numerous reports of ethnic defiling of tigray residents.s of dismissal from jobs including an of the civil service, harassment of journalists. amy: well, for more, we go to london where we're joined by awol allo, associate professor at the keele university school of law in the united kingdom and a global fellow at princeton university. in 2019, he nominated abiy ahmed for the nobel peace prize. his recent piece in al jazeera is headlined "how abiy ahmed's ethiopia-first nationalism led to civil war." welcome to democracy now! it is great to have you with us. you have changed your views in this last year of the menu nominated for the nobel peace prize, who won it last year. can you talk about the situation of a put in your times because what headlined today on the front page says "finish him: get the opens on the run describe ethnic slaughter." talk about what is happening. ethiopiaunfortunate over the course of the last two ofrs moved from an moment into aeight optimism total civil war that threatened to destabilize not only the country but

it's still quite tense and tigray.ation blockade has been lifted and there are reports of emerging at the height of the conflict in november 01’ height of the conflict in november or ongoing fighting. some of these reports are very difficult. civilian accou nts reports are very difficult. civilian accounts from people still fleeing, ensure there is a devastating loss and the human impact distilling felt. before this conflict, there we re felt. before this conflict, there were already 100,000 air train refugees and tigray. have any aid agencies been able to access them or civilians who've been affected in recent weeks? ethiopian government has said it sent aid to these refugees displaced, including food and medical supplies. but this is not been confirmed and the un and other aid agencies are still reporting frustrated efforts in reaching thousands of people within the tigray account. there've also been some reports about refugees being forced out of tigray and taken back home. many of them have been fleeing from forcef

staffers trying to reach part of the country's embattled tigray region saying the staffers broke checkpoints and have since been released. nbc news reached out to the united nations for comment on that. a u.n. spokesperson told reuters "these are alarming reports and we are engaging at the highest level with the federal government to express our concern and avoid incidents in the future." a humanitarian crisis erupted there after fighting broke out between ethiopian government forces and the tigray people's liberation front in early november. since thousands are feared dead or fled to neighboring sudan. molly hunter and the network social news gathering team are learning more about what amnesty

and how do you maintain that -- wage war against the tigray region.says he was forced to postpone elections because of the impact of covid-19 on ethiopia, but then he accused the tigray's liberation front of war. say theythe tigray have been targeted based on the ethnic distinction on their id cards. so people are telling us they are being pulled over at best jail into teen and worst been forced to flee in sudan. the prime minister says not a single civilian was injured in all of this, in all of these weeks of fighting. and what we are hearing from our team on the border is that is just not true. we have images of civilians who are injured, who have been hit by bullets. one lady told us she had to flee her home and forced to give they on the roof, that were not allowed to cross over into sudan. so on the backgrounds that took her days, for a trip that should have taken hours, she eventually gave birth and she was met at the border by our teams and the doctors and virtually comment wonderfully, her child survived and subissueut that is just one story.

and in that case, it might not be limited to the tigray region. it could-- you could s conflict spilling over into other parts of the country, i trying to drthese other ethnic groups into the fight that they have started. >> sreenivas: cameron hudson, thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. >> sreenivasan: president trump ischeduled to have his fir post-election rally this evening at a georgia airport. we will ve more on the presidential transition and the georgia senate races, tomorrow. that's all for ts edition of pbs newshour weekend. for the latest news updates, visit www.pbs.org/newshour. i'm hari sreenivasan. thanks for watching.an stay healthy, d have a good night. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access gup at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour wkend is made possible by: sue and edgar wachenheim iii. the anderson family fund. bernard and denise schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. barbara hope zuckerberg. the leonard d norma klorfine foundation. charles rosenblum. we try to live in the moment, to not miss

allied with ethiopian forces, he said he was saved by other tigray refugees who found him and helped flee to sudan. this man is 21. he says he was also left for dead. he shows us the bandage wound where he says he was attacked with an ax. a spokesman for the ethiopian prime minister denies these claims and told cnn these refugees' testimonies are a result of the foear of the prop gou gann da. acknowledges the militia of the region were engaged to the extent of securing border towns between the two regions. sudan is strugglingal economically and this influx of refugees have found little comfort on this side of the border. but at least it's somewhere safe. >> the ethiopian government would not comment specifically on this testimony. the air tray yan groups are in the government. we reached out to them many times but were unsuccessful in seeking comment. >> extraordinary report. appreciate it. >>> coming up next, they are calling it v-day, the uk gears up to administer its first doses of the covid-19 vaccine. that story in just a moment. [ whispering ] what's this? oh, are we kicking ka

to ethiopia's northern tigray conflict now, where the un refugee agency says it's had reports that manyreturned home. the us state department has cited "credible" reports of the involvement of eritrean troops in the fighting. all of these claims though are unverified due to the lack of communications and access to the area. with me is our news reporter, mark lobel. mark, fighting has lasted over a month so far, but there are some new claims — what are they? they centre on the welfare of eritrean refugees in northern ethiopian. what you have a four refugee camps of around 100,000 eritrean refugees that have come over the border because of political persecution. the un is to have access to these sites. what has happened is the government is returning displaced refugees to these camps because it is safe now, they say, and that they are providing food. the un who normally monitors these camps cannot access the area so cannot access the area so cannot vouch for a few —— food security of these area. but some of the refugees who spoke to writers who are being returned to these camps say about

workers in the conflict-torn northern tigray region for attempting to enter areas they say are forbidden. humanitarian groups have been trying to reach refugees and displaced people in the embattled region as they warn the situation is increasingly critical with shortages of food, clean water, and other necessities. this comes as reuters is reporting the united states believes eritrean soldiers have crossed into ethiopia to fight alongside the ethiopian military in its battle against tigrayan forces. both ethiopia and eritrea have denied the reports. ethiopia and eritrea signed a historic peace deal in 2018, ending two decades of hostilities. a new study shows the number of afghan civilians killed in airstrikes led by the u.s. and allies has risen by 330% since 2017. the udy, pubshed by the costs of war project at brown

this is the devastating reality for many who have made the trek from ethiopia's war—torn tigray region bbc world news about what he witnessed. the conditions are very difficult. remember that sudan has received now more refugees per day than the average european country receives in a year, and that has been uninterrupted now since the beginning of november. meanwhile, the united nations says fighting is hampering efforts to deliver aid to those in need in the tigray region, despite the announcement of a deal to deliver assistance in government—held areas. tanya dendrinos, bbc news. one of the 13 prisoners deported from the uk to jamaica on wednesday has tested positive for covid—19. the jamaican government says the man is being held in isolation at a hospital in the capital, kingston. the flight has attracted controversy, with critics warning that people might be wrongly removed as in the windrush scandal. after an initial trial in the british city of liverpool, the use of a rapid coronavirus test, which gives a result in under an hour, is now being rolled out in more places across the

for the last month a civil war has been raging but tigray cut off by authorities, no internet, no phone, and most of the information come out comes from refugees. >> translator: we started running when the bombs fell. >> translator: if they find you, they'll kill with you a knife. slaughter you like a cow or a goat. >> reporter: since early november, at least 50,000 people have fled the country according to the nrc. it takes nearly two weeks to walk from mai-kadra to the river that separates ethiopia to sudan. >> if we were in our city, it would be very dangerous. >> reporter: while the world focused on the pandemic, the violence exploded between the government of the nobel peace prize winning prime minister ahmed and forces loyal to the old ruling party in the north known as the tplf. the government accused the tplf of attacking federal bases in november. the tplf accuse the government of invading and then communications stopped and people started pouring across the border to sudan. norwegian refugee council jeff was in a refugee camp. >> the refugees there are traumatized. there is no

this is the devastating reality for many who have made the trek from ethiopia's war—torn tigray regionen visiting refugees, and spoke to bbc world news about what he witnessed. the conditions are very difficult. remember that sudan has received now more refugees per day than the average european country receives in a year, and that has been uninterrupted now since the beginning of november. meanwhile, the united nations says fighting is hampering efforts to deliver aid to those in need in the tigray region, despite the announcement of a deal to deliver assistance in government held areas. tanya dendrinos, bbc news. new raf and satellite images show the world's largest iceberg is on a collision course with south georgia island, in the southern atlantic ocean. the giant iceberg, known as a68a, broke away from antarctica in 2017, and as you can see in these satellite images, it's slowly drifting through the south atlantic sea towards south georgia. some breaking news now. this is following up on the rest yesterday of the mayor of liverpool. joe anderson has apparently been given bail. a s

but the tigray people's liberation front say they are continuing to fight. in uganda, presidential candidate bobi wine suspended his campaign after members of his team were injured and his car was shot at. wine told reporters his campaign team was being "tortured by security institutions," adding "our campaign is affected by police brutality." the rapper-turned-politician was seeking to unseat president yoweri museveni, who's been in power for 36 years, in next month's election. according to the government, 54 people have died in protests wine was arrested last month and detained for two days. hong kong, prominent activist joshua wong has been sentenced to 13.5 months in prison on charges of illegal assembly for a protest he organized last year. fellow pro-democracy activists agnes chow and ivan lam also received slightly shorter sentences for their involvement in the protest. rights groups condemned the sentencing. amnesty international said -- "by targeting well-known activists from hong kong's largely leaderless protest movement, authorities are sending a

in ethiopia's norm or it -- northern region of tigray, the people's liberation front held elecons defyingeral ban. the prime minister announced a military offensive after accusing tigray of attacking and seizing a military base in the regional capital, charge they denied. recent violence forced thousands of ethiopians to escape into neighboring sudan. ♪ let's bring our guests. in pretoria, honorary visiting professor at the university of south africa. agnes is managing partner at 53 firm gbs africa where she focuses on -- gbs africa, where she focuses. and she joins us from london. also, the director of the faculty of academic affairs and research at the kofi annan international peacekeeping training center who specializes in west africa states and thus the hall region -- sahal region. from your bencic point, what is the state of democracyn the continent dust from your bandage, what is the state of democracy -- from your advantage, what is your perspective? >> some countries are showing stability, regular elections. some are beginning to have internal civil strife. at at times the kind of

says fighting in ethiopia's tigray region is becoming worrying and volatile. declared victory in that conflict last month. >> we should work on peace and security of this area. [applause] because peace is a foundation for everything we are aspiring to transform the life of our people. if we could eliminate al-shabaab from this region, you could see how these people can be transformed into one family, one country, one people, with great joy and cooperation. >> the u.n. human rights chief, michelle bachelet, says the crisis in tigray is ongoing as she is -- and she is concerned about civilian casualties. >> is worrying and volatile. as i had warned, it is spiraling out of control with appalling impact on civilians. >> now, argentina's congress is divided on whether to -- is to vote on whether to legalize abortion. it could become the first major country in latin america to allow the procedure, which has been only allowed in cases of rape or if the mother's life is at risk. this report from buenos aires. >> the legalization of abortion has been a demand by women'

pompeo also urged that humanitarian organizations be given access to the tigray region.n saturday, government forces had ousted rebs ithe capital, but minority forces say they're still fighting. the government began military operations last month after tigraian forces attacked their base. many fled to neighboring sudan. the united nations and other groups voicedoncerns about the deteriorating hanitarian situation. >>> iran is once again pledging to retaliate against those responsible for the killing of its top nuclear scientist. officials there say they've uncovered more evidence pointing to a multi-pronged terrorist attack perpetrated by israel. fakhrizadeh was killed on friday. the expert worked on iran's nuclear program. some western countries say he led covert weapons research, but iran denied this iranian media saysakhrizadeh was killed in a complicated attack using remotely controlled machine guns. english language press tv quotes the source as saying the weapons carrie israeli logos. iran used the funeral for fakhrizadeh to rally public sentiment. during the cerem

says their run to tigray so soon is unacceptable but ethiopia insists they'll be safe. are 96,000 refugees registered in egypt, most live in tigray which border eritrea. and announced killing of four workers, one staff was killed at a refugee camp, danish refee council had three workers killed last month. your peen union lead verse reached a deal to try to slow climate change and tack they will most pressing issue of our times. the block has agreed to cut carbon emissions by at least 55% by the end of the decade, 2030. it comes ahead of a climate summit marking five years since the landmark paris climate agreement, that was 2015, when world leaders reached a legally binding treaty to limit global warming well below two degrees celsius. friday's agreement is fraught with challenges. a global federation of trade unions estimates the transition to this net zero emissions would actually pull 11 million jobs at risk, mostly in eastern europe. climate groups they the e.u. target falls far short of tackling the real global climate emergency. paul brennan has more on this from

prime minister said saturday his military had taken complete control of the capital of the northern tigray region, capping a three-week offensive against separatists that forced tens of thousands to flee to sudan amid reports of mass atrocities. ethiopian prime minister ab ahm, who won e nobel ace prize in 2019, refused international demands for talks with the tigray people's liberation front. members of that group accused ethiopia's military of shelling heavily populated areas of the capital, mekele. a warning to our listeners -- iran held a state funeral today for their top nuclear scientist to was assassinated while driving on a highwayutside of tehran friday. iran accused israel of conducting the assassination. iranian president hassan rouhani said iran will retaliate at the quote, proper time. many analysts say the assassination of the iranian scientist was designed to make it harder for biden to rejoin the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement with -- which president trump withdrew from. we will have more on this after headlines. a warning to our listeners -- and --s the united nations say

the united nations has reach an agreement to allow aid into government controlled areas of the tigrayegion. the conflict has displaced tens of thousands of people. the you and have been mourning for weeks about a possible humanitarian catastrophe. german man is being investigated on 18 counts of attempted murder and five counts of murder after he drove his car into pedestrians. there is no motive for the attack that has yet been established. u.n. secretary general has urged world leaders to make 2021 the year they commit to fighting climate change. saying humanity is waging war on nature. in report, the u.n. has highlighted 2020's record-breaking weather and fossil fuel extraction. thailand's highest court has allowed -- the opposition accused him of a conflict of interest at -- are remaining in his military residence after he retired from the army. it comes after months of pro-democracy protest amending his resignation. it's south korean pumps and dacian bts will now be able to defer mandatory sir -- mandatory military service. all able-bodied south korean men between ages of 18-28 m

and justice reform efforts says that the parts of ethiopia could experience fighting because of the tigrayion fighting. >> that is a fear, because the human rights commission, which you just quoted, came up with the most comprehensive information on this, and the attacks started when the federal troops that were stationed to guard the community actually withdrew yesterday, on tuesday, so they withdrew to escort officials who were there, and the prime minister and regional officials were there, and they were with the prime minister that the army was escorting. that led to the massacre. it is a huge problem. i mean, we have been hearing this for more than a month. the area had been volatile for more than two years now, and there are renewed attacks that are going on in some parts where some ethnic minorities have also been attacked, so the ethnic conflicts in ethiopia have been persistent, and there has to be a comprehensive solution for all of them, if they are not going to be contained by command folks like the government. >> there have been confrontations between police and frustrated tru

hadrdered troops to respond to an allegedly deadly attack on a government military base in ethiopia's tigraye. leaders there say the tigre and people are being blamed for tensions that surfaced as a be implemented reforms and postponed elections due to co vid. can he heal is divided country, or will the fighting resume our title today? ethiopia's abiomed from nobel peace laeate to man of war yeah, on dhere

reports from ethiopia's tigray region say more than 4,000 government soldiers who'd been held captivethe tplf attacked a federal military base, triggering more than three weeks of fighting. armenia has handed back the last of three districts it agreed to return to azerbaijan as part of a peace deal to end the conflict in nagorno—karabakh. the azeri defence ministry said its forces had entered lachin. armenia had controlled the area for nearly three decades. officials in selangor have announced an enquiry into a ride at a prison where eight inmates died. guides —— guards opened fire on sunday. they damaged a perimeter fence and pa rt damaged a perimeter fence and part of the prison was set alight, causing extensive damage. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: talk show host sharon osbourne tells us how tv shows have changed in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. it's quite clear that the worst victims of this disaster are the poor people living in the slums which have sprung up around the factory. i am feeling so helpless that the children are dying in front of me and i can't do

to ethiopia's northern tigray conflict now, where the un refugee agency says it's had reports that manypartment has cited "credible" reports of the involvement of eritrean troops in the fighting. all of these claims are unverified due to the lack of communications and access to the area. with me is our news reporter, mark lobel. mark, fighting has lasted over a month so far, but there are some new claims — what are they? these centre on the welfare of eritrean refugees in northern ethiopian. there are four refugee camps their housing around 100,000 refugees that have fled eritrea from physical persecution back home. —— political. and the ethiopian government has said it is now returning refugees who have spread around the country because of the fighting presumably back to these camps, and they say it is safe to do so and they say it is safe to do so now, that eritreans can go back to this camp and they will be providing food as well. the un that normally monitors these camps and is in and out all the time hasn't been able to access them at all for over a month and cannot vouch for food

mandatory military service the un's access to routes needed to for refugee camps housing refugees in tigray have all been blocked since the recent fighting began it's been calling on the federal government to open up access and on tuesday the un said food has run out for nearly a 100000 refugees who were sheltered in tikrit. while malcolm where this following this for us from neighboring kenya. you and bill frist for the coordinates a coordination of humanitarian affairs said as reports of continuing fighting in many parts of the c. gray region last week prime minister ahmed said that the government forces were in control of the region the government military operation was over that followed government taking control of the regional capital of micheli but their enemy that c.p.r. left said that it wasn't over they filed to continue fighting on the c.p.l. as reported still control thousands of fighters in substantial stocks of military hardware researches say that thousands of civilians being killed in the fighting there will have been reports of massacres of civilians by militia aligned to b

the rebel leader in ethiopia's tigray region is insisting that fighting goes on even after losing hisital. ethiopia's army seized the city of mekelle over the weekend, after nearly a monthfighting that killed and displaced thousands.ec u.s. stary of state mike pompeo spoke with ethiopia's prime minister today and called for aease-fire. still to come, the u.s. braces for a spike in infections following the holiday. president-elect biden names his picks to advise him on the economy and spend. the trump administration's attempt to immigrants from the census reaches the supreme court. and much more. >> this is the pbs newshour from wbt a studios in washingto-- from weta studios in washington inand the west from the walt cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: even as pes grow about the distribution of vaccines in the coming months, covid-19's impact continues to ripple consequences.s. with enormous more than 138,000 new cases reported over the pastand over 800 deaths. hospitalizations remain very high. more than in all. 90,000se26 staterecords for covid-related ho

ethiop ahe united nations agreed today on opening a humanitarian corridor i' the country' tigray region. some 6 million have been trapped there during a month of fighting forces. the army and rebel the agreement callsin for all in food, medicine, and other supplies. hong kong's leadits are being ized after three pro-democracyer activists sentenced to jail. they will serveth 7-13 monover a protest last year. supporters demonstrated in solidarity today, some hiding their faces out of caution as china cracks down. >> compared to oer protesters who did damage on facilities, they were just participating in the protests. everyone was angry at that time. they shouldn't be the only people to take the blame. sthanie: back in this country, the boeing 737 max made its grounded for 20 months after fatal crashes. reporters flew on a 737 max from dallas to tulsa, oklahoma as part of ann effort by ameri airlines to restore public trust. american plans to return the planes to service on december 29. the transportation department is putting a limit on emotional support. anims on airliners. a rule issued

this comes as ethiopia's military is still locked in a battle with tigray forces in the north of the country in a conflict which has displaced hundreds of thousands of people. in bosnia, refugee rights groups are warning of aumanitarian crisis after a massive fire tore through an encampment for hundreds of asylum seekers, forcing them to shelter in tents despite the winter cold. the camp near bosnia's border with croatia is home to nearly 1000 people hoping to cross into western europe to seek asylum. aid groups say many of the refugees are already suffering from frostbite and hypothermia. this is sajid ali, a refugee from afghanistan. >> there isn't any heater inside the tents. it is dangerous to leave here because it snowed yesterday. snow hasee the gathered on the top of the tents. so they might fall down. there are more than 500 living inside the tents. die, who is responsible? amy: at least 20 asylum seekers from countries in sub-saharan africa drowned after their boat capsized off tunisia's coast thursday. over 620 migrants have died while crossing the mediterranean sea this ye

ethiopia and the united nations agreed tay on openg a humanitarian corridor into the country's tigrayion. some six million people have been trapped there during a month of fighting tween the army and rebel forces. the agreement calls for oolowing in medicine, and other critical supplies. hong kong is under fire afterad three g pro-democracy activists were sentenced to jail. agnes chow, joshua wong and ivan lam will serve seven to 13 months over a protest last year. supporters demonrated in solidarity today, some hiding their faces out of caution, as china crks down on dissent. >> ( translated ): compared to other protesters who d damage on public facilities, or even people who were charged with riot, they were just participating in the protest. everyoas angry at that time, they shouldn't be the only people to take t blame. it's just because they are morea renown that they should shceive a heavy sentencing. >> woodruff: in gton, house speaker nancy pelosi "brutal sentencing of young champions of democracy." back in this country, the boeing 737 max made its first public flight since bei

sai the attack happened in the western part of the country, separate from the ongoing conflict in tigray is not clear yet who the attackers were. a massive fire eruteed today at orary migrant camp in northwestern bosnia. thick black smoke billowed over tents as residents jumped fences to escape the flames. officials believe some residents started the blaze to ptest the wimp's planned closure for er refurbishing. bosnia has become a bottlenecks for thousa migrants hoping to reach the europe. hong kong media tycoon jimmy lai was granted bail today, after three weeks in custody. the prominent beijing critic was charged under a nationalcu rity law that punishes dissent the semi-autonomouses chinterritory. he walked out of court today after being placed under house arrest, and barred from making public statements. back in this country, consumer spending fell in novber forth first time since april. the 0.4% drop came amid the normally bustling holiday shoppingeason. and, stocks were mixed on wall street today. the dow jones industrial average rose 114 points to close at 30,130. the nasdaq fell

more people are fleeing ethiopia's northern tigray region every day though the government's declared the fighting is over refugees are crossing to neighboring sudarsan in the hope of trying to build a new life. as their story. you drop in a few g.'s at the camp getting ready for a long stay they use this plastic sheets to top the ceilings of their new homes the un distributed 480 of them on sunday it also provides these bumble sheets to be used to side walls just creative ways to cook food are tested here as well solo over and designed to do the job with no environmental impact the norwegian refugee council distributes cash amounts equivalent to about $25.00 per individual if we give them cash they can buy whatever is. slim cards baby milk formula new clothes none the worse because they've been in the same clothes for 3 weeks now. they can borrow that from from local traders who are coming in for the camp. instead of us. are spending a lot of money with logistics importing items from different parts of the world. robin and his wife canobie soft drinks and biscuits or sweets for their

reports from ethiopia's tigray region say more than 4,000 government soldiers who'd been held captivelocal officials said they were detained when tigrayan troops loyal to the tplf attacked a federal military base, triggering more than three weeks of fighting. armenia has handed back the last of three districts it agreed to return to azerbaijan as part of a peace deal to end the conflict in nagorno—karabakh. the azeri defence ministry said its forces had entered lachin. armenia had controlled the area for nearly three decades. french lawmakers are rewriting a controversial clause in a security bill that would have made it an offence to share pictures of the police online, maliciously. many said it could have stopped people exposing police brutality. images which have shocked france. a black music producer beaten up in his own studio by others who followed him for not wearing a mask. they are now under investigation after the beating of the man, he was never charged after 48 hours in police custody. he said he was racially abused. after mass demonstrations across france after the incide