we feel it's coming that the numbers are slowly increasing. this is dying by mid january. that should be a more realistic picture of the situation. but the number of confirmed omicron cases is increasing at a faster pace in northern germany, as to say entirely possible that the proximity to scandinavian nations is a factor omicron is very dominant there. so the virus may be traveling over the buddha. i think everyone understands that a virus will not stop at buddha's sodding. he's just the was fun again finish. i had my of the federal and state officials in germany a do to meet on the 7th of january to map out a strategy to combat the spread of the virus. let's dig into this a bit more. we have dr. faculty on the line in epidemiologist and a senior fellow at the federation of american scientists and joined us from washington. d. c. dr. welcome back to deed of e news. first, you know, so if we're hearing, of course, every day, these record number of cases all across europe, and yet there's plenty of resources like booster shots and increase testing and masks. so what then is driving this latest surge?

well, thanks for having the 1st of our booster shots work, but booster shot role as you know is very inadequate. is incredibly slow. many places they take comfort to work and con, increases exponentially. well, you can only roll them out, logistically feasible as you can. but this is a virus is $5.00 to $6.00 times more contagious than delta, which was already twice contagious at the strength of last year. so we're talking about strain, potentially 10 times more contagious than before. nothing we do right now is enough to keep up unless you think of something on a blanket decide scale. and that's why when the mitigations were used to p, i'm across delta and other barrington check will be sufficient enough against all crime. and with high cases, you're going to boom, the number of people infected and ultimately overwhelm the hospital. so you talked about blanket restrictions there,

i guess during about locked downs. and we've seen countries take different approaches, some of them lighter or touch, some of them heavier. but yet cases are huge everywhere. is there an argument for fewer restrictions like we've seen in the u. k. no fewer restrictions is not the way. and by the way, i think blanket mitigation, i don't necessarily mean lockdown. you can have, for example, back in passports. you can have much more aggressive thing, but math mandate which, you know, germany, austria already have and of course premium no more clock, no more surgical. ready new spitting mask premium. all these are blanket mitigation in the blanket mitigation or what is needed to curtail or exponential arrive. and of course, if those are not enough, then you have to go to the next layer. but there's other things like ventilation standards, indoor air, just infection. all those are blanket level societal guidelines or that could be

put in place in lieu of a lockdown. and of course indoor dining restrictions as well. but we need blanket restrictions because boosters increases linearly. this virus increases 5 to 6 or more contagious, lee and exponentially. that's why what we do now with boosters. it's too late by itself a to could curtailed as we have to think of more aggressive measures. all right, dr. eric 5 on the we have to leave it. there are lots more of course we can talk about and hopefully we'll get a chance to thanks for joining us. jury in the us has sound british socialite, glean maxwell guilty of helping the sex offender jeffrey epstein, abuse under age girls 4 years after 5 days of deliberations. the new york jury found maxwell guilty on 5 counts, including recruiting and grooming epstein, teenage victims. the verdict could see the 60 year old spend the rest of her life

in prison, recruiting and grooming teenage victims and trafficking a minor. these are the heavy charges of which british socialite glee maxwell was found guilty by the new york jury. the road to justice has been far too long, but today justice has been done. no one, no matter how powerful or well connected it is above the law. jolaine maxwell is the daughter of british newspaper. baron robert maxwell, in court accuser showed evidence of maxwell's close relationship to late fine and sheer and convicted sex offender, jeffrey epstein. epstein was child and 2019 based on charges of sex trafficking miners, but he committed suicide in prison while awaiting trial. in the current court case of killing maxwell, she was found to have helped epstein systematically procure young girls some as young as 14. the charges against maxwell were brought forward by 4 victims,

but many more feel they have been served justice. this is a victory for all the victims of miss maxwell and abstain. moreover, i think this is a victory for all young children, boys, girls, women, and men who are victims of abusers like this. it will give them the needed push to step forward and to speak their truth and to hopefully get justice like these young girls have with respect to miss maxwell, the defense as to 60 year old is being used as a scapegoat for other people's crimes. i. we firmly believe in glenn's innocence. obviously, we are very disappointed with the verdict. we have already started working on the appeal, and we are confident that she will be vindicated everyone the healthy, have a happy new year. how you doing,

maxwell now stands to spend the rest of her life in prison. if she receives the maximum possible sentence of 65 years. let's get more now from heather driven a. she is from the rape abuse an incest national network. it's the largest non profit anti sexual violence organization in the u. s. thank you so much for being here to talk about this important topic. what does this mean exactly, for the survivors this verdict has come out. thank you for having me 1st to are so relieved to see the guilty verdict and this trial and for the survivors who have been so brave and gone for so much to reach this moment to finally see someone being held accountable for what they experienced. we know that for survivors of sexual violence, the odds of having a perpetrator held accountable are very low on. so this is a strong message that people can be held accountable even years later. and even if they are powerful and well connected. exactly. so because that so often is not the

case, do you think this verdict, is it a turning point anyway? will there be more accountability to perpetrators or more protection for survivors and victims? i think this is part of the positive pattern that we've been seeing. you know, we've seen several high profile, very powerful individuals from harvey weinstein to maxwell now being held accountable for their crimes. and that sounds a powerful message to people. we know that the statistics are low for how many people actually get justice through the justice system. in these kinds of cases, particularly when they are stacked up against a perpetrator with financial means with powerful connections, a lot of survivors feel that it might just not be worth it to subject themselves to the reach harmonization that often goes with the legal process. if they don't have a chance of justice, hopefully people are seeing that that tide is turning. and would you say that this verdict is the end of the jeffrey up in story or is there still more to do here?

i think we'll see more to come. i'm sure it's a relief for his many victims to see that some accountability has finally coming. as a result of this, clearly they will not get accountability from epstein himself ever. but this was a criminal enterprise, and it's important to see that others are now starting to take accountability for what happened. this couldn't have happened in a vacuum, and there are probably other people that will be investigated. and of course, a legal, a legal aspect, legal, legal storage is one part of this bigger story when it comes to victims and survivors of these kinds of crimes. what else from your experience eases their burden? i think it's important for survivors no matter where they are, to know that they're not alone or any time a survivor shares their story publicly. as the women in this case have done, we see an outpouring folks reaching out to national sexual hotline. here in the us, and we serve more than 300000 people

a year through the national sexual hotline. it's free, anonymous and confidential, and available $24.00 seventh's survivors at $8696.00. so anytime the stories are in the news, we see a spike in people reaching out and helps remind them that they're not alone. they can have a chance at getting help and getting resources and moving forward with their gilling process. heather drive and thank you very much for your insights into this heather derivative from the rape abuse and incest national network. thank you for having me. south africans have been paying their respects to archbishop desmond tutu in a memorial ceremony at saint george's cathedral in cape town. that's where the anti apartheid icon once delivered. sermons against white minority rule during the service. some of his favorite hymns were performed and his grandson, thank well wishers both at the cathedral and around the world, reaching out to his family as they grieve their loss. we've been reassured by the

outpouring of love and prayers and support. ready that afford in from around the world, that he will not be out of mind just because he's out of sight. we missed you. we love you. we thank you. and d, w to so comalla has been asking mourners outside st. george cathedral, about what the late archbishop desmond tutu meant to them for some days now people have been coming yet to pay their last respect. this has talked to some of the people that i hear to say good bye to a men that they laughed. we've lost a father and a close black lion. secondly, we've lost a spiritual leader and we've lost a leader of the nation. what i fondly always remember about him is his laughter. he always says at that sense of humor that he brought to people and am just making

them feel comfortable. we though not on t v or in person, so he are so you will be sadly miss, i will always remember him for standing for the truth. because they were difficult times went by were che guests by the appetites government. and he would stand between us and the police of those days. they're all saying they're here to respect the man. they're here to say thank you to this man that they're here to appreciate the wake that he does throughout the day on friday, his board to will continue lying in state here. and on saturday, the remains of his ashes will be in ted, inside this catheter. and the head of european footballs governing body says that a proposal to hold the world cup every 2 years is a bad idea and ain't gonna happen alexander shaeffer and said a biennial world cup as proposed by thief. a president gianni infant tino would

conflict with the international sporting calendar that includes the women's world cup jeffrey has previously threatened to boycott any additional tournament. south american footballs governing body is also against the plan and you are watching dw news coming up next. we've got business with rob wattsey. i want to stay tuned for that. of course, you always get the latest from d, w dot com and follow us on twitter and instagram patchy w news. i'm william bluecross. we'll have more for you soon from berlin as always. thanks very much. you're so welcome to the dark side where intelligence agencies are pulling the strings. there was a before 911 and an after 911. he says after $911.00,

the clubs came off. were organized crime rules. were conglomerates make their own laws? work through us. it doesn't matter. the only criteria is well we'll hook people. we shed light on the opaque world who is behind the benefits. and why are they a threat to whistle? oh, peak world starts january 5th on d, w a ah, 20 years, all the euro as the euro is own marks 2 decades since it's radical, new common currency started filling up wallets who discussed whether it's been

a monetary model or financial flaw. yours 1st home grown battery facility has begun for adoption. we'll look at what sweden's new north folk giga factory means for the continent with energy for this is still soaring across the world. we'll look back on a year of power struggles, fossil fuel fight. this is due to be business on robots in berlin. welcome to the program, 19 countries, one currency, and now europe is marking 20 years of the euro. it's been a roller coaster couple of decades for the single currency. for some, the euro has been a stabilizing factor for the continent. others say it's just driven up prices as we wait to see what the future holds for the euro. as 1st, take a look at the past. a symbol of health and prosperity for all of europe. the 6 story high euro sculpture in front of the european central bank in frankfort

. it was germany's way of celebrating the introduction of the euro as legal tender. since then, europeans didn't have to exchange notes and coins when traveling within the eurozone. companies also profited as trade within the currency union sharply increased. on the eve of 2022 more than 340000000 people in 19 e. u countries used a common currency every day. at its introduction, one euro cost $1.00 u. s. dollar and 7 cents. since then it has gone up and up in 2008. it reached its old time high of almost one u. s. dollar and 60 cents just before the start of the global financial crisis. there was also the 1st real test for the euro, a single currency for economies as different as greece and germany, a recipe for disaster. the e, you had to agree on a 1000000000 euro rescue packages to save the weaker countries of southern europe

from financial collapse the crisis, but the euro under unprecedented pressure. speculators tried to caching on the failure of the common currency in 2012, the president of the e. c. b spoke words that would go down in history. the c, b is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro. and believe me, it will be enough to e. c. b was pushing the envelope and it worked for euro survive the financial crisis to day. a tough new test. the corona pandemic lock downs have placed a heavy burden on the national budgets of the euro countries. in 2020, they took on joint debt for the 1st time ever. critics of the euro saved is moved, makes financially weaker countries

a burden on those which stronger economies. many others, however, still see the euro is the best opportunity for the european union countries to grow even closer. well, to discuss further 20 years of the euro, let's speak to maria de maps. this is deputy director of the brussels economic think tank brew go. thanks a lot for joining us on doing business. great. have you on so 2 decades in can we say whether the euro has been a success or not? yes, of course, i think and the euro has been, there has been a big success actually. and way of thinking about this is imagine how countries small countries, but also be countries would have weathered the 2 big crisis that we've seen in the past 20 years. had they been alone? i think that's a very important thing to try and contemplate it with a thought experiment. and then you realize that the scale and the stability that the youth has brought to the continent, different degrees for different countries has actually managed to keep

a europe together. and actually whether the crisis was much less cost that it would have been otherwise. so yes, it is been, you know, try success as, as i'm concerned. but as he just mentioned, the impact of it has buried between countries. have there been winners and losers for the last 20 years? i think it's important, appreciate that not on country's joint or the euro into the you for the same reasons. i to the extent that one can have a distinction between the north and the south. and i'm very reluctant to make this type of comparisons because they're never really accurate. but let's say, let's say for the sake of conversation we, we divide the continent in this 2 blocks. the northern countries are more open countries, so they're the ones we're looking for a great markets. so they're real, the prime motivation for the northern part of europe to join the you is to expand their markets both domestically domestically being in europe. but so scale also internationally, globally. and of course, the year to provide amply, 2 countries of the north, kansas in the south and the other hand wanted stability. they wanted

a stable currency that is going to ensure that the consumer has got predictability in terms of pepsi pirate in their pockets. and they got that with the euro. so yet, to that extent, if use of think about the motivation why every country joined, the you and all of them had something to do to win from the adjustment to their to the euro hasn't been easy for all countries that i think is important. countries in the south founded a lot more difficult to adopt, simply because their economies are a lot more inflexible a but i think even countries in the south found the stability of the year to been an upright success. it survived 2 decades and they've got through various crises, but there is another one on the way as the, or is recovers from the pandemic. how well set is the euro to get through that. i think you'll see that a european architecture, which is absolutely essential for a good architecture. i mean, and for sustaining shocks or sustaining crisis has been going,

has been moving in the right direction. compare the reaction, how europe dealt with the financial crisis and of what speed. and to the reaction of the you in the current crisis, the pandemic crisis in 2020. and at what speed, you'll see that both of the unity of europe as well as the speed of reaction, have greatly improved. there is a thing as serialization, appreciation of the fact that a united europe can really weather the storm so much faster. there are we important discussions in 2022 when it comes to record textural issues. i'm thinking mostly of the fiscal path that can really help increase the resilience of the continent. and i think there is enough understanding that important steps for what need to happen . okay, maria demetrius from brewer. thank you very much for joining us. some date of your business next, it's been labor day milestone for europe. sweden's north volt has officially begun production at the continence 1st home growing battery cell production line. it's

good news for customers like volkswagen, volvo, and b, m, w, and the future plans. just 200 kilometers south of the arctic circle. this factory in which they all produced its 1st battery cell. this week, the location was chosen because it's near important sights of renewable energy production in northern sweden, including hydro electric power, intended to compete with the u. s. electric car giant, tesla and asian producers of lithium ion batteries. the site is expected to produce enough batteries to power $1000000.00 electric vehicles every year. north vault expects to make its 1st deliveries to commercial customers. in early 2022. the company has already secured $30000000000.00 worth of orders from european carmakers, including germany's b, m. w, and volkswagen and sweden's volvo with which it plants a 2nd european factory test lays due to launch its 1st factory in europe soon. and

asian rivals have significant operations in poland and hungary, but no european firm had opened a major facility until now. russian president vladimir putin is again turning up the pressure on german regulators to approve nord stream to is told a meeting of the government shown on russian stake tv. that the pipeline is now fully primed and ready to solve your, its national, at natural gas supply problems. and the network regulator that says it won't give the go ahead till no 2 nodes stream to, until it's satisfied the swiss based operating company is complying with german law . a was full approval, may not come until the 2nd half of 2022 is booty q cooker and you put what the rising tension. nathan node stream to comes at the end of an extraordinary year for the global energy sector. as chelsea delaney reports, nicole natural gas and crude oil in this year. these fossil

fuels have been in short supply, whatever you want to call it, a crisis, a crunch. shortage. what's been unfolding across global energy market this year is impacting all of our lives. in almost every corner of the world, the energy needed to heat our homes or fuel or cars or power. our businesses has become drastically more expensive. it takes a long time for the amount of switch away from fossil fuels in $981.00 oil gas and cool account for 84 percent of total energy demand. last year that was 284 percent . the 1st place where we really started to see energy shortages unfold this year was in china. china school supply couldn't keep up with the sharp bounce back in demand from its factory sector. by september, the government ordered some factories close untold coal mines to increase production with the coal shortage at home. china turn to international natural gas markets to help keep the lights on and factories running. that huge amount of

demand coming from china rippled across global energy markets, including to those here in europe, the competition between china and europe for elegy has been building for years. but this years energy shortage is led to an all out bidding war. and europe has been losing to asia when they get cold and they do market and then you know, europe. ready bit less, but then i mean, there's pipeline to play in no way i'll gear russia, they can supply as well. but that's where you have no problem. moment russia has been slow to send additional gas to the you this year despite the critical shortage of stocks. some analysts believe the limited deliveries are no quinn sentence and accused moscow of exploiting europe's energy weakness. why? inter nordstrom to the 9500000000 euro natural gas pipeline. russia recently completed constructing to germany. the russians have spent a fortune under put in developing an entire new natural gas province. what happens

in europe then, as part of its climate policy cuts back on natural gas consumption? indeed, many politicians do see climate policy, namely, a faster move towards renewables. as the solution, but building out that infrastructure could take years. so what about right now for now, government seemed to have decided the answer is more fossil fuels. china has doubled down on coal while here in the u. for many countries have pledged to give a call in the coming decade. idle plants are being put back on line. fossil fuel stole power our lives. and until that changes, fossil fuels and the countries that produce them will continue to determine how much it costs to keep the lights on. chelsea delaney reporting now 2021 has also been a year of ups and downs for the welds shipping lanes in the sea of japan. things

have taken another bizarre turn as well. dozens of cause have become caked in ice, up to half a meter thick on their way to the russian ports of blood voss doc. their japanese ship experience high winds, with temperatures of minus 19 celsius waves splashed over the cars, then froze, cracking, wind screens and causing all kinds of other damage in the process. muscle from the business steam here in berlin. if you want more from us, do have to our website need to we dot com slash business. you can also find master on the database, use youtube tunnel, and of course on facebook at d w dot business until next time to kat ah, she's known for his venus sandra, but a tele renaissance genius. but she also had

a dark sigh. for years he painted hel, justice masterfully in the seriously. as the poet dantes depiction thought, italy's inferno d w. ah, what people have to say matters to us. ah, that's why we listened to their stories. reporter every weekend on d w. this is d w. news asia coming up today is special look at china's growing power this year both at home and abroad.