coverage the uncomfortable truths do you think they did enough to scrutinize the case for war. on al jazeera. the us congress approves a $900000000000.00 coronavirus relief package as the country's total number of infections passes $18000000.00. there are mr this is al jazeera live from also coming up increasingly isolated more countries shut their borders to the u.k. over fears of a mutated strain of the corona virus. and another new variant of the current virus surges in south africa dating many countries to also suspend flights from there.

and ending extreme poverty we look at whether china's multi-billion dollar plan is working. well as corona virus infections continue to different parts of the world that is a ray of hope for millions of people living in the west hit nation following months of political gridlock the americans could start receiving private 1000 relief checks as early as next week now both the house of representatives and the senate have approved a $900000000000.00 stimulus package aimed at helping businesses and families but the virus continues to spread across the united states with california's governor now warning that there are no more intensive care beds in 2 major regions including los angeles county that's home to more than 10000000 people and now more than 40 countries have imposed travel bans with brisson after the. discovery of

a mutation strain of the coronavirus there british prime minister barak johnson assures that food and medical supplies won't be affected as he continues talks to lift border closures and resume freight travel another country facing isolation is south africa which is seeing a resurgence of infections health officials say it's being driven by a different coronavirus variant from the one that's emerged in the u.k. and the situation is also getting west across asia with taiwan now reporting its 1st locally transmitted case and 8 months that is what saw to be the world's longest spell without a domestic infection and a new cluster of cases at a market in thailand has prompted authorities there to start testing 40000 people. castro begins our coverage from washington d.c. . majority leader after months of partisan stalemate congress finally passed a code in $1000.00 really built totaling $900000000000.00 it includes direct payment of $600.00 to most americans unemployment benefits into march and food and

rental assistance it's far from perfect met perfect legislation that's coming to washington i wish we could have been even more but i'm pleased we've done as well as we could have done people like 79 year old harold valentine can expect to see government checks as early as next week he says you could use it for groceries but it's not enough for the christmas gifts he'd like to send his grandkids i'm not going to have that much pride to say i don't want it i need it. this is a definite about a deep here. it is worse it is getting worse more than $20000000.00 americans are receiving unemployment benefits with an additional $885000.00 applying for aid during the 1st week of december then there are the 3 to 7000000 americans who lost tribes but never got unemployment benefits because of problems.

processing their applications researchers say some 8000000 people when they do u.s. have fallen into poverty since may and half of all small business owners say if things continue as they are they'll be forced to close permanently within a year and general you know it's been very difficult to get a you know for us for our business as well as for our staff definitely starting to feel like there's no light at the end of the tunnel this food pantry in washington has been delivering up to a 1000 bags of groceries a day to struggling families every little bit helps the communities we serve and so you know a $600.00 stimulus payment. for something these people who go in this pandemic have actually lost relatives and they've had to use some of their own money for some of the barrel expenses as the number of kobe 900 cases in the u.s. surpasses 18000000 the government is racing to deliver 20000000 doses of vaccine by

the 1st week of january to save lives and the economy about to receive its own injection of stimulus to save livelihoods. castro al-jazeera washington oh as i was saying earlier a growing number of countries a shutting their borders to flights and travelers from the u.k. more than 40 countries have now imposed restrictions due to concerns over a more infectious strain of the virus that's a match that the british government has reassured its citizens that it's working to ensure that freight including food supplies will not be affected. it's vital 1st to stress that these delays which are only occurring at dover only affect human handled freight which means the vast majority of food medicines and other supplies are coming and going as normal is very very important. not just for the peoples of the role but it's also totally realistic that we have every reason to be

extremely hopeful about this country's ability to bounce back next year from cape it all restrictions particularly there is a post by france have brought some of the u.k.'s carbon wavelengths to a halt trucks carrying essential goods and projects to and from france are now stranded at close to ferry ports and tunnels were a challenge sent us this report from dover. the cold waters of the english channel have rarely seems more of a barrier diver is usually one of the busiest ports in the world but the u.k. is now cut off for 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 wife. and 10 they may need me to cram for christmas christmas in poland is

a very special holiday that's a bind with religion and. for the chanel. polish people it's very hard to be away on christmas. so this situation. cost me. very hard on the deva see front line of vans with rumanians not knowing when they'll make it home we've been waiting on and we don't have the no one need to spend money on things like that we want because we were 18 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 atomized 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 star 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 rory chalons al-jazeera dover well let's not get the view from the other side of the channel. paris for us but of just how all these talks going to try to sort out all this chaos at the border. well we know there have been talks between french and british ministers to try and sort out what to do the front page and halfway through the 48 hour ban imposed by french on

arrivals from the u.k. that's people driving trucks or passenger arrivals and the french were hoping that that be some way of having a europe wide agreement on how to deal with this new strain of the coronavirus that's been discovered in the u.k. before the 48 hours is up there are people in london in the u.k. who want to come to france for christmas now the health minister said previously that if those people will want to come over after the 48 hours is up they will they should now be getting themselves a p.c.r. test because that will probably be one of the requirements when the 40 hours is up so i think there's been a rush of people in the u.k. trying to do that. and there's also this question about freight coming over from the u.k. to france most of it is not driven over most of it is the truck the freight has

dropped on the ferry and picked up on this side so most of it's not a problem it's stuff that needs to be driven over from one side to the other that's the challenge but the challenge is all those drivers on the u.k. side waiting to come to the french side what do you do with them do you must test all the drivers before they get on the ferry this may be one of the considerations that looking at but we haven't any indication yet as to what the european wide response will be and actually in terms of other coronavirus issues most european countries have sort of gone their own way there are different restrictions on entering european countries depending on which countries some have some demanded p.c.r. test now advance someone quarantine so it varies the hasn't really been a coordinated european response to travel into coming into the e.u. and it's my thank you now on that situation for us from paris thanks so much bonnie . as i mentioned south africa is also struggling to contain a surge in new cases there health officials say it's being driven by a different covert 19 variant from that mutated strain that's emerged in the u.k.

the virus is now spreading faster than it had when this pandemic 1st began several countries also halted air travel to and from south africa has the latest for us from johannesburg scientists say they still studying this new strain of the data collected so far suggests that it's spreading fast and they also say it could be responsible for the 2nd wave of the country is currently experiencing in the countries getting on average just under $10000.00 new infections a days been identified in. the eastern cape province and the garden that's where you get the cape town area for example where lots of tourists usually flock to at this time of year this is another blow to the tourism industry you've got this new strain and then the flight bans and so that because tourism industry is survived pretty much the time of year and people coming in from the u.k. europe middle east asia and other parts of the world so now these businesses are now feeling another pressure as well for example you go to province you find in the

play of course in a very popular tourist resort this saying that they have had more than 50 percent of cancellations because of this you go to durban a lot of hospitals all of the hotels are closed the media the big hotel chains are also shut lots of people are losing out of work as well and this is the time of the year when people are in the face of mood many people come to their vehicle for tourism and now this thing that people would who are hoping to make some kind of money this time around those hopes have not been dashed across the world south korea is banning gatherings of more than 5 people starting from christmas eve the restrictions will be in place for at least 10 days as the country tries to contain a surge in infections there about a 1000 new cases are now being reported daily ski resorts and other major tourist spots will also be shot. well catalyst 1st shipment of the finds a biotech coronavirus vaccine has arrived in the capital doha ready for

distribution the elderly those with chronic illnesses and front line workers will be the 1st in line once that rollout begins it's being described as the largest vaccination program the country has ever. still ahead here on al-jazeera. from under sends troops to central african republic as violence there west sends ahead of elections on sunday. to make forecasts from a top u.n. official on the prospects for a 2 state solution palestine. is quite an intrusion of warm air coming in from the atlantic warm for the time of the year that is it says shooting through a lot of clouds that was there be some rain with it now it looks quite a complex system but you can explain it like this is the war here is culture the north east coast south the mountains are well the picture of europe the real

seasonal cold air is pushed along way east where temperatures are really quite low so you'll find the temperatures rise in this is here with the cloud the wind and the rain the rain significant or it's way through france and germany now on the forward edge where. maybe freezing rain but certainly some snow through poland valorous and down towards radio and pretty obviously on the higher ground of scandinavia by the time we get to wednesday that warmth has really reached a long way east look at these temperatures in the middle here the still rainfall in this bit of a storm system developing of the northwest a front southwest of the u.k. now vienna represents maybe one of the warmest places we martie to see a record i don't think so but look compare with the averages for staffers were 60 we don't get back down to the average till friday similar story is told in london fairly miles to friday then down to a frosty start and a cold day and here it is coming in on thursday.

the latest news as it breaks the measures introduced during this good way bob. resulted in the 20 percent drop in the amount that people are travelling with details coverage both one are talking all those believe in one are solid poverty rate increased in the past year from around the world the u.n. has identified 56 countries the most need assistance what's worrying them is that many of those have a deteriorating situation. hello

again i'm a star that's remind you of our top stories here this hour the u.s. congress has passed a $900000000000.00 stimulus package to help american businesses and families struggling during this can damage it comes as the number of recorded coronavirus cases there exceeds 18000000. more than 40 countries have closed their borders to flights and travelers from the u.k. due to concerns over a new sales had to strain of the virus trucks carrying goods and produce to and from france are now stranded at close ports and tunnels. and health officials in south africa say a resurgence in cases there is being driven by a different very entering the strain that's emerged in the u.k. several countries have also halted air travel to and from south africa. now moving on and the president of central african republic has criticized those behind an escalation in violence there ahead of next week's election tensions been rising in the run up to the december 27th or one does also send additional troops to the

country to help deal with the fighting the government has accused rebels backed by the former president of attempting a coup. we deplore what we can do is that the people instead of entering the process so that we can have peace a democratic framework now that we've regained constitutional order we must maintain that order for democracy in the country but unfortunately there are some who are engaged in polls of violence that the people condemn and that we condemn. and russia has also voiced concerns about the unfolding political unrest there catherine so as in the capital bungay with more on the security situation. if this plays to the general election here in the central african republic and we're seeing campaign that page politicians trying to now that head that people. here that the security situation. people are

particularly wanting to turn. the one where we have formed. a coalition calling them the change a thing frightening to march saying that they do they want a transitional government we've all seen. that both. groups have been met with war by the central central african admi also from the russian government that has stated has lloyd more troops to try and quell that situation. russia's influence is particularly growing with the country to be president. darrell's also say to be leaning towards russia then we have the french who have also had a strong presence all this country's. economic interests and coming back to the election we've been talking to opposition leaders within that they want the

selection post poll and until the security situation around the country is resolved but we've also spoken to government officials who are thing that is not an option. canada has pledged to give $70000000.00 to the u.n. agency for palestinian refugees to help tackle its worst ever financial crisis the agency has been struggling to run operations after the u.s. because it's contributions the money from canada will be distributed over 3 years and it'll go towards running schools and providing health services to more than $5000000.00 palestinians. comes as the un's outgoing special coordinator for the middle east is warning that the prospect of a 2 state solution for palestine is fading nicol i'm not deny of made that comment during his last briefing on monday saying situation has gone from bad to worse christensen reports from that you weigh. because of the. problem but

it was a 1st at the united nations a moroccan ambassador celebrating hanukkah with his israeli counterpart morocco is one of 4 arab nations to reestablish diplomatic relations with israel the deal was brokered by the united states for decades the prevailing assumption was that the world would only see nor was it normalized in international relations with israel following a resolution of the israeli palestinian dispute but we have proven this is sumption wrong while the u.s. took credit in the security council outgoing middle east special coordinator nicol i'm alive no to the situation has gone from bad to worse for most palestinians despite an 8 month pause in the building of a legal jewish settlements in the occupied territories israel's destruction of palestinian homes for lacking permits that are rarely granted escalated by 70 percent with plans to build in areas seen as crucial to a future palestinian state advancing i do believe that it's

a state solution although every day we see a chance of. realization frankly i do believe that it is still possible and it is possible in the way that it recognizes the legitimate story of. rights both israelis and palestinians alike. in exchange for morocco normalizing ties with israel the united states recognized morocco's sovereignty over the western sahara region and separatists there with whom the united nations had also been engaging in peace negotiations many here in the international community see these unilateral moves by the united states as undermining longstanding norms in international agreements it was 4 years ago that the security council passed resolution 2334 calling settlement expansion a flagrant violation of international law what was significant about it was that it was the 1st one and it was 10 years to do so the 1st one since 1980 to talk about.

the united states which shows such a solutions i think and that's what was significant about it there was not a controversial new in the actual resolution while president elect joe biden has promised to return to international agreements many living under occupation have to wonder what difference if any at all it will make for them kristen salumi al jazeera the united nations now the u.a.e. is defector and a private bank and luxembourg have been accused of trying to plot cattles economic downfall greenburg news says it seen correspondence between mohamed bins i ed and bank havilland that indicates a plan to attack countless financial markets and deplete its foreign exchange reserves the idea was reportedly hatched soon after the u.a.e. and others imposed a blockade of cattle back in 2017 and denies the allegations now in kabul and is the director of policy analysis at the arab center for research and policy studies

he says there had already been signs the u.a.e. was trying to sabotage cattles economy. we all know that by fall of 2017 actually then i got him and it was trying actually to put more pressure on qatar on order to borrow a tool. that their team demands that had been put forward by the people creating countries when actually resisted at the very beginning so the plan was to try and undermine qatar's economy and i also. and undermined the call and see that in fact 1000000000 of dollars thanked the sub or. the qatari so as i said it's not a big surprise for most of us here. that we have now been ops more like evidence by the leaking of the by the they made is it actually. reported by bloomberg

at the time they were willing to was all sort of actions in order to force got the to sunder including military action in fact i was surprised to hear at that time that a meal of kuwait that it a middle of kuwait during the famous. conference with president drum in september of 2017 he said that we managed to actually to put it in that military action against against got out of so when that was good after that that the countries maybe they not out of it but it was like actually to put more pressure on the economy i mean it wasn't really a big a big big surprise for anybody here. and more details on that saying about a major cyber security breach at the u.s. government agency is that washington is banking on russian hackers one democratic senator has revealed that encryption keys were stolen and dozens of e-mails accessed at the treasury department the hacking started back in july cyber experts believe the main operation started months when malicious code was hidden and

software updates on government computer. from the information i have. you know i agree with secretary pompei o's assessment it certainly appears to be the russians but i'm not going to discuss it beyond their well tech giants microsoft and google have now joined a facebook legal challenge against israeli side of a surveillance found n.s.o. a brief by the company's 2 u.s. court describes the firm's hacking tools as powerful and dangerous last year facebook sued n.s.o. over claims that it exploited a loophole in whatsapp allowing it to spy on more than 1400 people wild wired and then it was really revealed on sunday that spyware sold by n.s.o. was used to hack the phones of dozens of al jazeera journalists the u.s. justice department has charged a new suspect 32 years after a bomb attack took down an airliner over lockerbie scotland former libyan intelligence officer masood is accused of making the bomb that blew up the pan am

plane back in 1980 s. $270.00 people were killed most of them americans and the u.s. is requesting that mr wood be extradited from libya where he is in custody the united states has filed criminal charges against a 3rd conspirator. masood keer. for his role in the bombing of pan am flight one o 3 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 prison doctors are among at least 5 people who've been killed in an explosion in the afghan capital local police say 4 doctors and one other person died when a bomb attached to the car they were traveling in detonated 7 others were also injured in that blast. well the indian government says it's now ready for more

talks with striking farmers protesters of blockaded highways into new delhi for weeks now they are demanding the repeal of new agricultural pricing laws that they say will hurt their livelihoods and benefit to large corporations. and china leaders there say the country has eradicated extreme poverty over the past 5 years the communist party has spent billions of dollars and dispatched thousands of officials to help rural households but critics question the sustainability of that program and say millions of people are risk of falling back into hardship katrina you reports from county in. lawton county in china's south is known for its mountains its rivers and its poverty. it was among those one struggling to get by living in this dilapidated house she struggled to raise enough money to send her 2 children to school. but she says thanks to the chinese

government her life has been transformed she's been given a new harmon town and left this old farmhouse behind this is how. to live in crumbling buildings built about 50 years ago without any water or electricity this area is also in the mountains and far away from any essential services including hospitals during the past 5 years millions of people in rural china have been relocated to apartment buildings in upgraded townships here almost everything is new including the roads and schools. in 2018. that he doesn't want to go back to the old house again it was dark and dirty and had many rats they say our new home is clean and bright beijing has spent more than 20000000000 dollars this year to meet president xi jinping deadline of eradicating extreme poverty nationwide by the end of 2020 communist party officials say they've

succeeded so. people used to have a few options. it was hard to find jobs outside of farming good health care and education. now they basically live in the same conditions as people in the quality of life has a really improved but not everyone has benefited some have been able to adjust to life in the towns others say they've been forced to relocate analysts have also questioned the sustainability of the program saying millions of risk falling back into poverty poverty line. people it's trends it's temporary it's short term spells and those kinds of people have very very different kinds of needs others for whom are already it's a chronic strains a policy implement the policy response to those different states needs to be different. his life is better but not easier when you told that india by factory

involves working 12 hours a day with only 2 days off. but the sacrifice she says is worth it she's making the most of the new opportunities in the heart her children might have better ones katrina you al-jazeera laughton county china. hello there this is al jazeera and these are the headlines the u.s. congress has passed a 900000000000 dollars stimulus package to help american businesses and families struggling chairing this pandemic and comes as the number of recorded coronavirus cases that exceeds $18000000.00 how does your caster has more from washington d.c. this is the 2nd biggest economic stimulus ever passed by the u.s. government $900000000000.00 just for the coded element and this is much needed money.