zira. teach. you to channel. last thousands of our programs. documentaries. subscribe. al-jazeera english. you're watching the news hour live from the headquarters and. coming up in the next 60 minutes joe biden's electoral victory is certified by congress despite donald trump's followers storming capitol hill in an attempt to stop the proceedings the deadly violence inside the halls of power followed

a controversial address by president democrats on some prominent republicans are accusing him of inciting his supporters image renewed calls for impeachment trump says he disagrees with the election outcome but promises an orderly transition also ahead in the news hour chaos in parliament as well the army intervenes to separate fighting politicians hours before the president is sworn in for another term. a new corona virus outbreak leads to restrictions in tokyo and poses a new threat to the rescheduled olympic games. i'm going to go with the sports and be a play is neal during the national anthem in protest against the storming of the capitol and the decision not to challenge a police officer who shot a black man in can i show.

hello it's 10 am in washington d.c. where joe biden has now been confirmed as the next president of the united states hours after hundreds of donald trump supporters storm capitol hill it's the 1st time in over 200 years the very symbol of american democracy has come under direct attack take a look at the live picture all seems to be quiet now but a joint session of congress was interrupted for several hours and house members and senators had to be moved to safe locations 4 people died in the chaos that followed the attempt to stop the vote certification well democrats and some prominent republicans are accusing donald trump of inciting the violence he later said there would be a peaceful transition of power despite disagreeing with the outcome castro begins our coverage from washington d.c. . it took an armed guard to ensure congress could certify joe biden as the winner of the u.s. presidential election the votes for president of the united states are as follows

joseph or by jr of the state of delaware has received 306 books. with the state of florida has received $232.00 books vice president mike pence made the announcement and refused president donald trump's demand to prevent the certification politicians could only complete their work after supporters of trump stormed the capitol building forcing a 6 hour delay we're not because. of this chamber by thugs mobs. or through this mob was in good part president trumps doing incited by his words his. earlier violence that shocked the nation and threaten the safety of congress members serve to change some republicans like senator kelly left her freshly off

her reelection loss in georgia who withdrew her objection to certifying biden's when my objection was intended to protect the sanctity of the american democratic process but many trump loyalists stuck to their defense of the president president trump explicitly called for demonstrations and protests to be peaceful he was far more you can moan and groan but he was far more explicit about his calls for peace than some of the b.l.m. and left wing rioters were this summer when we saw violence we put across this nation. trump who often uses twitter to praise supporters and attack detractors in real time was silent through the night a result of twitter blocking him for 12 hours after he called the crowds patriots and again lied that he won the election that unsubstantiated claim rejected 60 times over in court was also dismissed by senator lindsey graham one of trump's

closest allies that maybe i am above all others in this body need to say this joe biden and kamel are harris are lawfully elected. and will become the president and the vice president the united states on january the 20th normally a short process with little fanfare this year's congressional certification of the presidential election result was anything but rather it became a test of the strength of u.s. democracy and a statement that violence cannot prevail castro al-jazeera washington or patty kohei in was at the capitol as protesters took over the building she takes a look at how things on folded. the u.s. capitol building under siege. thousands of president donald trump's followers

surrounded the building and burst in the result a remarkable scene of lawmakers clean and the police seemingly overwhelmed social media filled with pictures of trump's followers and offices in the chambers running free in what is supposed to be one of the most protected buildings in the country it started as u.s. president donald trump called his supporters to protest what he falsely claimed was a stolen election rally in them up with inflammatory words and misinformation are we going to walk down to the capitol was and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women as a joint session of congress met to certify the election the president's followers heated his words and descended on the capitol chaos followed. tear gas and flash bangs to try and push them back from the front of the capitol others moved to the back quickly pushing through a lot of police many entering the building congress was dismissed and it's members

blood at one point reports of an armed standoff at least one protester was shot and killed several officers injured the incoming president responded this is not to sent. it's disorder it's chaos it borders on sedition and it must and now i call on this mob to pull back and allow the work of democracy to go forward he demanded the president tell his supporters to go home and trump did but continue to repeat his lies i know your pain i know you're hurt we had an election that was stolen from us it was a landslide election and everyone knows it as night fell in the u.s. capitol the national guard the police they try to regain control of the building in the morning it will bring fresh questions about exactly how this happened and

whether they'll be any repercussions for the people whose words led to this unbelievable action. al-jazeera at the u.s. capitol that we have alan fischer standing by at the white house for reaction from there but 1st we'll bring in patty she's back at capitol hill and patty were there obviously events unfolding in real time what is the sense today in washington. i think it's just now really sinking in what happened it was such a startling turn of events that there are so many questions about who's going to be held responsible for this why did the police respond the way they did it is a much calmer scene here today there's almost no press here unlike yesterday what was packed and we were quickly evacuated from this very building because of a suspicious package it's a very different scene here there are dump trucks and police cars about 2 blocks away from the perimeter of the entire complex a lot of i.d.'s being checked but at the same time i expected there would be

actually more visible presence of security i didn't see any national guard troops on my way in. but there are going to be investigations there are going to be questions especially because of what we're seeing in social media in one post it appears that the capitol police literally moved the gate to let the protesters in there some pictures on social media of a capitol police officer appears to be a capitol police officer taking selfies with the protesters and there's a lot of questions in this country especially because if you look to how police reacted during the black lives matter protests over the summer 2 peaceful protesters who were tried to storm into buildings they responded with excessive force in many cases but in this in this instance we saw police actually just letting people who had actually pied the capitol building simply walk away so there are going to be a lot of questions asked a lot of people's jobs are going to be on the line but i think right now it crossed the entire country there's still just a sense of shock that this could happen in this country yeah it is very shocking

how do we expect the events of yesterday to impact the republican party in particular going forward. well and this is the big question is the republican party going to be the party of donald trump that's what he was counting gave his speech yesterday to those supporters who would be trying to take over the capitol building he basically said any senator any house or senate of doesn't back me then you're going to lose your job in the primary 2 years from now does he remain that all powerful figure this would give republicans a chance to break from him say ok you've gone too far this time and these are people who never once really wanted to say anything to get the ire of the president so we're starting to see that some are breaking away was supposed to be at least 12 possibly 13 senators objecting it turned out to just be 6 but it was still more than 100 members of the house of representatives so what happens next well they're politicians they're going to be looking at the polls they're going to want to see

if this cost term his base if it cost him any support if it did that might give them an excuse to actually stand up and say no this is wrong if it doesn't remember this is a president who said during the campaign he could shoot someone of 5th avenue and not lose any support and it seems to his entire presidency no matter what. did he didn't lose any support is this going to be a bridge too far well the politicians are starting to show that they might break away but i don't think we'll know exactly how much of impact it's going to have until we see some polls come in about the president's record thank you very much for that reporting from capitol hill let's find out if there's been any fallout at the white house and speak to alan fischer he's joining us from there allan there been some resignations and a lot of talk about possible other resignations do we expect to see more. well certainly we've seen mick mulvaney who was of course a former chief of staff to donald trump he has resigned from his position as

special envoy to northern ireland partly called might pompei or his direct boss the secretary of state just in the last few hours and said he because of the scenes that he saw 'd on 'd their wedding day we also know that stephanie grisham who was 'd the press secretary who managed to go through the period of being the press secretary with her holding a single briefing she moved on to become chief of staff to 1st lady malani a trump she is also resigned couple of junior staffers in the press office of also decided that they're going to there are rumors that others might follow elaine chao is the name of i've been hearing over the last few hours she is the transport secretary that she might resign what is interesting about elaine chao is not only is she the transport secretary in been in place since the very 1st day of don't trump's administration but she's also the wife of mitch mcconnell who of course is still at the moment the leader of the republican majority in the senate and he spoke very forcefully about what happened on wednesday also hearing that the

national security adviser robert o'brian might resign also his deputies name has been mentioned too but we've seen this before and after charlottesville there are a number of people in the cabinet who are saying that they might resign because the president didn't condemn people who were actually marching through an american street chanting real nazi slogans and they were going to resign but those resignations never happened so until they actually hand in their letter or do what make mulvaney dead and walk away then i think we take these with a pinch of salt and allan what about the president himself will we see trump today and any idea of his mood after the events of the last 24 hours. what we know that in the last few hours he has said that there will be a peaceful transition of power but by saying that he's also not conceded the election he said it was stolen from him and that is just going to fuel the people that attacked the congress yesterday they are going to insist that this was taken

from them and therefore the handover of power as much as donald trump would like it to be peaceful is illegitimate because they believe that their man won the election apparently he's very angry about the way things developed yesterday apparently he's very angry at mike pence he feels betrayed that he was the man who saved my pains his career he was running for governor in indiana when he was picked as the vice presidential candidate he was unlikely to wend that election so he feels to degrees been stabbed in the back he has an event here at the white house he's going to present the presidential medal of freedom to 2 legendary golfers anika stuart and stan and gary player he did that earlier this week with devon nunez who has been a big backer this time it's not political figures they're golfing figures and we know how much donald trump likes his golf but at that event on monday there was no independent press it was only white house cameras only not even any of the american networks were allowed so whether or not the president will do the same thing again

it gives them their chance of course to avoid any awkward questions so you might just go ahead with the set of many say nothing and keep a much lower profile over the next few hours particularly as there are people talking about the possibility of replacing him whether forcing him out of office getting him to resign or invoking the 25th amendment which would mean the vice president going along with other members of the cabinet and saying you can't do your job properly anymore you have to leave office there are those who say why would they do that there's only 13 days left of the trump presidency but there are others who say they have to do it because there's 13 days left of the trump presidency ok alan fessor reporting from the white house. alan thank you so you've just been hearing from alan about the 25th amendments and as he's been saying there's been a lot of discussion about invoking it to remove president trump so that amendment was added to the constitution in 1967 and it clarifies the presidential line of succession and it also sets out

a process for filling the vice presidency if that office becomes vacant but it also created a way to remove a sitting president now if the vice president and a majority of the cabinet believe quote that the president is unable to discharge the powers and duties office office and the vice presidential immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as acting president and the president can get his authority back by objecting in writing if the vice president and cabinet disagree and congress has 3 weeks to decide the issue or the president gets his powers back unless 2 thirds of both the house and the senate agree to his removal let's talk about this option with bruce fein who's a former us associate deputy attorney general and a constitutional lawyer he's joining us from washington d.c. thanks for your time with us on the al-jazeera news hour so this idea of invoking the 25th amendment in your opinion how much traction is it gaining at this point after the events of the past 24 hours and can it actually be used in this

particular circumstance it certainly could be used in this circumstance i think mr trump has shown that he's mentally incapable of discharging the duties of his office which include really executing the laws in upholding in defending the constitution of the united states this is a man who yesterday incited sedition against the united states' plane courage in violence to prohibit. the fusion of the process by which we count electoral votes and that surely satisfy its least a mental inability. to discharge the duties of his office and. i believe that this certainly is feasible mr pense certainly would have an incentive to undertake that path because mr trump basic cli has called him a coward denigrated him humiliated him in every which way imaginable because mr

punch pence stuck to the constitution and said he could only count the votes not decide which ones were valid or not may be more problematic to get a majority of the cabinet to go along because they are all trump appointees but the process is very very fast you just need to put it in writing with the names you don't have to have hearings or or as a supreme court justice presiding. faction i think it will depend a little bit upon what trent does in the next day or 2 he said that he wants a peaceful transition or he expects it but mr trump's words are not worth anything he says things all the time that he floats in the next 5 minutes so he's insincere he's narcissistic ok i just let you have the urgency is because yeah yeah go ahead go ahead complete the thought i was going to savior to see is that even though the 13 days left there's nothing that would prevent mr trump in that interim from

attacking iran attacking china getting us involved in a foreign war pardoning all of the neanderthal thugs that committed sedition yesterday by issuing a blanket pardon and doing other things that would totally disrupt the operation of our separation of powers right but here's the thing i mean i don't know what your mother cabinet members let's presume let's presume for argument's sake that you do have cabinet members who turn on him and who do want to invoke the 25th amendment. what would it actually achieve at this point 13 days away from the end of his presidency in the sense that is there a risk that you anger the president himself and in turn anger his supporters. i think been serious you know bullies are emboldened by weakness. they pay attention when you display strength and i think that whatever mr trump past is long before anything like the 25th amendment was entertained then

look at the anger on that already 41 minutes with the secretary of state and his aides in georgia so he doesn't need any excuse for anger he's always angry for anything that happens that he happens not to like and i think the strength that will be shown through this process will be a pushback will have the opposite effect of emboldening his supporters to move forward because they know they're going to confront steel rather than mush when bullies confront much the move forward faster and faster that's what all history teaches and here is the thing we heard from former defense secretary james mattis who basically directly accused trump himself himself of stoking the violence can the president face legal consequences for provoking or inciting the rioters as it's being described. yes of course there's committed in my judgment the crime of

incitement you are inciting other people to commit the crime of sedition inciting them to commit the crime of destruction of property inciting them to commit the crime of assault and then he praises them afterwards as great people that's one crime and then also i believe that he himself was directly involved in the crime of sedition he was attempting to frustrate the execution of the laws and constitution of the united states prescribing the method for selecting the president and vice president after an election which is defined as sedition under our us laws and also interfering with the right of the states that selected the electors to have their process is respected and a fair and even handed way he was trying to frustrate with the states had done so there's no doubt that he's vulnerable to criminal exposure now at present there's an outstanding office of legal counsel opinion that says so long as he stays the in

office of the president you can't prosecute him but after january 20th that purported immunity would lapse and i do think it's important to move forward on the criminal front because i think it would remove the last legs that mr trump would have to try to resurrect some kind of trump fringe party to continue to disrupt the operations of our constitutional dispensation. to get your thoughts thank you so much for speaking to us from washington thank you while an increasing number of republicans are blaming donald trump for another big setback for the party that's the twin election defeats in crystal senate runoff races in georgia the democratic wins have given the party control of the upper chamber and now joe biden's party has a majority in both houses making it easier to confirm his nominees and pass new laws that's also been a reports from atlanta. the seismic shift for the democrats in georgia

reverberated and was celebrated across the united states but the historic victory of reverend raphael warnock was perhaps best savored in the neighborhood where he preaches at the famed ebenezer baptist church well being on the welcome that that. had no shortage of representation in washington for the 1st time in 20 years georgians are sending not one but 2 democrats to the senate warnock made history by becoming georgia's 1st african-american senator and only the 11th black senator in u.s. history. after thanking voters for putting their faith in him warnock wasted no time addressing the nation's codein health and economic crises we are dealing with folks who are facing eviction. people have been waiting for months for relief and they saw politicians play the same old games last week we should have already

passed its $2000.00 stimulus check and i can't wait to get to work well to put the boots on and represent people's concerns in the united states senate 33 year old democrat john aasif is the youngest member of the senate he is the jewish son of an immigrant and the c.e.o. of a documentary production company let's emulate the spirit of courage and heroism of those who have given so much to the health response to this crisis as we unite as a people to overcome this challenge of code 19 and to build a republic that lives up to our highest ideals of equality in god's eyes and equal justice under the law the democratic upset in georgia is also a victory for the army of grassroots organizations workers and volunteers who spent years registering black and minority voters an effort that never seized

while republicans were a bit busy attacking the governor and my boss the democrats rather knocking on doors getting people to turn out to vote. republicans kelly lefler and david perdue have yet to concede saying they would exhaust every resource to ensure quote all legal votes were counted. between the november election and the senate runoff more than 76000 new voters registered the new georgia project says more than 112000 people who didn't vote in the presidential election voted in this runoff that kind of organizing prowess will surely be studied by both parties and immolated if possible in other states natasha going to aim the era atlanta well as political chaos and violence dominates washington the u.s. has more than 130000 coronavirus patients in hospital more than at any time since the pandemic began the country recorded its worst ever daily death toll on

wednesday with more than 3800 fatalities critics say people aren't being vaccinated fast enough because of a lack of direction from the government and the center of the crisis in california that's where officials are saying there's a new death on average every 15 minutes. a state of emergency has been declared in tokyo after a rise in corona virus infections there this is japan's 2nd lockdown after the 1st emergency was declared in april last year scott hadley reports. a 2nd state of emergency since april japan's announced at the tokyo metropolitan area some 35000000 people will face tougher restrictions to stem a surge in covert 1000 cases numbers are 10 times higher than in the spring starting friday in tokyo and 3 neighboring prefectures restaurants and bars will close at 8 pm and people will be asked to stay home other businesses will have to trim their hours companies are encouraged to have employees work from home schools

will remain open for now on like the last state of emergency over all these new restrictions are more relaxed than april this noodle restaurant has been in non can days family for 26 years now she has to close at her usual peak time the after work crowd. and i only do as many if we open it costs money even to such the lights on i will have to see what happens and think about continuing to operate at night there were strict since will run through february 7th but some medical experts say they are not severe enough to substantially reduce the numbers and there's growing concern that the health care system could be overwhelmed tokyo has borne the brunt of a 3rd wave of coronavirus that hit japan accounting for about half of all the cases over the last several weeks of the new cases most are people in their twenty's with the reschedule lympics just months away prime minister your sheehy day had hopes to ride the balance of curbing the outbreak while still keeping an ailing japanese economy the 3rd largest in the world but his approval rating has been battered by

his government's covert 1000 response in order to enhance the economy economy particularly service sector particularly in areas like you know travelling. and hotels and restaurants i think the government had been pushing a little bit too early. a little bit too much and i think people realize that we're getting back into a bit of the dark times when we used to get the 1st pandemic. might take a bit more than cheerleaders at a tokyo train station to lift our spirits at the start of what would be a long month for many. the world health organization is calling for intensified measures in europe because of the more contagious variants of the virus it says more needs to be done to prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed this moment represents a tipping point in the course of the pandemic there are signs politics technology

and values must form a united front in order to push back this persistent and elusive fighters which means that for a short bit of time we need to do more than we have done and it's a fight of public health and social measures to be certain we could flatten the steep vertical line well in the u.k. it's recorded one of fitz worst daily death toll since the start of the pandemic the death toll exceeded a 1000 on wednesday the 1st time since april prime minister boris johnson. will be eased gradually rather than drastically at the right time more than 77000 people have died from cover 19 in the u.k. nearly 3000000 confirmed infected so let's get an update from the team bob he's joining us from london so what does this mean for the situation in hospitals how how stretched are they. well there in it's getting very worrying and the backdrop

is some of the figures that you've just been giving we know that on wednesday there was a record daily number of new covered 19 cases over 62000 we know now that there are around 30000 covered 1000 patients in u.k. hospitals another record in the last week of 2020 now it's been reported that positive cases were up by a quarter that means that the situation now in hospitals is very very pressurized here in london they're saying that the number of covered 1000 patients in hospital has doubled in 2 weeks and in the next 2 weeks even in the best case scenario they're saying there could be a shortage of 2000 acute and critical beds in this city alone we're seeing children's wards and operating theatres being transformed into intensive care units

for covered patients that's having a knock on effect as well the media in the past few days has been full of interviews with doctors and nurses working in public hospitals saying that they are stressed like never before but also worried about what's happening suggesting that the effect of the easing of restrictions at christmas hasn't yet been seen but obviously we're in the middle of a surge there urging people to a baby to follow the new lockdown restrictions which came in this week but the government is accepting the lockdown restrictions on their own are not going to be enough to get on top of this pandemic and if the where do things stand when the vaccination program. well that's the crucial question because that's where the government is hoping that it can really turn the corner they're aiming to have by mid february almost 14000000 people the elderly and the most vulnerable in the u.k. vaccinated meaning at least having had the 1st of 2 doses the 1st vaccine

was the pfizer biotech vaccine in december and now we're seeing the oxford astra zeneca vaccine being rolled out to family doctors around the country it's not without its problems for example in the last few hours politicians from different parties in england 2nd city berninger population 2600000 have written with urgency to their health hancock asking for clarity because they say they're going to run out of the pfizer vaccine by tomorrow and they haven't received doses of the us oxford astra zeneca vaccine atolls so that really does sound alarming is currently before a parliamentary committee facing tough questioning about why the lockdown restrictions now in place were brought in more quickly one of the aims of the government on the vaccinations is to have most people in care homes vaccinated at least having had

one shot by the end of the vis month well let's look at a new report has just come out one care home in southern england saw 13 out of its 27 residents over the christmas period die of covered 19 no body really needs more stark stark example than that of why it's crucial to get the rollout sped up right now in bob i thank you for that update from london 11 on. has hit a daily record of more than $4900.00 factions just as tougher measures to slow the spread of the virus come into forests most businesses will remain closed for the next $25.00 days and steps have been taken to limit traffic and flights a 6 pm to 5 am curfew will take effect shortly this is the 3rd national lockdown since the 1st case was reported in february.

here's a reminder of the headlines on al-jazeera at this hour the united states congress has formally approved election victory clearing him to be sworn in as president on january 20th the senate and the house rejected several challenges made to the counting of votes in biden's favor donald trump has issued a statement saying he disagrees with the outcome of the election but promised there will be an orderly transition into. office and certification proceedings were suspended for hours after a crowd of trump supporters violently breached the capitol for people died during the riot. in other news gunday and soldiers intervened to break up a fight over night between m.p.'s in parliament ahead of president. wearing in ceremony those clashes began after an m.p. from the ruling party tried to seize the ballot box during the vote 1st speaker the

president narrowly won a 2nd term in december the vote was overshadowed by post-election violence and opposition claims of fraud let's talk about those with who's the director and faculty if i could i make affairs and research at the kofi annan international peacekeeping training center in ghana he's joining us from the capital accra thanks for your time so for a company that's often described as a stable democracy we saw some pretty chaotic scenes coming out of parliament prompting the army to step in how do you explain what happens. well i don't know what happens to sarah flexion of the do you see dead mistrust. between the 2 but that is about also a certain drive to control the proceedings in parliament which led to the tortelli one percent. or lack september entry of them so i guess to play something says into the chimera of the house i think that is that was

a very unfortunate development and gives there are other bittersweet in the sense of feeling today no ration of a new president the election of a speaker long as speaker of parliament from demand no ricci in pallid men what is our plan is something very new from government so cross them to cause us to walk you know happy and work or to get military we need to be a crew good data or that we're to spar this way and to take appropriate action but be less sume of missed that benefit of the speaker from the man or discourse phrase for celebration but also a cautionary message to the palatability aides pardon me that the people of ghana expects them to love durant to die alone and to ensure that it interests of the gandhian people pleased at the center of the reconcile the

way that extracts exactly the point because the new parliamentary will be virtually split down the middle so this means that there will be a gridlock when it comes to certain issues that are important to the ghanian people like getting the economy moving again. when i was saying don't look good happy because the message is schools time and so clear the government has most of my journey to about 35 seats in parliament we know how you got from your position and the message is very simple answer i want to get the liberal party going to have people on on the economy on jobs or do you use this term employed. by romance and all those chris kind of shoes that touch a gun yes this was the brits choice that danny is made not to hunt i want one we want all of the ricin and i'm looking for the tick out process the place is gone

and if you just look these people at the center and there still is a feeling however the i mean there were observers when it comes to election there were observers from guyana and there were foreign observers as well and they did view the polling is generally free and fair but there were also some controversies over the work of the electoral commission when it came to the election what impact is that going to have going forward. well ever since and i mean i wasn't i was there and i was about 90 polling stations both with the voting and the counting really the 4 miles big is see it's i've had some problems right from the voter registration and $1.00 to $10.00 the whole problem is to deliver their results in 24 hours and the consistent shifts and changes in clothes that she gets actually weigh those things created uncertainty in people's minds about about rest and t. and the transparency of the process and the professionalism of the elect proper

mission now that we have installed a new president and you've got a man talking in the no great head we need to go back to their grand board interesting how can a patent and electoral commission in which it was about a $150000000.00 are being invested new team new computer software and systems we've got to know what's in the basic mass suran and creating doubt in people's minds soon as a result of work that needs to be done with the electrical machine how to lead their results how to send their results out to the public it generates trust and to generate it in the performance are you. angry thank you very much for speaking to us from across it's always a pleasure now the u.s. president elect joe biden has selected merrick garland to service his attorney general garland had been nominated to the supreme court by barack obama in 2016 but

the republican controlled senate refused to hold hearings on his nomination let's bring in christmas a new mission joining us from joe biden's home state of delaware so tell us more about how this came about and what was behind biden's decision. well merrick garland is known as a centrist in fact. even though he was a centrist the republican controlled senate in barack obama's time led by mitch mcconnell refused to hold a hearing on his nomination and instead chose to let obama's term run out so that president trump when he was sworn into office was able to nominate a more conservative judge to the highest court in the land in this case joe biden won't have that problem he now has control and democrats have control of both the house and the senate but he may run into some objections from the more liberal wing

of the democratic party remember that police reform led by and made public by the concerns made public by the black lives matter movement were a major factor in joe biden getting elected black voters were very big on this is a top priority for his voters that helped get him elected. and there was a lot of pressure coming from those camps for biden to appoint a person of color to this highest law enforcement position in the land or a woman instead he opted for merrick garland who is known for deferring to law enforcement in fact in some more controversial cases where. a criminal defendant alleged that his civil rights were violated so that may be a concern actually for biden's base but he seems to be in his statement looking for

someone to politicize this position remember president trump is known for leaning heavily on the justice department as we've seen in the election recount bill barr stepped down in the end after not. finding any evidence of fraud in the election there was a lot of politicization of the department and biden said in his statement that he wanted to reaffirm the justice department as a pillar of independence and integrity. as this position could involve now overseeing cases that involve president trump and his family not to mention joe biden's own son hunter biden who himself is the subject of a investigation for tax fraud so we see joe biden going with a conservative choice here perhaps too conservative for some of his base but one that will certainly be supported and should not see much problem getting through

congress all right krista salumi reporting from wilmington delaware christine thank you the new york stock exchange is pushing ahead with plans to the list shares of 3 chinese own phone carriers just days after saying it wouldn't so china telecom china mobile and china unicom will be suspended from january 11 the decision comes off story trump executive order was clarified it effectively bans u.s. investors from buying shares in firms deemed to have ties to the chinese military beijing has accused the us of misusing national security to hamper competition and another high profile chinese former executive has been sent to jail for bribery hugh bank bought life in prison for it taking more than $13000000.00 in bribes between 20092019 the former chairman of china development bank was arrested last february earlier this week in court sentenced. to death for bribery and corruption

while heading a state owned asset management firm. and we stay with china because it's reported its biggest rise in corona virus infections in more than 5 months with a province that's there the capital beijing now the country's hotspot a mass testing drives underway and gatherings have been banned rail air and highway connections to the region's capital. have been suspended and china has defended the liaison allowing an international team of experts into the country to investigate the origins of the virus on tuesday the head of the w.h.o. said he was very disappointed with beijing's the station but the government says details of the trip still need to be clarified. and he fisherman that the origins problem is very complex to ensure the work of the global experience group in china is successful we need to carry out any serious procedures and make relevant concrete plans. currently both sides are still negotiating on this i understand

that it's not just a visa problem but also the actual date and i 10 or both sides are still in close communication widespread flooding in malaysia has led to more than $30000.00 people being evacuated florence though we reports from johore states a bird's eye view of this palm oil plantation would normally reveal a vast field of green instead it looks like a muddy river swathes of malaysia including joe whole state are covered in floodwaters after the heavy rains that began last weekend some villages. are still cut. only by boat people here say they barely had time to get away from the rising waters. even if they were important documents and some not much else. quickly we had to get out. they've also lost their only

supply of clean water after floodwaters contaminated the well. across the country tens of thousands of people have been evacuated living in schools and community centers. and i think god we're all alive me my family my grandkids it doesn't matter if we lose our stuff they're just things what's important is that we're all alive with floodwaters receding soo slowly and rain forecast to continue many will be unable to return home the days it's not just homes that have been damaged but livelihoods behind a vegetable farm it's completely submerged the crops have been destroyed far less a they don't know when they can begin replanting the floods caused by the northeast monsoon which usually runs from the vendor to february annual occurrence of a severity varies from year to year. lawrence lee al-jazeera klong district johor

malaysia. rapid urbanization is driving up the demand for sands in bangladesh and that's threatening livelihoods ruining riverbeds time very choudhry spoke to farmers and north central bangladesh. right michael can say is the german army very used to flow through where she is now standing and she and her family could farm here before but now it's full of illegally extracted sent her husband now drives a rickshaw card to make a living and the struggle to support their family of 6 they illegally took away all the sand from the riverbed using trucks after dredging and creating a sinkhole which makes the river and stable all this is now destroying our homes and farms in the area. they extract and sand is also used to fill in wetlands that people then lead plane to uncontrolled and mostly illegals and extraction from river beds for construction and length fillings are killing rivers and farmlands

across bangladesh rock gold as the sand lifters call it does not cost them much to extract but such as good money. villagers have held protests in recent days against dredging in the. sometimes illegal sand mining is carried out with support from elected officials of the roman confound in the war of independence against pakistan in 1971 he says he's losing ancestral land because of the german river been dragged by local authorities. say all men not go away i've got the order that they are illegally dredging our land to make a new way for the ignoring a decision they're grabbing our answers from land by force we don't bring any compensation to the villages. bangladesh department of environment did not reply to algiers address request for an interview. and vironment lawyers say wake regulation and lack of law enforcement is partly to blame and my needs largely.

what we. we have that is not followed either in leaving out this time i already pointed in that if as a result we are losing. reverse sand mining and the heavy machinery used in extraction are changing the course of rivers and eroding them or they are destroying our rice field by dumping the sand in our farmland we are requesting compensation from the prime minister for the damage it's our ancestral land we have all the documents to prove it one percent of agricultural land in bangladesh is disappearing every year because of its fast growing economy and rapid i've been a zation according to the our going development foundation c u d and the un's environment agency say is the global demand for sand and gravel up between $40000000000.50 tons a year is an emerging crisis for the world with the constant depletion of farmland

and the rise in river eruptions many here say bangladesh will face a major challenge in the future in growing the food it will need so i'm very chary i'll just jump on our riverbank should ajah gunge still ahead on the al jazeera news hour a debut half century for a young australian cricketer in sydney joe had the action coming up in sports.

you're going. down the road in time for the sports is a joke terry and thank you very much there are fresh doubts around the take

a lympics off to the city declared a state of emergency just 6 months before the delayed games is set to begin japan's prime minister made the cole off horizon corona virus infections on wednesday a record $2447.00 cases were reported in the capital and will then $6000.00 nationwide this is japan 2nd lockdown and public opposition to holding the olympics during a global health crisis is growing the government hope that will change soon though so hugh. fractionation is starting world wide in japan by the end of february will be starting our own vaccination by responding firmly maybe the feeling of the japanese people about supporting the games will also change to. despite the same in the u.s. capitol the n.b.a. went ahead with its scheduled games on wednesday but several teams acknowledged what's been going on in the country this week by kneeling in protest before their games the milwaukee bucks and detroit pistons proceeded with the opening tip for that game before nailing the demonstration was against a decision not to challenge

a police officer who shot jacob like a black man multiple times and can osha leaving him paralyzed it also came just hours after the storming of the capitol building by trump's supporters at the same time boston and miami also took in a head of a game the celtics and the hates released a joint statement it said we play tonight's game with a heavy haul soft yes ace decision in can osha and knowing the protest is in our nation's capital a treated differently by political leaders just depending on what side of certain issues they are on the encouragement given to today's protest is who acted illegally just shows how much more work we have to do. it reminds me of what are the martin luther king you said that there is to split you're going to marry this one america. you get 2 of us you going to your car so my cigarettes are planted you got your you know the america you can stand the capital is the reason why there isn't. shootings in tallaght looting and think that nature and its

people are just walking around the capitol building as if it's nothing and there's people sitting in and to close these offices if it's nothing we all understand it that would have been guns a blazing fire the blaze right now if there were black people protesting it's an embarrassment and shame for country that i think everybody on both sides of the political aisle should be able to agree on. you know i remember watching the events of the spring and i remember protests them as well and i thought i was watching him while their country was used is what we hear. the boston red sox made history this week by hiring the 1st black woman coach in professional baseball bianca smith joins them as a minor league hitting coach and says she's hoping her new job will encourage greater representation of minorities in the game i mean some of the comments i've

actually got about whether or not being able to coach is actually what drives me to work even harder or i hope starting with representation and just seeing on even a you know being a woman just seen at the american and. being more of us will encourage younger athletes to actually get into the game cleveland browns head coach kevin stefanski says he doesn't know how he contract it kovan 19 but he's not going to let the virus stop him from getting his team ready for the playoffs the browns are into the postseason for the 1st time in 18 years as defense he will be missing alongside some of his plays when they face the pittsburgh steelers on monday. i'm good i'll be fine but really my concern is for players for coaches and the team you know i've been in touch with a bunch of them they understand that we have a job to do and they're excited to do that so they know that this thing's not stopping for me or anybody so they're full speed ahead some the world's best tennis

players a warming up for the 1st grand slam of the season in melbourne including defending australian open champion safina ken in the american play to 1st match in abu dhabi where she's the top seed ken and had a tough opening match against chinese qualifier young john jay she needed over an hour as a polish off the opening set 76 before clinching the 2nd 62 can and will face belgians coast and flipkens in the 2nd round. a straight arrow off to a good start in the 3rd cricket test against india rain interrupted a large pos of the day's action in sydney and the players were able to take to the field opening batsman will the cuff skate celebrated his debut for his country with a well played 62 monosyllabic shane was also in good form on the day for the aussies he was unbeaten on 67 at the close of play 166 for 2 on a day when only 55 overs were possible. he's all right that is the useful for now more with gemma later during our joe thank you very much for that well that's it

for the news hour about before we go we leave you with some of the most powerful images from a night of violence i may have on the u.s. capitol. right now that everyone here will soon be marching over to the capitol building. the way or. job i. think kamel or harris or law. we were just told that there has been tear gas in there. it's not jazz it's insurrection. the rules much.

league. would want to be hard to believe. believe. believe. to hillbilly a harmless caricature or a malicious label denying the people the culture to justify the exploitation of their natural resources that the batting haka thing has been so successful that even people in the region believe the stereotype then becomes dangerous it's only

a region of trash so. why not trash it what's in a name hillbilly a witness documentary on al-jazeera. on the deserted streets of they've become familiar figures couriers on bicycles delivering food or medicine to lock down colombians most of them here are venezuelan migrants michael most a mother of 4 says contagion is always on her mind none of them receive health insurance for their work and exposing themselves and very few seem to have it yet there may be a bright side people who look down on them as a skilled migrants now say they're essential to control the virus and receive messages on the scene that we are you know as i was a nurse back what i am doing is not all that different from my passion helping others. as committed to cutting its carbon emissions with the world's most ambitious reduction goal carbon neutrality in just 15 years now it's really time to

actually get to and we can go it if we want to but 1st the nation must tackle the dirty legacy of a profitable fossil fuel industry so it's ending missions souls people in power finland's climate warriors on a. votes for president of the united states are as follows joseph r. biden jr of the state of delaware has received 360 votes. after a long night of deadly violence and chaos at the capital congress confirms joe biden as the 46th u.s. presidents.

this is al jazeera life from the headquarters in doha i'm dana.