a new strain of corona virus in the u.k. forces millions of people to be placed under a strict lockdown just before christmas. hello i'm adrian for get this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up election unrest in the central african republic a former president is accused of attempting a coup the un peacekeepers are put on high alert as. an ancient city under threat archaeologists in peru issue a plea for protection for one of latin america's oldest civilizations. and meet nor

undersea is that he was sesame street muppets raising awareness of a hanging stock in the world's largest refugee camp. and. we begin in the u.k. where emergency talks about a new strain of corona virus of lead to a further typing of restrictions a higher tier of lockdown is not effect across london and southeast england where a viral mutation is responsible for a surge in cases that are filling up hospital wards the government is also backtracking on easing restrictions for the christmas holidays the world health organization says the mutated strain is 70 percent more transmissible than the original though it's not thought to be more deadly a vaccine should still be effective as worry chalons starts us off with this report . for days scientists and opposition politicians have been saying it's the government shouldn't be letting so many english households mick's over christmas on

saturday boris johnson relented it is with a very heavy heart i must tell you we cannot continue with christmas those plans. a new coronavirus variance with spreading alarmingly in london and the southeast he said adding that the world health organization had been alerted to the mutant strain it's 70 percent more transmissible and a new 4th tier of restrictions is needed residents in those areas most stay at home apart from limited exemptions set out in law non-essential retail indoor gyms and leisure facilities and personal care services was close individuals can only meet one person from another household in an outdoor public space must just days ago boris johnson mocked his opposition rival kier starmer for questioning why restrictions were being eased for christmas and if he really is going to press ahead with this can he tell us what's the assessment and has it been done of the

impact that it will have on infection rates and increase pressure on the n.h.s. what's the impact. mr speaker we should have the guts just to say what he really wants to do which is to cancel the plans people have made and cancel cancel christmas that's really that's what i think that's what he's driving at this is bigger. london has gone from tear to tear for a no family christmas in just 4 days in parts of england in lower it is allowing 3 households to mix for 5 days is being reduced to just christmas day itself scotland's 1st minister says her country is allowing only one day of mixing to and is essentially pulling up the drawbridge if you had people travelling to join you for christmas from in sweden. that will no longer be permitted equally it will no longer be permitted for any advise to travel anywhere in the rest of the u.k. for christmas and we simply cannot take the risk of this stream travelling from

different parts of the. party it's not just the united kingdom other european countries are tightening restrictions too among them italy has announced a new national lockdown over most of the holidays it's a lead germany france and 5 other e.u. states are coordinating the start of their covert vaccinations it's this italy's prime minister says that signals the nightmare is about to end rory chalons al-jazeera london well thinking stuff is a family doctor at acton town medical center in london he joins us now live via skype from london doctor good to have you with us how concerned should we be about this new variant it is as we were hearing 70 percent more transmissible but is it likely to have any impact on the severity of the disease yes is the biggest challenge as far as the prime minister have to act according to scientific advice

to get london into or as you said in the program i think it's very important that we. oh well and here to the rules and the tier system unfortunately all the plans for christmas i still have bundle for now and there is a bigger challenge for everybody a bigger challenge for medical so it is big a challenge for businesses in this country but to the new variant obviously it has to be challenges as well luckily it doesn't seem really. really sort of the strong writers complaining to the original one handholds me tension is quite common although this mutation along briskly is still very concerned. but we have to see these ear alling out of the vaccines as soon as possible among people particularly people who are vulnerable in society what are

we to make of the government's handling of this i know you say that the prime minister had to act on scientific advice but the government has been flip flopping around this issue what impact does that have on people like you family g.p.'s and local hospitals i believe the prime minister johnson talked in the sense of the step at the right time because seemed to me just changes had been taking place the last few days and once. the reasons stablished he took the sort of the steps to very satirical for in london and so is he single and. doctor has been really good to talk to you many thanks indeed for being with us thank you in the us the 1st batch of madonnas vaccine is being prepared for distribution trucks carrying millions of doses will roll out on sunday it's the 2nd vaccine or the rise for emergency use bringing

a ray of hope for the world's hardest hit country of zeros hydro castro reports. lifesaving vials of a 2nd f.d.a. authorized covert 19 that scene are going in boxes destined for hospitals and clinics across the country government officials say americans will begin receiving the madeira no vaccine monday unlike the pfizer vaccine that began rolling out a week ago these don't require ultra cool storage making them easier to handle between the 2 back scenes nearly 8000000 doses will have been released although the distribution effort has already had hiccups governors from several states have complained of receiving tens of thousands fewer vaccine doses than had been promised the army general overseeing the federal government's distribution effort offered an apology saturday saying he'd fail to understand there's a delay between when a vaccine is available and when it's released there is no problem with the pfizer

vaccine there is no problem with the madonna vaccine right it was a planning error and i am responsible for both axes are close to 95 percent effective in clinical trials vice president mike pence got his 1st dose on live television and health care workers across the country have done the same people in nursing homes are also part of phase one i feel 5 years feel good to shop with no problem the u.s. government's goal removes 20000000 vaccinations by year's end but that will not nearly cover the amount of people the c.d.c. recommends as part of distribution phase 2 so it is up to the states to prioritize who gets those vaccines older people over the age of 65 those with preexisting medical risk factors or essential workers already jostling for those limited doses

these vials of hope have arrived meanwhile congress continues to work on legislation to help shuttered businesses and families facing eviction every day that we delay may very well cause more small businesses there's about will cost more american workers their jobs and yes cost more american their very lives. a deal is close both parties say but the economic help can't come soon enough nor the back scenes as the latest weekly average shows more than 2600 people dying each day in the united states. castro al-jazeera washington israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu received his covert 19 vaccine live on television to kick off israel's vaccination program israel expects 4000000 pfizer vaccines this month with health care workers 1st in line and occupations begin on sunday that include jewish settlers living inside the illegally occupied west bank

but it excludes the territories $2500000.00 palestinians they'll have to wait for the palestinian authority to obtain doses through the world health organization gaza is tightening a weekend lockdown as infections and deaths continue to rise the shops and restaurants a shop door since thursday evening in an effort to curb infections the health ministry says that over 33000 people have been infected india has become the world's 2nd nation to record more than 10000000 infections although new infection rates appears have fallen sharply in recent weeks u.n. secretary general antonio has called on armed groups in the central african republic to put down their weapons peacekeepers were deployed ahead of the 27 december 27th elections a number of armed groups of banded together to form an alliance president. to adela

has been accused of planning electoral fraud in order to secure a 2nd term. as cover the situation in the country extensively he gave us an update from senegal. we know that 11 armed groups some of the signature of this statement against the president essentially have started deploying their troops have called on armed groups to head towards the capital bangui and as a result the 12000 strong un peacekeeping force have taken position on main arteries leading to the capital so has been deployed the central african republic army that was trained by the russians that is out in deployed to try to stop any of these forces from entering the capital just one week before this much anticipated presidential election so why are they all marching towards the capitol simply because they say the president is not respecting the agreement that they had signed in 2001000 in khartoum which was in effect to give these armed groups leaders

a position in government but also funds so that they could disarms remember these armed groups have control over large territories i mean we're talking about central african republic is the size of france there are some of these armed groups that have control of the areas that are the size of wales or scotland and that's what's at stake in this election to try to reestablish the rule of law in the government in places where it has retreated but also come to help to these millions of central african republic people who population that have seen little of their government helping them a weather update next year i'll just hear of them it's been 2 years since an uprising ensued led to the move of president omar al bashir but on the anniversary of his the streets of filled with protesters. going up to my mother's love household made me fierce but mike has not been easy i

struggled with homelessness emotional comments for what will soon be the 1st native american to serve in a u.s. presidential campaign at. how i once again with got more wet weather pushing across central parts of the us extending up into central kind of the here it is of course no further race where we've had our latest batch a snow that's in the process of pulling away we have got a clear skies coming in behind for a toggle area of high pressure here this is the offending feature this cold front that's gathering that's making its way further east was snipe back over towards pennsylvania towards well upstate new york into new england into that eastern side of canada and some heavy rain there for a time you see just around the mid atlantic states clear skies quite a weather coming into central parts by sunday some snow there just around on terry

i'm at its best to sketch you want more in the way of snow also just fading up into the northwest of the u.s. around the pacific northwest into that western side of canada where we'll also see some rather heavy rain for a time that snow will make its way across the mountain states more snow all lake effect snow there you notice over towards the midwest to the south of that things drawing up quite nicely destroyed up quite nicely now across the caribbean plenty of physical sunshine coming through that will be what it sees showers it has to be said just about anywhere you could catch a shower with 2 showers perhaps a little more alive if it's on sunday but drop by monday. you're maclagan real witnessed throughout history alhaji water persevered its head with me and started fighting developed by nation state there will be enough to be

set free. now within reach of those seeking. the most toxic substances. many invisible thread on al-jazeera. the or the. again this is al-jazeera or much of the main news this hour britain's prime minister boris johnson has announced new restrictions in london in the southeast of england non-essential shops sounds and indoor venues are closing the government is also backtracked on easing some restrictions for the christmas holiday. but tougher rules are in response to the discovery of a new strain of corona virus it's 70 percent more infectious fuelling the spike in

england's hospitalization rates it's not thought to be deadlier than the original. the peacekeepers are being deployed in the central african republic because several armed groups form an alliance ahead of elections later this month president bush to adela has been accused of planning electoral fraud in order to secure a 2nd term. president elect joe biden has rolled out his new look environment and energy team ushering in some governmental firsts that includes the 1st black environmental protection agency head a renewable power advocate to lead the department of energy and the u.s. his 1st ever native american cabinet secretary holland has been nominated to be the interior secretary the 1st indigenous person to serve in the role that looks off to tribal lands and vast parts of native wilderness growing up in my mother's love household made me fears my life is not been easy i struggle with homelessness i

relied on food stamps and raised my child as a single mom the struggles give me perspective so that i can help people to succeed . my grandparents who were taken away from their families as children and sent to boarding school in an effort to destroy their traditions and identities maintained our culture this moment is profound when we consider the fact that a former secretary of the interior once proclaimed his go to quote civilized or exterminate us i'm a living testament to the failure of that horrific idiology let's pray and show how britain's he who joins us live from joe biden's hometown of wilmington delaware as you have biden called his team brilliant qualified tested and baria busting.

right i mean this idea of breaking barriers of of racial identity gender identity in the cabinet is so important one quick correction just for the record i call reagan won't be the 1st black head of the or the 1st black male head of the lisa jackson was head of the under president obama but once again. began his presentation with with a discussion of just how diverse his cabinet is going to be the most diverse in history also the oft 'd those sorts of speeches there's a debate which is well 'd that's true but is he is biden sort of checking some boxes. when the actual candidates themselves are being drawn from the establishment and stablished which are polls racism and sexism so there are these debates that rumble along that is not the case in this in this instance here with. congresswoman hollande interior this is

a proven leader. racial economic environmental justice issues and as she was saying the idea of her identity is is so imbued with her portfolio at interior because it is the interior department there's been so central to the destruction of native america this is both symbolically politically and in reality and enormous moment in american history because of that in fact all of these of these nominees on the environmental team there really is a line running through them of people who understand environmental justice understand the idea off the central issue of climate change to the future and the on the central if you have an economic and racial justice as part of that climate change policy the question is now how they're going to play with all the others in biden's cabinet administration there is not going to be a climate. nationally who will have responsibility to make sure that climate change

environmental justice is reflected in the in the policies of the other departments and the other problems though biden has nominated by and large the same bunch of people from wall street and people with oil and gas connections and so on. radical can be relieved to see how this the people did today will now interact with the rest of the government out whether joe biden really means it when he says he understands the climate change is an existential threats al-jazeera shavar tansey reporting live from wilmington delaware should have been a thanks u.s. president donald trump has downplayed the damage done by a suspected russian hack despite cyber security experts say that it could take months to unravel more than 40 organizations were targeted including several government agencies experts say that many more systems may be compromised without anyone knowing and could take months to work on rubble apple has placed one of

its i phone contractors on probation after major concerns over the way that employees are being treated at one of its indian factories workers at the strong factory and so that india's khana taka state rioted last week after many of them one paid causing millions of dollars worth of losses apple now says that the taiwanese owned company which assembles one of its i phone models will be awarded any new business until it complies with its code of conduct. the united states' largest military base in afghanistan has come under attack 5 rockets at the bagram air base on saturday no casualties have been reported afghan police disabled 7 other rockets mounted on a pick up truck on the outskirts of the base nato says the airfield was not damaged meanwhile at least 15 children were killed and dozens injured in a separate explosion in afghanistan because of the blast in gaza a province is unclear but local suggests that the children had found

a piece of unexploded i mean ition which detonated when they tried to sell it all on average 5 children are killed or maimed every single day in afghanistan and have been for the last 14 years that's around 26000 young lives the charity save the children says the violence against young people is a widespread problem and we found a bomb and stored the plane with it when it exploded i saw blood everywhere i didn't feel anything at the time when i looked at my leg it was cut off and then i fell to the ground. you can see all 7 of us are amputees if the peace comes in our country won't bring us back our legs but it will benefit other people the 10th person is confirmed dead following a fire at a hospital in turkey it happened at a private facility in the southeastern province of untap officials say that the blaze started when an oxygen machine exploded in the intensive care unit coronavirus patients were being treated on the ward more than 12 people were

injured wet weather in freezing temperatures of worsening conditions faced by displaced syrians in northern province thousands of them live in camps which have poor heating and drainage systems most were set up on agricultural land in what is the last rebel controlled area. they've been demonstrations in sudan's capital khartoum 2 years since the uprising that removed president obama al bashir thousands of been calling for an acceleration of reforms promised by the transitional government despite the revolution millions of sudanese are enduring economic hardship and limited government services of a serious hipper morgan has been out with protesters in car too. it's not just the 2nd anniversary author of some that started in december trying to 18 which eventually led to the ousting of former president on a person here it's also the out of or 3 of the declaration of sudan's independence from parliament so it is quite a significant day but people here say that there will be movement in their living

conditions in terms of because they have a new transitional government in place a transitional government that's less than 18 months old but that was brought to power by revenue some by protesters are political parties that met the protest movement so they were. very disappointed at the fact that their health conditions have not improved their living conditions have not improved the economic situation in the country has not improved so lots of disappointment lots of hunger there has been a displacement that have been passed by the sons of over the past 14 months as well . more rights to the people here in the country but they say that their day to day affairs about improving their living conditions so still the anger is there and then there's the issue of justice for those who've lost their lives over the past tense of the demonstrations began more than 300 people have lost their lives the more the majority of them during the attack on a different hunting for this thing that they have demanded the government to make sure that the 1st thing it does is provide justice and accountability for the

families also the fact that some of these have been forced out there has been investigation but there has been no one charges and that is frustrating the people here. throughout this recount 0 has been bringing your reports about your heritage sites that could lose their status now we had to prove where an ancient city is under threat from squatters. sanchez reports from. the sacred city of kut the remains of the oldest civilization in the americas have been standing here for 5000 years almost unscathed until now the. farmers and so. crops on the doorsteps of these ancient ruins and squatters have moved in. archaeologists who work here say they flee sieved death threats government there is even a set that we live in uncertainty this is far away if we called the police they take long to get here we don't know if the squatters will harm us. in

illegal land seizures are common and look pretty and squatters are often in conflict with police are killer just routes shot he was shot in the chest in 2002 she says she received more death threats and when she tried to evict squatters from at least 9 sites she got little help. we went to the police but they told us it was in their priority that we could not count on them we asked again and they sent one officer with one is impossible to victim. land disputes have been going on for decades since being named a unesco heritage site in 2009 land prices around got rocketed from 6 to nearly $50000.00 for hector since the pandemic the archaeologists left the site and more squatters have moved in this is how close farms and urban areas are to ruins not only in cattle about throughout the coast of peru filled with vestiges of

pre-columbian cultures the area is so vast it's nearly impossible to protect it all this archaeological sown is dispersed across hundreds of square kilometers families living close to it say they built homes here before it was discovered and they defend newcomers them why we need a place to live if they pay us what we invested in our homes we can leave but they just come to victor us. police sell them supervise the 11 sites now occupied by squatters to evict them now they will have to go to court and that can take years some say those delays risk the future of this engine site survived earthquakes climate change and generations of peruvians who revered it and yes i'm just i'll just see that i'll be too. the t.v. show sesame street has developed new characters to support children in the world's largest refugee camp in bangladesh the puppets nor. the children who

fled. al-jazeera explains. your children have got 2 new friends just like them 6 year old nor and her twin brother. they see so many street muppets and join the forecast in cox's bazaar bangladesh to provide education for young revenger refute. children in bangladesh after their last exhibitors in 2017 there haven't been anything done for them their education has been ignored for many years so this is one of the 1st life for our young children 8 $100000.00 range live in cox's bazaar half of them are children it's the world's largest refugee camp many experienced extreme trauma fleeing me after a violent military crackdown in $27.00 taking. my name is so my

are my home this summer cool refugee camp they called us foreigners we fled burma crossing tall mountains when i remember those days i get scared and can't sleep for many these camps have compounded this suffering the new show wants to help them process these emotions through play it's not the 1st time the t.v. show has tried to help young refugees in recent years 6 in the street has teamed with n.g.o.s and governments to support other children to grover i am from sesame street push their agenda at the un seen here with the nominee for u.s. secretary of state tony blinken refugees are just glad. to afghanistan with a launched a local version of the show and created sorry. a 6 year old girl who enjoyed sports and this year welcome to the show in arabic and kurdish to support children

displaced by the. system the street was created half a century ago as an experiment and. for a hinge of children nor in aziz a welcome friends but with a big task ahead charlotte dallas. it is good to have you with us hello adrian figure here in doha the headlines on al-jazeera britain's prime minister boris johnson has announced new restrictions for london and southeast england non-essential shops songs and indoor venues are closing the government has also backtracked on easing some restrictions for the christmas holiday but tougher rules are in response to the discovery of a new strain of corona virus it's 70 percent more infectious shieling the spike in england's ospital ization rate it's not thought to be deadlier than the original.