the fragile used one when east investigates risks to innovate to survive on al-jazeera. a growing number of countries place where structure is on travelers from the u.k. amid fears of a new more contagious strain of corona virus. one of them nora kyle this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up. an important low. key aid in a way forward. u.s. congressional leaders reached a deal on a $900000000000.00 coronavirus relief package the 2nd biggest economic stimulus in u.s. history. as 0 click hack dozens of accounts there are journalists reporting targeted

in a phone attack using israeli spy ware. and growing anger in northern nigeria where the threat from armed groups is crippling farmers livelihoods. canada has joined a growing list of countries that are suspending transport links with the u.k. in response to a new more infectious strain of the coronavirus countries including the netherlands germany and ireland have all imposed new restrictions passengers were rushing to catch the last trains out of the u.k. on sunday before the new rules came into place the measures come amid fears that it could spread to the continent as lee has reported one case of the new strain and someone who recently returned from the u.k. person's health minister has warned the variant strain is out of control and the

government's put stay at home orders emplace in parts of the country as nadine barber 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 a new to hear for restrictions 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 is awfully 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 going to did. cause a lot of havoc and there's also

a ban all 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 about 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. 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 a mask it's like to meet a 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 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 1000 vaccine nadeem barbara al-jazeera london doctor press sampath kumar is an infectious diseases specialist at mayo clinic in the us and she joins us live via skype from rochester in minnesota great to have you with us thanks for joining us what do we know about this new strain. so we know that there are

a couple of hotspots in the world where this chain is becoming more prevalent one is the u.k. in the interests of africa and what we don't know for sure is whether or not clearly this virus has become more transmissible because of this new strain or whether there are cases and they're catching more of the mutated strain because there are just so many more cases in these in these parts of the world we also don't know well for sure if they're the wires causes more severe disease or that the vaccine war against the strain and i think that's the good news how do we find these things out how long that generally take to clarify that information it might take a few weeks and you know as you know vaccination has just started in the u.k. and so all if we start seeing a lot of our cases in people who've been vaccinated there will be a signal that perhaps this mutation has made the vaccine last effective but until

we have enough people that. are not only are there but sure do the other countries have been acting correctly and shutting their borders or is it likely that this new strain has spread already and this is just causing more unnecessary travel chaos. i think we need to do something in these hot spots to contain the virus and the more people there are the live with the virus the harder it is to contain so will our lockdowns or travel restrictions i think will help slow the spread where the benefits are clear you know the risks to people of the economic fallout can those remains to be seen think it's worth the time being until we know one nor more are certain take the flag down some type of restriction is a good day the aim and all sounds very worrying of the new strain that might be

spreading more quickly but how frequently has this virus been seeing to mutate already serial armor and for viruses mutations are not unusual in for the huge number of cases we've seen in the world clearly there are a lot of infected people the meat the region in so far has not been one recently. that this particular mutation has now become the predominant strain in the u.k. is a little get lonely but i think that just mutation in general in this case the virus is not unusual and typically if it's much much longer than a few months for the mutations to have a significant impact on voters it's usually years of. change. and they really have to try and stay one step ahead of the virus which is the virus always stay one step ahead of us exactly we need to stay one step ahead and fewer

people who are effectively the with the virus in the world as as a whole the less likely you are to encountering it ok so you are controlling i says key to controlling lead to ok absolutely dr prayers sometimes come on many thanks for joining us about your expertise from the u.s. . a u.s. congressional leaders have agreed on a $900000000000.00 coronavirus relief package for millions of americans extended federal funding to give themselves more time to finalize the agreement and prevent a government shutdown. reports from washington d.c. nearly at the finish line congress has now given itself until midnight tuesday to finalize the deals both parties say are already in place we can find a report on our nation needed to hear for a very long time. more help is on the way this bill is

a good bill tonight is a good night but it is not the end of this story it is not the end of the job anyone who thinks this bill is enough does not know what's going on in america hospitals are full more than 300000 people are dead and 8000000 americans have slipped into poverty since may the coburg relief bill would deliver checks of 600 dollars to most people and extend unemployment benefits through mid march it would also give more loans to small businesses and offer rental assistance to families on the brink of a vixen what i'm excited about in this bill and it is really the democratic difference is what it does for america's working families. as we see food lines all over the country it was the our legislation that had the initiative for food for nutrition for our children in school and lee and nash seniors as well as

america's working families the deal totals $900000000000.00 it is the 2nd biggest economic stimulus in u.s. history only surpassed by the 1st covert relief bill that was passed earlier this year congress is expected to approve on monday and president trump is expected to sign back scenes are also urgently moving across the country modernity is the 2nd vaccine to gain government approval in the u.s. about 6000000 doses have been dispatched to hospitals. we are very confident that by june anyone in america who wants to have a vaccine will have that opportunity but only 20000000 doses are available before the end of the year not nearly enough to cover all the frontline essential workers and people over 75 who are next in line for shots that means states must decide who

to protect 1st as more governors issue restrictions to limit americans movements over the holidays heidi joe castro al-jazeera washington. spyware sold by an israeli private intelligence firm has been used to hide the phone of dozens of al jazeera journalists that's according to citizen lab research at the university of toronto it is still security watchdog says the president of cyber attack is likely to have been ordered by saudi arabia and the united arab emirates investigators say mobile phones were infiltrated with militias codes which uploaded data on to foreign service without users taking any action to avoid also raises questions around the security of apple i phone. my colleague nick clark spoke to bill mcharg zack who is the lead author of the report and a senior research fellow at the system of the university of toronto he says it's difficult to guard against 0 click hacking. 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 to special attachments 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 a 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 but it also raises questions as a same not least about the the part vulnerability of life friends yeah well it's interesting you know if you think about your phone i'm sure you're constantly getting notifications of 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 3 of globes 3 of vulnerabilities and 3 of issues and i think to apple's credit you know an i o. s. 14 in the newer version they added we understand some mitigations that would hopefully prevent this sort of this 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 mitigations to prevent this the 0 click hacking. that's ahead head on out as there are still no dale back to trade negotiations at a crucial state as the deadline to its place. and a brutal campaign against foreign truck drivers in south africa we know why the big targets have.

we have a spell of quality whether it's aced in parts of north america the miami just around the eastern seaboard of the us but we got a fair amount of cloud around here now specially disturbed weather that are rolling across western parts as we go on through the next couple of days some snow there and sue central canada lake effect snow you have us there in the full cost quads 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 awakening features not going to cause too many problems it just not just the temperature in new york 4 degrees celsius 7 that they say new york could well be up around 11 or 12 as you go up to his christmas with some heavier running gradually pushing for that moisture is coming out of this kolarov as snowy weather that we have around the mountain states and a grassy sweep its way for the south what's at 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 try weather lots of tropical sunshine there will be some showers and a lesser antilles pushing into the lay would saddle say into the wind was as we go on in sea choose day more of the same but dry for the west. nile virus is indiscriminate get those living in poverty are far more vulnerable to the dangers of covert 19 i'll be re-examined as the reasons for this disparity the social and economic inequalities that surround us so much much more problematic and refill and asks whether lessons learned from the global pandemic could lead to positive change the culture of the poor the fix for him to be whole hayle the lockdown exposes privilege on poverty during a crisis on a just 0. move

forward. the world. hello again you're watching out there has a reminder of our top stories this hour a growing number of countries are banning or restricting travel from the united kingdom trying to stop the spread of a more contagious strain of corona virus seen in parts of the u.k. . congressional leaders in the u.s. have reached a deal on $900000000000.00 over $1000.00 relief package for millions of americans this comes as shipments of the 2nd approved covert $1000.00 vaccine have begun across the country. and spyware sold by an israeli private intelligence from it's been used to track the version of dozens of al-jazeera journalists research says that system maps a.v.m. president to cyber attack is likely to have been ordered by saudi arabia and the

united arab emirates. british and european union negotiators are to continue trade talks in the belgian capital brussels on monday past the latest deadline u.k. david frost and as you can spot michel barnier still have to sort out 2 issues the block's fishing rights and bush's waters and fair competition rules for businesses european parliament had warned it were to have time to ratify any deal before the official deadline at the end of the year unless it's agreed by midnight brussels time and breaks it would lead to tariffs on goods crossing the border and possible shortages of some foods and medicines in the u.k. is where we challenge with the latest from london but sam you just heard was another breaks a deadline whooshing sunday was supposed to be the crunch day with the saying that if a deal had been reached by the end of the day wouldn't give the paul events enough time to ratify before the transition period and it's on december the 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 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 difference 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 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 linked 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 breath to deal with in 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. and he's 100 people have been detained in the belorussian capital on sunday during anti-government protests mass demonstrations began 4 months ago over the reelection of longtime president alexander lukashenko

his opponents say the vote was fraudulent organizers recently changed tactics by splitting into smaller groups to make it harder for security forces to target protesters. an opposition coalition in central african republic is calling for elections to be postponed just one week before the vote request comes a day after the government accuse former president francois boise's a of attempting a coup it claims he's behind an alliance of rebel groups that are moving on the capital. somalia and kenya have agreed to hold talks to restore diplomatic ties after east african leaders held an emergency summit in djibouti somalia cut ties with kenya on tuesday accusing it of meddling in its internal affairs leaders of the intergovernmental foresty on development or i gather of maize and dealing with the dispute a priority the block is also looking to tackle the humanitarian crisis in ethiopia more than gray region. has more from djibouti. officials of the region organization calling the summit a success they hailed as

a breakthrough an agreement between the kenyan and somali leaders to hold talks and a result that disputes through dialogue the dispute between kenya and somalia dominated talks of the summit and president smiling again of djibouti the ethiopian prime minister. of played a crucial role 1st of all meeting the 2 leaders separately and then later on as the day went on bringing them together in the same room so they have face to face talks on its side it's there they agreed to commit to talks between them. on of the african union most of the hamad in his address to the regional leaders said the dispute between kenya and somalia was undermining their efforts to fight al shabaab of the african peacekeeping mission in somalia. which kenya contributes files on soft troops kenya also plays host to hundreds of thousands of somali

refugees and has been in efforts to find peace in somalia in the past kenya has always denied that it's interfering in the in tunnel motus of somalia and other issues that were discussed include the present war in ethiopia between the federal government. to grow regional administration something that the government says it's up to han and the leaders who are governed here in djibouti today pledged to assist the prime minister but in dealing with the impact the humanitarian situation that resulted from the war. attacks by armed groups have crippled agriculture and other economic activities and northwest nigeria and out in the area has dropped by as much as 60 percent and interest reports from katsina hundreds of people including schoolchildren have recently been abducted. in north western nigeria where armed

bandits room free mosque barrios are regularly you friend. 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 does the loss of money ours by the farmers that cannot access their farms the loss of what you booze the loss of cut to the lows means of livelihood people who cannot accept their homes the quantum is there to imagine it has negatively. impacted on the lives of our 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 bandits underlines the worsening security situation in northwest nigeria. many pharmacy have been forced to leave their land after being unable to pay off their armed groups. to find a farmer who can pump about $10.00 to $20.00 heck that's what this is cutie dickon would be able to fund their farms and it wondered. where to go to bed last thing to be up to 5 hectares they were both would be imported to abandon their land and be inside the town those 2 taken to food again the insecurity the cattle herders association says nearly every member has had some animal story line here but cattle market there are 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 near 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 comedy drees al-jazeera northwest nigeria yes republican senator mitt romney has called a recent hacking campaign against the u.s. extraordinarily damaging and is demanding a response cybersecurity experts say more than 40 organizations are targeted including several government agencies and 2nd take months to unravel you know sectors that might pump air so it was pretty clear that russia was behind the attack something moscow has denied as an donald trump tweeted that china could and

said 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 and defensive i think we have to rethink about that at the department of defense 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. russian president vladimir putin has praised the country's foreign intelligence service on as $100.00 but they despite its claims that the agency is behind several global hacking plots says the agency is crucial for moscow's sovereign and independent development u.s. presence in that joe biden's team is considering punishing russia

a suspected role in the hacking of u.s. government agencies really was the issue shape i view success to everyone who defense of our people from external and internal threats defense of identity and the national interest and from whom the security and availability of the modeling laws ease and vil be the main business of their entire life. south african presence around a poser is being to intervene in a violent campaign targeting foreign truck drivers at least 2 people have died i mean from johannesburg and a warning that this report does contain images of burn victims some viewers might find disturbing. 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 another on us. and

another one is the i don't know if they are you annoyed they said they mean if they come down. or been made. when i put in my leg down just someone gave me the air you want oh. oh. 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 about one has been vocal. has been vocal about . their own citizens then for a little over there would drop opportunity doesn't include in their particular country what a continent should. be given to. the citizens of that particular

kind 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 this gaping 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. 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. after almost a century a restored wetland in northeast zambia is once again home to cheetahs. 3 of the animals were relocated from south africa and released into the bungalows move wetlands cheetahs haven't been seen in the pot for decades due to poaching and loss of habitat and hope their reintroduction will help dwindling global cheetah numbers are in the around 7000 left in the wild. with al-jazeera these are our top stories a growing number of countries are banning or restricting travel from the u.k. trying to stop the spread of a more contagious strain of corona virus seen in parts of the u.k. the british government's put millions on the tough new restrictions congressional leaders in the u.s. have reached a deal $900000000000.00 in $1000.00 relief.