now, here at the amazon national park, and i knew all ceremony has been launched the whole creation than individuals pay $5000.00 yes, dollars to me. and i think the aim with yet is to raise one megabyte on much of it for conservation emission. ah, the global surge of covey casey's continues governments around the world trying to strike a balance between restrictions and managing the spread of army crop. ah, hello welcome. i'm heated over you're watching al jazeera live for my headquarters here in doha, also coming up,

thousands more. people flee across the border into thailand as fighting rages on between me and mars military and ethnic armed groups. the police in hong kong raid an online media outlet in the latest challenge, to free expression there. and also ahead at fort to shine a light on the former soviet union's crimes. but now a human rights group is a victim of molten rushes, crackdowns. ah, that's up story. the spread of omicron has united many countries and the fights against rising cupid 19 cases, but they are divided on how they should react despite facing a daily average of nearly a quarter of a 1000000 new cases. in the past week, the u. s is half the isolation period for people with no symptoms from 10 to just 5

days. the u. k. has seen a daily average of more than a 100000 new cases in the past 7 days. 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 don case numbers which rose on tuesday to a record 180000 in just 24 hours and in australia, with just $9000.00 new cases on average per day travel in and out of some states is once again subject to strict controls with the picture across europe is jona hall. the christmas and new year holiday period was always likely to speed the advance of the micron variant. and so it is proving in the u. k. 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 alma kron 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. andy, spain, a wave of new infections, has provoked such public concern that free covert 19 tests. so 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. we on the morphic, 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 they 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 night club 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. well, let's go across the globe. many countries in latin america are only now recording their 1st cases of army crone. but the continent is well prepared with some of the

world's leading vaccination rates. allison ramp yeti is in the colombian capital bugger top. just to give you an idea, if you think about it, south america, 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 that has been for government to reorganize. they 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, if you put mileage, you still tell you that there are a number of reasons, but they all of 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 anti vax group going against the government recommendations. so this has helped, even in the case of brief exceptions like the presidents that have wrestled to hear both scenario, who has been a very vocal against the vaccines, against that a restrictions in place that said the government 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 professor at lawrence guston is an expert in global health law based of georgetown university. he says, governments around the world have to strike a balance between stopping the spread and protecting their economies. what almost 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 their breakthrough infections. quite a lot of them we think with respect to vaccinated and populations and so years. so, so, and cautiously optimistic, although it's not been confirmed that on 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 deaths. 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 these 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 on sharon projects. and for example, antiviral medications by pfizer. you are a secretary of states. antony blinkin has condemned and attacked by me and mars military which killed at least 35 people in kaya state. on christmas eve, women, children, and 2 staff members from safe. the children were among the dead. mister blinking urged countries to stop selling weapons to the military to prevent more atrocities . it comes as the military, which seized power in a qu, in february, continues and offensive against arm groups and the se, thousands of flowed into neighboring thailand. tony chang has worn out from the ty, bought a ton of my salt. it's a lot quanch's day. we have had a few little clashes. we heard her, some bangs inside now mom, 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 . my. that's the, the border itself. and village is 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. 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 today. so i think everything in the border area seemed a little more settled in the town of mir wadi and there was board of trade going across so some semblance of normality returning turner, attention now to hong kong, where the police are reading the office of stand news that's an independent online

media outlet. 6 current and former staff members have been arrested on suspicion of publishing a seditious publication among them as a former politician and prominent pro democracy cantonese singer. denise ho. there have been mass arrests and curbs on pressed re them since china imposed a sweeping national security law on the territory more than a year ago now. john, his life, tom grundy, he's the co founder and editor in chief of the hong kong free press. he joins us from hong kong, tom grundy, good talk to you again. why this particular outlet and why? now? when you mentioned 6, a wrestling to stand news this morning, we've just heard that there are another for current staff being bought in for questioning. the raid is still underway. 30 boxes taken away according to one of my staff on the scene, 200 national security police involves the acting chief editor, patrick lam, immediately resigned. apparently when he was arrested and ronson, cham, his, the assignment deputy editor,

and the head of the german association. he's among those who've been apprehended. the questioning stan, news is a not for profit independent outlet that was founded in late 2014 in the wake of the umbrella movement. it has some of the pro democracy slant senate arose, i guess from the ashes of house news which are closed down after its owner was threatened. its stanos is widely read and respected in the city. and just last month, it won a press freedom prize from a policy that borders but a few weeks ago on december 3rd, the security chief chris tang accused it of being biased, sneering and demonizing in it's reporting about the cities are smart. prisons. why in your opinion, tom grundy, to the authorities in hong kong or in beijing decide to do this in the way they do it. the technology is such now that they could just literally block the website, they could stop these organizations publishing what they want to publish writing about what they want to write about. but instead in the full glare of the t. v a

news cameras they send in the police forces will pass. one can suggest that they are sending a message, particularly, you know, over the festive period. but, you know, at the same time as we're seeing this crackdown on the authorities are saying that press freedom within taxing hong kong and nothing has changed. and yet the seems to day, very much reflect what we saw just months ago in the apple news. um website out raw the newspapers, offices were, were rated and standards, perhaps saw this coming because in the wake of the apple daily rate. and that they removed all of their opinion err section from the website. they halted donations and done the 6 of the 8 board members, some of them who were detained to day. a step down. g get the sense where you are tom, that this is part of a piece i. this is almost her a choreographed campaign that is not over yet on the parts of the authorities in beijing. and there is a, almost a list of,

of organizations that the government wants to chip, chip, chip away at. well i, i personally hope not, but for sure. it seems that we have gone from, you know, a cut down an apple daily, the public broadcaster r t h k has, has been rained in. and these arrests were undertaken in, under the colonial era crimes ordinance. conspiring to publish the dishes publication interestingly, that charges both against apple daily just yesterday in court. so i think that the other thing that shows aside from the crackdown continuing, is that your authority is, are willing, willing to use colonial era legislation and yet use the national security framework and police to enforce it. tom grundy and hong kong. many thanks. kim. one of russia's most prominent human rights groups has been ordered to shut down by the supreme court. it's called memorial international. it's been documenting abuses committed by the former soviet union for more than 30 years. prosecutor say is

distorting history, which the group denies is bernard smith. over the past 12 months, this has become a familiar scene for human rights groups and activists in russia. this time, the axis fallen on an organisation made famous for identifying the millions of victims of starlings purges as the judge finished reading the order to liquidate. memorial shouts of shame came from the public gallery. ah, that is dealing to worse than russia is moving from the author re, variance in system for some kind of was more than totally theory of assistance in russia, which would be kind o linkage with a soldier for you and even partly to his darling. so it's a very dangerous more recently memorial has spoken out against the discretion of

critics and the president vladimir putin o. outside court as elsewhere. there's little room for that. in today's russian, prosecutors accused memorial of organizing large scale media campaigns aimed at discrediting the russian authorities. i wonder what happened today was very sad, although it would be untrue to say we weren't ready for it. it was one of the unfortunately predictable outcomes of the present judicial system. of course, nothing is over with us. we will appeal and the maria will live on with the people because it's the people behind it serving this great cause. first and foremost, the work will continue the move against memorial caps a year that has seen authorities jail or outlaw individuals or groups. the criticize vladimir putin. but the ban against memorial international stands out even in the current climate and would have been unthinkable just

a few years ago. bernard smith, al jazeera, 60 minutes past the hour still come on this program. palestinian president holds 1st formal meetings with and it's really official in israel, in over a decade. also had a victory for campaigners who want to save south africa circle wild coast by keeping it quiet. we'll explain when we come back. ah hello there we have got more snow in the forecast or western parts of the u. s. at the moment, the rather more active weather sliding its way in across the plains. and that will continue to drive its way further east, which is heavy down pulse, just around tennessee, alabama, easing over towards the eastern seaboard, central iris the wednesday. la, she driving see more bits and pieces of snow just coming back in across the rockies

. cold enough in san francisco, 10 celsius should be largely dry on wednesday. some heavy rain coming into our lay once again as we're going through where to stay and thursday in for thursday, you can see that snow coming back in across the pacific northwest. so washington, oregon, seeing more of that snow north of the border, not too bad across western parts of canada, central and eastern, post canada. we'll see one or 2 snow flowers, but nothing too much to worry about. much dry by thursday over towards that southeast corner, a few showers in the forecast here. if you shout in the forecast across the caribbean, but largely looking good over the next couple of days, lots of warm sunshine. my see one or 2 showers just there for the lee was perhaps in to were hispaniola as you go 13, thursday, maybe a sunshine, warm sunshine at that stretching all the way to central america. ah gotcha. one of the fastest growing nations in the world. while need cuts out needed

to oakland and develop it full international shipping company to become a key, middle east and trade and learning skillfully knocked down 3 key areas of develop who filling up from connecting the world, connecting the future while need. cato castillo's gateway to whoa trade. lou ah, welcome back. you're watching al jazeera live from to how you top story so far today. countries around 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 of introducing the restrictions. the u. s. secretary of state and nibbling kitten has condemned an attack by me in miles military which killed at least 35 people in kaya state. on christmas eve, women children and 2 star from saved the children were among the debt and hong kong police have rated the offices of an independent online media outlets and arrested 6 people for what they called conspiracy to publish a seditious publication. the firm stand, news is confirmed, one of those arrested was his deputy editor, wrong some chance. but he said they have a warrant to search and seized relevant journalistic materials. the palestinian president, mackwood abbas, has had his 1st formal meeting with and he's really official in israel. in more than a decade. he was hosted by these really minister of defense. benny gans,

mr. gant says they discussed security coordination and economic his shoes among others. harry force it has more now 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 truce them as well in recent weeks has deteriorated. and so there is some imperative verse for the 2 sides to talk each side, giving a slightly different appraised live. 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 a 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, what of us had raised the settler violence issue and also had called for the ending will be reversing of the banning of 6 human rights organizations. defined as terrorist organizations by been against recently some opposition to always from hamas. a cartoon treated out showing what about watching the feet of any guns and also from views really right from the could. which is saying that that he is ready . government is dangerously putting the palestinian issue back on the agenda. a protest been held in gaza city in support of palestinian prisoners. palestinian

factions condemned what they call close. continuous violations in is ready jails. they say prisoners are often beaten. now the parties to the iran nuclear talks of putting out conflicting messages about where the progress is being made. the 8th round of negotiations kicked off again on monday. but statements made a day later agreed on only one thing movement is needed soon, but those efforts have been complicated by a 5 day military exercise by iran's revolutionary god, aimed at israel dosage. barry reports now from vienna with talks continue. this is the revolutionary guards message to israel war games in iran, including foreign ballistic and cruise missile. one of the targets resembles israel's demona nuclear reactor. the head of iran's 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 her. and that prompted a reigning 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. so there's a sabotage event 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 past a reasonable provocations. there, now they're gone too far. not well, powers have been insisting veterans, ballistic missile program needs to be part of that deal and notion that's continuously dismiss by iran. as the 8 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 all the indications that this negotiation has to be finished in the relative risk enabled period of time. again, i wouldn't put limits, but we are talking about the wakes, not about months. the head of a rounds, atomic energy organisation mohammed slummy 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 it's nuclear program has always been for civilian use, a statement, some don't believe. while it continues to stop by a highly enriched uranium officials to say for tension to ease and for iran to limit its nuclear program. the talk your must succeed and failure will have far reaching consequences. sources, safari, al jazeera, vienna, russia's deputy ambassadors, the u. n. has reaffirmed his country's demands for serious guarantees that nato won't be expanded further into eastern europe. dimitri pollyanna ski spoke at the united nations and had ongoing tensions between the us and russia over the military build up on the border with ukraine. russia and the us are due to whole talks on january the 10th. as for what we want,

i think we also commented on these many times. this is a serious proposal. we want serious guarantees from the united states, 1st and foremost, and from nato. we where patient for quite a long time. you know, all this background history that after the soviet union cease to exist, there were oral promises, oral guarantees from, from leaders of western countries that nato will not be expanding. now environmentalist in south africa, claimed victory against the oil giant shell after court blocked plans to explore the indian ocean. the company wanted to look for oil and gas in more than 6000 square kilometers of sea off what's known as the wild coast. as for me, the miller reports now from western cape campaign, a say the move would have a devastating impact on wildlife communities and environmental groups have full

week spin, protesting against the planned size, make testing by shell. now the company had wanted to start off shore exploration for oil and gas just of south africa, the east coast. but those opposed to it say the oil company doesn't have the environmental approval and has not complied with environmental regulations. fishing communities living on the wild coast, say the environmental damage will negatively impact their lives. activists are concerned the seismic testing which would include ongoing loss of noise would devastate marine life now. well, you know, this month a different course gave shells going it to conduct the seismic survey while shall say that respects the latest court ruling which has stopped its plans. it's also warned that halting the survey may force it to abandon the project entirely. it's also said it's reviewing the judgement, but for now, this is

a victory for conservationists, as well as people living in the area. but south africa was energy minister grid, a montage here. he said, and his defend the shelves plans saying critics want to deprive africa of energy resources. this is despite global efforts to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and pressure from many governments around the world and invest as to limit the carbon emissions responsible for global warming. for me to mina al jazeera, south africa, leading american politician who helped to get obama care onto the statute books has passed away. the former u. s. senate majority leader harry reid died at the age of $82.00. the democratic senator was nevada's longer serving member of congress and office from 1987 until 2017. he played pivotal roles as an opposition figure to president george w bush. and then by helping accomplished president barrack obama's agenda. mister

reed have been battling pancreatic cancer and a legend of american sports and pop culture has died as well. john martin was one of the most successful coaches in n, f l. history at the helm of the oakland raiders for much of the 1970s right away the style a half of all that was sent summarily wants to do. it then took his energies to tv screens, becoming a commentator and a broadcasting sensation. generations of children were introduced to the game through his namesake madden nfl football, one of the most successful sports video games of all time. john madden was 85 years old. ah. just gone exactly half past the hour. let's recap all your top stories for you today. countries across the world are struggling to deal with the ami kron outbreak with some reporting, their highest infection rate. since the pandemic began. many a ramping up testing and vaccination, while several,

including france have introduced restrictions in hong kong. the police have been reading the offices of the stand news.