the government provides free testing and medical treatment for those who need it campaigns to raise awareness continue. u.s. president donald trump makes another controversial round of presidential pardons and does a u. turn on a coronavirus stimulus bill. you're watching al-jazeera live from the headquarters in doha time to you know bill gates also coming up u.k. police detain angry truckers following scuffles as thousands of lorries remain trapped at the border with fronts. qatar begins its mass vaccination program against career of virus after receiving its 1st batch of pfizer doses. central

african republic is just days away from a presidential election but the security situation is deteriorating with reports of a city falling to rebels. hello thanks for joining us war criminals perjurers and fraudsters and murderers well they're among the 15 people who've been pardoned by the u.s. president donald trump as he reaches the end of his term so among the group for military can tractors they were convicted of a 2007 shooting in baghdad 14 iraqi civilians were killed at the time including 2 children political allies have also been pardoned 2 people who lived in a congressional probe over russian election meddling have been granted clemency and the president has also dashed hopes of an urgently needed coronavirus relief bill despite having bipartisan support he says he'll reject it unless it's him and.

has more 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 mid stride the bill they are now 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 coven $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 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 she need to prepare or so to steal our spines as fresh state is that here it's going to take patients were patients than 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 and let's speak to heidi now she's joining us from washington so where does this leave the relief bill. well to reign in a lot of confusion and uncertainty at the moment but even more stake of course is what would happen if trump does not sign this bill well the u.s. labor department just released the latest unemployment numbers last week 803000 people in the u.s. filed for unemployment benefits for the 1st time that just shows a pervasive weakness in the economic recovery not to mention that the day after christmas there will be 12000000 americans who lose their unemployment benefits if this does not become law then there are the even actions that will resume on new year's day not to mention that the federal government would shut down on december 29th without this congressionally approved bill being signed into law

so where does that leave us now a lot of pressure to get some sort of deal done and to get the president's signature on it and democrats have seized on the president's demand for this $2000.00 stimulus check nancy pelosi speaker of the house saying that on christmas eve just tomorrow that she plans to bring that bill for unanimous consent on the house floor that means it would have to pass with every single member voting to approve that would certainly be the christmas miracle republicans would likely have to show up and have to object to that passage it would also have to pass unanimously in the senate to become law so it's nearly impossible for the for congress to make to meet the demand that the president has set in the time that they have of course with the congressional session winding down as well simply time is ticking away and there is not enough time to address this and the pressure is on

for trying to either resign or for republicans to cave and heidi what's been the reaction to trump pardoning 15 people. sure there has been a lot of outrage here among lawmakers in the us as well because as as we know many of these people receiving pardons have a direct connection personal connection to president trump they're the 2 campaign aides who were sentenced to pled guilty to lying to federal officers as part of the investigation into trump's campaign there are the 3 former republican congress members who are in prison for fraud for money laundering one of whom was the 1st to endorse president trump when he ran for the presidency in 2016 and of course there are those 4 blackwater security guards who are convicted murderers having killed innocent iraqi civilians that was

a hard one convect conviction during the obama administration so certainly we're seeing trump efforts to undo more of the obama legacy as joe biden is preparing to be sworn in and not to mention that blackwater that security firm was owned by the brother of president trump's education secretary so a lot of questions asking what are the motives what is the direct line between all of these convictions all of these pardons and trump and that is a personal interest to the president right heidi thank you very much for that update from washington. now let's get more on those pardons by president trump and a top as a professor of u.s. government at the university of essex she says there are blatant abuse of power. surprised by these pardons is really in line with trump's entire presidential administration and the way he has led in a very corrupt manner and a very authoritarian manner in seeing the u.s.

democracy backsliding in terms of the way it's been rained on. by democratic indices just because of this i mean this is been a total abuse of the pardon power and only any president has done anywhere near this type of damage with this is quite past leadership of the. justice department review process and it was really an abuse of this idea in the founders that you were going to have some sort of constitutional safeguard against injustices in the criminal justice system instead he's using it just to serve his own personal interests and whims or to help those that are close to them close to him a harvard study found that even before these 15 pardons had been announced 88 percent of the pardons that he had done were to serve his own interests completely and so we see that he's army people who are corrupt in congress and also pardoning people in the military or private security companies who have killed innocent

civilians several truck drivers stuck near the english port of dover have been detained during scuffles with police french government has eased border restrictions with the u.k. over a mutated strain of corona virus but that wasn't of drivers are still stuck at the border as a man standing kent and he says the situation is getting increasingly desperate for the strand the truck drivers. there's a enormous backlog of drivers some estimates as many as 10000 here at mountain airfield this is a kind of holding pen set up by the government for these truckers who have been unable to cross the english channel last count of this morning because there was around 3800 lorries stranded here essentially and tempos frankly are starting to fray we saw it last night down at the entrance to the port of where a number of drivers occupied the road in front of that entrance stood on the

roundabout blocked the traffic that whistled and chanted blew their horns if they were still inside their vehicles and didn't quite scuffle with police but certainly were shouting at police today in the absence of any progress materially on the ground in many places the drivers tempers really are starting to fray and i have been scuffles and i understand the has been at least one arrest the reason for all of that it seems is is hesitate to put a value judgment on it before i get shambolic i'll use the word communication we've been approached by drivers many of whom don't speak english as a 1st language asking where they can get these tests that they're supposed to have before they can cross the english channel we aren't being told the department for transport which is supposed to be leading on this on putting that information out to speak to kent county council which is the regional authority here they say it's the department for health matters the problem for health says paul for transport

it's ring around the houses it's just very very difficult to make head nor tail of it and because of that confusion the drivers are very very unhappy and up to that miserable weather and 48 hours before christmas many of these in fact most of these won't be able to get home as they expected they would. qatar has begun a mask of a $1000.00 vaccination campaign elderly people and health workers are the 1st to receive the pfizer biotech jobs and people with chronic illnesses will also be prioritized for inoculation. reports. qatar has launched its largest ever vaccination campaign and patients need to be assured. that the for the university retiree received the 1st job and he wants people to be confident about the vaccine and institutions like the world health organization or w h o the whole world is in. of all. of it.

surely. it's a necessity to take precaution they should listen for the concern. from ahmed hospital or a world of good to see. and use. more. unthink care for the most recent one of those who are new to professional industry . the 1st branch of the pfizer buying tech vaccine needs to be kept low 70 degree celsius and is being delivered to 7 health centers from where the inoculations will be administered but there has also approved madonnas vaccine which will be arriving at a later date the 1st in line for the drug on the elderly those with chronic diseases and frontline health care workers health officials in qatar say they've been able to manage the number of cases with a robust track increase system they are hopeful that by the summer of 2021 they'll

be able to vaccinate more than 70 percent off the local population to achieve basic humanity and break the chain of infection. but they also acknowledge that it is an ambitious target that relies on people being vaccinated one entirely when some remain skeptical don't listen to rumors listen to the scientists listen to your experts listen to the people you've trusted for years and years with pfizer and violent attack they have a clinical trial of more than 43000 people at one point and the side effects detected were mild and should you develop any signs or symptoms like mild fever body aches or a headache this is actually a good sign that your body is responding to the vaccine and is developing sufficient antibodies to protect you 243 people are confirmed to have died in qatar during the pandemic one of the lowest rates in the world government officials say their response is we not equipped and strict laws on testing mosques social

distancing and a mandatory monitoring have helped keep infections to about 142000 in a population of 2750000 but has gradually ease restrictions but still requires mandatory quarantine for travelers and health experts are warning people against a false sense of security as vaccinations begin saying they want everyone to maintain safety protocols against the virus because the pandemic is far from over some of jobby down to 0. still ahead on. i'm hardly tossing in south africa's brazilian attell province where mining to street has divided relatives and neighbors some locals believe an activist was murdered because of it keep watching to find out more. plus reclaiming their habitat calmer waters see the return of a rare species of dolphin to hong kong the only. it's

time for more snow for japan you've had a day off a certain thursday still looks like a fairly mild day these are rain showers not snow showers for the most part in honcho because when turned around and comes out of the real cold constant once more we build big snow showers half a meter of snow on the western slopes of home shoe and is likely to be commonplace we might see nearly a meter in this central part of honshu again west facing slopes of the code is coming from what is really a fairly sunny environment for those in china the korean peninsula is cold by day and by not but not severely so it's quite nice down hong kong again 21 degrees in the sunshine the remains the tropical depression they fall apart now it's to a massive big thunderstorms and showers the rain potential 2 or 300 millimeters on that so it's way full service today to the far side of thailand leaving vietnam rather dry and now there's

a possibility the occasional shower running through the family and also of pakistan or india pretty hard to pick out on the big scale for costs more frequent showers are likely down in sri lanka but new delhi gives the hint it is some frayed typically for the fog away from bihari right up to the northwest but you might get that brief interruption with a thunderstorm on saturday. but the. american people have finally folk in america as i split when america is off balance or to become more dangerous the world is looking at us live next year of sadness and. with the election behind us will the republican party dump truck the fuel weekly take on us politics and society that's the bottom line. be the hero the world needs right. washington.

tell us again the top stories on 000 u.s. president donald trump 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 and trump has announced presidential pardons for 15 people they include 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. several truck drivers stuck near the english port of dover have been detained

during scuffles with police french government is border restrictions with the u.k. over and mutated strain of corona virus but thousands of drivers are still stuck at the border. al jazeera journalist must watch her say and has now spent 4 years in egyptian detention without charge or trial her saying was arrested while visiting family in december 26th seen a number of human rights organizations have joined al jazeera and demanding his immediate release is the tension is in violation of both egyptian and international law well the number of journalists murdered worldwide has more than doubled this year a report by the committee to protect journalists says at least 30 were killed in 2020 mexico's the deadliest country in the world for the media journalists are routinely threatened down targeted by criminal groups or corrupt politicians afghanistan syria and the philippines are next on the list most of the killers have gone unpunished and politics was the most dangerous subject to cover while murders

rose overall this year but number of journalists killed in crossfire fell to its lowest level since 2000. courtney rogers the advocacy director at the committee to practice or protect journalists in washington d.c. and she says mexico's government needs to do more to protect reporters mexico is a democracy and yet there is a lot of violent crime in 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 to be seen as the responses that governments have need 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. hundreds of residents have fled

a migrant camp in bosnia after a massive fire broke out thick black smoke poured from tents and leave by camp near the croatian border it's home to around 1200 people the international organization for migration which oversees the facility had planned to shut it down this weekend it's. failed to provide basic services including water and electricity. i witnesses have told just 0 that rebels in the central african republic have seized a major town they say the new alliance calling itself the patriots coalition for change took over bari after fighting with the u.s. backed government troops the u.n. mission insists the town has not fallen to the rebels the latest violence comes just days before the country's presidential election. has more from the capital. very fitting conflicting information from banbury this is the 2nd largest city in central ca are about 400 kilometers from the capital bore me where i am now we've

been talking to eyewitnesses then who are saying that the speed is now in the hands of this pace just for change this is a movement that was. comprised of armed groups who joined forces over the weekend and have been threatening to march on to bungay so these people that we are talking to me in going the saying that this behavior fighting and this city is now being controlled by this rebel movement but we have also been spoken to officials of the u.n. peacekeeping mission ministry here in benghazi and they are saying that zach is not true in fact the city has not fallen into the hands of this grouping they say that there's been a hazy fight being in the last few hours in fact this morning those fighting as well but the city is not. 7 being controlled by these rebels now bombard is a very strategic big city because it's an intersection into

a junction that connects to mining areas and to other neighboring countries like sudan and south sudan it's also where there's the only sugar producing sugar producing factory and that's the only area n.c.a.r. the produce is right so whether controlled bombard the town whoever controls that intersection controls that's full area that's why it's so important back here in bungie everyone is quite worried about the city the security situation the election he said scheduled for sunday opposition leaders saying that this election needs to be postponed because of the security issues but government officials we spoke to are saying that zach is not an option a small village in rural south africa is caught up in a dispute over the expansion of a mine it's dividing friends and neighbors and pitting businesses against traditions and the environment and now tensions have been heightened by the killing of an activist her much also has more from quest to natal province.

an no one has lived in this house since he was murdered in october the 65 year old environmental activist had opposed the expansion of one out of africa's largest open coal mines in puzzling atol province her grandson told the police 2 men came to the gate at night and asked for water to drink one of the guy's eyes where and the dogs then said no the dogs have been said can you guys called the dogs for us so as the boys were holding their dogs the guys 2 guys or whatever guys they came in and then they had the short. in there he said we had another shot and then realized that. it's the current spending right now we need to the next door. some of those in favor of the mines expansion have condemned the killing saying bay and the mine owners had nothing to do with it to me it was

merely. work. must be arrested criminal act those people must just be honest. and let the law takes its course because it's not going to help. to try that case in the public domain. officials at the some telecom mind say it's struggling and on the verge of closing down that's why it needs to find a new ground to keep operating they say if they don't they'll have to fire someone says this is where the coal mine plans to expand to about 5 kilometers from the original location most families have accepted a compensation deal and agreed to be relocated but some are adamant they are not going anywhere some families live very close to where the mine is operating and have been here for generations it's where their ancestors are buried activists blame the mine for damaging the environment and people's homes and livelihoods and

some people say they should be compensated with a man state believe reflect the value of the mine to its owners only way we can stop them i that's why we will determine who doesn't go by men who are in the building. because we know they're doing. silly but there are no bookers only one clue into the community they are claims and counterclaims about wife who was killed and he did it until their arm says mine officials say they'll push on with expansion plans and those refusing to move so they'll carry on doing everything they can to stop that from happening. al-jazeera. south africa. well above water hong kong's busy waterways have quietened but below the surface it's a different story coronavirus travel restrictions have led to increased sightings of the territory's dolphins typical pollen reports from hong kong. we join conservation teams to search for the endangered pink dolphin.

with less traffic in these waters because of the current virus pandemic they're trying to find out the mammals are returning to their historic habitat around hong kong. he traveled through areas where high speed ferries used to crisscross taking passengers from the city to macau and mainland china there are few vessels in sight due to the travel restrictions it's been like this for months in a network of locations throughout this region we've got what what are called hydrophone so they listening to the underwater sound skype and recording that in a pre-established. the low levels of sea traffic have given scientists a unique opportunity to understand the impact of noise from shipping and vessel. after a few hours we reach the coast of blantyre island developing rapidly yet

a key ecosystem for the dolphins and we spot them. i mean. they are officially known here as the chinese white dolphins but they turn pink when their blood pumps through the vessels near the surface of their skin they say we saw about 68 dolphins and we saw a mix of young and old individuals and they were engaging in a very for right to behavior so not just feeding not just traveling they did everything they were socializing they were jumping up in the air it shows they are not stressed and so more likely to breed it gives weight to claims that there have been more sightings since the pandemic it's a glimmer of hope the population of the dolphins has dropped by more than 80 percent in the past 15 years. one of the main reasons major infrastructure and reclamation projects like hong kong airports 3rd runway and now with the study scientists can also show the impact of underwater noise they hope their findings will push the government to take action now not saying we want the high speed

ferries to stall we're saying that we would just like them to take account of this point habitat area for example by just changing the course lightly we're traveling more slowly it's estimated around 2000 of these dolphins are left in the wild around the world there have been more sightings of endangered animals due to the limited movement of the human population and the lockdowns imposed by the pandemic it's a stark reminder of the impact we have on nature and also shows that there still is a lot more we can do to protect the planets and help the environment recover. hong kong. hello again the headlines on al-jazeera.