and what's not, but people were only talking about this, it wasn't at the top of the agenda. if america can't handle multiple challenges on multiple fronts, we need to go back to school. the bottom line on al jazeera, a diverse range of stories from across the globe, from the perspective of on networks journalists on the al jazeera. ah. ready so we've said, we'll meet at any time in any place. they're the ones who are not prepared to do it . the u. s. emvoy on iran tells al jazeera tehran isn't ready for direct nuclear talks, even as negotiations resume in vienna. ah, hello, i'm emily angry. this is al jazeera alive from dough house, or coming up. the you as president off is his support to ukraine's later during

a phone call, while russia insists eats not to blame for the military build up on the border. health experts recommend 3rd jobs only for the most vulnerable amid concerns. the new corona virus variant could lead to vaccine affording and new zealand plan to bought out. smoking for gord, with a lifetime band, the teenagers on tomorrow. ah, we begin with the iran nuclear talks in vienna. as negotiations get underway there, the bought an administration is wanting to run of new sanctions. if diplomacy fails, the u. s. envoy for iran says washington is even ready to hold direct discussions with to run over. it's a nuclear activity. robert malley spoke with our white house correspondent, kimberly hell kit before leaving the austrian capital. she started by asking him

why the u. s. is still moving to tighten sanctions, as the talks are ongoing. is it helpful to be pushing for that as you're trying to get a deal, we are prepared to get back into the deal as soon as possible soon as are on is and we would lift all of the sanctions are inconsistent with adjacent to it. but in the meantime, we can stand by and not be prepared for world in which iran may be choosing to delay build its program, try to build more leverage, we honestly have to respond. and so that's what we're doing. we're preparing ourselves for that, that outcome. how concerned are you or how concerned is the united states that israel could potentially drag the united states into an armed conflict with iran? we are privileging the path of diplomacy. we think it's the best way. it's best for us. we suspect it's best we're wrong, but iran will have to decide that as president bud and secretary blinking has both said, if iran chooses regard despite our diplomatic offer to take a different path,

then we'll have to use the, the tools at our disposal to make sure that iran does not acquire a nuclear with why should iran trust the united states? so given the fact that it knows full well that 2020 for presidential election could bring another president completely and do any of the efforts you're making right now. this is not a deal that is based on trust, and so it's not, we don't trust it, rains that, don't trust us. and what happened when the u. s. withdrew from the deal, is that around started wrapping up its nuclear program. that's why president biden is back and has given us the mandate to try to get back into the deal and he would not be extending this political capital. i'm making this effort if his goal was to come in and then withdraw. of course, we don't know what the future president will do. we don't know what the future raining leadership will do, but we think that it's in our mutual interest to get back in to deal with the united states. be willing, at any point to meet face to face with a run in negotiators. we're prepared to meet with them face to face. we think it's far superior to indirect negotiations and we're dealing with something this complex

with so much more so much mistrust with so my potential for misunderstanding. so we've said we'll meet at any time in any place. they are the ones who are not prepared to do it for their own reasons. we think it's a mistake. we think it's a mistake that hurts both of us. we know that these talks are not open ended. the united states has made that clear. what's the timeframe we're looking for? as i've said before, this is a technological clock. it's not a chronological clock. in other words, if they slow down the nuclear program would have more time if they continue, the current pace than time is running out. secretary lincoln has made that clear over and over again. time is running out and we and the europeans will have to conclude if, if a run continues down this path, they have killed the g p a and the j. c for would be no more. we hope that's not the case. we are fully committed to a mutual return to compliance with jesse 3. we think there's still time to do it. if iran comes back and says they're prepared to roll up their sleeves and do it too . so let's take a look back at how we got here. the deal known officially as the joint

comprehensive plan of action was agreed to in vienna, back in 2015 between iran, china, france, russia, the u. k. and us. but in may 2018 president donald trump pulled the us out of the deal made by his predecessor later that year he re imposed sanctions. a year later, ron said it was no longer bound by the terms of the deal and would raced high level iranian enrichment. that was the start of a series of steps which by november or a tenfold increase in a winch in enrichment. this year with joe bought and taking office came a fresh set of talks to rescue the chord. but so fines been playing with a stumbling blocks, including a pause after the election of hotline at abraham racy to the iranian the presidency . around the top negotiate it says, hey ron is serious about raging and nuclear agreement, but isn't backing down from its demands negotiations between iran and well,

how is resumed in vienna on those thing? the you, if sharing the talk says all sides have shown a renewed sense of purpose to revive that 2015 deal. although last week iran was accused of not taking talk seriously. what days both this morning was for the whole delegation of only the ring in one of the locations are in the you sense of purpose on the need to work on to reach an agreement from being in the just to be back to life. this is, this is my, my information from, from this morning. it's difficult, it's a very difficult endeavor, but are still in different positions that we have to marie, this is the gist of the negotiation and we will see how we can so we can present. that's how we kind of funds. dorsey jabari has the latest from vienna. they sent him and several shared by the reigning deputy foreign minister ali baba connie

who was leading the arabian delegation, was the same as that of the e. u. a foreign policy chief that we just heard from. connie said that had the rainy's are very serious and they're here for results. and that is exactly what they hoped to achieve. in the coming days. the joint commission met earlier on thursday and then they ran off to smaller working groups to discuss the details of what iran has proposed to the world powers. the rain is put forth 2 proposals last week where they said one deals with how the united states will lift those sanctions that they impose, since they left a nuclear deal in 2018. and the 2nd proposal deals with the arena nuclear program and how iran will go back into compliance. see when is of set, that will only happen when they can verify that all the sanctions that the u. s. is imposed or lifted in terms of what the international atomic energy agency has to do with all of this. they are the watchdog that polices the j. c. p. away the nuclear deal of 2015. and the head of that organization has said that there has been

serious issues with iran's compliance over the past few months. and that they are very concerned that they no longer have the access that they want to have when it comes to policing iran's nuclear program. for now, the groups here that are discussing how to move forward are hopeful. they can come to some kind of an agreement in the next few days and on how to move forward with these negotiations to other world news now. and you, as president joe biden has reaffirmed his commitment to ukraine's sovereignty and a phone call with it's later, it's a show of support against the build up of russian troops along ukraine's boredom. however, moscow denies its preparing to invade its name um, bought and how to symbolical, with russian president vladimir persian early this week. and warned of severe economic sanctions if he attacked both sides are accusing each other, failing to engage in a pace process. but he, by dish gifts that are not with the support of nato countries. ukraine is being pumped full of weapons and kia is building up its contingent on the line of contact

. and on beth, the number of sci fi violations which have happened since it was signed and july 2020 is coming close 290000. the spatial monitoring mission to ukraine has registered the re deployment of heavy weapons, including high caliber artillery and ahmed vehicles to the east of the country was, however, that accounts being disputed by the white house. it places the blame squarely on russia. the russians are known for their rhetorical escalations as they are also known for their own ways of providing misinformation around the world and within eastern flank countries. so i think we have to take their own efforts to communicate to their public with a grain of salt. what we know is that, oh, the aggression here is on the russian side. the military buildup is on the russian side. there is a path, a diplomatic path forward. oh, the part of the president's objective, our president's objective and having the call was to convey that clearly that

certainly is our preference. but also to convey clearly that there would be consequences. they would be significant and severe and we're going to coordinate with our european partners on that. charles stratford has more from kirsten in southern ukraine. well, presidents and hence gay's office has put out some statements about the contents of that conversation. i'll read out some of the salient points to you that being said, according to lindsey's office, during that conversation, that was said that the u. s. has decided to become an active participant in the settlement process in dawn by us in parallel with the normandy format. now this is interesting because normally for math that is made up of france, germany, russia, and ukraine has by all accounts. according to most stanley's been and on l. tracy failure since it was initiated 7 years ago. so, and a lot of analysts have been trying to, trying to, to, to, to, to force the point that is absolutely vital to get the us a bigger role in,

in trying to forge a lasting piece piece process and settlement to this conflict. so that's very interesting that there seems to be certainly some sort of agreement that there will be an increase role for the us in this office. also saying that the decision on ukraine's sanctions and nato depends on the decision of ukraine and nato members . that's what biden said in that conversation was zalinski. obviously, this may not go down very well. it's whole with moscow. we know that obviously, nato membership for ukraine is one of the main big red lines for moscow. the white house saying that biden supports the aspiration of ukraine to be a nato member, and says that the aggression is on russia's side regarding ukraine. it's going to

be very interesting to see what kind of response comes from moscow in the coming hours and days in several countries are expanding booster vaccine programs to contain covered 19 variant infections. as the water health organization continues to oppose the move, the w, i, jo says only people, we've compromised immune system should be targeted for 3rd shot. it says the priority should be, should be to get everyone in the world vaccinated. emerging data suggests the vaccine efficacy deck climbs after some time, especially among older people. for the time being, we continue to support one the need for equity into distribution, our location of scenes and toward the use of 3rd doses, only on those that we have previously recommended. those that have received

inactivate and back scenes, and those that are immunocompromised, which are the 2 groups that we feel should be protected further by a 3rd dose of the primary process. there's also a warning from the w. a show that concerns over the only cron very and could lead to more holding a vaccines. well than half of old people in the world have now received at least one dose. but that drops to just or the 6 in every 100 people in low income countries. since february, the vaccine sharing alliance, kovacs has shipped 610000000 doses to 144 nations or territories. but the goal was to 1000000000 the program spit up in the past few months, thanks to donations from wealthy countries. and in a's on exports from india. body rich in nations, prioritize their own. it's the doses their fees. this could swarm. there's no supply issue. the way choices one and a half $1000000000.00 is produced every month. the issue is with allocation. the

global health chief says 6 times as many boosters are given out in which nations every day than 1st shots in low income countries. as we head into whatever the on the current situation is going to be, there is risk that the global supply is, again, going to revert to high income countries courting vaccine to protect, you know, to protect in, in, in a sense, in excess there opportunity for, for vaccination and, and sort of no regrets kind of approach. austria has outlined a plan to make corona virus vaccines, compulsory. it applies to people aged 14 and above those who refuse to get the gems will be fined about $4000.00. austria has one of the lowest vaccination rates in western europe. still head on al jazeera,

i will tell you why indian families have ended a long battle with the government. i've a controversial as a cultural reform. ah hey, there we're gonna kick this weather report off in the americas, another batch of what weather. moving in to western canada. we break it down now by the numbers. 40 to 80 millimeters of rain for the lower mainland head up the sea to sky highway. and we'll look to pick up 15 to 25 centimeters of snow up to the straight. now we were dealing with that snow storm that raced up through the atlantic. those blustery winds pull away from newfoundland top wind speeds, we are protecting about a 130 kilometers per hour. we do have bursts of rain to be expected toward that se we're looking toward georgia, also areas of nashville. so gotta be on the lookout for some flash flooding here.

the civic showers rolling across areas of california, pivoting into arizona, temperatures in denver, have dropped off to just a high of 2 degrees on friday. central america, not a lot going on. a few showers costa rican panama. nothing major, but we'll, where we will likely see a, some severe thunderstorms is just toward the east of real diginero on friday. if i take it further toward the south, things are starting to bounce back in terms of those temperatures in patagonia, come up, the road reba davia has a high of 23 degrees and some instability. move it in to the river plate region on friday, sir. ah, ah co cater cultural knowledge, openness pluralism, world want us to reward better to excellence and encourage creativity, the shape,

tomato, ward for translation and international understanding was formed to promote translation and honor translators, and acknowledged that road and strengthening the bones of friendship and co operation between arab islamic and world coaches. lulu lou ah ah, hello, are you watching out 0? i'm m liang when a reminder of our top stories we saw on the u, as in boy, for ron, says he is negotiate his are ready to hold direct talks with iran, but the white house is warning. sanctions remain in place and the u. s. is preparing additional measures. if the talks in vienna failed to reach an agreement,

you as president joe biden has held a phone call with his ukrainian count a pod in a show of support over the build up of russia. russian troops along the border. but russia denies its preparing to invade ukraine. both countries accuse each other of failing to engage in the peace process. and in several countries, expand a boost to vaccine program to contain cove at 19 a variance. the world health organization continues to oppose it. w h o says the priority should be to get everyone in the world vaccinated with the essential vaccine shots with less than 2 weeks to go into the presidential election in libya. the electoral commission is yet to announce the final list of candidates, the advisory committee called for a delay in the vote, where the growing differences over voting regulations. the poll is saying as a key step to ending a decade of instability allays to 14 people have been killed and became

fast. so during an ambush on a convoy him government officials say it happened in tang province in the north. those killed were believed to be part of a government backed civilian power military group. it comes a day after the government resigned under public pressure over its failure to tackle violence in the region. farmers in india have officially ended a year long protest after the government abandoned controversial. agricultural reforms protest is blockaded the capital since november last year. after plans would table to deregulate the market. the government has now made several concessions that guarantees farm as a minimum price for their produce criminal charges against protest. it will also be dropped based on the pharmacy, the government has made. we've decided to suspend our protests who hold review

meeting on january 15th from the government doesn't interfere with promises. we could be seen demonstrations. nephew, gail is an assistant history professor at william patterson university joins us from new jersey. thank you so much, professor. the result show the power of the people really and can you tell us a little bit about the significance surveys largest concessions by the government and the ending of the protest by famines? happy to join you. protest was the most remarkable why sprague, a challenge to the government. the recent news shows the power of collective action. as you mentioned, farmers workers back orders across in these decide he successfully defeated the most serious threat to their livelihood well being. so the thing, if you can't do that, this victory in a defeat for the new liberal agenda,

which is this obsession with the regulation in privatization. it's a defeat for all this kind of majority, terry and trying to be commenting, communal, a trade between communities and defeat for the kind of centralizing for us to be concentrating power in need to be and depriving states of, of their rights. so i think it success is something that people in india and across the continent and around the world or other building because it opened up new possibilities for different future. what does the backtracking say about the marty government and his position in power? well i think governments are invincible until they're not. so movie has kind of built up an image and somebody who never backtracked. somebody who once he makes a decision, a final. and what we've seen over the year long protests through the bitter cold, through the blistering summer with all sorts of efforts to his credit. and my

protest is that people when organized and determine can challenge authoritarian government and can succeed in changing the course of economic and social all well, it certainly is an interesting as situation and we appreciate your insights. there certainly a wind for power of the people. thank you. absolutely, thank you. hong kong pro democracy movement has been dealt another blow after 3 prominent activists were found guilty of unlawful assembling media mogul jimmy ly was among those convicted for taking part in a band t n. a minute vigil last year. they'll be sentenced next week and face up to 5 years in prison. florence louis reports. oh, jimmy lie, was it last year's tenements square rally in hong kong for just 15 minutes and did

not address the crowd? the judge said, prosecutors had been able to prove he had incited others to attend the vigil. lie used to own apple daily, a vocal pro democracy paper. the tablet was shut down after police rated its officers and arrested staff under a national security law. some journalists in hong kong say they are not surprised by wednesday's verdict. this has been a trend over the last year. the judge amanda woodcock rules or tar jimmy lie didn't have to say anything to even in fight others very tight, but he timed out just outside the park was close a deliberate act to rally support for and publicly spotlight the unauthorized assembly. the judge also found barrister chow hung tom and former reporter gwyneth ho guilty of either taking part or inciting others to join the event. all 3 pleaded not guilty. 16 other activists are already serving jail sentences for also taking

part in the commemoration. hong kong has traditionally held large events on the anniversary of the tenement crackdown in beijing. for the 1st time in 30 years, police in hong kong band lost his rally, citing corona virus restrictions. commemorations will also band this year, with case itself is pot, i would say, perhaps a wider cropped down on the memory of the 1989 massacre. textbooks has been censored, museum exhibits confiscated. the visuals organizers have been put behind balls. and as you can see, this collaboration has been banned. oh, last year's band was imposed just as china passed, a sweeping national security law in hong kong activists say the latest convictions . another example of home comes lead is bowing to pressure from beijing to censure pro democracy expression florence lee algebra you as president joe biden is

warning global freedom and democracy is under threat. he's host to the virtual meeting of more than 100 world latest calling. it's a summit for democracy, but china and russia were notable absent absences from the guest list. both countries have denounced the meeting, accusing the us of stocking divisions. the white house says it's working to find a new initiative to bolster democracy around the world. democracy can still, in my view, this is the defining challenge of our time democracy. government of the people by the people for the people can of time be fragile, but also is inherently resilient, is capable of self correction and is capable of self improvement. and yes, democracies hard, we all know that it works best with consensus and cooperation. busy michael abram awaits. is the president afraid him half, and he joins us now from maryland. hello there, michael. thanks for joining us. what is needed to be achieved at the summit over

the 2 days or, you know, particularly given concerns it's, it could largely be symbolic. i think you have to, 1st of all, thank you for having me on your show. i think you have to look at the summit this week is kind of the beginning of a process. the ministration says that this is the 1st meeting. there's going to be a year of action, and then they're going to have another in person some of the year from now. and we're, so really the purpose is to kind of just start a process by which the united states can help rally other countries in the world, particularly democracies into supporting democracy and to countering authoritarianism. keeping bottom was correct in saying that democracy is and a threat and he's warning global freedom is also under threat. there is no question the president is correct in that assessment at freedom. how we do an annual survey that looked at every country in the world and raised the country in terms of

political rights and civil liberty. and what we've found over the last 15 years is that there's been a general downward trajectory in terms of democracy is getting weaker and authoritarian countries getting stronger if you will. so we do believe that freedom is under threat around the world. what. what happens if the summit ends up being merely symbolic or aspirational? well, the danger is really that the summit will serve to deepen cynicism among world populations about whether the united states and other democracy really mean what they say. so i think that i hope that's not going to happen. i think that it's very important that the united states and the other countries that came to the summit this week and made some very strong statement like the one we heard from the president. now are going to have to deliver on their promises. we heard from the us administration today that they are gonna commit

close to half a $1000000000.00 to support fighting corruption, supporting independent journalists, and doing other things that would really help strengthen the cause of democracy. we need to see that from other countries that we need to see more action as well. so it's a start, but i think it's too soon to tell how well it's going to succeed. data will certainly be interesting. thank you for your insights. michael ram awaits the president of freedom house. thank you for having a the new zealand government has announced one of the world's toughest anti smoking laws. it plans to effectively ban smoking by progressively raising the legal age for buying tobacco products. the level of may contain and cigarettes on sale will also be reduced. the lower is set to come into effect in 2027 critic say the law could boost the black market for tobacco. smoking is the leading cause of death in new zealand, killing up to 5000 people every year until now. the government's focused on

increasing taxes on cigarettes to make smoking and affordable. last year, a $25.00 pack cost about $28.00. 10 years ago. it was $11.00 smoking rights have fallen in recent years, but 13 percent of adults still smoke and the rights much higher for the indigenous mary population at about 28 percent. under the government's plan, a task force would be created to help reduce smoking among mary's. dr. i ship veranda is new zealand associate health minister. she says viking isn't included because it's considered a safer alternative to cigarettes. there is very strong evidence that tobacco is an extremely harmful and addictive substance. and yet the evidence on pipes is fairly bad. definitely a cipher old finished. so we're taking a reduction approach by banning to that price will future generation, but making sure the current market to quit the tension. $4000.00 new zealanders die

each year from tobacco and we must take action on it. we made a lot of progress because of that regulation, reseating with allowing right to quit. so we made the biggest decrease we had in history in watching, right? the last year alone. so we think that what freak out is within reach a european population as is seek to make it as i reach that goal. as we need to take bold action to make sure all parts of the community get there. and because we're not prepared to lay past the community behind, ah, hello, you're watching al jazeera and these of the stories were following this hour. the us envoy for ron says, washington is ready to meet with ty run over its nuclear activity. but the white house is warning, sanctions remain in place and the u. s. is preparing additional measures. if the

talks in vienna failed to reach an agreement with powers have been shuffling the.