it's 6. january on al jazeera. 2 u.s. states report cases of a more contagious variant of covert 19 amid criticism of the fact seen rollout is too slow. hello i'm adrian for the get this is al jazeera live from though also coming up regulators in the u.k. approved the emergency use of the oxford astra zeneca vaccine boosting hopes that poorer countries may soon get help in the fight against curb at night. and bikini you are in hot one year on from the beginning of the outbreak which will

help get through breaking point and go on to affect millions of people around the world. but hong kong media tycoon jimmy lie back in court as prosecutors try to appeal his release on bail. us president donald trump is blaming state officials for the slow rollout of covert 19 vaccines criticism is mounting over his administration's response to the pandemic so far around 2000000 shots up in the ministers 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 a gallica begins our coverage 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 fax anation sites overwhelmed i want to 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 in fourchon way without a master plan after distribution national is going to be a lot of. and a lot of this is going to fall on 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 and gallacher al-jazeera miami florida. the republican leader in the senate 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 the aid payments a demand from president on trump the bill needs a 2 thirds majority to pass in the senate connel has attacked proposed increases outlined in the bill and a serious you have returns in washington explains what's behind because thinking. it's all rather nuanced mitch mcconnell right now has 3 main priorities in the final days of this session of congress which runs on sunday the 1st is to override president trauma's 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 3rd priority is not to pass any bills that will give 2000 dollars checks to low and middle income americans so we're seeing the 1st part of that going to 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 than 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 n.d.a. now he can do that forever mcconnell has a way around that and that means that he asked is do we 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 those 2 republican senators facing a very close race so it seems that mitch mcconnell is now 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 tracks were 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 almost $1200.00 people have died from corona virus in brazil in the past day and 55000 more have tested positive that's the highest daily death toll since august if despite the surge many are still choosing to travel over the new year long weekend airports and bus terminals are both busy as are rio's famous beaches brazil has recorded nearly 200000 covert 19 deaths hospitals and nearing capacity health regulators in the u.k. of approved a vaccine developed by oxford university at astra zeneca the pharmaceutical giant has pledged to make 1300000000 doses available at cost to low and middle income countries it comes as the u.k. recorded its highly highest daily death toll since the 1st wave in april prompting

further restrictions i was here as worried challenge reports now 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 vaccine astra zeneca has been approved for use in people 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 with this london vaccination center you can see some of the infrastructure that is needed to administer pfizer 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 or after the 4th of january secondary schools and colleges well 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 lawrie chalons al-jazeera london. media mogul jimmy lai has arrived at course in hong kong for a hearing to decide whether his bail will be revoked lions facing charges under new security laws he was released on bail last week sparking criticism from china prosecutors are arguing that the pro-democracy activist should be put back in prison let's go live now to hong kong al-jazeera as adrian brown is there every what's happening now. well adrian there's been a brief adjournment a brief break the hearing began about an hour ago with essentially the prosecution

and defense putting forward their various arguments as to why and whether jamil i should or should not be given bail and able to remain in his home essentially the prosecution has been trying to force because to recognize the new national security law as being part of you know hong kong's criminal law system but of course the national security law wasn't legislated in hong kong it was legislated by china's national people's congress not jimmy lie arrived here at the appeal court which is actually in the old colonial era parliament building here in the heart of hong kong he was surrounded by by cameras of course wherever jimmy lie goes these days the news cameras are short of follow he is hong kong's most high profile dissident as well as being a very high profile media figure now jimmy lie supporters say but the fact that this appeal is happening in hong kong is higher court which has never ruled by the

way on a bail case before is a measure of just how desperate the government is to get jimmy lie put back behind bars to await trial in april the case of course is being followed closely not just by you know people here in hong kong but also by you know many governments around the world particularly in light of that court ruling in chen's and yesterday in which 10 hong kong activists were sentenced to 23 months and 7 years for attempting to flee hong kong by speedboat for taiwan why adrian has there been so much concern expressed in some legal circles about today's hearing. well the reason why there is so much concern according to various legal experts that i've been speaking to during the past week is this if for instance the 3 appeal court judges today rule in favor of the lower court's decision to give jimmy

knight bail then in theory it is possible that the standing committee of china's national people's congress the highest political body in china could reconvene and in theory pass legislation making it impossible for people arrested in national security cases to be given bail and that could measure that could be a measure that applies retroactively also in just the last few days state media in china in particular the people's daily the mouthpiece of the chinese communist party has delivered a real mouth frothing commentary calling jimmy lie evil saying he's a dangerous person and that this case should be tried on the mainland and that was seen as really something that was quite chilling the legal system here in hong kong was there as adrian brown reporting live from hong kong adrian many thanks a weather update next here on al-jazeera ben.

that attack kills at least 26 people in aden airport when members of yemen's new government just arrived from saudi arabia. and a centuries old town flattened in seconds the urgent search for temporary shelter for croatia's earthquake victims. the last winter storm went through the midwest was this hump of clout 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

bit of a warm flood in between the 2 get together you tend to get this story in the 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 see the head going up into was ontario and there's more coming down from the pacific so it's rain on the coast it's easily snow in the cascades in the rockies we're case way down through california in the next day or so and then there's this development in texas that it's interesting you got a good push of warm some moisture here and the cold tucked in behind and dallas is sitting in the middle of it so it will be unpleasant in dallas not very warm windy at times the sun comes back for saturday now the whole lot then pushes study knowles was almost repeating them not quite repeating what's just happened so the full cost for chicago disappointing again edging between snow and sleet.

mass protests forcing the government's hand but are we seeing the whole picture of the incident john past there as we follow journalists on the front line description janko concrete brass committed to reporting the facts police officers of pointing guns at journalists that's a stock heading the hong kong fact and fiction who missed truth is in any way on al-jazeera. hello again this is al jazeera the main news this hour u.s. president donald trump is defending his of ministrations rollout of covert 19

vaccines blaming states for the slower than promised distribution that comes as more infectious variant virus has been identified in colorado and california. health regulators in the u.k. if approved a vaccine developed by oxford university and astra zeneca more than 50000 infections were for a 2nd day millions more people are moving into the toughest tier of restrictions. and media mogul jimmy lie has arrived at hong kong's top court for a hearing to decide whether his bail will be revoked by is facing charges under new security laws prosecutors are arguing that the pro-democracy activist should be put back in prison. it's been exactly one year since the 1st corona virus cases were reported in china thought to be linked to a seafood market in the city of will hand thousands of people died and the region was forced into a strict lockdown let's go live down to 0 as katrina you is there was katrina the

starting point of the pandemic the worst affected city in china one year on how are things there now. well agent we're here in downtown new honda in a very small busy street and don't know if you can see around me but it seems like normal life has resumed people shopping going to work and this is the image of china that the government wants to portray to the world success in controlling the outbreak hasn't been a new corvette case here in the past 7 months but we are learning more about how the corn a virus affected this city now according to official figures about 90000 nationwide were infected by the coroner virus about 5000 people died but the has been used on is to for disease control that seems to contradict those figures they've said that up to 40 percent of the population were found to have antibodies in the system that is to say that up to hoffa 1000000 people have been exposed to course the 19

china's foreign ministry were also about this or those and they say that this report is not conclusive was based on a limited sample size of people and you can't simply take 4 percent of the population and multiply that number but still it does add a lot of doubt around the accuracy of these government figures now we've spoken to a few people in of the past few days and many of them are proud of how the government has handled the outbreak but there are others who are still very angry about the mishandling of the outbreak as they see it by the government by the lack of chance. lack of transparency especially in those early days when both people are very angry about losing their relatives as well they blame the government all this and the demanding an apology as opposed. to 12 months ago done high spot there checked into one hospital to receive treatment for a broken leg while he was there the 76 year old who just died he was one of the 1st victims of the mysterious disease which would later be named $1000.00.

before my father died he said this. our i don't want to die can you ask the doctors to say from a those were his last words junk high is now suing the chinese government he says local officials withheld information about the current virus outbreak allowing it to spread. of course war war isn't merely a mistake it was a crime murder none of their relatives died only the ordinary people died was because they knew how bad the virus was they protected themselves but they were supposed to care for all their citizens as the new morning unlike disease to cool it across one pod in january a mass banquet celebrating chinese new year went ahead regardless just over a year ago one on one with the place locals to buy arrested for and meet today it's

shut down completely then stop and believed by many to be the starting point of the pandemic we've lost the world and in that millions of people. china has not suffered as badly as other countries since the outbreak according to official figures about 90000 people have been infected and 5000 have died for almost 3 months millions of people will put a district locked out and able to leave their apartments. joe was one of them but the business owner says life has now returned to normal. there's only the silver dollar the freedom that the chinese government did the right thing they saved us there was no other way look at what's happening in western countries now it's scary it's a fear that the world health organization team will arrive in hot next month to investigate the origin of the outbreak beijing was reportedly initially reluctant to provide access when it comes to the coronavirus china's leaders appear to be

doing all they can to control the narrative. this week system journalist junk john was sentenced to 4 years in jail for. locked up charged with picking and provoking trouble. junge high is still mourning the death of his father he says he's been intimidated by local authorities and called a traitor for his complaints against the government. i will never shut up even if i'm the only one left shouting chinese people say truth is always in the hands of the few if i don't speak up and hold those responsible accountable. one year on he would be silenced and we'll never forget. traina china has just given its approval for the 1st vaccine but tell us more about that. that's right adrian so this year china had 5 different vaccines in phase 3 go final stage trials and this is

the 1st of those 5 to be proved and this is by sign off on the according to sun upon that vaccine has an efficacy rate of about 79 percent now that's lower than the fly zone would done a vaccine which at the cost would have occurred if we could see rates of about 95 percent but it is higher than the astra zeneca vaccine which has about 70 percent now signed off on tested its vaccine in about 10 different countries around the world who told in egypt you eat and almost 1000000 people here in china have already received the signed off on vaccine which was starting to be offered by the government early as early as july this year under an emergency program now we get to receive details about how exactly this sign off on vaccine which is a state owned company will be administered to the public the beijing has said that it wants about 15000000 people in china to be vaccinated by chinese new year that is by every china has also promised

a vaccine to many countries around the world in a bid to improve its global image which is taken quite a battery since the beginning of the outbreak zeros katrina you're reporting live from holland in china between the many thanks in a special program on thursday al-jazeera will be looking at the devastation caused by covert 19 in the years since the virus emerged as vaccines offer hope of protection will be asking how long it could take for the world to recover you can see that 1800 hours g.m.t. here on out to 0. so now to yemen we're getting local media reports of saudi led airstrikes on the capital sanaa said to be targeting quickly positions in the city it comes just hours after at least $26.00 people were killed 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 bahrain go per reports. waving at supporters as they climbed off their flight attendant apple

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 a very strong message that the challenges are very serious the challenges are enormous. unity government will have to deal with serious challenges on the ground . no matter what no matter who stands behind this explosion i think there 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 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 addon 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 abu reprimands so hardy in riyadh the 2 camps for to each other after separatists 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 to thier 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. out of syria the trumpet ministration is facing legal action over

a $23000000000.00 weapons sale to the united arab emirates the new york center for foreign policy affairs is taking the u.s. state department at its head by pompei o 2 course saying that the deal was rushed and violated u.s. law the sale included drones and f. $35.00 aircraft the court documents allege that the review process that normally takes years to come after of months n.g.o.s says that the sale could lead to an arms race in the middle east and fuel conflicts in yemen it's only says that egypt's decision to terminate a criminal investigation into the murder of an italian doctoral student is unacceptable earlier this month that's how he and prosecutors officially charged for egyptian security officials in connection with kidnapping and murdering surely a regime e in 2016 egyptian officials so there's no point in launching a criminal case because they don't know who is responsible regime he was

researching independent trade unions in egypt which is a controversial topic. aftershocks continue to rattle central croatia where a powerful earthquake struck on tuesday killing at least 7 people it left several towns in ruins at an urgent search is under way to find shelter for dozens of people left homeless the epicenter of the 6.4 magnitude quake was near the town of petrino china never report style from nearby glinda 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 and strong aftershocks and the potential collapse of

more buildings have forced many to seek shelter outdoors. the president reported we live in a flat and patrol 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 it's a bit better now because we have electricity so we can stay warm you know for you must say are. very frightened it's chaos in the house it's not destroyed that everything. fell out of the cupboards and was broken we spent the night in the car but we couldn't sleep hurdle we have 2 children and i don't know what to do in the towns of pay 3 and 39 c. sec where the hardest hit some have returned to their homes to find little more than debris forced now to create makeshift shelters from the bitter winter weather the damage to infrastructure has made it difficult to get help to those who needed this center has been set up to collect and distribute food water and other aid to

those affected by the plague. as the government urgently organizes temporary shelter for those left homeless the army clears the rubble and helps look for survivors this was the 2nd earthquake in pray saying today people here are fearful and i'm sorry the morning medical. done you know about al-jazeera. norwegian rescuers are searching for 11 people still missing after a village was buried by a landslide 10 people are being treated in hospital after a hillside collapsed over the village of ask 25 kilometers northeast of the capital oslo only helicopter rescue operations are possible because the ground is still unstable 700 people have been evacuated from their homes officials in new york's times square are making their final preparations for new year's eve the iconic crystal ball had its final test run on wednesday tens of thousands of people

normally join the celebration but it's been scaled down this year because of the coronavirus pandemic a limited group of 1st responders has been invited to watch the event in person in the u.s. the less people here in times square we're going to have more hope than ever because we cannot wait for 2021 the light is at the end of the tunnel and we are we are filled with out them. it's good to have you with us hello adrian finnegan here in doha the headlines and i was here a u.s. president donald trump is defending his administration's rollout of covert 19 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 health regulators in the u.k. have approved a vaccine developed by oxford university at astra zeneca more than $50000.00.