we shed light on the opaque world who's behind benefits. and why are they a threat to us? all opaque worlds starts january 5th on d, w. with double the news line from berlin. the pandemic overshadows another holiday season. as the only con variance of spreads, people celebrating christmas, a face with the choice of taking the risk of seeing their loved ones or going into a loan for a 2nd year in iraq. also on the program, massive fires sweeps through

a fairy and bangladesh killing doesn't terrify, passengers leap over board, and many a still unaccounted for. the rescue of actual the ocean viking finds a safe haven to ship with more than 100 microns on board. has been granted permission to dock in sicily will hear from the leader of the on board medical team and the residence of the spanish island of left power hope of all kind of corruption that began in september finally over thousands of their homes and love, devastating crops and buildings ah, i'm fil gail, welcome to the program. holiday travel plans being disrupted around the world. am it a surge and coven 19 cases? driven by the o. re kron variant, or in 2000 flights have been cancelled globally because of the impact of the corona

virus on employees and passengers. this is the 2nd year running rabbit pandemic is overshadow the festive season. ah, another curve at christmas and another difficult choice. as emma crohn continues to spread millions round the world must now decide between cancelling their travel plans or taking the risk. for some in the us, the choice was made for them when several major us airlines cancelled christmas e flights. after staff came down with their microphone, others have turned to tests and boosters to help keep christmas alive, including thousands of new yorkers as their city, braces for surgeon cases after the holidays was affordable, took my family at tacoma, morrison's elderly have 2 small children. so as not so much for it, for myself as it is to protect bills along across the atlantic, christmas travelers in spain of facing the same tough choices. cove at 19 cases are

at an all time high. but for many seeing their loved ones is worth the risk. how gay and noise lament one other. this is not the best situation. i have had to evaluate whether to leave like last year, when i could not do this or to take only to risk. and i have taken a risk out event number one contender, mary value half way across the globe. australians of also facing christmas with our micron cases here, have sold to new records, fueled by the variant residents doing their best to keep safe. we had our mom, we've done the rapid antenna, things that were being effective, we can sang as much as li, ready, but with a micron, already racing. santa claus around the world, many seem set for another unmarried christmas or many of you are abs. hospitals are once again being stretched to their limits and staff are more burned out than ever . despite this thirst still trying to bring some joy to patient spending christmas

on the wards, the w's christine monde was visited belgium's leis central university hospital. tis the season, but much of the jolly has gone. there are more masks than santa hats, a never year. another variant, a never cove at christmas. at this hospital in the belgian city of the age, vaccines mean it's better this time around, but they're not sure how long that will last. this time last year this hospital was overwhelmed with coven 19 patients. it got so bad. some of the i see you patients had to be airlifted to neighboring germany. the situation is under control for now, but the star here are bracing for our micron. this is the cold at ward and staff here are hoping for the best, but they are preparing for the worst and keeping a nervous eye on our micron infection numbers. we're hoping that it

won't be too strong because we know a 3rd a $3.00 have all orders that we would need if it was very, very big. and we will do our best health workers have had a grueling couple of years. the hospital psychologist say's the uncertainty is making it difficult to cope. isn't the whole mask of bagley but from the ladies? i don't see that people the nurses or doctors are afraid to do because they're more anxious that this might gone forever. that this repetition just won't stop back because in the end one very and chases the last and it comes in race. it all stuff which is very exhausting. cancer is assess it to actually please all tired as they are. nursing staff will, as they always do, try to lift the spirits of those in hospital dis,

christmas. but that's particularly tricky with covert patients. they're isolated and can't have visitors, but they will be a special surprise on christmas morning. we have some kids who are writing from cos every year since i'm here since years and years now writing the cost for the phone and the morning of christmas we put coffins and that's on the new me and get it and have a little cussing. hello. i thing about you stuff have created an oasis of com and key here, but they know it probably won't last long. outside infections are spreading fast. we asked them if they'd have his correspondence around the world give us an idea of how the surgeon omicron case is being dealt with. so here the views from spain, poland, france, and china. well, looking at their high figure of new infections,

a lot of people, it's probably, unfortunately spend christmas and satisfies a lesson, or even with coven symptoms. whenever you look at your, you're about people being tested, father says, even in my own family that i've been some positive cases. recently, the rest of the spaniards. so they will probably be quite confused because they got a lot of mixed messages from, from the government and from the authorities to there have been some restrictions, for example, concerning the number of people in the restaurants. but to be honest, this have been really soft in comparison to other countries. and even experts who give advice to the government said they are not being taken seriously by the government. and the government doesn't hear what they say. so to be honest, they, there has not been much being made to make the situation better. and remember,

there are a little bit more than the house of the people in poland fully vaccinated. so which means a lot are not and a lot have of course very difficult christmas time. now here the government, of course, is under pressure to react to these raising numbers. next week, a president mccolan government of holding a special cabinet meeting, mainly to discuss tightening restrictions on unvaccinated people who were estimated to be at about 6000000 in funds this morning. the bridge health regulator said that booster doses could be administered as early as 3 months off of the course of flex . i'm this week france also opened up vaccinations to children aged between the 5 and 11. so i think from strategy so far has really to be bet on expanded booster and vaccine coverage along with restrictions it put in place earlier and hoped that this would be enough to tackle the new variant and make it more manageable on the crowd was a game changer and researchers in hong kong said that even 3 shots of the domestic

chinese vaccines don't offer enough protection against our microns. so of course they are developing new of ex scenes. but so far, the authorities here have not an approved any m, a foreign vaccines. for example, pfizer madrona, that is not available to the population here. and, and yet it's basically really bad news because for the foreseeable future, china, we're not open up, it's bought us. and that could last, at least for another year, possibly even longer at a bangladesh where at least $39.00 people are dead and 70 injured. after an over crowded ferry caught fire by the passengers, including the children are still missing. the incident happened on a river near jolla, carty 250 kilometers south and the capital dagger. the ferry was close to its destination when the blaze broke out. sleeping travellers woke to a fiery nightmare. the fairy turned into a floating inferno. terrified passengers leaped overboard to escape some drowning

in the frigid waters. most of the victims were trapped inside the burning boat. what does it happen? because if she a negligence, the fairy with coveting curtains, all the heed from explosion was trapped inside and he made everything burn. i was travelling with my father, my sister, and my 6 month old nephew. when the fire broke out, i gave the baby to a man, he was trying to say that, but now we can't find them. please let us know if you learn of their whereabouts. i mean, hundreds of the injured were taken to hospitals. many passengers are still unaccounted for. authorities said the fairy may have been carrying more than twice as many people as allowed. it took fire crews several hours to extinguish the blaze.

by daylight bodies were retrieved from the charred hole to investigations or running into the cause of the accident, or to work with it. the engine had been running for about an hour while on fire. later, the fire probably sprayed from the engine to the oil tank. and it stopped with a loud barnaby spot where we are standing right now. begun this river. river fairies are a common mode of transport in bangor dash, and a frequent source of tragedy. this is the 4th deadly fairy accident. in less than a year. there are some all stories making headlines around the world. military commanders in iran have said that this week's war games in the persian gulf were meant to sent a warning to israel. feronda is concerned about possible israeli plans to target uranium nuclear size, with efforts to revive the 2015 nuclear deal. continuing, iran's insisting it's nuclear ambitions are peaceful. a court in moscow has

find google and matter platforms and millions of dollars for their repeated families to delete content that russia deemed illegal. russian authorities have increased pressure on big tech companies in what critics claim is an attempt to gain tighter control over the internet. the ocean viking rescue boat from the angio s o s. medice ramey has found a safe haven on christmas eve. it's been granted permission to dock in sicily. it's in the central mediterranean at the moment, carrying 114 migrants who were rescued last week. this has been one of the deadliest years for people using irregular roots through the mediterranean to reach europe. at been more than 1500 deaths since january the highest figure since 2017. or we can cross directly to the ocean viking and talk to rebecca em. she's a midwife leaves the on board medical tape for s o s mary to remy. i'm the international red cross. welcome to d. w. how long have you been at?

i stuck on board. now do you feel about being allowed to disembark soon? hi. so we have been on board now the old days with the a feeling among the survivors, knowing that we've been assigned to this mrs. unders. that'd be a nice belief, something that is sad amongst knowing me and that that won't fall my mental and physical well being standardized and, and where did you find them and what sort of state were they when you came across them? so the survivors that we have on board a pharmacy rescue that was conducted off because the baby and the insect rescue. they were in a rabbit of many of them when he beat me exhausted when they got my cat on my, on my medical, my medication and you talk about the survivors. of course sir,

we're there many losses. so we were incredibly fortunate that we didn't have any loss is amongst our rescue, but obviously the tragic news this week coming from the central and strength of over 200 to that on that route. and what, what sort of stories have been telling you about? so about what they're getting away from or what they're trying to get to. so amongst our survivors, we have many unaccompanied minors, women, and we've actually got 4 children, including 2 new borns that kings went under one month old. throughout all of them, they have incredibly harrowing stories of violence and abuse. many of them have been arbitrarily detained in libya, sometimes more than once. and to the point that they saw no other option than risky death, rather than stay in libya. we have peace vall, that was shots attempting to escape mothers that when we send in front of their children, i know you've been on several motions on the ocean. viking,

i'm in that time, has it changed your mind about why you do the work or whether you should do it on this is this reinforced why i do this and these are people's mothers, brothers and sisters. children that are escaping from absolutely re fixed in situation, heretic histories to them and we are reaching out to rescue them. that being said, is essential that european session rescue operation is reinstated urgently. because we have not, there aren't enough boats or rendering assistance to those to these people, to the point that we've seen what's happened in the past few weeks. we also need a predictable, unsustainable method for this to be established because it's unacceptable that people who have been through so much about that strength, etc,

for days and weeks for this to happen with the inevitable total stuff is one of them and i was rebecca m a midwife and medical team leader for a show as submitted shavani. authorities in la palmer are expected to declare the spanish island street but for volcanic eruption over soon. this is the islands longest ever eruption which forced thousands from their homes and destroyed buildings and wives, wives of farm land. cobarrubias her fell silent last week. ah, it captivated the world for over 3 months, with its billowing smoke and spectacular lava flows. but despite his ban, deniable beauty is caused chaos for the residence of la palmer. hundreds, how to be evacuated from wont be able to return home for months. and almost

3000 buildings have been destroyed. with homes and livelihoods among the wreckage. many of the islands, banana plantations, vital to the local economy, have been devastated by ash, but as blanketed vast swathes of la palmer li, dramatic lava flows have expanded the island by 40 hector's. almost the size of $120.00 football fields. locals can now breathe a sigh of relief with hopes of a less turbulent new year with that. but for now, the clean up continues with, with the images of the last 3 months. see it in their minds. so have career present, merge in has pardon, taste, disgraced,

predecessor park going hey saying it was for the sake of national unity in 2017 was park was sentenced to 22 years in prison over corruption charges. she'll be released on the 31st of december as part of a mass pardon of more than 3000 people. it was a trial that shed light on ties between big business and politics. in south korea. conservative president park, good. hey, was impeached in 2016 in the wake of a corruption scandal facing accusations of abusive power and taking bribes from companies such as samsung park was sentenced to 22 years in prison. but after serving less than 5 years, park successor is granting her pardon. the liberal government led by president mon jay in said at hoped her release would heal old wounds and bring harmony to

south korea after 2 difficult years of the pandemic bonds. how many single ugly tad the top offers, hopes the pardons can serve to bring in a new era of unity and reconciliation that transcends different thoughts and opposing views. yella had only protected him either. south korea has a history of pardoning officials convicted of corruption. the government cited the 69 year olds, deteriorating health in their decision to release her will. parks right to vote, will be reinstated, but she's barred from running for office again. monday single presidential term ends next year. and south korea is preparing for an election in march. some analysts speculate, parks release could bolster support for the conservatives, or it may divide them in the lead up to an election that current polls say will be a tight race the italian city of venice, what

a much loved christmas tradition is under threat morano as a type of glass making, dating back to the 13th century. the glass sculptures of manufactured on a tiny island of murano and the venetian lagoon. the recent surge and the price of me fame, gas, which is used to power the furnaces, is making it hot to keep them open. oh, at 1st it's just a chunk of glass. but after francesco, serena has rolled it in gold leaf, put it in the furnace, then blown it into shape with the help of his colleague stephano. it's transformed into a masterpiece. the end result is a marana class christmas ball. each one is a unique work of art. note i dream of them at night. i have to keep coming up with something new, something different. i think of something special and then make it a reality. with her, he melts colorful chunks of glass to make a kaleidoscope,

the color swirled together and when he has air and design appears. since the middle ages murano glass masters have been making these ornaments, no matter what existential problems have been thrown at them. the most recent being the pandemic. now energy costs are spiraling out of control. they need gas to heat their ovens to over $1000.00 degrees celsius. so far they've been able to keep going against all odds. so the 30 says he is now i've been gloss artisan. i started when i turned 15, just as my father and his father before him. here marana, we grow up with the auto glass blowing. the glass masters of murano are always designing new creations. luciano gam, borrow sells them online and ships them around the world. around christmas time, these objects are in high demand. gambrel keeps track of which articles are in highest demand. they used to be honest. the last few years are christmas. trees

have become very popular. in particular ones, the artistic, more modern than the classic christmas tree. more dirty is the guy when he does formatted a classic while. but the most party, our object remains the murano christmas bomb. it's not inexpensive, but it is a unique work of art that can be brought out each year to be held in awe. and i remind you of our top story, a surgeon cove in 19 cases driven by the omicron variance is disrupted the holiday travel plans for people around the world. major airlines have cancelled more than 2000 flights of globally and part due to staff shortages tied to omaha. dr. eric fargo dang is a senior fellow at the federation of american scientists and was one of the 1st us medical professionals to raise the alarm about the corona virus back in january 2020. he joins us from washington. d. c. a. welcome to

d w doctor. the consensus seems to be forming amongst researchers that only cron is more transmissible, but less deadly than the alpha beta and delta variance. is that your understanding that if so, is that good news? thanks for having me. that is generally with the understanding. but actually, i think what people are not understanding correctly is there's not a little and missile, but it is actually about 5 times more transmissible. and i think that will actually translate to exponential more cases. the, i mean, our institute estimates 3000000000 people will potentially be impacted in the next 3 months. basically, 2 years worth of infection so far in the world. compressed the 3 months. and it milder is actually a misinformation, because in many ways it's intrinsically about the same as delta. it's just that now there's more re infections of those with vaccines and

a previous infection. so it looks milder, but actually intrinsically not much. my elder, an indian when you balloon the total number of cases infected through several 1000000000. well, number of people, that's when you're going to overload the hospitals. right. and that, that the ultra transmitter ability and, and these, these, these massive numbers seem to be why governments around the world are tightening a social and travel restrictions. but that's kind of gives us the feeling that we've all gone back to square one half way were not entirely as square one know, but we are much more in bigger trouble than we were with delta to also remember is more severe than hon. but and also more 2 times more trends, and this buyers is about $4.00 to $6.00 times more trans miscible. and that means we're in a different legal and we're more treadmill support this 5, much less than measles and monoclonal antibody drug meant to them like re general.

don't even work anymore to shot back. seen. don't really give you much protection. you need 3 shots and boosters, and of course not many people in the world how boosters most countries have less than one in 5 or one in 6 people have boosters. so altogether, we're not at square one into and in march 2020. but we are in many ways like similar to last winter in which very few people are in, of sufficiently protected. and that's the big worry, especially with burgeoning number of cases and billions and coming out well. now, for those of us who are in countries rich enough to have vaccines, vaccinations, new variants and boosted jobs forever know, not forever. but i think we have to, we will likely will need adapted vaccines in the coming months. because you know, there's already some types of 4 shots, israel's already implementing them for those over 60, but we need the better adapted one to this end. there's new class,

the vaccine. there are pan corona virus. so we can potentially award off a future variance. but in the meantime, you know, there are new drugs, but that these drugs, the rollout is going to be slow. and of course, access and affordability is going to be an issue. india, and this is the severity is in these drugs are not going to make a debt and transmission transmission is what's going to balloon. and unless we get real that we have other premium ask and then the 5 math at the p to f, a p b masks as well as, ah, and ventilation standards and air to confection books on indoor air. we were, are not going to be able to stop this airborne transmission dryers as quickly as possible. we just vaccines alone. we need to take a whole list of approach. thanks for joining us. dr. erica fagel dang, from washington, dc. thank celebrations. tomor christmas had begun in the city of bethlehem in the west bank. so i'll leave you with some sites. and some of the

traditional christmas celebrations on manger square in front of the church of been a 70 on the mass held by the senior cox. and a cleric in the holy that have a good day. ah ah ah,

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