a mission john christmas tree has been lit up in the occupied westbank city of bethlehem, where christians believe jesus christ was for the faithful gathered outside the church of the nativity, hoping covered 19 doesn't ruin another holiday season after him. all the clothes, lots of christ. ah, the, our own out of the are these headlines so the election results show the gambia as president a borrower is on calls for victory. the electro commission is now saying he's taking 3541 constituencies across the country buyer trying to secure a 2nd turn in a vote seen as a test of stability. and democracy major has more now from the capital banjo. what happens after the elections of the results come in, representatives of quality can pocket was signed the documents at the headquarters

of the commission, and then they will also, there is a 2nd official. each political party will count assign, and from the results we've been hearing over the last one hour or so, at least a representative of 2 political parties refused to sign those documents, although they are present here in the headquarters of the election commission, which of course shows that they could be legal fireworks after these results are finally in 5 people are reported, have been killed in me and mas largest city after security forces rammed their vehicle into a group of protested dozens more were injured. during the anti q demonstration in young gone, the so called flash, small briley was talking to just minutes after it be gang indian official say 13 civilians have mistaken. they've been killed during a military operation since in the northeast in state of novel, and the army is reported to a shot at a truck carrying dozens of people, talks between us president joe biden, and the russian president vladimir parisian,

have been confirmed for tuesday. they will take part in a video call, a thousands of russian troops gather near ukraine's border. u. s. and ukrainian officials say intelligence suggests an invasion or an attack as possible in the coming weeks. and competing rallies are being held in paris for and against the far right presidential candidate, eric moore, the well known political pundit declared his candidacy just a few days ago. he is known for provocative right wing views on issue such as is some immigration and feminism. and po francis has visited the greek island of lesbian. on the 2nd leg of his eastern mediterranean tour, the pontiff visited a refugee camp way more than 2000 people live in temporary housing. that's my not for today. paid a w will take you to the next few hours of news on our 0. that is after the listening post. the latest news, as it breaks, governments in the region are using security forces to clamp down on protests,

instead of protecting their countries against harmed attacks with detailed coverage in the absence of any hard data on how widespread overland they all become variant is scientists all urging caution from around the world. political observers argue his government has led a dismantling of democratic institution. there's oh, likely the code base, very high, good rest. some regions will face to cynthia. consequently, deeper discipline like the decision from several countries with vaccines. hello, richard gilbert in europe. the listening post where we don't cover the news, we cover the way the news is covered. here are the media stories we're examining this week. uncertainty makes a comeback. what audiences need to know about the new cove at 19 variant and what

they've been getting from their new sources. a russian state funded news network threatens to sue an independent media outlet in a branding dispute over a t shirt. it's called holly the so korean soft power push that's producing one block buster after another and from east jerusalem to the united nations. i do not care home this terminology, offend a journalist on why terminology matters in the coverage of the middle east conflict . and it has been 10 days now since the latest variant of coven 19 was 1st reported by scientists in south africa. the world health organization instantly labeled the strain it caused. alma crohn, a variant of concern due to questions over its transmit civility. and whether it could render vaccines ineffective, the initial reporting, many scientists accusing journalists of jumping the gun, creating panic in audiences that required information. instead,

there have also been complaints over the terminology, the early use of the term south african very and implying that alma kron originated there. when there is simply no evidence of that yet the south african angle has provided one useful side effect. it is turned attention to the issue of global vaccine in equity. a story that scientists say needs considerably more attention than news outlets have been giving it. our starting point this week is the covered 1900 variant, now known as obamacare. but because the variance is rona virus is likely to pose a very high global risk news. consumers operate on a need to know basis. there's growing global alarm over from the do corona virus very. that 1st emerged in south africa. sometimes news outlets tell them what they need to fear instead who they need to fear. the new mutations were 1st discovered

in south africa from the us went out rather restrictions from that country and 7 other. what audiences need to know about the variance. we now call alma crime, starts with 3 questions, the basics. what we need to know about a variance is if it's more transmissible, we're not even sure yet that it's more transmissible or the pieces are rising exponentially in south africa joined by that, by the end of the 2nd. is it more very in south africa? medical health officer doctor has been on the news now steadily for several days saying that she does not think that this is a more variable. it's very but the majority of what to be presenting to primary health practitioners are extreme tomorrow. and then number 3 is easy resistance vaccine. evidence to that either. there won't be that much to say for days and weeks because it just takes time to get really good answers. so i think news

organizations are in a really difficult situation. yes, they expectation that if it is more. busy transmissible it will spread globally, but it's too early to say at this point at lesson. so for instance, i was on the edge of end of the last 4 days every day to find out how concerned exactly we should be really have to to wait, we're in every day. i gave him the same answer because i have to wait the next days and weeks to find out don't. which of these tiers are actually going to be true? i've seen quite a lot of criticism, but from journalists and scientists that dr. story has been, oh, the blue. oh john his scary. it really is. that is some scan of coverage, essentially causing panic. is no hard to imagine how, you know, media walks, his will react in a couple of weeks. this was a scenario with this area is not nice as while though previous brittany about the, the sort of volume of the early coverage south african scientists 1st reported the detection of the new variant to the world health organization on wednesday,

november 24th. it took 2 days to 24 hour news cycles for the w h o to label the variant hama crisis. during that initial period news organizations had to decide what to call it. variant 1st detected in south africa, would have been precise. but try fitting that into a headline. so some called it the south african variant. then came the travel restrictions imposed on south africa and some of its sub saharan neighbors. by more than 50 countries, it was only after that that we learned that alma cron turned up in the netherlands in tests taken before the ones in south africa. samples that just took longer to process. so it could have been called the dutch fair. it never was and so about frequent this tim is no surprise because we've been through this or the south

africa very, and it's very concerning right now with the bit of volumes. rosco suddenly boots is saga conversion to any us now to talk more about the south african barrier if the south african strain and will land at a time. haunted to spoken, pushing back against that kind of label. and ben, conscious in the trouble last that a week detected this, i'm very ins away and not be subjected to this bands. and the question was raised wise at that than not introducing jumper bands. the coverage was so high that was so panic was so all over the place and western scientists were hyping is that this is that most transmissible variant we've ever seen. this is exponential growth prior to been analytically looking at the situation on an south african scientists and leaders right now. so essentially they did their job, they did careful surveillance work, and what they got in return was an immediate traveler. it's been a huge backlash against south africa. the scientists,

they have taken to heart the lessons of his pandemic, which as we need to act really early, i was talking to one of the researchers to fit this work. and he says that because the planes have been stopped, he's having trouble now to get the re, agents that he needs to do the lab work that the whole world is waiting for. now to understand how dangerous despairing really is. so these travel bands have a really, really dangerous effect. that accounts for over 70 percent of the emergence of alma chron has put the issue of vaccine inequity where it belongs on the news agenda. this 60 percent of people across the european union are vaccinated. compare that to a mere 3.4 percent across the african continent. scientists of long warned low vaccination rates create conditions in which new variance can develop and thrive. there was no evidence and there may never d at south africa's vaccination rate, just 24 percent at the time. all micron was 1st reported helped create the variate,

but fear of unvaccinated south africans traveling will have factored into the restrictions. sub saharan africa is part of a global south that has struggled to get enough doses outbid by richer countries that have also allowed pharmaceutical companies to keep their vaccines patent protected, preserving their profits, rather than waving those patents and allowing other companies to produce their vaccines during a world wide emergency hasn't been got a letter in march 2021, some major pharmaceutical companies. same don't do. this is not helpful. our office . and then after that, the trade commission, united states said that they're interested in working on weight and patterns and then nothing. i think the media has a huge role to play, to not just allow statements on the surface, but to keep on digging and to ask world leaders,

why they haven't substantially moved with a w t o to change the situation or are acting. the virus will mutate as long as it's got the opportunity to spread from one person to the next, which is why it's critical that we get vaccines across the world. because in those regions, we are creating a chain tease for the virus to continue to spray. the story is not complete when you just looking on the chrome without putting it in the context of vaccine equity . the job of your organization just to put global vaccine and expertise on to the agenda. politicians tend to really respond to the story that rise to the top of the new cycle and really happening public interest. and they're kind of become unavoidable story and you off petitions about and being carried to states. they're not doing something about that. that's the role that news organizations can play. alma kron has also reintroduced elements of uncertainty into the coverage of

a pandemic. that reporters appeared to be getting a handle on their news outlets did not make their reputations by telling audiences what they do not know. it still does not come naturally to and the variant has provided another opening for conspiracy theories many of the made in america. now making the rounds in south africa, they are theories that travel and they have proved to be much harder to ban than people. the thing that shocks me the most, is how mainstream media and has become an outlet for conspiracy. theories are really wild and inaccurate statements in a way that i hadn't received before. they created a problem that can never actually be sol, so they can justify whatever it is they want to do. i wonder whether i can stay being an infectious disease reporter without also becoming a misinformation report

a report on the information ecosystem in the past. this information needs they used to be localized, not there of ocean. a lot of people that are driving in this information. so i using videos and the recordings of people from all sorts of places in the world. i will not be reduced to mere guinea pick by getting vaccinated with an experimental drug. people who drives to say, gender, some campaigns. i actually close in the house. and some people need to pay a price for it. as long as there's no accountability is not going to stop what, who continues to cause harm and lives will be lost because of looking at other media stories on our radar. this week with flow phillips returning to russia, where the news network funded by the kremlin russia today is threatening to sue another news organization over a t shirt. not just any t shirt,

richard the stories all about who made it and what they put on it. it's a collaboration between the russian language, online newspaper, medusa, based in latvia, and moscow based clothing brand. you'll see that they've printed the phrase in again, and that's for an agent in russian. it's basically, and i want to reference to medusa official status in russia. foreign agent imposed on them by the government 6 months ago. there were lots of headlines in the run up to the september elections about president putin, his close allies and corruption allegations. medusa reporting on those stories resulted in it being slapped with the foreign agent label. they've left it much more open to prosecution by the state, limiting the way that it can publish and advertise. and of course, scaring off potential sources. it's really hurt that revenues, so they've been looking for other ways to keep afloat, transportation. but how do we get from there to our t threatening to sue? it's about branding richard on the flag, back in 2017 r t, the russian state a news channel with forced by the trump administration to register the foreign

agent in the us. that's when they came up with their own line of much t shirt hudy's caps, all saying foreign agent. but when medusa did the same thing all t somehow failed to find it. very funny. it hit medusa on the clothing company with cease and desist letters demanded that they be fined and threatened to sue over trademark infringement. so where does the story go from here into the hands of the lawyers. while medusa was already under a lot of pressure from the russian state, the 4 r t started piling on. that's why they're not feel safe, a working conditions. so they stop selling the t shirt. but the clothing company, they're not backing down, but still selling the shut and they're promising a 30 percent cut to medusa. and it's proving popular on russians christmas lists. the company says it's struggling to keep up with demand. ok, thanks. go back a few years, had you asked a typical, millennial, what they knew about south korea. the answer would have been not much that has

changed. not through news coverage or geo politics through entertainment. start with k drama series, but you can stream like squid game and hell bound, benjamin formats. slick production techniques, romantic story lines, whatever the secret formula is south korea is now producing some of the world's most watched content. and k drama is just one sector within the k entertainment industry. it also takes the music and turns out cape hot baths and teen idols with huge followings overseas. about 20 years ago, coming out of life under military rule, the south korean government placed a bet on the entertainment industry pumping money into it as a means of improving the countries global image and boosting its economy. the plot twists that no one saw coming, that a soft power push would transform. so korea into a cultural superpower. but listening post joanna, who's now from sol on what they call the korean wave. i

think spotted in moscow, tokyo abu dhabi. but if you've never what squid game you may have all yourself. what are those tools and those guards that keep popping up? and walks with a mask. the giant character sprinkled around the world, like the global reach of netflix as big. it's more than $110.00 it's a story that follows contestants playing a game for money with deadly consequences. and it's the latest south korean creation to find a huge international audience. they call it k drama, and it's part of an export industry. this story that even koreans didn't see honey . how to, why she did it harb world one and there is a palm sheet. is it

a cool market? one this walk on and cur entry and appendix? i mean, when you was, was rehired going on. this will go to monitor him over here as well. okay. go on. timing was on my shoe. yeah. will you don't guns, ions it goes. it is a virgin will get to man. a brother has a python. as a studio dragon is south korea's largest production house and the force behind many of k drama's biggest global hits. but her crystal cousin canoe, one of the reasons that k drama became so popular worldwide as its diversity of genre, like thrillers, action and comedy. it's i think the biggest factor is our attention to storytelling . there is an elements of korean emotive nurse embedded in the stories. and this may appeal to audience is abroad. for example, in our drama crashed landing on you, a south korean woman accidentally lance, her parachute to north korea, and then falls in love that the story portrayed korea's uniqueness and became a global success. torrison dramatic banks. she doesn't care for me on hunger. if

you look at korean productions over the years, the content is always very distinctly korean. it reflects our society and history ah no matter what it is. for example, squid game combines game shows, honor that is familiar to a global audience with a mix of authentic korean elements. thought even more. fascinating is a drama, like hometown cha cha cha. this series has all the cliches of a korean drama and wasn't intended to be distributed globally. nevertheless, it's not only loved in asia, but all over the world and say, gazes hang up how quickly whether it's the mode of plot lines flick, production style, or formats. taylor paid for binge watching k drama. his audiences around the globe in the millions shows like stranger crush lending on you,

or descendants of the sun, a foot south korea on the entertainment map. and their success is rubbing off on other industry. homes like parasites which one the 2020 academy award for best picture and the music sector. boy, bens, like b t. s. are all part of the so called hull you phenomenon. the spread of korean pop culture from asia to the rest of the world. the tom how you emerge in the chinese press in 1997 to describe the search of korean pop music and keep t v dramas. in china. the tongue literally means the korean wave in chinese. and of course, more recently, the u has been increasingly adopted and used by rasp media to refer to the rise of tape pub in tel drama. ah,

it's no coincidence that the hell you 1st had china assures, in the 1990 in that decade, following nearly 25 years of military rule and hit hard by the age of financial crisis. a democratizing south korea will set and reinventing its global image and diversifying its economy the government into sold, recognize the potential of entertain it's crap censorship laws that have been in place for decades. instead, it's sites on developing a culture sector. turn into an export industry. how go ria, was a military dictatorship from 961 to 1987 during which people were oppressed and there was a thirst for freedom of speech. so when the democratic government replaced the military regime and censorship laws were removed, audio flocked to the cinema to watch grooms from america like drastic park. the president at the time famously said that one spectacular film like jurassic park

can be more profitable than selling 1500000 sion day cars. let us also cultivate who had died, a nigger handling and there are the ministrations since the 19 ninety's offered several measures to develop culture industries, subsidies, tax benefits, the regulation for private kept turn to in best. so it is undeniable that the government played an important role in the battle of the countries coaching those trees, you know where to really short period of time. however, hiring is far more than a top down process inspect the initial rise of how you use very much on predictive even korean government. well, very surprised. surprised or not. since the 1990s, the south korean authorities have capitalized on the popularity of it's booming

entertainment sector. over the past 2 decade tell you has grown into one of south korea's most notable exports and a very productive parts of the country's economy. with the entertainment sector is paying political dividends to the government here. and so has recognized the potential of how you as a diplomatic tool, part of a soft power push to increase south korea influence in south east asia and beyond. hungary, ticket or south korea has never had any hard power with which to threaten the world . what we do have is a cultural charm for a long time, south korea. it was mostly just about war, poverty or confrontation between north and south korea. however, now that south korea is being acknowledged for it's popular culture, it is quite natural for the korean government to utilize it as a soft power tool. and the other country would want to do the same point. but then

when you get up to 10 or 10, been invited to capital and diplomatic events, one of the latest examples, the members of a pop group company, the korean president to a session of the united nations general assembly in new york on other exam for the state be to, to china in 2017 when k drama, the past home have your health counseling, the president, eder, korea, china events, the government. and it's a pity that the appearance of home who is exceptionally popular in china, can contribute to reducing the political tension between the 2 countries. it has been carts of national branding and cultural diplomacy. the brand, korea would not be where it is today, without a helping hand from the entertainment industry. new players streaming services like

netflix and hulu, audiences around the world of turn you from a regional phenomenon to global and to turn in trigger global radio. in the beginning, we at studio dragon did not aim for our content to go global. in fact, for a long time, most production houses were based in house, merely creating content for local korean broadcast is, however, streaming platforms like netflix allowed us to prevents our theories to the world and to become well known. and a good game show is there is clearly quite a craves for korean content until he set the lesson. and the korean entertainment industry is riding that wave of popularity would be eligible to be series award winning film. and blockbuster move quick game is just the latest off power conquest for korea. k drama fans around the world are staying tuned for what

comes next. and finally, from making your name by reporting over instagram, to telling it like it is at the united nations mohammed l court. it is a palestinian whose journalism we featured before on our program. his instagram was one of the must follow feeds during israel's ethnic cleansing, about quote, its neighborhood in jerusalem shakes shut off earlier this year. having used social media to tell stories, many other reporters failed to tell, using terminology others shy away from l cord broke. some unwritten rules. he has since been made, the palestine correspondent for the nation, the american magazine that focuses on politics and culture. and he's done it all by h 23. this week, the un brought of coolant to new york to speak part of the ceremonies mark in the us international day of solidarity with the palestinian people from the podium. he touched on the issue of terminology and why it matters in the reporting of what is

happening in palestine. was the next time here, the listening post. hello, international community. thank you for it. is groundbreaking speed says i'm sure the occupation authorities are really concerned right now. my name's from out of the card. i am here to deliver speeds. i am tired of reporting on the same brutality every day. of thinking of new ways to describe the obvious. the situation in my neighborhood cells are, is not hard to understand. it is a perfect microcosm of satler colonialism. you know, when we reflect on histories, most horrible, most and humane atrocities today, we think of them with so much moral clarity so much moral clarity that we tend to forget that when these atrocities were happening, they were perfectly legal. not only perfectly legal, but at the time that they were happening, they were all once controversial contested to complex people talked with

neutral language like we do today. we all think that had been us there back then at that point of time, we would have been at the right side of history. and we have the opportunity to day to be on the right side of history. in the country with an abundance of resource spread far and walk indonesia whose firms forming we move pool to grow and fraud. we balance for green economy, blue economy, and the digital economy with the new job creation law, indonesia is progressively ensuring the policy reform to create quality jobs. invest, let be part linda. this is growth and progress. invent indonesia. now the philippines is fighting to restore fight in back st. i thought the quality can be

nice and the wrong one. 0, one east investigates on al jazeera. ah, this is al jazeera. ah, hello and welcome. i'm peace adobe. you're watching the news. i live from our headquarters here in doha coming up in the next 60 minutes. partial results in the gambia show president adams barrow his own course to a resounding election victory. i am ami the address live in by jewel. why are the opposition indicate that they might challenge the outcome of strategies in life.