it's critical that she is now offered hope of protection from the virus but how long will it take for the world to recover the corona virus and then the special coverage on. the border closures mount as the u.k. looks for a way out of a travel crisis sparked by mutated strain of the corona virus. hello there i'm a star to tell you this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up the u.s. congress approves a 900000000000 dollar coronavirus relief package as the country's total number of infections passes 18000000. and another new variant of the coronavirus surges in south africa leading many countries also to suspend flights from their. accusations

and foreign trips and 10 we'll find out what's behind the rising tensions in central african republic. as the corona virus spreads around the globe there are concerns over mutated versions prompting a growing list of countries to shut their doors on the u.k. the w.h.o. says it will need to discuss ways to counter that variant british scientists say that strain is more contagious but doesn't appear to be more dangerous than the original yet more than 40 countries have already banned travel to and from the u.k. and that's causing chaos for trade with trucks stuck on the british side of the channel border the british prime minister says he's in talks with france to try to resume freight transport and that food and medical supplies will not be affected. it's we can 1st to stress 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 knowing it's very very important. not just for the people who's the raw 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 cape it. another country that's facing isolation is south africa health officials there say a resurgence is being driven by different variant from the u.k. one and the situation is also westing in asia taiwan has reported its 1st locally transmitted case in 8 months that's ended what's believed to be the longest period without a domestic infection to any country and then in thailand a large cluster of cases in a market has prompted authorities to start testing $40000.00 people but there is

some hope in the west head country the u.s. congress has now approved a 900000000000 dollar emergency stimulus package now if the president signs it off millions of americans could be receiving much needed relief packages from next week more on all of that in a moment but 1st let's go to the u.k. where trucks carrying essential goods are still stranded for a challenge sent us this report from dover. the cold waters of the english channel have rarely seems 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 wife. and 10 they may need me to cram for christmas christmas in poland is

a very special holiday that's. fine for the region 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 we want because we waited 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 if goodstein start moving again soon rory talons al-jazeera dover. for more now let's cross live to paul brennan he's also in diver for us paul how are things looking there right now i can see the border closure sign behind you. yeah the border is still closed from the u.k. going to france the border gates is essentially over my shoulder here what we are seeing is some trucks being allowed through but when i spoke to the police and so

the security guards here they say that is unaccompanied freight so the driver will take his trailer into the port area drop it off and then come back out again and it will be picked up and put onto a ferry and then picked up by another driver at the french side that escaping the blockade that is currently in place i have to say as far as the backlog goes it is enormous yesterday grant shapps the transport secretary spoke about 170 trucks that has been significantly updated smalling by the home secretary pretty patel when she spoke about 650 lorries palms up on them on the m 20 motorway and about 870 $873.00 lorries at a base called manston i have to say that with the evidence of my own eyes those figures do not include scores of lorries that i've seen parked up in labor eyes and transport cafes on the a 2 there are schools of lorries here in the sense of dover so that estimates of

around $1500.00 lorries that you come to from the government's figures ruefully underestimates the actual impact on the actual backlog of lorries that is down here in the south east of england waiting to get across i have to say that there is occasional. trickles of lorries coming in because of the route from france into england is still open so we are seeing some lorries coming from that direction but in all other ways that we've got drivers hanging around basically not knowing exactly when they're going to be able to go home one thing clearly huge amount of congestion anyway is when it's in needs a parent talks to try to sort out all of this scale. no news yet my understanding is that the european union has been meeting this morning there will be discussions and there are discussions ongoing between britain and france. reports from brussels say that the european commission that is the umbrella body of the 27 nations don't really want to get involved as

a commission remember the european commission is responsible for negotiating with the u.k. and the fear is that it will be seen as kind of connected politicized the for says that i'm picking up is that it's for bilateral countries it's for individual countries to decide whether or not they are prepared to lift the blockade on british drivers and british cargo and british vehicles coming across from the u.k. onto the continent pulled down and they're keeping an eye on things for us and with all the latest thanks so much paul well carol the news is the c.e.o. of the center for european policy studies and earlier we asked him if there was potentially any political motivation behind these border clashes. the but actually the story is more a story for specialists like us of course people see the lorries and the pictures of their origin and their use but overall people in europe are much more concerned about golf which you see the story for example and money you don't need guns used

today about your credibility or klaxons because the 1st are not to know which is the result of all crime so i would imagine that it's mostly driven by i would say panic and fear about it will be even more gone before we have the vaccines on on troll. on the other hand your house on it so what are the doctors rules in case there is no agreement with the brits by the end of this year to ensure safe for example air travel over pets period what we have at the moment is basically a perfect storm that the man who campaigned on giving money back to the national health service maybe you know basically eventually being held back or being taken away from his position because of health problems within the u.k. but these are things which are unforeseeable which are a year ago or 2 years ago 4 years ago when actually it was. too close were

unforeseeable but it's very tragic even dramatic that this is we're all. facing the u.k. prime minister in such dramatic circumstances as i was saying earlier south africa is also struggling to contain a sad in new cases health officials say it's being driven by a different coronavirus variant from that mutated strain we saw imagine the u.k. the virus is now spreading faster than it had when this pandemic fast began several countries have also halted air travel to and from south africa which has a 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 countries currently experiencing in the countries getting on average just under 10000 new infections a day is 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 and 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 has survived pretty much just some of the 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 a province you find in the place very popular tourist resort is 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 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 south africa for tourism and now they're saying that people would who are hoping to make some kind of money this time around those hopes have not been dashed. well as i mentioned earlier to the u.s. congress has voted to pass a massive spending bill that involves nearly

a trillion dollars in credit $1000.00 economic stimulus and money as well to keep the federal government running through september president trump is expected to sign this into a law for millions of americans of the help cannot come soon enough how does your cast or it has this report 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 i haven't met perfect legislation just coming to washington i wish we could have done 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 need here. it is worse it is get worse more than $20000000.00 americans are receiving unemployment benefits with an additional $885000.00 applying for aid during the 1st week of december and then there are the 3 to 7000000 americans who lost jobs but never got unemployment benefits because of problems processing their applications researchers say some 8000000 people when they do us 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 to. point starting to feel like there's no white 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 are her people who going to spend democrat 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 all this was the 2nd 1000 relief deal that was reached in the u.s. the 1st you remember it was the sweeping cares act which was signed into law at the end of march that was the largest stimulus package in american history at $2.00 trillion dollars or 10 percent of the country's total g.d.p.

it was unprecedented in size and scope but some of its benefits including that an employment boost for people and did months ago scott lucas is a professor of american and canadian studies at the investor bombing and he says this new stimulus package doesn't go far enough. republicans and democrats acknowledge that it's only an interim measure and present like joe biden has that one of the priorities when he takes office in january 20th is to get a broader measure the reason for that is is that although this provides for the renewal of unemployment benefits it does solely for a short period of time although it provides for loans to small businesses it does only cover some businesses will be more as the economy tries to come out of the pandemic and it doesn't deal with important issues such as aid to states and communities who are facing budget true crises because they're having to spend quite a bit to deal with the crisis as well the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell arguably the most important person in washington right now said no aid to states no

aid to cities there's a trope much republicans that these democratic red states and cities they're to blame for all the problems and mcconnell was playing politics with so no wait in the interim measure on the other hand mcconnell wanted to provide liability protection for businesses who might face lawsuits from workers over being exposed to corona virus and democrats said no you can't give businesses carte blanche of unity from being irresponsible he's backed down on that that was the key compromise excluding those 2 provisions but as efficient a moment ago i don't think you can go through 2021 and not do something to deal with the states and communities which of course is where the pandemic is being felt on a day to day basis well across the board to canada's most populous province is now implementing new pandemic measures from saturday affecting 14000000 people ontario is in the grip of a 2nd wave of credit virus infections recording 2000 new cases

a day for the past week a sections will be imposed on the north of the province for 2 weeks and for almost a month in the south schools will close a non essential services will be limited and gatherings also restricted. well still ahead here on al-jazeera. ending extreme poverty and we'll look at whether china's a multi-billion dollar plan is working. and to meet forecasts from a top u.n. official on prospects for a 2 state solution palestine. relief from the cult the wind directions change the sun's not strong but it's still there for many hours in a good part of northeast and asia tokyo up 30 sols up to 8 beijing's 6 involved a vast lot of awestruck flirts with

a log some of the snow to melt briefly governing crichton's of cloud or right into fujiyama grondahl but that disappears as well and then the cold starts to return shanghai gets back down to 11 beijing's a forward from fossil is subzero once more i'd like to see the variation is taking place on the rather static unfolding in titian's and the gun just played on beyond in northern india it's cold by night and it's cold by day and it's foggy for most the time only briefly to get a bit of what you might call warmth and that's all relative so overnight temperatures then this is right india their low single figures in much of northern india there are actually any just in double figures coming along way further south by day of course it does want him briefly we get to 21 degrees or more but that is any brief for a couple of hours when the fog lifts it's not good if you're living out on the streets everywhere else remains quiet the only significant rain is intel not particularly in sri lanka in east side.

i was raised in france and these are my grandparents. these are my parents and this is mean. by them both isis and us on. the 2nd of a 2 part epic tale of a remarkable family. the father the son and the jihad cartoon on al-jazeera. to.

hello again i'm a star let's remind you of our top stories here this hour more than 40 countries have closed their borders to flights and travelers from the u.k. due to concerns over a mutation strain of the coronavirus w.h.o. says it will need to discuss ways to counter this seemingly more infectious strain . health officials in south africa say a resurgence in cases there is being driven by a different corona virus variant from that strain that's emerged in the u.k. several countries have also halted air travel to and from south africa. and the u.s. congress has passed a 900000000000 dollars stimulus package to help businesses and families struggling joining this pandemic it comes as the number of recorded coronavirus cases there exceeds 18 then. the un's outgoing special coordinator for the middle east is warning that the prospect of a 2 state solution for palestine is fading now climb not deny of made this comment during his last briefing on monday saying the situation has gone from bad to west's

al jazeera as christensen in the reports from the un. the. know 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 normal normalized 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 our live blog noted the situation has gone from bad to worse for most palestinians despite and. pozen the building of illegal 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 the possible and it is possible that we didn't recognize the legitimacy of the story. writes both israelis and palestinians alike in exchange for morocco normalizing ties with israel the united states recognize morocco 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 take years to do so the 1st one since $1008.00 it took about 7 months and the united states which shows such a solution is abstained and that's what was significant about it but there is 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 president of central african republic has criticized there is behind an escalation in violence there ahead of next week's election tension has been rising in the run up to the december 27th voters who wonder as even send additional troops to the country to help deal with the fighting the government has accused rebels backed by the former president front office he's a of attempting

a true. brutal what we deplore what we condemn 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 paul's the violence that the people condemn and that we condemn it. well russia has also voiced concerns about the unfolding political unrest catherine so our correspondent is in the capital bunky with more on the security situation. if this pays to the general election here in the central african republic and we're seeing campaigns that page politicians trying to now that the head of that election but what people wanted about here the capitol the security situation out by. people particularly wanting to turn. the way. we have formed. and calling them.

change a thing frightening too macho thing that they do they want a transitional government we've had done all seen. that both. groups have been met with force by the central central african admi also from the russian government that has stated have lloyd more troops to try and quell that situation. russia's influence is particularly growing with the country to be president what darryl's also say to be leaning more 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 postponed until the security situation around the country is resolved but

i've also spoken to government officials who are saying backed is not an option. now the u.s. justice department has charged a new suspect 32 years after a bomb attack took down an airliner of lockerbie in scotland former libyan intelligence officer. accused of making the bomb that blew up the pan am plane in 198-8270 people were killed most of them americans the u.s. says requesting that masood be extradited from libya where he's currently in custody. the united states has filed criminal charges against the 3rd conspirator. a suit here. 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

well china's leaders say the country has a 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 hard risk of falling back into hardship katrina you reports from. problems. lawton county in china south is known for its mountains its rivers and its poverty . 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 deep in the mountains and far away for many 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. good health care and education. now they basically live in the same conditions as people in the quality

of life. 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. many people it's true and it's temporary is short term spells and those kinds of people have very very different kinds of needs others for whom are already it's a chronic. policy implement the policy response to those different states needs to be different. his life is better but not easier. 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 court her children might have better ones

katrina new al-jazeera lawton county china. a volcano on hawaii's big island has erupted shooting steam and ash thousands of nieces into the air here option of caraway it lasted an hour and was triggered by a new lava flow interacting with a pool of water inside the crater more than 180000 people live on that island and experienced a magnitude 4.4 earthquake shortly afterwards. there this is al jazeera and these are the headlines more than 40 countries have now closed their borders to flights and travelers from the u.k. due to concerns over mutated strain of the corona.