increasingly saying authoritarianism might not be so bad. there were several steps along the way where the chain of command it's you like tried to cover what your take on why they've gotten so raw. that to me is political well for the bottom line on us politics and policies and the impact on the world on al jazeera. ah, this is al jazeera, ah, hello, i'm emily anguish. this is the news. allan live from doha, coming up in the next 60 minutes on me. kron dampens holiday plans. hundreds of flights canceled just before christmas. as corona, virus infections surge globally and overcrowded ferry catches fi in bangladesh killing. at least 39 people. police in india have begun an investigation into video

showing him do religious leaders calling for genocide against muslims and i need to have it. i am from bethlehem in the occupied westbank were no key. christmas celebrations i've begun. i'm devin ash, with sport covet calls is another of sundays are premier league fixes to beef as bones an amazing between the league and manages to discuss the situation is described as a waste of time by talking embossed, antonio conte. ah, we begin the news hour with christmas chaos more than 2000 flights globally have been cancelled on christmas eve. the light is blow caused by the highly transmissible army con variant. it is left would be travellers stranded as the holiday season kicks off. lufthansa, delta and united a line say the virus has effected their flight cruise in the u. k. the prime

ministers urging the public to get booster shots in. he's christmas message. johnson's resistance coles had tied to restrictions for the holidays. as cases surge to record highs. though the time for buying presence is theoretically running out, there is still a wonderful thing. you can give your family of the whole country. that is to get that job, whether it's your 1st or 2nd, or your booster. so that next year's festivities are even better than this years. and in the meantime, i thank you. i wish you all a very merry christmas are the countries like france and australia have shortened the wait time to receive booster shots as they rush to stem. the tide of infections . worry challenz, ease law for us in lewis in the u. k. but 1st, that's cross to alan fisher who's following developments from washington. d. c.

allen. this is awful news for travelers. ahead of christmas. yeah, merry christmas hold on. not so fast. united. one of the airlines to cancel a $120.00 flights on christmas eve. so that is going to impact thousands of travelers. they will be waking up to text messages to whatsapp messages to e mail, seeing, i'm sorry, your flight has canceled. why is that? well, as because or mac or no, the dominant strain of covered here in the united states as in all 50 states and it is impacting fight crews and support staff for airlines. they simply can't staff all the flights i've been talking for weeks is before thanksgiving. about how the big period for travel is between thanksgiving and christmas. christmas eve. normally one of the busiest days for travel in all of the year and quite simply, a lot of people are not going to be traveling at the moment. there's a problem to with getting a hold of testing that joe biden was very critical of donald trump about the fact

that there was no testing in the early days of covered. and here we are with a new strain and people can't get tested. they are lining up all across the country at various testing centers for hours at a time, just to try make sure that they're okay that they're safe to travel safe to visit the relatives as well. trying to get home testing kit in any of the pharmacies just around here is incredibly difficult, although you can get them online. and there are some places that if you're willing to do the research, you'll be able to find as well. but testing is a problem as well. so for many families who are getting together, they're going to be empty seats empty seats because they may have lost people to covered over 2021, an empty seats because people who thought they were going to be traveling. 7 to visit their family on christmas, eve simply won't get there. and sally, sans and chaotic, alan, what about the common situation more broadly across the us? while is putting a big stream on hospital services to the extent that the cdc,

the center for disease control has amended the recommendation for health workers to catch covert. no. before it was, you have to isolate for 10 days, get a negative test and then you can come back to what. but such as the strain on the hospital system, they're reducing that they're saying, look, isolate for 7 days, and then get a negative test and come back to what and the see. that figure might even be reduced as well. simply because hospital systems are seeing a huge strain, and as i see it, snow in all 50 states. so this is a serious, significant problem that the white house is trying to say, look, we're in a much better position than we were in this, this time. last year and also in march of this year. and that's absolutely correct when it comes to delta. and also it could be that omicron isn't as bad as delta, but it seems to be more transmissible. and that is mickey, a lot of people worried and it means that this christmas will be filled with those, those as the sit round the christmas table wondering does any one year have covered?

and is that a chance that in a couple of days i could well get it? that's a worry for health professionals as well. the thing that the christmas holidays could lead to a surge after the christmas holidays. and it's an ideal at all. thank you very much . for that update, alan fisher live for us in washington dc. let's get the situation now in the u. k. were a challenge, joins us live now from louis and johnson has given his annual christmas message and urged evelyn to get a booster shot. rory, what else did he have to say? well, in many ways, this was a classic johnson address, a classic johnson speech with lots of cultural references that will be instantly familiar to anyone who lives in the u. k. and some ambitious rhetorical flourishes as well. he said that, yes, if this year you need a bigger christmas turkey. if you need to appeal more brussel sprouts, if you have more washing up to do at the end and a big part of scrambled up,

wrapping paper will. that's all to the good because it means that this christmas you are spending it with the people that you want to spend it with your family and your friends, as opposed to last year when christmas was effectively canceled for many millions of people. he also said this, well, in so many words, go and get your boost of vaccine. go and get your job because pretty much it's what jesus would have wanted. he said that getting a vaccine is a neighborly thing to do. it's in a spirit of helping your community, your society, and that is the message that jesus christ gave. he said, ultimately that this christmas is going to be better than last christmas. and hopefully, if enough people pick up the opportunity to go and get jobs and boosters next, christmas will be better than this one. he rides in saying that this christmas is better than last christmas, but with all microns searching across the country, there is still a big shadow falling across this festive season. yes,

that shadow suddenly looking very dark at this stage. rory, what's been the roll out of vaccines like across the u. k. given that the prime minister is urging everyone to get a booster one has read the relentless and it's ongoing tomorrow. christmas day is a public holiday boxing day. that's the 26th of december. that is also a public holiday. but you can still go out of access centers around the country and get a job even though that is korea, even though it's christmas day and boxing day, there are still people and h f. workers out there doing that and helping get the country boosted help and get the country vaccinated for a storm. some plans for those people in his christmas message. but all micron is ripping through this country. we had yet again, a record number of infections on thursday. we'll have to wait and see what's today friday brings 820000 nearly

a 100. 20000 new infections on thursday. the other records have been falling this week on previous days. so clearly as we know, omicron is massively infectious. the good news that seems to be coming from data that's coming in from around the world is that all micron itself, as, as a virus is less severe. it seems than the previous variance, particularly delta. it seems that between it's between 30 and 70 percent, less likely to put you in a hospital if you catch it. but of course, with many more people catching it, the dangerous that it's still going to over burden the health services of countries around the world. because they'll just be that many more people ending up and still, even though it might be less severe. thank you very much for that update rory challenge. stay safe for us in louis the u. k. ok, as warry was mentioning, the omi con variance is milder than previous variance. so let's take

a look at them. the you case health security agency says people with the variance are estimated to be up to 70 percent. less likely to be admitted to hospital imperial college found people infected with l. mccollum at 40 percent less likely to be in hospital for night or more. that's when compared to the delta variance and very early data from the university of edinburgh indicates a 2 thirds reduction in the risk of ending up in the hospital. on choose day, a study from south africa showed people infected 70 to 80 percent less likely to have to be admitted. professor cheryl cohen is a senior author of that south african study at the national institute for communicable diseases and has more on her teams finding. when we look at this finding that we have overdue severity, there really are 2 possible explanations and i think it's likely both of them contribute to the one is that potentially the virus is actually intrinsically less

than there are some early data to suggest that the parts of the body that a target in the life might be different and contribute to it actually being intrinsically less likely to cause severe disease. but the other important contribution is the role of pre existing immunity in south africa. more than 70 percent of people have had soft coffee too before and many people have also had vaccination. and so in the people included in our study and then we know army crime is more likely to cause a breakthrough infection. so many of the patients will actually have had previous infection of information so. so part of this reduce severity might actually just be that in many, many people, they've already had it before. they have some level of immunity. and when we compare those on the current patients in the early wave to people in the delta wave . so the previous wave, we also found a mass hospice about people. they were 70 percent less likely to develop severe disease. and, and importantly we really waited from the time of diagnosis. we gave it

a whole 3 weeks for those people to actually have got severe disease or got admitted to hospital so. so, you know, the vast majority of those people would have had a severe disease if they were going to get it so, so we feel that these data are not quite about to the world news now, and at least 39 people have been killed in bangladesh. after a fire ripped through a ferry carrying hundreds of passengers, please say the blaze broke out in the engine room in the middle of the night and quickly engulfed the boat than at smith has the story. this overnight ferry was packed with up to 800 people heading out of docker for a weekend, away with friends and family. many would have been sleeping in these crowded cabins as the fire took hold in the engine room or the engine had been running for about an hour while on fire. later, the fire probably spread from the engine to the earl tanker and his tub with a loud bang at this spot where you're standing right now about that that was not as flames whipped through the ferry. many passengers jumped into the river to escape,

according to police. they believed the engine carried on running for an hour. as the fire took hold. many survivors of suffer terrible burn injuries and the death toll is expected to rise. i was on the 2nd floor. suddenly the engine exploded and caught for it had be malfunctioning from earlier on. but the negligence of the fairy authority resulted in the fall. the ferry was coveting curtains, while the heat from the explosion was trapped inside and that he'd made everything firm. dozens of bodies have been recovered so far, very accidents, a common in bangladesh, usually blamed on over crowding, and lacks enforcement of rules. fairies are a main means of transport and a country that is criss crossed by more than a 130 rebels. the government to set up 2 committees to investigate the fire. they've been ordered to report their findings in free dates. bernard smith, alderson 90, more head on his knees, ally,

including repair and to rebuild. it's been fine man, seems germany was hit with severe flooding, and some people have not been able to return hind fiction. oh, future and predict terrifying outcomes from facial recognition, technology and artificial intelligence. and a and b i action coming up in sport as steph curry delivers another shooting master class to lead the warriors to victory. ah, south career has pardoned former president park going hey, who's been serving a 22 year sentence for corruption. park became the country's 1st democratically elected leader to be thrown out of office in 2017 lexia. bryan has the story park on hayes removal from office and raised in 2017. was

a dramatic fall from grace that saw her go from south korea's president to prisoner . she's been serving a 22 year sentence for corruption that the governments pardon will see her released on december 31st along with around 3000 others. how are you putting on your credit report? we have included former president park and he and former prime minister hon young shook to list to overcome unfortunate past history and cries of covert 19 about realized peoples unity and provide a chance to take a new step forward. to the future, park is currently in hospital and analysts believe that's played a part in her imminent release. i think it's really heard dancing age and her health issues. she's had physical and mental health issues since impeachment i am, she's pretty clearly not going to have any kind of meaningful political role in korean life she's allowed, got home is appears going to happen. hawk was one seen as political royalty.

the daughter, former president, part young he, she served as acting 1st lady after her mother was killed in 1974 to you. young. so yes, i got one young head. oh, in 2013 patheon hay became the country's 1st female leader scoring a decisive victory for her conservative policy. but she suffered a sharp drop in public support after more than 300 people, mostly children drowned when a fairy capsized in 2014 just 2 years later. and now the political scandal engulfed her administration after an old friend choice. and so was alleged to have used her influence over the president to meddle in state affairs. hundreds of thousands of people gathered every weekend to demand parks resignation. they was celebrations when she was impeached, thrown out of office,

and later jailed for collusion with joy to receive billions of dollars from major companies. the scandal also landed heads of 2 conglomerates and prison. what occurred in the blue house during her reign was on acceptable. oh boy, and there are corruption. indeed. what o overall i, i personally didn't feel that she was deeply involved into these into the entire scheme and so i'm, she has been jailed. she's in poor health. i feel like the time is right to let her go and give her the pardon. at the moment of the palm on me, i feel upset as a citizen, i feel that it's regrettable. at such a decision was made all of a sudden when it would undo what was achieved through the candlelight vigils. almost all of south korea's former presidents have been implicated and corruption scandals. leaning back, the only living ex president aside from park is also in prison. he didn't receive a pardon alex there, brian al jazeera police in the northern indian state of order rec hands have

launched a hate speech investigation following a meeting of hindu religious leaders. videos from last week's event showed them calling for genocide emmys, of weapons against muslims. it's back to outrage on social media after the footage went viral. happening missile is following the story from the deli week off to this event. the police has, we just turned a case against one bus. and now the event in question was a concave of thought, organized by villages him the leaders in a template town in north, in the town is considered to be wholly by many. now at this event, many inflammatory features were made the call for genocide. similar to what we saw on man mar again. so we'll have all of this is on tape. the features went viral. so the police has evidence of video, graphic evidence, but nothing else has actually been done. in fact, the, the organizer of the event is

a repeat offender. this is not the 1st time that he has made an 2 minority or rather, and 2 muslim statements statements. in fact, he recently gave an interview saying that we stand by watson says and is not afraid of getting arrested. and the reason is that many of these leaders who are there and may enjoy. 5 support and friendship of members belonging to prime minister in the range of movie political party. that is a party gentle party or the b j. b. interestingly, the one person who, against whom the case has been registered. if someone who recently converted he was muslim and now goes by him to name japan, his delight his country to announce it won't send government officials to the badging winter olympics. it's a mixed boy. caught with japan, still sending several olympic officials to china, including the president to the tokyo 2020 games. the u. s. u. k. canada and australia have already announced

a diplomatic boycotts in protest against alleged human rights abuses on wigan wisdoms in shins, young, hundreds of refugees fled across the me. a my border into thailand on friday after fighting between the me and my army. and the karen national union. fighting has been going on for more than a week following a raid to seize dissidents opposed to the military curve. but now seems to be growing in intensity as attorney chang reports. a video posted on social media from meso, on the border with me on my gunfire. so loud it's clear, fighting is very close elsewhere video. so people playing towards timer, the thump heavy artillery in the background. here the river is relatively easy to cross an obvious route for those trying to escape the fighting. overnight hundreds had left on the cover of darkness to be met by the ty army time media reporting

that that come on the aerial and artillery bombardment. fighting in the town of lake a go broke out last week. after the me a military rated the town looking for suspected dissidence, the ethnic korean national union, the control, the area, are reported to a full back for ruthlessly. since then, several 1000 people have crossed into thailand, many with only the clothes on their backs. i put my child in random mediately across the river. now ty soldiers told us to run fast tie soldiers have allowed the refugees to stay unlike during clashes earlier in the year when they were pushed back. and thailand's prime minister of provisions had been made for others to come . as more fighting is anticipated along the border, the qur'an, in particular, have been hom bring formerly or informally, some of the resistance groups that have been set up to counter the coup. and i think the army is going off to them with something bigger. and these are the lucky

ones, say for the moment inside tyna and with basic food and shelter across the border, 20000 more have played their homes fighting, intensifying, they to may try to seek sanctuary inside thailand. tony cheng l. desert pulling stations in libya are closed where long awaited presidential elections was supposed to be held. malik trainer is at a school and a capital tripoli where the voting was meant to be taking place. on friday, this cool and the heart of tripoli was supposed to double down as a police station today. there should have been crowds of people gather to cast their ballots in libya, the 1st round of a presidential election. but that election has been postponed. on wednesday, the high national elections commission suggested that the vote be postponed until january 24th. and, and really the question is, how do we feel about it?

now we've spoken to quite a few people here in western livia and there isn't any disappointment really, most people are relieved that the vote isn't taking place. they feel the presidential election will only further the division and conflict in the country. now, libya has been engulfed in violent and political divisions since the revolution that's toppled. mom argued that the 10 years ago and will be and when they rose up in that revolution, they called for a democratic and free country. and now, and now with this election looming, people think that without a constitution, you can't really vote for president. there's no constitution in place. so live is want to want to be able to identify the ruling powers. a president has before they vote for someone who they believe will move the country forward. so now what we're seeing is people calling for parliamentary elections and then a constitutional referendum followed by

a presidential vote. 5 months after slides devastated towns and villages in germany . many people who have still not been able to return to their homes. the governments come under criticism for its response with volunteers now stepping in to help that vast and reports from the german town of r. viola. 5 months ago toby, a shot left his business as an event organizer to help victims of the lot. you want to sure those literally left in the cold flood damage their home. didn't have to stay that way for too long. with his team of volunteers, he started to collect air conditioners can be used as well. the temperature dropping below 0 until ground floor destroyed. daniel coatings over has been camping in her bathroom. the happen food stay. all we have is this room. we sleep here we go here. everything happens here. downstairs, the situation has not changed since

a night in july when she and her 3 children had to escape from the water. she has no insurance and the government's off off help us yet to be seen. him. he doesn't talk of monday, dad days when you think things are going well and he's moving forward. but then something happens. and you have these days when you just fall apart than ever seen, comes back and living in this construction site where freezing and it's always the valley in the western part of germany was hit by floods after days of torrential rains, almost $200.00 people were killed for survivors of the floods, winter has not only brought darkness and cold, but it also as we find there to magic memories, while thousands of volunteers have held them to cope so far due to lack of government for 4th, many here feel 5 months on have been forgotten or to be shot blames this on long and complicated government procedures. gill, i'm lang a port. i see the government has a lot of bureaucracy,

so it takes too long to provide how quickly we have an immediate help program from the government. but that takes too long to reach people. immediate help means that if someone calls us for heating, we have to install it the next day. we need to reassess disaster protocols in germany. more than 100000 fallen p s k to help they build a camp where hundreds of people receive meals have access to a laundry service and governmental house support all paid for were donations. for now we talk about round about 8000000 euro only we get from golf and. busy everywhere from germany, we have to say no from everybody or something from switzerland, from netherland, from looks book. it's the power social media around 1000 heaters have now been oh sure. mentalist have learned again about humanity and solidarity and sticking together. so i have

a lot of hope that the pilot project in our town can be spread through germany and it can be spread throughout the world. thanks for thank goodness, over it means winter will just be a little bit warmer. fish. fasten al jazeera in it's time for the weather. his jeff hey there your weather story begins in australia. nice to see everyone. we could have a developing tropical cyclone targeting that top and on saturday. whether this is a site clone or not, it's going to be a mess, a lot of rain, and also some wind, meantime toward the southwest, or beacon in the heat. so we're talking about you per se. this could be some record breaking heat on christmas day. the record is 42, we got in for 43 and the all time, december temperature record is 44. you're in for 45 wall above the average of 29. now for new zealand, we've got some sunny spells, some scattered showers to so this will impact gives bin with a high 23 degrees. the ne monsoon, once again doing it stain,

driving rain into central and northern parts of vietnam. we've also got some rain over a hi diane on saturday as well. now for northern sections of china is about this bitter cold. it's digging further toward the south like a chang hodge. it's a high 4 degrees. we'll come back to this in effect, but we got to talk about that winter wall up for the northwest of hoko. could see 50 centimeters of snow within a short period of time. so visibility will be a concern. will paint the colors on right now the dark or the purple, the lower the temperature, beijing minus 4. but this is a short lived shot of cold air. you're above average. come monday, 5 degrees and sunshine. that's it says in still, hey don al jazeera guilty of man slaughter and us court can be a white police officer who's shot dad, a black man, and a traffic stop in minnesota. and in sport, we hear from england, cricket captain, joe roche, on what he's side must do to wrestle control back from the us. he's in the ashes,

ah, in the country with an abundance of results rate. byron walk indonesia whose firms for me, we move full to grow and front. 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's be part linda. this is growth and progress in indonesia. now, one of the fastest growing nations in the world news ronnie needed to oakland and development school international shipping company to become a p middle eastern trade and wanting skillfully knocked out 3 key areas of develop who filling up from it. so connecting the world, connecting the future. ronnie,

casa cortez gateway to whoa trade. lou . ah ah. hello, you're watching al jazeera, i'm emily anguish, reminder of our top stories this hour. more than 2000 flights had been cancelled globally on christmas eve. elijah's blows served by the only con varian to the corn, a virus, lufthansa, united, and delta airlines say the buyer has taken a toll on a stop.