against rats now together, they're feeling thy way forward into their new reality. what's most important to me is talking to people understanding what they're going through . here it is here. we believe everyone has a story worth hearing, ah tones destroyed, and dozens dead after around. 30 tornadoes tear through the central united states. ah, i'm how them are he did this is al jazeera life and doha also coming up whole set to cause this are in new caledonia where residents to site for a final time,

whether to separate from france. we can protests around the world against vaccine mandates. the latest in australia class. i'm jessica washington is the causal indonesia, we're expert fear the ongoing gold rush is putting children's health at risk. ah at least 84 people have been killed in the us after a series of tornadoes swept through 6 states. the extreme weather system has been active since friday, leaving a trail of destruction stretching more than 320 kilometers. president joe biden says it's likely to be one of the largest tornado events in us history. the state of kentucky is the worst hit. how did your castro is in the city of mayfield? and we aren't shred. please give us some help at the candle factory and may you

please bring us this woman is among the few to get out alive after a tornado flattened the candle factory where she and more than 100 others were working. it's unclear how many people remain trapped somewhere beneath this rubble . but as the search and rescue efforts stretches into day to the governor of kentucky says, finding more survivors is unlikely. 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 into the next days to make sure we don't lose any more. may feel kentucky has lost more than just the factory and it's workers. it's also lost a church of fire station, a police station. and of course, so many people's homes. and it wasn't just kentucky, an amazon warehouse in illinois, a nursing home in arkansas,

destruction in missouri and tennessee states that expect tornadoes but not usually in december. this path length, i believe when it's all said and done, we're waiting for the numbers to come in. we'll be a near 400 kilometer pathway and very likely that this torino will be rated violence, which means e f, or e, f 5. i'm expecting winds tiguan speeds to be well over 200 miles per hour with this particular tornado. president joe biden spoke to the nation, calling for unity, promising the full support of the federal government. imagine if, if you're home to the pat wedding of home, do, what do you worry about? i mean, everything's gone from that from, from that, that baptism of photograph to the wedding picture to the picture of your oldest daughter in a ballet. i mean, it is as profound as 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. heidi joe castro out his era mayfield kentucky and b. c correspondent, j grey has more from bennett's in arkansas. it's overwhelming the damage here, the nursing home, the backend of its last. and we'll show you that help you talk about 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 with a, when 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. and unfortunately, that's the scene playing out. not only in this community, but communities across the entire strikes on one person was lost inside this building. several others taken the 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 with 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 warm, but where they're going to stay for a while. it's a tough go as well. it is a storm chaser who was following the tornadoes in the state of tennessee. this is a pretty massive outbreak with 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 in the town 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. so there's an adrenalin russian. it's 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 this, 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 said 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 over what's happening other than your actions. you know, we can't control where this poor natal goes. and if it's going to go over a town and destroy the town, that's what it's going to do. polls have closed and votes have been counted in the

french pacific territory of new caledonia. residence have been voting for the 3rd and final time, whether or not to become independent from france. if not really rejected. in a breakaway referendum in 20182024. the main independence parties, a boy called in by friends and worried the pandemic will undermine a yes votes. wayne hay is motoring the referendum from what to rhonda in new zealand. this referendum is being held in quite a tent atmosphere, given those calls to stay away from the polling booths by the leaders of the pro independence political parties. in fact, they have called for this boat to be postponed until late next year. of course, 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 voting and also the conditions on the day . and it appears as if people are heating, those calls to boy caught the vert. we've had pretty good voter turn out. and the 2 previous referendums, in fact, last year's vote saw more than 85 percent voter turnout. about halfway through the day on sunday though, reports coming in suggest that the turn out for 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 off to the halfway, mike inverting on sunday. and again, it's because of the coven 19 pandemic. according to those independence or pro independence political parties, they say that this mode should have been postponed because of the pandemic. the 1st case, all 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 it really couldn't get under way in person campaigning any way because of restrictions put in place by the government. and also, the pandemic has disproportionately affected the conduct indigenous population, most of whom support independent. so they say that this is simply not fair to hold this referendum. under these conditions. ascii seems in sicily or digging through the rubble of collapse, buildings forming a gas pipe explosion. at least one person is reported dead and several others are missing in the tone of revenue. sir, in southern italy, the bloss damaged at least 2 other buildings that had been large protests in sydney and melbourne against cone of iris vaccine mandates. this comes after australia announced it was speeding up its wallet of booster shots. you omicron variances fuel to shop rise and cove with 19 cases or at 1500 infections were reported. on

sunday. protesters had been backache, demonstrating in vienna against the austrian government's plans to make coven 19 vaccines mandatory. those who refused to get vaccinated can be find more than $4000.00 every 3 months. austria has a 68 percent vaccination rates, one of the lowest in europe. more protests are expected on sunday international tourists. so started returning to the united states that travel restrictions have been listed. but in many cities, office employees are still working from home. that's led to less for traffic and vacant store fronts once considered high rent districts like midtown manhattan in new york. but as christian salumi reports, things seem to be improving. one vanderbilt, a new high rise named for its address,

rises directly above grand central station in midtown manhattan. some of the most expensive real estate in the world. the $93.00 story office tower offers this spectacular view to the public from summit one vanderbilt plus all the latest amenities for corporate clients who according to senior vice president jason hacket, have flocked here despite the lingering pandemic. from an office building perspective, we've got the premier address in new york, we went into the pandemic at about 76 percent leased and are coming out of the panoramic. now what about 91 percent leased? so really proving that there's demand for class a high quality office space which we have here at summit one vanderbilt. of course, not everyone can afford the rent here. no doubt the view is much different down there at street level where office vacancies remain up. rents are down in this part of town, and 2 thirds of office workers have yet to return to their death not has an impact

on the entire neighborhood. fewer office workers means less foot traffic and less business for kava one of 3 midtown restaurants owned by any batek. she says her business is back to about 80 percent of pre pandemic levels. the neighborhood people carried us over, but to get us back to 100 percent level of, of the numbers we need to see to, to be open on is office workers and tourism to combine it's, it's really everything. nearly a 3rd of retail store funds here in manhattan are vacant. these mid town partnership represents local property owners who are faced with more demanding as well as fewer tenants. many commercial offices want to shrink the footprint they have a lease term as far workspace goes. expand the open space, the amenities space in the offices, so there's more room for for flow. so people aren't on top of each other. more and

more workers are expected to return as the delta variant feeds and vaccination rates continue to inch higher. but cove id may have changed this landscape forever . kristin salumi al jazeera new york still hurts on al jazeera environmental process. continue and serving as capital. smart concessions from the government's floss swims hick the ponds as a popular cross harbor rece returns to home comb. ah ah, look forward to brutus goes through with sponsored cutoff airways. hello there. we've seen some unsettled weather effect southern areas of europe over the past few days as storm burress swept across northern areas of spain, bringing to renshaw,

rain now and causing severe flooding. it's been described as the worst flooding in about 20 years. but the good news is it has cleared away. if we take a closer look, we can see a lot of the sunshine is coming back into spain. it remains run a fine and dry. i know you can see those rounds of rain moving in, but it's going to move further south and it will remain rather sunny in madrid. if we look at the 3 day, we are going to see the temperature climb up with a lot of sunshine. but to the east to this, this is where we're seeing the problems. we've got low pressure plaguing parts of italy, grease and the balkans bring wintery weather. we're expecting heavy snow in serbia . we've got damaging winds for croatia and the wet weather that's in greece is going to push across into turkey by the time we get in some monday. but it does clear up. we've got milder conditions, particular across the west and central regions for the north west. we've got some wind warnings out for northern parts of scotland, some of that rain, clipping northern parts of island as well as britain. and we are going to see miles

the conditions in the south. but we brought that rain pulling into the west of england as we go into next week. that's your update. lou with sponsored by katara always talk al jazeera. we ask, how would you describe taliban relationship with the us? we listen copied. one tedious, not hopeful copy. 19 has been terrible demonstration of the failure of human solely that we meet with global news makers and talk about the stories that matter on al jazeera, it was supposed to be a refugee, but south korea's brother's home was allegedly the scene of torture, rape, and even murder, $1.00 0, $1.00 east investigates the crimes. and those set to be behind on al jazeera. ah ah,

this is al jazeera, a quick reminder of the top stories. this are tornado stones and fix us states of killed at least 84 people left a trail of destruction. president joe biden as colon for national unity is promising. the full support of the federal government holds a closing after a 3rd and final independence referendum. the french territory of new caledonia, and is now really rejected. breaking away from france. 2018. and last year and sunday protests have been held in australia's 2 largest cities. these corporate 19 vaccine mandates the demonstrations in sydney and melbourne. follow the government announcing an acceleration in booster shots. it's the 2nd and final day of meetings between g 7 foreign ministers in the u. k. city of liverpool. they're

expected to discuss global health, security and the into pacific region. on saturday, the british foreign secretary called for western unity against authoritarianism and threats from russia and china. from liverpool re challenge reports, britain's 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 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 it seen is 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, 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 barbara, is against it. i social democrat, boss, chancellor of schultz, is for it. and germany is not yet agreeing to threaten russia as the us and u. k. would liken with blocking nord stream to invade to ukraine uniting the free well is easier said than done re challenge. how does era livable the u. s. ascending it's leading. diplomats for european, on a trip to russia and ukraine. current don't free to meet senior officials and kids and moscow over 2 days. apart from the russian troop build up, the state department says don fried will also push progress on entering the conflicts in eastern ukraine. serbian protest is have been blocking roads for a 3rd weekend students and plans for lithium, mining, saturday's crowds, a smaller than past weeks after the government totally opposed to some demands. it's scrapped below that acts of a set were purely designed to help mining joint. we'll team to start operations in

service west from bel grades on your storage reports. man international highway that you see behind me has been blocked. 30 started in a row, and this part that goes to sort of b 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 lows that are helping the mining giant or your pinto. to launch lead, deal mine in west 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 lee. do you mean serbia for goods? that's fans also for any company? not just real simple little background,

is that company or do you think are discovered mineral calls? yeah. it's in the valley or for either of you either in 2004 mean or the dotted contains lead you that's been 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 that are scheduled for the april next year. thousands of people, excuse me, and argentina protested against a possible deal to restructure the country's debts. the government is negotiating with the international monetary funds to pay back a $45000000000.00 dance. demonstrators say it's on payable in argentina. it's to

focus on its own economy. more than a quarter of all people live in poverty. there had been processed in a district of north east india following the debts. a 14 civilians who were mistakenly killed by the indian army soldiers trying to ambush rebels. open fire on a pickup truck carrying coal miners last week. the operation is renew and calls for the repeal of a shoot to kill law, which gives soldiers immunity from prosecution. elizabeth parent m reports i. r and con, yet cries out to the graves of her 25 year old twin sons, long one and tough one. she pleads with them to come home for christmas. the brothers from altering village and mon districts were in this pick up truck last saturday when soldiers opened fire. 6 of the 8 coal miners traveling with them was shot dead once i had fired cape one cognac, let

a search party when the minus failed to return home after we get, we get to know that the bodies are there. some of my friends, those. okay. my lord, me with that at the thought of, but it's getting fired through to records. and after that, i went down there and i was sitting there. and then it we all, they all started fighting and i lay down instead of following the ambush. and now the 7 men were killed when soldiers fight at protesting villages. and now the protest her was killed the following day. india's home minister said the soldiers were acting on intelligence that rebels were on the road, adding to the government regretted the incident. a most good on during the ambush of april approached the location. it was signal to stop. however, it tried to please following which the vehicle suspected of getting insurgents was fired upon water dissolved thing in the killing of 6 out of the 8 traveling in it. however, it turned out to be

a case of mistaken identity. but one of the 2 survivors told al jazeera the truck driver was never asked to stop by troops who fired from both the front and back. new chairman cognacs on shore one was the truck driver. some dotted and boosted enough, they were ambushed, they shot some people who didn't know anything and it wasn't even at night or in the jungle. it was on the road in broad daylight. the killings have provoked protests against the armed forces, special powers act which gives the military extended powers in areas where rebels are operating the ass band, law enforcement, and these administered fish made and large parts of india, 7 northeastern states. soldiers have the power to shoot, to kill, arrest without warrant or destroy the suspect. buildings all with immunity, from prosecution, from us both. and why are, why is that? that is, it is an example for him, you know, same indian citizen in these,

in the us, people, i'm not going, we'll get by on post. if we can on that. we cannot tell it, we have a 2nd does citizen. how does going to get to the north and civilian countries? government leaders say the army needs extra powers and regions were rebels operate . but as a week long morning, for the villages of ordering goes on motherland and magog estate lead as repealing to their government ally the bad at the jump, the party to repeal the contentious shoot to kill law. elizabeth per item al jazeera new daddy health experts have raised new safety concerns about illegal gold mining in indonesia. dozens of babies are suffering birth defects, potentially linked to hazardous chemicals used to process the precious metal. jessica washington reports from the island of non books. in the hills of the continent, indonesia, i think 30 meters under ground. this is one of hundreds of unauthorized mines.

it's dangerous work, but for these men, finding just a speck of gold makes it worthless. mother la. hi, am emma via yes, it's risky because if we make mistakes, the ground can easily collapse. the gold rush into copying 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. i think of this is the risk we take to make a living. i work here for around one year because i have nothing else to do because of karone of our somebody unauthorized mining is an open secret here. mind not the hillside impossible to miss in villages like this across the cotton gold mine is part of daily life. people here depend on it for most or all of their income, and the machines used as part of the process of extracting gold are conveniently right in front of their homes. these machines are the unrelenting soundtrack to

life here. miners put mercury inside them to extract gold from the sediment. it's cheap and easy for us at olive garden. any like it or not, we have to use it. purchasing gold's how we make money yellow at but living near dangerous chemicals comes with consequences. 5 year olds are in cannot walk or talk yet. he was recently diagnosed with microsoft really a medical condition where a child's head is smaller than average, often impacting brain function. in galvan release in when his father worked in the mines, he would process the gold here too. and yet he used mercury to process the goals, researches from a local and g o, a looking into his case and all the children who they say maybe victims of mercury exposure among mascot, 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 breach

. the researches say even children with no link to mining may bear the consequences of sickle tongues, gold obsessions. like nor injure who's 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 authorities say it takes time. it is a very serious concern and you cannot change the mindset within a minute because they already be 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. don't. an annual swimming race across hong kong. iconic victoria harbor is back on after being suspended for 2 years.

when the hands of the usual $3000.00 swimmers were allowed to compete in the all had to be fully vaccinated. it resumes after the city reported 0 local covered 19 infections. for months, the harbor race is one of the few major sporting events allowed to resume this year in the financial hub. kings here that it's the 1st time we can participate in the sporting events is the pandemic started. which means we are ready to recover. ah, this is al jazeera and these are the headlines. tornado storms in 6 us states have killed at least 84 people left a trail of destruction present. joe biden is calling for national unity and as promising the full supports of the federal government. i want folks in all the states chanel. we're going to get through this. we're going to get through this

together and the federal government is not going to walk away. this is one of those times when we aren't democrats or republicans. sounds like i probably been as real .