President elect, joe biden announces his 1st key cabinet choices. Its a team that reflects the fact that america is back ready to lead the world. Not retreat from it. Joe biden is moving quickly to fill all key positions in his administration. Now that donald trump has stopped blocking the transition im anthony. How its good to have you with us lengthening the lockdown. Gemini, 16 state leaders have reportedly agreed to extend coronavirus lockdown measures into the sand and possibly into the new year. But exceptions ah, being made for holiday celebrations, restrictions already in place have led to a leveling off of infections. But germanys chi slowed remains stubbornly. The pressure is on for the German Government to ease restrictions for the most important time of the year. For many christmas celebrations, right, no bellinis john dam unmarked square. Would usually be packed with people enjoying the christmas market. Its been cancelled. People will be allowed to gather at home for christmas, but in smaller groups, still many accept the reality. This year is different. Theres going to be naturally some of the procession. Its nationally to happen, but it is what it is. You know its, theres no policy thats ever going to be 100 percent. Of course, i believe in god. I dont understand why restriction would be nice for christmas. Perhaps one should stick to them, but i also see what happens with people when they are lonely and happy. So i cant say much about it, but i just talk about it because i also see how it is in hospitals. Thats where i work. All. Yes, its sad not to celebrate christmas as usual, but how else the measures taken are important and necessary . And does always skypes always see the decision on christmas is expected to become firmed wednesday following talks between state premiers and chancellor angle america. The overall situation remains critical on diets for so long as you have High Expectations as a parliamentary group. Until now we have begun to see a short trend of lower figures in terms of inspections, which means the exponential growth could be stopped. But thats not enough. We need lower figures, especially for christmas. Christmas isnt the only celebration thats on the line. Many say that the much loved tradition of new years eve, fireworks needs to be reigned in, but a nationwide ban on fireworks sales does not appear to be on the cards. And for more on this, lets bring in a man or show state Police Political correspondent. Good to see you anna. Whats the situation right now . Is the pandemic on the control . Well, on sunday, ever since the 2nd of pasha look down here at the beginning of november, weve seen the number of infections be lies. Theres no more exponential growth, which is a positive news, but the figures us 2 way too high on tuesday. There were more done 1300 new infections, a recorded, we are nearing the w1w infections here in germany and most 1500 pounds in people that so no to pandemic is definitely not under control. Just last week, chancellor merkel called for even stricter measures, but there was pushback from the states. What chance theyll find Common Ground here . Well indeed, im going to america cold many times both tougher restrictions, but as she does have to find a come on line, we still state premiers now. She backed the draft proposal on monday by the state premiers. And the goal is a coordinated answer at the national level. We can see we can imagine additional measures in areas where the high rates of what is a high rate of infection that could be introduced, such as gatherings, for example, up until now 10 people from 2 households could meet. That could be reduced to 5 people only. We can also, according to the draft proposal, see next fanchon of the current measures. Shops we remain open, the restaurants will remain closed until close until at least december, the twentys whizzes situation being revoked, revaluated every 2 weeks. And of course people are always encouraged to limit socialising to avoid travel as much as possible. And a lot of the civil go one on christmas and the holidays coming up. What are you hearing . Will they be restrictions specifically for the Holiday Season . Well, according to the drafted measure, members of one household will be allowed to me. Its always up to 10 other people from all the haas holds between december 23rd and january. So for the celebrations of the end of the year, both christmas and z. People are encouraged to say if isolated before and off to the side abrasions schools may also break up a few days, perhaps as early as need december. So as to encourage these quarantine ready just ceremonies will be allowed. And also how it is i looking into increasing the test capacities ahead of the holidays and also breaking with a longstanding tradition on new years eve and here in germany any to be to avoid a public gatherings. There will be no public fireworks. And people will also be strongly encouraged, not to set up their own fireworks this year. They dont believe Political Correspondent emanuel many. Thanks. Ok, lets have a look now at the other developments in the corona, virus pandemic, and francis relaxing its coronavirus restrictions following a drop in human fictions that essential shops, movie, theaters and museums will gradually open, but gatherings will remain banned. Struthers most populous state new south wales, has eased social distancing measures and allowed companies to bring employees back to work after 3 weeks without a locally transmitted case. And in the us, a restaurant dawning band comes into effect today. In los angeles, the countrys 2nd biggest city, the 3 week order comes as the state of california faces a Record Number of new infections. In finland, restaurants, and bars, they are open for business stores. In fact, never closed. Its the only european country thats managed to keep new Coronavirus Infection rights under control. In the past 2 weeks, finland has recorded just 55 cases per 100000 people. But while there are few local restrictions, finland has fairly tight rules to keep the virus outside its borders. How has finland managed to keep . The coronavirus said, during the 2nd wave, its not due to harsh restrictions on citizens because there arent any masks or recommended, but not required in most places. All stores are open. Restaurants and bars are 2 orders for alcohol and at 11 pm is director of the National Coronavirus strategy. He explains. It relies on a sense of personal responsibility. Near recommendations wouldnt work everywhere, but here they do start to try to maintain avoid a lot of gatherings of a lot of parties. Many people intend to work with the way. Says many finns are working from home and surveys show in person. Social contacts have been cut by 2 thirds. So while the situation in finland is very good at the moment compared with the rest of europe, Health Authorities warn that this requires constant vigilance. So while they are not making mass wearing mandatory, they put out friendly reminders like this one on city hall. Its a very good idea if ins want to maintain this way of life. But the number of new cases has started to rise. So now the government has ordered students over 12 to wear masks in school, and limited the size of social gatherings in the helsinki area to 20 people. It also extended until at least mid december ban on all nonessential travel into the country. Finnish Officials Say in the summer, half of new Coronavirus Infections came from abroad. Thats dropped to 6 percent. Now that tourists arent allowed in. The European Union is pressing governments to restore open borders as soon as possible. As finland is grappling with whether it can do that and stay safe or something that looking a little bit worried, a little bit terrified. Also that, that we have to have to have very good model to work with the border if you have through to maintain them here. And one government proposal is the travel restrictions could be eased by making it mandatory to be tested on arrival. It is deputy mayor of where the airport is located and hes responsible for security there. He says his city doesnt have enough medical professionals to carry this out. Communicated to the government that if you lift restrictions and if you make the law that forces our staff to move over to the airport, the situation is so that we cannot treat our finnish people anymore. So well that the difficult decisions lie ahead for finland as it tries to figure out how to continue blocking the virus, but not visitors. And teri schultz is back in brussels. Good morning, terry. Just on the lawn in the point you, you make in the report the difference between finland and fiction, right . And other European Union countries is huge. What kind of numbers are we talking about . Thats right anthony. Only iceland among any country in europe has a lower rate at 53. 00, but if you look at the European Union, finlands rate of, of new infections per 100000 people is 73. 00. Now the next closest you country is ireland, at 103. But you in germany have 308 and here where i said in belgium, its at 476 again versus finland. 73 new infections per 100000 people. So thats a very dramatic difference. And thats why finland has confidence that its very loose measures work for it. But its a very unique case. You also mentioned in your piece that the infection rate is starting to rise here in finland if this is, was working so well. Whats going wrong now . Thats right, and its something that the authorities continuously warn citizens about that if they dont appreciate how much freedom they have now and follow the rules that are in place, which again, are recommendations and not legally enforceable like they are here in belgium that they will lose these, these privileges. So what the problem now with no new infections or very small breed of infections coming in from outside because of the border restrictions finns are spreading it amongst themselves. Theyre not being careful. And weve seen that here in belgium as well. That is moving between families. So just a week ago the rate was 20 infections per 100000. People less. So thats a pretty big rise in one week. And people there are very worried about it. The rate is still extremely low compared to any other European Union country, but people have to be more careful leads to the question. If the finnish government will be able to maintain its strict controls at the border, one of the reasons that police that had such good control of infections of the money. Thats right. The rate of new infections coming into the country dropped from 50 percent coming in from abroad in the summer to just 6 percent now. So the finnish government does believe that it has prevented a lot of new infections this way. But the European Union, the European Commission, constantly tells countries that it needs that they need to open their borders, that they need to respect the schengen system, where European Union citizens are allowed to move between them freely. These countries are allowed to extend these restrictions for short periods of time, but finland is due to review this again the middle of december, and it will either have to justify to the European Commission why it believes it needs to keep the controls or it needs to relax them a bit. The other pressure comes from business thin air. The National Airline is losing over a 1000000 euros per day due to the shutdown with lapland. Of course, the host of santa clause finish the finish government is under a lot of pressure from, from its business side, from the Tourism Industry to relax the restrictions as well as in brussels. Many thanks. Hes a look now at some of the other stories making headlines this and if you have the and Rights Organization says that a local youth group, i did, but police and militia killed at least 600. 00 people in a rampage in the tikrit region earlier this month. And Human Rights Commission said, members of a group called summary, carried out the massacre in the town of my keyser. The protesters have gathered in the central paris to oppose a security bill. Frances lower house of parliament approved the changes that will in some cases make it a criminal offense to post photos of police officers. Online legislation has been criticised by activists and journalists, scotland has become the worlds 1st nation to make period products freely available to all its parliament, unanimously approved legislation that makes free access to watch them such as tampons and sanitary pads, illegal bright. It aims to end womens period poverty, the inability to pay for basics and a Tree Products on a monthly basis. International donor countries at a conference in geneva have pledged more than 10000000000 euros in i for afghanistan. The money will be delivered over the next 4 years, but will be partly conditional on progress made on human rights. And peace talks with the taliban. Us media reports say president , dont trump plans to pardon his former National Security advisor, michael flynn. Flynn twice pleaded guilty to lying to the f. B. I. During the investigation into russian meddling in the 2016 president ial election. In may, the Justice Department moved to withdraw its charges, but that if it has since been stalled in a federal court, trump reportedly wants to issue numerous pods before he leaves office. And the transition process is picking up speed u. S. President elect joe biden has introduced 6 key members of his cabinet, each of them with decades of experience in their particular field. He said the policy and consensus back and that the new White House Team taking shape will lead by example 3 weeks after the election, the trumpet, ministration has finally given president elect joe biden. The green light to begin the transition process. President donald trump personally directed his administration to cooperate in the handover, but he has yet to officially concede defeat. Instead, he pardoned it. Turkey in the white house rose garden as part of a thanksgiving tradition. I hear back matthew, and he also used the opportunity to remind americans what he stands for. As i say, america 1st should go away from that america 1st president elect joe bidens nominations for the top post of his cabinet point in a very different direction away from trumps america 1st doctrine and towards diversity and multilateralism work in government. Thats a team that reflects the fact that america is back ready to lead the world, not retreat from it. Once again sit at the head of the table. Bidens choice is our policy veterans like his longtime adviser, anthony blinken, named to secretary of state. We cant solve all the worlds problems alone. We need to be working with other countries. We need their cooperation. And the best known of the nominees is former secretary of state, john kerry, poised to become bidens Climate Change envoy. To end this crisis, the whole world must come together. Youre right to rejoin paris on day one. I expect that with great former Federal Reserve chair janet yellen is to serve as treasury secretary. Shes trusted in the financial world. And if confirmed, she would be the 1st woman to take over. This pivotal role with optimism about new Coronavirus Vaccine spreading and political uncertainty, seemingly diminishing. The dow surged past 30000 points for the very 1st time on tuesday. So i think people like the cabinet posts were seeing from biden, they like the idea that this sort of long period of uncertainty about how much difficulty weak see and outgoing tromping ministration make. I think people like that thats over i think people like janet yellen as an idea for a new treasury secretary, shes a known quantity, was pretty able set of hands and a tough moment for everybody. President trump quickly claimed the latest market rally as the fruit of his own administrations work. But the markets seem to be banking on the current u. S. Leader, being on his way out. War zones around the world, landmines left over from combat remain a deadly has it. Its a huge cleanup job that an International Coalition of more than 100. 00 nations is trying to tackle. They are holding a Virtual Meeting today to report on progress. One of the worst affected countries is a rock. Heres a look at one village where many residents have had their lives tragically altered by land mines a life without hope. Money coming in lost a leg. He has no work and no money. But somehow the 34 year old has to provide for his fine children. They amputated my leg. 6 months ago. We asked the government for support. I havent had any income since i cant care for my children. Last spring, monic left his village for iraqs desert. He scavenged for debris on the battlefield of the gulf war to sell to scrap metal dealers, a desperate attempt to eke out a living in a wasteland. I was picking up pieces of metal when it happened. I stepped on a landmine. When i moved my leg, it exploded, and then it was gone. For the boot run was in a combat zone in the 1st gulf war. The Iranian Border is less than 7 kilometers away. The region was heavily mined in the 1980 s. Its still littered with unexploded bombs. Almost everyone here has been hurt. 300 villagers have lost limbs to mine and they feel abandoned by their government. The region is not saying its mines and explosives. Weve picked the government to give local authorities the money they need to remove them. One and a half 1000 square kilometers in southern iraq are contaminated with unexploded ordinance. The legacy of 2 gulf wars sleeping time bombs. No other country in the world has more. 7 bomb disposal teams aim to free the country from this deadly burden by 2023. But it seems like an impossible task. Iraqs oil revenues vanish amid bureaucratic inefficiency and corruption. Theres no money to pay for mine clearing staff or equipment and our pro