'd the actual college prepares to formally vote for the next president and vice president of the united states. hello there i'm miss nancy attain this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up the 1st shipments of private 1000 vaccines begin rolling out across the u.s. as the government as americans to take the. secretary of state mike compares says sudan is now officially off the u.s. terror at this. and the u.n. says fighters that link to eisele have forced 400000 people to flee their homes nor

the noise be. we begin in the united states where in around an hour electors will gather in their states and cost their votes for president and vice president now all the more than $156000000.00 americans already voted in the election this year the final call is actually made by a group of officials who make up the electoral college because their votes at state capital buildings around the u.s. place are on monday each state's numbers of electors is based on the size of its population that i mean nationwide the electoral college has 538 members so to win a candidate needs at least 270 votes joe biden is expected to beat donald trump today 306 to 232 now because most states use a winner take all system to pick their electors it's possible to lose the popular vote and yet still win the election it's happened 5 times 2 of those have been just

in the past 20 is well let's cross over to the white house now and alan fischer is there after today's vote. does this actually mean that it's finally i have a president trump and he really doesn't seem to think so. well do you remember all the excitement and drama of electoral college days in the past no of course you don't because it's no big deal it tends to be an administrative and a constitutional obligation normally by this time the election's clear the result is obvious and everyone just knew it's the electoral college decision and moves on for donald trump you would have thought that losing more than 50 court cases would have been 50 individual nails in the coffin of his attempts to try and overturn the election he would have thought that losing in the supreme court in friday remember he appointed 3 of the 9 justices to the court would have been another nail in the coffin of donald trump's ambitions with one republican lawyer saying that the

supreme court essentially said enough of this nonsense gore window an annoyance but still don't trump doesn't believe that all lanes here with the electoral college vote he believes that come january the 6th which is an important day when congress gets to meet to ratify the decision of the electoral college that there will be enough republicans there who will stand up and see hold on a 2nd this isn't right there was widespread electoral fraud and therefore this result can't be ratified that's simply not going to happen and of course in many many court cases the republicans have failed to produce any evidence of widespread voter fraud in fact donald trump was saying over the weekend that if the electoral college meets on monday and decides to confirm the results of this election they'll be committing a serious criminal light that's a complete misunderstanding a clear complete misreading of the law the rudy giuliani is donald trump's mean

lawyer has said that the battle to keep when donald trump the election goes on until i live in 59 on the 20th of january which of course is just. before when joe biden will be sworn i know that might be his ambition but certainly the electoral college vote will mean a lot of republicans will start seeing the joe biden is the president elect so donald trump will continue all the way till january the 6th to insist there's still a chance that this election result can be overturned and even after january the 20th in you know gratian there was still time when donald trump will say he is the guy who won the presidential election in 2020 and joe biden is an illegitimate president and that is a campaign theme that he will continue for many years after an element that on going to speak does seem that some states are putting in extra security measures in place because of credible threats how concerned are they about this what. there's

real concern particularly in places like michigan oh you remember earlier this year when the governor announced the mass mandate there was armed men in the state house and there have been threats made to people who are meeting to cast the votes for the electoral college so the authorities have decided to take no chances and they have closed government buildings across michigan on monday there are other states who are doing that as well you remember that michigan was also the place where there were several arrests because there were people who were thought to be trying to supporters were intending to kidnap the democratic governor of michigan as well those cases are still making their way through the courts and of course at the weekend there was a stop this steel rally here in washington d.c. in favor of donald trump that led to a number of violent incidents including at least 4 stabbings and so the authorities not just in michigan but across the country are worried about what today might bring therefore they're putting in extra security measures to make sure that this

electoral college vote goes through without any incident an electoral college vote which at the end of the day should confirm joe biden won 306 electoral college votes exact same number don't trump 14 years ago when of course he and i used he'd won in a landslide over hillary clinton and her so there across all that for us from the white house thanks so much allen. he's the former director of global engagement during the obama administration he says trump's repeated attempts at nullifying biden's victory has a road to the public the public's faith and and there is democracy. trump and some republicans have done over the course of the last several weeks has really strained the fabric of american democracy and oh you don't usually repair that damage i think a lot of the credibility that we use that have in our process and in our democracy

has spent badly badly wounded and it is going to take a long time to restore that trust and i have to say unfortunately it's largely on the republican side of the aisle where upwards of 80 percent of republicans say they don't believe that joe biden won the election interesting consequences for what has transpired here in the u.s. there are a lot of less than democratic leaders around the world that are going to take comfort if not literally a page out of donald trump's playbook and try to use it to stay in office or to discredit the opposition and elections so this is very worrying as a former diplomat to what could happen for democracy especially burgeoning democracies around the world i think donald trump has done an awful lot to set us back on democratic progress and that obviously will take euro's to see the full effects of. well staying with us in the 1st shipments of the pfizer kovac 19

vaccine now being delivered across the country and the nation's largest ever immunization project more than 16000000 people in the u.s. have now tested positive for the grown a virus and the death toll is heading towards 300000 california ohio texas and pennsylvania have been reporting the most daily infections california has confirmed almost 200000 cases just in the past week alone but one of the most risky places to be right now is that tiny state on the right rhode island where cases are up by almost 50 percent compared to a fortnight ago new york there still has the highest death toll overall with more than 35000 you'll remember it was the 1st epicenter of the virus in the united states and there cases are again on the rise jay gray has more on those vaccine shipments for us from outside the hospital in chicago it's becoming a large scale vaccines and. we've got no solid results on exactly where the vaccine

is or when it will arrive and part of that's a security issue u.s. marshals are alongside escorting this vaccine in many areas and so at this point we only know that we expect it sometime this morning into the latter part of the day today and we do expect the vaccines to begin here at russia university medical center this week what will they do they'll start with the front line medics not only at this hospital but from others around the area and they'll be the 1st phase of the vaccination process they can move through and administer shots to as many as a 1000 people a day here that's what they're set up to do and say that they will continue to do that for as long as they possibly can hoping that this is the beginning of months of vaccinations here we're talking last but all as this thing phases out and into the general public now it's going to be contingent on getting enough medicine and right now it looks like about 2000 doses are on the way but that should ramp up

when madonna is approved their vaccine which could be by the end of this week and then you've got some others coming online after the 1st of the year so a lot of excitement here for a lot of these health care workers who say it's finally some hope after so many months of fighting this virus. well europe is also seeing a drastic rise in coronavirus many countries there are imposing new restrictions around the holiday season in germany stricter measures are being imposed as the government says the virus is out of control and hospitals are in danger of being overwhelmed london is facing being moved to tears 3 that's england's highest level of credible. well it's now speak to john hall he's in london for us john to how is the prospect of 23 restrictions before christmas going over. what is not going to go down well of course nobody wants to see hospitality close down again bars restaurants and pubs that have had such

a bad time during the course of this pandemic only reopened 2 weeks ago at the end of a month long lockdown when this new structure a strengthened structure of tear restrictions was brought into play london at that point narrowly avoided being placed in 2 or 3 the highest level of restrictions a lot of other cities particularly north of the country did not at this point after a big spike in infections in london some parts of london have higher infection rates than some of those cities the government we know very sensitive to the charge of playing favoritism with london may feel that they have no choice but to act there was a. cabinet subcommittee meeting this morning to discuss this very thing we expect it's expected to hear from the health secretary in about an hour's time and the mayor of london intervened urging the government to act he said the source of these infections now is in schools particularly secondary schools he said one up close them down early before christmas well that's we understand has been rejected as an

option by the government will be adequate probably have made that decision by now we will hear about it here in london in about an hour. and turn and there are also now fears of a 3rd wave potentially in the new year. yes certainly and scientists to the scientists advising the government have been warning. about this for most of the last fortnight clearly in the last week is pictures that come out of shopping streets absolutely huge big with people going about their christmas shopping a lot of them not wearing masks of course and in just a few days' time it will be christmas day the restrictions will come off completely for that period of 3 or 4 days over christmas to allow families to meet indoors is all point to your course to another big wave a 3rd wave perhaps in january that somebody or something nobody of course wants to see least of all the national health service struggling already with exhausted low morale dealing with seasonal illnesses and of course the slow rollout of the vaccine john out there for us with all the latest from london thank you so much

john well new zealand's government meanwhile has given approval in principle for a so-called travel bubble scheme with a strain lia it would allow people to travel between the 2 countries without having to complete a 14 day mandatory quarantine he said and government is yet to give its approval to that obviously depends on carbon $1000.00 staying under control. it is our intention to name a date for the commitment of trains tasman quarantine for travel in the new year once for mining details lock down pricing for now new zealand is by and large appreciate the approach of the government to ensure that we are not taking on a niece's sciri risk as we're going into summer and a much needed summer break for new zealanders. now the united states has officially or moved on from its state sponsors of terrorism list the trump administration approved that move as a side deal to sudan's normalization agreement with israel in october washington

coffee and signed an agreement to restore the country's sovereign and unison meaning that it can't be sued in american courts and returned sudan paid $335000000.00 to the victims of the 1998 outside attack on the u.s. embassies in kenya and tanzania and. i spoke to our he's an analyst on the horn of africa as well as a senior let trend lawyer at kill university he says this move will benefit sudan's economy. because it wasn't just list it was not illegal for you as for it now that this is listed depending on how the relationship between the 2 countries upon our going forward i think that may be able to receive a considerable amount from from the u.s. i think that also in some ways depends on how sick you asians on the ground is to die to self professed how the relationship between the civilian administration and the military council is today got a couple of these are legion would would progress going forward so sit down i think

advancement to more democratic system would have a lot. to do with how much the u.s. is willing to support sudan going forward but there are also other regional spock that's more broadly if true done becomes a more important player in the horn of africa if you're there for example plenty to what the situation between egypt and the ethiopian escalates i think that would make sudan a very important country that the united states would be very keen to support. also ahead here on al-jazeera indian farmers block a key highway and union leaders going to congress strike after talks with the government fail. and housetraining is using i.v.s. to restore one of the wells most endangered ecosystems.

there is bitter cold in the far north of china particularly in siberia and it leaks out given these lowish temperatures even for this time the year all the way from northern china always dances south hong kong is going to forecast next a 16 on tuesday the consequence for the weather is rather more obvious here these streets are snow showers building over what is still open water and relatively warm compared with the collards going to us it's safer there and all of honshu particularly the north facing all the western facing slopes it'll be snow upon snow upon snow there's a little bit around to the potential in the korean peninsula but mostly to be sunny here high temperature of minus 4 in seoul and i've already mentioned hong kong beijing holds around 0 as well as little real change from the point of view snow or temps photo we get to wednesday for the cyrus and the rain is enhanced to the

moment around java and the points east this cold monsoon the northeast muncie will produce some pretty big showers the coast of vietnam and the philippines which is of course no one this time of the year equally normal is what's happening in northern india this is all the way from what's pradesh right up to the borders in the north that's not going to change the whole of the week despite the fact the some write the 1st signs. we heard scott realistically having to do with institutionalized drugs. in this country we listen if this breaks up into conflict between buggiest on and india this has implications for the rest of the world we meet with global newsmakers and talk about the stories that matter is iraq. be the hero the world news. washington.

the. the a. and again i'm sorry attainder let's remind you of our top stories this hour officials in the u.s. electoral college are preparing to formally vote for the next president and vice president the electors will gather all states in a few hours to begin casting their ballots they're expected to confirm joe biden and obama horace's victory. in the 1st u.s. shipments of the finds a covert 1000 vaccine are being delivered in the nation's largest ever immunization project a vaccination of health care workers and the elderly begins on monday the nationwide death toll approaches 300000. in modern germany stricter measures are being imposed

as the government says the virus is out of control and hospitals there are in danger of being overwhelmed meanwhile london face is being moved to tears 3 that's england's highest level ever struction. now the u.n. is saying that child marriage rates have surged in sierra leone because of this pandemic it estimates of the hardships resulting from covered 1000 will drive 13000000 more girls wild wide to marry before the age of 18 the target be reports. mary kamara is 16 years old and wanted to be a nurse but the great artist pandemic pushed her family into poverty she says she had little choice but to leave school and marry instead. when he went to meet my parents they called me and asked me about his proposal and i told them you have no money to send me to school so let me get married. marie stepfather runs a tailoring shopping komo in eastern sierra leone he's had few customers this year

because of the pandemic worries husband is in his mid twenty's and offered to provide rice for her younger sisters and access to his whole as part of his marriage proposal. to mourn. the past months have been hard for me it's been difficult to afford enough i don't have money people don't come to buy for my business because of this pandemic. the un defines child marriage as a marriage of a girl oh boy before the age of 18 and it says the number of girls getting married in sierra leone before that age dropped from 56 percent in 2006 to 39 percent 10 years later when schools closed in march child marriage rights. activists say many of the girls' mothers were themselves married office teenagers and see child marriage as normal they do not see. the children for them it's like this is possibly one of the better investments and better things

that i could do for my child. it's a mindset that sierra leone's 1st lady is working to change with her campaign called hands off all girls child doesn't give consent to sex so if you if you force a child to be a very. child and that. schools reopened in sierra leone 2 months ago about the impact of covert 19 means many girls. i may never go back to the classroom victoria gate to be there. russia's foreign minister has said that normalization between israel and arab countries should not replace the aim of creating a palestinian state sergey lavrov is holding talks in moscow with his u.a.e. counterpart they've been discussing a wide range of issues including the gulf crisis and situations in syria and libya and the saudi arabian port of jedda has been closed after an explosion on an oil

tanker the shipping company hafnium said one of its oil tankers the b.w. rhine had been hit by an unidentified external source that caused an explosion of fire comes after another tanker was damaged by a mine off the coast last month that attack was blamed on yemen's through the rebels when leaders of 5 african nations are meeting to discuss the escalating violence in northern mozambique which is already displaced thousands of people the united nations says attacks by fighters linked eisel have forced 400000 people to flee armed groups uncovered el gato province have seized key towns for brief periods wanting to set up a caliphate there the region is also home to a multi-billion dollar natural gas project while i last spoke to lancaster he's the head of mission in mozambique for doctors without borders he says it's difficult for his organization to access displaced people in the provinces interior. for the moment there are actually 3000000000 subs or do other programs that some of them

are he did you could do each because the are in the did you could place today in the center part of the 1st prince and also in the a in the not so this week or we're talking that we don't know exactly what that he gives us the gears in the actually table i remember orders or on good terms 500000 people and yet they're moving. most of the blank now they're moving from one there's another place because of that as you can reason we look for more protection and also the news the plans on the government to sit in them in a new m's and new season burgess through the thing because now we are entering the rainy season so of course if you go to when to do anything and that was a lot of this it was we couldn't give reasons because we're the come in weeks and months. off on those union leaders in india has begun a one day hunger strike in

a bid to ramp up the protests over the new agricultural laws follows have been camped out on major highways for weeks now working some entry points into the capital in new delhi the anger over legislation that would change the rules around the sale and pricing of several rounds of talks with the government have so far failed to reach a compromise and as of parana is at the ghazi for border crossing between delhi and pradesh states she says the phone must show no sign of stopping. farm union leaders are on hunger strike at all of the protest sites including here at the gaza border between the states of the predation delhi where traffic all traffic coming from the british on this key highway has been blocked for 2 and a half weeks and over the weekend we saw farmers blocking a part of another major highway between the states of broad just down and delhi farmers continuing to increase pressure on the government and they are receiving support from the ruling party here in the national capital region of delhi the state leader ivan kaiju and members of his aadmi or common man party are also on

hunger strike in solidarity with the farmers meanwhile prominent in that in the more he remains defiant he's defended the laws on the weekend saying that they will make farmers prosperous that they will attract investment in the agriculture sector but farmers maintain that the laws are fundamentally flawed they've rejected the government's proposed amendments and say they aren't going anywhere until the 3 found laws of repealed. there's only no separate out miller go were farmers have been protesting on the streets for 2 months in punjab and it has been 17 days in delhi and it has been very peaceful we will not leave this part of nonviolence the government is hoping for the movement to turn violent people get restless because that might work in their favor but we want to tell them that we have enough provisions to last one year and we will continue our peaceful sit. protest meanwhile this battle over the protests and the laws is moving to court and the

u.s. supreme court is going to hear a plea on wednesday asking authorities to clear the highways to remove farmers saying that farmers are causing a disruption to traffic by blocking highways and that such protests shouldn't be held during a pandemic a law student who filed the petition is asking that the farmers be moved to a ground that was designated by the government for protests meanwhile farmers unions themselves have asked the supreme court to wood to draw these 3 laws saying that they were passed without enough debate and that the deregulation of the agriculture sector is going to leave them at the mercy of large corporations so both the protests and the north and now been challenged in india's top court. now the chief negotiator says all the other 2 conditions remain unresolved sealing a trade deal with britain is still possible michelle ban is briefing teams in

brussels as they press on the talks to try to avoid a no deal outcome if they fail to resolve those sticking points for the checks and taxes will be introduced good's traveling between the u.k. and the e.u. from january to fast and google has suffered a wild wild outage with failures reported across the country services multiple services and websites including you tube g.-mail google assistant google docs were all down for around hour and monitoring web site down detective says the number of reported you tube problems peaked at more than 100000 most services have now been restored. there are such as an australia say they have developed a technique to grow and transplant coral on the great barrier reef they say what they calling coral i.v.'s could help replenish one of the outs most endangered ecosystems alexandra bias reports. they may not be the most vibrant but these corals are healthy and resilient and represent

a major lifeline for the most spectacular ecosystem of its kind on the planet. they're part of the very 1st trial of in vitro fertilization for corals or coral i.v.'s. coral large by our collective during what are called mass spawning events they're rare annual moments linked to the cycles of the moon then baby corals are cultivated in floating nursery pools before being transplanted onto damaged areas of the reef. 4 years later the original population has grown large and even survived coral bleaching events. this proves that the lava worse direction take works just as we predicted and we can grow very large corals from tawney microscopic larvae within just a few years. scientists say the success of this project is critical for the great barrier reef the un listed world heritage site runs more than 2000 kilometers along

australia's north east coast but it's being severely damaged by climate change and ocean warming it's lost more than half of its coral in the past 3 decades impacting many other species that depend on it at the beginning of december its status was downgraded to critical and deteriorating that prompted environmental experts to call on the australian government to step up its efforts to protect the reef. what we. media in significant we don't need to be chary no more and we need to be. and we need to be watching. leadership as well broad policy change may take longer to achieve but harrison and his team say they're optimistic their technique will work. soon these will be the world's 1st

transplanted coral populations to start reproducing on their own. and it's hoped they'll start to really grow what's been lost on the great barrier reef alexandra byers al-jazeera. kind of that this is out there and these are the headlines officials in the u.s. electoral college after pairing to formally vote the next president and vice president the electors will gather in all states in a few hours to begin tossing a ballot they're expected to confirm joe biden and come in the house is victory has more for us from the license donald trump doesn't believe that all lanes here with the electoral college vote he believes that come january the 6th which is an important day when congress gets to meet to ratify the decision of the electoral college that there will be enough republic.