when the wells are empty, people fight for programs that open your eyes to a little tentative view. i don't have collage until i have my point on al jazeera ah the u. s. identifies its 1st case of all me crohn in a traveler from south africa. ah, hello, i'm emily anguish. this is al jazeera alive from dough house or coming up the women's tennis association, suspends all tournaments in china. i've a concern for player punch. why? the european union unveils a 340000000000 dollar plan to rival china's belts and road infrastructure projects

blasted pink inside contact state of the art world camp stadiums and the inspiration for their design. ah, hello and welcome to the program. almost a week after learning the world of a new cove at 19 variant south africa's daily corona virus cases have doubled in a single day. about 3 quarters of the age and a half 1000 cases, a thought to be the only cron variant. the un secretary general has called the travel bands. many countries have imposed on southern the african countries deeply unfair and ineffective. your pain, xena acceptable is to have one part of the world. that is one of the most vulnerable parts of the world economy condemned to a lockout when they were the ones that the viewed 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 good pill that i love to appeal to common sense. we have the instruments to have safe travel. let's use those instruments to avoid this kind of, or allow me to say, prayerful upper tight. you're paying commission. president esla vander lion is calling on the a you to consider mandatory vaccinations to help fight the rising cases. several, a you nations have announced a booster shots and plans to vaccinate children. the only covariance has now been reported in at least 24 countries. u. s. has recorded its 1st case, rog reynolds reports from los angeles. a traveler from san francisco is the 1st known person in the us to contract the omicron variant of coven 19. the individual

was a traveler who returned from south africa on november the 22nd and tested positive on november the 29th. the individual is self quarantining and all close contacts have been contacted. the person was fully vaccinated and experienced mild symptoms and is said to be getting better. this individual has not been hospitalized the individuals that, that this individuals come into contact with. i have not tested positive yet to our knowledge. ah, and a we are hopeful of for recovery and expect nothing less according to the world health organization, the variant has spread through at least $24.00 countries. since the 1st cases were found in botswana, it should not surprise us. this is what viruses do and it's what despite us will continue to do as long as we allow it to continue spreading

much remains unknown about omicron. we don't know how infectious it is, although there is a strong likelihood that it is more infectious than delta. we don't know how sick it will make people with that has been studied furiously right now across the world . pharmaceutical companies are working to tweak the existing vaccines to give people protection from oma kron. in the meantime, the biden administration has ramped up testing capability nationwide. and is even more strongly urging on vaccinated people to get the shock. susan, the best protection against army crime is getting a booster shot right now about a 135000000 americans are eligible for booster. but only about 40000000 have gotten one thus far. countries including the u. s. japan e u members and the u. k. have all imposed travel restrictions in an effort to slow

the spread of omicron. but as the world knows, all. busy too well, the virus recognizes no borders. rob reynolds al jazeera, los angeles, and worry, talons easing, london with more in the curve in 19 said across europe. arm occur on his spooking europe with the delta variance, the continent is already the global epicenter of the kobe pandemic. again, lead is worried what extra was the new variance may bring. despite hastily enforced travel restrictions, so sama considering new policies like legally mandating citizens to get vaccinated . i think it is understandable and appropriate to lead this discussion. now, how we can encourage and potentially think about mandatory vaccination within the european union. this needs discussion. a 3rd of your citizens, a 150000000 people remain on vaccinated to many police on the land in order. what

science tells us already is that full vaccination and boosters provide the strongest protection against cover that is available. now. there's a heading that way to austria is bringing in mandatory vaccinations for a teams in february. and this is the man replacing anglo merkel in germany's chancellor miss vera because what we need is a legislative procedure where every member of parliament for, according to his or her conscience on a general mandatory vaccination, the germans, it's horn about it in the finish on as i'm against mandatory vaccination. i think everyone should be able to decide for themselves as 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 is

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. only past 3 parliament with a 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 there are 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 says everything that is being done to combat delta, the dominant strain worldwide, should be applied and strengthened for omicron. and in the days to come,

we should know better what we're dealing with, rory helen's. how does era london to the world news now? and the women's tennis association has suspended all of its tournaments in china. it says the decision was made due to concerns about the safety of former devils world number one, punch wine, she accused a politician of coercing her into sex at abbey. a head said players and staff, good faith risks in china. yeah, sure. one is a senior at human rights watch. she's applauding the w t as decision. 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, we saw the video clips and 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. i absolutely hope that a more international course organizations, international businesses will follow suit follow w t lead and then every forth in the right in china and not be complicit in human rights variations in china, especially the ios say the international olympic committee who participated in this public and the video wisco shy, it's really shameful. we've seen that 40 year from engagement with china. what had come out of it is crime. so again, if you hong kong in serious crap, it goes in, credits against humanity she years correct 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, the south korean n u. s. defense chiefs have met in soul to strengthen the decades along

a military lines between both countries. the meaning aims to counter china's growing assertiveness in the region and north careers, nuclear threats. earlier this week, the u. s. announced it will permanently deploy an attack helicopters, squadron, and artillery units in south korea. and european union has launched a $340000000000.00 gain to rival china's vast and influential belton road initiative. the venture will see investment in digital technology transport an energy projects. it aims to give countries want your pain commission. president s love underlying calls, a true alternative for major investment and infrastructure development around the world. we want to take a different approach. we want to show that a democratic value driven approach can deliver on the most pressing challenges. we want to show that it can on one hand, meet not local needs,

but also on the other hand, to tackle the global challenges we have. and thus in a way also of course benefit the european union. because global gateway is also about our strategic interests around the world. it's a new strategic approach to investment scott morris. he's a senior fellow at the center for global development. he says it has the potential to improve overall standards of projects in developing countries. i think it holds a promise and at least in the rhetoric so far we hear about higher quality projects . i think the devil will be in the details for that. i think there is an important challenge and kind of the frankly, also with other countries in the united states, even japan, that it may be that there is a lot of new money shaping, relatively few projects. it can be very hard to do these very large multimillion

dollar instructor projects in developing countries, particularly in an environment, as we see today where, where the dead risks are quite high in a large number of countries. so i think there will be a challenge in part of just catching up with china, been chasing after the same project with, with multiple countries and the sponsors. we know very well. now, the chinese approaches play was with key problems and the lack of transparency is one of them. there is, every day we learn about particularly dep problems and countries where there was an eating awareness of an underlying load eventually came to light. so i think it is right to go after the weaknesses of chinese financing and point to a better approach, particularly as

a way potentially to bring chinese standards up. still ahead. delane al jazeera, uganda begins its military offensive to hunt down an armed group in democratic republic. of congo and the debate is divided u. s. b is the supreme court. he's arguments. oh, sure. ah hello, good to be with you. here's your headlines for the americas. we've got a reprieve coming. finally, for canada's west coast and the pacific northwest of dry conditions, vancouver hyatt, 7 degrees, and look at this warmth. we have 4 billings montana. 19 we could break more than 40 records across central and western parts of the us. temperatures are also on the rise for the east coast as while new york, 13 degrees,

but this disturbing cindy atlantic, it's going to swoop in to nova scotia, cape breton island, and newfoundland. so whites and wendy conditions and we got a swath of snow moving across quebec as well. calm conditions for the u. s. se, temperatures here are really nice. atlanta at 22 degrees, and some of that warmth. we are talking about. denver, 23. well above average, temperature in los angeles has come down just a bit, a run of rain to be expected for the yucatan peninsula, plaguing can coon or take our foot off the pedal for heavy rain. for coaster again, panama still going to be some range. it's not falling at the same intensity over the last few days, burst of rain through the amazon basin bogota, it's got a high of 20 degrees. that stormy weather we saw for the southeast of brazil mostly pushes out toward the south atlantic, but still the risk of some showers for rio de janeiro on thursday. a

reagan stories of resilience. and i get younger. a lot of us is one of them for but a lot of it yet, lloyd, them kind of tradition and dedication bloomberg was out a little more go above a short documentary by african filmmakers on the white 9 and the book make it africa direct on al jazeera lou ah ah, and are you watching out 0? i'm emily angland, a reminder of our top stories. the south south africa is daily corona, virus cases have dabbled to more than 8500 in

a day. most of the infection. so thought to be the new corbett 19 variance us has reported its 1st to only con case. the women's tennis association has suspended all its tournaments in china. the decision was made are the concerns for the welfare of former doubles. well, number one punch, why? she had accused of former vice premier of sexual assault is not seen in public for more than 2 weeks. and the european union has launched a $314000000000.00 game to rival china's belton road initiative. your pain commission that president s. levant lions describes it as a true alternative, involves investment in digital transpose and energy. a u. n committee has deferred a decision on who will represent have dentist on me and ma, at the united nations. both countries in democratically elected governments with

toppled earlier this year. diplomatic editor james bank explains meetings of the credentials committee of the un general assembly are often little noticed, but its now in the spotlight because of the controversy over who should sit in the seats of afghanistan. and man ma, after dramatic changes in the 2 countries, the 9 member committee chaired by sweden and the swedish ambassador came to reporters to reveal what had happened. the committee decided to defer some of the credentials in these 2 situations. the report of the committee will be made public once, once it has been issued for the concentration of the general assembly to, to what things we will not make any more comments until the report will be shipped . so what does the foot mean in this case? it means that the existing ambassadors will stay in the post. the ambassador of

afghanistan, who was appointed by the former president ashura gunny who fed his country, which was then taken over by the taliban. and the man moran bassett appointed by an santucci who's deposed along with her government. they will stay in their post as to baset us for now. and these 3 members of the taliban have been killed at iran border with afghanistan, several iranian border guns rosa injured during the confrontation. iranian media is reporting the violence escalated after the television open fire on iranian farmers . for testers in iraq have rejected final results of october, parliamentary election announced on tuesday demonstrate his supported factions, backed by iran. iraq supreme court is due to ratify the results which followed weeks of recounting election commission confirmed the when i is the block led by sheer later more tata al sabah secured 73 seats out of 300 and $29.00

tanks and other heavy machinery have been same crossing into democratic republic of congo as uganda steps up a tax against an armed group. it launched a joint campaign against the allied democratic forces with the congolese army on tuesday, targeting camps in the aisd with hillary strikes malcolm, when were gunned and troops tanks and armored vehicles as cross the border into democratic republic of congo. the 2 government, se the gang to hunt down an armed group called the allied democratic forces, or adf. he can the government blame the s a 3 suicide bombings, kansas capital can paula. 2 weeks ago, several people died. dozens were injured. he's not the 1st time you've gotten his army has been in congo. it invaded 25 years ago. along with rwanda,

it's been accused of plundering minerals and meddling on and off ever since. we've seen in the past that you've gotten the has not always had the best interest of the comalies population in mind, nor did it really want to stabilize the eastern d r c. but what we see now is, but apparently president katie has given the green light to this operation, which gives it a bit of a different character than previous intervention by the you've gotten them in easton, d, or c. the adf originated, and you got there in the 19 ninety's for 3 decades. is hayden, when the forest of eastern congos, profiting from timber and minerals wines 2 years ago, he pledged the legions to i so extensive. the connection isn't clear. in recent years, it's become notorious for massacring thousands of civilians in the villages around the city. if any people of north keyvi province attired of the violence. congress army said it would stop the killings. it introduced martial law in the region 6 months ago. but i haven't worked,

that's why some people and now welcoming the guns armies arrival, others skeptical. the 1st thing the relation is looking for protection. they want them to, to end. and that can be only possible if the protection of civilian is the 1st object are not clear how easily the adf can be flushed out of its forest, high doubts, or how long you've got the army plans to stay. malcolm web out his era, nato is threatening russia with economic sanctions. if it uses any force against ukraine, concerns about a russian military build up on the ukrainian border dominated to days of talks. in latvia as capital rica, russia is demanding guarantees from nature that it won't expand its true deployment any closer to the russian border. the conflict in easton, ukraine has killed almost 14000 people in the past 7 years. bennet smith has the

latest reaction out of moscow. russia's activity and build up along the border with ukraine continues the 2nd time they've done that this year. and russia now says some $10000.00 troops going to be involved in winter maneuvers coming soon. those maneuvers at 30 different locations in russia billing that includes a long eastern part of ukraine. russia's border with ukraine and bella, russia's southern border with ukraine as well. so russia is keeping up the pressure on ukraine and on, nate. so as it goes, as particularly as a law goes for a meeting with antony, blink and install come on thursday. the us now where women across the country have had constitutional right to abortions since 973. but a new case before the supreme court could lead to abortions becoming a legal once again in many states. i'll just here is heidi drug castro. for

nearly 5 decades, women have been able to get abortions in the united states, thanks to a decision made within these marvelled halls. now, a new panel of 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. so many profession on boarding children who are voiceless are 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 ban 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 unprecedented during the hearing. liberal justice is waste concern. the court legitimacy was at stake. will this institution survive the stench that this creates 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 row.

if the court were to do that, it would mean that states across the country that of that of an arctic circle trigger bands that would ban abortion. at the moment that gro was overturned, whole show, the majority of america were asked to abortion. these protesters organized by the women's minds, are in circling the supreme. i had a voice heard while from testers, on the anti above, inside, telling their own little rally, little one and it looks like on 15 weeks old, the child is believe born. we know that they have a central nervous system. we know that the heart is beating, so we know that this is not a composite, 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 chillies. senate has rejected a bill that would have a legalized abortions up to 14 weeks. the measure was narrowly defeated $65.00 votes to $62.00, it would have eliminated a 5 year prison sentence for women and doctors. chil, any currently allow only allows the procedure in cases of ripe if the fetus is not healthy or where the woman's life is in danger. mexico's minimum wage will rise by more than 20 percent next year. president andrea's men. well, lopez, a bridle, made the announcement and to rally mark in the midway point of his 6 year term. the minimum wage will rise to $12.00 from northern border regions and $8.00. the rest of the country. wages have increased steadily since lopez, a braid all to office. ah,

6 of the a stadium set to be use at the 2022 world comp. i getting a test run during the fif arab cup. the tournament began on tuesday and is a chance for cotton to trial its infrastructure ahead of next year's mega event they designed to represent the past and the present. sorry kyra at take a look at what inspired them. the 8 modern stay to the art stadiums reflecting ca, calls rapid development as a country in just a few years with a common theme, tying them together, heritage architects, abraham j, that didn't need to go far to find inspiration, phase design of all for mamma stadium. the guffy ah, the pile of local, the local guffy is that we used to where we are kids. i would never forget going to

the all to shopping for all sorts of size of guy for years. and i realize that was there was tons of different patterns and designs, but the challenge, he says, was sending his idea into a functional and sustainable stadium in a country where temperatures reach almost 50 degrees celsius stadiums are air condition too. while it's open to the sky, and interestingly, even ventilation these, this can have some openings wherever the wind has been calculated to penetrate through to create the proper breeze. and all the technical matters, cattle or is home to less than 3000000 people. and with vast, undeveloped land, it's been in a unique position to build stadiums without controversial relocating homes are seen in some of the previous house countries. the location of the stadiums where a widely chosen to be built in an area that the national strategy in the country is moving toward and trying to move population toward since cattle one, the world,

cockpit. it's accelerated building its infrastructure like roads and public transport across the country. for the 1st time in world cup history, all the stadiums are within a short distance of each other and our city dreams a football fan. one thing would be more than one game in a day. and what better way to do that and build an entirely new metric system to achieve a dismantle stadium, recyclable seats, and venues to be used as sports clubs, educational facilities. it's all part of castles. walcott legacy plan of creating a community within and around the arena's. we made sure that the legacy aspect of those stadiums fits the local needs just a bit stadium, which is the opening a stadium for, for the woke up the still, the stadium provides lots of greenery for, for the north and bottom ports of upper. and this scenario is as replicated throughout our stadium. so we are pretty sure that there will be a, you know,

some sort of a daily usage for these facilities beyond 2020, to the middle east. first, ever, walt camp has taken more than a decade in the making. a game changer for cats are, as the aims to establish itself as a cultural hub in the region, sort of credit al jazeera, doha. ah, hello, are you watching out here? and these are the stories where following the salam south africa's daily corona virus cases have dabbled to more than 8500, most of the infections are thought to be from the army kron variant. it's now been reported in at least 24 countries. the u. s. is among the latest. we knew that it was just a matter of time before the 1st case of armored 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 and i.