the w business beyond. here's a closer look at the project. our mission. to analyze the fight for market dominance. east versus west. get a step ahead with the w business beyond on you to with this is d. w. news live from berlin. people around the world begin bringing in the new year. hong kong puts on a spectacular fireworks display at victoria harbor. but festivities in many places

are being scale back this year. a mid rising cove is 19 cases. also coming up, germany's new chancellor gives his 1st new year's address or left shelter, or just the public to stand together and to get vaccinated. pos, corona, virus infection, certain surge to new hires in the united states. there are growing concerns that the latest wave will overwhelm hospitals and disrupt other key infrastructure. we'll talk to an expert this out. ah, i'm anthony. how'd walk into the program? people around the world are mocking the start of the new year with celebrations to ring in 2020 to hong kong. so a fireworks display at victoria harbor accompanied by music from the cities philharmonic orchestra. earlier in oakland new zealand opted for a lot show projected on the city landmarks while across the tasman in australia.

spectacular fireworks lit up the sky. other sydney harbour bridge celebrations. they went ahead this year despite soaring karone of ours numbers. well here in germany, there are still a few hours left of 2021 and the german chancellor. as recorded his 1st new year's address to the nation in comments due to be broadcast later to they all have shots, urged all germans to stand together in the fight against covey 19 and to get vaccinated. other than tackling the pandemic, the german leader said, the biggest challenge for the upcoming year was to lay the foundations for germany's future development. i think one small changes that today i'm the one speaking to you on new year's eve. as your federal chancellor. things are different this year. after 16 years of new years addresses by angle america, germany's new head of government rose to the task for the 1st time. chancellor

shall send at the challenges faced by the country in 2021. acknowledging the hardships that have been endeared, such as december's flirts in western germany and facing the resilience people have shown. especially during the pandemic. monte vic, lise de some people complained that our society is divided. i'd like to take this opportunity to make it very clear that in fact the opposite is true. our country is standing together by what i see everywhere as tremendous, solidarity, and incredible spurts of helping others. and people coming together and mutual support in order to cared copied 19 infections of shots appeared once again to people to get vaccinated. if isn't that the, we know that those who are not yet vaccinated are at particular risk of becoming infected and suffering from long and severe illness. for this reason, i would like to urge you once more to get vaccinated to new government's

vaccination efforts have already hit their 1st. my stone, with $30000000.00 vaccines administered since the end of november and further $30000000.00 doses planned by the end of january valesh held so so total opportunity to emphasize to coalitions goes on climates and meet them within 25 years. we want germany to become climate neutral into achieve this, we will move forward with the greatest transformation our economy is seen in more than a century. in this period we will achieve independence from coal, oil and gas. and he reminded listeners of one of his social democratic party's key election promises. an eastern pay is also a matter of respect. that's why in 2022 will be taking a major step and increasing the legal minimum wage to 12 years per hour shelters. first new year's address soon with optimizon, it was a declaration of good faith. but he also called on people to play their part in forming the future. 50 numbers at the beginning of a new decade,

a new era as dawning lawyer, an error that will be successful if we actively shape it. because we can make a difference if we remain determined and take out, fight into our own hands. zips and de'anthony was told to our chief political editor, michelle, according to now hi, michaela welcomed m shelter. speech was dominated by covey, as you might expect. how did his address, if it did address concerns that is taking over divided country. while his line is that germany should not be divided, that is not as divided as is sometimes being reported despite the fact that once again we've seen demonstrations from people who are against vaccinations, who see a deep state behind that. i think it's interesting to note that the president of parliament babbled bass at the same time called for bridging that very divide. so this may also be a strategy not to blow those divisions out of proportion to not see a loud minority really take over the public debate. and it is all i've saw in his

1st direct address to the german people, basically calling on everyone to pull together while at the same time saying, look, i see you pulling together, let's keep doing. i was really interested in the time when asked in a pre election interview if he had enough christmas yet for the job. shots replied that he was not applying for a job as a circus master. and what did his speech say about the kind of chancellor? germany is now getting was definitely not a circus master, but we are coming out of 16 years. angular michael, who herself is living proof that you don't need to have a political circuit, which is something she completely rejected at that. in fact, you don't need to be a strong speaker, you don't have to use charismatic. soon as you take the stage to actually be successful and german politics stability is sexy and just political contest. and all i saw is just won an election on that very promise of stability. macalester stability, i dare say at that angle america was so em successful at making her own political

brand. we have shocking over at one end and then shelter, definitely at the other. what about the international stage? how's the rest of the world going to read this in terms? did we get any insights or, or clues, if you like into foreign policy on a huge surprises there? he did take those standard boxes of basically stressing that the transatlantic relationship with the united states is very important. also saying that it's critical to master that crisis over ukraine. what he did not say is what he will do in concrete terms, particularly faced with an american demand to not have the nor stream to pipeline, go ahead to, which is that also you demand it towards germany. and also he clearly sees the challenge from china. but we still haven't learned whether germany will follow suit, and no officials be attending those olympic games there, or whether germany would join a boy called on certain goods produced in the region where we see the incarceration

of the week of minority. so, and he's saying the right words, but we're still to learn what that will translate into concrete policy when he does it. also on that pledge to see a more suffering european union under germany's what a big year had chief political editor, mechanical for thank you. and he can watch the full address from the german chancellor on ag youtube channel. and on a website we found a d, w dot com. all right, now let's get you up to speed on some of the other stories making headlines around the world. gemini is shutting down 3 of its 6 remaining nuclear power plant. today, the last 3 stations will be switched off one year from now. gemini, began facing out nuclear energy under angle of miracle after the reactor accident in fukushima. for people are missing in northern belgium after a powerful gas explosion, the blast in the town of turn out destroyed part of a residential building. the one person is recovering from the injuries in hospital

chinese president, teaching ping has delivered his traditional new year's address. in it, he said re unification with taiwan. was a goal for people both on the island and the mainland. tensions between begging anti pe have been growing with china stepping up military activity near the taiwan straits. frances condemned a satellite rocket launched by iran saying it is in breach of un security council resolutions. harris says it was especially regrettable because, well, powers seeking to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal with iran. the mission i'm to put 3 research devices into space. although, although t ron says they failed to get into orbit fast moving wildfire, the torn through many rural areas near denver, colorado to swearing, at least 500 homes, tens of thousands have been forced to flee their properties or 30 say these are the worst fights, the state has ever seen, there are no known deaths at this stage. healthy experts in the u. s. a warning of

what they call an only chronic blizzard. they've told americans to prepare for severe disruptions in the coming weeks. the rising wave of cub 19 led by the army crohn variant is threatening to overwhelm hospitals, schools and other key infrastructure record numbers of children had been hospitalized, and authorities are preparing to authorize booster shots for 12 to 15 year olds next week or more on this on joined by sat owner, who's the director of the yale institute for global health in new haven. professor thanks for talking to us and american epidemiologist as warning of a viral blizzard in the us in the coming weeks, do you say that way? yes, it's more like a flash flood that we are expecting in the sense that it is likely to have a we are likely to have a further increase in the number of cases, but hopefully based on the pattern from other countries,

this um deluge will be short lived in the sense that it will not last 4 months and months. the question is whether and where it over the health system of that is a very concerning situation. what my estimate is that it will be reasonably diverse in terms of where it's an argument over the health system. we talk endlessly and understandably about the problems associated with the pandemic. the spread of the bars, the dangers. but what about a solution? what can be done to stop coded ruining another year? i think that's a really good question. so just to remind everyone, this is not december 2020 we are. we have tools at our disposal around the world. we have highly effective vaccines, especially against severe disease. we have a pretty substantial supply of high quality mass. we have understood more about the

modes of transmission of the buyers, and we know that good ventilation and good filtration helps. so it is the deployment of those tools that will ensure a sustainable control of this virus in the coming months and years. a talk about that, the tools, i guess we want to talk more about how we're using them. now you've been an advocate of global vaccine equity. it seems now that the wealthy countries are pushing their populations to get a 3rd shot, while many people in poor countries are still waiting for their fist when he stand on this. now, as you alluded to that i have been talking about vaccine equity even before the vaccine was available because, you know, some of us have worked in global health for a while. but here's the thing. my perspective is that doesn't have to be a 0 sum game. my perspective is that, of course, if you have a population that is vulnerable, do whatever you need to do a to protect them. however, the problem is not that valuable people in certain countries are getting

a 3rd dose based on the data. the problem is that we haven't increased the size of the pie. we haven't increased the, the actual deliveries against the announcements that have been made for, for donations, for example, the team, europe, which is e, you've lost a couple of countries, had announced half a $1000000000.00 up in various stages and only a quarter of them approximately have actually been delivered, so press release is don't save lives, actual vaccines save lives. so the idea is not to say that, you know, you don't follow evidence at home. the idea is to increase the size of the pie through actual delivered vaccines through technology transfer. and so on and so forth. deliveries to match the promises and just on another matter, it's just about 2 years since china reported that 1st cluster of cases in whoo hon . what do you see in the here head?

well, i see that we are not helpless bystanders. but to say that we have a lot of power to change the course of the, of the pandemic. but that would require leadership, but it will also require the recognition from the population of, from the populations. because, you know, we are a heterogeneous world that we can either muddled through this for years to come, or we can bite the bullet and control this pandemic aggressively through the tools that are available and then get on with our lives. and so i think of deployment of tools doesn't only benefit does in terms of what they called, but it also benefits us in terms of getting back to the normal, increasingly wonderful to get your insights. profess assad oma from the al institute for global health in new haven, connecticut. thanks so much. my pleasure. ill cdw news. his or amanda of

the top story we're following for you. this l. people around the world have begun ringing in the new year. hong kong put on a 5 weeks despite at victoria hava, accompanied by music from the cities philharmonic orchestra, but festivities in many places are being scaled back this year made a shop bronson covey 19 cases and that is all for now the cove, its special program is up after a short break on the channel for the latest headlines, don't forget, there's always a website to be found at d, w dot com on social media. the handle you need is at d. w. news. i'll be back with another bulletin in 45 minutes to stay with the fight against the corona virus pandemic who has the weight of infection in developing what are the latest we.