ah ah ah ah, this is dw news live from berlin free after months in a russian prison. brittany griner is back in the united states. the playing carrying the west basketball star touch down after she was handed over and a prisoner swapped. in exchange for a notorious russian arm, feler also coming up international outrage had called for

a wrong to face more sanctions after the religious regime execute. paid 23 year old man for taking part, an antique government protest rights for sworn more hanging. sorry, eminent and opening a new era of china's relations with the arab world. chinese president, she's in pain, is in saudi arabia for the 1st time in 6 years. and the world cup in could tar resumes with the quarter finals. could this be messy? is final match with argentina. the south american reigning champions take on the netherlands and favorites, brazil faced pro asia. ah, i'm sorry, kelly. welcome to the program. a sports star for an arm stealer. us basketball player brittany griner is back on us soil after being released from

a russian penal colony. these pictures were taken just over an hour ago. a u. s. government plane touched down in san antonio, texas, 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 of ob, without the apple. it was heel, but captivity ended for us basket. bold star, brittany greenow, seam here on the left. and the russian arms dealer with 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 experience, the needless trauma. she deserves space privacy in time with loans to recover and heal from her time being wrong through the tag. dryness wife sherylin thanked 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'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 because it greno was arrested at moscow airport in february and sentenced to 9 years for the possession of cannabis by a russian court. these immigrants published by the russian government show how being released from the penal colony, she was held in and put on a plane to abi once inside,

she was asked about her well being a well i read a poem. why? and with that, how long ordeal is finally over? let's get more unless 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 to type 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 with this really a good deal for joe biden is it is 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 sentiment and said that, you know, he's working on trying to get paul back. paul wayland was detained in 2018 is a former u. s. moraine. and the idea was he's also being right and the idea was it will 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 swab, 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 to how poor of emotional support, former president, brock o'bonham was quick to support. bided administration saying, you know, congratulate him on all 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 brittney griner back. but when american football player did say, wait a minute, they left marine behind tech. no, you know he, there was this, this may you know about that in just to add to to paul whalen, the u. s. marine still detail his brother reached out as well. it was happy that brittany greiner came back. he said,

it's happy any time 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. yes, 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 are britney 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 his 4. it's a little bit more reaction and insight on who for any crime has and how her release is being received. thank you. so much. thank you. and let's get more. we are joined by our correspondent and russia analyst constantine agrent. he's joining us from vilnius in lithuania. constantine, tell us how is this swapping scene in russia? well, i think that a lot of russians don't really know who beat our boot. yours box touching him. his

aunt are very well. they spent literally more than 14 years trying to extract you draw the embrace, let's say all the was just so i think about football too. it's who well, it's a, i think that's a bottles with raj, shows that she can achieve. so those are basically not one that we're not too many news about any kind of successes in ukraine, the russian always thinking of battering. i think this is one thing that a written letter. we actually have to say, we don't know why recruitment was so adamant and so pushing, trying to exchange, trying to get the root, who it seems that was more just your average arms b, o, b, very, very important one. but probably that is sufficient to put it like that if you

exclude the people some of the services for the credit. and that's probably the reason why they try to get him to exchange him to get them back to russian. konstantin ag with them. yes, thank you. and here are some other source making. this accord in moscow has found the opposition leader ilia yosh, and guilty of spreading false information about the russian military and ukraine. he had described the killings of civilians and future by russians forces as a massacre. he could also face up to 9 years in prison. 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 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 days strike. they were demanding an increase in minimum wage and the weight 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. chinese president, she's been paying has met with saudi crown. prince mohammad been summoned in riyadh on a pioneering trip to open a new era of china relations with the arab world. those are, she's words they're the visit is she's 1st from the kingdom to the kingdom in 6 years. the 2 countries affirmed their ties and signed a series of strategic deals including one with tech giant. while way the chinese leader is expected to meet more gulf oil producers later. so then what makes this growing partnership between saudi arabia and china? so important? i asked william hurst, he is a professor of chinese politics at the university of cambridge. i think it's significant for 3 reasons. the 1st is that your study, ravia 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 a visit,

she is not just meeting saudi officials but also other arab leaders. egyptian president, a, c, c, palestinian president. my boss. 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 relationship between key players as if we think about egypt, iran saudi arabia and others. there are a number of different countries that china 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 look 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 additive 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. and our international condemnation has followed around execution of a protester who took part in the anti government demonstrations, which began in september most in chicago. a was hanged on thursday. and activists

warned that at least a dozen other iranians face the same fate for their involvement. after this report, we will hear from a german coalition member who wants a ron declared a terrible state in response to the execution. 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. waterloo, has iran'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 processes by hamburrow hit on thursday morning broadcast. 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 you're s 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. and now that doing that with the demonstrators, if we, they want to show them as fearful and weak people are normal as people who break when that put under enough pressure on little core cock. only a few days ago, a regime propaganda channel 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 john,

you irish gaskin believes the regime propaganda strategy is having the opposite of his intended effect to lay he and others. now heroes to many groups, good people see these stage confessions law really as a sign of the weakness of this regime as 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, that german government has condemned the execution of the iranian protest her and summoned to ron's ambassador to discuss it. i spoke with g t a n sin, a member of the german coalition government earlier. and i asked her if the german political response had been strong enough it's definitely one signal that was not much needed. so i think that was one of the right decision that i saw for the 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 them 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 are 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 a para 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 pacific 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 economy level. definitely. so completely cutting economic ties with around i think completely cutting of ties. it's always, well, it would be the cutthroat decision, but i think 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 cooperation with transit entech partners. because i think the sanctions are most effective if it's not only including german sanctions, but rather democratic central 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 around revolutionary gods 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. and here are some other stories from around the world. supporters of peruse outside 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. da, the u. s. congress has approved a bill protecting same sex marriages. 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 would reverse its 2015 decision to legalize same sex marriage. and also in the us,

the house of representatives have approved record defense spending of 858000000 dollars next year. that's a 45000000000 agreed to increase jackson than what president joe biden had asked for. the bill also, scraps, coven, 19 vaccine mandates. for military personnel ah, to cut her now and the world cup where action resumes today with 8 teams vying to make their nation 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 over the europeans. and with the possibility of it being messy, it's final game for his country. anticipation has been building up, his sports corresponded mark meadows is in katara. here's what he had to say earlier about the netherlands,

argentina match and how the locals love of little messy really shows. yes it does. they're absolutely messy. mad here in cat saw, let's be honest. there aren't that many dutch fancy. there are a few argentinians were playing beach football with them. yes. dates that 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 the portugal switzerland game a few days ago. all they wanted to see was christiana 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 off 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 spoke. come when it, for the dutch we've, one of the great will cook goals will be hoping for similar drama later on tonight . and now before we go, well, smith has a new movie coming out. he has started more than 50 films, but this were all carries greater importance for the man and the artist. in emancipation, the oscar winning actor portrays a slave whose horrific physical scars would aid the pushed toward abolition. the move is released comes at a time. smith is rebuilding his personal reputation after assaulting canadian chris rock on live television. ah, hollywood star will smith in the lead role of his new civil war drama emancipation? it's the 1st major release for smith's since his assault on comedian chris rock during this year's oscars in march as punishment for the slab,

smith has been banned from attending the ceremony. for 10 years, something the crew hopes, more cloud reception of the film. they're going to be people who will come with preconceived notions and, and that's why i do that. let people who are open minded to, to seeing a film that deals with the subject of such magnitude will smith starz as a slave who makes a daring escape through the swamps of louisiana, with his sadistic master in hot pursuit. it's based on the true story of a former slave known as whipped, peter, and the shocking photograph of his scarred back published in 18. 63. it gave american abolitionists hard proof of the atrocities of slavery. it was just the picture that i see when i was young. and now from me, all of those scars have stories to you know, it's not just one beating that's

a lifetime work. i've been, the movie is already generating plenty of oscar buzz, and many reviews have focused on whether it could be a path to smith's redemption in hollywood and wills. apologize 20 times and he feels horrible and there's nothing more he can do. he has apologize. he is learning his ways, he is owned it fully. it is what it is. so, you know, we're hoping to film and all the people that made the film or recognize that slap is of the thing that leads and i will be required for this. emancipation stark and brutal imagery may be too much for some viewers, but its story of defiance and resilience is a reminder of the lessons of history. now japanese billionaire, you soco mix, iowa has announced that he will take the k pop star top on a trip around the moon on a space expe ship next year. the 35 year old top is

a member of one of the world. most famous boy bands. he is one of the 8 people that meets i was selected for his dear moon project. the japanese tycoon launched his lunar voyage, plans in 2018 and bought all seats on the spacious. last year he and his producer became the 1st self pang tourist to visit the international space station since 2009 on next. it is in good shape looking at the benefits of being healthy. thank you so much for watching. take care with

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