pressure mounts on the government to secure the release of hundreds of students kidnapped from a school last week. logan i'm peter w. watching al-jazeera live from doha also coming up the french president emmanuel macro tests positive for corona virus prompting leaders of spain and portugal to go into self isolation. the u.s. records more than 3 and a half 1000 the highest daily toll since the pandemic began an expert panel meets

to decide on whether to approve a 2nd vaccine. and plans for new charges of the 1988 law could be bombing that killed $270.00 people. bring back our boys that was the cry heard in northern nigeria days after hundreds of school boys were kidnapped there being protests in the state of katsina a march was taken out by a group called the coalition of molten groups only 17 boys have been rescued by the security forces so far a faction of the armed group says it was responsible for the kidnappings. booker has released a video said to show some of the abducted children making statements apparently under duress al-jazeera has decided not to broadcast that video earlier one of the nigerian schoolboys who escaped capture spoke about his ordeal to

a journalist it's you know it to me i'm one of the after we scaled the fence we were hearing voices saying that we should come back thinking there were police officers unknown to us it was the brain that they then gathered us at a spot that was when we realized that would bend its wearing military uniform. walking for so long i was already exhausted from a sickle cell patients want to hold my friend shoulder on to my right the up the to my lift before i could continue the treacherous walk into the bush as the bend its continued to float people from the back so that they move faster. now to zeros akhmed addresses the school and conquer where the boys were kidnapped. it's mixed feelings here in concord a town with many parents who have recovered their children and parents who don't it's a traumatic experience for both of them now what we know is that what the locals are telling us is 400 meters away from where i'm standing if the camera pans to my

left over there 400 meters from here that is why the gunmen set up a roadblock and from there they've been firing into going to town to stop vigilantes from coming into this area why behind their lines are the gunmen moved into the school beacon going to science secondary school and were herding the boys into a group from there they moved them into the forest and from what i have right now we're hearing that hundreds of them are still in captivity now it's a traumatic experience for many parents and a lot of parents with spoken to since our arrival here in calcutta town are calling on the government to do more than what they are doing now to recover their children a lot of them they say are sick and the weather is really really cold a lot of the children who have come back to cooking about tough conditions them scaling mountains heroes and crossing forests so wants to as the as their abductors push them deeper and deeper into the forest i was coming to consider we saw

a large movement of troops and large presence of troops and roadblocks along along the way so as the officials here are telling us they want to keep things tighter and tighter under control one official was saying that they have denied those people holding the children freedom of movement and they've kept them in the one place parents went when they heard that they were hopeful that a quick resolve to this issue would be done many people are wondering whether how or whether it will end peacefully by the prey of most commute most of the people in the community is that it ends peacefully and successfully and they have their children back. the french president emmanuel mccall has tested positive for cope with 19 and is self isolating after developing symptoms he's cancelled a forthcoming trip to lebanon. for 7 days his office it's not known who he contract with the virus from the prime ministers of spain portugal and belgium so they are

now going into quarantine after they met the french leader earlier this week the french prime minister. and the european council president sharma shell are also self isolating and sasha butler has more from paris what we understand from the elisei is that mike ross started showing symptoms late on wednesday evening he was tested today and that is when he got these latest results elisei says he will now be of course in isolation of the next 7 days as is procedure here in france and he'll be working from home in fact they do say though that he is in good spirits and relatively well if you want to put it that way for the time being he's feeling ok well enough to take part at least in a meeting this afternoon by video conference it was supposed to be a meeting in person of course that's not possible anymore so we will actually be able to see him at all macro a little bit later when he has this survey d.-o.

conference meeting with some n.g.o.s in a few hours time now the french president has certainly spent the past few months talking about how people in france must learn to live with the virus but he has repeatedly said that it is very important to continue to wear masks in a manner macro's always been seen in public with a mask trying to sew for distance but of course as a world leader it is very difficult because you do come into contact with a lot of people. the u.s. has registered 2 coronavirus records in one day the number of deaths and new cases figures from johns hopkins university show nearly 3600 people died and close 225-0000 were infected alan fisher is in washington he has more now on the surging numbers across the united states the experts saw it coming they warned the boater and this is exactly what has happened and it's put a strain on almost every hospital across the united states that are very few states

that are reporting that hospitals are close to capacity and of course when you put pressure on hospitals like that it means that ordinary cases like heart disease and cancer elective surgeries they simply can't be entertained at this point and many horse battles are seeing that their staff is simply exhausted they're not able to cope with the hours that they have to work to make sure that everyone gets the treatment and donald trump has been talking about how the death rate was going down even though the number of infections was going up that's simply not the case no what we're seeing is infections no i thought 3 times greater than the wear in september when the 2nd wave started and almost twice the number they were during the peak in the spring we've had a number of instances where. chris christie who of course is the former new jersey governor is know putting an advert which is being aired across the united states are doing people to wear a mask he of course in self was hospitalized in intensive care back in october he

says the big mistake he made was coming to the white house and taking off his mask he was here to help coach donald trump for one of his debate appearances he said he really should have worn a mask and are doing people to do that particularly as we're very close no for the christmas holiday were more people expected to travel again. ok staying in the states the owners of the company blame for fueling the deadly opioid crisis in the us being questioned by a congressional committee of the sec close family owns purging pharma makers of the addictive prescription painkiller it's called oxycontin last month you admit its responsibility for the opioid epidemic raging across the u.s. hi joe castro joins us live now from capitol hill so heidi some pretty searching questions going on there that's right because this is really an opportunity that doesn't come around often peter and that 2 members of the sackler family who are a lot always lawyers up there. protected usually they agreed to

testify at this hearing remotely under threat of a subpoena and members of congress did not hold back in grilling these 2 cousins asking them point blank whether they would take responsibility for the role that their family played in this pandemic that has killed 450000 americans from opioid addictions well this was their response. i believe i conducted myself legally and ethically and i believe through phone records will demonstrate this to feel absolutely terrible that a product created to help and has helped so many people has also been associated with. an addiction there is nothing that i can find that i would would have done differently based on what i believed them understood the. so in

paraphrase they said sorry for all the pain and suffering but not sorry for whatever actions they may have taken that led to it and as you can imagine that drew some fierce responses from congress including jim cooper a democrat same to the spammer that there is no family more evil in the united states than there's peter heidi many thanks well as we've been mentioning many families and entire communities have been impacted by america's opioid epidemic john hendren takes up the story in chicago tim ryan was the recruiting director for a chicago consulting company and he founded a multi-million dollar executive search firm he was also a drug addict people out this misconception that an opiate addict is the homeless person on the corner with the brown paperback that's 5 per cent you know the average opiate addict so a 22 year old white middle class male

a 23 year old white middle class female the disease of addiction does not discriminate after using for years he caught his son using heroin and opiates enjoying him my son and i that's how we get by on did by doing drugs every day then for tim came addiction prison ensued briony for his son nick a cycle of addiction jail rehab and relapse on the day tim recorded his 21st month of sobriety nick suffered a fatal overdose dr told me that the room right next to where we were and i walked in there are indices. mike's one year old son is cold 'd blue lifeless body just lying there with us a sheet up to his chest and he still have the divisiveness mouth where they were trying to ask write him. i mean tears just started slowing down and now

with his wife former supermodel jennifer jimenez he helps former addicts through their substance abuse program dope to hope often users begin with legally prescribed pain killers after an injury then when those run out they move on to heroin or fentanyl a powerful and dangerous synthetic opioid bought from street corner drug dealers for too many opioid users the journey through addiction ends like this knowing when you hear of an overdose on a street corner the lucky ones survive to end up here in the emergency room now seeing more opioid overdoses than ever overdoses are up 55 percent in 2020 compared to 2019. years city be more challenging time recovering because drug use or very little in their communities one opioid manufacturer oxycontin maker produce pharma has acknowledged its role in the opioid epidemic the company has paid 634000000 dollars in fines and pleaded guilty to

contributing to thousands of opioid deaths now surging is the pandemic drives many back to drugs they need purpose and connection they need a human interaction and unfortunately a lot of people are going back to abusing and using opiates and when you're asked what opiates you know you're gonna die it is an epidemic growing within a pandemic as the number of fatal opioid overdoses continues to rise john hendren al-jazeera chicago. still to come on this program for you. the decade after the arab spring began internews year we look at what has and hasn't changed. and russia's vladimir putin held his annual marathon press conference find out what he had to say about his political future.

how we got more heavy snow coming into northern parts of japan you can see have a cloud is lighting up from the northwest down towards the southeast across see a relatively warm waters of the sea of japan so see if a snow coming through here is a bit like when you you run a hot bath in a cold bathroom the rises it cools content season extremes off and eventually he will get condensation and in this case snow and quite a bit of it actually over the past few days is seen around to meet as a snow coming in across the northern parts of japan more the same as we go through the next couple of days perhaps not quite as heavy on friday but you push on into sas saying it's still very much there in evidence some more of that wintry weather piling in across the northern half of the country behind that is cold enough but at

least it is dry minus to the top temperature in seoul a plus to the for beijing maybe want to shower us down to a southeastern parts of china all of rain and plenty of rain at the moment moving across southern areas of india into tumble not to the northeast monsoon driving those showers down towards the southeast of in the shore like you're also seeing some very heavy showers as we go on through the next couple of days that brings with it the possibility of floods and mudslides. join africa's largest trading. investment in rwanda into african trade gives me access to more than 1100 exhibitors 10000 visitors in bias and more than 5000 conference delegates from more than 55 countries participate in trade and investment deals with $40000000000.00 as business and government come together to explore business and networking opportunities at the international exhibition boat t. by african export import bank and their premium partners the i 80 s.

2021 transforming africa. welcome back you're watching al jazeera live from doha my name's peter dhabi let's just update your top stories for you there's been protests over the security situation in northern nigeria days after hundreds of school boys were kidnapped only 17 boys have been rescued by the security forces so far a faction of the armed group says it was responsible for the kidnappings. the french president emmanuel mccall has tested positive for covert 19 he'll self isolates and continue to work remotely the french prime minister's own cussed acts will also self isolates not to come into contact with mr macro though he has tested

negative. the u.s. is registered to corona virus records in one day the number of new deaths and cases nearly 3 and a half 1000 people died and close 225-0000 were infected. several african countries are seeing a 2nd wave south africa has reported its highest new daily case toll since august her metacity reports now from johannesburg. well the rise in infections was expected when lockdown measures we eased a few months ago so over the past few months you saw schools reopening businesses reopening and people being allowed to move up and down the country now it's time africa's economy cons to stay a long locked out i mean the unemployment rate areas more than 30 percent and they've been massive job loss because of 19 concern that once the festive season starts they're going to see thousands of people leave big cities. and go to the rue

areas to be with family and friends and try to implement some kind a measures on the ground to try and stop the rise in infections one of them is a nighttime curfew they also saying that the sale of alcohol for example can only be sold on certain days and at certain times limiting the number of public gatherings another big concern they have is that it's a tradition here in south africa where families and friends gather at one of the many beautiful beaches across the country in their thousands and party for days during the festive season the government says that it would no longer be allowed to try and stop this rise in infections but it remains to be seen if people will listen to what the government is told them to do in european parliament voted against imposing sanctions targeting the egyptian government the resolution raised concerns about egypt's human rights record among other topics and condemned the kidnapping torture and killing of an italian research. in cairo in 2016 barker's in brussels following he says the resolution rejection came as

a disappointment for human rights groups that have been appealing the e.u. for a tougher stance against egypt. quite a resoundingly defeat for this resolution 608261 the european parliament the resolution was brought by 2 italian m.e.p. on behalf of the socialist and democratic alliance was just explained as a left leaning bloc of amy p.s. across the european union and within the european parliament it's difficult to say exactly what the reasoning was for it to go so drastically in the other direction for those who brought this resolution but the feeling is that the arguments were perhaps not strong enough in piling extra pressure on the egyptian or forty's when it comes to holding the government there to account for alleged human rights violations italian investigators concluded that this was a state sponsored killing that's been denied by the egyptians but last week we saw

4 high level egyptian officials accused of being involved in the kidnapping and murder we believe now that the trial will be on the way with these accused being dealt with in absentia when it comes to this resolution though it comes very much as a blow to human rights groups who believe that more should be done by members of the european union when it comes to piling on the pressure on egypt regarding its human rights record the finger has also been pointed at germany france and also the united kingdom for continued arms trails to the sales to egypt while all of this background business happens all of these accusations of violations. the united states is expected to unseal charges against another suspect in the 1988 lockerbie bombing that killed 270 people libyan intelligence officer identified as. masood is accused of making the bomb that blew up a u.s. aircraft over the scottish town of lockerbie most of the victims on the london to

new york pan am flight one of 3 americans massoud is reportedly in custody in libya and is expected to be extradited to the u.s. to stand trial that. has more from tripoli. this case has not been finalized yet now but mr wood ordered the new accusations made by the us justice system is said to be based on confessions made by mr wood himself he is believed to be the bomb maker that assembled the bomb that blow up the pan american flight over a look at a b. in scotland in 1988 which killed 270 people including 190 american passengers now but it is expected to be extradited to the united states if requested by the united states because remember during the gadhafi reign the united

states imposed in comics sanctions on gadhafi and it libya it was close a fight as a state sponsor of terrorism when they get definite refused to hand over the fittest suspect of the case the late of the. international investigators have been given the green light to travel to the chinese city to look into the origins of the corona virus the world health organization the team will go there in january after getting permission from beijing most experts believe it's spread through a food market in the city of his shell of bullis. it was here and were a year ago china 1st reported cases of pneumonia from an unknown course and in january it was the 1st place to go into a strict and sweeping lockdown but was it where it all began the world health organization is seeming investigators to china to find out our understanding at this time is that china is working with the international team and their visit. to

see. as far as we are aware happening in january most experts believe the virus originated in animals and spread through this wit market to move on but china has strongly opposed calls for an international inquiry into how the pandemic began saying it felt unfeeling targeted chinese state media have suggested covert 19 existed abroad long before it was discovered in were han. since the outbreak of the pandemic china has acted in an open transparent and responsible way we started cooperating with the w.h.o. on origin tracing very early on w h r experts have come to china twice and chinese experts also held many video conferences with the w.h.o. person now and international experts the search for the source of covert 19 has fueled political tensions u.s. president donald trump accused china of a cover up a strangely

a call for an investigation into the viruses origin's which soured trade relations with china but the world health organization says it's trip is not to apportion blame the gather dust or to prevent future outbreaks to harm residents are welcoming the scrutiny. of the gotham we all know that it is a seafood market where it was 1st discovered but it is highly possible that it came from elsewhere and then ended up at the market seafood doesn't come from will harm you know perhaps there even some deeper origins prior to hand that need to be looked into. for the 11000000 people who hahn life is largely back to normal they haven't had a locally transmitted case since may but for most of the rest of the world life is anything but normal millions of suffering. and wondering how this all began and more importantly when it will end charlotte dallas al-jazeera. the u.s.

government agencies are rushing to beef up their computer security after confirming they've been hit in a long running and a sophisticated hacking operation it's hackers are suspected to be russian they appear cyber defenses and access to e-mail and internal files at the treasury and commerce departments and possibly elsewhere to. in his annual media conference the russian president vladimir putin denied allegations that russian hackers meddled in the 2016 u.s. elections mr putin was fielding questions from journalists and citizens from his private residence outside moscow and asked about his future plans he said he's not yet taken a decision on whether he will run for the presidency again in 2024 alexandra go forward listened in and has more now on the other topics that came up including cope with 19 and the opposition figure alexina valmy. well as so far we're learned a lot about the russian economy and actually how much it was affected by the

coronavirus been their mix because there was a lot of questions and they were actually dominant about. unemployment about all sorts of social payments for people who lost jobs from people who have children or people who are salaries work out all sold the rising food prices and this was indeed dominating at this press conference showing that a lot of people are feeling very worried and that they want some reassurance and for sure they were they were given such a by the president himself we also learned that russia is not to blame for bad and called relations with the west so let us read the e.u. but putting said that compared to the restaurant is warm and fuzzy he said that these bad relations were spoiled by nato basically forgetting its promise not to extend itself that the alliance towards the russian borders he also said that u.s. intelligence is behind the published investigations which basically accuse the

russian state and the russian agents were trying to poison the position. he said this was an attempt to influence the russian public to change of being and also to make me a more bigger politician then he is according to put in. banned from major sporting events reduced to 2 years after an appeals hearing the world anti doping agency water had given the country a 4 year penalty last year it believes lab data handed over by russia during a doping investigation have been tampered with but despite the suspension being half russia will not be officially represented at next year's tokyo olympics or the 2022 football world cup in qatar. 10 years ago. said some cell phone fire in a desperate and

a fatal act of protest mohamed bouazizi is actions tapped into frustration and fury at home and across the wider region leading to what became known as the arab spring is an arab country the transition to democracy but many say things have only got worse and they were muted commemorations in. revolution began well the former president. has told al-jazeera he's quote proud of the progress made in creating a democratic government in the country mr. transition to democracy after years soon to office shortly after the revolution. with and began by asking him about what the legacy of the uprising has been after 10 years. if we consider the situation in tunisia i am proud of the number of achievement. that we have realized during the 1st of all we are now

a free nation we have free elections we have a free parliament we have freedom of expression we have freedom of gathering etc etc and i can assure you of that as human rights activist i was very extremely cautious about torture i said from the beginning to the advance the police and the army that i will never accept any kind of torture and torture has stopped in tunisia so i can say that from the political point of view we have a ship that a lot of course we didn't realize perfect democracy we still have. democracy we still have even a corrupt democracy but we have democracy and this is very important what those gains as you mentioned as you described them very importantly those fragile gains they were overturned almost you know by night are you not worried that tunisia with all the foreign interference that is happening that those gains that you talk about could disappear also you know very quickly absolutely i agree totally with you

i agree that pollute the big this is why i said we we have a democracy but very ferocious i demoed prosy and now at this very moment you know people out here in tunisia are talking about who they are asking the military to intervene because we have a lot of the economic problems etc i am very very aware of this ferocious situation . and we'll have a full interview with. the former president you can watch it here on saturday at 430 hours g.m.t. on our program talk to al-jazeera. and i just want to show you some pictures that are just coming in to us out of new york as a major snowstorm bears down on the northeastern u.s. this is the 1st major snowstorm of the season is setting records in some areas already hundreds of flights have been cancelled.