it was good for our service thanks very much want to come and took its passage from the far east to europe and the united states. any money the only money in these mountains is open. drug trafficking politics and power the air and empires and. the number of corona virus infections in the us passes $20000000.00 while stateful well short of their tax nation targets. another one down in jordan this is out as they are live from doha also coming up the years are 81 days are 32 thirds of the senators voting. u.s. senators from both sides and donald trump

a major defeat in the waning days of his presidency overriding his veto of a national security bill. a generally smooth start for trade and travel after the u.k. complete state separation from the european union. temper shelters but still no certainty for refugees and migrants trapped in freezing weather on the bosnia croatia border . for more than $20000000.00 reported corona virus cases and the threat of a more infectious strain the u.s. is entering the new year with few signs that it's rampant corona virus outbreak can be contained the government also failed to meet its 2020 goal of vaccinating 20000000 people fewer than 3000000 had been given the jab about 347000 americans on them to have died since the pandemic began rob reynolds has more now from los angeles through places like here in southern california where hospitals are increasingly overwhelmed by covert 900 patients and the death toll is rising one

prominent california public health epidemiologist likened the situation to a fire and tsunami now the latest unwelcome numbers came on new year's day from johns hopkins university which reported 20037000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the united states since the outbreak began and florida became the 3rd state after colorado and california to report a confirmed case of the new more infectious code 900 fair in 1st identified in the united kingdom that more infectious variant is considerably widespread it geographically colorado california florida basically 3 corners of the country that suggests that it is considerably more widespread in this country but

epidemiologists and the public health authorities are not sure exactly what extent one report that came out on friday from a california based genetic testing company called helix indicated that their research indicated that the new mutant strain may be may have been circulating in the united states since october. but dr bruce lee's from the city university of new york's public school of health he explains why the states are struggling to distribute vaccines. there's been several issues to one if you look at this d.d. the cove in 1000 backing track are only 12400000 doses have been distributed it is a state that's well below the actual number that you need to vaccinate the target goal of $20000000.00 people yeah i think that there's trouble is there's not in the facts and plus the whole royal has not been organized at a national level and it hasn't really been transparent but

a lot of states were told get ready for the vaccine in advance of the approval but they weren't told like what are the plans and how are they going to get the resources in case they don't have enough refrigerators or coalface and things like that these these happy just the sole responsibly of the states because the virus as well as people cross the line so you really need to figure out like with states you don't have the resources where the supply chain these be stored up and there were months before the vaccine rollout really get this in order and it really has so they have to tell all the states you know where the vaccines are you know like how many being produced and when to expect them and to is there needs to be analysis of you know which state and which locations have adequate supply chains which states don't know what types of resources that they need where the weak point which places need more radiators more transport devices more personnel this has to be organized

from a national and a very strategic orientation and that's not really very right now. the u.s. senate has delivered a significant defeat to president donald trump voting to override his veto of a defense policy build the senate which is controlled by trump's republican party easily achieved the 2 thirds majority required it reflects a growing rift between some congressional republicans and the president who is less than 3 weeks left in the white house white house correspondent kimberly hellcat says the defeat has prompted a series of angry tweets from the president. the u.s. president reacting on twitter calling this pathetic particularly angry with the republicans in the senate for not standing with him and he feels and tweeting that he believes that they should have done more for americans with respect to the code would relieve raising it from $600.00 to $2000.00 that didn't happen and also the president so i happy with some of the power of the tech companies particularly

leverage over the u.s. election also talking about why more wasn't done for that now in the midst of all of this the house speaker nancy pelosi she reacted as well sending out a statement that this is a resoundingly rebuke of the u.s. president and his assault on the american military and national security noting that in the waning days of his presidency she accused him of attempting to sow chaos and undermine security so very strong reactions from the u.s. president but also one of the president's biggest critics in the u.s. congress what we've seen in recent days and weeks is a growing number of republicans distancing themselves from donald trump since his election loss on november 3rd what this really marks is a departure as they sort of look to the president who is outgoing and setting the sights on their own political future so this is certainly notable what is also notable is that many of these republicans are not backing the president's claim

that he won the election that the election was rigged or even that there was widespread voter fraud so how this very notable loss on capitol hill the u.s. president now setting its sights on the next big date on capitol hill and that is january 6th that is when the electoral college will be tallying or rather when the congress will be tallying the electoral college votes we do expect that there will be. its number of dozens of republicans in the house and at least one republican in the senate that will stay. with the president to at least delay that tallying but ultimately it will be unsuccessful the u.s. president will ultimately be joe biden well i'm going to speak he's an associate professor at emory university she says trump found himself standing alone there were components of the bill that president trump objected to and particular he wanted this act to include a provision that would not give protections to tech companies in terms of making

treating them like media companies it's a rule called section $230.00 he wanted that repealed and that wasn't included in the authorization and he's tech companies so you know right now when he makes claims that are questionable are baseless on facebook or twitter they put disclaimers on there saying that this is you know that this is false or misleading information and so he doesn't like that there was out there's also a provision in the defense authorization act to create a commission to rename bases in the south that were named after confederate generals so there were controversial pieces of the bill at least in president trump's mind and he wanted to try to gain leverage over those particular issues that were of concern to him not to everyone else and helped to hold up defense authorization order to get what he wanted it just didn't pay off in this particular

case. iraq explosives experts are trying to defuse a naval mine found attached to an oil tanker in the gulf on thursday the vessel is refusing another ship in international waters near the iraqi port of basra iraq's army says it's evacuated the vessel it's not clear who's responsible. well the discovery was made amid heightened tensions between the u.s. and iran almost a year after the assassination of general hossam home so lemony iranian military commander was killed in a u.s. drone strike in baghdad on january 3rd the u.s. has conducted b. 52 bomber fly overs and sent a nuclear submarine into the gulf of the concerns iran may be planning an attack on the anniversary meanwhile iran's government says it's pushing ahead with plans to enrich uranium with up to 20 percent purity it's told the un's nuclear watchdog the work would be done in the fordo plant which is built into the side of a mountain the enrichment well above that allowed under the nuclear deal was 1st announced after the killing of iran's top nuclear scientist which has been blamed

on israel. now one day into briggs it cross-channel freight traffic between the u.k. and france has moved smoothly laying to rest earlier concerns about potential backlogs this was the 1st ferry from britain to dock in the french port of cali several hours after the u.k. officially left the e.u. customs union no serious delays were reported as hundreds of trucks crossed into france by ferry and through the channel tunnel and passengers arriving by train in the u.k. from mainland europe faced no delays either some of the 1st people to cross the channel on the eurostar on january 1st say little a change in terms of paperwork needed to enter britain they say there was greater scrutiny there were documents relating to covert 19 meanwhile the british people are reflecting on what life outside the means for their sense of identity our desires the barker reports from london. a clouded sunrise over westminster

nothing extraordinary here many of breaks its changes will be slow. even but in the minds of british people the u.k. now adrift from the e.u. is alone again for some that's a cause for optimism for others profound regret. the country still working out what breaks it means in practice with new rules on travel trade and immigration to name a few but beyond the dry details it's also about something much deeper for many brits especially those in their twenty's and thirty's being british and a member of the european union a part of one indivisible seamless identity that now is a result of bragg's it has been split in 2 of the 48 percent of people that voted to remain in the european union many now feel like they're being told to abandon half of who they are really sad to be. not european anymore but i

think it was a really awful decision that we made as a country the idea that we this nation the world this could do better outside of something the size of the european union with exhibit stupid problematic the people who have grown up in the eighty's ninety's noughties a european identity was was fundamentally how we saw the world we call yeasty be able to travel freely in the european union being able to work live and of course people who are older were able to retire that fathers a european union membership has felt in some way forced and disingenuous voting to leave the e.u. is a shock treatment for some parts of the country that felt left behind a way of restoring the country's factory settings i think it's a great opportunity for the u.k. now to stand alone and to really. build some business across the world but it's not

as simple as hitting reset in the past 50 years the case become intertwined with europe london's often called france's 6 biggest city because of its sizable french population i'm picking the relationships required a form of diplomatic surgery in the shape of years of torturous brags that negotiations and be no human could have been. the message for many of europe's leaders is the breaks it is not something to celebrate the last thing the e.u. wants is for the 1st member state to ever leave the e.u. to be followed by others how future generations will judge this moment we don't yet know is it the beginning of new opportunities or the end of many a sunrise or sunset nave barkha al-jazeera london. time for a short break here al-jazeera when we come back a new era of free trade begins in africa uniting over a 1000000000 people. and why cuba believes eliminating one of its currency is

revive its flailing economy more on that stay with us. the new year's coming with a snowstorm from texas to the great lakes now in west texas are a significant amount of snow notably it is cold alpine this is not lowland texas this is high ground texas it's the backwash around this low that's cold air talking in and there's warm ahead of it so of course we got rain and the forecast take you through friday and saturday if the rain in the southern states moving up the middle antic and then the snow follows the same course of the last 2 storm for us across missouri for example iowa and up towards eventually new england coming down the pacific coast no on forwarding storm system as well so dallas sees the weather

improve it back up to normal in the sunshine by sunday that won't be the case in the west coast as that rain comes down the stoker across the cascades and into the rockies but the sun replaces most of the poor weather in the northeast corner not entirely so while san francisco sees showers come in and out over the next 3 days or so are you think we'll see that that cold return to the northeast corner and we'll see snow fall in new england money reach new york where as dallas as i say is enjoying the sunshine it 15 degrees and casper's seeing snow. on it it's going to be a guild is young. it's close to. one of many it's traveling to the villages where parents still live under a storm effect. on al-jazeera. if

you want to help save the world. into your own. the. book i'm back a quick amount of our top stories here on al-jazeera more than 20000000 people in the u.s. have now tested positive for the corona virus that's almost a quarter of the world's cases becomes the government struggles to distribute vaccines fewer than 3000000 have been given the chance. the u.s. senate has voted to override president trump's veto of a defense policy bill the senate which is controlled by trump's republican party

easily achieved the 2 thirds majority quiet. iraq explosives experts are trying to diffuse a naval mine in town touched on oil tank in the gulf on thursday what's your feeling another ship in international waters near the iraqi port of basra. the u.k.'s reactivating emergency hospitals built early last year as the more infectious code with 1000 variant drives more admissions have been more than 50000 new cases on each of the past 4 days and british doctors are criticizing a change in the u.k.'s vaccination strategy the government says it will delay 2nd doses of the pfizer biotech jobs to prioritise 1st doses the interval could be extended to 12 weeks where he challenges in london and says there are big questions of a gap that long. fire user has the data for what happens if you give the 2nd dose $21.00 days after the 1st dose but if you wait 3 months which is what the

government is planning to do then they don't really know what's going to happen is it going to be as effective as it should be the government knows made a decision based on the pragmatics really of public health and the dangerous reality that this new variances has put the country in with so many new infections so many new deaths and so much stress being put on the health system what they have decided is that it's imperative to get as many people vaccinated with the 1st usage of either the pfizer vaccine or the oxford astra zeneca one as quickly as possible because with the 1st dose you do get some degree of immunity with the astra zeneca one it's about 70 percent with the pfizer one it's it's upwards of that so essentially what the government has

said is look let's prioritize 1st dosage to as many people as possible because that's how we get out of this situation and in 3 months time we can give people 2nd doses of these vaccines and hopefully the 1st will have had its effect and the situation will be calmer and better. a panel of experts advising india's drug regulator has recommended the use of the u.k.'s oxford astra zeneca vaccine it would be the 1st to be greenlit in a country that's recorded more than 10000000 infections almost 150000 deaths. at least 16 palestinians have been injured in a protest against israeli settlements in the occupied west bank israeli troops fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse hundreds of just as in a village near ramallah follows days of escalating tension enough to settlers set up dozens of tents and outposts in the area last week the move was apparently not over the rise by the israeli government. tense have been set up as

a temporary shelter for about a 1000 refugees and migrants stranded in a burnt out camp in bosnia herzegovina the government faced criticism for failing to protect them from freezing winter weather. reports. a sign of relief and of new shelter this will be home for hundreds of migrants and refugees stranded in bosnia had to go been asleep a camp near its northwest border with croatia back the military set up tents to shield hundreds of migrants from the winter's freezing weather after days of sleeping out in the cold the nation to face mounting criticism for leaving the migrants without proper shelter heat or facilities to do it was ok we don't mind we're going to gesture and we can drink of water and that's enough for us but the problem is my main problem for us we need to contain this ok. for days there were cries for help earlier this week migrants and refugees once on

a hunger strike i am 7 it reports of frostbite and hypothermia they held a protest to bring attention to their poor living conditions when i see all these nor the despite the problems caused when these people were abandoned by un organizations and by local authorities we must show solidarity we're here today with the red cross we're trying to help them as much as possible. most of the camp was destroyed in late december when police say occupants deliberately set a fire to protest the schedule closure and lack of alternatives plans to move them to another facility fell through rejected by politicians and people living nearby aid groups have warned of a potential humanitarian crisis is a problem of more humanity just food is not enough. bad madness mostly but diseases most of the people here are from south asia and the middle east they are among thousands hoping to make it to western europe to start

a new life we don't have kids we don't have jack cafferty you can see this i don't have shoes the new camp will be run by the international organization for migration it's not a long term solution but it is a way to help people with nothing survive the winter. on al-jazeera. an afghan journalist has been shot dead in the central province of gore this miller back was on the road when a gunman fired on the vehicle i mark was in charge of a local radio station and was also a human rights activist is the 5th journalist to be killed in afghanistan in the past 2 months egypt's foreign ministry has summoned ethiopia's top diplomat in cairo of a comments regarding a controversial dam on the nile egypt's government condemned what it called ethiopia's aggressive tone it didn't cite specific comments but earlier an ethiopian official said egypt is using the dam to divert attention from its other

problems ethiopia's grand renaissance dam is africa's biggest hydroelectric project but egypt and sudan fear it will take too much of their water supply. the ethiopian human rights commission says security forces killed more than $75.00 people during ethnic unrest in june and july last year the group has released a report detailing the violence which happened after the killing of popular singer . he was a prominent voice in anti-government protests the rights commission calls the killings a widespread and systematic attack against civilians that points to crimes against humanity well iran marshall is from the ethiopian human rights commission he told us more about what their investigation. the ethiopian human rights commission launched an investigation right after. the onset of violence in our. largest region. the violence was triggered by the killing.

by the assassination of. jesse who who was a very prominent singer and an activist see was killed on the 29th and then immediately afterwards we had violence unrest breaking out throughout the region in 3 days of carnage if you could call it. altogether over 100 in 123 people died 35 of which were killed by by armed attackers 76 as well died at the hands of security forces today we launched the their report a full investigation report on this violence and we've deemed these attacks by by the by armed groups as amounting to crimes against humanity africa has launched a free trade block after months of delays due to the pandemic it will be one of the

world's largest trade zones without tariff barriers uniting 1300000000 people barring ethiopia 54 the continent's 55 countries have signed up for now it's being implemented in the 33 countries who ratified it under the deal tariffs willimon ated and 90 percent of goods the world bank says it'll increase the continent's income by $450000000000.00 by 2035 africa's exports mostly manufacturing we're going to 500 $60000000000.00 boost and the agreement will raise wages especially for women were count for more than 70 percent of cross border traders the free trade agreement is forecast to lift $30000000.00 africans out of extreme poverty. but there we are is the founder of the african development think tank he says the agreement is a major step for the continent. well the african continent of richard argument is very monumental for africa because it unifies all the markets in africa and you can imagine not only from a. population standpoint

a market that result but also the opportunities for africans to trade with themselves much as this is the beginning of the aspirations actually to be where the european union is essentially an africa wide customs union which will allow for free movement of goods and also an african wide common market which would allow for free movement of people and so at those levels of integration the expectation is that imagine being a $100000000.00 people out of poverty by the president 35 so quite a monumental and also 'd quite a significant impact for the continent or the corruption beat dress the corruption that perhaps exists. due to you know they've they've argent and they've asked us terms for seizures and the corruption that happens at oporto simply because you know one of the big programs of the course of our future is their right to

harmonize these customs procedures but also to make importers and exporters in peace the awareness so that they know you know what to expect when they come across borders and so the avenues and what unities that have are currently being exploited in terms of corruption that will cause when goods are moving in and out of african countries might be reduced. but when you look at the broader picture of course corruption goes beyond beyond people it's really about institutions. but cuba is overhauling its currency is the peso be kept but devalued while the so-called convertible peso which is pegged to the u.s. dollar will be eliminated or latin america at a tennessee i knew about reports. that he stole medicaid owns one of her banners most successful private restaurants a must even for the most high profile visitors until now his customers paid in cook's r.c. you see a state invented substitute for the u.s.

dollar with $25.00 times more than the cuban besought but now that cook is being scrapped with an unsustainable dual currency an exchange rate system there is only me that it just means the elimination of a currency that was circulating for a long time and reactivated our national currency to pay so. if only it were that simple one of the most common phrases in cuba is nice fasc or it's not easy. and that's the perfect way to describe the risk elimination of cuba's 2nd currency while it's considered to be hard currency it's in fact worthless outside of cuba hindering exports and desperately needed investments one of. them when the creek was put into circulation it was pigs of the dollar but in time it lost value its elimination in general terms is positive but there will be collateral damage. first and foremost a devaluation of the pisot against the us dollar and

a steep increase in prices which means purchasing power will drop despite the much higher promised salaries. i don't see the point they raise your salary but they triple or quadruple the price of the dollar which we need to buy all the basics. and that the other big problem if you want to buy anything from food to clothes or even hygiene products you need to go to one of the more than $120.00 stores and that's why all these people are lining up in front of the bank to exchange hard currency for an electronic debit card in m l c the cuban name for the u.s. greenback cash transactions aren't allowed. who can send money if you don't work with tourists if you don't have access to hard currency this change has been very bad. it will be a difficult process for a country that is already suffering from a deep recession scarcity and harsh new u.s.

economic sanctions but then as they say giving cuba's finances in order won't be easy. to see in human al-jazeera. now the once popular video software adobe flash player has been shut down the company's stop supporting and updating it as of january 1st and is urging people to an install the software before it blocks all flash content on the 12th 1st released in 1906 flash allowed content creators to make and share animations and games online but security issues have played it for years and its struggle to keep up as users move to smartphones to access the web. all right time for a quick check on the headlines here on al-jazeera more than 20000000 people in the us have now tested positive for the corona virus that's almost a quarter of the world's cases it comes as the government struggles to distribute

vaccines fewer than 3000000 have been given the job robert mills' has more now from los angeles.