>> this is dw news life from berlin. the world health organization declares the new corona strain of concern. omicron maybe more infectious and more resistant. european countries been travelers from southern africa but a case has been detected in belgium. staying in jail, he will not

be set free though he has been in jail for four years without being convicted. and remembering a modern musical icon. we take a tour of a new exhibition celebrating the life, music and style of anyone -- amy winehouse. ♪ >> welcome to the program. growing international concern over a new coronavirus variants that scientists say could be more infectious than previous strains. the world health organization has assigned it the greek letter omicron and labeled it a concern. it was detected by researchers in south africa and many countries are imposg travel

bans to stophe sprea >> there is a dreadful feeling. we have been here before. as the last flights from southern africa arrive at airports in london and paris friday. the eu agreed on the need to temporarily halt travel to the region after commission president called for unity. >> we are taking news about the new covid-19 variant very seriously. we note that notations -- we know that mutations could lead to more concerning variance that could spread worldwide within a few months. it's important that all of us in europe act very swiftly, decisively and united. >> but the who has warned against countries hastily imposing travel restrictions on south africa and neighboring

countries. >> we understand people are concerned. we have monitoring systems around the world to detect these areas quickly. it was detected a few weeks ago and scientists are sharing research and information with us to take action. >> the first case of the new variant in europe has been found in belgium with confirmed cases in hong kong, botswana and israel. the variant named after the greek letter was first detected in south africa's most populous providence and it could be more transmissible and vaccine resistant. the implications of travel restrictions on a struggling economy are a concern for locals. >> it is bad because w suffered with our business and now the variant is going to kill us. how can we survive? >> the cancellation of flights will be big. there will be no tourism and our

business relies on tourism. >> as passengers rush to leave south africa, warning that the new variant will reach more countries. >> our correspondent is in south africa and sent this reaction from cape town. >> the past few weeks feels too good to be true with low infection rates, life slowly getting her to normal. for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, tourists from around the world filled the city once again. now the new variant was discovered and rings back a deja vu to what has happened about one year ago. south african scientists discovered the beta variant. while detection here does not mean it originated there, the same case for the current variant, it has devastating impacts on the economy of the country. there were lots of travel restrictions imposed on south africans who were not allowed to travel to many countries abroad.

this also reduced the number of tourist arrivals here in south africa. a scenario we are likely to see again at a time when summer, the major tourist season has just started and would have brought much-needed boost to the tourism industry. the pandemic has made a poverty crisis in south africa worse and no end in sight. >> let us bring in the head of the division of medical virology at this university and he joins me from cape town. welcome to the program. the who is calling this variant one of concern. does tt mean? >> it means it h properties that are of conrn and it either can invade the immune response, infect vaccinated individuals, or it causes more severe disease, or is more

easily transmissible or any combination. who has come to the right conclusion. the variance, from the properties it has cannot los as if it could do a few of those tricks. it is something we need to worry out and investigate quickly. >> you mentioned vaccines and the potential the variant has to evade vaccines we now have. vaccine inequality across the globe, this is a real issue. when we begin the situation if wealthy nations had done a better job of sharing the medicine? >> i speak under correction because there are many aspects of the variant we don't yet. where it originated. we found it in south africa, but it was also found in botswana and in travelers that have come back from south africa. so we think it may have arisen in the region, but we don't know

where. i'm saying that because south africa is in the unique situation among african nations of having enough vaccines for the eligible population. the problem we are facing is vaccine hesitancy. it is like the industrialized countries where there is more vaccine than there are willing to curse. other african countries are not in the same fortunate position. they do not have enough. not diminishing that argument. but should that variant have arisen in south africa, it could not be blamed on not having enough vaccine. it would have to be blamed on vaccination programs, population hesitancy and resistance to vaccination. >> it was south african researchers who detected it and sounded the alarm quickly to the rest of the world. some countries have placed a travel ban on that part of the

world. is that the right decision? travel bans work? >> yes and no. i he sympathy with these decisions. it seems obvious, don't want th to be introduced to your own country so you are preventing people from entering. and if they do, then they have to go in quarantine. but in the long run it won't keep it at bay. i just wish south africa is not once again, like last year when we identified the beta variant, is not published by dutch punished by being placed under travel restrictions long after the risk has waned. my expectation is that this time , these travel bans and others will be revisited quickly and regularly as new information emerges. we are setting up

epidemiological studies and within weeks from now, i think we will know more about it. we can decide how concerning it is. is it such a problem as we fear, or maybe it's not as bad. let us hope for the letter. if it -- letter. -- latter. our best bet to get out of this pandemic situation is universal vaccination. we cannot really be safe until everyonen earth is vaccinated and protected against at least severe disease and death. >> because this virus does not see orders. virologist wolfgang, thank you for your time. we will stick with this story and bring them stephen from dw business. let's talk about the financial

world. how is it reacting to the news of this variant? >> we are seeing selloffs from global markets. wall street, the biggest capital markets, 2% losses from each of the major indexes, dow jones, s&p 500. we are seeing deja vu from the first days of the pandemic two years ago where investors do not have a clear view on things but they feel like they know where things could go. we are seeing it with travel restrictions and the possibility of lockdowns. if there is less travel and less need for oil, oil prices are falling, lockdowns would pull back on travel. we are also seeing that shares in companies that are researching medicines and vaccines are rising and we are seeing investors move money in safer places, u.s. treasuries and out of cryptocurrencies. we are seeing investors trying to get their money in a safer place because they are saying this could look like it did two years ago. it's important to remember that

many businesses have not fully recovered from the first wave. they are not there yet. so this could throw that into issue. many countries are looking for workers. consumer behavior has changed. there is a lot of complication when you look at where businesses stand as they start to imagine the possibility of another round of the pandemic. >> economies have been hard hit, some still struggling to recover. what further setback could this variant have? >> it could be substantial because we have not seen economies fully recover. many economies were supposed to come closer in that direction, it depends whether they were advanced, -- economies like germany and the united states. developing economies for example in africa would need longer. this could set them back further. to get there, many countries have taken on a lot of debt. while countries like germany and the u.s. can do that, in africa

they cannot afford it. in the eu, if you look at the debt loads on italy, this could put strains on many countries as they try to bridge the gap to the end of the pandemic, wherever or whatever that is. what we are also going to see is fundamental questions about globalization and the ideas behind it, if this is as bad as many people are making it out to be, that means the idea that countries rely on each other to follow their strengths, trade with one another and not create redundancies in the system. but if everyone says we are going to have to close borders, we can't rely on supply chains, there are issues about what we are going to do the future. there is also inequality, and growing concern. many lower income nations, we realize that the black economy is important for these workers. it tends to suffer first with things like tourism fall. look at south africa. they are still waiting for

people to return. many of the workers who was -- serve them in that economy, that means less wages, less economic being. this is about jobs and livelihoods, including what we are seeing with wall street. it comes down to these companies, their ability to stay on their feet and provide livelihoods. >> thank you for walking us that. some other stories we are following this hour. several thousand people have been protesting in the capital city against government corruption and the rising cost of living. they marched to present a petition demanding the president to keep his promise of creating one million new jobs. ukrainian president says his country's intelligence agencies have uncovered plans for a russian backed coup against him. he says the plot is meant to take place next week, but did

not provide further details. moscow denies these allegations. french fishermen temporarily shut down a trade route between france and the u.k. by blocking the rail tunnel under the english chnel as well as fairies in the port of calais. they say -- ferries in calais. scientists monitoring gas emissions from a volcano on a spanish island after a fissure opened thursday evening. there were 13 earthquakes today. alexander lukashenko has reignited tensions with the european union by urging migrants to attempt to reach the block, saying he will not stand in their way. he also told migrants in germany has agreed to take them in. berlin denies this. >> the autocratic leader and thousands of desperate migrants.

lukashenko visiting a migrant shelter close to the order with poland. surrounded by a crowd of those who are only in his country because they want to travel west, he took the opportunity to make this appeal to germany. >> the majority of these people want to reunite with their families and find their close compatriots in germany. to the german authorities, please take this people. this is not a big burden. they want to live in germany. 2000 people is not a big problem for germany and chancellor merkel has agreed to this. >> but in berlin, angela merkel spokesperson issued a denial. >> behalf of the chancellor and the government, i want to state this is false. it was false a few days ago when mr. lukashenko and his spokesperson made it such a statement. it is not true. germany would not agree to that.

>> the caretaker government in berlin believes the humanitarian situation on poland's eastern border is part of a deliberate campaign to underline -- undermine the eu. markel said as much on thursday -- angela merkel said as much thursday after a meeting with the polish prime minister. >> we are both in agreement that this situation came about because belarus, like in a hybrid attack, lured migrants to the country. the aim was to destabilize, and weekend, not just poland but the entire european union. >> but from belarus, where lukashenko's media strategy include speaking to the migrants, came this challenge. >> we will not oppress these people. we won't. and if the west wants us to

catch them at the border and detain them, we won't do that. they do not want to solve this problem. >> at the heart of the crisis is those who were given hope that their route to a better life led through berus. there is every sign their weight will continue even as winter approaches. >> there are thousands of hopeful asylum-seekers still in belarus while hundreds have departed on flights back to iraq and middle eastern countries, others are hoping to attempt the dangerous crossing in freezing temperatures. our correspondent is in the belarus and capital -- belarus capital where he met some of those are two very battle -- better life. >> thiss not how these migrants imagined their journey to the eu would end, in downtown minsk. but with crossings down to a trickle, migrants stuck here

fake -- face a choice. risk their lives in subzero temperatures or return to their home countries empty-handed after paying smugglers thousands of euros. he is from iraq's kurdish region. he spent weeks in the forest, managing to cross to pull it twice, once for several days. he came within a hare's breadth of s -- hair's breadth of success. >> we were meeting who was to take us to germany. but the police found us, they broke my friend's hand, let the dogs loose. it was scary. i want to go back to the border. i can't afford to pay for my hostel anymore. i'm going to try again today.

>> he like many others are sleeping on the streets. for people like him with expired visas, even the most cramped hostels charge up to 20 euros to sleep on the floor. she left with her family in hopes of finding medical treatment for her brother. they gave up and returned to minsk. residents -- relatives are still in the forest the less they heard. >> we lost touch with my brothers 10 days ago. maybe their phones are out of battery, but thecould be dead. they have no clue where we are, whether we a here oreturned to iraq. the people smugglers told us it would only take two or three hours to cross the border toward germany. we had no idea what it would be like. we borrowed money from everyone to come here, to get treatment for our family. now that money is gone and we have not made it. >> a return to iraq is not something many people here are

ready to count out. some are considering applying for asylum in belarus. anything but a return to iraq. the belarusian regime did not envision this scenario. >> businessman and philanthropist must remain in jail as per trial proceeds. he has been in custody with out a conviction for four years and is accused of overthrowing the government, but critics say the charges are political. it has opened a rift between the west. a report from istanbul. >> these are some of the last photos taken of him when he was a free man. the turkish entrepreneur and philanthropist has been behind bars for the past four years. without ever being convicted of a crime.

he is considered one of the most important supporters of turkish civil society. he facilitated many arts and culture projects in istanbul and elwhere in the country. but for the president, he is an enemy of the state. they confuse -- the president accuses him of organizing and financing mass protests in 2013. the president says demonstrations were an attempt to overthrow him. >> a man who funded the terrorists during the incidents is currently in prison. why would our judiciary arrest an innocent person who has not committed a crime? >> he has also been charged with involvement in the 2016 coup

attempt, and with espionage. he insists he is innocent, but could face life in prison if convicted. what is striking about the charges brought against me is not just the fact that they are not based on any evidence. they are a fantasy based on conspiracy theories beyond the bounds of reaso >> the case has long concerned international courts and governments. recently, the president threatened to expel 10 western diplomats, including ambassadors of germany and the u.s., because they had spoken out in favor of his release. the dispute was settled and the diplomats are allowed to stay in turkey, his case is far from over. his detention is a prime example of how turkish courts have been turned into political weapons. aimed at keeping perceived

government opponents by bars. in 2019, the european court of human rights said his detention was political and called for his immediate release. but turkey has so far ignored the ruling, refusing to set him free. >> we spoke to emme, a senior turkey researcher at human rights watch. we asked what could happen next. >> in a few days on the 30th of november, the committee of ministers will review the failure to -- which called for his releaase two yearsgo. wexpect the committee to vote for notifying turkey that infringement procedures will be

started against them. this is a form of sanction and will be the second time in the council of europe history that such a sanction has been pursued. we hope that will take place in turkey will learn that defying theuropean court continually has a price. >> a new exhibition remembering amy winehouse opened in london today on the 10th anniversary of her death. "amy: beyond the stage" offers visitors the chance to see many of the late singer songwriters belongings and enjoy clips of her performances. >> an impressive collection of grammies, handwritten song lyrics, and a road sign from near her house covered in fan tributes following her death in 2011.

just some of dozens of items on show in "amy: beyond the stage". many have been mowed from her family and are on display for the first time. >> one behind me is the blue fender stratocaster, the deafening blue of her favorite guitar. she was depicted -- the daphne blue, her favorite guitar. she was depicted with it often and is on the cover image of "frank." >> immersive installations showcase her voice and greater process. also on display is clothing and accessories that embodied her signature retro style, including her back eyeliner and some rare, early pieces. >> one of my favorite objects, a pair of jeans she wore running around north london hoping to get signed to a label.

the producers who recorded some of her early demos commented on the fact that she rocked up to the studio as a confident and gregarious teenager with an amazing voice, wearing jeans that had "sinatra is god" on the back. >> her debut album, "frank" debuted her early genius. the follow-up brought her stardom. her style was a mix of jazz, soul, rhythm and blues. through her letter years, she battled drug addiction. she died of drug addiction -- of alcohol poisoning at 27. . the family hopes visitors leave with an appreciation of her life and legacy. >> i hope they take an understanding of amy, that she was not this tablet published in the press.

-- tabloid published in the press. i would like people to forget that and concentrate on the positivity. >> the positivity is set to run and run. fans can catch "amy: beyond the stage" at london's design museum until april 2022. >> this is dw news live from berlin. after a break we will take you to the day. for breaking news, you can find that on dw.com. thanks for joining us. ♪ @