ah ah ah ah ah, this is d w use live from berlin to the european union considers cove at 19 restrictions on travelers from china. countries which already test arrivals won't the measures extend it across the block allied and say that would not stop the spread of the crow to virus though. also coming up republican front runner,

kevin mccarthy presses ahead with his bid to become us house speaker. right, wingers have blocked him in 3 rounds of voting. another round is due in coming hours and no snow at many of europe's top ski resorts. even the most famous alpine retreats are not immune to the effects of climate change. plus spectacular images from the web space telescope, our science expert to assess whether this cosmic looking glass is living up to astronomers expectations. ah, i manuscripts mckinnon. welcome to the program. european union officials are meeting today to discuss the coordination of their response to china's surge and it covered 90 in cases. now people traveling from china coming under scrutiny,

following the recent relaxation of the country's 0 cove, it policy and the explosion in cases that resulted. now, e, you, nations, france, and italy. we're the 1st in the block to introduce testing for chinese arrivals. spain requires proof of full vaccination or a negative test, while germany still has no restrictions beyond the u. britain, the u. s. india, australia, and japan are some of the country's placing restrictions on arrivals from china. beijing has called the rules discriminatory about, says china's cove infection rate continues to spike o shanghai hospital pushed to the brink, doctors working around the clock to save patients after the relaxation of the so called 0 covert policy, led to a spike in corona virus infections. yet even as hospitals strain,

many chinese are heading abroad after years of not being allowed to travel stoking fears, that if a new variant were to emerge, there would be no containing it. in december half the passengers on 2 flights to italy, we're later found to have covered italy started testing all arrivals from china. as more countries joined in china's foreign ministry pushed back both and what the entry restrictions adopted by some countries targeting china lack science to fact basis. and some of these excessive practices are unacceptable. we are firmly opposed to attempt to manipulate the cove at 19 measures for political purposes and will take counter measures effective. it's unclear just what counter measures are on the table. but the patchwork of requirements has led to confusion as well. the

voice is the family and when my brother, who has not been allowed to travel for 3 years, he is coming from china and didn't know anything about the testing. we had to tell him before he boarded to be careful because they were going to do a p c r on arrival. let me say about that. it's been 3 years since the corona virus started. it's trip around the world. and the end of the journey is still not in sight. many countries have now introduced or are considering restrictions on travelers from china. i am stuck to dp good. a sunny has an expert on epidemiology in global health at queen mary invest in london. if it makes sense to impose mandatory testing, the people arriving from china. i think when it's really important to surveilled of aliens that might be emerging on growing within china. this sort of ashy pre departure testing is unlikely to make a difference in terms of slowing the order of any new lady. and unless there are also domestic measures in place. essentially,

it seems that there is targeting of beauty budget testing for china or other countries where we know there are pretty concerning variance growing, for example, west and in many parts of europe. and also they are very few domestic measures. so we know that the departure jesse is not going to keep all variance in all cases out . so when they do enter domestically, what happens then? there are no measures to prevent spread. so anything that comes in will spread rapidly within the community. and the threat isn't just from china, i mean there are variants growing and becoming dominant. and part of the world like the u. s. at a highly does and higher transmissible. so it makes no sense to have very patchy policies targeting some areas and not others. and when there are no domestic measures in place in many countries, if talks about variance about the the explosion in cases with 2 and a half weeks away from china's luna new year's celebrations, which is the travel season in the country. is that likely to see infection rates

skyrocket? father? absolutely. i mean anything that involves people socializing coming into contact, give for a virus that you know, transmits to the air, pause as a huge risk and with the level of contact and socializing. seeing in festivities around the lunar here, i mean, it's very important that people take precautions given where china is already. i mean, we don't have the full data that's coming out of china, but one would assume that you're seeing a huge surgeon cases. and the risk of transmission with high levels of contacts would potentially make this even worse and increase the burden on, on health care services. yeah, i wanted to talk about these concerns that china is under reporting. it's covered death. how worried should we be about this? i mean, to me, that's potentially the most worrying part of this. the fact that we can rely on d to that's coming out of china at the moment, and we don't know the level of pressure there is on health care. the level of spread that's happening. i mean, was, were there more transparency around this?

and more sort of information being shared by the government. i think it is a global crisis. and in a global crisis, we need rapid sharing of information. and without that, it's very hard for us to sort of respond globally in a coordinated manner. and we don't know where the nest next risk is going to be if we can't depend on countries to share data freely. so not enough information. we have a country of nearly one and a half 1000000 people living with covert. we know many people are refusing to be vaccinated, and those who are vaccinated have the chinese vaccines. that a lesson effective than the m r. n. a vaccines available in the west. what scenario all we heading towards here? or as you suggest, do we just have no idea what's what we're heading for? it's really concerning the state of affairs. so as you see, sign hvac is less effective than the amount of vaccines and also uptake,

particularly in the elderly population, the population that is most at risk to for example, the above eighty's is very low, which is quite opposite to you know, what you see in other countries, which means that the people who are most likely to die from infection are least likely to be vaccinated and that too, with a more inferior vaccine. so i think we are where we are heading to words, given that the government doesn't seem to have planned for this by putting in things like better air quality, high grade, massive population level, you know, mass testing, isolation. i think we're heading towards huge pressure on healthcare services and mass death, but not just that even the long term effects of callback in terms of forced call read complications and heart disease, stroke, clotting, et cetera, will be found for a very, very long period in time. and yet, to me, there's a huge criticism of the chinese government in terms of m. r new vaccines. but i also want to point out that the west did not support wavers of licensing a patent on em. are new vaccines,

which has limited the access to the one middle income country. so that's something that needs to be revisited. and the entire blame cannot be laid at the hands of the chinese government, but also the hoarding of vaccines, and opposition to beat and rebus by the west. doctors. if you go to sony expert on epidemiology and global health, we'll have to leave it there. but thank you so much really interesting. the us house of representatives is in bread lock after it's 1st day under republican rule . hard, right. lawmakers have blocked the election of a house speaker. this is usually a formality front runner. kevin mccarthy has so far failed to gain enough votes. now this is the 1st time in a 100 years the leadership vote has failed at this early stage. another round of voting is due in the coming hours. it was a night of pandemonium on the floor of the us house of representatives. after republican kevin mccarthy failed to win the $218.00 votes needed to be elected

speaker of the house. there was shock m a chamber after the nominee failed to win for the 1st time in a century that annabel kevin mccarthy, of the state of california has received 203 o. b republican front runner is seeking to take over from democrat nancy pelosi after his party when a majority in the november mid term elections look at today is the day i wanted to have, you know, i think there was a lot of things want to do. we want repeal 87000 iris. we just want to set up a number investigation. going to want to notice the living committee here is we have actually on the board like a contract. but if we're able to work out our differences and hate this time to

only be strongly leucon push to think what made money without to speak of the house . new members are unable to be sworn in on. business isn't able to proceed sad day for the house of representatives as an institution. sad day for the moxy, it's a sad day for the american people. house democrats are unified, ready, willing, and able to get to work on behalf of everyday americans . voting has been postponed until wednesday, but need the mccarthy all those voting against him appear ready to back down. scott lucas is a professor of the american studies at the university of birmingham in the u. k. i asked him if this is, in fact a sad day for democracy as we just heard in that report. so simply

a legal and democratic process is playing out in the house right now. now it's a sign that american democracy is under strain. but it's been unrestrained for years, not just because of the hard, right republicans in the house. but of course, because of the trump list, continued to back donald trump. denial of the 2020 election who continued to try to bury any accountability of the capital attack, which occurred almost exactly 2 years ago. 18 of the 20 republicans who objected to kevin mccarthy as how speaker last night also happened to be election deniers. so this is assigned, there is a faction within the united states which has, is committed not just stopping the democrats, were stopping aloft, is almost committed to stopping the system from working. and that will be a challenge of course, for the, by the ministration to continue to govern,

which it will do. but i think more importantly, and immediately it's a challenge for the republican party. we just, the republican party really want to hold it so hostage to the hard white wing when they appear not to be willing to compromise for the greater good of the american people, economically or socially, as well as political. what does this mean for the republicans party parties ability to, to run the house and carry out it's, it's, it's cool functions. well, the republican party, the house can't run. i mean, let's just be very honest here. that what you have because of this division between a majority of republicans who, you know, maybe conservative, actually want to know government to function and this minorities that are trying to tear it all down. nothing gets done as you corresponded, noted, you can't even swear in 435 representatives until the speaker his name. what does it mean for the republican party beyond that? well, that's a big question. it's a big question. for example,

for the senate republican leader mitch mcconnell, who will appear to de, alongside the democratic president joe biden, as they announce a spending package for mcdonald's home state of kentucky. it is a challenge for republicans outside of washington. how long do you want to listen to attack media to listen to attack social media, to carry out fake investigations without supposed deep state plot against donald trump? how long do you want to add? like children who are squabbling? when we need adults in the room to try to repair america again, after the pandemic, and after the capital attack, can i ask you is kevin mccarthy likely to eventually yet the support he needs? not at this point. the. i mean, the question is how much, how long does eventually take we're going to go through a whole series today, which will repeat what we saw yesterday. there will be more votes for right now. we are in a stalemate either. mccarthy gives way, for example,

for his deputy steves gall lease, or are those 20 hard right, republicans give way and right now neither side is showing any signs of dr. scott lucas from the university of burning and in the u. k. thank you so much for your time. thank you. and he's a look at some of the other stories making headlines around the world. man, mar, is marking 75 years of independence from britain with a military parade and pardon for thousands of prisoners is not clear whether this will include people recently jailed for descent. military leaders have also outlined plans for elections this year. and i hope francis has used his weekly audience to praise his predecessor benedict as a great communicator of the catholic faith. francis is preparing to conduct benedict's funeral at the vatican, thousands of mourners of paying their final respects before the service the marvel act, a jeremy rana has posted on social media from his hospital in nevada. he thanked

fans for their concern. brenna was run over by his own snowplow as he tried to climb into the driver's seat during a blizzard a morning. 8 55 am. the kremlin has revised upwards the death toll from the ukrainian asked try on a russian military barracks from 63 up to 89. keith says the real figure is in fact, in the hundreds. it's the deadliest single attack by ukraine against a russian target. commentators have heavily criticized senior officers. moscow says soldiers allowed ukraine to pinpoint that location. ah, russian crowns gather in somber ceremony in the city of samara to morn, soldiers killed, and ukraine. people who lived here are among those who died in a new year's eve forming in mckinney cur who so that is we get to honor the memory of all dead soldiers of the special military operation. we get there because it's

hard for everyone with when it's hard, we should be together, which mr. huge piles of rubble of all that remains from the bombing. now, russian nationalists and some lawmakers are demanding punishment for commanders. they say ignored dangers. some reports, claim soldiers were located next to ammunitions depot which exploded in the strike . others say people had been able to use the russian mobile phones, giving away their location to ukrainian forces. the strike has not flowed, rushes own shelling of ukraine. it's defense ministry, claiming responsibility for fresh attacks and the de nits region. one of them destroyed this ice rank, which local say was operating as a humanitarian warehouse. as

a result of 3 hits an ice rink and the center of town was damaged, as well as part of the residential and industrial sector brew of the circle ukrainian authorities report that one person was killed and another was injured and the strikes in central europe, the impact of global warming isn't fell to strongly as elsewhere in the world, but reco temperatures in a number of european countries are making the effects ever clearer as unseasonably warm weather sweeps across the continent. poland saw temperatures reach 19 degrees celsius on new year's day. that was one of 9 countries to set new national records in romania as capital bucharest. it felt like spring time with thermometers hitting 20 degrees. the balmy conditions have caused havoc in the winter tourism industry. however, with ski resort struggling with a lack of snow,

it looks like a summer trip up the mountain, but this is january and europe, green grass blankets, hills that should be covered and snow right now. and ski slopes have been confined to a narrow lane. as it's published, it's really weird. everything is green, left and right of the slope. if the temperature is of up to 10 degrees celsius, have caused the last snow on the slaves to melt. and what little snow you see him didn't fall from the sky. there the hammer and the 2 had fresh, natural snow in salem see about 40 centimeters. this will be far too little. so we filled it out with artificial snow because of that we've cope well was here to with it wanting to come and they last significant snowfall in the area was at the start of december. ski slope operate as a feeling. the pinch puts better, helps as a main season. we should be hosting up to $4000.00 guests in the area,

but now there's only half of the usual guess. switzerland and france have also been feeling the heat. numerous slopes remain closed over the festive season, forcing holiday makers to consider taking up alternative sporting activities for the for 2 other trulia. on aut arlene, wellington, we hear the news about global warming. i don't know, but the fact us that we can't deny it. if i take you out of the burden you sulk and rain instead of snow while by no means comparable to the humanitarian disasters caused by global warming around the world. the current state of european ski slopes is yet another sign that the climate emergency affects all of us. now it's been just over a year since the web space telescope was launched. and the detailed image is that it has delivered have been among the most breathtaking pitches of the last year.

although the telescope was 14 years behind schedule and vastly over budget, it has proved well worth the weight. the james web space telescope is about $100.00 times more sensitive than its 30 year old predecessor, the hubble space telescope. and o it's mirror is around 25 meters square. it's made up of 18, hexagonal segments coated with a thin layer of vaporized gold that reflects in for a red light especially well the mirrors body is made of beryllium, a light weight metal that holds its form even an extreme cold hard to believe, but it took only 48 grams of gold to coat all of its segments. remote controlled actuators are mounted on the back of each segment. the small motors can pivot and turn them in 6 directions. the main mirror collects light and

reflects it onto a smaller mirror. it and turn focus as the light to the telescopes, measuring instruments. probing the universe is mysteries with a hitherto unknown sharpness and clarity and recording stunning images. like this shot of a vast stellar nursery called the torrential, a nebula. pat with young stars. or this one from the corina nebula, that has been dubbed cosmic cliffs. there are razor sharp images of galaxies far beyond our own milky way, like the cart wheel 500000000 light years away. but also magnificent shots from our immediate neighbourhood, the solar system, among them jupiter, in exquisite detail. and the ringed gas giant, neptune seemingly close enough to touch for months now the james web

space telescope has been revealing the wonders of the universe and unprecedented ways. and this is just the beginning. oh more and what the james web space telescope is telling us about the us is our variance senior science correspondent derek williams. hi, derek. the pictures we just saw that a, just the useful is the telescope performing as well as was promised it's, it's going gang busters it's, it's really doing things that the conservative estimates beforehand really didn't even dream of the resolution. for example, of the telescope is about twice what those conservative estimates for projected and, and you know, that wasn't really a given with this project. i mean it's, it's, it's way, way out there. the orbit is over one and a half 1000000 kilometers away from earth. so getting this complicated, vastly complicated machine up there and, and functioning. the engineers predict that there were hundreds of, of potential failure points where,

where the entire mission could potentially be thrown into and into danger. and, and none of those things happened. and it's, it's bringing back pictures to earth that are more than anyone is expected ref, faking it. how to get your head around, isn't it? i mean, and this james webb is a lot more powerful than the hubble as space telescope, isn't it? yes it is. and that's not surprising the, the mirror is really about 3 times the size, the hubble space telescope, double space helicopters, scope was, is 30 years old. so the technology has moved on since then. and it's, it's resolving more dis, and objects more clearly than they have a taste space telescope ever could. to explain exactly how much better though it's doing. maybe it's a good idea to do a direct comparison. this, for example, is an image of the cart wheel galaxy that i mentioned in my piece, which is around 500 light years away at the top. is the shot that was taken by the hubble telescope, which if you look at the galaxy itself, is just simply much fainter with

a lot less detail than it is on the shot. the bottom which was taken by the james web telescope, also check out the galaxies in the background. many, many more on the web version of the shot and, and much higher resolution. i mean, the difference really is striking. it really is a, is that just quite, quite beautiful. it really is. i don't want to talk down the hubble space telescope . it was really awesome at the time at the time, but just kind of mega. yeah, i'm looking ahead. i mean, looking at, had to 2023. what new insights can we expect this new and space telescope to deliver more? there are, there are several. but one of the big ones that the, that the theoreticians are, are very excited about is that it's going to push back what we know about the birds and the subsequent development of our universe. because one of the things is, is the farther out, the way space time works is the farther out into space. you looked at the deeper back into time. you're looking because because if you look billions of years back at, at a galaxy, that's billions of light years away, you're seeing it as it was billions of years ago. so the farther out you can look,

the more clearly you can see what happened in the early days, the universe. and we're discovering that those models that we had predicting the early days of the universe aren't really quite the way that we predicted them. another really exciting area is of course exit planet. so planets on and other solar systems and other parts of our own galaxy. re able to be able to look at what the website telescope at those planets and decide and see whether or not they might actually be habitable by human beings, or maybe even look for signs of life. so it's really, really exciting, stary, extraordinary derek williams with the w slant. thank you so much. and his reminder, the top story with following for a today, nations of discussing calls to coordinate, coven testing boost patropolis from china, a med surge of infections in the world's most populous nation. beijing says the entry cubs being imposed by some countries against it. citizens are unreasonable, the china itself remains closed to foreign tourists. you're watching data,

lee and news coming up next in d, w. news, asia. the business of medical marijuana is booming globally and asia is no exceptions. we explore the pros and cons of a trade that's especially controversial in largely traditional societies. more coming up next on news asia. anthony allen will be here with your next news round up at the top of the hour. i'm new cubes. mckinnon on behalf of the jose thank you so much for watching d, w. mm hm. ah, with

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ah, ah, this is the dell you use asia coming up today. let the good times roll out the stigma around this plant is changing across asia, opening up a $1000000000.00 industry and new jobs for countries like thailand, it's about returning to its roots, but easier said than done.