it doesn't matter. the only criteria is what we'll hook people. we should light on the opaque world who's behind the benefits. and why are they a threat to whistle? open worlds? starts january 5th on d, w. ah ah, this is due to the news live from berlin blasting off for a new era of astronomy. a revolutionary new telescope is launched into space. it's hope the james web telescope to be able to tell us more about the origins of

disease or worse. also coming up coping 19 clouds. another christmas. a surge in the oma krohn virus varied is disrupting holiday travel. airlines faced a shortage of staff and that's causing thousands of flight cancellations. and his annual christmas address, german president, frank volter stein meyer, appeals to population to show unity over the pandemic criticizing what he calls increasing open aggression. ah, nick spicer, welcome to the program. a revolutionary telescope has been launched into space marking the beginning of a new era of scientific exploration. the james web telescope lifted off on board a rocket from the european space. the agencies launch base in french kiana. the

launch is the culmination of several decades of work for european canadian and american space agencies is being held as the world's most powerful telescope. the james web is expected to being back new clues about the origins of the universe. the new i in the sky is the successor to the legendary hubble space telescope. it's 6 and a half meter, mira makes the hubble look tiny by comparison. the james webb, the biggest telescope ever sent into space, is made up of 18 segments plated with a raise, a thin gold coating. the instrument has to be folded up to fit into the rockets nose cone. the telescope will scan the heavens using long wave infra red lights. ah,

astronomers will be able to look back towards the big bang, nearly 14000000000 years ago. back to the origins of the universe and the formation of the 1st stars and galaxies. the new telescope could also prove decisive in a search for extraterrestrial life who it can probe, so called exile planets. nearly 5000 have already been discovered orbiting distance sons. the james web will monitor how exxon planets move in conjunction with the stars. trance. it's like this mean it can take a virtual fingerprint at the atmosphere of these remote worlds and assess for the 1st time whether they hold the building blocks of life. before the research can begin, there will be a delicate 2 week operation in which the telescope has to unfold itself. never

before has a satellite been launched with so many moving parts and nothing can be allowed to go wrong. it will be 6 months after the launch before the telescope is ready to gather it's 1st scientific data analysts crossover. not a keith cowan. he's the editor of space raf, dot com and he joined us from washington. so keith, successful launch, does that mean we're, we're, we're out of the woods and everything should be functional. now, we're out of one set of woods, but we're entering quite another. it's going to be a good month before we know that the telescope has reached its final operational orbit and that everything is unfolded. and as you mentioned, intro piece, all these hundreds of pieces have worked. so there will be a lot of ankle or knuckle biting. and so forth for the next few weeks. or i know,

assuming everything works, which is i think what we'll hope for what does nasa as well as the canadian and european space agencies actually hope to gain from a 10000000000 dollar project. well, as mentioned, this is quite an immense telescope. i've stood in front of it. it's just, it's you can't see outside of your field of view. it's immense. and it's going to looking at a wavelength that has not really been looked at before to this extent. and like any be telescope in space, it's out there because the earth's atmosphere tends to cloud up things and you really can't get a clear picture of what the universe really looks like until you leave the are sat miss beer. so that's what this telescope will do. but it has an amazing ability to hope. we look back to the earliest years of the saw of the universe, but also it will allow us to take the temperature and examine the composition of atmospheres of planets. not just in our own solar system,

but in other star systems in with the hope that maybe they'll find signatures their b. i would be indicating life for the presence of something similar to what we have here in are. so a lot of amazing questions to be asked and amazing answers are just waiting for it to become operational. and i just the last time, you know, astronomers and, and people who are curious about science were this excited was when the famous hubble telescope was launched. 30 years ago for the space shuttle, what is different between what was the hobble is able to see compared to what the james web will be able to do? well, they'll actually do some observations together. they will look at the same things from different wavelengths, and we are to do that with the chandra telescope. it looks an x rays and other telescope. so joint observations are the norm and will also use toll scopes in the ground. but where is a big telescope? it as much as a larger set of mirrors. it has far more sophisticated electronics than the web had

actually, the hubble has. and it's looking at aspects of stars and planets and galaxies that the, where the hubble doesn't really get into. so we take all these other telescopes and assets together. it's sort of like getting cataract surgery. suddenly we will be able to see much more of the universe than we've ever seen before in many different new ways. all right, well thank you for urine site kit calling editor at space ref dot com. a surgeon cove at 19 cases during my the omicron variant has been disrupting holiday travel plans around the world. thousands of flights have been canceled because of the impact of the krona virus on airline employees. and passengers. despite this, people are trying their best to maintain the christmas spirit. twas the night before christmas. but instead of the usual last minute christmas rush, the streets here in london have fallen silence. the u. k broke their

record of case cases for the 3rd day in a row, recording about 122000 infections. numbers have climbed so high that some estimates predict one in 10 londoners have the infection. the surgeon cases has dampened the christmas chia and left many industries struggling with staff shortages as sick workers. a forced to isolate it's a problem that has hit airlines, particularly hard flights around the world, had to be cancelled on christmas eve. adding another layer of stress to people's already precarious holiday plans. we were really concerned last night when i saw on the news that they had can thought our 100 white and i'm like, oh my god, we won't be able to get home. but luckily we kept checking the white bear to shake in the white that has got here and everything was fine. so we were really grateful

for that. in spain, you don't have to be traveling far to face disruptions to everyday life. just stepping outside your front door now means having to wear a mask. the prime minister announced the decision after 2 consecutive records in daily cases. it's come as an unwelcome surprise to many wears when the more when we got off the train and i saw every one wearing their mask. i remembered that it was the 1st day of the mandates and i thought what a drag again with the mask. it's a bit suffocating, a bit claustrophobic. i'm not very happy before we go. no, nothing. we're gonna linda gala. though it may not be the coven free christmas, that so many had hoped for people a doing their best to make sure some of the festive spirit remains. let's turn out some of the other stories making headlines around the world. thousands of

people have been protesting in the sudanese capital cartoon, and calling for a transition to civilian rule 2 months after a military coup. authorities have deployed security forces and restricted phone lines and internet service. the nato russia council is set to meet in january for the 1st time in more than one and a half years. the meeting comes at a time of heightened tension between russia and western countries. nato has warned moscow against attacking ukraine after tens of thousands of russian troops gathered on its border. in australia, crowds have headed to sidney's iconic bondi beach to enjoy christmas under the sun . temperatures were expected to climb as high as 30 degrees celsius. authorities have urged residence to celebrate the holiday outdoors to slow the spread of the corona of ours. universities in hong kong have removed several statues and murals commemorating the 1989 shannon men square massacre. until recently,

hong kong was the only place in china, where such memorials were tolerated. a quiet campus at the university of hong kong and an empty spot where a statue called the goddess of democracy, stood it memorialized the bloody end of the democracy movement in beijing. students put up the sculpture in 2010, a replica of a statue that protesters erected in t animal square in 1989 and at hong kong ling non university. an image of the goddess of democracy was painted over a sign of deference from the university towards the authorities in beijing and a mural of the tank man disappeared as well. memorializing an unknown man who stood in front of a column of tanks in 1989. the disappearance follows years of official tolerance

beings. lexi at the university is trying to erase history. lexia. they took away the possibility for students to learn something about the events of that time. him was thought lennon dalton hogan was at lexia kaywood. now there are just empty spaces and silence where the memorials used to be the same fate for the pillar of shame, which commemorated the unknown number of student protesters who died in the tenement square massacre. another victim of official regulations and quote, security concerns. german president frank walter stein meyer has said freedom, trust and responsibility have taken on new importance during the coven pandemic. during his annual christmas message, he urged germans to continue to respect each other and looked back at some of the key events of the year, including the change of government at home and the telephone takeover in afghanistan. 2021 has been an exhausting year for germany. on the

political stage, the miracle era, indeed, and september's general election marked a turning point. the president's christmas message praised the democratic handover of power in what he called an atmosphere of mutual respect. but it was also the year when the taliban swept to power across afghanistan, bringing postwar germany's largest overseas military operation to an end. western forces pulled back and the buddhist van flew home to many. it looked like failure. stein my acknowledge that as well as other clouds on the international horizon. the ones that we remember our soldiers who returned home from afghanistan and also the people who have remained there amid suffering and star vacation. we are concerned by the news we have from many regions of our turbulent world, also,

and particularly from eastern europe as the offer. but the president's message, as is traditional, was also one of hope. he praised the solidarity people show during the severe some of floods in germany, especially the volunteers who helped with the clean up, gave money and time. so the rebuilding could begin. as the year ends, the coven, 19 crises, still looms over national life. protests against government rules have flared up across germany. but stein maya said, even from the pandemic, positive lessons can be learned. this proven we same years frustration is growing irritability and widespread. we're increasingly seeing alienation and regrettably open aggression is true that in a democracy we do not all have to be of the same opinion. but i appeal to you to remember this. we are one country on the pandemic is over. we need still to be able

to look one another in the eye. and when the panoramic is over, we still want to live with each other, not upon the me, not mitten. under his address, the president even posed a philosophical question. what is freedom? he suggested it sometimes means accepting restrictions in order to help others. that notion of solidarity and sacrifice may be needed still in the year ahead. you're watching the www. ah, that's your epic. i'm next nicer. thanks for watching ruth . her again. that is my work. that tiger and in the end is a me.