it's pedophile. online jumped into the conversation and he teaches us that discussing this dream on out is there. it really is a disgrace the u.s. president donald trump slams the massive coronavirus stimulus bill passed by congress suggesting he won't sign unless more relief money is given to people. and trump issues 15 more pardons including 4 private military contractors convicted for a 2007 massacre in baghdad caused international anger. head on a cloud versus out 0 ally from doha also coming up france relaxes its ban on trucks

from britain after a 2 day standoff it's trying to thousands of drivers. a 4th election in 2 years in israel after the fractious ruling coalition fails to get the budget approved by parliament. plus rebels in central african republic reportedly seize a major city just days before elections as russia and rwanda send forces to shore up the government. so that u.s. president all the trump is suggesting he will not sign a massive coronavirus relief bill unless it's amended by congress and it's with a video trump called the bill a disgrace he said he's asking congress to raise its stimulus payments to individual americans from $600.00 to $2000.00 the $900000000000.00 relief bill was passed by the house in the senate on monday. i'm also asking congress to

immediately get rid of the wasteful and unnecessary items from this legislation and to send me a suitable bill or else the next administration will have to deliver a covert relief package and maybe that administrator will be me this remote auditor custer who's live from washington d.c. monitoring these events tell us more about what you've been hearing and if there's been any reaction right this is really a blockbuster yesterday when a congress was in the last moments of debating and passing this bill everyone had the understanding that the white house would back the measure and so to have this wrench thrown in was really unexpected and as you heard the president say he thinks there are many extraneous items that are unnecessary included in this massive massive expanding bill and it doesn't clude items like foreign assistance which we know that trump has very much opposed as well as money for managing wildlife for

instance and money for the arts so trump is demanding that congress and mend this bill to remove those extraneous items and also to increase the stimulus payments from $600.00 checks to most americans to 2000 so again this is a huge wrench in this in this process here meanwhile americans were told just a day ago by trump's own treasury secretary that they could be expecting the $600.00 check in the mail by next week and that is no longer going to be the case so what what next what might call gris do what can they do. well nancy pelosi has been on twitter she's the house majority leader the democratic leader is saying that democrats are ready she's spinning this as a win because she says that i'm across had wanted greater checks going out to

americans in the 1st place that's that was a measure that republicans had opposed but then again this measure that passed was chock full of other projects that democrats wanted that republicans reluctantly accepted it's notable that this bill passed both chambers with veto proof majority but now here's the big question mark whether or not trump statements would give these republicans who reluctantly went along with it would it give them cover to now switch their votes and then there is all these interesting things happening because we're in a lame duck session with just days going on the calendar before this congressional session is over so if you look at the calendar congress really has 2 options and they have to do this within 24 hours they can either be to vote to override a veto or they have to come back with the amended bill as the president has demanded if they don't give in and then a bill by tomorrow well then he could just out run the clock and effectively make

sure that this never goes into law next or right. heidi thanks for that let's take this all now we can speak to chris wilson who's an assistant professor of government to the american university joins us live by skype from washington d.c. chris extraordinary development that is somehow not surprising when you see the president. thank you for having me on right sadly it's not surprising anymore donald trump is acting out he's acting like a spoiled child like he always does your correspondent is of course correct the white house that said the president would sign this bill. i'm sure senator mcconnell is furious about this the republican leader of the senate. donald trump is saying he wants more money to go out that's what the democrats want so speaker pelosi as your correspondent said she's thrilled with that i think one important thing though to watch as this president is so mercurial he changes so quickly will

he stick with this i don't know he said it tonight will he say tomorrow i don't know that he might not actually veto the legislation i think it's important to wait and see this is an outburst we've seen it before and sometimes it doesn't mean anything right but as heidi of course what it's doing but there is a time limit to a degree isn't that for him to sign this bill tell us more about the political machinations and and what congress kind of can't do. well as your correspondent said that when the president vetoes legislation if he does he threaten many things he hasn't done but assuming he did feel to it congress can override his veto by 2 thirds majorities in both chambers and they they have the votes as of now to do that would that change as your correspondent said maybe but we don't know but the 1st thing i would say is will he actually veto it he's saying he well i don't know but it's important also note as you mentioned your introduction this is been a really extraordinary night the president also issued pardons for several people

who are political supporters and associates of his during his campaign in 2016 and pardoned several guards for work crimes massacres civilians including apparently a 9 year old boy it's pretty pretty difficult stuff so it's been a lot to digest in terms of legislation the relief bill i think it's important to wait and see and will the president really stick with this are not a good thing about him trying to win political points then with the public with his base just you know by say ok 600 does nothing for you people say we want it to be 2000 and that will make them popular is that how he sees it. i think you're assigning too much sophistication to his thinking i think he's angry he's terribly hurt and scared that he lost the election he's lashing out he thinks in terms of himself and he thinks in terms of humiliation he feels humiliated by the election loss he feels humiliated by other people accomplishing things and that he can't

take credit for i guess maybe sees legislation as being part of that i think he's just lashing out and it's as he said your introduction played this he finishes it direct his address by saying maybe the next administration will fix this and maybe that will be me he still holds on to this fantasy that he can remain in office which is not the case i mean he's been talking about extraordinary measures like military action i hope will not happen but there's no legal way for him to remain in office but he thinks he can. finally remind us what's at stake here for people who need to for school help the bill promised. yet also the united states of course we've had a terrible pandemic more than 300000 people dead millions more sick and millions who have lost their jobs and lost their livelihoods and their businesses or in trouble they've been waiting months for this legislation the house passed it passed a version of this last spring in march i believe it was earlier this year. it's economists are saying that even the amount that congress agreed to is not enough.

if if there's nothing of course that will be even worse were in a very dangerous time here in the united states in a number of ways including economically including terms of the toll it's taking and in terms of the threat that president trump is making toward democracy. krystle's and told to thanks very much and they feel another sense you know perspective on this so that chris nettles and professor thank you american university. well here's a respect for you nancy pelosi who has just tweeted the republicans repeatedly refused to say what amount the president wanted for direct checks lost the president has agreed to $2000.00 democrats are ready to bring this to the floor this week by unanimous consent let's do it so still some way to go in this stimulus by the sounds of it well just before donald trump made the declaration on the stimulus bill the white house announced presidential pardons for 15 more people and they include george papadopoulos and vendors one who pleaded guilty during the

investigation into russian meddling in the 2016 presidential elections also on the list which we were just discussing it to former republican congressman sentence for corruption which were the earliest to indorse trump's candidacy in 20164 others on the list were contractors' who worked for the controversial private security firm for me known as blackwater they were convicted for a 2007 massacre in baghdad that left more than a dozen iraqi civilians dead and the incident calls international anger over the use of private security personnel in a war zone all 4 were serving long prison sentences moving on truck drivers from britain can now once again cross the channel into france 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. freight more than 40 countries banned arrivals from the u.k. after it revealed a new highly contagious variant of corona virus which it said was spreading out of

control reports now from dave in southern england where thousands of drivers have found themselves unable to get home for christmas. along the main 82 road into dover the queue was continuous the 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 use 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 for we have. almost 2 dozen myers. it's a 45 hours to drive north of the. sliver just right. now 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 they should 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 and sanitary facilities is also creating tensions the member of parliament for denver brings france for this crisis i just think the way in which french government reacted was just really on helpful i mean that you can the french government the whole it industry the ferry industry they've what handing glove over the last 8 few months since trance since the virus started to make sure that it's managed and i think that's what should have happened here. as night fell in dover 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 and not direction the police are trying to restore

order but for the moment they're not being successful i think. my children my. daughter is crying for me but god reinforcements restore order and the situation remains tense. al-jazeera dover. air and al-jazeera records its 1st cases of coronavirus why virtually uninhabited ice covered land mass has not been affected by the pandemic. and we look at why thailand is facing a major covert 19 upgraded now it's. it's warming up in hong sure and whole cardo that might make the story rather

stable that snow cool sitting on the top of the hard ground and it'll start to cool down again i think terry's and friday but you stick around. it will snow stay might start to fall again hard carders attempt his 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 a tropical depression with the potential of 2300 millimeters of rain in southern vietnam when stay in southern thailand that's pretty heavy rain for this time of the year south of all that it's rainy season scattering of thunderstorms for borneo and java less so your notice in the philippines dry spell for you destroyed throughout most of india now pretty wet in sri lanka have to say and maybe just touching couple not of the cold why efficiency is 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. but. when all that seems to matter is the headlines are always 2 sides to a story when narratives and counter narratives obscure reality the leader on the one hand the enemies of the lead there on the other hand the listening post strips away the spin what kind of reporting if you can see on the ground misinformation is right lays bare the bias a lot of people believe things because they want to believe that the uncovers the uncomfortable truths do you think they did enough to scrutinize the case for war listening post on al-jazeera.

but to give you what she auxerre are among the top stories this hour and u.s. president donald trump is demanding congress make changes to a landmark coronavirus relief bill called the bipartisan legislation a disgrace he wants to raise the stimulus payments to individuals from $600.00 to $2000.00 among other things and trump has pardoned 15 more people including 4 former contractors for the controversial private security firm for me noni blackwater has been serving long sentences for the 2007 massacre in baghdad that left more than a dozen iraqi civilians dead. french truck drivers can now once again cross the channel from britain as long as they have tested negative for covert 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. israel will be

holding its 4th election in 2 years after an uneasy coalition that briefly united longtime prime minister benjamin netanyahu and rival benny gantz collapsed parliament was dissolved after failing to meet the deadline to pass the budget snap elections will be held in march next year netanyahu is upcoming corruption trial is at the center of the discord with guns as well as within his likud party facing off with a faction of breaking away recently. unfortunately who are 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. and to be out against elections that wrong decision of the glen by party but if an election is forced upon us i promise you that we have event. or dubbed waxman is the director of the u.c.l.a. unison sort of knows a b.

and center for israel studies and 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. coronavirus come under controlling as well and hopefully the israeli economy has recovered somewhat so the timing of this election most likely to take place not a march 23rd to something that wasn't and something that he was trying to avoid at all costs he's 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 israel is widely believed he's mishandled the pandemic suffering economically as a result of that and of course donald trump can no longer be in the white house by that time so some of the factors that have allowed him to prevail in the past. in addition he also faces challenges from the like this talk and so it's going to be

harder for him to portray his allies his rivals this kind of leftist as he likes to do in the past but it dances absolutely don i think he's really lost or his support to his party may not even be electoral threshold so the real libel this time around isn't going to come from the center left of the from a number of challenges on the right particularly from get on. with the could voters on on the right i can challenge netanyahu from the right something that i think will be a real real risk entering this election coronaviruses not spread. on the globe after $36.00 cases were discovered at the station only and talk to. me confirm the infections reports from. it's one of the most remote regions in the world. and has been covert free until now. the 1st cases

of 1000 were reported this week at a cheap. in military research base. those tests show that 36 men tested positive for covert 1926 were army personnel and 10 work civilians from a contract company who were doing scheduled maintenance work at the top ticket base . nowhere near the. base located in the chilean sector of antartica it is one of the 13 bases operates on the white continent. 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 port bad enough. but colvin 1000 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 hurdle 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 local health entities. argentina signed a deal for 10000000 doses with russia but there's very little information yet about nick's efficacy and possible side effects so many people are skeptical about taking it. seriously because. there's not

a lot of information on the russian vaccine we don't know if they had 11. urgent time at all. 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 economy and health care systems and 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. thailand's prime minister's blamey illegal migration for a cluster of more than 1000 corona virus infections is because so far it's believed to have come from people working at a seafood market near bangkok it is a major blow for the nation that had been hailed for its success in combating the virus tony chang reports from. what was

a mobile testing unit pulls into a market in the north of bangkok in 72 hours thailand's corona virus infection numbers have increased by 20 percent that mickey came here for screening before and found out there are floating i people who were in close contact that i need to press and i found that my kit today samples of all of the traders inside word trade to scan a q.r. code to register with the health authority only the stallholders are eligible for testing today others who have coated concerns of being turned away infections originating from the seafood market in some months a colon and now being discovered in bangkok and provinces even further away outside the unpleasant process begins these people are not alone the thai government says it will test 10000 people in an attempt to contain the outbreak on tuesday some of those tests revealed 427 new infections a huge rise in

a country that had seen 0 local transmission for months. teams of health officials are now screening traders in markets across the thai capital migrant workers have also been targeted as being a particular concern and the prime minister has said he might introduce a national lockdown the transmissions continue to rise. so much i local fishmonger says many customers a choosing to stay at home now he's worried about his health and keeping his business afloat. to begin with the economy was picking up but we now are facing this and it makes us feel as if we are going back to the fast. how plate traders in this market say that concern about the very has caused business to drop by 70 or 80 percent and overall thailand has made huge economic sacrifices to rid itself of the coronavirus of this outbreak continues to grow all of that would be for nothing. with the new year holiday approaching many times thought normal life was almost

within reach the latest outbreak appears to have some dreams tony ching al-jazeera thank you. rebel groups in central african republic are reportedly seized bambara the country's 4th largest city as they continue their push towards a couple by group tension has been rising in the run up to the december the 27th for rwanda has had additional troops while russia says it sent $300.00 military instructors at the government's request governors accused rebels for the former president francois it was easy to return to conference audience in the capital bangui with 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 15 we are the country's main groups and they started advancing onto the

copy told calling for among other things government without president full steam in daraa so as officials at the u.n. says 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 saying the same area we also have run the troops we have a russian profit 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. outside 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 nicolas apriori previously represented bobby weinstein as a main challenger to president museveni seeking to extend his 35 years in power it's weak from body winds of cancer support had been investigating the killings of protesters last month at the beginning of the campaigning season police accuse of money laundering and other malicious acts the family of a mother and son shot dead by an off duty policeman in the philippines have called for justice during a wait for the victim's son gregorio and her son frank were both shot in the head on sunday in tonic or whose video of the shooting has sparked public outrage and alternation began article 25 year old son set off a loud made a comment the officer has been charged with their murders critics say the president's war on drugs has allowed the police to act with impunity.

i lost a mother who was the most loving mother to us i lost a brother who was also a very loving and caring brother it's very hard for us i hope he spends the rest of his life in jail. the judge in brazil has put rio de janeiro's outgoing most eloquent area under house arrest after he was detained by police over bribery allegations evangelical pastor turned politician was due to leave office on the 1st of january last month he lost to reelection but despite support from president john bolton our very denies any wrongdoing and says he's the target of political persecution. big order i fought against the unjust under legal tolling i took resources from the carnival and i negotiated the v.l.t. rail project my government fought the most against corruption and really it is an error. the charity has brought some christmas cheer to lebanon's capital after a tough year for the city yes

a christmas tree has been decorated outside the port of beirut which was rocked by that huge explosion back in august it's been set up in honor of the firefighters who responded to the blast which killed around $200.00. so this is out there these are the top stories u.s. president donald trump is demanding congress make changes to a landmark economic relief bill called the bipartisan legislation a disgrace it wants to raise the stimulus payments to individuals from $600.00 to $2000.00 i did castro has more from washington d.c. . i think there are many extraneous items that are unnecessary included in this massive massive expanding bill and it does include items like foreign assistance which we know that.