exposing deep roots in denmark's adoption system. a week nice documentary on al-jazeera. the u.s. begins its cover 900 vaccination campaign with the hope that it'll help stop the rise of infections health care workers in new york and the reason the 1st to get the jobs. i'm not matheson and this is a 0 live from doha also coming up britain imposes the highest level of coronavirus restrictions on london and nearby areas to contain the rise in infection rates. given their stamp of approval the us electoral college begins voting to formally

confirm joe biden as the next president. saudi arabia says an explosives laden boat targeted an oil tanker in the port city of jeddah. the 1st covert 1000 vaccinations have begun in the u.s. as the death toll nears 300000 shipments are being delivered throughout the country an intensive care unit nurse in new york was the 1st to publicly receive the job before the vaccination governor andrew cuomo said he believes this is the weapon that will end the war let's go now to hide your castro she's joining us live from washington d.c. so the injections are taking place but this is a mammoth task to get these injections and the vaccinations to the various states just talk us through what's been happening. that's right rob and the 1st person

to have received that shot was indeed an intensive care unit nurse her name sarah lindsay telling the media after she received the shot that she felt healing is coming and that is a scene we are seeing repeated across the country this morning and for many many days to come 3000000 some doses were loaded onto airplanes and trucks from the pfizer factories yesterday and they are in route or have arrived in hospitals across the country this week most states are prioritizing frontline health care workers like that nurse we saw and then next week the plan in most states is to give a vaccine to residents of nursing homes and the u.s. government is really counting on a 2nd vaccine manufacturer mcgurn up to get f.d.a. approval by friday of this week to amplify that vaccine distribution and certainly this is only the tip of the spear in this very big effort the bigger plan here is

to have some 20000000 americans vaccinated by the end of the year which is just 2 and a half weeks away and then the u.s. government saying that sometime in march for these shots to be widely available in americans local pharmacies rob but it all seems of course very optimistic it has to be balanced are but the backdrop to this which of course the death toll which is nearly 300 flows into the u.s. . that's right and on this big day of the 1st vaccine going out of also most likely will mark the milestone of reaching that 300000 deaths in the u.s. mark a very somber figure and this is averaging out to some $2400.00 people dying each day in the united states and public health officials are working to not only get those vaccines out there but to convince americans to get the shot there are some disturbing polls pew research saying that more than 20 percent of american adults

still say they will not get the vaccine because they don't believe it is safe and we're seeing the federal government getting a belated start on a public campaign in trying to convince americans otherwise to believe in the science despite what we've heard from donald trump at the very top level of u.s. government sowing doubt in science from the beginning of this pandemic now trying to take credit for these vaccines rob heidi thanks very much indeed that is heidi joe castro talking to us from washington d.c. well germany's president is warning the covert 900 situation there has become bitterly serious the number of infections is soaring prompting a nationwide low excited story on why than say she was lying about merkel's office says germans faced tough times ahead. human officials in london have moved the city to tier 3 that's england's highest level of coronavirus restrictions there is said to be deeply concerned about a sharp rise in cases across the capital well let's cross over to john holl who's

life for us in london john of the u.k. health minister matt hancock's been speaking about this what's he been saying. yep he broke the news to parliament in the last hour also announcing that london would move up from to where it's been for most of the last fortnight since england came out of its month long lockdown moving up to tier 3 along with other parts of the southeast of england joining much of the rest of the country frankly now in the run up to christmas in this highest tier of restrictions that involves the shutdown of hospitality bars and restaurants other than takeaway and involves much stricter restrictions in terms of social distancing and household mixing inside invented no household mixing allowed at all anymore mr hancock interestingly telling m.p.'s the government scientists have identified a new variant of coded 19 in party thought responsible for what is a doubling of cases every 7 days in some places they've survived a divide this new variant in

a 1000 cases not more than that yet it's thought that it is more virulent than the original strain of the virus however at this point with tests ongoing they don't believe it is responsible for any more severe cases of the disease or that it is in any way resistant to the vaccine so that in part the government's. justification for this tier 3 restriction as well as that of course in the run up to christmas the streets absolutely full of people fears of a 3rd wave in january bizarrely over the christmas period itself there will be a total relaxation of the rules to allow people to mix more or less normally at christmas time it's all adding up to quite serious concerns about what lies ahead in january tony thanks a lot that's john holl in london. well the electoral college has begun voting to choose the next president of the united states this is one of the last steps to finalize the outcome of november's election each state has already certified its results now electors in each state are casting their ballots joe biden won 306

electoral votes that's a process required 270 or president donald trump got 232 the state by state votes have drawn more attention this year because trump has refused to concede developes go live to alan fischer who's at the white house for us allan so donald trump refusing to concede what options are left to him after the electoral college vote. well these are new running out of road i mean they're quibble and it's been suggested to me is like trying to land a 747 on the driveway here at the white house that's how much room he's goal lead so not a great deal one of his closest aides stephen miller has been on american television in the last couple of hours saying that they're going to set up a panel of alternative electoral college voters they will vote on the election and then they will submit their results to congress for consideration next month that has no legal standing no constitutional standing what it does is muddy the waters

and of course what we've seen from donald trump and his team since the election is nails in the coffin several times joe biden has won the election in georgia at least 4 times he's lost more donald trump has lost more than 50 court cases he went to the supreme court on friday remember he talked before the election about how the supreme court might actually decide the election he of course put 3 justices of the 9 on to the court and the court threw out the action that was raised by cases and joined by the trump campaign one republican lawyer one very prominent republican lawyer said essentially what the supreme court said was this is nonsense go away and so it becomes much more difficult for don't try to overturn this election result he'll no be focused on january the 6th so why is that important that's when there is a joint session of congress which essentially ratifies the decision of the electoral college he is hoping that there will be anough republicans in both houses that will

turn around and say no there is a problem here with a widespread fraud therefore we cannot set a fire these results therefore on the 20th of january joe biden can become the $46.00 president of the united states there's a difficulty with that of course constitutionally we're seeing the electoral college set defy those results we're watching pennsylvania them. and that's going to be one of the key ones in the next hour and also you have bill barr who is the attorney general of the united states someone put a position by don't trump who said look there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud anywhere in this election sent not enough to overturn the result so it becomes increasingly difficult for donald trump to continue to say that there were problems when he can't produce the proof either in court or to the public and of course there's a problem too that there is new evidence of widespread voter fraud now rudy

giuliani who is mean lawyer has said they will continue their legal battle all the way up to 11 59 pm on the 28th of january that's just a minute before joe biden would take the oath of office but he really has no grounds and we keep saying this and they haven't produced proof and even judges who were appointed by donald trump up through no cases saying it simply doesn't work but that's not going to stop donald trump trying he will keep pushing he will keep tweeting he will keep rolling up his supporters but the reality is he is of quickly running out of room and today will just be one huge step towards the fight that he's getting much much closer to the edge on the fence or bringing us up to date from the white house allan thanks very much indeed ok sure rahm's of among state senator elect and was one of those presidential electors today she says the electoral college system should be done away with because it goes against the principles of democracy. i would start by saying i myself disagree that we still

need an electoral college to certify our election results and we should really lived into our principle in this country of one person one vote and make sure that we honor the popular vote when americans vote for president on election day we have only had 2 recent examples of overturning that popular will once in 2016 with donald trump and once with george w. bush. so i am proud that vermont and the country chose the president who is also elected by the popular vote for our electoral college victory as the wow what i can say about the electoral college is you know it was probably at one point designated for situations that felt uncertain you know we've had to go back into the 800 to remember when there was enough uncertainty to give the vote to the electoral college over the will of the people just in the aftermath of

reconstruction in the civil war but you know i am the 1st woman of color to serve as an elector in the state of vermont and that goes to show you that it's not a particularly representative process and we should be focusing on the will of the people on election day. still ahead and al jazeera forced from their homes we meet the people in northern mozambique who've been displaced by isolate fighters. and have a strain is using the i.d.f. to restore one of the world's most endangered ecosystems. once again early winter is showing us a disturbed weather pattern in the eastern med we've seen significant rainfall in southern turkey in the last day or so and there's more to come we're talking about a 100 maybe 200 more millimeters of rain so there will be flooding that could be

landslides as snow inland as well this is light effect cyprus the wind is bringing wet weather into the coast of egypt and probably it will keep going eastwards into the hole in the event that once it gets inland tends to do some impetus you get these straggly shastri iraq and saudi arabia but there will be some more snow or rain depending on your height running into the western side of iran come wednesday as things in proving the eastern med although not necessarily for example in gaza the size of this the seasonal rains have been briefly useful and flooding in places like zimbabwe is settling down to be in not quite survives at the moment although the potential for big storms is still there on the eastern half of south africa and in the suit to further west it looking quiet but the real line is from northern one go and down towards central mozambique in zimbabwe bull always got 3 days of sherry weather coming up the same is true in a long way representing malawi's wet weather. the

module chemical agents are real weaponized throughout history a large water 1st words head with me and started fighting me and developed by nation state so there could be enough to affect every child. now within reach of those seeking care of such compounds the most toxic substance of the world would have to man made invisible friends on al jazeera.

georgiades you know remind of our top stories this hour the u.s. has begun covert 19 vaccinations as the death toll nears 300000 shipments are being delivered throughout the country. and most european countries are struggling to contain a new wave of covert 19 cases the president of germany's describe the situation the situation there as bitterly serious all but essential businesses will have to close from white and stay until january the 10. electoral college has begun voting to formally choose the next president of the united states this is one of the last steps by electors in 50 states to finalize the outcome of november's election. so the arabia's energy ministry says an oil tanker delivering cargo was hit by a boat full of explosives at jeddah ports it's described the incident as a terrorist attack the shipping company half here says it's b.w.i. in vessel was hit by an unidentified external source that caused an explosion and

fire it comes after another tyco was damaged by a mine off the coast last month attack has blamed on yemen's hooty rebels and that is clear is an assistant professor at the defense studies department at king's college london he says it raises serious questions about security at saudi ports. the saudis have admitted that it was an explosive lowden boat or vessel that was basically charged against this or tanker which suggests it was a very much a low tech low skill kind of job which is something that the who these can do without external support but the question that rises then is if you know obviously this is a high target and you know the general port is obviously a very very high security risk or a high security target then you would make sure that obviously this port is adequately secured and it's kind of in the current context kind of surprising that the saudi authorities have not had it better under control and make sure that some of this cannot happen because of an external vessel can come into sight at the port

and actually attack while a tank is being unloaded this is obviously this should not a must not happen so that suggests then that possibly this might have been an external device of a different type like the ones that we've seen last year being used against their targets of the coast of for geron so in the united arab emirates where again it was probably the most most likely iranians and iranian mines there that were glued on and stuck onto the outside of these vessels and then exploded if it was one of these the top sort of attacks executed by iranians directly that is something that i can see the saudis being unable to deter and actually to deal with at the moment but if it is actually this kind of low skilled. boat being driven into the port and then exploded that is something that saudi authorities should have should have better under control but it is a 5 african nations have wrapped up their meeting with no resolution about the

escalating violence in northern mozambique which is displaced thousands of people that are to nations says attacks by fighters linked to i saw a forced 400000 people to flee armed groups uncovered a guard of problems of seize key towns for brief periods wanted to set up a caliphate the region is home to a multi-billion dollar natural gas project. alan casa is head of the mission in mozambique for doctors without borders he says it's difficult for his organization to get to the people who've been displaced a little there are 50000000000 cells in the province but then some of them i believe you could do which because they are in the if you could play instantly in the center part of the book winds and also in the. in the mouth so these people that we don't know exactly where he goes we see views in the people around the world as or a group. and a 1000 people and yet they are moving. most of the time now they are

moving from one place on the base because of the. more protection and there will be the brand of the government. in the new games and this season bursts. because now we are entering a new anything then so of course is if you can do. anything and do a lot of races that we will be reading you can. the u.s. is officially remove sudan from its state sponsors of terrorism list the trombetta ministration approve the move as a side deal to sudan's normalization of rings with israel and october washington of khartoum signed an agreement to restore the country's sovereign immunity that means it can't be sued in american courts and return sudan pay $335000000.00 to the victims of the $998.00 al-qaeda attacks on the u.s. embassies in kenya and tanzania l.i.l.o.

as an analyst in the horn of africa a senior lecturer in law a kill university he says the move will benefit sudan's economy. so you know because it was on this list it was not eligible for us for it ed 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 secure actions on the ground is today the 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 i think to do with how much the u.s. is willing to support sudan going forward but there are also other regional fact

that's more broadly if true done becomes the more important player in the horn of africa if you're there for example plenty to what the situation between egypt and ethiopia escalates i think that would make a very important country that the united states would be very keen to support ivory coast incumbent president alassane ouattara has been sworn in for his 3rd term in office follows i'm told was disputed election which saw several opposition leaders arrested on charges of sedition they said. 3rd time as a breach of the constitution which limits presidents to 2 terms what are and the supporters maintain that a $26.00 in the vision allowed him to run again. farmers union leaders in india have begun a one day hunger strike in a bid to ramp up protests over new agricultural laws farmers are being camped out on major highways for weeks blocking some entry points into the capital new delhi they are angry over legislation that would change the rules about the sale and

prices of several rounds of talks with the government so far failed to reach a compromise elizabeth put on them is that the gaza border crossing between delhi and auto pradesh states she says the farmers are showing 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 odd meal 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. 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 peers. in protest meanwhile this battle over the protests and the laws is moving to court and the us 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 far as you know 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 being challenged in india's top court. a growing number of activists in hong kong are facing a difficult choice as authorities crackdown on dissent many are deciding by either to risk serving a prison sentence or flee the territory idiom bransby meeting one activist zone 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 are now living this city for the same reason aged just 15 a rule 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 or 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 rioting 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 i found i wonder if i did not

expect that i would end up like this when i joined the protest i know we were 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 lie appeared in court charged under the security legislation and is now facing a lengthy jail term. activist sonny chung fled in august a warrant since been issued for his arrest for. sure my family who. is still in hong kong. i'm not sure about their.

charges from africa and their families like a rule or a sunny doesn't know if he'll ever step foot here again and like her has no regrets about where their activism has led the adrian brown al jazeera hong kong researchers in australia say they've developed a technique to grow in transplant coral on the great barrier reef they say coral i.v.s. could help replenish one of the world's most endangered ecosystems and xander byers reports. who 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 there are 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 restoration 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 northeast 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 it's abundantly clear. what we. media in significant we don't need to be true. 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. parts of chile and argentina went dark on monday as a solar eclipse blacked out much of the sky it lasted about 2 minutes but for many in chile it was dampened by rain and fog which obscured the view this is an astronomical phenomenon the would be repeated in south america for almost 30 years . this is all it is even these are the top stories and intensive care unit nurse is the 1st to receive pfizer's covert 19 vaccine in new york shipments are being delivered throughout the country as the death toll in the u.s. nears 300000 most european countries are struggling to contain a new wave of covert 900 cases all but essential businesses will have to close in germany from white and stay until january the 10.