make people feel like i'm not small instance a sense truth is that any way. where every. californian colorado were hit by a new variant of covert 19 as president donald trump blames individual u.s. states for failing to meet vaccine goals and regulators in the u.k. approved the emergency use of the oxford astra zeneca vaccine to sting hopes that more countries may soon get help in fighting over 90.

watching al jazeera live from a headquarters in doha i'm dead and obligated to also coming up. and talk hills with least 26 people that aden airport where members of yemen's new government had just arrived from saudi arabia. and the centuries old telling flattened in seconds the urgent search for a temporary shelter for kuwait shows earthquake victims. hello president donald trump is blaming u.s. states for the slow rollout of covert 1000 vaccines criticism is mounting over his administration's lagging response to the pandemic so far around 2000000 shots have been administered that's a far cry from the promised 20000000 by year end it comes as a new more infectious variant of the virus has now been identified in 2 u.s. states and gallagher reports from miami. patiently waiting for the code

19 vaccine many of florida's over 60 five's and health care workers camped overnight for their chance to receive a potentially life saving shot in the arm as the state's positivity rate hits record highs delays conflicting information and crushing websites left facts a nation sites overwhelmed i wanted i want to see the good in people and i want to hope that people are doing their bath but at this point i don't know their best this is really going on right now meanwhile in the same state the president continues to go off in his mar-a lago estate telling governors to get moving his administration promised to have 20000000 people vaccinated by the end of this week doctors say without a national strategy it could take years infortunate way without a master plan after distribution national is going to be a lot of. and a lot of the state health departments and hospitals and doctors that were already

in. more than 11000000 doses of madonna in pfizer's 2 dose vaccines have been distributed across the u.s. but according to the c.d.c. just over 2000000 of those most at risk have received it the government's health and human services department say things will get better it's only 15 days since the 1st vaccine were given so things will evolve they were optimized over over the next week or so and you'll see you know millions and millions more vaccines the initial plan was to have 80 percent of the u.s. population vaccinated by june to reach that figure millions would have to be vaccinated every day so far that doesn't appear to be the case here in florida the positivity rate of new code 19 infection stands at more than 22 percent state health officials say that's because fewer people are being tested but with an apparent slow roll out across the nation the next few months could be worse than predicted or those most at risk can do is hope things get better and fast at

a gallacher al-jazeera miami florida let's bring in robert ronald he's joining us from los angeles so rob is there any merit in the president putting the blame on the states for the slow rollout of the vaccine. well to reno if you look back over the behavior of during the entire pandemic from its very beginning he sought to avoid any responsibility for virtually anything he is always blamed china or blame democrats or blame governors or blamed bureaucrats or you or us government agencies for anything that went wrong and of course a lot has gone wrong anybody but himself really so this is not exactly the behavior that most people would call leadership critics say trump has basically abdicated the federal government's responsibility to get the vaccine to the people

who need it and the states say that the vaccination efforts have been slowed down setback hampered by a lack of a nationwide strategy is as andy gallagher indicated also poor communication lack of planning and. lack of adequate funding from the federal government to support the states in their efforts and a little earlier today when the california governor gave a short statement what did he have to say about the combat situation around that state. well it was about this this mutant strain that. has been circulating in the u.k. and elsewhere governor gavin newsom in a conversation online it was broadcast on line with dr anthony she said that officials here at confirmed the 1st case of this new variant in southern california now he didn't give

a lot more information about the patient or the condition that the patient may be in a doctor for his part said that this was no surprise that it was. pretty much inevitable that the new strain would be popping up all around the country as it has been around the world in europe in canada now in colorado before now in california and here in california dairy things are really bad and it's difficult to see how much worse they can get but i suppose that's that's always a possibility the covert 19 is raging on tuesday there was a new record set of deaths 442 people lost their lives of battling cove and 19 in california about half of those here in southern california which incidentally is also the area of the state where the new variant has has been confirmed. there is

a. figure coming out from the los angeles county department of health saying that about $600.00 people test positive on average for covert 19 every hour in in this part of the country this is naturally putting an enormous strain on the health care system hospitals are now forced to use every available. bit of space to to put their patients even putting them in conference rooms and gift shops in hospitals oxygen supplies are getting low and of course the new year's holiday is right around the corner doctors and public health officials are urging begging even people not to congregate not to travel not to spread the disease diatribe reynolds thank you very much for that update from los angeles now the u.s. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has rejected a bill to increase pandemic relief checks from $600.00 to $2000.00 earlier this

week the house of representatives voted to increase in the aid payments was a demand from president donald trump the bill needs a 2 thirds majority to pass in the senate mcconnell has attacked proposed increase as outlined in the legislation shepparton is joining us from washington d.c. so was this expected shihab and what are the implications of this. it's all rather nuanced mitch mcconnell right now has 3 main priorities in the final days of the session of congress which runs on sunday the 1st is to over a president trauma's a veto of the national defense authorization act the 2nd is not to jeopardize the chances of 2 incumbent republican senators who are facing a very tight runoff race next week in georgia and the 1st priority is not to pass any bills that will give 2 $1000.00 checks to low and middle income americans so we're saying that the 1st part of that go into. into action right now as we speak votes are beginning to take place on overriding the veto of the n.d.a.

however it's a much more cumbersome process that mitch mcconnell and hope for because the independent senator bernie sanders stood in the way of a very easy override the veto and said look unless you bring that bill which was passed in the house on $2000.00 checks you know i'm not going to i'm going to stand in the way of the override of the vote of the end yeah now he can't do that forever so has a way around that and that means that he has to do well to have a vote today and then eventually a vote perhaps on saturday which will finally override the vote in the meantime though this idea of a $2000.00 stimulus check is very popular particularly in georgia where there's 2 republican senators facing a very close race so it seems that mitch mcconnell has not come up with a plan and that is not to bring up the vote directly on that house a bill giving $2000.00 stimulus checks to people but combining the $2000.00 stimulus checks with 2 other issues that are very close to president trump's heart forming

a commission to look in to alleged electoral fraud in the presidential election and ending legal protections for social media companies he's going to combine those into one bill and have a vote that seems to be the plan that's what he was talking about earlier today. senate is not going to split apart with 3 issues the president from together just because democrats are afraid to address throughout. that it's not going to be bullied into rushing out more borrowed money into the hands of democrat rich don't need to survive that would give the $2.00 republican senators facing the runoff election in georgia the opportunity to say hey look we did vote for $2000.00 checks but the democrats didn't vote for this bill because as it stands when you combine all these issues the democrats aren't going to vote for for that bill i mean it's kind of interesting that mccoll that talking about 2000 dollars for low to middle income people as gifts to the democrats rich friends when you know mcconnell has in the past been fine with 1.5 trillion dollars in tax cuts

for the wealthiest in america that's not to say that not necessarily will be a vote at all on the $2000.00 some of the strikes and these other issues it will be interesting to see if there is that would suggest that the vote is getting close in georgia and he's very worried and he wants to give the georgia senators a chance to show their bona fides that they would say they cared about $2000.00 stimulus checks even that isn't guaranteed but we do not have a good sense of what mcconnell is up to at least now all right got it thank you very much for that update from washington d.c. health regulators in the u.k. have approved a vaccine developed by oxford university and astra zeneca the pharmaceutical giant has pledged to make 1300000000 doses available cost to low and middle income countries were a challenge reports from london. if ever good news was needed in the u.k. it's now the numbers of new infections and hospitalizations are breaking records the deaths are almost as numerous as the peak in april and medics are sounding alarms that the health service is struggling to cope with cope with 2nd wave

a much anticipated announcement from the u.k.'s medicines regulator this vaccine kovac 19 facts astra zeneca has been approved for use in people and aged 18 years and older with 2 standard doses 4 to 12 weeks apart rollout begins on january the 4th with the oxford astra zeneca vaccine joining that of pfizer biotech and use in the u.k. since early december both are effective but the new vaccine has numerous advantages . here in this london vaccination center you can see some of the infrastructure that is needed to administer the visor by on take vaccine you can hear the generators running people need to be kept warm and the vaccine needs to be kept secret chilled the oxford astra zeneca one day you can be given out by any doctor or nurse with a fridge it's much easier and that means many more people can be vaccinated faster

the government is prioritizing getting the 1st dose to his many people as possible it's 70 percent effective the 2nd dose one to 3 months later makes that immunity last longer 100000000 doses on order add that to the 30000000 doses of pfizer and that's enough for 2 doses for the entire population if the government can achieve this it believes the country can return to normal life in the spring but before that announcement that millions more britons are moving into higher regional tears of coronavirus restrictions and there's a delay to the new school term for many people's or pupils in exams to return during the week beginning the 11th of january with secondary school and college students returning full time on the 18th of january. during the 1st week of term on it were after the 4th of january secondary schools and colleges were prepared to test as many staff and students as possible. the oxford astra zeneca vaccine is

welcome news for the u.k. but things are almost certain to get worse before they get better rory chalons al-jazeera london some news just coming out of yemen and we're getting reports from local media of saudi led airstrikes on the capital sanaa they are said to be targeting houthi positions in the city it comes just hours after at least $26.00 people were killed and more than $140.00 injured in a blast at the airport in aden the attack happened shortly after members of yemen's newly inaugurated unity government returned from saudi arabia barbara reports. waving at supporters as they climbed off their flight aetate an airport members of yemen's new unity government returned days after being sworn into office at a ceremony in saudi arabia. but the hopes of rebuilding the country after more than 6 years of civil war turned into chaos a devastating attack on agency international airport and the work of more than

a year of saudi breakup talks and a deal signed in 2019 now in question the government members were led to safety but analysts say the authority of the new administration has been undermined this is of additional research that the challenges are very c.d.'s the challenges are enormous . unity government will have to deal with see those challenges on the ground. no matter what no matter who stands behind this explosion i think that is a huge security breach has happened yemen's new prime minister moved quickly to try and restore confidence you're both with the people of this attack gives the government the responsibility to put an end to the quick to and to restore the country and the state again the government an ardent will go on continue its job supported by the people of yemen we will never let our people down the terrorists never defeat our people we will be victorious we will accept nothing but victory.

sides government was formed as a compromise between you a backed separatist and the southern transitional council of aden and saudi backed loyalists of president admirably mansoor hardy in riyadh the 2 camps for teach other after separatist declared a state of emergency and self government in aden and surrounding southern provinces but together they aim to launch a knighthood front against iran backed rebels in yemen's capital sana'a who deny they were behind the attack but the bloodshed at the airport is likely to put any hopes of peace in yemen back a long way barbara and al jazeera still ahead on al-jazeera why the u.n. chief is pushing to extend cease fire monitoring operations to eastern libya i am. celebrations in the streets as argentina will legalize abortion but it's left the predominantly catholic country better in the divided.

the last winter storm went through the midwest with this hump of cloud he is still going slowly northeast as it left behind this viewer chicago obviously this is just before dawn breaks it wasn't just snow there was some freezing rain in that as well now it's not atypical for chicago in the winter just or show it to you and this is a cold front that waving arrives it gets down towards texas the cold air is here but of a warm flood in between the 2 get together you tend to get this stalking me front are the rain or snow this case will be rain but then tucked in behind it will be more snow for western side of texas the stairwell to the head going up into was ontario and there's more coming down from the pacific so it's really on the coast

it's easily snow in the cascades in the rockies. or case way downstream california in the next day or so and then there's this development in texas that exceed interesting you've got a good push of warm some moisture here and the cold tucked in behind and douse is sitting in the middle of it so it'll be unpleasant in dallas not very warm windy at times the sun comes back for saturday now the whole lot then pushes study knolls was almost repeating the not quite repeating what's just happened so the focus for chicago disappointing again edging between snow and sleet. and a territory that's been under constant c. church 12 years. and in a state of perpetual conflict with its neighbor. women are swimming against the tides and challenging stereotypes in the isolated society.

al-jazeera wild fun is 5 palestinians making a difference. the new women of gaza on al-jazeera. will move. or for the in. the. following on the top stories on al-jazeera this hour u.s. president donald trump is defending his administration's rollout of covert $1000.00 vaccines blaming states for the slower than promised distribution it comes as a more infectious variant of the virus has not been identified in colorado and california. health regulators in the u.k. have approved a vaccine developed by oxford university in astra zeneca more than 50000 infections were reported there for

a 2nd day and millions more are moving into the toughest here restrictions local media reporting saudi led strikes on the capital sanaa it comes just hours after 26 people were killed in a blast of the airport in aden the attack happened shortly after members of yemen's newly inaugurated government returned from saudi arabia. aftershocks continue to rattle central croatia where a powerful earthquake struck on tuesday killing at least 7 people and left several towns in ruins and an urgent search is underway to find shelter for dozens of people left homeless the epicenter of the 6.4 magnitude quake was near the town of petra tiny reports from near where an aid distribution center has been set up. buildings collapsed lives destroyed the extent of the damage in pennsylvania and surrounding villages is becoming more clear as emergency workers search for anyone who may still be buried under the rubble the 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck on

tuesday and was felt as far away as brianna and munich. a serious of strong aftershocks and the potential collapse of more buildings have forced many to seek shelter outdoors. president reporter we live in a flat and patricia you are in a building that's heavily damaged and it's not safe anymore to be we have a campground in the village we spent the night in it is a bit better now because we have electricity so we can study room you know you must say our courtship very fright it's chaos in the house it's not destroyed that everything is part of our stock fell out of the cupboards and was broken we spent the night in the car but we couldn't sleep at all we have 2 children and i don't know what are the towns of pay 3 and 39 c. sec where the hardest hit some have returned to their homes to find little more than the brief force now to create makeshift shelters from the bitter winter

weather the damage to infrastructure has made it difficult to get help to those who need it the center has been set up to collect and distribute food water and other aid to those affected by the earthquake. as the government urgently organizes temporary shelter for those left homeless the army clears the rubble and hopes look for survivors this was the 2nd earthquake in grace or in 2 days people here are here and. the monumental task. ahead you know about al-jazeera. the united nations secretary general antonio terrace has asked for a new u.n. cease fire monitoring team to be set up and based inserts in eastern libya the city has been devastated by recent fighting in efforts to oust isilon 2016 a un brokered cease fire between the government of national corps and warlords and if i have to is under threat due to ongoing attacks by i have terrorists troops

chris's salumi is joining us from the united nations with more on this because you've seen the letter that the terrorists sent to security council members what more is he saying. well just by way of background during the security council asked the secretary general all the way back in february to come up with some ways to help libya the international community being very concerned about the situation there to help them move forward with a peace plan and a way to implement a cease fire that was before they even had a cease fire in place back in october they did agree the warring sides there did agree to a tentative ceasefire and the secretary general was asked to advance these recommendations he's asked for more time to present them citing ongoing peace talks between the parties he's also been looking for a new envoy to lead the u.n. mission in libya so all of this combining to bring it down to the end of the year

and the last possible minute and we did get a copy today of a letter that the 6 secretary general sent to the security council with some of those recommendations and yes as you say he's focused on the area of sirte and setting up a u.n. monitoring mission there the u.n. has never had a footprint in this city it's been at the front lines it's a very tense area and in a recent report to the security council the acting envoy in libya stephanie williams described the area as very tense with the warring factions yet to withdraw despite this shaky cease fire there and the need for some calm but the secretary general in this report lays out the fact that this will require additional resources and the support of the security council so what he is really asking for here is a mandate from the security council to establish this office he cites the fact that

the libyans are keen to have that mandate as well what they don't want though is foreign fighters in their country or even u.n. peacekeepers blue helmets so the secretary general is laying this out as the way to . forward you know the council in the past has supported this notion of no foreign fighters and helping the international community but another thing that we've heard from the special envoy there is that foreign fighters are actually very much still a very much an ongoing concern in libya there are some 20000 mercenaries or foreign troops there and so while the security council in fact and word has supported this some of the very members of the council are known to have their fingers in the country there so where this goes from here we're not sure but the secretary general saying to the security council we need your support we need a vote we need a voice of the international community to take this forward and do what you want to

do which is to maintain this peace in this very volatile area that has implications for peace and security for the entire world chris and salumi thank you very much for that reporting from the united nations. at least 25 people have been killed when their bus was attacked in syria it happened near a village on the outskirts of did province they were reportedly on their way to join new year's celebrations there have been no claims of responsibility yet it's a former u.s. military employee who was released after spending 30 years in jail for spying has arrived in israel take a look at this jonathan pollard who was convicted of selling secrets to israel in the 1980 s. was greeted by the prime minister benjamin netanyahu at the airports he was caught passing on classified military information while working as a u.s. navy intelligence analyst at the pentagon and last month pollard's 5 year parole term ended paving the way for him to leave the u.s. . uganda musician turned presidential candidate bobby wine says he's been allowed

to return home after being arrested for the 3rd time in 2 months wine was detained along with his team while campaigning in the central region of color police this most reports of the arrests. and was arrested for holding large rallies in violation of coronavirus rules police used tear gas against his supporters in kalinga who were demonstrating against his arrests the presidential election is due to be held next month. argentina has made history by becoming latin america's largest country to legalize abortion thousands of activists celebrated after the bill passed the senate by a wider margin than expected to raise about reports for one us 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. and when it did there was pure joy among those campaigning for that result. that 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. you know it is the debate lasted for about 12 hours and the bill was turned into law with $38.00 votes for and $29.00 against. the bill legalizing 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 and up with complications thousands of women end up in a hospital because of those complications so for this women legalizing abortion it's crucial to save lives. but not everyone celebrated on wednesday and they 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. who are meant to 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. says the church needs to lead up to current times that he said let there be are they going to try to. buy peace they say be sure that texas paid for their not to be bought because they meet on

a day i told them they have a lot in america that will be the only way i was started and i'm not running around the next day and i'm not that 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 laws 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 that when a situs. hello again the headlines on al-jazeera u.s. president donald trump is defending hasn't ministrations rollout of cover $1000.00 vaccines blaming states for the slower than promised distribution it comes as a more infectious variant of the virus has now been identified in colorado and

california where brunell's is a los angeles with more the governor gavin newsom in a conversation.