and germany congratulating joe biden and comma laris melinda crane our chief political correspondent here in the studio breaking it all down for us we're going to take a short break now who will be back again at the top of the hour here on d w news but in the meantime we want to tell you that world leaders have been sending messages of congratulations to biden and his running mate kamel harris but 2 notable exceptions are russia and china which have yet to hell the incoming president. biden's triumph is being celebre. aged well beyond the borders of the u.s. world leaders from every continent have congratulated the new president elect. the civil war new on the years stands ready to intensify cooperation with the new administration and the new congress there's a lot to do if you go we can strengthen our ties from our foundation of friendship and partnership. britain germany france and other european countries were the 1st along with canada to set neck and regulations most expressed parts of renewed unity and cooperation following 4 years of tense diplomacy. very much to working with p

and we can take you now to our chief political correspondent melinda crane, to get more on these very disturbing numbers. melinda, germany has been struggling to keep the virus at bay during this 2nd wave. tell us about the situation across the country right now. well, the numbers have been steadily on the rise since early october, and as you know, partial lockdown measures were put into effect in mid november. the number of daily infections has plateaued or decreased somewhat since then, but nonetheless, as you say, we are now seeing daily rates and they do swing back and forth. but we are seeing daily rates occasionally surpass $23000.00 per day, and that's nearly 4 times as many infections as we had at the height of the 1st wave of the infection of cova during the spring. so definitely a very strong rise. that said, there is a great deal more testing being done now. so possibly the numbers in the spring did not show the full extent of infections at that time. and the other point to bear in mind is that we are not seeing a higher mortality rate. in fact, the mortality rate per capit

and let's bring in melinda crane again to talk a little bit more about that trump not conceding defeat yet bringing it to the courts what does this mean for the transition you know the chance to talk about rule of law and the importance of democratic process well that concession is not simply some kind of symbolic gesture that's a nice to have that concession is part of the essence of democracy which is the peaceful transfer of power when the former president soon to be former president doesn't make a concession he's basically once again calling the bennett essential democratic process into question and sending a signal to his supporters that things remain open and that's a big problem things don't remain open as far as we can see at this point the majority of joe biden is likely to expand if anything the process is appear to have been followed correctly in all of those swing states where the counting was so careful and. it is almost certain that this is the next president of the u.s. and we need to move the process onward now also to bring americans be behind the new government we hav

and like to turn our 2 chief political correspondent, melinda crane, who is tracking the situation here in germany. melinda, germany is a struggling with the keeping the virus at a big lay it out for us. what is the situation across this country right now? well, as you said, we do have new cases per day that are sometimes slightly topping $23000.00. and to put that into perspective, that is more than 3 and a half times the highest numbers that we were seeing back during the spring hearing the 1st wave. so definitely significantly higher numbers now, partial lockdown measures were put into place here, starting middle of november and we have seen the numbers, plateau and sometimes decrease. since then nonetheless, they are definitely very high in terms of intensive care capacity. we are seeing a reduction in excess capacity this week. there were about 3600 patients with cove it in intensive care. nonetheless, germany is very well equipped with intensive care beds, so we don't yet face a critical shortage. and the other thing to bear in mind is that we do have a lot more people being teste

and like to turn our 2 chief political correspondent, melinda crane, who is tracking the situation here in germany. melinda jeremy is a struggling with the keeping the virus at a big lay it out for us. what is the situation across this country right now? well, as you said, we do have new cases per day that are sometimes slightly topping $23000.00. and to put that into perspective, that is more than 3 and a half times the highest numbers that we were seeing back during the spring hearing the 1st wave. so definitely significantly higher numbers now, partial lockdown measures were put into place here starting middle of november and we have seen the numbers, plateau and sometimes to crease. since then nonetheless, they are definitely very high in terms of intensive care capacity. we are seeing a reduction in excess capacity this week. there were about 3600 patients with covert in intensive care. nonetheless, germany is very well equipped with intensive care beds, so we don't yet face a critical shortage. and the other thing to bear in mind is that we do have a lot more people being tested n

oh, i'm now joined by chief political correspondent, melinda crane. belinda, there has been some development of developments in this story. what can you tell us? in fact, the responsible authorities here in berlin have been speaking to the press and they've said that the police are looking for 2 additional men, apparently 21 years of age. and they, as well as the 3 who were already arrested today, appear to belong to one of berlin's organized criminal gangs. a gang, a clan that was apparently known to the police before, that is believed to be associated with another spectacular theft, namely of an enormous gold coin from berlin's voda museum. the raid that occurred today was mostly targeted at properties in the noid code district of berlin, and that is a district where these organized criminal clans are known to live this clan, apparently with arab roots. and as i said already known to the police and to the responsible officials here in berlin said that this raid and these arrests are a very clear message to the clans here in this city, that they are

is chief political correspondent, linda crane has more on this melinda along meeting, but no new restrictions. what took them so long? that's correct. from the chancellor's point. if you get kicked the can down the road, but that's not how most of the ministers presidents of the states saw it. the 1st difficulty was that they got the briefing papers from that. the chancellery at 10 pm the night before, and there was a lot to look through in terms of the chancellor, his recommendations, the states. and this has always been the case since we've been dealing with corona, the states have a very different picture, depending on how densely populated they are. and how many big cities that have states with bigger cities, more densely populated cities, tend to have a much higher rate of infection. therefore, there are a number of states that don't want to see tighter restrictions put in place. only 2 weeks after these 1st set were imposed, they say let's see what they do that see how things work. the other big point of debate, and apparently this kept a lot of argument going out for many hours. were s

oh, i'm now joined by our chief political correspondent, melinda crane. belinda. there have been some developments developments in this story were can tell us in fact, the responsible authorities here in berlin have been speaking to the press. and they've said that the police are looking for 2 additional men, apparently 21 years of age. and they, as well as the 3 who were already arrested today, appear to belong to one of berlin's organized criminal gangs. again, a clan that was apparently known to the police before that is believed to be associated with another spectacular theft, namely of an enormous gold coin from berlin's voda museum. the raid that occurred today was mostly targeted at properties in the noid code district of berlin, and that is a district where these organized criminal clans are known to live this clan, apparently with arab roots. and as i said already known to the police and to the responsible officials here in berlin said that this raid and these arrests are very clear message to the clans here in this city, that they are not above the law a