♪ >> you're watching live from paris. here is what is coming up on the program. the u.s. electoral college set to seal joe biden's presidential victory in spite of donald trump's attempts, withstanding his assault on the election results. u.s. covid-19 deaths top 300,000. just as vaccinations begin. americans who work in health care will be the first to get the protected shots. the u.s. lapse sanctions on turkey for purchasing a russian missile system. ankara because the move unfair

and is likely to further deteriorate already strained relations. ♪ thanks so much for joining us here on france 24. joe biden won the 2020 u.s. election weeks ago but monday marks the next step in making his presidency official. electors are gathering across 50 states and washington, d.c. to formally vote with most bound by law all to go with the popular vote in their state. several battleground states including georgia and wisconsin have already confirmed biden as their victor. normally, this all happens without much attention. but president donald trump has refused to concede and continues to push false claims of fraud.

this year, electors have been getting threats. sharon gaffney takes a closer look at today's process. >> it has been a defining feature of the u.s. political system for more than 220 years. on monday, members of the electoral college, each representing a u.s. state, cast their ballots to nominate either donald trump or joe biden as president. the candidate who receives 270 votes or more is affirmed as the winner of the u.s. election with biden expected to take 306 ballots and trump, 232. >> people should not be worried about the period before the new year as producing some kind of addional turmoil or opportunity for donald trump to overturn the will of the voters. >> the electoral college was a compromise meant to strike a balance between those who wanted

popular elections for president and those who wanted no public input. it is usually a legal formality but the process is taking on a little significance this year as trump continues to undermine the election results. on friday, he suffered the latest in dozens of losses in the supreme court dismissed a lawsuit led by texas to block widen's victory in four other states. he is still refusing to admit defeat. >> it is not over. we are going to continue to go forward. we have numerous local cases. some of the states have got rigged and robbed from us. we won pennsylvania. we won michigan. >> the electoral college ballots will be confirmed in a joint session of congress on the sixth of january, formally cementing biden's victory. two weeks later, he will be inaugurated as the 46th president of the united states. >> for more on this story, we welcome julie norman to the

program. she has a lecturer on politics and international relations at university college london. so, trump continues to file these longshot lawsuits. had another thrown out by the wisconsin supreme court shared is trump going to be able to keep this up after the electoral college vote? >> a lot of what we have seen from trump has had two aims. the first has been procedural challenges. actually trying to change the outcome of the election. that pretty much ends today with the electors casting this vote and certifying what we saw in the november election. the other path for trump has simply been a more political one, trying to sow doubt among his supporters about the legitimacy of the biden presidency and propel trump's own political trajectory in the

future. he will be expected to keep this messaging up. again, procedurally, the electoral vote is what matters for who gets inaugurated in january. >> speaking about trump's future, it is unclear right now how much power he is going to retain after he leaves office in january. what do you envision the republican party is going to look like post trump? >> this is a big question for the republican party right now. we have certainly seen that trump still holds a very strong grip on the party. we have seen that through the over 100 representatives of the u.s. congress who supported trump's latest legal attempt at the u.s. supreme court. we have seen it with the residents of his messaging with his base. there will still be a lot of power trump holds over the party. the challenge for republicans will be to tap into some of the

grievances and the messages trump was able to tap into with that electorate but try to transfer it into a person or personality who is not quite as controversial or seen as so negative by many other voters. >> the electoral college is a more than 200-year-old tradition in the u.s. but it is also one that some people say should not be kept. does this process that dates back to the days of horses and buggies deserve to stick around in these modern times? >> the debate about the electoral college was one that came up during this election season with many americans supporting more of a move to a popular vote system. this is a conversation that will certainly continue moving forward. however, it would take many key procedural steps that are unlikely to happen anytime soon,

especially in what is looking like a divided government between the president and congress. this is something we will keep talking about but will probably not change in the next couple of cycles. >> julie norman from university college london. appreciate you sharing your expertise with us. on monday, and intensive care nurse became the first person in the knighted states to receive pfizer 's covid-19 vaccine. the biggest vaccination campaign ever is getting underway with plans of protecting 100 million people or the end of february. as olivia tells us, it is a glimmer of hope that comes on the same day the u.s. marks 300,000 covid deaths. >> the largest vaccination campaign in u.s. history begins. just three days after the food and drug administration cleared the pfizer biontech vaccine for use. this nurse received the first shot. >> this vaccine is exciting

because i believe -- [indiscernible] it is the beginning of the last chapter of the book. but now, we just have to do it. vaccine does not work if it is in the vial, right? >> the first 3 million doses are being distributed to dozens of locations in all 50 states across the country. front of the line our health care workers and elderly residents in care homes. officials said senior members of the trump administration would also be the first. the u.s. president later tweeted that people working at the white house should receive the vaccine somewhat later. biden has pledged to vaccinate 100 million people in his first 100 days in office he could have a difficult task on his hands. lagasse weller, -- like elsewhere, trust in the vaccine is fragile. increasing public confidence

could prove critical in turning around the u.s. outbreak as the death toll passes 300,000. >> canada also administered its first doses of a covid-19 vaccine on monday. the first dose went to a nursing home worker in toronto. health-care workers in masks and white coats of applauded after she was injected. more than 60% of canada's pandemic deaths have been among the elderly living in care homes. prime minister justin trudeau said priority will be given to workers in hospitals and nursing homes. the most at risk, elderly and people living on remote aboriginal reserves. over to the u.k. where starting wednesday, london and nearby areas be placed under the highest level of covid restrictions. this means stricter rules on gatherings and a slew of closures in hospitality. infections have been rising rapidly in the capital and

britain's healtsecretary says a new variant of the virus may be to blame. officials are assessing the new strand and the world health organization has been notified. at this point, there is nothing to suggest it is more deadly or would not respond to a vaccine. in china, wearing masks to reduce the spread of covid-19 was adopted universally and from the very beginning of the outbreak. even though life has largely returned to normal in the country, many citizens continue to wear masks daily. a reporter went to wuhan and found out why. >> initially, locked down for a murder to minds and two weeks, wuhan has not seen a single local transmission of the virus since may. wearing a mask in public is no longer obligatory yet most people still believe it is the safest option. >> [speaking foreign language]

>> [speaking foreign language] >> here in china, wearing a mask is not even up for debate. >> [speaking foreign language] >> [speaking foreign language] >> [speaking foreign language] >> [speaking foreign language]

>> long after the virus is just a memory, masks may remain as a fact of daily life as both a reminder of this time and an accessory as essential as your house keys or your mobile phone. >> charles pellegrin in wuhan, china. turkey condemning what it called unfair u.s. sanctions over its purchase of russian missiles. the trump administration imposed the sanctions on monday despite turkey being a long-time partner and nato ally. it sets the stage for further confrontation between the two nations just weeks before president-elect joe biden takes office. our correspondent in ankara further explained the measures. >> the talk of institution tt procures arms is called the presidency of defense industries. that is a body that very few people have heard of but it

reports to president erdogan. it targets the head of that presidency and three other individuals. it has taken washington an awful long time to impose these sanctions. the missiles arrived in turkey in august last year. i think that length of time is a testament to president trump's personal regard for president erdogan. trump made it known very well he did not want to impose sanctions and i think it is also a testament to the u.s. reluctance to penalize a fellow ally. i believe this is the first time the u.s. has sanctioned a nato member under the anti-american activity legislation. the question is, will these sanctions work? i think that depends on their

effect on the world money market's investment market. >> that was just amerigas -- that was jasper mortimer. it is time for business. kate moody is joining us via skype. hello, kate. a major cyberattack. it has targeted branches of the u.s. government. whato we know about this cyberattack? >> the u.s. national security council issued an emergency warning to all of its federal agencies, telling them to disconnect from possibly affected software and try to assess what damage may have been done. we know the treasury and commerce departments have been report suggest the department of homeland security may have fallenictim to what officials described as a targeted operation that seems to have been underway for several months. a platform that is used to

monitor internal computer networks, which is called solar winds are ryan platform, is thought be the urce of this problem. it is exploited by what the government described as militias actors. it looks like a state-sponsored cyberattack. experts are putting the finger at russian hacking groups. russian foreign minister has described those allegations as baseless. all of this links back to a cyberattack that was reported last week by a leading cybersecurity software company. it warned its clients to look at their systems for possible signs of hacking. the software is used by companies and government agencies around the world and intelligce officials are trying to assess possible implications. in recent weeksa number of companies involved in the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine around the world have sit they have -- havsaid they have been targeted to hackers around the world.

it is not known if these incidents are linked but there do seem to be a number of various sophisticated hacking operations underway at the highest levels. >> as we spoke about earlier, individual cntries around the world had started rolling out there vaccine campaigns for the coronavirus. in the midst of this, the oecd is calling for more international cooperation. tell us more. >> we talk a lot about the responses of individual governments to this pandemic this year. international bodies like the organization for economic cooperation and development say this is a real opportunity to cross borders and cement a global approach to recovery. the oecd was marking its 60th anniversary today. it represents some 37 economies, most of them in europe and north america. at an event that saw distanced or some in person appearances by

the likes of emmanuel macron, urszula vendor line and boris johnson. these leaders spoke less about the issues that divide them like brexit and more about the need for cooperation. secretary-general -- the secretary-general whose term ends next year said members should draw on their shared values as they did back when the organization was formed in the aftermath of the second world war. he said this was an opportunity to build a stronger and greener global economy. take a listen. >> throw everything you have got in the kitchen sink. at the virus. if we shorten the life of the virus with the damage the virus is doing, we will be able to pay a lower economic price, a lower social price, a lower governance

price, a lower environmental price. >> and finally, you are going to run the numbers for us. tell us how the markets have fared today. >> we see a mixed close for wall street this evening despite the first coronavirus vaccines starting to be distributed across the united states. pfizer, the pharmaceutical giant responsible for that vaccine must sell its shares drop around 5% today. more states and cities are tightening their restrictions as the number of coronavirus infections and deaths continues to rise. travel company smped to this monday. the tech heavy nasdaq fared a little bit better. it paid ck som of its stronger gains to close half a percentage point above the shares of google's company alphabet dipped a 1% on the same day that many of its services saw a brief one ur outage

that it said was due to an internal storage quota problem. the extension of the exit trade tas gave a boost to stocks here in paris and in frankfurt. it also gave a boost to the british pound, which saw its biggest gains against the euro and the dollar in about two months. this is a real barometer of investor concern about the future of the relationship between the united kingdom and the european union. we see it playing t on the currency markets. last week, the pound dropped around 2%. leaders said the risk of a no deal brexit was rising. the market is still looking jittery as we wait for possible news coming out of brussels. >> are business editor, kate moody, with the business headlines you need to know. thank you so much. time for our focus report and we take you to the democratic republic of congo. over the weekend, six people were killed and 24 others

abducted during an attack in the northeast city. attacks like this happen almost daily in the province with hundreds murdered over the last six years. the congolese army has launched a major offensive against the adf militia but over the last year, though violence has only increased. our correspondent has this report. >> these u.n. soldiers are patrolling a road that contacts the sit -- that connects the city to the ugandan border. along the way, they meet dozens of villagers. >> i am a left-handed. we are patrolling. >> they face the same questions and criticism. >> if it is here to protect us, then why do people keep dying? >> it says it carries out more than a thousand patrols every month. the mandate is to protect the population from armed groups,

especially the adf. the militia originally from uganda, which has killed hundreds of people neither reason over the past -- people in the region over the past six years. >> safety is only provided along the roads. if we cannot work in our fields, then what are we supposed to do? >> distrust towards peacekeepers runs deep. these images shot a year ago showed demonstrators attacking and setting fire to a base to protest against the u.n.'s failure to protect them. today, the u.n. force says it has learned from these events. >> we have put in place new strategies to improve our work everyday. these strategies consist first and foremost of reaching out to civilians. we have put in place a new warning mechanism, which enables us to respond quickly to threats inhe event of an attack.

>> peacekeepers say they respond to every single alert they receive but when they intervene, it is sometimes already too late. located 30 kilometers north, visibility was attacked on the 21st of september. five villagers were killed. 13 houses were set on fire and the local health center was destroyed. the head of the local village shows us the extent of the damage. >> the attack took us all by surprise. they made all the sick people flee and they set fire to the building. >> the health center is barely recognizable. everything has been either torched or looted. >> we have nothing left. if you get sick here and you do not have a motorbike, then all you can do is wait for death. >> only a dozen families have remained. this young man says he tried to send out an alert but was unsuccessful. >> for us, it is complicated because there is an attack, you

look for somewhere to hide in the main difficulty is getting signal on your phone. >> soldiers stationed nearby arrived at the scene after the attack in the earl afterno. at 6:00 p.m., peacekeepers from a base six kilometers away were alerted. they say they got there at 7:00 p.m. but this witness says they arrived much later. >> the peacekeepers arrived at 9:00 p.m. they say they're protecting us when they do patrols. the attacks were not :00 in the morning. they came much later. >> the first and foremost responsibility of the congolese army and the 5000 soldiers. last year, he longed a major operation against the adf, announcing the recapture of several of their strongholds. in retaliation, the law rebels -- the rebels have intensified their attacks. the number of deaths has ubled. the army spokesman ss the

recent upsurge is a sign the adf are weakening. >> we are facing a terrorist group. they have nothing to lose here in the congo. this a foreign organization. because they have been driven out of several their strongholds, they have no choice but to target the weakest members of society. that is, civilians. >> a victory against the adf remains a distant prospect for now. fighting has displaced early half a million people in just one year according to the u.n. this woman was taken in by a local resident. >> left everything, our house, even our children. they burned down our village. we have no money left. >> like her, a majority of displaced civilians stay with host families. >> whatever i can get a hold of, i share with them but finding food is difficult. the children do not have blankets to sleep with. >> ngo's and the u.n.'s refugee

agency are struggling to cope. these shelters house 50 families but are already overcrowded. ngo's and u.n. agencies are doing what they can. but we are facing recurring attacks, which means as soon as we meet the needs of some people, there are many more coming to us in need of assistance. >> six cares of continuous attacks have spar to mixed feelings of anger and resignation charity calls for an end to the massacre are on walls of the city. >> there is this feeling that the country is no longer behind us. it is the -- it is as if we have been sacrificed both by politicians and security services and that leaves us with little hope things will one day improve. >> the feeling of abandonment shared by many as promises of peace remain unfulfilled. >> we are going to take a quick

break now but do stay with us. i will be back in just a few minutes with more news you need to know. ♪

12/14/20 12/14/20 amy: from new york, this is democracy now! the list,read through you realize that cmate a ecological crisis nnot be solved without system change. it is no longer an opinion. that is a fact. amy: five years after the landmark paris climate accord, we hear from 17-year-old swedish climate activist greta thunberg on why more drastiti