i was 26 to a terrible natural disaster and the story that needed to be told the whole today to be that to tell the people story was very important of the toy. it really is a disgrace us 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 2 thousands of a massacre in baghdad. hello there are more a karl there says al jazeera live from doha also coming up. we're going to.

a massive coronavirus testing program to get underway for stranded truck drivers as france eases its border restrictions with the u.k. . and a 4th election in 2 years for israel after the fractious ruling coalition failed to get the budget approved by parliament. here's president donald trump is suggesting he will not sign a massive corner virus relief bill unless it's amended by congress in a twitter video called the bill a disgrace he said he's asking congress to raise stimulus payments to individual americans from $600.00 to $2000.00 a $900000000000.00 relief bill was passed by the house and 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 it ministration will be me. castro live for us from washington d.c. now heidi such a different situation from are talking about this 24 hours ago and then the bill all set to be signed off by the president was there any indication that this was coming. absolutely none and laura and that's not normal washington for you just yesterday when this bill was careening toward its final vote much celebrated as a bipartisan achievement after months of stalemate well the white house message was that president trump was on board so for this message to be uploaded on twitter less than 24 hours later it's really a shock to all parties involved democrats and republicans now president trump is saying that he wants these checks to americans to be increased from the current

602-2000 he wants that list of what he calls. an relevant and unnecessary items to be really removed from this bill that includes assistance to foreign nations as well as everything from helping wildlife management to the arts this is a president who has championed his america 1st approach so on the foreign assistance front that comes as no surprise but for him to cut a lot does wrench into the process right now as americans are waiting for these desperately needed checks even having been promised by trump's own treasury secretary just the day before that these checks will be in the mail by next week well that is not going to happen and that is a disappointment to americans as well as a shock to the members of congress not saluting they've really been thrown a curve ball here and just before christmas as well what might they do what can they do next. well this bill did pass both chambers with

super majorities be top roof majorities so that's one however with this president's new demands could it give cover to republicans to now switch their votes that is unclear and surprisingly maybe it's giving democrats more cover to demand more money in fact that's what we saw both democratic leaders of the house and the senate on twitter today saying that this is a good thing that they also want the 2 $1000.00 stimulus checks to americans and antipolo see leader of the house saying she's ready to bring this to the floor but then there's also the perhaps most likely scenario as some of our guests have said that this may all just be a bluff on the president's part and there's some evidence to suggest that it may be if you look at the timing there are only days left to this congressional session so amending this bill reopening it to consideration is simply impossible in the time

that remains secondly the federal government funding is dependent on what passed congress yesterday right now it's being funded by another stopgap measures that will run out on this coming monday so if president trump does not sign this legislation or if he vetoes it the entire federal government will careen off the fiscal cliff and there will not be enough time in this congressional session to get it back so many largest civil issues hurdles that make this actual veto unlikely and you'll note that he didn't actually use the word veto in discredit he did go on to post another video on his twitter feed laura just minutes later full of more conspiracy theories and inaccurate statements saying that he had won this election so that's giving people a moment to think that perhaps this and the threat of veto is all just another

outcry at the last spasms of his outgoing administration ok heidi the story continues many thanks for bringing the latest from washington d.c. . well just before donald trump made those declarations on the stimulus bill the white house announced 15 presidential pardons for 50 more people they include george and alex fans as one who pleaded guilty joining the investigation into russian meddling in the 2016 presidential elections also on the list 2 former republican congressman sentence for corruption who were the earliest to endorse trump's kansas city in 20164 others on the list of contractors who work for the controversial private security firm formerly known as blackwater they were convicted for 2007 massacre in baghdad that left more than a dozen iraqi civilians dead that incident caused an international for all over the use of private security personnel in a war zone all for long prison sentences. is the former deputy

assistant attorney general at the u.s. department of justice he joins us live via skype from washington d.c. so that a range of people who've been pardoned there what do you make of this list. well at the moment it seems like president trump is saying that he's going to be leaving the white house and he had felt that a lot of this term was dealt with russia best again he said that he was going to pardon everybody involved with the russians that's the shit in his mind he thought that he was ability to be the best they gave him and so in order for him to sort of square the circle he's going to pardon everybody got within the russian best the gate ship and then with regard to both the blackwater and the russian all of the border patrol pardons all of those are about in space that he is looking out for them and that even you he just this says that has an unfair iraq swampy justices

that he's trying to correct by using the pardon power let's look at the blackwater pontin's of in one of the the men sentence nicholas last and he got life and president this was a long road for the justice department to achieve this sentence so does this pardon do you fear that it simply makes a mockery of the justice system in the u.s. . well one of the complicated factors that our country had or the united states our country tried to really keep in clay has been won out if you commit atrocities on the battlefield that that's going to be something that's going to be accountable you know we want to we go out in the world create allies and not create incidents that create people future other means of the united states and so that's what those convictions or i have but this president not just on this occasion but on prior part of the cajuns has been very lenient towards people who commit crimes in the battlefield and this is yet another example of that because he believes that if

you're serving the united states that you have to do whatever you have to do in order to serve the united states and he's not going to 2nd guess what what a person they even if it violates u.s. law we are expecting more pardons to come that is widely believed what damage he think this is going to do to the legacy of the minor investigation of course looks into russian and to ferentz well i think it's going to be a very confusing time in history as well then look back and say well what was the smaller investigation because at the end you will have had an investigation that led to all of bunch of conviction but all of those convicted people part of it and a questionable beginning where some people think that the beginning was proper and some people think that the beginning was improper and so it's going to be viewed on those partisan lines probably preventing that case the column and i don't know what

it will do to future investigations pretty much every politician now moving forward to get the best again that will's trying to resort the pardon system you know order to alleviate the investigation and just 11 last question is a big one can can trump papa himself. well legal scholars do not believe that he can pardon them so he certainly parted everybody else involved in his ear and then the question with regard to his part is whether he tries it or whether he hopes that the president by actually then federally prosecute him in any way in the hopes of trying to move on and read a chapter or the like. very good to speak thanks for joining us there from washington. how the news now in france has eased border restrictions with the u.k. ending a ban aimed at stopping the spread of a mutated strain of corona virus in a pan of residents will be able to cross provided they've recently tested negative

for the 19 much of europe has closed its borders to the u.k. this week throwing travel and congo transport into chaos thousands of truck drivers have been stranded in southern england as pull brennan now reports. 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 porter revealed many many more than that parked up and waiting for news use eventually came to 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 if it's above the 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 forces 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 in some of 3 facilities is also creating tensions the member of parliament for the denver bank transfer 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 and over the rain iraq to drive a staged a 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. my children my. daughter is crying for me but god reinforcements restore order and the situation remains tense. al-jazeera dover. still ahead here on al-jazeera and investigators say they found evidence of war crimes committed in mali. and antarctica records its 1st cases of corona virus while uninhabited ice covered land mass is now being affected by the pandemic.

in the immediate future got a bit of a warning draw up for the 2nd place plain states for this here this is an arc of representing cold weather really snow in montana or down towards colorado that live in. across the plains states and move east which they come to because against this warm weather so eventually you get quite a concentration of quite severe weather potentially through tennessee and kentucky is 2 examples than the code that follows will bring snow initially just into the midwest and forget it's just cold on the ranches in some in the sky but if i take it a bit further east so you can see the development here that looks quite potentially stormy in warm weather and a southerly and then that tucks in to give a cold briefly snowy period and that's really showing up in the forecast for new york 14 degrees on thursday then it rains in the front goes through and then you get 0 as a high minus 4 you can minus 6 overnight with windchill nothing quite so

extreme for the science we have got a bit of increase in the in the breeze the trade winds you got like this a fairly heavy showers in the bahamas and then increasing the i think the cloud will show so have costa rica and panama for some wet weather in the general she never light rain right back into southern mexico. and award winning investigation i know workers really right behind it has been factory when we operate for less and we buy for less we can pass those savings on our customers into the supply chains that produce cheap clothing. with little regard for workers' lives different means of the fire are still everywhere rewind made in bangladesh on al-jazeera. move.

on. and there again you're watching al-jazeera has a reminder of our top stories this hour u.s. president donald trump is demanding congress make changes to a landmark coronavirus relief bill called the bipartisan legislation a disgrace his demand demands include raising the stimulus payments individuals from $600.00 to $2000.00. and trucks pardon 15 more people including 4 former contractors for the controversial private security firm formerly known as blackwater have been serving long sentences for a 2007 massacre in baghdad that left more than a dozen iraqi civilians dead. and france has eased border restrictions would be ok had ends a bad name to stopping the spread of

a more contagious strain of corona virus european residents will be able to cross with proof of a negative covert 19 test much of europe has closed its borders this week. israel will be holding its 4th election in 2 years after an uneasy coalition that briefly united long time try minister benjamin netanyahu and rival benny gantz collapsed parliament was dissolved out of failing to meet the deadline to pass the budget snap elections will be held in march next year netanyahu has upcoming corruption trial is at the center of the discord with dance as well as within his look of party with a faction breaking away recently but. 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 we are all going to face a difficult to listen campaign and i call on each and every one of us and each and every israeli citizen to refrain from exacerbating tensions. and we are against

elections so long decision by the party but if an election is forced upon us i promise you that we will rent. is the director of the u.c.l.a. unison soren as aryans center for 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 who he wanted to go to elections but he wanted to go to elections sometime next summer. coronavirus come on the controlling as well and hopefully the israeli economy has recovered somewhat so the target of this election most likely to take place now a march 23rd is something that wasn't here and something like it 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 his latest reading widely been he's mishandled the pandemic that's 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 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 portray his allies his wife who was this kind of leftist as he likes to do in the past but it can't says absolutely don i think he's really lost or his support to his party may not even past the electoral threshold so the real libel this time around isn't going to come from the center left while the from a number of challenges to the g.o.p. on the right particularly from get on saddam's former member of a good. broker why it is popular with the could voters and on the right in general i can challenge netanyahu from the white that something that i think will be a will will risk the next yahoo entering this election. rebel groups in central african republic are reportedly seized barri the country's 4th largest city as they

continue their push towards the capital bangui tension has been rising in the run up to the december 27th election but one has sent additional troops watching russia says it sent $302.00 instructors at the government's request the government's accuse rebels backed by the former president francois bozizé of attempting a coup police in uganda have arrested a leading human rights lawyer weeks before presidential elections nicholas r.p.o. previously represented bobby wine seen as the main challenger to president with 70 is seeking to extend his 35 years in power a tweet from bobby wines a council had been investigating the killings of protesters last month at the beginning of the campaigning season police accuse appear of money laundering and other militias. united nations investigators have handed the security council evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity in mali armed groups and security forces are implicated in the report which documents crimes as far back as

2012 that's when separatists in northern mali launched an offensive ethnic rivalries and violence of since spread to other regions including neighboring the. christian salumi is the un with more details from that report. it contains many disturbing accounts in its $338.00 pages about what has happened in mali since that insurgency was launched by the tar eggs in 2012 it covers a lot of ground the investigation was launched as part of a peace process in 2015 and it found a litany of war crimes and crimes against humanity by all of the main parties in this conflict the work climbs by mali and defense and security forces include violent attacks on those who are suspected of cooperating with armed groups outside

of a combat situation and for the various armed groups there's just a litany of crimes against humanity it's really many disturbing details everything from or maiming rape attacking humanitarian groups including the united nations their sexual violence rape. just a whole list of things and one example that they give that was particularly disturbing happened in central mali in 2017 when one armed group affiliated with the dogan people in retaliation for the death of one of their members launched attacks on villages and killed a number of people 39 people including several children so a lot to wade through in this report. corona virus has now spread to every continent on the globe after $36.00 cases were discovered as a chill research station on the antarctic peninsula the country's army confirms the

infections stories about reports from. 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 antarctic a base. no not of the. base located in the chilean sector of antarctica 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

i'm to quarantine in the southern chilean city of the now. but cove in 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 already 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 taliban. 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. there's not a lot of information on the russian vaccine you don't know if they had 11. urgent point 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 economy 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. a virus cases are surging in russia with nearly $29000.00 new infections confirmed in 24 hours the country's death toll is now sitting at around $52000.00 as well as russia began inoculating frontline health workers with its own sputnik coronavirus

vaccine more than 200000 have received it so far. south korea has recorded one of its highest daily rises incredible infections as it prepares to roll out nationwide restrictions to contain a 3rd wave country recorded just under 1100 new cases the 2nd highest number since the pandemic began from 1st day gatherings will be limited to 4 people while ski resorts major tourist spots and national parks will close. thailand's prime minister is blaming illegal migration for a cluster of more than 1000 crowd of virus infections its biggest so far it's believed to have come from people working at a seafood market near bangkok that's a major blow for the nation that had been held for its success in combating the virus 20 chang reports from bangkok. 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 at mcafee came here for screening before and found out there are 49 people who were in radio host one type and infected person from the market today we will collect 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 are being turned away. infections originating from the seafood market in cements a cone and now being discovered in bangkok and provinces even further away outside the unpleasant process begins that these people are not alone the thai government says a 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 in 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 said he might introduce a national lockdown the transmissions continue to rise. so on child local fishmonger says many customers are choosing to stay at home now he's worried about his health and keeping his business afloat. to begin the economy was picking up but we now are facing this and it makes us feel as if we are going back to the 1st outbreak traders in this market say that concern about the outbreak has caused business that drop by 70 or 80 percent overall thailand has made huge economic sacrifices to rid itself of the coronavirus this outbreak continues to grow all of that will be for nothing. with the new year holiday approaching many thais thought normal life was almost within reach the latest outbreak appears to have some dreams

tony ching al-jazeera bangkok. and finally a charity has brought some christmas cheer to lebanon's capital after a tough year for the city a huge christmas tree is being decorated outside the port of beirut which was rocked by a huge explosion in august it's been set up in honor of the firefighters here responded to the blast which killed around $200.00 people. these are all top stories in the u.s. president donald trump is demanding congress make changes to a landmark coronavirus relief bill called the bipartisan legislation a disgrace it's a man's include raising the stimulus payments to individuals from 6 $100.00 to $2000.00 i do castro has more from washington d.c. . i think there are many extraneous i.