this is al jazeera. hello i'm still robin and you're watching the al-jazeera news our life my headquarters here in doha coming up in the next 60 minutes the european union calls for u.k. travel bans to be lifted but warns against any non-essential movement also the final push the u.k. and the european union reportedly moved closer to a trade deal but sticking points remain. i.

k. also in the knesset israel's parliament fails to pass a budget and i just closer to its full selection in 2 years. u.n. investigators say there is evidence the military groups have committed war crimes in mali. i'm gemma nash with the sports news as the cost of letting the take pics is revealed. because of coronaviruses added $2800000000.00 already the most expensive summer games in history. welcome to the program the european union is encouraging member states to limit non-essential travel to the united kingdom but to lift the barriers currently blocking cross border movement trucks and travelers are being held up while countries scramble to contain a mutated strain of the corona virus in britain but the e.u.

says people shouldn't be stopped from returning to their homes meanwhile covert 19 is still spreading rapidly across britain is reported a new daily infection record of nearly 37000 cases in a single day and all of this with a little more than a week left before the brics it deadline the u.k. and the e.u. are still struggling to reach an agreement on their trading relationship from january the 1st well we'll get the very latest from the european side shortly with bernard smith in paris but 1st let's cross over to paul brennan who is near the southern english port of dover and paul obviously the rain teeming down where you are miserable conditions so what have you seen in terms of any movement at the port. well there has been some movement but not in the way that the drive is over my shoulder would like it we've seen some trucks arriving from france on the ferries arriving from kalai and going out into the u.k.

bringing what appeared to be largely fresh produce to be honest netherlands trucks spanish trucks as well but i'm going to just briefly stand out of the way and let some the camera man look over my shoulder because in the last half an hour these drivers van drivers and truckers who can facing us you off a single night trapped here on the outskirts of the vehicles actually blockaded this roundabout in front of the port and friends the police have now persuaded them to move to the central reservation at least and some traffic is at least moving but tempers really flared here the grievances of these drivers are that there is no food the public toilets just a short way down the road are closed there's been no facilities laid on for the people who are trapped here and no word at all as to how long this blockade is going to continue for there was a hope an expectation even that by this afternoon the discussions that have been

taking place between britain and france would lead to some easing of the blockade that traffic would start to move again that hasn't happened and as we're now in. just 2 days turn a half days from christmas itself many of these drivers are irritated some of resigned to the fact that they won't get home for christmas others very angry. thanks very much for the update from well let's get the view from the other side of the channel and speak to that smith who's in the french capital paris that obviously one of the you've been saying about the resumption of movement across the english channel we can see what's happening paul brennan it's a great deal of frustration. you know all the commission of the european union has recommended the member states relax the ban on flights on train transport between continental europe and the u.k. the commission says that it should be allow essential travel and transit of

passengers and that should be facilitated by the member states but it also says that the member states should discourage all nonessential travel to and from the united kingdom now as we said these are just recommendations from the commission throughout this coronavirus pandemic even member states despite attempts to have a coordinated response have generally made their own rules of the count pandemic has widened in the crisis is deepened some countries require a quarantine our arrival of this don't some countries require a p.c.r. test on arrival others don't so they're left up to their own devices no indication yet as to which if any e.u. member states will go along with the commission's recommendations so what are the french think that it was rumored that they would be being they would be rather specific about their needs and wants when it comes to opening cross channel link.

yeah the french put in a 48 hour on arrivals from the u.k. that expires tonight in the french put that ban in as an emergency measure in the hope that there would be some sort of european wide deal agreed the expiration of those 48 hours we don't have but a part of those recommendations from the commission so what the french as we understand are going to say is that they expect that arrivals from the u.k. should have the negative kovi test before they're either p.c.r. test the problem is that it's not the french you have to administer that test it's the british who will have to do it and you've got some 600 odd we understand lorry drivers waiting to come back in kent to france somehow this test has to be administered to them and so the french or the british have to agree how it's all going to be done for other printer people or other people in london in the south of england who want to come to france well anyway but part of the u.k.

is under strict lockdown and they're not allowed to leave their homes to come here for a holiday anyway so they shouldn't be travelling the emphasis the concern is for those freight drivers who want to come from the u.k. to france how will their p.c. our tests be administered who's going to take responsibility for it do the british have the resources to divert to performing those tests at the moment and these seem to be the discussions going on between the french and the british for an update to smith thanks very much for from paris but we don't really have to go too far away for the next story because the u.k. and the e.u. are trying to hammer out a trade deal in brussels the blocks negotiator has been briefing member states on the latest progress several deadlines have already passed but you can exit takes effect at the end of the month now there are reports that a deal could be close but some sticking points do remain. even if the final. do you feel relieved to see the market. i was going to do 2

of the transplants from c. will remember this right now are hundreds of part of thank you thank you very much . let's cross over to learn to the government i said who's in the british capital and i said basically that the talking continues but time really is just ticking away absolutely they don't have long left until the end of the year and the u.k. will leave the e.u. single market they will remove the remove themselves from that if the deal is not reached that means they will go to world trade organization terms which means that there could be border checks and tariffs paste on u.k. goods from the u.k. did leave the e.u. block earlier this year in january 31st but now they will leave the e.u. single market now the problem with this is that the e.u. and the u.k. are trying to get a deal we're hearing that it could be close but there's still some issues that they

cannot agree on now we have we've had opposition m.p.'s here in the u.k. i asked the government and prime minister abbas johnston to see if they can extend that transition period to extend those negotiations because they say that the u.k. is dealing with a pandemic these are unprecedented circumstances and the u.k. should just ask for that to be extended we're also hearing reports that e.u. diplomat are also willing to extend that period of talks past january the 1st to be able to reach a deal but the main issue seems to be the issues around u.k. fishing industry for the other than so much as a bigger force in a london new center. and all of that ice is the chief executive of seafood scotland donna joins me now from dundee in scotland good to have you with us live on al-jazeera i mean how has the closure of borders with the e.u. for the moment affected your members. it's actually devastated at our seafood

companies and this isn't the easiest peak of the year for the and you know the highly valuable halley pensionable shale revolution some in kuwait and to their european markets set last sunday a share the taking ash of fresh air are just missing so this is the biggest week of the event and given that the unit they have had with coal plants in the majority of markets could send for a lot of that and you know they were hoping to keep some of the losses in this week fisheries and sort of seafood in general seem to be the stumbling block and any sort of long term relationship as far as we know with these negotiations going on with the e.u. how concerned really should we be is this an important point in the negotiations and with your relationship with the. i want members it's the if he flew out of treats so that's what biggest concern we want to make sure that we have continue the flea flu as best we can so whether a deal or not we will have their customs regular ations and that administrator but financial button as well and so really for the deal or no deal we really be looking

at the tad of situations will be a big financial impact on their process and say tell us which filter back against that supply chain and on what is to the customers as well what's the answer. the answer is to try and get as good a deal as we can debate deletions will stay the same you know we will be a subtle country so there will be at abundant end about a 1000000 pounds pair of small to medium size company and fun doing that ministry head 1st customs documentation but if he can get it at a time if they're free trade agreement that would help their companies completely talking maybe the longest beans and 12 percent target market over 20 percent products that's a huge financial impact recently across a supply chain and to that person that is why i was just wondering how much on the outside you feel maybe the 1st minister of scotland feels the same way when london is doing all the negotiations and that is really up for the

u.k. government to negotiate with me to get involved in the politics of that state of things ever so slowly around that but most of it is and i'm sorry john it must annoy you or it must q. or it must confuse you to see london do all the negotiations and i'm sure you would want to i'm putting words into your mouth here but you'd want to be involved in some way just as much as the 1st minister has been sort of talking about on twitter today again that's a focus for the politics and i know that it is said that you know more than you know between then yuki and the escort ministration beneficiaries and general that and then the management of that in that meeting and back again to get involved in whether their share between the u.k. and discoursed government just briefly do you think that there is sort of good news on the horizon if you sort of could look into a crystal ball is that what you'd like to see in the next few hours. try r. and d.

away or are you talking about that earlier the borders for a deal obviously that would suit the scottish fisheries fisheries industry. absolutely we just want to deal and deal as soon as possible and so people know what's happening and get prepared for it though that we don't have any information on the deal the harder it's going to become obviously what does happen for the moment thank you very much for your time donna thought ice from the seafood scotland chief executive thank you thank you and top infectious disease expert in the u.s. has just been given his cave in 1000 vaccination dr anthony found she got the inoculation alongside health secretary alexis r. and other health officials they received the maternal vaccine it was approved last week becoming the 2nd vaccine allowed in the u.s. she is a stalemate to that most americans will get access by mid summer what we're seeing now is the culmination of years of research which have led to a phenomenon that has truly been unprecedented and that is to go from the

realization that we're dealing with a new pathogen a virus that was described in january of this year to less than one year later to have vaccines that are going into the arms of so many people including myself and so i consider it an honor to be part of this process. thailand's prime minister is blaming illegal migration for a cluster of more than a 1000 infections its biggest so far it's believed to have come from people working at a seafood market near bangkok that's a major blow for a country that had been hailed for its success in combating the virus tony chang has moved on coke. was a mobile testing unit pulls into a market in the north of bangkok in 72 hours thailand's corona virus infection numbers have increased by 20 percent godlike he came here for screening before and

found out there are floating i people who are in radio close contact with an infected person from their market today we will collect samples of all of the traders inside for a trade to scan a q.r. code to register with the health authority only the stallholders are eligible for testing today others who have covert concerns are being turned away. infections originating from the seafood market in some months a colon and now being discovered in bangkok and provinces even further away outside the unpleasant process begins these people are not alone the thai government says it will test 10000 people in an attempt to contain the outbreak on tuesday some of those tests revealed 427 new infections a huge rise in a country that had seen 0 local transmission in months. teams of health officials are now screening traders in markets across the thai capital migrant workers have also been targeted as being

a particular concern and the prime minister said he might introduce a national lockdown the transmissions continue to rise. so on child local fishmonger says many customers are choosing to stay at home now he's worried about his health and keeping his business afloat. to begin the economy was picking up but we now are facing this and it makes us feel as if we are going back to the 1st outbreak traders in this market say that concern about the outbreak has caused business that drop by 70 or 80 percent and overall thailand has made huge economic sacrifices to rid itself of the coronavirus this outbreak continues to grow all of that will be for nothing with the new year holiday approaching many thais thought normal life was almost within reach the latest outbreak appears to have some pair dreams tony chang al jazeera bangkok. we're just going to turn to our top story now

about the block movement from the u.k. by the french air let's cross over to bernard smith because we spent you just a few moments ago we believe the french prime minister has now been speaking with a significant statement. yes it's what we had been rumored throughout today the french government has decided that from midnight tuesday french time people who live in france and french citizens and non french citizens of france will be able to return to france as long as they're in possession of a negative p.c.r. or antigenic test from the u.k. in a last as significant difference because all day they've been talking about a p.c.r. test but this antigenic test is anti gen test is much quicker the results are within minutes and while it's not thought to be as reliable it's much easier to

administer one of the biggest challenges for the french and the british or the french insisting on a p.c.r. test was how the british were going to administer it to more than $600.00 not lorry drivers waiting in cash cans to come back to france now the french of allowed this anti gen test to be performed instead it will be much easier to administer the results will be much quicker and that should get the traffic moving much faster and people who live in london in the south east of england if they're allowed to return to france if they're allowed to leave their homes under the restrictions in the u.k. they too will be able to either have a p.c.r. test much more expensive and takes longer to get the results or they can have this antigen test pretty quickly allowing them to allowing them to leave the u.k. and allowing them to come to france for the update thanks very much. in paris for us. well plenty more ahead here on the al-jazeera news hour including under attack

the new report that shows the number of journalists being killed for their work is on the rise and the new variant prone to virus strain in south africa that's left some hospitals overwhelmed and football's world governing body fifo launches a criminal complaint against the former president's son blatter those details coming up with gemma in school. rebel groups in central african republic have seized bomb body the country's 4th largest city as they continue their push towards the capital bangui tension has been rising in the run up to the december 27th vote rwanda has sent additional troops to the country to help deal with the fighting the government has accused rebels backed by the former president francois busies a of attempting a coup while talks have begun in sudan as the country tries to settle a border dispute with its neighbor ethiopia it comes after weeks of fighting

between the 2 sides over farmland which is claimed by both sudan says it's referring to the colonial border as proof that they are in the territory ethiopia describes the attacks as raids and says they put past border deals at risk the united nations refugee agency is calling for urgent funding to address what it calls a full scale humanitarian emergency in ethiopia's northern to grow region it says it needs 156000000 dollars so it can help provide aid to tens of thousands who've been left displaced since last month's military operation 52000 people have fled into neighboring sudan in the past 6 weeks and an estimated 96000 eritrean refugees are already in the gray before the conflict. currently many refugees remain in overcrowded conditions without proper facilities and there continues to be a shortage of medicine and other supplies we have seen a huge demand for family tracing and unification education and for child friendly

spaces and nutritional programs several doctors working to contain the current virus in afghanistan have been killed in a car bomb they were heading to the country's largest prison which houses hundreds of taliban inmates 2 women doctors were among the dead investigators say a bank netting bomb was attached to the car no one has claimed responsibility for the attack the number of journalists murdered worldwide in retaliation for their workers more has more than double this year at least 30 journalists were killed in 2020 according to the committee for the protection of journalists mexico's the deadliest country in the world for the media workers are routinely threatened and targeted by organized criminal groups or corrupt politicians afghanistan syria and the philippines are next on the list most of the killers have gone unpunished and politics was the most dangerous beat while murders rose overall this year the number of combat related deaths fell to its lowest level since the year 2000

courtney rach is the advocacy director of the committee to protect journalists and joins me now from washington d.c. good to have you with us dying to tell the story has sort of taken another turn for journalists trying to get to the truth. yes journalists are literally paying with their lives as they try to report the news and bring the world information at a time when access to accurate factual and timely information has never been more important and the fact that we saw a doubling in the number of journalists murder this year in a year or so many of people being confined to their home and travel is down is is also it was exceedingly shocking you mentioned in your report that mexico certainly comes top of the list in terms of where one should look to be highlighted i mean what concerns you about mexico well mexico is a democracy and yet there is

a lot of violent crime in criminal gangs and drug cartels are routinely murdering journalists with impunity they even have a president they even have a journalist protection mechanism in mexico and yet there were journalists who were murdered while under the protection of that mechanism so it's clearly ineffectual and the fact that you know a democracy can year after year allow its journalists to be murdered with impunity is not acceptable and should be a top priority for the over to our ministration to address how do you distinguish between a journalist being killed in the line of duty and one that is targeted it's quite delicately new and. it definitely is delicately nuanced and we actually use the tools of journalism to make those determinations we are reporting like a news service on attacks against the press so we have to double source everything

investigate try to ascertain the facts at hand and what happened and then we make a determination whether the killing was related to journalism and if so was it because the journalist was on a dangerous assignment where you know they were say killed in crossfire or as a byproduct or were they murder were they targeted because of their journalism you know one case that stands out this year as well melisande in iran who appeared on both our annual prison census as well as on our sent the report of kill journalist because he was murdered by the regime through execution in retaliation for his journalism in to mention just slightly earlier in a conversation about the impact of covert 90 of this year's report how much has that really impacted on journalists being able to do the job and report on a covert story. well every story is a covert story this year because journalists have to contend with how to report during coded regardless of whether that story is technically about coded so new

safety precautions quarantine restrictions that have limited access and limited access to information as well but one of the biggest impact we've seen is the responses that governments have need to the corona virus pandemic which has included you know efforts that seem less designed to combat the pandemic and more designed to combat independent reporting that may be critical of government efforts we've seen around the world that a slew of governments have adopted new legislation that is a sensibly aimed at stopping the spread of false news or public and sharing public health but in fact is the use to retaliate against journalists who report on uncomfortable facts about how the government's doing in its response or about the coronavirus you know large we've seen that in china in iran in egypt and really all over the place including in some democratic countries so it's a really challenging year to be a journalist and i think that we're going to see

a lot of these challenges continue because of course once you put in place legislation like that that criminalizes aspects of journalism it's going to stay in place long after the pandemic was part of your time and thanks very much for informing of a very interested international community the ranch the from the c.p.g. in washington d.c. thank you. well still ahead here on the news hour we look at china's war on poverty and how its multibillion dollar plan is working. the new n.b.a. season starts late on tuesday and they have a crew i was plan in place we'll tell you that story in school. hell is a bit of a cold breeze coming out of the eastern med it's setting up showers it's part of

the last system that's currently throwing snow into the higher grounds of northern syria northern iraq and particularly turkey and beyond towards the caspian this rain to the south of that and this is the onshore breeze of bring a few showers north and the chip gaza israel up to lebanon's well and they'd like to induce showers down the higher ground over society or even on the african side of the red sea port so you know djibouti nothing significant i don't think and the whole thing becomes druther quater during soused thursday as showers and might come down towards bahrain even qatar but the good to be light if they do appear atoll more significant rain has recently been recorded in the middle of south africa this white mass here that's going up through the eastern cape now going off shore really but it's part of a trough line that's drifting snow only eastwards is leaving behind fine weather not particularly warm in cape town which is stating this fine weather the rain itself would head into the southern part of mozambique the puter reflects that look

at the temperatures briefly on the high side but that for the winds changes on that trough light your drive day on thursday showers back on friday and they're probably last. a new perspective can change the world. for one chin is ian what began as a hobby has grown into a passion own way of life. teaching the next generation to strive for a higher level. and in so installing in his country a sense of freedom and strength. new heights my chin is here on al-jazeera. water scarcity has become a major global issue the demand is going straight up and the supply is going straight down turning an essential natural resource into a commodity traded for profit just because it's life doesn't mean it cannot be

priced what about the guy that can afford it guys teles water. al-jazeera examines the social financial and environmental impact of water privatized ation loads of water on al-jazeera. both about you watching the office their news hour with me so rob a reminder of our top news stories france says that it will end its border closure with britain by midnight politicians have been scrambling to find a way to let freight movements continue since borders was shot over in mutated version of the corona virus hundreds of truck drivers have been stranded in the

british port town of dover. brits it negotiated michel barnier says towards with the u.k. or in the final push he's been updating envy. as from the last 27 member states on the latest talks fishing rights remain an obstacle to achieving a trade deal before the december the 31st deadline and rebel groups in the central african republic have reportedly seize the country's 4th largest city bombarded the government's accuse rebels backed by the former president of attempting a coup ahead of sunday's elections. more the curve coronavirus now where south africa is struggling to contain a surge in new cases health officials say it's being driven by a different covert 1000 variants from the mutated strain in the u.k. the virus is spreading faster than when the pandemic 1st began several countries that halted travel to and from south africa harem tarsa has more 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 problems 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 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 province you find in a place called a very popular tourist resort they saying that they have had more than 50 percent of cancellations because of this you go to durban a lot of the hotels are closed coming near 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. research innovation and sequencing plans but he explains how scientists distribute the virus . the 1st thing to make clear is that salt africa and u.k. has truly different lineages yet both spreading very fast with. few similarities between then why not then is there one of the many mutations that that to make that. bite protein interact with that human cell receptor this 2nd think we saw quite similar from the u.k. we saw that emerging. nelson mandela bay that's in that you stand cape and then move out west very fast and there direction of cape town and not west and not east

to quell saloon where so it's quite similar. but we see a common small origin but it's very fast spread across the country we haven't been surveying that virus since the beginning of that and then nixon's february and on monday we would have like 20 or 30 lynn that just course kountry and in the last month in the house we seen that had been taking off by one unique. and this lineage when we both took a close look because we are what it how one lineage could be taking over and transmitting so fast this lineage had multiple mutations on multiple chained in the spike protein of to divide us hong kong is one of the hubs imposing restrictions on flights from the u.k. people who spent more than 2 hours in britain in the past fortnight will be banned

from boarding flights to hong kong and i think clued the city's residents to the apollo has moved from hong kong. this time last year this airport arrivals hall was packed with people trying to get ahead of the holidays this year old very different scene hong kong is the 1st city in to impose such a flight ban on the u.k. now from the board behind me a couple of flights have. managed to slip through before the deadline people from those flights will now have to quarantine for 3 weeks instead of the customary 2 weeks despite the pandemic travel between the u.k. and hong kong has been relatively robust in fact 5000 people ride from the u.k. this month alone and many of them are students who are studying in the u.k. hong kong is experiencing its 4th and what see it as its most severe wave yet and so the government has imposed some of its trick to social distancing measures

including only 2 people are allowed to gather at any time everyone has to wear a face mask or they will be have to leave find and nightlife during this holiday season has come to a virtual standstill with all dialing in entertainment venues having to shut by 6 in the evening now businesses and hong kong's economy have been struggling over the past year and a lie that this donkey kong government has passed its latest tranche of relief founded amounting to about a $1000000000.00 so the crew is burning just brings a lot of people sort of christmas eve the restrictions will be in place for at least 10 days as the country tries to contain the surge and inspections about 2000 new cases are being reported daily ski resorts and other major tourist spots will also be shot robert bryant has moved from seoul. it was only monday that the authorities in the greater seoul area announced tougher restrictions home to around half of south korea's population and choose day these tougher restrictions are

going to be put in place across south korea and it comes as we have seen this bill let 3rd wave produce around up to 1000 new cases a day we've also had another grim milestone of setting a record for the number of deaths from covert 924 now these numbers might not seem large by comparison to other parts of the world but when you consider where south korea was even up to just a few weeks ago it seemed to be have this under control to have it beat so it is very concerning for the authorities there the worry is that when we get into this holiday period that they really want to try to deter people from having large gatherings so we are seeing a strong recommendation from the government that people do not meet in groups of private gatherings of 5 or more people now it's only a recommendation but it is a very strong one and in fact restaurants have been told they're not allowed to take any bookings of groups of 5 or more also we're seeing restrictions on for example hotels are only allowed to have 50 percent occupancy possibly

a bigger measure with a closure of ski resorts ski resorts are normally very busy at this time of year just getting into the winter season they have now been told to close again and we've also had to announce the national parks will also be closed at this time of year it is normal for families to go out and see sunsets and sunrises over the new year period well those 2 will be closed and all these measures in place through to the 1st week of january. now the u.s. congress has passed a spending bill including nearly a trillion dollars in covert $900.00 economic stimulus it's the largest relief package in american history and it includes a $600.00 payment to most americans unemployment benefits into march and the food and rental assistance now the bill breaks months of stalemate between democrats and republicans and comes as the number of recorded coronavirus cases exceeds 18000000 united nations investigators have submitted to the security council evidence of war

crimes against humanity in mali now armed groups un security forces are implicated in the report which documents crimes as far back as 2012 that's when separatists in northern mali launched an offensive ethnic rivalries and violence has since expanded to other regions including neighboring begin a fast so and new share kristen salumi our correspondent is standing by at the united nations with more details on this is just really a report that you've managed a brief glimpse at kristen but what else did it say. yeah it contains many disturbing accounts in its 338 pages about what has happened in mali since that insurgency was launched by the tar eggs in 2012 it covers a lot of ground the investigation was launched as part of a peace process in 2015 and it found

a litany of war crimes and crimes against humanity by all of the main parties in this conflict the work climbs by mali and defense and security forces include violent attacks on those who are suspected of cooperating with armed groups outside of a combat situation and for the various armed groups there's just a litany of crimes against humanity it's really many disturbing details everything from or maiming rape attacking humanitarian groups including the united nations their sexual violence rape. just a whole list of things and one example that they give that was particularly disturbing happened in central mali in 2017 when one armed group affiliated with the dogan people in retaliation for the death of one of their

members launched attacks on villages and killed a number of people 39 people including several children so a lot to wade through in this report but certainly a lot of issues and concerns the very kinds of things that the united nations is set up to fight against indeed a report like this is submitted but what happens next how is it back to the polls. right well so again this was part of the peace process in 2015 the commission of inquiry was set up it contains 3 members who were appointed by the secretary general with experience in international humanitarian law and they are in fact recommending that there be a special court set up to prosecute these cases in the report itself could be the legal basis for doing so because this was part of the mandate that was handed down

by the security council when they created a peacekeeping mission in mali after the 2015 peace agreement this will go back to the security council they will weigh in and consider that but we could very well see a court set up to prosecute these crimes that will probably take some time justice move slowly on the international scale but we've seen that happen in places like rwanda and the former yugoslavia so we will be watching in the new here for the security council to again weighing in on this and see if further steps would be taken to that end which has been recommended by the commissioners for that update christensen amy thanks very much. coming to has pledged to give $70000000.00 to the u.n. agency for palestinian refugees to help tackle its worst of a financial crisis the agency has been struggling to run operations off the u.s. cut contributions the money from canada will be distributed over 3 years to go towards running schools and providing health services to more than $5000000.00 palestinians. israeli lawmakers have rejected

a key budget vote paving the way for the 4th national elections in 2 years the knesset has to pass its budget before midnight on cheese day that's less than 4 hours away and if an agreement cannot be reached the parliament will automatically dissolve triggering snap elections a coalition government formed in may by a power sharing agreement has been plagued by infighting hoffman is the chief political correspondent for the jerusalem post and joins me now from west jerusalem good to have you on al-jazeera again i mean all the public ready in israel for a full general election what is need public that wants to get rid of netanyahu that wants to get rid of benny gantz and wants a government that could function and has no hope that the current government could function is absolutely overjoyed that israel is going to elections the rest of the population is just upset at going to elections for the 4th time in 2 years so who are the viable alternatives if they don't want netanyahu and they don't want guns

while they're there are other figures that are running could use the name get on solder he ran against it and you know within that he could a year ago this week and lost badly and now has left netanyahu as the good party for his own party and that presents a formidable challenge that it's running 2nd in the polls right now but our opposition leader your laputa he also believes you can unite much of the political map and there's enough tony bennett further on the right it remains to be seen who will be the alternative in this election well of course this augment was all about the budget apparently in realtor because gowns was apparently always concerned with led to believe that netanyahu would never live up to his end of the blog and if the editorials many publications are to be believed about sort of power sharing was it all about the budgets and power sharing. no it was all about nits and you know and whether newton you know would be willing to rotate in give up the prime minister's office basically to benny ganz and night he just gave a press conference on t.v.

right now the prime minister said what yesterday i agreed to it well in yesterday it was already too late. where do we sort of look at the fact that one of the big issues in that disagreement was the justice minister nissen cold why would why would that particular appointment to about individual be so divisive between the 2 political parties and the 2 leaders. to me i was facing 3 criminal indictments and the lone white wanted to protect the rule of law prevents him from bypassing it. prevents and now from having involvement in choosing the next state's attorney and then after that the next attorney general the nissen coroner was a very strong justice minister who wasn't letting point means be made you know was really standing up to netanyahu and so part of an engine you know is a man who has died of a fire in his barn or weaken him and benny gantz. according to different reports was willing or was not willing to let that happen in terms of how you see this

election campaign progressing what issues do you think the voters will turn out if it if and when it happens is it the economy is it kind of it 19 or is it corruption oh wow that's so lovely that you're giving us issues as it were a normal country that's not true unfortunately of course there are cabinet ministers who would love the election to be about the economy well are about the health crisis but no it's going to be out by about and it's and you know how and whether people want him to remain in power that's what our last 3 elections have been about where we've definitely fallen into personality politics here in this room well let's hope it is about the issues god love to talk about this with you again in the future but always nice to speak to you thanks for your time and you saw me. the indian government says it's ready for more talks with striking farmers protesters have blockaded roads into new delhi for weeks and they're demanding the repeal of new agricultural pricing laws they say will hurt their livelihoods and

benefit large corporations the government and farmers unions have previously held talks that remain deadlocked china's leaders say the country has eradicated extreme poverty over the past 5 years the communist party has been billions of dollars and dispatched thousands of officials to help rural households but critics question the sustainability of the program and say millions of people or risk of falling back into hardship greeny reports now from loud chewing county inquiring sheep province . 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 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 has 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 millions of risk falling back into poverty poverty line. people is trans is temporary is short term spells and those kinds of people have very very different kinds of needs than others for whom he is a chronic experience a policy implement the policy response to those different states needs to be different and. his life is better but not easier. by factory involves working 12 hours a day with only 2 days off to month. 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 new al-jazeera county china. well still ahead in sport lionel messi could set a new record of those details and go with. the

health of humanity is at stake a global pandemic requires a global response. w.h.o. is the god ian of global health delivering lifesaving to school supplies and training to help the world's most found people uniting across borders to speed up the development of tests treatments and of that scene working with scientists and health workers to learn all we can about the virus keeping you up to date with what's happening on the ground in the ward and in the lab advocating for everyone

to have access to essential health services now more than ever the world needs. w.h.y. make you feel when. everyone. but time to support his german. banks i'll tell you here is delay limpid games will cost almost $3000000000.00 more than originally expected because of the coronavirus

pandemic the games were spying for a year due to the outbreak on tuesday organizers announced a new budget a $15400000000.00 up 22 percent in the last year although the japanese government orders have indicated the cost could be much higher at least $25000000000.00. already set to be the most expensive summer olympics on record and the head of the committee says it's important they do go ahead. we have 7 months until the opening of the games. of the games was unprecedented and we have been working closely with people who are involved we need to hold the olympics as a symbol of overcoming the coronavirus and to have the olympic flame that at the stadium that's the mission we need to fulfill the new n.b.a. season tips off later on tuesday and will do so without using a bio security bubble last season was interrupted by the current of arson it meant the regular season had to be completed disney world they were allowed a venue host of the entire playoff stage as well the teams that will be traveling

between games this time around the commissioner adam silver says the n.b.a. has an extensive safety plan in place. we meet as you know she. changes to the schedule into travel changes to help reduce the chances of an incident but you know we keep the answers we have a lot of plans in the drawer and we'll just see i think you know we're going to go we're going to go for it you know are we have as i said apparently of competence in it but but i i don't know i want to make sure everyone understands that the safety and health of our players in all respects are number one priority and if any time we feel that's being jeopardized we will stop le bron james and the defending champions are sounds like is what we in action on the opening night against the l.a. rivals the clippers out 35 years of age and james says he's mindful of taking care of his body to make sure he doesn't why himself out of this into my body but i would say i'm right that. you know if this. was about.

to be very smart we were married. you know. we want to get better every day. or these me if i wind up i'll listen to much about it later massey is given a hint that he could stay up past lane up beyond this season in a preview to a longer interview to be released later this week messi says he had a very bad time in the summer when he tried and failed to leave the club but he says he's fine now and if messes corso boss and there came later pele's record for the most goals at one club part of me not to fuck. i don't think you need an interview to find out if messi is full of energy because i can see it every day seeing him with the team and his team mates it gets hard for a player like him who is used to winning everything not to win games and that's the case right now i don't know what he's going to say in the interview will say. now

to a big game in the u.s. the congo cap champions league final takes place in florida later with 2 teams that battling to make history but sam goody's f.c. will take on take us in orlando at the fest major league soccer clubs have beat 3 mexican teams on route to the final and one hopes to make that 4 later if they win that they'd be the 1st team from m.l.s. to lift the trophy and shuster excitement not known for being in a final for showing. people how we play football and for competing against the great team that's the only part we were thinking of oh. you know when you're a player and you get a chance to be in a final special. the mexican opponents to us are into their 4th champions league final but they've never won the trophy either to us or scored the most goals of any team in this competition with 13 but they could be without 2 of that big players andre has a thigh injury and havea keen eye has a muscle strain they missed monday's training session face a late fitness test on choose day before

a decision can be made on their inclusion in the team football's world governing body fee for has filed a criminal complaint against its former president sepp blatter over the finances of his museum in zurich fifa says it suspects of criminal mismanagement the museum which was a pet project of batters opened in 2016 after $114000000.00 was spent on refurbishing it better also signed a contract with the building's owners which requires fifa to pay $360000000.00 in rent until 204584 year old is already a suspect into criminal proceedings in switzerland and how he spent a fee 1st money as president he's always maintained he's innocent to cricket now in australia opening batsman david warner looks unlikely to be fit for the boxing day test against india he hasn't played since injuring his growing in the 2nd one day international between the sides last month and he was hoping to be back for the 2nd test on december 26th but it looks like this match comes a bit too soon for him 30000 fans will be allowed into the melbourne cricket ground

and see smith well he can't wait for the occasion. you get the ship is don't use on when you walk up to bat on boxing day the crowd yelling in sort of like a dream come true in a way it was a kid i always wanted to play in a boxing day test match i always remember watching the boxing i just sit home and with the family after christmas and you had to walk out on boxing day sort of get the shivers down use on in the here's in the back you know rise up and it's just a great feeling. and that's what you'll sport for now avi back with more later. thanks very much general of course you can follow all of the stories that we're covering here at al-jazeera on our website at al-jazeera dot com of course our top story the covert pandemic across europe and the rest of the world and how france is now in the last hours that it was opening transport links to the u.k. at midnight not entail of more on this small london news center and to learn from me the whole ramadan the news r.t.

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

into your own. as the lines of lorries stuck at the u.k. border grows longer the e.u. urges its members to lift their travel bans over a new variant of the corona virus thailand's prime minister blames illegal migration for a sudden spike in coded 19 cases centered on a seafood market. and more intense is al jazeera live from london also coming up 5 person doctors and health workers are killed on their way to work and the latest bomb attack in afghanistan. you.