a threat to the entire world are we any closer to returning to normality or is the worst still yet to come. and in the united states a major win for president joe biden and the democrats as congress approves a landmark relief package aimed at helping the economy recovered from the coronavirus crisis plus mexico moving one step closer to equalizing recreational marijuana high time says users of the drug the hope is also that it will reduce crime and violence in the country. time sorry kelly welcome to the program japan is marking the 10th anniversary of the massive earthquake and tsunami that destroyed towns and triggered the fukushima nuclear disaster. and you're watching there the minute silence which was observed across the country at 2 46 pm local time the exact moment that a magnitude 9 quake struck and set off the deadly wave and her narrow hito and prime minister negotiate he does lead an official ceremony in tokyo to pay tribute to some 2000 people who lost their lives now the half a 1000000 people were displaced and towns around the fukushima nuclear power plant remain on inhabitable. for more let's go over to journalist sonya who is having the view from tokyo so no walk us through the commemorations today on this very somber day for the country it's like you said it's a very somber day for the country and particularly for the people in the most affected areas in fukushima and you want to and obviously it's not only a day but it's been a very tough 10 years for many but especially also for people who are still looking for loved ones over 2500 people are still missing so these people haven't even been able to find any sort of closure. trauma is still a big issue people are suffering from flashbacks when there is another quake like a few. weeks ago. things come out and while when you go to the area though and you see a lot of reconstruction has happened the community says they need to be rebuilt from now on but many people have not returned don't want to return and you know we will see how the next years you know those areas will change from people you know and it's change not only you know the structures in the area it has it had that emotional impact but you've also mentioned how has the disaster changed to pan if you're looking back now over the past 10 years. when we look at the tsunami issue it's definitely heightened the awareness of people that they need to be prepared for for anything of for earthquakes tsunamis rules and regulations have been improved and also structures have been built so that people can escape when it comes to the nuclear issue it's a different story obviously people were in a limbo for a long time and the people who were evacuated didn't know whether they could return whether they will ever be able to return and from a political viewpoint to come is still very much supporting nuclear power so that despite this severe accident in the nuclear power plant japan is holding on and also the nuclear village is very much. keen to maintain its nuclear policy system and we know in terms of the situation on the ground that there is this 300 square kilometer exclusion zone remaining in place around the plant it contains the memories of a tragedy that has defined the lives of these survivors sagna i'd just like to have a closer look now and then get your reaction thereafter to. me it's a ghost town situated just a few kilometers from the fukushima nuclear power plant the only thing left here is memories from march 27th. 70 o'connor grew up here nowadays he rarely visits the family highly. it lies in the exclusion zone. where it's been too dangerous to live ever since. to grow a pool i don't find the time missed it still is that i feel more that everything has gotten worse. now there is just silence here. but sammy o'connor is still haunted by the sound of the tsunami. and the image of the waves destroying everything in its path is stuck in his mind. already there being a war i have to respect nature these are nature's warning signs that you must treat the earth with care you are on your part of the case because your. summer used to work at the power plant. now he wants nothing more to do with nuclear energy. one look at the area explains why the banks littering the ground are filled with radioactive soil an entire city has been eradicated and almost no one wants to live here cleaning up the damage will take generations thousands are busy on the site of the nuclear plant for the toughest work is yet to come west. of it there's no blueprint for the work here and even though we're making progress you still come up against a problem that you didn't anticipate. you can you want to do much of. the work is recover spent nuclear fuel and make sure the reactors a constantly pumps with cooling water the water is purified but it's still contaminated and it may have to be dumped into the ocean at some point. the area is still in a state of emergency according to greenpeace that we're only in year 10. it will be going on for at least the rest of the century. japan has invested billions of euros rebuilt sounds or constructed entirely new ones but they are mostly empty filled only with those who work at the power plant or the elderly semi o'connor who hates the word reconstruction he says nothing will be like it was before. the gravesite of his family lies in the exclusion zone no sure but the one who don't want to just look at what i have to put on the kinds of annoying things i have to put up with just to visit a grave site. it won't be over tomorrow or in 10 years or even decades from now that's why sammi o'connor feels compelled to talk about what happened on march 11th 2011 and we're back now with sonia and tokyo sonia i mean we just saw the situation there on the ground there used to be some some 50 nuclear power plants in operation in japan before this disaster now there's only 4 how does the public feel about nuclear power now the public is still very much against i should i say still i mean the disaster obviously has changed their opinion a lot according to surveys 75 percent of the public are against nuclear power it is just that the whole issue has basically disappeared from the public discussions into your partner told me that in fukushima there is a kind of conspiracy to silence people don't talk about their fears they don't talk about radiation and also in the rest of the country discussions have disappeared and so have the demonstrations so nuclear power is still a thing in japan and it's 2 part of the energy plan it's on you glasgow with a view from tokyo thank you welcome. well today also marks one year since the world health organization officially declared kovac 19 to be a pandemic the 1st coronavirus cases appeared in the chinese city of on officials there claims that if the food market was the source of the outbreak now the virus quickly spread across the world with europe becoming the new epicenter lockdowns and border closures didn't stop it moving and before long almost every part of the world became affected by the pandemic. they're trying now by andrew oman he is a member of the german parliament for the business friendly f.t.p. party and a member of the german health alliance advisory board welcome to the program and thank you so much for joining us you know we just want to look back now with more of the past year there had been calls one year ago for the w.h.o. to declare a global pandemic weeks before they actually did in march of 2020 how much damage did that delay do in your view in your opinion i think it did a lot of damage because a lot of people and even myself underestimated the pen demick starting off in january we were still hoping there would be a very similar to that 1st outbreak of sars one couple years back and we were hoping there would be the same situation for both to however the data the emerging data later on actually proved the fact there were a lot more cases than originally know when it would have been important for a lot of governments worldwide to try to contain the disease early on and right now we're not even doing well for me to geisha 110 well from medication is there anything that has been done right over the past year. well if i look at very closely how it was working here in germany we got very lucky because our country was one of the 1st countries who had a test available to diagnose the infection of 2 and therefore we had a head start with the 1st wave and this is sara lee and this is the t. of a locked out early on was obvious because we didn't know much about the virus we didn't know much how to contain the virus we didn't know how to how the population has to behave to contain the disease but we got lazy and got very lazy over the summer months because the numbers were very low and thrilled europe and we were almost back in vacation mode holiday mode and i think that was it would be interesting to dot to ensure that our systems were more resilient against the 2nd wave because if we look at previous histories of pandemics and especially thing at the flu situation back in 1918. came back with a couple of waves and it was obvious for me as an infectious disease specialist. the 2nd wave had to come in the winter months because we always have respect already infectious in the winter months however we didn't prepare ourselves well enough absolutely didn't prepare well enough the e.u. germany has come under a lot of criticism when it comes to the rates of vaccination which really pale in comparison for example with the u.k. the united states for example tell us what do you think needs to be done now going forward in order to get out of the sticky situation. well we still have the sticky situation because we do not have enough vaccines available for for the population within europe but the organization has to improve right now in germany the nieces only distributed and nation centers that were set up in tents basically in major cities and now we really have to we have a task force of a lot of physicians out there private physicians general for the practitioners we have tori medicine we have working medicine physicians working in large companies that can distribute that vaccine very quickly and easily because they do that every year for the flu vaccine so this organization has to start had to be started already a couple weeks back or a month back however right now the 1st preparations are starting so what the government is doing at this point in time is just too slow in the pace and not of future foreseen that could happen so we need to activate that work working force of physicians that could distribute that vaccine once we have enough vaccines available and one thing has to be very clear in the discussions if germany is doing well or not or the europeans are doing well or not we have to see in the context of the global pandemic because as long as the pin demick is still active around the world who will never stop within our country as well and that is very important to know because one concern i do have as a physician is the possibility of more mutated viruses out there that could be more resistant against any kind of vaccination of the world is in it together and will not member of the german parliament thank you so much for joining us and. thank you very much. and let's go indeed to a different part of the world to now we're heading to brazil which is suffering what one doctor has called its worst moment to yet when it comes to the pandemic many hospitals across the country including the richest state of south paulo have no beds left to treat covert 19 patients the number of daily deaths pushed past 2000 for the 1st time on wednesday bringing to more than 270000 the number of people killed by the virus the surge in infections and deaths is being fueled by a more contagious variant that emerged in the amazonian city of money now in january the situation there remains dire as johann ramirez from d.w. reports many there have become complacent. lucy linda doesn't but is back to live in a normal life in meet john why reach an early date when the health system in the now is collapsed she had been infected with a new a strain of the corona virus and needed oxygen but this city had run out of feet by the sea we'll see how. it's aim to apocalyptic us was my head the more religious people said it was a sign of the end of the world when i'm it's probably really was a nightmare i never thought i would experience such a dramatic moment in me the film that i'm much less seen it's a moment to see descends to hop forgotten this is the main market in manassas even those tours and businesses are only allowed to to operate at 50 percent of their normal capacity and this by the scientists at margins of more and more dangerous variants the market is always overcrowded. about 13 new strains of think we're on a virus had been that that that in minot was one off then the one is responsible for 60 percent of current infections in the region suggesting that it is more transmissible and that number is on the rise racing fears of a 3rd wave it could lead it to date margins of even more dangerous bargains according to devide ologist who discovered that being one is trying. to squash people to behave your scares me. because they are seeing the situation the worse and yet they continue to live as if things are normal so that could mean that we will soon have a much more serious situation as opposed. to what according to the studies by the fear was research foundation the government of vaccines are a still effective against the p. one strain is but summations center can add mr johnson's of those this birthday but even here the oath already is our own they both implement physical distance in. a positive moment when vaccination starts there are always a lot of people but then the crowding goes down when older people come for bucks eventually they bring one or 2 relatives and that's what causes the crowds on the woman also. with more than 7 percent of it's the hubby downspouts united states of commerce on us where my mouse is located because administers there most of those is today to brazil however it is still a far from containing the virus that without social distancing people will continue to die from the virus. the city has made space for 22000 new graves in the cemetery it's an a horrific forecast of what the new variants could bring to my mouse in the near future. and let's get you up to speed now with some other stories making news around the world china's parliament has backed a communist party's plan to tighten control of hong kong overhauling the city's electoral system the changes around beijing veto powers over candidates critics are calling it one of the final nails in the coffin of hong kong's democracy and. united nations security council has released a statement unanimously condemning the violence against peaceful protesters in the yanmar this as reuters news agency reports fresh violence after security forces shot dead 6 people in the central. town of new young another protester was reportedly killed a young gone. before us secretary of state anthony blinken has described the violence in the. region as ethnic cleansing and called for the withdrawal of eritrean troops washington's most senior diplomats called for a reconciliation process to her store petes where the 50000 people have been killed since more broke out in november. the u.s. congress has approved a sweeping pandemic relief package the 1st major legislative triumph of the biden administration the covert $1000.00 bill is expected to be signed into law on friday by the measures include direct relief payments of $1400.00 for most americans funds will also be pumped into vaccination programs and billions of dollars allocated to schools local authorities and businesses protect the measure it was passed without any of my republican votes here. and here let's get more we are joined by jessica berlin a us political analyst who has worked in the senate during the obama administration welcome to the program and thank you for joining us this packages really big deal just walk us through why thank you good morning you know as this package is probably the largest and most transformative piece of gender of legislation in a couple of generations the biden recovery package is not only targeting the immediate effects of covert 19 but it's really aspiring to be an intergenerational package of progressive stimulus and support so their ambitions are really going far beyond couvade relief but also desperately trying to support families who have suffered so much in the last year especially in the face of so much inaction in the previous administration. talk with us a little bit about this relief package and compared you know to efforts and other regions in the world for example in europe when it comes to stimulus. yes that's a really interesting and important question of course by the sheer numbers the american relief package now is to warfarin efforts we've seen elsewhere but we have to remember that that 1.9 trillion. paycheck or excuse me that $1.00 trillion amount that's being passed is not only for the economic recovery which for example the e.u. and individual national european relief packages have focused on it's also focusing on social service says on supports who are low income families individual citizens that $1400.00 to check you mentioned and also relief to children and families that will be getting child's tax credits of $300.00 per child especially focusing on low income families but we have to remember that those kinds of expenditures in europe are usually already being covered through social security legislation and support systems that that preexist so in america right now this a lot of this bill is providing this sort of social security and safety net to families and to poor people to jobless people that already exist for example in germany i think in germany the children's monthly tax credits or stimulus is something around $200.00 euros per month and that predates cohabit or any other sort of emergency situation so this is a transformative economic and social relief package that that differs strongly and that a lot of support for families needed to be added that perhaps wasn't available to american families during normal times jessica berlin with the view from the united states thank you thank you. now mexico's lower house of congress has voted in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana use the legislation which still needs final approval by the upper house is partly aimed at curbing drug related violence that claims thousands of lives each year in mexico. mexico's marijuana smokers have every reason to be high their long running campaign to legalize the plant is almost our reality after lawmakers inside the lower house of congress approved a bill that permits recreational use and introduces farming licenses campaigners say the legislation is a step in the right direction. but again if this law will allow cultivation both self cultivation of a number of plants power peris an unpaired property and also associates of cultivation community cultivation through cooperatives associations and finally the national production. last year mexican police seized more than 200000000 tons of the plant supporters hope the changes will alleviate the plague of violence wrought by the illegal drug trade though on a list just skeptical among those pushing for a change is a former president turned cannabis lobbyist money and with an. inversion i'm driving the group of the market to take it away from criminals and not is fundamental it will reduce violence. there is no doubt that what this plant produces benefits people patients and those who are willing to buy these medicines. the bill is expected to sail through the upper house of congress before the end of april making mexico the largest legal pot market in the world. now to some football news and in the bundesliga. 2 mail in their rescheduled match on wednesday evening this after their game was called off due to heavy snow last month sargent opened the scoring at the start of the 2nd half its afflicted pass and landed right at the young americans feet for the easy tap in and half an hour later kevin netted braman 2nd to round off the scoreline the win leads graham in comfortably in mid table while you have felt are stuck in the relegation zone. and in the champions league in the round of 16 liverpool have beaten wonderfully the side are belied 6 to nil to advance to the quarterfinals after also winning the 1st leg mohammed salo scored liverpool's 1st goal in the 70th minute and sabio monday netted another 4 minutes later also on wednesday parsonage among drew one all with barcelona a go through to to the quarter finals on aggregate after having won their 1st encounter on now to some images of the world's largest religious gathering taking place in india hindu pilgrims from across the country have taken a death in the holy river ganges to mark the most species day of the festival at dawn hundreds of thousands gathered by the river banks to take the plunge in one of the several bathing days over the next month authorities are expecting 2500000 people to gather for the festival but because of the pandemic the government has curtailed the festivities and a negative test certificate is required or at least in theory this is compulsory. up next on t.w. news it is complex on where my colleague chips about string girls german conservative politician andreas think i'm sarah kelly and thank you so much for watching us take care. of. going. into the conflict zone with tim sebastian germany humanoids follow soon all of us felt like these days also freshens emotional criticism of its new street to just deal with mosco from those who say shoes for the sole function of my guest this week from voters the christian democrats and andrea isn't it this is good news policy to joke food lives in favor of the conflict zone. next to tell you. they were mutating into a nameless mass. their bodies a mere tools the history of. the slave trade east africa's history. describes how the greens for power and profits plummeted an entire continent into chaos and violence. beyond the desert the 1st part of our series of sleep problems. before. w. . stay up to date don't miss our highlights w. program online w dot com highlights. and you may know yes yes we need you and how the last 2 years just mentioned it's now remembering you i'm going to a man call and you've never had to have surprise yourself with what just possible who is medical training what a new sat and want also we talked to people who follow along the way i admire and critics alike how is the world's most powerful woman shaping how they can join us from eccles law stocks. isn't it time to admit that your government is always willing to sacrifice those human rights for the sake of business if the united states by screwed over $30000000000.00 a year in russia i could not explain to my electorate why germany should be treated differently germany's human rights policy is under the spotlight these days after fresh international criticism of its north stream to gas deal with moscow and accusations that it's soft on china my guest this week from borders the christian democrats and unveils mitt is it his government's policy to junk human rights in favor of business.