as a matter to. counter 00. 0 s. . the u.k. becomes the 1st country in the world to approve the findings or biotech covert 1000 vaccine for widespread use. my. of i have and i hit it and this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up after months of deadlock a breakthrough in efforts to restart peace talks between the afghan government and the taliban. 3 pro-democracy activists in hong kong were jailed for their role in last year's anti-government protests and another election on the horizon in israel

preliminary votes on to solve and parliaments has passed the class it's. but 1st the u.k. has become the 1st country to approve the pfizer bio on texaco with 19 vaccine for public use the government confirmed it will be administered to high priority groups within days it's a major breakthrough in the effort to tackle a disease that's killed nearly one and a half 1000000 people around the world paul brennan reports now from london. the approval of a vaccine almost exactly a year since coded 901st emerged in china is a triumph for science the final trial data for the pfizer buy on tech vaccine was only submitted to the u.k. regulator the m h r a a week ago but as a result of a process of rolling approval examining data even as the trials were taking place

the regulator has been able to move swiftly and confidently to declare it effective and safe the safety of the vaccine has been scrutinized independently by our commission on human medicines and no stone has been left unturned so absolute confidence in the safety effectiveness and quality of the pfizer violent tech vaccine britain has bought 40000000 doses of the pfizer biotech jab and the 1st 800000 doses will be available in the u.k. next week 10000000 doses will be delivered this year and the remainder will arrive during 2021 this is a monumental step forward it's no longer if there's going to be a vaccine it's when in our battle against the virus help is on its way there are still challenges this specific vaccine needs to be kept within minus 70 celsius and minus 80 celsius meaning that hospitals will almost certainly have to be the main

hubs for distribution but it can be kept for up to 5 days at normal fridge temperature between 2 degrees and 8 degrees celsius individuals need to japs 21 days apart for full protection and in the u.k. a committee called the j c v i says elderly care home residents and their carers will be 1st in line in order to protect the most vulnerable we have prioritized the most vulnerable individuals 1st the other element is protection of the n.h.s. the health and social care system because by protecting the n.h.s. we protect lives. the challenge now will be to manufacture and distribute the quantities required to meet what will inevitably be extraordinary demand britain has a head start but the united states has ordered 100000000 doses of the pfizer biotech jab and the european union 200000000 to be that the much it is about sunset about the hope they'll be rolled out everywhere in the world as soon as possible because

we really need it what england does and why i'm not sure i hope it comes to italy soon no they're not thought that they're there though if they carried out the 2 tests and their results of the real results and not approximate ones then it's welcome anyway the english are not stupid they have a brain there are several other vaccines undergoing final stage trials and vaccine candidates by modern oxford astra zeneca have been submitted to regulators with the u.k.'s approval pfizer bio on tac are leading the field the options for tackling this global pandemic are likely to get even wider within a matter of weeks paul brennan al-jazeera london. well the barker has more now on what lies ahead for the u.k. government's. when it comes to the race to regulate the u.k. appears to be leading the pack but the real question now is can it continue to lead logistically when it comes to rolling out this vaccine over the coming weeks and

months we know that there are some huge hurdles some sticking points when it comes to the practicality of it all we know also that as of next week only a small batch of doses will arrive around 800000 that will help 400000 people because there you need 2 doses 21 days apart we know that certain people across british society a prima prioritize the elderly in care homes in the care workers that look after them and then progressively down the age groups the different levels of vulnerability people will eventually receive the vaccine let's not forget also that perhaps by the start of next year when the bulk of people will be able to receive this pfizer biotech vaccine there may well be other vaccines available as well the british government is very much trying to frame this as a win of course for science but also a political win as well but the reality is that the hard work is being done by the regulator and behind that all the real work by german scientists backed by an

enormous u.s. pharmaceuticals giant the focus now is whether or not the british government come a call or face would look all of this achievement in research stand up in practice . well it's not just the u.k. moving ahead russia's president has ordered officials to begin a mass covert 1000 vaccinations next week that amir peretz is set his country will have produced 2000000 doses of its sputnik very vaccine within the next few days and that vaccine is said to be 92 percent effective against the virus let's get more now from alexander gold for she joins us now from moscow alexander he is going to receive this sputnik the vaccine. well in his announcement of the start of the massive a vaccination russian president vladimir putin as a priority medical person now and the teachers he said that they are 1st to receive

this vaccine since they are in the group but what he did today is official announcement he gave an official start to something that quietly actually already started we do know that the certain hospitals have been offered already to vaccinate their medical personnel the minister of defense said again said today that the army is going to get vaccinated some 400000 members with the priority of people working in defensive systems and we heard today from the minister of health of russia when he was presenting in the u.n. and that some 100000 russian citizens have already been vaccinated by this vaccine a sport. also apparently all the general stock generals of the russian army they did this is so this is also the vaccination happened in certain state

owned companies and they're saying that by the end of the year they will have $2000000.00 doses with reputably increasing the production of the scene well some officials are saying that from february it's going to be $3000000.00 doses per month whilst the direct investment father in charge of basically financing this whole operation is giving numbers then times bigger and higher some estimates say that russia could vaccinate its whole population by the end of next year now alexander the 3rd phase clinical trial it isn't over is it for this the sued i mean what do we know about this vaccine is it see if. yes indeed that the 3rd face pyro is not or were and according to the institute to produce this vaccine it's not going to be over by it's going to be actually oh we're in the 1st of may 2021 so far they had some 22000

subjects the people that voluntarily received this scene 75 percent of them actually received the vaccine 25 is placebo and they're saying that the effectiveness is 91 to 2 percent this is a 2 vector 2 phase but seen so it has to be received at 2 times out so 1st vixens given one time and then 21 day later you get to the 2nd those and only after the 2nd those as a person gets the full immunity they're explaining so there is this period in which person can get contract according to 19 the officials are saying that there is no significant side effects to the vaccine there is mild temperature on the day of receiving vaccination or a headache a but nothing very serious the sample of senior citizen that received the 16 in in the 3rd phase trial ongoing 3rd phase 5 trial is not very big they are claiming

that there is no serious side effects to what is been going on but these data we have to trust what they are saying the producer of the vaccine so does institute because these they have the data has not been shown to anybody by now and as they say that these are preliminary data that claimed this effectiveness of 1992 percent xandra good for their brain years all the latest on those developments in russia from moscow thank you. that's a month of deadlock there has been a breakthrough in efforts to restart peace talks between the afghan government and the taliban representatives from both sides say they've agreed on a framework for negotiations to the agreements only covers procedure both sides will begin discussing the agenda for talks which would include a cease fire agreement so let's get more now from a major not very he's

a member of the afghan peace negotiation team right here in doha kitsa have you with us here on old jazeera just start us off and tell us about this breakthrough what kind of breakthrough is this i mean you've had 3 months of talks already. thank you for having me we actually that on the procedure that will guide us through the negotiations and frame the way we will conduct the negotiation the 2 main issues that made it difficult to negotiate and require more time to talk. was an issue of principles and therefore we had to be carefully review those. engaged in very dept discussion around the good news is that after all those discussions ups and downs. today we have i mean on the rules of procedure

we move to begin talking about agenda a committee is being formed of a joint committee that will draft and prepare draft. topics for their agenda of the negotiation. now as we put the groundwork in the past or 60 days. the rest of it will allow us to small to move on and look into much more substantial credibility issue those ending the war silencing the guns and moving on to and that was it is important that we that we emphasize this these are procedural talks to mean we're not even don't critique of negotiating anything yet now you're going into these negotiations when they finally get under way with very little leverage isn't that right the u.s.

are dead set on withdrawing their troops. you have in your corner what's going to stop the taliban from just real routing over the entire top. well we have the entire. nation and with us who demands and into violence and whose ovation of our gains and our institutions thanks to to show his or her national security and defense our primary responsible to protect and defend our people and our constitution. well on my point there's been at least a dozen attacks in the vampyr alone so that an observer would say why are you even talking about talking to the taliban given that you're there to defend the afghan people and they've been so many bloody attacks said. people will be asking why even talking with them well and there's no doubt the people of afghanistan are fed up with this of violence would continue that tack on our institution and public

infrastructure of innocent lives that are being taken through attacks carried out more intensely in the past few months but the very fact that they are with violence makes it more necessary to engage more. into peace discussion our primary the people of primary month to silence the guns to reach to a cease fire and that's what we are committed to achieve there is no discussion about the citizens by our key partners is a sovereign decision of them but as long as much as it depends on our side this land republic of us than is committed both to defend and protect our people and our constitution but also to commit fully genuinely with good faith to reach

a peaceful settlement in this war and there thank do you think the taliban are also as committed as you given the violence that we're seeing. they. issued today a statement saying but they're committed to this process and it's a process of confidence building we spent all this time to see the. measures are going to be taken from the other side so that we can count on it and build trust that the violence will be in that and we are going to sort out everything through peaceful means and that's what we are engaged here yes but 'd again i come back to this point the united states are quite clearly keen or rather the trump administration very keen to get all american troops out of afghanistan as soon as possible the taliban are still attacking afghan forces that there seems to

be numerous attacks happening on an almost daily basis i mean realistically do you not feel a bit abandoned here and this is a kind of last resort talks that you're on just night because you're being abandoned by the u.s. the taliban keep attacking you i mean what kind of position do you honestly feel you are in are you quite hopeful my that maybe a brighter future is ahead now that joe biden this president elect. well i say that the decision of all partners are the session. what is related to cost in the past few years about afghan national security and defense forces have been defending the people are stupid and now i'm not here to speak about how much of ability that we have in wars spokesperson or the peace process and that's what empathize but conditions if prematurely being brought is going

to effect and make it difficult for us to move on and achieving a lasting peace but make no mistake that the islamic republic of understands negotiation team is firmly committed to find a political a political settlement a peace peaceful settlement pop artist and therefore the leadership of a government that reaches leadership of. the president himself time and again i emphasize that while our great forces are fighting to defend our population and i were an institution and our structure and. our people and the constitution of the republic we need a negotiation team have the full support of the leadership of the government and the political elite. to find a dignified peaceful settlement part of. what is required effort and i'm sorry to

cut you off we will have to leave it there but thank you so much they're not ready from the afghan peace negotiation team thank you so much for joining us here on al-jazeera. thank you bill still to come here on al-jazeera coming together for the 1st time in 6 years rival libyan m.p.'s prepare to meet for a joint session of. the skies are gray across the good parts of china but it is large the dry and that dry weather stretching across the korean peninsula as well for japan a different story we have got that northwesterly breeze feeding across the waters here bringing some showers into that western side of hunchy maybe some wintry flower is still in play there for colorado for a time before it brightens up sunny and settled as we go on into the weekend as is

the case across the korean peninsula process guys coming back in the states and china generally try fine and sunny all of that we wanted to wintry showers i was with the western side of the country on the other hand we have got some showers feed again across taiwan play a showers meanwhile longer spells of right into southern parts of the goal not a little system this one this is our latest cycling which has developed suggests to to the south west of the aeration that's running across sri lanka nor the postle sri lanka seeing the worst of the conditions as this system rolls through and it will bring some very heavy rain in to go on through thursday coming through friday and you'll see that system punch its way from the west was still grassy pushing across into a good parts of carolina north of that is generally fine and dry with a few showers around the foothills of the himalayas.

an invitation to bear witness to all that life office. the highs the learner's the trials and tribulations. and soon movements and everyday miracles the injustices the defiance the test of character and the curse not the trees the witness documentaries with a delicate touch on al-jazeera. my. base is al-jazeera quick reminder all the headlines for you know the u.k.

government says approve the pfizer and bio insect covert 19 vaccine which sets to be will. a committee says it expects to start inoculating those most at risk including health workers and care home residents from next week russia's president has ordered officials to begin mass coronavirus vaccinations next week glad to be uprooted and says it will be to 1000000 doses of the sputnik vivax in produce in the next few days and the afghan government and the taliban have agreed on a framework for peace talks after months of deadlock the agreement only covers procedure both sides will be discussing the agenda for talks which would include a ceasefire deal. represents to libya's 2 rival powers are preparing to meet for their 1st joint session since 2014 parliament members are set to travel to the city of adama's in western libya for a meeting on monday the highly anticipated session follows talks in morocco with

a rival's agrees or framework to end the year's long division stephanie williams is the acting united nations envoy to libya she says its fiscal representatives need to come together to see the peace process through. with the political process now moving forward a unified parliament is going to be needed particularly you know should there be and we very much hope that there will be agreement on unification of the executive in advance of the national elections which were decided upon by the libyan political dialogue. on november 15th. and that was significant decision and now all of the institution need to produce the conditions in order to make those elections a reality time isn't on anybody's side here we now have something like 20000

foreign forces and or mercenaries in the country now we have 10 libyan military bases which are either fully or partially occupied by foreign forces this is a blatant buy aleisha a libyan sovereignty and a blatant violation of the u.n. arms embargo it has to come incumbent upon all of these actors to respect libyan requests for them to depart their country so that the libyans can come together so that the ceasefire agreement can actually be implemented that military forces can withdraw from these areas in central libya where the civilian police forces can enter where civilians can feel safe where the threat of war and violence receive there is now a constituency of change in the country there is a desire to to come together to acknowledge that and there are well justified fears

and there is justified lack of confidence between the different the different parties but you know the country there is slipping away. 3 prominent hong kong democracy activists have been jailed for their role in last year's process joshua bone agnus child and ivan lamb a friend guilty of unlawful assembly won't receive the 13 and a half month sentence on child and lamb were jailed for 10 and 7 months respectively it in brighton has more from hong kong it's become an end of the day ritual outside west kalou magistrates court a crowd chants defiant slogans as prison vans take away those convicted on trial over last year's unrest but the throng was bigger on wednesday so it was impossible to see which of the vehicles contained the 3 high profile activists among the more

than 2000 people prosecuted since last you joshua one agnes char and ivan lamb avoided a heavier sentence after pleading guilty last week the trio's detractors celebrated with champagne in spite of titan covert 1000 restrictions banning public gatherings of more than 2 people for the activists supporters though it was another blow and this is their choice our off law. yaphet we have very disappointed but we are at all be aware of they are not writers none of the encores are writers to govern the last one is no stranger to prison he's already served 3 jail terms the activists were convicted of offenses that took place last june when protesters laid siege to the police headquarters marking the start of months of unrest agnus child who turns 24 on thursday burst into tears as the sentence was

read out joshua one was in characteristically defiant mood shouting tough days are ahead but we will hang in there. is due to return to court next year she was arrested in august under a harsh new national security law on suspicion of colluding with foreign powers but has yet to be charged. mixi lamb is a former local politician and a supporter of that law there are a lot of people some of. such as joshua one and it's child was actively. trying to promote in the home going to penzance and that is a fight i know some of them which are trying to say whoa we didn't ask for it but look at the look at the facts and look at the evidence hong kong's leader kerry says she's restored order after last year's unrest part of that process the almost weekly prosecutions of young protesters including now its best known ones adrian

brown al jazeera hong kong. israel could be heading towards its 4th general election in less than 2 years after lawmakers passed a preliminary bill to this all parliaments one of those backing is sultanate prime minister benny gantz he says he's lost patience with his coalition partner binyamin netanyahu and is preparing to see brothers ready to break their alliance if a long overdue budget isn't passed immediately well the bill needs to pass another 3 votes before it becomes law or a force that has more from west to receive them. $61.00 to $54.00 at least on a preliminary reading that doesn't mean that parliament immediately dissolves itself 1st it has to go to committee there is likely to be a fair bit of horse trading potentially some attempts to resolve some of the splinters within the coalition although that is

a pretty risky bet at the moment if you are betting on that to happen given what you just heard from benny gantz so we're probably looking at a couple more weeks at least before the next 3 readings that are required 3 votes before this becomes law and the israeli parliament the knesset dissolves itself taking us towards 4th elections for benny gantz he was put in this position by essentially by the opposition which brought this bill and also by his own increasingly. difficult chances of taking the premiership himself under the coalition deal that he made with benjamin netanyahu in may the 2 are supposed to rotate the premiership with gantt supposedly taking over in november next year but for that to happen there has to be a state budget for 2 years that was part of the deal and so far netanyahu has continually put that off there was an extension on agreeing to that budget which

has given a deadline of december the 23rd for that to take place or elections are automatically triggered anyway so this is a way that netanyahu could take what he wanted from that coalition deal i.e. becoming prime minister again after the most recent round of elections and as many predicted without actually having of the power to benny gantz himself. united nations secretary general has issued a warning to the world's about the states of the climates and turning to terrorist says humanity is waging a war on nature well he's in new york laying out the un's plan to build a global coalition for carbon neutrality the state of the planet is broken the friends humanity is waging war on nature this is suicidal nature always strikes back and it is already doing so with growing force and fury

biodiversity is collapsing when 1000000 species are at risk of extinction eco systems are these appearing before our eyes deserts are spreading wetlands are being lost every year we lose $10000000.00 ector's of forests oceans are overfished and choking with plastic waste the carbon dioxide they absorb is specifying the seas coral reefs are bullish than buying air and water pollution are killing 9000000 people annually more than 6 times the current all of the pandemic. this is al-jazeera these are the headlines the u.k. government has approved the fines are by on technical with 19 vaccine will to it's a committee says it expects the start inoculating those most at risk including health workers and care home red.