8 per cent within the last day and the authorities are bracing from a crime to become the dominant variant. of course, have also been today as some announcements about studies about how dangerous omicron might be. and indeed, some encouraging suggestions that it, it might be a slightly mild at leading to few or hospitalizations that it's going to be really important as the government tries to protect the health care system. but certainly this 1st on, the kron death suspected here in germany. it does show that even on the crown of course, can be a very dangerous as them and how do all these developments that you've just been reporting on i do. they impacted all the decision by the government to implement and measures after christmas while those, those measures the tie thing of measures across germany. it was the, the response to the expected arrival of an omicron wave. and certainly, you know,

that's the strategy that most of following, but we are seeing some divergence berlin, the city state of government id here in berlin has been announcing today its plans for large events outdoors. it was expected that things like football matches would have to happen in front of an empty stadiums. no spectators, but so berlin is saying are up to 2000 people, can attend events, indoors and up to 3000 outdoors they've. they said they've weighed up the um, the damage to business and culture and sport. and they say that, you know, allowing a few spectators is better than effectively requiring these events to be cooled off and taught at semi on reporting as simon is our political correspondent. thank you so much and simon alluded to the new

studies from the united kingdom that such as the alma chron corona virus variant, may in fact be milder than the previous periods, like delta assigned to say their findings must be treated with caution. hospitals could still be overwhelmed by the sheer number of cases. the news comes as the u. k . recorded a pandemic high of nearly 120000 new cases on thursday. there's no christmas rush in london this year. the number of shoppers and taurus down dramatically on even a few weeks ago. all microns rapids spread an 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, the sup, 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 covert 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 fake, but there are still people being admitted to hospital and they are still getting very unwell data private pneumonia. and, and that's quite stressful for us to be looking after old. 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.

want to tell you about the other stories, sir, that are making headlines right now. u. s. regulators have authorized marks pill to treat coven 19 for patients. 18 and older. it has been shown to reduce hospitalizations and deaths by some 30 percent among at risk groups. works drug is considered less effective than pfizer spill, which was authorized on wednesday activist say they have rescued more than $450.00 migrants from the southern mediterranean sea. in the past 48 hours, a groups doctors without borders says it's charity boats made several rescuers over crowded vessels off the libyan coast is now seeking permission to dock at a southern european court. german foreign minister on atlanta bare bach has fledged to do more to resettle thousands of local staff left behind in afghanistan when the country fell to the tall bond with. she says she wants to reduce red tape and open

up evacuation routes by a gun. his guns neighbors, to help some 15000 people leave the country. one russian president vladimir putin says the west must provide guarantees that need, it won't expand east words to include ukraine, nor deploy weapons. there is, comes against the backdrop of weeks of international concern over russia's true build up on its border with ukraine. mister putin was speaking at a 4 hour long news conference in which he addressed a broad range of issues. and on the topic of ukraine, he accused the west of building tensions. yet no, do we were not wanting to these is what we were told in the 1990s. and what happened is the good night we were duped. now we were brazenly jerusalem agular money. there were 5 waves of nato expansion or shooting another. and now these missile systems are appearing and poland, and romania. but we will either,

that's what we're talking about. what actually you have to understand who is not us, who are threatening, which deliberately to that we didn't come to the borders of the u. s. or the u. k. daniel you came to was that was present, put in speaking her earlier today. like to reach out now to higher, higher ed whitaker for he is a green member of the european parliament and he sits on the foreign affairs committee. sir, thank you very much for your time. i don't know if you had the opportunity to listen to that sound bite that we just played from our president vladimir putin. he does not see nato as a force for good for him. this is an existential threat. when you listen to what he say, do you think his rhetoric is justified? the rhetoric that president putin has been employing is very interesting because he seems to imply that russia wants to reverse the developments of the last decades. when he talks about poland and other countries being

integrated into nato, it, it seems as if he wants to pursue a policy to reverse that, to change that historical result. and of course, that is not acceptable. and it's, i think it's, it's also very, very interesting that even though the immediate pressure that he creates is against ukraine by massing troops on that border. but obviously, he is trying to pursue a policy that would divide the security of europe and effectively give russia a dominating a controlling influence over the security of the eastern half in europe. and that

is certainly not acceptable. let's talk about the germans. well, the white house and other eastern european leaders would like to see germany take a stronger carrot and stick approach our francis with the north stream, a gas pipeline project with russia. your party is now part of the government. and will we see that? i have just returned from a visit in washington. and my understanding indeed is that in the case that president putin won't move forward with his aggression against ukraine not stream to would indeed be on the table. but you would, but it would be a reaction to any offensive that he launched launch as well. obviously we hope to deter him from that course of action.

so. ready the, the signaling is being done in order to prevent that sequence of any wiggle events. now, sir, germany has a new leader and he is very experienced at all our shots. is he likely to take a very different approach when it comes to vladimir putin than what we saw with the previous chance such as angle america catches will? my impression is that president putin is charging a new course. and in responding to that, we also have to live up to the challenges that he is posing. so just continuing the course that had been pursued before, would certainly not be adequate to all our neighbors and allies expecting from germany, that we play a reliable role. and i'm quite convinced that this government is going to do

exactly that. you want to run at a reinhardt said, the ticker for green, a member of the european parliament committee on foreign affairs. so thank you very much for your time. thank you for having me. conservators in the us state of virginia, i have opened a time capsule, which was found buried for more than 130 years under the statue of a famous civil war. general 3 water damaged books, a cloth envelope, and a silver coin, where among the things found inside the sealed lead box. it was found embedded under a statue of general robert e. lee who commanded the confederate states army of northern virginia during the west civil war. a stature was removed, it was considered a symbol of racism. it washing dw news. this is our stop story right now. germany has reported its 1st arm across related

death. it comes over as over 3000 cases of the new variant have been confirmed. cases searched by a quarter in a single day health minister carlota boxes expected on a crown to become the dominant variance in the coming weeks. and new studies from the united kingdom suggest the i'm a crown grown. a virus variant may be milder than previous strains, but scientists are still warning passion, as are still cautioning, rather, as hospitals could yet be overwhelmed. the news comes as the u. k. records more than 100000 new daily basis for the 1st time. business is up next, but i want to leave you with a look at various cities around the world. we have dressed up for christmas and it's all about lights. ah,

[000:00:00;00] a ah ah ah, my 1st vice i was a sewing machine. i come from, women are boned by this ocean, even something as simple as learning how to write

a bicycle, even since i was a little girl. i wanted to have a bicycle off my own, but it took me years to months. my finally, they gave up and went to buy me on by cyprus, but returned with a sewing machine. so and i suppose was more appropriate for guns than writing a bite. and now i want to reach out to those woman back home for bone to buy their duties and social rules and inform them about dead basic rights. my name is deb, i don't think we're home and i work at a ah, american retailers breathed a sigh of relief in the days leading up to christmas. there shelves are mostly star for our businesses, really in the clear also on the show, the fast spreading,

omicron variant is offending. the travel industry will look at how airlines and hoteliers are responding. and over kron has swabs of employees calling out sick. at the same time, in south africa, more employers are now calling from vaccine mandate to protect their operations alone walk into the show. i'm see from beardsley in berlin. it's good to have you with us. u. s. retailers have largely avoided their biggest fear this christmas season empty shelves. president joe biden telling a nation wednesday that the severe shortage is predicted this past summer when supply chains for consumer goods bogged down. mostly haven't pen, doubt abiding credits. his administration's actions for the turnaround. and yet, problems do persist 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 us imports about

a quarter of its annual sugar needs, but local production was down this year. thanks to hurricane ida. america's major sugars 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 the nation that the feared crisis with empty store shelves ahead of christmas will not materialize. packages are moving. 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 and 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. today it's at 90 percent retail data released last week by the commerce department appears to back that up. us consumer confidence rose this month as americans shrugged off concerns about rising prices. the new omicron crone of ours variance is one of the biggest question marks for the us, as well as other economies. for the airline industry, it's already a huge problem. the return of travel barriers and travel quarantines is once again threatening. bottom lines. the industries fragile recovery and its hopes for a better 2022 are increasingly up in the air. 3 hours before their departure, most passengers already stand in front of their check encounter for the canary island and aretha. they are looking forward to a warm, sunny christmas, but the number of corona cases this rising sharply on the island and the risk of an ami crohn infection is considered high,

even for those who have been vaccinated twice. and those who have recovered wednesday, if i knew how bad the situation is, i probably wouldn't of book this trip. i missed a bought, i bought them, but it's still nice and we really need the rest. the order isn't oh, you're still young and we've survived everything so far will be fine. then that's in october. if we knew in october, we wouldn't have booked it at all. a good, a bitter pill for airlines to swallow. while recovering from the pandemic. lufthansa had to be rescued with billions and government aid after the lockdown began. now i'm a chronus threatening the recovery with new quarantine rules looming, every ation experts. a warning that the virus has to be brought under control soon, reminisce, mission and if we don't get this under control quickly than the industry would, of course, face further losses in the billions. the airlines would have to massively reduce capacity and try to write it out and listen fullness lighter. it's also possible

that government aid would have to be provided against it for those who can't finance it on their own. a line of finance young couldn't and something else war is the travel industry. corona has made travel, complicated, uncertain, and inconvenient, leaving many with little desire to plan that next vacation was cut out chrissy plots and, and bon, hello. christy. just how fragile is this airline industry right now? well, the industry is still really trying to find its footing after the major beating it took in 2020. so the 1st year of the pandemic of that year, we saw a demand in most markets falling by over 80 percent. and this led, as we just heard in the little piece, there are 2 airlines reaching for either taking out major debts or having to accept huge government bailouts of both things that have really weighed on the business activity. airlines are able to conduct going forward. now this year we did see

demand returning to some degree, but just as we saw that coming back, this is when we saw fuel prices going through the roof. it's not just consumers and businesses dealing with the high cost of energy this winter, but also airlines as well. a fuel can make up as much as 25 percent of their balance sheets. so this is definitely a huge hurdle for them. and at the same time, uh, we are heading out of 2021 with major new environmental demands on airlines. and this is going to cost a pretty penny for them as well. so it's certainly a lot on their plate or so wrapped up challenges even without this new variant. how threatening could this new variant be? well it depends on who you talked to at just ugh, last night we heard from a low cost irish carrier, ryan air that they are planning to cut flights and that they have doubled their annual loss forecast. saying that this has directly to do with the omicron variant and 2 related travel restrictions. they say that this has really put a damper on a holiday travel demand. so we've also been hearing about other hurdles from

lufthansa and other airlines that this year we're seeing a higher number of pilots calling in sick than average. it's unclear how many of these instances are due to code. 19. what is clear is that many pilots are presenting symptoms of coven 19, or they are in quarantine with people who are infected. so this is causing disruptions as well. at the same time, if we look at a specific markets, ceo's of airlines in the u. s. are quite optimistic about next year. we're hearing that the omicron variant could be more mild than the delta variant. we've also seen a stronger recovery in domestic travel in the u. s. so they're, they're quite, i are quite hopeful about next year. chrissy briefly, what about passenger demand for flights? you touch on that? right, well demand i can tell you this month is more than double what it was the same month last year, and that's a trend we've been seeing an over the last few months. now that being said, an advisor to the world's airlines came out this this week and said that people are

twice or even 3 times more likely to catch coven 19 on an airplane, to the high transmission rate of the omicron variance. so the certainly represents a hurdle for the recovery going forward. christy cloth and bon, thank you. was not just the airlines and travelers were suffering. the tourism industry as a whole is under new pressure because of that varian. take the canary islands just weeks ago. hotel operators, there were looking forward to something like a normal tourist season with occupancy rates of around 80 percent. that's all changing the mag i already hear 10 a reef tries to make this time of year beautiful, but not even christmas as suitable for exuberant celebrations. this year, the island is reporting record numbers of new covert infections for hotel owners. the outlook is spitter. letter said i send an infant in the booking sa,

getting shorter and shorter a week or 2 at the most. in january, i won't even be at 60 percent capacity nanine. i own office and bath hotel on a polo ma marianna took out loans to get through the pandemic. she was hopeful that things would finally get back to normal, but instead of travelers insecurity as back in the get out and you have to ask yourself again, do i invest, do i buy things to lay improved things that blocks you? it blocks me wrong. ha ha. the problem is not only the tense corona virus situation on the island, but also where the tourists come from. great britain in particular, is struggling with high incidences. and the british tourists have to take 2 p. c, r tests on their return journey is particularly affects manage a heavier capero. reddish tourists make up 90 percent of guests at his hotel, several $100000.00 euros, and revenue are gone. as thomas in and got a smoking, sat down at this point, looking at the next 3 months, has cancellations and cancellation soon. gonzalez,

young to view the outlook is not only dramatic foretell spot for the entire economy on the islands. but even canada tourism is a major factor in g d, p, and jobs in dublin. doyle in blue. the new situation affects the jobs of monica, ernest, 2 and one manuel. and not only them, 80 farmers supply this cheese theory with gold and cow milk every day. but sales are faltering because restaurants and hotels are buying less product. boss candelabra go to vegas wonders, what will happen next in this is the level hamilton, when we pick up milk from the farmers, process it and then half no sales. that's very stressful for the entire sector. if we now go back to where we were last year, that would be very bad for us. so if we my live at in the, for the currently there are about a 100 tons of cheese in the warehouse. 10 times the normal amount, the high season on the cannery islands goes until easter vacation. so there is still time to catch up,

but no one knows how long this current wave of infection will paralyze here up with a speed with which the new variance spreads is posing a special problem for companies. as groups of employees call out sick at the same time in south africa were scientists 1st reported the variant, more employers and labor groups now say a vaccine mandate could help keep operations running. this bottle printing factory in johannesburg is one of many businesses struck down. after the discovery of omicron in africa's most developed economy, the rapid spread of the very end has led to a proliferation of infections and workplace absenteeism. a figure quite because we got got people. the symptoms are not as good as the previous way. but the people that will take the day

off of that initial travel bands and government warnings to respect social distancing. after all, microns emergence, so shocked to the tourism and hospitality sectors of the economy. but now other companies like this hairdressing salon, are also feeling the pinch as the possibility of another hard lockdown looms large . at the start of south africa's main holiday period. corona dropped our business turn over by 60 percent. we are now gearing up for the festive season buying extra stock. another lockdown would result in us closing down our business. the south african government is currently considering the idea of enforcing africa's 1st vaccine mandate. this would require all members of the population to get vaccinated or face refusal of entry to work places and public spaces. we know that vaccine mandates have been very up in the air globally. some countries have already

implemented them and others are considering them. in the case of south africa, our government is looking to implement some sort of vaccine mandate. but by now we've already seen many big businesses as well as the labor unions coming out in support of this. this in our world will actually help to prevent business outages in the long run. and for enterprises like bottle printers, such a mandate cannot come soon enough some technical problems at the beginning of that piece. we apologize for that. that's it for me and the dw business team, i'm stephen beardsley in berlin. we'll be back in a few hours of more. meantime, watching the countries just distances. ah, the views from the windows hinted them and went to the passengers expect when

they disembarked riding the rails across mongolia. an extraordinary experience. in 45 minutes on d. w. we've got some hot tips for your bucket list. romantic corners. check up spot for food. chairs and some great cultural memorials to boot d w, travel off we go with this or did up in years asia coming up to date the growing anti vac. some movement in south korea motor more young people are refusing the job as omicron forces or tod do restrictions. a report on the pushback to pandemic measures and as