years boaters face a choice between longstanding prime minister benjamin netanyahu and the challengers seeking to him but will the outcome be another shaky coalition. hello i'm terry martin good to have you with us germany's leaders have agreed a series of measures aimed at stemming and sharp rise in corona virus infections in talks that ran into the early hours of the morning chancellor i'm going to the heads of the country 16 regional states agree to extend restrictions already in force until april 18th a strict 5 day national shutdown will also apply over the easter holiday. americal says the credit virus crisis in germany has taken a dangerous turn. we basically have a new time to make the mutation from great a person has taken over which means we have a new virus. of course of the same kind but with very different properties it is clearly more lethal more contagious and contagious for longer. spring in our political correspondent thomas sparrow told us germany is tightening restrictions in the face of what chancellor merkel is calling a new pandemic what are we looking at. it was a very long very controversial meeting which had its main announcement in the middle of the night terry and that's that extension of germany's lockdown until mid april basically what that means is that what was already closed like cultural venues and leisure facilities will remain closed but in addition to that and specifically referring to the upcoming easter holiday there will be even tighter measures to prevent people from traveling a lot and from having too many contacts this was the very controversial issue at the meeting that was held in the german chancellor rhee behind me in addition to that what was agreed was to specifically for areas that are particularly hit so above that 100 threshold $100.00 new infections per 100000 inhabitants in 7 days for regions that are badly affected there will be a so-called handbrake in other words they would have to cancel some of the opening steps that had been agreed before basically what this means is that germany's entering resemble americal stress a new phase of this fight against the pandemic and one where many people are actually asking how effective it will be so more locked down but will this really be enough traumas to stem the country's 3rd wave of infections isn't it too little too late you have again. well it depends who you ask those who defend the measures say they're appropriate to fight this particular stage of the pandemic but there is a lot of criticism there is a lot of uncertainty as well and the fact that leaders yesterday met for hours in the german chancellor that there was also a long interruption as well that there's a very controversial aspect there when it comes to holidays for example just gives you an idea of how difficult it has become here in germany to find consensus just how difficult it has become in germany to find this way forward with which both the federal government the chancellor in particular and regional leaders can actually start to work together this is certainly a very difficult moment for germany it will be interesting to see whether people in the next few days and in the next few weeks actually played by these rules and actually feel that they're helping to stem the coronavirus pandemic for now we can clearly see that both in the federal and regional governments are also in the general population there is such only a very difficult aspect when it comes to trying to find some consensus well there's certainly a lot of coronavirus walked around for t.v. in this country there was talk of germany possibly imposing a curfew like some of its neighbors is that still on the table all that was another one of these very difficult issues where some federal states agreed others disagreed essentially what is now in that decision paper that we received is that curfews can be applied in specific regions if the regions themselves say that the situation is particularly difficult so we're not expecting any nationwide curfew but it can be applied specifically to areas that are particularly affected by the coronavirus pandemic thomas thank you very much d.w. political correspondent tom asperity. and here's a quick roundup of some other stories making headlines around the world today 10 people including a police officer of been killed in a shooting at a supermarket in the u.s. state of colorado injured suspect has been detained the attack in the city of boulder is the 2nd deadly mass shooting in the country in a week the government says 137 people have been killed in terrorist attacks gunmen riding motorcycles targeted villages in the towel region the suspected hottest massacre is the deadliest yet seen in the west african nation. the united nations and the u.s. of welcomed a new initiative from saudi arabia aimed at ending the civil war in yemen the proposals include a nationwide cease fire and reopening air and sea ports yemen's who the rebels say the saudi plan does not go far enough. and it's the united states canada the u.k. and the european union have all impose sanctions on chinese officials for abuses against the country's weaker muslim minority china has retaliated with its own sanctions targeting several e.u. politicians and accusing them of spreading misinformation. for a massive fire has swept through a hinge a refugee camp in bangladesh several people have died and thousands have been left homeless nearly a 1000000 refugees live in camps in the region having fled from persecution in neighboring beyond bar. the remains of shanty homes continue to burn into the night a stray hinge or refugee camp scene conks is bizarre in southeastern bangladesh emergency services say the 5 is able to spread easily in overcrowded conditions of the makeshift accommodation. this is not in trying to put the fire out we are struggling with numerous cooking gas cylinders and we are trying to deal with this problem to fight the flames. oh. the blaze swiftly ripped through the cramped housing onlookers panicked and powerless to do anything aid agencies say international help is urgently needed. i defend the dishy government has been pushing the muslim minority rush hinge a refugee to relocate to a remote island in the bay of bengal however aid agencies say this would not be a safe place for this stateless community as the area is prone to flooding and the island lies in the path of deadly cycling. israelis are heading to the polls today in the country's 4th national election in just 2 years voters face a choice between blocs that back longstanding prime minister binyamin netanyahu and those who seek to oust him with the opposition fragmented many fear the vote will once again lead to a shaky coalition that if one can be formed at all. every vote counts and every detail action of support to. an i pad 2 slips next to the gaza border and south in israel she's out in the streets to remind people to vote she has no doubts about who should remain prime minister benjamin netanyahu said to legalists no it's the moment of the elections i'm here to remind people who is the best to vote for him bibi netanyahu may be a little good that's all that call the 4th election in 2 years is once again seen as a vote for or against benyamin netanyahu the leader of that he could party run his election campaign on the much admired covert 19 vaccination drive and the reopening of the economy this time he has several challenges all running on an anything but netanyahu ticket here with his centrist yes a tea party is 2nd in the polls. actually good politician get on with new hope also aims to replace netanyahu just like right wing enough tony bennett from yemenia who's left it open whether he would join a coalition with netanyahu we have about 3 to 4 leaders of the entering that danielle camp. standing divided against that then you know so if you stand together but you are divided the ability of co-working is very limited so the ability for them to form a coalition that will be able to govern and will be able to survive. is improbable to reach a majority in the knesset the israeli parliament and to form a government parties need to get 61 out of 120 seats for many israelis netanyahu has become an increasingly divisive figure he's been in office since 2009 and he faces corruption charges in court allegations he denies that i know of as netanyahu was days are over he has been our prime minister for 15 years that's it we need something new a different prime minister could have a chevy rebuttal sure i think baby would be reelected because this nor one more promising although i want to believe there is someone else i don't really treasure a little i want the same prime minister to stay because he's good for everyone look around you people are living thanks to the prime minister people in our life bibi netanyahu. opinion polls suggest that netanyahu slick could remain the strongest party what's less clear is who can build a coalition one stood votes are counted. journalist sami sokal is following these elections in jerusalem and joins us now sorry for elections in 2 years are israeli voters not getting tired of this. yes well this is something that you will hear from many israelis that they're tired of these elections and we're expecting a lower turnout than these elections but of course if you examine these ready society in just a bit closer you would see that there are segments of the society that are even less motivated to vote such as the israeli arabs the palestinian arab community that are citizens of israel they came in in the last elections in numbers they were the sarge largest party but they couldn't have any effect on politics many of them are going to stay at home on the other hand the radical right wing united together and they're expecting to enter the knesset so we hied motivation over in these circles is today's election essentially just a referendum on prime minister benjamin netanyahu. yes indeed these really public is very much a polarized around the personality of the admin. and. there's been recently a poll indicating that in a system one percent of the public actually would like to see nathaniel leave his position. and they have to and to me and it. is comprised of those who are both left wing and right wing and many of them think that the rule of law is the important issue and that the now 2 we see is reelected he might try and postpone. it and he might do away with attorney general and he might hurt the israeli them ocracy others are saying that he's been too many years in office the problem is that they're not going to be certain parties in parliament and it seems to have a better tighter group supporting him is there any chance that never know who's likud party might get an outright majority in parliament or are we headed for another cliffhanger. well the situation is like this. park according to all the polls is around this 13 man they are which is much more than any other park and together with other right wing parties he can reach. the 60. and 61 what he needs is 61 out of a 120 and on the other hand and the other side of the map is very much divided some 70 different pharmacies each one has it pulling in a different direction there's a lack of who is the ante. and that is why are expecting that the neo actually do with. sammy thank you very much that was journalist semicircle in jerusalem. you're watching g.w. news just a quick reminder of our top story this hour german chancellor angela merkel says germany is in a new pandemic as the country grapples with an exponential rise in coronavirus cases leaders have agreed to extend the country's lockdown until mid april with shops restaurants and bars to remain closed and a strict 5 day shutdown will be enforced over the easter holiday. you're watching t.w. news i'm terry martin thanks for being with us for. more than a 1000 years ago europe witnesses a huge construction boom. christianity for the established itself. both religious and secular leaders on her to display their power.