ah ah ah ah, ah, this is d w. news live from berlin free after months in a russian prison. britney griner is back in the united states. the plane carrying us basketball star touch down moments ago after she was handed over in a prisoner swamp. in exchange for a notorious russian arms dealer,

also coming up international outrage and calls for iran to face more sections after the religious regime executes a 23 year old man for taking part an anti government protest rights groups warrant more hangings are eminent and opening a new era of china's relations with the arab world, chinese president, she's been paying isn't saudi arabia the 1st time in 6 years? ah, i'm sarah kelly. welcome to the program. a sports star for an arm stealer, us basketball player. brittany grider is back on us soil after being released from a russian penal calling. these pictures were taken just moments ago. a u. s. government claim touching down in san antonio, texas. in exchange for her release, the u. s. has handed over a russian arm sealer accused of supplying al qaeda and the taliban. among others.

a prisoner swap on the tarmac up without the effort. it was hill but captivity ended for us basketball star, britney grinnell senior on the left and the russian arms 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 the tank. dryness, wife sherylin, tanked those involved and bringing brittany home. so over the last 9 months, you all have been. i'm so privy to one of the darkest moments of my life. and so to

day i'm just standing here. i am overwhelmed with 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'm here because it greiner 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 have been released from the penal colony. she was held in and put on a plane to abu dhabi once inside. she was asked about a well being woodfield. well, i really who, why and with that her long ordeal is finally over.

let's get more or less. we're joined here in the city of id. davi is class harrington and chris. we just saw those pictures of greiner arriving in the united states. finally, 1st and foremost, tell us a little bit more about her and her career. well in terms of the world of basketball, she's a 2 time gold medalist olympian. she's a superstar in the w n. b a. she's been a superstar for about a decade. she's also won the title in the w n. b a. there's to women's national basketball association and she was actually one of those players that was so competitive and dominant. she would actually t as in tom n b a players and say hey, i could beat you one on one level, things like this. so she, she was a very big figure, you know, in the sport of women's basketball. so obviously this is good news for many. yeah. but you know, if you just look at the optics of it here, you have the sports star being traded for this convicted arms dealer. was this really a good deal for joe biden? is it, is it being seen as such? the politics?

i think more than anything you have to consider this an emotional victory. ok. you have to focus on the feelings and kind of put the facts on the side. because, you know, when you look at the arms dealer convicted arms dealer and you compare that to a w n b a superstar. the trade seems a bit imbalanced. but it was grider or no one you know, buying pretty much echoed that gentleman said that, you know, he's working on trying to get paul back. paul wayland was detained in 2018 is a former us marine. and the idea was he's also being right. and the idea was it'll be a 2 for one deal in russia, you know, said otherwise you know, in bite and basically got what he could with. he could get it in terms of bringing grider home and trading victor boot, you know, in that swap. but all in all, i think this does leave somewhat of a split, you know, in the united states because politically with what's coming up sooner. i think this causes more division than anything, rushes up claiming that this is

a big success. how are people in the last reacting well, there's been how poor of emotional support, former president, brock o'bonham, was quick to support. bided administration saying, you know, congratulate him on all of the hard work it took to get done. her former basketball coach called it the best christmas ever fans of her, you know, broke down in tears. you know, so the emotional support was there, you know, just happy to see brittany griner back, but one american football player did say, wait a minute, they left marine behind. heck, no, you know, he did, there was this, this may you know about that in just to add to to paul whalen, the u. s. marine still detained. his brother reached out as well. it was happy that brittany greiner came back. he said, it's happy it's, i'm an american, comes back from russia and is safe. but now unfortunately, the us doesn't seem to have a piece. they can trade for paul wayland to secure his return. so it looks like he'll have to serve out his sentence, i believe, year 16 more years of hard labor in that penal colony in russia. so, you know,

i think it will be a merry christmas for all of those who love brittany griner in they'll champion and support this outcome. but the reality is there still an american being held in russia. chris harrington from date of the sports and a little bit more reaction and insight on who brittany crime has and how her release is being received. thank you so much. thank you. ellie, are we asked, our correspondent and russia analyst konstantin eggers. how this flop is being seen in russia? well, it depends on where are you 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 putting really wants to publicize it. that's a possibility. but putting them, he's on to rog would definitely fighting him for him for 14 years. and it is going

to be noticed by people at the top. and i think that questions remain white glove the crumb and will so adamant is trying to in trying to pull out of an accused and basically recognize merchant of death as they call him, of someone really fueling regional conflicts and think of sparring to kill american citizens. as the court said, why, the russian government felt such a compulsion to get him out of jail. he's 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 kindly. what i think is interesting is that there are

other people is specially ah, one mr. classical, who is now serving a life sentence in germany for killing air, for merchant warlord 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 and travelling to russia have to be very, very cautious because putting 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 us canada orland and british and poll. we one who is serving

a 16 year sentence fool allegedly will enforce be america denies that he was engaged in spieler again as far as we understand of the oh he his fate was discussed during negotiations about greiner bots actually uprooted, refuse to let him go. so definitely will be war train for all the cases. and i would say one thing we've seen are several rush intelligence assets, when people accused of being gross intelligence, as says, arrested different western countries. in the last few months, they may become a cut of parts of these new swaps. but definitely poll whelan is next on the list to be extract constantine, eggs, and belly s. thank you. and here are some other stories making. there's a fire that broke out at a shopping mall near moscow has claimed at least one life. and in go to the entire building,

initial report 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 hats clashed with police. backers of the left wing populace star demanding his release on the suspension of parliament. a peruvian court ordered his detention on thursday after congress to impeach him. 58, the u. s. congress has approved a pell protecting same sex marriage as president joe biden is expected to sign it into law. quickly. the draft legislation passed 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 has summoned the iranian ambassador after news that iran carried out its 1st known execution of a protest. her since anti government demonstrations began in september. most in shikari was hanged on thursday, and activists warned that at least a dozen other iranians faced the same fate for their involvement in semen. sanctions behind the walls of the notorious evian prison most in shaker. he 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 up as a rhymes. judiciary accused shaker re of injuring a militia member during the protests. human rights groups condemned the proceedings as a fast track show trial. lacking an independent defense intended to scare off other processes by hamburrow here on thursday morning broadcast. as close to the

iranian regime shed this video on social media. it was supposed to prove she carries guilt, accompanied by dramatic music from and the use of computer generated scenes of violence. the regime staged a dubious admission of guilt. observe, is believed that the confession was extracted under torture and your s iranian turkish political scientists. the reef gaskin says that systematic in iran, you know, minucci excell since the foundation of the islamic republic in 1979. the regime is repeatedly imprisoned. opponents tortured them and put them in front of cameras. and now they're doing that with the demonstrators. if they want to show them as fearful and weak people are normal as people who break when they're put under enough pressure on little core cock. only a few days ago, a regime propaganda channeled published a video with the famous rappa too much so 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 your artist gaskin believes the regime propaganda strategy is having the opposite of his intended effect to lay he and others. now heroes to many we bruce, good 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. and as i mentioned earlier, the german government has condemned the execution of the iranian protest her and summoned to ron's ambassador to discuss it. i want to talk more about that with gaeta jensen, who is joining us. she is a member of the chairman parliament for the business friendly f t p party,

which is a coalition partner. and the current government are welcome to the program and thank you so much for joining us is summoning a ron's ambassador, a strong enough signal. it's definitely one signal that was not much needed. so i think that was one of the right decision. that's not the book at all for a minister made. i think we can do more. i think that also the majority of the will of us in parliament think that we can do more, but the more can take in germany. what would that be such as, i'm sorry, i think connection is has a little slip there. so what we can do, definitely, and our foreign ministers already working on further attention. she is discussing what can be done to widen the miss key regime that is up and running in the

western democracies, which includes asset for you to switch includes that those who are responsible for torturing demonstrators in iran who are imprisoning them, who murdering them, cannot, cannot pray on the democracy and, and the free wealth and just make their way through our democracies. and i think that is something we should we should be talking and working on. and then the other thing is talking about issuing a statement that this regime is the carol organization and i think that's something we should should be working on and the upcoming days and weeks. so let's press that into 2 pieces. and i just want to ask you 1st about the sanctions because despite, for example, the current sanctions, germany is a ron's largest european trading partner. is that reasonable to do business with the country that terrorizes its own people,

incense drones to russia for its worn ukraine? now it's not and that's why we need to widen the sanctions. i think we can start by those specific sanctions that i was just talking about. assets freezes, forbidding them to enter democracies and european countries, for example. but sanctions need to also be widened on, on an economic level. definitely. so completely cutting economic ties with around i think are completely cutting of ties. is always, well, it would be the cutthroat decision. but i think if that should be, and i think that's the way it should move forward. if we take steps, reducing these economic ties, that would be a way forward. and our government is currently walk working on that in, in cooperation with european partners in corporation with trans atlantic partners.

because i think the sanctions are most effective if it's not only including german sanctions, but rather democratic sent sanctions in the world. so that's the way that we will move forward. okay, and i'd like to just quickly address. the other thing that you mentioned as well because more than 3 years ago in 2019 the u. s. government designated runs revolutionary guards as a terrorist organization. you say that germany and presumably also that the you should move to do so now, what do you make of, of the fact that that has not happened yet? i think that the german government for the past 3 years or 5 years in that last legislative term, that is my fear of expertise. i would say the last government has not been looking with a realistic guy to walk around and what was happening there. but these

demonstrations that we're witnessing now, the courage that people bring to the streets, even though they, they, they might be imprisoned by, by these actions just demanding freedom. this is a new level of the situation and the brutality and iran. so i think it, this decision is over and i think our current government will move forward with a realistic i that the former government in germany didn't have german lawmaker get against. and joining us with that perspective, thank you so much. thank you. and now let's turn to some other news. chinese president she is in pay, has met with saudi crown prince mohammed, ben saw man in riyadh on a pioneering trip to open a new era of china's relations with the arab world. and she is on words the visit

if she is in 1st. ringback the kingdom in 6 years, the 2 countries affirmed their ties. we find a series of strategic fields including one with tech giant hallway. the chinese leader is expected to meet more gulf oil producers later. the last cause we're not to william hearst. he is a professor of chinese politics at the university of cambridge, welcome to the program, and thank you for joining us. the partnership between saudi arabia and china, tell us, how significant is this relationship and this meeting that is happening right now? well, i think it's significant for 3 reasons. the 1st is that your saudi arabia is china's largest supplier for petroleum and petroleum products, at least as of right now. and china is actually saudi arabia's largest trading partner across the board. so there is an existing trade relationship that is extremely important to both sides and they'll both be looking to cement and augment that relationship with this visit. the 2nd area you touched on just now in the

report is that both sides, i think, are looking to expand the trade and economic relationship beyond petroleum and petroleum products, into areas of infrastructure, technology, green energy, and other spheres. and then the 3rd aspect of this is that if we look at the middle east as a whole, at least from china's perspective, to a large extent, it's divided into a contest between saudi arabia and iran. and china is trying, i think, to maintain the best relationship that it can with both iran and saudi arabia. going ahead a talk a little bit more about the region in fact, because during the saudi i visit, she is not just meeting saudi officials but also other arab leaders. egyptian president, a c, c, palestinian president, mahmoud abbas. tell us a little bit more about the regional influence and why these meetings are happening . well, i don't think china is seeking to have a huge influence in the region. it's not going to displace other major players that

do have much greater influence and throughout the middle east. but i think china is trying on some level to balance relationships between key players. if we think about egypt, iran saudi arabia and others, that there are a number of different countries that the chain is keen to improve its relationship with not only in economic terms, but potentially also with the security dimension. we all don't. let's talk about this in the greater context because it looks as if many gulf states have been rethinking their relationship with the us and turning more towards china. i'm wondering if you think that that's a fair assessment and do you see a realignment happening? no, i don't, i don't think that we're anywhere near that point as yet. as i said, i don't think china is trying to displace the united states or other great powers that have far stronger influence in the middle east than it does. it is trying, however, to build relationships and to do it, it can to achieve

a kind of balance of power throughout the region. that doesn't mean i don't think that states are suddenly going to move much, much closer to china and or away from united states or, or in other ways, damage existing relationships. i think they're really trying to be added to have rather than competitive in this william hearst professor of chinese politics at the university of cambridge. thank you so much for your insight on this visit. thank you very much for having me. ah, now to katara in the world cup where action resumes to day with 8 teams of buying to make their nations proud in the quarter finals. there are some interesting match ups including argentina, meeting the netherlands. it will be a repeat of the 1978 world cup final which argentina one the south american side are considered favorites over the europeans and with the possibility of it being massey's final game for his country. anticipation has been building and

judging from the performances of name are and his star, teammates in catan, brazilian football would appear to be in fine health. but black players back home tell a different story, racist abuse on their terraces and in their pitch is a reality at every match and usually goes unpunished. former locomotive, moscow, and sporting lisbon player cells, luis on a route was junior. so senor, for short, no plays his football back home and brazil opened racism and brazilian football is something with which he's all too familiar. his most recent experience came in 2021 . when an official of an opposing club called him mechanical meaning monkey never looked into the racist man's eyes. it was shocking and completely threw me lurch yard. so seen you fight back,

but reporting old cases to the police. some of the perpetrators and clubs involved were punished in court, racist outbursts in south america half infrequently. this footage shows funds making insulting gestures, which are rarely ever punished on the spot. that's another reason why the incident don't stop. some spectators insult fans of the opposing team with clear references to the color of their skin. these days, many players react immediately when they're subjected to recess, taunts, and confront the perpetrators directly. clair's, inger racism in europe to footballer. donnie alvarez once had a banana thrown at him, were playing for barcelona, which he ate before taking a corner. when brazil played in paris this year, rich arleson also had a banana thrown at him. the players had unveiled an anti racism poster at the start of the match. so senor finds the extent of the shall abuse shocking,

or the south dark you, ne alia, come after the attack. rashad ellison was also insulted on line one doctor and later by athletic or madrid. friends spiritual, woah, go fall. this is shameful. because we footballs into the pitch. for one reason only study if we want to be perceived as playlists g. nothing else requisite, you know, says young israel got door, which will should brazil with their predominantly black squad when their 6th world cup and guitar. it will be a victory for football. and a blow to those who think racism can keep a good player don't. and now finally, japanese billionaire, you soco med sala, has announced that he will take the k parse k pop star cop on a trip around the moon on a space ex spaceship. next year. the 35 year old top is a member of one of the world's most famous boy. handsome he is one of the 8 people

that metabolite selected for his deer moon project. the japanese i couldn't launched his lunar voyage plants in 2018 and bought all seats on the spaceship. last year i'm itala and his producer became the 1st so hang tourist to visit the international space station since 2009. the 2nd, remember up next sunday, w news. it is to the point which asks whether russia or ukraine is better equipped for a winter of wars just to stay with us if you can for that. i'm sarah kelly. thanks for watching. ah

ah, with to the point? strong opinions, clear positions, international perspectives. as temperature is plunge the war in ukraine is entering a new and brutal phase. brushes, the tax on critical infrastructure amount to weaponized in winter. can one side

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hackers, paralyzing entire societies. computers that option where you and governments that go crazy for your data. we explain how these technologies work, how they can go in for and how they can also go terribly. watch it now on youtube. as temperatures plunged, the war in ukraine is entering a new and brutal phase. russia is a tax on critical infrastructure amount to weaponized thing, winter as ukrainian civilians shelter and bombed out houses without power and water and soldiers in flooded trenches faced heavy shelling. what will it.