the number 2 stories from asia in the pacific on al-jazeera. voters brave intimidation and threats of violence to cost their ballots in central african republic. while the jazz election let's act to deliver the country's 1st peaceful handover of power from one elected president to another. blow i maryam namazie and london you're watching al-jazeera also coming up on the program europe launches a mass vaccination drive with medical staff and the elderly top of the list for the pfizer biotech john. israel enters its 3rd lockdown with people allowed on more

than a kilometer from their home. and the canary islands try to temper my workers to swap that winter knockdowns for this home office with a much better view. and i welcome to the program our top story voters of timed out in large numbers in the central african republic for an election seen as a crucial test in a country that suffered years of instability polls close in the past few hours after a fraught week which saw rebel groups threaten to march to the capital and disrupt the vote there were reports of armed groups shooting in the air to intimidate voters in one central town but united nations is saying the process was largely peaceful present fastin are changed with the era is seeking a 2nd term in office he is considered the favorite in a field of 17 candidates but the opposition the rebels accuse him of vote rigging.

well the country's proved chronically unstable since independence from france in 1960 suffering 5 coups and numerous rebellions. who's christian came to power in a coup but was ousted in 2013 by the celica a largely muslim rebel coalition which overran the country and seize the capital since then subsequent waves of violence of killed thousands of people and forced more than a 1000000 to flee their homes nearly 700000 have fled the country altogether the current president fast and are changed to a day was elected in 2016 he and the un have accused posies a of being behind the current rebel offensive in an effort to take power again $300.00 russian troops and $301.00 service personnel have joined what is currently 812800 strong un peacekeeping force to try and quell the violence catherine soy is in the capital bangui and says the key test will be how many people voted. polls

have closed and counting has just started this polling station i expect counting i started in other polling stations here in bowling he was in a lot of observers from the african union and other missions other missions as well most a lot of the vote in other provinces are going to be air lifted here because of the security situation in some of those areas but also because of the road network which is very bad and transport by a road you're told is not a good idea so they're going to be airlifted here we expect results we're told in the next 4 to 5 days maybe alia but the very question going forward really is the vote has handed out how will the watertown not be a lot of people of talk to us say they're concerned because of the security situation especially in the provinces the u.n. has there particularly talked about an area called brianna north of here the u.n. official saying that armed men armed groups have to shooting in the air

particularly in polling stations people have run away the u.n. blue helmets have been sent to reinforce the troops that were already there in some places we are told that. armed people have been making away with the ballot papers and ballot boxes and so wants a lot of intimidation a lot of harrisburg but we have also heard from the u.n. saying that these are very few areas in the provinces and in most of the country voting went ahead peacefully. well israel looks at to be on the cusp of its 1st democratic transition of power after the polls closed around an hour ago president mohammed is stepping down after weeks in the limits of 25 year terms he was elected after a coup in 2011 his preferred successor the former interior minister mohammad bassoon 30 strong field of candidates pulling off a peaceful poll is seen as a success in a country blighted by policy that's also fighting armed movements in the southwest

and southeast. the future of music that i am waiting for security health progress and democracy. yes. i expect the future president will work well that we will be at peace that there will be security. that will i hope for health in 1st place education in 2nd place and pity for the poor in 3rd place. at address has been following the story from the capital niamey and says the departing president is a rarity in the region. it's a very critical and very important milestone for this country we've heard so many ups and downs of democratic governors in west africa so many cool and so many instead unstable governments in this part of the world so for president mohamed use

of all it's a thing of pride to be the one to hand over from one elected president civilian president to another unusual rians are actually looking forward to that moment at least in the words of president mohamed use of will to mark. a process of stable democracy in this country that's what they want to achieve and that is what they want to build upon and a lot of people are really impressed with this record and we reached opinion or rather with this action of not trying to stay beyond the 2 terms limit as a shrine to the constitution while some of his colleagues in west africa guinea ivory coast of all change their constitutions and run some referendums that allowed them to contest again for 30 a lot of people really appreciative of this particular effort i spoke to one of several who said this is in fact of very very important event in the history of nizkor or ugandan presidential candidate bobby wine says one of his bodyguards has

been killed by the police a pop star turned opposition politician says francis scenting. was deliberately run over happened while his convoy was taking a wounded journalist to seek medical help a spokesman for the military police has denied his hit and says he fell from a speeding car while the wind has emerged as the strongest challenger to uganda's long time present a 70 in next month's election. now the european union has embarked on one of the world's largest coronavirus vaccination campaigns with the ultimate aim of protecting 450000000 people across 27 countries health care workers and residents were 1st in line to receive the pfizer bun tech vaccine which came regulatory approval this week the continent's leaders called it a moment of unity and hope as dominic came reports now from the german capital in.

when get a good heart or was born good world was coming to terms with the so-called spanish flu pandemic now 101 years later she's become the 1st person in berlin to receive the bio on tech pfizer coronavirus vaccine as a resident of a care home she knows how deadly covert can be there out there several ferries and what is very dangerous we hear and read about it and there are so many people dying in other homes it's horrible and that's why it's so good that we can be vaccinated against it it is a big advantage for all of us who live here such scenes have been repeated in care homes in clinics across the european union this isn't that's made them i think that you know that the pandemic won't just disappear as of today but the vaccine is the beginning of the victory over the pandemic the vaccine is a game changer we have always known that in today's the 1st day of this new phase millions of doses of the vaccine have been dispatched to massive vaccination

centers around the e.u. in the run up to the new year in some places there have been isolated reports of problems with the cooling mechanisms required to keep the bio on tech pfizer vaccines safe but overall in the e.u. institutions there is confidence all of us also gets a hint of which we have made sure that in europe itself people get vaccines and we have a broad that's important for europe to make sure that if a vaccine doesn't work that we then have other candidates for it in the german capital the government's aim is to inoculate as many as 5000000 people by next april this is another of the mass vaccination centers the former airport in temple hoff 70 years ago this place was instrumental in the berley an airlift when fresh supplies of hope millions of berliners now once again it finds itself in the forefront this time in the fight against coated dominant cane al-jazeera at berlin's old temple port. well elsewhere israel has now entered its 3rd nationwide

coronavirus lockdown even as thousands of people are being vaccinated against the disease non-essential shops have been shot for the next 2 weeks and residents misstate within a kilometer of their homes the measures are in response to a recent surge in infections with around 4000 new cases reported on a daily basis officials are hopeful this could be the country's final lockdown as they look to ramp up the vaccination program 280000 people have been inoculated over the past week ari nasser is in west jerusalem and explains the nature of the restrictions. we're a few hours into this very full on lockdown basically in the country it's due to last about 2 weeks but health officials are saying that that is likely to be extended and it will reach about a total of 3 to 4 weeks numbers really of infection here have been really surging recently reaching about 4000 cases recorded per day but health officials also said

that if this lockdown hadn't come into place that those numbers could reach about 9000 a day in terms of the restrictions people are not allowed to go outside of a kilometer range away from their homes and most businesses are going to be closed except for anything that's considered essential so groceries and pharmacies and so on and so forth the big concern here though are schools schools are for the most part supposed to continue to be open to be open and health officials are worried that that is exactly the reason why the lockdown will be extended in terms of the vaccinations that you've mentioned the government says that about 250000 israelis have been vaccinated or over the past week and prime minister netanyahu said yesterday that they're hoping to reach about $150.00 vaccinations per day he also said that he spoke to madonna and fives there and asked them to meet that demand so

we'll just have to wait and see if those doses arrive and when bill arrives south korea saying that it will maintain its current coronavirus restrictions for another 6 days as new delhi cases remain at near record levels around a 1000 new infections are being reported every day health officials have called for measures around the capital to be tightened with the majority of cases being confirmed in the greatest seoul area gatherings of more than 4 people will remain banned nationwide until at least january 3rd ski resorts and on the terrace boats will also stay shot through the basing it period. watching out is there at live from london still ahead. if they cannot help us we really don't. in the depths of the freezing bosnian winter migrants left without shelter are desperate for help. unless investigators follow more than 500 marines on the national level to which add its own bomb morning before exploding.

will storm continues to back to the northwest of here you can see this massive cloud this color which has been sinking this way further south is behind this cold front significantly colder air coming for proper winter weather rock again across the british isles as we go through the next 24 hours or so and down into the central mediterranean just about italy and the balkans another nasty little low there that's been producing some very heavy snow fall as well snow will become a little more expansive across the out says we go on into monday some parts could see maybe a meter of snow further north the remnants of better that will dig down with cold northerly winds blasting in across many parts all the way down into france just 10

celsius but fours and fives as for london and paris with a little wintry mix there as the cold air really set saile as we go on in super tuesday notice what a rash of snow flurries there across the low countries pushing across into central and southern parts of france wins easing across southern areas of france but certainly nothing particularly pleasant nevertheless more showers there just around corsica pushing across into italy then just more showers too across a good part of the balkans for tuesday. an invitation to bear witness to all that life office. the highs the lows the trials and tribulations the unseen movements and everyday miracles the injustices the defiance the tests of character

and the personal victories the witness documentaries with a delicate touch on al-jazeera. the e.u. . back a look at main stories voters have defied the threat of violence to take part in elections in the central african republic the united nations says there was a massive turnout despite voter intimidation in one town process was launching peacefully say. the people of new share of also been voting in an election there which its potency the country's 1st democratic transition of power country's former interior minister is the favorite to succeed the current president mohamed to the

south. and the corona virus vaccine rollout has started in european union with the 1st of the blocks 450000000 residents given the job medical staff were ahead of the queue in italy one of the box most badly hit nations. all the recriminations have begun in the united states after millions of americans all their unemployment benefits expire at midnight the payments to around 14000000 people stopped after president trump refused to sign a pandemic relief bill into law a bipartisan stimulus package agreed by congress earlier this week would have extended the funds and till the month of march but trump called the bill a disgrace and said he wants to see stimulus checks increased from 600 $1.00 to 2000 tons he joins us live now from washington and tell us more about the consequences of trump's failure to sign this bill from $40000000.00 people will lose their extended over employment insurance because an enormous hold shipper

known really quite of the stones won't. up to strategically at least temporarily we know what he's up to he's playing golf right now in florida but what is his plan here because although he missed the deadline on saturday which means that unemployment insurance will now be interrupted he hasn't explicitly said whether he'd actually vetoed the stimulus bill as and the government funding bill that's connected to it and as long as we're in this sort of limbo congress can't really do much of these to be vetoes the bow. the congress can meet next week and attempt to override the veto but what it's looking increasingly clear is he might just be sitting on the bill what's called a pocket veto which means that he does nothing and then this session of congress expires on johnny the 3rd in congress has to begin all over again in the 34th to renegotiate another stimulus deal in the meantime there are more provisions that will expire the eviction moratorium would expire on johnny 31st which prevents

people from being thrown out of their homes during the pandemic for example so on the sunday morning talk shows we saw both democrats and republicans pleading with the president just to just to do something and preferably sign the bill because you don't get everything you want to even if you're the president of the united states we have a. legislative bodies and democrats control one republicans the other look if they were just the freestanding government funding bill i would almost certainly be voting against that but i think the covert relief measures are really really important and you know in my state as in many other states we have governors who are closing down businesses again people are out of work certainly through no fault of their own i think we need the extended unemployment benefits i think we need another round of the p.p.p. loans which are really grants to small businesses to keep their workforce a reaction from president elect joe biden. he tried did the president

on saturday released a statement where he called for the president to do something called the abdication of responsibility although actually progress is on that happy with president elect biden either because the democrats have proposed a vote on monday they're going to have a vote on monday on a relatively static completely style over the bill 'd on sending $2000.00 checks to americans and some progress is always joe biden he could be actually now saying ok i'll unite with donald trump let's get this done in congress but he's not doing that there is a suspicion that actually even democrats on terribly serious about signing stimulus bill simmons checks to americans individually because they also have this new liberal economic economic view that the you should help the poor quite so much really which is rather unfortunate that larry summers president obama's former big economics adviser was on t.v. last week saying we should give $2000.00 to the poor even though he's the man who bailed out wall street to the tune of billions of dollars so there's a suspicion of both sides there but these are the date these are things to look out

for now on monday will have the vote of the house on 2000 on sending $2000.00 checks to americans which bunny salazar said look we will vote on this let's get that done and then you can sign the rest of it truly but then that will go to the senate it's unlikely to pass that it just puts the republicans in a really difficult position because they're so scared about trump base it really does seem that perhaps the goal here is to make the republicans as uncomfortable as possible is that they now reject having stood behind donald trump for 4 years and even during some of the most insane claims about election fraud that they now have to stand against him and risk the ire of the trump base in that over the next over the coming week and i think that perhaps is because so many republicans have accepted joe biden's victories that seems to be the dominant theory right now in d.c. thank you very much you have to have a council in washington. or hundreds of syrian refugees have been forced to flee their makeshift camp in lebanon after it was set alight at least 3 people were

injured one local young people and count residents clashed on saturday use with an event reported to have set the camp near tripoli on fire aid agencies say recent tensions have been fuelled by racism and locals blaming more than a 1000000 syrian migrants for taking their jobs. well elsewhere more than a 1000 migrants have spent another night sleeping out in the open in the freezing bosnian winter this week a fire destroyed a camp that near the border with croatia leaving them desperate for shelter has had young reports. these migrants have nowhere to go they're stranded in a refugee camp and most herzegovina their goal is to reach western europe but for now their focus is surviving the winter storm the lip a camp near the croatian border has no heat and no proper facilities lined outside in subzero temperatures refugees wait for a donated meal and perhaps a sleeping bag from the red cross we are living like and the most they went on they

were living like better. so please i depressed. you i know i us all and yours to help us because if they cannot help us we really die so please help us a fire broke out on wednesday the same day the camp was meant to be shut down a un official says it was likely said by migrants frustrated with the schedule closure and lack of alternatives now most of the infrastructure that house more than 1500 people is destroyed or damaged diddy's it no anything and no blankets and no. better place for sleep can you know that there is a many problems and i to go rebuild right but there are reports of frostbite and hypothermia proper shoes is a luxury many here can't afford the e.u. has warned bosnia the thousands of migrants face

a freezing winter without shelter but politics is getting in the way. plans to relocate migrants have been met with protests and resistance from residents and authorities have so far failed to find new accommodations for thousands of people from asia the middle east and north africa the situation has been described as a disaster opon a disaster and the u.n. is concerned things could get worse. again al-jazeera when all the stories of following rescues are searching for several people missing after avalanches and heavy snow fall north of the iranian capital at least 11 people died when blizzards hit the popular algos mountain range me at teheran on friday leaving many climbers stranded another 7 were taken to hospital with frostbite right present rescuers say the snow and poor weather is making them mission more difficult now u.s. federal agents say that they are following more than 500 leads after an explosion

that rocked the center of nashville early on christmas morning the home and what place of a 63 year old man named anthony warner being searched on the outskirts of the city one of the main lines of inquiry is to identify what are thought to be human remains found in the wreckage of the bun tout motor home friday's boston just 3 people damaged buildings and hit telephone and internet services across the vast swathes of tennessee let's go live now to john hendren who is following the story from nashville john 1st of all what are we learning about the investigation into the case. hi mary and that's right we're learning that this gentleman warner is increasingly at the center of the investigation police searched his home and they found some intriguing facts he apparently owned a motor home that was very similar to the one that blew up in downtown nashville he had gifted his home a month earlier november 25th to one in california without telling her about it.

so police are increasingly focusing on him and it's intriguing that they say they found human remains but that there were no casualties among the general public out there so that seems to suggest that what they're doing is focusing on the possibility that one man one person committed suicide inside that recreational vehicle we heard from the the officers who responded to that scene possibly saving lives by clearing people out of that area after they heard warnings broadcast from that r.v. telling people to evacuate because of a pending detonation and interestingly one officer said that in the midst of all this eerily the broadcaster was sending out the music as well in the last thing that he played before the blast was petunia clark's downtown that was just one of the many details we learned from these officers some of whom were knocked to the ground afterwards and we're just hearing right now that there is another incidence

going going on right now in lebanon 10 is c. not far from here where the police have surrounded a big box truck that has broadcasting some kind of messages in there now sending a robot to explore that truck we don't know if this is related whether it's a copycat incident but that is the latest we're hearing and the explosion occurred outside of an $18000.00 transmission sent to john knocking out in an internet service is that to some people has been restored now. it has not in fact and i talked to someone this morning who was about 60 kilometers away in a town called spring hill said that the internet was still out in that area has been erected in these mobile communications centers which will help cell phone coverage in the area but 41 buildings were damaged or completely leveled in that explosion so it'll take months if not years for the city of nashville to

rebuild so that process is going to take a while but eighty's as in the short term they should be able to restore both mobile and internet service that's what residents are coping with now from nashville john hendren thank you very much all the pandemic has decimated tourism in spain's canary islands lockdowns and fight restrictions have left hotels and resorts sitting empty in the new era of walking from home they try to turn that into an opportunity as bonnet smith reports from gran canaria the government wants people to swap their home office for one by the beach. is this your view when working from home during winter lockdowns. more likely in the northern hemisphere at least this is what you'll be enduring it doesn't have to be like this. the canary islands has launched a campaign to attract 30000 remote workers it's not been

a tough sell you know makes my companies over in america or in some people of the city live in the mountains ok you know i think i've been supportive of people kind of doing looking off themselves and being in the right spot for them as opposed to really caring where exactly they are. empty hotels deserted pools and very quiet beaches european winter lockdowns means the canary islands is going to salvage very little from the season one spanish bank says this region will be the hardest hit by the economic fallout from the coronavirus in spain the canaries once remote workers to stay months at a time here you can rent a bedroom and share space with other digital nomads so you're never too lonely i actually feel like i've gotten more done here. because i have this nice set up and i can balance it quite well with a nice life definitely not the strict then the word i would use would be fired and having the freedom to do things that i want to do according to the local

restrictions russi go for a $1000.00 a month they call it colin says he booked until february 8 months ago some corporations that were working remotely or least partially were even hiding it because maybe they were afraid of investors what people would think because a lot of people felt that remote work is not work and it's not only work but it's actually sometimes often more productive before the pandemic the european commission says that fewer than 5 percent of the workforce usually work from home but as a result of the outbreak of covert 19 that's shot up to 40 percent on the. cover it has shown all the citizens of this planet we can be very productive working from home at the same time we can balance our life our family in a better way but from the caribbean to york to the far east a growing number of countries are offering visas and deals to tempt remote workers

. the biggest risk is perhaps getting sand in your lap to burn smith al-jazeera gran canaria. well you can go on our web site al jazeera dot com for all the latest updates now top stories and live streaming as well. just want to update you on our headlines this hour now voters have defied intimidation and the threat of violence to tape on elections in the central african republic there were reports of voter housman in one town but united nations says the process was largely peaceful and there was a massive turnout present fast and are charged with vera is a 2nd term opponents accuse him of vote rigging and trying to get the ballot disposed of hundreds of troops joined the thousands strong u.n. peacekeeping force already in place.