modernity seeks approval for its covid-19 vaccine from health regulators in the u.s. and europe. this is thomas. also coming up, a double blow for donald trump attempt to ovturn the election as states certified joe biden as the winner. deforestation in the brazilian rain forest it's a 12 year high. ethiopia's prime minister dismisses accusations that civilians were killed in

operations against forces. the second u.s. drugmaker, modano, is asking the fda for approval of its covid-19 vaccination. it is said to be more than 94% effective. it is a week behind pfizer. it is hoped the u.s. could have two approved vaccinations by the end of the year. there are growing concerns over the process. reporter: a second vaccine awaiting approval by regulators. mud dharna --moderna could start rolling out its vaccine by late december. >> we have worked closely with operation warp speed.

as soon we get approval, the team is going to get hold of the vaccine we have and start shipping it in the country and the goal is to start vaccinating within 24 hours. reporter: moderna is based in cambridge backs -- massachusetts but has never brought a vaccine to market. it started working aggressively on a vaccine back in january, the very day china released the genetic data on coronavirus. that early foresight is now paying off. the company saying it hopes to produce as many as 500 million covid vaccine doses next year alone. earlier this month, pfizer and its german partner announced its vaccine was also being submitted for approval and could roll out 50 million doses this year. distribution could be a challenge that is fast

approaching. the vaccines must be kept in cold temperatures at all time during transport and storage or face the risk of spoiling and being ineffective. but it doesn't matter how any vaccines are available of people decide they don't want to take them. here in the united states, one poll showed nearly 40% of americans said they have no plans to take the coronavirus vaccine. within minority communities, particularly blacks and latinos, the distrust runs even deeper, with the same poll showing nearly half said when it comes to the vaccine, no thanks. >> we are dying from coronavirus at almost double the national level. reporter: in the u.s., blacks, latinos are dying at a rate significantly higher than white americans, but even that has not broken the mistrust. one vaccine trial had to be halted because they did not use enough minorities in their trial

phases, furthering doubt. on monday, new york governor, andrew cuomo, said more outreach needs to be done to build trust. >> blacks died at twice the rate that whites died. brown died at one and a half times the rate that whites died. they are less served by the health care facilities. we need a special outreach effort. the federal government has provided no funding to do that. reporter: global health officials say it's a problem around the world. >> we are seeing a growing hesitancy about vaccine in general and the covid vaccine specifically. at the same time, distrust is growing. reporter: while there is growing anticipation of the vaccine rollouts, health officials caution it will likely be several more months before distribution is ramped up to meet global demand to truly have a chance to end the pandemic once and for all.

anchor: the u.s. battleground states arizona and wisconsin have become the latest to certified joe biden's election victories. the trump campaign and republican party had challenged the arizona result in court. trump is expected to continue appealing the results. meanwhile, president-elect joe biden is moving ahead with his transition to the white house. he has received his first daily security briefing and unveiled his picks for several key economic positions. he has nominated formal federal reserve chair janet yellen to treasury secretary and he will have the first black deputy treasury secretary. reporter: the certification process is typically just a formality, but since president has continued to cast doubts on the results in the states in particular, the announcement these states, arizona and wisconsin, have certified the

winning to joe biden, it just takes on added significance. president trump won both of these states in 2016. we know he lost arizona by just over 10,000 votes and wisconsin was by 20 6000 votes. significant since he won this states in 2016. he and his legal team continue to act as if the results are under dispute and we expect more legal challenges to come. in wisconsin, there has already been to countywide recounts paid for by the trump team and more legal challenges are expected there. in arizona, they have five days to contest the results. rudy giuliani was meeting with certain republican state lawmakers looking for what they hope to find more evidence of fraud that so far has not showed

up. the republican governor of the state was on hand for the certification announcement today and he's on the record as saying there has been no evidence of fraud in arizona. this is an important step for joe biden and the transition. anchor: let's bring in a professor johns hopkins school of advanced international studies. he joins us from washington, d.c.. what was once a formality has taken on significance with the president refusing to accept defeat. what do these announcements means? guest: for donald trump, apparently they mean nothing. his advisers, his lawyers, rudy giuliani and jen ellis, and some of the states and in congress, they simply proceed as if these certifications did not happen and it is quite significant in a

state like arizona as well as in georgia, it has to be emphasized these are republican officials. the governor is a republican, the officials in georgia having a insisted that as republicans, the election operation was smooth, no evidence of fraud whatsoever. this simply does not deter donald trump and his advisers, his lawyers and backers from insisting there was fraud. anchor: i am told you are a former lawmaker. in terms of logistics, where do things go from here with trump's legal challenges? guest: legally, and i speak here as a lawyer, not a lawmaker, his legal challenges that he

continues to try to mount, but as has been posted again by a republican appointee to the federal bench in pennsylvania, not only air republican appointee but a trump appointee, that you have to have actual evidence when you present a claim of fraud. this judge excoriated the trump lawyers for their failure to present any evidence to support their claims of fraud. he has legal avenues that he and his team can pursue, but they don't go anywhere because thankfully we still have rule of law in this country and judges who apply it. we know what the wider game here is -- it's not about the legal challenges. the legal challenges are simply an effort to create this narrative. that is what this is all about. it is creating a narrative for

donald trump to say he rightfully won the election, that it was stolen from him and he is therefore unfairly deposed and lost his presidency. this is a very serious problem and very damaging to our democracy. anchor: if we talk about trump's refusal to accept these results and many of his supporters agree, despite his claim, how is that being received among america's allies and perhaps its traditional enemies? guest: overseas, we have seen joe biden has been acknowledged and received four weeks now, has received the congratulations of a number of world leaders. there are some still on the

trump bandwagon and who inject themselves in american politics. it is really quite surprising and dismaying to see this. the prime minister of slovenia, for example, who inject themselves in american politics and backs these wild claims about fraud even though he is a foreign leader. vladimir putin has not congratulated joe biden yet. so the adversaries, those who actually want donald trump to win, like donald trump, like victor or bonn in hungary, they continue because it suits them in their own anti-democratic politics, but other world leaders have welcomed joe biden, i would say with great relief and related -- are related that

donald trump, a anti-democratic leader has been defeated at the polls. anchor: thank you so much for your time. brazil's amazon rain for most -- rain forest is disappearing at an alarming rate. official government data shows the rain forest lost 11,000 square kilometers of vegetation, a 10% increase of last year. scientists say the amazon has suffered losses at an alarming rate since bolsonaro became president. he has encouraged mining activities in the rain forest. it's being blamed on forest fires -- the amazon is the world's largest rain forest and its billions of trees store immense amounts of carbon needed to moderate global temperatures.

we have more now from bogota in neighboring columbia. reporter: we have not heard from president bolsonaro on these numbers, but we heard from his vice president who, presenting these numbers, has tried to spin them saying the truth is these numbers are not as bad as they could have been because the increase has been lower than the previous year when deforestation had risen 34%. this is a consequence of a decision to send the military in and this decision came after international outcry on what was happening in the amazon, coming in particular from the leaders of many european countries.

environmentalists in brazil are saying this is not true and what has happened in the last couple of years in the amazon is absolutely devastating, that president bolsonaro has made it clear since the beginning of his presidency that under his watch, the amazon was going to be open to business and development. anchor: he's the founding director of the brazil institute at the wilson center. >> what works in brazil and has worked for a while is that you have to develop the region, not only the amazon, but in a way that preserves its major assets, rich environmental assets, and innovates. but this is a language foreign

to mr. bolsonaro. he does not understand that you cannot allow unregulated exploration of this area and he will have to be convinced somehow that brazil must, in order to claim its sovereignty over the amazon, it must show to the international community that it can handle it. anchor: still ahead on al jazeera, tough life lessons for iraqi students, catching up on schoolwork during the pandemic is not the only challenge. the government of france promises to overwrite a national security bill after days of outrage.

♪ >> sunny skies over china are disappearing as the season changes. the temperature has dropped and you might get a spot or two of light rain or even snow. the general spread of cloud takes away what could be considered the brilliance of the day. cold coming across the water to give pretty persistent snow for hokkaido. tokyo down to 12. sunshine is likely to disappear by wednesday. the cold air of this northeast monsoon suggest you will get regular showers on the east north of taipei and the heaviest ones have gone through vietnam and are on their way to the far south of thailand. at the same time, generating

egger showers for southern luzon or the philippines. otherwise, daily big thunderstorms. ricarda could get a concentration -- certainly the western side. the forecast for jakarta does give thunderstorms for the next three days. in the southern day of bengal, and other tropical depression is heading toward sri lanka. ♪ >> these explosions were not an act of war. these nuclear bombs were experiments by the soviet union. to the kazakh people who lived in the vicinity, the motives make little difference. rewind -- silent bombs on al jazeera.

♪ ♪ anchor: a reminder of our top stories this hour -- u.s. drugmaker, moderna is seeking emergencies for its coronavirus vaccine. cases are rising steadily across the u.s. with 139,000 new infections confirmed on sunday. the battleground states of arizona and wisconsin are the latest to certify joe biden's election victory. donald trump is expected to continue fighting the results. the forestation in result amazon region has surged to a 12 year high. the area of land destroyed has

sharply increased since gaia bolsonaro came to power in 2018 and relaxed environmental regulations. the u.s. secretary of state has called the ethiopian prime minister to push for an end to fighting in the northern to gray region. federal forces are in full control of the capital. but the duration front says fighting is still going on. groups are concerned about the risk of civilian casualties. >> every target has been signed and approved. the house can see that. every missile launched his back by a signature of authority. 99% of them hit their targets and 99% did not have collateral. no country's army can show this kind of performance. our country's army is disciplined and victorious. they said you will destroy

michele and so on. it was built with our own resources and we are not going to restrain -- not going to destroy it. not a single person was affected by the operation. anchor: we have more from nairobi in neighboring kenya. reporter: the government said it's forces have controlled all of the to gray region ever since it took the capital city on saturday. the prime minister has told members of parliament the government forces did not kill a single civilian in their operations. the t pls leaders are contradicting these claims, saying many civilians were killed in government airstrikes, something the government denies. they have also said they shot down one of those military planes, that they have taken back one of the towns within the vicinity and that they are fighting on all fronts. the prime minister's spokesperson called these claims delusional. but without journalists or

mentoring workers having much access to the region at all and with the phone lines and internet cut off, it is difficult to verify any of these claims. the red cross has said in the city, 80% of people in the hospital have trauma injuries. they did not say how they got those injuries but they said there is a serious shortage of medical supplies needed and a shortage of body bags. anchor: al qaeda linked fighters fired missiles in northernmal. the basesi were hit in a rare coordinated attack. no casualties were reported. the u.n. base nearby was damaged. french forces killed the leader of the al qaeda wing three weeks ago. another 33 people have been buried following a massacre in northeastern nigeria. the delegation from nigerian senate visited the state where

farmers were attacked in rice field on saturday. the u.n. says at least 110 civilians were killed and more work injured. boko haram is suspected to be behind the attack. nearly 2.5 million people have been displaced by a decade of violence in the region. several people have been injured in support of uganda's opposition candidate. demonstrators clashed with police on the outskirts of the capital. please fired tear gas as they traveled to the protest. the popstar turned politician is hoping to unseat the long time president in january's election. he has accused police of frustrating his campaign. the top nuclear science in iran has been laid to rest in tehran. he was assassinated friday. a large funeral service was held in the capital. iran's leaders are blaming israel for the killing and have vowed to retaliate.

>> we are all gathered here next to one another, before the body of our beloved martyr and have vowed we will be more cohesive, more resolved, and our determination to continue down your path will be stronger. we will continue down the path of advancement for this nation with greater speed and strength. anchor: according to reuters, saudi arabia has agreed to allow israeli commercial flights to cross its space on route to the united arab emirates. jared kushner is reported to have brokered the deal while visiting saudi arabia. he's also expected to visit qatar in the coming days. each of public prosecutor is suspending an investigation into the killing of a student in 2016. the student was found dead on the outskirts of cairo four years ago but the identity of his murderer remains unknown.

ejection authority say they will continue the search. turkeys tightening coronavirus restrictions after a growing number of deaths for the eighth consecutive day. 188 people have died in the last 28 hours. curfews will be imposed on weekdays. the turkish medical association says hospitals are stretched to capacity. public schools in iraq every open their doors after being closed its march because of the coronavirus pandemic. the number of new infections has fallen to about 1500 infections per day. many students fear they will be unable to catch up on lost lessons. reporter: the first day of school in times of coronavirus -- these six-year-olds waited for more than two months to start their education. the iraqi government lift the lockdown into timber but public schools only reopened this week. >> it was supposed to start

earlier, but they delayed it because of the large number of infections. yes, the malls and shops reopened earlier, but the number of infections were really high. hopefully the pandemic will go away soon and we will try to catch up on schooling. reporter: the pandemic has showed wide pre-existing -- public schools like these stopped teaching for eight months. budget cuts due to declining oil prices have made matters worse. >> for sure there has been a negative effect and the pandemic has delayed school attendance. the budget is basically zero. private schools have better health measures and the number of students is smaller. reporter: even though public schools are back in session, many parents will continue to play a big part in their children's education. students will attend class only one day per week and have to study at home on the remaining

school days. compared to many other countries, iraq lacks a telecommunication structure to support e-learning. the education ministry says it will launch applications to facilitate online class but while many wait for such plans to materialize, those in their final year of high school say it is of little help. >> they say there will be online classes but it won't be successful. the internet is very bad. our only choice is to take private tutoring classes. reporter: they already missed school during much of last year when classes were canceled due to widespread antigovernment protests. now the pandemic risks shattering their hopes for university. quick's the good universities won't admit us and we will have to go to private college. we cannot afford that. reporter: iraq's financial and health crises have cast uncertainty over the country's future. at least for now, this new

generation of students are enjoying a return to a routine that resembles normal life. anchor: the philippines has extended coronavirus restrictions in the manila region. people in the n six other areas must wear masks and maintain social distancing. the president warned of ignoring safety protocols, citing the recent wave of infections in europe and u.s. best filipinos to limit christmas gatherings. croatia's prime -- prime minister has tested positive for covid-19. he's been isolating after his wife tested positive over the weekend. croatia is experiencing a surge in cases and sire records 74 deaths in the last 24 hours. france's government has dropped a controversial draft law that would restrict the publishing of images of police. the bill sparked large protests fueled by anger over video of

police beating a black man in paris. riddick say it could prevent such instances from being exposed. we have more from paris on the significance of the proposal. reporter: it is clear the government has been forced to make a concession because mps have said they are going to rewrite the controversial clause in their planned new security law. this clause is controversial because what it does is it would crackdown on people's ability to publish or share images of police officers on duty. the government says that would help protect the identity of police officers who have to do difficult work. but opponents say it is an erosion of press freedoms, and erosion of the right to inform people's right of expression and without images of police officers on duty, police will not be able to be accountable for their actions at a time

where we see several officers being accused of police brutality, especially over the past few days. the government is forced to make a concession. on the other hand, it is important to keep it in perspective because over the last few days, the government has indicated it might rewrite the article of this clause. but what does that mean? no one has made that clear. what many people watching this closely fate is the problem is most people who are against it, the -- all sides of the spectrum, really, and protesters, tens of thousands of them in the streets on saturday,