thousands of off programs award winning documentaries and debt news reports. subscribe to youtube dot com forward slash al jazeera english. ah . this is al jazeera ah, hello, i'm barbara sarah. this is the al jazeera use our life from london. thank you for joining us. coming up in the next 60 minutes, further evidence that the only torn variant is less severe, but is infecting more people than ever. and booster protection could wayne quickly . 13000000 people ordered into locked down a chinese city, told to stay at home just weeks before the winter olympics. vladimir putin puts

nato in his sites. the russian president blamed the alliance for creating tension in the region and the state of minnesota 5. the defendant guilty a former u. s. police officer who says she mistook her gun for her taser is convicted of killing black driver down to right. i'm devin ash, with sport cove 90 and continues to disrupt the english premier is 2 more matches accord off and with worries over player welfare. manchester city, balls, pet body ala, says butler's should threatened to strike if they want their concerns taken seriously. ah, friday marks a months since south africa announced the 1st case of the corona virus variant known as all micron. and scientists now are developing a clearer picture of its dangers. so far the data suggests that it is milder than

previous variance, but because it's significantly more infectious, it could still cause serious pressure on health systems. on thursday, the u. k. government reported nearly a 120000 deposit of cases. well, the newest on the crown statistics come from the u. k. health security agency, which says people with the very inter estimated to be 50 to 70 percent less likely to be admitted the hospital. and that is fairly consistent with 2 other studies release that this week. imperial college estimates the people infected with on the con, around 40 percent less likely to be hospitalized for a night or more compared to the delta variant. and very early data from the university of edinburgh indicated that 2 thirds reduction in risk of hospitalization. meanwhile, in south africa were the strain was 1st identified. people are between 70 to 80 percent less likely to go to

a hospital. or scientists say that the daily cases appear to have peak that last week they have fallen every day since december 17th. neve barker begins are coverage health services across europe on a war footing. taking the fight to armor chrome by giving booster vaccinations to hundreds of thousands of people a day. the variance fueling a new wave of infections across europe. in the french capital long queues formed outside pharmacies and coven testing centers in the run up to the christmas holidays. elsewhere, french police increase their checks on people's health passes, allowing for now at least the cities restaurants to remain open. president manuel micron took to instagram to urge people to avoid spreading the virus and from you on honey with this year, once again, because of the virus, i asked you to have a lot of vigilance. this means continuing the protections against viruses,

you know, smart as regularly washing hands, respecting this and saying, ventilating grooms regularly with fresh air in isolating and testing ourselves. as soon as we have symptoms more epistle, newsome, buquet, health security agencies, the latest body to crunch real world data on the severity of the disease. concluding that someone with omicron is as much as 70 percent less likely to be admitted to hospital. but because the transmits ability of our microns very high infections could rock it to the point, large numbers may still end up in hospital. we do know with omi crohn, that it does a spread a lot more quickly. it's a lot more infectious than delta. so any advantage gained from reduce risk of hospitalization needs to be set against that. and we know, for example, if her, if a much smaller percentage of people are at the risk of hospitalization, if that's a smaller percentage of a much larger number, there could be still significant hospitalization. our best way to, to deal with this, the best way to protect ourselves is through vaccinations and in particular the

booster program. it is now even more important to come forward and to get boosted. the analysis also concluded that 2 doses of a covert vaccine are not enough to offer strong protection against omicron a boost as vital and reducing symptomatic infection and serious illness. although data suggests protection starts to wayne after just 10 weeks. 3 jobs also don't stop people from contracting and spreading the disease at an alarming rate. despite no new official covert restrictions in england, london's christmas markets are quiet. footfall is down hawkish, british government ministers want clear cut evidence of a risk to the national health service before backing any new restrictions. evidence that may take days to become clear in the hospital data. what happens in the british capital, where omicron cases are at their highest,

will sound the alarm for the rest of the country. and given the numbers here, the rest of europe to the fall couches era, london, or current of various cases in new york have risen 60 percent in the past week. 12000 new infections were reported on wednesday. health officials say more testing sites have been opened while hospitals and jails have introduced restrictions for visitors. gabriel is on the joins us live now from new york. gabriel, how? what kind of impact is this having on new yorkers? especially in the run the prism to rewrite the very loud here you can hear in midtown manhattan on 42nd street in the heart of new york city . new york city is now the us epicenter of the armory con variant here. and to give you a sense of how bad it is here, the issues are testing. there is more demand for testing than there is supply. and

you can see that right here on 42nd street, we're going to going to take a little bit of a walk down here. this is one of more than a 110 different city run testing sites in the city. but officials say this is simply not enough because the lines have been dozens and sometimes even hundreds of people in line stretch for blood. these are all people that fear they might be sick or might have been exposed to the record various and it is exploding at such a rate here in new york right now, people are wanting to get tested and they, the testing system just cannot keep up with the total demand, and if you actually flip around this way again, you'll see that these testing areas go back all the way for a block or 2 in the direction. every single block here on 42nd street,

at least for several blocks, you'll see different testing. say here. now, the mayor of new york city has been said he will not. we cancelling the new year's eve celebration in times square. he said, we're just going to scale it back to only 15000 people, but many are saying it should be cancelled completely. well, this is the upper center here. the united states has now been seen on recon variant appear in all 50 states just within the last few days. and henri conscious 1st arrived here in the us less than a month ago in washington dc. for example, the mayor there has announced a mask mandate again in neighboring new jersey. the numbers are skyrocketing there and oh, we seem to have lost the connection to gabriel elizondo who was speaking to a said they're from a new york city, and the city has seen

a spike in infections there as well because of all micron. they have risen crone of ours cases in general 60 percent in the past week. so let's take a look at sort of an overview of everything that is happening with the on the corner variant by speaking with simon clark and associate professor in cellular microbiology at the university of reading here in the u. k. he joins us now. so thank you so much for joining us here on al jazeera, a lot of interesting studies have come out of america now. it's only been a month, as we've been saying, since it was 1st identified in south africa for a long time. we just didn't have the data, it seems now that a picture is emerging, a must a much more infectious, a variant, but perhaps a less deadly one. i. yeah. the, the data from the u. k is fairly small scale. it's only from infections younger people. so have to remember that caveat as well, but it's showing us initially at least

a reduction in risk of going hospital of 50 percent, all the way down to half 2 thirds. but unfortunately, if you look at the numbers and you compare where we are today yesterday we were on the same days. now sir, we have 3 times as many infections and probably an awful lot more, which are, are very, very mild, are a soon to magic. so we could well end up with a situation where off dropping inability to cool seas is pulled the other way by the increased numbers of people who are being affected. so on an individual level, if you're lucky enough to get the right virus or the covariance of it, then you're much less likely to be in. it seems nice if you're younger, we don't know about all the people. but of course, that will happen to many more people. so overall, for society, it might,

might be that there's not much change in that. we will have an awful lot of admission to the hospital. it's been interesting to see how different countries have handle this in different ways. some like the netherlands imposing of the sort of full lock down here in the u. k. the government very much pushing the message that it should be booster shots or vaccinations that should help. but we also find out from this latest study from the u. case health and security agency that actually the validity of boosters could weigh in after about 10 weeks. would you make of that? yeah, we shouldn't panic too much because what it means is that after 10 months, the very high, 10 weeks, sorry, the very high levels of protection. and i mean mark is that we see stops to dwindle. scott, to drop away. that doesn't, of course, that it means the 10 weeks you become 0 or it's ineffective. there is still probably very good protection about 10 week point for some time afterwards. we

don't yet know because again, we don't have a data. how long that will last or how long it will, where we'll jump down to we'll go down to nothing. will it sort of clatter off somewhere a bit lower than where it is already. but i think that there is a very real child who will end up with a situation with a full face being administered at some point. yeah. which is what we're seeing happen in israel. i mean, what advice would you give? i guess the people who around the, you know, many parts of the world are now gathering for the christmas holidays. a lot of people will travel. a lot of people will gather with family, with older family members. what would be the advice that you would give based on the data, which i realize is incomplete, but the data that we do have i would say that, given that we don't know the effects on older, more people or people with long term health conditions. although it's wise to be careful, enjoy yourself get on with your life, but i have bind to the interactions that you're,

you're making and everyday basis and the really need them if you want to spend time with somebody who might be vulnerable. so test get a boost, the way you can say should distancing good hygiene all the rest of it. all these things are important. they all reduce ones risk 7, clark associate, professor in selling or microbiology at the university of reading. so thank you. you're welcome. meanwhile, in china, more than 13000000 people have been ordered to stay at home in the eastern city of shyanne. more than 200 coven 19 infections have been recorded there since the start of the month. the country is on high alert as the gears up to host the winter olympics in february, katrina, you've reports now from china's capital begging. chinese authorities had imposed them most severe lockdown in almost a year. 13000000 people living in the northern city of she. anne have been ordered

to stay home from midnight on thursday. only one member of each household is allowed out to get food every 2 days. and only certified, essential workers can head out for work. here should have the measures prompted crowd to rush to grocery stores and markets earlier this week. more than $200.00 cases have been reported in the city since the beginning of the month. the outbreak of the delta variant began with just 9 people and quickly spread, hulu. deep, the other trajectories of deny cases were complex involving transportation services and public places, including hospitals, commercial complexes, restaurants and schools. hundreds of thousands of tourists flocked to she an, a former capital and historic hub to see the terror caught a warriors every year. now, almost all transport in and out of the area has been cancelled. residence must apply for special permission to leave. the city authorities are currently conducting that 3rd round of mass testing. so far, no cases of the on the con,

variance have been locally transmitted in china. but officials here are on my alert, the beijing winter olympics opens in february and chinese leaders. her mom is safe and secure games where spectators will be able to attend or receive spectators, however weren't be attending. china has maintained it. 0 tolerance approach to the virus and borders has been closed since march last year. the was that during the winter olympics, there will be a large number of olympic affiliated in the reduce from different countries and readers coming to trainer. there is a high possibility that a certain number of covey, 90 and positive cases, will arise. more than 80 percent of the country's population have received 2 doses of corona virus. vaccines. officials are now encouraging people to get a 3rd shot. but some studies are found that chinese vaccines have lower efficacy and protection rates against the on the chrome strain. beating has not approved the

use of some other vaccines such as pfizer or astrazeneca, katrina, you out 0, they doing. coming up on this news hour from london removed in the dead of like hong kong university pulls down the pillar of shame. a memorial to the tenement square massacre plus the dollars are changing life. i'm with our mom and joey, the northern focused on and i'll tell you about the efforts to cultivate more of them. and then sport as covet. 19 causes more postponements in the premier league managers, voice their concerns over fixture, congestion and players welfare ah . military tensions between russia and the nato alliance of featured prominently and president vladimir putin's end of year news conference. speaking to about 500 journalists in moscow, put in, it rejected the idea,

the russia should provide security guarantees to the west saying it should actually be nato. that provides the assurances because it has created the tensions for brendan reports. it's a cold, cold, christmas in terms of russia, nato relations, as evidenced by these russian troops undertaking, firing exercises near the border with ukraine and of all the topics covered in president putin's annual news conference. it was the questions about ukraine and possible nato expansion, which saw him visibly bristling there by bold guarantee it, i thought, would we have made it explicitly clear that further later, movement eastward is unacceptable. what is unclear about valley to go? are we putting missiles next to the united states borders? we need to know this. it is the united states to has come to us with their missiles . they already on our doorstep, him a yes, need your good address and their response to a question from a u. k news channel, he highlighted the historical context to the grievance. silly banashali yet no,

we're doing. we're no westhal because not one inch to the east is what we were told in the mighty mite is and what happened? we were duped. we were brazenly trick that there were 5 waves of nato expansion to law. that's what we're talking about. you have to understand, it's not us who are threatening and we didn't come to the borders of the us or the u. k. you came to us, you crank, gained its independence from the soviet union in 1991, although it's cultivated close ties with europe. some parts remain deeply connected to russia by history and language in 2014, when you are my dan, protests ousted ukraine's pro russian president. russia swiftly annexed the crimean peninsula and supported pro russian separatist groups in the eastern region of dumbass. but ukraine's express wish is membership of nato and the european union and ambition reiterated this week. i presidency lensky, my brother in law. yet we want to unblock the don best priest process as soon as possible to return crimea to gain membership with the european union in the

upcoming years left. and to get a very clear and very specific timeframe from nato. and we want to get it in 2020 to the kremlin, has tabled security proposals, which would effectively block ukraine's nato ambitions. russia has also deployed tens of thousands of its troops near to the ukrainian border bmw diplomats from the united states. and russia will meet to discuss the proposals in january. nato is in an awkward position here. an attack against one nato member is considered an attack against or so while defending ukraine's right to freely apply for nato membership. the alliance knows that granting membership could bring nato troops face to face with russian soldiers across a battle front. instead of these ukrainian soldiers practicing with us supplied javelin missiles. it could be american troops firing them for real. and russian soldiers firing back pull brennan, al jazeera and jerry in the us says, found former minnesota police officer kimberly porter

a guilty of 1st and 2nd degree manslaughter in the fatal shooting of 20 year old black man. down to write a 12 member jury found the police veteran guilty after 27 hours of deliberation than to write was shot during a routine traffic stop back in april. during the trial, prosecutor is argued that potter who had pleaded not guilty, betrayed her badge and flouted the years of training by mistakenly drawing her fire on instead of her taser during the fatal incident in the matter of state or minnesota versus kimberly potter. we the jury on the charge of manslaughter in the 1st degree, while committing unless to leaner on our about april 11, 2021 in harrison county state of minnesota. find the defendant guilty. well, john henry has been following the case for us and joins us from minneapolis says so,

john, what reaction has there been to this verdict? well, barbara, it's rare that a police officer is charge in the killing of somebody under their care. it's rare still that one is convicted, but today that's exactly what happened. first degree and 2nd degree manslaughter. and as the judge read out that the verdict outside here, there was a celebration among the many demonstrators who were gathered, but in particular the members of dante rights, family, who said that they felt that justice was done. they were happy with the verdict. keith ellison is the attorney general who added the 1st degree manslaughter charge after 1st charging potter with 2nd degree manslaughter. he seemed to feel vindicated, saying there would be an empty seat at the dante right family table this holiday season. and of course, christmas is on saturday. outside here we, we've had mostly a peaceful reaction. as you know, there were some violent protests after the death of george floyd and it was during

the trial of the police officer and killed him. that this dante right shooting happens that drew a lot of protesters to the neighboring suburb of brooklyn center. so his mother spoke as well. and this is what she had to say. the moment that we heard guilty manslaughter, one emotions every single emotion that you could imagine just running through your body. at that moment. i kind of let out a yelp because it was built up in the anticipation of what was the come when while we were waiting for the last few days. and now we've been able to process it. we want to thank the entire prosecution team. we want to thank community support, everybody who's been out there that has supported us and this, this long fight for accountability. and john, what can we expect to in terms of sentencing both when we're going to hear it and

the kind of sentence that we could expect? well, for a police officer who has been found guilty for a shooting on duty, this is a pretty stiff potential sentence. on the 1st charge of 1st degree manslaughter. it's 15 years maximum on the 2nd charge. second degree manslaughter. it's 10 years . the guidelines in the state of minnesota would call for about 7 to 4 year, 7 years on the 1st charge and an additional 4 years on the 2nd charges being fairly standard from most cases, people serve about 2 thirds of that, but i there are also mandatory minimum sentences here, so it looks almost inescapable that kim potter will face years in prison. she'll do so right here in the state of minnesota and right now she has been scheduled for sentencing. on february, 18th, john 100 with the latest that from minneapolis. john, thank you. hong kong university has removed the statue commemorating the victims of the 1989 tenement square massacre,

which is censored in china. the so called the pillar of shame was made by a danish sculptor to symbolize the lives lost during the military crack down. as a big report, taken down under the cover of darkness, boards were erected a random monument, which was then covered up 8 meters tall. the pillar of shame depict 50 torn and twisted bodies piled on top of each other. it's symbolized lives lost during the military crackdown on pro democracy program. basing gentlemen square on june 4th 1989. but since october it had become an issue of dispute. the university demanding it be taken down in a state rent. they said the decision on the age statue was based on external legal advice and risk assessment for the best interest of the university. they added. the university is also very concerned about the potential safety issues resulting from the fragile statue and just like that,

it was taken away and put in storage unit on the house and we moved to hong kong airlines has gone to hong kong university. students. union is also gone, and today, given the pillar of shame has gone, maybe they just want to raise our memories of the 198910. i'm incorrect down. so we must preserve memory insight against forgetting nikolai. in previous years, students gathered on june 4th to remember the events. each animal square authorities have now banned them. siting concerns about the coven, 1900 pandemic city. what the committee party wants to impose here is a kind of an age. yeah. what happened in china, more than 30 years ago, the move follows a controversial national security low in hong kong last year, but that was the session. so version, terrorism and foreign confusion to intervene in the fifty's affairs. its box approaches and criticism of beijing containing freedoms that were promised to hong

kong when it was handed back to china by britain in 1997. for now, there is an empty space with a monument once stood. but for many, even though the pillar of shame has been removed, the memory of what took place cannot be raised. i said vague, jazeera, still head to indiana to 0 and use our you gotta stay maybe 3 years. oh boy is 5 years. we've not seen your plate in travel bands, force zimbabwe, and migrants to make huge sacrifices in order to get home for christmas. when malaysia's flood ravaged behind state, when many small towns are still cattle and in sport will hear from the australian pike at home as his side put hears for the 3rd ashes had england in melbourne. ah,

it's friday. here's her forecast. hello, everyone. good to see you 1st of all talk temperature. so i put the colors on the dark of the purple, the lower that temperature, quite the divide between east and west. moscow minus 9 london, 10 degrees to get that south facing wind pumping up your temperature. terms of precipitation, it is cutting across the republic of ireland and the united kingdom could see some freezing rain 4 or there in sections of scotland, a shield of snow across the baltics, mostly eastern sections, spilling into western russia and bellow roost. minsk has a high minus for soggy weather pattern for iberia rounds of rain to calm. so here we go on friday, impacting both portugal and spain. probably see that mess behind me. press play on saturday. that slammed into portugal cuts straight across into western spain and northern areas of morocco. now for italy could see some pretty intense downpours toward the north west, also some heavy showers. coastal crecia just showers forth hirata with a hive. 10 degrees, rain and snow has made

a clean sweep across turkey temperatures on the rise in istanbul, but greasy conditions across the boss 1st. and now for the top end of africa, it's unsettled both in the west, from morocco and in the east, but mostly just cloud cover for cairo with a high of 18 degrees on friday. that sure weather up. they will see again soon. ah. they travelled thousands of columbus, it from time to pick berries, but do tie work is exploitation in the forest persuading one at one aisd investigates on out of the room. ah al jazeera, with all one of the fastest growing nations in the,

on the cause of needed to oakland and development school international shipping company to become a p middle east. and we'll try them wanting skillfully, my 3 key areas of develop, oh, filling a promise of connecting the world, connecting the future while need. cato causes gateway to whoa trade. lou ah, what, what the back is a reminder of the top stories on al jazeera, russian president vladimir putin has told journalists, he views nato's expansion in the eastern europe as unacceptable that it's

impossible to have good relations with the current ukrainian government. he is urging nato to guarantee you will deny membership to ukraine, as well as to other former soviet countries. the u. k. government's health security agency says people with on the crone are 50 to 70 percent less likely to be admitted the hospital than with delta. the u. k reported nearly 820000 covent 19 cases on thursday. just a day after recording more than a 100000 infections for the 1st time. and more than 13000000 people have been ordered to stay home in the eastern chinese, at city of shyanne. 200 cove at 19 infections have been recorded since the beginning of the staying with the pandemic. zimbabwe ends at living and working in south africa have been forced to cancel plans to head home for christmas. many just cant afford to pay for man the tree hotel quarantines. and as a result, south african bus companies are.