intensive care now?

>> welcome a chancellor merkel was pretty much alone in her own government because everybody else was afraid to take strict measures, because they were facing pressure from the economy, especially when it came to mandatory testing at the workplace and also new rules to wear a mask whenever people come together inside, specially in the workplace. and in the end, nothing much happened and everything went on, and that is why we are facing now a really tough situation. brent: we know that german lawmakers are still discussing the government's plan to centralize the response to covid-19. it seems that they are doing that a little too late. are they just wasting time now? >> absolutely.

we reay need speed in our acons. speed is the most portant factor when it comes to crisis management. as a doctor working in emergency medicine for so many years, i can only tell everybody that it is not the time for discussion, it is a time for action, and we really need to see action in place right now because it is on our table, what needs to be done and we need action, no more discussion. brent: a member of the german under stock for the green party -- german bun tdestag for the green party, thank you. we appreciate your efforts. here are some of the other developments in the pandemic. health-care workers have been protesting in turkey, calling for a stricter lockdown amid a record number of daily infections. turkey closed restaurants and events and has imposed a nighttime curfew. top japanese official says that

canceling this year's olympics in tokyo remains an option if the country's fourth wave of infection becomes too dire. there are now 99 days before the opening ceremony. and the mayor of rio de janeiro in brazil tested positive for covid-19 for a second time. he first contracted the virus almost one year ago. how to answer this question -- how can you capture a year's worth of emotions and trauma, the anxieties and losses, how do you capture all of that when the year in question was 2020? judges of the world press photo contest have selected the one image that they say tells the story of an unforgettable gear. it was taken by a danish photographer ended portrays the power of the human -- and it portrays the power of the human touch. reporter: there are many aspects of the coronavirus pandemic. top photographers around the

world captured images of exhausted caregivers, people dying alone, distancing and loneliness. when he photograph shows an 85-year-old woman receiving her first hug after five months' isolation in her sao paulo nursing home. through a plastic curtain which happens to resemble an angel's wings. >> that you review the photograph is one of the pandemic's few positive images. the picture suggests vulnerability, loss, grief and death but above all, survival. reporter: brazil has been especially hard-hit by the pandemic. 350,000 people have already died there. nursing homes were closed off for months to protect residents. >> in the split of a second, that we see the images, we feel how it must feel to be that other person, and get a sense of

what unites us. reporter: the jerry looked through nearly 75,000 images. -- the ji -- the jury looked through nearly 75,000 images. brent: can international team of scientists is created embryos which are a mix of human and monkey cells. the team published the results of the groundbreaking experiment in the journal cell. it was to find new ways to produce organs for people who need transplants. the study raises professional and ethical questions, however, the paper's authors are defending their work, saying demand for organs outweighs supply. i am joined, from dw science, by pippa stevens. quite a story, pippa, an embryo that is part human, part monkey. that sound like science fiction and a little bit of frankenstein

as well what did the scientists do? pippa: it quite phenomena isn't it? scientists injected human stem cells into macaque embryos and put them in the lab and that they watched them. they made the human stem cells produce a protein [indiscernible] so they could track them. they claim they survived for up to 20 days, and say they can actually see the way the monkey cells and human cells communicate to each other. brent: and the purpose of doing this is that the scientists want to find a new way to produce organs, right? : pippa: yeah -- pippa: yeah, that is the main thing. ey are bed in the u.s. and they cite thousands of people who die every year waiting for organ transpnts because there are more people who need

organs than there are organs. they also want to better understand human blogy and disease. certain experiments aren't ethical to do in humans, and there are hopes this could be a tool to test new drugs and learn more about disease. brent: on its face, this mixing of human and monkey cells and embryo, it doesn't feel right. talk to me about ethical concerns? pippa: it is interesting to note that in the u.k., you have to terminate human embryos growing in a lab at 14 days end in germany, you c't even have them in the first place. so its pushing ethical boundaries, as you say. some scientists dispute the quality of the data. say the pictures make it unclear that the embryos are even viable -- that the embryo is even viable. other scientists are wondering if there is no answer, what happens, to what makes as human

beings in biological terms, where does that leave us? brent: this is the first time researchers try to inject human cells with animal cells. -- this isn't the first time researchers try to inject human cells with animal cells, what is different this time? pippa: this is beenoing on since the 1970's. recently, they struggled with pigs because the cells didn't integrate. but macaques are close to us in evolutionaryerms, closer than she partakes, thank goodness. that is probably why. and i think the study sheds more light on the evolutionary hurdles that are in the way in studies in the future. brent: it is fascinating, and just as many unanswered questions as new ones. pippa stens witdw science. pippa, thank you. pippa: thank you. brent: it has been two years

since fire damaged parts of the most famous cathedral in paris and shocked the world. many people are wondering when notre dame will open again. french president emmanuel macron -- emmanuel macron -- french president manuel mccrone visited the site today. reporter: april 15, 2019, etched in the minds of parisians. of all the french. of anyone who has visited the city of light or wants to someday. but from the dramatic scenes turning the beautiful monument ugly, to the dramatic felling of a norma's oaktree -- of an eno rmous oaktree in western france, the first of many to rebuild the spire of the cathedral and make it beautiful again.

would from the trees is being dried, some of it on site, part of a five-year plan that is three years and many miles to go. the work so far has been mostly bent to secure what was left after the fire. >> it is still there. we are all gathered and mobilized to restore the cathedral and to give this jewel of french architecture, of gothic architecture, back to the world. reporter: the french president toured parts of the restoration site on this anniversary of the fire, telling workers, each and everyone one of us remembers where we were two years ago, the motivation of all the catholics watching and all of us in paris, and all of us in france. and i believe you can see here the immensity of the work accomplished in two years, two years of work on a massive,

stunningly detailed paris institution dating to the 12th century, with three years to go to resurrect french national treasure. brent: here is a reminder of the top story we are following for you -- u.s. secretary of state anthony blinken has made an unannounced visit to afghanistan. it comes after the u.s. confirmed it will pull out all its troops at the end of the longest war in u.s. history by september 11. other nato companies, including germany, will also withdraw from the country. you are watching dw news leave from berlin. after a short break i will take you through "the day." tonight, we look at president biden's hard-line with russia, doing what a former president refused to even talk about. we will be right back. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪

óo >>liberte, egalite, actualite.

♪>liberte, egalite, actualite. >> talks resume on the iran nuclear deal while biden's desire to bring the us back on board is a negative. france passes a grim milestone, 100,000 covid deaths. president macron meets with advisors on whether reopening in mid-may is a realistic aim.