to the friends that come through from regular groups that added the human rights needed to be respected and that the events at the border would be investigated. ah fire in hong kong, at least a 150 people are trapped in the cities world trade center. after flames broke out in the building. ah, you're watching all their life from a headquarters and i'm getting obligated also coming up on the cronies, spreading rate we have not seen with any previous very and a warning from the w. h o, if it is all countries to step up measures against the new army. kron variance less

people at that facility than what it was if you would let them go. workers in the us say they were prevented from leaving a factory before or nato struck in kentucky at new beginnings, germany's chancellor law so says due to set out his government for your vision in berlin, alive. ah, we begin with breaking news from hong kong where at least a 150 people are still trapped in the cities world trade center because of a fire. fire crews have told those trapped to remain on higher floors. let's go straight to bertha wang who's joining us on the phone from the scene. bertha, what are you hearing about the situation? i'm now at our workplace. i'm in hong kong. say the area we should bustling commercial and shopping home working fine. so it's a shopping mall with shopping more shops, restaurants,

and all the fire around a long time. 5 when it's time, so many people were heading back for back. so that's why there are many people there tracks down, and so the place will upgrade it on a scale of one to 5. and it's the least you have on the 1st floor on. i'm not sure, but the reason i'm the investigation and so far as i know that over to the poll, your trust at the risk was that people were roscoe and there are still one who teaches all assume to be rough, at least a peep over injure and right now i can see that many people are walking out from shopping rescue. okay, bertha will cross back to you later. thank you so much for that update from hong

kong. now the world health organization says the cobra, 1900 on the crown variance is spreading faster than any other strain before it. it says there will be no one to the pandemic. if wealthy nations continue offering boosters at the expense of poor countries, and that morning came as a vigil was held on capitol hill for the more than 800000 americans who died from corona virus. over in the u. k. health officials say infections are doubling every 2 days. paul brown and reports 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 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 variant though, which is really worrying global scientists and health experts. we have learned by

now that we underestimate this virus at our period. even if or me cron does cause less severe, this is the sheer number of cases could once again overwhelm unprepared. health systems in the u. k. m a kron cases and are 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 vaccination 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 is 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 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 needs worked 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 in equity. 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 ho, do it all, pull brennan, al jazeera, london, u. s. government says it's ordered enough of pfizer is covered 1900 hill to 3. 10000000 americans. the drug called pax livid,

was tested on unvaccinated people. it must be given within 3 days of covered 1900 symptoms appearing. pfizer says it's nearly 90 percent effective at preventing death or hospital admissions for people at high risk staff at a candle factory in the us state of kentucky. se bosses threatened to fire them if they left work. as a tornado approached, a charge denied by management, at least 8 people were killed when the factory was hit by the storm. the state governor says he will investigate the allegations of zeros heidi joe castro reports for mayfield. with christmas approaching worker as of the mayfield consumer products handle factory were rushing to fill holiday orders. despite fridays, ominous skies. 20 year old elijah johnson says he felt nervous when he clocked in for his shift. and worse, after a tornado alarm sounded an early warning. the 1st alarm came all around saving and

going on eighty's. and we could have been gone. we could have been gone. everybody could. i guarantee you a good have been less people that died at the facility, then what it was. if people would let them go, he says he and 14 other workers asked a manager if they could leave. we went to and we was like, we need to leave me and we got kids and stuff at the house. we got, we got to take your family and say, well, you can leave what you going to be terminated and was like, what, even with the weather like this and heels i, yes, we even with the weather like this is going to be terminated when the 2nd tornado alarm sounded about an hour later, the $110.00 workers present were directed into a hallway and told to brace. then, with a roar, everything came crashing down the walls. the ceiling. johnson found himself trapped in debris, then came the screen. it was a security officer. it was on my leg and his grandma, my leg,

they kept say it helped me help me help me. and i couldn't help at the time because i was stuck myself. it was touching my leg i 1st and they just stuck. a female supervisor was pinned with her feet against a collapsed wall. johnson says she pushed the wall back, allowing him to escape through a narrow opening. so when i made it out, when i made it out, she was still down there, holding up the wall. kentucky governor has pledged to investigate whether the company was negligent in the way that handled the storms, but he emphasized the state has not verified the workers allegations. representative for the candles factory says workers were not pressured to stay with . we believe that we could do anything differently, you know, in hindsight, of course, i think all of us would do something differently. that is such a gamble to say leave. the last thing you do says don't get in your car, you know, that's what experts say more than a 100 people remain missing in kentucky and in surrounding states, and it's feared the death toll will. ra johnson says after emerging from the

collapse factory, he could think of only one thing. i thought a crime because i thought my friends at all my phrases, he's still not sure of the woman he credits with saving his life. survived heidi jo, castro, al jazeera mayfield, kentucky. the us house of representatives has voted the whole donald trump's former chief of staff in contempt of congress. mark meadows failed to appear before committee investigating the capitol hill riot of january, the 6th. and it's now up to the attorney general to decide whether to formally charge meadows. she returns the reports from washington, d. c. the full version, the house of representatives, finding mach meadows and contempt. congress was a foregone conclusion. and the democratic control chamber into re it has become clear that the committee is offering to main questions. did the president try to impede congress and certification of the election results? and why was the old trumps? are slow to criticize the protests, as of the seriousness of their assault on congress became clear. it took several

hours for trump to release this message. this was a fraudulent election, but we can't play into the hands of these people. we have to have peace. so go home meadows has given the committee thousands of documents, they show that if trump himself was taking the right seriously, at least in his circle, were po, this has to come out firmly and tell the protesters to dissipate. someone is going to get killed. indeed, a number of members of the press, a number of members of this body member, a member of the president's own family, all urged the president take action because they understood that the president of the united states had a responsibility to call off the mob. despite handling over so much information, meadows refuses to give an in person deposition to the committee. he claims executive privilege arguing as the president's chief of staff he should be allowed

to withholds of information. otherwise, how could any presidential adviser give honest advice that he, president, republicans back that argument and accused democrats of engaging and which on, i hope the american people are paying close attention. i hope they see what happens when democrats get total power. they abuse it. they intimidate, they threaten, and they harass it will not be up to the department of justice, decide whether the file charges it did so against environment open. he was found in contempt. my congress, but vitamin was a private citizen during january. the 6th, not an official white house advisor, and he is given no cooperation to select committee. the penalty for being found guilty of contempt of congress is within a month of the year in prison. but even that wouldn't force meadows to hand over any further information. donald trump, meanwhile, is fighting the committee subpoenas in the courts and as an assumption that the committee will be disbanded if the republicans re take the house of representatives in next november's mid term elections. she advertise, see al jazeera washington,

us politicians have voted to raise the federal debt limits with an hours of the treasury deadline. the vote avoided a major credit default raises the bar and kept by 2 and a half trillion dollars. republicans offered just one vote in the house and no votes in the senate. still has on al jazeera, a hunger crisis is unfolding and i've got to stop. we have more from the southern province of kandahar, an area hard hit by food scares, city people seeing violence in northern cameroon, speak of torture as a conflict over a lack of water escalate. ah, ah, look forward to burritos guys. with sponsored by capital airways. while things have really quite a down across europe. hello, everyone. good to see you. we've got just

a few clouds drifting across central areas. we'll talk more about that coming up in a sec. but 1st, let's go to where the action is around the eastern meg over turkey. really raw feeling day and it's then boy you have got the rain and you've got the wind. but look toward the ne black sea region. waltz was sunshine for tribes on with the high of 17 degrees, disturbed weather cypress, and the levant. next will go to italy, the balkans around the eastern shores of the black sea. we're just going to get striped with a few showers. otherwise nothing major going on. now by far some of the best weather on the continent, iberia so seen, finally starting to dry off for northern areas of spain, but were hanging onto the 20th sevilla high of 21 degrees on wednesday. warm air, also in play across areas of the united kingdom into the low countries. but here's where those clouds are drifting about a project high of 6 degrees. warsaw 3, and we've got rain for western areas of norway and snow toward the higher elevation when this weather reports in africa right now. and toward the top end stretching

from elders right through to cairo temperature as are below average. and with that weather maker in the eastern med, that's going to give us breezy condition for northern egypt on wednesday. that's it, sir. oh, the weather. sponsored by katara ways. do you want a bank that puts the partner back into partnership? need bank business banking is here to equip you with a team of experts to partner with you in navigating your new normal and to create relevant business solutions to guide your growth. so in an ever changing business world, do you want a bank that takes your money order bank that takes you money? seriously. search need bank big picture business banking. ah, ah ah,

ah. hello again. the top stories on al jazeera this hour. we do have breaking news out of hong kong where at least a 150 people are trapped in the cities world trade center because of a fire. 5 people have been sent to hospital. the fire broke out on the 1st floor of the building in an area that was under renovation. and the world health organizations has the coven, 19 ami con. variance is spreading faster than any other strain before it. it's warren, there'll be no end to the pandemic. if wealthy nations continue offering boosters of the expense of other countries, poor countries, excuse me. the workers at a u. s. candle factory where 8 people were killed in a tornado say they were told they'd be fired if they left. management denies this. employees say more people would have survived if they were allowed to leave. that

is the life picture from germany where the new chancellor olaf sold says delivering his 1st speech and the top job to the dog. and he's expected to describe his government outline for the next 4 years. what he's been saying so far is that he's been urging all people in germany to get vaccinated, and he's saying that we will win this fight against the corona virus. let's bring in, not cor trophy is a professor political science at coventry university. he's joining us from san ramon and italy. thanks for your time with us. so as we look at the life picture coming out of germany, just tell us what you think will be the new chancellor as domestic 1st domestic priorities and his 1st challenges. the 1st challenge would be to deal with the throne of virus and sickness. but it's been this feature in trails quite a lot. he has pointed lauterbach, who is a and m and, and me ologist

a medical doctor to be the health minister. that's what's great in science because the latter part is not a manager. he's very much like an, a specialist. it's a technical, but they have written, granted up and, and focused on the fact they are tackling corona virus. and that's going to be the main point. so it's going to be very much so the following on from on long to the math now to get behind was also a medical doctor as a, as in a wing manner and shelters continuing that. but in the, even more so the focus is the rounds that i'm the 2nd focus would be to stable that shift. and then the focus will be to have a foreign policy that deals with that with russia. he will, it will mention that you wouldn't want to go in on that front. why do you say he was going to detail, right?

as specifically on this points of foreign policy. i mean, what do you expect to hear from him and why will he not go into detail when it comes to russia? probably because the germans are little bit sheltering behind the, the french than the americans. the germans want to focus their foreign policy on. they cannot make it, they have, they don't entirely dependent on the russians, but they do get quite a lot of gas from rock and to rock. the boat is frank to not give interest. there's also the slight problem that while the green party and the liberal policy, because it's not very critical of russia, i'm trying to the number of people in his own party at this time of the party who would want to have a bit of an appeasement with russia, the previous sessions, johnson is a both my dog gas problem. so there is some, some disagreement within the clinician, so it's better to study the ship and not privy. have opened that can do to make

supplements. he, obviously, he comes from a different political party from anglo merkel. yet he did play a key role in her the governments, as vice chancellor. do you expect them to govern differently than merkel or, or will he be looking for more continuous and will the people of germany will be looking for continuation i think what we can say is we would have a continuation of, of shelter economic policy in this government he was the finance minister in the past 4 years. he was responsible for having parity of men and women on the boards, which the policy down to the office to credit for. but it was more of shots policy or the shots with the architect of the minimum wage that was introduced for the 1st time in german history in the law. all him and, and he has sort of kept a tight shift. he is a, an employment lawyer by training. he's somebody who's a very steady have and he will continue with that. so as far as the policy is

concerned, which for most germans he will continue with that. and then that will be the added little bonus of a christmas present to the german people in the form of an increase in the middle. and just one more to you and a final one, looking at his cabinet. it is a gender equal cabinet. now in germany, i believe for the 1st time, how significant is the what is the thing that he kind of have to do. so he did the war that mandated companies to have a territory of men and women on company boards. and it would look pretty bad if they didn't at least do the same then his 1st government so. so it's one of those things that people are raving about. but he frankly had no choice but, but you have that. but interesting, the, the number of a 1st time issues are, for example, the, the, the foreign minister on a need to be a book. it's the 1st time in german history that you have

a female that most of the agriculture industry, the german cabinet minister with an immigrant background. it is a number of us which is tickling that germany is becoming if you'd like a less conservative, a more modern moments of cultural states and beliefs and should never be underestimate policy. thank you so much for speaking to us from italy. while the u. n. is calling on the united states and iran to move foster to restore the 2015 nuclear deal baset or is that the security council have described the situation as grave prison, salumi reports 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 fair and

comprehensive deal for the benefit of the iranian people. a nation, iran's continued nuclear 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 its new killer diplomacy

. ron's ambassador blamed the us vienna fox can succeed only through genuine political will and good faith negotiations. engaging in blame game or showing artificial impatience is not constructive. the rhetoric and 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. kristen salumi al jazeera, the united nation. so us secretary state anthony blinkin says his country remains committed to a multi 1000000000 dollar fighter jet deal with the u. e. despite reports of w. once out, the wall street journal reported the united arab emirates wants to cancel the purchase of a $35.00 on drones because of security requirements. they include stringent

measures against chinese espionage. agencies are launching a joint appeal saying more than 8000000 people and i'm going to son are on the brink of famine. and more than a 1000000 children under 5 could die. it's estimated that 75 percent of all government spending was funded by international donations before the taliban takeover. brothers bride traveled to kandahar in the south of the country, which is suffering food shortages. from early morning at this food distribution center, they start lining up some of the thousands of africans from this one district who now rely on their weekly rations from the world food program to get by mohammed sharif. he's taking supplies back to his wife and 6 children. oh dear for surely. let us what it says, unless it's very important to us. if we didn't get to say, do we go hungry?

so we're grateful. with warnings that half afghanistan population of nearly $40000000.00 and now going hungry hospitals in kandahar city are seeing the result . the listless dance, the one will sometimes 2 babies per bed nurse lie loma and her staff are treating twice as many cases as normal that need to moderate most of these mothers on producing milk and they don't have the money for how did milk. so most of these babies are around one year old, but they weigh less than 4 kilograms. that's about half the weight they should be. so what we thing is a feeding tube going into the stomach in the bed opposite the even tiny a features of baby. sure reefer just 6 weeks old and with a feeding tube trying to increase her weight from an emaciated sweet kilos can to her province is walnut the worst affected by food scarcity. but here,

as in much of the country, it's also been hit not only by conflict, but the 2nd poor harvest in 4 years. it went almost unnoticed amid the turmoil of the taliban takeover. but this past year, afghanistan has suffered a severe drought affecting crops and livestock. it means this winter was always going to be tough in terms of food supply, but it's been made far worse amid the current upheaval. back at the food distribution center, the people of quite a bad village now is drive away, collect their supplies. this will be enough for their 15, extended families until the following week or the year that we've had to drought. and if no work, what can we do to the situation? we go really bad, and now it's less that they like the neighboring villages facing the long winter

ahead. public bride al jazeera candy afghanistan frances reducing its military presence in northern molly as the government accuses it of abandonment. the french flag was lowered at a ceremony and turned back to the loss of 3 french bases and saw how region the troops were deployed in 2013. to help stop the attacks by fighters linked to al qaeda. and i thought molly's prime minister says the threat is still there. fighting between fishermen and herders in northern cameroon has killed at least 22 people and for 30000 people to flee, some shared stories of machete attacks and torture. the government says the situation is now calm, but nicholas high for 4th 3rd concern. a shortage of water could 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. the mobile phone footage shows armed herders and sherry, 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 spilling 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 hot bed of tension. we will continue to receive communities, associations and all those who want to make a contribution to the restoration of peace continue odyssey. won't come ruins,

president sent his ministers to the region to mediate more than 30000. people have fled to neighboring chairs where president mohammed is debbie is calling for urgent humanitarian assistance to 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 curious wounded on my back by machetes and 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 and 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. nasa has confirmed that parker solar probe which

is orbiting the sun has touched it for the 1st time on a recent fly by the pro dipped into the upper atmosphere also called the corona. astronomers learned for the 1st time the corona has spikes on depths. it's a discovery that could help further understand solar weather. the probe will continue until 2025. ah, hello again. the headlines on al jazeera. we have breaking news from hong kong where at least 150 people are trapped in the cities world trade center. because if a fire 5 people have been sent to hospital, it broke out on the 1st floor of the building in an area that was under renovation . bertha wank is a journalist in hong kong and has from the see. it is the least you have prepared out on the 1st floor on i'm not sure but the reason.