the changes in the political landscape of the middle east and north africa. on al-jazeera. the 1st shipments of coded 1000 vaccines began rolling out across the united states the government americans to take them. all of them are of this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up an explosion hits a singapore flagged oil tanker off the saudi port city of jeddah. indian farmers block a key highway and union leaders go on hunger strike after talks with the government fail. and the u.s.

says hackers attacked computers at the treasury department there are fears it could be much more far reaching. the 1st u.s. shipments of the 5000 vaccine are being delivered across the country in the nation's largest ever immunization project more than 16000000 people in the u.s. have tested positive for corona virus and the death toll is heading towards 300000 california ohio texas and pennsylvania have been reporting the most alien factions california has confirmed almost 200000 cases in the past week alone but one of the riskiest places to be right now is the tiny states on the right rhode island. by almost 50 percent compared to a fortnight ago new york still has the highest death toll overall with more than 35000 it was the 1st epicenter of the virus in the united states in cases all again

on the rise john hendren has the latest from washington d.c. . the united states rolled out the most ambitious vaccination program in american history. to the applause of workers at pfizer's michigan vaccine plant it is a test of an unprecedented national effort to save millions of lives in the nation most ravaged by the pandemic. with these low dry ice into boxes containing the super chilled vaccine to negative 70 degrees celsius. then in a scene not witnessed in this century that scene bearing ferric to u.b.s. delivery trucks are escorted by u.s. marshals the shipments are expected to reach the 1st $145.00 locations on monday and a total of $636.00 by wednesday $20000000.00 vaccinations this this month and then we think will be up to $50000000.00 total vaccinations of people by the end of

january and $100000000.00 shots in arms by the end of february just with the derren and foster vaccine but amid the celebration there are warning signs to achieve the herd immunity necessary to stop the disease in. u.s. just say 75 percent of the public must be vaccinated but in a study of one health care system florida's jackson health system half of the health care workers said they would not be taking the vaccine another 35 percent said they would not take it in the 1st round the head of the u.s. national institutes of health says that's a major concern and i would like to plead this to people who are listening to this this morning to really hit the reset button on whatever they think they knew about this vaccine that might cause them to be so skeptical please people when you look back in a year and you say to yourself did i do the right thing i hope you'll be able to say yes because i looked at the evidence. across the u.s. the virus is reaching new peaks state of mississippi reports it now has no more

intensive care beds available what i fear that people do not understand however is that the resources are finite. they are finite there gets to a point where we have to say we don't have another place to put another patient safely we can't do it with nearly 300000 dead in new infections rising the human toll continues to mount john hendren al jazeera washington. has been the explosion on an oil tanker delivering cargo saudi arabia's jeddah port a shipping company has said one of its oil tankers the b.w. rhine had been hit by an unidentified external source that caused an explosion and fire that comes after another time it was damaged by a mine off the coast last month that attack was blamed on germans rebels.

director of the gulf studies center at qatar university's here in doha and joins us live via skype good to have you with us what damaged magic we hearing has been done to this ship which had a number of crew on board and is carrying oil. as far as we. ration of information it's obvious that so those are fined 22. there was a fire and they were able to control it there is this concern of oil basically leaked to the sea but there is no compelling reason for confirming confirmation yet of this but this is. another serious. incident at sea now the shipping company is saying it was hit by a quote external source any idea what that source could be. it's very interesting to see this happened just after one month there are. other an incident

then we have to look at also what was happening to a previously i think of this we have to look at the context the context that he's in his body tense but at the tension that's in and so he's on the road he is but is that tension between there and there are that is a tension between iran and the united states and alliances and that he did so it's a very it's a very tense moment and. the minute we have to look at also the consequences of the assassination of nuclear scientists and on what is either so i think the context is very tense and there's a lot of accept that they should be at an excuse. about what's happening but it doesn't affect that decision as it basically is very tense and you know not a state actors militia can act without or solo or with instruction from that party if it's needed and i think that is what we should be at what we have to keep our

eye on it absolutely because i have been a number of attacks on tank as an investor region but no one claiming responsibility for any of them. that is but interesting and it can be understood as well because this is like a side but i taxed like killing. and dying and you know nuclear science of it on since 2007 no one claimed responsibility this is a very tricky actions done by by by you know groups or states or auto groups supported by states of course they don't and that is a very. interesting and the ticky complaint ation taking a place to avoid maybe a serious war and if this course the to those who are doing it because you know you've got to blame states you cannot you don't find any. begins and normally no one will say i have done this and this keep things basically. bloomy situation

in the red sea is a busy shipping lane isn't it how vital is it that boats can be assured safety. i could actually this will add a lot of pressure on those countries around that it's the with egypt so that it be a surprise. and them and so those countries would be very worried now of another incident especially take into consideration all of the prize now has already gone up because of this incident now and that no one knows no one wants this is a situation globally with the impact of coverage 19 on the in the world and the desire to reduce the economy impact of this in the world so if any incidents happen again no one knows where the price of oil will go which will affect the whole life not only european and american but the whole life of the people of the world match

ups where it could speak thanks for joining us pleasure. farmers union leaders in india have begun a one day hunger strike in a bid to ramp up protests over new agricultural laws farmers have been camped out on major highways for weeks blocking some entry points into the capital new delhi angry over legislation that would change the rules about the sale and pricing of crunches several rounds of talks with the government have so far failed to reach a compromise there's a purana is at the gas pump border crossing between delhi and pradesh states she says the protesters show no sign of stopping. promises anything increasing pressure on the government around $45.00 union leaders are on hunger strike at the 3 highways at least 3 highways into the capitol region of delhi which they've blocked for 2 and a half weeks now including here at the gaza crude border between the states of the for the nation and delhi they're on hunger strike from 8 am local time till 5 pm

and they receive in political support from the state leader here in delhi i've been cagey while and his aadmi a common man party they have joined the hunger strike in solidarity with farmers and on the weekend we saw another part of a not a major highway between the states of raja stalin and delhi being blocked by farmers and so farmers are increasing the pressure but prime minister in that in the morning at least doesn't seem to be feeling it he was as defiant as ever when we heard from him on the weekend he was defending the law saying they will help farmers they will make them more prosperous by giving them new markets and attract investment in the agriculture sector the farmers maintain that the laws must be must be repealed and they've rejected the government's proposed amendments. hackers have infiltrated networks in the us treasury department and possibly government agencies u.s. national security council says it's investigating the cyber attack it comes less

than a week after a major u.s. cyber security firm fire i said foreign government hackers have stolen the company's own hacking tools stayman is chief research analyst for i.t. harvests he says the hacking attacks are far more reaching than expected. so it appears that this is a widespread use of an attack and supply chain so 1st we had the attribution to russia and the hackers called cozy bared her a p t $29.00. in the minutes later we learned that it was just the same people as the tech fire as the treasury department but now we're learning that they got in through a vulnerability installed in a major piece of software or infrastructure called solar winds in solar winds has tens of thousands of customers around the world 90 percent of the fortune $500.00 and many government agencies all 5 branches of the u.s. military the pentagon the state department and the office of the president so if

they get a foothold in these early indicators treasury and fire it could very well be that they are also already penetrating and breaching these other agencies but they should be concerned because we've been hearing these warnings and pundits frankly myself in that group have been criticizing the government's approach to security for a long time. but it should be no surprise right to have a gigantic bureaucracy and then larry and new branches of government like the h.s. on top of that they can set policy but they don't control the purse springs you know it goes through congress etc so they really can't be proactive or prescriptive about the actions that each of the agencies takes. still ahead here on out is there and pushed out and persecuted why christians in iraq say they never longer feel safe. and the bush a spy turned author john le carré his novels defines the cold war espionage

thriller as died at the age of 89. another big area of low pressure is circulating in the northwest of europe it's influencing the weather in winter and keeping it warm and you might expect with india that you would expect and often wet which is not a big surprise that this rain is coming through portugal into frost the low countries into scandinavia obviously it's going to be snow tighten some norway but most of these temperatures a bit above the average in some places considerably so but it's a slow moving process and you'll find the rain sticks in one place particularly southern france the 4 cross i must say reflects that we're in wet weather on tuesday with sitting where on 1st a bit of a high it is on wednesday and it's breezy all the time and start frontal system but

this is maybe the more active one we've had already over $200.00 millimeters of rain in the southwest of turkey now for you in context for the whole month of december they have about $260.00 so we're nearly as our average in the last 24 hours and there is more to come not just not telling all along the south of turkey with snow inland as well this big circulation means the rain will catch the north of egypt it will hit cyprus and eventually go to the vandas well it's another winter storm another active winter storm that we pull whether or not they will be flighty. but. we've never had a president who has literally for 4 or 5 years repeatedly attacked our democracy. you know mostly limited and financially i don't have a narrative i have a question you're hearing everywhere people can't get treated and it does feel so

even further join me richelle carey and up front is my guess from around the world take a hot seat and we debate the week's top stories in pressing issues here on al-jazeera . oh. oh. hello again you're watching ounces there has a reminder of our top stories this hour the 1st batch of the pfizer coronavirus vaccine is being dispatched across the u.s. vaccination of health care workers and the elderly begins on monday that as the nationwide death toll approaches 300000. has been an explosion on an all time to delivering cargo at saudi arabia's jet airport shipping companies to the b.w.

rhine have been hit by an unidentified external source of course the blast and the fire. farmers union leaders in india on a one day hunger strike in a bid to ramp up protests over a new agricultural north policy encamped on major roads for weeks they say legislation will damage their livelihoods. a growing number of activists in hong kong are facing a difficult choice says all far as he's cracked out on dissent many are deciding whether to risk serving a prison sentence or flee the territory a jim brown met one such activist who is now facing an uncertain future there was a time when hong kong was a haven for families fleeing persecution in mainland china as 2020 nears its end people and i'll leave in this city for the same reason aged just 15 or all ranks as one of hong kong's youngest political exiles here packing her bags in the hotel

room where she spent last week before flying to london on saturday she was 14 when she was detained during protests 7 months ago and although not charged remains worried about the impact of a sweeping new national security law said i joined a social movement last year and became one of the frontline protesters on my protest team mate have been a rest and charge with serious crimes including. and asan i'm afraid that it will not take long for them to come up to me her actions of divided her family but her mother supports her decision to leave she's being helped by a group assisting others who also want to go to britain where a ruler expects to resume her studies in january on hand i wonder if i did not expect that i would end up like this when i joined the protest i know it would be hard to say goodbye it would be sad but rather leave to seek a bag of future and to live without fear as much about this case that's troubling

auroras age the fact that she was radicalized so young and is now seeking political asylum in a country where she knows few save the members of a group who now in effect be her guardians she least behind a city where pro-democracy activists are being arrested almost daily. on saturday the prominent businessman jimmy lai appeared in court charged under the security legislation and is now facing a lengthy jail term. activists sunni churn fled in august a warrant since been issued for his arrest for. sure my family. home home. studio. tracks signing from africa and their families like a real or a son he doesn't know if he'll ever step foot here again and like her has no

regrets about where their activism has led them adrian brown al jazeera hong kong. a group of armed men has attacked a village and southeast uneasy killing at least 27 people around 70 gunmen opened fire on the village in the deferring to an on saturday before setting is alight. claimed responsibility for the attack to scribes by local officials as unprecedented savagery it happened a day before local and regional elections took place. parents in northern nigeria desperately waiting for information about their sons after an attack on a boarding school gunmen raided the school on friday and hundreds of children are reported to still be missing some of those who escaped have been speaking about their ordeal as barbara and go per reports this summer is one of the boys rescued after gunmen stormed his school and abducted hundreds of children he says

he was falling asleep when the attack started. a little bit of i will get into the i started hearing gunshots then when i came out there were many people already outside we were asked to go back to our hostel then they said the gunmen were already in the school we climbed the school fence but they asked us to return back we thought they were soldiers who were trying to protect us but unfortunately they were not. this summer used all his wits to try and survive. when i decided to run they brought a knife to slaughter me but i ran away quickly and i ran into the crowd but they couldn't get me then i put my clothes upside down so they could not see me from there they said they would kill whoever is trying to escape i then began to run in climbing one rock to another through a forest. 2 days after the attack more than $300.00 boys still missing their parents said desperate. our last prayers to see that our children are back that is the only prayer that we are doing we are sleepless even this last night we stood

up praying to god to bring our children. criminal gangs in northwest nach area have become increasingly brazen targeting civilians for ransom can't terrorism experts say armed gangs may have stormed the school to force concessions from the local government guy that actually benefited from. i see some forms of negotiation in the past with what they catch in our government and also the exam for us to go in but it's believed that there is a conflict in terms of agreement reached between cuts not state governments and disbanded so it's more like an attack in the community saw like sure all of the cuts nightstick got made into negotiating with the nigeria's defense ministry says the whereabouts of the so-called bandits is known and the

military is trying to bring the boys back home safely but this anger that the abduction happened the tool. nigeria's government put measures to prevent school abductions after the book around kidnapped 276 schoolgirls chibok in 2014. 6 years later more than 100 of the girls are still missing the fare for parents and cuts in the state is that their sons could suffer the same fate barbara. out as sarah. leaders of 5 african nations are meeting to discuss the escalating violence in northern be quick says the space thousands of people the united nations has attacked by fighters linked to iceland has forced 400000 people to flee armed groups encumber delgado province have seized key towns for brief periods wanting to set up a caliphate the region is home to a multi-billion dollar natural gas project. the u.s.

has officially removed sudan from its state sponsors of terrorism list the trump administration approved the move as a side deal to sudan's normalization agreement with israel in october washington and khartoum signed an agreement to restore the country's sovereign immunity meaning that it cannot be sued in american courts in return sudan paid $335000000.00 for victims of al qaeda attacks on the u.s. embassies in kenya and tanzania in 1998. reason the u.s. have shot and killed a gunman following a shoot hours outside a cathedral in new york city a man started shooting as people left a christmas concert at the church of st john the divine in manhattan's upper west side police shot the gunman who later died in hospital he reportedly had a lengthy criminal history and was carrying a bag with gasoline rope and knives the british and the e.u. leaders have agreed to keep trade talks going as negotiators missed

a self-imposed deadline head of the new commission says there is still unresolved issues and urged all parties to go the extra mile 2 weeks left until border checks in taxis will taxes will be introduced on goods traded european years chief breaks that negotiated michel barnier will brief ambassadors from the bloc. pope francis will make his 1st papal visit to iraq in march in osmond has been welcomed as a sign of hope by the country's christian community that's one for 1000000 to around 300000 similar fulton reports from the christian town of boteler. in iraq's town of the christian orthodox march many church has reopened its doors it was partly destroyed by eisel as the group launched its offensive in northern iraq in 2014 but there are few worshippers to fill its restored nave that with suliman has been a pastor here for 24 years and has gradually watched his congregation shrink so.

if this hard situation continues it will be difficult for christians to stay in iraq maybe we will persist but the next generation know we cannot force them to stay. but tell used to be a christian majority town but over the past 4 decades the number of muslims here has steadily grown in the 1980 s. then president saddam hussein nationalized farmland belonging to christians and gave it to families of soldiers killed in the iran iraq war in 2014 eisel took over forcing the christian population to flee almost half emigrated abroad about a quarter have returned while another quarter remain in the semi autonomous kurdish region members of this family in that a christian quarter of say the reason they don't feel safe to go back is the security force that controls the town they want to remain anonymous for security

reasons. of course safety is the most important thing we've had enough of the infringements on our lands there is should be controlled by the sons of the area why do they bring strangers to rule the area. that group is the 30th brigade of the shia led popular mobilization forces which helped retake but eisel the brigade is composed of ethnic shabaka just like most of the muslim population that lives here last year its leader though was placed under u.s. sanctions for alledged human rights abuses against christians father was forced to step down 2 months ago he denies the charges against him and at the end. i believe there's no control of one function over another we should back on the christians have been residents of the area for a long time the christians are welcome to return back to live in their homes and we support these returns there's complete stability and security.

the majority of the town is now shut buck many shopkeepers in this market who have bought or rented shops that used to be run by christians one of them mohammed of nun who recently returned belief such changes are a natural development it's the purchasing power that is ruling the situation the christians don't have money to buy but the muslims conboy but many christians say they are being pushed out and that much of the construction in but tel is funded by people in power who want to accelerate the demographic change the vatican's announcement of pope francis visit to iraq has given many christians hope that what is left of their heritage can be preserved but the demographic changes here are so extensive that few believe they can be reversed simona felt in al-jazeera but. john le carré the spy turns novelist behind some of the world's best selling espionage fiction has died at the age of 89 there were actual questions intelligent

service before telling his experience into books which helped define the jara chalice of the reports. for millions of his readers around the world john le carre's work shone a light on the world of shadows in a writing career spanning over 6 decades and carry arthur 25 novels and one memoir that came to define the zora of the espionage thriller it was art imitating life the 1st 3 novels were written while the car a whose real name was david cornwall was still working as a spy for the british intelligence his employers made him published under a pseudonym and he kept it for the remainder of his literary career titles such as the spy who came in from the cold tinker tailor soldier spy and the honorable schoolboy became cold war classics. the currys writings help reshape perceptions of that era by patrolling the treacherous antics and moral ambiguity of the british and the soviet spy agencies after the end of the cold war

he shifted focus to the chaos of the us dominated world order tackling issues from corporate corruption and russian oligarchs to extraordinary rendition and the wars in the middle east the themes are very relevant i think. the notion the free flow of the world with those particular middle east we never know where they'll end up we don't know the good guys our guys i was so. i think a little thin we can we can explore now that as the news of his passing was announced tributes poured in from other genre defining authors on twitter horror and supernatural fiction writers stephen king called le carre a literary giant and the humanitarian spirit while the handmaid's tale author margaret atwood said le carre's novels are key to understanding the mid 20th century. in his last book published just last year le carre continued to draw on the world around him he brought the perfidy and deception that's been central to

his novels into the world of briggs it's and donald trump but in a life such as that of john le carre how much of it was fiction and how much of it was true. though without his there are these are our top stories the 1st batch of the pfizer coronavirus vaccine is being dispatched across the u.s. and x. nation of health care workers and the elderly begins on monday as the nationwide death toll approaches 300000 john hendren has more from washington d.c. in addition to sending these 2 specific hospitals they're also being sent to c.v.s. and walgreens to drugstores and their farms says will receive the vaccine personally and in their own vehicles will take them alone within a radius of 75 miles from each a very locations to distribute them to nursing homes.