be enough to bring the global health crisis to an end the coronavirus them a special coverage on a. intensive care units are running out of beds this sat for us states because of the coronavirus pandemic. i'm about i'm have i'm on his ear and this is al jazeera life and doha also coming up. yemen's helps an american city watch list of countries in a spiraling humanitarian crisis covert 1000 compounding the misery of war and hunger. a stray a heads back against chinese tariffs on its barley in an increasingly bitter trade

disputes. and scientists track a giant ball untaught sic iceberg so on a collision course in the south atlantic. the u.s. health system is straining on the pressure of the coronavirus pandemic intensive care units in wyoming it's a beds and at least one state mississippi and there were fewer than $100.00 to fail in the sense of this kind say home to millions of people from l.a. rob reynolds reports. in california and across the u.s. the coded 900 numbers are staggering in los angeles county population 10000000 there were fewer than 100 intensive care unit beds available on tuesday in some areas like the central valley and counties east of los angeles there are 0 i.c.u. beds left more people will die because the whole gist is that there's

a. statewide more than 42000 cases of covert 19 were reported on monday breaking all previous single day records we're still in the tunnel going through the most challenging and difficult search we've experienced since the beginning of this pandemic most of the state is under a stay at home order still public officials pleaded with people to wear masks and socially distance. we just had to order $5000.00 additional body bags they just purchased for the state that should be sobering after more than 300000 deaths nationwide millions of doses of pfizer's vaccine are now being distributed around the country with medical workers at the front of the line more encouraging news came from the u.s. food and drug administration which found moderna vaccine candidate to be 94 percent effective emergency f.d.a.

authorization for the vaccine is expected by the end of the week a new poll shows 71 percent of the u.s. population wants to get vaccinated right away that's an 8 percent increase from september widespread vaccine acceptance is essential to combat in the virus vaccine rollout also costs money congress is still working on multi-billion dollar covert relief legislation but they're not there yet no matter how long it takes will be here until we get a codebook the country's top infectious disease expert dr anthony fauci recommended that president elect joe biden who is 78 years old and vice president elect kamel harris get vaccinated right away in the interests of national security we want him fully protected as he enters into the presidency in january so that would be my strong recommendation biden said he'd take that advice live here like

a lot. of the public. much of the ongoing nationwide search is attributed to virus exposure during travel and family gatherings over the a thanksgiving holiday last month with hanukkah underway and christmas coming next week doctors are begging americans to stay home and stay safe rob reynolds al-jazeera los angeles. streets in brazil have been teeming with christmas shoppers there. this is the biggest city sao paolo the number of daily call of our status in brazil passed 900 for the 1st time in 3 months and there's concern there could be another spike after the holiday season south korea has recorded its highest number of coronavirus cases in a single day more than a furnace and onward and say it's the 2nd time the tally has tops of thousands in 3 days and british prime minister boris johnson is resisting pressure to scrap plans

easing off coronavirus restrictions over christmas johnston says strict rules will be relaxed for 5 days so families can be together to british medical journals are calling for a rethink saying the rash decision will cost many lives the international rescue committee has released its emergency watch list of countries where it says suffering will worsen in the coming year the 20 countries represent just 10 percent of the global population but 85 percent of those in need the i.o.c. has called for action includes afghanistan syria and the democratic republic of congo and ethiopia rises into the watch lists top 5 for the 1st time because of fighting in the northern region of to gray yemen tops the list for the 3rd year running the i r c says the scale of the need and the steep drop in funding life the humanitarian response close to collapse how is that though reports. of these small

letup in human suffering and is the method 3000000 people are displaced mostly live in does something companies like this one surviving us best as they come waiting for help from the outside world. thousands and during the cold on the waterless plains in a shop come near the city of them in the south. we are suffering due to the cold weather we need blankets for organization and philanthropist there is no support for the children this called the corona virus pandemic disease and malnutrition her all adding up to make life here extremely difficult we need to health center in the camp to deal with mountain and also to treat pregnant woman. even before the war human imported 90 percent obvious to people from kuwait but supplies. a sharp fall in the value of the yemeni riyal has led to the prices of essential commodities like

food and medicine story in the absence of help from the government and international allies assurance also people here the muscle the elements the line you see in jealousy out of pollution at the prices of everything have increased even for bread and vegetables prices have gone up because the road is cut off so everything is expensive for me i'm a motorcycle driver my daily income is not even $6.00 so i cannot afford to eat. yemen has been mired in war since late 2014. when the whole thing rebels seized control of several more from provinces and forced the international government of president of the rebel months. out of the capital sanaa. a sody usa had led coalition then intervened with diverse consequences in a country rocked by conflict no one knows how many people are dying from diseases such as color or from the crop in 1000 pandemic. yemen's health system has all but

collapsed across the country doctors say hospital beds are food and they don't know where to put the 2nd boy. looked up to latif is head of for a hospital don binns philosophy the war has had a huge impact on the health sector we've been affected by the brutal aggression on our country and the air and sea blockade we suffer from a dire shortage of medicine such as cancer drugs open heart surgery drugs and others and fortunately aid organizations also have a monopoly on what support they offer and we have no say on what help they bring in all this leads to a severe shortage of service whether in the aisle for a hospital or in other hospitals. then many courses of the war in the for their own little consequences death and the destruction of people's livelihoods mohamed al jazeera. a meeting is being held in vienna later on wed and say to discuss ways

to preserve iran's 2050 nuclear deal it's been a rattling since the u.s. withdrew began we imposing sanctions you once were added in october when they targeted iran's petroleum industry petroleum ministry rather as well as the national oil and tanker companies a few weeks earlier the us blacklisted 18 major every any and banks and the foreign companies that do business with them it's all part of u.s. president don't trump so called maximum pressure campaign to squeeze the iranian economy let's get more now from dorset jabari who joins us live from tehran dose of the iranian economy is under pressure is there any hope that when joe biden takes office it could breathe new life into the jason way. well there certainly is if one is to listen to the president hassan rouhani who's been speaking at his weekly cabinet meeting here in teheran earlier this morning the

president reiterated iran's position that they are one of the only remaining parties to the nuclear agreement that have complied by what they signed and that the next u.s. administration coming in knows what to do that the path for them is open meaning that there is an opportunity for president biden to return to the nuclear agreement but president rouhani also expressed his views on how happy he was about the fact that u.s. president donald trump has been what he said quote toppled that incoming administration there is certainly some views here within the government that there is an opportunity for the united states to undo some of the damage they've done since u.s. president donald trump withdrew from the deal in 2018 president hassan rouhani but also stated very important fact that there are caveats to what that would mean for

iran the position the iranians find themselves in now in 2020 is very different than what it was in 2015 let's hear some of what else he had to say. one rule. today iran negotiated with them iran was negotiating under the threat of 6 un resolutions and the threat of possible military dimensions all those threats are gone now back then iran was accused of being untrustworthy but we proved to be the most committed country in the world we are hard to go shooters but when we strike a deal and think it we remain committed. and also is it unprepared for a scenario where joe biden warns rejoined that agreements. they certainly are from what we've been hearing from various officials including the foreign minister in the past there has been indications that if this unravels and it's no longer an agreement that is sustainable then iran will go back to preach 2015

levels and enrichment at the parliament has already passed a bill that actually mandates that the iran's atomic energy agency restart really reaches those levels again by 2 months they've given the 2 month period if the sanctions aren't lifted then the government has to follow the rules that have been passed in parliament the enrichment levels would go back up to 20 percent but also the additional protocols under the nonproliferation treaty that iran has signed in $1700.00 the dish will protocols that they voluntarily adopted after signing the nuclear agreement 2015 which include unannounced inspections by inspectors would no longer be taking place that any sites the inspectors want to visit they have to announce in advance and has to be arranged with officials so those cooperations will be reduced and limited and there will be additional centrifuges added to that attends nuclear facility these are some of the measures that the parliament want

the government to take and the atomic energy agency to take in order to pressure the united states to return to the nuclear agreement otherwise the point of view is there is. point for iran to comply with anything left on this agreement these are some of the measures they have a place that could really take form if the incoming us of this ration don't come back to the equipment because there was such a bar there bring us all the latest from teheran thank you. lots more still to come here around just syria including why uganda's government wants google to put several channels on get cheap for us 18 months the whole system. under severe pressure from all the patients. to jump in severe coronavirus cases pounds pressure on afghanistan's drinking and system.

today storm warning is for arland and their flood warning still the southwest of france in portugal the northwest of spain or because that slow moving frontal system the head of which is quite a tightly wrapped storm is moving eastward so the flood potential flood risk won't last forever just through much of the day and then these things started to k. ahead of it all the the mass of the last system is giving snow in the northwest of russia and finland but for the most part most of europe is quiet and cold even in the southeast corner the storm is dying down now this weakening system during tomorrow will bring rain to parts counter a via snow to norton's kind of a bit next want already winding up ahead of it as you can see we've seen flooding in southern turkey we saw heavy rain in cyprus well wednesday's forecast takes our storm system that is put into the other half in the eastern side of turkey flood

warnings today from the dead sea southwards new can see why that's pretty nasty weather at the same time in morocco you have got for the rest of thursday the likelihood of biggest snow at this mountains rain shasta morocco itself a maximum batter about 15 degrees the rest of north africa of course is the last quiet. ok carmen and they share not hyping the situation be part of the debate my main characters are women and when no topic is off the table there was in the last allow child marriage to happen legally esearch basically archaic walls dads are to legitimize them griego wise pedophiles on air or online jumping to the quick section and meeting to be part of the discussion this stream on out is there.

the. this is al-jazeera right over top stories this hour specials in parts of the united states a string to breaking points and coronavirus cases surge pfizer bonds or vaccine is now being distributed across the country the 2nd expected to be approved this week . has recorded its highest number of coronavirus cases in a single day going to france and on wednesday alone it's the 2nd time the tally has exceeded a 1003 days and aid agencies warn the humanitarian crisis in yemen is expected to worsen in the coming year as well as suffering war and famine yemen also has some

of the highest mortality rates from coal with 19. you know surf says more than 2000000 children have been causal from humanitarian assistance in the theo p.s.t. growing region. down last month and pointed to serbia ordered military a military offensive against local forces as a people have been killed 50000 more have fled into neighboring sudan. uganda which owns you tube to shut down 14 channels it says went to by its last month when 50 people died following the latest arrest of opposition presidential candidate probably wind began to goes the pool's next month and the government has already canceled media presentations for malcolm webb is covering this for us from nairobi markham let's social media what has uganda asked google to do these online channels and i think justified it. with the

gun and communications commission written to google complaining about these channels it says that their content incite violence has people at risk of being attacked for their try because of their political beliefs but rights groups have already spoken out about this they said the ugandan communication commission hasn't followed process that none of the stations in question have actually breached any guidelines and neither have they been any court cases against them but it is interesting that these are all lies the t.v. stations do include some stations that frequently follow and cover the activities of opposition. star bobby wine who's followers have been repeatedly disbursed on the campaign trail he's been arrested in the violence that you mentioned just a few weeks ago which 50 people died was following the rest of the wind during one

of his political rallies. and now kim let's take a look at the other action coming at the government's how has the ugandan government defended revoking credentials of journalists ahead of these elections because this seems like an extraordinary attack on press freedom. rights groups say there's been a tough crackdown on press freedom in recent weeks as the elections approach. journalists are to apply for accreditation now just to be able to cover electoral activities it's all journalists who are working for international fora news media accreditation is being rescinded within a matter of days they've all been told to reapply but we have almost impossible documentary requirements for them to meet those with an increase in violence against journalists on the street jealous been shot with rubber bullets and tear gassed and threatened by police. violence that happened just

a few weeks ago we saw dozens of people dying then we don't know what ugandan government expects to happen in the weeks ahead but its actions certainly suggest that it doesn't want these things to be seen by foreign or local press came out there bringing us the latest live from nairobi thank you it was truly is launching a formal appeal to the world trade organization over china's decision to impose huge tariffs on its bodily in me beijing imposed 5 years' worth of g.c.'s on the grain effectively still thing a $1000000000.00 trade in its tracks. and a growing trade dispute since is truly a cold for an investigation into the origins of the corona virus pandemic mccauley is an associate professor at the strain of the international university he says it's a clear that the standoff is going in the wrong direction. it's not just barley it's tourists it's wine it's coal even lobsters cotton sugar the coal issue has been

in the pipeline for a little while now but it now seems clear just in the last 24 hours or so that china is imposing curbs on unco the really big issue down the track is iron ore it looks as if china does not have many alternative suppliers exporters and it's not just bali but all exporting sectors are concerned on the other hand the australian government is playing the security card the australian government is saying this is a matter of national security and therefore everybody must tell you the law and so the economic sector is divided there's almost a split between export is on one hand and people who stress military and security aspects on the other there's quite a divide in afghanistan there are concerns a spanking coronavirus cases could put the fragile health system under strain the

exact number of cases is unclear and many afghans if any get to expensive to protect themselves from the fire risk contra food reports from come from. less than a month ago these beds were empty but since then footage obtained by al-jazeera from inside afghanistan's only covered hospital in kabul shows the beds are quickly filling up doctors say as winter sets in and respiratory diseases flare up coronavirus patients needing treatment in hospital will increase. that this hospital has capacity for only 120 patients if we put the patients in the hallways or any other rooms that will increase the number of beds to 150 we do not have any other space and we cannot put beds on the streets many officials and diplomats say the official tallies are seriously undercounted and there is no reliable data to give a clear picture of the pandemic in afghanistan the country has received millions of

dollars in aid to manage the pandemic but a lack of testing and knowledge about the virus especially outside the afghan capital who remains a big problem forcing many people to seek help in kabul. my mom was sick can cause the doctors there were not able to get a diagnosis for her her health was getting worse by the day when her breathing got really bad we came to this hospital when we got the results of the covert test that was positive. there's no social distancing in afghanistan and barely anyone wears a mask many afghans believe the koran a virus doesn't exist here what if there was coronavirus i could have been infected as i'm in contact with hundreds of people every day here and i'm not but there is another reason why afghans do not follow the government's recommendations to take protective measures sanitizers and masks are available almost everywhere yet many

afghans can not afford to buy them with most of living on less than $1.50 a day spending event $0.10 for one single use mass is too much. deficit of also increased according to the ministry of public health because afghans did not axs the health care they need to curb the spread of the virus during the winter wedding holes will be shot while universities have already been closed our prediction is for it months the whole system will be under severe pressure from patients so that's why. even though we have doubled the number of beds the odd increasing the beds more but we are prepared for that but let's see what happens nothing is predictable with. the government says millions of dollars in international aid have been pledged to help of ghana stan deliver the car on a virus vaccine in the next 7 months initially for 20 percent of the population yet

if managing the pandemic has been a big struggle vaccinating afghans could be an even bigger one. al-jazeera. the pandemic has hit left in america harder than any other region but one country has avoided the worst of it despite severe economic problems cuba has managed to keep infections consistently under control but in america it's in the sea in human explains home. dr mark that dallas runs the plaza of the revolution polyclinic and knows just about everyone in the neighborhood every day she makes the rounds to check on covert $1000.00 suspects who've been quarantined would be one of the. especially those who come from abroad like florida resident. upon landing in cuba she was given a cold 1000 test then she and her entire family were put under strict lockdown with

a doctor checks on them every day on the 5th day she got a 2nd test and now dr galavis has come to tell her she's in the clear online persona i'm impressed that despite cuba's few resources they've been able to control this pandemic so well also the people are very aware of what's going on and what they have to do. with a population of 12000000 cuba has had fewer than 10000 confirmed cases of coronavirus and fewer than 140 deaths this secret is in the weather the same detail to block by block organizational control that the state uses for political purposes is also an effective tool for confronting everything from natural catastrophes to pandemics a. lot of i'm convinced that the organization of our society has been vital in confronting the virus and controlling it an organized society with active participation of its citizens has given cuba the success it's had dr old had amassed says the results of clinical trials for

a cuban vaccine against cold 19 look promising but not the meanwhile dr galavis and her colleagues continue keeping close tabs on every possible carrier benefit because you know numbers we have some. one person of each quarter team family to go out and get essential is under strict protocol this is one of the ways we prevent the transmission of the epidemic but at a moment it's been so effective that roxana that doral us who lives in miami says she flew to cuba last week to stay with relatives in havana because she feels much safer than in the united states to see in human al-jazeera. a report from canada has criticised iran's investigation into the downing of a passenger plane you create in international airlines boeing 737 after takeoff from teheran in january killing 176 people in iran admitted the jet was mistaken for a missile launcher in times of high tension with the united states the independence

canadian report says a lot of questions are still unanswered. but as scientists are heading into the south atlantic 10 vessel is an iceberg the size of a small country the stretching towards the islands of south georgia will be assessing potential damage to the delicate eco system on the reports from going to sign. the iceberg now has a 68 day is 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 are spurts when they're in the open ocean they tend to break our smaller icebergs this one remarkably as remains intact and is still have more remarkable because it's got quite

a shallow keel is not very thick so we'd expect it to break apart a 68 day is about 200 meters thick a 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 assist. the impact something so huge might have on the vulnerable south atlantic ecosystem so something the size of lots of birds is going to be a massive impact on an island like south georgia which isn't that much bigger than blocks of. the iceberg is formed from glacier ice and as it melts are released billions of tons of fresh water 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. it's one of the most pristine places in the world with the ocean of fauna at its most of all 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 water i guess you know say well it doesn't just anyone if we don't protect the oceans at these kinds 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. and which one they're all just era one osiris. this is al jazeera these are the headlines hospitals in parts of the united states are strained to breaking point sounds coronavirus cases search finds a biotech vaccine is now being distributed across the country with the 2nd vaccine expected to be approved this week rob reynolds says more.