have become very positive and stop thinking about the negative sides. al-jazeera. he is from living with them in egypt. the u.s. congress votes to increase pandemic relief payments and donald trump's veto on a defense bill. many of the agencies that are critical to our security. enormous damage. president elect joe biden warns america's ability to protect itself has been seriously weakened by the trumpet ministration. watching not just their own life from a headquarters in doha and daddy navigator also coming up south africa tightens its

covert restrictions after reporting a 1000000 infections. and a global outcry as a saudi court sentences women's rights activist and has new to more than 5 years in prison. thanks for joining us we begin in the u.s. where in his final days in office president donald trump is facing the 1st override vote of his presidency so the house of representatives will vote on whether to overturn trump's veto of the annual defense spending bill he had rejected the cross party legislation last week even though it's been routinely passed by congress for the last 60 years now the house is also voting on increasing the size of pandemic a payments excuse me from $600.00 to $2000.00 trump had demanded the increase of nearly scuttled the $900000000000.00 relief package over the issue. meanwhile

president elect joe biden has hit out again over the lack of information his transition team is getting from trump's administration biden warned that he's still being obstructed on national security issues and that key agencies have been severely damaged by trump's policies let's get an update from jordan joining us from washington so 2 important votes taking place in the house just tell us what we expect to happen rolls linde. well we're just getting word that the house of representatives has approved by a $2.00 to $2.00 thirds margin a move to increase the one time checks to most americans from $600.00 to $2000.00 that's the margin that you would need in order to pass this measure under the suspension rules it's an arcane term we'll just leave that to one side this now goes to the u.s.

senate where it is hoped that a similar 2 thirds margin will pass and then the president and congressional democrats will get what they say they want which is getting more money into the pockets of americans in the middle of the pandemic the other vote that will be taking place in the coming hours will be the house vote to try to overturn president trump's veto last week of the annual military spending bill the president didn't like some of the provisions in the bill namely one provision that protects tech companies it's social media companies from transmitting information that the president has considered politically damaging to him and his fellow conservatives the there hasn't been any real a sense of trying to get rid of that measure in congress even though there have been some vague promises that they would look at this measure but the more important point is that the defense bill is almost always approved without any objection from the white house and you have bipartisan support for overturning this

veto it is worth pointing out that in both cases the u.s. senate is not in session today monday here in the united states and so trying to complete both of the votes on these 2 measures the covert support and the military spending won't happen until tuesday at the earliest and rosalyn the u.s. presidents unlike joe biden has been speaking out against the trumpet ministration what more has he got to say. well basically this is an ongoing dispute that's been happening for the past several weeks and finally it appears that joe biden had had enough the transition team has been complaining that when it comes to getting information from the intelligence agencies and from the pentagon and to a lesser extent from the state department that political appointees in the trumpet ministration have either frustrated conversations between members of the biden

transition team and career staff in those agencies or these political appointees have flat out refused to share information in fact there was supposed to be a number of meetings happening throughout the christmas holiday weekend the pentagon was refusing to allow those meetings to continue because it argued that there was a holiday pause and a spokesperson said well actually we never agreed to a pause from the transition team so finally this is what the president elect had to say monday afternoon about the situation for some agencies are t v sheep exemplary cooperation from the career staff in those agencies from others most notably the department of france we countered up structure from the political leadership that. the truth is many of the agencies that are critical to our security and incurred norma's damage many have not been hollowed

out 1st and now capacity and in morale. now this is something that biden was well i had planned to say it was announced on sunday that he was going to have a date meeting with members of his transition team that deal with national security issues and that includes foreign policy intelligence and the military and so it was expected that joe biden was going to have some very blunt things to say about how the transition is going and it's important to underscore the fact that usually in a transition process there's everything is on the table everything is discussed because of the importance of sending a message globally that just because you have a different person sitting in the oval office doesn't mean that you don't have the u.s. government trying to take care of critical issues such as national security right reporting from washington rosen thank you south africa's president cyril ramaphosa

has announced richter measures to combat a surge in coronavirus cases driven by a different foster breading variants. became the 1st cunt african country to pos 1000000 infections indoor and outdoor gatherings will be banned in a 9 pm curfew will be enforced failure to wear a mask correctly in public has been made a criminal offense a person who does not a mosque could be arrested and prosecuted on conviction that 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 addressed to measure but it is not necessary to ensure compliance with the most basic of preventative measures how much also has more from

port elizabeth on why tougher restrictions have been imposed. it was the doc to and many of the health workers who were calling for these restrictions they were saying that they are really surprised of authorized number of fictions what surprised them quickly it happened and generally others that freke in the same way also not surprised that new measures were put in place jane 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 19 you told stories of people who attended funerals of prominent people and they came back and many of them became sick and port elizabeth is considered coronavirus hotspots at the moment and people who

listen to president of them had mixed feelings someone saying yes they understand why you have to be very heavy handed and somewhat harsh in what he did a saying that it was unnecessary these measures are too extreme and he shouldn't have done that. russia has admitted its coronavirus death toll was more than 3 times higher than previously reported the new figure emerged as the number of european countries reported delays in the initial rollout of coronavirus vaccines are reports. extending the vaccination program under pressure of a new figures russia is now offering its own sputnik feedbacks into frontline 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 or thought his have never hidden any data recovered 90 mortality

rates. in portugal this nurse was one of many health workers getting a covert 900 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 northeast i think it's part of our civic duty to try to prevent the pandemic as with measles and other viruses like influenza and that said your home 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 corona virus but the national vaccination campaign is facing delays in several cities because temperature records showed hundreds of doses may not have been kept cold

enough during transit it comes as u.k. health care officials sound the alarm helpful 40 say there are now more covered patients in hospitals in england than june the previous peak in april the government says reopening schools in january will involve trade offs with other restrictions but its own scientific advisors have reportedly said any national lockdown in january would have to include all schools to prevent the virus spreading exponentially and asked whether teachers will soon get the vaccine cabinet minister michael gove was. noncommital that we prioritize those who are most vulnerable the eldest and those with other challenging conditions and then we then make sure that the vaccine can be distributed throughout the u.k. is hoping to get approval for a 2nd vaccine developed by astra zeneca this week so it can started ministering it early in the new year but it knows that it will only be part of the solution to a still growing crisis. al-jazeera. a saudi chorus has sentenced

a prominent women's rights activist to more than 5 and a half years in prison drawing international condemnation and as jane and i have fluid has been held since 2018 after being arrested along with the police the dozen other 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 of a security adviser to the incoming by the administration has responded to that sentencing in a tweet jake sullivan said this saudi arabia sentencing of those who have fluid for simply exercising her universal rights is unjust and troubling as we have said the biden harris administration will stand up against human rights violations wherever they occur human rights watch says the verdict is deeply concerning it is absolutely shocking to see the saudi authorities conviction and sentencing regina have to date on that under the terrorism know what they have done is to now state

to the wolves that they consider women's rights activism to be an act of terrorism now the saudi authorities have done this in the past with human rights activists which we have seen being sentence of being treated as terrorists but now we are seeing the same thing being done women's rights activists now that hashmi is the director for the center for middle east studies at the university of denver he says and how fluid sentencing may have been influenced by concerns around the incoming u.s. administration. 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 weighing heavily on the decision of the saudi authorities on this talk because want 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 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 coming up on al jazeera in a moment as ballots are counted in the central african republic voters are praised for defying threats of violence and hong kong pro-democracy activists on trial in

china 1st trying to escape the territory in a speedboat. but . however we've got more snowy weather across north america at the moment 2 areas of low pressure to focus on here we go this one over towards the lakes that sin the process of pulling across ontario and heading over. swards the canadian maritimes there's a quote that with this is a developing feature that we have down towards the southwest and last going to sweep its way off the rockies fair but the snow coming in off there says it eases across the great plains rain to the south of that and it will continue to drive its way further race was so some heavy snow coming in around the midwest into central parts of canada just around on teria quebec as we go on into where this day and

some very heavy right whole way down to the deep south that could cause some localized flooding a little quieter behind but up towards pacific northwest more wet windy and wintry weather coming in across washington state and oregon and also of course into british columbia further south into the u.s. into florida we do have quite a weather coming through here and that quater weather stretching its way down across a good parts of the great rented a secure but seeing some bits and pieces of cloud of rain for a time main rain band tumbles a little further ace sunshine and showers for the east an audience. for. the ultranationalist marks connected with one of the world's worst humanitarian crises we don't have any migrant joining with the military to impose that deadly political agenda we have to protect our nation what

has happened to the revenge that's one of the biggest stains on the country as a whole. this is not religion this is a politic me and an unholy alliance on al-jazeera. the. hello again you're watching al-jazeera here are the top stories this hour the u.s. house of representatives has voted to increase pandemic relief checks from $600.00 to $2000.00 president donald trump had demanded the increase the bill now heads to the senate's where it needs a 2 thirds majority to pass south africa's president cyril ramaphosa has announced stricter measures to combat a surge in coronavirus cases driven by

a fast spreading variant that's after it became the 1st african country to pass 1000000 infections a saudi court has sentenced a prominent women's rights activist to more than 5 and a half years in prison drawing international condemnation and have new and has been held since 28 after being arrested along with least a dozen other activists. it's being reported that israel and the united arab emirates are working together to eliminate the u.n. agency for palestinian refugees the french newspaper le monde says the plans being considered are not conditional on resolving the issue of palestinian refugees and c. has faced huge financial cuts to its education and health services since the united states decided to withdraw funding in 2018 benjamin barth is the author of that report he explains what he found. i discovered from a quite high ranking source in the and very reliable source that

the u.a.e. . is considering an action plan intended to gradually eliminate general are we not making the development conditional on. reclusion of the of the palestinian refugee problem so by doing so do you he would. definitively aligned with the longstanding israeli demand. israel is seeing that you know 100 the un agency for apology and refugees is another title to these because it keeps the refugee dreaming of a return to historical palestine what is now israel so this this reflection this. this new approach that is being discussed from what i

understood within the u.a.e. leadership. made a clean break with. a diplomatic position that has been. the thing for for many years we say that you know what will we stay in pollution as long as the refugee problem is not whole at least 3 french soldiers have been killed in mali their armored vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in a small town a farm borean them up the region the troops are part of france's operation fighting armed groups. election officials in the central african republic say hundreds of polling stations in sunday's general election were unable to operate after being attacked by armed rebels more than 14 percent of local locations were affected and despite that the un observers say the vote was smooth in most places and turnout was good president to watch as hoping to win

a 2nd term but has accused his predecessor francois of planning a coup the government's praised voters for ignoring threats by rebel groups to disrupt the poll catherine sorries in the capital bangui she explains the next steps in the electoral process. there was a press conference today by the un the interior minister defense minister the electoral commission and they all said that voting was by and less successful they say that in the country the process went smoothly but they did problems in some towns and villages in the provinces in some areas for example polls could not open at all because of the security situation in other 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 paul's

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 those books is and people tend bar them by the u.n. say that they send reinforcements to try and secure. so they say overall voting went on smoothly and now the next stage securing the results they say many of this paper does are to be airlifted to. not just because of the security situation but also because of the very poor road network votes are also being counted in the . historic election it's the 1st time this year will have a transfer of power between democratically elected presidents voters how to choose a successor to president mohamed from among 30 candidates or is one of africa's poorest nations on

a struggling to contain 2 conflicts being waged by foreign rebels along its borders . berkin a fossil as president has pledged to fight corruption and bring stability as he begins a 2nd 5 year term rockmart couple were was sworn in at a ceremony attended by the presidents of god us senate all in mauritania he won nearly 58 percent of the vote in last month's election this year fighters things i saw and al qaeda killed more than 2000 people and displaced 1000000 more. argentina's senate will vote on tuesday on an issue that's divided the nation for decades abortion the lower house of congress has already voted in favor of legalizing the procedure for all who want a large protests both for and against the bill are expected to raise about who 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 santa fe 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 why don't you do 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. and m.i.t.'s here either was 19 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 be off death shows 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 is. specially in places like this one where 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 marquesan her daughter show how entrenched anti abortion culture is in argentina's most remote regions. in spite of this health authorities say at least half a 1000000 irregular abortions happen every year 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 is an ally of. 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 for francis is argentinean and has been lobbying against. 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. a chinese citizen journalist has been jailed for 4 years for her live stream reporting of the early days of the coronavirus outbreak in. jang jan's videos were widely shared on social media platforms in february she's among at least 8 whistleblowers facing charges of picking quarrels and provoking trouble for their coverage of the outbreak the 37 year old former lawyer was arrested in may and is currently on hunger strike in jail a group of pro-democracy activists from hong kong remain in chinese detention after a mainline court failed to give a verdict on the 1st day of their trial the recused of trying to flee to taiwan in august to avoid jail sentences their families say they've been denied any information describing their treatment as inhumane sarah clarke reports from hong kong. pro-democracy activists deliver

a petition to beijing's liaison office. they want the group of 12 held on the mainland of china to be released after more than 4 months in detention is a secret trial you know people are not allowed the family member are not allowed to go to hear the trial out and also they have not met with a member over the 128 days that they are detained so there are no transparency no visitation by family is all harassment tight security is surrounded a court in the southern chinese city of shenzhen as 10 of the 12 activists attended the 1st day of the trial they're facing criminal charges relating to last year's and a government protests in hong kong and one of the accused has been charged under the national security law in august they were caught by chinese authorities trying to flee hong kong by boat they've now been accused of illegally entering mainland.

family members say they've had no contact since their wrist and were denied permission to attend monday's court hearing in change and they now fear for their safety. back the courts give the verdict as soon as possible i want to see my send again ferry much. later the families of the 12 have been in great throughout their detention they are now only asking for the safety of the children and their return to hong kong the united states has demanded the accused be returned to hong kong to face trial but china has rejected that request accusing the u.s. of interfering in their domestic affairs hong kong's chief executive says it's a matter for the mainland if these hong kong residents were arrested for bridging mainland offenses then they have to be dealt with according to the mainland loss in accordance with. that you restriction before any other things could happen

another 9 people in hong kong have been arrested suspected of helping the group flee the city in august. transports and the police here haven't ruled out making more arrests so al jazeera hong kong. coverage on the headlines on al-jazeera the u.s. house of representatives has voted to increase pandemic relief checks from $600.00 to $2000.00 president donald trump had demanded the increase frozen jordan has the latest from washington d.c. this now goes to the u.s. senate where it is hoped that a similar 2 thirds margin will pass and then the president and congressional democrats will get what they say they want which is getting more money into the pockets of americans in the middle of the pandemic the other vote that will be taking place in.