the day is over. as al-jazeera correspondent steps will be strong enough to do. jubilation in argentina as the senate votes to legalize abortion in a decision that could echo across latin america. about this and this is not a 0 live from doha also coming up u.k. regulators greenlight the oxford astra zeneca vaccine in a move the health minister says could provide a path of the pandemic. long feared war the effort to distributing administer the vaccine is not progression is shoot us president elect

joe biden criticizes the slow rollout of coronavirus vaccines and once the darkest days of the pandemic lie ahead. the chinese court sentences pro-democracy activists to up to 3 years in jail for trying to flee the crackdown in hong kong. we've got 2 breaking stories that we're going to start with a historic victory for women's rights in latin america where senators in argentina have passed a bill legalizing abortion after a marathon session $38.00 senators voted to allow tom a nation's up to 14 weeks $29.00 senators voted against it up to $520000.00 women seek illegal abortions in argentina each year 40000 of them end up in hospital because of complications during the procedure and he said bo was at the pro-abortion rally in the capital donna said is when the results came in. it's

a very divisive issue in this most city a catholic country where here people have started to leave now because they've been here for chart least 12 hours that's how long the debate in the senate lasted they were celebrating singing crying women who have been struggling for what they say is a right a half a 1000000 abortions are carried out every year that end up in many cases with complications mostly affecting women for with no resources that's why women who are just a few minutes ago here were saying that this was a matter of social justice because women with no resources and up in the hospital afraid of going there because abortion is illegal in the country and they could be reported to the police but on the other side of this plaza where we are right in front of congress there was a completely different atmosphere an atmosphere a somber add more for you again people crying because this is that they were saying

that this is the worst day in argentina's history basically say that bush and should remain illegal but women who were here before were telling us is that i was sure it's already happening in the country and that in the past the catholic church pope francis has been personally lobbying against this law they have opposed the law of divorce in this country saying sex marriage law and of ocean and that it's time to change a lot why this law is historic and it's crucial to save women's lives. ok let me take you to our other top story this hour the u.k. health regulator has approved the oxford astra zeneca coronavirus vaccine for emergency use the government has already preordered 100000000 doses it paves the way for a huge expansion of the government's inoculation program it has implications are around the world because it is by far the cheapest vaccine to buy those approved

and it's easier to distribute than the pfizer biotech shot enough of this vaccine all although to vaccinate the whole population you know we've got 100000000 doses on order add that to the 30000000 doses of pfizer and that's enough for 2 doses for the entire population so i can now say with confidence that we can vaccinate everyone except of course for children because this vaccine has not been child on on children in any way children a much much less likely to have to have symptoms from the disease so u.k. prime minister boris johnson's welcomed the announcement calling it a triumph for british science is that it but the u.k. will now move to vaccinate as many people as quickly as possible paul brennan is live for us in london paul what impact is this going to have on the pandemic. well it's been described as a game changer by the people here in the u.k. and certainly the flexibility of this vaccine certainly says that it could go all

around the world far easier than for example the pfizer buy on tech because the pfizer by onset vaccine needs to be stored at minus between minus 17 minus 80 degrees so to hyper cold storage and this vaccine doesn't need to be stored at those kind of low temperatures it can be kept at normal fridge temperature that creates huge opportunities for developing nations for example where refrigeration is an issue what the obstacle at the moment is is approval now the british medical approval body has approved this for use in the u.k. and britain has ordered 100000000 doses of it there are already doses orders for 400000000 doses that have been made by the europeans however the european drugs agency has not yet approved it and saw a quote from the european medical agency's deputy executive director saying that

the astra zeneca oxford vaccine hasn't even been submitted for approval yet so the prospect of it being rolled out across europe in january looks remote and in america as well the federal drug agency administration sorry the 300000000 doses ordered but no approval yet so there's a there's a procedural bureaucratic step that needs to be gone through before this really does make a massive impact on the pandemic all around the world paul thank you very much indeed that's paul brennan talking to us from london let's talk to dr mohamed will need his have all addressed at lancaster university he's joining us now by skype from lancaster good to have you back with us on. what the british government under pressure do you think to buy british and did they buy the right thing. what if you read a local into the data that they published earlier this month in their peterbilt journal lancet this was the 1st study that was published in the face 3 trial so based on

bad that the vaccine has certain advantages as been described before that it can be doled out quite quickly because of the scale ability 10 manufacturing plants around the ward and getting enough of those as easy to store and transport but the real question came onto the confusion about that goes into a team and the f a k c n based on day i met audie of today morning here in the u.k. it is based on to florida as and to florida just gave 62 percent efficacy in reality if it if a vaccine is 62 percent of active in the history trials in reality when it comes to the real life it is i don't see 50 percent which is certainly not very convincing compared to many other vaccines that we are having at the moment so certainly there are a lot of questions that need to be addressed before to a conclusion that whether this was a good choice what not and one of those this is of course is going to be this new variant of the of covert that we're seeing beginning to emerge around the world but of course which was 1st discovered in the in the u.k. in september i'm just seeing

a line from us to senate his chief executive possible serial saying that this they i surveyed zeneca oxford covered 1000 vaccine should be effective against a rapidly spreading new variant of the virus this is talking to what you're mentioning before there are a lot of unknowns about this on the. yes absolutely there are many things that are not yet clear and those those will take time before we really come to the conclusive information but speaking on to the efficacy of the vaccines because not pfizer that australia day started many if it meant factoring and development of the vaccine almost at the same time so they use almost the same and identical spike protein that you were taken when the ugly state is us divided spend so the in for if flies or not would work i don't see to really any reason that any government of war wouldn't work against the new strain so in terms of vaccine i think a c whatever it is approved for these 2 we advance to front whatever vaccines i

think that that's ok i knew that it wouldn't have any impact on to the vaccine efficacy as it stands but one of the issues i would imagine is the fact that these vaccines are only effective if people actually follow the restrictions guidelines that governments are putting in place and we can see particularly from the u.k. that that is not happening on large scales. yes absolutely i did this is one of the major concerns here i mean if you can remember from yesterday's numbers those are the scaremongering and we had seen that big number of infections and just to put into the perspective the festive season increase in number of cases are not yet included in those numbers all i'm seeing is that next to 3 weeks that would be a mess of inquiries and number of cases and unfortunately higher the number of cases higher the hospital ization and higher the talent so i mean this this whole situation can only be really attack got tackled on till the whole country is put onto the lockdown on

a video straight mayors and also the schools the universities and other businesses need to be shut really to bring the number down before the impact of the vaccine either told us resenting the size or start to be visible really here to get your thoughts on this dr mohammad moneer we appreciate it thank you very much indeed thanks for having me. u.s. president elect joe biden has criticised the top administration for falling behind in its rollout of covert 1000 vaccines he's warning that if the rollout continues at its current pace it could take years before the population is fully vaccinated should have a chance of reports from washington d.c. the president elect delivered a grim message from his base in wilmington delaware as i long feared war the effort to distributed administer the vaccine is not progressing as it should a few weeks ago trump administration suggests that 20000000 americans could be vaccinated by the end of december with only

a few days left in december we've only vaccinate a few 1000000 so far the pace of vaccine the vaccination program is moving now as it if you continue to move it is now it's going to take years not months to vaccinate the american people but joe biden repeated that he had a comprehensive plan he would invoke the defense production acts to mandate that the production of vaccines and personal protective equipment all the u.s. is manufacturing priorities he will for mobile vaccination units that would travel to isolated areas of the country and embark on a public education program to combat vaccine denial the goal will be 100000000 shots administered in 100 days and for the american people to wear their mosques for the duration off the president's 1st 100 days. current president meanwhile was golfing in florida but also in gauging in political debate on twitter once again urging the senate to agree to higher stimulus checks for low and middle income

americans than the $600.00 already passed by congress is their objection to the modification. objection is here and the senate majority leader blocked vote on the bill that passed the house of representatives on monday mandating $2000.00 payments instead he introduced his own bill that would mandate $2000.00 payments but also the formation of a commission to investigate allegations of fraud in the presidential election and end legal protections for social media companies democrats will not vote for such a package the polls show overwhelming support for 2000 dollars checks now it seems that republican senators including the 2 facing a tough runoff election in georgia next week that will decide control of the senate will be able to say they did vote for more help with no chance of the money ever reaching those in need she ever attends the al-jazeera washington and the united states has reported its 1st case of a more contagious variant of the corona virus that was originally discovered in the

u.k. a man in colorado is confirmed to have the strain although he has no recent travel history that has further urgency to reference to vaccinate americans and stamp out uncontrolled outbreaks. hospitals across the u.s. are struggling with the high number of infections medical centers in alabama say they're facing a crisis with many intensive care units running at capacity or above california's extended stay at home orders in some areas as it fights record numbers of new infections. still ahead on aljazeera more tremors in croatia a martyr a powerful earthquake causes widespread damage and kills at least 7 people. 2 sisters 2 lives cut short by covered 19 we report on the growing human cost of a pandemic in south africa.

that by satellite used to go all the cloud is going in this direction and certainly the talk of it is but underneath it is that cold and it's dark quite a cold northeast when the monsoon and where you get that in the bottom in the clouds reading off the direction the top is obviously development taking place and this is this line of big showers where the 2 meet properly significant rays of likeliness mostly over the water you'll notice that much as catch some of the smaller islands and is heading down maybe further south the line extends through the central philippines this is the concentration of heaviest showers pretty good widespread showers elsewhere malays in indonesia but it is the rainy season so you'd expect that. now we've had the same sort of static motion in the daily repeat of showers over australia through queens and ups or northern territory down towards sydney recently now it has regressed further you still got the onshore breeze and i

have to say disappointing looking weather for some of the new south wales and again victoria there on shore breeze with the heaviest rain even hints to circulation is off the coast of queensland further south and 1st redound is still hot and sunny which just from some big big showers in the full cost in new south wales and the tension perth has come down down to $34.00. mass protests forcing the government's hand but are we seeing not. only just time to change our affairs we follow journalists on the front line establishing a free man commits hate to reporting the fact that this police officer has been pointing guns at john has changed on canning the hong kong fact and fiction in the mist truth is in any way on al-jazeera. were.

we're watching out to see a reminder of our top stories this hour a historic victory for women's rights in latin america where senators in argentina of passed a bill legalizing abortion after a marathon session $38.00 senators voted to allow terminations up to 14 weeks 29 senators voted against. the u.k. health regulators approved the oxford astra zeneca coronavirus vaccine for emergency use the government's already preordered 100000000 doses paves the way for a huge expansion of the government's inoculation program. us president elect joe biden has criticised the trumpet ministration for falling behind in its vaccination

program he's warning that if the rollout continues at its current pace it could take years before the population is fully vaccinated. 10 hong kong pro-democracy activists who try to flee the territory by speedboat have been handed jail terms by a chinese court the sentences range between 7 months and 3 years they're part of a group of 12 try and court trying to escape to taiwan in august to fear of being politically prosecuted the youngest who are age 16 and 17 have been sent back to authorities in hong kong police there say they're going to face serious charges activists have been fleeing hong kong since beijing imposed a security law in the territory allowing political dissidents to be prosecuted on the mainland it jim brown has more from hong kong. no sympathy as you might expect from the hong kong police and they wanted to remind the public that those 10 activists who are now beginning jail sentences ranging from 7 months to 3 years

worth a seeing serious charges here in hong kong connected to last year's protests before they tried to obscure arms to taiwan one of the 10 has in fact been held on suspicion of violating the national security law so the police wanted to remind people generally that this group were facing very serious charges indeed and of course you know there have simply swap one detention center for another the 2 who have been brought back from hong kong were immediately placed into detention and of course their cases will now continue over the days and weeks ahead because they are charged with leaving hong kong illegally from the perspective of chinese government from china's government the sentences they've received today will be seen as being pretty lenient because when they were apprehended by the chinese coast guard back

in august chinese government officials referred to the group as being separatists now that could have led to them getting a much harsher sentence indeed so i think from the in the eyes of china's government they have been treated leniently e.u. jeeves have signed the future relationship agreements with the u.k. negotiated last week european council and commission president shall michel and a sort of on the lame formalize the blocks approval in brussels just describe it as an important moment all 27 member states will abide by the agreement provisionally until it can be ratified by the e.u. parliament. meanwhile the u.k.'s parliament's holding an extraordinary session to vote on the trade deal it's expected to pass with support from the chambers 2 largest parties the vote comes as one day before the december 31st deadline when britain automatically leaves in you trade rules there have been several aftershocks in central croatia by day after a 6.4 magnitude quake killed at least 7 people it struck near the town of 50

kilometers in the capital sec a local mayor says half the time has been destroyed many people spent the night in tents afraid to return to their homes because more from the. very unsettling morning in crazy today there were 3 more quite significant scared in fact in past 2 hours of magnitude 4.90.60 after a sleepless night here in pennsylvania because many of the people would not leave their homes couldn't stay in them so many of them sleep tonight in their backyards covered with blankets and with flyers outside. today the. rescue operations are still underway but most of them have already checked the most critical an area here in the town of in this around the villages unfortunately 7 people together have been confirmed dead since. late last night humanitarian

response has been huge in crazy people are sending help sending groceries and sending. anything that they think that might help people who stayed here emergency services are coming with volunteers who want to help clear the rubble who want to help the people to start gathering their lives together. hundreds of are here refugees in bangladesh having to supposing a new life after being relocated to an isolated island navy ships carry them to bash on char island away from crowded and squalid camps in the mainland but that's despite safety and security concerns raised by human rights groups other south reports from the port city which is a go. around 800 running a refugee is boarded navy vessel in the city of chittagong in southern bangladesh there been sent to passion charter island where 1600 of their fellow refugees were

relocated earlier this month. and his wife who have a young child don't know what to expect so why both. are most are saying things are fine of a day we are going because government told us the facilities are good over there and so we are following their advice no one really pressured us to go there human rights group have questioned whether the island is safe and can withstand natural disaster and floods and whether the refugees were forced to go there against their will. the un who the international community and the various governments and the diplomats and doc are all looking to actually take on this assessment are just not being allowed to go there bangladesh is struggling to find a long term solution to the running a crisis more than a 1000000 are living in the world's largest refugee camp at cox's bazaar after fleeing man march in 2017 during a military crackdown the government is now looking to some of them elsewhere this

is the 2nd batch the 1st batch run on december for the government is determined to relocate at least 200000 refugees to this remote coastal iran despite opposition from rights groups and even the un for any rowing or are worried about how safe the island. people who are willing to go there also knows the risks involved so why are they going there i would never go because i'm afraid but the commander of bangladesh navy in chittagong is confident everything will be ok government has taken up the project. 3 years back and before taking up this project in our financial. study has been carried out by international from nowhere in the world any government as such kind of project that in my knowledge was this is something that. we believe that government will take them back to their families

and build them. with no means to earn a living and a congested living condition at cox's bazaar summering a refugee has decided to take the chance. that a lot of it is about it life is hard in the camp and it's difficult to earn a living there they said they will provide us with better living facilities and means to end a living 3 years on rohingya refugees are increasingly frustrated they don't have a voice in the decision making process and feel their fate and destiny is at the marcy your father's kind of a child 3 al-jazeera chittagong. the government of central african republic is insisting sunday's general election was legitimate and credible as despite the election officials saying hundreds of polling stations didn't open after being attacked by armed groups some people say the competition for dominance between foreign countries further threatens from job political and security situation

reports from. this is president. at a reason political rally in bondi he's armed guards are russia run the central african and also members of a un peacekeeping force randa recently sent troops and russia says it has deployed hundreds of military structures to help fight armed groups that control much of the country is also a big presence of private security contractors from the russian. supplier of mass in the east this makes begins to explain the country's complex geopolitics central african republic is afraid dr grant. did have never been alone to. exploit. all the resources. that we have. and that made. you know for

a drive. to. make those put us in the situation where we need to have partners some central africans are worried about the motive behind the increasing power play between russia and. the fronts on one hand and round against other regional countries like charred on the other. russia is reconquering areas we lost at the end of the cold war rhonda is a small country but deploying troops not only as part of un but also in the context of bilateral agreements gives it diplomatic weight france has been losing ground. the battle between france and russia infantile african republic is now playing out online facebook was recently forced to sat down many automated branding me thing formation from both countries. platforms seem to have taken 5.

r. is reaching goal and die i am wondering and other natural resources yet it's one of the poorest and most unstable countries in the wild this president want an end to violence they say they need the international help but also want to feel they're in charge of their country's political affairs and go off kathy 0. this week we're looking back on what's been a tumultuous year ever since the 1st coronavirus cases were reported in china south africa has been the worst affected country in africa and was the 1st on the continent to supply 1000000 cases are reports from port elizabeth. deliver him pay and her brother my novel bury their sister a few weeks ago they said linda were struggling to breathe but she didn't

immediately go to the hospital thinking whatever she had wasn't serious when she eventually got tested for curve at 19 it was too late by then another sister was also gravely ill the youngest sister was still in the hospital. when they're in a doll untiring who were still training for him to survive by then there was this. guy in wild west still train for that crown to survive and that that one when she comes out. should be told that her sister is no more numb to italy last secret died a few days after her big sister linda way so that has grown a virus infection total since the 1st case in march is now more than a 1000000 joining the festive season thousands of south africans traveled across the country visiting friends and family some attended large gatherings without wearing masks or practicing social distancing that's why health experts say they

are not surprised by the rise in numbers port elizabeth is a coronavirus hot spots in the eastern cape one of the provinces where the new variant was identified in south africa doctors and nurses say a sharp increase in infection strain on already struggling medical facilities in. new variant has also been identified in other parts of the country several hospitals and medical centers say many wards are full there is a shortage of ventilators i.c.u. beds and start certainly with the 2nd wave we've seen all health care workers also unfortunately died from the disease should a burial is a heavy while you lose people you work with for years but you have to continue you have to continue there's not enough time for grieving. so the africa's president. has tightened kovac 1000 mr actions banning alcohol sales extending

a nationwide curfew and making the wearing of mass in public and legal requirement so far most people in south africa who tested positive a curve in 1000 have recovered but some doctors say unlike in the 1st wave when the out really were most affected this time they see more young people in the thirty's and forty's getting seriously ill or even dying from the disease how to al-jazeera port elizabeth. this is all just here are these are the top stories a historic victory for women's rights in latin america where senators in argentina have passed a bill legalizing abortion after a marathon session 38 senators voted to allow terminations up to 14 weeks or 29 senators voted against it there is a ball was with the crowds gathered outside the senate in one as. they were celebrating things.