how is the system based on private ownership and the pursuit of profit? so the world in a ton of capitalism is the pandemic that causes so much of the suffering exploited protect the people or the profit episode. one of all hail them of down on out is 0 . ah, further evidence that the all mcclellan variant is less severe but is infecting more people than ever. and booster protection could wayne quickly. and 13000000 people ordered into locked down a chinese city, told to stay at home just weeks before the winter olympics. ah no barbara, sarah, this is al jazeera life london, also coming, letting me put in, puts nato in his sites. the russian president lames, the alliance for creating tension in the region and move to run. you find the

defendant guilty. a former u. s. police officer who says she mistook her gun for her teaser, is convicted of killing black driver on her right. ah. friday marks a months since south africa announced the 1st case of the crone of iris 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 report of nearly 820000 positive cases or the newest form accounts that is fixed come from the u. k. health security agency, which says people would the variant are estimated to beef peak to be between 50 and

70 percent. less likely to be hospitalized. that's fairly consistent with 2 other studies released this week. imperial college estimates people infected with armor chron around that 40 percent less likely to be hospitalized for a night or work compared to dell, tash and very early data from the university of adam brush indicates a 2 thirds of reduction in risk of hospitalization. sh. well meanwhile, in south africa, where the strain was 1st identified, people are between 70 to 80 percent less likely to end up in hospital scientists there say that daily cases appear to have peaks last week. they fall in every day since december 17th move barcode begins, our coverage health services across europe on a war footing. taking the fight to armor chron 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 emanuel micron took to instagram to urge people to avoid spreading the virus. and for me, want i, me, miss this year, once again because of the virus. i asked you to have a lot of vigilance. this means continuing the protections against virus. you know, st. mark's regularly washing hands respecting, distancing, ventilating rooms, regularly with fresh air, isolating, and testing ourselves. as soon as we have symptoms more epistle, newsome buquet help 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 transmitter 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 only crime that it does a spread a lot more quickly, is a lot more infectious than delta. so any advantage gained from reduce risk of hospitalization needs to be set against that. and when we know, for example, if her, if a much smaller percentage of people are at the risk of hospitalization, is that 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 boosters 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 coping restrictions in england, london's christmas markets a quiet footfall as 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 leave barca, al jazeera london. simon clark is an associate professor in cellular microbiology at the university of reading. and he says on the cronies, so infectious, it could still cause major issues. good data from the u. k. is fairly small scale, it's only from infractions younger people,

so you have to remember that caveat as well. but it showing us initially at least a reduction in risk of going hospital of 50 percent, all the way down to half to 2 thirds. but unfortunately, if you look at the numbers and you can pay where we are today, yesterday we were on the same days. now last year we have 3 times as many infections and probably an awful lot more, which are very, very mild, are a soon to magic. so we could well end up with a situation where all dropping inability to cause disease is pulled the other way by increasing numbers of people who would be affected. so on an individual level, if you're lucky enough to get the right virus will be for very and then you'll much less likely to be in. it seems least 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 no much change and that we will have an awful lot of emissions to hospital corona, various cases in new york have have risen 60 percent in the past. week 12000 new infections reported just on wednesday. health officials say more testing sites have been opened while hospitals and jails have introduced restrictions for visitors. the mayor bill diblasio has yet to decide if people will be banned from the annual new year's eve celebrations in time square. it is what it is. it's also holiday when i was in line. we had people going abroad. we had people who had to be tested every week and we had people like me who were exposed. we had people who didn't feel well. so you've got everybody now. i betcha. next break know lines. single. more than 13000000 people have been ordered to stay at home in china's eastern city

of shyanne. more than 200 cove at 19 infections have been recorded there since the start of the months. the country is on high alert as a gears up to host the winter olympics in february between the u. reports from china's capital beijing. chinese authorities had imposed them most severe lockdown in almost a year. 13000000 people living in the northern city of she and 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 yoga trajectories of the ny cases were complex, evolving transportation services and public places, including hospitals, commercial complexes, restaurants as goes. hundreds of thousands of tourists flocked to she,

anne of 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 from is a 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 have 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 a readers come 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 current of ours 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. baiting has not approved the use of some other vaccines, such as pfizer or astrazeneca, katrina, you out a 0 paging. meanwhile, south korea has recorded its highest number of corona virus deaths in one day, a 109 people died in a 24 hour period. hospitals are overwhelmed with patience in critical condition. the delta variant is the dominant strain in south korea, but authorities say all micron could soon take over. new restrictions were introduced on saturday. 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 $500.00 journalists in moscow, putin rejected the idea that russia should provide security guarantees to the west saying it should actually be nato that provides the assurances because it has created the pensions whole 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, whereby bordeaux guarantee you are sure would we have made it explicitly clear that further later movement eastward is unacceptable. what is unclear about to go? are we putting missiles much to the united states borders street knows this. it is the united states that has come to us with their muscles the already on our

doorstep. humor, yes. need your good and their response to a question from a u. k. news channel, he highlighted the historical context to the grievance. certainly banashali yard. no one knew him were no worse talk because no one inch to the east is what we were told in the 990. and what happened? we were duped. we're breaking the trick that there were 5 waves of may to expand sag. 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 u. s. or the u. k. u came to ukraine, gained its independence from the soviet union, 991, although it's cultivated close ties with europe. some pots remain deeply connected to russia by history and language. in 2014, when you're a, my dad protest ousted ukraine's pro russian president, russia swiftly annex the crime in 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 i'm patient reiterated this week by president

lensky. my browsing them all. yet we want to unblock the best piece process as soon as possible to return crimea to gain membership with the european union, the upcoming years. and to get a very clear and very specific timeframe from nato. and we want to get it in 2020 to the kremlin, has table security proposals, which would effectively block ukraine's nato ambitions. russia has also deployed tens of thousands of its troops near to the ukrainian order diplomats from the united states and russia. we'll meet to discuss the proposals in january. nato is in real quick position here. an attack against one nato member is considered an attack against all. so while defending ukraine's rights to freely apply for nato membership, the alliance knows that granting membership could bring nato troops face to face with russian soldiers across a buffalo front. instead of these ukrainian soldiers practicing with us supplied javelin miss off, it could be american troops firing them for real. and russian soldiers firing back

pull brennan, al jazeera, still to come in this half hour removed in the dead of night on calling 1st to depos down the pillar of shame and memorial to the cannon square massacre. last, when malaysia's flood ravaged, perhaps state, when many small towns are still cut off. ah hey, there your world weather report begins in australia. here's the situation on friday, some storms bubbling up, brisbin into coastal new south wales. but i want to take it toward saturday. could have a developing tropical cyclone here, a target in the top and looked toward the southwest perth that 42. you could set a new temperature record maybe on saturday it stood for more than 50 years. i don't

think you'll get the overall a december temperature record, but well above average it should be 29. and here you are in the forty's, you zealand, lots of sunshine, but also a scattering of showers. that includes for danita, with a hive, 17 degrees, and per se, age. a lot of rain has been around to the lazy into population. here's another look at the potential developing cyclone. their next indo china eastern portion, sort the south. it is unsettled, but if we look toward the west, some sunny's valves here that includes for bangkok, your next 3 days sunshine and your temperature pretty well where it should be. and the snow is piling up across western areas of hole. kado support minus 3. in fact, we could see 30 centimeters of snow here over the next little bit. now we got to talk temperatures a painted on the colors. here are the dark or the purple, the lower the temperature sol, just a high of minus 7 degrees on saturday. but hey, at least he'll be in the sunshine. that's your update. see you soon? ah.

they travel thousands of combs in a july work is written exploitation in the force of sweden, one when east investigates on al jazeera. ah, the the hero, the world needs wash. ah, ah ah, look back, he is a reminder of the top stories on al jazeera,

russian president vladimir putin has told journalists that he views nato's expansion into eastern europe is unacceptable. and that it's impossible to have good relations with the current ukrainian government. he's urging nato to guarantee you will deny membership to ukraine and other former soviet countries. the u. k. government's health security agency says people with on the corner of 50 to 70 percent less likely to be admitted the hospital and with delta, the u. k reported nearly 820000 cubic 19 cases on thursday. just the day after reporting more than a 100000 infections for the 1st time. and in china, more than 13000000 people have been ordered to stay home in the eastern city of shyanne. 200 cobit 19 infections have been recorded since the beginning of the month. cuba meanwhile, has vaccinated more of its people against cobit 19 than most of the world's wealthiest nations. it's a milestone that will make the poor communist front country a pest cases,

the on the chrome very and continues to spread. and augustine has borne from the capitol havana, cuba says, as now vaccinated over 90 percent of its population with at least one dose of anti cove advancing. not sure it means that of all countries in the world or the population of over 1000000, only the united arab emirates now has about the records. now there's no way to independently verifying the se, spigots, however, they do have a true back in august of the peak of the honda mac. the state that about 910000 people a day were coming down. right now the infection rates according to the site, is less than $100.00 a day. so that's a one percent of this summer's peak. and living in reporting here in cuba over the summer and you plenty of people that came down to code that are new people that died from type it right now, reality has been transformed. i don't know anyone with kind of it. and when i asked friends neighbors, i didn't know anyone. they also don't want my son that invariably comes back is no . cuba, the spring became the smallest country in the world to develop its own code.

vaccines and distribution for them has been relatively easy. it's elaborating sometime and also the other important medicine is free at the points of use and the country has the highest doctor to patient ratio of any country in the world. the roll out happened at a very, very quick cliff with international services. finally, returning the communist party, going into national tourism on the revenue associated with it will be able to drag to cuba drug this country out of what is a very, very deep economic crisis. a jury in the u. s. is found former minnesota police officer kimberly porter 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, don't the rightful shot during a routine traffic stop. in april. during the trial, prosecutors argued that porter would pleaded not guilty,

betrayed her badge and flouted years of training, by mistakenly drawing her fire arm instead of her taser during the fatal incident in the matter of state, minnesota versus kimberly potter. we the jury on the charge of manslaughter in the 1st degree while committing a misdemeanor on our about april 11, 2021 and had it been county state of minnesota find the defendant guilty law course one and john henderson is outside the court in minneapolis. it's rare that a police officer is charged 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 verdict outside here, there was a celebration among the many demonstrators you gather, but in particular, the members of dante rights, family, who said that they felt that justice was done,

they were happy with the verdict. if 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 took his mother, spoke as well and this is what she had to say. the moment that we heard guilty on the, on 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 calm 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. 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 charge as being fairly standard. from most cases, people serve about 2 thirds of that, but 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, hong kong university has removed the statue commemoration, the victims of the 980 9, 10 am and 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 them acid bake reports. taken down under the cover of darkness,

boards were erected around the monument, which was then covered up 8 meters tall. the pit of shame depict 50 torn and twisted bodies piled on top of each other. it symbolized lives lost during the military crackdown on pro democracy protest. this invasion 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 trans. 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 given up on the whole. so we moved to hong kong airlines is 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 inside against forgetting nikolai. in previous years, students gathered on june 4th to remember the events in canada and square authorities have now banned them. lighting concerns about the cove in 1900 pandemic city would become his 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 city. the fed, its box approaches and criticism of basing for 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, well,

yes goose shot is the sculptor of the pillar of shame. he says that he was surprised by the sudden removal. this is the redistricting case and i think is the kind of attractive good fantasy because i offer them for 2 months, 3 months. i have offered them to move and i and all that and a number of letters and will and then press and be a say we will go down town and keep it away and put it back to europe without problem. and then here in the middle of nowhere to date for christmas in the darkness they make a lot of gas around it. and i think this is not really enough fans to do this kind of thing. this is kind of source, this is bruce a way to do that. then take a look only when you have seen and i can see a big part of discovery is still intact in some way. i can do this. the think part

of this kind of stuff that i'm sure this is not able to do to take it down this way that do that without damage. so across the is another discount. so, and this is a problem because my problem is private property and i lay some rude about that. so i see you make a crime. would take it down the private policy also for an artist. so i think they have a big problem with doing that. the best toll from major flooding in malaysia has risen to at least 37. the floods were triggered by days of heavy rain and have also displaced that nearly 70000 people as foreign. st. louis reports now from kara caspell town in pine state. many towns remained cut off the water levels in this river in pa, hung state malaysia may have gone down,

but the destruction caused by the floods is evident. water overflowed onto highways, making some roads impossible for days per hung is the worst hit state. with around 40000 people displaced, some towns are still cut off, accessible only by boat. but in some areas, flood waters have begun to receive, and people are starting to return to their homes to count the cost of the damage to rebuild their lives. the element of, if you will, of course i'm disappointed with the government hasn't heard this. i'm relying on friends. what else can i do? water rose quickly and unexpectedly, leaving many with barely enough time to save themselves, much less salvage their belongings. the damage is extensive. vehicles have to be written off. furniture appliances thrown away. people here estimate ill take 2 weeks to clean their holes. and that task has been made more difficult because

water and electricity supply haven't been restored. non governmental organizations, charities, and volunteers, have been turning up to distribute aid a plantation near by has sent its workers and tractors to help with the clean up. good. no, what are affiliated with us in for, from the serial ourselves. we know to be bull here. they're like our brothers and sisters, so that's why we had to help us. if we don't who will the relief centers are full. some say they're worried about the risk of contracting cove at 19. but there's nowhere else to go. i not till jana 4 months pregnant with her 2nd child says she's grateful. they got out alive for the aid nathan provide. if they do what a rose to chest level, i was really scared because that never happened before. i messaged my family to ask them to get help to me, but they said emergency rescue had been deployed to places. there were even more badly affected officials of warned that could be more flooding in the coming weeks

with the monsoon season set to run through to february florence li al jazeera car up for home state malaysia authorities in me and marcy, there is little hope of finding any more survivors after a landslide at a jade mine on wednesday? 3 bodies have so far been recovered. officials say that at least 50 people are still missing. the miners were swept into a lake in northern cut sheen state. the area is the center of me and mars, secretive jade industry. china says it will send police officers and equipment to the solomon islands following days of unrest. last month in november, there was rioting by protest, or as for unhappy with the prime minister. the government says the chinese support includes shields, helmets, and other equipment that will help the country confront that future threats. australia will soon begin withdrawing its peacekeeping troops. the belgian

government has agreed to close its nuclear power plants by 2025. the issue has been intensely debated by the 7 party coalition, the commissioning processes to be completed by 2045. the country will now invest that just over $100000000.00 in nuclear power technology, focusing on smaller modular reactors. ah. and now reminder of the top stories on al jazeera, the u. k. government's health security agency says people with on the corner 50 to 70 percent, less likely to be admitted the hospital than with delta. but the agency has warned the protection from a booster vaccine may begin to wayne. after just 10 weeks. the u. k reported nearly 820000 coven 19 cases on thursday. that's just one day after recording more than a.