to help the past problems due to low fuel rumsfeld was meeting saddam isn't there interesting. shadow on al-jazeera. facing a resurgence coded infections across europe shoot up and governments are tightening restrictions. again on canal santamaria here in doha with the world news from al-jazeera smokers risen from a prison in central lagos more on restaurants nigeria's biggest city. the conservative u.s. supreme court nominee amy coney barrett is a step closer to confirmation by donald trump and joe biden will be facing off for a final time where you will have

a live report from washington and south korea's name is lebanon's prime minister for the 4th time promising to rescue the very country that rejected him. let's start with coronavirus updates from the european governments on the continent and in the u.k. are finding they have no choice in some cases but to impose more restrictions to get a handle on the situation france's prime minister has just announced curfews that extend further than before and it goes into overseas french territories as well. we've got spain with the health ministers warning more drastic measures are coming spain reach the 1000000 infection mark on wednesday the government is accused of mishandling the crisis survived a no confidence vote in parliament germany's also seeing a rise in infections the daily count there is up about 10000 for the 1st time which is well above the numbers seen during the 1st wave in march but testing has

increased significantly must be said the government's health ministry says the situation is getting out of control. and we've just heard as well that more than $16000.00 new cases have been reported in italy and the region of lombardi which was the worst hit at the beginning of the year a nighttime curfew has been imposed lots to get through there john holl is in a european broadcast center in london to take us through that we do want to such an issue we say fronts. well france is the top line of the hour if you like this off the back of the news you measure the both france and spain in the past 24 hours past that 1000000 case milestone and are trying desperately to get to grips with spiraling infection rates not so easy in spain where the federal government has been wrangling with local authorities particular madrid trying to institute stiff measures to try and control 'd the epicenter of the outbreak or the pandemic in spain which is the madrid region less

difficult in france where last week the government put paris and 8 other cities under curfew in the last hour john karr stacks the prime minister speaking to the nation and putting a further $38.00 of france's departments those are administrative subdivisions small regions out of $101.00 and $1.00 in total $38.00 of them also under curfew that's from friday night is a curfew curfew that runs from 9 pm in the evening until 6 am so in total from friday $46000000.00 french people will be forced to stay indoors overnight france of course looking at a death toll the total death toll of some $34000.00 since the pandemic broke other countries of course you know looking at similar situations no one is spared at this point you mentioned italy once again seeing the specter of cove it 19 reappear another record of infections on thursday 16079 after

a record was set on wednesday in a record before that is just going one way in italy germany that had had better success at keeping a lid on all of this earlier in the year also seeing steep rises smaller numbers but big rises and warning the country to favor that it may face a potentially uncontrollable escalation in the months to come smaller countries to the czech republic facing dreadful difficulties the balkan countries belgium talking about a sunni. of infections in the months and weeks to come with the health service already on the brink of collapse indeed the country's deputy prime minister in hospital with covert 90 in intensive care indeed 45 year old sophie room is said to be in a stable condition the same can't be said for the pandemic across europe extraordinary stuff john hall think you for bringing us up to date all the news across europe thank you.

on the confirmation of u.s. supreme court nominee amy kearney barrett will be held on monday as follows the approval of her nomination in the senate judiciary committee a process that was boycotted by the democrats so now goes to a full senate vote will go with republicans holding a majority their parents confirmation is pretty much set meanwhile democratic presidential nominee joe biden has told the 60 minutes program on c.b.s. that he would look into alternatives before expanding the supreme court if elected what i will do is i put together a national commission a bipartisan commission of scholars constitutional scholars democrats republicans liberal conservative and i will ask them do over a $180.00 days come back to me with recommendations as to how to reform the court system because it's getting out of whack is that official at the white house to

talk more about this let's talk about i mean tony barrett's confirmation 1st of all allan the democrats choosing to boycott that vote in the judiciary committee did that actually achieve anything or is it just them saying we can't do anything here . it was symbolic and more symbolic by the fact that in their seats they put faces of people who are currently covered by the affordable care act in the say there. is food on the supreme court she is likely to vote with conservative justices and tear that down that would remove coverage of preexisting conditions for some $23000000.00 americans it was really symbolic it was saying to their supporters look we've tried everything we can and there is not much we can do here in fact the judiciary committee brought their own rules there's meant to be at least 2 members of the democratic minority on the committee when they take a vote they pushed it through $12.00 to 0 but the senate rules are normally enforceable it will go to the full senate for

a vote on monday the 1st steps in that will be on friday when they will start the movement the democrats again talking about parliamentary procedure and doing what they can to delay the vote perhaps even suggesting that the senate should adjourn till after the election that's not going to happen there is one your public and senator who said that she will not vote because it's too close to an election there is another who is likely to fall the same way but that still doesn't matter with $53.00 seats in the senate take those away you've still got 51 and it looks as if every connie ballot by monday will be the next supreme court justice of the united states what is interesting is that this is taken this away from donald trump as an election issue he could have pushed this through till after the election so you've got to support me will get on the bench it's almost some would suggest and certainly to a couple of people i've been speaking to

a suggestion that the republican senate doesn't quite believe that donald trump can win the presidential election so they're pushing through this nomination while they're still got the numbers and the president pushing with the nomination at this side of his opponent of course in that election joe biden who we heard a short clip of earlier speaking to 60 minutes about the supreme court can you explain that for of the it was and any sort of controversy that might have going forward. because the democrats are upset at the republicans pushing through equally but it's nomination they think that tilts the court $63.00 in favor of conservatives they think that the republicans have push this through too close to an election so are playing a bit loose with the rules can they do it yes should they have done it as all different question or joe biden has been under pressure to say that he will pack the court remember those 9 supreme court justices the suggestion is they'll be a lot more added that will be a more progressive more liberal not conservative and that would mean that the

liberals get the majority back on the court he's never been a fan of court packing and he's been asked that difficult question over the last 2 weeks will you part of the court he refused to answer in the 1st debate this gives him a note this is a political maneuver that i will call a commission that will report to me within 3 months and i will look at the recommendations doesn't say he's got to do anything he just saying that this is a way of answering that very difficult question before the election but certainly it sure is that perhaps interested in doing something and that will certainly please the progressive wing of the democratic party who are very keen the court is packed that there are more liberal justices on the supreme court and so this is going to this election could well change the face of u.s. politics completely alan fischer at the white house thank you alan. so don from peru and his rival joe biden are now preparing for the final u.s. presidential debate to happen later on thursday organizers in nashville tennessee

have made changes to the format aimed at avoiding a repeat of trump's repeated interruptions in the 1st debates it's enough for my white house correspondent can we help it on the big debate you she wasn't raised in the 1st presidential debate between donald trump and joe biden according to many political analysts was a low point in the 2020 u.s. election because she would otherwise be doing ok as you know our president sure things up the u.s. president repeatedly interrupted his democratic rival and also the moderator chris you're there waiting words now today and just 3 days later trump was in the hospital after testing positive for cope with 19 raising questions about whether or not he knew he was affected with the virus when he took to the debate stage trump's refusal to do a virtual debate led to the cancellation of the 2nd presidential match up instead both nominees participated in their own separate town halls at the same time and on

the same night but now with the final debate set to take place in nashville there are questions about trump's tactics and whether he'll take an aggressive stance as he did in the 1st debate. all all well. and well i don't think we. want one notable change this time the campaigns agreed to an uninterrupted rule which means the microphone of the candidate who doesn't have the floor will be muted trump is unhappy about the change and has repeatedly attacked the debate commission and the next moderator as biased against. earlier this week the trump campaign sent out a letter to the debate commission complaining it changed the focus of the debate

from foreign policy adding more domestic issues like covert 19 and racial injustice meanwhile biden has spent the week at home without any public events analysts believe he has the most to lose by a poor showing in the final presidential debate will be. on. what you do or say a long. long long. long long long. long if the undecided voter habit is often try to win over in a presidential debate but there are fewer undecided voters this year than in 2016 with early voting surging most have already made up their mind about who they want to win on election day can really help that al-jazeera the white house and the

debate starts in a little under 9 hours from now you can watch it right here on al-jazeera from over 100 hours g.m.t. friday and move on to other new area where the president is holding an emergency security meeting as parts of lagos burn smoke is billowing from the prison after earlier reports of gunshots have been norma's 2 weeks of protests now they initially began against police brutality amnesty international says at least 12 protesters were killed in lagos on tuesday night and interests in a budget he says security has been beefed up around that prison area and the situation has largely been brought on to control. roads leading to the prison has have all been blocked by security forces and elsewhere in the city overnight we've seen looting arson and other criminal activities going on across the city this morning there were incidents in motion area and i short while ago there was an attack on a warehouse where

a food items meant to support the poor during covered 1000 times had been raided by a bank by a gang of youths who opened the warehouse and it was a free for all people have been carting away foodstuffs from that area while that attack on the prison was going on in ikoyi in neighboring state there was another attempt or another there was another attack on another prison there the 5th prison to be attacked in the last 3 days remember 2 days ago which seen 2 prisoners that typed in at the state a total of 1993 prisoners escaped although 160 of them have been recaptured now the 5th prison that was attacked close in on the state where the prison van was set on fire and reports reaching us now indicate that 58 inmates have escaped prison officials have been wounded in that attack and apart from that going back to lagos again another mall was set on fire after looters took away the i can from

that building is the same old that was attacked at the height of protest following these in a 4 week attacks in south africa. in the news ahead the hunt for the most wanted man in georgia 'd got the latest on the bank robber who's on the run and the traumatised hostages enough behind. we want people to not to forget about our situation and for that about our fight the opposition in belarus when europe's top prize for human rights on or india their efforts against the presidential election widely regarded as great. however we've got some heavy showers in the forecast longer spells of rain still in play there for japan but it's in the process of pushing outs of the way a long line of cloud here coming in across search pan then through friday that

wetter weather slowly but surely making its way further east with so some bright skies coming back in behind still with a few showers and those showers they become fewer and further between as we go on into sas they say some dry weather coming through the heavy rain moving out into the open waters as follow that line of cloud and rain yeah that joins up with what is now typhoon southdown making its way towards the gulf of tonkin through high net and on towards central parts of vietnam behind that another area very heavy rain no the parts of the by a single big massive cloud here that's been spinning away over the last few days pushing up into bangladesh causing some flooding in the process nudging the heavier rainfall further north up into the poles and big downpours just to right to some state northern parts of myanmar still further showers here as we go on through saturday hopefully a little drier into bangladesh but the shot was still there nevertheless central parts of india not looking too bad but i would also west yet more very heavy rain

all the way up to move by. hi i'm steve clemons and i have a question because these days it's hard to filter out the noise in keep track of what's really important to keep the bottom line tackles the big issues this is shaping the united states its people its economy and the way it deals with the rest of the world the bottom line only on al-jazeera. the korean doomsday cultist would hundreds of followers to a tropical paradise. wonder when a student mr gates the secretive sect accused of abuse and violence in featured. on al-jazeera.

the top stories this hour on al-jazeera france is an odds new measures to try to contain the coronavirus governments in europe and the u.k. are grappling with how to keep the rising numbers down and fact the u.k. just announced more than 21000 new cases in the last 24 hours. a vote on the confirmation of u.s. supreme court nominee and tony barrett will be held on monday for fastrack nomination has been one of the topics in the lead up to the presidential election. and smoke has been billowing from a prison in the nigerian city of lagos amid national unrest the president held an emergency security meeting to deal with the protests against police brutality and the subsequent violence. developing story from sri lanka where m.p.'s have approved a constitutional amendment giving the president more power. got the bio rajapaksa will now be able to dissolve the parliament and have full immunity from prosecution

the opposition had urged the government to withdraw the legislation which critics say will impose autocratic rule you know if a man is in colombia no surprise then that this is actually been approved but the implications of it my goodness. absolutely come on the fact of the rajapakse is we're going to carry through their plans either for a new constitution or in this case what they have settled for is an amended constitution is no surprise to anyone i mean the basically the rajapaksa bandwagon which began with top iraqi proxy contesting the presidency he went to the people asking for a mandate essentially to make the necessary changes to the constitution to allow him to do what's necessary for this country to report that confidence and essentially the people voted on mass for him and we're seeing that essentially

indication of that coming to fruition in the parliament just a few minutes ago 156 m.p.'s voting to change the constitution as opposed to $65.00 voting against it this obviously brings that huge sweeping range of powers back under the umbrella of gotama rajapakse of the current executive president of sri lanka he has the power to appoint to dismiss the prime minister any minister he has the power obviously to take on any ministerial portfolio to make sweeping appointments to a wide range of institutions very sensitive institutions the judiciary the national police commission essentially also the whole system of appointments reach for which the previous government in the 19th amendment had set up a constitutional council has been done away with now there's a parliamentary council but essentially most of those decisions and the power rests

with the one man the executive president gautami rajapaksa obviously his brother mind the rajapakse of the prime minister during the debate the 2 day debate in parliament did see that the president had received the mand it that he went before the people asking them to give him the authority to bring in. in the changes to the constitution so what they're saying is this is the people speaking and that they will deliver so as much as we've seen this kind of weave and the implications of all that power concentrated in the one man giving rise to a lot of concerns which human rights activists and observers have voiced that it gives room for the beginning of origin in authoritarianism but basically for the people of this country who essentially had almost a political experiment going wrong with the previous government they brought in a new government in 2015 essential to move out the rajapakse is but this been 5

years in disappointment and it seems like they've shrugged their shoulders and said look we've tried that it hasn't worked so let's see what happens here hopefully they're not going to be disappointed you know fernandez with that update from colombo thank you saad hariri who is now prime minister of lebanon for a 4th time his appointment was announced after consultations between lebanon's president and the various political groups he resigned from the job last year following mass anti-government protests against the accuser economic crisis and corruption let's hear from. a journalist and founder of the beirut report who says hariri his return is a sign of how little has changed in lebanon since the anti-government protests began last year. i think people have been through a lot in this past year they've been through the explosion they've been through devaluation of their money by 80 percent value of the currency so i think that many are are not feeling the same revolutionary spirit as they might have been

a year ago when things were looking a lot better people are pretty desperate this country so i imagine there will be a protest but i don't think we'll see the 'd same kind of protests that we saw a year ago the problem is this is a very geo political problem in lebanon still you know there's still a battle between the u.s. and iran taking place in lebanon so i don't know if that if that will change we'll see any change locally in lebanon a lot on faith it's very much tied to 'd the big power brokers that run this country whether it's iran or the u.s. or france or other countries so we'll have to see what if there is an agreement between iran and the u.s. we could threaten the u.s. maybe this will have some hope but you know lebanon is really a reality of these x. warlords running a country that is really not a country at all in many ways lebanon not really a functioning state so this is kind of more perpetuating the same problem i think we'll have to wait for elections in this country to really see some kind of

a change happening but inevitably lebanon's problem is also economic this country has one of the biggest debts in the world today so how can you get out of that hole with a just some smiles and and putting the same faces back in power what we need as a desperate economic salvation for this country. is awaiting progress in the peace talks between the governments of afghanistan and the taliban the negotiations go on here and come to the find shows no sign of actually ending in afghanistan for your country 40 reports now from the capital kabul. mohammad nazir sits in his empty shop and waits for the customers that have stopped coming but mostly he's waiting for the peace that has yet to come. we are really tired tired of this war there's a war here from the last 40 years and we spent all our lives in the war when we see the current situation it really hurts us. but for the united states its longest war

is showing signs of ending the largest american military base here background near kabul is reducing its size president donald trump said he wants all american troops home by christmas but the pentagon and state department say 2 and a half 1000 troops will remain into next year afghan business owners at the bazaar near baghran base have been losing customers because of their withdrawal and along with them hope for the future although now that. we have no hope from the government when they're asking for your vote they make a lot of good promises about our future that when they're in power they don't fulfill those promises they even took the bread from our table. government forces and the taliban are again fighting in the south and province of helmand. tens of thousands have been forced from their homes and dozens of schools closed throughout the decades a war enough gonna stand as well as the military casualties civilians have often

been caught in the crossfire and afghans have repeatedly called for a cease fire to let the peace talks in doha progress but the ceasefire isn't happening analysts say the various sides are increasing their attacks to gain leverage in the peace negotiations and while talks have not reached a make or break point if they fail to mean as a says the stakes for the country are too high we already have people in afghanistan rearming. because they say well the americans are leaving the afghan government might hold for a while and we should defend ourselves and i hope taliban realize that because then it this africa this war will become greedy afternoons and it will turn into a civil war into a sectarian war internet make war that will be very bloody afghans hope history

won't be repeating itself and the repetition of the bloodshed that followed the soviet withdrawal 30 years ago will your country for al jazeera kabul some residents of hong kong will be able to begin the process of applying for british citizenship in the new year the u.k.'s offer applies to about 3000000 people living in the former british colony but london has confirmed there will be no upper limit on the number of applications britain said it would start offering citizenship to hong kong residents just off the china imposed a new security law in hong kong. the european parliament's highest honor for freedom of thought the socket of prize is going to the opposition movement in bello roots thousands of them staging nationwide protests and strikes going for an end to president alexander lukashenko is 26 year old who he was declared the winner of an election in all goods but many still believe that vote was rigged the exiled opposition leaders fanatical skya says the movement against the president will continue. you know you can't just. eat

most concerning only elections now and in the course of the geisha information i don't think it will be held responsible if so why because in these cases and european countries as to war human rights violations or even this measure all. over the city geisha is now all going to happen after the election. well in georgia an armed man who held dozens of people hostage at a bank is a scaped with half a $1000000.00 all the hostages were released after the man got the money he demanded he got a getaway car as well from forrester walker has the story c.c.t.v. from inside this bank of georgia branch ins of d.d. shows a gunman well armed and seemingly well trained terrorizing staff and customers hostages

were asked to contact the media you know that we could under any i mean i named. one of them relayed his demands to a t.v. station $500000.00 in cash and safe passage armed police units waited officials pledged with the media to stop broadcasting live from the scene and you should look on the net is quite limited yes we demand from all media outlets including mobile operators to cut off restrict a live signal in order to ensure the safety of hostages law enforcers and ordinary citizens in order to effectively conduct police measures. but there were to be no police measures some hostages were released then after lengthy negotiations allegedly more were freed some clearly traumatized in exchange for cash it's alleged and the local chief of police he and 3 other hostages emerged as human

shields with a gunman holding what appeared to be a grenade. in georgia there's been relief that nobody was harmed but also disbelief that this gunman whose identity remains unknown was able to get away with such a brazen crime. after the final hostages were released the gunman reportedly escaped into a forest not far from the breakaway region about ha's here where local media speculated he might seek refuge a search is now on to catch georgia's most wanted man. in 1st year walker al-jazeera tbilisi. half past the hour we'll take you through the headlines and france's prime minister has announced that nighttime curfews are being extended.