sees the best opportunities in the hearts of eurasia. a new year new u.s. congress with a slender democratic majority in the house and the control of the senate still undecided. hello i'm sam is a band this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up we do hope we'll have we'll be able to. millions in the course of the next 3 months so i can i can certainly give you right to the united kingdom prepares to roll out the country's 2nd approved covert 19 vaccine on monday. prepares for

a presidential runoff vote to attack israel 2 villages killing more than 70 people plus. large crowds in iraq call for the removal of u.s. troops a year after the assassination of a rainy in general. i'm robert roy in south korea at the mountain town famous for its ice festival that has plenty of ice and though festival. now we begin in the u.s. where a new session of congress is about to be sworn into office you're seeing live pictures from capitol hill the previous congress has officially ended its term democrats kept control of the house of representatives in november but with a narrow majority the balance of power in the senate on the other hand all that

said to be decided by runoff elections in georgia on tuesday let's listen in now to what's happening in congress empower us with an extra dose of commitment to its principles. may we have the 117th congress refuel the lamp of liberty so brimful that generations unborn will witness its dying flowing and may we model community healing control our tribal tendencies and quicken our spirit that we may feel the priest of the person all right let's go now to our correspondents you have returned see he is live for us in washington d.c. watching what's happening she had what can we expect from a new congress. there are so many uncertainties about what's going on right now and in fact this normally on a day like this on the 3rd day in january at nude which is constitutionally

mandated as the moment in which congress should should begin and be gaveled in this would be a very festive a affair with thousands of people thronging capitol hill on the streets around washington and the restaurants in that big parties and fundraisers money never far away here in congress and lots of relatives of those being sworn in you know being around and everything else is completely different this year it's rather desolate here in in the senate and everyone has been limited to the amount number of guests they can have for example in the house will be sworn in in back chiz of around $7072.00 members of congress at a time to prevent this from becoming a super spreader event so clearly there are those concerns which make 2021 very different the 100 and 17th congressional session very different to the 160 bill the opening of 116 during the other congressional session but meanwhile we also have

all the tension not only because we don't know quite what the makeup of the so that eventually will be the georgia runoff is on january the 5th of that will decide whether the democrats or the republicans control the senate but also there's an enormous tension within what was normally a once a rather disciplined republican party in the senate at least with many many senators now saying that they are going to to disregard their leadership and vote or least try and stand in the way of the certification of the presidential election next next week and she have how about that effort to disrupt congressional certification of the election result how is that shaping up. i mean the point is it's very disruptive and it could potentially be very disruptive on january the 6th when normally a process that would normally take less than an hour say well all that happens technically is all the votes that have been certified are counted and then certified by the president of the senate who is the vice president mike pence

ordinarily this goes without too much interruption in that they have in the past been isolated incidents where there have been symbolic attempts to point to what may be voter irregularities and so on but what we're seeing this time is a certain lot of uncertainty about what will happen because we now have 12 senators at least who say that they will they will vote to not certify we don't know which states and that's certainly not certified and we have perhaps over 100 members of the house who say they will vote not certify various states so this means that this could be a really long long process they're not going to succeed eventually it's the because 1st of all the house is democratically controlled and you did a successful vote in the house that's not going to happen with the democrats in control but also it seems that enough senators have said that they would they would they wouldn't vote for challenging the certification process republican senators to mean any efforts will be doomed in the senate as well but what it might mean is

proceedings might go on well into the night in the meantime though in the meantime the. the republican party seems to be splitting itself apart in some ways almost a quarter of senators now saying they'll challenge the results next week and in that challenge they are being so vague about and that's what on the sunday shows this morning we've seen the senators who said they're going to challenge would really be savaged by moderators because they're still not putting up any evidence of wrongdoing they're just saying look we want to have the concerns of many republicans reflected in the proceedings next next week and it is fair to say that if the the 9 percent of the american people think the elections are rigged perhaps they actually do one need it needs. i'm sort of some sort of voice but of course the only reason that they feel that the elections been rigged is because of any proof or any and the any success and of course me just because unsubstantiated allegations continue to be repeated magnified by those who say they're concerned about the allegations so it's kind of a vicious circle so there's

a certain amount of understanding that the republicans who are objecting out necessarily doing this out of principle because they actually think us democracy hasn't been served at the last presidential election because there are so frightened of that trump base who has such a hold on the republican the republican party and will continue to on their own political ambitions whether it be in their reelection campaigns for the senate or for their own presidential ambitions in the future and given what you just said she have about the divisions there the polarization how key is it what happens now with the balance of power in the senate. well that was always going to be key for joe biden primarily if he doesn't have the senate clearly it's going to be more difficult to put his legislative agenda into action not impossible a lot of studies have been done that shows just how much power the president does have and can do with both existing law and executive action but joe biden has already basically told the progressive wing forget it i'm not going to do any of that stuff if you want me to counsel student debt and and try and get you know you

know universal health care i'm just not going to do that i'm going to work with congress with my magic skills of bipartisanship so progressives already despairing about the joe biden presidency but if he wants to work through congress as he says he does well clearly he if you had both chambers of congress that would be make things a lot easier in addition there what was so interesting there was kelly love flo who is one of the candidates in georgia was asked specifically today are you going to vote to certify the election of donald trump and she wouldn't give a straight answer trump is going to campaign for on her behalf on monday she is a huge trump based kind of person but she wouldn't answer that question because georgia voted for joe biden meanwhile says yes to straddle that trump base and the fact that things are changing demographically in georgia so it just shows how difficult all of this is made made things for the republican party divil call i think is a word that you could use to sum up a lot of american domestic politics right now thanks so much shahab return.

now hospitals in the u.k. are preparing to roll out the oxford astra zeneca vaccine as soon as monday it's the country's 2nd approved coronavirus vaccine prime minister barak johnson has warned of tougher restrictions but expects tens of millions of people will be immunized over the next 3 months a new and more infectious covert 900 strain appears to be leading to a record number of cases. let's go live now to andrew simmons he joins us from london so it's another day and more stats that paint a very grim picture a very worrying picture andrew. i'm afraid so the number of deaths sunday 454 and that brings the total number of deaths to 75000

the for the 6 day running there have been record figures in the number of cases 55000 nearly 55000 right now and that that up that's for sunday and that compares with last sunday which was 30500 so just work that out the level of increase as they've been seen since this crisis began so never before has there been more need to get a vaccine up and running an effective vaccine up and running that assurance we heard from boris johnson earlier in the day that tens of thousands of doses tens of millions should i say of doses i will be taking place within 3 months it does sound ambitious a lot of health care professionals feel that could be a much lower figure it's more a target than one that could be attained at the biggest challenges and so much the

supply of the vaccines it is the actual logistics in getting it getting people vaccinated getting the shots out now one of the one of the major developments is the oxford astra zeneca vaccine which is a u.k. developed vaccine which is really important and that is being rolled out on monday more half a 1000000 shots will be available and there will be more in following up quite quickly so therefore we have to approve vaccines in the u.k. and that will increase now we're hearing that number of supermarket chains of how pharmacies are now helping out with logistics they've announced this. and so there is some development but by no means is it a a guaranteed picture that will see this race. to get the vaccines out in order to

try and keep up with the curve it's a long way away yet while this is all going on as a controversy breaking out about schools in fact it's been brown going for a while now it's really really screeching out loud a teaching unions in the u.k. one in particular the main one advising teachers not to go back to school not to go back to the classrooms on monday primary schools this is a letter up to 11 years of age coming back from the christmas holidays that advises because of concerns over safety the government is saying it has done a u. turn in the london london saying that they're now going to close the schools they're not going to reopen for the 1st couple of weeks that's a huge turn and this is what boris johnson says about 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 attest to risk to start these is very. well there you have it i mean that is going down very badly with many parents it's a very passionate debate going on about the value of education and the need to keep children at school against those who are worried about safety there is a call from parents and indeed the teach teachers for more transparency about what the science says on children spreading the virus amongst themselves amongst teachers and then subsequent subsequently in the home with parents and grandparents thanks so much. brazil's health regulator has agreed to import 2000000 doses of the oxford astra zeneca vaccine though the jab hasn't been approved for use yet the country is trying to control the 2nd deadliest outbreak of the virus in the world 2nd only to the united states only 200000 brazilians have died in the

pandemic so far there have been more than 7000000 confirmed infections let's go live now to alexander m.p.'s here in the colombian capital tarbert start though if we can alison there with the situation in brazil how soon will vaccines be administered when you take into account they may have ordered them but they haven't proved them yet right. that is the case yes nobody knows for sure the government has not presented the full plan yet they are saying that they're hoping that these vaccines will be approved the round made to january and that they will be start to be. by the end of the month but as you were saying in your introduction we're talking about only $2000000.00 doses so far so that would cover just $1000000.00 people in brazil so they would do very

little for a country with such a large population the plan there is for the vaccine to be produced locally by a government. bio medical center and they are saying that they're hoping to have the 1st those it's ready at some point in february and have a 100000000 doses by made 2021 but it's unclear if this plan will indeed go forward as being talked about so far it hasn't been officially announced or presented in this at a time when president. is under increasing criticism inside the country by medical association tauriel pages of the main papers talking calling him incompetent talking about deadly ineptitude on part of the president his

response so far has been this parish as it has been throughout this. saying that he doesn't care if brazil is behind other major country in latin america countries in latin america like mexico or i didn't know that have already started their. pains but that is the situation as of now and it's so worrisome that's how hollow the most populous state in the. country is actually trying to independently import at least 6000000 doses of the chinese version of the vaccine but that too hasn't been approved and even the imports so far part of the health so torrie in the country so i least for now mask use the mask use and distancing remain the main way for brazilians to be safe but that's something that also the government is. really pushing in the country in just

a few days ago prison bowles and i are once again said that he thinks that masks are absolutely useless. plants thank allison that i'm p.f.c. then bogota meanwhile india's drug regulator has approved 2 coronavirus vaccines for emergency use one is the oxford astra zeneca jab the other is produced by indian drug maker biotech the world health organization says it's an important breakthrough. still ahead on al-jazeera the cryptocurrency bit calling brakes on all time records. now valued at about $33000.00.

how the weather in troy across the middle east at the moment but some places the cloud spinning out of tech easing a little research mike to charlotte simmons in northern parts of iran not too much to speak of northern areas saudi arabia could also see a life sharrow to begin not too much to speak of here in qatar tampa just getting up to 2223 over the next few days further south of this generate dry might just see a shower or 2 just around the southern end of the red sea of it which a beauty might see a shower to here as well but for much of the horn of africa it stays fine and dry the shot was where they should be for the south plenty of them as well just around the rift valley showers there in suez zambia that eastern side of angola seeing some heavy showers notice some rather wet weather there into namibia this is the remnants of our old tropical cyclone which made its way across madagascar through the mozambique channel just last week pushing across him by a boy all the way into namibia now nothing a little further south which is no longer a tropical softened of course but this intense area why pressure brings some rather

heavy rain into a good part of south africa was to go through the next couple of days east in part saying some heavier rain as we go on through chews day by wettest a grassy make its way out into the open waters of the southern indian ocean. from fossil fuels to modern day renewables as societies develop the energy demands increase requiring innovative solutions to meet such demands as a global power development of investment company nebraska power is uniquely positioned to deliver against these demands we provide business growth promote social economic benefits and provide innovative safe and environmentally sound energy solutions for future generations the breastpin pioneering future energy.

welcome back you're watching our dessert time to recap our headlines now a new congress has officially come into session in the united states democrats won the house in november but the balance of power in the senate is set to be decided in 2 special elections in georgia on tuesday. hospitals in the u.k. are preparing to roll out the oxford astra zeneca vaccine a soon as monday the country's 2nd approved coronavirus vaccine prime minister barak's johnson has warned of tougher restrictions but expects tens of millions of people will be immunized over the next 3 months new and more infectious covert 19 strain appears to be leading to a record number of cases. in spain one year since iran's top

general. 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 tahrir square demanding the expulsion of american troops charles strafford reports. thousands of people filled tahrir square in central baghdad. we will not stop until we have our revenge. revenge for the killing of iranian revolutionary guard chief. the deputy head of iraq's popular mobilization forces. on this u.s. drone strike near baghdad one year ago. the blood of the martyrs will not be wasted on the principle of a mom hussein this is a message for the world off the american spread language of sectarianism and killings our project will never end its an islamic while we are here to remember

the martyrs who were killed in the u.s. drone strikes and we demand that u.s. forces leave this country wherever they go they cause. destruction. on january the 5th last year 2 days after saleman his assassination iraq's parliament passed a non-binding resolution calling for the approximately 3200 american military personnel to leave prime minister mustafa economy who took office in may promised a timetable for withdrawal but many iraqis accuse him of dragging his feet and cal chowing to u.s. demands the iraqi prime minister mostafa called him a agrees with the files of people that have gathered here today that there must be a withdrawal of u.s. troops from iraq but many people here accuse him of listening too much to washington and not seeing fast enough to assure that american troops. are going to hear him and the iraqi government is the same as the american government

they are just working for american interests parliament voted to expel us forces but nothing has happened if americans don't leave on their own accord we will force them to leave with our blood the outgoing trumpet ministration has promised to withdraw all 500 u.s. military personnel from iraq by mid january that would leave around 2500 still in the country it is unclear how the next u.s. president joe biden will respond to the situation in iraq a country analysts say is being politically militarily and economically dominated by neighboring iran. but the message from these iraqis is clear channel strafford al-jazeera baghdad. more than 70 people have been killed in 2 attacks on villages it happened in they tell a very region in the west an area neighboring mali and many fighters from groups linked to al qaida and i saw

a cross in and out of the porous borders. alive too and edris in the shares capital the army at the attacks causing repercussions in reaction across the country especially from officials take us through that absolutely so i mean we're now hearing that the numbers have gone beyond 70 we're talking about 100 now. in the region confirmed that at least 70 people have been killed in a bungalow and 30 more in there where gary in that particular region initial reports we were getting. $50.00 to $70.00 people have been killed in those attacks the attacks and 2 villages now because of the severity of the of the situation the difference minister visited the area and we expect him to issue a statement later tonight probably in the next one and

a half hours and we also year that the prime minister has not to assess the situation inside of in that region so that's the situation right now and it's coming on the day the election commission announced that the country is going into our 2nd round of voting. all right thanks so much an address there from the army the armed group buckle her arm has abducted dozens of people in a raid in northeastern nigeria the attack happened the borno state between the towns of made the goodie and the motto more than 50 people including a u.n. aid worker have been kidnapped. now if you have any bitcoin you're probably having a good years so far the cryptocurrency value continues to reach all time highs after passing $20000.00 u.s. dollars for the 1st time in december then $30000.00 on saturday it was the world's best performing asset last year and rose more than 300 percent more and more

investors now consider it to be a safe bet as a reserve acid or even a future replacement for gold but there are more than 18 and a half 1000000 bitcoins out there collectively they're worth more than $600000000000.00 and rising of len goodman is a u.k. based financial investor who specializes in crypto currency he is 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 starts 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 call ins 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 big they're 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 and looking to bitcoin. now a rising number of corona virus cases in south korea is forcing many communities to cancel economically vital tourist events right macbride travel to watch in the mountainous in the mountains near the border with north korea see how people there are dealing with the loss of its annual ice festival children 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 counties annualize 1st of all 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 that 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 all did 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. the town itself is hurting to the harsh winter in these mountains normally produces ice that is solid enough to support crowds of visitors and beneath it pristine waters that consists dane masses of 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 the pandemic and restaurant

owners like lee jones soon were counting on the influx of ice festival visitors who won't now becoming. packing the double pushing and it's been difficult for everyone small businesses and employees no one has been spared it's also hurting the other towns around here who supply us 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. take you through some of the headlines we're following now in the share more than 70 people have been killed in 2 attacks on villages it happened in the tele barre region in the west an area neighboring mali became a fast so and many in fighters from armed groups linked to al qaida and i saw a cross in and out of the.