freewinds ga sudi on al-jazeera. after holding out for a week u.s. president donald trump signs a coronavirus aid and spending bill. time about this and this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up iran is to begin human trials of a locally produced coronavirus vaccine to science and stopped it getting other drugs from the west hong kong pro-democracy activists go on trial in china for trying to escape the territory via a speedboat. and voters in central african republic a praise for defying on the groups and coming out to vote in sunday's election.

as president i'm told has finally signed a coronavirus relief bill after refusing to do so for a week the delay meant some unemployment benefits lapse piling the pressure on millions of americans struggling because of the pandemic rosslyn jordan reports from washington d.c. . it really is a disgrace on tuesday u.s. president donald trump released a video calling the $900000000000.00 covert relief bill insufficient suggesting who wouldn't sign it on sunday with no reporters or cameras covering the event trawled signed the bill for an estimated $14000000.00 people who lost their jobs during the pandemic timing was off their unemployment benefits ran out just before christmas

and they'll have to wait until after january 1st before the government can help them. the bill will pay for other things keeping the federal government open through september 30th the just abusing of culbut 19 vaccine. housing assistance and in a fiction moratorium financial aid for small businesses and a one time check of $600.00 to most americans it means $600.00 which is not a lot of money most of them say is far from adequate to meet their needs but it's something if we had not signed the bill they would have been no money. trump had said he wanted the checks boost it to $2000.00 for american adult something opposition democrats welcomed and something his fellow republicans rejected you don't get everything you want even if you're the president of the united states we have a 2 legislative bodies and democrats control one republican see 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 without hearing from trump himself it's not clear why after now well he didn't sign the bill that's the most important thing and he was under enormous pressure from republicans who now want him that it would be very destructive of his legacy and also of the republican majority in the senate if he did not sign the bill donald trump released a statement saying that not only did he want congress to cut some of the spending from the relief bill but he also wants them to pass a separate piece of legislation this week that would give every american adult $2000.00 to help deal with pandemic related expenses well the big question is whether or not the president's fellow republicans say they're going to go along with this extra spending otherwise it's hard to see how the president will get what

he says he wants rosalyn jordan al-jazeera washington well political analyst ari com says it's clear the trauma's main motivation is to keep republicans and democrats at all it's. well this is president donald trump's last stand at one being relevant but also to being able to cause more chaos and discord in washington this is a president who called the build the disgrace even after his own treasury secretary steve the new ch'ien was part of the negotiations that crafted that $600.00 stimulus check that would go to every american as well as the additional unemployment benefits and now here we are president down with trump continuing to threaten to not only hold millions of americans who are out of work hostage but the entire nation remember we're not just talking about i stimulus package but we're also talking about funding that would keep the federal government open and so the president continued to threaten only to back down and sign

a bill this is only going to increase the amount of economic pain that millions of americans will fail because now that's a week that they will have to forgo this much needed money and it's also important to note that many of these issues that the president was railing against many of these were issues that was in the president's own budget that he sent to congress so we saw the president get a lot of what he wanted including money for the border wall along the u.s. mexico southern border so again these are issues that president donald trump lobbied for that he pushed for and he got most of what he wanted but now again what we're seeing is a president who continues to change things at a moment's notice and it just sends people into chaos iran has to begin human trials of a locally produced coronavirus vaccine pharmaceutical companies been registering volunteers following successful tests on to run has struggled to get its hands in all the vaccine so far because of sanctions and is banking sector those their body

has the latest from to one. it is a race against time for the scientists at a lab near the capital tehran they're working on developing a covert 1000 vaccine a job made more important because of u.s. let sanctions against iran pharmaceutical company shuffle farm it started registering volunteers for human trials after tests were successfully carried out on animals. in the 1st stage we have candidates who get 2 doses of the vaccine and we have 56 people to test on and we'll do it in small groups once we're successful with the 1st dose then we'll carry out the 2nd phase since the beginning with observed all world health organization and us f.d.a. protocols as we deliver our results to the health ministry while the work continues here the head of iran's medical council is urging the world health organization to take measures against u.s. sanctions that have prevented iran from purchasing covert 1000 vaccines. doctors

after sunday says millions of iranians need the vaccine soon. the pandemic is a global issue no country should be isolated when it comes to a pandemic if there isn't a fair distribution of the vaccine at the chain of infection does not break no country will be safe. president has done rouhani is blaming one man for iran's shortcomings in fighting this pandemic us president donald trump. our people should know that for any action we plan to carry out for importing medicine vaccines and equipment we should coast drug 100 times. iran is the worst affected country in the middle east with more than a 1000000 covered $1000.00 cases and nearly $55000.00 people killed severe restrictions on its banking sector has made it difficult for iran to pay for the vaccine this isn't the 1st time that iran has faced such restrictions in buying medicine from the broad over the years it's become increasingly difficult to find

foreign medicine in the country so in local pharmacies you can usually find the reigning version of the medicine you're looking for and officials hope that will soon be the case for the covert 900 back seen as wall. but there is the issue of public trust and health officials we randomly asked 10 people in the city if they would trust an iranian covert 1000 vaccine have said yes while the other half have their doubts that i want to get the iranian made vaccine because i don't believe in a rainy and made products but. yes sure i'll use it because it's my domestically and manufactured based on w.h.o. standards i don't think there's a problem while the politicians look to buy foreign coverage 1000 vaccines by circumventing sanctions back in this lab scientists continue to work on producing their own version officials hope by spring they will be able to roll up the rainy uncovered 1000 vaccine to millions of people. dorsetshire pari al jazeera tara.

chinese citizen journalist has been jailed for 4 years for her life stream reporting of the early days of the corona virus outbreak junk science videos from will handle more widely shared and social media platforms in february is among at least 8 whistleblowers who are facing punishment for their coverage of the outbreak the chinese government's promoted its success in halting the spread of the virus while suppressing any mention of its early failings in containing the pandemic. japan's prime minister says a temporary ban on a rival's of all known resident foreigners is necessary to save lives and support in more cases of the contagious variant of couldn't a virus which was 1st detected in the u.k. bantry ban is going to last until the end of january in japan struggling to contain a recent surge of infections with more than 221000 cases confirmed so far south korea is also recorded 3 cases of the new highly contagious corona virus

variant infected people traveled home from the u.k. last week before the government announced a temporary ban on all air traffic to and from britain south korea's in the middle of a 3rd wave of infections around a 1000 new cases are being reported every day. 10 hong kong pro-democracy protesters are in the court across the border in mainland china part of a group of 12 who were caught at sea in august trying to flee for taiwan on a speedboat the accused youngest of whom is only 16 face charges of crossing the border illegally it had no access to their families or lawyers from hong kong government has also charged them for actions related to last year's protests. joining us live now from hong kong what do we know about what's happening in court so. well the trial has just got under way and that change in court now at 12 activists and pro-democracy members have been charged but we only have 10

of those 12 appearing in court on monday for that trial and that's because 2 of them are minors and they'll face court another day now the last of a while the lawyer for some of the families has said that they will plead guilty and as a result if they do plead guilty here suggested that we may actually get a verdict on monday now under mainland laws the penalty for crossing illegally the border into the mainland could face around one year anyone who's organizing the illegal crossing of the mainland border a could face 70 is jail and anyone involved in a syndicate could face life in prison now we do know there was tight security around that course for the starting of that hearing the families have been unable to attend this particular court hearing the trial on monday because they found out on christmas day there is this hearing would go ahead on the monday but in the last little while we've been told that the public can now access this court hearing and change in the authorities there have said that simply that there's no room for media because it's all the seats have been taken up but as you mentioned the

detention for these 12 members they've been in detention for 128 days with very little contact with their families and the families are simply hoping that they do get a verdict on monday and it will be made public because they simply fear for the fate of this group and as you mentioned one was as young as 16 years of age. when they're arrested in august earlier this year there i know that there are some supporters of the protesters have been gathering in hong kong. what kind of reaction generally has there been to this and also of course from the families but internationally as well. we had a small gathering in hong kong on monday at an office where a group of supporters have called for the release of these 12 activists they delivered a petition to the liaison office but of course all efforts and pleas for the 12 to be released and sent back to hong kong have been denied so far and the families as we mentioned have been unable to talk to the group an issue they appointed their own lawyers but chinese authorities intervened and then

a probe pointed to state approved lawyers and sit instead it's been very little communication between the 2 groups but there's been a lot of international reaction to the arrest and the charging of these 12 activists the u.s. consulate in beijing on monday has once again called or demanded the release of these activists from china back to hong kong the u.s. secretary of state might compare he's also called for their release and he said that this is their only crime was fleeing tyranny now of course the national people's congress the standing committee their representative in hong kong has rejected all calls for their release he said they said that china is taking its case very seriously and he's also denied that the fight has already been decided by the chinese courts so of course we're going to check in to see what the verdict is if there is one in court today but for now thanks very much indeed sarah clarke talking to us from hong kong. still ahead on al-jazeera senior egyptian officials hold talks with libya's tripoli government after years of backing its rivals what this could mean for diplomatic relations and the wonder woman sequel scores big at

the u.s. box office offering some hope to the film industry hit hard by the pandemic. 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 rack again across the british isles as we go through the next 24 hours or so and down and see 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 say the cold air really sets same as we go on into or choose day notice quite 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. if you look at the history of morphine if you look at the history of our own if you look at the can these stang's do not enter the world as evil underworld drugs they enter the world as medicine. a new 3 part documentary series looks at

the history and geopolitics of drug trafficking and its impact on the world today drug trafficking politics and power coming soon on al-jazeera. the arab. we want to go to 0 a reminder of our top stories this hour u.s. president donald trump assigned a coronavirus relief bill after initially refusing to approve it until congress amended sections of pandemic aid and spending delay meant millions of americans temporarily lost unemployment benefits. iran is to begin human trials of

a locally produced coronavirus vaccine to iran has struggled to get its hands in other vaccines because of the sanctions on its banking sector. 10 hong kong pro-democracy protesters are in court across the border in mainland china they're part of a group of 12 that were caught at sea while trying to flee to taiwan they had no access to their own lawyers or families. the f.b.i. says the man suspected of setting off a bomb in the u.s. city of nashville died in the explosion investigators gather d.n.a. evidence from the home of 63 year old anthony warner and matched it with human remains found at the bottom scene they believe he worked alone 3 people were injured and about 40 buildings damaged in the incident on christmas day. central african republic government has praised people who came out to vote in defiance of armed groups trying to disrupt the election election authority says there's been a good voter turnout despite what it called minor security concerns in some areas

catherine so it reports from the capital ball game. people in bunky have been on edge for days now that's after the armed movement. for change threatened to march to the city and destruct the vote the group's leaders didn't want an election but a transitional government and the full implementation of a peace deal signed between 14 armed groups and the government into 1000 despite the. palling stations opened on time and voting in the capital was fairly smooth. i am here to vote for peace i had a board problems in the battle of the country but i had to do my beat president. has been arching people to help security forces stop the rebels the national army backed by un peacekeepers randon forces russian military instructors and private security contractors are all on the ground france also has

a military presence in the central african republic. every 5 years central african 3 choose their leader responsible for this mission or the a in each and the constitutional court and the date set is the 27th this is what all central africa is comfortable and i myself came to fulfill my civic duty. and there are 17 presidential candidates on the ballot paper but. the sage to be president may challenge he says he's worried that people in the sound villages and towns in the provinces one able to vote because of the security situation. unfortunately i have the impression that more than half of the country did not vote which is what we feared when we asked for the conditions to be set for every citizen to be able to exercise their right to vote i have the impression that many have been deprived of the right to vote and that is a pity want troops have been deployed to troubled areas and the capital. speaking

to people in different neighborhoods in the city just trying to get a sense of the voting part and many have told us that they have voted and they're voting for others they are worried about the security situation in past. ses he has voted in 2 elections that is not interested this time i was born in this country but i feel i have been marginalized as a muslim was the point of latina again some political analysts are concerned that i think stream. could affect the credibility of the polls up until fishel we talked to say they are confident that won't be the case final results are expected in the coming days catherine 0 bunky sera gyptian officials have visited libya's capital tripoli for talks with the u.n. ahead nice government there it's believed they are pushing to normalize relations after backing the government's wiles and years of conflict and the china reports

from tripoli. it's the 1st time in 6 years that officials at this level have met libya's internationally recognized government in tripoli. the visit of the egyptian delegation to tripoli was carried out by prior coordination between the foreign ministries of the 2 countries the deliberation was responsive and positive in the talks based on today's meeting will witness a development in the diplomatic ties with cairo. the relationship between cairo and the government of national court was cut in 2014 and around that time president obviously the house sisi of egypt began supporting order to flee from have to or who held dominance in the east. in april 2019 with the egyptian support after began a military offensive on tripoli the g.n.a.s. asked turkey for help and with uncurious support g.n.a.t.

forces successfully retook western libya in june but not before residential areas a field hospital and an immigrant detention center were shelled the attacks to accusations of war crimes. the visit by the egyptian delegation comes only a day after a visit by the turkish defense minister and senior military officials and cora has military experts on the ground and are training the g.l.a. forces. yet the unknown that. it seems there is a political settlement and this visit by the turkish defense minister yesterday was not a coincidence libya's increasingly becoming important regionally and internationally egypt may now feel that they've lost a major partner in tripoli or maybe they now support a political settlement. some believe the visit by the egyptian delegation is a step in the right direction we need to ensure that the international community

remains united also to keep players like egypt and turkey khamenei messages to the parties that they sponsor and tell them compromise is inclusive reconciliation among libyans rather than launching a new and separate initiatives. the united nations is also working to build trust between western and eastern libya the rival sides agreed to hold elections next year but they have so far failed to reach an agreement on the shape of any new government although there is some anger over the visit by the egyptian delegation many here believe the normalization of ties between tripoli and cairo may help fuel a political settlement to the year long conflict now traina al-jazeera tripoli. gulf states have held high level talks via video link to lay the groundwork for next week's we gentles summit among the issues of steps towards ending the blockade on qatar saudi arabia egypt bahrain and the u.a.e.

imposed a land sea and air in boggo in 2017 that accuse qatar as government of financing terrorism which denies talks to resolve the standoff are reported to have made progress in recent weeks ahead of the riyadh summit. israel has entered its 3rd national coronavirus locked on all non-essential shops are closed and people have been told not to go more than a kilometer from their homes the measures are in response to a surge in infections with about 4000 new cases reported daily officials are hopeful this could be its final lockdown as they look to ramp up mass vaccinations against covert 19. new year revelers in sydney won't be allowed to watch the city celebrated far worse in person this year up to one and a half 1000000 people normally gather to enjoy the display but authorities have extended stay at home orders over concerns about a cluster of new coronavirus cases people who live in the city center will be allowed to invite up to 10 others into their homes for the celebrations but their

guests must apply for permits we think it's too much of a health risk having people from the raisins and from sydney and from broader regional areas congregate all in the save a day in the advice to date has to all of us spain try to avoid the c.b.d. day nice safe we're going to say to those frontline workers would pay to see invited will find another opportunity during the recognize what you've done. days after identifying a fast spreading covert 19 mutations south africa has surpassed 1000000 infections since the pandemic began this gnomic south africa the 1st country on the african continent to reach that number doctors are reporting a huge surge of hospital admissions putting strain on already overburdened health infrastructure presidents from a force is expected to announce tougher restrictions to curb the spread of the virus the pandemic has decimated tourism in spain's canary islands

lockdowns and flights restrictions of left hotels and resorts sitting empty so in the era of working from home they're trying to turn that into an opportunity has been in smith reports from drunken area the government wants people to stop 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 is launched a campaign to attract 30000 remote workers it's not been a tough sell. my company in america and some people. live in the mountains. and you know i think they're supportive of people kind of doing looking after being in the right spot for them it's. exactly that. empty hotels deserted pools and very quiet beaches european winter lockdowns means the canary

islands is going to salvage very little from this season spanish bank says this region will be the hardest hit by the economic fallout from the coronavirus in spain. the canaries wants 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 inspired 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 co living it's fully booked until february a month ago or 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 thought 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 e.u.'s work force 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 that we can be very productive working from home at the same time we can balance our life our family in a better way from the caribbean to europe 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 laptop burnet smith al-jazeera gran canaria. the latest wonder woman film has posed as one of the highest debut since the pandemic began that made more than $36000000.00 in theaters worldwide over the christmas holiday weekend it's a glimmer of hope for an industry that's been largely shot done since the pandemic

began millions also watch the film on streaming platform h.b.o. max. daniel smith rossi is a professor of media and communications that said mary's college in california he says the traditional film industry may not fully recover after the pandemic because of new competition it's going to be strange i think hollywood is going to have to take its belts a bit although the streaming services are very well positioned. with their model and that and that worries some people in hollywood because their model of a model that was sort of pioneered by netflix and then taken up by amazon and others it does a lot at the beginning it pays the creators really well but then in the back end they don't really get that much like they used to with all the deals that were standard townley 2 or 3 years ago so it is a feel your question was more about consumers i think that there are going to be

dieter's once we see vaccines i do think people will go back in america to theaters to some degree. i don't think you're going to see numbers like you saw for avengers endgame in the summer of 2019 those numbers i think i don't know that we'll ever see those at least in the united states and maybe not for very long. this is all to see of these of the top stories u.s. president donald trump has signed a coronavirus relief bill after initially refusing to approve it until congress amended sections on pandemic aid and spending delay meant millions of americans temporarily lost unemployment benefits iran has to begin human trials of a locally produced coronavirus vaccine to her on a struggle to get its hands on other vaccines because of sanctions on its banking sector.