ah, ah ah ah, this is dw news coming to live from berlin. the number of cupboard 19 cases in the u. k. reaches a record high passing 100000 for the 1st time since the started the pandemic. but new studies all for hints, the only problem is different from delta. also coming out,

madagascar police minister survives a helicopter crash and swims for 12 hours before being rescued. by time to die hasn't come yet he says, and profound dark and monumental, just some of the words being used to describe a new exhibition in paris by one of germany's most celebrated artists unsound keybo . plus, ah, in spain the prize money is blowing in the countries traditional l. gordo, christmas lottery. ah. hello, i'm terry martin. good to have you with us. new studies from the u. k. suggest the new corona virus buried only crohn may be milder than the delta version. but scientists say their findings must be needed with caution. as hospitals could still

be overwhelmed by the sheer number of cases. the news comes as the u. k. records 100000 new daily cases of covered 19 for the 1st time. there's no christmas rush in london this year. the number of shoppers and taurus down dramatically on even a few weeks ago. alma, crohn's rapids spread on a record number of infections. keeping many people at home, britons newspapers, summing up the mood but the u. case. health minister gave weary britons a glimmer of hope by announcing the purchase of millions more antiviral pills to combat omicron alongside the booster program. these some pharmaceutical defenses you taken together are a huge new way to defend ourselves against cove it. there's no need for any further restrictions before christmas. we will certainly keep the situation under review but across the u. k. conditions very while england has reduced the number of days

people with cov would have to isolate from 10 down to 7 wales scotland. a northern ireland are introducing restrictions after christmas. what they do agree on is that vaccine boosters and reducing contacts are the best ways to reduce pressure on a health care system stretched to the brink. so we know there's lots of cases in the community that actually people are not getting say thank but there are still people being admitted to hospital and they are still getting very unwell. he's having to mania. and and that price decimal for us to be looking after world. i think the much better now that we have more caitlin most alpha. another holiday season overshadowed by the coven, 19 pandemic, another new year on the horizon filled with uncertainty. for more let's bring a dw corresponded charlotte chelsea pill in london, charlotte pre christmas corona bowers curbs, with cases passing

a 100024 hours. how is prime minister boris johnson handling this? that was right, confirmed cases, policy $100000.00 for the 1st time since the pandemic began, that's a 59 percent increase in confirmed cases week on week. now the public key has been warned that they would see a tidal wave on the, on the crone variance that does appear to be transpiring now. prime minister barak johnson, unlike the leaders of the devote nations moving on and wales in scotland has ruled out more restrictions. at this stage he said no more restrictions are going to come in over the christmas period or other places on saying that they will bring in more rules to christmas. and i don't set england apart from the rest of the u. k. he says that needs to be more data on severity of the oma from variance for more restrictions or introduce the u. k. relying instead very,

very heavily on its boost to program. it aims to all adults a by the end of the year, very, very tight deadline, but it does seem to be rolling them out very quickly. always the 1000000 bases were given out on choose day. so that does seem to be a huge increase on previously in that that the u. k. governance really pinning its hopes on so the government is doing all it can, at least that's what it says. but this 100000 cases in one day that must be a shock to the people there. what does this search mean for folks in the u. k, with many of them gathering for christmas? i think one of the really big concerns is emergency services as so many of seeing stock shortages, shortages at the moment, people isolating because they have the on the chrome bearing, you're seeing that we had it in the report that in hospitals and just how tired a hospital walk is docs is nice, is all so long into this pandemic now. now faced with this additional tie,

the wave of cases using businesses have very, very badly affected. although i said there are no new restrictions on hospitality. for example, people are taking their own choices and deciding that they want to limit contacts and they run up to christmas. businesses have very, very badly affected. and then of course families around the country and eat around the world, deciding how they want to gather over the christmas period. the public, hey being advised to exercise caution in who they meet in order to, to protect that family. so a lot of difficult decisions happening here. the data from the u. k. charlotte suggested that across the oma calling very, it may be highly transmissible, but it may cost less serious illness. what war can you tell us about? there are 2 new, very early studies that have come out from england, and scotland is the se, suggesting that the oma con variant may lead to fuel hospitalizations than the delta variance. now as scientists here stress, this is very, very early data,

but they are looking at it with the degree of optimism one study, the english study, for example, reporting a 40 to 45 percent reduction and hospitalizations lasting one night or longer with omicron as compared to delta, so encouraging data there bought scientists warning that they know just how transmissible on the crone is. and as a result, even to this data does transpired to, to be reflected in the number of hospitalizations going food. the shin number of cases could still risk overwhelming. the health of charlotte, thanks so much. that was our corresponded charlotte chelsea pillar in london. meanwhile, the united states as authorized an anti covered pill made by the pharmaceutical company, pfizer. the drug approval comes as the us suffers a surge of cases driven by the highly infectious army,

chrome variance visors pax lobbied pill will be the 1st oral treatment for covey. 19 in the us, researchers hope it will be effective against the new variant trials have shown to reduce the risk of hospitalizations and deaths among at risk people by nearly 90 percent. the country's top infectious disease specialist doctor anthony fall, cheese explain how it will be rolled, rolled out when someone comes in with an acute infection and is in a risk group, which is what you want this to be for. since we have a limited supply that we would have a prioritization of what the best approach would be, it almost certainly will be a physician writing a prescription for someone who within the 1st 3 days of notable symptoms of cov id and is in a high risk group to get it or as the on the kron variance spreads, countries around the world are urging their populations to get back to needed. but

the world health organization has taken a firm stance against rich countries, offering 3rd or even 4th shots. while much of the world population has yet to get their 1st one, the w. h. o 's director general explained blanket was their programs are likely to prolong the pandemic rather than ending it by diverting supply to countries that already have high levels of fascination coverage. giving the virus more opportunity to spread and mitigate. it's important to remember that the vast majority of hospitalizations and does are in and vaccinated people not on boosted people. now as people in the united states rushed to finish last minute, christmas shopping, they'll be relieved to find that most store sells are well stocked us present. joe biden says an anticipated supply chain crunch failed to materialize. after efforts

were made to speed up shipping and delivery is still one crucial christmas ingredient has been in short supply for many americans at christmas. this year may be less sweet than usual. candy makers like retailers and farmers, are struggling with high commodity prices, labor shortages and supply chain problems, preventing them from fully caching in on the holiday season. the u. s. inputs about a quarter of its annual sugar needs, but local production was down this year. thanks to her a can ida. america's major sugar supply partners also had lower yields. the commodity is in high demand, and prices are up sugar semiconductors, supply chain issues continued to affect us industries. but president biden told a nation that the feared crisis with empty store shelves ahead of christmas will not materialize. packages are movie. gifts are being delivered.

shelves are not empty. experts in this feel, look at to statistics for retail inventories, which is how many goods read to how many good retailers have on hand and on phrase on shelf availability. which measures how many goods are actually on the shelves there to be purchased. today, retail inventories are up 3 percent from last year. inventories are healthy and on shelf availability, before the pandemic was about 91 percent. to day it's at 90 percent retail data released last week. why the commerce department appears to back that up? us consumer confidence rose this month as americans shrugged off concerns about rising prices. well, steven beardsley from our business asked is here to talk more about this a. so steve is biden right. is everything just fine in terms of the supply chain? owens, that everything is just fine, but he is right that when we look at retail,

that the situation has ease and that's both in the us and in europe. and in that case, we have seen that shipping containers have become more available worldwide. for example, as some of the strain has been taken off and we're seeing that inventories more stores are putting it, their inventories are up, as he said, there are items on the shelves for shoppers to fine. that's the good news, and there's a variety of reasons for this. one is that many companies, as a saw the writing on the wall, they ordered more goods to get their faster when they saw that things were going to be tight. we saw that other companies began to hire smaller ships, for example, that could get through ports a little bit easier than the big container ships that were piling up. and then we even saw large firms like wal mart, for example, hiring their own shipping ships. so a variety of strategies here to get through this. what about biden's policies, specifically since he's been in office, what have they done to help the country overcome the supply chain crunch it's. it's hard to say, terry, if we look at one of the key supply issues for the us, it's not so much retail issues,

it's energy prices and we look at gasoline. that's been a really big problem for the administration of gas as gasoline prices have risen. and so biden went, oil producing nations is at please increase production to low prices. they didn't do that. he also released some strategic oil reserves from the u. s. stockpiles in hopes that would also bring prices down. what helped him in the end was actually the threat of the new variance prices have gone down there about a dollar off where they were a month ago. that's good news for the administration, but that's not because of any steps that he took. likewise, with the port of los angeles, that was a big deal. as container ships backed up, the administration sought to increase operations there. 247. and we are hearing that containers are moving through the port faster, but there just as many big ships waiting outside. so sort of a mixed bag there. course, this is a problem this affecting much of the world, including europe or when you're talking about energy prices. people are feeling that here too. that's for sure. but how is this going to move forward? what's, what are, what can we expect is the problem with the supply chain likely to persist? it's absolutely going to persist. and if we look beyond retail, for example,

it's going to continue with energy. as you said, that's both for pandemic reasons. and for non pandemic reasons. look here in europe with the tensions with russia that's having a direct bearing on gas applies for example, consumers are going to see the prices rise. labor shortages are going to continue to be a problem. as the pandemic endures and the nature of employment changes itself. semiconductors was missing from that piece or was mentioned in that piece. that's a huge thing. there's also something to be said for the increased demand that we're seeing in the u. s. because of buying policies, going back to his policies, what we're seeing is because all that stimulus that he's pumped into the economy, it's ramped up demand there, that's actually sort of bent supply around the world. so there are less containers going elsewhere because they're all heading to the u. s. c. thanks so much. stephen beardsley from d. w. a business now to run a gas car and a government minister there is being hailed as a hero and an example to follow. after surviving a helicopter crash at sea sash jell swam for some 12 hours before he was rescued. the police minister had been helping search for survivors after

a cargo ship illegally carrying 100. 30 passengers sank off madagascar in northeastern coast. fishermen who sit out before dawn spotted some one in the water exhausted and still in his wet uniform, madagascar, policemen, esther recorded a message. i'll call them hidden. i'm alive and well in 24 hours. i can be back at work. i'm not injured, but very cold. america, i'm thankful to the people of mumble for saving my life and taking care of me. money and figure. the fisherman brought the 57 year old, safely back to shore. after he spent 12 hours at sea and other survivor and enforce mechanic managed to swim the entire way to the beach. the body of one of the men and the helicopter has been recovered, but the pilot remains missing and is presumed dead. authority say the cause of the

helicopter crash has yet to be established. the minister says something suddenly destabilize the helicopter, potentially causing it to go down and eat and me. so nathan leo's omission was over that we saw the accident and we were about to go home. but like all accidents, something unexpected happened. did a now helicopter may have been caught in the gust of wind or something and fell. the helicopter was one of to taking part in a search and rescue operation. after a small cargo ship sank on monday, an official say the ship was overloaded from carrying too many people. to catch up on some of the other stories making headlines around the world's day, a monument to the victims of the 1989 tenement square massacre has been dismantled and removed from the university of hong kong. the area around 8 meter high pillar of shame was boarded up and workers wielded away in sections late on wednesday. so

the authorities have been cracking down on just sent in the chinese territory. you encounter un security council has adopted a resolution to bring humanitarian aid back to us. proposed resolution allows funding and goods to flow without violating sanctions on the taliban understand has been in an economic meltdown since the telephone swept back into power. earlier this year, in mexico, several 100 migrants aborted buses heading north as part of the deal they've made with the mexican government to bring them closer to reaching the united states. they're part of a migrant caravan that's been traveling since october. $3000.00 people started out, but hundreds have given up on the journey by foot. brazil has made progress in eradicating hunger in recent decades. but the last 2 years have been obscene. an increase in the number of people who do not have enough

to eat the world. food program says nearly 20000000 brazilians are now facing food insecurity at christmas. many rely on donations to put food on the table or to celia mer says heads to a f available with only 100 donated food packages on hand to support some of the poorest through the christmas days ahead did almost as formulas for many families are out of work and collect paper and cans for cash. but that is not often enough. deciding who receives what it is difficulty in real alone this aid organizations, christmas without hunger campaign, will be distributing over 300 tons of donated food. and the demand is on the rise says daniel sosa is next homeschool book. of course we as

a society must help my the see what there must also be the political will to end hunger by. otherwise, people will have to donate more and more without properly solving the problem. on the cover page mice say has a real problem. with that in 2014 brazil was on track to beat hunger thanks to an ambitious social policy. the country was removed from the u. n's global hunger report, but in 2016, the right wing conservative government cut funding. then the pandemic came and valeria lost her job. didn't want to go. yeah. that'll corona, i had a job, a salary, but not any more. yes, especially as i do for so since then, more than 20000000 brazilians suffer from hunger doubled the amount since 2018 malaria has not been able to buy me 2 for weeks. look here,

this is all i have. she does not receive governmental support. according to critics, state aid is insufficient and was only increased before the elections in order to win votes. things are hardly any better. filarious neighbor, what is it? hey god, i'll show you that itself. i received all of this as a donation. that's all we have now. i've done this is erica can not afford to buy yogurt for her children. will she have food for christmas? hamilton? i have no idea. we'll have anything to eat unless someone donates food. i'll gain down my face and brazil is one of the world's largest food exporters, but millions in the country don't know where they'll be getting their next meal. daniel so's us as the government is miss prioritizing levine, people seem to double the so 90 percent of the agricultural products and brazil are

soybeans. and corn hole is official node or what are staple crops. fish like rice and beans, but the account for only 10 percent of acreage, the pool diet, article gov in tulsa, political decisions though to school. you know, monkish, thought them being bullied. so they continue on trying, at least to relieve hunger a little at christmas. german artist anson kiva has devoted much of his work to the atrocities committed by the nazis during world war 2. and a new exhibition in paris keeper focuses on the german language poet, paul salon, and his suffering during the holocaust lines of verse, golden chalk on paintings next to a bunker everywhere. the dedication to paul salon, the poet who used verse to process his memories of the holocaust, is the artist and some key fuzz personal hero. oversized work stand like proud

panels in the sparsely illuminated space. then i was giga. i thought i could write a poem up on the slate up there. go, well, i think the skies like a big slate. we're dividing most of all, i wanted the audience to concentrate and say line. not the painter to yes, bargain them that the nation, mr. than is tamala, the pieces are dark, but also shed light on war persecution and death. the elements include straw textiles and stones, national socialism and the importance of never forgetting. these are reoccurring themes for kiefer. the show is a wake up call for europe. you mustn't of, we have to be careful because what's in our past, what we think is in our past it could very easily happen again. come ye to support dasa common ground rather than confrontation, learning from german history. how does that play out in france?

so paul girl says it grabs you. the exhibition is very, very intense versus the large scale pieces, the venue, which is really magical and compliments everything very well. i was very moved of all of these of what works by an artist who lives in france, but his german, it shows the strength of the bond between the 2 countries. this miss williams headphones listed in the store. she estie and i bought a book by the po and it would have been even more moving. if the verse written on the paintings had been translated, the wrongful visitors even get a glimpse of kieffer studio and his materials, ranging from shards to ash. the paintings are on wheels easily movable from one place to the next. everything is fluid including the artists creative process. i mean, as he squinted, i'm always frantic because my pictures are works in progress. i'm constantly

reworking them, but apart from that, i'm generally cheerful, angleton and whose damage works in progress. they may be, but this exhibition makes a lasting impression with pandemic restrictions dampening christmas celebrations for the 2nd year in a row. people in spain are taking heart in a 200 year old tradition. the l gordo lottery. the top prize of 4000000 euros is paid out, anyone with this year's top winning number. but there are many other smaller prizes to with an overall payout of almost 2 and a half 1000000000 euros. oh. 2 2 did they think me kinda what in the yard? oh, well, 086148 these years, winning number, and go to the as the top prize is known, was sung by 2 people's from madrid. sunny le funds of school as tradition dictates across the city. the celebrations quickly got underway at madrid's

a torture train station, spain's busiest rail hope the majority of the winning tickets were sold by these lottery center o. 7 e winnable, if it's a very widely distributed number, i'm pretty sure people from all over spain of florida. here i think it's everywhere at about the lucito seem to you from the region of kentoria on the north coast and on the lucy and the south. all the way to the canary islands, off the african coast and order those sparked celebrations by the lucky winners. and what is a fee like to win $1.00 of the many they prizes. i don't know why haven't processed it yet. i was in the mountains with the dogs, and i came here because i received a call. my wife didn't believe it. she began to scream, turn the tv on, look to the number and check that it was correct. we're just not used to winning anything with no one planned on going to share it. and i'm really happy

and how many people have won a prize? well, that's almost impossible to know because if complexity of the general but a total of 2400000000 euros was given away in prizes both big and small in the centuries old and world's richest christmas lottery drove is here. oh oh. you're watching dw news. conflict zone is next. we leave you with a look at help various cities around the world have dressed up for christmas. it's all about the light, lots and lots of them. ah ah ah ah ah

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ah, into the conflict zone with sebastian, a briefer dispute about fishing where i can judge of my goods crossing from bonds to britain of consigned anglo french relation to the deep pre my guest and who

comparisons, bruno by now and emptied of the ruling. oh, mush coffee dispenser. the michael's foreign policy enough to woo, right swing voters conflict zone next on d. w. it was in the form that, according to our tradition of men or period to women, rashni, if he beat, she's not seen the tragedy, the law allows men to be pay why women working was supposed to be subservient example good for them. it scares me to think way. we as a nation ahead and in russia. in 45 minutes on d. w. lou with how we're all set to get to go beyond deal with

as we take on the world. 8 hours, i guess we're all about the stories that matter to you. whatever it takes hide, policemen follow up with you. we are, your is actually on fire. made for mines. very stubborn. as all the french must be, what is said of the success of britain prospers, or can you bear that idea, leaving the european country as a price to pay for your party getting desperate ahead of the elections next year. it has nothing to do next. your selection is re asked to do is the prince.