with. a. growing number of countries place restrictions on travelers from the u.k. over fears of a more contagious strain of the coronavirus. hello there america iowa says al jazeera live from doha also coming up. and importantly we're going to supply. in a way for every spot. u.s. congressional leaders reach a deal on a $900000000000.00 coronavirus relief package the 2nd biggest economic stimulus in u.s. history. as

a quick hack dozens of al jazeera journalists reportedly targeted in a phone attack using israeli spy ware. and a 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 poland all impose new restrictions passengers have been rushing to catch the last trains out of the u.k. on sunday before the new rules came into place measures come amid fears of it spreading to the continent as is reported one case of the new strain and someone who recently returned from the u.k. person's health minister has warned the variance strain is out of control in his country and the government has put stay at home orders in place in certain areas as

the dean 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 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 certainly 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 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 it under control in the. 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 where exactly this. 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 bob al-jazeera london doctor press some have come on as an infectious disease a specialist i'm a clinic in the us she tells us what is known about this new strain. we know that there are a couple of hotspots in the world where this chain is becoming more prevalent one is the u.k. and the other is sucking africa and what we don't know for sure is where there are

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 for sure that the virus causes more severe disease or is that the vaccine will be active against the strain i think that's the good names if we start seeing a lot of cases in people who've been vaccinated that would be a signal that perhaps this mutation has made the vaccine less effective but until we have enough people vaccinated we're not going to know that for sure i think we need to do something in these hotspots to contain the virus and the more people there are the one with the virus the harder it is to contain so a lot of lockdowns or travel restrictions i think will help slow the spread where

the benefits of the you know the risks to people of the economic fallout can this remains to be seen i think that it's worth the time being until we know i'm no more are some type of lock down some type of this tradition is a good idea. yes congressional leaders have agreed on a $900000000000.00 current pop coronavirus relief package for millions of americans extended federal funding to give himself more time to finalize the deal and prevent a government shutdown i read your castro 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 what 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 and 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 want 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 is social 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 how did you castro al-jazeera washington. israel as prime minister benjamin netanyahu is calling on all his fellow citizens to get the vaccine he was the 1st to get the dose on sunday as part of a mass inoculation campaign for the national rollout excuse 2 and a half 1000000 palestinians living in the occupied west bank and gaza are in reports from west jerusalem. idea of hope and celebration in israel as people here receive the 1st doses of the pfizer biotech vaccine. thanks government ministers hospital managers and health care workers received the job in the early hours of sunday when the fee for prime minister netanyahu was the 1st israeli to be inoculated so. it's a very big day for the state of israel we've been living for almost

a year with the most difficult pandemic that humanity has seen for the last 100 years and now is the beginning of the way out millions of vaccines will arrive in our small state it's not trivial millions more up to come and everyone needs to get vaccinated but as the vaccination program rolls out in israel millions of palestinians in the occupied west bank and gaza are waiting to hear when they'll be vaccinated the. palestinian authority says it's in talks with the world health organization and vaccine developers analysts and human rights groups say even if enough doses can be bought the palestinian authority will need international help to distribute them we know there would not be a bill if you were. alone . there and you know i think. you don't grant countries ordering c their partners their word her going to and going to there will

be secured as well. in gaza there's a record number of covert 19 cases w.h.o. is warning the health care system there may collapse israel is being asked by human rights organizations to insure all palestinians are also vaccinated in response the israeli government says it may donate doses left over after all israelis have had their us. so for now there are celebrations in israel but in the west bank and gaza there is no way of knowing when palestinians can feel the same sense of relief irene nasser al jazeera western. health ministry has approved a vaccine for emergency use against the coronavirus horrors due to receive the 1st shipments of pfizer and by anthrax vaccine early on monday recorded 143 new cases of covert 19 on sunday. spyware sold by an israeli private intelligence

firm has been used to hack the phone of dozens of al jazeera journalists that's according to sr the lab researchers at the university of toronto there's still security watchdogs as the unprecedented cyber attack is like 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 report also raises questions around the security of apple i phones but i am my colleague nic clarke spoke to bill maher exact who's the lead author of the report and a senior research fellow at the system lab at 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 special attachment and trying to avoid

clicking on them but also fording them to us so we can potentially get a copy of a 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 $36.00 targets that al jazeera are simply the tip of the iceberg of a much larger global campaign and it also raises questions as a same not least about the the parent 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 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 plugs 3 of vulnerabilities and 3 of issues and i think to apple's credit you know in iowa us 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. so i have. no brakes at trade negotiations at a crucial stage as the deadline process. and a brutal campaign against foreign truck drivers in south africa why that market says. hello there the weather looks pretty good across the middle east over the next couple of days this last settled and dry for the most part we have got but some pieces of cloud into iran pushing up towards coaxes might catch

a shower or 2 into armenia maybe into azerbaijan as well for the south is channel retrial it just wanted to show was a possibility to northern parts of saudi arabia a brisk wind blowing through the gulf lifted dust and sand but here in qatar as we go through monday it'll sorry to choose day temperatures around $23.00 degrees celsius laci dry to the south of that 11 maybe just what it is shallow is just around the southern end of the red sea and i could just bring a shower or 2 into djibouti pushing into ethiopia the church of the show us along the rift valley more heavy downpours there for a uganda pushing over towards rwanda burundi eastern parts of the democratic republic of congo are more of the same as we go on into choose a quite a few showers at this stage pushing into tanzania go somewhere to weather also leaking its way down into one golan as we go through the next day i will say that western weather coming into namibia very heavy rain here unusually wet weather and that cloud and rain that will bring possible shift flooding into central parts of

south africa. the malaysian be weaponized. throughout history a lot more from the 1st year to 10 men started fighting and developed by nation states there could be enough to reach the top. now within reach of those seeking. doesn't cause toxic substances the one with the dog and man me to visit friends on al-jazeera.

her again you're watching al-jazeera 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 in parts of the u.k. . russia leads in the u.s. have reached a deal or a $900000000000.00 over $1000.00 relief package for millions of americans this comes a shipments for the 2nd approved covert $900.00 vaccine have begun across the country . and spyware sold by an israeli private intelligence from has been used to hack the phones of dozens of al jazeera journalists the search is a system lab so the unprecedented cyber attack is likely to be an order by saudi arabia and the united arab emirates. british and european union negotiators are to continue trade talks in the belgian caps on brussels on monday past the latest deadline eks david frost as each counterpart michel barnier still have to sort out

2 issues the blocks fishing rights in bush's waters unfair competition rules for businesses the european parliament had warned it wouldn't have time to ratify any deal before the official deadline at the end of the year unless it was agreed by midnight sunday brussels time and a deal breck's it would lead to tariffs on goods crossing the border and possible shortages of some food and medicines in the u.k. as royal chalons is the latest from london that's all you just heard was another breaks a deadline whooshing past 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 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 e.u. 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 child will 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. least 100 people have been detained in the battle russian capital on sunday during antigovernment 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 small groups to make it harder for security forces to target protesters. and opposition coalition in central african republic is calling for elections to be postponed just one week before the vote for quest comes

a day after the government accused former president francois posies 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 its a meddling in its internal affairs ages of the intergovernmental 30 on development or have made dealing with the dispute a priority the block is also looking to tackle the humanitarian crisis in ethiopia's northern grey region. as more from djibouti. officials of the region organization are 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 dispute through dialogue the dispute between kenya and somalia

dominated talks of the summit and president smiling again of djibouti the ethiopian prime minister ahmet us a bit 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. possible of the african union mostafa came 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 and the to grow regional administration something that the government says it's up 100 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 in northwest nigeria it's estimated output in the area has dropped by as much as 60 percent interest reports from katsina where hundreds of people including schoolchildren have recently been abducted. in northwestern nigeria where i'm to bend it's room free most barrios 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 does the loss among our farmers that cannot access their farms the loss of what you booze the loss of cotton the lows mills of level who people who cannot accept their farms the quantum is imagine it has negatively effect 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 band it underlines the worsening security situation in north west 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. who are about 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 just to take it to food again the insecurity the cattle herders association says nearly every member has had some animal story. yeah 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 green 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 demanding a response security experts say more than 40 organizations are targeted including several government agencies and say it could take months to unravel your sect your state my pompei is that it was pretty clear russia was behind the attack something muska has denied president donald treat 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 severe and

defensive and 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 south african presence around the president is being urged to intervene in a violent campaign targeting foreign truck drivers at least 2 people have died more from johannesburg and a warning just report does contain images of burn victims that some viewers might find disturbing collins my sequel mia was on a routine to live a very 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 and he come up to the guy come out and out on us go to

a wedding a gun and i wonder if he had any fear are you and what is a day i mean if you come down. a plane may go. when i put in my leg down just someone gave me are you 10. 0. 0. 0 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 what one has been vocal. has been vocal about . of their own citizens then for a little over an hour with drop of water that doesn't include in their particular country the continent should. 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 a 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 such violence that 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 1 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. a ceremony has been held in lebanon's capsule to remember

those killed in the august 4th explosion people released land. that night in a suburb close to the site of the blast hundreds of people were killed and thousands left injured after the explosion. 'd there 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 and parts of the country and precious governments put millions under tough new restrictions congressional leaders in the u.s. a reached a deal over $900000000000.00 covert 19 relief package for millions of americans this comes as shipments for the 2nd approved covert 1000 vaccine have begun across the country i did hear castro has more from.