you want to help save the world. one of the men found guilty in the murder of lebanon's former prime minister gets 5 life sentences for the crime he was convicted in absentia. there are more kyle this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up. celebrations in argentina after the lower house of congress approves a bill paving the way to legalize abortion. after a long night of wrangling leaders agreed to

a much more ambitious emissions cut 55 percent by the end of the decade. and hong kong media tycoon and beijing critic jimi lie is charged under the city's contentious national security law. one of the men found guilty over the murder of lebanon's former prime minister has been sentenced to 5 life terms sallie mae ash was tried and sentenced in absentia he was found to have played a leading role in the bombing that killed rafi kerry and 21 other people in 2005 the sentence was handed down by the special tribunal for lebanon which is based in the netherlands let's get more now from zain a honda she's in beirut says in a hefty sentence but a largely symbolic one with tried in absentia. well

yes many will say that this is important but it is not the ideal in the sense that yes. and the other defendants who were later acquitted were tried in absentia guilty verdict was handed down in august but the man is still on the run the man is affiliated with hezbollah a group which wields political and military power in lebanon a group which has refused to recognize the legitimacy of the international tribunals saying it's not concerned with its very dicks and it will never hand over the men to face international justice and the lebanese government is unable to do much i explained how hezbollah controls the political and military power and any move by a security agency could trigger civil strife but many will say that this regardless is an important step especially in a country which has seen a lot of political violence and nobody was ever held to account that could be the beginning of the end of a culture of impunity but yes

a symbolic verdict is what of the sentencing as well as what many would say. was what will be the impact of this verdict on lebanon and lebanese. well since the killing of the prime minister in 2005 it was killed here behind me a massive explosion 2221 other people were killed it was a political earthquake it shifted the balance of power in this country in the favor of the syrian government and their allies by extension hezbollah and that is why the trial chamber repeated time and time again that this was a political motivated murderous that. wanted to get rid of a political opponents and highly likely a state actor was involved because it was a very intricate operation so at the time it really heightened divisions in lebanon sectarian tensions it was known as mr lebanon but at the end. end of the day who

was the leader of the sunday community and the man who was found guilty as a member of a group and there has been so nice tensions in lebanon and across the region and so those tensions have not really subsided in fact many people feel that the senate community has been marginalized since that day february 14th 2005 so divisions will not heal the sentencing yes many will say this is an important day for international for international justice ok say no to join us live from beirut thanks very much dana. a bill to legalize abortion in argentina has cleared a major hurdle in the last hour it was approved by the lower house of congress. the. protesters waited all night for the decision and celebrated when they heard the news the bill now goes to the upper house which is the senate to raise

a vote joins us live from buenos aires it's raising the bill passed all those celebrations behind you all the people have now gone to get some sleep what were the numbers in the lower house. well as as you just said it was a very long night after over 20 hours of debate the current congress the lower house voted the results were 131st one in favor of legalizing abortion and 117 against a no it's in a way coming the most difficult part it comes the senate apart when back in 2018 that was the 1st time that the possibility of a legalizing abortion became real in argentina the 1st time congress debated it well back then congress approved the legalization of abortion but then it failed to pass the senate so now it's a whole new whole new period that is coming the government to say that they would like to see the bill passed before the end of the year this place now is completely

empty as i said before people have been waiting all night long there were thousands of people with green scarves and handkerchiefs and wearing the color green the color of hope that's what they say a color that has come to be known not only in argentina but in the rest of latin america as the fight by women's groups to legalize abortion when you talk to women here they say that it's not about being for abortion but what they say is a matter of public health as we have been mentioning there's hundreds of thousands of abortions that already happen in argentina thousands of women are hospitalized because of it they resort to extreme measures in order to terminate a pregnancy they go to a hospital they're afraid of being detained because abortion is illegal in argentina and abortion can only happen in case of rape or if a woman's lives it's a risk and that's why women's groups here say that legalizing abortion is urgent

that is a matter of public health and it's a matter of equality because women that have resources that have money can go to a doctor and have a safe abortion while those who do not end up going to and safe practices and they can end up being hospitalized because of it. so there's so many people over we saw the scenes i mean support this bill are pro-choice but we're not argentina as a whole does the population at large support. what argentina is mostly a catholic country the pope pope francis is argentina and he has a lot of power here we know that he has been personally calling some lawmakers trying to convince them to vote against and many people in argentina are against legalizing abortion because they're pro-life in fact this professor you can see right behind me it was divided by security forces on one side there were thousands of people who are pro choice or probably glazing abortion and on the other side

more pro-life there was quite a enormous difference between the amount of people that were here and on the other side but still they were there but since 2018 when the law was for the bill was 1st debated in congress there's been a big change and we see it in the results of today's vote those who voted those lawmakers who back in 2800 voted against legalizing abortion and now voting for and what they say is that they understood that this is a matter of public health that this is already happening in this country and that the only way to cope with it and with the consequences that calander stein abortion have on women is to pass this law in order to be able to cope with it it's important to note that the catholic church is against it but what women rights groups are saying is that the catholic church has been against divorce in the past it has been against same sex marriage in the past and is now against abortion and that it's time to change came terrorism or after a very long night. thanks very much. european

union leaders meeting at a summit and brussels have agreed to cut carbon emissions by at least 55 percent by the end of the decade the reduction compared to $1000.00. $1000.00 levels is seen as a big step up from the previous goal the heads of the european council shell's michel says reaching that deal wasn't easy he says that europe will now be the leader in the fight against climate change good to hear such. a reduction of 55 percent by 2030 means that our 2050 commitment is credible it means that we in europe would have a leadership role to play very soon we will be celebrating the 5th anniversary of this commitment made in paris the paris agreement and we have been firmly committed as the european union from the beginning this is a very positive battle in the field of climate and diplomacy to bring in other parts of the world to get the jump on the bandwagon and to come up with common standards and share our ambitions. has been

a record 7 percent dip in global c o 2 emissions this year that's according to preliminary figures from the global carbon project the group of scientists says the drop which they say is temporary is largely due to the coronavirus knockdowns that shut down industries and transport emissions fell 12 percent in the u.s. and 11 percent in europe but only marginally in china. brant joins us live now from brussels so that commitment will let me quote climate scientists by surprise how difficult was it to reach this consensus on the day oh. well it was interesting this here michel the president of the european council to talk about it in such glowing terms that what he didn't say was exactly what compromises were required in order to make this get the signatures on the paper at the end of a very long nights i mean it went way into the small hours sort of 4 o'clock in the morning i think it was finally sealed. poland was holding out on some of the other

southern and eastern countries of the european union because poland in particular relies heavily on coal for its energy and it felt it would be disproportionately disadvantaged by such a large commitment by the european union as a whole what it was holding out for was a guarantee of state assistance european union grants assistance and also a commitment that the reduction in carbon output would be associated with g.d.p. therefore those countries with smaller economies would not have to do such quite as much as those richer countries it's not clear whether they got those concessions charles purcell did not admit talk and confide what concessions forthcoming but that said it's still a big ambitious targets it's a big step up from the 40 percent that they had promised previously and it means that they enter this period and that there's a u.n. virtual summit on climate change tomorrow that they will present this to so it's it

is a big impressive ambitious targets indeed there are many other issues on the e.u. agenda for this 2 day summit breck's is not officially one of them but certainly on everyone's minds that i want to be hearing today. it's been it's the i mean the clanking shell michelle i don't know if you saw was the lay in the presence of the european commission medical and. not a long delay and was actually asked about breakfasts and she said that the there are still significant gaps between the 2 sides in the last few minutes as yes or a blacked out people carrier go down into the into the commission building behind me which i suspect could be the british negotiators arriving for another day of talks who will miss. de lay and said was the following the one way or another in less than 3 weeks it would be new beginnings for old friends. chink of hope

perhaps when she said but this is not to say we we would require the u.k. to follow us every time we raise our level of. refers to the level playing field that the europeans have been insisting on for britain to access the single market it appears that she's softening care approach to the concept of dynamic alignment which many viewers will have become familiar with over the past couple of days ok brennan keeping an eye on only events in brussels busy time for you there thanks very much. still ahead head on out there a u.s. government panel endorses the use of find this kind of virus vaccine another big step towards a mass inoculation campaign. and the turtle uptown as employees in chinese capital if the government tries to bring the pandemic under control.

the weather remains slushy dry across a good parts of china but it is cooling off across northern areas of the country we got a band of cloud just coming out says the yellow sea and that's going to sink its way further south which as we go on through the next couple of days looking at temperatures around $45.00 or 6 celsius that the beijing and for so still a few showers there is the western side of japan for a time a little further north hot in minus 12 celsius and this could be that cold air that winds out that will sink further south was modest 14 in ha been struggling to get to freezing in beijing i'm looking at a top temperature just rate decrease there for seoul with some snow not too far away from the korean peninsula just some snow too over the japanese mountain says well snow flurries also into the western side of child with the eastern areas of china going to stay last you try and find it a little on the cloudy side that not

a cloud into central parts of india at the moment up tools and more than places been the fog the dense fog and the low cloud has been causing some problems they've got a westerly disturbance that will help to clear the air and the mix and we've also got a nasty area of low pressure out into the arabian sea but it's a very heavy rain towards gujarat's over the next couple of days with the possibility of some flooding. american people have finally poking around here as i said. it. balanced. or dangerously. with the election behind us the republican party dumptruck. us politics and that's the bottom line. i've been covering all of latin america for most of my career but no country is alike and it's my job to shed light on how and why.

they are again you're watching out is there or has a reminder of our top stories this hour the man convicted in the death of lebanon's former prime minister rafiq hariri has been given 5 life terms. was found to have played a leading role in the bombing that killed herrera and 21 other people in 2005. the lower house of congress in argentina has voted to legalize abortion protesters waited all night for the decision and celebrated when they heard the news the bill now goes to the upper house just the senate. and european union leaders meeting at

a summit in brussels have agreed to cut carbon emissions by at least 55 percent by the end of the decade the reduction compared to 1900. from the current gold. prominent hong kong pro-democracy activists a media tycoon jimmy lie has been charged under the controversial security law that was imposed on the city by beijing the allegations include that he's colluded with foreign forces law is already in jail after being denied bail over a separate matter to paul and has more from hong kong. it's a very serious charges facing and if found guilty he could get up to a life time in prison the as a number of cases already against him and several other charges including fraud for which he is currently in jail as he was denied bail but this is the most serious charge against him and the only one under the national security law several a couple of dozen people have been already arrested under this national security

law but only a handful have had charges against him in this particular case he was arrested in august in a massive police swooped on his media headquarters now he's the founder of possibly the biggest and only pro-democracy media out a local media outlet left in hong kong here and police had just raided the newsroom and offices there and taken him out and a very very aggressive fashion jimmy lives also known for his close ties with the u.s. in fact last year he met up with the u.s. secretary of state microamp a and the vice president mike pence to talk about the situation in hong kong at the height of protests and since then he has called on the u.s. to safeguard help safeguard hong kong so tony those kinds of comments and those relationships are what's gotten him made in the target of this national security law and incidentally this latest charge comes just days after the u.s.

levied even more sanctions on officials in china for eroding hong kong it hong kong's autonomy. a mass vaccination program is a step closer in the u.s. off to a pile of advisors told regulators that pfizer's vaccine is safe and effective and paves the way for the shot to be authorized in a country that's lost almost 290000 lives to covert 19 classical hain reports. good bye to the continuation of the go to court it was at times a little hard to understand but that may have been the point to let the thousands of people watching the f.d.a. meeting know that they did their homework this was an independent panel of scientists and doctors going on line and in essence putting the phaser vaccine on trial hour and hour of testimony against the frightening backdrop of coppa death in

the u.s. and at that made at about $55.00 about like every month over the next few months in the end after more than 8 hours of testimony the panel voted no we do have a. urging the food and drug administration to authorize the use of the 1st vaccine that is shown to be highly effective at immunizing people against the virus once final approval is given almost $3000000.00 doses of the vaccine will be shipped out for immediate delivery within days health care providers and residents and long term care facilities will be given the 1st doses it won't be enough to stop the case counts rising along with a record number of americans who are now dying every day while health care workers are begging people to take the virus seriously we're exhausted we are exhausted and there will be no care for your family members if just continue. and $95.00 we can not have

a drink of water for hours. we are so idiot hi dana. you know and we're doing everything for eyepieces because we know that they cannot see their family. but in much of the country many elected leaders are also not taking steps to stop the spread restaurants bars even bowling alleys remain open to the public and with hospitals filling up health experts are warning they may have to start rationing care basically deciding who can get treatment and who can't fight or says once it gets the approval it expects to be able to produce around $50000000.00 doses by the end of this year the one hopeful sign for a country in a terrifying fight one that right now it appears to be losing. al-jazeera maryland. is in the grip of another wave of corona virus infections which has big given the resurgence outbreak in europe have decided to re-impose restrictions and

the capsule santiago where things are particularly bad as all latin america as i say any human. this is downtown santiago on the 1st day of new restrictions aimed at getting massive numbers of people off the streets and as far away from each other as possible chile's health minister says authorities had no choice but to roll back on the confinement measures given what we want to show the progress of the weekly surge of cases of the capital increased by 53 percent in less than a month from 1775 cases to 2698 decisions are based on the data shows that we're in a critical situation and when. faced with the 2nd wave of coded 19 much sooner than expected the government has limited restaurant capacity to 25 percent and only outdoors has. total

lockdown will be enforced on weekends residents can travel outside. in the metropolitan area and no more than 20 people can gather outdoors no one seems to be paying much attention. to blocks away some towns mare and governor appealed for understanding and discipline and. it's a harsh measure without a doubt but let's not forget that santiago already suffered one of the world's longest lock downs $144.00 days and nobody wants to go through that again. at the peak of the pandemic chile had one of the world's highest mortality rates per capita from cold 19 hospitals warned that their staff are too exhausted from the 1st wave to deal with the 2nd one effectively. the new restrictions will hit small businesses most craftswomen and he was counting on christmas sales to survive and

he said it's the uncertainty of not knowing if we'll be able to work any more we've worked all year to sell the and it's not just some travel that in trouble 11 other regions have been declared critical some have even been caught under total lockdown authorities say that they hope to be able to relax some of the risks inspired the end of your holidays but there is no guarantee especially since there won't be a vaccine for anybody here before the 1st quarter of next year you see a new an al-jazeera sent out. hundreds of construction workers cleaning crews and miners in peru of course traffic chaos in the nation's capital and demanding salary increases and labor improvements crowds march 3rd name is historic center to parliament's. leading venezuelan opposition figure holder lopez has emerged from exile to gather support against president nicolas maduro and was colombia where he

met president decay i was under around p.s.a. reports from bogota. arriving in. the fact that these are difficult times her position. that the fight for change in this country is far from over calling for unity internationally against president. i don't want to fight for liberty and then where there is not left or right wing it's the fight of everybody who believes in democracy and liberty no one can hide that maduro is a criminal and is responsible for this tragedy. this is 1st international trip since spain. after years in prison and then house arrest and it comes up to claim this sweeping victory in sunday's congressional elections were gaining control of the country's national assembly.

was recognized by dozens of countries as the legitimate president of venezuela. calling it fraudulent while losing the last institution they controlled. choice to start as international. liberate. $5000000.00 refugees have fled here and president has been leading the charge against. in a meeting with thursday he reiterated his support for his interim government while revealing play their role in stopping and nation attempt against without offering further details. we know that in the last few months you have been at risk of losing your life due to the regime's persecution and that attempt became in an attempt to silence your souls your spirit your voice i told you colombia was there for you. despite the calls for a united front to divisions among the opposition are growing and wednesday former presidential candidate. called for an end to entering government saying that as

a strategy against it has run its course. it's said this is not time for a change. your. i can call on all our brothers and sisters joined in this fight to reflect on and be conscious of the very fragile moment we are in we must understand that nobody can solve this on their own no one. in your position is called them venezuelans to vote in a public consultation on saturday asking citizens deemed the last elections fraudulent and would like to see a change in government the results of the consultation might be predictable but whether a change can be achieved remains unclear alison and deep and just. both south korea and japan are saying spikes in new coronavirus cases with countries have also experienced fundamental changes in everyday life some people and businesses have struggled to adapt others have come up with novel ways to stay

afloat right. serving up ramen noodles in this tokyo district for 15 years this is us shiro huggers last day in business his regulars lined up for one final ball like many other small businesses his hasn't been able to survive the pandemic. the corona virus has drastically changed the movement of people for example in business districts the number of workers during the daytime has dropped a lot so restaurants can stay open other tokyo businesses are adapting to survive this newly opened sauna caters for individual customers in their own steam rooms and business is brisk for your one hour session you need to book 2 weeks in advance . we felt they would be a strong demand for solo services and i think businesses aimed at individuals will catch on even after the pandemic is also changing the way that libraries in japan

operate with the installation of ultraviolet light for sheens to sterilize books being taken out and returned an important safeguard especially as many of those who rely on libraries are elderly then there's the question of what to do with the huge numbers of face masks we use and discard every day last month south korea alone produced more than 600000000 of them well one student here has a novel solution furniture design student came home takes used masks and turns them into stools melting down and molding the mostly plastic fabric it takes about $1500.00 masks for each 3 legged creation for humans masks protect us from the virus. they are a big source of environmental pollution they're proving popular with fellow students as a reminder of

a year that many would probably want to forget including those whose businesses won't make it into next year robert bright al-jazeera sole. time magazine's person of the year for 2020 is actually 2 people joe biden and comma harris the finalists include us and factious diseases expert dr anthony found and america's frontline health workers as well as the racial justice movement. my. america with the headlines here on al-jazeera the man convicted in the death of lebanon's former prime minister rafik hariri has been given 5 life terms my ash was found to have played a leading role in the bombing that killed her very and 21 other people in 2005 he was sentenced in absentia by the special tribunal for lebanon based in the netherlands.