we should light on the opaque world who's behind the benefits. why are they a threat to whistle oak creek wolves starts january 5th on d, w. mm. ah ah, this is dw news live from berlin. the pandemic overshadows another holiday season. as christmas begins, for many people are faced with the tough choice and taking the risk of seeing their families and friends all going it alone for the 2nd year in a row. also coming up,

china is scrambling to maintain its 0 cove at 19 strategy as it prepares for the upcoming winter olympics with a highly infectious army, chrome variant be a game changer and wants disgraced and convicted of corruption. the former south korean president popcorn high is given a pardon ah, i'm rebecca brit is welcome to the program. holiday travel plans are being disrupted in many countries as cove at 19 infections increased because of the all micron variant. airlines in the u. s. estrella and other countries have cancelled hundreds of flights as employees and passengers are exposed to the virus following the spike in cases. it's the 2nd year running where the pandemic has overshadowed the festive season. ah, another had christmas and another difficult choice. as omicron continues to spread,

millions around the world must now decide between cancelling their travel plans or taking the risk. thousands of new yorkers have lined up for the coven tests and booster shots as the city braces for a surgeon cases after christmas. was important at my family. my mother is elderly after school children. so is that so much support for myself as it is to protect those along across the atlantic, christmas travelers in spain of facing the same tough choices cove, at 19 cases, a written all time high. but for many seeing their loved ones is worth the risk. how did noise limit, although this is not the best situation? if any of i have had to evaluate whether to live like last year, when i could not do this or take a little risk. and i have taken a risky that what that though,

maybe i go to visit my family who is also stayed at home. and we will try to enjoy christmas the best we can, but always with caution. the uncertainties persist worldwide for the 2nd straight christmas under the pandemic. uncertainties worldwide, love more on how ami kron is affecting christmas plant. this year i'm joined by my colleague roger evans. roger, thanks for coming in. like so many people this christmas, you've also had personal experience with this. what happened? i haven't did. yes. well, my daughter, she said is in the united kingdom. and if asked us for the last 24 hours trying to help her get home to germany for christmas. and the problem that she's faced, and the problem that many people are facing at the moment, is that the rules keep changing because of the ami kron variance from the threat that posing governments constantly reassessing the situation. and changing the rules that affect international travel. in particular, so for example, here in germany for people traveling from the u. k, the government introduced a quarantine rule earlier this week. then yesterday, without warning,

they changed the testing requirements so that you didn't need just to lateral floaters. but a p. c, office to travel my daughter to to fly yesterday. and suddenly she was required to find a piece. your test is, you know, it takes quite a while to get a result from a pc or test. and that kind of thing is causing real problems for people trying to get home for christmas. how can i change it so quickly? well indeed, i don't know just as you said, you know, with the, for the and see what you can. i suppose she has a quarantine as well for tender. yes, just a crunching for 14 days. in fact, there's no exceptions to that rule. even if you're fully vaccination, you have to have to call into if you're traveling from the u. k into germany at the moment. and again, that's put a lot of people off traveling this christmas. you know, christmas is normally the busiest time of year for travel. and my daughter, she has actually just made it onto a plane now to she's in the air as we speak in fact. but she told me before she flew, that they were just 12 people on her plane 12 passengers on the plane. so it means that there was a whole plane load of people who didn't make it, of course. and as we saw in that report, we also have the issue with staff shortages, airports, and airlines also being hit by people calling in sick. and that's making the travel

season this this christmas really really can alter. yeah, sure. is i apart from mandated time at home with the family. is there any other good news out of this? well, there is one bit of good news i can share with you rebecca, which is that we have heard from both canada and australia that they have cleared the air space for, for the christmas. a negative their only children out there watching and a worried about whether father christmas will be able to come tonight. you can show you, he can. he's been cleared for trouble. that is excellent news. i'm sure the kids will be happy. roger evans, thanks very much. you're welcome. on china is re doubling efforts to keep the virus in check ahead of the winter olympics. in february, beijing has been pursuing a 0 coven strategy since the start of the pandemic. but it's unclear if this approach will continue to work, given the increased transmit ability of only crime. there are also concerns that chinese vaccines are ineffective against the new variant

ah, at this logistics up for the winter games and bridging technology, place a vital role in epidemic prevention. these remotely controlled vehicles reduce human to human contact will be used to deliver goods into the close loop bubble were athletes and other participants will be locked inside during the event. not with regards to logistics, we put a lot of emphasis on epidemic prevention of delivery goods, including the protection of logistic workers as well as the goods. what it, although, even before the emergence of the army chron variant, china's capital had taken a tougher approach to containing cove at 19 visitors to beijing must show a negative test taken within 48 hours before arriving. many flights from high risk areas in other parts of the country have been cut best been a flare up of local infection clusters for almost 3 months now. and the cost of china, the recovery strategy,

has become more evident. but with the winter olympics approaching the authorities, or even further stepping up the efforts to keep the virus under control in an updated playbook of coven, 19 protocols for the games. organizers advising, but not requiring participants to get a booster dose of 16 more than 10000000 or about half of all people in paging have already had a 3rd ship. people don't seem too concerned about the army kron variant. i think people have strong awareness that the dent, prevention, and control in beijing. i don't think it will come to beijing any time soon. still on the crumbs capacity to spread quickly has cast uncertainty over the country and it's 0 cove at pandemic strategy. early studies show the 2 main vaccines use in china, made by sign of farm and sign of egg offer almost 0 protection from ami kron infection . in one study conducted by a team at the university of hong kong,

researchers said that among a group of 25 people fully vaccinated with a sign of ex corona veg, none show detectable levels of neutralizing antibodies against the very end. think it is important to continue to monitor the vaccine effectiveness in the field as well. i'm in our study, zine, the dest. you generally there have been good predictors as to what happens in the field. but i, real ultimate aim we are trying to achieve is to protect against severe disease and that china has yet to approve overseas developed shots and has relied on home grown vaccines to protect its population of 1400000000 people. it now faces the prospect of having to develop more efficient ones before it can shift from its continuous isolation. back, let's turn now to some other stories making headlines this hour. at least 37 people have died after a ferry caught fire in bangladesh in a river near jello. copy some 250 kilometers south of the capital. deca. police say

most of the victims died in the fire. other others drowned after jumping overboard to try to flee the flames. hundreds of women have protested incident following allegations that security forces had sexually attacked at least a dozen women and girls. several western countries have condemned the troops use of sexual violence as a weapon and demanded an independent investigation. the american author joan didn't, has died at the age of 87 from complications from parkinson's disease. the novelist playwright, an essayist, was best known for her descriptions of american culture during the tumultuous 1960 s. she was one of the pioneers of the new journalism movement which combined reporting with a literary voice. south korean president, moon j in is, has pardoned his disgrace, predecessor park gooden hay for the sake of quote, national harmony park has been imprisoned since 2017. after receiving

a 22 year sentence for crimes, including taking bribes from samsung and other companies. own said, the former conservative latest release is meant to he'll pass divisions and promote unity in the face of the pandemic park will be free from jail next week. correspondent frank smith joins me now from so frank y as president moon decided to pardon park now. well, i think there are a couple of things influencing this decision, which even the democratic party here in south korea, moon jeans, own party, says, was the decision was the president's him himself. she is in ill health. she's had an operation on his shoulder. also you mentioned that she had served 4 and a half out of her 22 year sentence. but president moon jane is now at the end of his term, his single 5 year term there said to be election an election. next,

march 9th, for the next president. so 3, so it might have to do with that. also this is sort of amnesty season and the president granted pardon me to a number of, of political figures including a former prime minister who is in prison for a bribery and also a boat. 1000000 people that had been given clemency for smaller infractions, including traffic violations, presidential election, as you mentioned, is due to take place next march. is that going to have any impact this event rather going to have any impact on that? well that, that depends who you ask in the political divide here in south korea, you talked to e j young in those, in the democratic party, they were largely against the decision that they say that the president made again

on his own. and they say that it won't have that, that big impact. however, on the conservative side, you took your, he's the sort of front runner right now for the presidential election. he was in favor of her getting a pardon despite the fact that he was a prosecutor, chief prosecutor, involved in putting her behind bars in the 1st place. the conservative block also considered is considered this something of a trick by president moon g and to divide the conservatives as they move into a presidential campaign season. here for just remind us briefly, the kind of what park was jailed for and why her case illustrated a link between high political office and south korea's big family run companies. that's a really important question. we need to go back to 2016 and, and what went on there. we had demonstrations for about 3 months. every single

saturday, hundreds of thousands at times more than a 1000000 people on a single evening, owed demonstrating for her to be impeached and, and put behind bars. because she was a symbol of that, you know, connection corrupt connection between the channel, the family run conglomerates, and the government. and that was the source of her, you know, downfall that relationship and, and bribery and corruption between those 2 groups. frank smith and so thanks very much. and a u. s. a police officer in the city of minneapolis has been found guilty of manslaughter in the shooting death of a black man. dante wright officer came potter said she mistook her gun for her taser when she shot right. the case reopened racial divisions in the same city where george floyd was killed at the hands of police. the mother of dante wright

wanted accountability for her son's death. when a jury returned a guilty verdict on 2 charges of manslaughter, katy bryant experienced all kinds of emotions. oh, my gosh, i'm the moment that we heard guilty on the man's letter. one emotions every single emotion that you could imagine just running through your body at that moment. i kind of let out a yelp because it was built up in the anticipation of what was the calm when while we were waiting for the last few days. police officer came potter pleaded not guilty and the fatal shooting of rice in brooklyn center, a suburb of minneapolis, minnesota. in april. in emotional testimony, she claimed she mistakenly drew her gun instead of a taser on killed a 20 year old during a routine traffic stop and slaughter in the 2nd degree. now we've been able to process that, ah, we want to thank the entire prosecution team. we wanna thank community support

everybody who's been out there that has supported us in this long fight for accountability for our supporters of rights. families celebrated outside the hennepin county courthouse after the verdict was announced. potter $49.00 faces about 7 years in prison under the states sentencing guidelines, but prosecutors said they would seek a longer term. that's a news update this. i will have more headlines for you next hour, but don't go away. coming up after a short break, his a duck film riding the rails across mongolia. stay tuned for that was he said, ah, what interest? the global economy our portfolio d w business beyond here the closer look at the.