on the way where the chain of command, it seemed like try to cover what's your take on why they've gotten this so raw? that to me is political malpractice, the bottom line on us politics and policy and the impact on the world on al jazeera . ah. ready this is al jazeera ah columns, the whole rahman, you're watching the algebra news, our life, my headquarters here in doha, coming up in the next 60 minutes with the 3rd year of a pandemic. looming crowd of iris cases hit another record globally. but the number of deaths is showing a significant decline. giving shelter, indonesia government agrees to accept dozens of wrangler migrant stranded at c. another blow to media freedom in hong kong. gus arrests of senior staff falls. one

of the last remaining pro democracy websites to shut down. also, germany says good bye to nuclear power giving rise to concerns that lead to the use of more fossil fuels. and in sport legendary american football coach and broadcast at john madden has died. at the age of 85, the nfl said it was forever indebted for all he done to make the league what it is today. ah, welcome to the news on global crone of iris cases have it an unprecedented level. the average number of cases this week increase to more than 6500000 infections versus again, the worst affected country. we've also seen record numbers across europe, parts of africa and asia are also at peak levels. but there is a crucial difference. this wave hospitalized ations and deaths

a significantly lower. now we have a full correspondence. this our to give us the global picture. natasha butler, his in paris forest says france surpasses 200000 cases. a european record. the u. k . isn't far behind us. joe hall will explain from london will also be speaking to mike hannah, who's in washington dc. while catherine sawyer is a nie ruby. but 1st, bobby met her this report from india. these factory workers are racing against time, trying to finish that day's walk before the coffee starts. so they don't lose their wages as the virus threatened to wipe out their livelihood. once again, thought, if you love it, i'm scared of the golf. you, we eat as the on. i'm a person and migrated from a village to make a living. i'm scared of grown up virus and the night go few as covert 1900 cases. why? sharply, 7 states have imposed night curfew and strict, her testing goals for travelers. new delhi which has the highest number of omicron

cases in the country, has been put on yellow alert, cool gyms and cinnamon have shot with new restrictions on restaurants and public transport. the capital is preparing over $900.00 ward and ramping up oxygen supply . as a 3rd wave of infections is threatened, despite that markets have been crowded. the chief minister has employed every one to follow, colbert 900 protocol, need you to get enough fairly. we don't want to spread yet again, and that is why we are repeatedly making appeals. that if you go out or go to market or office please, where we have to be responsible. but at the same time, don't be scared that the government has also signed it if vaccination, dr. starting next month or the 15th will be eligible for a job. why frontline workers and over sixty's with health problems can receive booster shot. the government has approved to new jobs and an anti virus drug to

treat colbert 19 while india is showing some indication of renewed net attention to this one to on the ground weight in there is on including recognition coverage. endo wind up any testing. but as far as the appropriate behavior, it doesn't, there is a lot of room or space for improvement. what infections and hospice cases remain lower than in other parts of the world. the government says restrictions will be increased if the infection rate continues to rise, while market traders like these feel financial losses. political rallies continue in state elections are due early in the new year. that provoking c as a repeat of so called super spread. i'm really just gathering and election rallies . they went ahead in the summer despite the delta veterans infecting millions of engine. pardon me at the, i'll just iraq new jelly. well as i should, butler joins me now from parasol. natasha. how is the government going to react to

what has been a massive increase in infections a more, which is a european record? a huge increase at air infections. in fact, they are exploding, said the french health minister oliver. very odd, talking a short while ago in front of the parliamentary committee. 208000 new infections in the last 24 hours alone. and that number is going up and up fuel by delta, he said fuel by all micron. and of course he said this is just the tip of the iceberg because there are so many are the cases or possibly out there that is simply a gone undetected. people who are for example, a symptomatic now the french government is trying to put a curbs in place to try and stop the spread of coven. 19. 1 of the things that they are trying to do is a men to law, which would effectively transform the current conf. it passed into a vaccination policy at the moment of the people in france. he want to go to

a restaurant, a cinnamon theater, and that sort of thing. they need to have this covert past, which shows that they are fully vaccinated or have a recent negative test. what the government wants to do though, is say that only people who are fully vaccinated will now be able to access these kinds of facilities or, or capture a train across regions in france. it is a controversial measure, but the government say that this is one way to try and persuade the nearly 5000000 unvaccinated people in france to get a vaccine. alcohol of things we have seen from the, the french nation as of all, some past the french nation. is this pushback natasha from any think? the government says that unit they propose these sorts of laws or amendments to laws. there's going to be some sort of pushback. asner. yes, and the idea of a vaccination pass is highly controversial. you know, even a frances highest legal body has warned the government that has to be careful that

it perhaps needs to make some tweaks to this bill. they are saying you can't just curve people's freedoms to the point where they might not be able to get a train to go and see a loved ones or sick ones or sick people in their family. you know, we have to be very careful. so a caution being urged at the very highest levels in france, you also have many opposition. politicians saying this is, this is unacceptable. it is basically a thinly disguised way of imposing mandatory vaccination on people who perhaps don't want to be vaccinated by the government says this is necessary because unless the unvaccinated do get a job, they say in the words of the frank health minister, we just won't get out of this pandemic, natasha butler in paris. thanks very much. let's cross over to washington dc. mike hannah is standing by we heard from natasha. the mike that can a caution is being urged at the very highest levels. and that's also repeated by the american president. when it comes to his thoughts about the way people are traveling right now, what restrictions might have to be put in place before the new year?

well indeed, yes, president biden is on vacation at the moment and her question was shouted out to him from a reporter about potential travel restrictions, whether a vaccination mandate will be imposed on people travelling on aircraft. or the president replied by saying that he will take the advice from his health experts, but clearly this is something that the administration may be considering. now the president is able to create federal mandates at present. for example, a mosque wearing his mandate tree in all federal institutions throughout the country. he would have the power to institute of federal a mandate for vaccination on aircraft. there is a political danger to this. his administration has already been accused of overreach in terms of government mandates, in terms of what people can or cannot do. but clearly this is something that he is

considering, particularly given the way in which the new variant ami. croton is raging across the united states with those infection rates. mounting by the hour. mike hannah in washington d. c. thanks very much. i. let's cross back over the atlantic to our broadcast central london journal standing by and joan of course, the u. k. authorities also announcing huge record numbers for the u. k. huge numbers seem to be reflected across the continent as natasha said from france as well. yeah, well those numbers reported here on tuesday seemed pretty extraordinary. a 129000 new infections in the you count tuesday. we haven't the wednesday figure yet. but of course, that figured itself dwarfed by the french numbers 209000 reported on wednesday. and i think you can probably assume that these numbers are going to continue to go up as we continue to take stock of the christmas and new year period of records being set, as you say, all over europe. france of course, is emily greece, portugal side for small to all setting infection rate records. the swiss of the

dutch say that on the call is now the dominant strain. their germany says it will be in just a few days time. finland, even sweden, adding to the list of countries piling on the restrictions to try and deal with this thing. but, you know, in the midst of all of this, in the midst of these high rates in the midst of new measures being introduced, that does seem to be a real shift in thinking among these countries, not least the w h o as well away from the idea of locked downs and restrictions to curb the virus and towards the idea of boosters, vaccines more and more boosters in time to come if need be bars, johnson the u. k. prime minister said today that up to 90 percent of patients in iso use have not received their booster shots. and if you add to that, the evidence that is coming from south africa from britain quoted as well by the w h o, that seems to suggest a less severe form of corona virus in the, on the chrome very well then you've got on the one hand

a potentially less severe virus, on the other hand, wide vaccine coverage, at least in the developed world. and if that can become a global picture, well then it begins to point to a way out of this pandemic, and potentially in the year to come general holiday broadcast, central london, thanks very much. let's cross over tonight, right. be in kenya, where catherine saw is standing by catherine. you know, for the, for the last couple of days, weeks we've been talking about north america and europe. and is it any wonder that people on the african continent will say, you know, you forget about us again, if we just take south africa out of this question for the moment, what are the general trends across the african concept, especially where you are in kenya? or we are seeing in dozens of countries, the positivity rates are going up. rates of infection going up here in kenya for example, we are at 34 percent. this is relatively lower than other countries. the countries, the west for example, but it is quite

a huge lip from the beginning of the year. where are the numbers was where the rate was like a one percent or, you know, one percent or so. so the government is worried about that we're seeing at this so rate and the biggest concern we're not seeing a lot of people being hospitalized. people are being told to self isolate at home. but the biggest concern here in kenya, as in other countries in the region, is the vaccination rates are just about 14 percent of the population has been vaccinated. and this is a huge concern. and the government is trying to put measures to make sure more people get vaccinated. for example, are the government has said that those who have been vaccinated fully vaccinated within the last 6 months need to get a booster shot. also, it has said it has imposed some rules, including a have been owners of businesses not to allow people who are not vaccinated into their premises. this is causing

a lot of debate about how it's going to be implemented. but we also seeing other countries, like uganda positivity, rates are high, are the democratic republic of congo? are we have a 4th wave. hospitals out of a want health workers are concerned about that. so the idea is to get as many people as possible vaccinated a lot of people really in the room in this region still do not want to get vaccinated. so let's talk about south africa, obviously was the all become very, it was discovered or identified there initially. and the world really has been looking to south african scientists for guidance also in terms of the trends of that the very end has presented itself within that southern african country. i mean, it does seem to appear quite positive right now in the way that people either are infected or have to be hospitalized. it's sort of slightly positive news. other countries can, can gain information from it is positive annual

reports that are coming out of south africa now indicate that the infection rate has a dramatically reducing the last 9 days or 9 days ago. there was 23000 infections, a compared to monday. when there was 15000, so we have hard from the director of africa, cdc, doctor john jenkinson, who said that this is perhaps because a cell africans were badly affected by the last 2 very. and then maybe some, some people have got an immunity. he has also said, ah, that the group, the rate of vaccinations in south africa is quite high. so we're not seeing as many people being hospitalized. a lot of people, even in other countries in the region, are being taught as a self isolated because they're getting mild, getting mild symptoms, but then adopt on campus. and also said that the african countries should not be complacent because of this. because this very i did highly readable end of very

a steel, a big threatened did. conference oil in my right before. thanks very much for the update that plenty more had here on the al jazeera and use our including palestine . president mahmoud abbas visit israel to meet defense minister benny ganz will have reaction from the west bank and gaza. also conflicting messages out of the iran nuclear deal talks as to whether any progress is actually being made. ammons or to live record for one of the basketballs, all time greats andy over here with that story. ah. that the indonesian government is giving shelter to more than $100.00 ringer refugees are stranded at sea. the mostly women and children, while after drift off the coast of arch province while attempting to reach malaysia into the just government says refugees were facing emergency conditions. hundreds

of muslim minority who fled to the me and my regime have reached indonesia over the years after a perilous journey, often lasting months. jessica washington has more from jakarta. these people will be towed to shore and they will be allowed to disembark in indonesia. what we have heard from local sources on the ground is that the process of towing the vessel to the coastline could take around 3 to 4 hours. the vessel as it stands is around 80 nautical miles, an 80 kilometer, sorry, from the coast of b. it in the answer prov, out a province. and so it could take around 3 to 4 hours and that's without factoring in some of the difficult weather conditions. we understand that right now, there are heavy winds and heavy waves as well, which could complicate the effort to bring this vessel to shore. but what we can say with certainty is that they will be allowed to disembarked in our province after so many days of uncertainty. we heard a short while ago from

a representative of the government explaining the process behind the governments thinking, well, what are you doing? neesha are in the indonesian government today has decided in the name of humanity to accommodate growing a refugee shop. currently floating on a boat in the ocean near, i checked seattle. this decision was made after question during, during the emergency conditions experienced quite a few gees on the ship. it's not altogether a surprising outcome in the past. indonesia has in fact, accepted ringo refugees that have arrived in waters near aunt j. but it is worth noting that indonesia is not a signatory to the un convention on refugees. and so as a result is not really seen as a destination for permanent re settlement. these refugees will now join the hundreds of other refugees from many other countries on the long wait to be re settled into a 3rd country. leon phone is trevor of the ringo working group of the asia pacific

refugee writes network. she says, unlike other countries in the region, indonesia has a national legal framework to protect refugees. it's a quite complex in the region when it comes to finding a humane response to rank refugees because of the lack of legal frameworks. number one, and number 2, the concern that are actually taking in writing about could just could use a secure way that could create a pull factor for other refugees to come. and one of the good things about indonesia, though, is it's actually one of the only countries in the region that does have a domestic legal framework to at least allow for disembarkation. which is the presidential regulation one to 5 of 2016. and that actually does have provisions for disembarkation of refugees who are particularly those who are in distress at c, as well as coordination of government agencies and and g o z. and you and agencies of course to respond in an emergency response to support refugees. the problem

though, is that there are lots of different ways of interpreting this regulation, and this usually happens whenever there's a rank about the comes to indonesia, into indonesian waters and is in distress. there's a debate that takes place about what the best response is from us has denounced the meeting between the palestinian president and the is really government. defense minister by the guns greeted mahmoud abbas to discuss security coordination and economic issues. a palestinian officials have been meeting stress the importance of having a political venue to find solutions. well, we have to correspondence covering the story. one moment we'll get reaction from you when i'll tell you the gossip versus crossover to hurry full suit in west jerusalem han harry, i mean it's been over a decade. i believe since a meeting of this level was last seen and he was being the outcome i will the outcome in terms of deliverables in terms of things that sir, at least mom, what about can say, have been achieved are relatively low level,

but none the less important to many palestinians, a $32000000.00 advance on taxes. that israel i collect on behalf of the palestinian authority, nearly $10000.00 people, both in the west bank and in garza to have their citizens or on their residency status. regularized over a 1000 permits for senior business figures and palestinian officials to allow them to travel in and out of israel into the west bank more easily. um, but i, i think what that is being talked about by the palestinian side is something very different. a sort of a political horizon, the minister who st. i'll shake talked about. he said that this was a way of trying to head off an explosion in the west bank. certainly as far as he is ready to concerned, there was a lot of weight to the idea of trying to quell the security situation in recent weeks that have been a number of attacks by palestinians on his readings,

but also from the palestinian side. and urging to stop a weight of sackler attacks that have been carried out against palestinians, especially in the occupied west bank of the idea that this government, this has really government could really move on the political front. it does seem a bit hard to see given that is a very broad coalition from right to left, which has said that it isn't going to make major sort of policy strategic changes particular in the field of the israel palestine conflict. and that was gonna really be my next question because obviously, you know, raw international views. they won't realize perhaps that the internet, the israeli government currently is a coalition government. it has extreme views to the left and to the right. and any agreements made here might not well be accepted by the pin by benny dance and by natasha bennett's political partners. well, that's right. i mean, natalie. but it has really only acknowledged doors, had it acknowledged for him that he was aware that this meeting would take place.

he's a pro settlement right wing politician ah, the opposition now lead by full of prime minister benjamin netanyahu has come out very much against this saying it's dangerous. it's a way of elevating the status of my what a bus after he'd been somewhat sidelined over the last 10 years or so that's the message you hearing from the right for of obviously from, from goddard from hamas. it's very different that they're saying that, so this is a humiliations, i'm sure we'll be hearing from younger in a 2nd. so there are very different ranges of opinion on this. it does seem strange that my what about who already enjoys an incredibly low level of support among palestinians, 75 percent, and a recent poll. so they want him to resign. would risk being seen to, to come to his rail sort of in this way without an enormous amount to show for it. yet however, in that same survey, 61 percent of people, when i said they were in favor of this kind of confidence,

building measures being arranged between israel and the palestinians. hurry for. so they went through the bank very much, the updates a harry less course, i would say human outside whose our life or a thing, garza. and we've just been hearing that the, the reaction ready from the west bank of such what's the reaction where you are because these talk of the didn't involve hamas and they all the ruling party in gaza. hi. yes. in an urgent can eating, that was helped by all the policy of factions to day morning i. they denounced their, our condemnation now towards this meeting between now a boss and gannett especially that they said that it comes in of the, in our, in a resolution re situation the in the palestinian territories. and in light of a vicious attack by settlers and, and in a vicious attack by a prison authorities towards the palestinian prisoners and a wide range of settlement activities,

they also could dump the strong and ongoing israeli, palestinian as security a coordination given outside during gaza. thanks very much for the update. my willpower is off putting out conflicting messages about progress on solving the iran nuclear deal. iran and russia st. daily's within saw you took the 8th round of talks in vienna, but the u. s. is expressing caution. it comes as a 5 day military exercise by iran's revolution regards gets underway. dalso jibari is in vienna for correspondence. monitoring what's going on. hi dawson. i mean the 8th round of talks continues and the word optimism seems to be the word being bounded around. but within reason for some delegations certainly so highly depends who you listen to. and i think it's really important and the narrative that the different countries are putting forward at the radians and led by the iranian deputy foreign minister. alibaba, connie has,

in meeting with the e 3 representatives here, that's france, u k, and germany on wednesday. and at that meeting, just wrapped up behind me at a hotel where they're holding the talks at the we rainy's have told the state news agencies that they are making progress on the lifting of sanctions, which is something that is very important for the delegation. here is one of the reasons they're here, but the europeans have expressed some doubt as to whether or not they will be able to achieve any positive outcome. and of course, the americans at the forefront of all this is that the reason we're here is because of them as since they withdrew from the deal in 2018, the americans have side data according to the state department, a spokesperson that's their talks are not moving as fast as they would like, and they're still, it's still too early for them to assess whether not the 8th round of talks will be successful or it will be final one that what is clear is that there is certainly an incentive court. these talks to wrap up in the coming weeks, the iranians have said that the sanctions lifting and the verification process is very important for them. one of the main sanctions they want to see lifted is

a sale of raining oil on the international market, as well as being able to be paid for that oil. their banking sector is under heavy us sanctions at the radians have said that and they will come back into full compliance with their nuclear program at that is why we're here. and these dispatches are expected to continue for the coming weeks. but there is a slight optimism and of course, the host, the e u of these negotiations have said that they have weeks now not months to wrap up to comes to some kind of a decision about whether or not the j c, p, o, a, as the nuclear deal of 2015 is known can be salvage, that this stage go savari in vienna, thanks very much for the optic. still had here on the news or this is one of 3 nuclear plants that germany will close by the end of the year. and we will phase out nuclear power by the end of 2022 completely disputed decision with you. i'm steadfast, reporting from fleming also being taped on south africa,

where tribute saw continued to be paid to the late apartheid hero, archbishop desmond tutu, band and sport, or fresh doubts as to whether the world's noble one tennis player will defend his title of australian open. ah, hello there, let start in the middle east and we're seeing some unsettled weather move across some of the gulf states in the days to come bringing heavy rain to the likes of q weight could tar as well as parts of saudi arabia. we could see some flooding where that rain falls more intensely towards the we can, we've also got some snow expected in mountainous areas of iran and that where the front is going to shift further south and east taking the west or whether it's the lights of the u e and oman, by the time we get to the weekend,

but we've also got wet and windy weather, weather pulling across the levant, bringing some heavy rain, se egypt onwards to israel, and the palestinian territories. by the time we get into friday, it'll be lebanon. and syria that sees that rain and that ties up with a wet and windy weather that's been affecting north eastern corner of africa. we've got some strong winds blowing across libya and into egypt. we could see more dust storms. and of course, that rain is going to work its way further south in the days to come. now that's in contrast to a lot of want that's in that northwest corner. there's a lot of warmth across central areas as well. the heavy rain can be found in western parts of that central band of africa. and there's more where, where the on the way for johanna's bergson, thunderstorms rolling, and by the time we get to friday, that will be much clearer for cape town. ah, african stories by african filmmakers. turbo le,

let's go to join over with all the loading under the song mother. learn all really short documentary from her keener fossil and synagogue to do with re incomplete my you for years and i can give to ambia medical, the man who plants vow bombs and a rest mystery. africa diary on al jazeera dreams dawns and entertainment away. the people to rise above the violence around them. so it's my role to give these girls a different idea that they can leave the wards of this community. 3 short films show how performance creates a home and family and gives hope and opportunity. ah ha, selects on al jazeera. ah lou.

ah bookmark you're watching all to 0 me. so robin a reminder of all top stories and then you saw the world has had a new record number of covey cases of a single week. there was 11 percent surge worldwide. the w h o is warning. the alma chrome very imposes a very high risk. frances, just spoken another national and european record for the number of daily caves. 19 cases. the health minister says 2 people have tested positive every 2nd and the indonesian government agree to give.