story about politics, the listening post, your guide to the media on a jazz, ah ami groan being more times miserable, circulating at the same time as delta is leading to us when i mean of cases, the pandemic takes a dangerous turn in countries around the world, pushing health systems to the brink of collapse. ah, hello welcome, i'm peter w, watching out to the are alive from headquarters here and also coming up the she socialite gillian maxwell is found guilty of grooming teenage girls to be sexually abused by the american financing. jeffrey epstein. fighting intensifies between me

and mars military and ethnic rebels forcing thousands of people from their hopes and a decade after kim john came to power. we looked at his rule over north korea and where the country may be heading next. ah, delta and army chrome, variance of koby 19 fueling. what the world health organization is calling a sou nami, of cases sweeping across the globe. on average $900000.00 new infections being reported each day. no continent has been left untouched. many countries including the u. s. australia, bolivia, and several european nations are hitting new records. france has, for example, reported 200 a 1000 new infections, the highest ever recorded in your that to you infections every 2nd. the government

has made masks mandatory outdoors in paris. worried about the economic impact of forcing millions of people to work from home, several nations including italy, spain and the u. s. a shortening quarantine periods and easing isolation. rules need barker starts our coverage from london the across europe. there are keys outside pover 19 testing centers. as a 3rd to corona virus infections takes hold of you in greece, fund restriction, so been brought forward up to the number of cases more than doubled in a day. the world health organization, the moral conscience of the crisis monk, 2 years since the start of the pandemic, with a warning to rich nations racing ahead with a 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

inequity. i want governments industry and civil society to work with us on a campaign that targets 70 per cent 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 on becomes a mile to varian and that those admitted to hospital are 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 city's 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'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 in the hospital all together. in germany, an urgent appeal for people to rein in new year celebrations. the number of cases there is now believe to be $2.00 to $3.00 times higher than official figures. fitter fancy and gunston. police celebrates in very small numbers and do not endanger each other because the cow reported incidents of cases undermined the danger we are currently in. the rise of alma cron 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 us cases of increase there, by 60 percent,

although hospitalizations and deaths do remain low, the cdc says new infections are being driven by the exceptionally transmissible on the chrome variance hydro castro has more for us from washington the highest daily news hayes as ever in the u. s. were now a 267000 new covert cases. that's the daily average. 60 percent of which is now attributed to the omicron variant and the nations for most infectious disease expert, dr. anthony found, she is predicting that it will only get worse before it gets better. he says the peak of this current surge will likely come in late january. we're seeing much of this happening now in the north eastern part of the us with places like new york city here in washington, d. c. and surrounding states. people queuing for hours in search of coven tests, and then one in for, in many communities coming back positive. now if there is some silver lining,

it's the evidence that here to the omicron variant is resulting in milder infections. because while those cases of jumped some 70 percent since a week ago in number, the hospitalization has not kept pace. that's gone up by just 15 percent. but when you just look into each individual case, those are still each person occupying hospital beds and hospitals are swamped with many counties declaring local states of emergency and warning that soon these hospital beds will all be used up. now. cubic 19 infections on the rise in africa, which has a much lower vaccination rate than many other regions. the surge followed an easing of restrictions to revitalize local economies. kenya, ghana and angola of all recently reported record hi cases. catherine soy has more now from my ruby the pores 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, are 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. let's get more on our other headlining story. a jury in new york has found the pretty social, like gillian maxwell guilty on 5 counts and a sex trafficking trial charges against the former associate of the american financing and convicted peter file. jeffrey epstein includes sex trafficking of underage girls, gabriel elizondo reports. it took the jury 5 full days more than

40 hours of deliberations. elaine maxwell guilty on 5 of the 6 charges she faced convicted of grooming young girls for sexual abuse by her former boyfriend, jeffrey epstein, and even sometimes joining in the british social. i remained calm and whispered to her lawyer and drink a sip of water. as the verdicts were read out. outside court maxwell's friend, lee sat in a regular throughout the trial, and he left with our comment, your chance to give a reaction to the verdict. for the prosecution, the verdict was a welcome relief. the road to justice has been far too long. but today justice has been done. i want to commend the bravery of the girls now grown women who stepped out of the shadows into the courtroom. their courage and willingness to face their abuser made today's result. and this case possible. the trial attracted enormous

global attention, wealthy and influential. epstein and maxwell moved in elite circles counting the rich and famous even former presidents and britons, prince andrew among their friends and associates. max was lawyers argue that she'd become a scapegoat for epstein crimes. he committed suicide while awaiting trial. in august 2019, the defense lawyers attempted to poke holes and the testimony of the 4 made witnesses and even brought in memory experts to undermine their accounts. but to no avail, we firmly believe in glens, innocent. obviously we are very disappointed with averted. we have already started working on the appeal, and we are confident that she will be vindicated. delaine maxwell turned 60 years old during these jury deliberations. the sentencing will be at a later date, but she's now facing up to 65 years in prison. gabriel's hondo algae is either new

york, the un security council has demanded accountability over the killing of 35 civilians, including children and me and mars chaos state member countries are calling for an immediate cease fire. however, fighting has escalated between the military and ethnic corin armed groups, thousands of refugees sheltering in neighboring thailand. tony chang reports now from the ty bought a ton of my salt trade resumes across the time. yet my border of the weeks, a bit of lighting in the area, long boats laden with goods bearing their loads to and fro the murray 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 pull to me 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. les ativa now, and i don't know exactly what they are opened, 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 out gun, the perrin fighters morale appears to be high. even though does nothing compare with the tried am i to like that a bundle? we don't care? well, we do believe it at the end of it if we win. and it's clear the cease far that has held for a decade is now shattered. so we know, and we really know that they make a very big office into our you 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 are considerably more relaxed after the fighting appears to have moved away. but they're still monitoring very closely watching any one who's going up to the border. but inside man ma, 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 safe enough to go home. tony chang al jazeera on the time your mom bought. it's been 10 years since kim john own became the leader of north korea. he took control in 2011 after the death of his father, kim jong il. while his leadership style is widely criticized. few dare to question his grip on power. catcher lopez, or to yahoo has more. he became north korea's leader before turning 30 at the

time many hope king jam own would lead the country into a new era. one though it opened the reclusive nation and its economy to the world, the sun. okay. and i'm wondering if one of the got and stand can step he'd empower, has been defined by brutal violence nuclear weapons and meetings with donald trump . it's my honor. he will have the relationship, i have no doubt it wasn't easy to get here. and all prejudices and practices worked as obstacles in a way forward. but we are became all of them and were here today. and president of meetings to gradually the nuclear arise, the north in exchange for sanctions relief, ultimately failed, and threats against the regional neighbors and their allies continued. you will want to journey with the entire united states is within range of all nuclear weapons. and the nuclear puzzle is always on my desk. but kim's fixation on nuclear weapons has come at

a heavy price. the united nations and others have kept tough economic sanctions to ga, ga. could young book put north korea has been working towards to huge goals, strengthening national defense and improving living standards. living situation got worse because of sanctions and the pandemic. if all hugging money, she kim's appetite for international respect has led him to the global stage. but his leadership has been described as ruthless with reports of executions including against his own brother, rivals and dissidence, say, poverty, and starvation are rampant ah, to mark 10 years since the death of his father. king john ill, north koreans were reportedly pant from laughing, drinking or shopping for 11 days. him now leads a political dynasty spending 3 generations. that few dare question me on this. one of the kim is emulating his grandfather because many people missed the past. so he

tried to look at similar to his grandfather and shed tears while giving speeches. that's cost them. you don't get much of still unknown about the young leader, including his long term plans for north korea, katya lopez, so the young al jazeera still ahead here on al jazeera. lucy, c o, b, a memorial services are held across the country of south africa, remembers the antea party icon. archbishop desmond tutu. ah, hello. we got some very unsettle weather across a good part of the middle lace cloud and rain streaming into many areas. you can

see the wet weather just around the levant, pushing into that eastern side of the mediterranean, sliding down across sun, northern palaces, saudi just pushing over towards the gulf there and it will sink further south with some lie. be showers coming through kuwait sees and big down pause. i suspect there will be some flooding. perhaps some flooding turns eastern parts of iraq, western pass of a ransom heavy down pulse he and some snow over the high ground evening to pray us him cause we will see the chance of a shower or 2 as you go through the next couple of days. with some lively scorely winds for a time and something to watch out for that will push its way down across the u. e. into the eastern side of a man that wet weather that we have across east side of the med. also affecting the far northeast of libya, running down across northern parts of egypt. i will make a fair pick progress a fair way south ashley. so by friday because he some wet weather into central parts of egypt as well. central as of africa, sing the usual storms, the lively showers rolling through showers their heavy at times into as in bob way

northeast and parts of south africa, southern areas of mozambie. but try to the west. ah, from the al jazeera london, gro kath intact to people in thoughtful conversation with i know limitations. this dick, it is a most consequential decade in when she says she doth fall to many companies that are doing bad things in the front. in part 2 of human rights activates q me nike and environmental if we known in the keep the systems that are not working. but the longer that you fight them, the more that things change studio be unspent paid on al jazeera lou.

ah, looking back you watching out a 0 your top story so far this half hour, delta and omicron barons a cubic 19 a fueling what the w h o is calling a su nami of casey, sweeping across the globe on average 900000 new infections being reported every day around the world. a jury has found the bushes, socialite delaney maxwell guilty on 5 counts, and a sex trafficking fraud charges against the former associates of the american financing and convicted peter file. jeffrey epstein include sex trafficking of underage girls, 60 year old maxwell could spend the rest of her life in prison. and the un security council has demanded accountability over the killing of 35 civilians, including children in me, in mos chaos state member countries are calling for an immediate cease fire, but fighting has escalated between the military and ethnic corin. i'm groups b,

u. s. secretary of state antony blinkin has called on china and hong kong to release members of a pro democracy media outlets who were arrested on wednesday. 7 current and former staff members of stand news were held on suspicion of publishing seditious articles . standnew says, shutting down office assets were frozen brit clinic reports. hundreds of hong kong place rated the stand news office in the early hours of wednesday morning, using a warrant under the much criticized national security law to collect boxes of what was described as journalistic materials. on classics, people linked to the independent media outlets were arrested under separate lore on sedition from the british colonial era. by wednesday afternoon stand, news announced it was closing after 7 years. we are not talking to reporter, we are not talking the good though, the media, we just targeted national security law. the old fences among those arrested was

well known singer and activist, denise ho and former politician margaret on both former stand use board members. so i know want to at least 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, i'm another 100 ohio extern users 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 urge 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 chinese government,

in beijing says the security. lauren hong kong is necessary for stability following political unrest and mass pro democracy protests. doesn't 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 an 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 replenished al jazeera hong kong. while the hong kong chief executive kerry lamb was addressing the media to the short time ago. she said the police acted with in the law. gamlee type and eileen will title your mer hung, the it's not like what you said that we're targeting particular media organizations or media organizations with a certain stance. what we target is activities that contravene the law and the actions taken based on investigation. the decision is made by the department of

justice and then the calls will be given to court to make a ruling and impartial ruling get for the russian and you as invoice to the are on nuclear talks of met on the sidelines of the negotiations in vienna. moscow's representative said coordination between them was key to restoring the deal. it comes after conflicting messages about progress on round number 8 of the discussions. iran and russia say a deal is with in site. but washington is expressing caution. tyrann once guarantees that sanctions on its oil sales will be lifted. dean nuclear i zation of the korean peninsula is one of us president jo biden's, foreign policy priorities. now 2022 may see a pivot from the oval office on pressing global issues. and the growing threat from china, as alan fisher explains. ah, if the white house was a circus, joe biden would be plate spinner in chief. as he enters into his 2nd year in the

oval office, good afternoon, he's got a lot to do with internationally and domestically. this is all rural ride challenge and the consequences. if one of the plates fall could be the effect of end of his presidency by the end of the year. talk of the list of challenges like it was when he was sworn, n is covered after confidently claiming he was in his words kicking the viruses. but in july it came, roaring back and no omicron has to be dealt with a lot don't is unlikely. another economic shock isn't and with job numbers, not where they should be. and the cost of basic, good, rising, president biden need some good news for american families. he delivered an infrastructure built his build back better bill is essentially dead. but he still believes he can get parts of it through congress, increasing help to american families. but some washington watchers say he still has other campaign promises to deliver. democrats have been so badly out messaged in

their messaging, so atrocious that even with build back better, they're going to have a difficult time. they have lost the bad old messaging battle on inflation. and inflation is indeed hurting a lot of americans then brings midterm elections normally considered a referendum on those in the white house. i'm not recommending for every future president that they take a shall lacking, like very like i did last night. biden has an approval rating of under 50 percent. that could mean him losing the house, maybe even the senate. they try getting anything done in washington with both houses, not in your control happening. so he could turn to foreign policy to get winds before the 2024 presidential election. were those closest to one se he'll run against? the pictures of the frantic withdrawal from afghanistan haunt the bike and white house. if the country again becomes a base for islamic militants, he'll be at the button for the failures of his and other administrations. he wants

a new nuclear deal with iran, there are talks, but the half the deliver america is worried about china's growing influence is expanded military, it's economic power. talks between the 2 leaders effectively went nowhere. ari and then there's russia with cyber attacks, increased activity on the you came border. biden's white house seems to be waiting to respond to what comes next. i think he's already had some important foreign policy successes. i think that the united states has sent a strong signal to russia with european partners out of russia invaded ukraine, would pay major costs. and i think that's likely to continue to deter from invading ukraine, going forth as biking, heads into the new year. he's hoping, delivering big domestic success will make americans feel better about where the country is going. we can deliver real people, results that are going to affect their lives. but if they don't, they could decide they don't like the act. and it's time for the biden circus to move on. alan fisher,

i'll just either washington and the u. s. and russian presidents are to speak on the telephone on thursday as tension surrounding ukraine continue to escalate. the white house national security council says let me put in, requested the call with joe biden. it comes ahead of us. russian talks in geneva next month, washington and the nato countries have expressed concerns about russia's military build up along the border with ukraine. memorial services were held across south africa for the anti apartheid icon. archbishop desmond to, to, into faith services were held in memory of the nobel peace prize laureate i south africa was observing a week of national mourning for 22 who died at the age of 90. he was the 1st black archbishop of cape town. he rose to prominence in the 1980 s and opponent of a party to dispute will be held on new year's day. former political photography,

russia, lombard, documented much of archbishop desmond tutu his life and his fight against the laws of apartheid in south africa. he has one of the largest archives of the archbishops . he shed some of his experiences with semi de mila. as a photographer, you know, one quickly relies that images can tell a story without doing so it was important to give those images on. just look at the late eighty's 18. 89. there was a big piece march, richie lady in the city of cape done. so over 60000 people, people from all walks of life was an activist and was so big that the system couldn't stop at one of my iconic images, which is preaching and is almost like a truss. and, and i've, i've always tricia that image, which also went all over the world. there's also end off for about august the end of 1989. when he heard that a group of,

of students were held up in a church methodist church in google. it too, and he decided and they were having a sitting then they came out and as they came here, i guess just flew all over and it was at such a distance at all. i could do it to use it 200 millions and i got it. and we, we got out. but you can imagine getting the pretty show on us, you know, having not to move home can move your naked does not to be seen. most important image was waiting for montela and pushing to hold. everyone together was to to and he was standing and keeping the crowd thousands and thousands of people. and that is the moment when mandela walked in. it was ok, mandela. but it was the archbishop view, the magnet was something like that. what's important, it's, it's, it's a ceaseless behind. i think that is critical is last, you know, we come in go by the legacy left behind. and this is going out of the church is

just in ordering people into young people. what do we do with our to arch? and i was going to be the next voice of the people. so we'll see, you know, who comes up next. and i think they were going to morning for a long time. this should be when i was on long mornings and and vigils and yeah, i'm but gosh, arch ah, 30 g, updating your top story. so for delta and omicron there and so could be 19 a fueling. what the w h o is calling a sou nami, of cases sweeping around the globe on average 900.