don't you see. where. it really is a disgrace to u.s. president donald trump slams a $900000000000.00 coronavirus stimulus bill passed by congress suggesting he won't sign unless more relief money is given to the people. and trump issues 15 more pardons including 4 private military contractors convicted of a 2007 massacre in baghdad. or a cartel this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up what's going to be. a mass

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 in israel after the fractious ruling coalition fails to get the budget approved by parliament. u.s. president donald trump is suggesting he will not sign a massive coronavirus relief bill unless it's amended by congress he's called the $900000000000.00 relief bill a disgrace that passed by it was passed by the house and the senate on monday after months of negotiations how did your castro reports. a day earlier the white house had said president trump would support the covert relief package passed by congress on monday but things change rapidly within this residence and less than 24 hours later this wrench of the video was uploaded to trump's twitter feed effectively

ending congress's victory lap stride the bill they are now planning to send back to my desk is much different that it dissipated it really is a disgrace for example above the more than $5000.00 pages in this bill which nobody in congress has read because of its length and complexity it's called the covert relief bill but it has almost nothing to do with gov the bill is indeed massive besides the $100000000000.00 allocated to covert relief it includes money for foreign aid the arts wildlife management and of course keeping the federal government open until september trump is demanding that congress amend the legislation to remove the unnecessary items but to add money to the code in $1000.00 relief portion the current bill gives $600.00 checks to most americans

trump wants that increased to 2000 send me a suitable bill or else the next administration will have to deliver a covert relief package and maybe that administrator shouldn will be me it won't despite trump's continued refusal to concede the election joe biden will be sworn in as u.s. president on january 20th. one thing i promise you but my leadership during this crisis i'm going to tell it to you straight i'm going to tell you the truth speaking earlier in the day biden commended congress on passage of the covert relief bill while pledging his administration would indeed ask for more money. our darkest days in the battle against covert are ahead of us not behind us so we need to prepare ourselves to steal our spines as fresh state is that here it's going to

take patience. we're patient that what americans have been told just a day earlier by trump's own treasury secretary who had promised people would begin receiving those $600.00 checks approved by congress next week now the plan is in limbo congress had passed the bipartisan measure with veto proof super majorities but trump's demands may give republicans cover to switch their votes or it could give democrats ammo to insist on the bigger checks for americans that the party had wanted all along democratic leaders said as much on twitter in response to the president's video but then there is always the possibility that trump may change his mind again this president is so mercurio he changes so quickly will he stick with this i don't know he said it's a no will he said tomorrow i don't know he might not actually veto the legislation it had taken months of negotiations to achieve this so briefly celebrated progress in congress and now the only certainty is trump's insistence on leaving

a mark during his last days in office. castro al-jazeera washington. oh just before donald trump made the declaration on the stimulus bill the white house announced presidential pardons for 15 more people they include george papadopoulos. pleaded guilty to join 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 2016. 4 of those on the list were contractors who worked for the controversial private security firm formerly known as blackwater they were convicted of massacring more than a dozen iraqi civilians including 2 children in baghdad in 2007 incident caused an international for roll over the use of private security personnel in war zones all 4 was serving long prison sentences then frescoes the former deputy assistant

attorney general of the u.s. department of justice he says trump is using his pardoning power to try to discredit inquiries into his administration's conduct. 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 his term was dealt with with the russian investigators that he was going to pardon everybody involved with the russians as they gauge it in his mind he thought that he was a village in the middle as the gauges and so in order for him to sort of square the circle he's going to pardon everybody who got to think that within the russians as the gauge and then with regard to both the blackwater and the congressional and the border patrol pardon all of those aren't my tally they that the looking out for them and that even the justice system has an unfair or rough so on the justices that he's trying to correct by you think the pardon power one of the complicated

factors that are 200 out of the united states our country tried to really. play have been won out if you commit atrocities on the battlefield that that's going to be something that's going to be accountable because we want to go out into the world create allies and not create incidents that create people who are driving the the united states and so that's what those convictions or but this president not just on this occasion but on prior part of the occasion has been very lenient toward people who commit crimes in the battlefield and this is the other the other example of that because the believe 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 part the made even if it violates u.s. law. mexico will start rolling out covert 1000 vaccinations on thursday a day after the country receives its 1st batch of pfizer biotech vaccines mexico

has recorded more than 1300000 cases of the virus and at least 119000 the 4th highest tally in the world but the government says the real number of infected people is likely to be much higher bolivia is banning all travelers from europe for 2 weeks from friday and it's in response to the spread of a more contagious strain of corona virus in the united kingdom there are no direct flights to bolivia from the u.k. but there are services from madrid or than 40 countries have banned arrivals from britain in recent days. france however has eased border restrictions with the u.k. ending a 48 hour european residents will now be able to cross provided they've recently tested negative for covert 19 as we exported closures through much of the u.k.'s car their transportation into chaos thousands of truck drivers have been stranded in southern england as paul brennan now reports along the main 8 to 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 packed 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 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 miners. 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 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 a car for 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 right. they should be open i think that's what you had the coffee off to the drive us government short. and that's what we did in. the airfield 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 agenda straight the ferry industry they've what's handing glove over the last 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 rain iraq and the driver 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 and. they're crying for me to go

through reinforcements restore order the situation remains tense. al-jazeera over. south korea has recorded one of its highest daily rises in quite a virus infections as it prepares to roll out nationwide restrictions to contain a surge in cases the country recorded always 1100 new cases the 2nd highest number since the pandemic began from thursday gatherings will be limited to 4 people while ski resorts major tourist spots and national parks will close. still ahead hair on al-jazeera u.n. investigators say they found evidence of war crimes committed in mali. and the antarctica records its 1st cases of corona virus while virtually uninhabited ice covered land mass has not been affected by the pandemic.

allowed onshore breeze is developing again throughout the levant comes forward on the red sea it is the prompt showers in eritrea western side of saudi arabia parts of eastern sudan as well the next day or so and of course the showers are likely through gaza israel for lebanon as well focus to jerusalem it's just 3012 degrees but shows the next couple of days and possibly quite gusty winds i don't think is the potential for flash floods we have an air around sea valley for galilee for example further inland the showers spread into iraq they look fairly light but have a show mild falling down what looks like a lot of showers here and back rainy cata but that is early friday in the breeze picks up again at $23.00 sunny degrees it's iran that gets most of this weather the rain or snow it might snow again in tehran itself during that says he or early friday southern africa has been active recently weather wise typically 50 or 60 min

to be to showers in the middle of south africa that's gathering into a sort of frontal zone and move east was at least you know lives thunderstorms leaving behind dry weather for some botswana and a good part of south africa the trough itself goes into southern mozambique drops the temperature brings in the thunderstorms. when all that seems to matter is the headline and always 2 sides to a story when narratives and counter narratives obscure reality the main there on the one hand the enemy is open neither 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 place better the biased so a lot of people believe things because they want to believe them and uncovers the uncomfortable truths if you think they did enough to scrutinize the case for war the listing posts on a. 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 $900000000000.00 coronavirus stimulus bill called the legislation a disgrace his demands include troubling the amount of relief payments to people. trump has pardoned 15 more people including 4 former contractors for the private security firm blackwater has been serving long sentences for the 2007 massacre of more than a dozen iraqi civilians in baghdad. and france says the restrictions with the u.k. it ends a ban aimed at stopping the spread of a more contagious strain of corona virus europeans with proof of

a negative covert 19 test will be able to cross. israel will be holding its full selection in 2 years after an uneasy coalition the break united longtime prime minister benjamin netanyahu and rival benny gantz collapsed has been dissolved after failing to meet the deadline to pass the budget. reports. this was the moment when the speaker of israel's parliament the knesset announced that last ditch efforts to pass the budget had failed there was no way forward for the fragile ruling alliance. of 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 go to face a difficult a look in campaign and i call on each and every one of us and each and every israeli citizen to refrain from a just waiting to be prime minister benjamin netanyahu his popularity has sank over

the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic he's also facing a corruption case which fuel divisions with netanyahu his coalition partner as well as within his own party. a faction recently brick away but if it's an inconvenient time for the governing coalition to collapse netanyahu didn't show it and yet against elections the wrong decision by the u.n. by party but if an election is forced upon us i promise you that event analysts say prime minister netanyahu may be confident as the political landscape has changed in the past 3 years he's certainly very weak much weaker than he has been politically for a long time not only because he faces this looming collection trial but also because israel is widely believed has mishandled the pandemic. economically as a result of that and of course no longer be in the white house by that type so some of the factors that have allowed him to prevail in the past are israeli politicians

will be entering the new year in campaign mode for the elections in march although polls suggest that the could could still the merge of the largest party it may need to alliances to reach a 61 seat majority to form a government. al-jazeera. 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 north's an offense of ethnic rivalries and violence of sense spread to other regions including neighboring. chris unsling me as 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 2 our eggs in 2012

covers a lot of ground the investigation was launched as part of a peace process in 2015 and it found. the litany of war crimes and crimes against humanity by all of the main parties in this conflict the work climbs by molly 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. police in uganda have arrested the leading human rights lawyer weeks before presidential elections appear previously represented by the wind seen as the main challenger to president 70 a tweet from the ones account says had been investigating the killings of protesters last month lease accuse him of money laundering and other militias. rebel groups in central african republic of reportedly seized barring the country's 4th largest city as they push towards the capital bangui tension has been rising in the run up to an election next week one to his sense additional troops russia says and some 300 minute transfer of the government's request to cues rebels backed by

the former president francois posies a of attempting a coup catherine sawyer in the. 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 they're calling themselves the patriots for change it's a group of kids we are the country's main groups and they started advancing on to the copy told calling for among other things government without president. so it's official that the u.n. says that in the west where this 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 other. troops we have a russian. also carrying out operations against this grouping they are the russians and the london are not under the un mandate that means that they are able to use more. signed the country. remained. with our government allowing them to use force and to contain the situation to make sure that this election is not disrupted in any way riot police have broken up protests in southern peru workers and demanding better pay and working conditions that comes off the country's congress failed to agree on replacing a nor wished because salaries businesses proposed 50 percent increase could drive up their costs too much. corona virus has now spread to every continent on the

colobus to 36 cases were discovered and research station on the un talk to an insular health officials say those infected have been isolated and are being monitored trey's a boat 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. number and that of 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 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 their spears 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 vaccine. campaign is expected to begin as soon as the 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 11000 tests grow 1000 urgent and authorities may have a report but we haven't seen it is probably ok but the government has failed to communicate that effectively. covert 19 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. and when a site is. a virus cases are surging in russia with nearly $29000.00 new infections

confirmed in 24 hours the country's death toll is now around 52000 this month russia began inoculating frontline health workers with its own spot virus vaccine more than $200000.00 people have received it so far but many people in moscow say they're unsure about whether to get the vaccine once it's rolled up to the public. 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 form i'm not sure whether i'm going to get vaccinated i believe by me to improve the vaccines because i cannot be sure they work effectively and the point i am not going to get the bad thing i do not approve of beck scenes in general. senior health officials and the us are rolled up their sleeves to receive a coronavirus vaccine in an effort to inspire public confidence top infectious

disease expert docs and they found she was saved the job he was joined by the health secretary and the head of the national institutes of health they were given the maternal vaccine that received emergency approval from regulators last week she says most americans should be able to get a vaccine by the middle of next year. what we're seeing now is the culmination of years of research which have led to a phenomenon that has truly been unprecedented and that is to go from the realisation that we're dealing with a new pathogen a virus that was described in january of this year to less than one year later to have vaccines that are going into the arms of so many people including myself and so i consider it an honor to be part of this process. the u.k. and the e.u. still trying to hammer out a trade deal and brussels blocks back that negotiating has been briefing member states on the latest progress of the several pos deadlines it has x.

it takes effect at the end of the month the main obstacle to a trade deal senses around e.u. fishing quotas and british water has. given the final push. today you feel relieved to see the market turned i would go to you to work total transparency remember stood by hundreds of parliament thank you thank you very much the. bank says behind the issue of fishing rights are a number of concerns time is running with 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't just change the quota that the e.u. countries get now the debate is whether about the number of that quarter was 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 are exported to the 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 russia has expanded its list of european officials who are barred from entering the country it's in response to e.u. sanctions on 6 russian officials and a state research institute over the poisoning of opposition leader alexina valley moscow hasn't revealed the exact number of facials nor the names of those who are barred. thousands of spawn is shed and nearly $3000000000.00 payday and the el gordo or fat one nasri.

keeping up with tradition schoolchildren sang out the winning numbers and it's brought some end of year hope to millions of people in one of the country's worst hit by the crowbars in europe the lottery can have multiple winners of half a $1000000.00 per ticket friends and colleagues often band together to buy them. this is al jazeera these are the top stories u.s. president donald trump is demanding congress makes changes to a landlocked coronavirus relief trump called the legislation a disgrace it's a man's include raising the stimulus payments to individuals from $600.00 to $2000.00 a bill was passed by the house and the senate on monday castro has more from washington d.c. . i think there are many extraneous items that are unnecessary included.