understand the differences and similarities of cultures across the. alley take it we'll bring you the news and current affairs that matter to you. this is al-jazeera. hello i'm sammy's a than this is the news hour live from doha coming up the next 60 minutes. a large explosion hits the u.s. city of nashville on christmas morning lisa calling it an intentional act the holiday season in the time of covert hundreds of thousands of americans take flights on christmas eve despite warnings of

a christmas slinks surgeon coronavirus case is. short lived ceasefire violence flares again in central african republic as rebels attacked a gold mine in the north. subdued christmas celebrations across the world this nation's battle the biggest health crisis in recent times. how much now have all the sports we hear from n.b.a. star le bron james with the l.a. lakers set for christmas day so down against the dallas mavericks. we begin in the u.s. city of nashville where a massive explosion has rocked the downtown core on christmas day police there are calling it an intentional act they say of parked motor home exploded early in the

morning 3. people have been injured but no fatalities have been reported so far before the blast a call was made about a suspicious vehicle police got to the scene and called the bomb squad it was only then when the explosion took place the f.b.i. has joined the investigation rows of buildings have been damaged in an explosion mary says fell like a bomb and shabbat fancies in washington d.c. joins us live from there so she have what more detail do we know about this now. we're getting so many interesting details now we're expecting an f.b.i. briefing at any moment but now what we what we understand is that just before 1200 g.m.t. or 6 am local the police got a an emergency call claiming that shots had been fired initially we had heard that they were responding to a suspicious vehicle but now it seems the initial emergency call was it was it was alerting them to shots have been fired in this in this area police went to

investigate saw no evidence of shots having been fired but did see this camp a van with the number plates which they felt was suspicious they called in the bomb squad in the meantime it seems police were attempting to evacuate residents in the area and in fact now we're getting local residents telling local television that in the meantime perhaps even before the police arrived there were announcements being made apparently from the vehicle for them to evacuate and and beginning a countdown now this is what i witnessed at the seed telling local media it's being reported that the police are investigating all of this but certainly there were attempts to evacuate those in the surrounding areas before the explosion i did leave it seems some residents say they left anyway because of these apparent announcements that a bomb was imminently going to explode the bomb did explode at 01230 g.m.t. . as the bomb squad was approaching so that's what we know clearly had

a devastating impact some 30 buildings were damaged from social media people miles and miles away say that they felt it felt like and it felt like an earthquake but it's so to be more and more mysterious this is a sort of gentrifying area near the river which as bars and restaurants and nightclubs and sort of loft apartments which have been developed above them 'd there is an a.t.m. t. facility which is adjacent to the through the bus site which has all the kind of the technical machinery to keep the infrastructure going. but certainly right now the plot has certainly got much more much more interesting as we get more and more details and we're hoping the f.b.i. will help us through some of these details any minute now shad let me jump in and ask you to clarify when you were talking then saying that there was an announcement people being told to get out of the area announcement by who and who was giving this countdown before the explosion and this is the mystery video has now been

uploaded to youtube so it's widely available though and it does get to the tribes in with what eyewitnesses were telling local media that they heard they heard these announcements clearly this will have to be investigated we don't know whether this is this is this video is an accurate representation of what was going on but certainly eyewitnesses have been calling in to local national t.v. and saying yeah this is what we heard we heard this announcement and that's one of the really you know we just don't know to be honest because we have to treat everything with caution especially with social media and you tube videos but certainly there is a video now online which purports to show an announcement saying if you're hearing this announcement then you need to evacuate immediately it's very mysterious we'll wait for the authorities and you're absolutely right we do need to be cautious and so let's let's move the discussion to the authorities are they giving any clues are they saying even who they're investigating who who they're looking for whom they think might be the suspects in this. it's way too early isn't it i mean we just

don't know they're still conducting their forensic investigations clearly now we're looking at the c.c.t.v. in this day and age every inch of america or is it one i mean i guess that's an exaggeration but certainly they'll be a lot of c.c.t.v. footage of when this this this aviv and was was parked who might have been in it but but i think what people are saying there is it seems significant that this explosion occurred early morning 6 am 6 30 am christmas morning and so it would appear and i think we're safe to say at this circumstantially that the intention was not to cause casualties and especially if there was this announcement beforehand apparently from the van itself that the intent wasn't to cause casualties i got the most we can say right now with the circumstantial evidence we have. all right thanks so much habitat and c i believe there is a press right now where officials are talking less this than to what they say sleazy charge of the a.t.f. for this area he will be followed by that poster the special agent in charge of the

national at the ellis. national guard hartman chief director william swan. thank you good afternoon this morning and around 5 30 am officers responded to they call off the shots fired in the downtown area. since you believe a 2nd and a new congress have also responded they counted in an r.v. that had a recording send it to a bomb would detonate i would 1015 minutes of service the product here that decided to evacuate the buildings nearby so they could get knocking on doors make it announcements have been a emergency communications communicate with everyone to get people safe. shortly after that the r.v. exploded. we had one officer that was knocked to the ground 6 6 6 6 2.

currently we have now it's will have a caveat though all of the out for them to see how quick. one. sweep began how they're going to send. the service. to the city. if you consider the community. think it will be able to maneuver because of the but the story. at this time of trying to. get back to an end. merry christmas unfortunately this is not the way any of us want to spend our christmas morning i know right i'm down cochrane i'm the u.s. attorney here in nashville tennessee this morning i briefed the acting attorney general camp rosen on the situation here in nashville and he has told me to tell

the police chief in nashville that we are devoting the entire resources of the department of justice to help in their investigation the f.b.i. and a.t.f. are taking the lead in this education and i want to turn the stage over 1st to assistant facially in charge matt foster of the f.b.i. especially in charge mickey branch of the a.t.f. to explain some of the resources that the federal government's going to bring to bear on this situation now. thank you don. the f.b.i. stands with the city of nashville today. in this very tragic christmas day that. this is our city to live here and we work here. putting everything we have into finding who was responsible for what's happened here today. it's part of doing that there are investigative leads to be pursued and there's also technical work that needs to happen and we're standing with the metro national police department and our federal partners and our state partners to bring every resource we can possibly

bring to bear to find out what happened here today. and to bring those responsible to justice. the investigative leads are you understand not something that we can talk about. as we continue to pursue every step that would ask the public to go to w w w dot f.b.i. dot gov slash nashville. w w w dot f.b.i. dot gov flashing nashville where an online tip submission process has been set up. please tell us what you know. you need to leads we need your help. also call 1800 call it always have information you know anything about. what happened here today reshape your house. on the technical side our focus will be on bringing the technical experts of. cross the country getting hit by laboratory or hazardous to my system. and our experts from evidence response teams nation wide international

to help process this massive crime scene along with the a.t.f. . measure national p.d. and any other partner support of this effort. will find out what happened. in a. money making french and especially to charge me if. i continue to be a critical partner with many. things are going to. several counter. respond in this morning with several. personnel medical bills and then also activated our national response team. and her team is made of the specialist well said if i think it was a specialist chemist. engineers this will isn't evidence recovery.

courtney. will this new bionic together and it is going to collectively work as best gauge to the fullest. it's not just the keep our nashville citizens safe it's here and we're jointly everybody here if you think. you have to. given this a good day to know don earlier mentioned as far as the fire department for over the mess we did transport 3 individuals with minor injuries but right now what we're doing is the 1st structural engineers along with our open source. risk 2 hazmat teams we're going into buildings making sure no more into the building is sound and ensuring that there are no other victims or anyone are there so a lot of moving parts again those of 2 of the chains working together as one unit

and we'll continue to work on 2 jobs thirds of thank you. for at least gentlemen that's the update as we know it present if there is what i'm hearing from a series of officials there the nashville attorney the f.b.i. the a.t.f. all of them expressing their condolences and support for the people of nashville the f.b.i. promising to put the nationwide resources into finding out who did this let's bring in she have returned seen washington d.c. so she have we we have the statement there by the f.b.i. saying they're following leads but not a lot of detail on what those leads are least as far as i heard right. right confirmation then that there was a recorded announcement apparently coming from this calling on people to evacuate that's why that's why police thought it was suspicious for the last several hours

we were told it's because of the number plates that would appears to have been a record amounts of emanating from the vehicle calling on local residents to evacuate because it. was imminent their tired light has moved a little bit that was the any new bit of information that we heard was that they got the 1st call at 5 30 am local so 11 30 am g.m.t. and then they they responded but this certainly does back up what we're hearing from local residents who've been calling in to get to their local news station saying we heard we had this announcement we thought of evacuating because we thought that there was going to be some sort of explosion and in fact it didn't occur for much longer than actually that the warning suggested it was going to going to happen in the same and the time frame that the warning was just it was going to happen but it is now completely completely bizarre now so we have a suspicious of the pox 1st of all a call made to 911 to the emergency authorities that shots were fired and no evidence of any shots necessarily were fired so that's that's very interesting

because they haven't mentioned what that was all about but once they get there they see this. these announcements and they decide to start evacuating or at least helping the evacuation may have already been underway of buildings in the vicinity and then the bomb squad was approaching and the vehicle did actually in fact explode but as i say just 3 casualties so far none serious casualties but they're searching through the wreckage and you can see from the video how much wreckage there is for the potential for other casualties as well as for the structural sound the soundness of the buildings that they remain standing. all right thanks so much is this so much much that raises so many questions i think we'll leave it there for now we're trying to come back to this a bit later thanks so much have a tense if you will join me scott lives nearby he told us what he saw my wife and i were sound asleep at about 630 this morning and we just heard this blast

and we felt the windows in our building shake and we live in a high rise development on the 26th floor and we just saw this unbelievable blast and we've course both sat out and thought 1st maybe it was thunder and then of course there was no rain no weather so we ran out to our living room and just saw sirens in the distance coming toward our building and we've 1st thought oh my gosh that something happened in our building downstairs and so we saw that they kept going to the side of our building that we can't see so we went down to the 10th floor to our gym which overlooks all of that area and saw just smoke and flames and trees on fire and just police cars going by speeding by and it's just it was like something out of

a movie it was unbelievable. plenty more still ahead on the news hour including. i didn't see. great joy because this is a deal. by minister barak johnson shows off what he calls his present to the people of brazil agreement on trade with the european union. hope in mexico why migrants stuck at the u.s. border for christmas see a light at the end of tunnel. and pressure is mounting on india's cricket team details coming up in school. we begin this news hour with the impact coronavirus is having on what is a holiday season for many people around the world vaccines are being rolled out in some countries but in faction numbers they're still rising for some it's

a time of restrictions too as americans were warned to stay at home for the holidays more than a 1000000 of them boarded flights on wednesday the busiest travel day since march while access to the u.s. will soon be more difficult travelers from the u.k. will have to show a negative test that's after a more infectious strain was found there it's being blamed for a rapid rise in cases across the u.k. restrictions for east lightly for christmas day but many face tough new measures from saturday or throughout the rest of europe things are looking similarly grim 25000000 cases of the virus have now been recorded across the continent in latin america vaccines are starting to be rolled out as the 1st covert 19 jabs started arriving argentina chile costa rica and mexico are among those who started vaccination programs. let's go to daniel schweigen lay he's in argentina's capital one of cyrus and of course latin america has been one of the hardest hit regions when it comes to corona how much of a shadow is that costing over christmas they. were

a huge shadow i mean even those who are celebrating christmas ignoring the plea of their governments and health experts to stay at home to not travel there if they are celebrating they're wearing masks they're keeping social distancing you hear all sorts of stories about people celebrating christmas because they have to but it's a christmas like no other but to some degree that on thursday some of the 1st vaccines arrived in those countries that you mentioned mexico costa rica chile where the 1st people were vaccinated either frontline medical star nurse was the 1st person to be vaccinated in mexico the same in chile an elderly couple in costa rica or a 92 year old woman and a 71 year old man in a home for the elderly there and here in argentina a huge about 300000 doses of the sputnik virus vaccine are arriving

from moscow that as we speak over the course of the weekend is being distributed to the far corners of argentina to each of the 23 provinces where teams are getting into place to set up vaccination census to try to reach as many people as possible other countries still negotiating brazil for instore the state of south follow the biggest and the most hardest hit by the by the pandemic has just taken delivery of 5 and a half 1000000 doses of the chinese back in the scene of act but not yet approved for use so it's not clear when people will start being vaccinated there they hope in january and the rest of the country a lot of people to be vaccinated over 200000000 in brazil negotiations still going on disputes between. president job also now or who doesn't seem to value the use of vaccines and regional governors saying that the vaccines need to be applied especially in the hardest hit areas so

a mixed bag really hope an expectation that the vaccines are beginning to arrive but in many cases a symbolically people being vaccinated but still millions millions more people to be to be got and in the north or it is telling us that numbers are going up infections are high and pleading with people would say this is the beginning of the end there's still a long way to go before the pandemic is defeated and let's talk a little bit about particularly brazil daniel because politics seems to be getting involved with the distribution of vaccines there how frustrating is that proving for people. well frustrating for the people because they're looking at neighboring countries where vaccines are arriving and frustrating for some of those medical staff and the politicians who really want to deal with the pandemic in the way that medical experts are telling them but being undermined as they have been pretty much since the beginning of the pandemic by

president job also nardo who as you'll remember called the 1900 pandemic nothing worse than a little flu he's obviously contract the virus himself he recovered has undermined some of the the doubts about the vaccines saying well it's anybody's if anyone chooses to have the vaccine it's their problem if anything goes wrong so all sorts of messages coming from him which is frustrating the governor of the province for instance who has is in an open conflict with the president of the country about the way the pandemic should be dealt with some power as i say the worst hit state of brazil 45000000 people live there so more than 20000000 people live there so as big as many countries and it's a very frustrating for some of those people all right thanks so much daniel schorr . millions of americans will have to wait until after christmas for any government

relief as the political deadlock continues over a $900000000000.90 stimulus package president donald trump surprised both democrats and republicans when he sent the bill back to congress for amendments this week he said the $600.00 direct payments were too small calling for $2000.00 per person democrats support the increase but republicans are the ones blocking it. well but gucci is a professor in sociology at lancaster university he says there are many americans in need of immediate assistance. donald trump is known for having his finger on the pulse of americans i think that can be argued but in this case it is coming down to what that that dollar amount would be that it's going into people's bank accounts i mean certainly there's lots of other things that are being funded through it on a bus bill that that isn't in addition to the code package but in this particular case the average one bedroom rent in the united states is $1200.00 and that's

you know that's an average that doesn't include hotspots throughout throughout the country so $600.00 which is not close to what it was the 1st time money came around to help out is really that number that's kind of sticking people what this comes down to is that that states can't issue unemployment or housing assistance if they don't have the money or they don't have the federal approvals and so after monday even if the government were to to stay open itself until there's actual legislation being passed to allow money to go out people could be facing evictions people could be facing not having their government subsidies that are necessary for survival but there's always you know a couple layers going on too to donald trump's rhetoric in this is a jab at republicans who either didn't stand by him strong enough during the election that bailed on him when he was trying to fight the outcome of the election

and those who maybe have just sat silent. thousands of migrants are spending christmas in shelters in mexico's northern border many have been waiting for months for their asylum cases to be processed delayed further by the pandemic they say they hope a new u.s. president brings change in the new year john holland reports from the us mexico border. here's the line separating the u.s. from mexico it's been a slow train coming for those who want to cross it legally and the pandemic has made things worse with u.s. immigration courts closed for months. there are thousands of migrants stuck in mexico to meet them open to process their asylum requests the u.s. has put them in a plan called m.p.p. which means they have to way in mexico where there are silent process plays out even though they're from other countries. get out all fled brazil he says because of the threat of violence erupt in border city what is 10 months ago this still

waiting for his 1st court date. a major thematic it was for march 14th of this year but that was changed because of the band demick to the center 15 now it's put that into a may of next year. your general though his son and his wife is spending christmas in a shelter many of the 10s of thousands of people that been ordered to wait in mexico in the m.p.p. program will be doing the same. some migration lawyers are worried that they could miss the one the deadline to start the asylum process all together new stories hopes that's not the case but she's concerned about the well being of those she's trying to help those of us go more or less at bus you know it's a complicated situation for the hay from basic needs it's really an sttng what's going to happen to them and that generics and sightsee just being here waiting not knowing how to follow up with the proceeds. of the. church is one of many along the

border which have been turned into shelters he seem hope among those now under his care that a new u.s. administration could help them. i don't know who is happier about biden's victory the americans or those stuck here in the asylum process because that means for them and then to their stay in mexico so that they can follow their dreams. president elect joe biden had promised to end the m.p.p. program on his 1st day in office now his incoming administration has signaled it will take more time and there are questions about what will then happen to those spending this christmas in shelters john home and does it are. all still ahead on al-jazeera. themed to my message today it is trucks. a digitally altered christmas message from the queen with a stark warning about misinformation. wanting to see your family your child. banded for the holidays foreign workers are stuck abroad all around the

world this year we'll hear from those in hong kong. and we look ahead to our boxing day cricket face isn't about being hit with all the details like transport. we've had some rather wintry weather recently into parts of iraq iran the snow the it's making its way further race with splashing over towards afghanistan rain sleet and snow coming in here with the top temperature 5 celsius but much stronger behind me just because some showers to the western side of saudi arabia notice around the gulf we got that way and still blowing as we go through saturday winds go over the sleet direction as we push on into sunday temperatures struggling to get up into the low twenty's over the next couple of days so that was the weather we have into

central parts of saudi arabia that is heaviest just around mecca to the north of mecca just around central parts of the red sea for the south it is generally try that draw whether stretches this way down across the horn of africa plenty of showers across the hoss of africa pushing down into zimbabwe into a good parts of mozambique and just notice from madagascar we have a tropical cyclone now that's going to make its way further west which as we go through saturday some heavy rain coming through here northern half of madagascar a lot it see some big downpours we are expecting flooding as a result of that and much of madagascar seeing some of that rainfall as we go on through sunday heaviest of course across the eastern side of the island. every yeah 50000000 tonnes of electronic waste is thrown away the majority is

indeed going to be done in developing countries right now electronic waste is the most traded as of this with retracing the tech through the criminal organizations making the big profits and asking why the west is turning a blind eye. manmade on the waste trail on al-jazeera.

you're watching our just time to recap our headlines now police in the city of nashville are investigating an explosion that injured 3 people and damaged several buildings officials say they were called to reports of a motor home broadcasting an emergency message warning people to evacuate before it blew up. nations across the world are marking christmas on the coronavirus lockdown u.s. health experts are warning people to stay at home as infections continue to search parts of u.k. are reentering the highest level of restrictions in response to the rapid rise in cases. heavy fighting in the central african republic following the collapse of a cease fire between a coalition of rebels and government forces violence broke our as before

presidential candidates who are scheduled to hold their final election rallies for sunday's vote. european union ambassadors are meeting in brussels to review the long anticipated post friends that trade deal agreed on thursday across the channel the british government is celebrating a new chapter for the country after decades of membership need to reports from london. i have a small present for anyone who may be looking for something to read in that sleepy post christmas lunch moment and here it is 2000 pages of dense detail the british government's christmas gift to the nation because this is a deal a deal to give certainty to business travelers and investors in our country from the 1st of january a deal with our friends and partners in the in brussels e.u.

ambassadors met for a christmas day briefing with the blocks bricks at negotiator michel barnier the $27.00 european union states are expected to formally back the trade deal within days the european parliament which normally votes on a tax before it becomes law will vote on the deal retrospectively in january the choreography is different for british m.p.'s who will cast their vote on the deal in parliament on the 30th of december where it's expected to pass with the the government controls a sizable majority of the opposition labor party says it will reluctantly back it a day later midnight december 31st the u.k. will unplug it's economy from the world's largest trading bloc in a deal that will either drive or diminish the country for generations to come it's been a year of painful uncertainty for everyone the british economy is shuttered thousands of businesses a teetering on the edge of ruin

a while the country has been grappling with the impact of covert 19 it's also been living under the shadow cast by breaks it and worries that the british economy might never be the same again but now that there is a deal here in london the voted almost exclusively to remain in the european union there's a sense of quiet and reluctant acceptance. at this time of great upheaval a familiar face with a traditional christmas message even on the darkest nights a queen elizabeth is the hope of a new dawn but even with this deal uncertainty remains there are fears unemployment will rise of firms relocate to the e.u. few transport companies have access to britain's new border crossing software and unanswered questions on how to avoid physical border checks between northern ireland part of the u.k. and ireland and e.u. member there's more details emerge it's clear the british government's also gone further than expected in granting the e.u.

access to british fishing grounds the e.u. and u.k. are now decipher ing the trade deal for general consumption both eager to show they've gained the most ground at the 11th hour in the park al-jazeera london. heavy fighting in the central african republic following the collapse of a ceasefire between a coalition of rebels and government forces the fighting is happening in the town of baquba northeast of the capital fighters from the coalition of patriots for change are exchanging fire with the army as well as the united nations peacekeeping mission for the fighting broke before presidential candidates were scheduled to hold their final election rallies the vote is due to be held on sunday 6 opposition candidates are demanding it meters phoned the un says it's gravely concerned and has approved the deployment of more peacekeepers paul malley is a consulting fellow in the africa program at chatham house he explains the divide between candidates running in the election. there is also

a practical split you have conventional civilian politicians who are campaigning and have been campaigning over recent weeks for the election and then you have these armed groups which is not all of the armed groups in the c.a.r. it's just some of them and particularly in the west and in the center that have suddenly decided to revive the armed struggle if you like. one of one of the on groups has carried on fighting over recent months but most of those that have been active in the last week or so had in fact being questioned for quite a long time so this looks like a very awful tunis move by a some of the on groups who feel that if the election goes ahead and it seems likely president data is reelected they they will feel that they're sort of

chances of influence their own role for boys is reduced but one doesn't have much evidence that they reflect 'd a large swathe of public opinion in this seems to be really pushed by the leaders of the armed groups the warlords if you like behind behind them and the connection the 1000000000 politicians isn't clear either. u.s. president dan trumbo only has a month left in office but there are concerns about escalating tensions with iran boiling over its foreign minister mohammad javad zarif says trump will bear full responsibility for any adventurism as he calls it on his way out of office his warning comes after the american president accused iran of launching a rocket attack that hit its embassy in baghdad in a tweet to president trump threatened retaliation against iran for any american deaths in iraq iran's cords forced chief a smile carney as dismissed the accusation reaffirming his position during a visit to baghdad 3 days ago of the u.s.

national security team will offer the president a range of options aimed at preventing further attacks on american interests in iraq and that any is a researcher at the center for strategic studies he says a change in administration is likely to deescalate tensions between the u.s. and iran and bring about some normalcy. iran does welcome you know biden's statement that he is intending to return to the j c p a way that's unlikely trump followed a policy of maximum pressure campaign and he has failed on every front on on those policies but iran hopes that with us returning to the j.c. if you weigh there will be some normality back in the relations between tehran and washington and iran does expect the incoming biden administration to lift the sanctions as part of its obligations in order to allow iran to reverse its steps

so that. so that the nuclear deal is saved and the days of trumpet ministration are over. based on what advisers to biden say nowadays if they are going to raise new east whose non-nuclear issues then they will complicates the problem and things may get even worse because the key issue now for iran and you know the united states is to honor their commitments and that's manes for the biden administration to return to the j. scipio way and left the sanctions and for iran to reverse the nuclear steps it has taken in the past couple of months so once d.j. scipio is is saved then we can we are in a good position that iran and the united states can take 5 steps towards the

escalation and normality. a british broadcaster has created a fake version of the queen's christmas message they use fake technology a rapidly evolving technique that allows people to create what seems to be a video of someone speaking saying or doing something they've never actually done or said well it sparks around what was intended as a warning about fake news let's compare the 2 for many this time of year will be tinge of sadness some mourning the loss of those dear to them and others missing friends and family members distance for safety when all they really want for christmas is a simple hug or a squeeze of their hand if you are among them you are not alone and let me assure you of my thoughts and prayers for nearly 70 years i have kept

the tradition of speaking to you at christmas but on the b.b.c. i haven't always been able to speak plainly and from the heart so i am grateful to channel 4 for giving me the opportunity to say whatever i like without anyone putting words in my mouth. if there is a theme to my message today it is trust trust in what is genuine and what is not. bring in now and girths in netherlands is a technology ethicist and professor at the university of 12 good to have you with us so it was useful to see both side by side but i guess if you've just seen the 2nd one alone it looked pretty convincing right. yeah i take it to be actually somewhat useful it's not to the quality that you would expect from

a company i think we saw this recently for example in the man to laurie in season finale sake look skywalker that if even disney can't really convince you with a fake then maybe there is hope that this technology won't be quite as dangerous as it looks like it will be but was this a useful exercise channel for calls did do we should clarify did you know give a warning before they broadcast that in trying to mislead anyone. did it do you think it makes a good point well i think it's useful to educate people about. fakes but i think it's very dangerous to actually use fakes like this it helps to normalize the practice making it seem like this is really either a joke or educational which as we've seen for example which trolling and with hacking you know it's easy to be able to argue well i'm doing it for educational

purposes but that really opens the door then to bad actors to be able to say that that's what they're doing to. how do we know how rampant a deep deep fake videos know how water it should people really be yeah i don't think it's that rampant at the moment the concern however even that we're having this conversation suggests that we you know we don't know. so i think the worry is exactly the technology contributes to this atmosphere of paranoia and dissent from ation which is why i've argued with my colleagues that cyber warfare and i think this could be seen as a rising to that level perhaps is something that should be banned not something that should be seen as use as usable under certain conditions. when you mentioned a moment ago well the you know the quality isn't quite there yet but assumably with

time that will change right people will be able to create the fake videos that. might be very difficult for anyone to discern yet and especially given the range of technologies that people use to watch videos if you're looking at it you know on a on your own it's certainly easy especially given how distracted we are when watching videos to not really pay that much attention so it doesn't even need to be that high i thought it necessary to convince people what is the solution i'm wondering how can one i mean by default and definition social media the internet is a place that people run to to escape too much regulation but this could be quite damaging when you think of all of the political even military consequences of faking what other people say or do yeah well i think this is why we have to see

this as a technology that is intrinsically bad rather than trying to argue that there are instrumental value to it in certain circumstances or certain actors i think you have to just say we're going to consider this too dangerous a technology it's going to be banned made illegal and that there have to be serious legal consequences for anyone who doesn't gauge it at the same time the people who create the technologies basically justify it by saying well someone is going to do it at some point so why not me and i think again we just have to you know not get used to not normalize that way of thinking and instead say that you know if you design this technology you're going to be held responsible it's not only the person who creates the video but also the person who creates the technology ok thanks so much for your thoughts on that no longer. france is not the dame cathedral has

been his mantra the christmas eve by hosting its 1st choral concert since it was nearly destroyed by fire. the paris landmark is gradually being rebuilt as france battles the coronavirus those involved in the service said it was an important moment full of emotion. and in hong kong thousands of foreign workers the spending their christmas away from their families because of tough restrictions sarah clarke reports. christmas decorations may be up but large celebrations in hong kong our whole public gatherings of more than 2 people have been banned and borders remain closed. people like nathan cowen will spend the festive season on his or in his family in australia unable to fly him to join him because of strict travel restrictions were very tight family and spend a lot of time together it's been really hard on myself on the family and on the

boys as well foreign domestic workers in hong kong have been hit hard by the pen to make their almost 400000 here mostly from the philippines and indonesia these women of the breadwinners for their families but they're unable to return home for a holiday this christmas very hard for a mother wanting to see your family your your child and. sorry. you know you want to you want to give her the best christmas but you know you can't really push her to understand everything this is all i think here is all. this domestic worker who doesn't want to be identified gave birth last month she didn't plan her pregnancy and has struggled to pay the high living and medical costs she's been forced to rely on charities for help and her money and where it's been fairly sad and financially difficult for me and it's hard being alone without any support

. there has been full tilt back thing pretty much the whole year as has been the other shelters that leases. this to and communities say felt has been a big she forgot but has given a number of cash handouts to residents here in hong kong to help out during this pandemic of the foreign domestic workers have missed out that's the spot and in a minimum winds of around $600.00 a month free toted 19 tests are available for market workers who've lost their jobs but the government rejected a plea for pyros this year the 3 months out among the dumbest it worked out as a problem that had many of the trying to stop them south that put out the squish that are small money so that conscious that all this got all upset of an employer as well as helping the family the pandemic has exposed the harsh realities of being a migrant worker an asia travel restrictions it could be months before they can go home and be reunited with their families syria clock out

a 0 home. so ahead on al-jazeera lebron james is in for a battle the steal the show on christmas details coming up in sports. we've never had a president who has literally for all of 5 years repeatedly attacked our democracy. you know lucy lerner to everything that i don't have a narrative i have a question you're getting there where if you're treated you just feel sure even further join me richelle carey and up front is my guest from around the world take a hot seat and we debate the week's top stories in pressing issues here on al-jazeera. and we're going to have is on china last working in asia and africa there'd be days where i'd be choosing editing my own stories in a refugee camp with no electricity and right now we're confronting some of the greatest challenges that humanity has ever. based and i really believe that the

only way we can do that is it compassion and generosity and compromise because of the only way we can try to solve any of these problems is together that's why it is they're so important we make those connections. all right let's start with sports news now his son i think sammy will with i would bust a ball and all eyes on the n.b.a. on christmas day action is already on the way on was the 73rd year of games on december 25th reigning champions the l.a. lakers will take on the dallas mavericks later

a match up that will see the smallest biggest name the bron james a face off against one of the league's process rising stars 21 year old who couldn't teach this will be just the 2nd game of the season for the makers with the campaign having a delayed start because of the pandemic. flu we have a good point going into tomorrow and you know things are going to change on the fly there are very good same section it's only a great challenge. so we look forward to the challenge of just going out there and get a play on christmas is always a treat the head of world that let x. about cinco had told al jazeera that he's confident tokyo will stage their lympics next year in some form he also says a whole support any athlete who protest against racism and believes the sport is in a healthy a position today than in the past while david stokes who oppose. of the 2020 was supposed to see the world's best athletes perform on the biggest stage

but as with so many things the coronavirus pandemic forced the change of plan and the tokyo olympics were delayed by a year. there's still no guarantee the games will go ahead with spiraling costs and growing opposition in japan to holding the games amid a global health crisis but the president of world athletics about visited tokyo back in october and told out his era he was encouraged by what he saw i came away very very confident that they really have a cost and in determination to deliver a great games and yes they may be slightly altered there may be in a different format. and who knows i mean we're still you know we're still dealing with the pandemic even with a vaccine on the horizon but i am pretty sure we will have a game. this year is seen sport become a platform for the fight against racial injustice on a scale never seen before athlete activists following the footsteps of tommie smith

and john carlos whose black power salute scap should the world's attention 52 years ago at the 968 games in mexico city although olympic rules ban political demonstrations coach says he'll support any athlete who protest racism in tokyo i don't see taking many are or anti racism as being a political statement i think it should be the default position of of any sport and it's certainly the default position in athletics. athletics inevitably struggle to fill the gap left by you same bolt when he retired back in 2017 but they may just have found another superstar in pole vaulter mando duplantis the 21 year old from sweden broke the world record 2 times this year and also a cheap the highest outdoor vault of all time as well of the. we certainly do have a superstar. in in montana planters but what i'm really pleased about is i

genuinely think alongside mando we do have one of the most talented young generations of athletes coming through in all our disciplines and i think that's healthier for us or frankly than relying on just one athlete we're in much better shape being many many more athletes at that level was of the liars it's my the current generation of athletes have the potential to become a limb pick champions they just need a lympics to perform at hopefully 2021 will be their time with the organizers in tokyo determined to get them started in july david stokes out 000 s. east of cricket is awaiting fans on boxing day 3 test matches get underway the pick of them arguably this 2nd test between australia and india at the iconic melbourne cricket ground the indians go into the matter training in the series one nothing after christ in the 1st pass to make matters worse they'll be without the entered

mohammed sammy and their captain that callie who is on a paternity leave while $30000.00 fans that have been committed to attend each day of the match and despite india's problems the all says are not taking them lightly in years it is a proud pretty country they're extremely talented test match so we've got a dangerous piracetam i mean we take our foot off of the pedal and think we're going or what we saw in england that i mean that 5th test that we can come unstuck pretty quickly so huge focus there seems that that fetus in the ashes is his brain on winning after winning. also on boxing day pakistan's test series begins against a host in new zealand the tourists go into it in pretty bad shape with captain batsman in mama and all round the shed behind all out injured they face a strong black caps team looking to boost their chances of reaching the finals of the world test championship. and south africa getting ready to host the 1st of 2

test matches against sri lanka brought is a loss the last series they hosted against the tourists who go into the match on saturday having not played an international game since march. oh i've been speaking to an german cell of the cricket unfiltered podcast who says it's a huge achievement for cricket 3 boxen day tests are happening despite the pandemic . what have faced of cricket for cricket fans that have been starved of action all ye 3 pretty exciting match up south africa hosting sri lanka new zealand hosting pakistan but the big one is destroying the hosting india india coming off a huge defeat in the 1st game and i'm sure there came to turn it around you can never write india off the chock full of stars they have a terrific line up but in the last match they were bowled out for 36 which is their record lowest score so they will be hurting and sometimes tames when they've put up

such a bad performance can bounce back quite strongly but the strain tame must go it is every 5 minutes and and it's a really exciting match for the people of melbourne who suffered a very long lockdown over the winter have not had any sport to go to at all so this is the 1st event at the m.c.g. since march really significant moment for the city and the spectators the world will be watching the game with great interest and you know just a great occasion to have 3 test matches going on and you have to sort of take into account the sec refactored bank being made by the administrators in the plays to get it under way so a significant achievement for cricket around the world and that's why it's full from we'll have more for you later on including all the n.b.a. action that happen on christmas day but for now and about some of our i think some are some that say for this news out we'll be back with another full show top reality coming out of london so stay with us here on al-jazeera.

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stand on the classical music industry. g c a. mystery surrounds a huge explosion in central nashville which police believe was an intentional act. hello i'm maryam namazie in london you're watching al-jazeera also coming up on the program millions of americans ignore place to stay at home for the holiday to stand soaring covert numbers. from iran to bethlehem christmas celebrations a scaled back around the world because of the coronavirus.