story pockets a frank assessment of the days headlines subscribe. now however you listen to podcasts. stepped beyond, the comfort zones, were assumption or challenge traveled to the ends of the earth, and further experienced the unimaginable of the people living witness award winning documentary use on a just the euro. ah, the global surge of coven cases continues. governments around the world tried to strike a balance between restrictions and managing the spread of on the call. ah, i'm on the inside. this is al dessert lie from doha. also coming up, stranded in indonesian waters over

a 100 were hanging refugee's face an uncertain future. all the ship gets repaired. conflicting messages as of the iran nuclear deal talks as to whether any progress is actually being made. and the rise of extreme weather events in the philippines, scientists want a plan of change is an address. it will only get worse. ah, the spread of only chrome has united many countries in a fight against rising cove at 19 cases. but they are divided on how they reacted. despite facing an average of nearly a quarter of a 1000000 new cases in the past week, the u. s. has hauled the isolation period, but people with no symptoms from tend to just 5 days. the u. k. seen an average of more than a 100000 new cases in the past 7 days. yet the government there has promised no new

restrictions in england before the new year. but a slew of measures will return in france next week in a bid to bring down case numbers, which rose on tuesday to record 180000 in just 24 hours. and in australia, we're just $9000.00 new cases on average, travel in and out of some states is once again subject to strict controls with the picture across europe, his journal, the christmas and new year holiday period was always likely to speed the advance of the macro variant and so it is proving in the u. k. a record 129000 new infections were reported on tuesday, but the government's decision not to disrupt new year's celebrations. and instead to emphasize vaccine booster shots reflects positive signs that hospital admissions and death numbers aren't rising with the same intensity. we're looking at the data,

we wouldn't hesitate to act if we saw that the data told us that we needed to introduce further measures. but so far, that's not what the data is telling us. the cautious optimism that on the chrome may be less of a threat than the previous delta variant isn't being embraced everywhere. countries like the netherlands, austria and denmark are under varying degrees of locked down. and in spain, a wave of new infections has provoked such public concern that free covert 19th tests are running out. france, though, is holding its nerve also promoting vaccine booster shots as the 1st line of defense. it reduce the required delay before getting a booster from 4 months to 3 on the morphic, and i think the government is doing what they can with what they know about the virus that is spreading throughout the world. it's not only here, we just hope that there won't be at $56.00, 7th or 8 days, but they're doing what they must. germany is taking a hybrid approach. buying time,

the government says for boosters to work with a range of restrictions, including restaurant, curfews, nightclub closures, and limits on sports and other public gatherings. it's expected that all micro will become the dominant corona virus strain in germany within days. just last, almost something has to be done to bring the infection, think it down, but i also understand that we have to look ahead to the next few weeks. looking ahead is made easier by watching what's happening in the u. k. currently, the, on the chrome epicenter, the u. k. governments like touch booster driven gamble based on data that still evolving will either be proven right to everyone's relief or wrong, perhaps giving other countries just enough time to change course. jonah, how al jazeera, many countries in latin america only now recording the 1st on the chrome cases, where the coincident is well prepared with some of the world's leading vaccination rights. and as under ram, he has, he has moved from both. so just to give you an idea, if you think about it,

mike has just 8 percent of the world population by, by mid 2021 had already accounted for a 3rd of all corona virus related that globally. that just gives you an idea of how difficult things have been here. how difficult has been for government to reorganize the day. often apache health services that many of the countries in south america have at least for the majority of their population at the beginning of the vaccination campaigns most come through with maybe the exception of sheila, most countries and south america had a very hard time finding vaccines to start those campaigns in earnest, but that has changed throughout 2021. in particular, in the last 6 to 8 months, we've seen the number of jobs just picking up across this region. and we can now see the difference with south america being the most vaccinated region anywhere

in the world. why has that happened? if you ask you, if you still tell you that there are a number of reasons, but they all have that. they all point to at least to one is the fact that most people here tend to trust their government, especially when it has to do with health. because in the past many countries fear of had major vaccination campaigns, for example, against diseases like yellow fevers that have been extremely successful. and in general, i think people are more obedient. here, there have been less the anti vax group going against the government recommendations. so this has helped, even in the case of brief exceptions like the president of brookfield here, both tonight who has been a very vocal against vaccines against the restrictions in place. that said, the governments across the region are looking very closely of what's happening in europe and the, and the us because there is a fear of

a possible search in the coming months in particular, in the february for faster lawrence gustin is an expert in global health law based at georgetown university in washington, dc. he says the given the scale of the omicron outbreak, governments have to strike a difficult balance between stopping this bread and protecting economies. what omar crime is doing is it's not just infecting people who have not been infected before and not been vaccinated. it's, it's re infecting people have already been infected with delta m. and they're a breakthrough infections. quite a lot of them we think with respect to vaccinated populations and so years so, so and cautiously optimistic, although it's not been confirmed that i'm a con, might be a less severe disease. but the sheer number of cases will mean under that, you're going to have an upper uptick and maybe

a surge in hospitalizations and debts. and so right now, we're actually back to the idea that we want to make sure that we know of when, well, more health system. and so we're trying to prevent transmissions is as much as we can. but i think it's probably true to say that over the long term, most people are going to get the arm across very, it's actually probably the most infectious agent on the planet and one of the most in the history of earth. so this is something that we're not going to be able to prevent spread over the long term. but what we absolutely must do in order to get back to a semblance of normalcy is to prevent serious disease hospitalizations and deaths. we're going to have to start thinking about the best ways to do that, and we can with vaccinations boosters and also i'm therapists.

and for example, antiviral medications by pfizer. hello, sidney him, president mahmoud abbas has had his 1st formal meeting with an israeli official in israel in more than a decade. he was hosted by the israeli minister of defense. buddy gans county says they discussed security coordination on economic issues amongst others. how we force its house move from west jerusalem. i think there are a couple of things prompting this american pressure almost certainly to see progress or at least some indication of willingness to talk by the israelis with the palestinians. at the same time as the prime minister natalie bennett is still rejecting the idea of the u. s. reopening, it's palestinian focused consulate in jerusalem. also, the security situation in the occupied west bank and inside is through them as well in recent weeks has deteriorated. and so there is some imperative for the 2 sides

to talk each side, giving a slightly different appraisal of exactly what was spoken about the israeli side, saying that it was both the civil and economic message that it had been providing in the previous such meeting in august between the 2 men in ramallah, but also focus on what it called terrorism and security issues in the occupied west bank. as far as the palestinian side is concerned, they say there was discussion of a political horizon settlement to be conflicts along un resolution lines. also saying that my one of us had raised the settler violence issue and also had called for the ending we'll be reversing of the banning of 6 human rights organizations defined as terrorist organizations by been against recently some opposition to orders from hamas. a cartoon tweeted out showing what about washing

the feet of any guns and also from views really right from the could. which is saying that the government is dangerously putting the palestinian issue back on the agenda. the policies to the iran euclid talks of putting out conflicting messages about where the progress is being made. 8 round of negotiations kicked off again on monday, but statements made a day later agreed on. only one thing movement is needed soon. those efforts have been complicated by a 5 day military exercise by iran's revolutionary god, aimed at israel dawson, jabar reports from vienna when the talks continue. this is the revolutionary guards message to israel war games in iran, including firing, ballistic and cruise missile. one of the targets resembles israel's demona nuclear reactor,

the head of her owns armed forces staff. major general mohammed bovary says 16 ballistic missiles of varying classes were fired simultaneously to iran has one of the biggest missile programs in the middle east regarding such weapons as an important deterrent and retaliatory force against the united states and other adversaries in the event of war. just days after those drills, world powers are back in vienna trying to salvage what is left of the 2015 nuclear deal. the joint comprehensive plan of action has been unraveling since the us withdrew from it in 2018 and impose the series of new sanctions on her on closer. and that prompted a raining officials to reduce their compliance with the deal. which means their nuclear program has progressed. robert kelly is a former director of the international atomic energy agency. and

a nuclear engineer. he says aaron's been backed into a corner. he saw him. there's a sabotage via that was of similar facilities or the u. s. as more sanctions, they've tended to push back and do something provocative. and i think they've gone to point of reasonable provocations. they're now, um, they've gone too far. no stuff. well, powers have been insisting veterans, ballistic missile program needs to be part of that deal. a notion that's continuously dismiss byron as the 8th round of talks continue here in the austrian capital. israel opposes these efforts and has long threatened military action if diplomacy fails. and that is just one of the many reasons. time is of the essence. there is a sense of urgency in old litigations that this negotiation refreshed to be finished in the relative richer movie period of time. and then i would it limits. but we're

talking about which looked about the head of a rounds atomic energy organisation. mohammed islam you recently told the russian media outlet that iran does not intend to go beyond its current enrichment levels of 60 percent. a move, all western powers have warned would cross and red line. iran says this nuclear program has always win for civilian use, a statement, some don't believe while it continues to stop by a highly enriched uranium. officials, your safe retention as to ease and for iran to limit its nuclear program. the talks fear must succeed, and failure will have far reaching consequences. door such avari al jazeera vienna police in hong kong have rated the office of an independent, online media outlets an arrest and 6 people for what they call conspiracy to publish a seditious publication. the firm stan, news has confirmed one of those arrested was its deputy editor ronson schon. police

say they have a warrant to search and sees relevant journalistic materials. china's in possession of sweeping, national security law has seen mass arrests and curbs on press freedom in the country. still ahead on al jazeera as will people flee across the board into thailand as fighting rages on between me on malls, military and ethnic armed groups. holding on to a controversial pass will tell you why some people in italy are reluctant to demolish fascist monuments. ah, ah, look forward to brighter skies the with sponsored play cutoff airways. hello, once again, welcome to another look at the international forecast and say we have more snow in the forecast for japan as we go on through the next couple of these particular

cross northern areas of japan, you can see, you know, the north westley wind to starting to we're set up in the flow here. initially we'll see some where to where the sliding in, across the sea of japan, some snow flurries coming into western areas of honshu. while the more why spread there across hawkeye auto. and then it does become a little more expensive as we go on into thursday. we'll see that could were eventually pushing over the mountains into the rest of the country. cooling off in sol, thursday temperatures around minus one celsius. much of china will be dry and settle with a good deal of sunshine. meanwhile, as sunshine as showers, as usual across sir se, asia online, a cloud there just straddling the philippines, pushing into the south. china sea, easing back over to ward. so some parts of our vietnam, southern areas of thailand and that where weather will intensify. as we go one through thursday system, heavier showers, we back into the mill lay peninsula, could see some heavy showers, which, whether to just sliding across or india is wesley disturbance. just pushing its way

through. clear skies come back in with some fog. we'll also see showers gathering to the southeast. lou, whether sponsored by katara, always african stories by african filmmakers. karbala lisa died over here in abilene. i assume mother really short documentary from booking of fossil and synagogue, even if you're really, really in, for the inconvenience he for years is adlene just love the of medical man who plant van or west africa direct on houses here. ah

ah, you're watching out as a reminder thought top stories this our countries across the world is struggling to deal with the omicron outbreak with some reporting the highest infection rights since the pandemic began. many of romping up testing and vaccination, while several, including france have introduced restrictions. palestinian president mahmoud abbas is had his 1st formal meeting with him israeli official in israel in more than a decade. he was hosted by the israeli ministry of defense finance. the parties to the iran euclid tom saw forcing out conflicting messages about whether progress is being made. the 8th round of negotiations kicked off again on monday, the statements made a day later agreed on only one thing movement is needed soon. you are secretary of state antony blink in the house condemned an attack by me on

malice, military which killed at least 35 people in kaya state on christmas eve women, children, and to star from a group save the children were among the dead blinking urge countries to stop selling weapons to the military to prevent more atrocities and comes as the military were cced power. nicu in february, continues an offensive against armed groups. in the southeast, thousands of people have fled into neighboring thailand. tony chang has more from the ty, bought a town of may salt. it's a lot quanch's day. we have had a few little clashes. we heard her some bangs inside miramar, but the fighting seems to have moved in from the immediate border area. that's what the time military were telling us. they seemed a lot more relaxed, very different from yesterday when we saw her fighting really right up to the river more that the, the border itself and villages pouring across. we even saw an attack helicopter

operating along the border. a lot of villages said that that was the thing. they were really most scared about. the air strikes that had been coming in or to the places they lived there. still on the tie side, there are more than 5000 people who came across in the last couple of weeks that we spoke to a couple of them who said they still don't want to go home. they're still concerned, but they want to monitor what's going on across the board. so they want to make sure that everything is secure. nonetheless, it does seem to be a little bit quieter to day. so i think everything in the border area seemed a little more settled in the town of me, a wadi there was bought, a trade going across. so some semblance of normality, returning well than $100.00 ringo. refugees have been stranded in indonesia waters, authorities in ha, providence say they will help to repair their boats, but will not allow them to disembark. indonesian government is yet to comment. jessica washington reports from jakarta in indonesia waters off the coast of the

island of sumatra. these fishermen are trying to do whatever they can to help people in desperate need is vessel carrying more than a 100 were hang of refugees. was spotted near archie province on sunday. local fishermen said they felt sorry for those on board. could she kili the young children, get dialogue only got the letter d o. according to our radio communication they a week. some one died, some a sick, including many children on the elderly are getting weaker according char information. they've been at sea for 28 days. broken by my lawyer, but another under our, in our mission and told al jazeera, they have been providing food medicine and water to those on board that have not been allowed to help them get to shore local authorities in our chaisay. they will assist the ringer and give them a central supplies, but won't allow them into the country. for yoga 8th, augusta got unload adela. i'm lost on a gun to job of the navy. secure our border,

daryl hunger are not indonesian citizens. i cannot bring them in, even as they are for gee's, t as in line with government policy. that while it was published, police say the ringo we're trying to reach malaysia. thousands of for him to have fled me and mar to neighboring bangladesh in recent years. escaping and military crack down that the u. n. says amounts to genocide facing poverty and crowded refugee camps many trying to reach safety in southeast asian countries. last year, a group of for hanger, refugees, was saved by fishermen and brought ashore after their boat broke down near archie. but some fisherman told al jazeera they were afraid of repercussions if they attempted a rescue. this time. denisia is not a signatory to un convention on refugees and is seen as a transit country for refugees making dangerous journeys at sea. still, human rights groups saying into asia must do more as

a regional power in southeast asia. the post the boat back is, is a violation of international obligations of indonesia. i think international law clearly imposes obligations on states, including indonesia, to protect human rights, off refugees arriving on their shores. the indonesian government has not responded to on to serious requests for comment. and after so many days and to see these desperate people still face an uncertain future. jessica washington out here to counter hundreds were killed when typhoon rice slammed into the philippines earlier this month, dozens, law still missing. demonstrate devastation is wide spread. and what i expect say its intensity was unexpected. a highlights the impact of climate change on extreme weather events on a be low of course. from manila,

typhoon ry packed winds of more than 200 kilometers an hour made landfall 9 times last week. from the east to the far west of the philippines, central and southern islands, millions of people are having to pick up whatever's left of their lives. the devastation is unprecedented. state weather forecasters had predicted a powerful typhoon, but when it hit the country, it exceeded their expectations. it actually entered the period. i'm so sorry the arrested development where there's really much, much, not much going on in the storm mesa, satellite observations. and then it is after that, which is the interesting part after the arrested development period. it's sudden b ramped up it's development. and then that's the time that where it reach it's intention. typhoon right also hit about a 3rd of the country that has historically been spared the fiercest storms. it also

sustained its strength throughout. the pattern that has emerged from this particular typhoon is that the damage can be relatively far from the eye or the center of the storm. usually when a storm barrels through our country, we know which provinces and which city are going to get hit ry is not the 1st supersonic loan to devastate the philippines. in 2013 super typhoon high and left a trail of destruction and killed at least 6000 people. it was one of the strongest typhoons ever recorded. many scientists and environmentalists say such a stream, whether in the philippines is the consequence of climate change. and they're afraid it's only going to get worse. barnaby low, i'll just euro manila and new york state prosecutor says, former governor andrew cuomo will not face criminal charges of allegations of

sexual harassment. to women, a keys, coma of unwanted kissing. the prosecutor said, while there was evidence of that occurring, it didn't meet that st requirements. the criminal offenses accusations by at least 11 women lead cuomo to resign back in august. he denies any doing recent violence committed by far right groups and it's lee has ignited national debate on ashes, monuments across the country experts. a few people questioning whether the statues of those who pushed for races causes in the past should be demolished. adam rainy reports from rome. the nearly 80 years after his fall, benito mussolini obelisk still towers into the roman sky. it stands outside the photo italy co, formerly known as the ford, mussolini. it's here, the dictator built a sports complex to cultivate the new man of his fascist regime. people have mixed

feelings about these monuments establish with the present. that's your and seeing all the stadiums in these monuments forces us to face the past every day. by not forgetting the past it, make sure that we won't repeat it installed. yes. so toward i, if this is a tell in history and architecture and it needs to stay as it is this stadium bill under mussolini direction, is a reminder of the importance of sport for him. he thought as a way to build a national identity, fascist also saw sport as a way to prepare the population for war. and inside the complex of fresco of mussolini still graces the walls. prime ministers have given speeches here in recent years under the gaze of the former dictator who collaborated with hitler and the holocaust. across the country, monuments to fascism are everywhere. some pay homage to saline for public works.

others glorify the regime for creating an italian empire. expert say that unlike germany, italy never had a reckoning with its fascist past. decades later, italy also stands apart from a global movement pushing to tear down statues and flavors. and those who fought for races causes even one of italy's oldest anti fascist organizations is against demolishing fascist monuments and malta simply. she's ego air for it wouldn't be too simplistic to do that in a distraction from the real work. we haven't raised any of our history, even bed parts from ancient rome. we have made a point of explaining it. and that's what we should do with fascism historian and ram. ammonia says there seems to be an acceptance of these monuments. there is a sort of normalization or legitimate zation of fascism. we should explain

to people that that was a brutal or a gene. that was the tougher ship and even if we leave monuments, we should the knowledge that that is not democracy is something else a common reframe in italy, is that fascists were brutal but they did good things to with that idea in mind it's likely there monuments will stand for years to come. adam rainy al jazeera rome, former us senate majority leader harry reid has died at the age of 82. the democratic senator was nevada's longer serving member of congress in office from 1987 until 2017. he played a pivotal role as an opposition figure to president george w bush and then i helping accomplish precedent. park obama's agenda reid has been battling pancreatic cancer and a legend of american sports and pop culture has also di john madden was one of the most successful coaches in nfl history of the helm of the oakland raiders. much of

the seventy's don't want to start a half of all that had some somebody wants to do. e then took to his energy to television screens becoming a commentator and a broadcasting sensation. generations of children were introduced to the game through his namesake madden, m. f. l. football, one of the most successful sports video games of all time. john madden was 85 years old. ah. this is all 0. these utah stories. countries across the world are struggling to deal with the omicron outbreak with some reporting, their highest infection rates since the pandemic began. many a ramping up testing and vaccination, while several, including france have introduced restrictions. palestinian president mahmoud abbas has had his 1st formal meeting with an israeli official in israel in more than

a decade. it was hosted by israeli minister of defense bunny gant's, hurry force. it has more.