0. hello i'm maryam namazie you're watching the news hour live from london coming up in the next 60 minutes. we have simply let. down. and unfortunately we're now paying the price. south africa tightens its code restrictions banning alcohol sales again and making masks mandatory in public after reporting a 1000000 infections. russia reports

a sharp rise in coronavirus related deaths with more than $25000.00 people dying in the month of november alone. or 3 hits a record high after president donald trump finally signs the covert relief bill and a global outcry as a saudi court sentences women's rights activists me jane. to more than 5 years in prison. i'm 7 ash with sports as the coronavirus causes further disruption to the premier league manchester city's match against everton as a spy and as more cases are discovered at the club. welcome to the news hour we'll begin in russia where there's been new data suggesting the actual number of coronavirus deaths could be much higher than previously reported according to the official figures russia recorded more than 25000 deaths related to coded in the month of november alone it's confirmed just

under $55000.00 coronavirus death since the pandemic began well here in the u.k. have been has been a new daily record of more than 40 $1000.00 coronavirus cases hospital admissions in england on now higher than in april at the peak of the crisis after a surge in cases this is largely driven by that much more infectious mutation of the virus and then in south africa there was an important announcement with stricter measures that are going to be in force to combat a fostering variant that after became the 1st african country to surpass a 1000000 cases all gatherings in the sale of alcohol are going to be banned and a 9 pm curfew enforced failure to our mosque in public has also now been criminalized a person who does not wear a mosque could be arrested and prosecuted. on conviction there would be liable to a fine or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding 6 months or both. a fine and imprisonment

i must admit that this is a dress that measure but it is not necessary to ensure compliance with the most basic of preventative measures or get the latest now from joins us from port elizabeth tell us more about what these new measures involve. all some of the other restrictions include a ban on all public gatherings except funerals it was the doctor and many of the health workers who were calling for these restrictions they were saying that there would really surprise of otherwise the number of sections what surprised them is how quickly it happened and generally other staff in the same way also not surprised that new measures were put in place during the festive season thousands of people were traveling up and down the country visiting friends and family and some of them were seen at big parties and gatherings many not wearing mosques not

practicing social distancing not sanitizing and we are in the eastern cape province this is one of the provinces where this variant was i didn't fides and people here when you speak to them you can meet people here who will tell you that i have had 7 people in my family who have died from covert 19 you're told stories of people who attended funerals of prominent people and they came back in many of them became sick and port elizabeth is considered coronavirus hotspots at the moment and people who listen to president sort of of course are some of them had mixed feelings some were saying yes they understand why you have to be very heavy handed and somewhat harsh in what he did but others are saying that it was unnecessary these measures are too extreme and he shouldn't have done that. hard to tell us more about the new wave of infections in the country obviously cases of now surpassed a 1000000 but we're speaking about this much more contagious variant who is worst

affected by this. all the people who started raising the alarm were the health workers then they came out to me one government officials that listen these numbers are rising we concerned about hospitals government hospitals rural hospitals even some of the private hospitals we concerned about that they aren't enough i.c.u. beds some places. i don't have enough thing to later some places have enough oxygen and staffing we spoke to some of the doctors in port elizabeth and one said you know we are traumatized we are tired we are just trying to get by with what we can they are saying they seeing. having to make difficult decisions on who to give an i.c.u. bed to and who not to give one to they saying they seen a colleague's getting sick and also dying one actually said this new variant that's in some of the provinces in the country they say what they seeing and like in the 1st servicing a lot more young people are now being affected by this and syrian people between

the ages of 30 and 40 and such as a bit older way just before it was more people who are more affected by covered the saying is a reason for concern and more precautions should be taken thank you very much from portland to birth our task reporting to us and i'm now joined via skype from the city of durban by dr voice and who is vice chair of the south african medical association 1st of all do these tougher restrictions that were announced today go far enough for you well within they will make a difference is just that we have to monitor if they implementation. is followed because you do need some. authorities to be implementing. the regulations and seeing them want to be in announcing them doesn't really. exist but

we see. you know. our. patience is on the job. we also had the president there on the post's ramaphosa earlier describing how hospitals are struggling to cope how more and more doctors are becoming infected do you think people that understand how. difficult how traumatic it's been for health care workers and how exhausted you all are well. even before the start of the pandemic and we've been complaining that it is so teachers of staff and your commander saw so i give a quality of human capital and. there's been a deal updating buildings on saudi equipment you know. something that is going to assist us to perform my duties all those things were

already. you know it's a bed sheet but now you had the 1st wave and it left. you know a significant impact and the 2nd wave now is in mind and dangerous than more dangerous than the 1st wave and if you look at the number of cases and also the rate at which it is threatening to eat into communities and out of the asli has been is us baited by you know the government allowing alcohol or not regulating our goal. in the way that they're supposed to in terms of. making sure that people are drawn to. you know in large numbers and and consume alcohol and begin to establish at times or

even having much of any accidents because those people when that happens they go straight to the state must be tons or even privatised and what have been days that day or 2 pi i.c.u. beds you know which are being used by at this moment by our patients so that is where the problem is if we have a proper control of uncaught not only for the pandemic i've been losing a lot. of our resources taxpayers' money and going into these alcohol related injuries and violence can i ask you about your personal situation i know this is affecting the entire country but how has the pandemic changed your life and describe to me what some of your colleagues have been through. you know to summarize it could see that we are drowning. because a drowning. some of us some of our colleagues have already died and

some are critical but they did the majority there are moral and very low. you know because also there is no psychological support for health care workers in. except that they are expected to be at the forefront of the better but in terms of support there is little support except the lip service that comes now and then so i think that is where we are at the moment and if we continue like this it will have years have severe impact on us in terms of going for you know in fighting the pandemic and you must also notice that we've been getting poor quality t.v. is. you know even a times the numbers are not enough for us to find that they have go or guys are expected to use a mask. one must sometimes for the whole week. and you can imagine what

would have been that so that would expose our cause and there's no risk assessment and that is going on those because as expected in there were place all right well it certainly is a great deal of pressure on doctors and health care system that thank you very much for helping us understand appreciate it talk to me a c. and costa thank you very much thanks a lot appreciate. well as he had earlier russia has now admitted its death toll is much higher than previously reported as the situation continues to deteriorate in many countries around europe and the reports on that now. extending the vaccination program and the pressure of a new figures russia is now offering its own sputnik v. vaccine to front line workers such as doctors and teachers over the age of 60 as well as to younger colleagues according to data from the national statistics agency

around 26000 people die due to the corona virus in november alone in response the deputy prime minister has said all thirty's have never hidden any data on covered 90 mortality rates. in portugal this nurse was one of many health workers getting a covered 1000 job at lisbon's largest hospital the country hopes to vaccinate nearly 10 percent of its population joining the 1st phase as part of the nothing i think it's part of a civic duty to try to prevent the pandemic as with measles and other viruses like influenza that said while in spain monday's front pages were all about the start of the vaccine rollout but phases perspire on the delivery of a new batch by a day due to what the government's calling a logistics hurdle spain's health minister says vaccines will be available to the public and she's day morning and predicts 70 percent of the population will have been immunized by the end of summer 2021. the main worry for people arriving at this ski resort in central germany was getting stuck in the snow not the

coronavirus but the national vaccination campaign is facing delays in several cities because temperature trackers showed hundreds of doses may not have been kept cold enough during transit it comes as u.k. health care officials sound the alarm. healthful 40 say there are now more covered patients in hospitals in england the june the previous peak in april the government says reopening schools in january will involve trade offs with other restrictions but its own saw into. vic advisors have reportedly said the national look down the january would have to include all schools to prevent the virus spreading exponentially and august where the teachers will soon get the vaccine cabinet minister michael gove was noncommittal but we prioritize those who are most vulnerable the eldest and those with all the challenging conditions and then we then make sure that the vaccine can be distributed brought to the u.k.'s hoping to get approval for a 2nd vaccine developed by astra zeneca this week so it can start at ministering it

early in the new year but it knows that it will only be a part of the solution to a still growing crisis the al-jazeera well elsewhere hundreds of british holidaymakers have broken quarantine rules fleeing a swiss ski resort from where they had that presumed to have sneaked home swiss media says around 200 britons have disappeared from the alpine resort of a b.a. so it's an imposed a 10 day quarantine period from december 21st for anyone who derives from the u.k. or south africa in the perceiving week in response to the new mutations of the virus. and then japan has banned arrivals of all nonresident foreigners until the end of january to stem the spread of the new coronavirus variants the prime minister yes she says the ban is necessary to save lives after more cases were found of the contagious variant 1st detected in the u.k. japan is struggling to contain a recent surge of infections with more than 221000 cases confirmed so far in the knees has also banned international visitors for 2 weeks well the world health

organization is warning governments to be prepared for future pandemics that could be even worse in a briefing marking a year since the w.h.o. land of cover $1000.00 spreading in china emergencies chief executive michael ryan said it must be a wake up call for the world this pandemic has been very severe it's spread around the world extremely quickly and it's a pretty good record spot but this is not necessarily the big what. this virus is very transmissible. and it kills people in this depression only people of locals but its current case with quality is rare reasonably look 'd to other emerging seeds this is a wake up call still ahead on this news hour from london we look at why iran is having to develop its own homegrown coronavirus vaccine. and then after a year of bushfires storms and locusts revealed

a staggering cost of natural disasters around the world. and then a bit later on messi gives the latest update on his future general have all the details in sports. travel in the united states has reached its highest level since the start of the pandemic in march the u.s. transport farty says 1200000 people were screened as airports on sunday despite public health officials urging people not to travel during the pandemic but wall street has been hitting record highs in response to president trump signing a long awaited coronavirus relief bill you previously refused to sign it because he said it was a disgrace and i want a $1000000000.00 package was insufficient and want to direct payments to americans increase from $600.00 to $2000.00 bill restores unemployment benefits americans who have 2 americans who lost their jobs because of the pandemic but it comes too late

for some 14000000 people have missed out on payments this week. let's get to rosen jordan who joins us live now from washington it looks as though president trump in the end back down on this. it does appear that the president did back down but as you pointed out it's more important to talk about the 14000000 americans who won't be receiving an unemployment check this week through the federal legislation and that's because their benefits ran out last week and without legislation to have continued it means that basically the federal government and state governments are going to have to work very hard in a shortened holiday week to try to read establish a link so that federal dollars can flow to the states who in turn then send the unemployment benefits to these people who have lost their jobs because of the pandemic it's a process that they're trying to speed up as much as they can but it may not be

that they can actually get this all set up before january 4th and so what that means is is that the people who should have been getting a check this week which was congress's intent won't be getting it until likely next week and the way the legislation is written it's not clear that they're going to be able to get some of the money retroactively they may only get 10 weeks worth of benefits instead of the 11 weeks which is what congress intended when it came to this agreement last week tell us about the developments have been these efforts to try and override president veto of the defense bill what's happening now. well in the next hour or so we expect that there will be discussion on the floor of the house of representatives in order to try to have a vote to push to overturn the president's veto of the defense spending bill now you might think why did

a republican president veto this measure well the president basically was very angry that there is a provision in this bill that does not actually allow. companies to be held accountable for the political speech that is delivered on their platforms the president has been very very angry at tech companies are acting in what he considers a way offensive or discriminatory against political conservatives however the fact is that without this legislation the military won't have the money that it needs in order to conduct its operations or to pay its troops and so you have bipartisan support as of right now to overturn the president's veto we expect that there will be a 1st vote at least in the house in the next couple of hours when they're actually done with that vote then the idea is that it would then turn to the senate to also

cast its own override vote what you need is 2 thirds of the representatives in the house as well as 2 thirds of the senators to vote to overturn the president's veto if they can't muster those numbers then the president's veto stands and they'll have to start all over again on trying to get funding for the military thanks very much roslyn jordan just from washington on that well following wolf on the developments as well and u.s. president elect joe biden has hit out at the lack of cooperation is transition team is receiving from the outgoing trump administration he's accused some of trump's team of acting irresponsibly and he's criticized the way national security has been handled. vice president harris and i along with our nominees the lead the national security is to to sions have just been briefed by some of the professionals who have been conducting agents reviews as a part of our transition for some agencies our t.v.

seemed exemplary cooperation from the career staff in those agencies from others most notably the department of defense we countered up struction from the political leadership of that department and the truth is many of the agencies that are critical to our security have incurred enormous damage many of my been hollowed out in personnel capacity and in morale. which a good thing as a former political adviser to bill clinton and al gore he joins us via skype from new jersey it's obviously quite unprecedented transition period we've seen with regards to president trump and the fact that access has been blocked but joe biden and his team how much concern is there about the national security implications of all possible consequences of this. well i think the answer is rather substantial concern and look the good news is there could hardly be an incoming president who

has more experience on the world stage than joe biden had he chaired the senate foreign relations committee in many respects he had the international portfolio for barack obama when joe biden was vice president but his team can simply read the newspapers and know all the threats that are facing the united states and its allies around the world that's why they need these briefings in a timely way and as we heard from the commission that looked into the lead up to the 911 attacks it was the delay because of the 2000 election returns being on settled that in part put the bush team behind a little bit in knowing what they should have known about al qaeda so the answer is it's sad that it's come to this but we shouldn't minimize it joe biden would be talking about if it were a real problem and does that in itself cause throw up some sort of respite that

he's having to want to kill at that particularly. you know sort of more nefarious groups. of course look you know the problem is usually when somebody like a president elect would speak up the outgoing administration would come to its senses but that assumes you're dealing with a rational actor here and as we've seen with don't trump just within the past few days and being so delayed in signing this bill to fund the federal government i don't think rationality is his strong suit so yes i don't think a bad actor around the world is going to gear up and do something nefarious within a matter of weeks but it means that the incoming administration needs to absolutely . go you know through everything and very very short order as soon as they take office to make sure they know they can rank order what the problems are and address them i mean he has now signed the current virus when he fell but really how damaging has it been this delay in cooperating with congress from the countries in

the middle of a health and economic crisis well it's certainly very damaging to the country you just heard the report about all these people who will be minus a week in terms of the benefits they the congress meant for them to receive but the person i mean donald trump is badly damaged you know there could hardly be a worse deal maker as president of states than donald trump who ran and raved complained about a bill that included funding that his own budget requests what he asked congress to pass included and then he sat on the sidelines while this was being the go she did it so he looks very weak it's why if this defense bill is overridden by congress in part it will be because donald trump has shown himself to be so weak he basically held his breath until he was blue in the face and got nothing to show for it and i think it's ultimately going to hurt the republican candidates for these 2 senate races in georgia which helps so much importance thank you very much richard

goldstein for joining us there from the jazzy thank you mary. a saudi has sentenced a prominent women's rights activist to 5 years and 8 months in prison join international condemnation jane on how fluid has been held since 2018 after being arrested along with at least a dozen other women's rights activists relatives say she's been sexually assaulted and tortured while in prison she campaigned against a ban on women driving and for an end to saudi arabia's male guardianship system well a national security adviser to president elect joe biden has responded to the sentencing jake sullivan tweeted saudi arabia's sentencing of jailhouse through to simply exercising a universal rights is unjust and troubling as we've said the biden administration will stand up against human rights violations wherever they occur when other hashmi is directed to the center for middle east studies at university of denver denver joins me now via skype from denver i'm not sure if you've been in touch with rules

family but if you gained any more information about very action to this verdict. i'm not directly in touch with them but if you follow what they've been saying on social media they're very upset they're very angry that she's been tried in a terrorism court for the simple quote unquote crime of defending women's rights in saudi arabia and having said that the judge's verdict today gave her credit for time already served and so if you do all the math there's a good chance that she might be out. of prison in about 2 months and that that's not a coincidence because i think the incoming biden ministration really is when heavily on the decision of the saudi authorities on this talk. what about how treatment in prison this is causing a great deal of concern that she has suffered from sexual assault and torture.

correct. electric shocks long time a long period in. solitary confinement is more to point out i think this is one reason why she's such a heroic figure for human rights activists around the world that she was offered release from prison on the condition that she publicly would state that she was not tortured in saudi arabia and she refused that offer which just you know elevates i think her moral credit credibility in the eyes of human rights activists around the world and we were just looking at statement from national security adviser. to president elect biden saying that this administration will stand up against any human rights violations wherever they occur but also we've just been been talking a program about the huge challenges facing joe biden the economic and public health crisis in the country right now do you think there is likely to be a systematic re-evaluation of national security measures all. the will team by both joe biden his foreign policy advisers have been saying all the right

things the challenge is to hold him to account. so you're right there's a lot of challenges facing the incoming biden ministration but there's a lot of public outrage over the destabilizing policies of the saudi crown prince and so i think the reason why sullivan the national security advisor and other members of the foreign policy team that surrounds joe biden have been saying these things on saudi arabia is because there is widespread public support for reevaluating u.s. saudi relations and not tolerating you know the mayhem and destruction that the saudi crown prince has been involved with over the last several years. thank you for joining us on the news hour thank you. with the news hour live from london much more still to tell you about a chinese citizen journalist who reported from the han at the peak of the culvert outbreak is jailed for 4 years also. my daughter needed chemotherapy and no one

wants to help. an argentinean woman who lost the fight to save her door says life tells us why she's fighting to legalize abortion. and for the gulf number one greg norman is back in hospital after testing positive for corona virus. we've got more very wintry weather proper winter weather across a good positive here now we still have the remnants of storm bella swirling away around southern parts of england is easing its way across the channel faders a very cold air across the northwest of europe digging down into france now more than marries this by not simply ever either another disturbance over towards the adriatic central parts of the med chasing some one significant snow fall just around the balkans as we go through the next day or the temperatures struggling to

get to 34 maybe 5 degrees i said it's really cold weather not more than continue to rattle those snow showers in across parts of the u.k. they standing across into scandinavia too we push on and see where the state doesn't get a whole lot better hopefully things will quieten down as we move into the 2nd half of the week having said that further south really gets a 7 celsius in madrid and a nasty little circulation still spinning away across central parts of the met there we go or snow over the age a reality that west of weather we have in the central med also brings some showers into northern parts of algeria northern areas of iraq i will say seeing some showers over the next few days further south it is generally fine in try still warm enough in lagos with a top temperature 33. i am. teaching and you can watch al-jazeera english streaming live on ikechi channel. plus

thousands of other programs award winning documentary and dad news reports. subscribe t g forward slash al-jazeera english. in the far reaches of the new siberian islands gold rush fever is in the air and. hunters searching for a priceless woolly mammoth tusks of on earth the holy grail. an incredible journey into the realms of science fiction where cloning and synthetic biology have scientists playing god. witness genesis 2.0 the hunt for the woolly mammoth on al-jazeera. really understand the differences and similarities of cultures across the land so no matter what you see when to the news and current affairs that matter to you.

i'm back on main story this hour the president of south africa has announced strict measures to combat as surging coronavirus case is driven by a fast reading variant gatherings in the sale of alcohol will be banned and a 9 pm curfew enforced. new data indicates the actual number of coronavirus related deaths in russia could be much higher than previously reported close 226000 deaths related to cohabit have been officially reported in the month of november alone. and wall street has hit record highs in response u.s. president donald trump signing a long awaited coronavirus relief bill $900000000000.00 aid package restores unemployment benefits for millions of americans. now india's

government is carrying out a test of its coronavirus vaccination program with a population of more than a 1000000000 people it faces massive logistical challenges so a 2 day dry run of the vaccine campaign is underway across 4 states officials are running checks on the country's transport arrangements and cold storage facilities india hopes to provide 300000000 vaccine doses in the 1st phase of its immunization campaign elsewhere iran is to is about to begin human trials of its own domestically produced coronavirus vaccine its struggle to obtain vaccines from abroad because of international sanctions led by the united states restricting its ability to pay for them dosage of buy reports now from terror. 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 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 and he 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 and the chain of infection does not break no

country will be safe no. president has done 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 rainy and version of the medicine you're looking for and officials hope that will soon be the case for the covert $1000.00 vaccine 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 then. 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 out the rainy uncovered 1000 vaccine to millions of people door such a pari al-jazeera tara a chinese citizen journalist has been jailed for 4 years for lifestream reporting of the early days of the corona virus outbreak in the city of one hon john johns videos a widely shared on social media platforms in february she's among at least 8 whistleblowers

facing charges of taking quarrels and provoking trouble for their coverage of the outbreak a 37 year old former lawyer was arrested in may and is currently on hunger strike in jail. france 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. what i'm most worried about is that she's such a determined person 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 well sophia richardson is the china director of human rights watch and she says there's no substance to these charges and she's also wired about chang's hunger strike. is guilty of absolutely nothing except asking people in what what was happening around

the virus and sharing their stories on social media there's nothing in domestic or international law that prohibits that and at a time when the world has desperately needed reliable information about a global public health crisis from the chinese government it's very disturbing to see the authorities spend their time trying to silence people rather than share credible information and she's obviously objecting to you know these trumped up charges in the proceedings surrounding them and is trying to make a point that you know these are not credible proceedings and that what she did was that she was well within her rights to do what she did and i think all of the governments and agencies like the world health organization that of beating to allow a transparent investigation into the origins the virus should urgently be speaking together with one voice to call for her release immediately so that her health doesn't further deteriorate you know the world needs the john john's needs to be

discounted up right now on her behalf. the trial of 10 hong kong pro-democracy protesters who were trying it were accused of trying to flee to taiwan in a speedboat has ended but no verdict has been announced diplomats from western countries were barred from the session which was held at a court in the mainland chinese city of shenzhen some of the accused a dual citizens who hold british portuguese in vietnamese passports a part of a group of 12 who were caught at sea in august they face charges of crossing the border illegally or families of the top hong kong protesters the youngest of whom is 16 say they haven't been allowed to communicate with them a ques the chinese authorities of delaying their case on purpose yeah morning and thought well you know susan i got the news on december 25th it was a bittersweet christmas present i thought my son could come back in time to spend chinese new year with us they already pled guilty i don't understand why it has to drag on if you want to target someone go for the adults leave the kids out of it

they've already been detained for 4 months if you don't announce the verdict we can't visit them we just want to see our kids once again. well the government of bangladesh has started relocating a 2nd group of rango refugees who fled there for me and ma around 1500 refugees have been moved from their camp in cox's bazaar to char it's an island in the bay of bengal that's prone to flooding 30 buses are taking the bull by the cape via the city of chata ground where they're staying overnight before arriving at the isolated island on tuesday the un and human rights groups have condemned the relocations arguing that they amount to ethnic cleansing as a divide in the camp between refugees who welcome the move and those who fear what it means for their say for the safety of their families. and going to the island because i believe that my life will be a little peaceful where more peaceful than here whatever the bangladesh government is doing i think it's for our betterment that the reason we shouldn't go to the

island is because it's low lying and if a storm hits that island we'll have no we're safe to go and save their lives now the relief organization christian aid says the 10 worst climate disasters this year of cost $140000000000.00 in insurance claims bushfires in australia caused $5000000000.00 in losses while the us west coast recorded $20000000000.00 worth of damage from its worst season of wildfires on record months of flooding led to $32000000000.00 of losses in china's young sea river basin and $10000000000.00 across india the us and central america were battered by a record number of storms costing $41000000000.00 but 6 of the 10 most expensive disasters or in asia which was hit by some of the strongest storms on record including slike on unfun which cost $13000000000.00 alone and in east africa a massive locust invasion damaged 8 and

a half $1000000000.00 worth of crops this one was linked to unusually wet conditions field like climate change or catherine kramer's the climate policy lead for christian aid and explains where leading industrial countries need to focus their efforts when it comes to global warming. but you also have the achievable put course is done to political well and that's now hands for political masters but also in the hands of all of us to try and urge our political masters to act at the left will be needed to act i think some of the big ticket things that need to be brought forward are greater emissions reductions pictures we had to the summit about 2 weeks ago it was online where different countries pledged that they were true or words but how many of the larger countries that we note 45 era absence obviously the us hasn't had its change of government yet japan has come is due to come forward fairly soon with a new pledge but we haven't heard anything from other g 20 countries like russia saudi arabia and some of the other really big economies that really do need to be putting action on the table but it's not just pledges we actually need the policies

in place to implement it's really start getting the emissions reductions at the speed that we kept that they need to be done if we're going to try to make local woman with 5 degree lighting this is where we need global solidarity and for all good coke at 19 it's been a global tragedy there is the opportunity if we do the work economic recovery recovery package is to do it right but this needs to be in global solidarity so that we actually have just countries going trying to stimulate their own economies but trying to actually start about sustainable development across the globe well to the central african republic now election officials there are saying around 800 polling stations failed to open on sunday because of armed rebels attacking voters and buying stuff that's more than 14 percent of the 5408 voting centers nationwide despite that un observers say the poll was largely successful with a massive turnout present faustine archons to dera hopes to win a 2nd term but accuses his predecessor francois busy day of sending rebels to

disrupt it catherine sawyer in the capital with more on the feedback from international observers. there was a press conference earlier today by the un the interior minister did. bents minister the electoral commission and they all say that voting was by and less successful they say that in the country the process went smoothly but they did duck knowledge problems in some towns and villages in the provinces in some areas for example could not open at all because of the security situation in the people polls open but people could not come out to vote because they were hiding out in other areas. groups came in and around polling stations. causing massive panic and in other places voting materials were delayed palls delayed to open because of the security situation when it came to counting and

polling stations when counting was going on people would come in and take. people and barn them by the u.n. says that they send reinforcements to try and secure some of the material so they say overall voting went on smoothly and now the next stage securing the results they say. papers are to be airlifted to. not just because of the security situation but also because of the very poor road network. argentina's senate is getting ready to vote on an issue that has divided the nation for decades abortion the lower house of congress has already voted in favor of legalizing the procedure for all who want it certainly women's rights campaigners have been fighting for is to raise a boat has more from santa fe. not among us never thought she would become

a pro-abortion activist she lives in a poor and conservative community in the province of the fair but her life changed when her teenage daughter who was pregnant was diagnosed with cancer in her job own . she was one month pregnant and i told the doctor what did she do in abortion because she has 3 children but they said no that a judge needed to get involved my daughter needed chemotherapy and no one wanted to help her and the money yessiree there was 1000 when she died doctors kept her in a hospital until she gave birth so she could begin the treatment but the tumor almost covered her entire face neither she nor the baby survived and many here are making a run i said only said they would do an ethical meeting while we waited on the streets with my grandchildren and i was pushing them so that they would begin treatment the ethical meeting was with the priests i wanted to save my daughter.

that i might. show that even though abortion is legal in argentina in cases of rape or if a woman's life if i don't risk it finds lots of resistance when it comes to implementing the law especially in places like this one work poor women have almost no we sources to fight for their rights. as the senate gets ready to vote on legalizing abortion stories like those of no mark was on her daughter show how entrenched anti-abortion culture is in argentina's most remote region. in spite of this health authorities say at least half a 1000000 irregular abortions happen every. years and many women end up in hospital because of complications. and that's one of the reasons why pro abortion activists have been taken to the streets for years wearing the color green the symbol of their campaign. early in december the lower house of congress approved a bill which would allow interruption of pregnancies until the 14th week the senate

vote is expected to be close and there's an hour. the senate is much more conservative and we know this we're very conscious of this we also know that last year there was an election that renewed the legislative chambers and so there are more senators willing to make history and 30 to democracy that we have with $3200.00 women who've died in democracy and for all of us who are still alive and all future generations to come but the debate has polarized society that has close ties with the catholic church. bob francis is argentinean and has been lobbying against the. well get gaza anything can happen with the result of this vote because we have a president who is taking it upon himself to demonstrate the worst of corrupt politics which is to go to his own party politicians and ask them to vote even though they may be opposed a president who is showing no mercy with this law because he thinks it will be his

administrative victory and his end of year victory a victory that people like not a whole will guarantee what happened to her daughter will not happen to anyone else that is how will. argentina to lead. yeah swan russian football club gives its fans more than they bargained full for chris brown little with gemma for.

the room. for. the all.

time high for this fall with gemma. manchester city's premier league match against us and has been cooled off often in 1000 cases have been reported is to say the game was supposed to die places ever since home ground at goodison park on monday evening city confirmed of. positive cases on friday which included strike a gaboriau daisy's and defend a car walka a couple so close the training ground is the 2nd premier league game to be called off this season because of coronavirus cases a decision will be made in the next few days as to whether city's match with chelsea can go ahead on sunday frank and paul side were in action on monday they drew one a with aston villa they went ahead through an evasion but i while gazi equalized event i moved up to 5th one place above chelsea and with 2 games in hand over them . said we have to get safety paramount i believe that's why the game's been called off tonight because of the fear of the spread within the squad for man city. from our point of view in terms of our find out more the next day or 2 to make sure as

to be sorry for that so it seemed if not the guy monk go ahead i think the premier league had their rules and directives on that but yeah it's a tough time it was the same score line between us to city and crystal palace best to go about it and into 2nd goal difference but following news that despite him into going to sin pocket all the talk off of the game was about how clubs in the league can prevent the spread of coronavirus i think what this is showing the in a moment in time with a virus is spreading quite rapidly it's impossible for people who were shielded by the premier league and burly politicos that we have this impossible to totally shoot people food forget it because the fact is though human beings and they leave the football club in the they go home and leave their children who are coming back from school and they have to do their shopping etc etc etc so it is very very conservative almost. the future of lionel messi is once again in the headlines as

the boss lady captain says he'll decide at the end of the season whether or not to stay at the club the argentine came close to leaving the new camp in the summer after handing in a transfer request is current deal runs out in june next year but he can begin negotiations with overseas clubs in january in a spanish television interview the striker also said he like to play in the united states what about reuniting with former teammate neymar. to geno's on the verge of becoming pasties a new head coach so could this have any bearing on mrs decisions. she did she this will for i don't think missy's position about his future will depend on a particular coach or a particular country i think these are choices that must be taken with one's family therefore i don't know if a particular coach can have an influence over his future i don't think so. to the n.f.l. now whether houston texans veteran star j.j. watt has slammed his team's professionalism on sunday they slammed into a 3731 defeat to the cincinnati bengals as their 11th loss in 15 games and what's

round round afterwards is probably one of the highlights of what he's called that trash season there are people every week that still treat you that still come up to you and say hey we're still rooting for you we're still behind you they have no reason whatsoever to we stink but they care and they still want to win and they still want you to be great that's why those people are getting paid we're getting paid handsomely that's why i feel the most for our fans and the people who care so deeply in the city and the people who love it and who truly want to be great and it's not. and that sucks as a player former world number one golfer greg norman is back in hospital after testing positive for corona virus the australian posted this picture on instagram from the medical center in florida where he's being treated he was initially admitted on friday with a fever and muscle aches but was sent home to quarantine and await his covert 19 test results norman's described the virus is hideous and says he lost his sense of

taste and even suffered memory loss. 20 time tennis grand slam champion roger federer will miss the australian open for the 1st time in his career because he's failed to recover from knee surgery the tournament has been delayed by 3 weeks to allow players enough time to quarantine in australia that's still not going to be enough time for the swiss to be ready to take part in february the 39 year old has played the event for the last 21 years in a row and has won it 6 times but he says he has no plans to retire as for the cricket going on in melbourne india have the advantage as they head into day 4 of the 2nd test against australia the tourists on 277 for 5 last their standing caps and a general harney early on for 112 ravage a day to hit 57 before india all out to 326 for 1st innings lead of $131.00 the indian bowlers then piled on the pressure as australia stumbled their way to $133.00 for 6 at the close of play that's

a lead of just to move cameron green and pack cummings at the crease like a stand of fighting hard to stay in the 1st test against new zealand resuming and 341 of the visitors room kinds of trouble as they slipped to 88 for 6 mohammed rizwan hit 71. scored $91.00 to lead resistance at the close of play pakistan would see $139.00 all out is even lead by $192.00 runs now most football fans just one that seems to win matches and trophies but supporters a russian football club got a little bit extra for christmas and from the team's manages manager and his players. the band's manager that lennon slutsky displaying his vocal talents of that county ways from his players in their christmas jumpers and it all ends with eating

a referee based skits and dreaming of winning the russian the trophy but unfortunately for iran like the. to get their christmas wish as they sit in the wake of 13 points behind us that at some features but i wonder what ron carey he says that rendition of it. best not to know yet i doubt that but it is on the fighting for us oh yeah yeah he's quite you ought to thank you gemma subzero temperatures have not to decide something enthusiastic in siberia thousands of them braving freezing cold water in the russian city of why daytime temperatures don't rise about minus 20 celsius at this time of year swimmers donning santa hats as they completed what is for some a daily ritual when into the cold water because it's actually it's actually thought to boost immunity and protect the body against disease and even the onset of dementia. but i'll be back in a moment with the full blessing for you seen a couple.

in december 2019 the 1st coronavirus case was reported in china within months a local outbreak became a global pandemic one your own week some of the devastation caused by cope with 19 . with more than a 1000000 fatalities and economies crippled 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 the special coverage on. the b.b.c.'s journalism is revered around the

world but its close relationship. the british state has always placed limits on its independence ilo before very existence a sort of things it draws close phillips explores the little known central long tussle between the b.b.c. in the u.k. government and considers the current threats to its future if the government has it in for the b.b.c. or try to deceive the enemies on the movers battle for the b.b.c. a listening post special on al-jazeera teach it strongman is ruling with an iron fist and the silence from his allies is deafening the us was perfectly happy to trade off the march for sea for security while western leaders turning a blind eye when even their own citizens have fallen victim to his repression executions torture or censorship is not acceptable and you won't hear such strong words from let's say berlin or paris or london a man in cairo on al-jazeera. holding the powerful to

account as we examine the us is wrong in the world on al-jazeera. already. we have simply let us down and unfortunately we are now paying the price for south africa tightened its covert restrictions banning alcohol sales again and making mosques mandatory in public or the world health organizations bleak warning of a pandemic but this is not necessarily but what. you know i maryam namazie and london you're watching algis there also coming up.