health insurance for their work in exposing themselves and very few seem to have it yet there may be a bright side people who look down on them as skilled migrants now say they are essential to control the virus and receive messages on the scene that we are you know as i was a nurse back home what i am doing is not all that different from my helping others . but warning to people in the united kingdom vaccines are on the way but another lockdown may be coming soon as well. as the whole romany watching al-jazeera life my headquarters here in doha also coming up a grim milestone in south africa as the number of creative virus infections passes 1000000. also after holding out for a week u.s.

president donald trump signs into law a $2.00 trillion dollar coronavirus aid and spending package. that iran is to begin human trials of a locally produced coronavirus vaccine as the u.s. sanctions impede efforts to buy doses from the west. welcome to the program governments around the world are scrambling to roll out vaccination programs as rising coronavirus cases pile more pressure on the hospitals scientists in the u.k. say stricter lockdowns may be needed next month and the pushing for secretary schools to stay closed but a government minister says the expected approval of another vaccine could see restrictions lifted more quickly india has started to dry run of its vaccination program to test its transport and cold storage facilities as the country's recorded its lowest number of daily infections in nearly 6 months. meanwhile iran is

beginning human trials of a locally produced vaccine after successful tests on animals to her honour's had trouble securing other drugs because of sanctions on its banking sector and over in south africa well it's become the 1st country on the continent to surpass 1000000 cases but a fast spreading variant of the virus is expected to force the government to unveil even tougher covert 19 restrictions well more on all of that shortly but 1st a dream barber is in london where efforts to improve the oxford astra zeneca vaccine could speed up the loosening of restrictions. it's possible that later on monday there will be a decision by the government a cabinet cabinet minister michael gove has said that the situation is under review the government has all along insisted that one of its priorities was keeping schools open during term time so people's g back in early 'd january but it's now come out that last week in

a meeting with ministers the advisory group of scientists known as sage told them that even with a national lockdown on the same model as we saw here in november which shore schools stay open the our number the reproduction rate of covered 19 would go above one sometime in january that's an extremely worrying prospect for not just the public here but for people who work in the health care system over the weekend saturday was said by n.h.s. officials to be one of the busiest days ever and many hospitals in different regions reporting that their intensive care units a virtually full they really don't want to see that our number start to roys so possible action on schools because these the advisors said that specifically secondary schools should be closed to try to drive down transmissions it's thought

that that's a bigger driver than in primary schools but they're blaming it on that mutated variant of covered 19 but also they pointed out a new a different variant of the virus which was said to have come from south africa and they say that raises concerns about immunity among the population well on that the vaccinations of course here in the u.k. have started there restarting on monday after a break over the weekend and also the government is hoping that in the next few days there might be approval of the other alternative vaccine developed by oxford university and astra zeneca. well in south african cases have been rapidly rising which also has more from port elizabeth. also the africans in general are worried but then again this was expected it is a festive season and people have been traveling up and down the country visiting family and friends and for days government officials have been telling to the africans that when they do travel they should try and wear mosques and they should

not attend public gatherings where some of them were not listening so throughout the days in the weeks you saw people posting on social media parties they were attending called superspy the events where many weren't wearing masks and many were and practicing social distancing we are in eastern cape province this is one of the provinces where this new variant has been identified imported elizabeth is a hot spot in the area and speak to many people here you get people will tell you i've had at least 7 people in my family who died because at 19 isabel is going to far away from here with a problem the person got sick many people in that area went to his funeral and those people ended up getting sick so it is getting very very real for people particularly in hotspots such as port elizabeth and these think a problem for. the u.s. president donald trump has finally signed a crooner virus released after refusing to do so for a week the delay meant some unemployment benefits lapsed parmalee pressure on

millions of americans struggling because of the pandemic jordan has more 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 the 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 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 he acted now well he didn't sign the bill that's the most important thing and he was under enormous

pressure from republicans who marked 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 bell 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 let's cross over to washington d.c. while officially standing by alan so the president wants to give more money to american people but counties will not happen in time. it's unlikely to happen certainly nancy pelosi who's the leader of the democrats in

the house will put a measure before the house in the next few hours suggesting that that $2000.00 check be issued she knows that it will pass the house because it has a democratic majority but many republicans there will vote against it and she wants to make sure that they are on the record as voting against a $2000.00 check for many americans it will then go to the senate probably on choose that and we don't mitch mcconnell is against this idea of $2000.00 he wasn't keen when donald trump spoke about to he what behind the scenes to make sure that the president signed the bill as it was with this $600.00 check and so if it goes to the senate it's unlikely to pass there it's a sign perhaps that donald trump is losing his influence in the senate to a degree but also it's nancy pelosi playing a bit of politics she understands that she's not going to get extra money for people but she said only will get the political win by putting republicans on the

record as voting against help for the american people during a pandemic it also seems alan that congress is about sort of override a veto the president made only defense also roys nation bill i mean what does that tell us really now about the president's influence and power while he has one less than just a few weeks in office. that's right the president has issued 9 vetoes during his 4 years in office but this is the farce one that congress might vote to overwrite and there's a reason for that because the republicans believe they have protection here that they're not essentially going up against the president but they're standing up for american armed forces this is the national defense bill it has been passed 59 years in a row this congress doesn't want to be the one that son who fell out fell on fell down on the job and so they're likely to take the majority that they had in passing the bill in and making it veto proof so they need 2 thirds majority in the house 2

thirds in the senate donald trump initially vetoed it 1st of all because he said there's provisions in the bill to rename bases that were named after confederate generals and then changed tack to say he wanted to see an additional provision which gave liability protection to tech giants and he wanted that in the bill now doesn't actually relate to defense matters but there were many many people who said look what we'll do with that separately just sign this bill but no the president decided to veto it so what will happen well it will go to the house they have a 2 thirds majority many republicans on in time because there's still a way because of the christmas break but that doesn't really matter it's 2 thirds of those who vote rather than 2 thirds of those who are elected and then it goes to the senate can the senate hold up well just one senator needs to speak to hold up the whole process and ron paul the republican from kentucky is likely to do that but mitch mcconnell believes he can get this through on january the 3rd now you

might be thinking january the 3rd that the same point in american politics for some reason well it is it's the day that the new congress takes office at midday on january the 3rd mitch mcconnell believes in the elio as of january 3rd before this congress is all done he thinks he might be able to squeeze this bill through now it's important as well because. one issue is that republicans are terribly scared of don't trump his power is winning but to as i say they can throw up the defense of hey this was for the defense of the country look at the big cyber attack there's a lot of money there for cyber protection but also this provides pay rises and bonuses to people right across all the armed services so that's what i was voting for not against the president but mainly for that that gives them an element of protection and they think that will be helpful because even though he just has a couple of weeks left in office donald trump still has a large amount of power with the base of the republican party helen fisher the in

washington d.c. with an update thanks very much on. now india's government is carrying out an early turns to its current virus vaccination program it's doing a 2 day trial run of the vaccine campaign across 4 states officials are hoping to run checks on the country's transport arrangements in cold storage facilities in india hopes to provide 300000000 vaccine doses in the 1st phase of its immunization campaign correspondent elizabeth. new delhi. precisely because of the scale involved in vaccinating india's population and that is why the states of. punjab have begun this 2 day trial run of the vaccine to a number of hospitals community and primary health care centers private facilities rural outreach centers testing everything from the transport arrangements for the vaccine to the cold storage to the deployment of workers the app that's used to

register and monitor people who are receiving the vaccines crowd control centers to ensure that their social distancing and what they're doing is around 25 people are coming to each vaccination session they've already been identified they mostly helped with health care workers who will be the 1st beneficiaries of the vaccine and tens of thousands of workers have been trained in administering the vaccine now india already has the world's biggest vaccination program it's called the universal immunization program where more than 50000000 entrants and pregnant mothers are vaccinated every year but health experts say that the cold storage is already in a sorry state that vaccines aren't always stored monitored properly that fridge temperature gauges don't work often rendering vaccines unfit for use and so it is going to be a huge challenge for the government to vaccinate it says it wants to vaccinate

hundreds of millions of people. iran is to begin human trials of a locally produced coronavirus vaccine pharmaceutical company has been registering volunteers following successful tests on animals to her and her struggle to get its hands on other vaccines because of sanctions on its banking sector. has the latest from to her. 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 we have 56 people to test on and will 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 and he says millions of iranians need the vaccine soon. upon the 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 new. president hassan rouhani is blaming one man for iran's shortcomings in fighting this pandemic us president donald trump. and our people should know that for any action we plan to carry out for importing medicine vaccines and equipment we should coast 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 for 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 1000 back scene 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 won't get the iranian made vaccine because i don't believe in a rainy and made products but then. yes sure all 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 out the rainy uncovered 1000 vaccine to millions of people or such a pari al-jazeera tara. well still ahead here on al-jazeera voters in central african republic a praise for defying on groups been going out to use in sunday's election. the wonder woman sequel schools began the u.s. box office offering some hope to a film industry hard hit by the pandemic stay with us here on earth in line for.

how low we've got more very wintry weather pushing towards japan now we've got something of a rest by to present but as we go on through the next couple of days they spanned of right sleet and snow will sink its way further south was across northern areas of china through the korean peninsula and that she could see pushing across into her. thanks so for example 3 degrees celsius there on shoes day no higher than around minus 7 in the heat of the day for where to stay that really sets the scene for what is going on very heavy snow fall this is likely to cause widespread destruction across a good part of japan yet again as we go on through the next few days remember just the last couple of weeks will say we see some very heavy snowfall here i'm afraid that is back but china things a good deal dry crisp sunshine top temperature in shanghai for around 0 celsius sunshine here across a good part of south asia but northern areas of india just around the northern plains will still have problems with the fog and smoke that extends across into pakistan travel disruption certainly on the cards here over the coming days i have

been some flights canceled as a result of the dense fog further south it's about the heavy rain some showers coming back into the far south of india parts of slang for also seeing some lively showers those showers continue making their way further west. the revolution classical music known for his extravagant productions and planning says around the world. that his success hasn't come without controversy andre rieu discusses the impact is what has happened in the classical music industry. g.c.r. . unprompted and uninterrupted discussions. from our london broadcast center. on al-jazeera. or.

welcome back to al-jazeera with me celeron the reminder of our top stories scientists in the u.k. say stricter measures may be needed next month and pushing for secondary schools to stay closed but a government minister says expected approval of another vaccine could see restrictions lifted more quickly. here's president all trumper signed a coronavirus release bill after initially refusing to approve it until congress amended sections on the pandemic aid and spending bill now the delay meant millions of americans temporarily lost unemployment benefits and iran is to begin to human trials of a locally produced rotavirus vaccine to her on a struggle to get its hands on other vaccines because of sanctions on its banking sector. a chinese citizen journalist has been jailed for 4 years for her live

stream reporting of the early days of the coronavirus our break shanghai john's videos for work hard who are widely shared on social media platforms in february she's among at least 8. chinese whistleblowers who are facing punishment for their coverage of the outbreak the un human rights office has condemned shuns imprisonment calling it an example of the excessive clampdown on freedom of expression linked to the pandemic shuns lawyers say that she was not given a fair trial so the government and when the official unveiled the evidence we as lawyers had no chance of producing evidence to the contrary so this was one likely reason behind why it was a speedy rushed hearing you know. what i'm most worried about is that she's such a determined person or she still thinks she's innocent and we both pleaded her innocence in court and the court gave such a harsh sentence she's probably more determined to continue her hunger strike until

the very end so i'm very worried about her health and her life central african republic government has praised voters for braving the ballot box despite threats by a coalition of rebel groups to disrupt the election and the election authority says there was a good turn up despite what it called minor security concerns in some areas president fast enough to dare is seeking a 2nd term he accused former president francois busies a of plotting with rebels to overthrow the government catherine soy has this update from bondi. both the u.n. and the. statement. of the country went ahead smoothly but they also talk about the problem parts of the country. people want to the border areas where there's a huge presence of rebels we've been hearing this from forces while those disruptions in our own country. people hiding out in the bushes afraid

to come out to vote because all the groups and. we're being told all of you know getting into polling stations shooting in the air. in some of these places the u.n. say that they send in reinforcements. commission also says that there was delays. because of the security situation and so on and also in some areas pools. but overall. we have been talking to opposition leaders who are confab about the vote going forward that's what people are looking at the vote. how many people. and people. to sort of. vote it's credible. to the spokesman would say that. he's going to be. voted out but he hopes that

he's confident that this is going to be so low as to. be so low as to this election. action that could lead to peaceful transition of power about 70000000 people const the ballots to choose a successor to president mamadou. i mean from the company. president. not to stay in power but to elect a successor. he chose to step aside at the end of his 2nd term and a time some west african leaders tweak their country's constitution to remain in office the significance of this day is not lost on the 69 the or president that this is today is a special day for us it is also and most of all a special day phoenicia which will experience for the 1st time in its history

a democratic change over and i hope that this change will be the 1st step towards other changes in order to solidify our democratic process i hope this 1st change over will enable him to solidify its reputation as a democratic country in africa and in the world and this is the man he designated as successor former minister of interior and 40 affairs it was a momentous challenge by 29 other candidates among them 2 former heads of state and a former prime minister. who senior says he has voted in every election since independence and easy again to choose a leader for. a 2 day wonder when to every time i do this is a duty to my country but also expecting our leaders will fix our problems by force immutable because it's the thrill of voting for the 1st time oh my god i'm what i can i can tell you it's exciting it's like no other i lack casting their ballot the elections were held and safety concerns after an uptick in violence killed more

than 50 people this month among them members of new forces many voters list security and poverty as their main concerns now attacks by armed groups near the border with niger mali and riki in a fossil have killed hundreds of soldiers and civilians in recent years the local economies also been tarred by covered 94 in the prices of its main export your reign as well as a long term closure of the nigerian border that many essential goods are imported of course. sale the elections as a success for the most. spot. there are few places where the elections cannot be held by many others we were able to organize voting despite security threats result of the elections as predicted to be announced within 5 days and ratified by the constitutional court in 2 weeks i will need 50 percent of the vote plus one to

avoid a runoff otherwise the top 2 candidates will head to a 2nd round in february next year i am with you al jazeera the army. theon rights office is seeking there the release of a saudi arabian women's rights activists citing her arbitrary detention prior to a conviction the general has through has been sentenced to more than 5 and a half years in prison she's already been behind bars since 2018 when she was arrested along with at least a dozen other activists relatives have said that she's been sexually assaulted and tortured while in prison the latest wonder woman film has posted one of the highest earning since the pandemic began know it made it more than $36000000.00 in theaters worldwide over the christmas holiday weekend is a glimmer of hope for an industry that's been largely shut down since the pandemic began millions also watch the film streaming platform be a man us daniel smith rousey is a professor of media and communications and 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 a lot of 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 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 if you like your question was more about consumers i think that there are going to be gators once we see vaccines and you 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 you know maybe not very long. your child to 0 it means the whole robin a reminder of all top stories scientists in the u.k. say stricter measures may be needed next month and the pushing for secondary schools to stay closed but the government minister says the expected approval of another vaccine could see restrictions lifted more quickly south africa has become the 1st country in the continent to surpass a 1000000 confirmed cases and fast spreading variant of the virus is expected to force the government to unveil even tougher covert 19 restrictions u.s. president told trump has signed a coronavirus relief bill after initially refusing to approve it until congress amended sanctions on pandemic aid and spending the delay meant millions of

americans temporarily lost unemployment benefits iran has to begin human trials of a low.