and now i want to reach out to those woman back home for balance by their duties and potion, and inform them about dead basic rights. my name is de, about the home and i work with this is d w. news coming to live from berlin. people around the world a different time zones bring in the new year, among the 1st to welcome 2022 is new zealand, which east korean virus curbs. and time for the celebration. crowds and falkland

enjoyed a light show over the harbor, bridge and sky tower. also coming up, germany's new chancellor gives his 1st new year's address hold off. shots urges the public to stand together and get vaccinated and pleading dangerous fires. in the american state of colorado, tens of thousands are forced to evacuate as powerful winds and dry conditions. fuel the fast moving flames. ah! hello, i'm terry martin. thanks for joining us. new zealand is among the 1st countries in the world to kick off 2020 to this time with a light show extravaganza instead of fireworks. the city of often put on the spectacular vector light show at the famous harbor bridge, as well as other iconic landmarks whose illinois has had one of the best track

records in dealing with the pandemic with low death rates and high vaccine uptake. now, these revelers are looking to what they hope will be a bright future. in 2022. germany's new chancellor has recorded his 1st new year's address to the nation in comments due to be broadcast later today. all of shorts, schoultz urged all germans to stand together in the fight against coven 19. and to get back to unaided. other than tackling the pandemic german liter. so the biggest challenge for the upcoming year was to lay the foundations for germany's future development. i think once more changes that today, i am the one speaking to you on new year's eve. as your federal chancellor. things are different this year. after 16 years of new years addresses by angle america. germany's new head of government roasted a task for the 1st time. chancellor shall send out the challenges faced by the country in 2021. acknowledging the hardships that have been endeared,

such as these summer slots in western germany, and praising the resilience people have shown, especially during the pandemic monte replies day. some people complained that our society is divided. i'd like to take this opportunity to make it very clear that in fact the opposite is true. our country is standing together by what i see everywhere as tremendous, solidarity and incredible spurts of helping others. and people coming together and mutual support. in order to cab copied 19 infections of shots appeared once again to people to get vaccinated. isn't that the we know that those who are not yet vaccinated are at particular risk of becoming infected and suffering from long and severe illness. for this reason, i would like to urge you once more to get vaccinated for the new government fascination efforts have already heed their 1st milestone with 13000000 vaccines

administered since the end of november. and further, $13000000.00 doses planned by the end of january allow shield so, so took the opportunity to emphasize to coalitions goes on climates and mr. ma, within 25 years, we want germany to become climate neutral. into achieve this, we will move forward with the greatest transformation our economy is seen in more than a century. in this period we will achieve independence from coal, oil and gas. and he reminded listeners of one of his social democratic party's key election thomas's and the pay is also a matter of respect. that's why in 2022 will be taking a major step in increasing the legal minimum wage to 12 years per hour. shelter. 5 new year's address sown with optimism. it was a declaration of good faith, but he also called on people who played a part in forming the future. 15 at the beginning of the new decade, a new era as dawning lawyer, an era that will be successful if we actively shape it is because we can make

a difference if we remain determined and take our fight into our own hands than the name spring in our chief political editor, mikella crooked here, mikaela. tell us why this annual address matters for the new chancellor. well, 1st of all, it is 1st address mocking the beginning of the new era, the post max era. and it's the only scheduled direct address to the people of any german chancellor. i'm going to mca deposits from that once when she addressed people directly here in germany over the call at 900 pandemic right at the beginning and left. so many felt missed an opportunity by not doing that just after or in the midst of the transition to the new governments. so this is a direct address to ordinary germans and he, clearly he's calling on people not to let themselves be divided. now we saw a couple of out takes from the, from the speech just a moment ago in our,

in our package. but you've seen the whole thing. are there any surprises in the speech mikaela? did we learn anything new about chancellor shelves as priorities or no huge surprises. but what i think is notable is that not only the spend less to studs on just cobit 19 and the internal challenges, but he calls on people not to let the nation be divided at the same time we've heard from the president of german parliament batted bossy from his own s p, the party who calls on people to bridge those divisions. now this is more than just semantics. katie, there seems to be a strategy of the incoming government to call on that unity. and to simply not address those divisions that are clearly tangible and that too much to avoid them from becoming ever deeper. and the only concrete policy change we've really heard from all that. so it is that he is determined to see the german minimum wage rise

within the coming year to 12 euros is just over 9 years at this very moment in time . so it's very much nitty gritty domestic stuff with just pretty much the bottom 3rd of the speech really reserved for international issues, which he clearly also sees as important as he wants to see on that agenda. wanted to ask you about foreign policy in the speech. was there any mention of china or the tensions with russia on europe's eastern plank? it's getting a lot of attention lately. well, that was mentioned particularly of the conflict with ukraine, but he didn't address it directly. and this is very much all actual is the social democrat s p d party. his policy is traditionally one could say more understanding of russia than the conservatives were. and when it comes to concrete issues, he says that violations of orders are not acceptable. he stresses the close trans

atlantic ties. but he disney doesn't go into what that will translate into when it comes to concrete policy night like the know stream to pipeline. so criticize both by the united states and the u, that direct link between germany and russia and on china, we are still to learn where this new sold government will stand both on a boy course of officials like the united states over those paging olympics. but also on the question whether germany would also refuse to import goods that are produced in tiny regions, whether we're minority is suppressed and in camps. so he's still owed some concrete policy answers. at the same time, you sending a clear message that germany, europe is in for drastic change 1st and foremost of climate neutrality. mckayla. thank you very much. archie political editor mckenna, kutner,

and you can watch the new year's address by the german chancellor in its entirety at 7 pm central european time. here on d, w. l, catch up on some other stories, making news around the world. stage 3 nuclear power plants go off the grid in germany today. the last 3 remaining stations will be switched off at the same time . next year. nuclear phase out started under chancellor. i'm going to michael after the nuclear accident in fukushima and is said to finish by the end of 2022. people in south africa are streaming into cape towns cathedral for a 2nd day to pay their respects to. archbishop desmond to 2 anglican clerics carried his coffin into saint george's cathedral, where the former nobel peace prize laureate once railed against a party white rule. $22.00, died last sunday at the age of 90. tens of thousands of residents in the us state of colorado have been forced to evacuate due to so quickly spreading

wildfires. the flames swept through residential areas near the city of denver, burning hundreds of homes, a comp, uh shopping home, flex and a hotel authority. say these are the worst fires, the state has ever seen. ah, fake smite fills the air outside as the fire approaches. at this diner in superior town, just outside denver, colorado panicked families tried to get out with strong winds of finding the fire, dine as rushed to that cause, hoping to out race the fast moving blaze. gusts of a 100110 miles an hour can and have moved this fire down a football field in a matter of seconds. very little time to get out very little time to even get the

most important parts of your life. and yes, it will be a difficult process for colorado families who are due for direct affected to rebuild their lives. before the fire consumed nearly 600 homes, tens of thousands of residents in 2 towns near denver were evacuated. officials believe power lines down by strong winds could have caused the initial sparks and grasslands dried by an extreme drought offered the conditions for the wild fires to grow out of control. testing. even the most seasoned emergency crews, we've actually had no debris, sheriffs and firefighters in areas that had to pull out cuz we just got over run. so there was a lot of briefs of corner today. as the fi is continue into the night, the weather service is full, costing

a much needed snow full later on friday snow that residents will be hoping can help dampen these flames. well looking back at the year that is just about and the sporting year was again severely impacted by the pandemic. but some big events postpone from the previous year did take place these included the men's european football championship. and the tokyo olympics, gymnast simona biles again stole the show in japan, but for very different reasons. 2020 one's 1st big sporting event was the australian open tennis tournament, novak jock of each one. the 1st of 3 grand slam titles for the year naomi osaka took the women's title, but she skipped much of the rest of the season to prioritize her mental health. the 1st of several sports stars to raise the issue during the year. the tournament itself was delayed 3 weeks due to corona,

various concerns. while tough quarantine rules hit some players and spectator numbers were limited. another common theme for 2021 organizers of footballs. men's european championship tried hard to allow as many supporters as possible despite the delayed tournament spread across the continent. germany, france shall dare support for l g. b t q writes, when they played hungary, but the team and long serving coach yrc him nerve bowed out after losing to england, who then lost the final to deserving. when is italy on penalties? for most though, the euros will be remembered for denmark, midfield, a christian, erickson's cardiac, a rest during a game. and his subsequent recovery argentina, greatly anal, messy was the other big football story of the year. he finally won a major international title by lifting the copper america, but also stunned fans by tearfully leaving his beloved barcelona for paris. sancho,

ma'am, the tokyo olympics took place a year later than scheduled, despite strong opposition to the games in japan. due to the pandemic. norwegian carson vall, hm sensational world record in the 400 meters hurdles was a sporting highlight amid empty stands. but gymnastics darcy, mom biles hit the headlines despite only earning a bronze and silver. she withdrew from several events, citing mental health struggles, prompting widespread praise, including from olympics chief thomas back. i'm are really admiring how she is handling the situation. letter on the, on the, on her. so she admits to have this problem. this is already courageous. and then pick him paralympic officials, which is glad to get through the games without major cove. it outbreaks among competitors max the step and was crowned formula one champion after a filling season dominated by untracked controversy. including his final victory.

the year came to a close. if fears for the well being of tennis by a pong sky, after she appeared to accuse a former chinese vice premier of sexual assault only to retract the allegation 2021 has been another challenging year for sport. 2022 is expected to be no different. you're watching dw news from berlin coming up next. we've got business news for you . of course you can always get all the latest news and information any time you want on our website. that's the w dot com. i'm terry martin for me in all of us here at the w. thanks for watching every day.