damien mcguinness, bbc news, berlin.turer in the departments of german and history at king's college london. great to have you on newsday. just looking at the report from damien mcguinness, it's so clear angela merkel has been such a huge force in german politics. who's got the best chance, do you think?— chance, do you think? well, first of all thank you _ chance, do you think? well, first of all thank you for _ chance, do you think? well, first of all thank you for having _ chance, do you think? well, first of all thank you for having me. - chance, do you think? well, first of all thank you for having me. yes, i all thank you for having me. yes, it's a very important election for germany as your correspondent right now, the centreleft candidate for the social made democrat... but we don't know yet. it is however important, because it is the end of the pandemic, and this will be very important. besides the economy, what are the main issues that germans care about in this are the main issues that germans care about in th

damien mcguinness, bbc news, berlin.tralia, india, and japan to meet joe biden in washington on friday, when he hosts the first in—person meeting of the quadrilateral security dialogue or. the network came together in may 2007 and formed an alliance to share information on intelligence and defence. what's never formally on the agenda, but certainly dominates the discussion and thinking, is china. that's a point i picked up with tom rafferty, regional director, asia at the economist intelligence unit in beijing.(tx sot australia and states have long—standing diplomatic disputes with china so all members are motivated by concerns about china. if you look at what the quad is working on now in terms of health, security, vaccine bailout and stuff you can see they are keen to give the impression they are working together on issues more than china surges an emerging agenda still. i do think china views the quads and the growing these countries to the united states? i think with concern. the obscene dynamics emerge involving the

damien mcguinness, bbc news, berlin.f australia, india, and japan to meet with us presidentjoe biden in washington on friday when he hosts the first in—person meeting of the quadrilateral security dialogue, or quad. this network came together in may 2007 and formed an alliance to share information on intelligence and defence. what's never formally on the agenda, but certainly dominates the discussion and thinking, is china. joining us from beijing for some analysis on all this is tom rafferty, regional director, asia at the economist intelligence unit. wait to have you on the programme. this meeting is really about the one country who isn't in the room, china. yeah, china is the elephant in the room. never referred to in statements, but in terms of what the driving cooperations between these countries. concerns about china are very much prominent to the members. australia and the united states both have long—standing diplomatic disputes. i think all four members are motivated by concerns about china, but that's not to sa

our correspondent in berlin, damien mcguinness, watched the debate.s to go before the election, this debate was a final chance for party leaders to win over voters. topics ranged from affordable housing and the national debt to climate change and how to deal with china. the current leader in the polls is olaf scholz, the centreleft social democrat to replace angela merkel. when asked about the new aukus security pact between the uk, australia and the us, mr scholz said germany should work together with france to create a stronger europe. "i can understand the irritation that france felt about how the defence pact was worked out," he said. his conservative rival, armin laschet, who is lagging behind slightly in the polls, said that europe needed to act independently and cited the american withdrawal from afghanistan. "we need common european defence projects for when the us pulls back," he said. this election campaign has been unusual in many ways. the polls have been erratic, there are more swing voters than ever before and unprecedented numbers are u

damien mcguinness, bbc news, berlin. let's get some of the day's other news. puigdemont, who tried to declare independence from spain, has been arrested in italy on a spanish arrest warrant afterfour years as a fugitive. spain wants to extradite the former president of catalonia to face charges of rebellion. he's been living in exile in belgium. authorities in peru will cremate the body of abimael guzman, the former leader of the shining path rebel group that was responsible for the deaths of thousands in the 1980s and �*90s. his ashes will be scattered in an undisclosed location. the government has refused to bury guzman, fearing his grave could become a shrine. a us centers for disease control advisory panel has recommended a booster shot of the pfizer—biontech vaccine for americans aged 65 and over and some adults with underlying medical conditions that put them at risk of severe disease, but the panel declined to recommend boosters for adults ages 18—64 who live or work in institutions with high risk of contracting covid. the european commission has announ

damien mcguinness, bbc news, berlin.ngressional committee investigating the riot at the capitol building earlier this year has issued its first round of subpoenas. among those summoned to appear are former president trump's, chief of staff mark meadows, and the political strategist steve bannon. the house of representatives select committee is investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election result and the storming of the capitol by supporters of mr trump this past january. how close a net does this cast around the former president's inner circle? let's get a bit more on this story, and we can speak now to david willetts. david, this does seem like a bit of a ramping up, shall we say of the enquiry. is ramping up, shall we say of the ennui . , ., ramping up, shall we say of the ennui . , . ,, enquiry. is that your assessment? - enquiry. is that your assessment? it - enquiry. is that your assessment? it is, l enquiry. is that your i assessment? it is, and enquiry. is that your - assessment? it is, and many

damien mcguinness, bbc news, berlin. the headlines on bbc news: the government urges motorists not to panic buy fuel, as queues form at some service stations amid fears of shortages due to a lack of delivery drivers. three school children have been sentenced to a total of 28 years for killing reading teenager olly stephens in a berkshire beauty spot in january. police release cctv footage of a man wanted over the killing of sabina nessa in south east london — as they continue to question another man on suspicion of her murder coming up on bbc news, a year late, the ryder cup is under way. jon rahm and sergio garcia winning the opening for some, but the usa are hitting back. we will have the latest and much more on sportsday at 6:30pm. now, though, on bbc news, it's time for the film review. as though at a warm welcome to the film review here on bbc news and taking us through this week's sediment releases, as ever, it is mark kermode. all of human life is here! , , ~ ~ . here! very interesting week. we have the many state

damien mcguinness, bbc news, berlin. north of the country. violence there has left more than 2,500 people dead and 700 thousand people displaced. rwanda has sent troops to help and our deputy africa editor anne soy has travelled with them. making the best of what's available, but what should be a normal activity has to happen under watchful eyes here in northern mozambique. for months, residents have been terrorised by militants affiliated to the islamic state. translation: every time we ran, they pursued us, | and then they beat us, they beat us so badly. they slaughtered people, so we kept running. our mosques have been destroyed, the churches have also been destroyed, we still don't understand what they want. they have only recently resettled here after the area was made safe by rwandan soldiers. this has been the scene of attacks from militants since 2017, which intensified last year, displacing tens of thousands of people. and the rwandan forces say they have now liberated 90% of the province, which is what they hav

let's go to our berlin correspondent damien mcguinness. ike? well, i think this point what it will look like? well, ithink it this point what it will look like? well, i think it is safe to say that this is one of the most unpredictable elections modern germany has ever known. lots of reasons for that, one is that we are expecting a record turnout has a of people might not usually votes are going to vote today, that is what experts say. also at record levels of postal votes, people who may have voted weeks ago even, 40% is one estimate. that makes it also very predictable. but really we have seen unpredictability in the polls for months. sojust four unpredictability in the polls for months. so just four months ago the greens were leading the polls, then it was the conservatives, now it is the centre—left. and i guess there are two big questions really for people outside of germany, what happens here. one is who is going to take overfrom angela happens here. one is who is going to take over from angela merkel, happens here. one is who is goin

i'mjoined by the bbc�*s berlin respondent damien mcguinness. nick there about the challenges i suppose in standing out as a candidate. but it has been incredibly unpredictable as to where this is going. and the opinion polls have been all over the place. trier? have been all over the place. very much so. have been all over the place. very much so- i — have been all over the place. very much so. ithink— have been all over the place. very much so. i think you _ have been all over the place. very much so. i think you could - have been all over the place. - much so. i think you could argue this is the most unpredictable election modern germany has no really. as you say, four months the opinion polls have been extremely volatile. if you lookjust four months ago the greens were really leading quite convincingly. then they were overtaken by the conservatives. then the latest polls, they were overtaken by the centre—left. now the centre—left and the conservatives are looking neck and neck. lots of reasons for that. voters are very undecided, even just

here is our berlin correspondent damien mcguinness.d turnout for this election? yes, according to official estimates we are looking at maybe 80% turnout, which is very high. germany tends to have high turnout anyway but that would be a record—breaker. this is an interesting race because it is so unpredictable for a lot of reasons. firstly, we are looking at a lot of postal votes, around 40% of postal votes that might be sent in and that means many will have already voted weeks ago, so difficult to pick how they will have voted because things have changed. for months now, paul sabine erratic and volatile, so that the past four months, we have seen three different parties leading the polls, first the greens, then angela merkel�*s cdu, and then until today, lead by the centre—left spd, 0laf scholz. the race is between 0laf scholz. the race is between 0laf scholz and the conservative candidate, armin laschet. those two are neck and neck at the moment, so difficult to say which of those two will really step into angela merkel�*s choose. but

here is our birling correspondence damien mcguinness. is there expected to be a strong turnout?ates _ a strong turnout? yes, i think there is. official estimates say _ a strong turnout? yes, i think there is. official estimates say 8096 - a strong turnout? yes, i think there is. official estimates say 8096 of. is. official estimates say 80% of voters will go to polls in germany triple d has a high turnout anyway. this is because —— typically has a high turnout. for months, polls have been all over the place. the greens were leading, then the conservatives, and now it is the centre—left social democrats candidate 0laf scholz who is the favourite to take over from angela merkel. but of course the race is still very tight, so today you are looking in the latest poll figures at the fact that 0laf scholz, the centre—left candidate, and armin laschet, the conservative candidate from angela merkel�*s cdu party, are almost neck and neck, so impossible to predict which of the two parties would become larger party and put forward the chancellor candidate. then you have the other day unkno

damien mcguinness, bbc news, berlin.lection result, and the storming of the capitol by supporters of mr trump. here's our north america correspondent, david willis. well, many in congress remained horrified by the events of january the 6th, the day which saw some of the worst political violence of this kind in this country in more than 200 years, and which led to a delay of several hours in the certification ofjoe biden“s election victory. they want to get to the bottom of what happened in order to make sure that it never happens again, and to that end subpoenas have now been issued to four former close advisers to donald trump. they include his former chief of staff, mark meadows, his former close adviser steve bannon, former deputy in the communications department dan scavino, and an official at the us pentagon, a former official, cash patel. now, they have all been given two weeks in order to come up with documents regarding their communications from each other and with members of the white house in the days running u

berlin correspondent damien mcguinness.he election in three weeks' time was rockets. german chancellor was out on the attack accusing them, the leader of the central left in the left wings chancellor candidates of not ruling out working together in coalition after the election with the radically left—wing linker party and she was doing this to scare of centrist voters who might consider voting for them of the green party. she was saying to them, you might want to wake up with the far left wing government. the problem is that they have a reputation as a centrist, a current finance minister and is known to be not that exciting but certainly reliable. to portray him as a scary lefty who might bring in some communist regime isjust not very credible to many voters. more, this was seen as a sign of desperation is because the conservative blocks are doing so badly in the polls that until a few weeks ago, she was under the present and the election campaign and previously says that she doesn't want to overshadow her candidate, but h

the social democrats, are barrelling correspondences with the cdu, angela merkel�*s party and damien mcguinnessns. it has been a remarkable campaign for the spd, down on the 3rd of a couple of months ago and now setting top. what have you made of the pitch they are making to voters? we top. what have you made of the pitch they are making to voters?— they are making to voters? we know that germany _ they are making to voters? we know that germany is _ they are making to voters? we know that germany is a _ they are making to voters? we know that germany is a country _ they are making to voters? we know that germany is a country hungry - they are making to voters? we know that germany is a country hungry fori that germany is a country hungry for stability so even though it may not be obvious from the outset, the fact that a social democrat would put himself as the continuity democrat following the conservative angela merkel, that has exactly been the pitch of olaf scholz and it seems to have been a very successful i. don't forget he is currently deputy chancellor in germany, the country's finance