i with or starts december 23rd on t w o a. this is d w. news live from berlin, free after months in a russian prison. brittany griner is finally on her way home. the u. s. basketball star is handed over in a prisoner swapped in exchange for a notorious russian arms dealer. also coming on international outrage and calls

for iran to face more sanctions after the religious regime executes a 23 year old man for taking part an anti government protest rights groups worn more hangings are imminent and the world cup in katara resumes with the quarter finals could this be massey's final match with argentina? the south american reigning champion take on the netherlands and favorites, brazil faced croatia. ah, i'm sorry, kelly. welcome to the program. a sports star for an armed steeler us basketball player brittany griner is due to land back on us soil in the coming hours after being released from a russian penal connolly as part of a high stakes prisoner swap. she was arrested in moscow in february and sentenced to 9 years in prison, undrugged charges. in exchange for her release,

the u. s. has handed over a russian arms dealer, accused of supplying al qaeda and the taliban. among others. a prisoner swapped on the tarmac up without the apple. it was hill, but captivity ended for us basketball star, brittany grinnell seen her on the left and the russian army dealer weak to boot on the right. you as president joe biden spoke to griner shortly after her release. i'm glad to be able to say the brittany's in good spirits. she, she's relieved to finally be heading home. and the fact remains that she's lost months of her life experienced the needless trauma. she deserves space privacy in time with their loved ones to recover and heal from her time being wrong through detained dryness. wife sharell, tanked those involved and bringing brittany home over the last 9 months. you all

have been. i'm so privy to one of the darkest moments of my life. and so today i'm just standing here. i'm overwhelmed with the emotions, but the most important emotion that i have right now is just sincere gratitude. while griner was still on her way to the u. s. boat was already being welcomed by his family in moscow. he had been in the u. s. jail since 2012. solving a 25 year sentence for arms trafficking thing. and i mean, it greno was arrested at moscow airport in february and sentence to 9 years for the possession of cannabis by a russian court. these emergence published by the russian government shall ha, being released from the penal colony. she was held in and put on a plane to abu dhabi once inside. she was asked about her well being with well, i wrote a poem and with that her long ordeal is finally over.

and for more on this, let's bring in our correspondent and russia. analysts konstantin edgar, his joining us from vilios in lithuania, so a sports, sports star here being traded for an arms dealer. how is this being seen? well, it depends on where you're looking from. i'm in the u. s. it's clearly seen as, ah, the kind of american gum and saving an innocent american citizen. and in russia, i think the return of victor boots will be not very much noticed by the why the public, unless put on really wants to publicize it. and that's a possibility, but to to them he's on to rog, would definitely fighting him for him for 14 years. and this is going to be noticed by people at the top. and i think that questions remain white glove the crumb. and so adamant is trying to, in trying to pull out victor boot, who is a,

an accused and basically recognized merchant of death as they call him. someone really fueling regional conflicts and the go sparring to kill american citizens. as the court said, why? the russian government felt such a compulsion to get him out of jail. his connections, i'm sure, will eventually be investigated. and that's going to be a very interesting story. and can we read anything into the strategy here from moscow? especially, you know, with the invasion of ukraine billing as well. well, 1st of all, is going to present putin in a positive light full for the 1st time in quite a few months. let's put it like that in the eyes of the russian ruling class. so he is saving one of their own. secondly, what i think is interesting is that there are other people is specially 0 one, mr. classical, who is now serving a life sentence in germany for killing air, for my church and warlords in the middle of berlin in 2019 as far as we understand

what the criminal was trying to include this man in the swope but germany refused. so alas, my suspicion is that german citizens, travelling in living in travelling to russia, have to be very, very cautious because putin is in the habit of taking hostages and exchanging them for his people. bring us a bit more into the us in the western perspective here because there are other prisoners being held in russia dubious charges. what are their chances of release based upon what we've learned with how these cases have been handled? well, yes, definitely. there is another case of a former us marine and a citizen of the u. s. canada, ireland, and britain poll whelan, who is serving a 16 year sentence for allegedly will enforce be on that. he denies that he was engaged in this be a mark. again, as far as we understand the, a he,

his fate was discussed during negotiations about growing up bots actually couldn't refuse to let him go. so definitely will be watching all the cases. and i would say one thing, we've seen a several rush intelligence assets where people accused of being rush intelligence assets, arrested different western countries in the last few months. they may become a kind of parts of these new swaps, but definitely pull whelan is next on the list to be exchanged. konstantin eggers and them. yes, thank you. thank. let's take a look at some other stories making news around the world. chinese president, she's in pain, has met with saudi crown prince. muhammad been thought, man, it is, she's 1st visit to saudi arabia in 6 years. and only his 3rd overseas trip since the coven pandemic began. he will meet other regional leaders for a china arab summit. later today, boom shop. a fire that broke out at

a shopping mall near moscow has claimed at least one life and engulfed the entire building. initial reports say that the fire broke out at 6 am local time. the cause of the blaze is being investigated. truckers in south korea have ended their 16 day strike. they were demanding an increase in minimum wage in the wake of increased fuel prices. the government refused to meet their demands and used a 2004 law to order drivers back to work. the truckers union says it will continue its campaign. supporters of peruse, ousted president pedro castillo, have clashed with police backers of the left wing populist are demanding his release and the suspension of parliament. a peruvian court ordered his detention on thursday after congress voted to impeach him. j u. s. congress has approved a bill ducting same sex marriages, president joe biden has expected, well been expected to sign it into law quickly. the draft legislation passed in the

senate last week. after months of negotiation, lawmakers were concerned that the supreme court could reverse its 2015 decision to legalize same sex marriages. the german foreign ministry summoned the iranian ambassador after news that a ron carried out its 1st known execution of a protest. her since antique government demonstrations began in september, most in chicago re, was hanged on thursday. and activists warned that at least a dozen other iranians faced the same fate for their involvement in demonstrations . behind the walls of the notorious evian prison most and shaker re, was hanged on thursday. the death sentence against the 23 rolled, was only handed down in november and has now been very quickly carried out. war to live. as a ryan's judiciary accused shake harry of injuring a militia member during the protests. human rights groups condemned the proceedings

as a false tract show trial. lacking an independent defense intended to scare off other practices by hamburrow hit on thursday morning, brought costs as close to the iranian regime. shed this video on social media. it was supposed to prove shikari is guilt, accompanied by dramatic music and the use of computer generated scenes of violence . the regime staged a dubious admission of guilt also observe, as believed that the confession was extracted under torture and duress, iranian turkish political scientists, the reef gaskin says that systematic in iran, you minutia since the foundation of the islamic republic in 1979. the regime is repeatedly imprisoned, opponents tortured them and put them in front of cameras, the truck, and now they're doing that with the demonstrators. if we, they want to show them as fearful and weak people guiding normally. as people who break when they're put under enough pressure, a own little core cock. only

a few days ago, a regime propaganda channeled published a video with the famous rappa too much to lay. he was who also faces the death penalty. in the video, extracts from one of his music videos were cut together with an interrogation. in its delay, he apologizes for inciting people to protest. when on you already skin believes the regime propaganda strategy is having the opposite of his intended effect to lay he and others. now heroes to many goosgo fearful people see these stage confessions law really as a sign of the weakness of this regime was trying to prevent its downfall a regime that is increasingly under pressure. because the resistance in a rollin shows no signs of going away ah, took a tar now and the world cup where action presumes today with 8 teams vying to make

their nations proud in the quarter finals. there are some interesting match ups including argentina, meeting the netherlands. it'll be a repeat of the 1978 world cup final which argentina one, south american side are considered favorites. so for the europeans, and with the possibility of it being messes, final game for his country, anticipation has been building in our database. 4th, correspondent, mark meadows as an katara. and here's what he had to say earlier about the netherlands, argentina match, and how the locals love for leona massey really shows. yes, it does. they're absolutely messy mad here in qatar. let's be honest, there aren't that many dutch fans here. there are a few argentinians were playing beach football with them yesterday, but the vast majority of fans in the loose sales stadium tonight will be category, although be migrant workers who live there. although be from the wider gulf region,

and they all love messy. and the all of superstars. i was at the portugal switzerland game a few days ago. all they wanted to see was christiane, a rinaldo. but he was on the bench. they even started brewing the pope to go coach because he wasn't bringing him on his side as winning for one. so they, there will be such a focus on messy to night, and that might be a big advantage to argentina. but let's not forget the dutch are a big side. they are probably the biggest football team never to win the world corp . having been runners up 3 times, including that 1978 final and football fans will also remember a classic between the sides in the quarter finals in 1998. when dennis both come, when it for the dutch we've one of the great wilcock goals will be hoping for similar drama later on tonight. and that was mark matters and guitar. japanese billionaire, you cut to mid sour has announced that he will take the k pop star top on a trip around the moon on a space ex spaceship. next year. the 35 year old tom is

a member of one of the world's most famous boy bounce. he's one of the 8 people that met our selected for his dear moon project. the japanese tycoon launched his lunar voyage plans in 2018 and bought all the seats on the spacious. last year he and his producer became a 1st self pang taurus to visit the international space station since 2009. their 2nd, remember, coming up are for quite africa as they were a quick reminder top stories that we're following for you here and dw news, us basketball player. brittany greiner is due to land back on us soil. him coming hours. the united states secured her release as part of a prisoner swap, the u. s. handed over russian arm sealer victor bout in exchange. and don't forget, you can always get d w news on the go. just download our app from google play or on the apple app store that will give you access to all of the latest news as well as push notifications for breaking news. you can also watch this program and live stream

is this news if i call chris cobra, is after a very short break to stay with us if he can for that. i'm sorry. kelly and berlin and for watching. take care. ah. people in trucks injured when trying to free the city center more and more refugees are being turned away at the border families playing phone tags in syria to these critical illness with.