♪ anchor: the french prime minister says the incidents of covid-19 at the highest level since the start of a pandemic. new measures announced this evening, including no more standing in bars and restaurants, and vaccines will be obligatory to enter bars and restaurants from 15th january. a victory for freedom of the press in poland. the president has vetoed a law that had already been much criticized by the eu and the united states. and a week of national mourning

has begun in honor of desmond tutu. the icon passed away on sunday at the age of 90. we will hear more from our correspondent in cape town. thank you for watching france 24 purity we start -- france 24. we start with prime minister castex and a conference he gave on covid-19 this evening. a much anticipated curfew for new year's eve was not announced in the end, as feared by many. back to school for french schoolchildren, january 3 will remain the date fork classes re-commencing in france. the duration of the new quarantine for contact cases is to be announced by the end of this week, but perhaps one of the most significant measures announced by the french prime

minister today, an upping of requirements to enter bars and restaurants from the 15th of january. let's take a listen to the changes announced. >> monday's cabinet meeting adopted a bill that will transform the health pass into a vaccine pass. this means that in places where the pass is required, you must prove you are vaccinated to be able to enter. providing a negative test will no longer be enough. as voted i parliament, this will apply from january 15 next year. anchor: a lot of this over concerns about the wave of the omicron variant, said to be three times more contagious with numbers doubling every day. we also saw the landmark figure

of 100,000 cases in one day reached. the french health minister had more information, more data, that he announced after the prime minister at that press conference. >> the number of people becoming infected is doubling every two days. that is every 12 to 15 days with the delta variant. it can also reinfected people who have already had covid. omicron is less susceptible to vaccines than the delta variant, but the good news is a third dose when you're up-to-date boosts protection back to or over 90%. anchor: more flights canceled on monday in paris after the christmas weekend, almost 6000 flights were scrapped worldwide.

destinations in china and the united states were reportedly the worst hit with a total of 8000 more flights canceled. over 60 cruise ships are being monitored by the american health authorities after covid-19 cases were detected on board. the cdc said the number of infections in travelers merits an investigation. we have more. reporter: these passengers board the odyssey of the seas. just hours before, the liner carried dozens of people infected with covid-19. >> i wasn't sure i still wanted to come. >> what made you decide to go? >> i already paid by money. >> we are being optimistic. we've got all of our friends with us. as long as all of the shows and bars are open, i think we will have a good time. reporter: despite all passengers, excluding children, requiring a full round of

vaccination, covid-19 cases are still being detected on cruise ships. the u.s. center for disease control says over 60 vessels are under investigation due to the number of reported infections. officials from mexico, colombia and the caribbean islands stopped ships from disembarking after too many covid cases were found on board. at the beginning of the pandemic, several cruise ships were quarantined. passengers on the diamond princess off the coast of japan were confined for two weeks. more than 700 passengers were infected and 14 passed away. the cruise industry shut down in 2020 and liners were only able to resume services over the summer. trying to recover with vaccine requirements and additional sanitary protocols. despite these additional measures, the rapid spreading omicron variant and surge in numbers may again threaten the industry. anchor: poland's president has

said he has decided to veto a media law that would have forced the u.s. company discovery to give up its controlling share in a polish tv network. the law was criticized for aiming to silence the u.s. owned news channel. we have the details. >> a veto no one expected from the polish president, as he blocks the passage of a controversial law over control of the media. critics have called it an attempt to silence opposition, although it was rushed through parliament earlier in december. it had been a project of the polish right wing government, the same that elected the president as an ally. while saying he agreed in principle, the polish head of state said it would have threatened international investme. >> [speaking polish]

reporter: he was referring to a u.s./polish agreement signed in 1990 over commercial and economic relations. indeed, washington had urged him to use his veto not just against that drop but one of fierce domestic opposition to the law, with demonstrators turning out to defend against what they saw as an attack on freedom o expression. it would have prevented those outside the european economic area from holdg a controlling stake in polish media firms. it was seen as targeting a channel owned by u.s. parent discovery. the law andustice party already controls public television and swathes of the regional press. following its election, poland

fell in the world press index to 64. anchor: a power struggle escalating amid some mollies president and prime minister. the president accused the prime minister of stealing land owned by the somali national army and interfering with a defense ministry investigation. the prime minister called the move a coup attempt. the dispute is widely seen as stracting e government from oil concerns, and also the prospect of renewed clashes between factions in the security forces allied to each side. the bells of st. george's cathedral in cape town rang out on monday, ushering in a week of national mourning for desmond tutu. he won the nobel peace prize. his death sparked an avalanche of tributes from around the world, and to bring us

up-to-date on all that has been going on in south africa, we speak now to our correspondent in cape town. tell us abouthe outpouring of grief andratitude that you have been witnessing in cape town. reporter: it is truly the start of a week of tributes for archbishop desmond tutu. describeas the mal compass of south africa. what started with the ringing of the bells of st. george's cathedral at 12 noon every day will continue throughout the week, for seven days, for 10 minutes every day at noon. the idea is to use that time to think of the archbishop. they will be lighting purple lights every night.

on wednesday evening, the city of cape town will hold a commemorative service for the archbishop, where all faiths will be represented. a celebration of his commitment to freedom of religion. the big story right now is the funeral, which will take place on saturday at st. george's cathedral. there will be about 400-500 people. the archbishop had friends across the world. all south africans will be able to pay tribute to him on friday when his body will lie in state at st. george's cathedral and the public will be allowed to pay their respects to the arch as they pass through. anchor: a shepherd of peace and an example that transcends borders and immeasurable loss,

some of the tributes pouring in from around the world. we will see more of that in the week ahead and the run-up to the funeral on saturday. thank you, nadine. the lawyer who successfully argued that the landmark roe v. wade case that enshrined abortion as a legal right in the u.s. has passed away. she had argued on behalf of of norma mccorvey, known as jane roe. it was ruled that access to abortion was a constitutional right. the case remains a sensitive note in case law. a talking point in the u.s., with the possibility it could be overturned by the supreme court next year. that would pave the way for total bands of abortion at the state level. our correspondent has more on the passing of that lawyer. reporter: she was a key figure, even if her name was not

household name that everyone remembered. but everyone rembered the lawyer who argued the landmark case in 1973. that's when the ruling happened. she actually argued her case in front of the supreme court twice, once in 1971 and anoth time in 1972, until the final ruling, 7-2 in favor of legalizing abortion rights in the united states. she remained that person, the one who won the abortion rights and fight for women across the united states. that's what you saw in the statement from the planned parenthood chapter in texas, who said she was a key figure in the abortion rights movement and that planned parenthood was going to keep up her fight to

honor her legacy in the fight for reproductive rights. she went on to do other things after winning that case. when she was about 26 or 27 years old, she went into politics. she was a democrat in the state legislature, but remained focused on reproductive rights and actually spoke in 2017 back when neil gorsuch was being confirmed as the first pick of donald trump at the supreme court. at the time, she warned that one justice would not make much of a difference, but or three could have a big impact. of course of donald trump going on to nominate and confirm to other justices to the supreme court, and now the supreme court has a strong conservative majority. she had warned about what would happen to abortion rights if that were to happen. anchor: paris fc and leon thrown

out of the french cup on monday after the hooliganism at a match on the 17th of december. smoke bombs were thrown in the stands and fighting broke out. fans flooded the pitch afterward and the police were required to intervene. rather than try to finish the match, the federation decided to expel both teams. leon had already announced they would ban their fans from traveling to away matches. paris fc will have to play five matches behind closed doors. this the latest in a series of stadium trouble season. thank you for watching france 24. ♪

♪ >> i would rather be a professor at university when i am 40 than play music. so said the offspring's dexter holland. now he is one of america's biggest punk rock stars in a fully qualified scientist. i caught up with dexter and offspring guitarist noodles to discuss touring plans and a career that spans nearly four decades. ♪ [laughter] >> dexter and noodles, you are here in europe on the leg of your let the bad times roll tour.

this is your 10th album, it took nearly a decade to come out. i heard it was quite hard to birth. you initially started composing ford in 2015 and obviously a lot of things happened. you hadn't predicted a pandemic would take place. what was the term bad times, what do you mean by that? >> in a way it seems self-explanatory. things seem not great right now. it is not just the pandemic, which is on everybody's mind. during this time and before this time, there was a lot of social injustice and pressure. political upheaval, stuff like that going on, and it feels like wherever you look around, it is like oh my god, how could get worse? and yet it does. it seems like an appropriate title to put on the album. i think even more than that, it almost makes you smile in a way.

you have to laugh or you are going to cry, i guess. it helps you cope, which sometimes music does a good job of. ♪ ♪ >> what kind of mood where you in with this album when you started this album and recently? >> it took a long time. we were doing a lot of things during that time as well. toward every summer for at least three months out of every year. when we are doing that, we don't

get in the studio or really think about what we are working on, we just focus on the live show. dexter got his phd and we are proud of him. >> thank you. >> that took some time. creatively, we did not start firing on all cylinders about -- until about two years before the release of the album. we were close to done and the pandemic hit and we were like, we don't want to release this into a void. he cannot tour on it, so we kind of polished everything up, but at some point we realized the record is done and we have to put it out. >> as was said, you just got your phd on luckily biology. congratulations on that. you specialize in virology. how did you see the pandemic coming? where you like oh my god or very interested as a scientist? >> from a science standpoint, it

was very interesting. in a way, you can almost, especially with the talk going around in the scientific community, it's like we should have seen this coming a long time ago. i hope it is a warning to put more effort into basic research, because it actually looks like a lot of this could've been prevented and hopefully we can prevent different outbreaks like this in the future if we spend a little more time studying viruses. >> there have been some fun takes on a lot of your classics in the pandemic. come out and play got revisited as you've got to get vaccinated. and unfortunately, your drummer couldn't or wouldn't get vaccinated, so you had to remove him from the tour, and this led to headlines like why don't you get a jab? [laughter] how hard was that for you as a band to do that? >> it was rough.

we went back-and-forth with him for a long time and he was either unwilling or unable to get vaccinated in the end. we looked at every scenario and we kept coming at roadblocks. everybody needed to be vaccinated. one nonvaccinated person could've been disastrous to the whole tour and put the tour and everybody at risk in the end, we could not take in unvaccinated drummer or any member of the crew. anyone who wasn't getting vaccinated could not come on tour with us. >> it wasn't even a personal decision. >> it wasn't really our decision. >> it was a logistical decision, there are 70 things you cannot do without being vaccinated so it wasn't possible. >> on the u.k. tour, you were doing a benefit concert for the national health service. why haven't you done that -- i don't think you have done that -- in the u.s.? >> we don't have a national health service unfortunately in the u.s..

this was presented to us and we thought it was a great idea to give back to the people who have done the most to get us through the pandemic and so we've given out 600 tickets to front-line workers, nurses, emts, cops, food delivery people, and the proceeds are going to the national health service charity. >> you talk about another pandemic in your diaries, about people getting hooked on medication. >> we have a song about addiction, always awful. the opioid epidemic in the u.s. seems a little more inherent in the west and other countries. just the way it has come about, we felt it was different and needed to be talked about because it was almost inadvertent where people are doing their daily thing, blue-collar workers or high school, college athletes and they have a minor injury and they are prescribed occasioned a

don't realize is addictive and before they know it, they are hooked on opiates. if the prescription runs out, they get street heroin or whatever. >> on top of that, the influx of fentanyl in society is killing people. it is so deadly, such a small amount will kill you, and it is getting mixed in all kinds of drugs, not just opioids, and people are dying in record numbers like never before. it is horrifying. ♪ >> we mentioned your recent releases. the song "gone away" came out -- >> 97? ♪ >> how did you decide to go for

a softer version of that track and was that a turning point? >> it was something we started doing live ring the set, and acoustic version to ing people down and let them breathe. we realized by doing that, you are laying the emotions of that song there, and got away might not be our most popular song but i would say it is touch people more profoundly than anything else we have done. the emotions are laid bare and you strip it down to the acoustic version. and the fans loved it and responded positively and wanted us to do a studio version. so we recorded it. ♪ >> it was a fan mandate, a recorded version of a ve ack. >> it's nice that you take

request from the fan. >> we try to listen to them. >> and the track "we never have sex anymore" is a total earworm, i was listening to it this morning. ♪ >> you've also done a french version. how did you decide to do a french version and why? >> there was something about the song, it just said please sing me in french. i don't know if it is the musical tone or the subject matter, it is about a loss of passion. there was something about it. >> the french are stereotypically known as super passionate, tres sexy, so to sing about the lack of passion in french it seems like an excellent -- and interesting

take for us. >> i had a lot of help from a great french girl who had helped me pronounce the lines, basically. in the studio i can take it one line at a time and get it right, so the idea of seeing it all front to back is a little daunting, but we've probably got until at least next summer to figure that out. ♪ >> there has been how to birdwatching, how to fly a jet,

and any other things you are planning to do in offspring tutorials? >> we have plans. >> we still have a couple in the cam, don't we? >> we do. we were trying to figure out how can we give people stuff to look at? let's do a series of videos and we will call it how to do something odd or random and we don't really show you how to do anything. let's think of fun, random things to do. >> how to open a beer bottle with various objects. >> when you are on tour, you don't always have access to a proper bottle opener so you have to make do with what is in the room. we explore that in that video. >> dexter and noodle, thank you for taking the time. >> of pleasure, thank you for having us. ♪

>> ♪ let the bad times roll ♪

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12/27/21 12/27/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> people marched and demonstrated anti-apartheid end ed! and democracy and freedom were born. amy: south african anti-apartheid leader bi