al jazeera. we're. shutting the door on britain more countries close their borders to try to stop a new variant of the virus but the u.k. economy is set to suffer to an international friends and partners i want to say very frankly that we understand your concern. and our intelligence is out is there a live from london also coming up europe approves use of the pfizer vaccine the 1st doses could be given in a matter of days. elitist very very clearly u.s.

president elect joe biden gets the vaccine as congress prepares to vote on a $900000000000.00 bill for economic health. and a rare celestial event the 2 largest planets in our solar system make their closest pass in 400 years. under a new and more contagious variant of corona virus that spreading across the united kingdom has now seen the country cut off from much of the rest of the world it comes as the e use medicines regulator approved the pfizer by vaccine for use across the 27 member states where the 1st dose is set to be given out on sunday the u.s. president elect joe biden has shown his support for the coronavirus vaccine getting his shot live on television on monday congress is now debating a $900000000000.00 stimulus package meanwhile south korea has banned gatherings of

more than 4 people in the capital seoul as the government tries to control what is described as an explosive surge in infections and back here in the u.k. prime minister boris johnson says about half a 1000000 people have now been vaccinated but 25 of the 27 e.u. nations have introduced travel bans from the u.k. johnston saying he's working with france to resolve the border closures are so big reports. here's a few chore to just prompted many to stock up on supplies. u.k. flights banned from dozens of countries. but prime minister barak's johnson is trying to reassure everyone that everything is under control hoping to have the situation resolved after speak to france's president emmanuel mcraney it's very very important. not just for the peoples of iraq but it's also totally realistic we have every reason to be extremely hopeful about this country's ability to bounce

back next year from. yet outside on the streets on the borders is a very different picture anything to be hopeful about britain has never faced such a challenge the announcement by the government of a new more transmissible strain of the covert virus has concerned france europe and many other countries the new variant was identified in the u.k. in september and by last week it accounted for more than 60 percent of coverage 1000 cases in london thought to be about 40 to 70 percent more transmissible but scientists say it doesn't appear to be more deadly and there's no evidence to suggest that the new vaccine will be less effective against it variants of the virus have also been identified in spain belgium a strain here italy the netherlands and south africa instead of infecting one or 2 people when you're talking or breathing near the lab infecting 3 or 4 ok so this seems to be how the process spreading further and faster it's just it's not

spreading a different way it's just as more of spreading to more people who are. johnson says he hopes to transport issues will be resolved soon and he's working with his european partners to find a solution yet there are only 10 days left for the u.k. deadline to leave europe totally this still no trade deal the disruption the u.k. is experiencing now a possible a prelude of what's to come if they leave europe without a deal said big al-jazeera london. the restrictions brought in by france in particular have brought much of the u.k.'s cargo trade to a halt hundreds of trucks carrying essential goods and produce and are stranded at close to ferry ports and tunnels are a challenge for some data. the cold waters of the english channel have rarely seen more of a barrier. is usually one of the busiest ports in the world but the u.k. is now cut off from much of its country scared by the u.k.'s infectious new coded

strain have imposed travel bans france has also banned the transport of accompanied freight this is the result kilometer after kilometer of stranded lorries and drivers not knowing when they'll make it home i have 3 children and wife. and they need me to cram for christmas christmas in poland is a very special holiday that's. fine for the region and. for the chanel. it's. for polish people it's very hard to be away on christmas. so this situation. caused me. very hard on the day of the sea front a line of vans with rumanians not knowing when they'll make it home we've been waiting on that we don't have in all one need to spin one you know one things like

that we want because we wait and we sleeping in the car you know we want everybody to be war right for the british this compounds the sense of unease already brought on by tough new coronavirus restrictions and the effect of cancellation of family christmas celebrations for millions in recent memory the u.k. has never felt so isolated sided lonely so rats and mice with people cut off from each other and now with a new travel ban. people cut off from much of the rest of the world and this is perhaps just a small force a story of what might be coming if the united kingdom cannot reach a deal with its european partners by the end of the year the government says food and medicine supplies are sufficient for now but there are warnings from the food industry that some fresh products might run out in days of good stone start moving again soon or italians al-jazeera over. e.u.

member states are preparing to roll out the fires or biotech coronavirus vaccine after it was given the green light by regulators approval by the european medicines agency for similar moves by both britain and the us countries including france germany and italy say they'll begin mass vaccinations as soon as sunday we know a lot more about this disease now than we knew 10 months ago even more than we knew to 3 months ago but we're still there is still new information coming in and this needs to be fully assess vaccines alone will not be the silver bullet that will allow us to return to normal life but the authorization of this 1st vaccine is definitely a major step in the right direction and an indication that 2021 can be brighter than 20001000 20 steps boston has more from amsterdam on how the vaccination program will work. there was

a lot of pressure for the 450000000 people here in the european union to get this fact seen as soon as possible but despite the pressure on this by the fact that they actually moved this meeting 8 days forward on the pressure from germany they sat the whole the station was based on science there was no political considerations that's why all the 27 member states have waited for this approval what happens next is that in the next few days possibly by wednesday there will be this so-called marketing authorization coming from the european commission which means that the rollout can start then the fact scene will travel to all the countries in the european union but some are way ahead of us in the appropriateness of for example germany has put up these large vaccination times already they want to start on sunday already france has the same planning but other countries like the netherlands they don't have to infrastructure nor are there i in order because this needs to be properly prepared everyone needs to vaccine so everyone needs to

be registered and followed very carefully so it needs a lot of for preparations and some countries templi haven't done that yet so it will be a huge operation 1st the medical personnel will be inoculated that elderly people that's something a common strategy here in the whole of europe the lot of people like the healthy people will only be inoculated probably only by may june july so this whole operation will would at least take my 8 months or even more. u.s. president elect joe biden has received his 1st. coronavirus vaccine he joins a growing list of high profile figures being vaccinated publicly in an effort to develop public confidence he says he wants to see at least 100000000 vaccine doses given during the 1st 100 days of his administration. i'm doing this to demonstrate that people should be prepared when it's available 'd to take the vaccine there's

nothing to worry about i'm looking forward to the 2nd start so we still see senators really good day and i hope people listen to all the experts and the doctor from t.'s are talking about the need to wear a morass during this christmas and new year's holidays were mass socially distance . and if you don't have to travel don't travel one of the most visible faces of the white house current arse response has been criticized for breaking her own guidance dr deborah burke's travel to have a cation property with members of her family from 2 other households on the day after thanksgiving she advised americans to remain vigilant and celebrate the holiday only within their immediate households she insists the visit to her property was to prepare it for sale not to celebrate thanksgiving. for millions of americans could start receiving pandemic relief payments from the beginning of next week it's off to congressional leaders approved

a $900000000000.00 relief bill but it still needs to be voted on how does your custer joins us live from washington d.c. so any obstacles for that moment money to to get through. or and not so much as off cycles just lots and lots of reading right now for the members of congress this bill is enormous it is more than $5000.00 pages long and it is chock full of items not only the code relief which were of course focused on but also all of these items that were kind of put off until the last minute because of the inaction of this congress the inability to compromise and get anything done until now and it's lame duck session so what we're looking at now are members of congress trying to get through this process the house of representatives is scheduled to begin taking procedural votes this hour however the final vote may be for a couple more hours to come that it moves on to the senate and in total we have

just under 7 hours for congress to meet its deadline which is big night here in washington that's when the government would shut down on top of all this if those votes were not finalized by then but at this point it's looking like the they will happen at all just maybe the very last minute and when it does happen it will be some $900000000000.00 worth of economic aid as part of the coronavirus element americans most americans receiving direct payments of $600.00 with those checks showing up possibly by the beginning of next week says the secretary of the treasury department of course there's also going to be economic rather there's going to be unemployment benefits that are extended and help with the rental assistance as well as food assistance all much needed elements that americans suffering economically from this pandemic very much are waiting for. as you say that a lot of it has been

a long wait to get to this point how desperate are big people become to get some help. regolith you look at the numbers researchers are estimating some 8000000 people in the united states have fallen into poverty just since may due to this pandemic there are surveys that show about half of all small business owners in the united states say that if they continue as they are they will shatter permanently within the year and we are looking at deadlines you know that there is the deadline tonight for the federal government to remain open and there's on the at the end of the year that's when unemployment benefits would run out the moratorium would end until this piece of legislation gets both chambers to vote yes and gets the what the president's signature so so much at stake at the moment with only less than 7 hours to make this all happen lauren outage of pressure thank you very much still to come on honors era south korea's explosive

coronavirus surge the drastic action being taken to prevent its health system collapsing. and returning to the table parties to the iran nuclear do you get ready to welcome back the biden led united states. well we've gone past the solstice officially in summer so it should be warm and sunny shouldn't it well this is a particularly wet summer i have to say for australia with wet weather all way from the kimberley down through the middle is out of springs for you widespread shallow flooding and then towards the bottom right hand corner now the december rain average is only $38.00 millimeters so it's not a wet place obviously we've had 46 so far and there is more to come significant

showers in lighty be reading through northern territory going offshore in new south wales sydney sees the sun return for that circulation induces no i'm sure wind with cloud and ray from melbourne a disappointing summer so far for victoria so melbourne the back 18 degrees or so in the forecast alice springs gives you showers on tuesday wednesday and thursday temperatures well below the average that he falls with and about 22 members also below average that's the same extreme but i say that is disappointing 3 days of thunderstorms or showers and probably quite breezy with it now let me take you through wednesday where new south wales sees the sunshine come out melbourne sees it return but look at the curry in perth with a breeze out the interior up to pretty help 39 that's well above the average. an award winning investigation i mean

a worker's room right behind the passing factory when we operate for less and we buy for less we can pass those savings on your customers into the supply chains that produce cheap clothing. with little regard for workers' lives the remains of the fire are still everywhere rewinds made in bangladesh on al-jazeera. who. are among the top stories your knowledge is era the u.k. is being increasingly cut off from the rest of the world over highly contagious variant of the corona virus spreading here

a growing list of countries of impose travel bans or restrictions including almost all of the. e.u. member states a preferred to roll out the pfizer biotech coronavirus vaccine after it was given the green light by regulators countries including germany austria and italy say they'll begin inoculations as soon as sunday. means americans could start receiving pandemic relief payments from the beginning of next week congressional leaders have proved a $900000000000.00 stimulus package and it's expected to be voted on by the house shortly. tough new restrictions are being imposed in the south korean capital seoul and neighboring provinces to try to contain a surge in coronavirus cases gatherings of more than 400 poor people should say have been banned over the end of year holiday period health officials say the country is in the middle of it 3rd wave of the virus with about a 1000 new cases per day brian reports. 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 surge 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 have 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. got us 1st shipment of the pfizer biotech coronavirus vaccine has arrived in the capital doha ready for distribution the elderly those with chronic illnesses and front line workers will be 1st in line once the roll out begins it's being described as the latest vaccination the largest vaccination program ever delivered in the country. so far. away the 1st bunch of shipment has arrived in the state of qatar as manufactured by pfizer beyond take into hammad international airport is the 1st of a series of shipments that were following the coming weeks and months the 1st

branch will be administered to senior citizens and people with chronic and acute diseases and front line workers fighting a pandemic this will also include workers in hourly homes and other facilities the u.a.e. is defacto ruler and a private bank in luxemburg have been accused of trying to plot carter's economic downfall bloomberg news says it seen emails documents and legal filings between. and bank havilland it suggests a plan to attack carter's financial markets including depleting its foreign exchange reserves it was reportedly hatched shortly after the u.a.e. saudi arabia egypt and bahrain imposed a blockade on catarrh bank havilland denies the allegations the remaining parties to the iran nuclear deal say they're preparing for the us to join them under president elect joe biden in a virtual meeting the remaining signatories committed to work towards full implementation the deal to lift sanctions in exchange for limits to iran's nuclear

program unraveled in 2018 after donald trump withdrew the u.s. incoming president joe biden says he will rejoin if iran resumes strict compliance with the strawberry has more from the iranian capital tehran. 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 was true 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 and there is preparations be ongoing for that possibility there's also a bi annual meeting at the united nations security council on choose they were they will discuss compliance to the nuclear deal all parties maintain that they are committed to preserving this deal russia has voiced concerns about the unfolding political unrest in central african republic violence has escalated in the capital bunky ahead of we can do that actions rebels backed by former president fox were busy or accused of attempting to stage a coup ca our government says russia and rwanda have sent in hundreds of troops with russia providing military support to the former french colony since 2018. doctors in kenya have joined other public health care workers in a nationwide strike they want better protection and more effective equipment for treating the coronavirus nurses and other health care workers began protesting earlier this month saying they won't stop until their demands are met but the

government warns they'll be sacked if they don't return to work. 32 years after a bomb brought down a jet over the scottish town of lockerbie the u.s. justice department has charged a new suspect. mohammed massoud is accused of making the bomb that blew up the pan american plane in 198-8270 people were killed most of them americans the u.s. is requesting masood be extradited from libya where he lives the united states has filed criminal charges against the 3rd conspirator. masood kier karim for his role in the bombing of pan am flight one o 3 but there be no mistake no amount of time or distance will stop the united states and our scottish partners from pursuing justice in this case 2 men have been found guilty of the deaths of 39 vietnamese migrants whose bodies were

found in the back of a lorry near london last year but the driver and a man described as the smuggling gangs ring leader were convicted of manslaughter the vietnamese men women and children suffocated in the sealed container as they were being smuggled into britain. denmark has banned the breeding of mink until 2022 because of a mutated form of the corona virus found on farms last month the country's entire population was killed after the disease was transmitted to humans and as poor a strip or some denmark the impact on farmers could last longer than the ban. prices up what's likely to be one of the last shipments of mink pelts to leave the farm his father started nearly 40 years ago the rest of their herds are among the millions of minks that the danish government ordered to be slaughtered after a mutation of covert $900.00 was found in the animals it could mean the country's

main industry the largest in the world disappears altogether and. it's a parliament i mean lots of farming is a lot of stuff they made in march you get kids in april and then you watch them grow and get this beautiful fur here that's hard for me to live without but i'll have to learn it. farmers began the color of the country's $17000000.00 strong mink population last month when a strain of corona virus called cluster 5 spread from the animals to humans they were told to continue even when it was found that the mutation had probably died out weeks earlier about the government had lacked the legal authority to order the cole in the 1st place 2 months ago this farm had more than 25000 minks housed in these buildings now like in more than a 1000 other farms across denmark it's totally. on monday the government finally passed its order into law and the banned mink farming until december 2021 but address and peta say it's already too late to save the industry which until now

accounted for 40 percent of the world's milk production denmark's mink was also the most expensive bringing in an estimated $1000000000.00 a year i don't see any future forming farming in denmark because all the dead now of course. saying that. means that we don't have this industry anymore. what will have been happen is that. this industry will move. china. russia where they don't have this organization as we have in europe that's already seems to be happening with chinese make pharma saying they are ramping up production to take advantage of a surge in milk prices caused by the danish crisis animal welfare groups don't believe that's a reason to protect the industry if. it oduya some. posters that live completely alone in the church with

a large territory it's not ok for minks to live in poor conditions here just because they could be worse off somewhere else you don't think there should be minks in denmark. the crisis that the danes have labeled the mink saga doesn't and some of the animals buried in mass graves after the cold started have risen to the surface due to the. effects of decomposition the dog 30 spirit ground water and lakes could have been contaminated by the rotting bodies as a commission looks into the handling of the affair farmers are demanding up to $4000000000.00 in compensation saying that businesses were buried along with the minkes paul reese al-jazeera jutland denmark. stargazers are being treated to a once in a lifetime celestial event as jupiter and saturn make their closest alignment since the 17th century or so systems to largest planets have been moving closer together since september culminating in what's known as the great conjunction tony chain joined us traumas on the outskirts of the thai capital bangkok. gathering on

a bridge on the outskirts of bangkok gazing at the sky but it's not the sunset people have come to see these amateur astronomers want to catch a glimpse of the great conjunction a celestial event that happens approximately only every 20 years. we will see very bright stars jupiter is originally very bright but when saturn is near will be even brighter together. this year have extra special the 2 planets are coming even closer together than usual the last time this happened was in $1623.00 but trying to see it is hard bangkok like most cities suffers from significant light pollution the light of the glimmering stars is blocked out by the glare of the bustling city . that's why the stargazers as they're known on social media have set up an exhibition of the stars at night as seen from thailand spectacular views and seen

by most city dwellers and concert on thinks that after the trials of 2020 there may be a message written in the skies that we have suffered sadness distress worry and tension from current virus since the beginning of the year but at the end of this year we look up and see a bright sky and it will give us hope that can keep us moving forward astronomers believe that the star of bethlehem or christmas star is actually the great conjunction that occurred in the year 7 b.c. and when it was last this bright galileo the man considered to be the father of astronomy was still alive although he makes no record of having seen it but for the astronomers of today it presents a unique opportunity. this time the great conjunction happened true or 3 months after saturn and jupiter came close to the earth so that makes them look brighter you'll be able to see the great conjunction until the night of the 23rd and if you

miss it it will come around again in 2040 if you want to see this. right we're going to have to wait another 400 years with everyone on this planet trying to stay socially distant because of coronavirus other planets are managing to get closer together tony al-jazeera church on sun thailand. or one of the top stories on to syria the u.k. is being increasingly cut off from the rest of the world over highly contagious variant of the corona virus spreading here a growing list of countries have imposed travel bans or restrictions including almost all of the e.u. british prime minister paris johnson says he's working with the french president to resume cross border freight travel which has also been blocked it's britain 1st to stress these delays which are only occurring.