The bra. And german footballs top frost signed off on a plan to restart the countrys beloved going to sleep in may but not everyone is on board with a fresh people in the middle of the pandemic. Hello im christine will go out welcome to the program chancellor im going to machall say germany must continue to show discipline in the face of the pandemic she told part of and the lifting of some lockdown restrictions were too hasty and she fears the country might stay on to its recent gains if people became complacent about physical distancing shes also calling for a Big European Union budget to support economic recovery in the block. Across germany more people of venturing out we have to the 16 german states agreed to relax certain restrictions on movement some shops are slowly reopening albeit with restrictions. Facemasks are now obligatory on public transport as well as in stores in some states but easing restrictions runs the risk of complacency addressing the bundestag on thursday german chancellor Angela Merkel warns that the content is far from over. The target to be sure i fully support the decisions made by both the federal and state governments last wednesday but im concerned about the implementation of those decisions since then to me it seems rash to do. With the present time and if not to say too rash. Less than 0 lets not gamble away whats been achieved and risk a setback. E. U. Solidarity was also a key issue european leaders are holding a video so much on thursday to discuss the blocks response to the Economic Impact while ruling out the idea of joint debt in the form of corona farms machall said that germany is ready to make significantly higher contributions to the e. U. Budget the. National efforts can only succeed if we are also successful in europe. Youve often heard me say in the us house germany can only floras in the long run if europe is also in good shape and of. European solidarity in Health Policy has so far been germanys focus more than 200 patients from france italy and the netherlands are being cared for in german intensive care units but with the true Economic Impact of current virus still unknown pressure is growing on europes economic powerhouse to loosen its purse strings. Ok for more on this side will be speaking to. Cheap International Editor richard welcome whos in brussels in a moment but 1st ill start with our chief Political Correspondent melinda crane hi melinda so weve seen germany support its neighbors with donations of medical supplies and even bringing critically ill people to be treated here in germany will that generosity extend when it comes to a joint if its to help spur recovery in countries that have been hardest hit by current of ours. Thats absolutely the question that is on the table today at that Video Conference e. U. Summit that is currently going on and its a question that has been posed over recent weeks both in german political circles and in polls to german citizens and the wide majority of germans absolutely say germany must support those southern European Countries spain italy portugal greece that have been especially hard hit both in terms of health and in terms of the economy by the coronavirus that said where germans are divided and undecided is the same place that the e. U. Leaders themselves are divided and that is over the question of mutualization of debt socalled euro bonds or corona bonds whats clear as that the European Union will have to borrow money it cant simply pay for recovery out of its cash reserves now by taking this step today the chancellor said germany must contribute more to the budget until now the plan was that germany would contribute about one percent of its g. D. P. Its now that number will be significantly higher she said reminding her listeners that germany and europe are an absolute community where all fates are bound together so in that way she is definitely saying yes we are prepared to put more money on the table and she certainly will have germans behind her ok thanks manda is kosovan chief International EditorRichard Woolcott he is in brussels richard weve seen european country actually holding a video summit to discuss the glocks response to the Economic Impact what can be expects to come out of that meeting. Yeah well as we heard from melinda theres been a huge amounts of positioning going on over the past couple of weeks in the lead up to this very important meeting and if you think about the depth of the crisis there really hasnt been an economic collapse of this magnitude and this speed in a century really so the positioning has been taking place in every country we heard a little bit about germany there were certainly people want solidarity the question is what kind of solidarity and theres this sense that this idea of debt mutualization corona bonds is the lingo thats been spreading around europe is is a step too far for germany that this would be seen by many as a slippery slope towards kind of having joints debt for the entire operation of the euro zone but there is a bit of a glimmer of hope that there may be some room for compromise around a proposal that has come from spain and the idea from spain is that the European Commission could borrow money on the International Markets on the basis of the european budget and borrow it extraordinary long terms even perpetual debt debt that never actually gets paid back but just the interest is rolled over now theres a lot of debate around this but it does look like there could be some room for compromise around that at the same time the European Councils been careful to lower expectations about massive breakthrough coming out of tonights summit theyre saying they wont even necessarily be a joint statement theyll just be a statement from the European Council president and most likely he will then say ok we think this could be a way over to you European Commission you guys go work out something that we can maybe sign off on in the next week said ok thank you to the deadliest 1000000 the crane and rich or poor. Now here is a look at other stories making headlines around the world wildfires have devastated about 10 percent of eastern. National park some 6000 hectares of Forest Meadows and people have burned since sunday poland is facing its worst droughts and he is off to unusually dry winter spring with. Gold has been rising to a 7 year high price as a base just look to a safe haven people in thailand have been among the children with the Precious Metal Trading at more than 750. 00 an ounce. Back to germany now the trial of 2 suspected members of syrias secret police has opened in the city of copelands the men face charges of murder torture and sexual assaults they allegedly committed in a damascus prison in 20112012 prosecutors are using universal jurisdiction rolls to try the 2 suspects in this country they entered germany as Asylum Seekers state reports now on one womans hope that the trial could bring justice for her son a warning that some of us may find scenes in her porch distressing. Mario lives in a berlin suburb it seems him to like but this syrian woman is part of a europe wide hunt to catch criminal secret Service Agents from her country like many others mario son my home was systematically tortured the young medical student had spoken up for human rights and calling for president bashar assad to step down now 8 years after his death his mother is seeking justice. I want the culprits to be brought to justice from the accomplices all the way up to assad these people are responsible for spilling our childrens blood could kill. More than 26000 pictures of torture victims were smuggled out of her tour in syria by a courageous former Police Photographer is could see. The photos could help convict torturers and murderers. Human rights lawyer mohsen down we survive torture in syria im now living in germany hes pressing charges against his former tormentors including anwar as a former Senior Member of the Syrian Secret Service n y r r is charged with crimes against humanity murder and rape. This is a fit of stone it will be a player this is the 1st time there is a spoke to both of them or the judge and we have picked a suspect and the size of the state of florida we dont have it in syria. Bill wiley is investigating syrian torturers he used to hunt more criminals as a un prosecutor and worked on cases from the former yugoslavia and the wanton genocide he knows that without a peeper trail its difficult to bring culprits to justice. Thats why these state documents smuggled out of syria are so valuable. What you have in this room are materials generated by the Security Intelligence structures of syria the military structures of syria and the bath party or political structures of syria at the top level and the governor at. Qwest they also shed light on suspected torturers such as anwar are widely believed at least a dozen former senior agents remain undetected in europe. Hopes that not hamdi the killers of her son will be brought to justice but also others living in hiding for her the hunt has just begun. And the oldest one to see the labs and the German Football League have held a Virtual Meeting and say they will be ready to restart the bundesliga season on may 9th and empty stadiums pending government approval of german football announced the decision. Off to a meeting with clubs it would mark the 1st return of a major shift in football. And it seems to be a close game in mid march and needs a special Government Commission to get around bans on large events through august jonathan. Says what civil details but hey john good to see you so what does the plan to seek a plan and hope for here well quite simply it wont through soon as soon as possible we had the christians i felt the boss of the German Football League say this is about survival our clubs are really dependent on t. V. Money flowing in now to that end he has negotiated with broadcasters to get the final tranche of payment 3 100000000. 00 euros ok clubs in advance but obviously that depends on the season also being able to resume and finish now its that ends they have come up with some measures they say well mr risk of the current are spreading but unable games to go ahead predominantly without fans as weve been saying saving everyone stadiums that is one major requirements and needs to be limited stuff presents as well in areas of the state in fact divided the stadium into 3 areas outside the stadium inside and the stands saying there are more than 300. 00 people inside so in those areas you can have a look at some of the points that pregame rituals of the see things like the handshakes and walking out together oh youre going to happen and. Most controversially plays will need to be tested at least once a week now aside from himself has admitted but this is not 100 percent perfect the solution and hes acknowledged the really is that its out of his hands lets listen so its not up to us to set a start date for the ball just league as if the war was a day comes well be ready to leave and if the regional president and the federal government decide this day will be may 9th he was the president will be ready on may 9th. Season time of day led to a day later will be ready then it is and talk to nasa and so i did and then did all the lines right so whats required for this special permission from the governments well it will really be about convincing the politicians that the plans safe and practical we had today from the state premier of the various markets saying that he wants the Rubber Institute which has been advising the German Government to give its view on some of these proposals i would say the noises that from politicians so far have been largely positive for example yet spahn the Health Minister has given his backing on the set medical conditions of course but this is also about deception because some people would say look is it really a good look the playing football when people are dying from the coronavirus we have a contact sport when others are encouraged to do social distancing so i think that is a big problem even found groups opposed to restart their football to have special rules from anyone else and i mention the issue of testing on the league thinks it will need 20000 tests to complete the season it says thats just no point 4 percent of the current Testing Capacity and obviously if the tests need to go to other sources then they will let that happen but again you know can you really think leigh say that for Borders Borders to get tested when people who perhaps need to test hold of them at the moment that say. Jonathan crane from states thank you welcome. And you are today ill be back at the top of the hour join me if you chad it will be wonderful to see its been great having your company see the state of new news on the budget. Combating the corona pandemic. Where does research stand. What are scientists learning. Background information and news. Hour corona. Covert 19 special next on d w