and to mexico where the cartels have been responsible for a muscle a spiral of violence. the final episode of drug trafficking politics. just. think. u.s. president joe biden unveils his coronavirus strategy to speed up the pandemic response which he says has so far been a dismal failure. alonso rommany watching out of there alive my headquarters here in doha also coming up a virus infections rise across europe with the number of covert 1000 deaths in germany crossing 50000. also a state of emergency is imposed in the central african republic as

a coalition of armed groups threatens to overthrow the newly elected president. and powering ahead of europe's big push for battery development as it promotes electric vehicles to cut emission levels. welcome to the program u.s. president joe biden has launched what he calls a full scale war time strategy to be covert 19 on his 1st full day in office he signed a series of executive orders aimed at speeding up the response to the pandemic that's claimed the lives of more than 400000 americans biden's team of experts is working on a centralized inoculation strategy and that's revealed the trumpet ministration had no federally coordinated vaccination plan in place mike hanna has more from washington d.c. . the subject you are actually in day 2 of the biden presidency and another flurry

of executive orders 24 hours after the u.s. recorded the worst single day coronavirus death toll these are focused on combating the pandemic the measures ranging from getting more vaccines to more people to improving safety in schools and work spaces we engage in dismissal relate which could take more interest to turn things around but let me be equally clear we will get. through this we will defeat is pandemic into a nation waiting for action let me be clear stand this point help is on the way one of the new things in this administration's if you know of the answer don't guess just say you don't know the answer yet a familiar face returning to the white house briefing podium sidelined for many months stuck to antony found she is a central figure in the new pandemic task group and he made clear reference to the difficulties he experienced as a scientist and the president there were things that were said. regarding things

like a drug cyclone rick when and other things like that that really was uncomfortable because they were not based on scientific fact i can tell you i take no pleasure at all in being in a situation of contradicting the president but the idea that you can get up here and talk about what you know what the evidence what the sciences and know that sit let the science speak it is somewhat of a liberating feeling there's been shocked at how little planning had been put to to combating the pandemic but there has been no centralized federal strategy it's been left to governors and their states to plan and sometimes fund anti pandemic measures administration officials say that when they are sapient assesses for a pandemic plan there wasn't one many members of congress are dismayed what have we learned this morning we learned this morning that the company ministration had no

real plan for the production and distribution of the vaccine just another in a series. of their. terrible in affective approach to it from the start and americans are reeling from a startling statistic the country has 4 percent of the world's population but 25 percent of recorded coronavirus cases. before assuming office joe biden stood at the reflecting pool in memory of the 400000 americans who have died his message now that there sadly will be many more before the pandemic is brought under control. mike hanna out his ear or washington the top republican in the u.s. senate says he wants former president donald trump's impeachment to be delayed until mid february mitch mcconnell's it would give trump 2 weeks to get ready for the proceedings once the charges presented house speaker nancy pelosi has rejected

demands to drop the trial together trump was impeached just days before the end of his term accused of inciting a riot of capitol hill that left 5 people. you don't play to our president do whatever you want in the last months of your lowest ration you're going to get a just get out of jail card free because because people think we should make nice life and forget the people die here on january 5th that the attempt to undermine our election. undermine our democracy to dishonor our constitution no i don't see that you know i think that would be harmful to unity the european union is considering putting in place time to travel restrictions in the box crowbars hot spots will be labeled dark red zones and travelers will have to go test to get tested and undergo quarantine european commission president of

all the lanes says not essential travel must be strongly discouraged. the start behind it is that we understand once again that we are one epidemy a logical zone and not divided in different member states where we have different situations and we will only contain the virus if we have targeted measures and not unnecessary measures like blankets closure of borders which would severely hurt our economy but not very much restrict the virus level and says that to impose its 1st curfew since the 2nd world war parliament approved a measure to try to stop the spread of a more contagious variant of the corona virus on wednesday it banned flights from britain south africa and south america where mutations are believed to be widespread. french president manuel michaels says covert 900 tests will become compulsory for all travelers trying to enter from as of sunday london transport and

cross border workers will be exempt friends is not also require people to wear high quality masks instead of fabric face coverings. and in neighboring germany the number of people who have died from the virus has exceeded 50000 chancellor angela merkel is defending a decision to extend the lockdown until mid february she says it would be unwise to ease restrictions given mutations have been detected the country's been in lockdown since november dominic cain has more than berlin. overall not just in berlin but across the entire country the trend certainly in the course of the last week or so perhaps 10 days has been slowly downward so that. 859 deaths announced today but there were fewer and that there are fewer today than the previous day the day before that and so forth and so there is a feeling among some analysts some scientists that perhaps the rate of new infections the rates of new deaths is starting to stabilize generally the point

behind what angle america and coalition partners and to ministerial partners have been saying is that their view is that what is really concerning them is the potential for the new variant 1st and identified in the u.k. to get to really take hold in germany that explains why they have been insisting upon the wearing of masks that are stronger than just fabric masks were they refer to the f f p 2 mask requirement which will come into force in here in berlin on sunday so that it that informs the perspective that's why she has been saying that people need to be staying home working from home wherever possible wearing masks whenever possible reducing their movement outside and observing social distance all of it needs to be seen from that perspective. 15 day state of emergency has come into force in central african republic to deal with groups trying to blockade the capital bongi u.n. peacekeepers have been helping to push back a rebel coalition pressurizing

a reelected the president today or to quit after disputed elections the constitutional court confirmed today as a victory with 35 percent of the vote this week despite a lower voter turnout marc webb has been following events from the capital. coalition of armed groups attacked the capital bangui where we are last week they were fought off by forces that the foreign forces that support the government but they're still just outside the city from what we know about 9 kilometers to the east about 12 kilometers to the north and we've also heard reports that their cells have infiltrated the city that they've been smuggling in weapons ahead of a possible potential attempt to take the city they've said that the government of president fast entire day or must go now the presidential spokesperson has said that the reason for the state of emergency or one of the reasons is that it will enable the security forces here to do searches from house to house to try and find

these hidden weapons normally that would require a warrant from a cotton according to the constitution so by suspending those constitutional rights it gives the security agencies the power to to search for the weapons that they want to find to try and prevent that rebel attack and try and keep control. of their fragile grip on power in the country there head of the peacekeeping force here acronym. was just on thursday asking for more troops from the security council he said that they're desperately needed to try and maintain security across the country just within the last few days or one day and the burundian peacekeeper of being killed one of the limitations for the peacekeepers is that their mandate to protect civilians and support the government. is met by a more aggressive enemy the coalition of armed groups have been ambushing in attacking the peacekeepers the united nations envoy to the central african republic

has appealed to the security council to increase its peacekeeping operations with more than $11000.00 u.n. soldiers stationed in ca are it's already one of the largest un costliest u.n. operations in the world. it's instructive that really need a strategy to manage the mandate a substantial increase of uniformed troops in the missions are still the police and the penal administration must be strengthened we must have greater mobility this is because of the increased ambushes by c.p.c. fighters led to 7 deaths amongst the blue helmets. cooperation will need to be prolonged for several months ago and as many people as possible could come from the integrated mission of south sudan. well still ahead here on al-jazeera joe biden sets a new course for america the web design leave israel and its illegal settlements after years of full support from donald trump. and called out over coronavirus why fishermen in the philippines angry over government plans that could affect their

livelihoods those stories after the break. the distribution of showers in the last few days has changed a little bit it's less so malaysia more so in the easier and more so the philippines not to be the case in the forecast as well if you see orange tops these showers the forecast is there for heavy rain out of the thunderstorms out of the philippines that will sort of weighs a little less so for a good part of of borneo and potentially malays yeah but sumatra and java are all full of showers the concentration of the heavy ones is edging east was was west papua and down towards northern australia indeed there are 2 tropical those are at the moment one has just made landfall on 80 mile beach didn't quite make it to cycling status from the winds point of view but it certainly did from the rains

point of view not right is not to produce flooding over the kimberley flatow the pilbara and up over the great sandy desert so west australia is looking wet and in contrast it's much traffic. reese tensions are actually on the rise add lego's from 39 to 42 on saturday to sunday very few showers in most of queens in juneau so the on shore breeze bringing your feet with it purrs down to 25 degrees i asked the new zealand well if you're on the west coast the south island is wet on saturday but it dries up on something. fierce and formidable the poles good kids are renowned for their courage under fire . one i want to east binds out what it takes to join the elite brigade. on al-jazeera. played an important role in checking in with.

each face. about you watching all of us are with me so whole rom the reminder of our top stories u.s. president joe biden has launched what he calls a full scale war time strategy to be covert 19 he signed executive orders including emergency legislation to boost vaccine production by requiring international travelers to quarantine or arrival in the u.s. . also the number of people who've died of current virus in germany has exceeded

50000 chance like bloomberg all is defending the decision to extend the lockdown until mid february to stop the spread of a more infectious mutation. of the 15 day state of emergency has come into force in the central african republic to prevent rebel attacks an alliance of armed groups or pressurising reelected president today or to quit after disputed december elections. japan's government has denied reports it's considering canceling the tokyo olympics the british newspaper the times says the japanese government has privately concluded the games all the to be called off because of the pandemic the toy gate and the reports the olympic games the shed jewel to be held last year but were delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic now a rise in infections has forced the government to impose a state of emergency in tokyo and other parts of the country and that's raised questions about whether the summer games will be held in 6 months as planned

newspaper reports that you pans government has privately concluded the games will have to be reshaped jeweled have been denied by the prime minister all they going to do are regarding the tokyo games it will be a symbol of humanity overcoming the novel coronavirus and a chance to showcase japan's reconstruction from the devastating north eastern earthquake and tsunami to the world we will be well prepared on the measures for the infection. japan has spent $25000000000.00 preparing for the take care lympics they still which is public money but a recent poll shows 80 percent of japanese people don't want the games to go ahead this summer let us know when you hold even if japan was able to curb the coronavirus i don't think we can welcome athletes considering the current situation it should be cancelled the money we spend on the game should be used for antivirus measures and stated my. 80 percent i want the olympics to go ahead but the other 20 percent i wonder what would happen to japan if it was canceled when i read it going

through a lot. analytics has been cancelled only 5 times before in war time a final decision on whether to hold the games this year or not is expected in early spring i think the day to watch is march 25th that's when the target really begins for northern japan 4 months 10000 runners crossing the country arriving there will enjoy 23rd in tokyo it would seem absurd to start the torch relay and then have to have no olympics the international olympic committee make 75 percent of its income from selling broadcast rights of the olympics if is cancelled it could lose an estimated $2.00 to $3000000000.00 of revenue victoria gave him be al-jazeera denmark has halted all flights from the united arab emirates after reports of fake krone virus tests in dubai the travel restrictions will last for 5 days officials in copenhagen say they received

a tip off the pre-departure test taken in dubai might not be accurate travelers must show a recent negative test on arrival in denmark. responsibility for 2 suicide bombings in the iraqi capital 32 people were killed and more than 100 injured on. the bombs exploded in a busy market in baghdad. iraq's prime minister reshuffled several top security officials following the attack the worst so beautiful to this is. difficult to assess how active i saw in the country well i thought never really went away despite the government declaring its territorial defeat in iraq in 2017 the group had a relatively seamless transition to an insurgency and even though it was pushed out from the urban areas and really pushed to deep into rule areas in the mountains it continued to operate it continued to stage attacks on security forces on

checkpoints in remote areas it continued to terrorize the population in remote villages and iraqi officials have acknowledged as just yesterday in an exclusive interview with al jazeera iraq's foreign minister minister of what hussein acknowledged that is still a threat that the country needed support from the region and from international countries to really counter the threat but we also have to say that it is very difficult to quantify how strong the organization is and in my reporting on the matter it was always a challenge to gather accurate statistics in terms of how many attacks actually carries out we do know that for example the u.s. led coalition to fight i thought it under reports cases of attacks by eiseley specially in remote rural areas because they rely on the iraqi security forces to report these cases and a lot of times the information is just not captured so it's difficult to say how strong it is but it's still definitely is active. joe biden is marking

a sharp change in course after 4 years of donald trump some are questioning how that shift for play out for israel and palestine biden officials have already said that they won't undo the recognition of jerusalem as israel's capital or the moving of the u.s. embassy but they are signaling a departure from trying to complete support for israeli interests are a force that reports you know sort of robin hood by injury and you do sound nice where the inauguration of a new u.s. president is a moment of reappraisal for america's friends and foes around the world perhaps none more so than israel whose prime minister has aligned himself so closely with donald trump president biden you and i had a warm personal friendship going back many decades i look forward to working with you to further strengthen the u.s. israel alliance at the same time netanyahu is delivering a very different welcome message for a president he knows will oppose the expansion of illegal israeli settlements

issuing approvals for nearly 800 new housing units tendering outbuilding work for 2 and a half 1000 more and with just 5 hours to go before the inauguration confirming building contracts for work to start here and give out how much toss the long delayed settlement between jerusalem and bethlehem the palestinians say would be a major obstacle to their future state. it's reminiscent of another major settlement announcement made during a biden visit to jerusalem in 2010 leaving then vice president furious it's basically not in yell poking a finger in the president elect why he's doing that it baffles me he is going to need the cooperation of president biden an issue sectors iran the reality is biden's pick for secretary of state anthony blinken expressed support this week for a 2 state solution to the israeli palestinian conflict along with doubts about making progress on that in the near term nonetheless palestinians have been making moves designed to find favor with biden such as per. isn't our buses announcement

this month at the 1st presidential and legislative elections for 15 years so now. we receive positive messages that we can build on to restore bilateral relations and restore a peace process that is built on the 2 state solution and international legitimacy biden supports the normalization deals between israel and arab states that the palestinians call a stab in the back deals that netanyahu happily emphasized had come without concessions but some see scope for biden to extract concessions from netanyahu in the future but he would like to have help from the president by then in securing additional normalization agreements he knows now that this will require further changes in israel's policy towards the palestinians into the extent that these are minor he seems to be ready to go down that road the initial phase of the biden netanyahu relationship is likely to be defined by differences over iran the israel palestine conflict may well slip down the agenda in the 1st time but bruised by 4

years of donald trump the palestinians at least have a more familiar style of u.s. leadership with which to engage are a force that are just 0 in the occupied west bank. mongolia's prime minister has resigned following a protest over the treatment of a woman who tested positive for covert 19 after giving birth she was transferred in freezing conditions from a maternity ward into quarantine wearing only a night gown and slippers and carrying her newborn baby in prime minister coral sachs said that he was heartbroken to see the cruel treatment that she had received here cues the president of encouraging protestors and stoking a political crisis. the president paid off some people to be violent during a peaceful protest he tried to turn a peaceful protest into political conflict i no longer have faith in him i think he's planning to destabilize our government by organizing more protests in the

future and past conflicts and he. fishermen in the philippines are angry over government plans to import thousands of tons of fish many lost their jobs when the . volcano erupted last year the coronavirus added to the problems reports now bundling us province. fishing has long been a main source of income for many families in towns surrounding the 1000 on the island of luzon at least 50 kilometers south of the capital manila but most of the fish pens were destroyed by falling ash when the volcano erupted in january thousands of fishermen lost their jobs including says circling neeson was spent most of his life working in fish pens owned by is called. the lockdown imposed by the philippine government to prevent the spread of coronaviruses means recovery has been much slower than it might otherwise have been but fishermen say the situation

is getting better and that's why the government's plans to import fish is upsetting many here. are getting more fish know and they're only again we don't need more imports what we need is government support fisherman here tell us they're still struggling financially but months after that our volcano eruption they say their harvest are now back to normal. into syria again ization scarlet an artificial shortage and say there are enough local stocks even joining to 3 months closed a fishing season it's estimated more than $30000.00 metric tons will be imported and there are fears that prices of local fish may drop significantly but the government says those who earn a living from fishing shouldn't worry. said we're going day sean. and they're racing up that the unborn i mean we will give us the increase the joint interest.

in dame there will be no need for importation what we are doing right now is to take care of our money for what because a lot of the sheeple work is the most important now that. all the fish that we need fishing has long been seen as the solution to the country's problems the government says it wants filipino fisherman to be able to compete fairly with those from other countries but those who work here see the government as often resorted to imports in the past and these remain a stop gap solution jim ellis island dog an al-jazeera but in this province of northern philippines. google has threatened to make it search engine unavailable australia of a plans by the government to make tech giants pay for news content but prime minister scott morrison has that we don't respond to threats the proposals would

allow local news websites to be paid for content featured on google and facebook a straw you makes our rules for things you can do in australia that's done in their power and it's done by our government. and that's how things work here in australia and people who want to work with that in australia you're very welcome but we don't respond to threats 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 the vehicles if it allows asia to dominate battery development paul resupport now from gotham burke in sweden. 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 is a future proof business pole star is a joint european asian vehicle made by valvo 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 that race is 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 consonance bit to take back some of asia's dominance the development and sale of electric batteries the europe wide group is led by chemistry professor christina edstrom we need to snake defining 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 underlies 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 we want to make back to

something future and we need to understand what's going on really the trend among the mystic 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 readdy bera ticket paul reese al-jazeera gothenburg sweden. your child is there with me so rob a reminder of our top stories u.s. president joe biden's last what he's called a full scale war time strategy to beat covert 19 he signed executive orders including a merge and see legislation to boost bank scene production and requiring international travelers to quarantine on arrival in the u.s. .