pandemics explode to protect the people or the episode, one of the full hail the lockdown on the streets . atika says it's covered 90 vaccine is 90 percent effective and cheaper than rivals making it affordable for the developing world. rather than give it all this is al jazeera live from doha, also coming up another u.s. state certifies joe biden as the winner raising the pressure on president donald trump to concede defeat. and the u.s. president elects, announces key members of his team. we take a look at changes expected in u.s. foreign policy. and the standoff in northern ethiopia government forces prepare for

a final assault on the city of macquarie to great forces refuse to step aside. the makings of a 3rd major covert 19 experimental vaccine have revealed the results of late stage tests. oxford university, a drug company astra zeneca could be up to 90 percent effective and cheaper than to other u.s. vaccines. drug company has pledged not to make a profit from the vaccine during the pandemic raising hopes it could be distributed more widely across the world. pharmaceutical firms of pfizer, have a reported about 95 percent efficacy from late stage trials of their experimental vaccines to whole reports from london. it's being hailed as a vaccine for the world pharmaceuticals firm astra zeneca in partnership with the

university of oxford says interim trial results will be sent to regulators immediately in the hope their product is approved for rollout. before the end of the year. we've got a vaccine, which is a fact it prevents a live action intriguingly in result of a headline is that we do have as our are and then have all those of the back. and i guess where we saw 90 percent or more data may be needed to confirm the 90 percent subgroup results, but cheaper to mass produce, easier to distribute, to more moderate temperatures than its competitors. the british vaccine is good news for poorer parts of the world. in time, the astra zeneca oxford vaccine could lead to an end to the pandemic, worldwide reaching parts of the world. the other vaccines on offer simply can't put on a much shorter time scale. it's already being projected by the government here. that

vaccine technology may lead to a resumption of normal life by easter for national restrictions in england was the 2nd of december addressing parliament remotely, while serving a period of isolation himself. prime minister johnson outlined a post lockdown plan for england, a return to the regional system of tiered restrictions introduced in october, but strengthened this time to guard against a further surge 1st. we must get through winter without the virus really out of control. very hard by the gate at exactly the time when the burden on the n.h.s. is always great. this is designed to carry out safely just so from december, the 2nd until april shops will reopen, parts of the economy will be allowed to breathe again and the government has

promised the trammels can meet up over the christmas period. there is more than cautious optimism that in to all of this is inside. jonah, how al-jazeera london was behind the oxford astra zeneca experimental vaccine and talking up its low price and how it would be easier to distribute, especially in developing countries. astra zeneca says it would cost about $2.50 a dose and be stored in normal fridge temperatures for up to 6 months. done as vaccine can sit in a friend's for 30 days or a regular freezer for 6 months. it will cost between $15.00 and $25.00 per dose. fisons that ciena will be about $20.00. however, it requires specialist, deep freezing was to hear small. she also is a molecular the role of the northumbria university. he says the advantages of the oxford astra zeneca vaccine are exaggerated mainly easier to store and transport, and that is the major advantage that he's presenting. there's no huge other

additional advantages. if anything, one could argue that the pfizer and the have not done a vaccine. so actually have more advantages because although in the short term, it costs literally 10 times as much just to move these things around. the phrases consume 10 times as much energy at minus 85 better up to minus 20 degrees. the fact is that we know how to turn these kind of compound into powders and keep them us room temperature stored or even just played fridge thought powders. and therefore, within a year from now, it is quite likely that these companies will be looking to bring to the market to the clinic. these ultra cold boxing's, but in a powder form of that can be stored turned on the shelf because of the damage that has been wrought by this virus globally. literally, all the companies are turned extent benefiting all of the opportunity to submit for

this so called early use of arrows ation approval. and this is a really keen, double edged sword, because if something happens, the dosing numbers increase and a lot more people are saved, that there's the slightest indication that there might be slight a safety concern that regulators will pull the plug straight away. so the companies that are putting these things into market are going to go in there, like many of them have been to go in a nonprofit approach like astra zeneca on oxford have done that. no, there's not enough. applauded for them for doing this for societal gold. and if something goes wrong from the impact to their reputation, it's going to be quite significant. as spiraling number of new coronavirus cases is causing a lot as the u.s. approaches one of its busiest travel days of the year, millions of americans have already established that journey to see family and friends for thanksgiving weekend holiday despite warnings to stay at home. christensen, amid reports from new york, getting together for

a big meal in person with loved ones is what the thanksgiving holiday is usually about. but given, traveling and eating together are considered high risk activities in a pandemic. public officials are encouraging people to play it safe with public service announcements like this one vital care, giving them their current, chilling, and warnings like this one. this is not a normal for a given. nationwide, daily coronavirus hospitalizations are at record highs in the united states and deaths continue to climb. you put that rate of increase together with an additional increase from the high level of social activity. that is a dangerous situation even in new york with one of the lowest infection rates in the country. private gatherings are being officially limited to 10 people, amid reports of large forbidden events like this orthodox wedding, attended by thousands. but restrictions vary from state to state. our clear public

is to see this thing to do is, is not to travel. and that is also a very important message along with our message to get. travel is being strongly discouraged, but if you must fly, the c.d.c. recommends covert testing one to 3 days before airline passengers are required to wear masks and airports are supposed to enforce social distancing, no one and 6 feet apart. like everyone kind of 3 feet apart. are you know, part it's more, but with no end to the pandemic in sight, many travelers appear willing to risk. it just felt like ok, it doesn't seem like it's getting any better. i mean, mine's relative, chided us, have a little bit of fun without getting sick. transmission concerns are likely to drive some to travel by car, but with intensive care units becoming overwhelmed in many parts of the country and

the bodies of the dead still unclaimed from new york surge in the spring. officials are hoping many americans, especially those most at risk, will just stay home. christian salumi al jazeera, new york and action officials have confirmed president joe biden's victory in the u.s. state of michigan. it is another blow for donald trump's attempts to overturn the results of the presidential election. the board of state canvasses confirmed biden's win by 154000 votes. republicans wanted the panel to didn't legs certify results for 2 weeks to order votes in a heavily democratic destroy, which includes the majority african-american city of detroit. sampa townsend joins us now live from wilmington, delaware, that is the hunt stakes of president elect joe biden. shihab, how major is this michigan? is it game over for trump's hopes to of the turn? the results of the election?

not officially, but certainly it adds to the sense that this entire effort is fizzling out even as we speak. we're beginning to see reports that maybe the administration is getting ready to finally finally to concede, concede the election, but certainly the amount of pressure that was placed on the the board of elections in michigan, robert, there are 2 democrats, 2 republicans on this board. and in the end, it was a $30.00 vote to certify the results with one abstention to be even get didn't even get one republican to you to refuse to vote for certification. so if that will lead to sort of occasional sort of event surely. however, there will be audit there may be recounts, there will be investigation, but none of this is official say in michigan is going to change change as a result there. and we're seeing a similar situation in pennsylvania as county after county certifies. so to focus the results, despite all the legal challenges which are often thrown out of court with prejudice

by republican judges, she have, it seems the chorus, if you like, of people demanding that donald trump concede is growing ever louder. now we've heard from a group of former republican national security officials who are very concerned about this they say this is, this is leading to a national security danger to the united states. we've heard from these, these folks before that these are the never trump foreign policy establishment from the republican party. they also signed in august before the election. it's interesting though, that they have firmly hitched their wagon to biden. you can see why because on foreign policy by surrounded himself with the foreign policy establishment. i know you're about to go into more detail about the national security picks that were announced today here in delaware, but then they will be very happy with the direction the biden administration seems to be going in at least on paper. this is the big question there,

because clearly foreign policy was an issue that was key to trump's rise, particularly among people who had voted for obama in the past. were disappointed that obama had ended. the war as he probably has to. and trump suggested that he would be, he would be different, as the biden ministration have. the will the biden search and learn from those mistakes. in addition, also foreign policy issues, all the tree traders, the free trade deals that obama kept on signing. if you look at the people that the biden has nominated, is nominating, they're all the same liberal interventionists, free traders. those in the obama administration will have to see, you know, whether the biden assertion is learned anything from how disenchantment to the democratic base became as a result all for obama's obama's policies now moving forward. thanks to that sabotages of that line from wilmington, delaware, speaking of foreign policy, u.s. president elect, joe biden has confirmed choices for the most senior foreign policy roles in his administration. anthony blinken will be nominated as the incoming u.s.

secretary of state. he is a close aide to ball. i've been a long time foreign policy adviser. jake sullivan has been appointed national security adviser and at 47 years old will be one of the youngest people to serve. in the role former secretary of state john kerry will make climate change his priority. as a special presidential envoy. let's bring in joel rubin. he served as a former assistant secretary of state in the obama administration. when tony blinken was deputy secretary of state, thanks for your time mr. rubin. so we're getting a clearer picture now of biden's plans for foreign policy, right? with his pick of anthony blinken who, you know, well for secretary of state, what does this appointment say about how a biden administration plans to approach foreign policy more generally? it's clear with sectarian blink and what we have is a nominee who is very close to the president. that's number one item that people at the state department care about. does the secretary have the ear of the president? but we also have someone who is committed to diplomacy. this is

a president elect. you said very firmly that he wants america to engage in the world to agree diplomatically and having secretary blinking in this job is going to be sure that we have that kind of a speech to the world that our diplomats are empowered to actually engage. discuss, negotiate and follow through on commitments by the good to that end. talking about engaging with rejoining biden wants to rejoin a number of international agreements. the iran nuclear deal is the 1st one i want to talk about with you. how difficult will that be for joe biden? getting back into this deal, this nuclear deal? what kind of negotiating position is he in? yeah, there's a lot on the table. there are different aspects, different deals that the united states wants to get back into. there's the paris climate accord. there's getting back into the world health organization. there's the new start treaty with russia. there's a lot on the table, clean up from the last several years in iran nuclear deal as well as part of that.

i think what we see from the president elect is a clear commitment to diplomacy with iran. and they want to make sure that iran is meeting conditions that it agreed to as well in that deal. but clearly there's a commitment to engage diplomatically and try to tamp down the problems in the region. there are significant challenges that iran is posing, and there's a real desire politically here in united states to confront that and deal with that . but clearly place president biden is concerned that we have no diplomatic process at all with iran, and that's exacerbating the situation. some analysts believe that joe biden has so fond defined his foreign policy in terms of just being office it, donald trump, right. and, and that he'll actually just return to the obama era order of things once you want to take it. and also i'm wondering, is there a risk that in doing that he may throw out some of the trump strategies that have actually been useful, like being willing to sit with friction with china, for example. yeah, and i think we heard

a realistic review by the biden team and by the president elect. this is 2020. it's not 20152016. the people who'd the vice president is bringing in the navy. i call them the vice president by the he's the president elect. he's looking at people who are smart, who are on top of the game, who have deep experience in these institutions who are going to seek the best knowledge. so a 2020 is where we live. it will be 2021 when the new administration comes in. and i think that you're right there really does have to be an assessment of where we are now. and that's why you see so many policies being looked at and what we described before as needing to be reversed. because there's deep concern that america's role in the world is in decline, that we have self isolated that america 1st is a failure. and as a result of that, the world's a more dangerous, less reliable, less predictable place. we have a global pandemic that's out of control and the united states is not at the table. and so we have to get back to fundamentals. and that's what this team brings in

spades is a real willingness to engage and a strain in managing the actual government and caring about how the u.s. is acting in the world stage. ok, thank you for your perspective. that's always been from assistant secretary of state in the obama administration. thank you. still ahead on al-jazeera. the lives at stake is international donors considered the future of afghanistan. also the impact on a real estate project could have hello, because some rather wet weather, pulling away from the eastern side of the u.s. at the moment. eastern parts of canada to lots of cloud showing up here behind our

cold front, cooler. just tucking in behind. big area, 5, preciousness keeping things settled for the time being the west, whether the windy or whether the wintry weather that's going to be the one that wins out over the next day or so. and that's going to sweep down off the rockies some snow coming in here. heavy rain through the great plains, pushing up towards the midwest where we have some snow, some lake effect snow. and that pushes up into one terrier, maybe manitoba, seeing some of that wetter weather wintry weather too. as we go through, choose to nassau and continue driving further east, which as we go on through wednesday, some heavy rain writes the way down into the deep south. new orleans could see some of that wetter weather the appalachians ahead of that they're getting squeezed out of the way. make the most of that dry weather that you have as we go on into the middle of the week wet here. the thanksgiving. meanwhile, still rather wet across central america, i'm afraid big, massive cloud still in play just around the caracas, around guatemala, that wetter weather, still feeding, quite

a few showers in across the region. it links with another system which pushes out into the atlantic and more rain here for wednesday. frank assessments, if other can public opinion piece to be traded social media platforms after november would be different cultures. and if you believe that there is a road similar to our democracy, one obvious solution is to bring informed opinion. lucas, i just don't go anywhere. the protesters are going anyway, either it's ability to get revolution. in-depth analysis of the day's political headlines. who is it? that's really out there on the street. inside story on al-jazeera.

you're watching are just there are a reminder of our top stories this hour. british drug company, astra zeneca, an oxford university, say late stage testing of their covert 19 vaccine shows it's highly effective. they say it can be stored for temperature, making it cheaper and easier to distribute. election officials have confirmed president elect joe biden's victory in the u.s. state of michigan. republicans wanted the panel to delay certifying the results for, 2 weeks or the votes in heavily democratic areas. u.s., president elect joe biden, has chosen several obama officials to serve in his administration, as maybe lincoln will be nominated to be secretary of state. and john kerry will take on the role of combating climate change leaders in ethiopia's to grave region denying government claims that the military is surrounding the regional capital mechanic. prime minister abi ahmed has given the great the

people's liberation front until wednesday to surrender or face an assault on the city. it's home to around half a 1000000 people. the t.p.i. left has so far refused to stand aside. so i guess people are ready to die in defense of their learned is following developments from nairobi in neighboring kenya. the government has said forces surrounding the gray in capital regional capital of mackay, and that there are about 50 kilometers away. that follows an ultimatum given by present by prime minister made on sunday. he said he was giving the green forces 3 days to lay down their arms ahead of what he said was a final would be a final assault on the regional capital. but the bread in the bread michael, the leader of the to green forces, has refuted these claims. he said it's not true that the city's rounded and he said 3 day ultimatum was actually a cover up on the part of the federal forces. he says are suffering following 3

defeats so these reports these claims by both sides completely contradict each other, but it's very hard to work out exactly what's going on. since communications, phone lines and internet part of the country have been cut off for weeks. ok, bring you some breaking news now. the u.s. general services administration has told president elect joe biden, that his transition can formally begin. let's bring in. she had tons of you. who is in wilmington, delaware, she has just explained to us how 6 do. we have, she has on the line. she how can you hear me? there he is. she had just break this down for us. what does this mean that the u.s. general services administration has made this announcement? it means that the transition can officially begin. it means 1st of all that biden, and the biden tradition will get lots of money to help that transition. but it also means now they can start accessing information from the, from the government as they try to make their plans for, for the presidency. having said that, there's a lot ahead during going on. this is,

this actually began breaking as we were speaking in just a few minutes ago. i don't know if you might have heard me saying as we speak, things appear to be changing. but we, we saw this letter just as we were getting coming on the beginning of the hour,, where the g.s.a., the general services administration, person in charge of ascertaining the likely winner of the election had it seems, sent a letter to joe biden saying, you know, we have ascertained the likely winner, however, the actual winner of the presidential election has yet to be determined through through the electoral processes. so there is some hedging there, but at least it means that because of course, the, the actual electoral college, the voters who vote in the electoral college haven't voted yet. that happens in december. so the vote drove the general services administration. that was always there simply to ascertain the likely winner and given that joe biden had been projected to win so many states and so many electoral college votes that should

have been a routine, a routine moment of certification or least of our parents of occasion. and that didn't happen, and we were reluctant to go with it at 1st, but then donald trump himself tweeted the following. i want to thank emily murphy at g.s.a. for her steadfast dedication and loyalty to our country. she has been harassed, threatened, and abused, and i do not want to see this happen to her family or employees of g.s.a. . our case in caps strongly continues, we will keep up the good fight and i believe we will prevail. nevertheless, in the best interest of our country, i'm recommending that emily and her team do what needs to be done with regard to initial protocols. and i've told my team to do the same. so corporation can begin on the transition. but trump is not declaring declaring last night, he's saying that the fight goes on, but the transition process, in case he loses that fight the possibility that he would lose, that fight is now being being suggested. that transition process can continue by gets the money for the transition and can begin cooperating with administration

officials as he plans what he hopes will be his term in office. so this is a formal recognition by the trump administration that a new president has been elected, right? the g.s.a. is the federal agency which oversees this transition. if donald trump is saying yes, go ahead. ok. just explain that for me. because of the g.s.a. general services administration, again, it ascertains the likely winner so that it is provisional because the actual electoral college we have this, you know this, this system here in the united states that was set up by the founding fathers in order to preserve the rights of, well, frankly, you know, whites, slave owning men and so on, that we still have this electoral college which gives enormous amounts of power to, to these electors who actually cost about this no matter what the actual popular vote is around the nationally. that, that process doesn't occur to december. and as we know, the official certification for counties and states is still occurring,

absent as always how it works. but clearly after election night, or at least in the week after election night, you know, it can be, it becomes clear who is the projected winner you will see. we're not projecting that biden is the winner, because the official winner has not been declared yet until those electors meet and cost the ballots. so what is it with a transition usually does start occurring when the winner is projected the be the likely winner is ascertained by the general services administration. that didn't happen in this case because of all the legal challenges and the issues raised by the republicans. so what the trump is saying is ok, we'll begin that transition process. but i'm not giving up at least officially. he's saying look, we're still going to continue fighting. the transition process can begin now, so that if about the possibility of a trial is raising that he might lose because otherwise, why would you begin to try a transition process? but, but, but, but isn't, isn't giving up yet, according to legal challenges. do continue in various states. he is saying he has

told his own tame donald trump is saying that he has told his own team to do the same in regards to doing what needs to be done with regard to initial protocols. so he's telling his team to do the same, but then as you say, at the same time he's saying we will continue to keep up the fight. strongly continues. i mean, is that just a done away, or is that just something we should expect from donald trump? no matter what happens, no matter how, how long this goes, no matter how it turns out, he will say he is continuing to fight and clearly, i mean, he does have, he does have the, the rules on his side. there has not been an official certification of the winner of the electoral college hasn't voted yet. so he is right technically, but this, this election isn't over yet. so he is able to say that they're all legal challenges and he's allowed to do to put to follow those legal challenges. but i

think this idea that the administration officials cannot cope with biden is really, really important, especially because we're in the midst of a pandemic. that was a key issue that we've been hearing all week here in wilmington, from biden transition officials. the u.s. is facing as is the world an emergency here. they really want to be sure, and this is the top issue for the by the ministration is covert the pandemic. they want to start talking with those in the administration about stockpiles supply chains and so on. so they can assume it is the inaugurated they can begin to try and do as well as they were concerned. really do a far better job of managing the pandemic than the troubled ministration has. but they're really worried about not being clear as to what will be needed from day one . and at least this will mean that they will have the information that they're looking for. so they're very can start putting together plans along with the career civil servants within the administration. talk to me about the legal challenges

that the trump team have mounted and where those are at now. that as soon as they are legal challenges are very odd because we hear one thing from the donald, trump giuliani, for example, about. but then when he, when he goes into court, he doesn't allege fraud. and that's led to a certain amount of anger from various judges. indeed, even trump appointed judges most recently on saturday in pennsylvania, and you often see the transcripts where the judges are saying, are you, are you alleging fraud and then giuliani was a no, no, we're not actually and but then he will say something else and then the judge will say so, but then are you alleging fraud, and giuliani also knows that this is going on. and that often leads to rather testy judgments from various judicial officials and these cases being thrown out without prejudice. there are appeals underway, however, those processes are continuing,

but they are seen as very, terribly likely to succeed. and even if they did in the various jurisdictions for which they, which they refer, it's not thought that they will affect the vote. counts and vote tallies by, by any significant and he significant amount, but they're all still legal challenges under way. but even even more the republicans, i think in the last few days, especially that we've seen more republicans, you had who had been very supportive of donald trump. telling the waiters look, this is it, it's time to and i think you do get the sense of that famous rudy giuliani press conference for a few days ago when as they had i was dripping down his face and he cited george soros and communism. i think that seemed to have been a bit of a last straw or i think for all the republicans and, and now we have, i mean i'm just purely circumstantial. but if you days later, a few days on now, even donald trump is saying that the transition at least the process of trying.