the u.s. house of representatives votes to more than triple and demick relief payments but also overrides president trumps veto on the defense bill. hello i'm adrian finnegan this is al jazeera live from though also coming up many of the agencies that are critical to our security curt norma's. president elect joe biden warns that america's ability to protect itself has been seriously weakened by the trumpet ministration. bangladesh moves on

a group of rango refugees to an isolated islands despite concerns from rights groups. and covert 19 restrictions tightened in south africa and that a surge in cases driven by a different variant of the coronavirus. the u.s. house of representatives has voted in favor of president trump's demand for a 3 fold increase in direct stimulus payments to americans who are struggling during the pandemic but congressman have also voted to override approve presidential veto on defense spending it comes as president elect joe biden accused the trumpet ministration of risking national security by not giving his transition team all the information it needs roselyn jordan reports from washington. members of the u.s. house of representatives interrupt their holiday break to decide whether to give americans $2000.00 each in the midst of the covert $1000.00 pandemic the bill is

passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table the vote in favor came after us president donald trump finally signed into law on sunday a bill giving americans a one time check for $600.00 even though he had said the amount should be higher i hope it will enjoy a strong bipartisan support the president of the united states has put this forward to something that he wants to see and terms and part of his signing the legislation yesterday i hope that that will be that view will be shared by the republicans in the senate but some republicans worried about increasing the budget deficit $600.00 per person is all the government could afford but looking at this bill today it makes me feel like we're in the parliament of afghanistan burundi amun or bolivia

do we really think the way to improve the quality of life for americans is to just print more money from the fed. if you look around we're going to be printing another $400000000000.00. the other business before congress overturning trump's veto of the annual military spending bill something both democrats and republicans agreed had to be done as congress works to keep both ordinary americans and the military afloat the incoming president is accusing donald trump of interfering with national security for political purposes joe biden made the accusation after meeting with his national security team right now we just aren't getting all the information that we need for the on going out going from not going to do stray shoot in key national security areas it's nothing short of more of you of irresponsibility. no comment from president trump just

a new campaign style video he posted on his twitter account even though he's already lost the election rosalyn jordan al-jazeera washington robinson what bones is an assistant professor in the political science department at howard university he says the trump's actions of pushing away allies. we're in a somewhat uncharacteristic our unusual position it has not been the case that either chamber of commerce or congress has successfully overridden veto by the president the house did so by a fairly wide margin signaling a rare bipartisan vote and it's likely that the senate scheduling its vote this week will do the same this is a fairly popular bill included in the $741000000000.00 outlays raise in pay for american troops and that plays pretty well the congressional constituents

and so it's likely that because the bill passed in the house for those same reasons we'll probably see it carry in the senate and be the 1st successful override a presidential veto during the trumpet ministration on the original coronavirus relief package congress negotiated with the president treasury secretary steve nugent and it looked like the original package and that the president satisfaction but then the president reversed course arguing for 2 $1000.00 checks and that probably bothered or ticked off some members of our congressional delegation we saw that $44.00 republican members supported this new higher spending bill and defiance of their the majority of their party and so we're starting to see 4th and republican delegation this delay does not help the country's recovery certainly these direct cash payments are necessary particularly for essential workers for frontline workers who may not have access to health care or other kinds of

employment benefits and so this delay does hurt workers as well south africa's president to run the pose as announced strict measures to combat a surge in coronavirus cases driven by a different soft spreading variant that such it became the 1st african nation to pass 1000000 in sanctions indoor and outdoor gatherings will be banned at the 9 pm to a few will be enforced while shady is aware a mosque correctly in public has been made a criminal offense. a person who does not wear a mask could be arrested and prosecuted. on conviction they will 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 drastic measure but it is now necessary to ensure compliance with the

most basic of preventative measures more now from us as heroes how about in port elizabeth in south africa. it was the doctor. who were calling for. they were saying that there was really surprised number of what surprised them quickly it happened and. they also not surprised. put in place. people were traveling up and down the country visiting friends and family and some of them were big gatherings. sanitizing and we on the east. of the provinces where this variant was. and people here. people here who tell you that i have had 7 people in my family who have died from. people who attended funerals of prominent people and they came back in many of them became sick and port elizabeth is considered. at the

people who listen to president. saying. he had it and somewhat harsh in. saying that it was unnecessary. and. travel in the united states has reached its highest level since the start of the pandemic in march the u.s. transport authority says that 1200000 people were screened porch on sunday public health officials of urge people not to travel during the holiday season because of fear of the spread of the corona virus meanwhile california's governor has warned the recent spike in holiday travel will lead to another surge in cases he said it's likely that the current stay at home order will be extended southern california still facing record numbers of infections with hospital intensive care units capacity in los angeles county one person is dying every 10 minutes. we

certainly anticipate that the middle of january is going to be a pretty difficult time in our hospitals where their cases from this week and next week really start to stack on top of one another impacting the emergency rooms are ospital wards and are i.c.u. spaces that when i speak to hospital leaders throughout the southern part of the state they are worried about the middle part of january the government of bangladesh has relocated a 2nd group of rangar refugees who fled from me and mom up to 1800 refugees have been moved from that camps in cox's bazar to beslan char island the u.n. and human rights groups and condemned the relocations arguing that they amount to ethnic cleansing this is where the group of being taken by some china is one of several unstable islands that emerged from the sea 20 years ago off the silt bunched together at the mouth of the river critics say that it isn't safe because

it's prone to flooding during the monsoon that is known to be lashed by cyclons let's go live to chittagong in bangladesh i was there astounded childfree joins us from there what's going on where you are now out of the. well i'm in the navy dog as you can see it's totally empty it took badly one and a half hour to clear $1800.00 rowing a refugee is a navy vessel to head towards the coast of the island which is about $2.00 to $2.00 and a half hour journey 42 kilometers from here and i spoke to the neville come on barry i was charge of operation that journalists and others local john is why i love not the international one and they said the facilities are good everything is there you all will be going there but today's operation is done they'll be a next batch we don't know exactly when but the operation today is all play out those of most of the rough edges were brought from cox cams yesterday or last night

rather by bus and they were kept in a transit camp and today the whole process started locally 9 am in the morning and then it's finished there's been criticism from human rights organizations why is the government not permitting journalists to visit the island what are conditions on that island like. i would been talking to the government authorities for quite some time 2nd permission to access the never actually say that we want they said we'll we will give you a permission in due time i've asked them why and rights groups and other organization like international organization and foreign media is not allowed except for one sometime back who was allowed there they said i'd do time comes we'll go we won the refugees to settle their start their life all over you will go and see will allow you access to the refugees will allow you to see the facilities for yourself you can assess will allow the u.n. and human rights organization to exercise the environmental situation there this

was we did by the neville commander he said that you will see a very short time in real life to go and see that how well protected that island is we have a naval base there so it is saigon prove we have saigon shelters there are a lot of environmental impact study done by the government and british engineering fire the government on its pot is saying that they're under tremendous pressure public pressure to move the decongest the area in cox's bazar they say the international community hasn't been much out exciting pressure on me and my 2 to start the repatriation process other than lip service so there we have to do something. for a crime drug running internal field within that camp is that we're going to gradually start actually moving on $100000.00 and eventually even maybe $300000.00 this was told by some of fish oil off the record to me that will make more

accommodation so that there's less congestion in the caucuses but it's already out and also they're saying sergeants in the broader area would but there's a kind fighting that man might on me that thing this could spill over near the border cams and that could be a stability issue for the buying of this government under serious time their child to be reporting live there from chittagong in bangladesh on the many things. we're going to weather update next here are 0 then as ballots are counted in the central african republic voters appraised for defying threats of violence. driven by locked down turning out of necessity we meet some of the economic casualties of the pandemic in india. hello there the weather slushy fog and dry across much of the middle east as it

should be no sign of the snow that we saw through the weekend last clear out of the white brighter skies coming back in behind lots of hazy sunshine you might just catch your shadow up towards the northwestern corner of saudi arabia but that's a side is on the way of sunshine 22 celsius here in doha the winds easing off a touch but quite a fresh breeze nevertheless one or 2 showers on the other side of the gulf of aden heading towards somalia you could see a little bit of wet weather just coming in here as we go on through the next day or so there you go some showers just easing towards the northern parcel somalia eventually will see some shabby rain gradually pushing across into the eastern side of ethiopia further south we have this circulation this is tropical cyclone charlayne that's going to continue making its way through the warm waters of the mozambique channel strengthening further as we go on through the next couple of days he had brought flooding rains into madagascar is going to be central mozambique the say some very heavy rainfall as it makes landfall late tuesday going on into wednesday the list still have enough punch in it to make its way across him

bob way as we go on into thursday and eventually it will spread some heavy rain into northern parts of botswana by thursday. and. what does that have been doing with the money that it's borat we bring you the stories and developments that are rapidly changing the world we live in seen as congress is debating a bill seeking to raise billions of dollars from the super rich poor families hit hard by and damage counting the cost on al-jazeera. if you want to help save the world. sneeze and hero.

well again this is al jazeera the main news this hour the u.s. house of representatives has backed a 3 fold increase in direct pandemic relief checks to $2000.00 the measure will need a 2 thirds majority in the senate passed the house is also overturned president trumps veto of the annual defense spending bill. government of bangladesh has started to relocate a 2nd group of raping the refugees who fled there from the end up to $1800.00 refugees being moved from their camps in cox's bazar by some charge island. and south africa's president so rob oppose a has announced strict measures to combat a surge in corona virus cases driven by a fast spreading variant that suffered became the 1st african nation to past 1000000 infections. russia has admitted that its coronavirus death toll was more

than 3 times higher than previously reported that he figure emerged as a 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 feet 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 or thought he's 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 coronavirus 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 joining 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. and those with other challenging conditions and then we then make sure that the vaccine. the u.k. is hoping to get approval for a 2nd vaccine developed by astra zeneca this week so it can started administering it early in the new year but it. parts of the solution to a still growing crisis. al-jazeera the family of a prominent saudi women's rights activists say that they will appeal jail sentence in our house flew was sentenced to 5 and a half years in prison on monday drawing international condemnation she's been held since 2018 and relatives say that she's been sexually assaulted and tortured while in prison she's campaigned against

a ban on women driving and for an end to saudi arabia's male guardianship system. argentina's senate will decide on tuesday where there's a legalize abortion hundreds of anti abortion are to rest protested outside congress a day ahead of what's expected to be a close vote this month the lower house of congress back from allies in the procedural. zeroes through isabeau has more from santa fe on an issue that's divided the nation for decades. not among us never thought she would become a pro-abortion activist she lives in a poor and conservative community in the province of somebody 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 did you do in a bush and 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 i might yessiree the 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 so 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 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 mark was on 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 taking 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. 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 threaten 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 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 us hope will guarantee what happened to her daughter will not happen to anyone else that is how will. argentina at least 3 french soldiers have been killed in mali their armored vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in the small town of him border in the multi region troops who are part of france's 5000 strong force who are helping to fight armed groups in the

sahara region france's president of money paid tribute to the dead soldiers saying that his government would keep up the fight against what he called terrorism. election officials in the central african republic say that hundreds of polling stations in sunday's general election were unable to operate after being attacked by armed rebels more than 14 percent of locations were affected despite that un observers say the vote was smooth in most places and turnout was good president fast enough to adela is hoping to win a 2nd term but has accused his predecessor francois busies a of planning a coup the government's praised voters for ignoring threats by rebel groups in the straw poll catherine soy is in the capital born gay and 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 acknowledge 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. and in other places voting materials were delayed palls delayed to open because of the security situation when it came to counting some polling stations when counting was going on people would come in and take. them by the u.n. 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 many of the papers are to be airlifted to. not just because of the security situation but also because of the very poor road network 17 russian missing. committal the barents sea 2 of the crew members were rescued by a nearby fishing boats it's thought that a build up of of course the sink criminal investigation has been launched. this week we're looking back on the tumultuous year since the 1st corona virus cases were reported in china in india one of the worst hit countries a sudden nationwide lockdown declared in march from internal migration on a massive scale tens of millions of workers returned to their villages after losing their jobs in the cities the government announced billions of dollars in aid but it hasn't reached everyone al-jazeera as elizabeth elizabeth broderick reports now

from new delhi. it's one of the 5 bicycles she was given after her journey home to the state of bihar made national headlines during india's lockdown. in may the 17 year old cycled 1200 kilometers with her injured father sitting behind her she'd gone to take care of him after he was injured in a voter accident and was on able to carry on working as a top took driver that the lockdown was imposed and with no money they were forced to leave the city of good girl little good ad does god allow a besa landlord with asking for around saying you're over a lot of money so we thought what can we do then i said let's go home and we won't make it but i said. but all public transport suspended georgie bought a bike for $15.00 with the last of their money and they joined a group of people travelling in the same direction despite sleeping on the road at

night for $7.00 days a father mohan says they were the lucky ones. the people who were in more distress were the elderly the people with young children women carrying big sacks young boys with blisters and this horror does more because i thought these people will die before us. it was a lockdown which laid bare india as the quality of the government asked people to stay at home more than 10000000 who'd worked in cities and states away from their homes forced to walk back hundreds died on the journey. but warnings that workers might not come back to their jobs didn't come to fruition despite feeling abandoned all their employees. many have returned to the and construction sites like this one and that's because there isn't enough work for them in rural areas. decided to leave has. traveled to 1400

kilometers back. he managed to find work again as a laborer. everyone was sitting idle at home. so i thought it's better to leave because i'll get whatever work is going food and save some money too. but economists warn that with the government. those workers who have returned are often in a worse situation than they were. providing protection even. the government announced billions of dollars in aid to help those without work but . they haven't received the attention and money.

now she says she just wants to. elizabeth al-jazeera. special program this week looking at the devastation caused by covert 19 in the year since the virus emerged and hope of protection will be asking how long it could take for the world to recover you can see that on thursday at 800. it is good to have you with us hello adrian fenty going to here in doha the headlines of the answers there at the u.s. house of representatives has back to 3 fold increase in direct pandemic relief checks to $2000.00 the measure will need a 2 thirds majority in the senate to pass the house is also overturned president trump's veto of the annual defense spending bill president.