world, as we enter the 3rd year with 19 we go back to home where it all began and investigate how far we come. since the pandemic january on a just you know, ah me chrome being more times miss abbey circulating at the same time i was built off is leading to a soon army of cases. the pounds i make takes a dangerous turn in countries around the well pushing health systems to the brink of collapse. ah, hello, i money inside this is out. is there a lie from die? ha, also coming on. british socialite, glean maxwell is found guilty of grooming teenage girls to be sexually abused by

american financier. jeffrey epstein. hong kong prominent pro democracy media outlets is forced to shut down after police raid an arrest of senior staff and fighting intensifies between me on malls, military and ethnic armed rebels forcing thousands of people from maps. ah, we begin with breaking news out of new york where jury has found the british, such like elaine maxwell guilty on 5 counts in a sex trafficking trial charges against the former associates of the american financier. geoffrey epstein include sex trafficking of underage girls, the trial included testimonies a by for women who said they were abused as teens some as young as 14 years old.

60 year old maxwell could spend the rest of her life in prison as go straight to a corresponding gabriel elizondo who was outside the courtroom in new york. talk a sir exactly what happened in court today? well, after 5 full days of jury deliberations, the jury deliberated for more than 35 hours in all. they reached a guilty verdict on 5 of the 6th charges. now this just happened within the last hour or so, so we're still waiting for lawyers from the prosecutors and the defense to come out and give some statements. but it was certainly a dramatic final day here is a little bit before 5 pm here local time in new york on the jury signal that they did finally have this verdict, 6 charges, it was complicated. i'll quickly go down them. conspiracy to entice miners to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, the jury found going maxwell guilty,

enticing, minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts enticement not guilty on that one. the 3rd count, conspiracy to transport a minor. to engage in illegal sex acts guilty, transporting a minor guilty conspiracy to commit sex trafficking guilty and the big one, the 6 count sex trafficking of minors. guilty in all that's about 65 years in prison. the key lane maxwell now faces in terms of her reaction, when the verdict was read lane, maxwell was stoic, she did not cry, and as the verdict was read, her lawyer put her arm around her. she whispered, some words that were inaudible to her lawyer took a sip of water as she was led out of the court room by us marshall's. she

did not look at her family and gave no visible reaction. she will now be led back to the metropolitan detention center. this will essentially be the end of a fall from grace for the 65 year old british socialite, she turned 60 years old, ironically on christmas day. as the jury was in the middle of their deliberations, the jury arguing, i'm sorry, the prosecution arguing over the course of this 2 and a half week trial, that she was instrumental in grooming teenage girls for illegal sex acts with jeffrey epstein and the jury. after much consideration, clearly agreed with the prosecution arguments and again found her guilty on 5 of 6 counts. gabriel, is this the end of this case? what happens next while the judge will

set a sentencing date and the judge has not done that yet, but that'll probably be in the next few months. and that will ultimately be up to the judge to now decide how much jail time delay maxwell will face. as i mentioned, all 6 charges she faced 70 years. she was convicted on 5 of 6, which carry 65 years as the maximum prison term. that doesn't necessarily mean she will be sentenced to 65 years. but that is potentially up to what she could be sentenced to. that is now up to the hands of the judge to make that decision. bottom line, though, as i mentioned, doing maxwell 60 years old now faces up to 65 years in prison. the chances of delaying maxwell ever being a free woman again and walking free outside of jail seems very slim. money thanks to the gabriel elizondo outside the courtroom in york. in

delta an omicron variance of coven 19 off fueling was the w. h. o cause ac nami, of cases sweeping across the globe. on average 900000 new infections of being reported every day around the world. many countries including the u. s, australia, bolivia, and several european countries have hit new records. france, for instance, has reported 208000 new infections, the highest ever recorded in europe. that's to new infections every 2nd. the government has made masks mandatory outdoors in paris, and fearful of the economic impact of forcing millions of people confined to their homes. countries such as italy, spain, and the u. s. have shortened quarantine periods and eased isolation. roles. ne

barker has the latest from london ah, across europe, their keys outside cove, in 19 testing centers, as a search of corona virus infections takes home here in greece. planned restrictions are be brought forward up to the number of cases more than doubled in a day. the world health organization, the moral conscience of the crisis. mark 2 years since the start of the pandemic, with a warning to rich nations racing ahead with our vaccine booster drives. this is the time to rise above short term nationalism and protect populations and economies against future variance by ending global vaccine equity. i want governments industry and civil society to work with us on a campaign that targets 70 percent vaccine coverage in every country. by the start of july, many wild leaders, including the british prime minister,

have thrown their weight behind, getting a 3rd dose of a covey vaccine into as many arms as possible. we know microns, a mild ovarian, and those admitted to hospital a, spending less time there. but it's highly contagious, meaning large numbers could still need hospital care. it's also affecting frontline staff numbers, absences tripled in london's hospitals this month. and nearly 10 percent of the cities firefighters called in sick, overwhelming majority of people who are currently ending up in intensive care. in our hospitals are people who are not boosted i, i've talked to doctors who say the numbers are running up to 90 percent of people in intensive care. we're not boosted. if you're not vaccinated, you're 8 times more likely to get into hospital re, altogether in germany. an urgent appeal for people to rein in new year's

celebrations. the number of cases there is now believe to be $2.00 to $3.00 times higher than official figures. fitter fancy, and gustavo police celebrates in very small numbers and do not in danger each other . because the cow reported incidents of cases undermined the danger we are currently in. the rise of alma crohn has dashed hopes that the worst of the pandemic is over. but the w h o insists 2022 must be the year. it comes to an end. ne parker al jazeera london and in the u. s. cases have increased by 60 percent, although hospitalizations and deaths remain low centers for disease control and prevention, say new infections are being driven by the exceptionally transmissible on the chrome variant. the speak to heidi j. castro's law for us in washington, dc. what he talks through the latest cove,

it figures in the us on the line. it's still their workers breaking number of daily cases, which still goes up by the day now. it stands at $267000.00 cases. a day reported in the u. s, which is the highest since the start of the pandemic, more than 60 per cent now of those cases attributed to the omi kron berry, and, and the nations for most infectious disease expert, dr. anthony found, she predicting that it'll only get worse with the peak, likely to hit not hit until the end of january. now we're seeing a much of this surge occurring in the nation's north east places like new york city here in washington. d. c. states like new jersey where people are lining up for hours in search of coven testing, and in some communities more than one and 4 of those tests coming back positive. now there is some good news there is continued evidence in the us as well. that the

omicron variant is resulting in milder infections because while cases have jumped more than 70 per cent in one week, the percentage of hospitalizations has not kept pace. that's up by only 15 percent . but if you look at the sheer numbers a low, moline, their hospitals staff are overwhelmed. there are some counties declaring states of emergency, warning that soon those hospitals will run out of beds, going heidi's, as it appears. if president biden has a handle on this crisis, right, many are wondering that because he has admitted that his ministration basically dropped the ball. * when it came to preparing for these testing, and that is why we're seeing those long waits for the testing kits to try to address that. he has been working on a plan to release 500000 free at home kobe rabbit test to americans. that hasn't happened yet, the white house is saying that early in the new year there will be a website,

and americans can go there to request that these kids be delivered to their home. there's a lot of speculation, though, as far as how easy that of an undertaking that will be a me while the federal government has sent a paramedics and fema response teams to states throughout the country to try to address this crisis. many thanks, honey. joke house for their, for some washington. still ahead on al jazeera, the palestinian president visits israel. well here who thinks that was a bad idea and tributes are pouring in to south africa's anti apartheid here. a dozen tea table at the latest from cape town. ah, hell i once again beg contrast the temperatures across north america at the moment

got some more, very warm air down towards the southeast corner record heat it up towards the northwest states rack or low temperatures coming back in temperatures well below freezing minus $27.00 celsius therefore winnipeg plus $27.00 celsius there for new orleans. as we got one for the next couple of days, the malware will try to not a little further northwards, doesn't really make too much progress and we are going to see it sitting in a similar areas. we go on through the next couple days with more winfrey, weather coming in across the pacific northwest western path of canada, doubts water se some severe storms for a time. on thursday we seen some live. the storms recently caught without the possibility of the alternate. i some very strong winds as well as he's blustery conditions push over towards the carolinas. but there you go. we got some snow coming back into washington state coming in to oregon. it will be heavy and widespread for time. and that disturb whether extent, a fair way south pushing down across arizona and new mexico to northern parts of mexico. so that's something to watch out for those. what to whether then it's

a northern parts of the set central america region for the caribbean is generally fine and dry. a few showers there, which was really was becoming little more widespread for friday. ah, a right of passage present to the generation. my cousin was laying down there who was claiming she was helpless. the woman or after indoors as go so far, cold of pain. for what pat, my naive meets the women affected by f, g m, and those reshaping perception, do you think people will abandon the site to other bits of things? take al jazeera correspond the conte. oh

oh, you're watching al jazeera mind if our top stories this our jury has found the british social, like elaine maxwell guilty on 5 counts in a sex trafficking trial charges against the former associative american financing. jeffrey epstein includes sex trafficking of under age girls. 60 year old maxwell could spend the rest of her life in prison. dalton on the chrome variance of coven 19 all fueling while w h. i cause a su nami, of cases sweeping across the globe. on average $900000.00 new infections, a being reported each day around the wealth. frances reported 208000 new infections, the highest ever recorded in europe. that's to new infections every 2nd. and in the

us, cases have increased by 60 percent, although hospitalizations and deaths remained low. well, infections are also on the rise in africa region, which has a much lower vaccination rate than elsewhere. the said, followed and easing of restrictions to revitalize economies, kenya gonna angola have all recently reported record high cases. catherine sawyer, reports from nairobi. the force coming out of south africa indicates that the number of infections has drastically reduced in the last 9 days of from about 23009 days ago 215000 am on monday. that is a 40 percent drop. so this is good news, but in other countries, dozens of other countries are on the continent with seeing an increase on positivity rate in kenya for example, we are at 34 percent. but what we are noticing in this country is, is that have people, many people are not displaying severe. a severe symptoms,

severe enough to be admitted in hospital. so lot of people who are testing positive are being told to as self isolate at home or in neighboring uganda. same case, 18 percent, positivity rate. mild mostly mild cases. are the government a has again, started testing or mandatory testing in border points, but the big concern now is a democratic republic of congo in its 4th wave. so what we're seeing is that our hospitals, particularly in the capital kinshasa, are being of a want health workers are feeling the pressure. and you know, a big concern also, especially in this region of east africa and central africa, ease the rate of vaccination. kenya, for example, only has 14 percent of its population vaccinated in democratic republic of congo with 90000000 people only has about 97000 people a fully vaccinated. this is very low. so the aim here is for the government to get

as many people as possible vaccinated not just to protect them, but also to protect the health care or the fragile health care systems. aaron sorel isn't a assistant professor of microbiology and immunology at georgetown university. she joins from washington, d. c. many. thanks for your time. the focus erin in recent weeks is very much been on on the chrome, but to the a, the head of the w. i chose that it's both delta and omicron which a drive in cases up. what is the day to saying about delta? is it as much of concern as it was before on the crone emerged? thank you for having me. i think it's critical to understand that we never decreased the delta serge. we still have delta cases happening globally. and we've just added on a crime. so in the states and other countries from a global perspective, we have to deal with both variance at the same time. and that is challenging,

in terms of thinking about case loads, reporting, both risk of hospitalization and risk of breakthrough cases in particular with, with on the chrome has only calling on its milder symptoms. in many cases, given people a full sense of security, that even if they catch it, they won't be a sick, hasn't made people less careful. i think what is is challenging is that risk communication strategy and understanding for those that are vaccinated and boosted. they have done that the most that they can do to protect themselves and they've done everything right. that the best tool that we have to fight this virus is vaccination. so vaccinate and boost when you're eligible. and that is going to be the best tool to protect yourselves for breakthrough cases when they occur. the key here is, is really being able to access energy tests and test at home and, and isolate at home and mask at home for delta. the, that,

the challenge here is for those that are unvaccinated. what we're seeing is the severe cases are occurring and those that are unvaccinated. so that's really a risk there. it's interesting, you mention a, the booster shots, and you recommend people should get breeze to shots, especially as we heard again today from the head of the w. a. cho warning that rich a countries, a booster campaigns are likely to prolong the pandemic. do you not think that's the case? it is a very challenging situation. i think that there needs to be a global integral access vaccines, not just for co bid, but for all diseases. that's going to create a much healthier global population. and so, i think there needs to be not just a stronger effort in providing more vaccines to at risk populations, and also making sure that we do education advocacy, pains campaigns against the safety and efficacy for the safety and efficacy of these vaccines. that as populations are gaining access to vaccines that they've

been take those vaccines. and for those that are at risk and have access to the boosters, i think boosters are important for high risk population to address populations our elderly populations and our young more countries are adopting the 5 day guidelines recommended by the cdc for people infected with cove. it is that 5 day guidelines scientifically backed and does it apply to both on the chrome and delta? it's a great question. i think something that's really important to, to clear up, right? it's still a 10 day process. so this is something that was developed and, and decided on based on the science that we've gathered on omicron. and the idea is that if you test positive, you isolate at home for 5 days, and if you are asymptomatic or if you clear your symptoms, therefore you don't have a fever after 24 hours or for at least 24 hours,

i should say. then that is followed by a 5 day period where you should be masking around others. so it's still 10 days. it's just now 5 days. so my solution and then 5 days of wearing a mask. if you have cleared your symptoms or if you have always been asymptomatic and that's based on what we're understanding on the replication and transmission rates of micron for delta, i think it's important to consider that that 10 day quarantine at home for those that are on vaccinated they really need to stay at home if they become sick and, and home ice late for those 10 days. this guidance has really been updated based on what i think we've learned based on breakthrough casey was on the kron erin, a saw a really good to get your thoughts. assistant professor of microbiology and immunology georgetown university. thank you. and a phone call between the us, russian presidents is set to take place on thursday as tension surrounding ukraine

continue to escalate the white house national security council says joe bought and requested the call to vladimir putin and it comes ahead of us. russian talks in geneva, which they take place on january 10th, washington. the nato countries have expressed concern about russia's military build up on the border with thomas has denounced a visit to israel by the palestinian president mahmoud abbas. his meeting with israeli defense minister buddy gowns was the 1st in the country in more than a decade. i'm a spokesman said it deepens the palestinian political division and complicates the situation. county office said a series of confidence building measures were discussed, including the transfer payments to the palestinian authority. the on security council has demanded accountability for the killing of fatty 5 civilians, including children in monmouth. kaya state member states calling for an immediate

cease fire. fighting has escalated between the military and ethnic karen armed groups. thousands of refugees of sheltering in neighboring thailand. tony chang, reports trade resumes across the time. yet my border of the weeks of bitter plaiting in the area, long boats laden with goods bearing their loads to and fro, the mighty river that divides the 2 countries has been quiet for several days. the further inside, man, man fighting has been fierce. the battle rages inside the grounds of this temple in the town of may thought halley fighters from the korean national liberation army against forces from mere mars army and border defense force. it's an uneven fight. the fight is for independence. placing a fully equipped modern army with heavy artillery and answer port, most potent weapons, they have a rocket propelled grenades. this man crossed the border with

a group of rebels overnight. he wants his identity hidden, but he says it's the attacks from above that most people fear. li ativa now, and i don't know exactly what they are open to, but the throwing large bombs out of the helicopters and soldiers sitting in the shop is firing machine guns at the people below. ha, despite being outdone, the perrin fighters morono appears to be high. even though done nothing, compare with the tried am i to like that a bundle? we don't care? well, we do believe it at the end, although we win and it's clear the cease far that has held for a decade is now shattered. so we know we are clearly know that they make a very big offers into our you have to take over our land to our country like that on the tie side of the border. the state of high alert has been load the time military and now considerably more relaxed after the fighting appears to have moved away. but they're still monitoring very closely watching anyone who's going up to

the border. but inside me, on my, an estimated 20000 people have been displaced by the fighting. they remain and make shift shelters with limited food and water. and despite the law in the fighting, many don't feel it safe enough to go home. tony chang al jazeera on the time here my border made you freedom in hong kong has been dealt another blow as police wait at one of the last remaining pro democracy websites. standnew says it's shutting down after its assets were frozen on senior staff, arrested brit planets reports. hundreds of hong kong place rated the stan hughes office in the early hours of wednesday morning using a warrant under the much criticized national security law to collect boxes of what were described as journalistic materials. on how 6 people linked to the independent media outlet were arrested under separate laure on sedition from the british

colonial era. by wednesday afternoon stand, news announced it was closing. after 7 years. we will be talking to report of you on the talking the good of the media. we just targeted national security law. the officers among those arrested was well known singer and activist denise, whoa, and former politician margaret on both former stand use board members. so i know why the police turned up at the home of stan, use deputy a simon editor, ronson chan. office is telling him to stop recording as they arrived. chan who was chairman of the hong kong journalists association, stood by the now disbanded news organisation. officers amana johan and ohio stern uses, been doing professional reporting. there's no doubt about it. the whole world sees it. it doesn't matter what charges have been made. i nothing can change. that fact, the hong kong journalist association said it was deeply concerned by the arrests and urged the government to respect the media freedoms that a meant to be safeguarded under the cities. many constitution, the basic law,

hong kong chief secretary, john lee shrugged off the criticism, saying journalism cannot be used as a tool against national security. they are the evil elements that damage. pres, rita, china's government and aging says the security. lauren hong kong is necessary for stability following political unrest and mass pro democracy protests. dozens have been arrested, prosecuted and jailed since china imposed a legislation last year. 6 months ago, the last remaining pro democracy paper, apple daily was forced to shut down after its assets were frozen and its founder jimmy lie arrested. the closure of the apple daily left down use is one of the last pro democracy outlets in hong kong. now there are questions over whether smaller online outlets can survive the crackdown on media freedoms, brick planet, al jazeera, hong kong churches, town halls, and landmarks across south africa have been lit up purple this week. it's an honor

of the cultural icon does $1.00 to $2.00 who died on sunday. the 1st black archbishop, a cape town, was also prominent voice in the fight against apartheid. mister miller attended one of the services held in his memory. oh, a small and intimate affair at cape town, city hall to celebrate a man considered a giant in south africa's history. the city of cape town holds an interfaith memorial. cannot be human with art when another archbishop desmond tutu who despite being at the forefront of the anglican church, was known for embracing all sub africans. and so people of different faiths and backgrounds gather albeit under cove at 19 restrictions, limiting the number of people in attendance in early learning were in the euro. john, family from

a law. do we come and beg you you shall be offering loaded to we pray that the legacy of great leaders such as archbishop didn't do too. oh, be kept alive. oh those here including the archbishop's family. this is a tribute to a legacy that for many is immeasurable. i have spoken of his abiding faith and hope . but what of his love, which was the greatest of these? and the loudest of his lives, messages outside the city hall is lit up in purple, a color synonymous with the man, simply known as the arch tis his funeral will be held on new year's day and according to his wishes was as little pump and ceremony as possible ahead of that, his body will lie in state for 2 days for people to pay their respects for me to mila alters there a cape town. ah.