africa al-jazeera front as a leading by a chemist determined to use his scientific knowledge to africa women make science from the lab to the field on al-jazeera. ready. iran's nuclear chief says the blackout at the natanz facility was the result of an act of terror. to. come fully back to this is al jazeera live from doha the iranian nuclear issue is high on the agenda as the u.s. secretary of defense makes his 1st official visit to israel. also ahead china admits it's called the 1000 vaccines are not as effective as it previously claimed

and more volcanic eruptions on the caribbean island of st vincent thousands of people are moved to safer ground. thank you very much for joining us he runs the nuclear agency says its main natanz facility has been targeted by what he calls an act of terrorism it follows a blackout of the plant early on sunday iran is not urging the international atomic energy agency the i.a.e.a. to take action and says it reserves the right to punish the perpetrators the iranian agency said the size electrical distribution grid was affected power's out across the facilities above ground workshops and underground enrichment holes on saturday president hassan rouhani said tehran had launched new advance enrichment centrifuges at the site this is after several centrifuges were damaged in a fire last year an incident tehran called an act of sabotage iran meanwhile is

high on the agenda as the u.s. secretary of defense lloyd austin visits israel tensions in the region have been escalating in recent weeks big as in tehran with more on the reaction from iran's nuclear agency. this seems to be an admission now from iran that this was some sort of attack and the head of iran's atomic organization has come out and said that this act was carried out by those that oppose iran's progress in the nuclear industry and it was shows a failure of those that oppose iran's negotiations to have those sanctions lifted he said that iran condemns the act and he urged the international community and the international atomic energy agency to confront what he called nuclear terrorism you also said iran reserves the right to act against those that hide out this act and those that ordered it now 1st we heard of this it was an incident it was made out to be an accident iran did say that they were investigating but this is very quickly turned into an admission from iran that this is an attack now fingers have

been pointed pointed officially but just last tuesday and hearing in ship was attacked by using a mine in the red sea from reports israel is being blamed for that and although officially iran hasn't pointed the finger at israel over this incident they are the prime suspect this comes at a time when iran is getting ready to return to vienna to negotiate over the 2015 nuclear deal and iran wants those sanctions imposed by former president donald trump lifted and incidents like this will definitely complicate matters if not make them more difficult than they already are while israel has said it will work with washington to ensure any new agreement on iran's nuclear program will safeguard regional security i foster has more from western will slam on the visit by the u.s. secretary of defense lloyd austin. both of them talked about the long term nature of the israeli u.s. relationship and indeed plans going forward in terms of military acquisitions of

course united states gives in a $4000000000.00 a year of duty assistance to israel as well as that talking about the that the nature of the relationship going forward and the fact that it is as strong as it ever has been so you get you get that pretty typical kind of language but obviously we're talking at a time when the iran issue is the main issue and the issue of divergence between these 2 administrations very different from the trump era the biden ministration wants to try to engineer a return to the j.c. p. o. a the iran nuclear deal the government of benjamin netanyahu is very much opposed unless very serious set of of requirements from israel are met which are unlikely to be met in any such return so what was interesting was that any guidance in the comments that you heard earlier was talking about working closely with the united

states to trying to make the best of any deal that's very different from the language you're getting from benjamin netanyahu recent days saying that israel would not be bound by any deal that would simply pave the way to iran getting nuclear weapons in the future as for lloyd austin himself he was also talking about how the alliance remains a strong as ever. jordan is king abdullah and his half brother have appeared together for the 1st time since their political rift former crown prince comes they join the monarch and other members of the royal family had a ceremony marking 100 years since independence last week the government accused of being involved in a plant to destabilize the country says he was put under house arrest after accusing the government of corruption but he later page allegiance to the king. research in israel suggests the pfizer kovac 1000 vaccine may be less effective against a very unfair as discovered in south africa scientists compared 800 people who

tested positive for the virus half of them not vaccinated and the other half inoculated with the pfizer job the south african corona virus variant managed to breach the protection offered by 2 doses of the vaccine to some degree but the scientists at television averse to the caution that the study had a small sample size all in india the number of corona virus infections as hades a record for a 6 day the country struggling to contain another wave on sunday reported the highest single data toll in 5 months with oldies in several states warning of vaccine shortages in the coming days but india's health minister says state governments should end what he calls fear mongering. china's center for disease control says the government may need a change in vaccine strategy meeting issues with the effectiveness of locally produced jobs china had administered 65000000 doses by the middle of last month its health agency has suggested mixing vaccines or revising dose timetables without

will have serious implications for the more than 20 countries that are getting chinese made vaccines including chile which faces a surgeon infections despite a rollout of the. a study there found one dose was only 3 percent effective compared to 56 percent with 2 shots chinese manufacturers have yet to publish face 3 trial data leading to accusations of a lack of transparency doctors and dietitian and an associate professor of infectious diseases at the australian national university he says despite having no effectiveness china's jobs are more accessible. the world health organization when we 1st started this journey into developing vaccines was happy for a vaccine that was 50 percent if we cases so 56 percent after 2 doses meets that criteria however in light of the extraordinary success we've seen with pfizer and medina being over 90 percent and astra zeneca being close to 80 percent after 2

doses it seems like a lot less and of course it also depends not just on the efficacy in preventing infection but preventing severe disease and hospitalized patients as i said the world health organization has recommended 50 percent so after at least 2 doses for a vaccine to be considered viable to be rolled out and many vaccines are achieving that and if you are getting 50 percent after 2 doses and you hearing about all the 70 on percents and 90 percent you'll be looking in that direction that all depends on access to vaccine and of course side effect profile of this well so if you have safe sex scenes that are more efficacious that you can get supply or in a timely manner then you would do that but as we have seen around the world with the surge in what's being called vaccine nationalism particularly coming out of europe where it is being difficult for other countries to get vaccines from the

european region you are just trying to use what ever you have available and that is where mixing and matching might come into play on in lebanon human rights concerned migrant workers and refugees are being left out of the cold the 1000 vaccine drive by the government blames a stellar all out on the limited number of jobs available and then hold every port some be able to. isolation is seen as a privilege for palestinian and syrian refugees in lebanon who have died from coronavirus at a higher rate than the national average along with migrant workers they make up 30 percent of a nation of 6000000 people they are included in the national vaccination campaign that is supposed to give equal priority to all but many refugees don't seem to be aware of their rights. nobody came and mentioned anything but if people truly take it. government data shows only 3 percent of those vaccinated so 4 are non

lebanese human rights groups blame this on hesitancy little information on how to register and the government deviating from the national plan. distribution by private sector has meant that they don't have to follow those priorities or categories so you have on the one hand people who are politically connected or work for organizations or could buy the vaccine who have access to it and then people like migrant workers and refugees who depend on the national. who aren't getting vaccinated and now health officials say the private sector is helping in your bankrupt state and limited supplies are the reason why only 2 percent of the adult population has so far been fully vaccinated no one is a prevent you from registering because you are a syrian or if you know or if you can or whatever if you are just. to give the facts one of the priority go no one is the prize and you are from having an appointment but for the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers registering can

prove to be an issue they don't have enough accurate and reliable information on the different vaccines the side effects or any other information related to their illegal status given that i don't know are undocumented and nothing has yet been communicated publicly to give them guarantees that they will not be deported or arrested and they are not protected by the law the authorities long accused of corruption and nepotism enjoy little trust many question how they are distributing the vaccines for example a donation of 100000 doses is being given out by priority groups there is concern migrant workers and refugees will get their turn if the criteria established is not followed. beirut. polls have closed in chad's friends eventually election the incumbent be seeking a 6th term to extend his 30 year role is the 1st election since parliament approved

legislation to expand his powers the opposition call for a boycott in protests here morgan reports in the capital in germany. he's led the country for more than 30 years and now seeking a 6th term incumbent idrees there be cast his vote in chats presidential election urging others in the capital and around the country to do the same. they must have to. i have come here today as a citizen to vote and have done my duty and now it's your turn what the people of chad to exercise your right to vote wherever you come and vote for the candidate of your choice. hundreds were waiting to vote at the same center where debbie appeared 23 year old and mina makes a 1st time voter was one of the 1st in the queue. i've come to exercise democracy and also to see the president marshal debbie is the one i think will be able to lead the country forward and bring it stability and improve the economy you see

anyone i see in the failed. 7.3000000 people have registered to vote in this election according to the national electoral commission many reporters are spoken to on sunday and in the days leading up to the election their biggest concern is the military and security after $34.00 in the east and recent counterterrorism operations in the north and west many tell us they believe president to be both running against 5 other candidates can tackle both if the candidates need at least 50 percent of the vote to when the results will be out into the opposition and their supporters say they are boycotting the elections 6 prominent figures who sought to run for president were rejected by the high court to accuse the ruling party of militarizing the campaign a charge echoed by right groups who say security forces have used ruthless forest against protesters and opposition leaders we don't think there is.

liberty freedom so doug while you recount accepted because i lecture on we called people to boycott the. all. of these. election observers appear to have a different view and one represents the. judge role is important in the region especially in light chad in the. region and so preserving its stability is the role of the african countries and the region and the people of the country. whatever the outcome of this election the gap between debbie's ruling party and the opposition is clear how the 2 sides move on from here what almost certainly set the stage for the country's political future he will mark an al-jazeera jemaine a chat and still ahead on al-jazeera we look at the vote in kyrgyzstan that critics say threatens to return the country to authoritarian rule. families of those killed in myanmar's bangor town say they're being asked to pay

a ransom to retrieve the bodies of their loved ones. hello the weather slushy set fire across the middle east lots of sunshine across the arabian peninsula basin places a fair weather cloud nothing too much to speak of the clouds that we do have further north will still produce a few wintry flurries but it isn't improving picher so we'll see temperatures noncredit around 4 celsius into the mid scenes around the levant these temperatures will pick up as we go through chews day as wintry showers feeding their way out across eastern parts of maybe georgia catching a shower or say we want to show is to just around tech menaced on northern parts of afghanistan but elsewhere it is pretty much water will sunshine and sunshine stretches down across the whole of africa somalia largely dry and finally

a few showers around the pm highlands somewhat of weather just coming into southern parts of ethiopia through the rift valley as well will see some big shower. and this with a chance to say some wet weather in the showers across the central pos all the way up towards the gulf of guinea those showers to extend down across the northern parts of a zombie as zimbabwe koukash want to see showers in the north of the country will mary's of mozambique also into madagascar but to the south of that some glorious sunshine too over the next few days. frank assessments the world is on a brink of a gas a strong that model fabian is that a fair assessment you could be a catastrophic global hialeah to twice and valuable back saying informed opinions should we be buying bit coy ultimately it will be sovereigns and governments who

are buying this that is the direction this is all headed in-depth analysis of the day's global headlines inside story on out 0. the end. welcome back a recap of our top stories on al-jazeera iran's nuclear agency says its main natanz facility suffered a blackout because of what it calls an act of terrorism it says the incident on sunday morning affected the electrical distribution grid it's all comes a day after iran began taking steps to enrich uranium faster the iranian nuclear issue is high on the agenda as the u.s. secretary of defense lloyd austin visits israel israeli defense minister benny

gantz says his government is ready to work with its ally to ensure any new deal with iran does not undermined regional security and china's center for disease control says the government may need a change in its coronavirus vaccine strategy after admitting issues with the effectiveness of locally produced jobs it's held the agency has suggested mixing vaccines or revising dose timetables. and give his son preliminaries old solve for the election national voters have granted sweeping powers to president so dear jap or all of the constitutional referendum will also allow him to run for reelection john stratford reports in the capital bishkek. voters cast their ballots and cubist on for the 3rd time in 6 months the referendum was called by the new president sort of to power of who asked the country to approve changes to the constitution the critics say they could pave the way for all thora terrorism and misrule you see

just yet bill is about allying with cuba i don't think only one man should decide everything there is a proverb that says you only find truth through debate the more opinions you have the better it is for the country's development of who's free from jail by supporters in october jury protests after parliamentary elections were not following widespread allegations of vote buying by pro-government parties. the government collapse the cube is cool the 3rd revolution in 3 decades since independence. says the last 10 years of the parliamentary system under the current constitution has been a failure in kyrgyzstan he's not ready for a parliamentary democracy the people have been really feeling that the parliament has been the scene of irresponsibility that there is no. there's nobody with at home the bucket stops as it were and the president has really picked up on that sense of sentiment among the people that we have

a constitution that doesn't assign clear responsibility to anyone and i'm the one who is going to take full responsibility myself. i will answer for everything that happens in this country and just give me the power supporters of the proposed constitutional changes say freedom of speech and democratic rights will be protected but order needs to be restored to government off the gears of mismanagement and corruption. fittin you could rip us we've had 33 prime ministers in 30 years can you imagine that and always the appointments in decisions were made by the president behind the scenes which was unconstitutional the prime minister was the victim of those decisions because you tional changes mean the president will be able to act transparently kyrgyzstan is often described as the most democratic country in central asia and christological are off says that altering the country's constitution will not change that but there are many people here who are afraid that he represents a problem on the culture was full democracy

a policy they have struggles to build since independence 30 years ago. that al-jazeera. voters in ecuador choosing their next leader in the ongoing presidential runoff more than 13000000 people are expected to cast their ballots but strict social distancing roles on base because of the corner virus pandemic this comes amid vising tensions between the 2 candidates after a disputed 1st round of voting recent poll suggests it will be a tight race between leftist economies or os and conservative bank again or more last on a lot america tennesseean remain reports that whoever wins the vote will face major challenges. is a rule indigenous community the known for a true tragic culture and flower exports but here as in the rest of ecuador the economy and basic services have collapsed long before the pandemic. and russified

in angle is one of the many unemployed who's had to find a new way to survive she's raising and selling these guinea pigs at $8.00 each 2 2 2. here they're a popular dish at their facebook as a job that's all i ask of him. she's referring to and that is sad alice the leading presidential candidate i doubt says a young the economist and protege of former left wing president rafael correa who was in power for a decade until 4 years ago and i was his name is frequently placed next to korea's image so they'll be no doubt about the connection let's look something on the system it's not just me who will vote for a rose everyone says that korea did a lot for us they say he stole but he did a lot. under korea's citizens revolution poverty levels fell social spending soared and so did public works projects but there were also nagging accusations of corruption and persecution of opponents and the media to korea is

now living in belgium and places 8 years in prison for corruption if you returns home. but korea is still a powerful. force represented by 36 year old r. else one of his former ministers i for ecuador's pacific coast to the mountains i doused has been campaigning hard to reinstate and it's celebrate their citizens revolution movement he says it was betrayed by current president lineen more than all but as you know they prefer to pay the foreign debt rather than protecting ecuadorians who had to leave their corpses on the street during the pandemic because there was no money for hospitals mom and part of his rival more last saw faces an uphill battle he is perceived as close to the discredited current president and worse yet to the i.m.f. the bank of businessmen is a 3 time presidential hopeful and a political conservative he warns that

a return of korea's party would threaten democracy getting started when yours i love it a lot for more than a decade they persecuted those who didn't buy out the tastes of their chief we represent those who consider diversity is one of ecuador's principle assets. that i asked former president correa about speculation that he'll return to ecuador as the power behind the throne if i doused the selected plan he's going to place i don't even plan to return to my country rather to continue in academia in belgium with my family furthermore the brainchild of our program to risk your ecuador is andras arose with a brilliant economist. backing candour a ph d. degree incline to me or experience in banking i mean very little the only thing people say they want is a president who will remember that they need help to see in human al-jazeera. voting is also under way in neighboring peru for the 1st run of the presidential

election 18 candidates are running but none have a strong enough lead for not right when many peruvians say they still don't know who they'll vote for the pandemic has killed tens of thousands and overshadowed the run up to the election as some families in myanmar say security forces are forcing them to pay $100.00 to retrieve the bodies of relatives killed in recent protests 80 demonstrators died during a crackdown in bangalore and fidei protests are continuing in several cities including young gone day where in mandalay early on saturday 3 rebel groups in eastern shan state reportedly attacked security forces the 1st since a ceasefire in 201920 has more from bangkok. we have had it confirmed by the banco student union who've had to pay to recover a number of bodies they have told us that the rate that's being asked for by the police to recover the bodies of the $82.00 people who are reported to died in their crackdown on friday is 120000 that's the equivalent of about $100.00 us dollars and

there have been some some terrible stories coming out that the case of caking a woman whose husband was lost in the crime was killed she was asked to pay the standard $20000.00 she didn't have enough money so had to go to the community where people gathered those funds together including another woman whose nephew and son had both been killed she didn't have enough money so she decided to contribute what she did so the kings could recover the body of her husband many people are reporting the same thing some were too scared to go for it is still very hard to get information out of me with the new internet so blocks of the been put in place in the last week but the assistance association for political prisoners which seems to be the definitive. role. of confirmed 82 people died in

just one place in just one day the lower house of france's parliament has approved a controversial ban on short whole domestic flights in an effort to reduce carbon emissions if passed by the senate the law would force airlines to cut all routes that can be covered by train in under 2 and a half hours is far broader climate bill that aims to cut emissions in france by 40 percent by 2030 the aviation industry has criticised the move to ban flight swap endemic hit our lines are relying on bailouts. the caribbean island of st vincent is being described as a battle zone after a series of volcanic eruptions many homes are without water and electricity and fallon's have been forced to leave ash is falling on neighboring islands including barbados nearly 200 kilometers away and o'brien reports. the caribbean island of sentiment sent transformed into a gray gloomy moonscape. streets and buildings blanketed by spewed from

a nearby volcano. ended decades of inactivity on friday when it erupted in spectacular fashion there were several earthquakes and a column of air was pumped up to 15 kilometers into the air we want to. work with you. and it's hampering the escape of thousands of people who are now in shelters across the island i am. everything. means sulfur outlet it's the only potentially active volcano sent which is home to about 100000 people from the eruptions rained down on several neighboring islands including barbados nearly 200 kilometers away countries including venezuela cuba ghana and the united states

a sending aid to the island nation. crew ships have been same turn to help those fleeing near option but because of the pandemic anyone going on board will have to be vaccinated and everyone in a shelter will be tested for covert 19 this is the 2nd they're mad experience in their work enough to force them and they have 10 hours men. they've been 5 explosive eruption zones in france and in the past 300 years the most recent in 90 . in 79 while there have been no deaths reported this time an eruption a 1902 killed more than a 1000 people but damage to crops and firearms from the choking cloud of ash is expected to be severe. and experts say the eruption could continue for some time yet brian al-jazeera

one of russia's most famous supermarkets has closed its doors after 120 years of service known for its palatial and meal by rock interior the ski food all stayed in business your imperial russia and outlived the soviet era but officials say legal issues and a drop in tourism because of the pandemic led to its closure the government says will keep the stores in teria as an ox textural monument. so again i'm fully back to bow with the headlines on al-jazeera iran's nuclear agency says its main natanz facility suffered a blackout because of what it calls an act of terrorism it says the incident on sunday morning affected the electrical distribution grade israeli media coating anonymous sources are reporting it was a cyber time.