free to say. virus cases surge across europe pressure mounts on regulators to approve a vaccine for use as soon as possible on this while in the u.s. a 2nd vaccine is toast to getting the go ahead even as intensive care units of running out of space in several states. the whole romany watching al-jazeera live my headquarters here in doha are also coming up. and we will control the senate president elect joe biden campaigns in georgia in

a bid to boost the democrats and run off races crucial for control of the upper chamber. also 1000 of burka her arm says it was behind the abduction of hundreds of schoolchildren in northern nigeria. and scientists track a rogue antarctic ice berg that's on a collision course with the island of south georgia. welcome to the program several nations in europe are facing tough choices in their fight against the coronavirus cases a surging ahead of the christmas period with fears that increased travel could accelerate the spread the new restrictions will hit businesses though the past day has also brought new hope that vaccines could be administered in several countries as soon as next week that the barber has more brussels. in brussels they're dreaming of a busy christmas shops reopened in belgium on tuesday despite a recent rise in covered 19 cases but bars and restaurants have to stay closed shop

keepers here in belgium are hoping to make the most of the reopening but with daily covered 19 infections roys ing and the reproduction rated almost one the government is not ruling out bringing in new restrictions at the end of this week. over the border in the netherlands they've gone into a 5 week lockdown closing all non-essential shops as well as schools prime minister mark router insists that rising infection rates make it essential to in his words bite through this very sour apple before things get better. it's totally understandable the number of afghan if this wasn't done the consequences cannot be neglected. or locked down is not really dissolution of a strict enforcement law compulsory facemask even the coronavirus at and shopping malls the temperature should be checked but there's new hope at the prospect of mass vaccinations across europe after pressure from the german government the european union's regulate free body is set to approve the pfizer by own take

vaccine next monday ursula von der lion president of the european commission tweeted i welcome the e m a bringing forward its meeting to discuss the pfizer bio and take vaccine before christmas likely that the 1st europeans will be vaccinated before the end of 2020. germany hopes of vaccinate up to 4000000 citizens by the end of the year but with hundreds still dying from the corona virus every day it's bringing international look down on wednesday. in france they've lifted a lot down but they're bringing in a nighttime curfew and bars and restaurants remain closed tuesday so members of a cultural industries protest angry that places like museums and theaters and also allowed to open number 3 to the huge numbers of cinemas in theaters that will close is catastrophic person will no longer be the culture city it was before the lockdown. they look at it backwards you can't say one sector is essential and another is not there's no evidence of clusters in theatres and cinemas now the

governments are voicing people to quarantine before meeting up at christmas because a. positive scientific can't sleep saying and i view that as reasonable if you can self confine for 8 days before christmas if you can it's not possible for everyone across europe the message from governments is the same please be careful over christmas so the new year can be a better one knitting barber al jazeera brussels meanwhile tougher restrictions of come into force in the british capital jonah hole reports. tonight we've been spiraling rates of infection around the london area and the southeast it's some places infection rates doubling in 7 days we're told that there is this particularly virulent variant of the virus that's been identified in part responsible for that fast uptick in infections and then this rather in congress situation where the government is lifting all restrictions for a 5 day period over christmas to allow families to get together in their homes to

mix together and it sparked real concern about what comes down the line beyond christmas possibly a 3rd wave in january maybe even a 3rd lockdown real criticism aimed at the government not least on tuesday for 2. preeminent medical journals in this country both internationally respected that have issued a very rare joint editorial warning the government of what is at stake here saying simply that if people do get together people will die most likely elderly relatives predicting that the caseload for the national health service after christmas will be 40 times higher than it was at the beginning of the 2nd lockdown back in the autumn and urging the government not to blunder it says into another era so a lot of these voices now aimed at the government urging change that it sounds like there might be some tweaks in the offing the government and the other nations of the u.k. discussing the possibility of tweaking these rules and one minister earlier on in the day admitting that look all coronavirus measures are under review all the time

a 2nd coronavirus vaccine is set to be given approval in the u.s. this week regulators say the days produced by the drug is safe and highly effective if an independent panel gives it the go ahead on thursday it would make the u.s. the 1st country to approve 2 vaccines. the maternal injection is more than 94 percent effective when 2 shots are taken 28 days apart rob reynolds has more in los angeles where health authorities are warning hospital capacity is close to being overwhelmed. the system is really approaching its breaking point very quickly the numbers in california and across the united states are staggering 42000 new cases of covert 19 reports reported on monday in california that broke all previous existing records i mean cal in california and the nation's largest county los angeles county 10000000 people live here how many i.c.u.

units intensive care unit beds are left in los angeles county less than 100 and in some counties in california east of here and to the north the number has dropped to 0 in at least one state the state of mississippi the health authorities there are reporting that they have completely run out of intensive care unit beds the governor of california gavin newsom in a briefing earlier today spoke of authorizing the purchase and distribution of 40000 body bags as he tried to impress upon people the importance of abiding by the stay at home orders that are in effect in this state well south korea has recorded its highest number of krenov virus cases in a single day a little over a 1000 new infections were reported on wednesday that's the 2nd time the tally has topped a 1003 days the highest daily count since the pandemic began. u.s.

president elect joe biden has traveled to the state of georgia to campaign for the 2 democratic candidates in a runoff vote that will determine control of the senate comes a day after his presidential win was that of find by the electoral college republicans have a narrow majority in the upper chamber the democrats need to win both races in january to flip control a white house correspondent kelly healthcare it is an. he won the souther state of georgia in november narrowly with just 12000 votes that's why us president elect joe biden is back in your voted as if your life depended on it well guess what. now you're going to have to do it again come january 5th but i didn't need to democratic party to pick up 2 georgia senate seats in next month's runoff election republicans hold the seat currently but if democrats win they take control of the

senate and the u.s. congress on health care and voting rights on criminal justice racial justice and climate change when your show march star so much that can make the lives of people of georgia in the whole country was so much better a win in the senate means biden will be able to push through policy without resistance from republican senate majority leader mitch mcconnell who for the 1st time aig knowledge biden's will. after the country's electoral college on monday certified the vote result the electoral college. vote. so today i want to congratulate president elect joe biden but even those members of his own republican party are now congratulating biden on his victory president donald trump refuses to concede the white house press secretary insists the vote result is still not final the president is still involved in ongoing litigation

related to the election polls show dozens of congressional republicans support trump's unproven claims of election fraud and trump's refusal to concede to biden is worrying some georgia voters is sad this leave united states somebody have to be big enough to say it's it it's over loss you know but this is hard and unfortunately that's the way we are in the world today or choose hope over fear knowing his agenda is on the line biden is promising voters he'll make history with his diverse cabinet the latest expected announcement former democratic presidential candidate pete. as biden's transportation secretary. will be the 1st senate confirmed openly gay cabinet member if his nomination succeeds there's no limit to america's future but there will be a limit on the number of people that commit troops by the race

was the up saw get really lucky i'll consider i've left was the faction of boko haram has claimed responsibility for the abduction of hundreds of school boys in northern nigeria the students were taken on friday from a boarding school in katsina states there are concerns the government has not been upfront about the real number of those abducted it says it's negotiating with what they call bandits well the parents of the missing children have staged protests demanding the return of the students and the. we want government to rescue our children because they have the capacity to do so but their actions are slow because it is not their children that are involved in the incident they put us in the situation now parents and grandparents are in absolute confusion they've stopped us from having peace of mind we are totally said i will address has more from.

we understand that the group has been on the move since that day or since the night they were taken from can kind of and they've been moving from one forest to the other climbing rocks and mountains according to witnesses who escaped the must subduction what they're telling the media with the telling government officials and kids in the state so it's difficult to say exactly where there are there are rumors that they've been moved from in a state deep into the forest in some for a state where over the last 7 years we have seen how. security has deteriorated with bandits attacking communities and displacing hundreds of villages and. rendering a lot of people homeless and usually we were told that only a few dozen students were abducted the need later turned out that there were more the governor of kut in austin was talking about 333 and now witnesses are even

claiming that the number is much higher than that because this school had more than 800 boarding students and on the night of the abduction on the following the following morning after the night of the abduction more than 200 students were reportedly rescued or have come back to school before the school was finally shut so if you had more than 800 students in a school and only 200 have come back then definitely more than 500 are left and accounted for but quite i mean saying that it's holding more than 520 of them if that is clarified or doctors can then suddenly this will be the most the biggest abduction since this conflict or the book crisis began 11 years ago. well still ahead here on al-jazeera. we hear from the forest rise in indian administered kashmir who've had their homes demolished.

but. it's still snowing in japan it's stirring because the crowd is still coming out of the far north eastern part of mainland asia and over the open waters it just produces possibly thunder snow if you like lightning in the shadows a lawful officer fall the western slopes of honshu and a whole card of the wind is now easing leaving behind cold air behind it all it's always been pretty cold but largely sunny that's true for the northeast of china in the south hong kong's temperatures still affected by this cold flow but it is slowly improving motivated whereas the showers are still building in the south china sea the coast of vietnam and for the philippines as a hint maybe of a circulation trying to form here in the western pacific but the biggest showers are forecast to be through indonesia and all way across to the old nostra histories

of some pretty rough weather at the moment but what season rainy season in indonesia looks like a good way toward this is out of season rain in india we've seen it come up from the harassed threats moving up towards the northeast and dying out the showers occurring back into towel now the south of that but you know what's happening in the northern plain of india we've had persistent fog now for several days it's like to be if the rest of the week delhi's no exception except that air quality is por. latest news as it breaks the measures introduced during this 3rd way resulted in the 20 percent drop in the amount that people are traveling with details coverage of both one hot property although they leave in one off out of poverty wrote an increase in the 3 years from around the world the u.n. has identified $56.00 countries most need assistance what's worrying them is that

many of those have a deteriorating situation. if you're watching i was there with me so ron the reminder of our top stories several nations in europe are still deciding whether to ease all tighten restrictions ahead of the year and holiday period the health experts say lockdowns that needed to curb increased travel and a surge in cases but others are warning it will come at the cost of businesses also a 2nd krone virus vaccine is set to be approved in the u.s. this week regulators say the dose produced by the drugs is safe and highly effective also u.s.

president elect joe biden has been campaigning for democrats in the state of georgia ahead of 2 runoff elections next month and if the republicans win either contest they would maintain power in the senate align them to block biden's legislative agenda. facebook says it's uncovered rival french and russian descent from asian campaigns ahead of elections in the central african republic this month the social media giant says it's the 1st time it's seen such a direct battle by competing foreign states on its platforms is now suspended almost $500.00 accounts and pagers central african republic president is a russian ally a relationship often seen as a threat to france's influence in the country. the united nations will appoint new envoys to lead peace efforts into long term conflicts in the middle east they'll focus on bringing palestinians and israelis back to the negotiating table and holding elections in libya christian salumi has will. whining factions in

libya may have agreed to a cease fire. but the scars from nearly a decade of violence are everywhere and a plan to hold nationwide elections in just over a year reached recently in tunis hangs in the balance implementing it will be the challenge of the un's new envoy to libya luckily nicolay malott who served as one of europe's youngest foreign ministers and bulgaria is used to difficult assignments this is him talking to al-jazeera about his last post as the secretary general's special coordinator and drusilla there is no middle east peace process so i don't think either of these radio the palestinian side. for the various different reasons are in a position to actually currently engage in meaningful negotiations that role of middle east envoy will now be filled by a veteran norwegian diplomat tor venice la and once again the task will be bringing palestinian and israelis back to the negotiating table in an attempt to revive the

un's long stated goal of a 2 state solution it has taken months for secretary general antonio good terrorist to fill the top position in libya due to conflicting concerns on the security council the united states in particular wanted changes to the way the operation is managed there the process highlights the challenges in a country where the stakes are high for international actors as well as the local people the complications of appointing special representatives. sometimes is not. directly linked to their portfolio. other things are at play here russia has accused the us of unnecessarily delaying the appointment while the us has accused russia of violating the arms embargo and fomenting violence but the security council agrees on some things that it was with the consent of the our family the our commitment to sort of admitting independence

and territorial integrity and national unity of libya which brings us to the new envoys 1st task force in a recent agreement to remove all foreign forces from the country by january christian salumi al jazeera the united nations. dozens of homes belonging to nomadic tribes an indian administered kashmir have been demolished local authorities say the community is illegally occupying forest land but the tribes argue they've lived there for generations as alexia brown. to those destroying these hats in the himalayan forests they are in wanted pieces of wood and cement. but to the back are well and good the muslim nomadic tribes who live here their home at least for 6 months a year as they move between the forests and mountainous passages what they heard of goats and sheep. we are yet to recover from the

shock we have been living here for generations we are no warrant for our livestock and our children i tried to plead with the demolition team but they threatened us with a rest and a fight some in the tribe received a notice from the local forest department saying their homes were illegal a few days later people arrived to tear them down. the himalayan region of kashmir is controlled by india and pakistan and pot but claimed by both the info. last year india revoked the region special status imposing restrictions on movement and enforcing a communications blackout. critics say the government wants to change the demographic of the muslim majority region as carrying out the demolitions to do that. they want or disloyal gradually from the. told them out make them all is in their own.

said billoo. indian is there and that really did bad agent of ridley. but local officials say they only follow in court orders and that more than $60000.00 people are legally squatting on the land in india traditional forest well as a usually protected by law and tribal leaders in kashmir say that should extend to them. last year with a special status was appealed to the government published an advertisement that they were going to implement the forest law in the region. on the ground is different the government is working against us people are suffering under pressure from the government to move from the forest and from encroaching cities some say their traditional way of life is becoming too difficult you. really

live in fear that remain fears of seeing feet as the others keep on thinking day and night that our homes may be demolished where would we go for generations they've led a nomadic lifestyle but that could soon become a thing of the past and exam brian al-jazeera. 3 far right activists have been sentenced in the french quarter after knowledge of their investigation helped convict them of assault case inciting terrorism an undercover reporter infiltrated a right wing group in the northern city of lille the judge said the evidence that they found played a key role in establishing the guilt of the 3 men they would hire some reports. it was the only one of the 3 men who appeared in court to hear the verdicts ramey follies and on how and have avoided media attention since legal proceedings began 2 years ago after they were featured in an al-jazeera documentary. an undercover reporter from the network's investigative unit infiltrated

a branch of generation identity in the northern french city of lille. the far right movement believes that europe needs to be reconquered from what it sees as muslim invaders of former generation identity activist rémi follies was found guilty of incitement to terrorism and assault he was given an 8 month jail sentence suspended for 18 months. follies was filmed covertly at the group's legal headquarters he described his dying wish to drive a car into a crowded market popular with muslims. most were children and. she was in my judgment is a small. piece of the original blah it was a media folks like you. and it was the. police's conviction for assault followed an argument with arabic speaking teenagers in leo's nightlife area.

wearing plastic reinforced gloves follies struck a 13 year old girl. charged alongside fillies was gay on some p.s.t. he was convicted of assault and given a 3 month suspended sentence he was filmed using pepper spray on the same teenage girl that bullies later punched. a 3rd defendant etienne dunn when was convicted of assault and incitement to racial hatred he was given a 5 month jail sentence suspended for 18 months but helen was filmed making a toast to the nazi party in a bar with other far right activists was. the judge said that evidence from the al-jazeera documentary played a key role in establishing the 3 men's guild said this is your one is this clear

this decision sends a clear message to the muslims of france and around the world but especially in france that today we will not accept discriminate 3 acts perpetuated because of people's religion and in particular those towards muslims. relations between the french government and the country's 4000000 muslims being strained by a series of crises in recent. days ben and recognize the racist motive and the link of our right ideology. they may fall short of what many muslims here would consider justice for a racist attack on a perch in year old girl because she was an actor. david harrison al-jazeera. hungry has changed the definition of the family in its constitution effectively banning adoption by same sex couples approved the amendment which says the mother is a woman and the father is a man adoptions by same sex couples have been possible if one partner applied as

a single person is the latest in a series of restrictions on l g b t rights under prime minister viktor orban and his conservative ruling party. the u.s. has approved a genetically modified pig for food and medical products is the 2nd such time that an animal has been given the green light for human consumption you know to therapeutics says the u.s. company which has developed the pig it says its main goal is to use the animal to develop medical products that won't cause allergic reactions in humans. australia says it's going to lodge an appeal with the world trade organization over china's decision to impose huge tariffs on its barley earlier camber award beijing it would be in breach of global trading rules if it stops imports of australian coal the 2 countries have been in a growing trade dispute since australia calls for an investigation into the origins of the corona virus pandemic. a team of british scientists is heading to the south

atlantic to investigate a massive iceberg the size of a small country which is drifting towards the island of south georgia they'll be assessing potential damage to the region's delicate ecosystem. has more. the iceberg now has a 68 a it's one of the biggest ever recorded more than 4000 square meters it broke away from the antarctic last in the sea ice shelf in 2017 and is drifting toward south georgia at about 20 kilometers a day and is actually massive in terms of icebergs mostly icebergs when they're in the open ocean they tend to break our current or smaller icebergs this one remarkably as remained intact and that is still even more remarkable because it's got quite a shallow keel is not very thick so we'd expect it to break apart a $68.00 day is about 200 meters thick and one fear is that the iceberg will run aground when it reaches the continental shelf around the island the challenge

facing the team is to assess the impact something so huge might have on the vulnerable south atlantic ecosystem so something the size of luxemburg is going to be a massive impact on an island like south georgia which isn't that much bigger than luxemburg so. the iceberg is formed from glacier ice and as it melts to release billions of tons of freshwater into the sea potentially devastating krill phytoplankton and other species low on the food chain that in turn could threaten the diverse ward life on the island there's another lot of matter. it's one of the most pristine pieces in the world with the ocean of foreigner at its most. that's the problem the scientists will employ to robotic submarines to measure the temperature salinity and levels of phytoplankton in the water around the iceberg there's also collect and study animals in the. you know this it was it was just it

was if we don't protect the oceans these kind of events will become increasingly frequent and the impact it reversible greenpeace and others have long been warning of the effects of climate change but say the threat presented by this enormous iceberg is one that cannot be ignored. that there al-jazeera one osiris. jihad azour of means the whole romney reminder of our top news stories that several nations in europe are still deciding whether to ease all tighten restrictions ahead of the end of year holiday period health experts say lock downs of needed to curb increased travel and a surge in cases but others are warning it could come at the cost of businesses and a 2nd quarter virus vaccine is set to be given approval in the u.s. this week regulators say the dose produced by the drugs but there is safe and highly effective rob runnels has more than not.