travel chaos in southern england as france closes its border of a fear as if a coronavirus train set to be out of control dozens of countries have banned flights from the u.k. . for watching i'll just 0 buy from a headquarters in doha i'm doubting obligato also coming up the turmoil comes as the european union is on the verge of giving its 1st approval to a coronavirus vaccine on the other side of the world south korea puts profits population under increased restrictions as the country battles

a surge in cases there and they celeste still treat for stargazer as the planets jupiter and saturn make their closest alignment in centuries. thanks for joining us more countries are shutting their doors to the u.k. due to a mutated strain of corona virus that's been identified there british scientists say the strain is more contained just than previous ones ovo it's not believed to be more deadly but that didn't stop governments around the world from taking swift action in response to the news russia india and hong kong are the latest to join the growing list of nations banning flights from the u.k. their move came after some of britain's closest allies including germany italy and france imposed similar bans saudi arabia oman and kuwait went even further suspending all international flights not just those 2 and from the u.k.

well these border closures mean trading across the u.k. has effectively ground to a halt trucks carrying essential goods to and from mainland europe are stuck and that's because ferry ports are shots and tunnels won't let them through one of the u.k.'s biggest supermarket chains is warning that if this continues they may run out of food to sell especially items with a short shelf life. now concerns over the mutated strain also say european stocks tumbling when markets opened on monday wiping billions of dollars in value from british companies all this comes as the u.k. teeters on the edge of a no deal breck's it with less than 10 days left for both sides to reach a trade agreement so we have correspondents covering the story for us we have alan fischer who will join us from the white house for an update on the u.s. government's $900000000000.00 relief package in a moment and step process is in amsterdam to bring you the latest on the in use race for vaccines but 1st we'll bring in a said big who's standing by for us in london with just an update on what's going

on there as downing street is saying about all of this well so far around 30 countries have stopped have stopped u.k. arrivals into their countries because of this new variant now we understand british prime minister blair is johnson movie chairing those chairing a cobra meeting now that's a high level decision making meeting that takes place at a time of a crisis the government has said that people should carry on shopping as normal because the office of panic buying current as you said there have been warning of warnings from one of the leading supermarket chains here but we are seeing those queues at the border there is no doubt we're doing will travel currently taking place and there is a considerable fear that the health secretary has said that this new variant is out of control further increasing fears inside of the u.k. and outside that this new variant was 1st spotted in early september and now all of

this is taking place this increased number of infections yesterday it was over 35000 that's almost double of what it was 7 days previously and all of this is taking place as that bret's deadline looms at the end of this year where the united kingdom hasn't yet reached a deal with the european union all right thank you very much for that update from london. stuyvesant is joining us now from amsterdam standing right outside the european medicines agency where we expect the agency to give europe the green light to start inoculation soon because you're a very worried about the new strain staff. absolutely and they actually just did get a green light just a few minutes ago the european medicine agency that's holding a presser here in this building announced that they have conditionally authorized the use of the biotech 5 vaccine for the whole of europe the european union for

450000000 people who have been eagerly waiting for this approval after the u.k. the u.s. and canada and other countries started vaccinating already so now all these hundreds of millions of people who have been waiting they can they can be vaccinated very soon now because this approval was needed for the european union 2 days from now if this approval as well authorization to be used in 27 member states and countries like germany and france have announced that they will start as soon as next sunday already or the contras like the netherlands have to infrastructure not in order yet they will have to wait a little longer around 2 weeks from now but there will be some kind of corrugated action response to have this vaccination as smooth as possible throughout the european union where in the 2nd wave of infections now many people have died the

largest number of infections was counted yesterday here in the netherlands so it's a very difficult situation for many people here with a lot of a lot about to go in on so people were eager to have to serve facts but there's also a lot of 1st captive says i'm many people in europe are also hasn't been to be vaccinated that's why they want to wait for this proper as they call it a robust. approval also based on more evidence they say that the u.k. proved previously did so now they want to reassure everyone everyone here in europe that it's safe enough to use ok step thank you for bringing us that update from amsterdam and i was just mentioning a moment ago that congressional leaders over in the u.s. have reached a deal on a $900000000000.00 over $1000.00 relief package for millions of americans so what they did is they extended federal funding to give themselves more time to finalize the deal and prevent a government shutdown let's get an update on fisher's joining us from the white

house so what exactly does all this mean allan who gets what. well it's taken them 9 months to get to this point i think both sides realize that it would look really bad if they brought for the summit the christmas holiday and they hadn't reached a deal the democrats didn't get as much as they wanted the republicans appearing more than than they wanted so i suppose it's bad politics good politics that both sides didn't get exactly what they want for the average family. under $70000.00 a year they'll be $600.00 for each grown up and also for any dependents so if you're a family of 4 you're looking at $2400.00 there's protection for small businesses they'll be able to pay some of their employees there's some support for the transport and hospitality industry there's $20000000000.00 for vaccinations so if you can't afford to get vaccinated against covert the money will be there there's also 20 dollars 20000000000 dollars for testing for covert as well how

is this going to play out well the house will meet in the next few hours and decide whether or not they approve that it's almost certainly going to go through and then it goes to the senate now if everyone in the senate agrees immediately there can be approval within a couple of hours so this could be a done deal by the end of the day if a couple of senators decided to lodge objections for whatever reason then mitch mcconnell who's the leader of the republicans in the senate has to start a few procedural motions and that means it could take a couple of days before this happens but if approval is given donald trump we are told is going to sign it almost immediately and that would mean the 1st checks going out probably in a couple of weeks so not immediate relief for the christmas vacation but certainly good news for the new year as for joe biden president elect he says this is just the start and this is something that he will address on his 1st stay in the office

that of course would be the 20th of january next year all right allan thank you very much for that update from just outside the white house. well dr joy and tang is a critic of our ologist at the university of leicester in the u.k. and he explains what we know about the mutated strain off the virus we think this virus is mostly spread by airborne methods by talking breathing the same air as an infected person so for example if you know i can smell your garlic breath after lunch and i'm inhaling your viruses well. but this virus may be insured for longer high of our loads in the same way by infected people with this mutant virus so what happens is that instead of infecting one or 2 people when you're talking or breathing near them infecting 3 or 4 ok so this seems to be how the process spreading further and faster because it's not spreading a different way it's just as more of it spreading to more people who are nearby it

seems we know different in terms of the chemicals versus illness not so far anyway we've known about this strain since about september and we're not seeing more severe cases associated with this strain reported so far and also in terms of the vaccine response we're not seeing a major change in the spike protein to negates or neutralize any vaccine effectiveness and also the vaccine trials have been done with this strain circulating over the past several months so we don't worry too much about the vaccine effectiveness. in south korea the capital seoul and its neighboring provinces the toughest restrictions yet have been introduced to try to contain a surging corona virus infections country is battling a 3rd wave of the virus with around a 1000 new cases every day rob mcbride reports from seoul. the new restrictions will limit private gatherings to just 4 people and they're being introduced ahead

of the year end holiday season how do you know to know we will not be able to overcome the crisis unless we reduce cluster infections being spread through private gatherings of family members colleagues and friends often praised for its handling of the corona virus the government is worried about pandemic fatigue setting in unlike previous waves which were concentrated in specific areas or groups this is happening across the country with hospitals becoming stretched and. at the moment our medical response in providing extra beds and assigning patients efficiently it's a slow compared to the increasing numbers of patients we are dealing with temporary centers of also been set up offering free testing which tens of thousands of people have taken up being increased testing has been running for a week and is due to go on into the new year it's already turned up several 100 people who didn't know they were infected and didn't have

a connection with any known cases it's hoped these measures will avoid a complete shutdown of businesses with the government's vaccination campaign not starting until the spring that time table decided upon when the infection rate was much lower now being widely criticized the bride al-jazeera sole. still ahead on al-jazeera 0 quick hack dozens of al jazeera journalists reportedly targeted in a phone attack using sophisticated spy ware. a dangerous business why owners of liquor stores in iraq are living in fear. there's loads of snow on the ground as you know in japan but it's stopped falling the wind has edged office change direction if anything you'll get

a risk for avalanche because the rain showers allowed to come in and temperatures are rising stars cause it was in the northeast of china nor indeed in central china where the sun has come out further south not quite the same with a tilt in this general flow you've got more than on shore breeze for sudden charo which means hong kong's weather won't be as good as you might like 3 days of cloudy weather some sunshine coming out by the end of the week now if you want to see of course jupiter and saturn tonight you want clear skies they won't be everywhere as they certainly not be very much visible in malaysia and indonesia and this massive cloud here the tropical depression giving flood risk likely floods really for vietnam both the east and the south it will disperse of the next day or so the same story exists in northern india and northern pakistan that should be persistent fog now which means it gets pretty cold never really will mess up by day that says briefly 21 degrees in very nicely we're down to 6 to 7 so if you live on the

streets it is cold and there's no real change the next day or so the focus of the delhi confirms much to say 3 days of fog. that candace processed an arab spring swept through countries across the middle east and north africa in a series of interviews we explore the legacy of a revolution that changed the political landscape of the region tunisia's former president months at masuk discusses the arab spring 10 years. if you want to help save the world. isn't hero. the.

hello again the top stories on al-jazeera european nations have been meeting to establish a health protocol around covert testing so that freight can resume moving in and out of the u.k. a growing number of countries are closing their border to the u.k. due to a beauty to strain a corona virus that's been identified there. the european union has just approved its 1st corona virus vaccine developed by pfizer biotech and factions are climbing rapidly in parts of the continent european medicines agency says ensuring vaccine safety has been its number one priority. south korea's capital has imposed tough new coronavirus measures as it struggles to contain a rise in new infections gatherings of more than 4 people are banned and soul into neighboring regions hospital capacity for critical cases is to be doubled by the

end of the year. more now on the growing difficulties the border closures have caused in southern england were a challenge has the latest from dover. it's normally one of if not the busiest ports in the united kingdom with ships leaving all the time to cross the channel to in france and what can you see behind me nothing that is a completely swept and desolate landscape or seascape behind me. let's have a little sit rep of where we are you know in the united kingdom in the moment christmas is effectively being cancelled for millions of people london and the southeast is cut off from the rest of the country we have the country itself isolated from much of the world with all these travel bans and we have little way to go till christmas and about 9 or 10 days till the end of the brics a transition period this chaos that we're seeing now is basically

a foretaste of what might come in just a few days time here for the u.k. cannot reach a deal with its european partners at the moment we've got trucks that are backed up all along the motorways out of dover another channel ports the government has commandeered a fields where $4000.00 trucks can be laid out while they wait for the situations it clear grant shapps the transport secretary says that there is not an acute problem in terms of food and medicines getting into the country but certainly this is something that the government wants to finish as quickly as possible a round of unofficial talks to discuss the future of the 2050 and iran nuclear deal has wrapped up a virtual meeting involves foreign ministers from iran russia china germany and the u.k. and the e.u. there is a jabari has more from to her on. the foreign ministers met virtually and held the meeting for just over an hour this is the 1st time that the remaining signatories

to the nuclear agreement of 2015 that their foreign ministers have met since september of 2018 there's a lot to discuss since the united states withdrew from the deal in may of 2013 and since iran started reducing its compliance to the nuclear agreement the communique that was issued after this meeting as stated that all parties remain committed to it and they want to do everything they can to preserve it and that they are open and remain positive to the possibility of the united states returning to the nuclear agreement there is hope that the incoming biden administration will return to this deal but as the director of the i stated last week raphael grossi has said that to expect the u.s. to just return to the 2015 nuclear deal to go back to square one would be unrealistic because square one does not exist anymore the reality on the ground both in iran's nuclear program and in the region is very different now than it was

in 2015 he suggested that it needs to be an agreement within an agreement to try and facilitate how all parties could go back to that deal iran for its part has said that they will not renegotiate the steel the parliament has passed a law saying that they will give a grace period of 2 months until at early february for the parties remaining parties of the deal to lift some of the sanctions other was iran will go ahead and reduce its compliance to the eye and also increase its enrichment to 20 percent for now there is some hope and indications that the u.s. administration of president elect joe biden will return to this deal and there is preparations being ongoing for that possibility there's also a bi annual meeting at the united nations security council on choose they were they will. compliance to the nuclear deal all parties maintain that they're committed to

preserving this seal spyware sold by an israeli private intelligence firm has been used to hack the phones of dozens of al jazeera journalists that's according to citizen lab researchers at the university of toronto feeds it so security watchdog says the unprecedented 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 servers to the mishap and is an al-jazeera investigative journalist he explained that with the help of citizen lab his team began monitoring their phones after receiving threats. this hacking just came after we published a story in july an interest again in a program on the story of the we'll known indian investor and businessman be our city who has who was from you after a scandal there in this investigation we called marty official barty's and none of

these are from this phone to give them the right of blood on our interest to get the story and the other interesting point in this that it has been hurt by a technique and the spy work we'll known by word is called biggest technique 0 click because through the timing of observing and tracking our phone we didn't to click on any suspicious link but by this technique you don't need to click on any suspicious link they managed to hurt our phones by a 0 click technique based on the citizen love investigation and their searches we discovered the same technique and the same by word has been used to hurt and on the other 36 colleagues in the network so it was a come bin and it was a different ways of hurting and different targets and different numbers and phones

in iraq the government is about investigating a rise in attacks on shops selling alcohol in the capital baghdad at least one person has been killed and christians say they are being targeted and are calling for better protection charles strafford reports from baghdad. he works in this small liquor store in central baghdad every month he sends the money he earns to his family of tame who live near mosul in northern iraq but every day he lives in fear in recent weeks many shops selling alcohol in the capital have been targeted in bomb attacks and one shop owner was shot dead in a drive by shooting. this mobile phone footage reportedly shows a group of men ran a 2nd a store in baghdad no one has claimed responsibility for any of the attacks and no one has been brought to justice and let live later this everyone's afraid we don't know who's committing these attacks customers are scared to come to the shop and

this is the only source of money for me and my family. the same in consumption of alcohol is not illegal in iraq but shops like these which are popular with the christian and easy communities and secular muslims who drink alcohol need a special license the consumption of alcohol in public is illegal in this muslim majority country but its availability is seen by many as a testament to iraq's tolerance toward his ethnic and religious minorities there are signs that may be changing this man who's a christian but didn't want to be identified tells us no one was injured when a booby trapped hand grenade exploded at the entrance to his shop we respect all the religions and sinks in iraq he tells me why can't we be respected to the police say that they are investigating the attacks but they have closed many shops like this one which they say were operating without the necessary license in order to

sell alcohol. it's fair to say though that the attacks of caused an increasing resentment especially among the religious minority communities in baghdad. the owner is christian he has been threatened many times people from certain political parties have extorted money from him for keeping our eyes on the road in case they place bombs but there is little security on the streets they have been small protests by youth groups against the sale of alcohol in baghdad but many analysts are concerned about iran's growing influence in iraq and they believe those responsible for the attacks may be supported by powerful iran backed groups that they say are increasingly dominating iraq's security and political infrastructure and they are looking to put pressure on the iraqi prime minister the idea. these attacks are aimed at making me look weak in front of political opposition that have big funding and powerful media behind them especially before

the election next year they want to show that the prime minister and government are failing in their security measures. he says many have his fellow drink shop owners are too afraid to open their businesses he has no idea why the attack started or when they will stop. baghdad stargazers are being treated to a once in a lifetime celestial event as jupiter and saturn make their closest alignment since the 17th century the 2 largest planets in our solar system have been inching closer together since september culminating in what's known as the great conjunction while they do pass one another every 20 years as they circle the sun jupiter and saturn haven't been this closely aligned in the night sky for centuries tony chang isn't chechen young. people have been watching the events at the 2nd largest observatory in thailand. for the 1st time if you look to the southwest it should be seen in

most places around the globe if you look up to the southwest about a 15 degree angle you can see with the naked eye the way the 2 planets coming together and they appear as one star the last time this happened was in 1623 but astronomers think that this may be what is referred to in the bible as the star of bethlehem or the or the christmas star because of an occurrence in 7 b.c. astronomers we went out with yesterday in bangkok were getting very excited we were able to see it with the naked eye but you get a much better view looking through a telescope and you they were saying i couldn't actually see it myself that you could see the rings of saturn but it is as you say it's not just a once in a lifetime occasion it's once in 7 lifetimes the next time is it's going to be as bright as this is in 400 years so if you get a chance head out into the night and see if you can spot it with

a pandemic is making enter a bad situation worse than brazil slams a made record unemployment levels and the recession people who are already poor are growing increasingly desperate yet as monica yant cab reports an activist in rio de janeiro's favelas is ensuring that hundreds of children still get to celebrate christmas. in the middle of the couvade 19 pandemic when parks were closed locals in rio de janeiro started looking for he trails far from the from the beaches. he discovered mountain paths overlooking some of real's most breathtaking sights. the entry to the forest is to the bobby moore in a slum named after the lost drinking gardens of the ancient city of not alone. activist. sub this is an opportunity to help people living you're facing poverty

recession and record 14 percent unemployment ok look in the phone join. when hundreds of people suddenly started showing up looking for our secluded trails we decided to train local guides to steer visitors from then it's not just about getting lost it's about taking the wrong way and walking into a shoe talk between drug dealers fighting for territory. now i didn't lose hope in santa claus find his way to the neighborhood giving 200 children the chance of celebrating a christmas their families cannot afford. like many years sabrina lost her job during the pandemic she says she's lucky to be working as a guide for a booming slum tour business and also as one of his santa's helpers that have been handed over the size unemployment there's inflation prices of stable goods have doubled or tripled we have to fight a new battle each day. sponsors helped by the food in presence the children were

divided in 3 color coded groups to avoid overcrowding but keeping them socially distant proved to be almost impossible to get up we almost canceled the party but then thought it over in the midst of so much death and misery is a chance for young ones to celebrate life. is she in the used to work in a restaurant by the beach which has reopened but she's staying at home because her one year old son has chronic bronchitis her only source of income is the government's monthly 60 dollars financially and that will probably end long before the vaccine arrives when i can make money from it if the government cancels the handouts at the end of the year i'll have no choice but to get a job any job no matter the risk brazil has the world's 2nd largest number of kuvin 1000. laded dense and fictions are once again spiky especially in rio de janeiro people year say they hold the vaccine will reach the babilonia slum before next

year's christmas but they're also realistic they say pharmaceutical companies are much like santa claus will start distributing vaccines in the richer countries of the north and take a very long time before reaching the point neighborhoods of south america. and knock you have all just sirrah rio de janeiro. all over again the headlines on al-jazeera the european union has just approved its 1st corona virus vaccine developed by pfizer bio and tech infections are climbing rapidly in parts of the continents. just a few minutes ago the european medicine agency that's holding a presser here in this building.