i have a dream. my dream is that people lay my daughter, the young people just have a full voice and don't feel targeted because of their race or ethnicity. ah, and you study suggest the army con variant is milder than dealt up. it concerns remain over rising infections. ah, hello, i'm emily. ang, when this is al jazeera, alive from doha, also coming up. russia's president says he wants to avoid conflict with ukraine and the west. in his annual interview news conference. a hong kong university removes the pillar of shame, a famous statue marking the gentleman square massacre and the you in relief and

works agencies head says he's organization can't make the maids of palestinian refugees in lebanon due to a financial crisis. we begin this program in south africa where it's top and public health agency says the army con variant is far less severe than the other strains of the corona virus. the new study by african center for disease control suggest omicron is up to 80 percent less likely to cause hospital admissions than the delta vary. and but research is still urging caution, saying their findings might not apply to other countries. to recent studies from the u. k. have also suggested omi called holds reduced risk of severe disease health experts. cautiously optimistic, but still concerned over how fast on the crown is spreading. that says,

astrazeneca claims, as food severe vaccine protects against me. crohn similar to that who finds that? and medina, south africa is also approved in johnson. and johnson is vaccine to be used for the booster jabs. for more on this story, let's bring in for me to mila who's alive for us in johanna. big hello. that for me, that tell us a little bit more about the study in south africa and how we can be cautiously optimistic. all experts so far are saying that it could potentially be promising in terms of just how sick people get or rather the how, perhaps not severely they become ill. they become a given that, that yes on the crime does appear to spread very quickly. there's been a to under an 8 percent increase in infections in southern africa loan in the last 4 weeks. so the is that increase in numbers for that is also coming from

a low base. but what they're also pointing out is that the rate of hospitalizations as well as deaths are significantly lower compared to the 2nd and 3rd waves in south africa, specifically. but they're also saying that this isn't a specific contact context. and what happens in south africa may not necessarily apply to other countries. they are taking into account the fact that 44 percent of the population has had at least one job so far. so there is the issue of vaccination and there's also the issue of some sort of immunity, of, with people who have been previously infected when previously they were saying that they're worried about the on record variant in terms of it is escaping immunity. so certainly cautiously optimistic keeping an eye in terms of just how severely people severely ill people become. but they're also saying that even those who i admitted to hospital and in south africa at this point, there's just an 8 percent amount of hospital beds are taken up by cove at patients

. even those who are admitted to hospital out there for a short time. that is some good news for me there. and what about the rest of the continent? what's happening with on the cron elsewhere? so the african experts are really relying on vaccinations, keeping people safe, and this is where the continent broadly comes into play, given that it's had less access to vaccines compared to south africa, about 11 percent, just almost 11 percent of africans have been vaccinated, but that's of a population of one more than $1000000000.00 people, countries like morocco, algeria and south africa having the most people vaccinated, but countries like kenya and maricia and are entering their 5th wave. and so there really is a worry around access to vaccines. there have been about 50, i think it's about 49500000 vaccines. have been distributed across africa, or,

but even then only about to 72 percent uptake. so there's a percentage of vaccines which have been wasted. for example, in nigeria, where this week, a 1000000 vaccines astrazeneca vaccines were destroyed because they had reached their shelf life. so the issue of access, the issue of manufacturing vaccines, only one percent of vaccines are made in africa. the rest are all important imported rather, this continues to be a problem in terms of keeping people safe, especially as countries enter their 4th and 5th waves. and we're experts are relying on vaccines to keep people safe, especially when the army kron variant. herb appears to be so virulent in day, thank you very much for that update for me to mill, alive for us in johannesburg. let's head to china now where more than 13000000 people have been ordered to stay at home in the eastern city of cn. that's after more than $200.00 cove and 19 infections were recorded there since the beginning of

the month. the countries on high alert as it gives up to host the winter olympics in february. our correspondent, katrina you. reports from china's capital begging chinese authorities had imposed them most severe lockdown in almost a year. 13000000 people living in the northern city of she, anne have been ordered to stay home from midnight on thursday. only one member of each household is allowed out to get food every 2 days, and only certified essential workers can head out for work. here some of the measures prompted crowd to rush to grocery stores and markets earlier this week. more than $200.00 cases had been reported in the city since the beginning of the month. the outbreak of the delta variant began with just 9 people and quickly spread or leukemia. the trajectories of deny cases were complex involving transportation services and public places, including hospitals, commercial complexes, restaurants as goes. hundreds of thousands of tourists flocked as she an,

a former capital and historic hub to see the terror caught a warriors every year. now, almost all transport in and out of the area has been cancelled. residence must apply for special permission to leave. the city authorities are currently conducting that 3rd round of mass testing. so far, no cases of the on the con, variance have been locally transmitted in china. but officials here are on my alert the beijing winter olympics opens in february and chinese leaders, her promise a safe and secure games where spectators will be able to attend or receive spectators. however ward be attending. china has maintained it 0 tolerance approach to the virus. and borders has been closed since march last year. the was that during the winter olympics, there will be a large number of olympic affiliated in the reduce from different countries and a regions common to trainer. there is a high possibility that a certain number of covered 90 and positive cases will arise. more than 80 percent

of the country's population have received 2 doses of current of ours vaccines. officials are now encouraging people to get a 3rd shot. but some studies are found that chinese vaccines have lower efficacy and protection rates against the on the chrome strain. bating has not approved the use of some other vaccines, such as pfizer or astrazeneca, katrina, you out 0 aging. in other news now, rushes president vladimir putin says it's impossible to have good relations with the current in ukrainian government. he made the comment during his annual end of he news conference, heard and went on to a cheers in ukraine's that later president of louisa lensky, of being under the influence of what he called radical forces. it comes at a time of rising tensions between moscow and nato and his allies over ukraine. and i should use triple disease. it would be to go out of our actions will depend not on the negotiation process, but on the unconditional security of russia. that's for today and towards the

historical perspective. in this regard, we've made it clear and explicitly so that further nato movement, eastwood is unacceptable. what's unclear is it we who place the missiles near the usa borders? no, it was the usa who came with it's miss aust, i'm our house there on the doorstep on our house. we went and has been covering this story from london and joins us live now. hello there, paul, after weeks of hearing from nato and western leaders about the threat to ukraine from russian forces. what did you make of patients perspective? well, of all the issues that came up in this, nearly 4 unused conference in front of 500 international and domestic journalists, the ukraine and nato issue was the one that really got the most animated and most forceful. it's clearly the issue of most concern to the russian president at the moment. i'm one that he is not willing to back down on the language was very strong

. you heard of the sound bites there, but the others that you could have picked where he says things like, for example, this is about security. it's not the negotiations that matter. it's the outcome the results. and he was particularly biting about the way he sees nato having backed away or renee don't on previous promises. he said that a guarantee back in 1990 was not one inch further to the east. they fooled us, they duped us. we've seen 5 waves of nato expansion since then. we're not threatening anybody. we didn't come to their board is they've come to us and it's made so that needs to give guarantees. not the other way around. so yeah, certainly of all the topics that we're covered, the tensions of what's happening in ukraine and, and the relationship between russia and nato is clearly the one that president putin is most focused on. and of this very lengthy press conference. russia's covert situation also fate. sure what was said that well,

russia has had serious problems with current a virus. i mean, i recall back to the early days of the pandemic when it was a matter of moscow who in russian terms was a very early adopter, recognize the dangers the cove in 1900 presented to the russian population. it concerns didn't seem to be shad bought by many others, not massive country, but suddenly there are concerns now. and vaccination is the top of president putin's agenda according to the news conference that was held. i mean, what he said was that russia has approximately 57 percent rate of people who had the 1st facts in at least the 1st javelin for president bruce. and he said that frankly not enough. what he wants is by the end of the 1st quarter, 2022. he wants that to be up in the high eighties, low ninety's percentage points. what he said though, was he wanted health services to be as transparent as possible. and this was a nod to the rather large anti vax movement that you have in russia. he said in the

old days of soviet days, you just order people to get the vaccination and they have to do it because there was no alternative. now that he said, you've really got to make people understand, get people to be educated, and the authorities need to treat people with respect and explain the situation to them. so president putin can personally order people to get the job, but he's hoping that the authorities and by his leadership, people are inspired to actually go out and get that fax in that he says it's so necessary. thank you very much for that update pull brennan live for us in london, forming ukrainian president petro portion coke has failed to appear before. officials investigating him for treason, ukraine accuses pershing. co of financing pro ration separatists in dumbass by helping, having helped them rather sell $54000000.00 worth of coal to kiev. pershing co denies the trees in allegation, still had to own al jazeera,

dozens killed in malaysia after some of the worst flooding. in recent times. if you get into current in those, it's gonna take about 14 days and then the whole it is already over christmas. canceled for many, bob wins living and working in south africa. ah hello. we got a proper siberian blast coming in across the korean peninsula into japan. at the moment, some very cold air, widespread snow as well winds coming in from a general northerly wesley direction and that will feed that snow across the korean peninsula. easing over towards northern parts of japan, they wanted to shout into southern areas of japan to get one in to where sandstone . this is what i mean by widespread. you can see how that snow stretches right across the sea of japan. see effect snow can get to many western areas quite

disruptive this. no, it will be heavy at times and it could cause some problems north of that's west of that generally dry, but cold, some sparkling sunshine coming through all the way of sunshine. and please to say, forget part of the philippines and for randomly peninsula where we have seen our recent fighting. quite a rash of showers though, into southern parts of indo. china, plenty of showers across malaysia, pushing down towards indonesia and the possibility of tropical cycling. developing for christmas day, just to rather t more see not too much reading the forecast for india and for like at present it's jen retry, but plenty of sunshine, little more cloud up towards northern past as we go through friday. and on a saturday, it's winter weather coming through here as wesley disturbance feeds in from pakistan ah, in the country with an abundance of results for the road and walk indonesia

whose terms forming we moved full to grow and frock. we balanced reno economy, blue economy, and the digital economy with the new job creation law, indonesia is progressively ensuring the policy reform to create quality jobs. invest let to please pause. when do these use growth and progress in indonesia? now, lou ah ah. hello, you're watching al jazeera, i'm emily, angling a reminder of our top stories. this is our rustic rushes. president says it's impossible to have good relations with the current ukrainian government. vladimir

putin accused. you claims that later of being under the influences of radical forces is rising tension between moscow and nato, or the ukraine. more than 30000000 people have been ordered to stay home in the east in chinese city of shia. 200 cove and 19 infections had been recorded since the beginning of the month. china is on high alert as the keys up to hers. the winter olympics in february and african center for disease control says the army con variant is up to 80 percent less likely to put people in the hospital when compared with the delta strain. but it says its findings are based on the region and might not apply to other countries. i'm calling university has removed a statue commemorating the timms of the 1989 gentlemen square massacre is called a pillar of shame, was made by a danish sculptor to symbolize the lives lost during the military. correct. i sat

bake reports, taken down under the cover of darkness, boards were erected, a random monument, which was then covered up 8 meters tall. the pillar of shame depict 50 torn and twisted bodies piled on top of each other. it symbolized lives last year in the military crack down on pro democracy protest. this invasion gentlemen square on june 4th 1989. but since october it had become an issue of dispute, the university demanding it be taken down in a state trans. they said the decision on the age statue was based on external legal advice and risk assessment for the best interest of the university. they added. the university is also very concerned about the potential safety issues resulting from the fragile statue and just like that, it was taken away and put in storage and went down the hall. so we moved to hong kong airlines has gone to hong kong university students. union is also gone,

and today, given the pillar of shame has gone, maybe they just want to raise our memories of the 198910, i'm incorrect down. so we must preserve men inside against forgetting nikolai moment. in previous years, students gathered on june 4th to remember the event. the chinaman square authorities have now banned them. lighting concerns about the cove in 1900 pandemic city would become his party when to impose here is a kind of name. yeah. what happened in china more than 30 years ago, the move follows a controversial national security low in hong kong last year. but that was the session version, terrorism, and foreign confusion to intervene in the cities the fed. it's bach protest and criticism of basing for containing freedoms that were promised when it was handed back to china by brittany 97. for now, there is an empty space with a monument once stood. but for many, even though the pillar of shame has been removed,

the memory of what took place cannot be raised. i said vague. japira. the head of the un relief in works agency for palestinian refugees is told us, he's organizations on the verge of financial collapse. the lead lead rainy is warning and can no longer make the growing needs of refugees in lebanon. then a honda has more from a roach in exile for decades. these palestinian refugees have long lived on the margins of society. they are among the most vulnerable and porous communities in lebanon. the situation has been made worse because the economy is close to collapse . and now there lifeline faces the shortage of funds. the financial crisis of on one us being of an existential nature. and it's often existence in nature because we cannot properly deliver our services anymore at a time to needs into come have significantly increase. always providing access to

education to all parties and reproduce. girls and boys in the camp and in the country providing assistance to more than 200000 people. we are providing primary health care. lebanon's. currency crash has heard the palestinians as well. inflation lead to food prices increasing by 10 fold. i will go when people are just buying the basic, they no longer buying kilos, but in grounds for many help from the un is vital, especially since the lebanese state denies palestinians basic services provided occasion and medicine by this should give us more help because many people can afford to buy bread. a recent decision by the lebanese authorities to expand palestinian right in the labor market is welcomed here as a way to deal with writing unemployment. but many tell us it's limited and what is needed is to grant the basic rights i country just in my truck, under my name,

i can't even get a license to drive it. there are minimum rights which palestinians don't have. we think the minister for the new decree, but i doubt it for resolve. an incoming civil palestinians have faced what rights groups call discriminatory policies since they 1st arrived live on in 1948 successive governments, believe easing restrictions and providing them citizenship will encourage them to settle here permanently. that's why the majority rely on the informal labor market, but opportunities are drying up. one of the most, if you don't work, we can do much work nowadays because of the kind of crisis. even before the economic collapse, lebanon palestinians were struggling, it has to push more into poverty. the united nation says it now has to find money so that the crisis won't have what it close. a devastating humanitarian impact. so

there should be to build an explosion, has taken place outside of passport office in the african capital. cobble security forces, say they were able to kill the attacker before he entered the building, but could not prevent the bomb blast. several people were injured. parts of the philippines continues is safer from the immediate aftermath of typhoon rhyme. at least 375 people have been killed, and millions are homeless without food and clean drinking water. but is barnaby lo reports, the government has declared a state of calamity and move expected to get aid to victims. soon. one week since typhoon ry smashed into the central in southern philippines. some of the worst devastation is still being uncovered. far flung towns almost completely flattened, local said, a storm was reminiscent of typhoon high and in 2013. what are the most powerful in

recorded history? but last weeks covered a wider area. hundreds of thousands of families across several provinces are now in evacuation centers. while some of opted to rebuild their homes out of scrap materials, president of be good to tirty has declared what he calls a state of calamity in order to release of $200000000.00 in government. once the declaration on the state of columbia, the relation to the school under, lived under habilitation edwards, of the government than the private sector. this will also be unaffected mechanism to gone through the process of woods and commodities and areas. foreign governments have also pledged support with canada, the european union, and south korea each donating between $2.00 and $3000000.00. they nodded. states is providing $200000.00 in immediate assistance. more help is on the way to victims of typhoon right, but all indications are that recovery will take time. power and communication

lights are slowly being restored, but there is an urgent need for food and clean drinking water. wine or below al jazeera manila. the death toll from major flooding in malaysia has risen to least 37. the floods triggered by days of heavy rain have also displays nearly 70000 people. in pa hang, stayed several towns remained cut off. florence louis reports from carrack in malaysia's central peninsula. the water levels in this river in pa, hung state malaysia may have gone down, but the destruction caused by the floods is evident. water overflowed onto highways, making some roads impossible for days. per hung is the worst hit state. with around 40000 people displaced, some towns are still cut off, accessible only by boat. but in some areas, flood waters have begun to receive,

and people are starting to return to their homes to count the cost of the damage to rebuild their lives. in america, of course i am disappointed of what the government has and help if i'm relying on friends. what else can i do? water rose quickly and unexpectedly, leaving many with barely enough time to save themselves, much less salvage their belongings. the damage is extensive. vehicles have to be written off. furniture appliances thrown away. people here estimate ill take 2 weeks to clean their homes. and that task has been made more difficult because water and electricity supply haven't been restored. non governmental organizations, charities, and volunteers, have been turning up to distribute aid a plantation near by has sent its workers and tractors to help with the clean up. good. no, what are celebrating? because in, for, from the serial ourselves, we know to be bull here. they're like our brothers and sisters,

so that's why we had to help out if we don't who will the relief centers are for some say they're worried about the risk of contracting cove at 19, but there's nowhere else to go. i not to jonah for months pregnant with her 2nd child, says she's grateful they got out alive by night. by, by does that do? what do you rose to chess level? i was really scared because that never happened before i messaged my family to ask them to get help to me, but they said emergency rescues had been deployed to places. there were even more badly affected officials of warned that could be more flooding in the coming weeks . but the monsoon season set to run through to february, florence li al jazeera car up hung state malaysia. tennessee is former president, msf, missouri key, has been sentenced, been absent tier 2 full years in prison. the court charged mazar key who lives in

france with assaulting the security of the state. that's because of raising comments he made, urging paris to an support of to the government. current president can say suspended parliament in july, which missouri key has called a qu, the number of people who have died when a boat sank off, madagascar has risen to 855 of them with children. it happened off the northeast and closed on monday. the coast guard says 138 people were on board, the wooden cargo vessel, which was not fit to carry passengers. only 15 people have been rescued so far. many's in, bob wins living and working in south africa, had been forced to cancel plans to head home for christmas. zimbabwe, latest travel band, g to ami kron means business for boss companies has come to a screeching halt. gillian wolf reports from cape town. usually at this time of year, these bus seats will be packed with them barbarians heading home to spend christmas

with their families. but not this year. after new quarantine restrictions were introduced in zimbabwe to curb the spread of the omicron variant of coping 19 member, it's also bad news for bus companies. augustine's business would normally send for buses a day each carrying around 60 passengers. now it's just one. sometimes with this he was 5 on board with covered study. wonder then this is he is will to carry on the book. i didn't know if you saw one of these is coveted, giving all good. okay. what else? kenwood is a motor? good morning or is that a mother? yes. you have. it won't be this year. it was hope. the festive season would help businesses recover financially after the pandemic shut south africa borders from much of last year. but new travel bands are again having a major impact macro. she said is affected business a lot because quite a, quite,

quite the number of people on the limit able to travel. and i also am on the site. we can not be able to make our plans for the really big on the getting that we have to especially the issues of credit in a if you get into current in mouse, it's gonna take about 14 days and then the whole it is all or it over the recent ruling requires incoming travelers to quarantine and government approved facilities at their own expense. it's a cost many zimbabwe and migrant workers in south africa cannot afford. here in south africa, the minimum waves route, we want to ransom our us dollars, the currency uses and pathway. that's a $1.46. imagine just how much people would have to stay in order to both travel and quarantine. it's the exchange rate that makes it impossible for most workers to go home. it also means and bob way struggling economy will not get it's desperately needed annual influx of foreign currency. those in bob wins who do make the 24 hour

long trip home or using up their savings and borrowing from others. some say they really have no choice. yukon, liver can stay married. 3 years, 4 years, 5 years, we bought senior clayton's yours. did you go to and also what children were the you see now we see must see them and be there must see us. you see. so that's why we decided to plug in now for those fortunate to be going home tomsman with family, despite having to quarantine 1st far outweighs the financial burdens of waiting for them when they return. gillian wolf, al jazeera cape town. ah, hello, are you watching al jazeera and these are the stories where following the salam african.