in his final hours as u.s. president donald trump issues 73 pardons among them former aide steve bannon. sammy's a and this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up. to shine a light. on. remember all. joe biden on as more than 400000 americans who died in the coronavirus a pandemic. the stage is set for the transition of power and unprecedented security

lock down for the inauguration of the next u.s. president. the outgoing u.s. president comes under fire from his own party over his role in the capital attack. the mob. there were provoked by the president and other powerful people. now we begin in the united states where joe biden is hours away from becoming the 46th president he'll lead a country devastated by an unprecedented health and economic crisis but in the final hours of his presidency outgoing president donald trump has issued more than $140.00 pardons and commutations they include former aide steve bannon along with rappers little wayne kodak black and a former mayor of detroit well earlier he delivered his farewell speech to the

nation outlining his legacy. we restored american strength at home and america's leadership abroad the world respects says again we built the greatest political movement in the history of our country we also built the greatest economy in the history of the world we revitalize our alliances and rallied the nations of the world to stand up to china like never before as a result of our bold diplomacy and principle real ism we achieved a series of historic peace deals in the middle east nobody believed it could happen it is the dawn of a new middle east and we are bringing our soldiers home i am especially proud to be the 1st president in decades who has started no new wars on the night before they take office biden and vice president-elect camelot harris paid tribute to more than 400000 americans who died of covert 19 biden says

containing the pandemic is his number one priority. to heal we must remember it's hard sometimes to remember but that's how we hear. it's important to do that as a nation that's why we're here today between sundown and dust. to shine the light. the darkness along the sink or pull of the reflection remember all we lost. and it will be in an inauguration ceremony like not in recent memory downtown washington d.c. is virtually a fortress right now more than 20000 national guard troops have been deployed there following this month's attack on the capital and threats of more violence let's go live to natasha her name now from washington d.c.

and tasha you can't help but notice that this list of pardons and commutations came out really in the 11th hour right. absolutely it's not a surprise that this final fate of pardons by president trump includes allies and friends he would not be the 1st president to do that but he has been criticized already for the number of people that fell into that category most notable of these pardons is former white house advisor and breitbart editor of breitbart editor steve began and this was supposed to be the one decision that president trump vacillated there were allies making an appeal and even steve bannon instead of picked up the phone and had a conversation with trump on tuesday but there were also detractors in the end

president tried to pardon this former chief of sorry white house advisor and ally of his he hadn't even been convicted of anything bad and had been charged though last year with defrauding supporters who donated to a private fund to help build the us mexico border wall that was of course a very big pet project of president trump another notable person who has granted clemency is billionaire eliot brody he got in boiled in a foreign lobbying case and he pled guilty last year he was a very prolific fundraiser for president trump and the republican national committee he was set to after pleading guilty he was set to be sentenced next month and then there are others that might be of a surprise to some they're certainly not household names 2 young rappers little wayne and black kodak little wayne in the run up to the election vocalizing his

support for president trump both of them were in trouble for gun related charges and then you might say that president trump crossed partisan lines to issue a pardon to former. democratic detroit mayor kwame kilpatrick he had been serving a 28 year federal prison sentence for extortion racketeering and bribery but perhaps what a lot of americans will be waking up to find out been a big source of speculation for months is who was not on that list and that is president trump his friends and even his attorney rudy giuliani there was a lot of speculation regarding if president trump would preemptively try to pardon himself or his family members he reportedly sought legal advice and was told to do so would invite more trouble because to do so would being a citing specific crimes. and the tash

a minute trees vehicles behind you i mean they just sum up how very different this you know gratian ceremony atmosphere is going to be yes unprecedented presence of security never in the united states has there been this many more than 25000 national guard and that does not include metro police and other law enforcement agencies throughout the city this is probably the 5th or 6th checkpoint we've been to you see military vehicles and national guard troops there are fences and barricades the national mall is closed the washington monument very difficult to get around bridges from virginia to do you see have been blocked metro stations are closed all in an effort to ensure that the city remains as lockdown as is possible and to ensure that president elect joe biden is safely through warnin in a metal a matter of hours i will be watching it when it happens thanks so much an unfashionable

name that. and biden will be entering the oval office at a time when the coronavirus death rate is at its highest point since the pandemic began when millions of americans are struggling to put food on the table alan fischer reports from the white house our rescue and recovery plan is a path forward with both seriousness of purpose and a clear plan. january 20th is an important date in 2020 it was the day that the 1st covert case was confirmed in the us the trumpet ministration has been criticized for sure sponsor over the past 12 months no on the 20th of january 2021 the problem becomes joe biden's this horse is so far out of the board there really directing it is going to be hercules and asked and we need to get the new administration and the new president i think

a significant amount of leeway in trying to redirect the ship redirect this force biden has already indicated he wants a $1.00 trillion dollar relief bill more money for ordinary americans to get through the economic crisis more money for vaccinations he wants 100000000 vaccines administered in his 1st 100 days and much greater federal involvement in putting it all together this is one of the most challenging operational efforts we have ever undertaken as a nation will have to move heaven and earth to get more people vaccinated to create more places for them to get vaccinated. it's a plan that doesn't come with a potential political fallout. i think you're going to see more and more people dug in suggesting that somehow because you have an illegitimate president now attempting to infringe upon our freedoms people are going to become increasingly

dug in to thwart what the policy changes this new this incoming president is going to try to implement joe biden has said corbett is number one priority insists the reaction will be driven by science not politics something welcomed by those on the medical front lines joe biden is going to look like a rock star by simply embracing what the best science says there are polls and experts that say if donald trump are taking coronavirus seriously from day one through an resources at it rather than plead it down he'd be about to start his 2nd term in office how the incoming administration martials the recovery will go a long way to deciding how history remembers president joe biden alan fischer al-jazeera at the white house and vice president elect canada harris's ancestral village in india excitement is mounting over her impending inauguration prayers are set to take place at a local hindu temple harris will make history as the 1st u.s.

vice president of asian descent her mother was born in india and moved to america at the age of 19 as a student. well still ahead on al-jazeera the u.s. state department accuses china's government of genocide against muslim weaker than other groups in shing jiang. and appealed for calm in tunisia as protests over unemployment and poverty intensify. it's time for the perfect gentlemen. sponsored point qatar airways hello we've got mild weather pushing into western parts of europe now we've got to clear out and rain tumbling in from the atlantic last little area of low pressure

just pushing towards the by of biscay and we got storm christophe bringing some very heavy rain in across parts of england through northern areas of wales flood warnings in force here it is expected to cause widespread destruction but that wet weather runs all the way down across spain and portugal and it will continue to drive its way a little further eastwards as christoff makes its way towards scandinavia increasing winds rain and snow but the snow there coming into were norway and central and northern parts of sweden and also be a fair bit of snow to into scotland west of weather coming down across much of france through the low countries as we go through thursday clad in the rain there still very much in play across a good part of the iberian peninsula madrid getting up to around 11 degrees celsius could have turned around 15 celsius there on the other side of the med for athens showers coming through here noticeably milder in moscow there was some snow around top temperature around minus 6 celsius does represent something of an improvement

now that wet weather that we have around spain and portugal will also lap onto the shores of more than africa with rain from north america. qatar airways ok calm and make sure you're not hyping the situation be part of the debate my main characters are women when no topic is off the table there was in the last allow child marriage to happen legally easer basically archaic walls they are often legitimized and legal one is pedophile. online jumping to the quick and the heart of the discussion this stream on out is there a. comeback

you're watching around 0 time to recap the headlines in the final hours of his presidency outgoing u.s. president donald trump issued more than $140.00 pardons and commutations they include former aide steve bannon along with rappers little wayne kodak black the former mayor of detroit us president elect joe biden and vice president elect come to harris paid tribute to more than 400000 americans who died from coal with 19 biden says containing the pandemic is his number one priority. the most senior republican party member in congress has criticized president for the attack on the capitol which prompted the security measures in washington d.c. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell says misled them provoked a mob that attacked capitol hill 2 weeks ago hardly joe castro reports from

washington d.c. . within a fortified u.s. capitol. the senate reconvene for the 1st time since a violent mob stormed the building on january 6th leading to 5 deaths and republican leader mitch mcconnell once a close trump ally pointedly denounced the president on his last full day in office the mob. there were provoked by the president and other powerful people we are and as plans for trump's upcoming impeachment trial take shape already senate committees are on to the next order of business the confirmation of joe biden's cabinet secretaries retired 4 star general lloyd austin is biden's nominee for secretary of defense who opened his remarks by valuing to address right wing extremism in the military the job of the department of defense is to keep america safe from our enemies but we can't do that if some of those enemies lie

within our own ranks. if confirmed hill be the 1st african-american to lead the u.s. defense department widely respected for his 4 decades of military service austin oversaw the u.s. withdrawal from iraq the general's confirmation is expected but because he recently served in uniform he'll need a congressional waiver allowing him to assume the civilian post of defense secretary in another hearing room secretary of state nominee antony blinken the career diplomat was deputy secretary of state under former president barack obama after his expected confirmation lincoln will be tested to rebuild the u.s. is diminished global leadership when we're not engaged when we're not leading then one of 2 things is likely to happen either some other country tries to take our place but not in a way that's likely to advance our interests and values or maybe just as bad no one does and then you have chaos besides immediately having the us reengineer the paris

climate accord and the world health organization blinken will have to take on strained relations with iran russia and china as we look at china there is no doubt that it poses the most a given challenge of any nation state to the united states biden will take office wednesday with few if any senate confirmed cabinet secretaries a democratic push to waive some senate rules to expedite the process has already met republican resistance then there's trump's impeachment trial still to be scheduled and urgently demanded the senate now looking to balance those priorities in coming days. castro al-jazeera washington. outgoing u.s. secretary of state might pompei or has accused china of committing genocide and crimes against humanity gates we got muslims it's believed around the 1000000 have been imprisoned in camps in recent years mostly in this region activists have

documented atrocities including rape store cheer and the sterilization of women china says the camps of centers for education and training issued the statement after what he said was a careful examination of the facts of the also said i believe this genocide is ongoing and that we are witnessing the systematic attempts to destroy by the chinese party state biden secretary of state nominee anthony blinken and his statement there is senate confirmation hearings secretary pump aoe designated the chinese communist party as having engaged in general regarding the we muslim population do you agree with that with my judgment as well you do agree yes iran's president has an rouhani has called on the biden administration to return to the nuclear deal which trump withdrew from in 2018 has also called the outgoing

administration's iran policy a complete failure to embryos that is immediate the ball is now in america's court and if they return and apply their commitments we will also conduct our commitment trumps political career is dead and the nuclear deal lives on its entire efforts were put towards getting rid of the accord and he was unsuccessful. to nazir's prime minister is appealing to protesters telling them he's aware of their anger and frustration been 4 days and 5 nights of violent clashes between police and protesters in several cities as anger mounts over growing unemployment and poverty shallop ballasts reports. the thousands of tuna's ians protest each feeling disappears and frustrated this week the feelings have boiled on to the streets the coronavirus pandemic has crippled the fragile economy leaving

a 3rd of young tunas ians unemployed they blame the government for the problems and . there is a feeling of deep disappointment with the pandemic and may god protect us from it poverty unemployment and the situation we are living in as young people. know the protests have morphed to include police brutality and unlawful detention was still the odd thing with this man says more than 600 protesters have been arrested most in their homes and asks why protesters are demanding the release they say this is a government crackdown. it's. good to the politicians i say one thing if you have something to say don't say it with the police go out to the people and face the the prime minister responded in a televised address another one and the lack of a. i'm well aware that there is anger and frustration in many areas i know that the

economic and social situation is a crisis deepened by covert and the measures we have taken to preserve the health and isn't your voice is heard and your anger is legitimate and it is my role and the government's to work to realize your demands and to make the dream of tunisia become true. the. frustrations have recalled across multiple cities this way. in the capital turnus softest facts. and in the west here in kasserine the rights group amnesty international has warned against excessive use of force. use it night protests have evolved into running street battles between demonstrations and panics the government has deployed the army in several cities and rolled out a curfew to quell the clashes. the demonstrations come just days after the 10 year anniversary of the ouster of former president zine el abidine ben ali

a result of protests that birthed the arab spring but many too newsy unskilled disenchanted saying the hope of that time has gone on realized ashes mean nothing much but that. in 10 years there's no strategy or prospects for the future or even hope for change on the contrary every year the amount of hope decreases to date in 2021 practically all young people are just desperate thanks and so they turn to the streets harasses just like they did a decade ago charlotte dallas al-jazeera. it's been one year since south korea reported its 1st case of the corona virus the country has been battling a 3rd wave but there are signs it's now under control since a record $1200.00 cases were reported on christmas eve the number of new infections has been steadily dropping rob mcbride reports from seoul. ode one time south

korea was the worst affected country outside china when the fear of this new and relatively unknown virus was very real. everyone to restrain themselves from group of interactivity is not only an indoor places but also places. drawing on experience from previous epidemics and with close cooperation between government agencies and the private sector the country got to work it quickly pioneered innovations like drive through testing centers and then mass testing and tracing to avoid the shutdowns being experienced by other countries subsequent outbreaks pose new challenges such as a cluster centered on night clubs used by the gay community requiring a tactful response. punter they were when we cooperated with the l g b t community and explained the situation was grave and introduced anonymous testing which just required a fine number and the number of people getting testing increased 8 fold. the

authorities also faced outbreaks in church congregations and among political groups holding super spreader demonstrations in a society that cherishes free speech steve john opened his gym right at the beginning of the pandemic managing to survive and adapt to a new reality. i think people will lean towards having more personal space that is well defined rather than coming together in big groups like soul city itself looking ahead to life after the pandemic. or even when it's over it would be difficult to go back to the old normal we've arrived at a new age where we have to adapt. one year round south korea is just getting over its 3rd wave and the lines of people waiting for their free tests and now mostly gone starting out on a 2nd year of this pandemic here as elsewhere there is pandemic fatigue the

difference seems to be while some people in other countries got fed up and gave up people here are still largely prepared to put up rob mcbride al-jazeera sold. a corona virus strain 1st detected in the u.k. is now being detected in at least 60 countries that's 10 more countries than a week ago according to the world health organization it believes the new variant is up to 70 percent more infectious than the original strain the w.h.o. also announced the south african strain has been reported in $23.00 countries russia's health watchdog has announced a 2nd coronavirus vaccine developed there is 100 percent effective russia began mass trials of epi that corona in november it's made by siberia's vector or institute where outfront comes as the european medicines agency begins reviewing

the sputnik v that corona virus vaccine also produced in russia. sterve us and has more from amsterdam. the russian producers called couldn't agree the world's 1st certified vaccine against cope with 19 but it may take a while before it use it insists it will use it but countries like russia argentina and serbia have already massively been facts in aiding people using this vaccine do you see in medicine agency here in amsterdam has held a meeting with the russian producer gum a layer to see if it matches european standards worldwide scientists have criticized the early registration of the vaccine in russia early in september after it was only tested on a very small group of people well at that time i founded very early and certainly not according to standards as they are in place here in europe so because the number of participants at the moment was very small very little information about

safety about possible side effects maybe in only use some of the participants but if the number of participants is very small you might not be able to pick them up to detect them so at that moment i. was astonished that prove that it was already given to people she says the hasty procedure in moscow has led to a lot of suspicion in and outside of russia but if the european medicine agency approves put big 3 it is safe to use she says the a will now have to go through hundreds of documents before it can advise the producer to seek market 3 sation a process that can take weeks or even months to finish sputnik he is using a similar technology as us president a car which is produced by oxford university dyspraxia will likely be approved at the end of next week and that shortly after millions of doses will be available soon within the european union how much appetite there will still be for sputnik we

will depend on the scarcity of sex scenes at that moment a surprise. in the states on russia's black sea coast is the subject of a new report by the supporters of detained opposition figure lex in a valid approach to allegedly belongs to russian president vladimir putin revelle news team says the property is a bribe given to putin for favors he did for powerful people or exams or go free as more from moscow it involves the amongst other things allegation that putting a villa on the black sea and that this villa though it's not on his name has been financed by his friends that are heading the state owned oil companies spanning back to the ninety's when put in the return from theirs that as then he was then to be officer and started working in some petersburg department for international trade it alleges that he for bribes in care enabled his close friends

a licenses that in essence made them rich by embezzling of the natural resources of russia it goes further to say that to return disfavor and other favors that followed this france some of the most prominent in the richest businessmen's of russia then basically finance the this in the black sea on which they spend off the state money at least $11300000000.00 now. they're saying they're these must belong to putin although it is not on his name a because it is a no fly zone it for instance has its own ports even its own boss port control you cannot approach it by the sea there is a tunnel built in this report also bring some new details like the layout of the claim they were provided with furniture there actually by b. so would the easy amount of that never exaction could buy for himself an apartment

. well as we said in the us the deaths of more than $400000.00 people were more than that ceremonies across the nation an american nurse whose rendition of amazing grace was widely shared online last year sang to him at the memorial. easy zooming in green a.e.d.'s. the. a. which. i've.