of whom are couples family. the father the sound and the jihad. on cheezy are. hundreds of school boys abducted in nigeria freed after being kidnapped almost a week ago. hello i'm daryn jordan this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up a u.s. panel of medical experts puts forward its recommendations from a dearness coronavirus vaccine paving the way for the f.d.a. to approve it for emergency use. computer software giant microsoft admits is the latest victim in a highly sophisticated attack by suspected russian operatives. and anger in argentina as economies in latin america see the worst drop in growth in more than

a 100 years. welcome to the program we begin with news of the release of hundreds of school boys kidnapped by an armed group in nigeria 6 days ago the government under mounting pressure of its handling of the crisis has been negotiating for their release protestors are urging politicians to increase security but a large social media campaign called bring back our boys has been launched a senior state governor says it's not yet clear if all the schoolboys have been freed. we have so far. given 340. schoolchildren later on we also understand 4 have joined so we have to leave 344. children that are on their way to the now they said they have

surrendered or that is with them so we will find out from. parents whether still some left like i said even the figure we gave was not to stick because we were looking at between city $32400.00 and now we have gotten $344.00 so we will know exactly about tomorrow well the boys were taken when gunman thought to be linked to the armed group boko haram stormed a school in the northern city of kut sina last friday hundreds of others managed to escape before the kidnappers fled to a forest hideout utility. that after we scaled the fence we were hearing voices saying that we should come back thinking they were police officers unknown to us it was the brain that they then give us a spot that was when we realised that would bend its wearing military uniform. in walking for so long i was already exhausted from a sickle cell patients want to hold my friend shoulder one to my right ear to my

lift before i could continue the treacherous walk into the bush as the bandits continue to flow people from the bank so that they move faster well al jazeera is ahmed addresses live outside the office of the governor of katsina state so then 7 moving pretty quickly in the last few hours just bring us up to date with what's been happening and where the boys are now. well the voice of love to the state the northern one of the northern states the been held up for the past 5 or 6 days and that's why i think what the security forces are telling is the pin down the abductors of the children so they left some for a state initially there was he cups the government of some sort of state and kids in a state tried to sort out the protocols of bringing them back to the here we are told that they are moving in a convoy of vehicles i squatted by the military under tight security at the

remember this is an area that for years has been suffering from attacks by bandits and kidnappers as well as robbers and other criminal criminal gangs that have been operating freely in this part of north northern nigeria so what we expect and we expected that they would be here by now however because of the long and dangerous roads we are told that we'll have to wait a little bit longer for them to arrive and when they arrive here in cuts in a state they will be kept in a camp then doctors and nurses will be brought in to check them and then some debriefing as well before the president meets them i see prepares to leave the state of cats in a back to he's been vacationing here for the last 7 days so i think what is going to happen is probably they will the president may not meet them until probably

later in the day because they are yet to arrive kits and as of now devon just very briefly what more do we know then about the negotiations that led to their release because the president says he has a policy of not negotiating with armed groups. yeah the authorities here are keeping that very close to their chest the kids in the state government denied there was any and direct negotiations going on but the governor confirmed that they has been some kind of mediation some kind of media mediators walking between the government and the bandits as they call them and the nigerian government denied that they have negotiated ransom for the release of the boys or even exchange of prisoners between the 2 sides between the bandits as well as the government of nigeria but the the the equation added to this is of course the issue of book why we were told earlier and book has claimed

responsibility of this attack and people are wondering what do the government gave you in return if not directly to book or at least to some of the bandits or the armed men who have been holding this children government for the time being is denying that there's been any payment of ransom or exchange of prisoners and there was no direct negotiations but what it looks like is that ok has been some form of negotiations between them or what happened exactly we don't really know ultimately is live for us then katsina in nigeria and thank you. professor of political science at brooklyn college as city university of new york and she joins us live via skype from brooklyn have a great to have you with us let's stay on this issue of the negotiations so the government clearly has negotiated the release of these boys that's despite the president saying there's a no negotiation policy but in your mind where they kidnap for ransom do you think . i think it's 'd quite likely but you know. if

one isn't the fly on the wall there you would not be able to tell. so i think you know i think it's quite likely that they were kidnapped for ransom i think it's quite likely that level ca shows were made. or if nobody is going to confirm it there's nothing i can really do to verify that and what can we read into the fact that the abduction happened in the northwest of the country when armed groups like boko haram typically operate in the northeast. well this is not central you know. katsina cuts in our state is the president's state and he was visiting the state when boko haram attacked so i think they are trying to send a message to him you know and i think also this can be seen as maybe they're trying

to expand this hope of their activities. but. you know now that i think about it the fact that the president was there when this children were abducted is probably sending. a symbolic message so the president and also wanting to probably. get concessions including maybe money. would be why they and then you know boko haram has also. shocked at schools you know this is the fore. instead i mean more than for italy. because there were there were there was a school where they so ok. ok let me just jump in there because when we push the time so where does all of this then leave the government's fight against on groups like boko haram because it seems these groups are still allowed to operate with

impunity. well you know the think there's a standoff between the government and boko haram the government has not been able to maybe make any significant headway because this number of children i think the reports where almost 600 children were abducted it's very concerning that the government never has the will figure exactly 0 how many children. and you know the girls 112 of them as to who had them pens lay asheri who was abducted from. that she is still there you know 100 and something of half last mates ok that's cool mates where we meet this. 6 allison guy who is a humanitarian war so happily assassinated so the government doesn't have a. on the security situation in another major area chemical but i'm afraid i'm

going to get it 1000000 people yes sorry we have to leave it there i'm afraid to run out of time coming thank you very much for talking to al-jazeera thank you well a panel of experts advising the u.s. food and drug administration has recommended the emergency use of a 2nd coronavirus vaccine the committee endorsed the modena vaccine a week after backing the fines a biotech currently being administered across the u.s. the f.d.a. is expected to granted submergence a use as early as late thursday or friday that's after the u.s. registered a double record of both deaths and infections in a single day. well for more let's go live now to white house correspondent kimberly health and she joins us from washington d.c. kimberly on the vaccine be rolled out once the f.d.a. gives its seat of approval that well once the f.d.a. gives the seal of approval it will go to the c.d.c. they're in charge of distribution and once the c.d.c. director signs off it is really just

a matter of time before people can start to get this 2nd vaccine in the united states already last week of course pfizer approved and now being injected into millions of americans what we know with regard to the vaccine is that there are $15000000.00 doses ready to be administered so that would cover about 25000000 people given there are 2 jabs that are involved with the quote a virus vaccine so we know that these will be going to the front line health care workers also the elderly and those that have compromised immune systems but this couldn't come at a better time given the fact that the records are being broken with regard to not only the number of infections but also the number of deaths and hospitalizations due to covert 19 this is from the thanksgiving holiday where many americans traveled even when public health officials said don't and the fear is there's going to be yet another wave with the christmas holiday and the new year's holiday is

just around the corner so there's a lot of concern about this at the same time there also is feeling some encouragement about the vaccine still some are wary of the science that's what we know a number of high profile politicians will be getting this on camera to encourage people vice president mike pence the top republican in the senate mitch mcconnell and the top democrat in the house of representatives nancy pelosi all say they will be getting the vaccine as soon as they can to encourage others to do the same can be done away from the vaccine president elect joe biden's been making more cabinets of appointments to some of us who they are and how significant other. well i think the one that's really making news here in the u.s. right now is the point of the 1st native american cabinet secretary that is set to be announced deb holland is significant because she already made history when she became one of the 2 1st native american congress members and now there is

a lot of excitement about the support it because she will be interior secretary this is a cabinet position that overlooks the administering of public lands in the united states of course many of this territory was stolen from indigenous people so having this perspective is certainly going to be unique in the united states given she knows full well what the impact is like in the history and the impact of having land and territory taken away so many years ago so this is something that is generating a lot of excitement in the united states of course is not his 1st 1st in terms of these appointments we have of course the history being made with the 1st vice president female of color there have been a number of other historic firsts including if confirmed p. bush as who would be the 1st senate confirmed openly gay cabinet secretary so joe biden president elect saying that he's making these appointments for one reason

and one reason only that is to get diversity but also diverse perspective when he finally is inaugurated in the middle of january or at the kennedy helped a lot of us and washington d.c. can really thank you. all right time for a short break here now does iraq when we come back a backhanded apology from the u.s. company blamed for feeling the deadly opioid crisis. 10 years after fritz and i set himself on fire triggering what became known as the arab spring to museums are still protesting more not stay with us. hello there well i'm pleased to say that they went to storm that's been sweeping up the eastern seaboard of the u.s. is least moving pretty quickly so that's some saving grace at the moment we're looking at the system just off the coast of new york there grassy pushing further

northwards and a switch by the time we come to saturday will be a thing of the past with dragging in what a cool breeze crisp sunshine sparkling sunshine a blue sky there as we go on through friday it is going to be culled temperatures no higher than around one degree above freezing their full neocon just a top temperature 3 degrees there in d.c. but at least it should be dry by the state ice will be something to watch out for more snow coming into central parts of canada will snow coming into western parts of canada and that will repack pop as it makes its way further inland as we go on through saturday rains making its way into basi into the pacific northwest some very heavy downpours coming through here further south is fairly dry for a good part of that western side of the u.s. but he comes out west of weather that mix of rain and snow that's going to push its way over towards the appalachians as we go on through sas de gras actually making its way further race was a notice down into the deep south that rate does get pretty intense with the

possibility of flooding for some. greece the birthplace of democracy but ethnic turks from the northeast tell a different story the greeks they bounce to control our nation our believe their religious leaders jailed journalists silenced schools closed and a surge in the far right they say that if you don't like police you can vote while i'm turkish but i'm also greek people in power investigates western thrice contested space on al-jazeera.

welcome back everyone to the top stories here at this hour more than 300 school boys abducted by an armed group in nigeria last week have been released gunmen stormed a school in the northwestern city of katsina last friday has been increasing pressure on the government to improve security. a panel of experts advising the u.s. food and drug administration has recommended the approval of a 2nd coronavirus vaccine in the done a vaccine could be authorized for emergency use by as early as friday. and the u.s. is set to have its 1st native american cabinet secretary that holland is president elect joe biden's pick for interior secretary a 60 year old is in her 1st term as a congresswoman from new mexico. u.s. president donald trump says he's optimistic a long running rift in the gulf will soon be over after speaking by phone with saudi arabia's king solomon the 3 year blockade on qatar by saudi arabia and 3 other countries was one of several regional issues discussed during the call in

a statement trump thanked the saudi monarch for his leadership u.s. government agencies are rushing to tighten their computer security after confirming they've been hit in a long running and sophisticated hacking operation the attackers are suspected to be linked to russia well the u.s. energy defense state and homeland security departments were also breached to some degree the administration that manages the country's nuclear weapons was also targeted however it's not just government agencies either software giant microsoft was also hit in the operation an f.b.i. investigation is ongoing to find those responsible president elect joe biden's transition team of released a statement saying that impose substantial costs on those responsible and cyber security under his administration will be a top priority but richard still known as a chief research analyst for i.t. harvest he says the hack is extremely serious. if you look at the history of these types of attacks attributed to nation states you know you can go back to taking

rain in the early 2000 or buckshot yankee in 2008 that the defense department viewed as a wake up call and eventually led to the creation of u.s. saber command this is being viewed as a wake up call which is unfortunate because we should be awake at this point but i think everybody's treating it with the seriousness it deserves and that this will be viewed as one of the most serious attacks ever. in the fact that it was so surreptitiously deployed through a 3rd party through a you know software vendor that was in hundreds of thousands of companies even though a claim only $18000.00 were impacted now we just saw from microsoft that 40 of their customers. have indications that they've been impacted and interestingly enough government agencies are the biggest representation in that 40 other tech companies are so we can look to future types of attacks of file the same wrote

through a 3rd party so now everyone has start worrying about their supply chain. the owners of the company blame for feeling the opioid crisis in the u.s. have apologized before a congressional committee but they refuse to take responsibility telling members that nothing could have been done differently the soka family owns purdue pharma that's the maker of the addictive prescription painkiller oxycontin last month the company pleaded guilty to criminal charges and admitted providing misleading information about the drug and doing little to prevent it from entering the black market. i want to express my family's deep sadness at the opioid crisis oxycontin is a medicine the producer intended to help people and it has and continues to help millions of americans. far too many lives have been destroyed by the diction and abuse of opioids including oxycontin there are many lawsuits that blame put you and

my family for the opiate crisis well we deny why ability and vigorously contesting the square we want to respond to the opioid crisis because a prescription medicine that our company manufactured and sold which was never intended to harm anyone and is not being part of a crisis that has harmed too many people now the episode crisis has devastated the lives of hundreds of thousands of people almost half a 1000000 deaths have been linked to the abuse of painkillers john hendren has been meeting some of the victims in chicago or you are tim ryan with the recruiting director for a chicago consulting company and he founded a multi-million dollar executive search firm and he was also a drug addict people out this misconception that an opiate addict is the homeless person on the corner with the brown paper bag 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 ensue 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 took me to the room right next to where we were and i walked in there are indices. my 20 year old son is called 'd blue lifeless body just lying there with us a sheet up to his chest and he still have the device in his 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 you know when you hear me in overdose on the 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 produced 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 a 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. now latin american economy has taken a battering recording their worst drop in growth for more than a century the pandemic is the main cause of the overall 7 percent drop a figure representing mass job losses and businesses shutting down al-jazeera has done oceania reports now from argentina one of the worst hit countries in the region. the economies of latin america and the caribbean have been hit particularly hard by the credit 900 pandemic so any green of good news is welcome when grim new

statistics are announced. so i know that our figures are negative all negative it doesn't mean that we are much better off than we were in july but the drops are a little lower than forecast. those statistics still translate into tens of thousands of businesses closing growing unemployment poverty and homelessness. but it's bad in latin america it's even worse in argentina the economy here is shrinking by 10 percent in the 3rd quarter of 2020 workers and social organizations have already taken to the streets on thursday alone we cover 2 demonstrations within walking distance of the el to 0 office. what we'd like is health to be a priority especially in this pandemic and this in a country where 50 percent of children are poor and need public hospitals it would be an increase to make the health system work along with the pay so hitting an all

time low against the u.s. dollar it's inflation that bites into workers' wages argentina has one of the worst rates in the walls more than 30 percent this year forecast to be even higher next year you know more of the crap we've been saying on all our marches when the workers lose through inflation it's not because that money is disappearing it's because someone is profiting with what should be ours and the rest of the workers. president alberto for and this took office just weeks before the pandemic arrived he said from the start to put the nation's health before the economy but with the russian sputnik 5 vaccine due to arrive next week the economy hasn't gone away. protests like this noisy and colorful ermac in the feature of everyday life in argentina with the culture at night seem fine. but on there we'll be lucky to make 3. out of. the question is always where the money's going to come from

argentina is one of the world's leading grain produces but the industry has been paralyzed as a strike by workers demanding a wage increase enters its 2nd week. part of the growing demand from work. because of course argentina and the rest of latin america they don't want to emerge from the pandemic worse off than they went into it. and they're all just era one of cyrus. now 10 years ago a fruit seller in tunisia set himself on fire in a desperate and fatal act of protest it was easy as actions tapped into frustrations and fury at home and right across the region leading to what became known as the arab spring well tennessee is an arab country that transitioned into democracy but many say things that only become worse and they were muted

commemorations in city busied where to his ears revolution began well the former tennessean president munch of muslims he has told al-jazeera he's proud of the progress made in creating a democratic government in the country marzuki oversaw it in his years transition to democracy when he assumed office shortly after the revolution al-jazeera was jamaal as shy al sat down with marzuki 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 not a free nation we have free elections we have a free parliament we have freedom of expression we have freedom of gathering et cetera et cetera 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 end of the us 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 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 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 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 your big but this is why i said we we have a democracy but very ferocious democrats here 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 economic problems etc i am very very aware of this ferocious situation

and you can see the full interview with the former president you can watch it here on our special the arab spring 10 years on saturday at 430 g.m.t. . time for a quick check of the headlines here on al-jazeera more than 300 school boys the ducted by an armed group in nigeria last week have been released gunmen stormed a school in the northwestern city of town scene of last friday there's been increasing pressure on the government to improve security they have so far. given 340. schoolchildren later on we also and as young 4 have joined so we have.