the stories you're being told, it's not a science story at all. it's a story about politics. the listening post, your guide to the media on a just 0, ah, a grim milestone as the united states marks 800000 co with 19 deaths and the w h. o warns on the corner spreading faster than any earlier cobra, various ah, on has them secret? this is al jazeera life from the also coming up. wealthy nations are criticized for giving coven 19 boosters to their citizens, while millions in poor countries are yet to get a 1st dose work a say they were prevented from leaving

a factory before deadly tornadoes struck in kentucky. you are secretary of state is in malaysia. china remains the focus of his talk through south east asia. ah, hello, the world health organization says the cobra 19 omicron variant is spreading faster than any strain before it. the agency is criticising wealthy nations for offering vaccine boosters, while millions in poor countries are yet to have their 1st dose. it says there will be no end to the pandemic if this continues was worst effected. nation has now seen more than 800000 deaths from co, with 90 members of the u. s. congress held a moment of silence on the steps of the capital to honor those americans who died during the pandemic. in the united kingdom on the crown infections are now doubling

every 2 days for brandon has more than from london. in europe, the jobs are going into people's arms as fast as they can be unpacked. more than half a 1000000 booster shots who are administered in the u. k. in just one day fall short of the 1000000 a day, the government's aiming for. but the race to reinforce immunity is gathering pace. it's the extraordinary infectiousness of the con, very unto which is really worrying global scientists and health experts. we have learned by now that we underestimate this by us at our period. even if or me cron does cause less cbs, this is the sheer number of cases could. once again overwhelm unprepared. health systems. in the u. k. m. a kron cases are now doubling every 2 days. and with more than 200000 possibly infected every day, the number could pass a 1000000 within a week, long queues again at vaccinations, centers up and down the u. k. as the government's bruce,

the jap program continues apace. with the dilemma facing the politicians on that side of the river is whether the jobs alone will be enough to slow the progress of the on a cron variance. scientists have never seen. never seen a coven 19, very was capable of spreading so rapidly. so we have to look at what we can do to slow only cons. advance down. that level of alarm was reinforced in testimony to a u. k. parliamentary committee. we are concerned with a large volume of individuals who are being infected every day in the population. that we're going to have a very difficult for weeks ahead with cases in the community, which will of course cause individuals to need to sales work in school. and then for those cases to transfer into admissions tonsils, the world health organization has, again raised the issue of vaccine hoarding and warned the world's wealthy nations that giving boosters to low risk groups while others are yet to have even one dose

of vaccine is dangerous. w joe is not against boosters. we are against inequity. if we end in equity, we end the pandemic when it comes to deciding which options to reduce the infection rate. the advice from the w h o. do it all, pull brennan, al jazeera, london, a british m p. 's have improved new restrictions in england to curve the spread of covered 19, but 98 politicians from prime minister bars. johnson's own party voted against the faith coverings will be compulsory and most indoor settings and we changes to sell fi, salacious rules covet, passes will also be required for launch venues. the south african medical research council has released its 1st omicron study. the data was gathered in the 1st 3 weeks of the variance appearing in southern africa, and it found that 2 doses of the 5 vaccine would provide 33 percent protection against infection from on the con,

but 70 percent against hospitalization. the president of the democratic republic of congo, hopes of vaccination push will help control rising infection numbers that countries confirmed. the 1st cases of the con varied so far, the government has administered fewer than 5 percent of the vaccine doses. it's been given the d r. c is reported nearly 60000 infections and more than 1000 corona virus relate to death. since the pandemic began, malcolm, which has moved from nairobi on why the congolese government is struggling to contain the infections. firstly, the, the reason affected all of africa, much of, of other continents as well, was just a lack of doses. which countries of course, only all of the available. this is at the beginning of this year. and it was only when donations started to trickle into, into poor countries, that governments were even able to start those vaccination programs,

but not something that affected all of this continent. and of course, if there are enough doses for government to give out to many people, then they're not in a position to start running public. a public awareness campaign to coach people to come and get that connected. but say that congo situation is worse even than the other countries in this content, countries around it because of a reluctance because it hasn't been expressed by the political leadership by president felix typically and other health officials. we themselves were very slow, the publicly take the dose of the vaccine. when the 1st donations that congo received the 3000000 doses of the present vaccine and many of those ended up being sent to other countries because they weren't used before they would expire. so this is mobilized very slowly, although now the well bank says that congress ministry of health has started to organize a program to distribute vaccines to the problem, to the provinces,

to rural areas. but this is, it will happen very late, which is what explains why the vaccine rate is indeed very far behind. other countries of the u. s. government has ordered enough of fires is covered 1900 pill to treat 10000000 americans finds it says it's almost 90 percent effective of preventing deaths or hospital admissions. in high risk people, the drug called packs loaded was tested on unvaccinated people. it must be given with 3 days of symptoms appearing 5 says the drug also works well against the on the chrome variance, a star fat, a candle factory in the u. s. state of kentucky. se bosses threatened to fire them if they left work as a tornado. approach management denies this, at least 8 people were killed when the building was flattened on friday. at least say, the state governor says they'll investigate the allegations. da 0 is heidi joe casters spoke to one of the employees that says he was threatened with termination if he

left his post. there were a 110 people at work at the candle factory on friday night. you know, it's the height of the holiday gift season. so they were rushing to meet the orders . and we were told that many knew of the possibility, the strong possibility of disastrous storms coming their way. and when they asked to be loud out of work early for safety sake, they were told no, this is coming directly from our guest who was one of the workers. elijah johnson, thanks so much for joining us. you were at work when the storm had tell me how this folder for you came in. this is a lot of the storm thorns of place around 930. we took shelter around 9 o'clock and we was there before. everything happened at 7 o'clock when cyrus 1st came home while we was in the facility, we had to leave, i was told no, it was me watching other people. would you leave?

and i said no coach management and you asked to leave. what did they say? what happened if you did leave? it said we left was going to be terminated and i took off 15 of the. yeah, what was going through your mind as you saw the potential of the storm coming? i was, i was scared, scared on top of that frustrated because i couldn't leave because i needed the source of income. and so finally the storm strikes, what happened in the moment it impact when it, when i hit, when i hit people still on the floor. when they came into the burn room, hit so fast that people flew into shelter and but they hand over their heads while they was flying from the when other tornado push it to where we was. and you were one of those people. can you tell me what, how it felt and what you, what you sense at that moment? well, we was taken there was taken roll call at 1st and then once they took roe call, after that he was standing up. he was standing up. i was in much when there was i was much when i already had hands on my head and my knees on my stomach and was to

happen. the wall fell on my back. and once they fell on my back, i was good, but i was still hurt. and because the weight of the walls on my back and my knees sprayed out because all the weight of it and certain people wasn't in tornado dances. so certain people got hit in awkward ways you guys wanted to leave and get out of dangerous path. but you're saying that the company would not let you the company denies that ever happened. they say that they did not threatened to fire anyone. what's your response to that? is sad because it's so many people that passed away so many people still entered to this day. and i'm not saying just injure like a scratch or in those days some people are missing legs. some people paralyzed for the rest of their life. the us secretary of state is in malaysia, on the 2nd leg of his tor, of southeast asia. anthony lincoln is trying to firm our time in the region to

count to china's influence and choose that he was in indonesia capital jakarta way criticized basing for its aggressive policies in the region. he had out of china again during a press conference alongside malaysia's foreign minister. when we're thinking about the free and open into pacifically, we talk we throw those words around, but they actually have meaning and ashley bell for us to give the meeting countries the opportunity to choose their own partners and to choose their own path. and for the region as a whole, it's moving forward in a spirit of visual respect based on collaboration. opperation not unfortunately. let's go live now to florence louis. enquire, la plus a florence tell us more about what was said? so i think lincoln in his press conference with the malaysian foreign minister now really the points he was trying to get across is very much similar to what he

outlined in a speech. talking about the u. s. as vision for the indo pacific region, he stressed the importance of keeping this region prosperous and stable and peaceful. and part of that really or large part of that is about keeping this region free of corrosion and intimidation. now we heard him speak in indonesia accusing china really aggressive actions listing some of those actions as china, claiming large parts of the south china sea, conducting illegal fishing, punishing countries using the economic might punishing countries whose policies it disagrees with. so very much what he said was really just an extension of what he said at the policies speech outlined in jakarta on tuesday. now, the u. s. as strategy really is about using se asia to, to keep a rising china at bay. the biden administration has it,

it sees it's rivalry with china as it's biggest jo, political test of the century. and this visit is very much about deepening ties and engagement with the region. because remember, this is a region that was after all overlooked during the 4 years when donald trump was the president of the united states. but the bite of administration, none is make, is in a sense revert on going back to the policy of a former u. s. present, barack obama and his pivot to asia. so this visit by bank, lincoln is very much in line with the strategy of deepening ties in the region or florence. thanks. we have lawrence louis in columbus. the still ahead on al jazeera, strong rhetoric from iranian, and u. s. diplomats on the 2015 nuclear deal, as they tried to revive the english and bella rushes opposition. leaders says

she'll keep fighting for democracy as a husband gets 18 years. jail for protests against the government. ah. look forward to brighter skies with sponsored play cutaways. hello. thank you for joining in. we'll begin in the middle east and eventually get you to africa. hang tight. first. got to talk about disturbed weather in the levant, around the red sea. both sides is energy will pivot further toward the east stand. so there is the risk of seen some showers in kuwait, even power up some thunderstorms on friday. believe your temperatures well above average. you should be 8 degrees overnight, but we've got you in for 70 off the pakistan right now. things are settled, save for a few showers in snow showers to the foothills of the himalayas. we do have some snow showers in cobble with the high of 3 degrees after turkey. really unsettled

here cyprus in the levant, which we are speaking about. but really soggy weather pattern for is stumble over the next few days windy as well. could see those winds crank up to about 40 to 50 kilometers per hour through the tropics of africa. we've got our storms closer to that west coast. so we're talking about congo into galvan and cameroon. and we're going further toward the south and some really organized bands of rain here around bill, away. oh, stretching into eastern portions of south africa and for now or cape town on wednesday has a high of 23 degrees. but wait for it. some hearse on the way your temperature shoots up to 32 just in time for the weekend. sounds good. enjoy sir. for the weather sponsored by katara, always stories of determination. enjoy. ah, with gina you, have you make a short documentary by african filmmakers from miley

wanda and cameron desert library, the young cyclist and happy africa direct on al jazeera. ah, the hello again watching as a reminder of our top story, the world's worst effective nation has now seen more than 800000 deaths from covered 1000 members of the u. s. congress held a moment of silence on the steps of the capital to honor those americans who died during the pandemic. the world health organization says the covered 19,

almost crown variant is spreading faster than any other strain. it warns there'll be no end to the pandemic if wealthy countries offer vaccine boosters, while millions in poor nations wait for a 1st us staff at a candle factory in the us state of kentucky, threatened to fire them if they left the building as a tornado approach. management denies this, at least a people were killed at the factory. in the last few minutes, the us house of representatives has voted to hold former white house, chief of staff, mock meadows, in contempt of congress. the mostly party line vote came one day after the committee investigating the january 6 capitol hill ride unanimously approved the measure meadows refused to attend to hearing last week. despite being subpoenaed, the un it's calling on the united states and iraq to move faster to restore the 2015 nuclear deal and baset as of the security council core situation grave.

kristen salumi report from the united nations. a stern warning from the european signatories of the iran nuclear deal to ra needs to act fast. if it wants to salvage the agreement, even the us to choose between the cut ups of the g. she buey and the fear and comprehensive deal for the benefit of the iranian people. a nation he runs continued. nicholas escalation means that we are rapidly reaching the end of the road, talks of resumed in vienna after a 5 month hiatus. but western nations say iran is backtracking on earlier agreements and adding new demands. the u. n. has expressed concern about the countries refusal to allow inspectors to make unannounced visits to, to nuclear facilities. the u. s. left the deal in 2018 under then president trump thing under president biden, washington wants back in, but only if tehran upholds its commitments mixed were convinced that if iran pro

approaches talks in vienna, with urgency and good faith, we can quickly reach and implement an understanding on mutual return, we cannot, however, allow iran to accelerate its nuclear program and slow walk. it's nucular diplomacy, ron's ambassador blame the us. vienna talks can succeed already through genuine political, real, and good faith negotiations. engaging in blame game or flying artificial impatience is not constructive. the rhetoric in the council chamber was strong. both iran and the united states say they want to return to the deal. and the un says that's encouraging. but clearly, members of the international community are concerned that iran is closer than ever to a nuclear weapon. and time may be running out. kristin salumi al jazeera, the united nations haiti's prime minister has announced 3 days of national morning

after the explosion of a gas tank of which has killed more than 60 people and within overwhelmed hospital in the coastal city of cap haitian. at that number is expected to rise, gillian wolf has a story. the one by one victim of monday's gas explosion are loaded onto the truck. as own workers is watching shop. the there is little comfort for this mother who weeps at the loss of her child. the wide sheets cover the victims as they lay sprawled across the street some too badly born to be identified. both i heard a loud noise around midnight. i asked one of my boys, what is it about why he said it was a large truck filled with gasoline right away. i left the place with my family and with the other way, the bridge. that's all i can say. a truck carrying gasoline overturn

monday. exploding into a fireball and golf in cars and homes in its path. 6 pedestrians reportedly rushed to the scene, collecting spilled gas as the country suffers from a severe fuel shortage. i received many called informing me about the fire and immediately sent the firefighters and police and alerts, so they could interview. unfortunately, many people died. but i want to congratulate our 1st responders because they put their lives at risk to control the fire and prevent any further debt. on monday, prime minister earl, on re expressed his condolences declaring 3 days of national morning with the local hospital stretch. then he has deployed field hospital to the area. it is the latest tragedy in a country that has already experience so much this year. gillian wolf, al jazeera, the u. s. is condemning the conviction of the husband, the bellow,

races, opposition leader as politically motivated. so a super new sky has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for organizing mass on rest and inciting, social hatred. launches campaign to unseat president, alexander lucas shanker before last year's election, but was arrested his wife that longer ran in his place the loss though many observers say the vote was reg. she spoke to al jazeera and said she will not give up fighting for osmond and others wrongly detained in bel reese. i was sure that i was prepared for such a tough sentence. but as a matter of fact, it was really stressful for me and to the whole day because i feel the stated by it doesn't mean that i'm going to cry the whole day long. i understand that only difficult, everyday job united job feel make

a future release possible for my husband. hundreds, thousands, awfully bill or since last time i talked to him 15 months ago for me since then we can communicate with $0.04 more messages about children with what we thinks for him. and his mother is the old woman and she was there in the prison today. she wasn't allowed, but she was afraid that she will be able to see her son in the morning. i'm really sorry that i can't talk to you because i'm in the country. my children don't know about the sentence and i'm going to tell them my younger daughter. she's 6. she receives presence and the latest from her daddy think the to some business trip. my oldest son level understands the way his father,

but i didn't want to ruin his hopes because i honestly believe to be able to meet of the there did he in the future. a malta has become the 1st european country to allow limit to cultivation and possession of cannabis. a personal use parliament has approved the law which allows adults to possess up to 70 grams and grow up to 4 plants. smoking cannabis in public will remain against the law and there are fines of up to $600.00 for those court consuming the drug in front of a child. o and bunny. she is the member of multis parliament who promoted the bill . he says the law provides a safe way for people to obtain cannabis. what we did was a measure of harm reduction in the response to the realities we have around us. you know, we meet people all the time and the critic criminalized because they make personal

use of cannabis. and we decided that we have to stop. this criminalization of people who are not criminals, but others wealth of that old choice. if they decide to make use of kenneth, of course the government we incentivize and with tell people to make heads the choices. but if an adult decides to make use of canup is for his own personal use, then we should be provided with a safe and the regularized route from where he can or she can obtain the can up is a fighting between fishermen and heard is in northern cameroon, in recent days, has forced 30000 people to flee and left at least 22 dead. some of the stories of machete attacks and torture. the government says the situation is now calm. but as nicholas hawk reports, there's consent. a shortage of water will lead to more violence. this is what's left of a once thriving market in the far northern region of cameroon,

it was burned down in fighting about access to water in the region. his mobile phone footage shows armed herders into scary looking for water points to feed their cattle, fighting with fishermen and farmers unwilling to share their wells. 4 months after the end of a rainy season that brought little rainfall, people are willing to kill. for a drop of water, this vendor says this is a war fueled by lack of water building across the region. the government standing by doing little to stop the fighting at the local hospital, injured rival, herders and farmers get treatment side by side after days of violence. the situation is tense. the governor offers envelopes of cash, but for many, this is not enough. now some less overall, the situation has become com again. shops have been gradually reopening since yesterday. and so far we have not recorded any hotbed of tension. we will continue

to receive communities, associations and all those who want to make a contribution to the restoration of peace. to me, odyssey won't come ruins, president sent his ministers to the region to mediate more than 30000 people have fled to neighboring chad where president mohammed address debbie is calling for urgent humanitarian assistance. the displaced left behind their homes and belonging but brought with them tales of horror. i was tortured by 7 people from the europe community. i was seriously wounded on my back by machetes of our land, almost died in the bush. fortunately, my relatives found me and helped me to cross the river, so i could be treated here very conflict. there are become very violent. i don't want to go back, not enough water in thirsty for revenge. this is a conflict made worse by changing climate with months to go before next year's

rainy season. the people of cameron's far north fear the fight for water has only just begun. nicholas hawk algae 0 of france is reducing its military presence in molly's norse amid government accusations of abandonment. french flag was lowered at a ceremony and tim, back to the last of 3 french bases in the south region. they were deployed in 2013 to help stop attacks by rebels linked to al qaeda. an iso, molly's prime minister has said the threat is still there. i'm all there century after british truce stole their treasure. the people have been in city in southern nigeria. have a reason to celebrate to been in bronze is, are heading home and a well welcome awaits a thousands of other artifacts. remain in museums in europe and the united states and russia power port o. signing on behalf of his people, the traditional ruler of the kingdom of beneath puts pen to paper to write

a historic wrong oh, in every oh, which will remove from his brother's intimacy, nigerian president mohammed, who bihari has issued a directive to his government. oh, ah, a bronze, cockrell and a king's bust, the 2 works of art whose return is being celebrated. they once decorated beneath palace commissioned by ancient kings to remember their predecessors. the city was attacked and the palace ransacked in 1897. the king had refused to recognize britons claim on west africa, while 2 items are being returned. 900 pieces remain in the british museum in london,

and the people have been in city or waiting for their return. andrew chappelle al jazeera as always, there's lots more on, on websites, just a dot com, get all the latest on the stories list following the edges in a dot com ah, hasn't. let's get around. now, other top stories, the world's worst affected nation, has now seen more than 800000 deaths from covey. 19 members of the u. s. congress held a moment of silence on the steps of the capital to honor those americans who died during the pandemic. world health organization says the covered 1900 on the kron variant is spreading faster than any other strain. it is warning, there'll be no end to the pandemic if wealthy countries off vaccine boosters while millions in poor nations wait for.