a dimension, we know we won't live forever. an illusion. about time presenting futures past starts december 31st on d w. ah . ah . this is the w news, live from bird in the netherlands and as a christmas corona virus locked out, hours before it came into effect shop, was came out in force before businesses shut. they doors also coming up. hong kong holds a vote on the new election laws and the candidates by jing considered to be patriots

. are allowed to run. ah, i'm anthony. how'd walk into the program? governments across europe are battling to slow the spread of the on the kron corona, virus variance. the latest country to impose new restrictions is the netherlands. it has just entered a hard lockdown that will last, at least until mid january, all non essential shops as well as businesses such as bar cinemas, and theaters are to be closed. meanwhile, the situation in the british capital london is so concerning, that the city's mayor has declared what he's calling a major incident. helpful. thirty's, there just reported the highest single tally of corona vars. cases since the pandemic began at $26000.00 cases, the city in crisis mode luminous being hit hard by the only current variant of the

corona virus. it has already overtaken delta as the dominant strain here, driving up infections and forcing the may of london to react hostile emissions are going up, but also stop absences. i got up by massive level, so i've taken the fission in consultation with our partners to declare a major incident today. the measure was last taken in january and allows local government to work more closely with emergency services. it's not just the capital that's in crisis for several days now. the u. k. has witnessed record case numbers in response. the government has stepped up its vaccination campaign over 3000 locations across england. what turn into makeshift vaccination centers on saturday the world health organization says omicron has already been detected in 89 countries. more and more are responding to the new threat novels, dutch prime minister mac rota,

and saturday announcer locked on. that will limit gatherings over christmas and coast shops, restaurants and cultural venues. chapa's rush, both em last minute perch this before the measures come into effect lockdown or none. the w h o expects omicron to become dominant in the countries where it has taken hold. scientists, one, the surgeon cases could further burden overstretch health systems and lead to staff shortages across many sectors. oh, well they doubly report it. although soccer has been following developments for us all, it woke him. what do the new restrictions in the netherlands main for the dutch now? well, this is basically a returned to the type of locked on that we all remember from the beginning of the pandemic. the dutch have already had some restrictions over the last couple of weeks. shops, for example, had to close by 5 pm, but now all essential shops that is everything apart from suit markinson and pharmacies basically shut completely that will have no major effect for christmas

shopping. if you, if they haven't bought a christmas presence now you have to go online and see if they hope that they arrive by christmas. also bars and restaurants are closing. so you know, that also means you know, the last minute pre christmas drinks pre christmas gatherings. our car i canceled schools and universities will shut until at least the 9th of january, but was probably the hardest of the restrictions for many in the netherlands or the christmas will be that households are only allowed to guests to come around. so the exception is christmas and new year's when you're allowed for but still for big families, that will mean a big change in plans of the holiday period. so shopping celebrations, we had travel to that list. i guess. what about those planning for travel for christmas? what does that mean for them? well, some countries in europe are now imposing travel restrictions with in the european union. it won't be as bad as last year. it looks like if you remember back to last

year back last christmas, it was very hard if not impossible to travel in europe. it will be possible this year, but there will be more testing and possible a quarantines. we already know france has imposed some restrictions on travel from the u. k. this evening. germany has designated the u. k. what it calls a very virus variance area. and that means that if you are planning to travel from the u. k to germany of the holidays, you have to quarantine for 2 weeks in germany, and that is no exceptions. that includes the vaccinate. germany is also designated many areas, high risk areas, many of its neighbors. and on the last few days and hours, france has been added, also denmark and norway and the restrictions are less than food from the u. k. but you have to get a p, c r test. to come in to germany. there is a mish mash of rules and regulations across the u, the leaders to coordinate them when they met in brussels this week,

but they did fail to do that. so if you are traveling in europe over the holiday period, it's important to check those regulations before you travel it. broadly speaking, it's getting tougher everywhere. it's all meant occurred. the spread of the on the chrome variant. how confident are we? this is going to do the job. basically many people say it won't do the job. the german half minister callout about he is predicting, predicting a 5th wave of virus cases here in germany. we're already in the height of the 4th wave. he says, the meshes will slow down the spread of a micron, but it can't stop. but if you look at the u. k, there wave, there is already, you know, on the way they predicts as many as 2000000 cases per day, by the end of this month in just 2 weeks. and that is what other european countries are trying to prevent or late to slow down. the beginning of this way, a tough christmas season had a thanks so much of hong kong is holding elections for

its legislative council. the 1st, since paging, imposed a sweeping national security law and reformed the city's electoral system for hong kong per democracy activist. it's the combination of a campaign to rein in the semi autonomous territory and ensure only candidates were patriotic to china. can run a great school class in hong kong. every week they raised the chinese flag and sing the national anthem. it's part of the islands integration into the communist mainland. i like him, raise a flag. it shows me the report of china again audiological. this is very good for the children. it trains or patriotism in the headphones. i all get things are not. patriotism has become a political buzzword here in the upcoming parliamentary elections,

only so called patriots are allowed to run. and who that is, is controlled by a beijing friendly commission. omar o improvements are crucial to bring hong kong back to the right track of one country to systems. and so i'm sure that we are in a situation of patriots administering hong kong. and they don't make the cut. many of the leaders of hong kong democratic party are already behind bars. their seats remain empty and the current parliament 47 of them were rested simply for trying to vote for a leading candidate in a party poll. now only few are willing to show their true allegiances. herbert chow sells clothing with a political message in his store. it's been a thorn in the side of the government for some time now. and now he has to close up shop. so this is how ridiculous it has become

a blanket catherine curtis for babies that says i love hong kong with yellow umbrellas is deemed by the chinese as inigo x. one. he used to vote for the democratic party, but they're not on the ballot because of the patriotism rules. so who is he going to vote for i will have to decline to answer that question because as you know, they have made any statements made by people off their inclination to not vote or ah, or discourage voting as a crime. no. so what's the point of the election of the to picking out the get into view of beijing's government, maintaining the facade of democracy is an appropriate tool to maintain order in hong kong. yes, it looks better publicly than violently cracking down on hong kong in order to maintain order in their hong kong middle pooler feel who and ordinances are. hong

kong is being assimilated. the schools curriculum has already been changed. if the government gets its way, the next generation will never know the freedoms. hong kong was promised. well, steven vines is a british journalist and author who has reported from hong kong for more than 30 years to not he joins me from london, welcomed stevens, some pro democracy activists are calling this a selection as opposed to an election had he said, well, i think the reason that doing that is that under china's instructions, the election system has been highly altered. and now the only candidates allowed to participate in the election. others have been fed and pre selected by a committee which is overwhelmingly dominated by trustees of the regime in

bay. and indeed, the number of people directly elected in the new legislature will be greatly reduced from the previous system. and even in the previous system, only 50 percent directly elected. so i see why this thing. so you mentioned the key point on the patriots are allowed to run in this election. how does a candidate prove to the election committee? he or she is indeed a patriot. well, it's a black box. you know, i mean, many people have asked this question, what exactly is the trip? and the answer which is always given is you know yourself whether your trip is rather chilling. the fact of the matter is that what it really means in practices that anybody who was advocated for the democracy movement, or anybody who believes in hong kong autonomy, which indeed was promised by china as part of the account. brittany is not

considered to be a patriot. so if those people are not, they are thanks. the question is the pro democracy movement now did well see you tomorrow late. the reason i say that is because i think what will happen tomorrow is that a very large number of people will abstain from participation in this election is one of the few forms of that is still available to people, which is in dangerous people. time. they're striking on the streets is really a very dangerous enterprise. so if a large number of stain from the selection, i think will know the level of passive resistance remains very high. and i mentioned that you were based in hong kong for several decades. how much of the place you knew is now lift i'm afraid to say that

the very rapid change in all cultures taking place since last is in position of the national security law. makes so many things in hong kong, unrecognizable. that's been the civil service of the schools of all elected officials. so you know, the hong kong, which was never a free democratic society, but was indeed a society where a high degree of liberty prevailed simply just, it's very sad indeed from london that was general. steven finds, thank you so much sport now in the buddhist league adornment closed out a gear with a shock loss. and by lowering their colors, they had to berlin all but dashed, they tie hope's falling a whopping 9 points behind by munich for lynn's olympic stadium was lit up for the last match of the year. with the sparse crowd of hair to fans enjoying the spectacle. and with their side hosting dormant the match was set to be equally

flashy. heritage fighting to avoid the relegation battle came out firing the xian melita burst ahead of dornan's defense and tapped home just 15 minutes in but after a v r cheque teammate ye shock built the deal was real to be a hair off side on the play. no gold the visitors didn't squander their good fortune with uli and gaunt summoning a spectacular tidings. finish. 16 minutes later one mill with dormant hopes of chasing barn still alive. but her to return from the halftime brake reinvigorated. bel fidel made good on his earlier infraction. racing past his opponents to equalize with a strong solo effort in the 51st minute. and 6 minutes later here to double their lead. marco victors screamer, left doormen, stunned. before richter twisted the knife,

making it 31 with 20 minutes left to play. stuck in take his cut dornan's deficit with elite header, but it was already too late. dorman, were dealt their 2nd loss, and 4 matches. a serious blow to any realistic title. hope's will heritage celebrated the holiday gift of a massive step towards mid table safety. you're watching t w need sports. life is up next. after short break. looking ahead to the 2020 to build cap. in contrast, i with people and trucks injured when trying to see the city center more and more refugees are being turned away. families play on the tax in syria to the correct honestly like.