vaccines now offer hope of protection from the virus but how long will it take for the world to recover the corona virus and then a special coverage on a. al-jazeera . hello i'm barbara sarah this is the al-jazeera news hour live from london thank you for joining us coming up in the next 60 minutes campaigning wraps up and fears of violence escalate but a court rules that sunday's election in central african republic will go ahead the nashville explosion a person of interest has been identified by police after a motor home exploded on christmas morning. a mass coded immunization program

starts across the european union as cases of a new coronavirus variant increase. and an emotional homecoming for guatemalan deportees from the us to find conditions in the country are even worse than when they left. and on time how much not all the support manchester united concede later as they're held to a draw by fellow premier league title chases last the city. one of the world's poorest and most unstable countries is going to press ahead with elections despite the threat of escalating violence a top course in central african republic says voters will go to the polls for presidential and parliamentary elections on sunday the opposition parties wanted the election postponed and the queues the president of vote rigging catherine

sawyer reports from the capital bangui. laurel is a driver and shows us pictures from i resent walk trip to a town 300 kilometers north of the capital. shortly after you took this photo he says on demand attacks and he had to flee he's worried about relatives who live in the town he blames rebel groups calling themselves the patriots coalition for change or c.p.c. for the latest security crisis in the central african republic she told the town is almost empty some elements are asking civilian to give up their electoral card others are hiding in the charge as far as they know that cannot be a proper election in but. president. has asked people to come out and vote those in to be vigilant with concerns the

violence may intimidate those has and undermined the point that government is looking to provide reassurance of countries throughout the world. there is no. let's say. and where. people decide not to vote and you have a level of 0 for what it is but a submission which is no it doesn't mean this election is not credible more than $12000.00 peacekeepers from the u.n. mission in new backing see our security forces troops recently stand by i wonder russian military instructors and private security contractors are also on the ground all of this instability that you were. arrested part of the country that. a petition filed by 7 opposition kind it is to postpone the election was rejected by the constitutional court 17

presidential candidates have been cleared to run for election 103 on his candidacy citing security reasons most promising to finally bring peace back to central african republic revive the economy and provide basic services. are has numerous gold. deposits as well as other natural resources yet it's one of the poorest and most unstable countries in the world more than half the population of 5000000 needs a good some people here in the capital told us all they want is a dignified life and to get to the other side of the polls safely catherine. for more on this we can speak to they've an auto he's the director of counterterrorism of the geneva center for africa security and strategy studies thank you so much for joining us here on al-jazeera 1st of all do you think that

this election should go ahead as it is planned to do tomorrow sunday. i think that's the big question the government has insisted so has the the electoral commission. but by the new scott we do see united nations missions in a no central african republic they have a system that the elections have to hold. perhaps you know for the reason that the 1st you know objections for the elections to not take place was made by the rebel leaders no that's the. question for a change all that former president of france well it was easy so i think the reason why the government doesn't want that is because they think that by you know change of elections it gives a huge legitimacy to the rebel leaders but this is the same you know impression that a lot of the kind it is not shown they think that holding elections with the central

times a lot of people out of bounty he mentioned about not wanting to give legitimacy to rebels but of course a i guess elections have to be seen as being vaguely reliable and crucially representative because we already suspect that the turnout could be so low for a variety of reasons could we actually end up with a vote that isn't representative at all. i think what we're likely to end up is a country. rather than you know be the copy don't self and the reason why i say that is because the government does not have the required capacity even with the un mission you know of britain in $300.00 extra forces from rwanda you know they don't have the capacity to mind all the 16 epithets use as they call them where elections will take place now you know they can add to you that you would have police officers or u.n. forces stationed on the put in a stations but you know how do you then you know are you know secure the people

that will leave from their homes to come to the police stations on foot now the other problem is people are not i have not been able to get the up looters electoral cats so it may create an over a margin of disenfranchisement from the people who seem to feel that they could include because of the security situation. and so what do you see the situation as being like after the election do you think that there will still more violence that actually lead us to a situation that's even more unstable than now i think what we see before the elections as we've seen you know with the incident of the unfortunate killing of the 3 runs and a u.n. peacekeeping force is that you know the rebel leaders who will accept i've made it very clear that you know they're ready to fight back and even if they're reasonably action who would have 2 problems why he's a rebel leaders who are well and you know coming after the the government you know

which is you know significant week but the other problem you have these huge amount of people saying we couldn't vote so if you did you use it yes i mean it's a recipe for if post election crisis but the u.n. has promised to secure the elections but i don't know how they're going to do that . well the election is tomorrow sunday obviously here at al-jazeera we'll be following it closely be interesting to see how things develop for the moment david also director of counterterrorism at the geneva center for africa strategy and security studies sir thank you. federal investigators in the u.s. are searching for a home link to a person of interest over the explosion that rocked downtown nashville on christmas day emergency communications have also been knocked out across large parts of tennessee after the blast ripped through buildings and injured at least 3 people no

fatalities have been confirmed police evacuated nearby buildings on friday after the vehicle blared a warning that a bomb would detonate in 15 minutes. well investigators say they've been inundated with calls from members of the public we've had over 500 leads and tips coming in every single one of those being followed out by a team of investigators that's the stage read in this investigation we are still continuing to follow every lead that we have and we will continue to do so until we find out what's happened. well john hendren is in nashville for a says so john one more has the police and federal investigators told us about this person of interest apologies we're having a problem with john hendren or dio i think they're just going to try and see if we

can connect it no unfortunately. we can't get john hendren is already you know he is in nashville we've just heard from federal investigators that they're actually searching for a specific person of interest linked to that explosion that was felt in nashville on christmas day just yesterday we will be bringing you the latest from nashville in the u.s. in a little later in the news hour well also coming up on this news hour from london. desperate times for millions of americans as their jobless benefits expire joe biden accuses on trumpet of an abdication of responsibility. the military offensive in ethiopia that spiraled into an inter ethnic conflict. and lay broncos a step closer to clinching a christmas record details later in sport.

the european union has launched a mammoth vaccination effort while a new coronavirus variant of detected in the u.k. continues to spread across the continent hungary was the 1st to announce that it's already started vaccinating doctors and health care workers germany and slovakia have also kicked off their campaigns now the 1st batches of the pfizer biotech vaccine arrived across the e.u. including countries like italy and spain which were once the continent's hotspots meanwhile the new coronavirus variant of detected at 1st in the u.k. is now also been found in spain and sweden the variant spreads up to 70 percent faster and resulted in dozens of countries battling travelers from britain paul brennan reports the refrigerated vans drove through the night destinations including rome paris spain and hungary the precious cargo the vaccine developed by

pfizer biotech kept at between minus 17 minus 80 degrees the mass inoculation is due to start in a coordinated launch later on sunday for the 1st job went to work at a hospital in budapest. a vaccination plan is ready with health workers at the front of the queue those working with patients in intensive care and emergency care units will be vaccinated 1st so they can continue the heroic struggle to see of the . europe has seen 16000000 coronavirus cases and suffered more than 400000 deaths the approval and distribution of this 1st vaccine is reason for considerable hope across the continent. but. we have in total $19500.00 doses which makes $3100.00 vials these those will be stored in our freezer at minus 80 degrees which will be then distributed to the different elderly homes and public hospitals. who started the company in the course of that we will start the

immunization campaign on a large scale $1300000.00 doses of vaccine as will be delivered all over germany before the end of 2020 and then from january it will be even more each week almost 7 100000 doses every week in january more than $10000000.00 doses in the 1st quarter the relentless spread of the covert $1000.00 virus in the news that more infectious variants are evolving as lent even more urgency to the vaccination program variant 1st identified in the u.k. has now been discovered in other european countries to try to contain that variant thousands of truck drivers have spent christmas stranded at the u.k. port of dover and prevented from crossing to france unless they test negative for the virus the backlog remains stubbornly large despite the efforts of military reinforcements and lock downs have ruined the festive period for traditional high street retailers with shoppers ordered to stay at home coronavirus has hollowed out

the u.k. high street this is oxford street london's primary retail avenue and instead of hundreds of thousands of people out to take advantage of the boxing day sales the shops are closed instead of festivity and bustle it's full on and barren the street empty. with coronavirus europe has enjoyed much the same torrid 2020 as the rest of the world the hope is that from sunday things will start to improve. paul brennan al-jazeera london. only swell there smith is a professor of emerging infectious diseases at the london school of hygiene and tropical medicine she joins us now via skype from grinned unwalled in switzerland madame thank you so much for joining us here on al-jazeera it's been an interesting couple of weeks in europe on the one hand starting from the u.k. the facts and got approved and they documentations programs started now that spreading in other european countries almost at the same time we started seeing

this new variant emerge and now spreading across the continent how do you read the situation are you more worried than you used to be or do you see the so-called light at the end of the tunnel. so with the vaccine i am seeing the at the end of the the delighted at the end of the tunnel but the and we also have to see that there are a lot of marion's and over the months we've seen a lot of mutations the concern about this particularly particular virus variant is that it has were to reasons in 14 places and in the lab it has shown to have a higher growth rate and also it appears to be more trust missile it has a better we call affinity or ability to to enter human cells what we don't know about this virus yet is whether it is also associated with a more severe course of the disease that's the possibilities one it's more severe

ones the same as for the other strains or it could even attenuated means caused milder course of the disease i suppose most certainly if it was to be more more aggressive that would be incredibly worrying but one of the other key questions is do we have a way of knowing whether it would be resistant to the vaccine or the way that we're seeing european countries go ahead now i mean everyone seems to be going ahead with the vaccination programs anyway. so it sort of vaccine you know trick is brought him a logical response and it's very likely that it will also cover this new variant but obviously we need more research we need more data in lab studies but also in animal studies to see whether this vaccine also could you know come as a new parent but i must i must admit i'm not so concerned because for most vaccines we see a broad response to even a minor changes in despite protein would still be covered it's been quite

a challenge for governments everywhere really to keep the balance between being honest with people about you know the risks that obviously there are and not creating panic not creating the sort of saying so or banks how do you think the past few days of been handled by your reply in countries when all travel was banned from the u.k. we saw the huge lines of trucks at the british ports we also solve thousands of european simply not being able to go back home for christmas and getting stuck in the u.k. i mean do you think that that reaction was warranted. we in hindsight we will know better there was no other choice though there was this new mutations 40 mutations and one that really targeted the spikelet gene and politicians and policymakers were concerned so they had to react and unfortunately sometimes slower it takes days or weeks to answer some of the pressing questions that we now have that need

to be addressed you know one is if if a present ready been in fact it and expose it as new variant do the neutralizing antibodies from the previous infection protect against this new infection the same for the vaccine but these questions that some time meanwhile the politicians you know have to have to react and so i do hope that this panic will settle and that our concerns. may not turn out to be true but for the time being we need to take it seriously and we need to to make our lockdown measures stricter annelise wilder smith professor of emerging infectious diseases at the london school of hygiene and tropical medicine madam it's always good to talk to you thank you thank you. ok let's go back to the u.s. town that story that we were following the explosion in nashville and speak to john hendren for the latest on that person of interest john in the investigation into

the nashville explosion that authorities just told us about what they tell us. authorities are saying that. they didn't want to disclose the name of the man but he has been identified. as anthony quinn 63 year old man who lives in antioch about 15 kilometers outside of nashville where the explosion occurred and there is also this intriguing fact in old google images of that home there is a white recreational vehicle parked in the driveway that's interesting because it was a white that exploded here in downtown nashville so far he's only being identified as a person of interest. but the search of that home makes him an intriguing potential suspect we'll find out.

interestingly in a news conference just hours ago they declined to say that they had narrowed down suspects they were people that they were. saying only that they're looking at a number of people that they've had over 500 leads and tips and that they were pursuing them and we're confident that they would ultimately find out who did this and why right now they are searching the home they may be complete by now we hope to find more if they appear again in the next coming hours and pictures right now of the devastation that was caused by that explosion how much impact is the aftermath of the explosion having on the. well block after block of music venues and restaurants and shops that

have simply been. 41 buildings have been damaged or completely destroyed that downtown area is now subject to a curfew that lasts through at least sunday evening vats the time currently but investigators are in that region including inspectors and what they're doing is going from the outer perimeter right down to the epicenter were that went off and they are trying to piece together what one investigator described as a puzzle with clues from what ever happened and what motivated this person from yesterday and another intriguing fact is that police said they believe that they had found human remains at that site that could mean that there was someone inside of that r.v. and the fact that officials say that they are confident that there are no other threats out there that could mean this is just speculation but it could mean that

they believe those human remains are from the person inside and that is why there is no remaining threat we don't know much more beyond that except that it's going to take a very long time to recover here in downtown nashville which after all is the music capital the country music capital of the 'd united states and the world and this was a busy tourist area where that explosion went off in the predawn hours at about 6 30 am with broadcast warnings coming out of that r.v. that sent people away and in the end only 3 people were injured with what we are told are life threatening injuries so this seems to have been to an attack that was aimed at property people. some live pictures and now that is the house all of the person of interest that physical invest federal investigators in the u.s.

are searching they're saying that house is linked to the person of interest of course as we were hearing over the explosion that rocked downtown nashville on christmas day will bring you more of the developing story coming out of the u.s. as we get more news on it here on al-jazeera. well staying in the u.s. up to $14000000.00 americans will lose job benefits by the end of saturday after u.s. president donald trump refused to sign a $900000000000.00 covert $1000.00 relief package president elect joe biden has called it an abdication of responsibility trump didn't object to the bill which would have extended unemployment but it was voted before rather it was voted through congress on monday but he now wants payments to increase from $600.00 to $2000.00 his refusal could cause a partial government shutdown next week. well rosalyn jordan is in washington

d.c. for us so rose a stinging criticism of donald trump from the man who is about to succeed him what did he say. well the president elect joe biden issued a statement earlier on saturday saying that president donald trump's decision or so far to not sign or not to veto this legislation is an abdication of responsibility the president elect went on to say that millions would be affected not just those who have lost their jobs but the millions who are unable to make their mortgage or rental payments they could be losing their homes after the start of the new year the president elect also noted that this is a definitely putting in jeopardy the government's ability to obtain funding in order to purchase the vaccines necessary to eventually end the corona of night covert 19 pandemic here in the united states now this is something that i have not

seen any incoming president do during the transition period in the past 20 years or so for his part the current president donald trump has been on twitter for part of saturday basically again alleging that the november 3rd election was fraudulent no direct commentary except for one tweet indicating that he does want a one time stimulus payment of not $600.00 going to many americans but 2 $1000.00 that's not what congress agreed on they have $600.00 in the bill that is currently sitting at his desk at his home in florida and i mean you paint a very complicated situation any sign that any of this could be resolved especially for those millions of people missing out on their benefits. well let's put it this way if trump were to decide to sign the legislation given that we're coming so

close to the end of the day here in the united states there would be a short delay in trying to process the ongoing unemployment funding and to try to extend the housing moratorium but that said it also raises the specter that he could decide not to sign the legislation that he could veto the legislation and that essentially the ball would be back in congress's court having to try once again to get legislation on donald trump's desk that he would be willing to sign so it looks as if people are about to lose the financial support that they had been getting from the federal government even though this is something that pretty much both republicans and democrats agree there's something needs to be done it's just really a question of how much needs to be done rosen jordan with the latest from washington d.c. for us thank you at least 5 people have been killed in an attack by

syrian regime forces the victims are all farmers in a village near how mind an autumn province of idlib one of the civilian was wounded in the artillery strike the attack by president bashar al assad's forces violates a ceasefire that was signed in march. turkey's the fence minister has made a surprise visit to libya to increase cooperation with the internationally recognized government who see ak out of was flanked by top military officers as he inspected turkish units in tripoli on friday turkey's parliament voted to extend the ploy ment of troops from libya for 18 months but libya's eastern warlord holly for half that has threatened to use force against turkish soldiers if i'm correct doesn't stop interfering in the conflict. the decisive confrontation has begun to appear for the near future from what our scouts have to take today from

maneuvers of the turkish mercenaries and soldiers near the front lines piling up weapons equipment building military bases and operating rooms. which reflects turkey's insistence on war and the delusion that they will achieve their dreams of expansion and influence and then bishan is to control the oil fields and export ports to cure with our wealth its collapsing economy and then the incursion into the depths of africa. there's lots more still to come in this hour work clothing will visit the tiny american sting that's taken the national spotlight to produce producing the country's next president the literary renee sound sane iraq from a new generation trying to write their place in the history book. and the indian fans find their voice again the latest cricket coming up and sport.

we've got some snowy weather in the forecast for a couple of parts of here in particular particularly down towards the balkans big massive cloud a little area of low pressure brings a very stormy weather across the southern parts of italy the other side of the age where we will see significant snow fall coming into the balkans over the next couple days 20 to 30 centimeters certainly possible over the next 24 to 48 hours we will eventually see some snow to coming in across the british isles at the moment it's all about storm balla tightly packed damaging winds rattling through gales or even severe gales over the next couple of days and across parts of the u.k. i think across southern areas of england and wales eventually that. windy weather will sweep across northern france into the low countries rattling a showers coming back in behind but notice the temper just starting to for

a while london at around 8 celsius on sunday could be about 4 degrees on monday and by this stays said you know because for some snow showers just coming in across and across many parts of england well scotland as well we will see some wet weather and more snowy weather coming in across the balkans some heavy rain there for a time so it's a little bit of snow too into western parts of turkey by the end of the weekend. but. in the far reaches of the new siberian islands gold rush is in the air and. hunted searching for priceless woolly mammoth tusks of ana the holy grail. an incredible journey into the realms of science fiction cloning and synthetic biology have scientists playing god. witness genesis 2.0 the hunt for the woolly mammoth just iraq. a unique perspective on nigeria

we have so much more we just don't know how to money this morning that we have. through the eyes of the sun a brace of african photographers to pollution and tell him join us in the campaign still being us what he does the big 3 is on how has life changed. rewind ga city on al-jazeera. the in. the the in. the welcome back here's a reminder of the top stories on al-jazeera

a top court in central african republic says voters will go to the polls for presidential and parliamentary elections on sunday despite an escalating threat of violence federal investigators in the u.s. are searching the home or a home were linked to a person of interest over the explosion that rocked a downtown nashville on christmas day the blast that ripped through buildings and injured at least 3 people and the european union has launched a mammoth vaccination effort while a new coronavirus variant detected in the u.k. continues to spread across the hungry was the 1st to announce that it's already started vaccinating health care workers. researchers in the u.k. are testing an antibody treatment that could prevent the illness in people infected with covert 19 it's hoped the antibody developed by the drug manufacturer astra zeneca could prevent the viruses development in people who have already been

exposed a new trial dubbed storm chaser aims to recruit more than 1000 people to take part worldwide 10 people have been injected with the antibodies so far as health care workers people in long term care and factory workers are among the key target groups. one issue with the vaccine is of course that the vaccine works by getting our own immune system to make antibodies so that's fine if we've got a strong immune system that's capable of making antibodies but what if certain groups start and the most common group with this is an issue elderly people because they get an aging immune system which isn't a strong as when they were young and of course people who have a very low immune system because they've got a primary immunodeficiency or they're on medications to suppress their immune system so those people the vaccine may not do any harm but it may not necessarily

work as well as in a young healthy person so these monoclonal antibodies are an alternative where you just give them the antibody the immune system doesn't have to make them at all they haven't done trials compared directly comparing the vaccine in one arm versus vaccine the monoclonal antibody in another they really have to do that but it is possible that it might have an additive effect we don't know but certainly in that 82 year old who gets the vaccine and we were not confident that the vaccine would work the monoclonal antibody if these trials work would be an alternative and expensive alternative but not turn it. australia's reimposing coronavirus restrictions in parts of sydney after 9 new cases in the state of new south wales were traced it to the city's nourse 8 of the new cases a directly linked to the northern beaches cluster in other parts of the city people were told not to shop on boxing day following a relaxation of rules on christmas sydney's northern areas will now revert to stay

at home orders for at least 3 days. again our strategy is to make sure we need this in the bout as soon as we can that we get on top of it as soon as we can and of course in the next few days we'll let the community now want me safe looks like the people on the northern beaches but also great to see things and also what january looks like. for the rest of the rest of sydney so we want to thank everybody for your cooperation at least 35 people have been kidnapped in northeast nigeria armed men dressed in military uniforms set up a road block and the dock that the travelers heading to might have glory it's believed the incident could be linked to boko haram. last month ethiopia's military launched an offensive against local forces in the northern region of t. great prime minister had called it a law enforcement operation but it's fire old into an end inter ethnic conflict

possibly killing thousands of violence is also spreading among communities in other parts of the country al-jazeera is mark webb takes a look now at where ethiopia stands. where the theo p. and government troops to control of the to grain regional capital of macquarie last month prime minister abi ahmed said the lure enforcement operation against the 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 and much 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 and ethiopia's government deny it more than 50000 people have fled to refugee camps in neighboring sudan that's reignited in 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 benish angle commodes region these type of. very very frequent. those incidents have claimed the lives of.

hundreds of thousands so it really is a. recurring theme the last 6 months or a month that's the sad reality of. mass protests part of the country that brought prime minister i.b.m. had to power really 3 years ago. before that decades of authours tarion rule had frozen generations old conflicts many of them on ethnic lines. abbi 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 demands of various ethnic groups who are seeking more autonomy when you have one. in a country you have to find ways of making things work right so i mean you know to one you know unity is likely to cause more problems

it's just what. the tea p.l.f. dominated the government for nearly 30 years before abby took over one of the triggers of the conflict integrate with the postponement of elections that would you 4 months ago because of covert now they're expected to be held amid growing tensions in 2021 welcome web al-jazeera. a new a yemeni government has been sworn in more than a year after the signing of a power sharing agreement ministers took the oath in the saudi capital riyadh on saturday the cabinet is a coalition between yemen's internationally recognized government and members of the separatist southern transitional council the 2 sides had previously been locked in a power struggle but they've been working to unite against who the rebels who took over yemen's capital sanaa in 2014. a series of explosions have rocked

afghanistan's capital killing at least 2 police officers and wounding several others at least 5 separate attacks were reported across kabul officials say the officers died when a magnetic bomb attached to a police vehicle detonated in the city's west no group has claimed responsibility for the blasts it comes as the taliban and the afghan government prepare to resume talks in doha. the united states has continued to deport central americans back to their home countries despite pleas from leaders for a pause during the coronavirus pandemic this year alone more than 20000 wetton melons have been sent back they found conditions there even worse than when they left sean home has more. it's been a desperate homecoming from the gold settled he was deported from the u.s. in september after 2 years of working illegally in miami. now he's back in his

village ship in the guatemalan highlands to find the harvest has failed the young man 20000 guatemalans have been deported from the u.s. this year according to the country's migration institute and they're coming back to find the conditions they fled and now even worse the economy's projected to contract due to the pandemic and experts say the country's also increasingly affected by climate change some of its regions are part of a dry belt spreading throughout central america and guatemala is also just been devastated by 2 november hurricanes they destroyed the crops in miguel's village and now food is scarce going out of polluted midst those natural disasters many of those deported also struggling to pay off debt. that's because people smugglers often charge migrants $10000.00 or more to take the north the idea is they'll pay back gradually once working in the states. but it's

a gamble and those that are kicked out have to pay the money anyway as the parents of miguel and his cousin who was caught with him and now discovering it will be no business legal because when my son arrived i feel glad that we still have this debt to pay for suffering it's $7700.00 now i'm trying to celeb it of land to pay it as a father i want to help my son but instead of getting ahead we only get poorer what healthy but in our hearts we have that pain. what can we do what can we go now we have nobody to support to see the u.s. . the guatemalan president has recently said the answer to the problem is to create prosperity in communities like ship you so that people don't have to leave in the 1st place. being coming by the ministration this place to spend $4000000000.00 on central america to do just that but it's tough to make sure the money gets to where it's needed past efforts so that it won't be a silver bullet to stop migration john homan out zita america's

president elect often talks about his working class roots in pennsylvania but joe biden's political career was made for representing the tiny state of delaware his election to the highest office makes him the 1st president from delaware the 1st state to ratify the u.s. constitution al-jazeera as kristen salumi takes a closer look at the state that america's next president calls home. delaware traces its european roots back to the 1600s the city of new castle boasts many historic sites including the courthouse where the state 1st declared independence from great britain not to mention its more powerful neighbor pennsylvania this land marked example of the federal period architecture belonged to the son of george reid one of the signatories of the u.s. constitution like many in the state tour guide and murphy hopes the 1st state's 1st

president will finally put delaware on the map i can remember traveling to california one time they asked me where i'm from and i said delaware and where's that even those who aren't huge fans of joe biden can see his election has benefits to bring more and more tourists i think that she would be king from it was here in new castle that joe biden won his 1st election 50 years ago taking a seat on the county council he hasn't lost an election since and many here see a win for biden as a win for delaware the shipping industry has long since left the shores of this former british colony these days wilmington home to the biden transition team is better known as a tax haven for corporations those in the struggling hospitality business are happy the hotels are now full of news media and more than that george taylor is looking forward to the new administration he gives that message of hope and for most black

people out of my such as myself i believe he's going to do such a great job you know making sure that we are all integrated we are all united in one america it was in fact delaware founding father george reid who pushed to create the u.s. senate and guarantee equal representation for smaller states turns out politics in delaware has always been personal when you have such a small place everyone has to get along in some way and i think the. it's the tradition that joe biden is certainly coming coming out of where your senator or your representative or in this case your president is a next door neighbor he's just show it to a lot of people here the hope is joe biden will now speak for the entire nation particularly the under represented in keeping with local tradition christian salumi al jazeera new castle delaware. iraq has produced some of the most celebrated and respected writers in the arab world but conflict sectarianism and

political oppression forced many to flee and right from abroad well now a new generation is the term and to keep iraq's literary heritage alive charles stratford reports mcauliffe has been writing about the momentous and often violent changes iraq has suffered for more than half a century the baghdad based author whose novels short stories and poems have been published across the arab world has had to navigate censorship political imprisonment and even death threats throughout his career he acknowledges his contribution to iraqi literature but he's saddened by what he says is the lack of impact his work has had in minot who are now the country has culturally regressed people who don't read or write might struggle to develop culture across the arab world is suffering terribly and there are writers to without freedom to write how

can of this learn i feel have little effect on people's thoughts the bookshops along elements and up the street named after a 10th century poet have been immortalized in iraq in arab culture for centuries. the crumbling alterman buildings have witnessed how the pressures on iraqi writers and readers have changed over the years the challenge of avoiding jail worse under the rule of saddam hussein to bomb attacks and kidnapping by al qaida meisel and various armed groups that still have much power in iraq elements and up the street as almost a mythical status in the history of arabic literature a place where writers and intellectuals would meet to discuss politics and the odds but despite the political instability and violence this country continues to suffer there is increasing evidence of young writers appearing who are determined not to self censor and to protect and build on iraq's literary past. but

i'll be arty is a young recently published iraqi poet she owns a bookshop and one of a number of recently opened publishing houses close by she says half the books in her shop by new young iraqi writers were trying to wake people up from the hibernation for too long iraqis have accepted what we were told so as young writers we try to simulate minds without religion all focus on ethnicity instead we look at a reduced humanity we're not afraid because we have seen so much of course i sometimes worry about my family but we have to recently late ideas of civilized things. at bank dad's annual international book fair young people who can afford to buy books including arabic literature history philosophy and translated foreign works. it is difficult for our generation to find the correct road to walk along so we depend on ourselves and through books and reading i hope we can change the next

generation to planted flowers not thorns that we find on the path we travel along we have to read more widely to forge a new future to young people here definitely seem keen to lead. the world but i hope at least that iraq's literary heritage is being rekindled by a new generation who say their country's future stability and growth will be held by young iraqis reading and writing more chance travel al-jazeera baghdad an ancient a fast food counter will soon be open again in italy but only to tourists and you can't actually order anything archaeologists recently discovered the site in pompei and have been busy uncovering its secrets they come across cooking utensils food containers and animal remains it's believed to have served the variety of dishes from snails to paya from prey was the stronger by a volcanic eruption almost 2000 years ago. it's an amazing place still ahead we're

going to have the sports news including chelsea miss out on the chance to move up in the english premier league details with some of their after the break. i am. would escape the city has become a major global issue the demand is going straight up and the supply is going straight down turning an essential natural resource into a commodity traded for profit just because your lawyer doesn't mean it cannot be what about the guy that can afford it guys tell these water. al-jazeera examines the social financial and environmental impact of water privatized ation loads of water on al-jazeera take the worst possible material eurabia ground into dust comparable to flour and make a lot of it and put it into

a place where people live there is a colossal event. as well so many people are thinking this is the silent heat. but doesn't make you feel nice you feel like a movie we have created an enormous momentum disaster. and investigation south africa toxic city on al-jazeera. i am. time for sport now here santa. thank you very much barbara wistar with football imagine say knighted were denied by a late equaliser from less the city in the english premier league deflected the

effort to offer jamie varghese boot saw the game and to all the result leaves the foxes 3 points behind table toppers liverpool while united trailed the reds by 4 points we feel disappointed the bush flopped in the dressing room of course because . would it create enough chances to score more goals. i thought we defended well but then they had the one moment at the end. arsenal have recalled an important when to ease the pressure on their manager me kill our teta begun a speech l c 31 home to end their 7 game winning streak the victory arsenal's 1st since november 1st moved them one place further up the table into 14th place were coming under both rice and the energy and how much they wanted it. he doesn't get any better than playing in the premier league in boxing day in london darby you know and i said today we have to take this opportunity now to put some of the

performances we had in the past i would you know how the results into everything today we need our performance and big performance to win against this team and we need to see points on the boys i think right from the beginning david really want. liverpool manager your gun club says that the only reason mohamed salah would leave the reds is the weather but insisted that the club cannot force a player to stay against his will egyptian international admitted to his disappointment with his club recently interview with the spanish paper at being overlooked for the captaincy in their champions league game earlier this month which caused a bit of a stir is one of the biggest clubs in the world. we pay good money maybe not the most in or old but the pay good and we have a sensation stadium and outstanding supporters who have a fan base all over the roads of all colors all red which is a nice color anyway so what is. west reasons why but you cannot force people to

stay. but that we never did by the way it's all about timing right moment stuff like this we make changes they bring players in if a player wants to go then we can all probably not hold back that sounds about i don't wouldn't understand why somebody would want to go well bron james has moved up to 2nd in the n.b.a.'s all time christmas day scoring list he scored 22 points for the l.a. lakers against that it's mavericks it means that he now has 383 points on christmas day and trails kobe bryant who is in 1st with 395 the process that's helping seal 138115 win on what was an overall great day for the make a star up felt great i woke up early this morning we all have. chest. chest so that leaves us oh so i came back home and yes it. was great probably why some early game they came on.

and he'd almost look at a loss is not quite a good choice i went back to the roots of that side when i woke up she said you don't think you really know. 2021 is shaping up to be a massive year in boxing with a highly anticipated and undisputed heavyweight title bout expected to happen between britain's antony joshua and tyson fury and according to eddie hahn who's been promoting a.j. is fight the fight that could happen outside of their home country the u.k. this week he said that for it to happen in the country a full capacity crowd would be needed but he's unsure whether that would be feasible giving the country's current cove a 900 situation to show has previously fought in saudi arabia and fury most recent fights being in the united states but we've been speaking to boxing broadcaster gareth davis who believes that the fight will most likely to happen in the middle east. they need to agree the venue for me that's the big point is the venue can we

do it in the u.k. at the moment i don't think we can because it requires a big crowd and therefore i think the chalks at the moment are headed towards the middle east boxing is a business so code it is affected the fact we can't have 100000 people at wembley stadium that's the big reason 1st of all that it's not going to happen in may or june here 1st of all there's no guarantee we're going to lock down at the moment people can even see sense i don't see either a christmas some to go to the middle east to make it viable and see joshua probably the arguably the that the most ever a challenger coming back to win his belts is. 60000000 and you had told me you know it's so that really much kate said the reason saudi arabia i mean what's extraordinary sum of money and he tells me. you know the chairman if they fight in the middle east and it is you know in a ready made stadium or even a purpose built stadium that there is arguably $100000000.00 each for the 2 men

they will then will go after that money cook in india dominated day $1.00 of the 2nd test against australia and melbourne $30000.00 fans who are allowed to and that the n.p.t. as a test dismissed it also is for just $195.00 runs india lost one wicket in their response and closed off 6 for one so it was a constant discussion going on between the blue nose and the other days with the captain so you know that it could change after the 1st session as well it got there to go back on the much i'm going to insult adjusting according to their dive into the wicket i know the lines that we wanted to board so we were just trying to communicate what kind of lines we wanted to board so we could say so and there was less help so we tried to change a little bit of the lane and. the field and that's it for me back to baba. son i thank you very much and that is it for this news hour do stay with us i'm going to be back in just a few minutes for the more of the day's just to get a. january

on al-jazeera it's 10 years since the arab spring sought to bring change to the middle east al-jazeera looks into how successful look at pollutions what a new documentary series examines through history and giancana takes of drug trafficking and the way states and drug lords abused it as an instrument of power speculations are being doled out around the world hope of returning to normal comes back again we need trends constantly changing listening post continues to analyze

how the news is coming up to all of the most intense election campaigns the u.s. is set to inaugurate its cool to 6 1st of. january on al-jazeera. the stories of abuse in aged care homes in the west to shock the world but there's no alternative one to one of these makes those sending elderly loved ones to thailand to live out their dogs on al-jazeera. the ultranationalist marks connected with one of the world's worst humanitarian crisis we doe as illegal migrants joining with the military to impose a deadly political agenda we have to protect our nation what has happened to the engine that's one of the biggest stains on the country as a whole. this is not religion this is a politics. an unholy alliance on al-jazeera.

revealing ecofriendly solutions to come back threats to our planet on which is iraq . campaigning wraps up and fears of violence escalate but a courtroom as this sunday's election in central african republic will go ahead. barbara starr you're watching al-jazeera live from london also coming up. the nashville explosion police search a home linked to a person of interest over the blast on christmas morning a mask over the immunization program starts across the european union is cases of a new corona.