this is not religion this is a politic. an unholy alliance on al-jazeera. facing isolation more countries shut their borders to the u.k. over fears of a new tainted strain of covert 19. this situation. caused me. to car closures are causing havoc for cargo transportation leaving trucks and drivers stranded closed all. this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up. you disclosed. us president elect joe biden receives

a coronavirus vaccine as politicians prepared to vote on a massive new economic relief package. rwanda sent troops to central african republic amid an increase in violence ahead of this week's election. stargazers looked to the skies as our solar systems to the biggest planets form the rest of us do nothing. so we begin with the coronavirus pandemic and a growing number of countries are shutting their borders to flights and travelers from the u.k. more than 40 countries have imposed restrictions on growing concerns over and you take the strain of the virus british government has moved to reassure its citizens it is working to ensure freights including food supplies will not be affected as a bank has more now from london. fears a few chill to just prompting many to stock up on supplies u.k. flights banned from dozens of countries. but prime minister bursts johnson is

trying to reassure everyone that everything is under control hoping to have the situation resolved after speak to france's president emanuel 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. get outside on the streets on the borders is a very different picture or 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 italy the netherlands and south africa instead of infecting one or 2 people when you're talking or breathing near them like infecting 3 or 4 ok so this seems to be how the russia spreading further and faster just it's not spreading a different way it's just as more of a spreading to more people who are. bice johnston says he hopes for a transport issues will be resolved soon and he's working with easier p. and partners to find a solution yet the 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 preview of what's to come if they leave europe without to deal i said baik al-jazeera london well as we just had enough his report there restrictions imposed by france in particular have brought much of the u.k.'s cargo movement to a halt trucks carrying essential goods and produce to and from france now stranded

it closed very ports and tunnels were a challenge sent us this report from dover. the cold waters of the english channel have rarely seen as more of a barrier over 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 covert 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 wife. and they may need me to cram for christmas christmas in poland is a very special holiday let's. buy into the region and. for the chanel. for polish people it's very hard to

be away on christmas. so this situation. cost me. better on the day of a sea front a line of vans with rumanians not knowing when they'll make it home we've been waiting on and we don't have the one need to spend money on things like we want because we waiting we sleeping. you know we want everybody to be 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. 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 for 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 if good stone start moving again soon rory chalons al-jazeera. u.s. president elect joe biden has received his 1st dose of the phase a buy and take coronavirus fact seen as one of a growing list of high profile people being publicly vaccinated as an effort to encourage confidence in covert 1000 vaccines biden says he wants to see at least 100000000 doses it missed during his 100 days in office 1st 100 days in office she have returned he has more now from wilmington indiana. some of them perplexed the president promised failure to take more credit for operation walk speed the project that has created several vaccines to fight coated in record time it was notable that the president elect paid tribute to the current administration as he received

his vaccine and as he attempted to act as an example for the nation that news station created its off the ground operation were. and i also think that. it's worth saying that this is a great hope doing this to demonstrate that people should be prepared 'd once vailable 'd to take the vaccine there's nothing to worry about the president elect has announced a bishop a set of targets for his 1st 100 days in office 1st he will ask all americans to moscow up for about 100 days he hopes that all schools will reopen within that 1st 100 days and he has pledged 100000000 doses of a vaccine will be administered in that 1st 100 days though that may need more money from congress for procurement and distribution about by no means guaranteed but after months of political gridlock millions of americans could start receiving pandemic relief checks beginning next week that's all to congressional leaders

reached a deal on a 900000000000 dollars cave in 1000 package to help businesses and families lawmakers are now working to finalize the text before voting on the bill and that's in the coming hours and preventing a government shutdown president told trump is expected to sign the bill into law. in washington with more on this where we at said when is the stimulus going to be proved there is a deadline approaching often wrong. yeah there is a midnight here in washington a is when the federal government would go off the fiscal cliff and there would be a shutdown but we are being assured by congressional leaders that that will not happen and they are making incremental progress toward averting that the house voting to approve some rules leading up to that final vote on this bill expected within the next couple of hours then it would be on to the senate where the similar procedure will take place that is expected to pass as well and finally to the white house for president trump is expected to sign this bill into law but with this

president you never know what you may get now but what this bill contains it's nasty of really i know we're focusing on the cool video element but this of course keeps the government running for the next fiscal year there's also many measures unrelated to cohabit unrelated to federal funding that have all been thrown in there in this lame duck session but on the scope and pace we're looking at $900000000000.00 worth of economic stimulus that's going to be in the form of direct payments to americans extending unemployment benefits helping with rental assistance food assistance things that american families are desperately needing right now there has been as you say lol lol way to get to this point just just how desperate some people how will this be. well the researchers are saying that just since may there have been more than 8000000 people in the united states who have fallen into poverty mostly due to this pandemic that is an

astronomical figure we're looking at small business owners half of whom that were surveyed said that they will close permanently if things continue as they are before the year is up we have these extended unemployment benefits that will expire at the end of the year if this law isn't signed tonight will have people who are evicted from their homes that years and as well if that moratorium is allowed to expire so everyone waiting on bated breath for this final bill to be signed into law again we are expecting that to happen but perhaps not until the 11th hour so looking at your watch here that gives us maybe 6 more hours to go when there might finally be some approval for this legislation but we'll be watching heidi thanks a lot how did your tester there in washington d.c. . now e.u. member states are preparing to road out the pfizer buying tech coronavirus right so you know if it was given the green light by regulators france germany and it's nice

say they will begin mass vaccinations as soon as sunday the european medicine agency says it's highly likely the vaccine would also work against the new variants of virus spreading in the u.k. . we know a lot more about this disease now than we knew 10 months ago even more than we knew it 3 months ago but we're still there is still new information coming in and this needs to be fully assess back seems alone will not be the silver bullet that will allow us to return to 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 cancers 1st shipment of the pfizer biotech round of 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 rollout begins it's being described as the largest vaccination program

ever launched in the country. or so for the evening. is the 1st of a series of shipments that we're following the coming weeks and months the 1st batch will be ministered to senior citizens and people with chronic and acute diseases and front line workers fighting a pandemic this will also include workers in elderly homes and other facilities still ahead here on al-jazeera returning to the table parties to the iran nuclear deal get ready to welcome back of united states. 32 years on the u.s. charges the libyan man building the bomb that brought down the pan am flight over lockerbie. we've had the extremes we're not going to see anymore we are seeing cold weather

return that there is a nose of cold air behind it on the trading frontal systems got snow from montana more especially on the canadian side the story developing in the midwest and across the lakes once more towards the northeast it. not turn into a nor'easter but we particularly bad right up in the northeast of canada about how to get through the into tuesday that cold have sunk down into the plains states in fact yours attempts at kansas city get a 9 degrees so it keeps going south we might see a bit more snow in arkansas i don't think so i think we'll stay on the warm side here that warm weather is helping to induce rain significant rain on its way through for example kentucky and tennessee south of all this not particularly active that's the cold front currently going offshore so you'll get some big showers temporary in the bahamas and there are showers tossed around across cuba throughout central america and overseas in the smaller less run to be sick of daily showers on the trade winds how it has a pretty big rain recently in brazil the showers are still there south the rio but

the heaviest rain is probably further inland west side of brazil northern possibility or peru where it is wanted. for the following 2 fatal crashes in the past year bowen decided to brown the brand new 7 from step to max but this wasn't the 1st time them grounded a new aircraft back in 2013 the 787 dreamliner ran into trouble when a better record fire that is out of the us investigative unit discovered there was more to the problem than just smoking batteries. rewind broken during the boeing 787 on al-jazeera.

and again you're watching out his or her mind of our top stories this hour and more than 40 countries have closed their borders to flights and travelers from the u.k. g. to concerns over a mutated strain of the coronavirus at the british government says it's working to ensure that freight including food supplies will not be affected. e.u. member states preparing to road out the fights of biotech growing 1st fact you know after it's given the green light by reconnect france germany and italy say they will begin mass vaccinations and soon this sunday. the politicians in the united states are rushing to finalize a $900000000000.19 package to help businesses and families they have until the end of the day on monday to vote on the deal and prevent a government shutdown but the cave in $1000.00 relief package is said to be the 2nd such one reach this year the 1st was the sweeping cares act which was signed into

law at the end of march it was the largest emitters package in american history a $2.00 trillion dollars or 10 percent of the country's total g.d.p. . it was unprecedented in size and scope it included direct stimulus payments expanded unemployment coverage as well as changes to student loans and retirement accounts and said it's great now to eric hamm about the latest incarnation of the stimulus and he's a political analyst and author of the cups of war g.o.p. civil war and joins us live via skype from washington d.c. mr howe welcome to the program so this time around it's better late than never because they've been arguing in favor of months just how desperate is the situation across the united states and how important this is lifeline for households. this is a major lifeline that millions upon millions of americans have been waiting for for months now and of course this is something that certainly needed to get done for the american people as economists across the globe are showing

a major slowdown of the u.s. economy but more importantly politically this is something that both key speaker key leaders in washington had to get done we do know that the democratic caucus in the house of representatives has been going quite anxious with speaker pelosi to cut a deal with treasury secretary steve. and we now know that with the georgia runoff just only a matter weeks away that mitch mcconnell had to get something that his 2 incumbent senators could run on in the lead up to that election so clearly this was a the timing was right for all sides to make a deal it wasn't what either side won it but it's what the american people needed particularly at this time yeah i miss i look at pictures now of the preparations for that vote on capitol hill and the thing is this is this is definitely short term relief but is it cure for the long term damage is this enough to keep the

economy going next year when biden is in office. well that's how the democrats are framing this they are framing this as a down payment we also have to keep in mind that this bill is a very gigantic massive spending bill because it does it doesn't just include the $900000000000.00 in cologne a virus relief it also includes a spending to keep the government funded so we're talking about money for president donald trump's border wall we're talking about money for the u.s. mexico canada a free trade agreement that was orchestrated under president donald trump in addition to that there is money for defense spending that also includes funding for a pay increase for the u.s. military troops as well so there is a lot in this bill for everyone but it but specifically that covert relief bill democrats are saying that is just a a down payment for what they hope they can get but of course much of that is dependent on what happens in these georgia runoff on january 5th so we've got this

one we've had the previous one back in march which is $2.00 trillion dollars what was that 10 percent of the country's total g.d.p. the money's not unlimited. what are the prospects for the economy down the line. well you're right it's not unlimited but right now when you're when you're talking about a massive amount of the economy that is either slowed down or has come to a grinding halt as a result of a pandemic that continues to rage out of control what is needed more than anything at the moment is to inject life into that economy and how you do that is by providing liquidity liquidity that people will need to actually keep the economy afloat to pay their rent to buy full right now we're talking about millions of children who are grappling with food insecurity are right now they're the fiction protection program 'd ends on december 26th so millions of americans could also see

themselves losing their homes and so that would only make the situation far worse leading from perhaps a recession that the country is looking at right now to perhaps a depression or have great to get your nemesis is a appreciate it thank. you but thank you. now rwanda has sent troops to central african republic amid an escalation in violence the country's heading to the polls on sunday rebels balanced by former president from supposed rosy's are accused of attempting to stage a coup russia's once and for its concerns about the unfolding political unrest catherine sawyer has the latest on the security situation from the capital unglued . just days to the general election here in the central african republic and we're seeing some pay that sees a page politicians trying to sell that i've done the head of that and that's about what people worried about here the topic was the security situation outside. people particularly wanting to find the place in the west where we have.

a coalition calling themselves a feature change a saying threatening to march to belong to you saying that they do they want a sensational government without president or. that both that both groups have been met with war by the central central african agni also hard from the russian government that has stated has exploited more troops to try and quell that situation in the west russia's influence is particularly growing with the country stayed to be pro president was there a was also said to be leaning more towards russia then we have the french who have also had a strong presence here all these countries with vast police call and economic interests and coming back to the election we've been talking to opposition leaders

was saying that they want these elections postponed until the security situation around the country is resolved but i've also spoken to some officials who are saying that is not an option. now doctors in kenya have joined other public health care workers on a nationwide strike they want personal protective equipment and health insurance from my work is treating patients with covered 19 related illnesses and this is another health care workers begun protest the earlier this month saying they will not stop until their demands are met the government warns they will be sacked if they did not return to work. the remaining part. the iran nuclear deal said they're preparing for the u.s. to join them under president elect joe biden in a virtual meeting foreign ministers from iran russia china germany the u.k. and the e.u. committed to working towards a full implementation of the agreement the deal to lift sanctions in exchange for limits to iran's nuclear program unraveled after the u.s.

pulled out in 2018 also to party has more now 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 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 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. the u.a.e. is different to a ruler and private bank in luxembourg could be accused of trying to prop economic downfall news has seen emails documents and legal filings between 100 to be. the bank havilland it suggests a plan to attack carter's financial markets including to foreign exchange reserves the idea was reportedly shortly after the u.a.e. saudi arabia egypt and bahrain imposed the blockade on gaza when you have learned the allegations well in couple of minutes the director of policy analysis at the center for research and policy studies and he thinks there were already signs that the united arab emirates was trying to sabotage cutlass economy. we all know that bifold 2017 actually then i got him and it's was trying actually to put more pressure on qatar on order to borrow

a tool. that the 15 demands that had been put forward by the blockading countries when actually resisted at the very beginning so the plan was to try and undermine katanas economy and by also. and undermined the cause he that caused in fact 1000000000 of does thank the sub or. the cut out of the un so as i said it's not a big surprise for most of us here. that we have not been apps more like a evidence by that heating of the bite that they made is it leaked actually. and reported by bloomberg at the time they were willing to use all sorts of actions in order to force got the tucson data including method action in fact i was surprised to hear at that time that a meal of kuwait that it and middle of kuwait during the famous. conference with

president drum in september of 2017 he said that we managed actually to put event that military action against against qatada so when that news came off that the book at the country's many they not out of a mess was like actually to put more pressure on the economy i mean it was in 3 d. a big big big big surprise for anybody here. 2 men have been found guilty of killing 39 vietnamese migrants who suffocated in the lorry trailer while they were being smuggled into britain lorry drivers and a man and described as the ringleader of the smuggling gang were convicted of manslaughter 2 others had already been found guilty of being involved the bodies were discovered in october at last yes. 32 years after a bomb attack brought down an airliner over lockerbie in scotland the us justice department has charged a new suspect former libyan intelligence officer again and mohamed masood is accused of making the bomb that blew up the pan am plane in 198-8270 people were

killed most of them americans united states is requesting that mehsud be extradited from libya where he's in custody the united states has filed criminal charges against the 3rd conspirator. suit here. for his role in the bombing of pan am flight $103.00 let 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 stargazers are being treated to a once in a lifetime celestial event as jupiter and saturn make their closest alignment since the 17th century but the largest planets in our solar system have been inching closer together since september culminating what's known as the great conjunction tony chain joined astronomers on the outskirts of thailand's capital bangkok to watch this rare phenomenon. 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 low he makes no record of having seen it before 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 bright you can

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. al-jazeera church on thailand. so this is out there these are the top stories more than 40 countries have closed their borders to flights and travelers from the u.k. due to concerns over a mutated strain of the virus the british government says it's working to ensure that freight including food supplies will not be affected. the member states are preparing to road out the phase of biotech coronavirus facts enough trip was given the green light by regulators a final sign off is still needed from the european commission france germany and italy say they will begin mass vaccinations as soon as sunday politicians in the us are rushing.