al jazeera. we're at. an explosion kills at least 16 people in southern yemen just as members of the new government land at agents thought. hello i'm still rahman your child is there a life my headquarters here and also coming up u.k. regulators greenlight the oxford astra zeneca vaccine and a move the health minister says could provide a path out of the pandemic. but as i long feared the war effort to distribute ministers of action is not progression is should u.s.

president elect joe biden criticizes the slow rollout of coronavirus vaccines and warns the darkest days of the pandemic lie ahead. jubilation in argentina as the senate votes to legalize abortion in a decision that could echo across latin america. welcome to the program an airport in southern yemen has been attacked killing at least 16 people. the blast happened as members of yemen's new unity government arrived at 8 an airport the ministers have been transferred to safety as minister of information is blaming the attack on who the rebels but they say they had nothing to do with it. more from yemen's capital sana'a. according to my speak on sources on the ground the media

people there witness that the fall down or of 3 missiles from outside of their ports so the. number of people being killed and also others injured as as a result of the attacks the head of the parliament has called on the government all the members of the government to to come to aid in order to to send a stronger surge to those who try to sabotage the riyadh's agreement that this agreement would be implemented on the ground and that the government would return back despite of these attacks one more than one occasion the government tried to return back to aden but several attacks and confrontations have taken place hopefully the last agreement which has been. stricken by all the parties would be implemented on the ground in order to put an end to the political vacuum

in aden and also in yemen where sigur close look at yemen's government it was sworn in just days ago by a person of the rubble months what had the as part of a power sharing deal brokered by saudi arabia in 2019 headed by prime minister may now the baloch say that the new government represents yemen's northern and southern areas with equal numbers of members from each region its formation as a result of a compromise between the united arab emirates backed separatists in the southern transitional council and saudi backed loyalists of president had the now it's meant to end military clashes between those parties so they can fight as allies against the who the rebel movement. there's the associate professor of conflict resolution at the doha institute on the author of unfinished revolutions yemen and libya and tunisia after the arab spring he says the authority of yemen's unity government has been seriously undermined. this explosion sends

a very strong message in fact no unity government has been recent that long after it won me at almost one year old stalks among all the pot is in order to come up with this. government unity government that's the present over all part of this political parties in yemen in order to bring it in the growth of the divisions from within the south and also. not on part this lot against the whole it is but then with that i value this happens and i think this is about it's the residents that the challenges that it c.d.'s the challenges are enormous and that unity government will have to deal with serious challenges on the ground. and no matter what you know what the who stands behind this explosion i think there is a huge security breach has happened.

now the battle against quote a virus has taken another leap forward after health regulators in the united kingdom approved a vaccine developed by oxford university scientists sunday pharmaceutical company astra zeneca it's the 3rd vaccine to be approved in the west and joins those manufactured by pfizer biotech a maternal russia and china are also distributing the shots that they've not complete mass tested the oxford astra zeneca vaccine has some advantages over the other 2 it's much cheaper to buy and kept at a regular fridge or in like in a regular french i'd like the finds a shot which requires ultra cold storage and even as approval was being announced in the u.k. orders for tens of millions of doses were confirmed by both taiwan and indonesia as many as $3000000000.00 doses are expected to be produced worldwide by the end of next year. well the approval came on the heels of the news that the u.k.

had its largest day of cases this year its company battling a fast spreading wave of infections driven by a new variant british health secretary matt hancock says the oxford vaccine will make a huge difference enough of this vaccine on order 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 are much much less likely to have to have symptoms from the disease. guys hospital in london this is a hugely significant approval full the u.k. at a critical time. yeah and behind me

i think you can see a kind of visual example of. a vaccination is going to be. improvements on the old one that now this behind me is a vaccination center for the. the. king's college it requires quite a lot of infrastructure there a tent set up you can hit it generates to keep people warm a vaccine also has to be kept chilled it basically means that you have to bring the people to the vaccine rather than taking the vaccine so that people. the new vaccine will do is enable any doctor any know any. team of medics to go out into communities to go and see whether a vulnerable people to set up vaccination sites. that are small and they can do them in a hospital sorry and trees etc it will basically mean that you can vaccinate

a huge number of people far more quickly than you can where the one the government is hoping that it can roll out from january the the 4th. vaccinate the entire population minus children as we just heard from from bangkok as quickly as possible they're going to do that by fos tracking all of the vaccines available into the 1st dose about the 2nd dose which is required 3 months. down the line because they know that this is a critical situation and this vaccine is needed to be able to get the health service and the country out of a really serious hundreds in. moment and of course rory while this will all take time with still seeing rising numbers as you mentioned mutant strains of the virus and real concerns that we might have even stricter lock downs not just in the

united kingdom but in other areas of europe as well. yeah i mean a century from a u.k. perspective we've had record cases of new infections almost daily recently we have 53000 yesterday new infections we have more people in hospital currently with than there were 2 in the peak of the 1st wave. medical experts are saying that you know nests 2021 is going to be worse then 2020 we have to have vaccines roll out fast and we have to have tougher restrictions on people's lives so we're expecting later today an announcement from the health secretary in parliament following that they'll be an announcement from gavin williamson who is the education secretary downing street and boris johnson is going to give another one later on in the day now all of this suggests that there are announcements coming about restrictions we are expecting perhaps this. the tier 4 restrictions are going to be applied to

a greater part of the united kingdom and we are also perhaps expecting that at least since here for areas children are going to be kept back home even when the christmas holidays are finished and schools as it should be reopening. we think that they're going to be keeping many schools closed trying to limit the number of people mingling in in classrooms to wait and see what those announcements are later in the day but of course this is not just a u.k. problem it's across europe and other countries around the continent operating in their own restrictions as well for their. force in london. well jeff lazarus is the head of the health systems research group at the barcelona institute for global health and he says the development is positive and attention needs to be turned to how countries will stall the vaccine. we need to ensure that as many people around the well get that 1st dose viruses mutate we've already seen that

sars cover to cover 1000 is mutating we have the new marion's identified is likely to be further mutations and we need to get as many people that's needed as quickly as possible and at the same time i think this is going to be one of the major challenges as well is to continue the pandemic measures that we've been turning out now face masks and washing no large gatherings to avoid further transmission and we've seen year over the winter holiday that cases are rising in many countries for a long time into 2021 i expect there to continue to be travel restrictions the tween countries probably within some countries and as as you mentioned some countries will go quite quickly the u.k. parts of your canada the u.s. etc in other countries will go slower and it is a global mechanism led by god the world health organization and others called kodak's which is trying to ensure that scene availability in low resource settings but we've also heard that countries that can have already been putting in their orders the united states has reported its 1st case of all contagious variants of

the corona virus which was originally discovered in the u.k. amount in colorado is confirmed to have the striking though it has no recent travel history. of accidents americans and control outbreaks across the country u.s. president elect joe biden has criticized the truck but ministration for failing to fully behind me in this rollout of covert 19 vaccines. continues at its current pace before the population is fully vaccinated. for washington d.c. the president elect delivered a grim message from his base in wilmington delaware as i long feared war the effort to distribute a minister of the vaccine is not progression this should. a few weeks ago trump administration suggested 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 in the face of vaccine the vaccination program is moving now as it if you continue to move 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 and 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 there jackson to the

modification. objection in 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 $2000.00 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 turns the al-jazeera washington well still ahead here on out is there around the united kingdom parliament begins a special session to approve prime minister boris johnson's pranks agreement with

the european union and the chinese called sentences pro-democracy activists up to 3 years in jail for trying to flee the crackdown in own home. over the weekend it got really cold in the halls in china throughout to be honest it was briefly down to mars 40 in the morning it's not quite as governor but winter is clearly setting with daytime temperatures in your avatar harbored about minus 80 that color has been spreading out across the open water as it will keep doing that on thursday and friday which means a pile up of snow in places like ryder supporters got 3 days of it in fact it gets heavier sun disappears and temperatures slowly rise on saturday which is fairly

typical of increasing snow that we've seen since though in south korea but i think the easing in the wind and change the wind direction will get rid of that by friday the temp should hold calms come up to 14 from 12 but the still the cold feet of the warm waters for the sassy go big showers for me again to maybe catch the far south of viet nam and the central part of the philippines there is still some rain to come in the far south of india and sri lanka little is changing immediately in the skies fog filled skies of northern india northern pakistan but as a hint of some cloud growing body end the week and the forecast need a new delhi suggests maybe a few showers this weekend which would cheer in the air up and improve the quality . in the conclusion of the 2 part series people and pam investigates allegations that irish catholic nuns facilitated the traffic babies the church realized that babies

of iowa caucus to america a scouting quite they use and reveals shocking new evidence of how and where religious orders disposed of those who died thank you torn in the system i guess fund church and state are there to keep the church from coming else islands mother and baby scandal on out is they are. rude. old. world. book about you watching all deserving so romney remind of our top stories at least 16 people are being killed in yemen after an explosion struck the airport in the city of aden it happened as members of yemen's new unity government arrived it's information minister is blaming the heathy rebels have denied involvement also the

u.k. health regulator has approved the oxford astra zeneca crowd of ours vaccine for emergency use the government has already preordered 100000000 doses it paves the way for a huge expansion of the u.k.'s inoculation program. us president elect joe biden has criticised the trumpet ministration for falling behind its vaccination program he's warned if the rollout continues at its current pace it could be years before the population is fully vaccinated us. senators not athena have passed a bill legalizing abortion after a marathon session the vote was $38.00 to $29.00 in favor of a bill to allow pregnancies to end at up to 14. up 252-0000 women sick illegal abortions in argentina each year 40000 of them and up in a hospital because of complications during the procedure truth has more from the capital one as iran's. historic decision ending the criminalization of

abortion in this mostly catholic country. after a long debate women outside congress waited anxiously for the vote to happen was. and when it did there was pure joy among those campaigning for that result was we are friends affected because there are no legal and safe abortion and it's a dead that we have as a society the state needs to deal with this issue we couldn't just continue ignoring it i'm so happy and i want us to know what is the debate lasted for about 12 hours and the bill was turned into law with $38.00 votes for and 29 against you can be. the be legalized abortion in argentina after 14 weeks into pregnancy it allows women to get a free abortion in a public hospital and will end the fears of women have of being reported to the police if they try to terminate a pregnancy. women in argentina have been campaigning for years to legalize

abortion in this country for this women it's a matter of public health because already around half a 1000000 abortions are carried out every year many of them end up with complications thousands of women end up in hospital because of those complications so for this women legalizing abortion is crucial to save lives. but not everyone celebrated on wednesday and couldn't help crying when asked about the possibility of legalizing abortion i know how much we're going to cry a lot there are a lot of lies that want to sell something that is not true that abortions happen everywhere we poor women do not want to have abortions we love our children. the catholic church is a powerful body here pope francis is argentinean and has been lobbying against the law. he says the church needs to lead up to current times he said let there be are

. they going to try to. make the case they be deterred they are. not my because they need to take their i told them they live in latin america that has done that. and they're not running around and you know this they that but she doesn't tolerate the war funding that in america so i think you need to do some reflection about. the vote in argentina sets a precedent in a region that has some of the toughest loss against abortion in the world but this movement of women's groups has spread throughout the region and has become a force for change. and to see when a site is. british members of parliament all meeting for an extraordinary session to vote on the e.u. trade deal a go she added last week is expected to pass comfortably with the main opposition labor party supporting the. ruminant scottish national party m.p.'s are opposing

the deal calling it a disaster now the vote comes just a day before the u.k. automatically leaves the e.u. single market meanwhile you chiefs have signed off on the future relationship agreement in brussels european council and commission president shall michel and live on the lay and formalize the blocs approval in brussels the papers have been flown to the u.k. for signing all 27 member states will abide by the agreement provisionally until it can be ratified by the e.u. parliament paul brennan is in london he says despite opposition from smaller parties the bill the sent is more or less guaranteed. this is a day full of symbolism and box ticking essentially rather than high drama the outcome of today's procedural vote in parliament this bill is not in doubt boris johnson has the full support of his conservative party and a big majority in the house of parliament and even labor the main opposition party

in maine will actually support him because the opposition leader kier starmer says this fyn deal as he describes it is better than no deal at all that said boris johnson. sort of rejected those criticisms of the labor leader and insisted that it was a very good deal it is true that the proof of the effect of this will only be felt on january the 1st when those trucks start to go through kalai and over under this new system of checks where you'll have rule of origin checks you'll have new customs declarations there won't be tariffs there won't be quotas they have that they've been done away with in the deal and so it gave boris johnson the opportunity to be celebrating in the house behind me a little earlier let's have a listen these 2 achievements because the central purpose of this bill is to accomplish something that the british people always knew in their hearts could be done and yet which we were continually told was impossible and told we could not

have our cake and eat it you remember how we were told that i missed the speaker namely that we could trade incorporate as we will with our european neighbors on the closest terms of friendship and goodwill while retaining sovereign control of our laws and our national destiny some members of labor's own backbenchers will oppose the bill as will the other opposition parties but it will go up to the upper house of the lord at around 3 o'clock this afternoon it will get an accelerated passage through there and receive royal assent to the queen will sign it off later on this evening. 10 hong kong activists who tried to flee the territory by speedboats have been handed jail terms by a chinese court and they're part of a group of 12 caught trying to escape to taiwan in august after beijing imposed its sweeping national security deal on hong kong now the 2 youngest of them have been sent back to the authorities in the province adrian brown has more. a day of drama both inside and outside court the 2 youngest defendants age 16 and 17 when they

absconded were driven across the border to hong kong shortly after being freed by mainland police both were hooded they've swapped one detention for another as they now face serious charges in hong kong related to last year's protests as well as leaving hong kong illegally young why need i mean monkey and because these 2 males are also subjected to a 14 day compulsory quarantine we will file a request to the court for a 14 day delay in handling their cases we will bring them to the kurds for their hearing after they have finished a quarantine. the 2 freed teenagers leave behind 10 other activists now beginning jail terms that between 7 months to 3 years the campaign for their release continues the group fled hong kong by speedboat 4 months ago hoping to seek asylum in democratic taiwan before their vessel was intercepted by the chinese coast guard

their detention drew international attention but diplomats as well as foreign journalists were denied permission to attend the trial it's rare for a trial to be wrapped up so quickly in china especially as the 12 had initially been branded as separatists by china's government and then there's the timing of it all coming on the very day that china is due to conclude a major trade deal with the european union that's been calling on china to free all the activists to both the home. and central government though this case will serve as a warning to others facing charges over last year's unrest who may also try to obscure adrian brown al-jazeera. the emir of qatar has been invited to next month's gulf cooperation council summits by the king of saudi arabia where the conference has been seen as a possible stamp to end the crisis that began in 2017 when saadi arabia the united

arab emirates egypt and bahrain cut ties with doha blockading countries accuse qatar of supporting terrorism and meddling in their internal affairs claims that qatar has strenuously denied the summit will be held in riyadh on choose day. an american who spent 30 years in the u.s. for spying has arrived in israel jonathan pollard was greeted by prime minister benjamin netanyahu at the airport the former u.s. navy intelligence analyst sold military secrets to israel while working at the pentagon in the 1980 s. last month a 5 year parole term ended allying him to leave the u.s. . the government of central african republic is insisting that sunday's general election was legitimate and credible knott's despite election officials saying hundreds of polling stations didn't open after being attacked by armed groups but some people say the competition for dominance between foreign countries further threatens. political and security situation catherine so reports now from the

capital bangui. this is president holstein also. at the 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 the control much of the country is also a big presence of private security contractors from the russian based group a supplier of mass in the east this makes begins to explain the country's complex geopolitics central african republic is afraid dr grant. it has never been a low to. exploit. all the resources. that we have. and that makes us you know

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

c.a.r. is reaching gold. 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 catherine al-jazeera. a reminder of our top stories at least 16 people have been killed in yemen after an explosion struck the port in the city of aden and it happened as members of your.