former warlord, liberia has become the frontline of a drug war. it cannot afford to lose. he says it's a battle he will fight out of responsibility and killed for his past crimes. and for his country. ah, more than 70 dead in kentucky off to tornado sweep across sick states destroying homes, factories and warehouses. ah, hello i, mariam noisy in london, you're watching al jazeera, also coming up on the program. foreign ministers from the g 7 nations are us to show unity against global aggressive as i meet here in the k honest opinions vote in local elections in the west bank. i'm in rising anger over the cancellation

of national balance earlier this year. and the eldest daughter of pioneering us astronaut allen shepherd bloss off on the latest space tourism flight to board. a rocket named out ah hello and welcome to the program. a devastating series of tornadoes is ripped through 6 us mid western and southern states. and what a president joe biden has called an unimaginable tragedy. he is rushing federal assistance to the was tip. places like kentucky, by the governor saying at least 70 people have died. dozens of fear dead in a candle factory in the town of mayfield. fire and police stations have also been damaged. hampering rescue efforts. there was storms of left, a trail of destruction stretching over more than 320 kilometers patty call haine

has more. now, one town seemingly wiped away in one evening mayfield, kentucky where candle factory with 110 people inside was leveled. a trapped worker took to facebook live to plead for help and we aren't shred. please give us some help. at the candle gregory in may. you please yes, she got out, but the governor believes the vast majority of workers did not. real is a lot alive. and that facility and i pray that there will be another rescue. a braille toby, another one or 2, but it's a very dire situation. at this point. the storms with as many as 30 tornadoes could be seen from space tornadoes that came down and stayed down, causing damage for more than 300 kilometers. this path length, i believe,

when it's all said and done, we're waiting for the numbers to come in. will be a near 400 kilometer path length and very likely that this torina will be rated violence, which means e f, or e, f 5. i'm expecting winds peak wind speeds to be well over 200 miles per hour with this particular tornado. and it wasn't just kentucky in amazon warehouse in illinois, a nursing home in arkansas destruction in missouri and tennessee states that expect tornadoes but not usually in december. the national guard has been called in, and the search has started to see if there are survivors trapped underneath all of this. still, the death toll is likely to climb from this unexpected, massive and powerful storm. patty calling al jazeera washington. fatty joins us live now from washington, and as you're saying in your report as a priority is to try and help people and to get to any survivors from this terrible disasters. any information on this?

well, we do know that the national guard, at least in kentucky, has been called up. a expect other governors are probably follow suit because as you mentioned, a lot of the fire department and police stations while they were wiped off the map as well. so the fire, the fire chief in that kentucky town was a look 1st, i need to figure out what equipment i still have. i need to figure out where my men and women are, and i need to figure out where we can put them, where we can start staging. so the 1st day or 2 after a storm of this magnitude is always pretty chaotic. eventually the national guard will arrive on the scene, they will help with the search and rescue. so basically, just like in a hurricane, they go door to door, they listen for noise, they try to figure out if there's anyone around who lives in the house that they've been seen. usually they leave a mark on the house that it has been searched. are there about $10000.00 people in this town of mayfield? so it's going to take a little while, plus it's pretty remote and we don't know exactly how the roads are in the store of this size. you're going to see a lot of a semi trucks rolled over on the highway. we know several trains derailed. it was

just a massive storm. and because the damage is so wide spread, it's going to take federal authorities a while to wrap their head around exactly where things are needed, how much is needed because it is, as you mentioned, 6 states. but it says appear that the worst was in kentucky. right? that that was the hardest hit, but as you say, talking about a $200.00, an area that exceeds 200 miles how, what preparations are underway, there was so difficult to prioritize where to, to get to, to federal assistance at this stage. well, if the president joe biden said he has spoken with the governor of kentucky, it definitely seems like the focus, the most focus is going to be on kentucky cuz that's where the vast majority of the damages. i mean, if you think about this, they think that there were at least 30 tornadoes, but the one in kentucky in particular, didn't act like tornadoes usually do. i mean there are exceptions to it, but it didn't just come down, bounce around destruct, go back up,

come back down. it we think basically hit the ground and then stayed there for about 321 kilometers. so, and we don't know the size of these tornadoes yet, but if you know anything about tornadoes and you look at the kind of damage and just how high the debris was brought up into the atmosphere, it's probably going to be an e, f for, or the highest, it goes in this galleria 5. so really they're just going to what they do as they do aerial surveillance. so they look around to see what roads you're passable, and then they start moving in a equipment. the 1st thing they're going to need is heavy diggers. to try and pull up some of that wreckage, where if they think they're peeved people trapped underneath, they're also going to need housing. it's going to get real cold. there was obviously, there was a, he a very warm front and then a cold front came crated these tornado. so it's gonna get really cold in those parts of the country and they're going to have no electricity, no heat, no water, no shelter. so the federal government's job right now is to try and get all of

those things into that area as quickly as possible. then they look at rebuilding and then they bring in the insurance companies in the cellphone towers. but really the 1st couple of days than anything like this. it's going to be trying to rush supplies to that area. now when is a hurricane fema has the upper hand? they know it's coming. so they have days to sort of stage things that will be just outside of the hurricane zone. they don't do that with tornadoes. and again, this doesn't really happen. i mean, it can. but if you live in the midwest, if you live in the south where they're tornadoes, you expect them, you expect them from march until june or july. and that's when you're really at go on your guard. this is barry unusual that it would have and in december, because think about it, it's america, it's supposed to be cold in that part of the country. and we see the storm moving this way. now, just to give you a sense, it's again supposed to be really cold in washington d. c, but it is about $23.00. a degrees $24.00 degrees now and the temperature is dropping. so more damage is possible, but they don't expect the storms to reach anything like the little they did on

friday night. all right, thank you very much for washington. patty calhane. i'll g, there's why the present a car lag looks now it won't cause the tornadoes to understand how those devastating tornadoes developed. we have to look at a satellite image for north america on friday, and you can see the line of storms that developed across central areas, but very quickly moved from west to the east. now they were very fast moving and developed rather quickly. we have to look at the, i so thumb chart to understand how that happened. we had cold air blowing in from the west. now that joined up with warm, moist air moving up from the gulf of mexico. and when you have a clash of those air masses, you do get the severe storms rolling all the way from the mid west, down to the deep south. we had heavy snow across the great lakes and heavy rain as well for the south of this tornadoes. as we know, and of course, hale now will take a closer look. we can see the strong winds blowing that system for the east,

but we 1st had of course that devastation across those 5 states. at least 19 tornadoes were reported. multiple deaths in places like illinois as well as missouri, arkansas, tennessee, and kentucky. now, as i said, those storms are moving very quickly onwards to georgia and the virginia where we are seeing the strong winds. the strong winds that are the riskier though the tornado watch does remain, and we are going to see the flooding rains up to 50 millimeters of rain expected. and of course, that carries a flood risk. now it's also gonna knock a lot of the warmth out of places like new york city and washington d. c. as those storms push further east. and the good news is, it's a lot cleaner and dryer. picture left behind. ah, top diplomats from g 7 countries have been urged to show unity against global

aggressors as they meet in the research city of liverpool. russia particularly has been singled out by the us and britain from massing troops on the border with ukraine. but finding consensus among allies could prove difficult from liverpool or challenge reports. prisons, foreign secretary welcomed her richwell counterparts with a brass band and coven conscious fist bumps the u. k. the u. s. canada, germany, france, italy, japan. the g 7 is a club of advanced economy democracies and their friends. and these meetings are chance for them to affirm both what they're for and what they're against. we need to defend ourselves against the growing threats from hostile actors. and we need to come together strongly to stand up to aggressors who are seeking to limit the bounds of freedom and democracy. have all their perceived

threats, coven, china, iran, and more. it's massive, russia that is seen as the hottest issue with russian troops massed on the other side of the ukrainian border. the clear alarm from western democracies about the possibility of an invasion. what we have to do is deter russia from taking the course of action. i've been very clear, it would be a strategic mistake for russia to do that. and what the g 7 meeting this weekend, the taking place is about is about a show of unity between like minded, major economies, less trust is rallying cry for what she calls the free. well, just like mind the country is, should step up that should unify that to stop the introspection and drift and push back against perceived regresses, russia and china. and they should do this using economics and technology. but germany is no stream to gas pipeline project with russia is an example that true unity can be elusive. germany's the green party, foreign minister,

and alina bad book, is against it. social democrat boss, chancellor schultz, is for it. and germany is not yet agreeing to threaten russia as the us and u. k. would liken with blocking north stream to invade to ukraine, uniting the free, well is easier said than done re challenge. how does era livable? i wasn't a brian, right? ac says iran is serious about the latest round of negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear deal. and def, while power willing to move sanctions an agreement can be reached. state television reported his comments as talks continued for another day in vienna. us officials of want of consequences if iran does not return to the deal. watching al jazeera ly from london morsel had foil and congolese military se they've captured adf. rebels destroyed camps, free hostages, but many

a still wary of this joint offensive. and then with tensions running high over the south china sea, southeast asian state say they are worried about chinese cyber spine. ah, hello, there. we've seen some dramatic weather across europe over the past few days, with to renshaw, rain, causing flooding in areas of france and northern areas of spain. we've also seen heavy snow across much of italy and pushing into the balkans. and that's thanks to waves of wet windy and wintery weather, pushing across the mediterranean from west to east. it's going to remain rather unsettled here, but it does pick up for areas such as the iberian peninsula and france. you can see that sunshine coming back in. but on sunday, if we take a closer look at that southeast corner,

we've read warnings out for strong winds across croatia. we're expecting heavy snow in serbia and it's going to be wet once again for much of grease. by the time we get in to monday, that low pressure is going to skirt off to the east, taking a lot of that heavy rain to turkey and a bit of a winter mixed eastern areas of europe. but it drives up, as i said, for much of that southwest, but it is going to get more unsettled up in the north wintery weather on the way. for much of scandinavia, it's bitterly cold as well. western parts of russia and those baltic states, not the britain, an island, it's wet and windy up in the north. you can see that rain moving in. but we are going to have some funny spells down in the south london, seeing the temperature sit in the mid teens, well above average for this time of year. ah, ah, inculcate a culture of knowledge, openness and pluralism, world wide, and to reward merits and excellence and encourage creativity. the shake ahmad award

for translation and international understanding was found to promote translation and honor translators, and acknowledged the road and strengthening the bonds of friendship. and co operation between arab islamic and wild coaches. lou lou ah, welcome back main stories now. a devastating series of tornadoes has ripped through 6 us midwestern and southern states. the governor of kentucky is saying more than 70 people have been killed in his state alone. dozens of fear dead at a candle factory in the town of mayfield. after the roof caved in,

in illinois at least 2 workers are confined to have died. an amazon warehouse in the town of edward's vill rescue workers are searching for people who are trapped in the rumble. tornadoes have left a trail of destruction around 320 kilometers long. and our other headline is our top diplomats from g. 7. countries have been asked to show unity against global aggressors as they meet in the city of liverpool. russia is particularly being singled out at this meeting by the us and britain, amassing troops on ukraine's border. now in avenues are following, palestinians have been voting and municipal elections, choosing representatives for more than a 150 villages and local councils across the occupied west bank. this was a right chance to vote for palestinians in comes, his anger grows over their cancelling of parliamentary presidential elections earlier this year by president man or the boss. if that paul had gone ahead,

it would have been the 1st national level mote in 15 years. a mass which governs the gaza strip, boycotted saturday's local vote due to the postponement of for more near to abraham reports from alma's rosella oblique. yet ramallah in the occupied westbank. local council. elections have been usually held on time relatively every 4 years. we have local council elections and different cities and villages all across the occupied to us bank. but what palestinians say they want is general elections. they want to be able to choose the political leaders, representatives. it's 15 years. this boston is of last voted for parliament that has since became an active after the internal split between fantastic and how massive enjoining me here to talk more about those elections. is that a cell copy be the political science professor at the university doctor? we are holding these municipal elections now, how political are they?

they're not mainly political motives for choosing candidates, not political affiliation, mainly it has to do with so many f in the asian. it has to do with a reputation of the candidate. that's why it's not indicators on any political balance of power. but it's a reminder for palestinians that they haven't voted for general elections. do you see us getting any closer to that? it is good, but it's not good enough. it for the issues and needs related to services of municipalities. but it does not serve the fact that we do not have. we did not have political elections neither for the be a lot of situations nor the for the institutions for more than 13 or 14 years. this election reminds us of the need for political inaction. that dependency on people

badly in need of. what do you think the main issues that pasting is want? why would they want to vote in general election? they want to renew the political leadership. they want to have more participation in the political system through election. they want to hold the political elite accountable for whatever successes or failures they have in the last period. and more important, they want to bridge the gap between the public and the, the political iliad or in general. thank you so much. and past indians were so close at having those general elections, but palestinian president, much more than boss has postponed them 6 months ago. and this is part of the reason why hammer says boycotted these municipal elections. they said they want these long delayed general, and plus then shall elections held. now news from southern sudan flooding. there

has affected 70 percent of the unity state in the north. the u. n's head of mission visit to the city of been tutor assess recovery operations their crisis as effective as many as 850000 people in un is warning that the flood waters could take up to 15 years, t to evaporate naturally. uganda and congress army say they are making progress in their joint opperation against the allied democratic forces in eastern d. r. congo, they say they've destroy for camps belonging to the armed group, captured 34 fighters and fried 31. congress is hostages for people on the ground, there is hope, but also ongoing anees about this partnership. knock on web explain over the last 10 days, the people of this small board of town in democratic republic of congo have seen thousands of uganda and troops crossing you can,

his army says it in congo to hunt down an armed group called the allied democratic forces atf, which is blamed for killing thousands of civilians in this area over the last 7 years. you got an army has been accused of meddling and looting minerals in congo several times since it 1st invaded 25 years ago. to be honest, we did not celebrate the arrival of began to troops crossing a border, but we hope they can help deal with the insecurity that we've been facing for a long time. the adf fight as a hiding out in forest for the gun and tanks and armored vehicles as struggled to advance on the muddy road. so they brought in great as to repair them. uganda and major general clans, him hunger is commanding. the operation come. we only wanted to reach if you don't have the machines to look for void, you don't have the machine is the route for the morning. we don't have machine is

caught by the only thing. we have our guns fight radio. you can the government blame ca? yes. for 3 suicide bomb explosions in the capital can parlor last month. the adf is reasonably from uganda, but his fighters have been hiding in the forests of congo for more than 20 years. you can then opperation is the latest in series of failed attempts to defeat the armed group. since some of the roads are impossible, ugandan commanders have to walk to meet their congo least counterpart. and they say that joint military operation, gonzalez. gov component of good news. so more congolese, people need to understand that we're facing a situation of terrorism in which we must unite our forces with others dady f as part of an international terrorist movement. some of their attacks are claimed by isis in the presence of fighters from different countries, like uganda, somalia and tanzania, and confirms this sunday suit dog investigators say

b adf has been in contact with iso and other regional armed groups. the extent of any collaboration isn't clear about the 80 s political and business interests in congo and uganda have been more apparent including cocoa and timber export. angelique soldiers repairing the roads to it's just the start of what you, candice on congress armies say will be the end of the adf. every one who's tried before has failed. malcolm web altos era. serbian protests have been back out blocking roads for a 3rd week and running as they denounce plans for lithium mining. but ta, saturday's crowds were smaller compared to the past few weeks after the government bout to summon their demands. it scrapped law as active. they said were purely design help my giant, we owe 10 toe star operations in sabby as west protests have been back out. demonstrating in vienna against the austrian governments. plans to make covert

vaccines. mandatory legislation is set to come into force in february pending parliamentary approval. those who refused to get vaccinated face of fine and more than $4000.00 every 3 months. austria has a 68 percent vaccination rate, which is actually one of the lowest in europe. have been similar protests in the country in recent weeks after the government introduced a 4th lockdown to curb a record number of infections last month. but the u. s. means the country with the largest number of new corona virus cases in the world, the center for disease control and prevention says you covered 19 infections. rose 37 percent this past week to more than a 118000 cases, a day. officials or encouraging people to get their booster shots to combat the new amik wrong there. and they say cases detected have so far been mild, but they are still worried that her the about the apparent increased transmit trans miss ability. so it's more contagious and that could overwhelm the health system.

the u. s. death toll is now closed, 800000 the number of locally transmitted covert 19 cases in china is also rising. 51 locally transmitted cases are reported on friday, are from 37. the day before, most were found in the east injured young province. china 0 covert strategy involves mass lock downs even when a small number of people are infected with the virus. the government in the philippines is saying that it's seriously concern by reports that it's one of several nations being spied on by china. us based research group says it's uncovered evidence of an espionage campaign against countries involved in disputes over fishing and mineral rights. china denies any involvement jamila alan dugan has more from the philippine capital manila, the south china seas territorial dispute is seen as the next security flash point in asia, bay jeans, illegal reclamation,

and growing military expansion have angered other claimant countries like indonesia, vietnam, and the philippines who have accused it of blatantly violating international law. but china's stands accused to once again this time by a global research group which says it found evidence that the chinese government may be sponsoring espionage operations on several governments across se, asia. the group recorded future says it's been able to identify what it describes as 400 online servers located in southeast asia. communicating with an online infrastructure connected to chinese state sponsored actors by using a custom malware to attack governments and private organisation websites in the region. among the targets are malaysia's ministry of defense and the royal militia police,

as well as vietnam's ministry of environment and central office of the communist party. also described as victims of cyber intrusions or the philippine navy. the department of foreign affairs in manila and the presidential management staff, recorded future says all those con, she is, may be vulnerable to china's intelligence gathering operations. it seriously. and it, this gives us of situational awareness, or we have measures in place to ensure our security, the security of our vital systems. shina is dismissing the report as politically motivated to go find the chain, our bosses, and perhaps the other kinds of parker about in the corner. through the long run this bushy shanisha ali's clear ginger at the same time, firmly opposed to spreading false information for political progress. so so what misleading the international community should and instigating the relationship between other countries. the response to cyber attacks, the analysts say,

should be regional to a slow asked me don't have the regional framework on securing our cybersecurity. definitely china with big advantage. one diesel nerve, wooden piece of trust i see on sugar forge a stronger cybersecurity pools in break will be shuns who hold cyber attacks from 4 in restless this by china's denials. their research highlights beijing's growing strategic interests in government and private organizations across se, asia, and warrants that the cyber attacks are likely to increase in line with growing political tensions. over control of this south china sea jamal alan bargain, i'll 0 manila all in 450 couples from several face and backgrounds have tied the knot in a single mass wedding in northern india ceremony was held in india's to pradesh

state and was organized by local government officials as a wedding gift, the cost of the wedding feast was covered by the authorities and $462.00 was also deposited into each bride's bank account. mass weddings are popular in some parts of india, especially in among poorer parts. the community now 6 more civilians have experienced travel into space on the 3rd commercial passenger mission by blue origin and by amazon founder jeff pays us. they included 74 year old laura shepherd, churchy daughter, a former nasa astronaut allen shepherd. who are the new shepherd, spacecraft was named after she was one special guest alongside the feed, paying passengers on the 10 minute flight where they will briefly experienced weightlessness for touching back down safely and the last day of texas tv present her former and i fell start michael strahan strand was the other invited guest on the flight wides over were dug out,

the train is good. i got to say it was so really you want us to go there, but it was on the lever board. hardy really describe over going to take a little bit to process it way. couldn't have gone better. dad. my her a girl? my we haines. i prefer are i be of today? ah, look at main stories now. a devastating series of tornadoes is, are it through 6 us midwestern and southern states. and what president joe biden has called an unimaginable tragedy. he is rushing federal assistance to the worst places like kentucky, where the governor says more than 70 people have died. dozens of fear dead in a candle factory in the town of mayfield. fire and police stations have also been damaged, which is hampering the rescue efforts.