can innovate to survive on al-jazeera. a growing number of countries place restrictions on travel it's from the u.k. the mid fears of a new more contagious strain of current virus. but on the clock this is al jazeera life and also coming up and importantly we're going to supply those emerging paid in a way that is smart and responsible for the u.s. senate majority leader says a deal has been reached on a massive covert 19 relief package this after months of negotiations 0 click hack

dozens of al jazeera journalists targeted in a spyware attack apparently led to the governments of saudi arabia and the united are. growing anger in northern nigeria where the threat from armed groups is crippling farmers like. so then a number of european nations impose new restrictions on travelers from the u.k. in response to a new fast moving strain of coronavirus passengers rushed to catch the last trains on sunday before the new rules in the u.k. came into place the countries including the netherlands in france and in germany have imposed new restrictions 2 measures come amid fears that it could spread to the continent italy has reported one case of new strain in someone recently returned from the united kingdom meanwhile britain's health minister has warned that this variant strain is out of control there and the government has put a stay at home orders in place in parts of the country that's not in baba now

reports from london. with a week to go until christmas goodwill in some parts is being strained to the limit in much of the u.k. a planned relaxation of indoor mixing rules has been cut from 5 days to one day and in england a 3rd of the population is now in new to here for restrictions meeting people can't mix it all with other households here in central london there are people out and about for a walk but all the shops are shut these new restrictions are going to be devastating for thousands of businesses as well as for families who had planned to get together a christmas. i think that the new strain of the virus the suffering concerning and i think it is the right decision but i just wish it would have been made a few days earlier yeah i'm pretty upset about it i think the lack of planning and the lack of ability to tell people that this is going to happen in advance of when it did. cause a lot of havoc and there's also a ban on nonessential travel in and out of tier 4 areas that's where the rise in

covered $1000.00 cases has been steepest with london's mayor saying the numbers of coronavirus patients in hospital aback at levels last seen in the spring the government's put the surge down to a new variant that's much more easily transmitted the new variant is out of control and we need to bring it under control and this news about the new variant has been a. an incredibly difficult and frankly an awful year and it's important for everybody to act. essentially act like they might have the virus. but trains out of london were packed on saturday ahead of the deadline and on sunday more travelers headed for the stations raising fears about the mutated virus spreading things like wearing them off it's like to me that social distancing they just reduce your chances of getting infected then they don't stop you getting infected and i guess that this increased transmissibility shifts the dial

a bit back in the favor of the virus those things that mask very sick become a bit less effective. with many questions unanswered about the new strain the netherlands imposed a ban on flights to and from the u.k. other european nations are followed suit at least temporarily saying they have to protect their citizens and their health services that's also the reason the u.k. government's given for the last minute lock down its hinting the new restrictions may have to stay in place for at least 2 months until a far greater number of people have had the covered 19 vaccine nadeem al-jazeera london. well shipments for the 2nd approved code 900 have begun across the united states container loads of the vaccine by mcdonough be moved from warehouses to hospitals across the country and this comes as politicians the votes on a massive financial relief package to help struggling families and businesses a white house correspondent can really help. with the approval of the 2nd vaccine

in the united states tough decisions must now be made who is next to receive it. last week it was front line health workers and the elderly in care homes who were the 1st for the vaccine from pfizer now is the vaccine from the dura rolls out essential workers are next but with just 15000000 doses available until the end of january there's not enough for the 87000000 americans who qualify we are very confident that by june anyone in america who wants to have a vaccine will have that opportunity but for now less than $6000000.00 doses of the durned a vaccine will be distributed starting on sunday with inoculations beginning on monday the centers for disease control advisory group voted on sunday on federal recommendations for who should receive the next batch of vaccinations but all 50 states have the power to set their own priorities in the northeast that includes

the manufacturing sector in florida it's the broader elderly population police firefighters public transit workers and teachers top most state lists but businesses are also lobbying to prioritize their workers to allow local economies to get back up and running. still the number of infections hospitalizations and deaths in the united states due to cope with 19 continues to climb q care hospitals across the nation are overwhelmed leaving ambulances with critically. patients lined up outside sometimes for hours economic hardship is also great for new business closures and lockdowns jobless claims in the u.s. are rising congress is promising 900000000000 in economic relief and 1.4 trillion to keep the government open if signed into law the bill would provide direct

payments to most americans for people who are out of work to no fault of their own $300.00 a week for enhanced unemployment going into next year and for the small businesses and the working families all across america we were going to do more paycheck protection loans so those small businesses can stay open but democrats and republicans on capitol hill have been working on the relief deal for months votes on the relief package are expected on sunday members of congress have been told to expect those votes late into the night as congress tries to reach an 11th hour deal can really help at al-jazeera washington where let's get the very latest now from how did your castrates live for us in washington d.c. and heidi what's the latest on the 900000000000 dollar relief package. well now we are approaching that 11th hour that kimberly was just reporting about and the leaders of congress have just announced that

a deal has been reached the senate republican leader mitch mcconnell speaking on the floor saying that the coded package has a deal as well as the very important bill to keep the federal government open past midnight now he says all all that's missing is to finalize the text and to bar any last minute obstacles the democratic leader the minority leader of the senate chuck schumer was also on the floor saying that the white house is also behind this deal that is important because yesterday president trump was on twitter trying to get the $600.00 check for americans to be a higher amount that is a demand that basically people in congress ignored and up to this point it appears that this bill would have the president's support chuck schumer laying out a very aggressive timeline saying not only would both chambers vote on these 2

pieces of legislation tonight but he hopes that even the president won't sign this into law tonight so what does it all include well those 6 $100.00 stimulus payments for most americans as well it is extended unemployment benefits through the middle of march but this certainly does not mean that the members of 2 parties are holding hands not by a long stretch we still saw plenty of finger pointing democrats saying that this is an emergency bill that is 8 months too late calling it too little but still better than nothing were republicans already accusing democrats of wanting too much and fearful that once the biden administration takes over that this would only be the beginning of more and more government spending nick already thanks very much progress at last so how did your test with washington d.c. . now spy was sold by an israeli private intelligence firms be used to hack the phone of dusts al-jazeera journalist that's according to citizen blabber such as at

the university of toronto the digital security watchdog says young precedented cyber attack is likely to have been ordered by saudi arabia and the united arab emirates investigators say mobile phones were infiltrated with malicious codes which uploaded data on to foreign service without users taking any action the report also raises questions around the security of apple i phones so let's take this on let's speak to bill a monk psych he's a senior research fellow at citizen lab at the university of toronto in the lead author of this report and joins us by skype from in california welcome to the program bill so you guys did think this detective work tell us how you did it and what you found. well i work actually started in january of this year when a journalist at al-jazeera arabic channel temora told mr hall reached out to us and said hey i'm worried about my phone potentially being under surveillance so we set up a system to monitor the internet traffic of his phone and look for any sort of suspicious

communication with servers that we identified as belonging to spyware you know internet scanning and it was on 19th of july 2020 this year when we saw his phone suddenly reach out to a server that we had links to in a circumspect is the spider right now and usually you discovered that these phones were being infiltrated not by the user clicking on the link which is a noble sort of process for infiltration isn't it. that's right yeah in this case it was what we call it 0 click exploit which means that the target did not need to take any action to click on any link they could have their phone sort of sitting on the table sitting away from it and it could get hacked just by a malicious series of messages being sent we believe through a message that had for the initial hacking phase of the phone then the phone would reach out to a separate server to download the spyware in start sending information back everything on the phone essentially now back to the operators of the spyware so

they said these spyware techniques are becoming a little more sophisticated and difficult to spot. that's the worry certainly our research methodology here at the citizen lab when we track this sort of spyware is typically that we ask journalists dissidents members of civil society to keep an eye out for any sort of suspicious messages suspicious links special catchments and trying to avoid clicking on them but also fording them to us so we can potentially get a copy of the spyware but in this case with the 0 click exploit not only does the target not really have a chance to notice or prevent the hacking but we as researchers are sometimes robbed of the opportunity to identify additional targets and additional victims so we think that the targets that we have disclosed the 36 targets that al jazeera are simply the tip of the iceberg of a much larger global campaign it also raises questions as i say not least about the the parent vulnerability of apple i phones. yeah well it's interesting you know if

you think about your phone i'm sure you're constantly getting notifications things popping up and this is all caused by code which is running continuously on the phone and processing essentially arbitrary messages from the internet and i think that vendors need to do more to try an audit this code to make sure it's free of bugs free of vulnerabilities and free of issues and i think to apple's credit you know in iowa's 14 the newer version they added we understand some medications that would hopefully prevent this sort of the sort of hacking in the future and i think that other companies would be wise to also audit their code bases and put in similar sorts of medications to prevent this the 0 click hacking so what would be your recommendation to people like journalists and government officials perhaps you may have compromised information that could be interesting to people what would you say to them which they do. i mean i'd say you know try and avoid having your compromising information on the phone trying to avoid having your sensitive

information discussed when the phone is nearby because the microphone can be turned on i think you know this is sort of in some level beyond any individual digital security issue and it sort of speaks more towards the whole ecosystem of security and i think that what's what's needed is of course you know a sort of baseline good digital security behavior by journalists installing updates not clicking on links but also an urgent in urgent cultural regulators to look at these types of spyware and try and prevent companies from selling them to governments which are going to abuse it to target journalists and in civil society so i think that we need regulation and based on human rights not just based on national security interests of governments from which where this fire is being exploited right but in story updates the 1st line of defense that bill marks i appreciate that thanks very much indeed. thank you. still ahead here on al-jazeera still no deal breakers that trade negotiations are at

a crucial stage as that deadline throws place. a brutal campaign against foreign truck drivers in south africa we look at why they're being targeted. how we have a spiral of quotes whether it's a stern parts of north america them i'm just from the eastern seaboard of the u.s. but we got a fair amount of clout around here specially disturbed weather that are rolling across western parts as we go on through the next couple of days some snow there into central canada lake effect snow yes there in the forecast quotes weather around the eastern seaboard 6 celsius for new york just about getting up into double figures for d.c. but could see a few showers just spilling outs of virginia out of pennsylvania as we go on into

a choose day possibility of a little bit of snow is a weakening feature is not going to cause too many problems it just notice the temperature in new york 4 degrees celsius 7 the day see new york could well be up around 11 or 12 as you go on to is christmas with some heavier rain gradually pushing for that moisture is coming out of this kolarov that's snowy weather that we have around the mountain states and a grassy sweep its way for the south which had a switch as we go to the middle and latter part of the way for the caribbean it can get over the next couple of days lots of 5 and dry weather lots of tropical sunshine there will be some showers and sioux a lesser antilles pushing into the lay words add also into the wind was as we go on into choose day more of the same but dry for the west. and the porous suburbs of 3 european cities community tensions often reveal a shot of culture. divides but they feel they had no future and are sidelines as

discrimination is a real problem in brussels al-jazeera world meet some of those struggling with racism radicalization and life on the margins of the droit told this young man away from do certain they're listed as the other face of europe on al-jazeera. way i wore a role in. do you watch the ads are among the top stories and several european nations are banning or restricting travel from the u.k. they're responding to britain's announcement that a new fast moving strain of corona virus is causing concern. looking at

pictures of the u.s. senate where the majority leader says that a deal has been reached on a massive covert 19 relief package for millions of americans this comes as shipments for the 2nd proved over 1000 vaccine has begun cross the and i just. spyware is sold by an israeli private intelligence firms being used to hack the phone of dozens of al jazeera journalist researches and citizen labs say the unprecedented cyber attack is likely to have been ordered by saudi arabia and the united arab emirates. british and european union negotiators to continue trade talks in the belgian capital of brussels on monday which is possibly just outline the u.k.'s mark frost and his e.u. counterpart to michel barnier still have to sort out 2 issues the block's fishing rights in british waters and fair competition rules the business is the european parliament and warned it won't have time to ratify any deal before the official deadline at the end of the year in less is agreed by midnight brussels time and no deal breaks it would lead to tariffs on goods crossing the border and possible

shortages of some foods and medicines in the united kingdom is where a challenge with the latest from london that's all you just heard was another break that deadline washing sunday was supposed to be the crunch day with the e.u. saying that if a deal had been reached by the end of the day gave the politicians and nuff time to ratify before the transition period and it on december 31st well. u.k. government source says that teams have been negotiating throughout the day and are expected to continue tomorrow that monday talks remain difficult and significant differences remain we continue to explore every routes to a deal that is in line with the fundamental principles we brought into the negotiations the truth is that that he you deadline never really was was a reality there is the possibility that member states can agree a deal in principle and then ratify it at some later date that doesn't mean of course that

a deal is going to happen both sides have dug their heels in with big different this is remaining over fishing rights and the level playing field but this weekend there have been some things which perhaps the sharpening mines in london there have been pictures on british t.v. of lorries backed up the motorway for kilometers from channel ports because of companies stockpiling things ahead of a possible no deal in january a foretaste perhaps of of the chaos to come if there is no deal the french also have just said because of this new strain of code that there is no travel from the u.k. into france including travel links to the transport of goods so that all adds to the anticipation and the anxiety as well in london boris johnson is also pretty much just cancel christmas and it would be quite the double whammy for him to cancel christmas and loss of brecht's a deal within the space of just

a few days does that mean a deal is going to happen well i don't know but it was not something i would want on my political record if i were him. somalia and kenya have agreed to hold talks to restore diplomatic ties off the east african leaders held an emergency summit in djibouti somalia cut ties with kenya and choose day of meddling in its internal affairs leaders of the intergovernmental or 30 on development so it got have been made to dealing with the disputed priority the block is also looking to tackle the humanitarian crisis in ethiopia's north into great regions attacks by armed groups of crippled agriculture and other economic activities in northwest nigeria it's estimated output in the area has dropped by as much as 60 percent who would address reports now from katsina where hundreds of people including school children and recently been abducted. in north western nigeria where armed bandits room free mosque barrios are regularly event hardly a day passes without an attack on

a village somewhere that leaves either dead or injured and those taken hostage entire villages have been sacked crippling local economies and social activities if you. spent well over 6 years in towns of trying to control these the most among the farmers that cannot access their farms the law is that what you boost the law also cut to the los mills of level who people who cannot access their farms the quantum is imagine it has negatively effect impacted on the lives of people the violence that began as a localized conflict between farmers and cattle herders in just one area has now escalated to a full blown crisis affecting the whole region and beyond. the recent abduction of hundreds of school children by those the government describes as bad and it

underlines the worsening security situation in northwest nigeria. many pharmacy have been forced to leave their land after being unable to pay off the armed groups. who come about $10.00 to $20.00 heck that's what this is. and it wonder. where to. go to bed last thing to be up to 5 hectic day where earth would be important to abandon the land and be inside this to take you to food again the insecurity the cattle herders association says nearly every member has had some animal stories in. here out of the cattle market where only a few animals on display raids by armed bandits have depleted stocks and potential buyers are staying away and in the grain section of the market it's

a similar picture the northwest is nigeria's main grain and cereal producing region the fighting here sparked fears of food shortages in the months ahead with attacks now growing in number and sophistication reassuring words from the central government of a little comfort to those facing such violence and the misery brings how many degrees al-jazeera northwest nigeria iraq security officials said at least 8 rockets struck baghdad's heavily fortified green zone they say the u.s. embassy was the intended target of sunday's attack and anti rocket systems set up to defend the u.s. embassy is said to have been diverted most of the rockets and iraqi security work was injured in a residential complex and cars were damaged. u.s. republican senator mitt romney has called a recent hacking campaign against the united states extraordinarily damaging and is demanding a response so i was security experts say more than 40 organizations would talk to

including several government agencies they say it could take months to unravel u.s. secretary of state might pump so it is pretty clear that russia was behind the attack something most has denied president told trump tweeted that china could instead be responsible and they apparently didn't think that we would respond in a very aggressive way and i think all those things have to be addressed i think we have to be much more serious about our cyber capabilities often sieve and defensive i think we have to rethink about that at the department offense as well as are other agencies and i think we have to have a very clear eyed approach to how we deal with russia going forward this demands a response and the response you'd expect to occur would be a cyber response i don't know if we have the capacity to do that in a way that would be. of the same scale or even greater scale than what russia has applied to us but this is something we have to address as soon as possible. well if she ever time she has this update now from washington d.c. . we did have the statement last week from the transition team which was talking

about a response against whoever is is responsible for this attack we had more among the transition team and reports about the high financial cost that will be paid that will be retribution having said that if it does turn out to be russia there is a great deal of care being taken there is going to be an effort not to escalate the conflict further because despite again what you may hear on capitol hill and from the professional putin is the devil crowd perhaps here and we see in washington we have seen the last 4 years this is ministration like will be the stations want to reset relations with russia they want russian cooperation and specifically the bite the ministration is looking for russian cooperation almost immediately on renegotiating the new start treaty the almost control treaty that limits the nuclear arsenals of each country which expires in february they want cooperation on the iran nuclear deal of the u.s. returns to iran nuclear deal that might need russia's cooperation last time around

russia have to take in low enriched uranium from iran as part part of the deal of and further down the road they want cooperation on climate change in the pandemic so when you ask the people or when you listen to people who actually will have to govern over the next 4 years it's a far more nuanced message than perhaps we're hearing from capitol hill but russian president vladimir putin has praised the country's foreign intelligence service on its 100th birthday despite claims the agency is behind several global heikki plots and indeed putin says the agency is crucial for moscow's solver and independent development u.s. president elect joe biden's team is considering punishing russia for its suspected role in the hacking of u.s. government agencies. south african president sarah opposer is to intervene in a violent campaign targeting foreign truck drivers at least 2 people have died has more from johannesburg and a warning this report contains images of burn victims some viewers might find the stepping. collins my sukhumi was on a routine delivery when

a car with 3 men inside blocked the road and forced him out of his truck he says he's lucky to be alive but he gave out and neither are any of us could do. and i'm the one in the i don't know if you are you annoyed as a dame i mean if they come down. or been made or. when i put in my leg down just someone yes you can you are you know the rule was. unions representing foreigners working in south africa say gasoline bombs have been thrown at trucks driven by non south africans and dozens of drivers have been shot at stoned and even killed south african union leaders who have condemned the violence insist it is not xenophobia but they say they do want jobs to go to south africans 1st zimbabwe has been vocal one has been vocal. has been vocal about it.

of their own citizens then for a little over there would drop opportunity dozens been committed in their particular country but it can't. be given to. the citizens of that particular crime over the years competition for jobs in south africa has caused tensions between locals and those from other parts of the continent but africa economy was struggling he even before the call of the 19 pandemic the unemployment rate is down more than 30 percent every year the african the poverty and conflict come here looking for work and a better life economists say instability in the transport sector doesn't help matters the damage to the reputation not only of the particular company but is affected by such violence but the country itself is very massive because then we begin not to be trusted it's not like we're the only people producing anything you know people all over the world they've got options they can go to other countries as well president has been asked by unions and business leaders to intervene in

what is seen as a growing crisis in south africa's trucking industry the fine drivers say they have no choice but to carry on working violence or nonviolence they have families to feed. china spec. this is out there these are the top stories and several european nations of banning all restricting travel from the u.k. trying to stop the spread of a fast moving straight of coronavirus seen in parts of the u.k. it could british governments put millions under tough new restrictions the u.s. senate majority leader's says that a deal has been reached on a massive caveat 90 relief package for millions of americans this comes as shipments for the 2nd approved cavan 1000 vaccine have begun across the united states led to castro has more now from washington the senate republican.