looking at us live next year of sandy. with the election behind us will the republican party dump truck fuel weekly take on u.s. politics and that's the bottom. hundreds of schoolboys abducted in nigeria freed after being kidnapped almost a week ago. hello i'm don jordan this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up a u.s. panel of medical experts puts forward its recommendation for madonna's coronavirus vaccine paving the way for the f.d.a. to approve it for emergency use. computer software giant microsoft admits it's 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 century. we begin with news of the release of hundreds of school boys kidnapped by an armed group in nigeria 6 days ago the government on the mounting pressure of its handling of the crisis has been negotiating for their release protestors are urging politicians to increase security a large social media campaign labeled bring back our boys has been launched casino state governor says it's not yet clear if all of the boys 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 doing city $32400.00 and now we have gotten $344.00 so we will know exactly about tomorrow when the boys were taken when a gunman thought to be linked to the armed group boko haram stormed a school in the northern city of katsina last friday hundreds of others managed to escape before the kidnappers fled to a forest hideout. 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. our desires and interests has this update from katsina state. we are told that they are moving in a convoy of vehicles ice courted by the military and the 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 and northern nigeria so what we expect early on 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 and back to he's been vacationing here for the last 7 days so i think what is going to happen is probably they won't the president may not meet them until probably later in the day because they're yet to arrive gets into as of now the equation added to this is of course the issue of boko haram 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 boko haram at least to some of the bandits all the 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 they has been some form of negotiations between them what happened exactly we don't really know well. the nigerian thing instances there are big questions of

how the government secured the boy's release. this is the president and i think a tricky position going forward going into the last election bihari categorically stated that he would refuse to negotiate with iran on the basis of them being an organization who don't want peace at the moment the key organization who have claimed this abduction of her arm that there is still a degree of confusion as to who is responsible very shortly after the abduction and. the governor of the state in the set that he had entered into negotiations of the state had entered into negotiations with the abductors and so the question remains at this point has the government's position shifted on the question of negotiation or is there some degree of division in the government about whether or not to approach the question since instances like this of the significance of the northeast of the country is that the qur'an operations

have been typically limited to so what we're seeing him if that is the case if they are responsible for this attack is a geographical spread which would be concerning. given the context of her arm having been declared by the government as having been defeated over 5 years ago. so it seems to be a case of flexing might and sharing an increased amount of strength and also confidence and that raises concerns for people who are interested in or have a stake in the security of the north and the region in my area. now 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 mcgurn of vaccine a week after backing the pfizer biotech currently being administered across the u.s. the f.d.a. is expected to grant its emergency use as early as late thursday or friday that's after the u.s. registered the double record of both deaths and infections in

a single day white house correspondent kimberly health it has more. once the f.d.a. commissioner gives his approval which is expected on friday now that this recommendation is come out of the panel what we expect is that the c.d.c. director will sign off on this and distribution for this 2nd vaccine the madeira one will begin on monday of course a week ago it was the pfizer vaccine that is already being administered to millions of americans what we expect with the 2nd vaccine is that this will provide about 50000000 doses that means that about 25000000 americans will be able to get the vaccine front line workers the elderly those with immune disorders are the ones that have been getting the priority so far what we're expecting though is a ventura leave by mid 2021 as many as 150000000 americans will be vaccinated by that time at least that's the goal in the timeline and it couldn't

come soon enough because the country is in a 3rd wave of infections right now breaking records in terms of deaths in terms of infections in terms of hospitalizations this is all result of the thanksgiving holiday many americans chose to travel even a little they were told not to and this is why we're seeing the spike and the worry is that with christmas christmas and new years this is only going to get worse and very quickly we should point out as we're getting the news about this 2nd vaccine there is some hesitancy in the united states about taking the vaccine that's all we know the vice president mike pence will likely be getting it later this week publicly on camera to show americans he believes it's safe and we just heard that mitch mcconnell the top republican in the u.s. senate may be getting in the coming days as well well let's bring in dr krishna kemal he's a founding director of the global health innovation some john joins us live from raleigh in north carolina. so presumably once the f.d.a.

approves this modena vaccine this will come as good news that a 2nd bank scene is not available in the u.s. . absolutely i think we should celebrate the amazing science that's happened over the last year for us to get from scratch to what looked to be now 2 effective vaccines in less than a year that's unprecedented so it's fantastic news so far and it's worth pointing out that the medina vaccine can be stored at a lower temperature and that presumably makes distribution much much easier doesn't it it does well the pfizer biotech scene requires long term storage at negative say 70 celsius the modern of vaccine requires long term storage at negative 20 celsius so it makes it much easier even though that still requires a cold chain and it's also more stable for a longer period of time in regular refrigeration so both of those allow us to use the maternal vaccine in more rural areas and in places where there may not be as

much coal chain infrastructure yeah and that's an interesting point you make because there are questions about whether or not madonna and indeed other companies can supply the huge volume of dennis's required globally particular in places like the developing world. absolutely the more vaccines we have the better and even though we have 2 soon to be on the market not going to be enough if you look at the overall capacity even by the end of 2021 with the maternal vaccine it's 500000000 to a 1000000000 doses that might be available of which almost 500000000 have already been purchased mostly from high income countries and with the pfizer vaccine we hope to have as many as 1300000000 doses available by the end of next year and of those more than 800000000 have already been bought mostly by high income and some middle income countries so if we're going to really think about global equity we're really

going to need more vaccines to become available so it's good to see that we have a very strong late stage pipeline but it's going to be months and into the years before we really have a robust availability of vaccines around the world limit is going to final thought from you before you go apart from temperature issues what are the other main challenges facing the manufacturer distribution of these vaccines and how much pressure will a supply chains actually be and yeah as much as the science has taken to get us here that might actually be the smaller challenge relative to going from vaccine to vaccination we have to have enormous supply chain including culture in like we talked about you have got to have the health workers available to give the vaccinations all of the supplies the syringes the needles you've got to have the data systems to be able to track who's gotten which vaccine when they're coming back in 3 or 4 weeks to complete their course and of course we've got to

deal with hesitancy and the misinformation that's also spreading so we have significant challenges even though the vaccines are now starting to become available dr krishna come on thank you very much indeed for talking to al jazeera thank you. well time for a short break here on al-jazeera when we come back backhanded apology from the u.s. company blamed for fueling the deadly opioid crisis. and 10 years after a fruit seller set himself on fire triggering what became known as the arab spring to museums are still testing morning stadiums. how low the weather sloshy found interact with secured part of the middle east but some pieces of cloud and rain in to keep pushing across the coaxes well in parts of iraq could see some wet weather you can follow that lot of cloud and right is the

west of iran just sliding across saudi arabia towards central areas of the a red sea finance right here in concert of national day $24.00 celsius light winds possibility of some early morning mist and folk things freshen up as we go on into saturday a similar temperature but the breeze will prevent any mist or folk problems at that stage scattering a showers across iran scattering a showers to just around the gulf of aden and want to tear those showers to make their way into northern parts of somalia so just around the horn of africa you could see some wet weather here as we go through the next day or so central parts of africa plenty of showers here all the way over towards the gulf of guinea big downpours there into camarade into kabban as showers making their way down into angola follow the showers down the rift valley and they do extend across as zambia pushing into was in bob way central and southern parts of seen some lively showers the on the wealthiest of south africa also seeing some wet weather but the showers

do intensify the southern past the miami. ok calm and make sure you're not hyping the situation be part of the debate my main characters are women when no topic is off the table the law is in the last allow child marriage to happen legally these are basically archaic walls that often legitimize and legalize pedophiles on air online jumping to the comments section and meeting to be part of the discussion this stream on out is there a. cool.

welcome back a quick reminder the top stories here this hour more than 300 school boys abducted by an armed group in nigeria last week of 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 the middle of that scene could be authorized emergency use by as early as friday. now the united states is set to have its 1st native american cabinet secretary after president elect joe biden's latest nomination dave holland is biden's pick for interior secretary the 60 year old is in her 1st term as a democratic congresswoman for new mexico and she had a department this previously had an uneasy relationship with native americans over environmental issues biden has also nominated a former 2 time governor of michigan as the energy secretary jennifer granholm has

been an advisor on clean energy programs and is expected to be progressive on climate policy let's bring in brendan o'connor he's an associate professor of american politics at the university of sydney joins us live via skype from melbourne brendan so president elect joe biden's been making more cabinet appointments let's talk 1st about debt holland if we can how significant is her appointment and what does she bring to the role of interior secretary. well that would be very appropriate i think ken very important to have a native american woman as head of the department of the in character if we think about sort of national parks in the united states government and lends menage tribal lands really in the end of the di all of those lands or once native american lands and maybe is still have claims to some of the appox some of the resources and there has never bane and native american person who is being interior secretary it is never been a person who's been hit of that department who have is

a native american son so lots of ways it's america catching up with what is i think fear what should have been the case maybe in the past and she will i think be welcomed in that role and celebrated in that role too i will say the negotiations with native americans across the united states yeah that's an interesting point you make brendan because it's worth noting that she will head up a department that as you say historically has had an uneasy relationship with a to americans particularly over environmental issues yes particularly these ideas of having pipelines go through the dakotas through native american land to lend that native americans are closely attached to so in many other countries and i think in this trailer in new zealand it would be seen as entirely inappropriate to have a person as head of the department or a public politician who wasn't an indigenous person being head of that that area if

you have a women's a phased area you would not want to have a man as head of it so given that this is the key agency that dealing with native american paper oh 'd it is high time that a native american person was the head of that agency and brendan another notable appointment to speak but just transportation secretary this has traditionally been a monkey department so why but it has do you think. well i'm sure promises will my back during the primaries some of us remember that very difficult days that joe biden had coming in very 5th and new hampshire i mean a stunning result for someone he's ended up president of the united states and the pots way to victory for joe biden was that his moderate rivals people who judge amy clothes she got out of the rice and that the time many speculated on what the deal was with or that there was a plum cabinet position with the deal was that be listening that biden would be

listening to a clever 'd judge on the campaign trail so this is a classic sort of political kickback booted judges no history working in transportation k. seems a very intelligent man is were didn't consultancy so maybe a logistics something that he is good at but you know just this real rights just sort of class olympics just a just a final thought to brendon because it just pushed for time and with camelot harris being the 1st female and 1st american indian vice presidential pick is biden's cabinet that much more representative of what america actually looks like yes i mean significantly kind of the harris. has both african-american heritage and indian american heritage on it mother's side ability to judge openly gay men native american woman being chosen for the interior this i

think is the america that biden wants to put forward to the world it's a multicultural america it's an open america it's a known bigoted america which i think is welcome to be saying when the mcconnell great to get your thoughts thanks for talking to us here on al-jazeera thank you my pleasure. now 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 thought to be linked to russia the u.s. energy defense state and homeland security departments all breached to some degree the administration that manages the country's nuclear weapons was also targeted however it's not just government agencies either the software giant microsoft was also hit an f.b.i. investigation is now underway president elect joe biden's transition team have released a statement saying they'll make cyber security a top priority and punish those responsible for the attack well richard stanton is a chief research analyst an 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 that it deserves and the this will be viewed as one of the most serious attacks ever. in the fact that it was sold surreptitiously deployed through a 3rd party through a you know software vendor that was in hundreds of thousands of companies even though we 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 tapes of attacks of file the same wrote through a 3rd party so no everyone has start worrying about their supply chain. the russian president vladimir putin held a media conference on thursday but made no mention of claims by the us that moscow was involved in the hacking of american government computers putin did deny that russia russian hackers ever meddled in the 2016 u.s. election and when asked about his future plans he said he's yet to decide whether he'll run for president again in 2024 or the russian president also dismissed a report alleging that security forces were behind the poisoning of opposition activists election about me. it's not a report it's the legitimization of materials from the american special services in the valley has the support of the american special services and if it's true it's

quite interesting but this does not at all mean that it is necessary to poison needs him if the russian special services had wanted to fatally poison him they would have finished the job now latin american economies have 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 that's a figure representing mass job losses and businesses shutting down the airports 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 when a grain 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 al-jazeera office and then again on a lower level. what we'd like is health to be a priority especially in the spend and this in a country where 50 percent of children are poor and need public hospitals that would be an increase to make the health system work. along with the peso hitting an all time low against the us dollar it's inflation that bites into workers' wages argentina has one of the worst rates in the world 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 than this took office just weeks before the pandemic arrived he said from the start to put the nation's health before the economy with the russian sputnik 5 vaccine due to arrive next week the economy hasn't gone away. protests like this noisy and colorful hurricane a feature of everyday life in argentina with the culprit not seen. the continent but it's equally on there will be lucky to make 3 in fly out of. the question is always where the money's going to come from argentina is one of the world's leading graeme produces but the industry has been paralyzed of the strike by workers demanding a wage increase enters its 2nd week. part of a growing demand from workers across argentina and the rest of latin america they don't want to emerge from the pandemic worse off than they went into an. al-jazeera

one of cyrus now the owners of the company blamed for fueling the opioid crisis in the u.s. have apologized for a congressional committee but they refuse to take responsibility telling members that nothing could have been done differently the family pharma the maker of the addictive prescription painkiller oxycontin last month the company pleaded guilty to criminal charges. i want to express my family's deep sadness about the opioid crisis oxycontin is a medicine the producer intended to help people and it has helped and continues to help millions of americans far too many lives have been destroyed by addiction and abuse of opioids including oxycontin there are many lawsuits that blame put you and my family for the opioid crisis what 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 when almost half a 1000000 deaths have been linked to the abuse of the painkiller as al-jazeera has john hendren has a meeting some of the victims in chicago. 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 told me that the room right next to where we were and i walked in there. indices. mike's one year old son called 'd blue all lifeless body just lying there with us as she talked to us shasta is still have the device in a smile when 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 louvel we prescribe pain killers after an injury then when those run out the move on to heroin or fentanyl

a powerful or dangerous synthetic opioid bought from street corner drug dealers for too many opioid users the journey through addiction ends like this knowing when you're made 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 the 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 634 $1000000.00 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 messing with 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. time for a quick check of the headlines here on al-jazeera more than 300 schoolboys of ducted by an armed group in nigeria last week have been released the gunman stormed the school in the northwestern city of kut seen at last friday there's been increasing pressure on the government to improve security they have so far. given 340.