be the hero of the world. wash. iran has announced it has started enriching uranium up to 20 percent as tensions with the united states crease. well again i'm santa maria here in doha with the world news from al-jazeera with global coronavirus cases now exceeding 85000000 the u.k. is rolling out a 2nd vaccine beijing is racing to inoculate millions before the chinese new year. also julian assange faces a court ruling on whether to extradite him to the united states will get an update from london. i use one of.

11780. and recordings of a phone call revealed donald trump pressured officials in georgia to find enough votes to overturn his election defeat there. in the last few minutes iran has said it is begun 20 percent uranium enrichment this is a move likely to on the escalate tension with the united states 20 percent represents a significant breach of the 2050 nuclear deal but it is still well short of the 90 percent which would be needed for a nuclear weapon. president hassan rouhani has given the order for the move the photo facilities so we'll start with dorsett you've already gotten from terror from today don't bring us up to date with this one. well come all this was quite

a shock for all of us as well of we heard from the government spokesperson on the right be who gave gave an interview to one of the local news agencies here which he declared that iran has begun the initial steps to take start the 20 percent enrichment at fordo facility this is the one of the 2 facilities that is capable of enriching uranium the other one being in on the government spokesperson said that this took place at the order of the president this morning and this is something that even though the president had not agreed to this was part of the bill that was passed through parliament in early december due to the fact that iran has seen no sanctions relief since the u.s. withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2013 now under the nuclear deal of 2015 or the way as it is known iran is allowed to enrich uranium at 3.67 percent that is the

cap but since 2019 iran has taken 5 steps to reduce its commitment to that deal because they say the u.s. withdrew from it and imposed sanctions so they're going to slowly cut back on their commitments the steps they've taken of all they've said they are all reversible what is the significance is that the last time iran was at 20 percent levels was between 2012 and february of 2012 president then president mahmoud ahmadinejad and now. national day of the revel these anniversary of the revolution he announced that iran is down reaching a 20 percent from 2012 until 2015 when the nuclear deal was signed and came into effect iran was at 20 percent level. at that time they faced some of the most stringent united nations security council sanctions so was not just u.s. sanctions or sanctions it was united states united nations security council

sanctions so the nuclear agreement of 2015 which they signed. saw those sanctions being lifted over time as a result of iran reducing their nuclear activities in program and making more transparent but on the on the the technical side of things i guess iran would still say yes 20 percent it still means we're just doing this for civilian purposes for nuclear energy it's nowhere near what would be needed for a weapon. certainly they've said in the past that 20 percent is for their research purposes that it's their right to be able to enrich at this level and that they are not interested in pursuing a nuclear weapon but a lot of people in the. on the other side of the world the argument they have is that if iran has the know how and the technical capabilities of enriching at 20 percent then going to 90 percent or 95 percent is not a far stretch for them that is the point of contention and that is what has caused

a lot of issues with this country's nuclear program but it's something iran has said that they will not renegotiate and that's their right so this is where things are at the moment ok so that's what that side of the story from tech from thank you john mccain in berlin we bring you in here where does that leave european countries many of them signatories of the stronger countries signatories to the iran nuclear deal they want to keep the deal together but i guess they can't be seen as going soft on iran. 3 european countries are parties to the agreement the french the british and the germans here in berlin and the european 3 have been the ones who really tried very hard to save as much as possible this agreement to keep iran within the agreement the europeans trying to find ways to get around some of the sanctions imposed on iran and have been successful to a limited extent in that way but the question will be what this latest decision in

tehran what reaction that will provoke prior to this announcement we know that the german foreign minister hochul muss has said that he believed there was one last window of opportunity in the new year i.e. now for some sort of decision to be arrived at which would keep the deal going but he said that it was important that teheran didn't overplay its hand well quite what mr marks will make of what's happening now in tehran while we wait to see that has not been an official reaction so far the other thing to point out here is that the european side of things is very much being of the opinion behind the scenes at least that they would wait to see what the incoming president after january 20th would make of that that joe biden president elect joe biden might well take a different view to that of president donald trump regarding this deal certainly that's been the hope amongst the 3 european countries that with perhaps

a different president in the white house that might be a different attitude towards this deal with iran but clearly the european 3 well they've seen all those decisions to enrich different levels the dulcet was just referring to each time there has been a decision which would appear to have gone away from the agreement that had been reached in vienna well they've tried to find ways to prevent it falling completely they've tried to say no well the iranians still haven't completely file to the regulations as it were the question for them now is what they will do given what's just been announced dominant cane in berlin thank you for that update. more developing news this is coming out of the u.k. just in the past few minutes a court has denied a request from the united states to extradite the wiki leaks founder julian assange is wanted on espionage charges over the publication of the secret american military

documents he spent the past 21 months in a british jail his partner appealed to the outgoing u.s. president on trying to grant a pardon to us before he leaves office on january 28th following events from us in the court in london need the latest from you. of course to deny the extradition will come of course is a blow to the prosecution what we assume now is that their process of appeal will begin taking this case on words to the high court possibly even the supremes court so we're talking potentially about many many more months many more years of legal wrangling to go when it comes to deciding julian assange choose a future he is of course seen by his supporters as the defender of journalism the right to practice journalism freely and of the freedom of speech period in the united states among many office critiques he's seen very much as a thorn in the sides to many governments not just the u.s.

government a man who jeopardized the state secrets undermine state security and we know who has jeopardized the safety of all of the cover agents working in very difficult situations in challenging parts of the world but they see is very much a next step in what is likely to be a long i winding case when it comes to establishing julian assange she's future we wait now to hear what his defense team have to say those sort of suit by him throughout this. he has been as i pointed out knave in jail for was in the past 21 months what i mean to remind our viewers of what that was for and what would happen to him now. right well let's take it all the way back to 2010 which is when the the release of thousands of classified military documents and diplomatic cables was released by wiki leaks that

late led to an initial court case today in a son's jump to bail in 2012 the sort sentry in the ecuadorian embassy where he was holed up for many many years jury in that time a nother investigation was launched in sweden allegations of rape were forced against him those were dropped in 2017 which ease the pressure on him to some extent but nevertheless calls for him to be extradited to the u.s. to face these espionage charges has not gone away he was basically forced out of the ecuadorian embassy after years of being there in 2019 arrested and he's been held in belmarsh jail in southeast london ever since while he's been battling to avoid extradition to the u.s. jury in that time his supporters say his health has deteriorated significantly is also diagnosed with being on the autism spectrum during that time as well and the

fear and always being that if he goes to the u.s. is convicted is ends up in a maximum security prison that meant he may end up dying behind bars so his supporters have been very very vocal in standing by him throughout but as i say we expect this to rumble on expect this ruling to be challenged. thank you dave barca updating us on the court case with julian assange in london the rest of the day's news is coming up investigating just who's behind one of the deadliest days in its recent history and as boko haram carries out another massive duction we'll hear why they are becoming more frequent in nigeria. it's time for the perfect. storm suit point cuts at ways

however the weather is turning increasingly cold across northern parts of china you see the cloud just starting to sink its way further south where it's quiet though high pressure in charge so we shouldn't see too much in the way of cloud right at least for china but some places of snow a possibility a round the korean peninsula i think still a chance of some showers there into northern parts of japan not just some wetter weather just flirting with the south of japan as we go through chews day by wednesday that will pull out of the way wintry shalah still a possibility that western side of honshu or the temperatures monastery the top temperature in seoul in the heat of the day beijing getting up to the balmy levels minus 8 celsius but at least going to be dry if crisp dry weather to across a good part of india china but many a showers into southern parts of india now pushing across tamil nadu sri lanka still seem plenty of showers we have got warnings in force across northern areas of

india we have seen some very very foundry weather recently some heavy downpours flood risk to some we have got orange warnings in force across the fall northwest off in the a particular around town of kashmir job and raw just hope a little try was a go on and see where to stay further south the heavy showers they do continue and not in the middle of the north woods by wednesday. at ways she chipped strongman in his ruling within a fire and faced on the sidelines from his allies is deafening the u.s. was perfectly happy to trade off the march for sea for security while western media is turning a blind eye when even the angry citizens have for them baked into his repression executions torture or censorship is not acceptable and you want to hear such strong words from let's say berlin or paris or london man in cairo on al-jazeera.

or. you're with al-jazeera breaking news this hour a u.k. court has denied a request from the united states to extradite the wiki leaks founder julian assange he is wanted on espionage charges over the publication of secret american military documents asunder spent the past 21 months in a british jail spot as appeal to the outgoing u.s. president don't try to grant a pardon to a song before he leaves office on january 20. and the other developing story this hour iran which says it has begun 20 percent uranium enrichment in a move likely to escalate tension with the united states it is a significant breach of the 2015 nuclear deal but under the 90 percent required to

build a nuclear weapon. is with us now on skype from tehran a professor of politics at teheran university in the managing director of the website and news magazine iran diplomatic nice to have you with us the fact that iran is doing this now what knock on effect would you expect it to have diplomatically speaking while. first of all of this is. according to the international laws and according to iran's rights its own started to have an account of who each man needs. hundreds the supervision of a this 20 percent enrichment is according to dr wright you know it has been the case if you're iran has accepted not you reach over to the 5 percent but herb because that just if you know it is not working so iran is.

clearly saying point to us or my international rights to have more religion out of morse this will increase the tensions between iran and the western countries. the u.s. but anyway if by then comes to office and he returns to the juicy immense. u.s. obligations into just you. but i didn't think sanctions over iran probably everything would go back to not much but then when he was saying it sorry to interrupt you so you have said this point that the j c p o of the iran nuclear deal doesn't really mean anything anymore the united states already left which you could say they are in breach of it but now iran is in breach of it as well no one sticking to it anymore. what a let me put it in this way right now we are going towards cern

a new situation with president elect by then coming into office a problem there some of european countries started to of started talking about to the new things to be added to the just feel they were having just a plus as they say saw iran had it will have more carts to use in future if we are going to have any talks that are going to have any new negotiations but probably would have some debates between iran and the us on how the us is going to come back on what our american commitments and of course in this regard iran to have iran has to have more stronger cards then keeping keeping its position in the just a that's what i think the iranians think you think they're negotiation parts for

the future of tog's or debates between them and each. us right if the coming back is not going to be to have we are not going to have actually excerpt the man's from the other side of course iran will not also have extra procedures right if they are going to have it sent me mad iran would put in scotland to take him out option us from university thank you for joining us we appreciate it you're welcome. a lot of developments today in the global fight against corona virus as well the u.k. 1st of all adding another tool is it tries to stop the rapidly rising infections it is given the 1st patients take over 1000 vaccine from oxford university and astra zeneca the 2nd option being used in the u.k. and it says it's got 530000 doses available of this one and tens of millions on

their way china also ramping things up focusing on those at the highest risk of contracting covert 19 that means medical workers overseas students port workers as well in japan the government's considering imposing a state of emergency in tokyo following a rise in infections fact the city itself just announced a curfew all of 8 pm kenya as well a nightly curfew has been extended until middle of march large public gatherings are also restricted schools are reopening meanwhile finds a biotech is reportedly offering up to $50000000.00 vaccines across the african continent by the end of the year supplies are low causing worries about wide scale public immunization it's lots to talk about they we've got mohamed ajo who's at a school in kenya that recently opened after those 10 months of not going to be with you shortly how many want to stop by with andrew simmons in the u.k. . a 2nd vaccine now being administered couldn't come soon enough.

it certainly could so there is a critical situation in the u.k. with the infection rate at its highest since the pandemic began to the 6th day running we expect the infection rates are climbing even more 75000. fewer hours ago a patient in fact a. kidney patient who is having good dialysis received the vaccine 82 year old. here is the 1st of many there are to be 6 hospitals across the country involved in this 1st wave of using this vaccine it is a much more useful vaccine than the 5 which was also a launch by the u.k. that was more than 3 weeks ago the astra zeneca is more easily stored it's more

easily ministered and it is more effective because it can be put in a normal refrigerator freezer so this is a big hope the promise is that tens of millions of doses will be rolled out over the next 3 to 4 months the key issue will be the logistics of doing that to my no means is the system secure just to get that center simmons in london with news of the new vaccine there thank you andrew mohamad ajo joining us from kenya today not just at school in school mohammed tell us about how the kids are feeling about going back to work school after 10 months. 20 or so. about $15000000.00 schoolchildren in schools across the country is a huge debate going on right now in and about the timing of this and whether there's been enough preparedness put into place by the government the government

says it's taken a lip of faith but unionists. educationists are calling it a gamble which could backfire we're here in the yani primary school which is tended by up to 1500 students and teachers here complaining about lack of mosques and also sessions where the children can watch their hunts but the greatest challenge. is social distancing in the classroom which this study is almost non-existent because of a shortage of desks and that's why there is continued. crowding in the classrooms and the teachers are saying that funds that had been given by the government $140000000.00 that was supposed to be dispersed across the country to school so that they can make the necessary arrangements to arrive the minister of

education has been speaking and says teachers need to innovate and use every little available open space classrooms teachers here say that is easier said than done. mohammed just out of interest only one school that you are there but just in that room you've got there how big is it how many kids are are in there is the issue of crowding is is a problem for the teachers. because there's an average of 40 children in classroom but that does very few and therefore there's very little space in the classrooms for i mean social distancing to be effectively applied here and that's the main concern teachers have been raising here of course the government has provided some masks they say but they're not enough and we've been seeing the children when they were having their lunch also in their classrooms

and in the playgrounds they most of them want more wearing masks so there's been a decrease in recent days in the number of 19 cases in the country but many people are now worried some part and theory that the kids can control the virus have decided to keep them at home and home school them thank you mohammed a job back in school there in nairobi today thank you. on to other news in a recording that's been linked to the public u.s. president donald trump as told the top election official in the state of georgia to find enough votes in order to overturn his election defeat there georgia was one of the battleground states that flipped in favor of president elect joe biden it is an unprecedented move by a sitting president and with just a few weeks to go before biden takes office trump still refuses to consider his last repeating baseless claims of election fraud the people of your you're angry at

the people of the country are angry and there's nothing wrong with saying that you know. 2 2 that you've reached our children well mr president determines that you have is the data you have. you should want to have an accurate on action and you're a republican we believe that we do that over there. you know you don't know you don't have you don't have not even love you got your own by hundreds of thousands of you know what they did and you're not reporting it that's it you know that's criminal that's a criminal offense and you know you can't let that happen so love me all i want to do is as i use one of. $11780.00 loans which is one more that we have because we want to say the united states is reversing its decision to bring home one of its aircraft carriers the u.s.s. nimitz from the gulf the acting u.s.

defense secretary says it's in response to recent threats from iran against president donald trump and other u.s. government officials and this week the u.s. sent the 52 bombers to fly over the gulf and deployed a nuclear submarine to the region. they number of people killed in attacks on 2 villages in western asia has risen to about 100 but prime minister visited the area where it happened a region which borders neighboring mali became a foster and by name fighters from on the groups linked to al qaida and are still crossed in and else of those poor sport as they hiding as i report villagers in western asia gather to pray in the wake of one of the deadliest days in their nation's recent history these graves are just 2 days old the prime minister of malaysia air flew in to see the devastation for himself don't confirm who knew that up we came to provide moral support and present a condolences of the president of the republic the government and the entire nation

of. ours interior minister says the villages were attacked on saturday after locals killed 2 fighters from an unknown group but no one has claimed responsibility for these attacks and reveal a desire to better secure some clips on the situation is simply horrible committed by and they did to fight individuals but the investigations will be conducted so that described as not go unpunished. can you share has endured a series of attacks by groups including nigeria based boko haram i saw an al-qaeda this thousands of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced despite the presence of thousands of regional and international troops. while extremists in the region pose a growing threat the west african country is expected to see its 1st democratic transition of power since 1960 following last month's elections according to results announced on saturday

a 2nd round would be needed after none of the $28.00 candidates won a majority whoever the winner is will likely be dealing with more attacks like this we are harding al-jazeera. well the armed group boko haram is abducted dozens of people in a raid in northeastern nigeria it happened in borno state which are in the towns of my degree and well than 50 people including a u.n. aid worker have been kidnapped but her arm and other armed groups have conducted a number of these mass kidnappings in recent years in 2014 probably the most hope high profile of them the more than 270 girls who were abducted by boko haram from the northeastern town of chibok 6 years later over 100 still missing last month more than 300 school boys were kidnapped in the northern state of katsina the government secure their release a week later also last month more than 80 children were taken from another part of katsina state they were rescued after a gun battle with the kidnappers is sort of men who is

a security analyst and journalist is kidnappings becoming more widespread as other armed groups adopt the tactics of boko haram. time passed and the smaller criminal groups have. especially seen that the military hasn't actually been able to take this terrible completely different. used to qualify the battle between the military forces and the insurgents what are they have been technically defeated whether they've been pushed back by the same is that we have smaller groups and just recently president bihari has said that that is. to the extent that the military of the kind of police the bar that. we have. people who have made incursion into nigeria especially from the maghreb area. after the crisis.

coming in with life and small. with a whole lot of that axis. at the top stories iran says it has taken steps to begin the process of enriching uranium at 20 percent this is a move likely to escalate tension with the united states 20 percent is a significant breach of the way the 25th nuclear deal but it well short of the 90 percent required for a nuclear weapon. with the latest on we heard from the government spokesperson. who gave gave an interview to one of the local news agencies here which he declared that iran has begun initial steps to take. the.