ryan is some so i know they are officially 100 percent renewable than that. and so this is it the energy rate generated we use of change on al jazeera. ah, this is likely one of the largest turnage operational history. president biden says, the extent of damage is not yet known. after tornadoes, tor through 6 us states on friday night. ah, i'm sammy's a dan. this is al jazeera alive from dell hall. so coming up the u. k. host g, 7 foreign ministers, warning russia over its merch rebuild up on the ukraine border. the pacific territory of new caledonia votes in

a final referendum on independence from france plus. i'm jessica washington. it's the coastal indonesia were acts that fear the ongoing gold rush was putting children ah, at least 80 people have been killed in the us after a series of tornadoes ripped through 6th midwestern and 7 states happened overnight on friday. president joe biden says it's likely to be one of the largest tornado outbreaks in u. s. history. it's promising federal assistance to the affected areas. be extreme weather left, a trail of destruction stretching more than 320 kilometers. patrick hall haine explains. one town seemingly wiped away in one evening mayfield kentucky where a candle factory with 110 people inside was levelled. a trapped worker took to facebook

live to plead for help and we aren't trans, please. ya, give us some help. we're at the candle veg, 3. it may be you please bring us. she got out, but the governor believes the vast majority of workers did not seeing an entire downtown, wiped out knowing the loss of life that occurred here. an muhlenberg, county, and everywhere else. this is, this is the hardest tornado event we've ever been through, and it's not just because of the property damage, but we lost a lot of good people. and we gotta do our best as it gets dark. and through the next days to make sure we don't lose any more. 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 keep 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. president joe biden spoke to the nation, calling for unity, promising the full support of the federal government and reminding people of what has been lost. imagine if you're home to the pat waiting a home do, what do you worry about here? every these gone from that, from, from that that baptism will photograph to the wedding picture to a picture of your oldest daughter in a ballet. i mean, it is profound, just profound. a federal emergency has been declared in kentucky with other states

likely to follow. and the national guard has been called in to help clear roads and search door to door looking for survivors. knowing the death toll is likely to rise, paddic lane al jazeera washington kentucky was the worst hit states with at least 70 fatalities. the governor says he's losing hope of finding any more survivors. heidi joe castro reports from the town of mayfield in kentucky. we were driving into mayfield. it's really extraordinary when you see houses standing and then suddenly you find yourself in the leveled zone of the town. you can see these houses completely destroyed. i'm surrounded by this in this neighborhood. and of course there is that candle factory which we just heard about. and patty's report where the search and rescue effort continues. but now we are approaching our 24 since the storm hit that happened friday night here in kentucky. and since then,

with each taking our, the likelihood of pulling out more survivors has diminished. some 40 people were told were, were rescued or left that factory. but there's still an untold missing who remain trapped underneath that debris and kentucky's governor after touring the site earlier today, was devastated, saying that the likelihood of pulling more survivors out from under that rebel the widespread factor of this destruction. the storm cutting a path of some 300 kilometers across the us. so even as you're driving across state 5 states and total effected by this, we know of at least 6 dest in illinois, linked to an amazon amazon warehouse that partially collapsed. there were 2 people who died in arkansas, one of whom was an elderly resident of a nursing home. and the sad part of this is even as more rescue workers in search, cruise, dig through debris all across the section of the united states. as patty said in

her report, this death toll across the country is expected to climb. and b, c correspondent, jay gray, has mall from manette in our console. it's overwhelming the damage here, the nursing home, the back end of its last and we'll show you that help you. we'll talk about the federal help. we're starting to see some of that on the ground here. they're going to need it not just now, but for a long time because of situations like this, you can see what the wind did here, picked up these cars through them. rip them apart, basically throwing bricks and other things into the front windshield. and then the assault on this nursing home, you can see what it did, it ripped apart the wall and the roof. but the backend, as i said, is for the most part gone. if you look over the top of this thing, if we could get up over the top, you would see that it's just torn away. unfortunately, that's the scene playing out. not only in this community, but communities across the entire strike. so one person was lost inside this

building, several others taken to hospitals outside of the area that's most effective here. what we're hearing from those that were here that survived is that they did have good warning. they had like 20 minutes. the sirens went off and they were able to get out and into the hallway here, and that's what saved lives. if you look outside of this area in the neighborhoods that surround, it's dark now and you can't see anything but but coming in today, they're ravaged as well. you can see the homes that are really reduced to just rubble. you can see others that have the roofs torn away or walls torn away. and what you saw throughout the afternoon was families, families here gathering what they could not a lot that you can pull from a place like this, gathering what they could from their homes. the cold front has moved through and now the temperatures are dropping. so you've got all these families not only here, but again across the entire region that are not only wondering how they're going to

stay war, but where they're going to stay for a while. it's a tough go of vince while he is a storm chase who was following the tornadoes in tennessee. he describes why the storms was so devastating. this is a pretty massive outbreak. was not just a roll. strong tornadoes, but a couple of very strong, almost violent potentially tornadoes. and in the middle of december, this is not when we would be expecting something like a couple of towns that i was driving through last night with the tornado in my windshield did not have storm sirens going. and it wasn't a matter of whether they had power, electrical power to them or not. because there were still lights on these towns. it's possible somebody down there, somebody to tell that either a failure of their warning systems coming storm sirens or they just didn't have them. and it's really concerning because we've got to be able to get these warnings out immediately. that's how we're going to save lives. you know, 5 or 10 minutes, even 15 minutes, there's just not enough time to take shelter from

a tornado. it's in town. there's an adrenalin, russia, extremely stressful. it's, it's not, it's definitely manageable for someone like me. we're used to this. but for the general public, dis, this could be, this is life threatening, and this isn't, this is crazy. some folks that i've spoken to after tornadoes, not this case, but other cases of so they felt their life flash before their eyes. it's incredibly stressful. i mean, there's potentially a deadly, a deadly situation going on anywhere from a few feet to maybe a mile or 2. and it's coming at you it's, it's incredibly stressful and it can be scary at times because you have no control . ready over what's happening other than your actions, you know, we can't control where the for nato goes. and if it's going to go over a town and destroy the town, that's what it's going to do. now, top diplomats from g 7 countries have been urged to show unity against global aggressors. if they meet in the u. k. city of liverpool, russia in particular,

has been singled out by the us and britain for massing troops along ukraine's border. but finding consensus among allies might be difficult from liverpool, rory challenge now. prisons, foreign secretary welcomed her richwell counterparts with a broad band. and cobit 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 a 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. liz trust is rallying cry for what she calls the free. well this, that like minded countries should step up that should unify, that should 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 shots is for it, and germany is not yet agreeing to threaten russia as the us and u. k. would like with blocking north stream to invade to ukraine, uniting the free world is easier said than done retail and how does error livable the u. s. is sending its leaving diplomat for europe to russia and ukraine. karen don fried, will need senior officials in kevin moscow over 2 days, apart from the russian troop build up. the state department says don fried will also push for progress on ending the conflict in east in ukraine. still i had an al jazeera environmental protest continue in serbia's capital, despite concessions from the government. plus both father law daughter will tell you about a very special space tourism flight.

ah hello there. let's look to north america and after $232.00 days without snow, the 1st flakes fell in denver. this was the scene there. you can see that snow falling, not just in colorado, but also in utah. now it has calm down across those central and south eastern areas . the main where the story we have to head to that west coast. we've got another winter storm that's rolled into western parts of canada and the north west of the u . s. dropping heavy snow rain and bringing smoother stronger winds to places like british columbia as well as oregon and into washington. now, by the time we get into monday, it's going to trickle down further south to northern areas of california. we are expecting to possibly see some flash flooding about a months worth of rain could fall from sunday in some monday. so

a very wet week for san francisco. it gets wet, a full os angeles on tuesday and wednesday before it does start to dry up. but across large areas of the u. s, we are seeing a lot of fine and why whether continue, especially for the eastern coast. we had some tornadoes wold across the southeast, but that system has pushed out to sea. we are seeing temperatures recover in new york and washington dc and we are going to the a lot of a want spread up to those central areas. that's or update. ah gotcha. one of the fastest growing nations in the world, ah need. cato needed to oakland and development pool track, international shipping company to become a key, middle east and trade and learning skills, pulling that down 3 key areas of develop who filling up from it. so connecting the world,

connecting the future while the cato castillo's gateway to whoa trade. lou ah, you're watching al jazeera time to recap all headlines now. rescue teams in the you . i saw searching for survivors off the tornadoes ripped through 6 states on friday night. at least 8th, he plugged dead southern the state of kentucky was the was hate. one of those tornadoes hit an amazon warehouse in illinois, killing 6 people. dozens of people were rescued though. the british foreign secretary was calling for western unity against all 4. terry newsome and threats

from russia and china bouquets. hosting g 7 foreign ministers in liverpool, along with the delegates from southeast asian countries. voting is underway in the independence referendum on the tiny south pacific island group of new caledonia. it's the 1st time or the 3rd time. rather, the french rule territory is deciding on the issue. it narrowly rejected a breakaway in 2018, and 2020. the main independence part is a boy called the reference, and they're worried. the pandemic will undermine a yes. why and hey is following the vote. he joins us now live via skype from tower ranga in new zealand. so all the cold. so boy having much of an impact so far. well, so far it seems that they are this referendum is being held in quite attempts atmosphere, given those calls to stay away from the are polling booths by the leaders of the

pro independence political parties. in fact, they have called for this vote to be postponed until late next year because the french government rejected those calls and the vote is going ahead. so those pro independence groups have labeled this entire process and democratic because of the conditions in the lead up to sundays of voting and also the conditions on the day. and it appears as if people are heating those coals to boycott the vert, our we've had pretty good voter turnout and the 2 previous referendums, in fact, last year's vote saw more than 85 percent voter turnout. about half way through the day on sunday, though, reports coming and suggest that the turnouts of this year's referendum is only about 27.75 percent at the same period last year. it was almost 50 percent. so we're seeing significantly lower numbers at this time. around as we

approach, or just after the half way mark in voting on sunday. and again, it's because of the coven 19 pandemic. according to those independence or pro independence political parties, they say this vote should have been postponed because of the pandemic. at the 1st case of cove at 19 was recorded in new caledonia in early september. then that was around the same time that campaigning for the referendum was supposed to start and really couldn't get underway in person campaigning anyway. because all of our restrictions put in place by the government, and also the pandemic hes disproportionately affected, ah, the carnac indigenous population. most of whom support independence. so they say that this is simply not fair to hold this referendum under these conditions. all right, thanks so much when have there. let's continue this now though with edward joseph, he's an a junk lecturer the johns hopkins school of advanced international studies

. also a senior fellow at the center for transatlantic relations, joins us on skype from washington. dc. good to have you with us. so 1st of all, do you think new caledonia is really getting a fair chance to express their will, given that the elections being hill held amid this pandemic? that's a question really that only those who are on the ground. it can can say for sure, given the situation with the panoramic if, as your reporter just mentioned 27 percent of the people have so far come out. that suggest well that at least over a quarter of those who are eligible to vote, believe that they can vote up. but it's inherently problematic whenever there's a boycott in any type of election or referendum because it means that the results themselves will be challenged. and in this case, of course,

it means that the independence referendum is going to fail. now, that failure though, will not be accepted by the those who support the independence movement and therefore, no matter what is the actual result of what is the turn out there is going to be a period of contention in new caledonia. and there will be a much needed attempt at fostering dialogue between the loyalists and those who want independence. so this mean instead of this being sort of the final chapter in independence referendums, this becomes a new chapter in a new era of political control, the scene instability. well, we have to say we have to see what the final turn out is. and of course, what the final result is now if, if the result is split, then of course, it will become even more murky. but if those who turn out vote heavily in favor of remaining part of france, then it still will be a binding referendums,

according to the agreement to the rules that france and the political parties within new caledonia, have agreed upon it. it will be binding in that case, but there will be hard feelings and there will be resentment on the part of the independents. no. vincent will be up to france and the independent, independent parties, leaders within new caledonia to reach out to those who boycotted the pro independents know when and, and to foster a type of dialogue. but again, we have to wait and see what that turn out. is that what that final result is? please? maybe simple talk, trying to national views, why this small group of islands is so important. what does it represent for the balance of power between china and the west in the region? well, it's a great point. what viewers need to understand is that this small island of less

than $300000.00 people actually plays a significant role. busy in geo politics, it's located in this what they call a pearl of islands, the a, a necklace of islands. and it's one of the pearls in it. in that it has this small island, has a quarter of the world's reserves in nickel, and the number one importer of those reserves from new caledonia is china. china takes over half of those nickel exports that new caledonia provides. and of course, china has been active in projecting its influence throughout the pacific, including in neighboring islands and for france and for western allies like australia and new zealand and the united states. it's important that china, not again for taking the island that would become independence. like the caledonia

would and basically subvert that independence and make it turn it into a chinese outpost. so there's a lot at stake there. there's also a lot of stake for france, which has other territories in the pacific, and it would lose its direct sovereignty of sovereign authority over new caledonia in the event of independence please. all right, thank you so much for your thoughts on that. asked on that ad with joseph. thank you. now, palestinians voted a municipal elections more than a 150 local councils across the occupied west bank on saturday. but a key faction boycotted the pole mass was angered after parliamentary and presidential elections were cancelled. early of this year by president mood bass. thousands of people in ogden t and i have protested against a deal to restructure the country's debt. the government has been holding talks with the international monetary fund to negotiate payment towards

a $45000000000.00 that demonstrates the say it's on payable. on argentina has other urgent need solid. serbian protest is of been back out blocking roads for a 3rd weekend running denouncing plans for lithium mining. saturday's crowds the smaller than past weeks. also the government, early about some of the demands it scrapped laws that activists said were purely designed to help mining giant re tinto start operations in serbia as well. from belgrade on the voltage report, man international hires that you see behind me has been blocked. 3rd, starting in a row, and this part that goes to serve as capital belgrade is actually one of the couple of dozen points. the professors are blocking the least very moment across the 3rd b, r. for an hour. this road blocks are taking place. although the serbian government

met the main demands of the last week brought this and decided to reconsider. do key loads that are helping mining giant 3. i've been taught to lunch lead your mind in serbia, but some n g o z and some political opposition parties claimed that main demand has not been fulfilled. the real thing is banned from mining lead to human serbia for goods that stands also for any company. not just seen. a little background is that company or pinto discovered the minerals called your daddy's in the valley, or for either of the other in 2004. you know, the dotted contains lead deal that we use for electric car batteries. so the commercial interest is clear and big, but local citizens as well as the green, active it's afraid dot lead to mining, would irreversibly pollute the area. and that is the main reason that they said

they are protesting. also, it should be fed that these brought this widely seen as a big blow to president will teach sort of the progressive party, the ruling party in serbia ahead of the parliamentary elections. dr. scheduled for the april next year. health experts have raised new safety concerns about illegal gold mining and indonesia. dozens of babies suffering birth defects, potentially linked to hazardous chemicals used to process the precious metal. jessica washington reports from the island of lombok. in the hills, of course on indonesia. 30 meters on the ground. this is one of hundreds if unauthorized mine dangerous work. but for these men, finding just a speck of gold makes it worth much. hi ma'am. and by yeah, yes is risky because if we make mistakes,

the ground can easily collapse. the gold rush into our thong started decades ago, and mine is say, it died down in 2018, but in recent months, hundreds have flocked back to the minds due to financial hardship. and i think this is the risk we take to make a living work here for around one year because i have nothing else to do because of current of our unauthorized mining is an open secret here. mine is not the hillside impossible to miss and villages like this across the car on gold mining is part of daily life. people here depend on it for most or oh, okay. income and the machines use as part of the process of extracting gold. a convenience lee, right in front of their homes. these machines are the unrelenting soundtrack to life here. mine is for the mercury inside them to extract gold from the sediment. it's cheap and easy for us or gotten any lucky or not. we have to use in purchasing

go to how we make money. but living near dangerous chemicals comes with consequences. 5 year olds are in cannot walk or talk yet. he was recently diagnosed with microscopically a medical condition where a child's head is smaller than average, often impacting brain function. busy and i'm really seen when his father worked in the mines. he would process the goals here too. and yeah, he used mercury to process the goals, researches from a local and g o r, looking into his case and all the children who they say may be victims of mercury exposure. when i'm on my car, in the most kill minus keep mercury at home and use it in front of the children for newborns. the exposure is from the mother. they had been exposed through the air, the breeze. the researches say even children with no link to mining may bear the consequences of sickle tongues. gold obsessions. like near india was born without

i've got, i mean people, either i never imagined i would have a son without dice. the doctor asked me if my husband was a coal miner and i said no. the researches are also conducting i q tests on local children. they say the government must do more to educate people about the dangers is mercury, but authority say it takes time. it is a very serious concern and you cannot change the mindset within a minute because they already very familiar with that. but it takes time. the absence of change it is children here who pay the real price of gold. jessica washington out to 0. 6. i don't. 6 small civilians have experience travel into space on the 3rd commercial passenger mission by blue origin owned by amazon and found the jeff pays off. they included 74 year old laura shepherd church lee, the daughter of former nasa astronaut allen shepherd,

who the new shepherd spacecraft was named after t v presenter and former nfl star michael strong was the other invited guest, the slides. so we're done of back at the training center here, and i got to say it was sir tony really have. you want to spell that where it was on the label. it's hard even describe it. i'm gonna take a little bit to process it way. couldn't have gone better, get my hair. i get mad. we haines aquifer idea today. ah, i'm sammy's a down with a look at the headlines here now the 0 now rescue teams in the u. s. is searching for survivors after tornadoes ripped through 6 states on friday night. at least 80 people are dead. the southern state of kentucky was.