more than ever the wound needs w.h.o. making the healthy a world. that everyone. it really is a disgrace to us president donald trump slams a $900000000000.00 coronavirus stimulus bill passed by congress and threatens not to sign a it's. also issues of 15 pardons including 4 private military contractors convicted of shooting dead 14 civilians in baghdad in 2007. i know that i'm starting to tell you this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up cats are begins its mass coronavirus vaccination program after receiving its 1st

cuts of pfizer. and a 4th election in 2 years in israel after the fractious ruling coalition fails to get its budget approved by parliament. now u.s. president on trungpa suggesting he will not sign a massive coronavirus relief bill unless it's amended by congress he's called the $900000000000.00 stimulus package a disc race it was passed by the house and the senate on monday off to months of negotiations how does it cost to reports now from washington d.c. . 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 doubt pledging to send back to my desk is much different that it dissipated it really is a disgrace for example among 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 go of the fill it 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 trumpets demanding that congress amend the legislation to remove the unnecessary items but to add money to the cove 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 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 well just before donald trump made that declaration on the stimulus bill the white house also announced presidential pardons for 15 people they include george papadopoulos and alex about it as one who both cheated guilty during the investigation into russian meddling in the 2016 presidential elections also on that list true former

republican congressman sentenced for corruption who were the earliest to endorse trump's candidacy back and 2016. others on that list were contractors who writes for the controversial private security firm formerly known as blackwater they were serving long prison sentences after being convicted for a 2007 shooting in baghdad 14 iraqi civilians were killed including 2 children that incident caused international outrage over the use of private security personnel in a war zone while our correspondent charles stratford is in baghdad misspoken one of the victims injured in that 2007 attack. if it's reaction is anything to go by then there's going to be quite a lot of anger here at this presidential pardon by donald trump all those 4 contractors as you say 14 people were killed in the source square on that day the man we spoke to a man called house and your bar he is a lawyer he was traveling through the square at the time with his son who was in

his twenty's at the time they were both shot in the chest they suffered serious injuries his son's injuries were severe enough for him to have lost a long and in his words he described this decision by president trump to pardon these men as a complete betrayal of human rights a total disaster he said that he was utterly shocked he said that throughout all these years he'd had face in the american judicial system he said that this decision means that that faith is now completely disappeared. and as i say it is very shocked at this decision now we haven't heard from any of the other victims or families of those victims but we can we can expect that similar reaction will be given. as we go ahead today but yeah shock and disbelief certainly from the victim that we spoke to turn into the krajina virus pandemic now

and france has eased border restrictions at the u.k. ending a ban and it's stopping the spread of a variant strain of the crane a virus much of europe has now closed its borders to the u.k. this week throwing travel and cargo transport into chaos thousands of truck drivers have been stranded in southern england as paul brennan reports from the port of dover. 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 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 minus if it's above

the $45.00 followers to drive north of the no sleep 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 in some of 3 facilities is also creating tensions the member of parliament for the denver branch fronts 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 haulage industry the ferry industry they've worked 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 and over the rain a rocket 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 direction the police are trying to restore order but for the moment they're not being successful. my children my song. my. daughter is crying for me to go through reinforcements restore order the situation remains tense. al-jazeera dover. has now begun a mass kovac $1000.00 vaccination campaign elderly people and health workers on the fast to receive the pfizer biotech jabs a shipment of those stars as arrived on monday people with chronic illnesses will also be among those banned prioritized for that inoculation while our correspondent osama bin debate is at a clinic in doha whether it's vaccines are being rolled out osama hasn't been to take a busy then this morning. a lot of people have come in

this morning trickled in rather because the ministry of public health is informing people according to those 3 conditions that you just mentioned who can come in and get the vaccine because it is the 1st batch mr public health officials of assured us that there have enough vaccine in order to a vaccinate the whole country which will be done in phases as people will be coming in to receive their vaccines this is the 1st pfizer biotech scene that has been given to people and be given to them in 2 doors is 3 weeks apart people have been telling us about both sides there have been some skeptics about the vaccine as well and health officials have been trying to assure them that they might suffer some mild assim side effects but by and large this vaccine is safe it has been tested on thousands and thousands of people that have been trials that have been done here in part there and after that they have decided that this is

a vaccine that people should come and get vaccinated against and it is going to be them who are going to invite inviting them given the appointments to come and dig their proxy and some of this is obviously a day that so many people have been anticipating for a long time now can you give us a a sense of how the outbreak has been handled and cats are. but health officials say that this is been a milestone in their fight against the cold virus and the pandemic here in the state of utter this is so far they have been able to put in place a robust mechanism to make sure that there is a tear based system of both not just the lockdown itself but the gradual release of the lockdown in restrictions on people so now bigger gatherings are allowed there have been some restrictions that have been eased on gatherings in malls and other places so slowly and gradually we've seen in the last few months that the qatari government has eased restrictions even though that there are other is restrictions

in neighboring countries as well as worldwide have been going strict is still now there is a there's a strict strict every procedure to who can actually come into the country only residents and people who are trees can come into the country no other visitors are allowed inside there is a quarantine period depending on where you come from and cut there has been able to restrict its cases the deaths in particular to about 240 or people who have died in the 9 months of the pandemic that we've seen so far and they say that have been because they have tested nearly half of the population they have been able to provide health care to those in need and they're making sure that there is a robust contact tracking increasing system in place including an app which monitors the movement of people and in case they come in contact with anyone who have been infected with the virus as i mentioned a it and they're watching that scene right out for us and thanks so much. on

out as they are under attack the report says the number of journalists being killed because of their work is on the rise. in carbon 19 which is one of the most remote parts of the while the fast cases are reported and on top to catch. the cloud is still invading rushing really from the landed right across central europe now it's full of moisture this which means where it comes into contact with particularly cold air is not been the case in the higher ground in hungary you tend to get this thing which is why the whole frosts or more has sort of blown frozen droplets as it has to trees very pretty close eventually if you will that sort of thing will melt probably not on those mountain tops and actually the closer you get

to the frontal zones the more you got the risk of persistent rain that's certain the case for the day with a potential flood in parts of england northern france belgium netherlands luxembourg and even potentially germany and this is all moving slowly eastwards and science was the war on the right to be replaced by this cold northerly blast changing things completely now belgrade will get pushed into the wards during thursday the average is 6 so we're well above the way back down to average as the rain goes through eventually turned to snow i think during the weekend in fact that's the case for all the alps and for a time even the low level ground this cold air invades and squashes the warm just times the south but i think once the cold is in as it shows you vienna it's here to stay.

ok calm and make sure you're not hyping the situation be part of the debate my main characters are women when no topic is off the table the law is in the last allow child marriage to happen legally these are basically archaic walls that often the jet mines and legalized pedophile on air online jumping to the quick section and meeting to be part of the discussion the stream on out is there a. pool. again. hunt let's remind you of our top stories here this hour u.s. president donald trump is suggesting he will not sign

a massive coronavirus relief bill unless it's amended by congress he says he wants congress to raise stimulus payments to individual americans from $600.00 to $2000.00. drums also announced presidential pardons for 15 people thank you to 4 military contractors convicted of shooting dead 14 civilians in iraq in 20072 men tied to russian meddling in the 2016 presidential elections were also part. and qatar has begun its mass coronavirus vaccination campaign elderly people health care workers are the 1st to receive the pfizer biotech jobs and people with chronic illnesses will also be prioritized to get their injections out. israel is to hold its 4th election in 2 years after its parliament failed to pass a budget and dissolved it ends what's been a fractious coalition that briefly united prime minister benjamin netanyahu and his rival benny gantz 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 the humans. unfortunately were unable to find enough common ground to prevent another round of elections and enable the 23rd going to sit on its members to exercise the mandate given to us we're all going to face a difficult to look and i call on each and every one of us and each and every israeli citizen to refrain from just waiting to show us prime minister benjamin netanyahu his popularity has sunk over the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic he's also facing a corruption case which fuel divisions with netanyahu is. coalition partners as well as within his own party faction recently break away but if it's an inconvenient time for the governing coalition to collapse netanyahu didn't show it and we are against elections the wrong decision by the party but if an election is

forced upon us i promise you that event analysts say prime minister netanyahu may be overconfident 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 corruption trial but also because israel is really widely believed has mishandled the pandemic. economically as a result of that and of course donald trump no longer be in the white house by that type so some of the factors that have allowed him to go in the past are israeli politicians will be entering the new year in campaign mode for the elections in march although polls suggest that le could could still the merge as the largest party it may need alliances to reach a 61 seat majority to form a government barbara and al-jazeera. well i spoke to dalia shines and she's

a political strategist and a public opinion analyst she says the opposition towards netanyahu will not necessarily spell the end for his party. the protests are primarily about his corruption trials and in general his leadership which has you know the claim of the demonstrators that he has consolidated power is ruling through some sort of corrupt you know sense of. just taking total control for himself and he's been in power too long and he's populist and he incites the population against one another i would say the corona crisis has been more of an exacerbating factor for the protests and the perception that he's attempting to use the crisis in order to further consolidate powers stifle the right to protest and allow you know the citizens to be dissenters of course the general sense that a prime minister who is under indictment who is who's trial has begun will be opening reopening in its argument phase. presumably in the beginning of the year as

opposed to in january february many people feel this is an unacceptable situation for a democracy and that's really fueling the protests along with additional communities that have been hurt economically by the closures and so the cut the sum total is an environment of protest but i would not interpret that as a serious weakening of the tenuous position because most of those people the majority of them i would say were people who voted for other parties to begin with and while the while his his ruling likud party is and you know who's ruling likud party has seen some decline in the surveys relative to their strength from the march election they're still the number one party and it's there's there's just not enough clarity about the other parties to say if they will if they will really suffer from those protests. now the number of journalists murdered wild wild has more than doubles this year a report by the committee to protect journalists says at least 30 were killed in

2020 mexico is the deadliest country in the wild for the media journalists there are routinely threatened and targeted by criminal groups or corrupt politicians afghanistan syria and the philippines are next on the list most of the killers there have gone unpunished and politics was the most dangerous subject to cover now while murders rose overall this year the number of journalists killed in crossfire fell to its lowest level since 2020 rads is the advocacy director at the committee to protect journalists in washington d.c. she says mexico's government needs to do more to protect proportions. mexico is a democracy and yet there is a lot of violent crime and criminal gangs and drug cartels are routinely murdering journalists with impunity they even have a president they even have a journalist protection mechanism in mexico and yet there were journalists who were murdered while under the protection of that mechanism so it's clearly ineffectual

and the fact that you know a democracy can year after year allow its journalists to be murder with impunity is not acceptable and should be a top priority for the over to our ministration to address one of the biggest impact we've seen as the responses that governments have made to the coronavirus pandemic which is included you know efforts that seem less designed to combat the pen demick and more designed to combat independent reporting that may be critical of government efforts we've seen around the world that a slew of governments have adopted new legislation that is a sensibly aimed at stopping the spread of false news or public and sharing public health but in fact is used to retaliate against journalists who report on uncomfortable facts about how the government's doing in its response or about the coronavirus you know large we've seen that in china in iran in egypt and really all over the place including in some democratic countries so it's

a really challenging year to be a journalist and i think that we're going to see a lot of these challenges continue because of course once you put in place legislation like that that criminalizes aspects of journalism it's going to stay in place long after the pandemic. a gunman suspected of killing 3 police officers in central fronts has been found dead he'd fled after opening fire on the offices they were responding to a report of domestic violence against a woman in a village in the poor durham region 4th officer was wounded in that shooting the woman saw refuge on the roof of the house where the incident took place and is saying. now the e.u. says it's willing to continue trade to go off to the end of the transition period on december 31st the rock specs that negotiated has briefed member states on the latest progress as the u.k. and e.u. continue efforts to try to hammer out a deal the main obstacle to an agreement is fishing courses and british water is

the u.s. justice department is suing supermarket giant wal-mart for billions of dollars in damages accusing it of helping to fuel the opioid crisis the civil lawsuit accuses 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 u.s. just in the last 2 decades wal-mart is the country's largest retailer and william solomon is the chief executive officer at the accreditation council for medical affairs he thinks wal-mart has been trying to avoid responsibility for its role in the crisis. wal-mart itself that actually gets the o.j. reactively before they were sued by the ministration and you know there are arguments like look this should be really something that the da should be handling this is something bad is really the responsibility 'd of the physicians who are licensed to prescribe these products so you know it's

a question of you know who's really here is willing to take accountability 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 one of the processes that please do ensure that the information i goes out to patients to health care providers is accurate is out the goal isn't jet wal-mart is just one player in this game right the physicians definitely clear will pharmaceutical companies play a role and we saw that the chairman of doing the settlement last week with the government right they settled for $8000000000.00 they admitted that they could have done things better but it that they had misled the public and you know when you think about the size of a company like her do her size of wal-mart have right 5000 pharmacies in the u.s. it's a huge impact i mean it's you talking hundreds and thousands and millions of lives

affected in the u.s. and abroad and it's just it's preposterous to think that for all these years they've been undercutting system of the process and no one was aware no one was aware of. the corona virus has now spread to every continent on the globe after 36 cases were discovered at a chilean research station on the and talk to and insular health officials say the paper infected have now been isolated and are being closely monitored tourism. 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 hiv 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. there were not of all. 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 port 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 already in 2021 argentina's government for example announced that russia sputnik vaccine is expected in the next few days and that i. vaccination campaign is expected to begin as soon as local help entities. argentina signed a deal for 10000000 doses with russia but there's very little information yet about support next efficacy and possible side effects so many people are skeptical about taking it. just as it was you know. there's not a lot of information on the russian vaccine you don't know if they had 11 polling best. burgeon 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. covered 19 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. there and these are the headlines u.s. president donald trump is suggesting he will not sign a massive coronavirus relief bill unless it's amended by congress he says he wants congress to raise stimulus payments to individual americans from 6 $100.00 to $2000.00 and trump has also announced presidential pardons for 15 people they include full military contractors convicted of shooting dead 14 civilians in iraq in 2007 when 2 men tied to russian meddling in the 2016 presidential elections were also part of china stratford is in baghdad and has spoken to one of the vick.