off average with a high of 24. ah ah ah, this is al jazeera ah, hello, i'm lauren taylor. this is the elders here and use our live from london. coming up as the omicron variant spreads around the world, the european commission chief says it's time to consider compulsory cove vaccinations. this needs discussion. this needs a common approach, but it is a discussion that i think has to be let women's tennis association suspends all tournaments in china because of safety fears concerning champion player punch way.

the debate that's divided the u. s. for years, she can court his arguments on access to abortion. nato's hard line warning to russia. there will be serious consequences if it uses force against ukraine. and i'm devin. us with sport live up from our v for our cup studio on day 2 of the tournament. african champions, algeria made a strong start to their campaign with a foreigner, victory over suda. ah, the queen of ours caseload in south africa has doubled in a day with an 8500 positive tests were recorded on wednesday, up from about 4300 on tuesday, about 3 quarters of those cases. a thought to be the omicron variant, the discovery of that variances are to many countries closing their borders to

travelers from south africa. un sasha general attorney, but harris has condemned travel bands, describing them as travel, a partied. what is even acceptable is to have when part of the world's debt is one of the most vulnerable parts of the world economy condemned to a lockout when they were the ones that revealed the existence of a new variant. that by the way, already existed in other parts of the world, including in europe, as we know. so this is a very strong appeal that i large appeal to common sense. we have the instruments to have safe travel. let's use those instruments to avoid this kind. over. allow me to say, travel appetite. the head of the european commission says it's time for you and mistakes to consider making coven vaccinations. mandatory information on the new

strain is still limited, but the world health organization expects to know more about how easy it spreads within days for a challenge, reports from london for mac or on his spooking europe. with the delta variants, the continent is already the global at the center of the cove it pandemic. again, leaders are worried. what extra was the new variance may bring despite hastily enforce travel restrictions. so sama considering new policies like legally mandating citizens to get vaccinated. i think it is understandable and appropriate to leave this discussion now and how we can encourage and potentially think about mandatory vaccination within the european union. this needs discussion. a 3rd of e, you citizens, a 150000000 people remained on vaccinated to many belize funded land in order. what science tells us already is that full vaccination and boosters

provide the strongest protection against coverage that is available now. others are heading that way to austria is bringing in. mandatory vaccinations for eighteens in february. and this is the man replacing anglo merkel is germany's chancellor. this bear up because what we need is a legislative procedure where every member of parliament puts according to his or her conscience on a general mandatory vaccination, germans, it's horn about it. if they finish on as i'm against mandatory vaccination, i think everyone should be able to decide for themselves. i'm from sorry, scepter. from in the beginning i was skeptical because i believe everyone should be able to decide for their own body. but now, unfortunately, it appears there's no other way out of this pandemic, one country that is very unlikely to go down the route to mandatory vaccinations in the united kingdom. yes, the, please to program is now being extended to anyone over the age of 18. but the

government rejected the idea of vaccination passports and even just making face masks mandatory again on public transport and in shops or the past 3 parliament with much grumbling and abstaining from conservative m. p. 's without crohn. there are 3 big questions without answers yet. how transmissible is it, how severe is it? and how well will the current vaccines work? there is still a lot of uncertainty around on the crown, and this data will come in and their scientists around the world that are studying this. but there is no indication to suggest that the vaccines won't work, even if there is a reduction in efficacy. it's still better to have the vaccine because it will save your life. the w h. i says everything that is being done to combat delta, the dominant strain worldwide should be applied, am strengthen for omicron, and in the days to come, we should know better. what we're dealing with, rory collins, how does era london the u. s. is reported, its 1st case of the electron variant to unofficial jones is live from washington

d. c. and do have any more details about that particular case. while the passenger arrived in california traveling from south africa on november, the 22nd was tested on the 29th. and though they've discovered that he had the army corn virus, he is suffering from mild symptoms or all the people that he's been in touch with. they are being traced, they are being contacted and obviously that they will be tested as well. we know that the travel barn was put in place, but antony folksy said they were well aware that even with the travel, but that wasn't going to stop this valiant hitting the shores of the united states . we knew that it was just a matter of time before the 1st case of armor crown would be detected in the united states. and as you know, we know i've been saying it and my colleagues on the medical team, another 7 saying we know what we need to do to protect people get vaccinated if

you're not already vaccinated, get boosted if you've been vaccinated for more than 6 months with a name or an 8 or 2 months with j and j. in all the other things we've been talking about, we're getting your children vaccinated masking in indoor congregate settings. if there's one bright spot, as far as the public health officials are concerned in this case, as i see the symptoms were pretty mild and the hope that will be the case if you go back to the start of covered, we remember it was on the west coast of the united states were that 1st case was reported, we were told at that point that the situation was under control. and of course we saw what happened immediately after that 9 to be vote. she says it'll be somewhere in the region of 2 to 4 weeks before we can work out just how serious this variant is. and whether or not the current batch of vaccinations will be enough to stop it . this will be a difficult time for public health officials,

but on to be folks who believes that they have put in place the procedures they need, which they didn't have a year ago when more than a year ago, when covered started to hit the shores of the united states alan fish. thank you very much. indeed. governments around the world of tried both carrot and stick approaches to improve vaccination. take up in the u. s. states offered cash uber rides and beer. in july ohio's governor offered a weekly opportunity to win $1000000.00 for a job and driving up vaccination rates. 45 percent regional authorities in russia battled hesitancy with a variety of raffles, including offering cars in moscow. one prize in the country is far east, was 3 tons of co excluding delivery. but there's also been a push to dis, incentivize being unvaccinated, as singapore announced, it will stop covering the medical bills of people who hadn't been vaccinated. singapore has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, after changing its 0 current policy in october, to living with a virus,

primarily through vaccines. and greece plans to fine citizens of the age of 60 who haven't had their shots every month at the tax of $100.00 a month. we used to fund greek hospitals. what he's jane is academic clinical fellow in public health that university college london joins us now. live what you make, of course, if underlines so when he's to be discussion now about mandatory vaccinations. i learned thanks to me. so i think that, that we can see the reason why people are concerned a particularly politicians, as you've mentioned with this new variant. and the case is going up in the number of european countries. so it's certainly a consideration. it's a point worth discussing. i would suggest the, there are several steps that should be considered before vaccines are made, considered mandatory. and there are a number of reasons for that. first, the, we've seen protest and civil unrest breakout in

a lot of european countries over covey restrictions. and certainly now isn't the time going into winter to exacerbate some of those tensions that also have long term political and public health ramifications fiscal and the other thing really is, is about a trust in government and whether actually mandating vaccines will convert into increased coverage on that, i mean, is there any evidence that if you do make it mandatory that then that, that, that will actually make people who are refusing to have a habit. so it's difficult to tell really with cove it because it, you know, it's, it's relatively new. there are few countries in the world where it is mandatory, but certainly we haven't seen a situation where, you know, for example, liberal democracy or european country has become voluntary come from being boundary to mandatory, so time hotel from other diseases and other vaccination. certainly,

we can say in europe making things like m m r o protest this mandatory in certain countries, lead to a slight increase in uptake a few percentage points, but certainly nothing transformative. do you think it could be counterproductive in that it would play into the arguments of some of the blue against vaccines as being, you know, and, and evidence of state overreach? yes, so this is the classic kind of counter argument to mandatory vaccination that's often given on. of course that is a that is a concern. i think it really depends on the population groups who are not vaccinated. so that's kind of key piece of intelligence that governments need to take into account. so if those people are, you know, the reasons for that hesitancy or things like convenience so that they don't understand why to get vaccinated. then perhaps traditional methods of community engagement would be sufficient, but if they are vehemently against vaccines on the part of the anti vac movement, then of course they could use they could weaponized measures like this to further

fuel distrust with the government. and what about the, i mean if, if you were to sort of be trying to say, well, before you go to the maxi vaccine mandates, there's one thing, this is the one thing that would help and convincing people that they want to have it. what would be the one argument you think it's difficult to give you just one thing, but i and like i said, you know, really depends on the determinants of hesitancy, which are not homogenous across population. so it really depends on the context. but why would obviously stress is a concern? i think people often have a particular younger people who are less likely to be vaccinated is what's the kind of individual benefit. and so i would say that in terms of the persuasion and the convincing education, the engagement really needs to focus on what is that individual benefit, which is substantial when you consider the costs of lock downs, school closures work closures, etc,

which are more likely when less of the population is vaccinated that he said, thank you very much indeed for talking to. thank you. thank you. us more still ahead on the news our including i am rob mcbride and western afghanistan at the border crossing were the wrong. that's been a barometer of the volatility of both sides of this frontier masquerades and ben roost with 800 people already behind bars for political reasons. rights group say, alexander lucas shanker, is continuing his crack down on descent and his fort reigning arab cup champions, morocco get their campaign underway with a foreigner, victory of palestine. ah, women in the u. s. have had a constitutional right to abortion since 1973. as when the supreme court ruled in

the landmark case, roe vs wade. legalizing abortions, so long as the fetus is not viable outside the womb at about 24 weeks of pregnancy . but a new case before the supreme court has asked the court to reconsider and may lead to abortions in the u. s. becoming illegal once again, our as errors and is your castro report, or nearly 5 decades women have been able to get abortions in the united states, thanks to a decision made within these marbled halls. now, a new panel, a supreme court justices, is revisiting that decision. and could take it all back. it's heartbreaking to think that ro could get overturns, and ro has always been the floor and never the ceiling. but i want to live in a country where every single person can have access to health care that we mean saving the lives of so many russian unworried. children who are voiceless are un unable to defend themselves. and they're relying on us with the abortion case before the court comes from mississippi,

where the conservative state legislature wants to bear nearly all abortions after 15 weeks. well, before viability lower courts have ruled the ban unconstitutional. but now the supreme court with its new 63 conservative majority will have the final word. president trump appointed 3 justices, that he, that he promised would overrule roe vs wade. but there is no reason there is no constitutional basis to overturn nearly 50 years in president during the hearing liberal justice to waste concern the court legitimacy with that state. will this institution survive the stench that this create in the public perception that the constitution and it's reading are just political acts. but many conservative states are viewing this moment as the most opportune in

a generation to attack abortion access were about to make it law live in after more than $100.00 state level restrictions this year alone, including a texas ban on abortions after just 6 weeks of pregnancy that way, but that's nothing compared to what may happen if the supreme court overturns ro, if the court were to do that, it would mean that states across the country that of that of enacted so called trigger bands that would ban abortion at the moment that row was overturned, whole show, the majority of america were assessed to abortion. these protesters organized by the women's minds are in the supreme. i had always heard, while contractors on the anti telling their own rally. and who on an, in looks like an 15 weeks old, the child is fully born. we know that they have a central nervous system. we know that the heart is beating, so we know that this is not in columbus out like we were lied to for so many years . the hearing lasted about 2 and

a half hours. lawyers from mississippi argue the decision in roe vs wade was egregiously wrong and should be overturned. while the pro abortion side argued, a woman's liberty over her own body is at stake. the justice is line of questioning, offered few clues to how they will ultimately rule their decision is expected in june. i to jo castro al jazeera washington. nicholas grail is an assistant professor of business law and ethics at georgia college and state university that joins me now from there by skype. thanks for being with us. so you would have been scrutinizing all the words in these are from the judges today. what can your view was, were the key moments will really we're only focused on about 3 of the judges here because we know are 6 of them are going to rule. we know 3 are very liberal. we know 3 are very conservative. and then looking at the 3 that could potentially go either way, we really saw some key comments today, both from just this roberts, the chief justice and justice kevin, all that definitely give us

a reason to think abortion access is probably going to be severely limited here. in the united states pretty soon. so what sort of things with saying that maybe while chief justice roberts, in particular, seemed to question the idea of using fetal viability as a standard feat. availability beetle by ability, which generally isn't considered until about 24 weeks, is often seen as kind of the heart of ro, ray and planned parenthood versus casey the, to abortion cases, which give access in the united states or worse and access. and so with both of those being question the central holding of it, it really seems difficult to believe he's going to sign on to any sort of landmark ruling which keeps that going. similarly, just as cavanaugh seemed to want to take the cord out of it entirely, he said that he saw it is the most neutral option. as giving this back to the states, letting individual states decided that we had court could kind of just wash its hands of the matter. he also even said at one point that we had to find a way to balance the interest between the fetus in the mother and that he saw no

real way to do that. these are again, comments that you would not expect from somebody who is going to vote to, to uphold abortion. is it currently exists? so what do you think the impact of this would be if they do good on the way that you suggest? well, i think what we're likely to see is ultimately a ruin coming down. that gives states far more leeway to do so. i don't think we're likely looking at it where abortion access will be eliminated entirely. but the bands are going to move up in time. probably something closer to like $1213.00 weeks would be allowed if a state once. so what you'll see is people who are in much more conservative state are going to have far more restrictions put on them versus those in more liberal states. and so from the effect on, on abortion, or if there is a kind of decision to overturn precedent will not have further implications for, for other areas of law. it certainly could because roe v wade itself was built on expanding the idea of privacy law, which itself is birth. and the a case in our 40 years before that that had to do with contraception. and so when

we look at that, when we even look at marital private marital privacy, what goes on in your own bedrooms, lawrence versus texas, which it wasn't decided until 2005, which finally made it no longer towards states, can make it a legal for homosexual conduct, that's something that could potentially be gone after by state if that central holding and privacy is no longer there. what about the, there's the, one of the couple of judges highlighted the risk of the supreme court looking political if it, if it was in a particular way. is that some how much of a consideration will that be when they come to make the final decision? well that is something we generally have seen in the past. the chief justice roberts does worry about. he wants to see the court being chief justice. his name's forever going to be attached to this error. it is something he is concerned about. but again, looking at his comments, i don't really see him citing with that because the, the justices who did bring that up, who did try to say, we don't want to look political. well, that was something by the 3 liberal justices. they seem to be wanting to throw that

out there to say we need to keep things as they are. and kevin, himself seemed to answer that by saying, well, arline is going to be that if we issue any sort of decision that it's getting more political than if we go ahead and get involved in kraft these rules, like fetal viability or specific weak deadlines. because great, thank you very much indeed for you and i was this of events, they thank you. thank you. now the women's tennis association has suspended tournaments in china and hong kong. if there were concerns about the safety of former doubles world, number one, punctuate, she accused a politician of cursing her to fix and was not seen in public afterwards. trying to since attempted to show that she's safe by releasing video clips and an email on a statement, the w to head said the body can't ask athletes to compete. when punctuate is not allowed to communicate freely. it says that she's seemingly been pressured to contradict her allegation of sexual assault. and that all w t. a pleasant staff could face risks in china. we actually one is

a senior research at human rights watch and doing his live from new york. what do you make a decision by the w t a? well in, ah, so much respect because this is what standing up for human rights in china. looks like this is what integrity looks like. this is what leadership looks like. i mean, is it clear the stage what actually happened? do we have any further information in the last few weeks about what's happened to punch re? well, i mean, you mentioned we saw the video clips and her pictures and her mining, but we have not heard from her directly. she has not talked to her fans not ok. press conference. she has not spoken directly. so i would say, you know, she's alive. she lives in beijing, but whether she's safe, whether she's, you know, free, we can't tell. so we've heard from the w 2 chief saying that had serious doubts

that she was free, safe and not subject to intimidation in good conscience. i don't see how i can all go out. it's compete the do you think those words about tennis will influence other sporting bodies or even government and how to deal with with john or visit this issue? i absolutely hope. a more international sports organizations, international businesses will follow suit follow w t lead a stand for him, like in china, and not be complicit in human rights violations in china, especially, i'll say the international olympic committee who participated in this public and the video was shot. it's really shameful and i want them to, you know, to not do that. so you referring that to, to thomas by talking to her on video on that to mean that they, the international olympic committee sort of seem to suggest that actually the diplomacy behind the scenes is better than, than anything else. what would you say to that? well, we've seen the 40 year for engagement with china. what had come out of it is

a crime against you, hong kong in serious crap. it goes in credit against humanity. she crept out in hong kong, now has been disappear. she's a huge star and she can be disappeared so that it's definitely not working. so when you do something differently, i mean the chinese take me just said at one point that she was taking her home freely and would make it public apparent soon. so i will wait and see what happens on that. but in terms of the, what you talked about the olympics that and other sporting bands that has been a movement kind of international movement to try and arrange a boy culture of the, the beijing olympics. how far do you think that's, that's got and you think that's likely to happen? well, i can definitely gaining more and more momentum. i mean, i understand the app with where to go because you know the training for the life event. but i think all the other actors used to stay away from including, you know, government officials, international dignitary celebrities, business to sponsor,

they should, they always wanted not to legitimize the chinese government, the human rights abuses at your one. thank you very much indeed for doctor. thank you. thank you. now human rights group say, or 30 bela roofs of rated the homes of dozens of journalists and activists. in what appeared to be the best one day cracked down on descent in the past 3 months. was an $800.00 people are reportedly already in prison for political reasons, since a government crackdown started last year, while bell russian leader, alexander lucas shanker, has been accused of orchestrating a migrant crisis at the border. inside the country, people are being detained nearly every day. a step fastened reports from members, collided blogger, and comedian fatty mattie was arrested last august when he had a meeting with teenagers about the new skateboard track, he was sentenced to 25 days for organizing a sports event. and i'll face his serious charges like insulting the president and

promoting extremist activities that could keep him in prison for years when you will bill up. but he has 46000 subscribers, but he's not a politician. he's a person who loves and respects the truth. he's a lawyer by education and an honest kind person. i believe such people should be cherished. when i heard his sentence, i asked the investigator, if you are arresting these kinds of people, what kind of society we're going to live in a question many and bella, who are asking as the country, continues to face away of arrests on wednesday homes of dozens of journalism after this and at least 9 cities were rated. and what seems to be the biggest one day club down in month does all in response to mass protests against the election fraud last year. lucas shanker recently admitted that many were arrested, then have been tortured per month protests. a score for change was loud and clear. here at this monument. it means that if it's been silenced, and many have flat bellows on living in fear, this is a country controlled by one man and many say given the crackdown after the election

. and the recent micro crisis is clear that he will do anything to stay in power. someone who has not been silenced is maria colette sneak over at the forefront of election protests. yes, and i'll be in jail for 11 years for aiming to overthrow the state. that freedom is the most important thing is something my generation did not understand. now i know what my daughters are doing. what young people are doing is what we should have done from prison. his daughter communicate through postcards myself, my maria knows in our family. we love the beatles. she sent me regards from harrison from mccartney. leslie covert high spirits despite her prison sentence has inspired many in bella. ruth, she famously ripped up her passport to avoid deportation. i really wish that europe and the rest of the world give all or for political prisoners, high priority. i'm sure most of the people are yes, friends, my whole family,

we all along in for change and it will come here. but for now the crack down on bell, russian society continues. recently this magazine for healthy living was banned one of 270 civil organizations that have been shut down. still 75 year old active is nina buckets. guy here during last year. demonstration refuses to concede the protest movement has last to where you soon the regime has betrayed its people. 100 percent. i'm sad about what's happened, but i still believe at the end of the day, like all other empires. this one supported by moscow will collapse, as well, pretty much blogger, faddie, mattie, and hundreds of other prisoners. this moment can come soon enough. steadfast and al jazeera in minsk. what he does your life london is still a hedge. uganda begins its military offensive to hunt down an armed group in democratic public of congo. again, via gears up for

a tight presidential election within come and a barrow facing challenges from his former coalition. this coming out nation school, egypt, class, lebanon, beneatha. our thanks to a 2nd half and more rain on the way for flood stricken areas of northern spain. hello everyone. let me show you this picture. we've also got snow through the parent needs as well in a lot of this. what weather is driving down into northern africa? we'll talk more about that in a 2nd unsettled conditions across the valley. eric's as well, but i do want to take you to italy, whether alerts out because we're going to see the rain pile up for central parts of the country. this includes for rome, also unsettled for the other side of the adria exceeds some bursts of rain to be expected. here,

we'll call it most star rate through into dubrovnik. that western side of greece is also going to get some of this driving rain filter in over the aegean. same goes for turkey, a scattering of showers for is marin bio. my temperature is across turkey have dropped with that cold front on korea 8 degrees. see that when pick up through the boss 1st, but nothing like we saw just a few days ago. take it to north western europe right now, that cold ra northwind really driving down temperatures. and we've got snow swirling around the baltic states weather alerts out here too. for a lot via just looking at some icey conditions and snow really plaguing some of these parts over to north africa. right now, some heavy rain northern morocco into northern algeria. alger is the high of 14. that's it. see soon? ah cutter, one of the fastest growing nations in the world news.