al jazeera, we're bringing the needs and current a fast cut matter to you. out his ear. ah, if you're not fully vaccinated, you have good reason to be concerned. president joe biden urges americans to get their coven jabs as he unveiled plans to fight the rapidly spreading. all micron buried ah, loaded on come on santa maria here and dog. ha. this is the world news from al jazeera. hundreds have been killed. thousands displaced, strawman flooding of devastated logic parts of southeast asia. we will have live updates for you. also reports that sedans prime minister intends to step down

a month after he was reinstated and deal with military rollers and turning discos into crypto currency mining farms. sergeant indians are innovating to survive as their economy grapples with a decades long debt prices. starting in the us, where president joe biden sold millions of unvaccinated americans. it is their patriotic duty to get inoculated against coven 19 the amazon variant now accounts for almost 3 quarters of all new cases in america and vitamins one of the unvaccinated. we'll fight a winter of severe illness and even death. kimberly, how could reports now from washington on the crime has gripped the united states. 73 percent of new cases are now attributed to that highly contagious variant. testing sites across the u. s. are packed in cleveland. this new dr. up testing

site with act capacity. just hours after opening. well, cobit has been a tough adversary. we've shown that we're tougher to combat the arm across sergio as president joe biden on tuesday announced a half 1000000000 home rapid tests will be distributed to americans starting in january until now u. s. rapid tests have been expensive and hard to find. we're take even more steps to make it easier to get tested and get tested for free. we're biden's also utilizing the defense production act to ramp up. test manufacturing for clinical use is deploying 1000 troops to support overwhelmed doctors and nurses. and he's tapping into american national stock. pile of ventilators to ensure hospitals are well equipped. still biden says the best way to prevent severe disease and death is vaccination. all these people who have not been vaccinated,

you have an obligation to yourselves, to your family, and quite frankly, now we criticize this to your country. shortly after taking office biden reversed his predecessors withdrawal from the world health organization to unify the global fight against cove it. on tuesday, the secretary of state blinking announced an additional 580000000 will be sent to the w h. whoa, to set up programs to get the unvaccinated their 1st shot. but it may already be too late. we are going to be far behind what is needed for the on the kron search and asked because of how transmissible this variant is. this may be one of the fastest spreading pathogens in medicine that we've ever seen. so all of these efforts that they announced today are excellent. but my concern is that they're not going to be rolled out fast enough. the search,

the alma kron variant is disrupting the struggling us economy. sports leagues are cancelling game. so are some broadway shows, but biden says, it doesn't have to be this way. he pleaded with those skeptical of vaccines and government to reconsider. my administration has put them in place not to control your life, but to save your life. what's not a part of president biden's plan are locked down. seeing and other countries, the white house hopes expanded testing will prevent the need for such restrictions . in the united states. kimberly health hit al jazeera, the white house. i will look at some other countries, portugal, 1st of all, sar, actually israel festival, which is going to offer a 4th dose of the vaccine to people age over 65 minutes. and after the bennett says, it will help the country overcome the spread of amik on. the move has been approved by the health ministry. it is now waiting final sign off from senior officials. the

decision comes off to israel, reported its 1st death related to on the crown. on tuesday, the u. k reported more than 90000 new cases on tuesday. but prime minister bars, johnson's confirmed, he won't be bringing in any new restrictions before christmas. what i can say to light, is it naturally we caught lot any further measures after christmas and when a keep a constant eye on the data will do whatever it takes to protect public health. but in view of the continuing uncertainty about several things, severity of on the chrome, uncertainty about the hospitalization rate or the impact of the vaccine roll out the boosters. we don't think today that there is enough evidence to justify any tougher measures before christmas. not least, 12 people died from the amazon variance on monday. the number of people admitted to london's hospitals is growing as well. or in that with where we challenz. rejoice,

says the daily mail on tuesday morning. christmas is looking safe. ministers defy gloomy scientists. that affects the question safe from watch on the con is ripping through the u. k. at the moment. and london is the epicenter so much so that the mayor has declared an emergency situation. but the daily mail is a leading voice on the u. k. rights and it shows the relief, particularly amongst the rebellious libertarian wing of the conservative party, that it's freedoms that are being prioritized for us. johnson said, on monday night, we weren't hesitate to take action. the problem for some, it looks very much like the prime minister has hesitated from taking action. his position is that while they're still big questions, beyond that, about the severity of alma crohn, it's too soon to be shutting people up in doors, the cancer position, when those questions are answered. and if the answer is a bad,

it will be too late to do and think about it and the health service will be swamped . the opposition leader kissed armor whose labor party would have supported new restrictions. if the prime minister had gone for them, says the boris johnson is putting his fractious policy before the public. of course, the spectre of new business and social cubs hasn't gone away. it's just been deferred for another day. christmas may be safe, according to the daily mail, but new year and beyond certainly isn't scotland. his counseling it's new year's events is the 1st minister nicholas sturgeon imposes new rules from the day. after christmas. there will be new limits on the number of people allowed to mix indoors and outdoors. no, more than $500.00 would be lot of outdoor public events the 3 weeks. now portugal which has announced a number of new pandemic restrictions, not clubs, and bars have been ordered to close for at least 2 weeks from saturday. and people have been told to work from home. authorities will limit our gas to 10 people per

group or new year's eve lead a negative corona virus test to stay at hotels or to go shoot any events. or i will leave coven news there, and move on severe where they're having a devastating. and in some cases, unprecedented impact on large parts of southeast asia. in malaysia flooding is killed at least 27 people, and displaced. 70000 dozens are missing. after 2 days of torrential rain triggered some of the worst flooding in years. the military is rescuing people, still trapped in their homes. let's get an update. so from florence louis, kuala lumpur, mary, on the situation that you're hearing, and also i've heard about, you know, criticism of the government response as well. but trying to the latest information we have is that 247 people are non confirmed who have died from the floods and this number is likely to go up because they're so people who are reported missing and this makes it even higher than the death toll

that malaysia in the last major flood, that malaysia experience that was back in 2014, when twins, when people reported dead and 10 people were reported missing. now the number of people who've been a vacuum, who've been evacuated, will totally their homes temporarily. that has gone up as well. and we've also seen social media posts that show that in the worst effects that states in hong, the central state and peninsula malaysia. the 2 major highways are still impossible to traffic now. and in the monsoon season is expected to go on till february, so there's still a potential for more flooding in malaysia. now, in some places, people are still waiting for aid to arrive. and there's been a lot of criticism about how the government has been really slow in getting aid, getting people out of their trapped homes. in some places, volunteers were actually the 1st on the scene. they got to the those areas by braving the flood waters driving the vehicles across flood waters. and then using

inflatable boats using their own kayaks to ferry people to safety. so there's a lot of anger at how slow the government response has been. and the prime minister has acknowledged that in some places, that weakness is and that, and that has been if you know the response could have been better so far, we know the government has at least about 6 more than 60000 military and emergency services. personnel has been deployed to assist in 8 and rescue efforts. the prime minister also seemed to suggest that the, you know, all the agencies have to work better together. and it isn't just the, the responsibility of the federal government to disperse aid and to assist in flood victims come up. thank you for that update florence louis in kuala lumpur. now supplies have been delivered to survivors on the typhoon ravaged islands in the philippines. at least 375 people killed, there is typhoon roy pummeled southern and central regions on thursday of summer.

returning home more than 400000 people are living in evacuation centers. jamil alan jargon with us now from manila now jamila. but you've been out and you've seen this 1st hand tell us about what you've been seeing. welcome. we travelled, we travelled for the lot. we were traveling for the past 5 days and we 1st landed in davos. it just to give you a sense of how difficult it was for us to get to the 1st devastation, sight of go province. after that, we made their way to to and from there we were able to embed with the philippine millet. she ended the reconnaissance flights over story short go island, not got province, and then the others. those dropped off at city. go city where the situation is really dire. i mean, even for a country often battered by natural disasters, this kind of damage and devastation is unprecedented. we're talking about at least 4 provinces. many communities remain cut off. it's been almost

a week since by foreign rice struck. and the situation on the ground is really difficult. it is distressing to see. for example, in 3 go 50. just like in the whole province, just like indian i got the main issue is really food and water when spoken to civilian some of them, those in sort of go city who have to line up for hours. the just just to be able to have potable water, both the water that they have to pay for that costs more than double all ready, for example, just like the price of rice and fuel, then we made our way to the not good province. okay. do not that island that is about an hour and a half by boat, where we were the 1st journalists to visit and you know, by the time they arrived, we had already been 4 days since by foreigner. i struck the situation is dire, nothing was left untouched. children with barely anything to eat, no electricity, no power cut off from the rest of the world. the government response is clearly

slow. it is simply not enough and people are wondering why help has not arrived yet . on top of that, besides those areas who visited, there are many areas where there is still no news whatsoever. we're being on social media are those people residents, families looking and desperately waiting for news about their loved ones in all of these islands. let's talk about ball province, for example, where at least 90 people have died in late there and some villages remain cut off at this time. so they go city, there is not enough water and food. and so, you know, at this point the next 3 days is critical. now the government says, you know, all efforts, all hands are on back at the moment. but again, the effects of business food is already expected to be long term. and i'll and jargon, ah, with a report on the situation across the philippines. thank you. jamila. now there are

reports that sedans prime minister of dela hm doc is about to stand down to month. now since he made a deal with the military, which was criticized by protesters as a betrayal. ham dock, you may remember was kept under house arrest for a month following the military takeover in october. since that par grabbed there been mass protests including this past weekend, which marked the 3rd anniversary of the starts of the revolution in sudan near as mohammed fall in her tomb. he says hom dog has been in a difficult situation. handbook is very frustrated and he has been expressing it privately and in public sometimes about the, the amount of support that he's receiving from the people who pushed him to sign an agreement with the military and. and that's at the same time when his popularity waned. among devolution, it is who have been looking at him as the savior of sudan. he placed himself in a very difficult situation in the middle between 22 sides who are act loggerheads.

and we have seen that of lucian, or is gaining momentum over the last few days with that push that lead them to the gates of the presidential follies. and they are planning more demonstrations on the 25th and the 3rd and the 30th of this month. so, i mean, and i was talking about how do observing a situation that is, you know, going to lead to a total failure of his policies, those policies, by what she intended to reconcile between the 2, between the 2 sides. and his finally got untenable. check on the weather is next. and then christmas in the shadow of fear in occupied east jerusalem white church that is worried in the old 50 and concerns of a chinese investment them thailand. signs for a high spiel. speed, railway truck. ah

ah, look forward to burritos. guys, with the sponsored by capital airways. how i own place to say a final warning has now been issued for typhoon not right. it's now making its way into the open waters of the north west pacific. this is the area of low pressure at present that will push its way further races towards taiwan weakening, as it does so still some live, the showers, the other area of low pressure, just very close to japan. as bringing in a wintry mix into her kinder western part of han shoe sheltered by the mountains, 13 celsius in tokyo. but cool enough and it will cool off as we go on through the next few days. when she, whether they are now making its way across the korean peninsula, dry and fine, at least for the time being there across northern parts of china. a will cloud over more the way of rain, sleet, and snow started to push its way in here as we go on into thursday. as the remnants serve fir, tropical storm arrive, only one has now been issued. still

a few showers just coming back in to tie one for thursday, but then it will quiet down as it has quietened down across a good part of the philippines. we got the usual rush of shouts into southern pass malaysia. seeing some lavish, there's still a chassis and lives down paused, is coming in across the malay peninsula. i'm afraid over the next day or so, but not as well as it has been. recently. india stays dry and settled with folk to the north. oh, the weather sponsored by katara, always polio, cuz she to says he will bring you 4 of capitalism. what does that mean? we bring you the stories and developments for to rapidly changing the world. we live in less than one percent of for vaccines have gone to poor countries. why is counting the cost on al jazeera ah, holding the powerful to account. as we examine the u. s. his role in the world on

al jazeera, with a on al, to see where these are the chopped stories. u. s. president joe biden's announced measures to limit a surgeon, omicron cases include expanded testing support for hospitals and more vaccinations, though he had stopped short of calling for another lockdown. flooding in malaysia, kill at least 27 people and displaced 70000. the military's been called to help rescue people still trapped in their homes. and sedans. prime minister is reportedly close to stepping down. the alarm doc was removed and a military takeover reinstated last month after a signing deal. signing a deal with the military protest is called that a betrayal in libby of

a head of the high national elections commission says he's dissolving the electoral committees and ending their work. and there's a presidential election scheduled for december 24th. alec trina explains now from tripoli, were just 3 days away from the scheduled 1st round of presidential elections. and there hasn't been an official announcement by the high national elections committee that the vote has been delayed. or what we saw today was the elect elections commissioned decision to dissolve. the electoral committees are basically what that means is that it has stopped the work of the, of the workers, the temporary workers that are working in the polling stations across the country. the administrators of these points stations are as clear signs, a clear indicator that this election isn't happening. now we've spoken to various political leaders and political analysts, and here's what one of them had to say or le helene for the leather leader. the elections commission had no choice with the start,

the procedure dissolving these committees because it's clear that the election scheduled for december 24 is not happening out that so the commission cannot have as committees continue their work for an unknown period of time left. so this administrative procedure is normal, but it's an indication that libya will not see presidential or parliamentary elections in the near future yet. so i think the fear now for many libyans as that, libya will now go back to square one. it took months and years for the un support mission to bring about this government of unity over negotiations over bring trying to bring lawyers rival sized together and, and the elections were supposed to bring, bring forth a government that, that has the legitimacy of the living people are so that the fear is now or that the situation in libya will worsen, or that the, that libyans will not be able to vote for, for those they want to leave them in at least in the near future. or the, the fear is that it may take a year or 2 and get back to the negotiating table. ah,

which may takes a really long time or for an election to be possible. ah, but libby is want to be able to vote for the leadership. they also want a constitution or that identifies the rule, the governing system in libya and what kind of powers of president has are. so we're going to have to wait and see how the political situation develops. in the coming weeks and months. these to 160 people have drowned on the mediterranean. in the past week, in 2 separate shipwrecks, they were migrants trying to make their way from libya to the european union, an were traveling and wooden boats. the libyan coast guard intercepted a 3rd vessel and rescued. 200 people. tens of thousands of people in argentina, remarks 20 years since in economic crisis sparked large scale protests and riots known as the great crisis of 2001 years of austerity culminated with

a government decision to limit cash withdrawals. that sparked outrage on the streets and of police cracked down the left. 39 people dead. 2 decades later, a critic service situation is no different. the government is in the midst of negotiations with the international monetary fund to restructure $44000000000.00 in debt, which it owes to the global fund. teresa has a report now from when it's ours. oh, this building housed at disco prior to the cove. it pandemic, but the loved down and argentina's already shaky economy, forced owner so i can neil to adapt to live. i think if i look at what he has now filled the room with machines used to mind group to currencies. he's not only doing it for himself, but also for those who want to invest are busy, but i don't, we are kudos elkin, they're what i, when you're in the beginning, it was very complicated and hidden. they sent us an email address and we checked to us valid though no phone ups. now everyone wants to do it yet. we rent space and

the handling of the machines and we have to separate the funds because of heat and energy required to operate. and it's proven a success. neil has expanded establishing mining farms all around when a site is there, located in restaurants, and on rooftops with a growing list of clients. crypto currencies have become away from people in argentina to protect themselves from endless economic crisis that include inflation and evaluation. and now capital control. this crypto currency farms use enormous amount of electricity and their profitable here in argentina. because energy is relatively cheap, if compared to other countries in the region. identities trying to recover from the economic effects of different demik. it's also about to close the 40000000000 debt agreement with the international monetary fund to stabilize the economy. but many fear the medicine could be worse than the disease. we had. no, no,

there is no agreement for the i m f without adjustments. so this protest is the beginning of a series of movements we will do to reject which ever agreement our country and our preston science, the di m s. b. now it will be griffith and i work for amanda says they're trying to close a deal that won't affect argentina's most vulnerable citizens. he also says an agreement is essential to get the economy out of read economy see a deal is necessary to give origin tina credibility in international market. so, but i think the political survival instinct, i believe, will make the government close a deal, argentina, micro economy and all the problems we face can resist. and i've a crisis. the agreements with the i m f is the only to the government has to stabilize the economy and generate expectations,

which is what the country needs. i didn't, tina has had over 20 agreements with the i m f. and people here have gotten used to living in crisis and that's why they have started to find a turn, a deal like crypto currency mining that they hope will protect them from the fluctuations and instability of the economy at home. that is, i will, i'll defeat one aside if ready forces of shot dead. a young palestinian man after claims he tried to run over israeli soldiers in the occupied west bank is rarely military said man crashed his car into a military jeep off to being shot to his ready soldiers were also reportedly wounded. and israel's foreign ministry is rejected. allegations from church leaders that christians are being driven out of occupied east jerusalem's old city. at christmas. christian groups of accused jewish settlers of harassment also alleged that border closures is result of covered our targeting. only them are false reports from the old city in ocoee bodies. jerusalem. well usually at this time of

year the square here in front of the church, of the lease ethical would be thronged with christian pilgrims and run up to christmas. the omicron search and the very strong travel restrictions imposed by the way the government had put paid to that in its stead. though in the run up to christmas, we have a row of red proportions between the church leaders here and the old city and the israeli government. last week, those leaders put out a statement in which they talked about what have been happening in recent years. they say pressure on christian communities throughout the holy land in the form of a tax on churches, desecration, a church property, intimidation of christian communities, the purchase of christian property here in the christian quarter by what they call radical groups. a reference to the sort of secular activity over the name it as such that we've seen in recent years now they are careful in that statement to pay tribute to the israeli government commitment to christian life to freedom of worship. nonetheless, there has been a very strong rebuttal coming from the very foreign ministry saying that these

claims are baseless and distortion of the reality on the ground. they talk about that commitment to freedom of worship, and they say it's infuriating that these church leaders don't talk about pressure on christian communities elsewhere in the middle east. the strength of this response follows what we've seen published in the u. k. media in recent days, an article by the head of the latin patriarch it here in jerusalem. also by the archbishop of canterbury, the most senior figure in the anglican church in which he talks about a hot cry coming from christians in the holy land. from the thailand has announced it is delaying the closure of bangkok. central station for a month station was due to shout on thursday to make way for a new high speed railway funded in part by chinese loans. but there is concerned the project will only serve chinese interests. the support is from tony chain in bangkok. the more than a century, fallen pon station in bangkok has stood as

a testament to ty, independence in the face of colonial dominance, opened in 1916 at a time when thailand was threatened by british regional control, it sat at the center of se, asia's 1st railway network, but while m pong is due to close, to make way for new grand central station, at the heart of a high speed rail network. that's caused considerable concern for many, particularly as china is the main investor. i need a little a lot. i'm, it's important to make sure that when china makes investment, how are we going to make people of this country or of this region get benefit from an investment? china has long held ambitions for a high speed rail network in to southeast asia. as part of the belt and road initiative designed to bring chinese investment to neighboring countries, laos opened its high speed rail line in december. but the huge cost of the project laying, lying through difficult terrain, has left allow government with

a debt to china. the critics say will be crippling after the military coup in 2014, thailand's ruling generals quickly signed up to a chinese high speed rail project. but ty, negotiators bulked at the high interest rates and plans to construct a network that ran the length of the country were curtailed. but when you go into the details, i would say that that i, bureaucrats are very good at tardy lane projects. when, as a turns and not favourable cause, civil servant government officer, i'm a government officer. we are, we have been taught from the beginning that we have to do everything to protect the interests of our country. those delays a clear to see while the project well underway, work has been slow, and thailand remains reliant on its old rolling stock. the elevated shack has been raised, but there is still more than 200 kilometers to go before the final destination on the gulf of thailand. and those delays go all the way down the line. and this is

bank got brand new grand central station below high speed trains arriving today. because the time government hasn't yet decided whether it's going to use china's high speed track. and the crowds arriving at the new station on coming to catch a train. this is now the ty, capital central cove, at 19 vaccination center, with delays and the vaccine roll out this year. that's a process. the government's far more interested in keeping on track. tony chang l to 0, banker ah, it's half past the hour and these are the top sir, is you as president, jo biden's announced measures to limit a surgeon or micron cases. they include expanded testing support for hospitals and more vaccinations. though he did stop short of calling for another lockdown while these.