300000000 people are seeking with the why? because no one should have to flee. make up your own mind. d. w. made for mines. ah ah ah, this is dw news live from berlin, people around the world, a ring in the new year to buy welcomed 2022 with an impressive laser light. and drone showed that many festivities in many places uh,

being scaled back this year amid rising, covet 19 cases. also coming up, germany's new chancellor gives his 1st new year's addressed left shots urges the public to stand together to get back the knife and to run a bar infection search to new hires in the united states. they are growing concerned that the latest wave will overwhelm hospitals and disrupt other key infrastructure. we'll hear from an expert. ah, i'm at anyhow. welcome to the show. people around the world are mocking the new year with celebrations to bring in 2020 to thailand's capital bangkok lit up the skies with fireworks made from traditional ty, sticky rice on comb, welcomed in the new year with a fireworks display at victoria harbor, accompanied by the music from the cities philharmonic orchestra earlier. oakland in

new zealand opted for a la cha projected on 2 city landmarks. while across the ditch, across the tasman in australia. spectacular fireworks lit up the sky over sydney harbour bridge celebrations. they went ahead this year despite soaring karone of ours numbers or germany as gearing up for celebrations to and d, w correspondence. emma chas is at berlin's brandenburg gate force him up. i can say a little of what it's like, but i guess this year it's not going to be quite the usual celebrations. exactly. answer the answer the 2nd year in a row here in front of their behind the bull guitar, which you might see here behind me. so you know, it's so fast, steve, you can hear the music at the concert going on the concert that is being broadcasted here in germany. but you can also see that it's empty. people are not here. people have been asked to stay home. these are avenue,

he has been cordoned off. so this is really a reminder about this stage in which are countries at the moment because of their pandemic. there is a party. yes, we are going to have a decent party, had the possible good gates, but with no public, no audience, but people watching it from the television. unfortunately, emma were saying good bye and perhaps good riddance to 2021. what's in store in germany for 20? 22. well, it's sir, it's been a very, a very eventful 2021. first. there was a huge political turnover with a chancellor angle america who after 16 years in power passed on this power to all i've showed some massive change for germany and no time for the new government for the new chancellor. all are sure to implement the measures he had promised a doing his campaign at germany will also or become but we also lead to g 7

group. there is 7 big economies in the world, g 7. this will be a huge thing for germany next year. and of course, the biggest challenge for the country will 1st and foremost, to go to it will be to go through the said new wave of infections or covey. 19 infections due to the army chron, variants are here in germany, or officials, or bracing themselves for sorry numbers come january. a 1st, my stern hath been reached by the government of olaf shouts. when he promised the end of november, the 13 1000000 jobs would be administered by the end of this year. he succeeded. his government succeeded albert's officials, though so fear data meets this, the soaring number of infections. well, oh, so a health care personnel could be affected. meaning that less people would be available to, to work in hospitals or so in public services. so really, germany is bracing themselves at bracing itself to face this new wave of infections

. but it does so hopefully this won't last the entire year, but a tough winter ahead or i'm afraid. yeah, fingers crossed images stay warm, stay dry and enjoy festivities of the brandenburg guy. well, the new german chancellor has given his 1st new year's address to the nation, although schultz urged all germans to stand together in the fight against covey 19 and to get vaccinated. besides tackling the pandemic, the german later said the biggest challenge for the upcoming year was to lay the foundations for germany's future development. i think one small changes that today i am the one speaking to you on new year's eve as your federal chancellor. the things that defend this year, after 16 years of new year's addresses by angle america, germany's new head of government who hosted a task for the 1st time chancellor shall send out the challenges faced by the country in 2021. acknowledging the hardships that have been endued,

such as the same as flirts in western germany and facing the resilience. people have shown, especially doing the pandemic. whenever glaze de, 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 spurt 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. there 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. the new government's vaccination efforts have already hit their 1st milestone with 30000000 vaccines

administered since the end of november and further 30000000 doses planned by the end of january. allah shall. so. so t oppertunity to emphasize to coalitions goes on climates in it, 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 policies. and recent 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 shelters. first new year's address soon with optimism. it was a declaration of good faith that he also called on people to play the part in forming the teacher. 50 numbered at the beginning of a new decade, a new era as dawning lawyer, an error that will be successful if we actively shepherd. because we can make

a difference if we remain determined and take our fight and to our own hands. zips than deanton him. and he can watch the full address from the german chancellor on our youtube channel and also at our website to be found at d. w dot com. all right, let's get you off the screen now on some of the other stories making news around the world. now, and germany has shut down 3 of its 6 remaining nuclear power plants on the final day of 2021. last 3 stations will be switched off one year from now. germany began facing out nuclear energy under angola, merkel after the reactor accident and fukushima ross has condemned a satellite rocket launched by iran saying it is in breach of un security council resolutions. power says it was especially regrettable because will power seeking to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal with iraq? the mission, i'm to put 3 research devices in the space, although tehran says they failed to get into orbit a person is confirmed

did, and 3 others are missing. after a powerful gas explosion in northern belgium, the blast in the town of turn hooked, destroyed part of a residential building there. one person is recovering from the injuries in hospital or francis recorded over 230000 new corona vars cases on years eve. it's the 4th consecutive day. the country has broken the european record for infections in his new years. address french president, her manual mcclung warned that difficult wakes. why ahead did it? and he urged people to comply with the government's measures to curb the spread of coven. 19 employers have now been ordered to let staff work from home and wearing a mask outdoors in paris is again compulsory. will health experts in the u. s. a warning of what they call and on the kron blizzard. they've told americans to prepare for severe disruptions in coming weeks. the rising wave

of coven 19 laid by the on the chrome variant is threatening to overwhelm hospital schools and other key infrastructure. reco numbers of children have been hospitalized and authorities are preparing to authorize booster shots for 12 to 15 year olds next week, or more on this on joint by side, oma, who's the director of the yale institute for global health in new haven. professor, thanks for talking to us and american epidemiologist as warning of a viral blizzard in the us in the coming weeks. do you say that way? yes, it's more like a flash flood that we are expecting in the sense that it is likely to have a we are likely to have a further increase in the number of cases, but hopefully based on the pattern from other countries, this um deluge will be short lived in the sense that it will not last 4 months and months. the question is whether and where it overwhelmed the health system of that

is a very concerning situation. but my estimate is that it will be reasonably diverse in terms of where it's an argument over the health system. we talk endlessly and understandably about the problems associated with the pandemic. the spread of the bars, the dangers. but what about a solution? what can be done to stop coded ruining another year? i think that's a really good question. so just to remind everyone, this is not december 2020 we are. we have tools at our disposal around the world. we have highly effective vaccines, especially against severe disease. we have a pretty substantial supply of high quality mass. we have understood more about the modes of transmission of the virus and we know that a good ventilation and good filtration helps. so it is the deployment of those

tools that will ensure a sustainable control of this virus in the coming months and years. a talk about that, the tools, i guess we want to talk more about how we're using them. now you've been an advocate of global vaccine equity. it seems now that the wealthy countries are pushing their populations to get a 3rd shot, while many people in poor countries are still waiting for their fist winning stand on this. now, as you alluded to that i had been talking about vaccine equity even before the vaccine was available because, you know, some of us have worked in global health for a while. but here's the thing. my perspective is that doesn't have to be a 0 sum game. my perspective is that, of course, if you have a population that is vulnerable, do whatever you need to do a to protect them. however, the problem is not that wonderful people in certain countries are getting a 3rd dose based on the data. the problem is that we haven't increased the size of the pie. we haven't increased the,

the actual deliveries against the announcements that have been made for, for donations, for example, the theme europe, which as you bless a couple of countries, had announced half a $1000000000.00 up in various stages. and only a quarter of them approximately have actually been delivered. so press release is don't save lives, actual vaccine save lives. so the idea is not to say that, you know, you don't follow evidence at home. the idea is to increase the size of the pie through actual delivered vaccines through technology transfer and so on and so forth. deliveries to match the promises and just on another matter, it's just about 2 years since china reported that 1st cluster of cases in whoo, hon. what do you see in the here head? well, i see that we are not helpless bystanders. but to say that we have a lot of power to change the course of the,

of the pandemic. but that would require leadership, but it will also require the recognition from the population upon the populations. because, you know, we are a heterogeneous, a world that we can either muddle through this for you. yours to come, or we can bite the bullet and control this pandemic aggressively through the tools that are available and then get on with our lives. and so i think of deployment of tools doesn't only benefit us in terms of public health, but it also benefits us in terms of getting back to the normal, increasingly wonderful to get your insights. profess assad, oma from the al institute for global health in new haven. connecticut, thanks so much. my pleasure. some sad news from the entertainment. well before we go, american comedy. actress betty, what has died at the age of 99. i television curious benson 70 years, but she was best known for her any award winning rolls in the tv seat. come the

golden girls where she played the loopy but lovable rose and the man crazy tv hostess on the mary tyler moore show. she remained in the public eye until her death. she passed away less than 3 weeks before her 100th with and that is all for now daniel winter is up next with dw business news that's coming up after short break. stay with us for that. and you can start to date on our website at any time to be found a d, w dot com on social media. the handle you need is at d. w. news. i'm anthony. how'd in berlin? thanks for your company. and we're, if you're watching have a happy need ah, internet knows all.