passage from the far east to europe and the united states. the money money money in these mountains is a hoax. drug trafficking politics some power the air and empires and. the united states has 20000000 coronavirus infections in the vaccination rollout is going slower than planned. hello i'm come all santa maria here in doha this is the world news from al-jazeera the u.s. and iran are accusing each other of ramping up military hostilities and if the anniversary of the assassination of iran's military chief. is

a problem of more humanity just food is not enough a temporary shelters set up for migrants on the bosnia croatia border but many say it's no in near adequate in these freezing cold conditions and on the 1st day of the u.k.'s separation from the european union trade and travel gets off to a mostly smooth start. so without the point where more than $20000000.00 reported coronavirus cases in the united states and there is a threat of a more infectious strain the country's really entering this new year with few signs that its rampant corona virus outbreak can be contained and as infections rise vaccinating people is actually going much slower than was expected the support is for o'brien olds in los angeles. it was nobody's idea of a good way to ring in the new year on friday johns hopkins university reported the

u.s. had surpassed 20000000 cases of covert 19 with more than 346000 deaths the number of infections has doubled since november 9th less than 2 months ago the u.s. accounts for nearly one quarter of all coated deaths worldwide in places like southern california hospitals and their staff are increasingly overwhelmed forcing doctors and nurses to ration care one california public health epidemiologist likened the situation to a viral tsunami florida became the 3rd state after colorado and california to report a patient with the relatively new more transmissible kovac variant 1st identified in the u.k. the man had not traveled recently at least 33 countries have now reported cases of the mutant strain a u.s.

genetic testing company says its research suggests the variant has been circulating in the u.s. since october on the vaccine front fewer than 3000000 americans have received their doses a figure far short of the trumpet ministrations goal of 20000000 vaccinations before the end of 2020 i think the rollout very haphazard there's almost no coordination from the federal government the federal government basically delivered to the states but then the states were not funded for the rollout program adequately and furthermore basically the states said here's the here and go hospitals you guys pull it out for the senator mitt romney a prominent us republican political figure called for stepped up efforts including the enlistment of medical students veterinary. ins and emergency medical workers to administer vaccines he said schools and other facilities that are closed due to the

pandemic should be converted to mass vaccination centers president donald trump spent friday tweeting about various political grievances but mention the faltering vaccine effort only once and then to shift blame to state officials president elect joe biden says he will use emergency wartime powers to boost vaccine production and speed up the lifesaving injections across the country rob reynolds al-jazeera moving on to other news iran in the u.s. accusing each other of escalating military tensions ahead of the 1st anniversary of the assassination of iran's general cost them so their money sunday marks a year since he was killed in an american air strike in iraq and in just the last week the rhetoric between washington and tehran has really intensified to the point where you've got the u.s. flying b. 52 bombers to the gulf intending to caution iran against any attacks on american

troops or interests iran itself sent a letter to the u.n. security council condemning what it called washington the military adventurism in the region foreign minister zarif also accusing donald trump of fabricating a pretext for war and the u.s. has accused the militias backed by iran of attacking its embassy in iraq in baghdad last month rocket attacks on that compound increased the u.s. withdrew most of its staff over concerns of a retaliate tree strikes so at team covering the story this hour charles stratford in baghdad who will be with shortly so the money's assassination of course happened there stuffing though with dosage of ari in tehran and it kind of takes you back doesn't it we've been so focused on coronavirus for so long but this was how last year started with all this fear after the assassination of some sort of money. yes certainly there is a sense that we are back again at those very tense days when awesome so in mine he

was assassinated of course his killing started a chain of events a series of events which really changed the course of this region's history and iran's relationship with a number of countries including the united states it was at an all time low when the assassination took place but for their part the iranians have said that they are not interested in starting anything that they are not interested in war and that they have urged the united states to tone down their rhetoric that it's not in anybody's interest to have this kind of dynamic going forth into the new year but saw him on his assassination was a changing event in this country's history let's take a closer look at how things happened. in the early hours of january 3rd 2020 shortly after arriving at baghdad international airport major general hossam so in mind he was killed in a u.s.

drone strike is close ally the deputy head of iraq's popular mobilisation forces. and this also died along with 8 others missiles from the u.s. drone hit their convoy as it left the airport so the money was the commander of the courts force a unit of iran's revolutionary guard responsible for foreign operations and he was also considered to be the 2nd most powerful man in iran behind the country's supreme leader ayatollah ali how many of them. i know it all i know in the news of his death made official by iran's state t.v. . a 3 day mourning period was announced and iran vowed revenge as u.s. president donald trump stood by his decision with this claim last night at my direction the united states military executed a flawless strike that terminated the terrors ringleader responsible for gravely

wounded and further in thousands and thousands of people and hundreds and hundreds at least of americans. shola money has been killed and his bloody rampage is now for ever. a law for ayatollah khomeini so in mind he was a trusted confidant a member of his inner circle and a friend for more than 30 years almost 12 months on the commander in chief of iran's armed forces says he's not done avenging silliman his death. you know and built woman as a politician whenever it's possible we will take revenge we will take revenge on those who ordered so him on his assassination and the ones who carried out that assassination just hours after saw him on his body was laid to rest in his hometown of care mon on january 7th the revolutionary guard launched 13 missiles at the u.s.

space assad in iraq no americans were killed attentions increased iran was on high alert and accidently shut down the ukrainian airline passenger plane killing all 176 people on board while the united states said they were not seeking regime change in iran trumps the citizen to kill himself in money had far reaching repercussions feared by his enemies inside iran so the money had for years been one of the most popular national figures in the country the international face of iranian resistance to american pressure he remained largely untouched by the diminishing popularity of the country's elected government. his death prompted calls for the expulsion of u.s. troops from the middle east by iranian officials as well as a ring in back groups in iraq and it's a demand which still stands a year later. events have been held on friday marking the anniversary of his death

a tear on university we heard from the head of the revolutionary car guard as well as the man who replaced possum saw the money side of carney who took over there as the head of the post forces as well as a number of delegations that came in to iran for the anniversary from hezbollah and palestinian islamic jihad as well as the deputy of the house to xabi forces from iraq the entire ceremony was quite somber and as a result of the pandemic but the message was very very clear that iran has not completely avenged solmonese assassination and that the will in the right time at the right time in the future there is a sense that things are very very critical at the moment and it all hinges on the fact that the incoming u.s. president joe biden could possibly return to the nuclear agreement so there is a sense that there isn't much appetite on the iranian part to start any kind of conflict to see whether or not they can get back in to that nuclear deal and reap

some of the benefits they haven't seen since the u.s. withdrew in 2018 so that's the atmosphere at the moment although it is quite somber and tense there is really not much appetite for conflict here ok thank you for that that is still such a bari. in teheran we move now to. baghdad and with all the focus charles on us. iranian relations shouldn't forget this attack did happen in iraq what's the reaction there you're on. well certainly there has been an increased sense of tension here in the build up to this anniversary of his assassination the last rocket attacks on the green zone targeting we understand the u.s. embassy was on december the 20 s. now the main iran backed groups in iraq denied responsibility for those attacks they blamed to them on what they described as outlaws and said that they entrusted

the prime minister will stop the car to me to deal with them but of course we had accusations from the u.s. president donald trump saying that they ron was responsible for those attacks and saying that if any american was killed in in future attacks then iran would pay full responsibility so the language has ramped up they've been increasing threats by both the iran backed groups the iranians and the americans here and i think it's also very important here to mention the iraqi people themselves it's fair to say that the everyday person in iraq is pretty much sick inside of the instability the political violence that this country has suffered for decades and so there is a great sense of tension amongst them on such a seminal an important day as this anniversary of the assassination of a man who as we heard endorsers reports was described as the 2nd most powerful man

in iran and a man who has huge influence here in iraq you mention prime is the card to me what sort of pressure does all this put him on is he stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place. events pressure on the prime minister interestingly after those attacks that i mentioned that happened on december the 20 s. there were a number of arrests made by government security forces a number of arrests we understand from some of the most powerful iran back groups here and although those are all about groups as i said in trusted so they say the car they meet with dealing with these outlaws it was the kind of rhetoric that came from some of their spokesman one spokesman for a group that todd has said that the iran backed groups would not stand for carter mees action and in fact threatened to in his words chop peace is off

these iran back groups here accuse carter me of listening too much to the americans and it all he g.'s around the withdrawal of those american troops we've heard trump saying that there's going to be which all of around $500.00 american servicemen and women in the next month or so the iran backed groups are saying that's not enough and it's not happening quick enough they want the remaining $3000.00 or so removed immediately also obviously pressure on car to me from the americans as well the americans of threatens to close the embassy here which of course would be hugely embarrassing for the prime minister and let's not forget that for more than a year there have been protests on the streets of baghdad and various other cities across iraq demanding whole scale political change in this country protests against corruption and mismanagement demanding jobs so there are huge pressures on car the me from all sides from iran the iran backed groups here the americans and many of

the people here in iraq themselves who are demanding more security jobs and a lot of change going forward so yeah you can imagine huge pressure on the iraqi leader reporting from baghdad today thank you charles. one other note from iran where the government is pushing ahead with plans to enrich uranium to appears the level of 20 percent it's told the un's nuclear watchdog the work will be done in the for the plants which is built into the side of a mountain enrichment breaches the near 4 percent enrichment allowed under the 2050 nuclear deal but falls short of the 90 percent needed to make a nuclear weapon. the rest of the day's news is coming up including this. the years are 81 the news or 132 thirds of the senators voting u.s. senators from both sides and don't trump a major defeat in the waning days of his presidency override his veto of a national security bill a new technology to save an ancient industry in dangerous salt fungus what helped

to modernize. it's time for the perfect janet. sponsored plan qatar airways hello we've got some rather nasty weather into central parts of the mediterranean at the moment little area of low pressure just swirling away here just around corsica pushing some very nasty showers up prescript italy the balkans and into central areas of a year where you are it does look pretty cold temperatures struggling but everywhere to get into double figures there is that really wet weather just around pushing across into italy snow coming in across the alps further north well time which is just 4 celsius there for paris and also for london showers rattling in from the northeast into that eastern side of england so it will be wintry at times

we'll see that so wintry weather diving a little further west which is to go on through into sunday staying cold 45 celsius is the best you can hope for really for the next week or so week to 10 days so it doesn't look too brilliant with our low with throwing in a fair amount of wintry weather into germany as well temperatures in berlin no higher than around one celsius and only 7 celsius tree patel in madrid some of that western weather around the central med pushing across both apos of algeria maybe to northern areas of morocco as well so some showers in play here further south of this generate dry wish i was into the gulf of guinea. at ways. when all that seems to matter is the headline there is always 2 sides to a story when narratives and counter narratives of just your reality the leader on the one hand the enemy is all believe there on the other hand the listening post strips away the spin what kind of reporting if you can see on the ground

misinformation is right lays bare the bias so a lot of people believe things because they want to believe them done covers the uncomfortable truths if you think they did enough to scrutinize the case for war the listing posts on. this is al-jazeera these are the top stories this hour more than 20000000 people in the u.s. have not tested positive for corona virus almost a quarter of the world's cases rolled out of vaccines is also slower than expected only 3000000 people inoculated so far. commemorations are being held ahead of the anniversary of course some sort of mounties assassination a u.s. drone strike killed the iranian general in baghdad on general 3rd of last year and

iran's government plans to enrich uranium by up to 20 percent it is a significant breach of the 2050 nuclear deal but well short of the 90 percent needed to build a nuclear weapon. bosnians military set up tents for hundreds of refugees stranded in freezing conditions and left without shelter for several days after a fire burned down their old camp authorities are trying to relocate the refugees that's being opposed by some locals and supporters from kathy lopez or the other. 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 at 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 face mounting criticism for leaving the migrants without proper shelter heat or

facilities to it it was ok we don't mind we're going to gesture and we can drink of water that's enough for us but the problem is then 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 'd it reports of frostbite and hypothermia they held a protest to bring attention to their poor living conditions when i see all these new day 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 disease 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 beyond gates we don't have jack up 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 so. aleutian but it is a way to help people with nothing to survive the winter. al-jazeera. an afghan journalist has been shot dead in the central province of core ismail i mark was killed when gunmen opened fire on his car he was a human rights activist he was the editor of a local radio station and is the 5th journalist to be killed in afghanistan in just the past 2 months the u.s. senate's delivered

a significant defeat to president donald trump version to override his veto of a defense policy bill the senate's of course controlled by trump's republican party easily reached the required 2 to majority trump earlier refused to sign the defense act into law it both limits the president's ability to withdraw troops from places like afghanistan and the ability to divert military funds at the once trump wanted for his border war with mexico is a white house correspondent kimberly how could he says the defeat 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 coded relief 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 were buke 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 big stuff are 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 congress will be tallying the electoral college votes we do expect that there will be. number of dozens of republicans in the house and at least one republican in the senate that will stand 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 trade and passenger traffic has trickled steadily over the english channel after the shift in relations between the britain between britain and the e.u. and the u.k. is completed its separation from the block ending almost half a century of integration with its continental neighbors paul brennan has this report now from the english port of dover. the countdown to the new post

relationship was projected across the departure gates at the french side of the euro tunnel rail link moments later the 1st lorry was having its documents checked . the trade deal agreed on christmas eve means no tariffs and no quotas but there is significantly more paperwork and most of it needing to be done in advance the euro tunnel operator is get a link the change is already about. for many teams ok now it's time there is a truck community here they have to show us that they have done. on a line before coming here it's a significant change for logistics and haulage firms on both sides of the new trading front here the u.k. is expecting $220000000.00 additional customs declarations every year at a cost to business of some $9500000000.00 the ferry crossing between the english port of dover and cali and france handle some $2500000.00 freight vehicles every

year but less than a 1000 lorries were said you'll to make the crossing on new year's day it's a gentle start for the new regime many haulage companies said they were holding off until the new systems have bedded in my hope is that given the opening couple of weeks in january are generally pretty late for us and with the start build going on that that should enable those people that are trading during the time to to train themselves and get used to working in this new way in fact at the gates of the 4th the biggest sticking point on this 1st day isn't rex it related at all. we had a plan works out already to hold freights to manage the freight but now we've had to initiate the testing as well as a number of locations so that's the biggest problem that we go because that was never expected never planned for the key to keeping the ports open and running smoothly with the speed with which the logistics companies get to grips with the

new electronic and paperwork requirements the early log jams are likely to be not here at the ports but back at the factory gate or work house with cargo delayed because the correct paperwork hasn't been filled in these 1st quiet days of january an opportunity for companies to familiarize themselves with the new practicalities the real test will come when trade volume ramps up again around the 10th or 11th of the month paul brennan al-jazeera dover takes to indonesia now which has one of the longest coastlines in the world its salt farming industry has long failed to actually meet the needs of the domestic market and so millions of tonnes are imported each year that is threatening the livelihoods of the country's old farmers as jessica washington reports from the on the island of java the government is now hoping investing in technology could change all that. in indonesia's west timor

this is the process behind harvesting one of the world's most common minerals these men have farmed felt this way for years it's low tech and low cost the salt they farm can be used for consumption or industrial use. but not all of indonesia's salt is this quality indonesia has the 2nd longest coastline in the world but despite being surrounded by salt water the country still imports millions of tonnes of salt each year. we have got we need to improve the quality of our indonesian solved we need it to be the best quality so that we don't need to buy from abroad the government said a quota of around 3000000 tonnes for industrial salt imports an increase from previous years scientists working with the government's research and technology ministry say they're trying to improve the quality of locally produced salt by using technology to increase sodium chloride contents finally be made not the. bed i believe we need. because we want to make the farmers become more what's

very important but common say they don't receive enough support there are more than 800 sold farmers an injury my you on the island of java. one farmer showed us inside a warehouse with thousands of kilograms of unsold salt. across this area there are many similar warehouses with bags of salt going to waste. the government isn't on our side salt imports are always open and the amount be importing creases every year family say the techniques used by the government in the past to improve the quality of their self haven't worked and they're struggling to sell their harvest this salt has been farmed and processed by local farmers here in injure my you it will be packaged and sold for consumption across indonesia but farmers here say it's increasingly difficult to on a living they say imports are to blame the farmer said they're feeling the impact

of low salt prices because of imports from the stranding in india and china. the government says it's not possible for indonesia to stop importing solved but across community. where hundreds rely on the mineral pharma say more should be done to train them in modern farming techniques so they can match the quality of imported fell. we have experts from the government they should come here and tell us what kind of production they need so we can compete with the imported salt if their prospects don't improve these men fear for the future of their farms and their livelihoods jessica washington al-jazeera interim i found in fearsome swans thousands of them in fact which are flocked to the caspian sea in kazakhstan they are migrating self to escape the plummeting temperatures in russia they do visit the coast of cats extern every winter but this creep look at them all the largest debris reported.