the listing posts on al-jazeera. holding the powerful to account as we examine the us is wrong in the while on al-jazeera. a 4th election in 2 years in israel after the fractious ruling coalition fails to get the budget approved by parliament. this is our story live from doha also coming up france releases its ban on trucks from britain after a 2 day standoff that stranded thousands of drivers. this is all happened not donald trump's watch when he wasn't watching. u.s. president elect joe biden warns there is no evidence of

a massive cyber attack targeting government agencies is under control. the u.s. government sues wal-mart over the opioid crisis accusing the top retailer of indiscriminately selling painkillers without oversight. syria then israel will be holding its 4th election in 2 years after an uneasy coalition that briefly united long time prime minister benjamin netanyahu and rival benny gantz collapsed parliament was dissolved after failing to meet the deadline to pass a budget elections will be held in march next year netanyahu his upcoming corruption trial is at the center of the discord with guns as well as within his likud party with a faction breaking away recently. unfortunately we were unable to find enough common ground to prevent another round of elections and enable the 23rd can assert and its

members to exercise the mandate given to us who are all going to face a difficult election campaign and i call on each and every one of us and each and every israeli citizen to refrain from exacerbating. tensions. on a whole negative yet again selections not on the system of the u.n. by party but if an election is forced upon us i promise you that the event of our announcer is in west jerusalem she says this latest development comes down to the power sharing agreement between netanyahu and benny gantz under that agreement on yahoo and guns were supposed to rotate in the seat of prime minister but the one thing that needed to happen was that for this budget to back to pass the guns would have taken over the seat of prime minister in november of 2021 but the only way for netanyahu to have held onto his seat as prime minister was to delay that vote as much as possible and as many have predicted that is exactly what

has happened and israelis will have to go back to the polls in just a few months what it's meant is the director of u.c.l.a. unison sort of in those heavy incentive israel studies he says this election will look very different from the 3 polls already held during the past 2 years. the timing doesn't suit her he wanted to go to elections but he wanted to go to elections sometime next summer. the coronavirus come under controlling as well and hopefully the israeli economy has recovered somewhat so the target of this election most likely to take place now march 23rd is something that doesn't suit you and something like it was trying to avoid at all costs he certainly very weak much weaker than he has been politically for a long time not only because he faces this looming corruption trial but also because his weight is really widely but he's mishandled the pandemic that's suffering economically as a result of that and of course donald trump or no longer be in the white house by

that time so some of the factors that have allowed him to have prevailed in the past. in addition he also faces challenges from the like this time and so it's going to be harder for him to to patrol his allies his why was this kind of leftist as he likes to do in the past that ink and says absolutely don i think he's really lost or he's supporting israel his party may not even past the electoral threshold so the real rival this time around isn't going to come from the center left while the from a number of challenges to the geography on the right particularly from get on solving the former member of the could listen to broker why it is popular with the could voters and on the right in general i can challenge netanyahu from the right not something that i think will be a real real risk the next yahoo entering this election.

french truck drivers can now once again cross the channel from britain as long as they have tested negative for covert 19 this comes after the european union member countries to end the blockade of u.k. freights more than 40 countries banned arrivals from the u.k. after revealed a new highly contagious variant of corona virus which is spreading out of control who brought in reports now from dover in southern england where thousands of drivers found themselves unable to get home for christmas. along the main 82 road into dover the queue was continuous u.k. government estimated some 1500 lorries had been stranded but to drive around the approach roads to the port revealed many many more than that parked up and waiting for news news eventually came with the blockade would be lifted but only for those with proof of a negative code test and that is no use at all to the thousands of drivers whose hopes of reaching home for christmas and now gone and now it's. this initial

trauma here to go home or have. almost 2 dozen myers if it's above this 45 hours to drive north of the. sliver just right. we can make it. if covert testing is to be the precondition for reopening the border with france that presents an enormous logistical challenge for the u.k. or thora says there are now thousands of truck and van drivers parked up in labor eyes all across the county of kent and getting the testing to them or them to the testing is going to be an enormous task and all this just days before christmas this german businessman was just minutes away from boarding his ferry when the blockade came into force yes through castle freedom so if i had been 10 minutes earlier i would be now on the other side and be safe and at home for christmas with my family he's resigned to the possibility that he'll spend christmas stuck in dover but he says the u.k.

or forty's have been totally inadequate down there their public toilets which are not open for the drivers they should be open i think that's what you had the coffee or tea to the drivers immediately government short do something and that's what do it immediately. the airfield at manston in kent has been made a temporary lorry park for the hundreds of vehicles here are again just a section of the true scale of the problem and a. scarcity of food in some a 3 facilities is also creating tensions the member of parliament for the denver blank france for this crisis i just think the way french government reacted was just really on helpful i mean that you can the french government the whole it industry the ferry industry they put hand love over the last 8 few months since chance since the virus started to make sure that it's managed and i think that's what should have happened here. as night fell over the rayna right on the driver stage the blockade of their own. many of these truckers and van drivers now

facing the 3rd night stranded here tempers are clearly starting to fray they were occupied the roundabout which is here at the entrance to the port behind me they've blocked the traffic there is a long snaking line of lorries in the direction of the police are trying to restore order but for the moment they're not being successful. my children and. they're crying for me. reinforcements restore order the situation remains tense. al-jazeera over. here is president elect joe biden says he'll ask congress to pass another coronavirus stimulus package when he takes office and he's urging merican is to remain vigilant one thing i promise you but i'm leadership during this crisis i'm going to tell it straight when to tell you the truth and here's the simple

truth our darkest days in the battle against or ahead of us not behind us. criticize donald trump for failing to protect the country against cyber attacks biden alleges the recent hack of the us government is not under control yet and pledged a tough response against those responsible i did your customer has more now from washington d.c. . this was the massive security breach that was just recently uncovered biden said that this is a continued grave risk and that the scope and the damage is still unknown what we do know is that the attacker is likely russia that's according to secretary of state mike pompei oh and that this attack began perhaps in march if not earlier and there were a vast number of federal agencies that were targeted and breached including homeland security and the treasury even nuclear labs and those that oversee the

power grid president trump has not talked about this in public he's tweeted saying that the situation is fully under control and saying that perhaps there was a russia but perhaps china biden drawing a stark contrast in his remarks today saying that this is a result of president trump's failing he said the federal government was caught on guarded and unprepared and that will change he says once biden takes office he noted that he is not receiving briefings from the pentagon on this subject but that once he takes office he'll be prepared to publicly name the attacker which again is believed to be russia and that this attack will not go unanswered united nations investigators have submitted to the security council evidence of war crimes crimes against humanity in mali groups and security forces implicated in the reports which documents crimes as far back as 2012 that's when separatists in northern mali

launched an offensive rivalries and violence have since expanded to other regions including neighboring turkey to fester and. rebel groups in central african republic have reportedly seized from bari the country's 4th largest city as they continue their push towards a couple bungling tension has been rising in the run up to the december the 27th one to have sent additional troops while russia says it sent $300.00 military instructors at the government's request government has accused rebels backed by the former president francois who's a return to see a coup catherine soirées in the capital bangui and has more. we've been speaking to officials from the un peacekeeping mission here in central african republic and that telling us that they have been able to push back this rebel movement remember this is a group that was formed over the weekend calling themselves the patriots for change it's a group of 3 of the country's main groups and they started up on seeing onto the

copy told calling for among other things are no government without president i shushed what doris so as officials of the u.n. say is that in the west where this is a rebellion has started they've been able to contain the situation in some towns and villages but in many other areas it remains very fluid indeed because we also have groups outside of this main. that are causing trouble so in the same area we also have run the troops we have a russian possum as well also carrying out operations against this grouping they are this the russians and the londons are not under the u.n. mandate that means that they are able to use more force. signed the country a bilateral agreement. with you know our government allowing them to use force and

to contain the situation to make sure that this election is not disrupted in any way police in uganda have arrested a leading human rights lawyer weeks before presidential elections because. employer previously represented bobby was seen as the main challenger to president museveni who seeking to extend his 35 years in power a tweet from bobby winds account says a poor had been investigating the killings of protesters last month at the beginning of the campaigning season police accuse a pile of money laundering and other malicious acts. still ahead here on al-jazeera we look at china's war on poverty and how its multi-billion dollar plan is working . or it's warming up in honshu and whole cardo that might make the story rather

stable that's no cool sitting on the top of the high ground and it'll start to cool down again i think by the end is history even friday but we still got unstable snow still might start to fall again ha cardoza temperatures return to near normal in this northern part of china and the skies open up for the sas again after having been briefly wet washing this rain there that could end up going at least inside of japan by the weekend the leaves are from that the significant rain for the south is this here the remains of tropical depression with the potential of 2 or 300 millimeters of rain in southern vietnam on wednesday in southern thailand on thursday that's pretty heavy rain for this time of the year south of all that it's rainy season good scattering of thunderstorms through borneo and java less so your notice in the philippines dry spell for you is dried throughout most of india now pretty wet in sri lanka have to say and maybe just touching time or not as a cold wave really cold at night in the northern plains and down towards edition

that will last probably until the end of thursday by friday you might even get thunderstorms improving the air in delhi. i was raised in france. these are my grandparents. these are my parents and this is mean. fighting both isis and us on. this 2nd of a 2 part epic tale of a remarkable sami. the father the son and the jihad. on al-jazeera.

and again you watching al-jazeera remind of our top stories this hour israel will be holding its 4th election in 2 years after its coalition collapsed parliament was dissolved after failing to meet that deadline to pass the budget snap elections will be held in march next year. french truck drivers can now once again cross the channel from britain as long as they have tested negative to cope with 19 more than 40 countries banned arrivals from the u.k. after it revealed a new highly contagious variant of corona virus which is spreading. u.s. president elect joe biden has criticized donald trump for failing to protect the country against cyber attacks by ledges the recent attack of the u.s. government is not under control yet and pledged to tough response against those responsible. now the u.s.

justice department is targeting wal-mart for billions of dollars in damages accusing it of helping to fuel the crisis the civil lawsuit accusing its pharmacists of selling addictive painkillers while ignoring. invalid and suspicious prescriptions almost half a 1000000 people have died of overdoses from prescription drugs in the united states in the last 2 decades will monitor's the country's largest retailer so let's investigate further we can speak to william solomon who's the chief executive officer of the accreditation council for medical affairs and joins us live by skype from new york comes to solomon and welcome to the show so the onus is on pharmacies to spot suspect prescriptions but the allegation is that will not to not do this and didn't do it on a big scale. yes you know wal-mart really do it. right and what is that they're trying to find understaffing that pharmacies and by trying to override a lot of laws that are in place for controlled substances ensure that it's more

difficult for patients to access those medicines and i think you know overall. what was the process within what wal-mart for all these years and why were they undermining the process allegedly and i think that's the concern right is that if wal-mart's been doing this and the question that arises that one of the other forms well right and with women specifically they operate what is it 5000 pharmacies say you know what the allegation is you're talking about hundreds of thousands of illegitimate prescriptions. absolutely and you know wal-mart itself and actually you know j. preemptively before they were sued by the ministration and you know there are look look this should be really something that the e.p.a. should be handling this is something that is really the responsibility of the physicians who are licensed to prescribe these products so you know it's

a question you know who's really hearing it well and countability right it's it's one group tossing the responsibility to the next and i think it has to stop i think ultimately we need to ask ourselves whether it's wal-mart whether it's pharmaceutical companies what are the processes that place to ensure that you know mation eye goes out to patients to health care providers is accurate is ethical isn't jet we have time to change it's a fair point is there because all the way along the chain isn't it because that question that immediately comes to mind is where did these invalid prescriptions come from the 1st place and that the bad don't count should be being targeted to. absolutely absolutely i mean look wal-mart is just one player in this game right physicians don't believe clear will pharmaceutical companies play a role and we saw that the chairman of doing this settlement last week with the government right they settled for $8000000000.00 they admitted that they could have

done things that or they admitted that they had misled the public and you know when you think about the size of a company like crew do or a size of wal-mart has right 5000 pharmacies in the u.s. it's a huge impact i mean it's a huge something hundreds and thousands and millions of lives expected in the u.s. and abroad and it's just it's preposterous to think that for all he's used undercutting system in the process and no one was aware no one was aware it's an extraordinary story and what i'm selling is what we have time for but do appreciate so you're not us of this thanks very much thanks or not thank you. they current are spread to every continent on the globe after $36.00 cases were discovered at a chilean research station on the antarctic peninsula the country's army confirmed infections to as about a report from there. it's one of the most remote regions in the world antarctica and has been covert free until now. the 1st cases of covert 1000 were

reported earlier this week at a chilean military research base. those tests show that 36 men tested positive for 1926 were army personnel and 10 work civilians from a contract company who were doing scheduled maintenance work at the end talked to a base. number and that of the. located in the chilean sector of antartica it is one of the 13 bases operates on the white continent which is you know. we know the exposure there is extreme it can have a physiological effect on people because of isolation in changes at a light several components that can act as a muse because of the work they do there. the 36 men are reportedly healthy but under quarantine in the southern chilean city of bad enough. but covert 19 continues to spread elsewhere in latin america increasing pressure on governments

to find medicines and vaccines fast chile announced it will start vaccinations next week mexico and argentina in the next few days. most countries in the region will begin with a pfizer vaccine but argentina has other plans for now there's lots of anxiety among latin american government to start vaccinating the population as soon as possible because there's fears of a 2nd wave urging in 2021 argentina's government for example announced that russia sputnik vaccine is expected in the next few days and that a vaccination campaign is expected to begin as soon. as the local taliban to. argentina signed a deal for 10000000 doses with russia but there's very little information yet about support nick's efficacy and possible side effects so many people are skeptical about taking it. seriously. there's not a lot of information on the russian vaccine we don't know if they had 11. 1000

urgent time authorities may have a report but we haven't seen it it's probably ok but the government has failed to communicate that effectively. over 1000 has had devastating effects in latin america's economies and health care systems. it has now reached what many call the end of the world as the virus continues to spread a vaccine is the one chance governments have to make it stop. when a site is. current a virus cases a surgeon or russia with nearly $29000.00 new infections confirmed in 24 hours the country's death toll is now sitting at around 52000 this month russia began inoculating frontline health workers with sputnik the coronavirus vaccine more than 200000 have received it so far but many people in moscow say they're unsure whether

they'll get the vaccine once it's rolled out to the public. so i don't think i'm going to get a coronavirus jab i need to learn more about my health condition 1st and then decide whether or not i can do it. in the stove or the something i'm not sure whether i'm trying to get vaccinated i believe by me to improve the vaccines because i cannot be sold they work effectively and people i knew i am not going to get the vaccine i do not approve of vaccines in general. the u.k. and the e.u. is still trying to hammer out a trade deal in brussels the blocks bricks it goes it is been briefing member states on the latest progress of several deadlines have already passed but the exit takes effect at the end of the month the main obstacle to a trade deal centered around e.u. fishing quotas in british waters. even if the final push. to you feel relieved to see the market turned i would go to you to work total

transparency remember state right now hundreds of power thank you very much. larger as i said begs says the behind the issue of fishing rights there are a number of concerns time is running out but the fishing industry seems to be a major sticking point that's because currently e.u. member states have access to british waters now after brics in the u.k. wants to change that you can change the quota that the e.u. countries get now the debate is whether about the number of that quarter we have what figure it should be but also it's about the transition period before changes come in they don't seem to be agreeing on those but the final point that's really seems to be a sticking point is any retaliatory action from the e.u. so if in future in the future the u.k. changes those fishing quoters they don't want any retaliatory action from the e.u. in the fishing industry or otherwise to complicate matters further the majority of fish caught by british fisherman exported to the e.u.

and the majority of fish consumed by people in britain are imported so both the u.k. and the e.u. are trying to protect their fishing industries. talks a circle of border dispute between sudan in neighboring ethiopia had begun in sudan's capital of khartoum the 2 states had been fighting for weeks over farmland claimed by both sides sudan says it's referring to the colonial border as proof they own the territory if you describe the attacks raids and says they put past border deals risk. the united nations refugee agency is calling for urgent funding to address what it calls a full scale humanitarian emergency in ethiopia is not integration it says it needs 156000000 dollars to assist tens of thousands of people forced to leave their homes since last month's military operation at least 52000 people have fled into neighboring sudan in the past 6 weeks and the estimated 96000 eritrea refugees who are already integrate before the conflict currently many refugees remain in

overcrowded conditions without proper facilities and there continues to be a shortage of medicine and other supplies we have seen a huge demand for family tracing and unification education and for child friendly spaces and nutritional programs. china's leaders say the country has eradicated extreme poverty over the past 5 years the communist party has been billions of dollars and dispatched thousands of officials to help rural households but critics question the sustainability of the program so that millions of people or risk of falling into hardship. reports. county. county in china south is known for its mountains its rivers and its poverty. was among those one struggling to get by living in this dilapidated house she struggled to raise enough money to send her 2 children to school. but she says thanks to the chinese government her life has been transformed she's been given

a new home in town and left this old farmhouse behind this is how people here you still live in crumbling buildings built about 50 years ago without any water or electricity this area is also deep in the mountains and far away for many essential services including hospitals during the past 5 years millions of people in rural china have been relocated to apartment buildings and upgraded townships here almost everything is new including the roads and schools. in 2018. my son told me that he doesn't want to go back to the old house again it was dark and dirty and had many rats they say our new home is clean and bright beijing has spent more than 20000000000 dollars this year to meet president xi jinping stead line of eradicating extreme poverty nationwide by the end of 2020 communist party

officials say they've succeeded so. people used to have a few options. it was hard to find jobs. good health care and education. now they basically live in the same can be. since most people in cities the quality of life has a rap elite improved but not everyone has benefited some have been able to adjust to life in the towns others say they've been forced to relocate analysts have also questioned the sustainability of the program saying millions of risk falling back into prophecy poverty i nature for many people. it's temporary is short term spells and those kinds of people have very very different kinds of needs others for whom are already it's a chronic experience a policy implement the policy response to those different states needs to be just. as his life is better not easier. by factory involves working 12 hours

a day with only 2 days off. but the sacrifice she says is worth it she's making the most of the new opportunities in the heart take children might have better ones katrina al-jazeera not on county china. so this is out there these are the top stories and israel will be holding its 4th election in 2 years after its coalition that briefly united longtime prime minister benjamin netanyahu and rival benny gantz collapsed parliament was dissolved after failing to meet that deadline to pass the budget snap elections will be held next year well it really all goes back to that power sharing agreement that you mentioned between next and yahoo and that agreement was signed after the latest the last election and the idea.