additional arabic sounds to a whole new audience, being a woman and being american, playing with it already is something new from boston to palestine, the land of his birth. he nurtures the next generation of musical talent. simon shaheen. musical journey on al jazeera. ah, this is al jazeera ah hello, i'm emily ang, when this is the news, allan live from doha, coming up in the next 60 minutes, vladimir persian, and she'd been paying the whole the virtual talks, while western nations pressure moscow over it's true build up on ukraine's bought on new beginnings,

germany's chancellor. all of shoulds sets out his government's 4 year plan, including how it'll win the battle against coven 19 pulled to safety. more than 1200 people rescued from hong kong world trade center. and just how close did nasa get to the biggest and brightest star in our solar system at, on pita, similar to the school teens line from a fee for arab cup studio and the door dough waterfront as a build up to the arab cup. so the final votes cars will take on old jerry and what could be the biggest test before the world cup next year? ah. hello, we begin this news hour with a focus on the relationship between russia and china. presidents vladimir putin and she gin ping have just concluded a virtual summit. the mountain comes as friction in both countries. relationships

with the west persists for more on this. let's go live to katrina. you who's covering the story in beijing. hello there. katrina, these 2 ladies have certainly enjoyed a strong relationship in recent years. that's right, paging says this summit will only serve to enhance the already high level of trust between these 2 countries. and it's true president, she didn't ping and vitamin putin already have a very strong personal report. they've met more than 30 times in the last 7 or so years. and this relationship, the strength is built on to foundations. i think one is economic. these countries do a lot of trade with each other. there's a lot of mutual investment. china relies on russia for a lot of its energy. it's oil and it's gas. and there was a work together in terms of other projects as well. russia participates in china is built in road initiative that you are talking about working on space exploration as

well. and other another aspect of this relationship, of course, is also political. this meeting is coming at a time when both countries aren't coming under increasing criticism from the west, the us, europe, ne, so et cetera, for the policy is both abroad and domestically. of course, russia is undefined because of its massive true build up on the border with ukraine and china as being heavily criticized for its increasing military activity this year around the self rules island of taiwan, which paging claims as its own. and we also seen them in the future in support china repeatedly when it comes to a lot of china's own controversial policies at home when it comes to shin, young, hong kong, etc. a lot of it's a lot of its behavior which other countries have criticized as human rights abuses . and of course you've heard recently, many west in countries announce that they will diplomatically boy court the winter

olympics. china's big events that they're holding and will open in february the u. k. u. s. canada strip of announce among other countries that they will not send any officials. and yet we have rushes vladimir putin say that he will delightfully agree to attend. and he's so far the only major leader to say that he will katrina, it's certainly a lengthy agenda. the to had many things to discuss. tell us a little bit more about that military aspect. that's right. so we've just seen, actually russia release some new pictures of its conducting, of some testings of new anti submarine missiles. now, dotted me, putin says that russia is quite ahead of the curb when it comes to the testing of these kinds of missiles hypersonic missiles. and we know that china does, to a large extent, agree with that and agree that russia does have some enviable advanced military

technology. certainly they supply china with a lot of it's military gear. and china itself is also developing. it's learned hypersonic missiles, the country, the 2 countries are also increasing the military cooperation, the security cooperation, and already this year we've seen both of them conduct several joint exercises. thank you for that update. very much. katrina, you live for us in beijing. let's bring it to raise a felon. she's the director of the center for russia, europe, asia studies, and joins us by skype from brussels. thanks for being here. teresa just tell us a little bit about how deep this relationship is between these 2 nations. and has it been something that's been underestimated by western powers? hello, we are observing more strategic coordination with china and russia than meets the eye. many have described in the past as one of the front of me is or an alliance of convenience. but it seems that even this lines of convenience has children were

seen deeper corporation as your correspondent mentioned in space artificial intelligence. and there's also this other idea that when russia does something, for example rattling sabres, your ukraine, it also kind of takes attention the media attention of china and what they've been doing, penetrating airspace and the space of taiwan. so it's other, they're actually coordinating, but they do actually help each other on the international stage. and so this kind of idea of a massive russia, china corporation, was underlined today by test the, the russian news information service. it's the 1st time i've ever seen it written that russia and china test described them as allies. this is something that beijing is very reticent to do. they don't like to describe it as allies, but it seems that russia, coming into these talks with the europeans, wants to show that they have all this power behind them. that russia and china

together are working as allies theresa this concern. russia may invade ukraine and china may invade taiwan. how concerning the similarities in their approach to foreign policy? i definitely think that there is an echo effect going on. we saw this with crimea, and the little green men basing you better believe it was watching very carefully how the international community was responding. and they take that into account when they're trying to make their calculus in regards to one. the other issue is russia and china have these kind of small windows of opportunity. both will be facing demographic challenges. their economies are growing as rapidly as they once were. and i think that even this kind of technical advantage right now, you mentioned the hypersonic gliders, the u. s. is now completely focused on great powered competition after they left afghanistan. so there's a short window of opportunity. i think that both moscow amazing. see before the u.

s military kind of gears up for this great power competition and they're trying to explain how a washington view this latest meeting do you think between the 2 latest other be watching it very carefully. there are some which i call reverse arm chair kissinger's, who have been advocating that the u. s. should try to pull russia away from china. i don't think that really works. i think russia will always see themselves as a great power. they don't want to be junior powered to the u. s, nor do they want to be one with china. but i think in their calculus, they see themselves as maybe a 2nd here, great power. and that china and russia might be at the top table, but russia still has a major role to play on the international stage. well, we appreciate your insight. thank you very much to raise a felon the director of the center for russia, europe, asia studies. thank. thanks to the world news now, and germany's new chancellor, all of shoulds has urged everyone to get vaccinated if the countries to win the

fight against the corona virus, he warned his administration will have no red lines when tackling over 19 saying they had no time to waste gemini, is currently grappling with his biggest wave as infections so far. in the pandemic, all of been cur, is the billing director for the rest moose and global that simply consultancy. he joins us live from the lane. thanks for being with us on this and use our all of will the current of virus be the biggest challenge for this new administration? at least it is a huge challenge right at the beginning. so there's no extra time for the new government to smoothly fade into the, into the seats of power. so they took up the issue from day one even when they just announced the coalition agreement 3 weeks ago. the 1st statement of shots made as the just nominated chancellor was not elected by the time that the 1st and most the

highest priority will be and tackling the coroner pandemic. and of course, we have a lot of countries in europe who are taking straight measures, leg austria with a straight lockdown. and the debate here is ongoing, and everyone is half our expertise. it's actually been chosen. his government can, can cope with the, with the pandemic. tell us a little bit more about all of his background is as finance minister and as a lawyer, what kind of influence will that background have and how he leads? there's a hard to say, i would say the, the interesting aspect which is underestimated here is that he is not coming into into the government, into the seat as chancellor from the opposition and rank. so usually you have the democracy that you have an opposition and the leader of the opposition then comes off the election and becomes the new chancellor or no shots was always there for the last years. he had been the vice chancellor of germany for the last 4 years. he

had always been a very good corporation with chancellor mirka. and then i think also made the specific transition those special because it was super smooth. it was very calm. you could hardly see that the government was leaving office and the new government took up and there was no frictions. he just explicitly think and was grateful towards unglamorous as the former chancellor. i think actually he, that was also his recent p. for, for his victory, he copied a lot by uncle america, but not in the way that he's he's just playing to be mercury. he's very much incorporating what people like about uncle emory could have very calm north german attitudes. he's not the one taking the 1st my to make a comment and then to rethink. he's someone who prefers to maybe disappear for a day and then comes up so very likely like i'm gonna america. i was rating that

he's actually known for. he's repetitive kind of phrase during press conferences that he repeats the same sets of phrases and we see that in his speech. and is this something that he'll luckily have to change going forward? that's a good question. so i think it is part of his character and nature, so i expect he will continue on this. but of course there are huge crazes out there and, and he's dealing and that's of course the challenge for him. also, you could see this in his opening speech in the, in the german parliament today. so he's trying to be the moderator. he is the chancellor of a 1st scene coalition between the ecological green, the modern liberals and his center, left social democrats. we haven't seen this on the federal level before. so and he needs to manage this coalition inside. while at the same time, of course,

she's perceived by the outside world and the international community, as the one who's now calling the shots of germany. and that's kinda with challenging situation for him to, to manage in the, in the 1st weeks and months to come. it's going to be fascinating to see how it all unfold. thank you for your insights, all of the book then. thank you. you're welcome. as we heard the pandemic is impacting germany, but it's also top of the political agenda in the united kingdom soon on the kron infections. and now doubling day every 2 days. but as poll brennan reports bringing back a title restriction is proving to be a political headache for the prime minister, forrest johnson. in europe, the jobs are getting 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 variant though, 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, and 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 booster jap program continues apace with a dilemma facing the politicians on that side of the river is whether the jobs alone will be enough to slow the progress of the arm across variance. scientists have never seen. never seen a coven 19 very as capable of spreading so rapidly. so we have to look at what we

can do to slow only cons. advance does that level of alarm was reinforced in testimony to a u. k. parliamentary committee. we are concerned with enlarge volume of individuals who are being infected every day in the population. that we are going to have very difficult for weeks ahead with castes in the community, which will, of course, cause individuals to need to still 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 jo 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,

angie simmons has the ladies for us now from london. hello there, andrew. what more do we know about this mounting pressure on bars? johnson? well, it's mounting to the point where by there's been a rebellion and his party tuesday nights saw more than a up to a 100. a members of the conservative party members of parliament vote against the government over its issue of coven passes. these are our certificates to allow people into a bar to, into night clubs and larger venues. either that or the alternative is a negative results to a covey test. now the measure did pass a but only through the major help of the opposition labor party. really because this situation has grown into her a thorn embarrass johnson side. his party say the measures are draconian but,

but really they're not in any way as stringent as elsewhere. in europe and indeed in the u. k. either scotland, northern ireland and wales have their own systems for cove, it passes. and in scotland for example, there's a new rule now which benz anything more than 3 separate households being in the same place at socializing at so, birth johnson has a big problem because he has to actually work out how he can ratchet up any measures. he has, as the, as the army, kron tension rises with record numbers of infections. and andrew, it's not just the u. k. slater coin for strict measures, as you mention what's happening across europe. well, the, the latest is meeting a z, e. u. parliament's remembers, in strasburg,

are actually deciding on the new measures they're calling for a more stringent measures, right across the continent. there are examples of all over in european capitals of new measures being introduced. they're looking at each other in europe to see how people are dealing with things and how, how strong people should go in trying to actually bring the omicron arises that, that the surges of infections across the board under control. now in denmark, it's likely that there will be a proof soon of omicron, overtaking the delta variance in the number of cases which shows how fast it spreading. denmark and the u. k. seems to be the worst worst in the, in sense of, of spread of this variant right across the board. so that there is a real concern that the rest of your has to keep going as it is. ready with

increased measures, but as they do this more and more there's a debate about whether the measures are too authoritarian in the u. k. it's pretty ironic that it's the conservative party that wants to go against what it calls to coney and measures when they're really light weight measures. and there's a real difficulty about where it moves forward. it has to be said that if birth johnson has his hands tied and he's been told that he'll i, he, he has been selling a m p. 's that he will bring parliament back after the recess. the christmas recess starts at the end of this week. he will bring the parliament back if he wants to go for further measures. he really is in a bad position. not only that, but with domestic politics as well. a string of so called slee scandals and around over christmas part is last year busting lockdown rules in

government buildings, including downing street investigations going on as to whether or not these parties did actually breach the regulation. so he's in a bit of a mess as he is in this mess. but danger of wrong numbers rising is there for all to see. certainly plenty of moving parts. thank you very much for that update entry. simmons lie for us in london. plenty more head on this new sour, including on the brink of famine, we report from southern afghanistan, where a hunger crisis is unfolding. find out why a ship building project is under threading garza and what it means for palestinian families and in sport. steph curry enters the n b a record books becoming the deadliest man from distance the league has ever seen. ah,

police in hong kong have confirmed more than 1200 people have been rescued from the cities world trade center after a fire in its 1st floor. at least 13 people were taken to hospital. brit clena. it is a journalist in hong kong. she says the blaze broke out in an electrical room. police on the same had told us now that everyone has been rescued from about the trade center. the building behind may not 13 people have been the hospital. they were in the fire, some of them has been extinguished. as you can see, there is some promotion behind me. we have seen at least one person taken out on a rest. this happened during lunch, our drink pilot. would it be many people inside that building having lunch with me? perhaps out something you're in this area in one of the busiest stuffing district

and it was a lot of sales and a lot of threat supply broke in the room. i bet for a lie, but it's not clear exactly how that was ignited in the 1st place in the mail room. what we do know is that there are renovations on the way. i see some of those renovation take place before they would be filled by officials that there will be a large scale investigation into what happened today. staff at a candle factory in the us state of kentucky. se bosses threatened to fire them if they left work is it to nato 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'll investigate the allegations. al jazeera hydra castro reports from mayfield. with christmas approaching worker as of the mayfield consumer products candle 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 going on, eighty's. and we could have been gone. we could have been gone. everybody could, i guarantee you could 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 were like, we need to leave me and we got cases up at the house. we got, we got to take your family and say, well, you can leave what you're going to be terminated. and was like what? even with the weather like this and heels i yes, we've 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 leg, they kept saying, help 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. 2 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 it 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. if 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, you know, to 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. 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 that he still not sure of the woman he credits with saving his life. survived heidi jo, castro, al jazeera mayfield, kentucky agencies are launching a joint appeal, saying more than a 1000000 people in afghanistan are on the brink of famine and more than a 1000000 children under 5 could dine. it's estimated that 75 percent of all government spending was funded by international donations before the taliban took over. from mcbride that travel to canada in the south of the country, which is suffering from food shortages. from early morning 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 is taking supplies back to his wife and 6 children to let us know what it is. it's very important to us if we didn't get to say we go hungry. so we're grateful. with warnings that half afghanistan's population of nearly $40000000.00 and now going hungry hospitals in kandahar city are seeing the result. the listless dance. the one was sometimes 2 babies per bed nursed, lie loma, and her staff are treating twice as many cases as normal. that ended 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 think is a feeding tube, trying to increase her weight from an emaciated sweet kilos can to her province is one of the worst effected by food scarcity. but here, as in much of the country, it's also been hit not only by conflict, but the 2nd pole harvest in 4 years. it went almost unnoticed amid the turmoil the taliban take over. 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 bud village, an hours drive away, collect their supplies. this will be enough for their 15,

extended families until the following week. will huddle fornia to the widow where we've had the drought? and if no work, what can we do to situation with will really bad and now it's worse than what they like their neighboring villages facing the long winter ahead. public bride al jazeera kandahar afghan is done. malta has become the 1st year a pain country to allow a limited possession of cannabis for personal use. the law allows adults to possess 7 grams and grow a maximum of 4 plants that's making cannabis in public will remain a legal oh. and the cheney is the member of multi parliament to promote the bill. and 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, when we meet people all the time and the critic criminalized because they make it

personal use of cannabis. and we decided that we have to stop. this criminalization of people who are not criminals, but others wealth of their own choice design decide to make use of candidates. of course, as a government we incentivize, and we tell people to make healthier choices. but if an adult decides to make use of canup is for his own personal use, then he should be provided with a safe and the regular race route from where he can or she can obtain the cannot still head on al jazeera people slain violence in northern camera, him speak of torture as a conflict over a lack of water escalades and there's a north african darby in the arab cab as egypt take on to nicea for a place in the final paid will have all that a more coming up in schools. ah,

with wow, things have really quite a down across europe. hello everyone. good to see. 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 easter med, over at turkey, really raw feeling day in istanbul, you've got the rain and you've got the wind. but look toward the ne block seat region wall to wall 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 car.