combating the impossible to sell their goods in isolated areas. we follow that daring journeys as they overcome the extremes. risking it all afghanistan on al jazeera. the. the. taking action to combat covert 19 u.s. president joe biden is expect that the sign at least 10 executive orders to curb the coronavirus pandemic. hello i'm barbara starr you're watching al-jazeera live from london also coming up . twin suicide blasts at a crowded market in the iraqi capital baghdad killing at least 32 people and leave

more than 100 wounded. at least 100000 people are forced from their homes after rebel attacks in central african republic following last month's disputed elections and the earthquake survivors in indonesia say they're running out of essential supplies as a solid he's struggled to reach. hello welcome to the program u.s. president joe biden's 1st day in office will focus on getting the coronavirus pandemic under control just over 24 hours after being sworn in he is expected to sign at least 10 executive orders to tackle covert 1000 which has already claimed more than 400000 american lives the orders are expected to ramp up supplies for vaccination testing and personal protective equipment in another break the previous

administration the top u.s. infectious disease expert and city found she says america will remain in the world health organization and help fight the disease at home and abroad i am honored to announce that the united states. will remain a member of the world health 'd organization. yesterday president biden signed the letters retracting the previous administration's announcement to withdraw from the organization the united states stands ready to work in partnership and solidarity to support the international covert 'd 19 response official joins me now from washington d.c. alan just from that clip of anthony fallacy it's obvious that the by the administration is making covert a top priority for skilled in job i know is that he'll be judged on

how he responds to the coronavirus crisis it's a year since the 1st case was diagnosed the since then it's been don't try this problem no it very much becomes joe biden's plan to combat the virus we know that they're going to fim days over the 1st 10 business days in the white house day one and day 2 is all about covert day one how do they come but the virus well one of the things that they're looking to do is to sign 10 executive order some of them covering basic things like making sure schools have enough money to reopen later in the year making sure that health workers those on the front light of the past the protection gear and even syringes to administer the vaccine remember joe biden says he wants 100000000 vaccines and 100000000 arms by the end of the 1st 100 days it's an ambitious target but one they believe they can meet perhaps even moving to 2000000 vaccines per day and they've said across the federal government if they can't get things done in the normal way then they have to use the defense production act that means they can use an old act normally used in wartime to gear

up the production of things that they need and this effort one of the big problems that the biden campaign the bike ministration as you call it no of course highs is that they wanted to see what donald trump's plan was for getting the vaccine out and about into the country what nancy pelosi the leader of the democrats in the house of fields is there wasn't a plan. today marks one year since our 1st knowledge of this kind. and what did we learn this morning we learned this morning that the station had no real plan for they could auction and distribution of the vaccine just another in a series of their terrible in affective approach to it from the start and denial. distortion calling it a hoax and now we find that they don't they didn't even have

a plume and allen of the many differences that we have seen and will continue to see between the 2 administrations it really looks like there's a new approach to the media under the biden administration just how different is it well donald trump wanted to break the regulations in washington d.c. and he successfully did that but the biden ministration is getting back to what would be regarded as the norms of doing business 1st of all there is a daily shadow for the president that reads longer than the president is making phone calls and having meetings from airlie in the morning until late at night we've actually got a breakdown of what the president will be doing and when we're going to get a readout of the telephone calls that the president makes he's going to start receiving calls from world leaders any time no we're also going to find out who's been visiting the white house donald trump stop that and of course there's going to be the daily press briefing jen psaki will be in the briefing room in the next

couple of hours she'll be joined by and to the folks not by the president as far as the by the administration is consent they want to have the experts speaking to the american people because they believe it's important we move on to the 2nd theme day on friday it too is about covert but that's going to be about the economic impacts they believe that this is what joe biden will be judged on how he deals with the covert crisis and how he gets america of the economic problems that it's caused. alan fischer with the latest from washington d.c. as always alan thank you. but the u.s. house speaker has this miss suggestions that moving ahead with the impeachment of former president trump could undermine joe biden's call for unity trump was impeached just days before the end of his term for inciting a riot at capitol hill which left several people dead that's a pelosi says the article of impeachment will be sent to the senate soon in order for a 2nd trial she says it's the responsibility of calling gris to hold the former president

to account you don't say to a president. do whatever you want in the last months of the situation you're going to get a judge get out of jail card free because because people think we should make nice nice and forget the people died here on january 5th that the attempt to undermine our election to undermine our democracy to dishonor our constitution. and all through that i think that would be harmful to unity. she ever attends he joins us live from capitol hill with more on that so she had how can we expect the trial and when to unfold. well when nancy pelosi sends the article of impeachment to the senate the rules say that the trial should begin at 1 pm the following day unless it's

a sudden day and then the trial will continue monday to saturday every week until it until it ends. the sense that we got from from nancy pelosi the reports we've had previously that the the the wrangling over the format of the trial is still underway in the senate questions like who should. over the trial should it be the chief justice of the supreme court if it's a former president for example what how long the trial should take what sort of evidence should be presented and should there be witnesses involved can the senate and the house conduct legislative business in the mornings and the evenings and have the trial in the afternoon clearly joe biden has a big legislative agenda he also wants to get his cabinet nominees confirmed so will that be done in around the impeachment these are some of the details in addition we're actually getting reports of some pretty serious serious roadblocks ahead for the senate because mitch mcconnell the the outgoing senate majority

leader and chuck schumer be the incoming majority leader i still tussling over the rules of the senate that may actually lead to to delays as well so there are a lot of lot of problems right now in the senate according to according to reports we're getting between mcconnell and schumer the rules moving ahead but what was interesting about what he said was there's that sense that this could be done rather expeditiously once the trial begins because unlike the 1st trial which needed witnesses and documentation those who are presiding over the trial those in congress were eyewitnesses to what happened on january the 6th there isn't the need for that ever dent sharee evidently documentation of what happened on the day and we did actually hear there was some talk of maybe having a 3 day trial some agreement coalescing around that i was 11 possibility but there is that sense when it does happen there is a desire on both sides to get it over with as quickly as possible. hansie with the latest on that from capitol hill as she had thanks.

at least 32 people have been killed and more than 100 injured in twin suicide bombings in the iraqi capital it happened in a market in central baghdad it's the most violent incident there in 3 years no one has claimed responsibility for the attack but the government is blaming isis alexy o'brian reports the markets in baghdad's tie around square was packed with people making the most of a sunny winter's day. and we were there by the stands one man came to the ground started complaining of my stomach is striding across the detonator in his hand exploded immediately people were torn to pieces a lot of people died and were injured. the interior ministry says that as more people flocked around the victims the 2nd bomb went off. it's the deadliest attack in central baghdad since january 28th same it also

happened in tire and square similar bombings were commonplace in the capital in the early 2000 after the u.s. led invasion and later as isis influence grew across the country but after the government declared eisel defeated in 2017 such attacks became rare you need to bring you. into an enormous bill bring a new idea. where you and you are racially present in the many important. what were your rights you know are we eventually or how i'm. just a few blocks from thailand is tahrir square the same turf more than a year of anti-government protests demanding better security more opportunities and less foreign interference the protesters also want elections which have been postponed to october analysts say several groups could benefit from thursday's

bombings we witnessed a continuous and a very prominent rhetoric from a lot of politicians and a lot of militia leaders that continues the war in iraq in one way or another and directly in this movement that the government will only be 2 nations that would remind us to be isis. the last come just a week after the u.s. confirmed it had cut its troop levels in iraq to just $2500.00 the lowest levels in nearly 2 decades but just this week iraq sent extra soldiers to its border with syria and a town north of baghdad where i sill still has a presence. security now also stepped up and baghdad to prevent any more attacks brian al jazeera. say on a faltering has more now from the scene of the bombing. we're here at the side of

the incident in baghdad central square disses the market where the bombs went off earlier on thursday on the floor we can see burnt pieces of clothing there is also quite a bit of blood that is still spilled which we're not showing you because it may be too graphic and people here are still very much in shock they can't believe that science such incidents could once again return to baghdad which has been relatively stable and peaceful since 2017 since eisel was officially defeated now many believe although there is not official claim of responsibility yet is that these a tag bears the hallmarks of i saw what appears to have happened is that the 1st suicide bomber fame sickness to attract people to wards him to help him and after the 1st bomb went off and people gathered to help the wounded that's when the 2nd suicide bomber heads now you can see right now that many of the shops here are

closed security forces have told people to stay home to disperse in case there would be further attacks but normally this area will be extremely busy it will be bustling with people doing their shopping at this time of the day and many people that i've spoken to they are very fearful that this incident could perhaps mark the return of such suicide bombings to talk about the return of instability it's only been a few years since life has really returned to normal in the capital with people once again going about their daily lives about having to worry about explosion we've seen concrete walls that surrounded buildings to protect them from from such blasts come down again revealing really the city and some of its architectural heritage so there there is quite a lot of shock there is quite a lot of fear about what this incident means for the broader stability of the city but of course we have to wait and see what the investigations will reveal and we

have to still wait for the official claim of responsibility. at least 100000 people have been forced from their homes after rebel attacks in central african republic during last month's disputed elections opposition politicians say the vote was rigged and the rebel coalition outside the capital says president are there and this government must go. are bearing the brunt of the violence. hoped digging for gold would pay for his education he worked at a mine in the bush here in the central african republic. a new motorbike to get there on his way home he says militia held him up stole it and then told him to lie face down on the ground he refused. them if you want to kill me to my face as we were talking he showed me in one. i started screaming esau.

3 should the other then i couldn't walk anymore. the bones in mores legace shattered with it his plan to study. it was a passer by noise to this hospital in the capital. it's run by the charity doctors without borders. the manager says many others so lucky the armed groups who want to overthrow the government control most of the country or wondered if maybe some hundreds or even 1000 people we do not have any right to burst and dream disco and of because playlists where everybody is more in the bush and are not able to stay in the villages i think that's all the kind of care is limited. the violence escalated before during and after elections held last month political opposition say they were rigged un peacekeepers russian mercenaries and when the troops

support the government. and a bit of territory around it is one of the few parts of the country that's firmly on the the control of the foreign forces that support the government the city sits on the banks of the river. more than a 10th of central africans have fled the violence to neighboring countries most of them across the river to the democratic republic of congo on the other side inside the country more than half of its 5000000 people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes. sandrine natalie is one of them she told us nothing is more terrifying than waking up to find yourself in the middle of a battle when you're 7 months pregnant now she staying here at a relative's house also at 5 in the morning i was woken up by the sound of heavy weapons they were shooting rockets he did my room traumatised i didn't know what to

do when the situation got come i took my children and walked for 6 hours to get to hospital. the current crisis here began 8 years ago when armed groups overthrew the government of the time that's when these people fled their homes they've been living on the plastic sheeting ever since the conflict has continued for as long and so has its devastating effect on people's lives. central african republic the united nations is asking for more attention to be paid to a humanitarian crisis unfolding in mozambique it says attacks in the kabul they gather province of displaced more than a 1000000 people a group linked to i saw is raiding villages in the oil rich area killing and kidnapping women and children petroleum giants like total operate there but aid workers are struggling to get access to that this placed. china has 6 express

concern over twitter's decision to block the account of its u.s. embassy the embassy tweeted that we go women were no longer baby machines thanks to government policies to eradicate extremism twitter says this violates its policy on dehumanization china has been accused by rights groups of forcing wego women in this in general to have sterilizations and take birth control china denies the accusations. brown has more now from hong kong on the controversy surrounding china's tweet. britain has now been locked the account of the chinese embassy now this is in response to a tweet that the chinese embassy put out a century defending its policies in shin during and saying that we go women will no longer baby making machines and that they had been a mensa pedo that was clearly a step too far from twitter twitter so that now a block that account and of course it was just

a few weeks ago they blocked the account of president the former president donald trump it is a reminder remains an extremely sensitive issue and it's an issue of course that's going to i think become a potential flashpoint an early flashpoint between china and the united states because mr biden has said that human rights are going to be at the core of his foreign policy with china which means inevitably there is going to be an early clash workers trapped in a gold mine in china may have to wait another 2 weeks before being rescued search teams are drilling new shafts into the mine but say that there are significant blockages that miners have been stuck deep below ground for nearly 2 weeks after an explosion in the hooshang mine in shandong province rescuers have been in contact with the 11 workers but 10 others are missing at least one miner has died from his injuries. heavy rain is hindering efforts to get aid to survivors of

a powerful earthquake on indonesia's sulawesi island thousands of people have been forced from their homes now residents in the worst affected areas say aid has been concentrated in the cities and those on the outskirts are struggling jessica washington reports from jakarta. an island a soon away see these villages are trying to shelter under simple tarpaulins after their homes were destroyed by a $6.00 magnitude earthquake and the sri is worried they running out of essential such as a drive. by we need milk and baby food you see the conditions the poor children these are not conditions for children makeshift camps like this one have sprung up around west of the way see that authorities are struggling to get aid to all of them. closer to the city center evacuation centers are better resourced president joko widodo visited one this week and pledged support for the affected areas.

as for the collapsed houses the government will provide help for those that were heavily damaged. but some were not reassured by the president's words rebuilding the city is not the priority for many as they scramble for food and clean water and . we are lacking clean water diapers milk and blankets it is so cold here during the night local n.g.o.s and workers from government agencies say the heavy rain and challenging geography of the area makes it difficult to access some communities far from the city center. we need more tense for them the weather is so unpredictable sometimes it rains sometimes it's really hot and at night the wind is so strong and cold. indonesia's disaster management agency is working with hundreds of military personnel and volunteers to reach these makeshift

shelters in remote areas or me. or together with the police and military we are delivering aid to those isolated places with helicopters to the places we haven't reached yet we are using heavy machinery to open access to deliver the aid that takes time but we are trying our best. and covert 900 travel restrictions have only added to complications on the ground with fewer volunteers available to help ounce just 2 weeks into 2021 internees is battling multiple natural disasters across the country meteorologists stream weather could last until the end of february and has the potential to reach even more just the washington al-jazeera reporter. at least 5 people have died in india after a fire broke out at the world's largest vaccine manufacturer 5 people were killed after the blaze in a building on the construction to boost manufacturing of covert $1000.00 vaccines

the serum institute of india says production will not be affected while the local government says an electrical fault may have been behind the fire. europeans are used to moving around the continent with ease but the pandemic has put a hold on that some leaders are suggesting a vaccine passport for anyone who has been immunized but questions of privacy and what happens to people who don't want the job are divisive the reports from paris. the town hall in paris his 15th district a new batch of convict facts seems arrives in sewing to talk to measure doses ready for use elderly people are being prioritized for immunization those here are hopeful that life may soon return to normal. i'm just desperate to do things again i feel like i've been stagnating and that couldn't wait to have the specs and. the

goals that everyone is vaccinated as fast as possible so the virus receipts. as the number of people vaccinated against covidien frauds grows so does talk of a vaccine passport to travel this french politician says such a document could also be used to visit restaurants or theatres. those who are vaccinated should be able to resume activities the vaccination passport would show that a person is no longer in danger themselves and no longer a danger to others. supporters of a vaccine passport say could help revive vital economic sectors like tourism paris is usually one of the world's most visited cities but in the past year few people have come to admire its more humans who enjoy attractions like this cruise the owner of this botox company on the river said says he would welcome a vaccine paul sports if would encourage international travelers to return to the city because without them it will be a challenge to keep the business afloat any solutions that can help us live

normally again would be good there are already countries that require vaccinations to enter to a vaccine passport is a good idea if it can help everyone work again the opinion polls suggest that a majority of people in france support a vaccine possible for travel access to certain services but the french government says it's far too early to consider such a measure that it would be divisive because not enough people have been immunized and many don't wish to be it would be unfair especially in france where we have you know this. very well attached to the equality principle so exactly could be the reaction could be ok only the 1st people to be vaccinated we'll have those rights and not ourselves and we have to queue re have to wait for a while before getting vaccinated so it's unfair e.u. leaders will discuss the idea of a vaccine passport during a meeting thursday the issue divides member states it's clear though that opening

up economies and offering some freedoms would be easy for the e.u. still navigates. it's worst ever health emergency. al-jazeera paris. the demand for electric vehicles is booming worldwide with governments in europe making plans to phase out fuel burning cars but the continent risks falling behind in the race to build them if it allows asia to dominate the development of batteries as paul research reports now from gothenburg in sweden a continent wide research program is working on a solution. further faster cheaper and greener demand for electric cars is rising and so are the demands placed on the the swedish chinese pollstar to is one of the latest vehicles trying to tempt drivers away from petrol diesel why is this a cyclic time for the electric cars because it's finally happening because finally not nice anymore the other aspect whole can you still at all think that the

combustion engine oriented car has a future proof business pole star is a joint european asian vehicle made by volvo and their chinese owners but the emerging electric industry is about intense intercontinental competition as well as collaboration. cars like this are developing extremely rapidly as engineers try to match the speed and range of petrol driven very coals and whoever makes the biggest leap forward now is likely to win the race to dominate the transport industry of the future. in europe without races being run from here the laboratory in uppsala north of stockholm because when it comes to electric cars the advantage is all about the battery like this the lab is the standard bearer for the battery 2030 plus project the constant speed to take back some of asia's dominance in the development and sale of electric batteries the europe wide group is led by

chemistry professor christina edstrom we need to snake of finding a new materials and new back to calls to help europe in the hard competition with asia they're good in asia they're doing new exciting factories if we want to have industry in europe we need to catch up. there's a lot of catching up to do you factories for the current generation of lithium ion batteries are being built in sweden and germany but europe makes just 3 percent of car batteries globally while asia led by china japan and south korea produces 85 percent to change that europe needs to find a battery that provides greater mileage charges faster and relies less on the damaging effect of mining from mineral such as cobalt the problem with the fact is today they don't hold enough energy in their container and we want to make back to something future and we need to understand what's going on really the fundamental

level that could be the ace up europe sleeve the world's most powerful neutron source a kind of x. ray for atoms is also nearing completion in sweden in time to join the hunt for a new car battery a breakthrough will be needed to stop asia putting the rest of the world in its review mirror for good paul reese al-jazeera gothenburg sweden. and now the top stories on al-jazeera just over 24 hours after being sworn in u.s. president joe biden is expect that the sign at least 10 executive orders to tackle the coronavirus pandemic supplies for vaccination testing and personal protective equipment are expected to be wrapped up in another break with the previous administration the top u.s. infectious disease expert and found she says america.