on al jazeera, we understand the differences and similarities have cultures across the world. said no matter what lucy, algebra will bring you the news and current affairs that matter to you. how dizzy in europe ah, it's better to conceal now and celebrate later than to celebrate to now and grieve later. the global health chief warns against increased socializing over the holidays as the world grapples with a rapid search of the armstrong various. ah, hello, i'm down, jordan, this is al jazeera live from dough are also coming up. the white house welcomes the

retreat by to grind rebels saying it could open the doors for talks to end. the year long conflict with ethiopian forces, turkeys, lee, or a rebound sharply from a record low against the dollar falling measures by the government to ease the consequences with a colossal screw up a blunder of epic proportions and jury proceedings begin in the us. in the case of a minneapolis police officer who shot dead, a black motorist last year, ah, counsel now and celebrate later or risk more deaths. that's the blunt advice from the head of the world health organization. as coven 19 cases rise markedly across the wealth, all of ours are seek off this bundle. all of us want to spend time with friends and

family. all of us want to get back to normal. the fastest way to do this is for all of us leaders and individuals to make the difficult decisions that must be made to protect ourselves and others. but uneven council is better than a life cancelled. it's better to cancel now and celebrate later than to celebrate. now and grieve letter. meanwhile, the u. s. the seen a 50 percent surgeon corona virus cases this month, and the on the cross barron now accounts for nearly 3 quarters of old infections. new york state has reported 3 straight days of record cases, and a state of emergency has been declared in washington d. c. allan fisher sent this report from the capital going lines for testing, growing numbers of those infected, growing concern, where this is all heading in america,

across the country. people are spending hours in line to get a covered test plan to say economy carefully. now given the last on indoors, even though it's not mandated, it's john to be safe as possible. got 2 little ones. so my concern is mostly with them. ones vaccinated and one is not too little to vaccinate. so we feel very secure. and in our workforce, we just make sure that we're safe to receive your ports or getting busier to is people head off for the christmas and new year holidays. there's a worry that that could lead to another search in a few weeks and it could put further strain on hospital systems across the u. s. many states already seeing double digit jumps in hospital admissions. those most at risk, people who have refused to get back sedated or bursted. if you get infected, you could transmit that to someone else who might be vulnerable. who might be an elderly person, might be someone with an underlying condition. that actually you're playing

a role in transmitting that infection to them, even though you yourself are not particularly bothered by that infection. joe biden plans to address the nation on tuesday. the president will arch more vaccinations and announce an expanded test program. but he won't be talking about locking the country down to the clear cove in 19 is not the same threat to fully vaccinate individuals that it was in march 2020. his objective is to continue, continue to make vaccines available, reduce cases around the country, reduced the hospitalization and dest across the country, and do that through making a vaccines testing and a range of a utilities available. but the present and i are vax at the we can, former president, donald trump told an audience in texas. he'd received his booster short. he was booed by people. repeat to see him. that's always a very tiny grade. so one happy new year in new york, one of the symbols of the new year celebrations arrived in the city. officials have

still to make a decision on whether it's safe for the event to go ahead. i'll in fisher, i'll just eat a washington. meanwhile, the british prime minister bars johnston says he's looking at all kinds of measures to stop the rapid spread of omicron. at least 12 people have died from the fair and in the u. k and hospitalizations in london. arising steeply jona hall reports from london. so far in england, government guidance against the omicron variant has focused on the boost of vaccination campaign and the pace of the road out has shut up. in recent days, the rate of only grown infection has soared to with scientists warning the new year could bring thousands of hospital admissions and deaths each day if strict measures are brought in soon. at a cabinet meeting on monday, the prime minister boris johnson was found himself caught between the scientists and rebellious ministers and m p's. who say not enough is yet known about omicron. know that there's been and i got the data in front of me. $104.00 hospitalizations

from only crohn, the question really is, does that and there's a lag time of days or weeks to finding out whether that leads to more fatalities as a result of this, that's if you like the missing piece of the data possible. but we constantly keep it under review in a pre recorded statement, johnson erred on the side of caution, political caution. that is less so perhaps in the interests of public health. we, we will have to reserve the, the possibility of taking further action to, to protect the public and to protect public health, to protect our, in a chess. and we weren't hesitate to take that action. but in the meantime, what i would say to everybody is please exercise caution. the wave of on the crone concern, meanwhile, is spreading fast across europe. germany becomes the latest country to confirm plans for new restrictions with social gatherings limited to a maximum of 10 vaccinated or recently recovered people from december. the 28th.

while in france, approval has been given for the use of the pfizer biotech vaccine in children, aged 5 and above. both countries are joined by austria in limiting travel from britain, the current omicron capital of europe. but all will know there's no preventing its arrival eventually. back in the u. k. covert 9 teens returned to the headlines, has been nothing but bad news for the prime minister. the next installment in the so called party gates, scandal, features a photo of johnson and his wife joining staff and officials with cheese and wine in the downing street garden last summer. the government insists these were work colleagues joining an after work gathering and that no rules were broken. the public who were under locked down at the time and now facing another difficult christmas will likely see it differently. jonah whole al jazeera london,

a new zealanders profound. its phase border re opening plans until the end of february, due to the rapid spread of the macro variant. it had previously announced that non quarantine travel would reopen for new zealand citizens from january and to foreign tourists by april. the countries recorded several cases of the underground variant and international arrivals. rebels from ethiopia to grant region, say there withdrawing from several northern territories to drive people liberation front has been losing its foothold and the regions of horror under fine recent weeks. it says this not pulling out of those areas entirely, wants to open the door to humanitarian aid. around 400000 people integrate at risk of ation. and a regular tv station has released new pictures of the aftermath of government and strikes, integrated drones, bomb the region for 3 days last week, killing at least 28 people. picture show residents carrying dead bodies in the market. and dozens of people being treated for injuries, but a t p. s folks and says the rebels aren't interested in taking the rest of the

country. they just want to grounds for free from federal control. that is what we thought it was the job and then the capital was taking so far. we are not interested that's not interested in cruising about being interested in securing the interest of interested in ensuring that the see that was important is broken and what type of guy. but michael is an online writer and he's been documenting the fighting. he says, any government conditions for the sandwiches to disarm won't be mess when i think i have been stuck between hot place and iraq. because on the one hand the, the international community has been making enormous pressure on them to withdrawal

. so that the government could be conveyed into a because they depend government conditions. the delivery of 8 on the grapples is withdrawing that we didn't own. don't they have to go that to the, to the enemy that would otherwise invade to gripe. so they hung up on the other hand, the pressure in. ready the other hand, they know that this would mean that the government will base to drive the next day, visit the kind of devastation that they have when they return from hoses where integrated not yet. so i don't think this is within the cost in this example, because if they do that, that would be a better duty to protect mr. grant against poses that made it clear that they would invade. if there was an opportunity to do that, turkeys lira has made a sharp recovery of the back of measures by the government to ease the currency

crisis. resident rush of ty berda and announced a series of steps including a promise to compensate sabres for losses incurred exporters will also be protected . what is another mazin by cut like you took did as well learnin if the deposit earnings of the turkish lira assets in our people's bank are higher than the exchange rate increase. they will get this return. however, if the exchange rate return exceeds the deposit earnings, the difference will be paid directly to our citizens. moreover, this income will be exempted from tax. in addition, we will put into use tools that will ensure that turkish lira assets are used in a way that does not create a new foreign exchange. demand from now on, our citizens won't need to switch their deposits from turkish lira to foreign currency. feeling that the exchange rate will be higher authority will robert, he scott is from the economic policy institute. he says, president, odor one's plans will lead to greater debt for the country. i think it's going to be very difficult given the economic fundamentals that the,

the president is tracing. he's got very high levels of government debt and these promise that he's made will require him to, to issue even more debt. that's going to add to the level of money in circulation and increase the rate of inflation. so that's going to make it very difficult to make good on his economic commitments. it's going to mean exports will become less competitive, imports will become much cheaper for turkish buyers. and so it's going to lead to growing trade problems. and ultimately, i think it's is unlikely to be an unstable, sustainable economic situation. the big problem, the big risky face faces is the foreign exchange. traders are going to recognize that the layer is unsustainable at these levels. and ultimately, i think that will take it back. what will take it down in the long run? i think the thing that they're going to have to do unfortunately is, is tightened monetary policy raise interest rates, and that will have a depressing effect on the economy. cost of living is going to go up. that's why

the inflation meets. and of course, unemployment rates are very high now at 13 percent. and my concern is if a government has to cut spending and raise interest rates, it's going to get worse before it gets better. time for a short break here analysis era. when we come back, the optima, the philippines, super typhoon ryan, the scrambled to help those devastated i'm a gym german, copenhagen harbor, one of the cleanest waterways in europe. here, swimmers come out no matter the temperature and efforts continue to create a riving aquatic environment. ah, ah, look forward to burritos guys. with sponsored by capital airways. hello, we've got a little bit of everything going on across the middle east at the moment, or hot sunshine across southern parts of the arabian peninsula. miss bed or cloud

though that does mark the boundary between that warm weather. 30 celsius here in doha, on tuesday afternoon, and noticeably cooler air further north 18. the high in queue weight were struggling to get into double figures for damascus is some wet and windy weather just piles its way him once again into the love and so were coastal parts of syria pushing across a lebanon, seeing some lively showers longest both to frame right, the way down into israel, when fi make still in place there, you notice just around turkey add the corks is that'll sink a little further southwards, pushing the cooler air further, south. doha, struggling to get to 24 celsius there. on wednesday. are they still not too bad? it has to be said at troy by the stretches its way down across the hall of africa. premier showers just around the tropical belt, low showers, extending further south. now course so where does they marks the winter solstice? so the, the sun getting as far south as it's going to get, we are seeing some lively showers. right. the way down across are botswana pushing

into were south africa and where to weather coming through here we some showers to madagascar for the weather. sponsored by catera, always killing the debate. 90 percent of the world's refugees have come from a common impacted country. the climate emergency is putting more pressure on cities across the world and amplify your voice. it's not for you to feel free. now. not a lot campus is completely cannot lose hope. we know what to do and we have the tools to do this to you are now to sierra, ah ah,

well, come back a quick amount of the top stories here. this out, the head of the world health organization is calling for limits to gatherings during the holiday period. he said, there is evidence the on the chron strain is more transmissible and can evade vaccines. but it's still too early to say, if it's milder and the delta v rebels from ethiopia, tegra region say they withdrawing from northern territories and losing ground in them. har on the far in recent weeks, fight to say they're pulling out of those areas and totally open the door to humanitarian and turkeys. lira has made a sharp recovery of the back of measures by the government to ease the currency crisis. president odo and announced a series of steps including a promise to compensate statements for lawson genies pay. so as bounce back after the election of a left, a student leader sparked a steep fall 35 year old. gabriel burridge defeated his conservative rival in sundays runoff election in his 1st day as president elect. burrage tried to ease

fears, his leadership will cause economic instability or latin america editor marcia newman, reports and santiago o. before going in to meet president of a stamp denita president elect, gabrielle, but each made a small detour a way of sending a message that no one is more important than the ordinary people who voted for him . oh, then he went in to the presidential palace where the 35 year old former student will be the boss. starting march 9th, president of us campaign you there showed him around then they met for 2 hours to discuss chiles future. as is traditional, the president intellect is expected to appoint a shadow cabinet to work alongside the current government to smooth the transition and to ease market differs so far, relations between both sides had been extremely civilized, which is rather ironic considering the congressman, deputy, and bondage just 2 months ago was voting in favor of the impeachment of president

pineda. but what a difference in electro victory makes bridge says he will work to maintain macro economic stability as he embarks on overhauling the pension education and health systems. got to put him on in the think a 2nd and get a permanent expenditure requires durable finance. and so we're going to advance in our structural reforms bus one step at a time so that we don't feel you know, a little by little with care or not. what it, what it is, election and sundays run off by a historic number of votes. defied predictions, he is leading a new left movement. a key question is, who he'll choose as his ministers of economy and the interior, and how many if any key positions will go to his allies from the communist party, even bodied his opponents concede, that change is inevitable. but middle legal mayfield, this is the end of one cycle in the beginning of another. and what awaits us requires dialogue at bridge building. oh, you can okay. delegate to the constitutional convention who are rewriting?

chillies magna carta are overjoyed since bought each as a staunch supporter of the process. it giftedness this wanted to jim this one here . this process was born out of a profound political and social crisis that persists secret. so the new constitution is crucial to redirect the country and start to resolve that crisis been flung. enormous changes await the country that was considered the standard bearer of social and political stability in latin america. chilly would soon embark on a new road with a new generation, with new ways of seeing politics, a transition that already seemed to have begun. to see a newman al jazeera santiago. a former us missionary has incense a 12 years in prison for sexually abusing young girls in east timor 84 year old, which abused them. that is shelter for orphans and young people. he was defrost by the catholic church in 2018 after confessing to sexually abusing the children. jessica washington is in jakarta in neighboring indonesia. she says the case has

divided the predominantly catholic mentioned it to him last day is a very religious country around 98 percent of the population identify as catholic and the church has played a very important role in the history of this young nation. many still feel a sense of gratitude to the catholic church for the support that the church gave people during the indonesian occupation that provided food, shelter, and safety during what was a very difficult time for many timorese people. and so as a result, many people still feel a sense of discomfort at anything that discredits the institution of the catholic church. and in this figure of rich a dashboard, we have a figure who was not only a priest, but a very influential one. at that he had support not only within the country, but also international jonas who saw the work that he was doing as the director of this orphan age and all the shelters that he himself set up and believes that he

was doing amazing work for him. for local timorese people, we spoke to one of the people who was a foreign dona who said that he was absolutely shocked when he heard these accusations that he was among many who saw the accused as a sort of mother teresa like figure who was doing wonderful things for east timor, and as a result, there was a lot of shock when, when this case really became public knowledge. but it is hugely significant because this is the 1st time that a case has been raised against such a high profile priest. and as we've seen, there has been a guilty verdict that has been passed down. and what this could mean is that it could be the catalyst for further cases for further victims of sexual abuse to come forward. the jury has concluded his 1st day of deliberations and the trial of our former u. s. police officer involved in the shooting of a black motorist. kimberly potter broke down in court last week or testifying the

death of dante wright. she's pleaded not guilty to manslaughter, saying she meant to use her taser, but drew her gun instead and opened fire. john henry has more from minneapolis, tragic accident or manslaughter. those are the choices for the jury, now weighing the fate of former police officer kimberly potter. i answer, you realize this case is important and serious and therefore, to serve sher careful consideration. we will await your predict. potter says she mistook her gun for her taser when she fatally and accidentally shot dante, right? prosecutors say she knew wrong from right and should have known left from right when she pulled the firearm on her right side and not as she says, she thought she was doing the taser on her left to tie. there's no mistake, the fence you will not see an instruction on the defense of mistake.

the general not give you an instruction that says a person is not guilty if they commit a mistake. she pulled her hand guy instead of a taser. that's recklessly handling a fire. in the trials most dramatic moment, the former police officer took the stand herself breaking down as she relived the shooting. i remember yelling, teaser taser taser and nothing happened. potter's defense lawyer argue she can't be convicted of miss handling a gun in the april traffic stop because she didn't know she was using it. and that in any case, she was authorized in using the deadly force because dante wright was resisting arrest. she didn't know she had a gun. so how could she consciously, recklessly handle one ought to write? took it upon himself to flee even left after he was shot

purposely. oh, the racially charged shooting of a black man by a white police officer came as attention on the black lives matter movement was at its peak. it happened during the trial of derek shaven, the white police officer ultimately convicted of murdering another black man named george floyd, drawing protesters from minneapolis to the nearby suburb of brooklyn center, where potter killed. right. both sides agree that kimberly potter made a mistake when she shot donte right afterwards, she fell to the ground and cried out. i'm going to prison. the question the jury has to decide now is should she ponders lawyers asked for a mis trial over the length and style of the prosecution's closing arguments? perhaps a sign of concern about the outcome a request. the judge denied john henderson al jazeera minneapolis. now the middle of winter in denmark doesn't sound like the best time to go for a swim. but taking a dip in copenhagen hava is the perfect tonic for some people. what used to be

a major industrial port in the capitol has been transformed into one of the cleanest waterways in europe as mama jam june reports on a danish morning. this cold and grey as anxiety deepens over the surgeon cove. at 19 cases, you might expect to encounter a somewhat darker mood, but for power vote, who started swimming in copenhagen's harbor during the pandemic. this is the one place where his worries kit washed away is dead like dancing. like when you go and dance your show you jill jip heavy. and it's the same when you go into the water just for 30 seconds, you get up. and you just can injection of pure happiness. a few hours later in another part of denmark's capitol. it's not much warmer, but that doesn't stop joseph in norden, who's from finland on laura. one more. right. it's one of the reasons i really love living here that we have the opportunity, like you don't have to go far away to be able to swing. copenhagen is one of the

rare european cities with harbor water clean enough to jump into. but this wasn't always possible. pair shoes works on new developments for the harbor. he says for many years the water was too polluted to swim in. but all the efforts that went into transforming the harbor from an industrial area into a recreational one have paid off. we actually called it the, the blue park. we have a lot of green parkson in copenhagen lot of green areas. but we also have this blue park where people can enjoy themselves, no big polluting ships here. even the transport options are more eco friendly, like this electric powered ferry. having a clean harbor is a real point of pride for copenhagen. but the work is far from over. these days the aim isn't just to make the area safer for humans, but also to protect the ecosystem that exists beneath the water. these are bio huts also known as fish hotels,

dozens of steel cages that contain boxes filled with empty oyster shells, where algae and small organisms grow. the initiative is a partnership between the world wildlife fund and the city of copenhagen, vertical walls of peers as don't show a lot of complexity. and this is a bio hats can help in these bio had had stay in. they give space for kind of an niches where small fish can lift that it gets heads and etiquette food like the other harbor projects, an attempt to ensure locations that will comfort and an aquatic environment that can flourish. ma, jim, jim j 0. copenhagen. the number of people killed in the strongest typhoon day at the philippines. this year has surged to $375.00. another 500 have been injured and at least 56 are still missing. the dinner get islands were at the epicenter, anders jamila allen, dugan reports survivors a desperate for drinking water and fi. this is central saying,

connecticut. i lived at town, which bore the brunt of super typhoon rice piri, on thursday. what was once a thriving coastal community. now desolate my marathon and your own dear to ring. i have been living here for more than 50 years. a home they built to raise a family. this is all what's left of it, like what they love for to like i own. when when you know that they phone was very strong and we went downstairs to hide, but our walls gallon so we rather than a were a were very scared to run. and im right. everywhere you look there is destruction. it's been days since typhoon re devastated the southern philippines. but this community remains cut off from the rest of the world. though so survived here tell us. life will never be the same again for them. men here feel frustrated

and abandoned. hardly anything is spared. here in the market, not even its provincial capital, like a landscape scraped by a steel brush or the immediate aftermath of a bomb explosion. this is how this devastation looks like up close. mary jean basil you says she's grateful. she survived the typhoon with her family and one month old baby. now hunger has become pervasive here. there is nothing left to harvest. they have no money. this woman of wilma, the kids are so small, i still need to be with my baby. i prayed to the lord to please make the typhoon stop. the wind was already so strong and it started at 12 noon. well, 88 year old anesthesia tells us she wants to be reunited with their daughter, who lives from another town. anesthesia was rescued after home collapsed beneath

her. there are many others in san jose to shocked to share their ordeal. while others see they play dine simply because they have no choice. everything was wiped out in an instant. they say. now, there is only suffering. jim helene, dog and al jazeera in her get province southern philippines. ah, tougher creature to the headline, 00. the head of the world health organization is calling for limits to gatherings over the holiday period. he said, there is evidence the on the kron strain is more transmissible and can evade vaccines. all foreigners are see golf. this bond m u, all of i want to spend time with friends and family. all of us want to get back to norman. the fastest way to do.