is firefighters and hamburg before the new cove at 19 variant becomes dominant here, while daily cases are sinking across the country. experts more in the dreaded wave could arrive just after christmas. and 4th, and their smell is excellent, and it's a rapid exponential increase. i talked with wanted, if you take the conservative estimate that cases double every 3 days, or what scientists and britain are recording every 2 days. and if you only need a pocket calculator to see that that extremely fast is bombs an actual while vaccines are the 1st line of defense, germany's government is preparing new restrictions for as early as next week, even for the fully vaccinated. like to send off not by to that we will have further restrictions on private contacts. so we're well prepared for the spread of the new virus mutation all over europe. has them all heard a huge vial in novel pals, fight it. what the new curves will look like is unclear,

that still needs to be discussed with the leaders of germany states. but it seems everything is on the table. is global then the speech data. but if experts predictions are confirmed, and what we're seeing in neighboring countries continues the allied, and we can't rule out a general lockdown, including everything from businesses to education, to private gatherings. and yet sneak mallerson. for starters, that will likely mean cancelled new year's eve parties. and those making fitness resolutions for 2022 might have to postpone hitting the gym until the alma chron. waive is over. so let's get straight across to our chief political correspondent, melinda crane, in berlin. linda, an urgent recommendation from germany's institute for infectious diseases to cut social contacts. i do think the government is going to take notice. indeed the institute is calling for maximum restrictions and says they should be imposed immediately and continue into mid january. now this does in fact

conform to the warning that we have just heard from the expert group that is now advising the new german government. it also has said that only crime is a high risk threat to fully vaccinated people, as well as those who have recovered from coven 19 and says that we are entering a quote unquote new dimension of the pandemic. but all of this absolutely presents a dilemma for the new government because in fact, and you mentioned this at the outset of the program, infection rates here in germany are relatively low, certainly compared to where they were at the end of november, early december. essentially, we are in the calm waters between 2 waves with the high wave that was caused by the delta various, the seating at the moment, and the 5th wave caused by only chron not yet fully heading, but all of the experts are in agreement. we are heading into that wave and it's going to basically present a situation where we may have up to

a 100000 new infections every day, vastly straining, intensive care capacity and, and set essential services. so against that backdrop, the federal government is meeting today with regional leaders to talk about what to do. the health minister had promised that there will be no new lockdown prior to christmas. and therefore, it is going to be very difficult to walk back that talk and try to mitigate that rather bleak picture that you just painted for us to. we know what kind of specific measures we could be expecting from the government. well, we know that the federal and regional politicians are expected to debate a paper that had recommended limits on social contacts beginning on the 28th. so after christmas and it basically would mandate that even vaccinated people not meet with more than 10 people,

whether it's indoors or outdoors and that non vaccinated people should not meet with more than 2 people. also recommendations that bars and larger celebrations not occur. and certainly here in berlin, we're hearing that bars and clubs will shut down. but again, all of that is up for debate at this meeting this afternoon. and linda, germany's new government was worn in at just a 2 weeks ago. this must be a huge challenge for chancellor schultz and his new health minister. absolutely, the new health minister, of course, does not have much political experience. he did serve in the bonus tag, but he has not actually served in an executive position such as the one he holds now. but he has a very renowned and very experienced epidemiologist, which of course will stand him in good stead. none the less. this is once again, one of these situations where the science can diverge from the politics. what is

definitely clear is that both the federal and state governments need to be drawing up emergency plans for how to handle interruptions, not only within the intensive care units of hospitals, but also police fire brigades, electricity, water supplies. all of them could see real difficulties if infection levels are so high that many, many reporters at workers are no longer able to report for work. melinda crane, with that chilling outlook. thank you very much for joining us. in the united states, omar kron is now the dominant variant by far accounting for 73 percent of all infections. just to week ago, the figure was 12 percent in new york virus cases are surging. just ahead of the holiday season gatherings. oh 03. 0 one happy new year. this is just a test. new year's eve in times square has not come early by the on the chron wave

has hit the u. s. sooner than many experts expected. nearby and new yorkers line up to get tested with christmas just days away and cases surging. many are worried. definitely feels like that 1st wave of the pandemic without anxiety, all these long lines around the city, people getting tested on exams are getting cancelled for people in grad school like myself. so i kind of feel like that early part of that we didn't, we didn't really know what's happening. i think we've all been affected as a new yorker, we're trying to take every single precaution that we can um got dull, vax boosted regular testing. i am planning to travel for the holidays, but depending on the result of this test, i'll probably stay put in your back. america's talk. pandemic advisor anthony found she though, had a hopeful message for those worried about the holidays. yes, you can go the extra mile and get tested before you have a family gathering or

a group get tested today before or the day of getting together, but vaccinated and boosted people. one of the family members of accident, it should feel very comfortable in getting together and enjoying oh, holiday meal or a holiday get together. i president joe biden plans to address the rapid rise in corona virus case as later on tuesday. but he's already made it clear with some of the blame lies for those who choose to remain and vaccinated. he'll issue a stark warning and make clear and vaccinate individuals will continue to drive hospitalizations and deaths. that is not trying to scare people or maybe it is trying to make clear to people in the country what the risks are here of not being vaccinated. despite the worsening situation in times square, some people were still in a festive mood. thought this might be the last time new york as see these lights in person. the mass still hasn't decided if you the celebrations here. we'll go ahead

. earlier we spoke with professor peter chin, hong from the university of california, san francisco. and he explained how on cases in the united states have skyrocketed within a week. this virus is speeding ahead and forward like no other variance before. and if you think about 2 weeks ago was one percent. so it tells us really 2 things. first of all, that probably genomic sequencing lags what the cases really are in the community. and secondly, once you get enough people infected in a community, it's like little corona, virus bombs going off. the increase is really exponential. it started off in the east coast really because of a lot of contact with the u. k. and with southern african countries. there are direct lights from dr berg, for example, to new york, new jersey, d. c. it's not as prevalent maybe in california yet, although it's increasing authorizations are not that high compared to the east

coast, but it's spreading westward. so i see a big sweep. i see a potentially unprepared hospital systems for this deluge. so let's get an update on some other developments in this pandemic thailand is reinstating mandatory quarantine for foreign visitors. following concerns over the omicron variance visitors will now have to undergo a hotel quarantine which ranges between $7.10 days. new zealand meanwhile, has also postponed opening its borders. quarantine free travel is now possible for new zealanders only from the end of february. foreign visitors are currently not allowed in to be south pacific nation. and in australia, infection rates have surged with the state of new south wales reporting. 3000 new cases on tuesday alone of the australian government has been reluctant to impose new restrictions. so let's take a look now at some of the other stories making headlines. at this hour, the philippines is still reeling from the aftermath of last week's powerful typhoon

. local officials are pleading for aid. japan and china announced they would send power generators, water, and food. typhoon rye kills at least 375 people. it over 50, others are still missing. hundreds of thousands have been displaced. wages prime minister is my ill subbed re yackel. how's admitted that? the official responds to reason. flooding has been too slow. the government faced criticism after at least 14 people died during torrential rains last weekend. rescuers are still bringing people from flooded areas to safety. tens of thousands are now living in emergency shelters. japan has executed 3 death row inmates. it's 1st to use of the death penalty in 2 years. the prisoners who had all been convicted of multiple murders were put to death. by hanging. there is wide support for capital punishment among people in japan does by criticism from human rights groups. will. poland has one of the strictest abortion laws in europe,

banning the procedure in all but just a few cases. now, the government wants to go even further by creating a legal register of all pregnancies, t w's. alexandra phenomena reports on an issue that often pits individual women against hospitals and the police. claudio castillo 26 years old. on to a pin, who earlier this year she decided to and an unwanted pregnancy using abortion pills . she ordered on the internet for one looked with ala. i went to a hospital just to confirm that i'm not pregnant anymore. all tell us. but once they are, i was brutally examined, though on the doctor didn't providing any medical information. instead, she scared me saying the state prosecutor needed to know that she would report me to the authorities. it's about the war she, jonathan washing, despite pool and sneered. total ban on abortion, women who terminate pregnancies cannot be prosecuted under polish law. that however,

didn't prevent the police from interrogating her a claudia coast oak tells me some of this is required. we asked and they wanted to know how the pills were delivered out what the package looked like. so i'm open, i had to give them the names of all my friends who knew i had an abortion. not no idea what that was for help. also. last year, a court ruled that abortion in poland is only permitted in cases of rape or incest, or when the mother's life is threatened, thousands took to the streets in protest with the intact until nina vandals come with one of them, is the reproductive rights activist says, that the results of the new law amounts to torture is found on the horse. it means that polish women are forced to carry pregnancy. with fetuses that have no rain that have no call if they are in distance outside of their body, we have lethal har hart failures. it's just impossible to describe how it feels like to be a woman enrolling today. as of january,

the government also plans to introduce a centralized register we're pregnancies and miscarriages are reported. prochoice activists fear this data base could be used to cause legal problems for women who use abortion pills or find other ways to and to pregnancy, pos shit or shapes key is the gynecologist in which he says the concerns about the register are and justified as the data is available anyway, but he also says he is fed up with the issue being politicized in poland, if chilly bush with her we as doctors would like to be left alone by politicians. we want them to start using us for their purposes or both sides of doing it. pure cheryl, chef ski fears the restrictive abortion rules in poland will have floss, think consequences. place could be the boys who they shows. there are women with who now are afraid to get pregnant switches. joe, they think, what am i going to do when i find out my thetis has an illness or gene damage your

school. so that's why they decide not to get pregnant at all. so that as villa corbett, mothers against every natal examinations because they feared the results above a wrinkle. but the debate in poland continues with pro life activists demanding father restrictions and criminal charges against people selling abortion pills. the activists who sell the pills or any money on that, and this is what we want to stop, we want to stop this business of ah, business of deaf who could say claudia could still cannot come to terms with what's going on in poland. she's hoping for a political change soon, otherwise she says she is going to leave the country. and earlier i spoke to susanna, giovanni, she works for a non profit organization called a church, a basha which assist women to cross the border and get an abortion here in germany . and i asked her whether she thinks that the recent pro choice protest taking

place across the country or having an impact on govern government decision making. and take a listen to what she had to say. oh, well we as feminist activists supporting people in access to abortion, see that each and every change again translates not only into more people having abortions but more people learning about options and access to abortion and also protesting the abortion legislation. so we see also how the reception or public perception of abortion changes and how more and more people actually become more pro abortion in this context. which also translates into more people learning about, about their rights and they are options. and just 3 weeks ago on the 1st of december, the parliament actually debated a further law that criminalized abortion even more. and this was rejected even by

the ruling parties of the party. so we expect that this is an extent response to the purpose that swipe for the streets of war. so, but this registry of pregnancy actually looks like a burden to the anti choice organizations. so they reject that the low farther criminalizing abortion. but now they are giving this, this new law, which actually also can be considered gender by violence and a means of veiling pregnant people and in ethiopia or the t, right people's liberation front, the t p l f says it will withdraw from several regions. it had captured in the last few months, and the withdrawal could mark a turning point and a possible step towards a cease fire after 13 months of brutal war. in government says the t p. a left announcement is a cover up tactic for its recent military set back. if yoga has been engaged in civil war for over a year,

which has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions. well, both sides in this conflict have been accused of atrocities with reports of rape and gender based violence being used against girls as young as sex that you feel in human rights commission has launched an investigation. and their commissioner for women's and children's rights is miss graham. gassett, who joins me now from i disobey bye. thank you so much for taking the time to come onto the show. what have your investigations found? thank you very much, claire and as non to a many, we have launch it a joint investigation with the un office of the high commissioner in their covering in the early days of the conflict. how wish already disclosed a different forms of gender based violence including sexual violence like rape, sexual all enslavement pregnancy on in the like. i'm committed against our women

and girls, but also our further investigations in other parts of the country that are affected by the conflict such as the i'm her region and are also shown similar findings and warning patterns of gender beats violence being committed by different parties involved in the conflict i what are the effects of such a gender based violence? so we have seen a break as one of the prominent forms of gender based finance, but also as i said, the different forms of sexual assault forces, pregnancy enslavement, and also be beyond the sexual finance that i've noted. we have seen also the gender impacts of other violations. for example, how much of the lack of access to basic services have affected particularly and

disproportionately women and girls from access to sexual reproductive health to also access to different support for survivors, gender based because of destruction, of different forms of infrastructure that were in place. so our reports and our investigation has given particular attention to the gender dimension of the conflict throughout the different people. and recently, also following the withdrawal of the p n courses, we are gaining more access to parts that were tight. and we are deploying an investigation mission that would be in probing into also the gender dimensions of conflict. and then a few more about that as well. if i may just jump in because it's not just the tpl off that is preventing access. we know the government has been boring journalists

and other external observers from certain areas of the country. how can your commission, or indeed any international team of investigators actually guarantee impartiality under these conditions it is indeed a very important question and a portion of it is an important element of human rights investigation. and as you can imagine, it's difficult to guarantee 100 percent impartiality when you work in a very politically, a polarized context. but i mean, what we can speak off is about our working make and how based we try. we try our base by employing a very qualified investigation team that is trained, will trained on make it into human rights investigations. and we are using also internationally accepted human rights investigation methodology. and we are from time to time on reflecting on our working makers and also our,

our teams engagement in, in december instigation. so yes, we hear critics from different par parties about our work. and it's natural to have questions about the impartiality of such process. and we acknowledge and we understand but we do our base also to employee. we appreciate your work in into this important topic. we are gonna have to leave the interview there, i'm afraid. but my guess at commissioner for women and children's rights at the independent, ethiopian human rights commission. thanks so much again for coming on the show you . let's bring up to speed now on some more world stories at this hour. a south african court has granted former president jacob zoom a leave to appeal against a ruling that he must return to prison. he was released from jail early on medical parole to undergo surgery. as you ma is serving a 15 month sentence for contempt of court. after ignoring instructions to

participate in a corruption inquiry through jackson turkeys president, roger ty, up no one has launched a series of policies to prop up its ailing currency. the lira government has promised to compensate leora denominated bank account holders or drops in the value of the currency. in the last few months, the lira has declined dramatically against the u. s. dollar, but recovered slightly after government help was announced. and tom brady has edged his name into the record books of american football. once again, the 44 year old has been named to the pro bowl for a record setting. 15th time, brady widely regarded as the greatest quarterback of all time when his 7th super bowl last season with the tampa bay buccaneers. and this nfl season brady lead the league in passing and touchdowns. now to a twist on the martial art, a brazilian jujitsu which is gaining popularity in russia. and what is the twist

you may ask? well, you're about to find out what happens when the match is replaced by a car. just when you think you've seen it all along comes the worst 1st ever kashi to competition in russia. simply put, it's wrestling inside a car dealership with every sort of my wanted a car like that. i tried it out so to speak. i like the law, but it would be a problem with another person inside the official good machine. it would've been much matches consists of 2 rounds, the fight start in the driver or passenger seat's and switch and between. you get points for forcing your opponent into submission. i think the seat belts the steering wheel end the seats are all fair game. coffee up, the personal top has an advantage. there are gaps between the seats under the steering wheel and so on. the personal top pushes and pushes and there isn't much

oxygen in the car. so when you push someone with your knees and away, the person at the bottom has a difficult time escaping to talk to the full of them. but there is no escaping the attention. while fans won't see college, it's too at the olympics any time soon. the sports unusual playing ground has attracted plenty of curiosity. that's one way to have fun. stay tuned for d. w. news age coming up with a garage of energy. i'm clear. richardson in berlin from the scene here. thank you so much for joining with. ah, ah.

ah ah ah ah ah ah ah my 1st vice i was a sewing machine ah, when i come from, women are bound by this ocean given something as simple as learning how to write a bicycle isn't since i was a little girl, i wanted to have a bicycle of my home,

but it took me years to life. finally the gave up and went to buy me on my side and returned with a sewing machine sewing, i suppose, was more appropriate for guns than writing a bite. and now i want to reach out to those woman back home for volunteer by their duties and social rules and inform them about that base of rights. my name is de about your home, and i work with ah, the fight against the corona virus pandemic. how has the rate of infection the developing with what measures are being taken? what does the latest research say? information and context with the corona virus update the code in

special monday to friday on d. w. in the landscape. a reflection of a turbulent history. the cities, the mosaic of different people and languages v ron's mountains reveal unparalleled beauty. ah, a special look at a special country he loan from above starts december 27th on d, w. ah, ah, if it had been yours, aisha coming up to day helping of hermiston without helping the pallor, bob, davy agencies are desperate for cash and resources to about your monitor and catastrophe. but how can they get her on the frozen funds and international sanctions on the taliban. also coming up.