and current affairs that matter to. cultures in. the early. u.n. peacekeeping mission in central african republic tells al-jazeera sunday's election must go ahead despite the escalating threat of violence. low one sam is a than this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up hopes for a turning point in the fight against covert 19 countries across the european union received the 1st vaccines ready to begin mass immunizations police in the u.s. city of nashville say they may have found human remains at the site of

a powerful explosion still no clear motive for the attacks plus campaigning ends in the jazz presidential elections where 30 candidates are competing for the top job. will begin in the central african republic cand a ruling from the constitutional court the sunday's election will go ahead the u.n. mission in central african republic has told al-jazeera conditions are stable enough to ensure a free and fair vote. it follows the killing of the u.n. peacekeepers and fighting in the north of the country on friday rebel forces are advancing officer a ceasefire with the government broke down un secretary general and turn of a tad oceans condemned the killings he's demanding an investigation the nice brown is the deputy special representative of the secretary general of the un's

peacekeeping mission minister she says ordinary people are determined to go ahead with the vote despite the fear of violence situation and this morning where i'm from. distribution of the voter cards is ongoing and people. country who are registered to vote are coming in large numbers to that conference the population is determined in this country to vote tomorrow and we are determined nation rictus. to ensure that the vote goes ahead i've just finished a meeting with all the regional representatives and the country and 80 percent of the country the situation is progressing we're like the preparations are on the line. so in most parts of the country we were able to morrow insecurity yet in some parts there's enough to be caused by the armed ones but as

you know we brought in forces. from our. rich sure that those hurt and that the. pro security and vote in the. we are not expecting the court to rule against the elections being healthy because the national. priority has issued a play saying that you are in place for the directions to be help that's that united nations respect think about it once the this country particularly the constitution and we are waiting for the announcement but we are we are we're optimistic. now the rebels accuse president forcing archons to either of planning to riggs sunday's elections catherine sawyer reports from the capital bangui. was president for stina dara arrives for his final

election rally in bongi in full force has been telling people to come out and forth on sunday without fear i recently formed a group called the patriot put change all c.p.c. has threatened to march to the city and launched attacks against government troops backed by un peacekeepers in some rural areas the c.p.c. which is a coalition of several armed groups has called off a ceasefire it had declared them wednesday. my honor they are trying to come to bangui you sent our africans must open your eyes help our armed forces un peacekeepers meaning those from rwanda and russia giving us a hand to unload those fighters come into the city. 16 presidential candidates have been cleared to run in the polls. south of the country's only south declared emperor has withdrawn citing security concerns former president francois was

disqualified by the constitutional court state officials and the u.n. accuse him of being behind the c.p.c. rebellion to disrupt the election and overthrew the government has backed and he said who's a marched as president would dare a strongest challenger. president is the founder of one of the strongest political parties with solid policies he himself is a very popular leader but he did not back my candidacy it's the party that endorsed me. most opposition candidates paid a while back and won the election postponed presidential candidate that each promising to finally. basically says he.

knows all about pain caused by conflict. when the most armed groups over 20 and over. actually cannot understand what's happening to me and i'm scared of what's happening now they're only coming to kill i want to ask the government to help us to stop those who are coming. to vote in an election clouded by fear and uncertainty he tells us only go to the station if he feels absolutely safe a sentiment shared by many other. catherine joins us now from. the court say people can vote are people ready to come out. or are.

judges a constitutional judges made this decision in the courtroom behind me and they say that the petition did not have strong enough grounds to have the election postponed now we've. so what this means is that as you mentioned the election is going to go on tomorrow wherever it can we have spoken to u.n. officials with 70 percent of the country think enough people to come out to vote we have spoken to the government spokes spokesman who said that yes they expect. but they hope that this is not going to be to discredit the process but. we are not just in areas where there is active fighting but in places like even banged . we have been talking to people who are saying that they will not come to the polling stations and feel absolutely safe their priority is to protect their families so yes there's going to be an election but

a lot of tension really and we had the president yesterday in his final rally telling the people that this is for change. the saying that they're coming to the city he was appealing to the residents to be vigilant to help security forces to block access. and you know just his words alone just show how precarious the situation is but like i said people here in saying yes we want to come and vote but we are really not sure about our safety all right thanks so much catherine. offensive against the grain people's liberation front in the northern region of. prime minister called it a law enforcement operation but it spiraled into an end to rest that conflict possibly killing thousands it's one of several areas of tension in the country al-jazeera takes

a look at recent events where ethiopia stands now. when government troops took control of the to grain regional capital of macquarie last month prime minister ahmed said the law enforcement operation against the to grain people's liberation front. was over of the said the conflict had only just begun. he said no civilians are being killed by government troops. both sides have been accused of rights abuses we've seen targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure with heavy artillery fire we have seen widespread looting of private property in many towns in western g.k. we've seen extrajudicial executions of individuals alleged to be linked to the t.p.s. but also prominent business people we've obviously also seen a context of massive restrictions on humanitarian access the conflict has

impacted the region there are numerous reports of eritrean soldiers operating into great eritrea's in ethiopia's government deny it. more than 50000 people have fled to refugee camps in neighboring sudan that reignited an all border dispute between the 2 countries. last week sudan accused ethiopian forces of attacking its soldiers inside its border and within ethiopia there are an increasing number of reports of into ethnic violence in other parts of the country last week more than 100 villages were killed by an armed group in parish angle commodes region. it's a. very frequent. those incidents of claimed. hundreds of thousands so it really is.

the last 6 months or a month that's the sad reality that. it was must protest part of the country that brought prime minister are being made to power really 3 years ago. before that decades of authours tarion rule had frozen generations old conflict many of them on ethnic lines. abbie was credited with bringing in some democratic reforms that's led some of those conflicts to start boiling over his drive to unify ethiopia has conflicted with growing demand of various ethnic groups who are seeking more autonomy when you are. in a country you have to find ways of making. right so i mean you know. you know unity is likely to cause more problems is just what the p.l.f.

dominated the government for nearly 30 years before i'd be took over one of the triggers of the conflict into gray with the postponement of elections that would you 4 months ago because of covert. now they're expected to be held and lead growing tensions in 2021 malcolm webb al-jazeera turkey's defense minister has arrived in libya despite threats why eastern warlord khalifa haftar loosely across our promise to increase corporation with the internationally recognized government in tripoli on friday ankara voted to extend the deployment of circus troops to libya for another 18 months warlord to leave or have to who banks a rival eastern government responded with a threat to target turkish forces. still ahead on al-jazeera. we know for so many of you in our nation this is been a very difficult year for the next u.s. president shows sympathy for the thousands who lost loved ones and trying to trying

to. hello we've got lots of dry weather across a good posture of china that dry weather stretches across the korean peninsula we have got a little disturbance just pushing out of eastern parts of china running into this high nudging it out of the way and that wetter weather will go out the far south of south korea and it turns very wet into work q she as we go through sunday and on into monday that wessel weather sweeping across the southern half of japan on a bass and. less in the way of snow showers there for the northern half of the country that we get a clear skies coming back a behind to the southwest that will be some showers possibly a wintry penya showers meanwhile in suez shoreline for at the moment the northeasterly monsoon driving those showers across the bay of bengal just running

into do as well as southeastern corner of india seeing some rather wet weather for time much of india is looking dry it is very cold up towards the north we're looking at more mist and folk coming through here and of course the smoke 15 celsius in a low haw lossie try to across a good part of the arabian peninsula but we have got this little line of cloud which is just making its way across saudi arabia some wetter whether it was the red sea here in doha is fine and highs of 20. every year 50000000 tons of electronic waste is thrown away the majority is a league. any dumped in developing countries right now electronic waste is the most prated 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 to man made on the waste trail on al jazeera. old. welcome back you're watching al-jazeera time to recap our headlines now the central african republic will go ahead with sunday's presidential election as planned despite fears over the spread of violence the constitutional court ruled unanimously after a quest by opposition candidates to postpone the vote b.t.o. piers human rights commission says a total of $270.00 people were killed on wednesday doubled the initial figure what was described as a law enforcement operation by the prime minister is turning into an internet

ethnic conflict. turkey's defense minister has arrived in libya despite threats by eastern warlord holy father after. a car from his to increase cooperation with the internationally recognized government tripling. more than $25000000.00 coronavirus cases businesses hit with another round of shutdowns and the threat of a new more infectious strain that's the challenge facing the european union but it's hoped monday will mark a turning point or right now shipments of the pfizer by own take vaccine are arriving in countries across the european union was given the go ahead earlier this week with the inoculations due to begin as early as sunday or the rollout this starting slowly $10000.00 doses for each country with the old and vulnerable

prioritized but $300000000.00 doses have been secured in the modern a vaccine is also being considered to boost stocks and can be administered though many countries are reimposing the strictest lockdowns to stop the spread the u.k. germany france greece and italy among countries telling people to stay at home. or brown is covering developments in the u.k. he'll join us from london but 1st let's start with dominic kane in berlin dominic no letup to the spike in corona cases right. no letup in the spike of corona cases no letup in the amount of deaths being announced the numbers coming through well they reflect the fact that many of those who would be reporting the numbers in their parts of germany well over the christmas holidays not all the figures are being tabulated the way that they would normally be being tabulated ziering normal weekdays when it wasn't

a festive season holiday that sort of thing but it is it is consistent with the suggestion the clear suggestion that has emerged from the figures over the course of december that we are really in the teeth of this 2nd wave and that's why not just in germany but across the e.u. you see the politicians who are responsible for the decisions which allowed these consignments of the vaccine from pfizer the biotech pfizer vaccine being dispatched to e.u. countries today arriving today you see them who are basically saying that this is light at the end of the tunnel certainly when the president of the european commission sort of fund lion spoke in an address earlier today she saw this as progress for all citizens this is what she had to say we are starting to turn the page on a difficult year today is delivery day and tomorrow vaccination against covered 9000 is beginning crust the european union actually nation will help to get us our

normal lives back gradually once enough people have been vaccinated we can start traveling meeting our friends and family again and have normal holidays which we all long for but until then we have to continue being careful. the twin track approach that's being followed by e.u. countries is letting the vaccines out on the one hand but closing down looking down as far as possible on the other hand we know that in austria the hard lock down a resumption of hard lockdown has taken place is resumed today here in germany the slight relaxation on the lockdown that had been already in place will that will end at the close of business as it were today tomorrow straight back into lockdown but with what the politicians call the silver lining of the start of the vaccination

process here in berlin the 1st people to receive the vaccines will be the residents of care homes people over the age of 80 but also those who work in the care homes and clearly the government here is very keen to get as many thousands of doses out to the wider population as soon as possible with clear ambition in the new year for tens of thousands of doses to be made available every week or at best the situation on the continent dominic kane let's take this now the paul brennan is live for us from london so dominate was saying there is back to lock downs with the silver lining of vaccines is that what people are waking up to in here for areas of the u k. predominantly yes the vaccine from pfizer biotech was rolled out and given approval and rolled out in the u.k. couple of weeks ago it's going through the process of being distributed right now it'll be

a slow process it's going to take many months before it actually starts to make an impact on the infection figures and the reality is the infection figures in the u.k. have been really bad in recent weeks prompting the government here to impose yet tighter restrictions and it's created misery and upset here in the u.k. across the 4 home nations england scotland wales and northern ireland. as recently as 10 days ago london for example was just interior 3 and now its interior for those to fall which is the highest level of restrictions basically mean households can't mix that all non-essential shops have to close from today boxing day 26th of december to for air has been expanded beyond just london and sorry and kent into essex and a large area of east anglia and down into hampshire as well so essentially the whole of the south east of england is now under this tier 4 restrictions the upset

of it is because it was all done very short notice originally british people were expecting a 5 day break from restrictions to allow people to mix with their families up to 3 households and mixing together to 4 means no households can mix to 3 to households can mix but only for one day instead of the originally planned 5 days so it's meant ripping up of christmas plans it's caused tears and upset but behind it all is the realisation from the government and from the scientists that the virus is spreading it's spreading fast and this new variant that the british genome scientists identified is particularly more infectious than the original corona virus 19. iris that was 1st identified so there is a real risk that if there isn't tighter restrictions then the virus will just roar away and hospitals will be totally overwhelmed all right that's paul brown from

london huge numbers of americans avoided flights to be with family for christmas despite warnings that travel will only worsen the already alarming coronavirus deaths and infection rates there more than $7000000.00 pass through u.s. airports over the past week bringing families together from states with varying degrees of infections will likely lead to an increase in cases a similar rush during november thanksgiving holiday is being blamed for fueling the current spike more than $193000.00 new cases were recorded on thursday along with nearly 3000 deaths of u.s. president elect joe biden has expressed sympathy for the many families facing their 1st christmas after losing loved ones he released a holiday message alongside his wife jill biden is promising to do more to combat the pandemic in 2021 we know for so many of you and i know this is been a very difficult year and we're reminded in this season i hope our common humanity

and what we're called to do for one another many of our fellow americans are struggling to find work not only put food on the table pay their rent or mortgage reminded we're on this earth to care for one another to give what we can and to be a source of help and hope to friend in stranger like many families are facing their 1st christmas having lost a loved one in jail and i know that. when we know how in times of grief a kind word can mean so much. afghanistan's capital has been hit by a series of explosions at least 5 separate attacks were reported across kabul 2 police officers were killed in the worst incident no group has claimed responsibility it comes as the taliban and afghan government prepare to resume talks here and. 2 palestinians including a 6 year old child have minor injuries after israeli air strikes in the gaza strip

a number of empty sites belonging to hamas and islamic jihad were targeted a hospital was damaged earlier the israeli army accused her mass of firing rockets towards southern israel. at least 35 people have been kidnapped in northeast nigeria armed men dressed in military uniforms set up a roadblock and abducted the travelers heading towards my duty it's believed the incident could be linked to book a hot arm 30 candidates have made their final pitches to voters ahead of elections in the share the polls are historic and set the course for the 1st peaceful transition of power amid greece reports from the capital in the army on how africa's 2nd coronavirus wave is having an impact. it's been a busy 3 weeks of campaigning for the presidential candidate. many wave of korra virus infections forced the government to impose

a limit on the program which on the last day. of the leading candidate i can fit into but the right messages have been passed to the voters former fording and interior minister mohammad bruce who is the governing party's candidate in i'm going to look at our candidate has visited all parts of the country even before the start of the campaign selling practical ideas to the people and to see how people live to understand their problems that helped us design a program to better people's lives were confident of winning in the 1st round. one of bazooms main rivals 3 time presidential candidate and former prime minister senor morrow says that one tavern. in my political experience it's impossible for anyone to win an election outright in the 1st round each of us would want to but it's impractical no one will it's very very difficult . a total of 30 candidates are running for president while some have complained

hard most have been on the sidelines seeking to form alliances with stronger parties although much of the campaign focused on who becomes president voters will also choose 171 representatives to feel the seats in this parliament some will later form the country's next cabinet as in previous elections analysts say this year may end up with a coalition of one of the being quality parties and other smaller ones. the decision on who gets to form the coalition depends on what $7500000.00 voters decide on sunday a presidential candidate request 50 percent plus one of valid votes cast to win outright that has never happened in an election here if no candidate gets that voters will be called once again to choose among the 2 candidates with the highest number of votes in the trees al jazeera you have me. the us city of nashville is under a curfew after a motorhome exploded in

a neighborhood on friday it blew up early on christmas morning after a recorded bomb warning was played several buildings were damaged and 3 people suffered injuries police haven't been able to establish a motive yet. we have found 2 issue that we believe could be remains that would just have that you know examined and it will be able to let you know from that darby was detonated so it was someone inside we have no idea it was such a large explosion but the investigation is continuing its matter all over this area down there and so we'll continue to examine it to see if it is human remains i'll just serious john hendren has this update from the shell it's common nashville now but hours ago an early morning christmas explosion shattered the calm injuring 3 people and destroying 41 buildings according to authorities here they're not exactly sure what the intended target was but the explosion occurred outside of an

a.t.m. t. transmission building and there were warnings the recreational vehicle was broadcasting apparently recorded messages telling people to evacuate the area and at one point saying that within 15 minutes there would be a possible bomb explosion meanwhile authorities say that they have found what appears to be human remains they don't know if that was someone inside the vehicle or someone who was nearby and have not confirmed that it is indeed human remains but they are operating on that theory now and authorities are investigating this as a potential terror attack and they are looking into what the motive was who was involved in this attack but meanwhile they have declared a curfew in downtown nashville from friday through sunday the christmas morning explosion has destroyed a large swath of the tourist area here in what is the country music capital of the

united states. some of the headlines here in al-jazeera now the central african republic will go ahead with sunday's presidential election as planned despite the spread of the constitutional court ruled unanimously a request by opposition to postpone the vote. the constitutional judges made this. courtroom behind me and they say that the petition did not have strong enough to have the election. so what this means is that as you mentioned the election is going to go on tomorrow it can we have spoken to a u.n. official through.