on al-jazeera. unprompted and uninterrupted discussions from our london broadcast center. on al-jazeera. india becomes the 2nd country with more than 10000000 recorded corona virus infections. that i have my head in and this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up the u.s. approves a 2nd coronavirus vaccine but with families gathering for christmas doctors warn surging infections will get even worse. days out from elections armed groups in central african republic join forces saying the president plans to rig the votes.

and bringing sesame street to cox's bazaar the children show creates new markets for education and supports in the world's biggest refugee camp. well we begin with the latest developments on the corona virus pandemic as the global number of cases continues to rise in india the number of reported infections is now past 10000000 that's the 2nd highest figure in the world behind the united states but the government there says infection rates have fallen sharply in recent weeks in the united states a second's coronavirus vaccine has been approved tests show the maternal job is more than 94 percent effective when administered in 2 doses 4 weeks apart and europe has entered the final week before christmas with many countries imposing new

lock tents germany seen another 24 hours with more than 30000 infections that's despite its 3rd day of tight restrictions well russia is an epidemiologist and professor at the who university in new delhi he says he doesn't expect another wave of infections as he believes india is well prepared the notification of daily new cases which was $90000.00 plus is now down 223000 range which is a 70 percent decline from its peak this is equally true of all states that were hotspot areas reducing by anything between 50 percent to 90 percent. the other good news the net reproduction number which ought to be below one is now in the 0.8 range which is a mark of things slowing down. and the test positivity rate which ought to

be below 5 is now somewhere between $2.00 and $3.00 varying across the states so these are the bright spots however as we have seen with other countries both in europe and in the us there have been resurgence of cases and therefore the surveillance and vigil needs to be maintained india is strong on its immunization program the fundamentals are good there is enough preparedness on the vaccine logistics side. teams are being trained in other words a whole range of preparations is going on the choice of vaccine is expected soon and to avoid any confusion because there are 2 of those as each district would be assigned one particular vaccine the brands will not be mixed in the u.s. that 2nd vaccine has gotten

a green light for mass an occupation expected to start within days its approval came just hours after the vice president was given the pfizer by own sec vaccine on live television on fisher reports now from the white house. right this was a very public vote of confidence in the coronavirus vaccine. the vice president his wife and the u.s. surgeon general getting an injection live on t.v. they want to assure americans that the vaccine works and it's safe the american people deserve to know that we've never been more prepared to combat the coronavirus than we are today and even when we see cases rising hospitalizations rising and heartbreaking loss will continue to marshal the resources that we have secured as a nation including a safe and effective vaccine to meet this moment. senior members of the white house could run a virus team were also at the event the most recognizable dr anthony insisting the

vaccines finally providing a light at the end of what's been a very long tunnel as we get into january february march and april that light is going to get brighter and brighter and of bitterness is going to be replaced by the sweetness and we all hope and i think this is doable that by the time we get several months into this year we will have enough people protected that we can start thinking seriously about to return to normality not at the event in the old executive office building right next door to the white house itself the president instead he was tweeting out allegations without proof that the presidential election had been stolen from his spokesperson says he's open to getting the vaccine that are just no plans to do that at the moment for the 2nd friday in a row regulators in the u.s. approved a vaccine the food and drug administration giving americans to use authorization to medan up that'll mean 6000000 doses being sent out in the coming days and because

the drug doesn't have to be stored at extremely low temperatures it could be used in more locations more than 3000 initially but while the vaccines provide some good news the scale of the problem in the u.s. is actually growing more than 3000 deaths a day in recent days hospitalizations a record numbers health providers across all 50 states warning their close to breaking point and with families planning to gather in a week for the christmas holiday the experts are worried that will create another deadly spike that will cast a shadow into the new year alan fischer al-jazeera at the white house. u.n. secretary general antonio good terrorists has called on armed groups in central african republic to put down their weapons peacekeepers were deployed ahead of elections on december 27th president full staff are shown to a debtor has been accused of planning electoral fraud to secure

a 2nd term because hackers more from senegal he's covered the central african republic extensively. the minister has a 13000 strong force remember in the past they've been accused of sexual violence against the people they are meant to protect now they have the difficult task to push ahead with this election this is a will from the international community and also the russians that play a key role in this remember the russians came in are training the central african forces and we solve the. central african forces by the russian take on these armed groups back in the summer of 2020 and that might be why we've seen this movement of these armed groups that no longer trust the government of. fulfilling the promises or the agreements of the khartoum agreement so the new scout force the u.n. force on the ground wants they want to see a peaceful election but already we've seen the former president francois busy that

was eliminated from the race so there's a sense of tension as the statement by the u.n. secretary secretary general internet bitterest mention there is a real call for appeasement ahead of this vote remember this vote is taking place in a country where most people are dependent on humanitarian aid the norwegian roof refugee council calls as one of the most neglected conflict in the world we have millions of people displaced in a country that's the size of texas that's rich in diamond and gold and so this is where these armed groups come in play that they control a large swath of the country we've been on the ground in places where there is no u.n. forces there is no government but just armed forces that are holding to power holding hostage hundreds of thousands of people on the ground. protests are expected in sudan to mark 2 years since the uprising that eventually led to the removal of president omar al bashir from office thousands of people in the city of

daraa took to the streets in december 28th seen to protest against high unemployment poverty and corruption within days the demonstrations spread to other cities including the capital khartoum by april 29th seen president omar al bashir was overthrown by the military 4 months later and accusations of excessive violence against protesters the military stepped aside it's in favor of a civilian led transitional government let's get more now from our correspondents have a morgan she joins us live from khartoum and so as a corner may is continuing to worsen and obviously people where you are are struggling so would you say that today's event is more of a celebration or a protest. for sudanese here today is a bit of people are saying that they are quite happy that vera who from what started 2 years ago was able to. the president has been in power for nearly 3

decades and bring to power the government but they say things have not improved if they accept the health is still challenging and if. the inflation in the country has been rising what the revolution started about 2 years ago it was around 50 percent now that more than 250 percent with many people suffering from difficulties to be able to get basic commodities market prices soaring so people are saying that they took to the streets for improvement for change but their thinking is not for the better they're still suffering from. the difficulties to get medicines in front of them in hospitals education access education is still a challenge to fight the fact that transitional government has been in power for more than a year so this thing that they want to see the government this government that is supposed to be leading the front. to do it to democracy transitional government they want to see that both of them bring improvement and bring change and they're saying that that is not happening largely because they see the military is still in

charge let's not forget that this transitional government right now is a power sharing government to the military that houses are all the presidents are going to hear and the civilians that met the protests that led to his overthrow and 100 promises has been. transferred time so people are saying if the military continues to retain the upper hand they will continue to protest just like they started a few minutes ago and they have been there have been some post of developments forces and the like getting off the u.s. state sponsored terrorism list how was that affected the mood in the country. getting off the u.s. list of state sponsored terrorism has definitely made to the knees quite happy some of them was celebrating we've seen our the prime minister about the positive effect that you have on the country's economy and the fact that it would help the country be able to get out of the debt that it is them more than $60000000000.00 in debt to countries that it will have the country and transfer people to access loans from the world and the i am asked but that is something that is in the long term people

here are saying that they're quite happy to see me improvement in the future but for now they want to see immediate change and want to see better access to health care but more than that they want to see this democratic transition being led by civilians they say that's not what's happening right now the military is largely in control again be head of the sovereignty council right now is going to happen. he's supposed to be in power for how will the transition period before he hands over power to civilian leadership and they're saying don't worry that may not happen because the military doesn't want to give up control the other thing they're saying that makes them part worried about this transition is a justice has not been achieved since the protests started 2 years ago they're saying that people are being killed are yet to go just as people who have been injured in the revolution and in the streets in attacking 3900 are yet to get their justice is so they're saying that 2 years on their revolution is far from achieving it's all. ok but morgan live for as a from that cartoon have a thank you. larry u.s.

congressional report says found boring officials manipulated tests of the 737 max aircraft which may have contributed to 2 crashes the report shows boeing works with regulators to rig pilot testing and avoid raising awareness of a flaw in a safety system testimonies of 50 whistleblowers were taken 2 of the planes crashed in 2018 killing 346 people leading to the grounding world winds of the 77 max. hospital fire in turkey has killed at least 9 people and happened at a private facility in the southeastern province of gaziantep hospital officials say the blaze started when an oxygen machine exploded in the intensive care units are coronavirus patients are being treated more than a dozen people were injured. still to come here on out to syria we'll take a look at high park rangers in zimbabwe using technology to crack down on pushing

the ample tell you about a high profile killing in mexico former governor shot dead despite tapping 15 bodyguards still to come. how low we have yet more snow in the forecast for japan staggering amounts of snow fall here over the past few days and there is yet more snow to come over the next few days you can see have a still lined up in a northwesterly direction so i say to those winds in across the sea of japan we'll see some more heavy downpours heavy florist's of snow coming in as we go on through sunday and a similar picture there for monday so as i said no great last up in the situation here temperatures only rise a little low singing around with this ring around some more westerly direction for

the korean peninsula so it around 3 celsius will get up to the to the height of around 5 degrees there in beijing much of china is looking fine and dry will see some heavy showers into taiwan doesn't heavy showers to into sri lanka at the moment the northeast monsoon driving the showers across the by a single still a few showers into the far south east of india but it does look a little drier into carola over the next day or 2. across northern parts but small can fall continue to cause problems little westerly disturbance will produce some rain sleet and snow is it just tumbles out of afghanistan into the north of pakistan temperatures in lahore at 20 degrees. the biological and chemical agents are real weaponized throughout history alhaji warfare the 1st word its head when men started fighting they had developed by

nation state so there could be enough to affect every child. now within reach of those seeking caves compounding the most toxic substance of the world what would have been a manmade invisible threads on al jazeera. to . this is al jazeera quick reminder of the headlines for you this hour the number of reporters corona virus infections in india has passed 10000000 the country has the 2nd highest number of cases in the world behind the u.s. though it says infection rates have fallen short play in recent weeks. yes

regulators have approved a second's coronavirus vaccine for americans to use the rule light of millions of doses of modernity jobs expected to begin this weekends. and the u.n. secretary general antonio vitesse has called on scripts in central african republic to put down their weapons peacekeepers were deployed ahead of elections on december 27th the president is accused of planning to break the vote. a former governor of the mexican state of his school was shot dead center there on friday in the beach town of puerto vallarta is the latest in a series of violent acts in a country already plagued by drug related gang activity john holeman has more. this video apparently records the moment when the ex governor of the mexican state of her lease scope was killed in a restaurant where a man's land is present others start to listen the violence was holidaying in the resort town of put the by after he was out with 3 other people and of 15 strong

bodyguard team provided by the state who couldn't save him. in. the attack happened at 1 40 in the morning the ex governor got up from the table and went to the bathroom that's where nard man shot him in the back. killings have become common at local level emits kampala ticks but the murder of an ex governor is still very unusual the investigation into who was behind the attack is just beginning but it's not going to be easy that's because the state attorney said the staff. from the restaurant cleaned up the crime scene took away evidence and even removed security cameras. police state in the southwest of the country is the heartland of one of mexico's most powerful criminal groups the new generation called tell. me. this is one of the videos they've released showing the firepower and they've not been afraid to turn it on authorities to fool this is just a nation could mark the start of

a real season of political violence in mexico and that's because next july the country's holding its biggest ever elections and in the run up to elections in the country is usually the point where criminal groups try to position their own candidate and they often do that by murdering rival ones. are they still to listen for mcgovern of how least coke will likely not be the last to die john home and how does it make scarcity. there's increasing controversy in india over attempts to stop interfaith marriage in one high profile case a hindu woman says she had a miscarriage because police separated her from her muslim husbands or in your correspondence was with piron and reports from more about it's in our possession i . think he is recovering at home after what she describes as a traumatic couple of weeks her husband and brother in law have been detained by police and she says she suffered

a miscarriage while the government care said their daughter that i had pain for 3 days so i was admitted to the hospital on the 11th i was given injections then my situation got worse there was a lot of bleeding and i had a miscarriage pinky and her husband rashid ordeal began when they went to register their islamic marriage ceremony with the state government they were harassed outside court by a group of hindu nationalists because pinky had converted from hindu ism to islam the couple married in july before the government in the state of wealth of pradesh passed an order which makes it illegal for people to change their religion for the sake of marriage police are detaining then his brother selene while they investigate whether they forced pinky to convert and pinky was taken to a government run women's shelter. the hospital which treated her told al-jazeera they only gave her injections to help with her pain and light bleeding they get us

out the intention was we didn't give her any injection that would lead to a miscarriage we gave her the best treatment we could according to her symptoms and manage the situation conservatively so it's wrong to say this. while it's unclear what caused pinkies miscarriage what is certain is she was separated from her husband because of the new law the government issued the anti conversion order last month citing a campaign by muslim men. to forcibly convert hindu woman that's despite the fact no state all central government department including the national commission of women has found any evidence of such cases. as human rights lawyer when the grover says the the party o.b.j. p passes such laws to divide indians she's preparing to challenge it in court to be very openly project itself as a right wing hindu party there's what we're seeing here is that this is actually

part of a political agenda an agenda both to polarize and generates communities pinki says she's worried about her future and also rashid's and saleem's so that's a you know i want my husband and brother in law to come back i ask the government to release them i'm really worried i've lost my child but please let my husband go . but with 4 other states of the process of passing similar orders more couples are expected to be criminalized for falling in love and marrying people outside their religion elizabeth pratham rather bad author for the. some of the 344 boys who were kidnapped in northern nigeria have described more about their ordeal they're now back with their parents in the state of katsina armed men raided their school and took them last friday holding them in a forests full details of their rescues still aren't clear including whether or not

a ransom was paid. to be honest there was no through the water for us no shelter no break and the friday we were taken we spent 2 days without sleep our food was leaves and after 2 days without food we were given fresh potatoes and pieces of ground. why does e m a y frankly speaking i feel like god has granted me paradise because i'm so happy after spending 2 days without eating anything i met is more than 90 years old and i am lost bone and she too stopped eating and drinking in addition my 3 sisters were admitted to hospital. by jerry and presidents muhammadu buhari has met with the schoolboys he called on security forces to do more to protect civilians from armed groups. who went to him hippie once again for the relentless force of god and i mean i'm a sorry that the boys are back home safely i hope the security operators the army

the navy the air force the police this did security service to be godfearing in their undertakings they should do their work without fear of favor by exposing anybody that he is a questionable character zimbabwe's national parks and using drones to patrol vast areas and it's our would be poachers that's because the government doesn't have the resources to put enough boots on the grounds. for from one day in the northwest of the country. with zimbabwe's economy further damaged by the pandemic patrolling its biggest game reserve is a challenge to make up shortfalls in funding. drones are now being used in rangoon national park it covers an area of more than 14000 square kilometers approximately half the size of belgium game warden say these drones are proving effective where there aren't enough boots on the ground we are green the treeless

of those drones the of. and the quality of the picture out of the event that we find illegal activity as is crystal clear and is in terms of iraq coverage of increase the coverage. that can be done member 345 rangers in a split off like 20 to 30 minutes one challenge faced by rangers is a limited flying time of the drones they can only stay in the air for about half an hour with a range of or at least 16 kilometers conservationists home to about 800000 elephants that's around a 5th of africa's total population in recent years poachers of use cyanide to poison elephants birds and other animals in this national park wildlife officials say parts nativity have declined this year thanks to the use of drones the introduction of tougher sentences on poachers and the shift to kill policy covered $911.00 restrictions have also deterred local and foreign poachers i think there is

directions in terms of movement of people but as a whole played a big role in terms of all. pushing. care flows. movement rather blocks. the number of people who can do the same was normally most of the people come the long long long long long distances from various places according to statistics from the government agencies in parks this year 20 elephants were killed by poachers down from 30 killings recorded last year and only 8 rhinos down from 20. 2019 officials say that's a big step towards conservation efforts not just in zimbabwe but the whole region. zimbabwe. to critically endangered around the tangs are back home in indonesia 3 years after they were taken by smugglers to thailand they are being kept for health checks before hopefully being released back into the wild between 2 and 3000 around

the turns are killed every year mostly by poachers. a former french modeling agency and associates of the late years billionaire jeffrey epstein has been charged with sex crimes 70 voyage on liberal in there the who ran a modeling agency in paris has been in custody since his arrest earlier this week prosecutors statement says he's been charged with the rape of minors and sexual harassment. u.s. prosecutors are urging a federal judge to reject in the year 30000000 dollars bail deal for guillen maxwell the friend of jeffrey epstein has pleaded not guilty to charges of helping him recruits and groom underage girls to engage in sex acts prosecutors say maxwell should remain behind bars because the evidence against her is strong and they also fear she could flee the country. that the u.s. children's t.v. shows sesame street's has created 2 new cast members they are newer and to young

rangar refugees who are joining other muppets in the world's biggest refugee camp at cox's bizarre in bangladesh hundreds of thousands of rank of muslims have been living there for years after fleeing a military crackdown in neighboring myanmar it's hope sesame street can help with education in the camp here's some of her the plate to learn program works. well dr and it's a show because the heads of women and children affairs at the european council she

says this move will help bring the refugee children cope with their stress. i think sesame street and their partners have done a great job they have made a clear cut leadership role approach towards there were children trapped in their refugee camps. they have created a pot before others to follow the same steps when you get children in me or mark in . after the last exhibitors in 2017 there haven't been anything done for them their education has been ignored for many years so this is one of the 1st love life line for our iraq in your young children this will provide them in a court unity as a sesame street intends to to learn to read to write to calculate but also at the scene time free themselves scape. playing from daily stress those

and also get the trauma they have endured in myanmar children they have a coping with mechanics and they are more resilient and resilient and then added and we have seen time again and again that they were in your community is a very resilient community so the trauma they have endured in myanmar or the distress they are facing right now very basic stress in my 8 in 10 years time in 8 years time in the future come up as post-traumatic stress disorder and i think as these and he will be vital role in healing the wounds. thank you. thank you thank you this is al-jazeera these are the headlines the number of reported coronavirus infections in india has passed 10000000 the country has the 2nd highest number of.