sirrah. the powerful to account as we examine the u.s. its role in the world on al-jazeera. we do hope we will have we'll be able to tens of millions in the course of the next 3 months i can i can i can certainly give you that. the united kingdom prepares to roll out the country's 2nd the fruit of care with 19 banks seen on monday. sam is a band this is out just 0 live from coming up. large crowds in iraq call for the removal of u.s. troops one year after the assassination of iranian general hossam so that money.

prepares for a presidential runoff birds attack as raid 2 villages killing more than 70 people plus. i robot royd in south korea at the mountain town famous for its ice festival that has plenty of ice and opens the. now let's begin with the latest global efforts to combat the corona virus outbreak in the face of a rise in the number of new infections and deaths in the u.k. hospitals are preparing to roll out the oxford astra zeneca jabs as soon as monday it's the country's 2nd approved coronavirus vaccine britain's prime minister barak johnson has warned of tougher restrictions a new and more infectious covert 19 strain appears to be leading to a record number of cases of india has approved its 1st 2 vaccines for restricted

emergency use it's paving the way for one of the world's biggest inoculation campaigns and the us reported another record 270000 new infections more than 350000 people have died in the world's worst hit nation and brazil's health regulator has approved the import of 2000000 doses of the oxford astra zeneca vaccine nearly 200000 brazilians have died in the pandemic so far little moment will be live in bogota colombia with alice and m.p.i. 3 but 1st let's talk to andrew simmons he's live for us from london andrew it's another day and another grim picture being painted by statistics. yes i'm afraid so we have figures in for sunday 454 deaths compared to 445 on saturday that doesn't sound like a big increase 1st site but sunday's traditionally the day when figures are lower

because of the data capture policies so therefore it is of alarming rise the total deaths now exceed $75000.00 in the u.k. a number of cases to give you the stark rather worrying picture the number of new cases on sunday stands at 54990 compare that to this day a week ago 577 to 5 it was the figure is this on saturday should i say and so therefore that that figure we're getting have confused those figures for you 577 to 5 on saturday compared with the previous week 54990 that's a dramatic leap in a week so we're getting now a situation whereby the vaccine is more and more crucial boris johnson saying fairly optimistic

a promise that doubted by many health care professionals that tens of millions of doses will be given within 3 months of time and that's that really is quite ambitious there is no doubt that the supply of vaccine is much better in the u.k. than elsewhere in europe but the real question is about the logistics we'll see on monday the 2nd vaccine the ox for the oxford astra zeneca vaccine which is more it's easier. to spread with this this vaccine it's easier to to distribute it and we're seeing that happening on monday half a 1000000 doses to be to be dealt with there but that that. that alone is obviously just a small start there are many people in the u.k. within the n.h.s. and the government extolling extolling the virtues of the system here in the sense that there are already a 1000000 vaccines that have been made and that compares with the total right

across europe but u.k. has very little to celebrate right now with these extremely high figures and this this new this new type of strain of the vaccine of the of the virus causing such alarm and such an increase and given that skepticism how confident are parents in the the idea that it's safe to send kids back to school as officials are urging all this is causing a mounting control over see there are 2 opinions here and then right across the land online and indeed at the the dinner table of families with young children there's a big divide a lot of people are alarmed at the prospect of the children catching the virus and asymptomatic maybe passing it on at home to parents and grandparents teachers also naturally worried about the situation and the national union representing them is

saying do not go to school now boris johnson did a u. turn in london and london surrounding areas by ensuring they closed rather than some of them staying open but this is what he has to say for the rest of the country schools are safe very very important to stress that the threat to the risk to the kids to young people is really very very very small indeed as the scientists continually test risk to staff whose is very smooth. so could there be another u. turn on this well that there could be in actual fact tougher restrictions announced possibly within the next couple of weeks which may entail or a full hour lockdown when there is already in the u.k. or for tear system could it go to 5 or could there just be a simple straightforward full on lockdown right across the country all possibilities and also the possibility of all schools being closed for an undefined

period these are all possible this is now all right thanks so much andrew symonds there let's go live now to alison that m.p.r. the he's in the colombian capital bob atar brazil's dealing with a bit of a crisis going on there they're ordering vaccines but 2000000 for a population of over 200000000 how far will that go. well sami obviously not very far what i think this is a way for the brazilian government to show that there is some movement on this issue at a time when the president. and his government is being increasingly criticised for how slow the country is moving this fight the fact that that is the 3rd worst affected country in the world with the 2nd highest toll of the united states medical associations in brazil are openly criticizing president. so are the

main news papers today for follow probably the most important newspaper in the tree has a major tauriel accusing goebbels on out of what they call deadly incompetence when it comes to facing the pandemic in general and him particularly now with the lack of details of the vaccination plan when there are major countries in latin america like mexico or argentina already started a knock you lay to people so we know that these 2000000. doses are in the country they have not been approved yet they should be approved at some point this month and the government this hoping to start. being the most at risk people by the end of the month the rest of the plan concerns instead producing the. senate vaccine in the country true

a government feely ated biomedical center they are saying that they'll have the 1st dose is ready at some point in february and they're promising to have at least 100000000 doses around made 2021 no details on just sticks or how long it will take to have even more. doses so no doubt that brazil is way behind when you compare it to other major latin american countries or countries in europe and even the united states. so mask wearing distancing remain a main ways for brazilians to stay safe but that too remains controversial in the country given that you're here both senator the president just a few days ago once again said that the masks are absolutely useless and the 1st thing that he did see of was to meet with

a big crowd of supporters at a beach in sao paolo that were supposed to be closed. thanks so much alison that i'm petty there now it's been a year since iran's top general hossam salomone was killed in a u.s. drone strike in iraq the anniversary of the assassination has been marked by protests in several countries in the middle east in the iraqi capital baghdad thousands of demonstrators gathered in the of square demanding the expulsion of u.s. troops the leader of the iranian backed popular mobilisation forces and this was also killed along with. iraq's prime minister himself and carver me says his country doesn't want any more conflict i meant in the human toll that this is month from day one in office i work towards defusing crises steering iraq away from looming regional and global war iraq has been suffering for long as a result of wars it has not found stability since the 1960 s.

iraq is in no position to go to war as we have already lost many lives to wars therefore this government has been working hard to steer iraq away from the swirl of wars. and in lebanon the iran bank hezbollah has called for revenge for saddam and he's killing their members paid tribute to sort of money while standing on a hill overlooking u.s. ally israel across the border tensions were running high between the u.s. and iran leading up to the anniversary with both sides threatening retaliation for any provocations all in a moment we will talk to should have returned see from with the view from washington d.c. but 1st here's charles stratford he was at those protests in iraq's capital. thousands of people gathered here in tahrir square in central baghdad a square that has seen so many protests over the last year the message though today very clear. these people are demanding the false withdrawal of all remaining u.s.

military personnel from this country. and many of them still demanding revenge for the assassination of qassam still a money that happened close to the airport in that u.s. drone strike a year ago. many of them are very angry not only with the u.s. but they're angry with the leader of this country well i'm a club now you're. talking what i like the image of the iraqi government is the same as the american government here just walking what i'm going into this would have to explain u.s. forces from iraq in general but nothing has happened even americans don't leave on their own accord you can force them to be with obnoxious. their okie prime minister promised a timetable for the phone with full of all u.s. military personnel from this country the people here say he is not trying to take that off now there is no clear indication as to how the incoming flights in the

administration in the u.s. will respond to the situation in this country one that many people is increasingly being dominated by neighboring iraq certainly the people in tahrir square today say the only way iraq's dignitary and sovereignty can be restored is if all u.s. military personnel leave this country and see. what she has pretends he joins us now live from washington d.c. and chad we haven't heard a lot out of the u.s. about this anniversary today is that i guess given the circumstances that's a good sign when the rhetoric is down. i think after weeks of provocative military actions from the u.s. deploying military hardware to the region these rather strange b. $52.00 bomber runs from the u.s. to the coastline of iran in a round trip of 36 hours and most recently on wednesday 2 b.

52 bombers take off from north dakota they fly all the way to the gulf and then they sort of buzz the coastline but still 96 kilometers away from the iranian coast so still away from iranian airspace but as a sort of show of a show of strength and but the potential firepower of the u.s. i suppose it all looked rather rather concerning but then towards the end of last week we had the acting u.s. defense secretary order the redeployment of the u.s.s. nimitz the aircraft carrier in the region away from the region and back to your home port in washington state and that and that was it was said that was specifically to be a de escalatory signal to the iranians so that that was a sign of hope that sort of the u.s. wasn't attempting to provoke anything further or we have those those mutterings and rumblings that if there was any action from iran to retaliate for the assassination of general salomone that they would be some sort of some sort of u.s.

response but clearly there was a focus on d. escalatory signals which has to be opposed. thanks so much she have a tendency. still ahead on al-jazeera 2020 was a good year for coin and so far this year looks no different we'll hear why the crypto currency has become so valuable. plus foster and foster towards the red planet it's an update on the progress of china's models. for the perfect gentleman. sponsored point qatar airways we've got more very cold air coming in across northern parts of china through the korean peninsula and of cloud here to the north of that that's where the really cold weather is

minus 23 and that's that's the same temperature just one celsius there in seoul was we go on into choose day you can see how the temperatures fall further one is $26.00 and it will be at that time in the heat of the day if we can coat it that will be some snow for a good parts of japan once again nor the positive and seeing a fair bit of snow not just a chance of some rain to it to the far south of the country for central and southern parts of china you might just catch your shabbat really nothing too much to speak of now plenty of showers across southern india at present and also into sri lanka further north some rather wet weather we have orange warnings in force across a good part of i just on pushing up towards punjab some rain sleet and snow coming through here freshness up the air in new delhi where we've had the fall and smoke problems so improved quality but poor visibility because we do have a lot of wet weather coming through but at least it is in the prices of cleaning the air you can see becomes a little more wise but as we go on through choose day and he going on into

wednesday kristie tons of snow in the foothills of the himalayas further south the rain continues. sponsored by a qatar airways. on a new toy highway to india girls as young. as prostitutes. one woman is travelling to the villages where parents still live under age doing the same. on al-jazeera. if you want to help save the world. into your own.

welcome back you're watching out for syria time to recap our headlines now the u.k. prime minister bars johnson expects tens of millions will be vaccinated in the next 3 months he says over half a 1000000 doses of the oxford astra zeneca vaccine will be ready by monday india's drug regulator has approved 2 coronavirus vaccines for emergency use there one is the oxford astra zeneca jab the other is produced by indian drug maker bot biotech the world health organization says it's an important breakthrough. thousands gathered in the center of the iraqi capital to market here since the us assassination of iran's top general qassam sort about me he was killed by a drone strike there baghdad's international airport the protesters are demanding the expulsion of u.s. troops. now more than 70 people have been killed in 2 attacks on villages in

western asia where it happened in the tele barre region unstable area neighboring mali became a fire so and then in fighters from groups linked to al qaida and i saw a cross in an out of the porous border where the attack comes just after the 1st round of news shares presidential election which is now going into a runoff between the top 2 candidates have an increase explains from the army dozens of people have been taken to hospitals because of their injuries and one of the one of the villages that was attacked in fact was closer or 20 kilometers away from a big military base in that area we understand that in the general should of course the subject of patrols and most secure to that area to contain the situation to library is an area that has been targeted by armed groups across the border in britain if i so and mali now whether or not this will impact the election in february it's not clear at the moment but the contestants the 2 leading contenders

for this for the seat of president in asia after the 1st round of elections in fact have experience in governance one of them former president and the other was a former foreign minister as well as internal affairs minister who had dealt with the issues of security especially on the border with nigeria when where boko haram attacks regularly as well as the security concerns on the border with built in a fossil and miley now the major population or the voting population say they are going to finish what they started on december 27th 2020 which is the election and they was hoping that any of the 2 candidates running for the office in the run of will be able to deal with the situation and contain everything so that peace can return to this country. the u.s. congress is set for some new faces with a new session set to start later today democrats kept control of the house of representatives in november the balance of power in the senate is set to be decided

by a runoff elections in georgia on tuesday scott lucas is a professor at birmingham university and co-founder of america unfiltered news and analysis site on american politics and foreign policy he says u.s. politics is entering a turbulent week. today is just simply that the new members of the house and the senate will be sworn in to take their seats and there are quite a few of them from both parties but there really is nothing of substance today the fireworks start in the next 72 hours on tuesday we have these 2 vital run offs for senate seats in georgia that will determine whether republicans or democrats have a slim majority in that upper chamber and then on wednesday what should be a straightforward process to confirm joe biden as president a lot is going to be turned into a spectacle by 12 republican senators by within 140 republican representatives who in effect are going to refuse to accept the november election are going to insist

that there not be a certification of biden which of course will reinforce dolphins' ongoing attempt through descent from ation to claim that he was robbed of the vote that will have repercussions he won't change by being president that will still occur in january the 20th but it's pointing to a serious split in the republican party for the rest of 2021 i think the republican party is probably at its most critical point 0 month since the 1930 s. when it suffered a humility humiliating landslide defeat franklin roosevelt and the reason why i say that is is that you actually have 2 groups within the same party you have the established republicans who they'll disagree on policy with democrats they'll try possibly to obstruct the by the ministration but they'll play within the rules they'll play within the system and then you have donald trump who of course doesn't play by the rules who trashes u.s. agencies who criticizes members of the republican party if they don't agree with

him and now it's not just donald trump it's these republican senators and these representatives who whether it's for their own political futures whether it's because they want to join the trump a spectacle they have for what is in effect an insurgent faction. now the homes of the most senior politicians in the u.s. mitch mcconnell and nancy pelosi have been targeted by vandals angry about congress's failure to increase funding to help people struggling during the pandemic the senate majority leader's home in kentucky was covered in spray paint with expletives and messages like where's my money pelosi is home in san francisco was also spray painted with graffiti and a pig's head and fake blood were left at her door or if you have any bitcoin here probably having a pretty good year so far the cryptocurrency is value continues to reach all time highs after passing $20000.00 u.s. dollars for the 1st time in december then 30000 dollars on saturday it was the

world's best performing acid last year rose for 300 percent more and more investors now consider it to be a safe bet as a reserve ass's or even a future replacement for gold there are more than 18 and a half 1000000 bitcoins out there collectively they're worth more than $600000000000.00 and rising glenn goodman is a u.k. based financial investor who specializes in crypto currency he's also the author of the crypto trader he says supply and demand is pushing the price up because the amount of bitcoin that can be created is limited. it's a piece of software effectively was invented that just start sort of churning out these. coins that don't exist in real life you can't touch them they're digital money they only exist as long as computers exist and networks exist but with big corps in the system is not owned by anybody and it's not controlled by anybody and

you can download the bit callings onto offline devices you know u.s.b. stick something like that and you can download your coins on to that and keep them safe even if you're not connected to the internet there's only a certain number of coins and and so the demand is going up from all these in the financial institutions j.p. morgan the boss of which was calling it a fraud a few years ago now j.p. morgan receiving notes advising the there's a possibility because it could go to this price or that price you know very very very getting interested now and all of that demand is pushing the price up and up and up at the moment. and really this all comes from the narrative that because the u.s. government in particular the federal reserve and other central banks are printing a lot of money because of the coded 19 virus they decided to print money to stimulate their economies this is pushing the value of the dollar down because

there are all these new dollars being printed the dollar is going down and people particularly america are looking for safe havens to put their money into they're looking to gold they're looking to bitcoin. now a rising number of corona virus cases in south korea is forcing many communities to cancel economically vital tourist events from a prime travel to watch on county in the mountains near the border with north korea see how it's dealing with the loss of its annual fire ice festival. because it's a special event to promote a particular type of river trout known as the sunshine or how to package it how to prepare it in every way imaginable. and staged in a town that finds it has a lot of it $77.00 tons to be exact question county's annual ice festival is its biggest event and ice fishing on the frozen river the biggest draw for which it starts breeding fish

a year in advance but this year there is to be no festival and the town is left to figure out what to do with its fish. we have been putting our heads together to research and develop ways day we can sell our fish and deceased a result we're taking a crisis situation and turning it into an opportunity realizing months ago the festival was unlikely to go ahead the county did cancel more than half the fish it had ordered from farms across the country. if we had a regular festival they would have made money on all that fish so i expect they took a considerable hit this year and. the town itself is hurting to the harsh winter in these mountains normally produces ice that is solid enough to support crowds of visitors beneath it pristine waters that can 5th day in a massive fish but this year no sign of any festival close to the border with north korea the town was already suffering from

a ban on military personnel leaving nearby bases during 'd the pandemic and restaurant owners like lee jones soon were counting on the influx of ice festival visitors who won't now becoming. passion pushing and it's been difficult for everyone small businesses an employee no one has been spared it's also hurting the other towns around here who supplies with produce everyone here is hoping that by the time the ice breaks up and melts away their loss so be seeing an end to the pandemic rob mcbride al-jazeera watch on county south korea. residents of sydney will face a $150.00 fine for failing to comply with new compulsory mask rules from midnight on sunday face coverings will be mandatory in shopping centers places of worship transport and other public venues new south wales police say the fines will be a last resort for enforcing the rule china's space agency says it expects the miles

probe and when one to enter the red planet's orbit next month the probe has been in space for $163.00 days and traveled 400000000 kilometers so far after entering mars is orbit it will spend about 3 months checking out potential landing sites before touching down in may well since its launch last july the mars probe has captured an image showing both earth and the moon as well as taking several selfies are essential me to say how it's about the probe is flying at a speed of about 23 kilometers per 2nd which is 2000000 kilometers per day its relative speed to the earth now is about 21 kilometers per 2nd that is 1800000 kilometers per day it is flying about 200000 kilometers per day towards mars the probe is flying faster and faster as it gets away from the sun's gravity. and i want to portugal as most renowned singers had died at the age of 81 carlos. also

known as the sinatra of music. monday a national day of mourning 2014 was the 1st portuguese answers to receive a lackey. let's take you through some of the headlines here in algiers here and now u.k. prime minister boss johnson expects tens of millions will be vaccinated in the next 3 months he says half a 1000000 doses of the astra zeneca vaccine will be ready by monday it follows another record jump in new infections announcing there be 58000 on saturday.