noting the fact that this list obviously isn't going to guns and journalists change the hong kong fact and fiction list truth is it anyway on al-jazeera. a warning from the u.k. health secretary that more than one new coronavirus mutation is breading in the country. clubs the whole romney what you're after a life my headquarters here in doha also coming up. tonight. is trying to wrap up truck drivers and police face off in the u.k. where anger is growing over delays at the border brought on by fears of covert 19. and time is running out for a brics a trade deal but there are hints of progress. donald trump makes another

controversial round of presidential pardons and does a u. turn on the front of virus stimulus bill. welcome to the program large parts of england are being put under even tougher covert 19 restrictions as a mutated variant of the virus spreads new infections have risen by 57 percent in the past week and more people are currently in hospital than at any point since april the british government has put more regions under its highest level of restriction and elevated measures elsewhere meanwhile the u.k. is also facing the added threat of another covert 100 new taishan for people who arrive from south africa. we are quarantining cases and close contacts of cases found here in the u.k. 2nd we're placing immediate restrictions on travel from south africa and finally

and most importantly anyone in the u.k. who has been in south africa in the past fortnight and anyone who is a close contact of someone who's been in south africa in the last fortnight must quarantine immediately as was over to us a beggar correspondent in london and of course it seems that these new restrictions seem to predominantly affect people in the east and southern parts of england. yes they do that's where this seeing the greatest increase in numbers and that's been concerning for the government now the u.k. is split and a tier system one to 4 for being with the most restrictions the strictest which is london and the southeast that the east of the country east anglia has been added to that means people stay at home they're not allowed to be out without a good reason people are told to work from home unless they absolutely have to

travel and they're not allowed to mix with other households there that meet people someone from one person from outside the household outside no meetings inside to know that those other restrictions and a tear for non-essential businesses are closed now these restrictions will come in the day after christmas so on saturday now some are asking the question that if the rise in cases is so concerning then why is it that the government is waiting until a day after christmas after christmas because on christmas day from tears one to 3 there is a relaxing of the rules that allows people to socialize in the bubble of 3 households and what people are asking now is that if the concern is this so much concern about this new strain about the increase of hospitalizations about the increase of deaths then why wait why not act now why delay it and right now the government doesn't

seem to have an answer for that but. the health secretary matt hung up was worried he did seem concerned and was warning people to show restraint and of course a real concern for the british government is this new strain that we were talking about less than 24 hours ago that seems to originated in south africa and has landed on britain shores. yes the health secretary said that he had further mutated from the new virus the new strain that it's seen hairs and it was more transmissible and that this is of extreme concern to the u.k. government here and what they're saying is that anybody that had contact with someone that's returned from south africa or someone that has returned from south africa they must quarantine if they're returned in the last 14 days or last fortnight or anyone that's had contact with them and they want to put this into law now they're taking this very very seriously because if they were already concerned about the new strain that had been spotted here that the government had mentioned

just a few days ago they seem extremely concerned about this strain that's originated from south africa now the health secretary did say that they are communicating with the authorities they only thank them for being open and transparent and sharing information but right now they really want to get a hold of this and make sure that this new strain from south africa doesn't spread around the u.k. for the update thanks very much as a by the force in london. of course and her very latest paul brennan who's at the british port of dover where hundreds of trucks are already stuck unable to return to the consulate because of covert 90. people are very miserable and fed up and upset and it started on tuesday with a lack of information i have to say that just wasn't anything filtering through to those drivers who at that point had been stranded for that. you can hear people just blowing their horns out of sheer frustration misery was gridlock in the town

of dover itself that means local people are being caught up in all of this lorry drivers who are trying to get down that road with the police blocking blockages behind me that's the main road to the polls being diverted away to having to turn around and go back in the direction that they came from. it's all around on happiness frankly the weather isn't helping. it's 36 hours away from christmas day so you know you can you can imagine that the drivers here who hoped to be home with their families off to delivering the goods on the loads and sound for back in time for christmas it's not going to happen for so for thousands of them it's been really very very frustrating this morning trying to get from the all thought sees a straight answer as to exactly what is going on to alleviate the pressure on the traffic and also i would say get those drivers stranded on to those studies with a test hopefully a negative coronavirus test i spoke to kent county council this morning about the regional authority for this area and they said no it's not us it's the department

for health the problem about health turned around and said no no no it's not us it's the poem for transport the default for transport however reveal haven't revealed anything apart from the very basic statistics of how many trucks are stuck on the m. 20 motorway on that mountain affeldt they said testing has started but they haven't given us how many revelation of how many tests they've actually managed to complete. negotiators from the e.u. and the u.k. are still trying to finalize a brix it deal but it's not clear if it will happen the pound has gained against the dollar on hopes of a solution is imminent well the u.k. is due to leave the single euro market at the end of the month let's go over to unity barbara who's in london now deal with been told is close we've been hearing that for the past few days. that's true so here we have and of course we have to take everything we hear coming out of brussels and london

over those negotiations that have been going on for 9 months with a pinch of salt we know there's a deadline of the 31st of december next thursday by the end of that day that's when the interim the transition period ends and both sides want to avoid that no deal scenario you've just seen some of the chaos that british ports where there are predictions that that will increase under a no deal scenario there will be increased customs checks and paperwork even if there is a deal but under the no deal it could be considerably worse and pose them far greater threat to the british economy next year so right now we're hearing we're hearing that people at the european commission for example briefing journalists that the talks are in their final stage and that there could be a deal imminent but others are saying it could go either way just a few hours ago the u.k. housing minister was on television saying that there were still differences and a good deal wasn't satisfactory in terms of what the e.u.

was offering not only on fishing quotas there's still bartering over what percentage of the catch in u.k. waters should go to e.u. fishing fleets but also according to him on the issue of level playing field which is really far more significant in terms of the economic impact for either side given the small value of the the u.k. fishing industry but still it's clear that they are trying to edge nearer because since monday boris johnson the prime minister sort of underlying president of the european commission have actually taken control they're in constant telephone contact we're told there is shuttle to be another phone call later on wednesday and if there is to be a deal that's possibly when they'll announce it we're hearing that the european parliament won't have time to ratified by the 31st of december so in brussels there are rumors that they're talking of provisional application meaning that it can come into force on the 1st of january for

a later ratification by the european parliament and hopefully the u.k. parliament as well the baba thanks so much for the update from london. war criminals perjurers fraudsters and murderers they're among the 15 people who've been pardoned by u.s. president donald trump as he reaches the end of his term there are 4 military contractors from a security company convicted of a 2007 shooting in baghdad 14 iraqi civilians were killed including 2 children political allies have also been pardoned 2 people who lived in a congressional probe over russian election metalink have been granted clemency the president has done to solve an urgent leave needed coronavirus relief bill despite having bipartisan support he says he'll reject it unless it's amended harder to castro the reaction in washington d.c. or both trumps pardons stance on covert 19 relief these are individuals who had direct personal interests linked to that of president trump if you break

them down we have those 2 aides to trump's campaign who were caught up in the russian investigation by the special counsel robert muller they were among the 1st 2 convictions secured in the investigation both pleading guilty to lying to federal officers they are among those pardoned course we have these 4 convicted murderers the blackwater security guards now they were convicted after a hard fought conviction during the president obama administration of murder of manslaughter for the massacre of innocent iraqi civilians well what is their connection to trump blackwater is owned by an ardent trump supporter erik prince of course we have that whole other mass with the covert relief bill which was a shock to both republicans and democrats in congress trying had declined to

participate in the months of negotiations and so it really came out of nowhere when he announced on twitter that he wanted. checks of $2000.00 rather than the $600.00 as economic stimulus to americans but democrats are playing along their leaders in congress have said ok they're going to bring up a plan to increase the quantity of those checks to the house floor tomorrow christmas eve for unanimous consent but it would indeed take a christmas miracle for unanimous consent to be given in both chambers for that plan given republican opposition to further spending and such an instance is a professor of u.s. government of the university of essex in southern england she says the pardons are a blatant abuse of power. surprised by these pardons this is really in line with trump's entire presidential administration and the way he has led in

a very corrupt manner and a very authoritarian manner seen in the u.s. democracy backsliding in terms of the way it's been rained on. by democratic indices just because of this i mean this is been a total abuse of the pardon power and only any president has done anywhere near this type of damage with this is why i cast leadership of the justice department review process and it was really an abuse of this idea from the founders that you were going to have some sort of constitutional safeguard against injustices in the criminal justice system instead he's using it just to serve his own personal interests and whims or to help those that are close to them close to him a harvard study found that even before these 15 pardons had been announced 88 percent of the pardons that he had done were to serve his own interests completely and so we see that he's army people who are corrupt in congress and also pardoning

people in the military or private security companies who have killed innocent civilians. still ahead here on al-jazeera the central african republic is just days away from a presidential election but the security situation is deteriorating with reports of a city falling to rebels uncoated 19 reaches one of the most remote parts of the world after the 1st cases of recorded antarctica. it's time for more snow for japan you've had a day off a certain thursday still looks like a fairly mild day these are rain showers not snow showers for the most part in honshu because when turned around and comes out of the real cold constant once more we build big snow showers half a meter of snow on the western slopes of home shoe and is likely to be commonplace

we might see nearly a meter in the central part of honshu again west facing slopes of the codas coming from what is really a fairly sunny environment for northern china the korean peninsula is cold by day and by not but not severely so it's quite nice down hong kong again $21.00 degrees in the sunshine the remains that tropical depression they fall apart nights to a massive big thunderstorms and showers the rain potential 2 or $300.00 millimeters and that so it's way for thursday to the far south of thailand leaving vietnam rather dry and now there's a possibility the occasional shower running through the found also of pakistan or india pretty hard to pick out on the big scale for costs more frequent showers are likely down in sri lanka but new delhi gives the hint it is some frayed typically for the fog away from bihari right up to the northwest but you might get that brief interruption with a thunderstorm on saturday. an

invitation to bear witness to all that life office. the highways the learners the trials and tribulations the unseen movements and everyday miracles the injustices the defiance the tests of character and the person they trace the witness documentaries with a delicate touch on al-jazeera. book about your watching al-jazeera of me as a whole rather

a reminder of our top stories you can health minister mark hancock has an owl's that more regions will move into tears for restrictions on boxing day he also said they have detected 2 cases of another variant in the u.k. which may have come from south africa. british and european union negotiators are reportedly close to finalizing a brics a trade deal with just over a week left to the deadline key issues they're trying to resolving through do you fish the rights of british waters and k. is due to leave the single market for the end of its ban us president donald trump has pardoned for military contractors convicted of shooting dead 14 civilians in iraq in 2017 along with 2 men linked to the investigation into russian meddling there are among the 15 presidential pardons announced on tuesday. the u.n. says a major town in central african republic is secure after reports that had been seized by rebels eyewitnesses said an alliance calling itself the patriots coalition for

change took over body after fighting with u.s. backed government troops but the u.n. mission says while rebels remain in the area they are not in control the latest violence comes just days before the country's presidential election. so. the. very thing information this is the 2nd. hour about 400 kilometers from the capital. now we've been talking to eyewitnesses who are saying that he is now in. this. change this is. comprised of groups who joined forces over the weekend and have been threatening to march on to. these people that we're talking to in saying that there's been maybe fighting and this is now being controlled by this rebel movement but we have also.

the u.n. peacekeeping mission. and they are saying that that is not true and that has not. been the fighting. this morning. but the city is not. being controlled by the rebels now bhambri is a very big city because. that connects to mining areas than to other neighboring countries like sudan and also where the producing producing factory and the only area produces rice so whoever controlled. controlled area that's why so important here. everyone is.

saying that this election needs to be postponed because of the security issues but government officials are saying that that is not an option to these from as the deputy special representative told the secretary general of the u.n. peacekeeping mission i mean the sky she told us that the body. of a rebel takeover. we have hundreds of blue helmets on the ground in bunbury as well and coolies from the u.n. peacekeeping mission as well as civilians and u.n. agencies or there are a 100 international staff and you won't enjoy your clue if you bomb back and there weren't an attack on the gendarmerie in bunbury but there is no takeover of the town and that comes from the hundreds of stars that. there was an example of go on combat moves are still in the area but they are not control the power

as. we have $12500.00 troops on the ground and we have a mandate from the security council. and we have 5 months in the band who is what we're seeing now in mind when we have gone groups and we exploit the new who are trying to mobilize to the location and it is challenging situation in the west in particular working moms are the troops that we have in place in the rest of the country and the situation in the background our. local are all up and the opposition is coming to collect their car they're going to hurt us in the position of the united nations and very clear that we will not allow the rebels new deal from the population there. to well

hundreds of people have fled a migrant camp in bosnia from massive fire thick black smoke portable tend to live a camp which is home to around 1200 people near the croatian border the international organization for migration which oversees the facility had planned to shut it down this week and it says bosnian all 44 failed to provide basic services think eating water and electricity. israel is to hold its 4th general election in less than 2 years after its parliament failed to pass a budget and was dissolved it is what's been a fractious coalition briefly united prime minister benjamin netanyahu and his rival the former opposition leader benny gantz ari nasr reports from west jerusalem . this is the speaker of israel's parliament the knesset announcing that last ditch efforts to pass the budget had failed it meant there was no way forward for the fragile ruling alliance the muslim of the of unfortunately who are unable to find

enough common ground to prevent another round of elections and enable the 23rd going to sit in its members to exercise the mandate given to us we all go to face a difficult to listen campaign and i call on each and every one of us and each and every israeli citizen to refrain from exacerbating tensions the prime minister benjamin netanyahu is popularity has plummeted over the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic and he's also facing corruption charges his attempts at delaying the budget vote and hold on to his position as prime minister fuel divisions with his coalition partner believe dances blue white party it also fueled divisions within his own likud party and a faction recently broke away but if it's an inconvenient time for the governing coalition to collapse netanyahu isn't showing it and yet again selections that wrong decision by the u.n. by party what if an election is forced upon us i promise you that event analysts say the time the hour will be over confident as the political landscape has changed

in the past 3 years certainly very weak much weaker than he has been politically for a long time not only because he faces this looming corruption trial but also because israel is really widely believed has mishandled the pandemic. economically as a result of that and of course donald trump will no longer be in the white house by that tight so. so some of the factors that have allowed him to prevail in the past are although polls suggest likud is the largest party netanyahu is facing some new contenders and he would still need alliances to reach 61 seat majority to form a government but he is also a political survivor and he still has some time to ramp up support for himself ahead of an election i remaster al-jazeera western resul m i was there journalist mahmud the same has now spent 4 years in egyptian detention without charge or a trial hussein was arrested while visiting family in december 26th seen

a number of human rights organizations have joined dodge's there in demanding his immediate release his detention his violation of both egyptian and international law. coalition of indian administered kashmir is best known leaders has won the elections between prime minister narendra modi's party the election is the 1st since the indian government revoked the region's autonomy last year the winning coalition wants autonomy to be reinstated. salmond saga celebrates with his supporters the former marriage srinagar one to constituencies in kashmir as capital he stood as a candidate for the anti modi opposition coalition car alliance this is the 1st. we were not allowed to campaign we were not allowed to meet people we were not allowed to talk to people we were not security missions to hold rallies. these local

elections were the 1st since new delhi strip the autonomy of indian administered kashmir last year effectively an exciting parts of the disputed territory india's decision to revoke self rule in the majority muslim populated region caused anger and to many kashmiris say they use these elections to make their voices heard the good car alliance 110 of the 280 contested seats. but members of india's governing hindu nationalist b j p say that also celebrating the party won 74 seats making it the single largest winner. do you believe. this is a victory for the b j p i believe it is because of the popularity of prime minister narendra modi in our towns and villages the people have faith in our prime minister and i believe in the future we will witness development the people who wanted to spread communism have failed. but the good car alliance says the election results show majority of

people want the region special status to be restored the b j p says the results vindicate the 2019 constitutional changes. they discover mint has said uniformity in rules and governance will bring development but many kashmiris insist the region must have its autonomy and right to determine its future victoria gate and be al-jazeera. viruses are spread to every continent 36 cases have been discovered as a chilean research station talk to but health officials say the people infected have not been isolated and are being closely monitored treated by reports. it's one of the most remote regions in the world antarctica and has been covert free until now. the 1st cases of covert 1000 were reported earlier this week at a chilean military research base. there was

a. show that 36 men tested positive for 1926 were army personnel and 10 work civilians from a contract company who were doing scheduled maintenance work at the end talked to a base. number and that of all. located in the chilean sector of antartica it is one of the 13 bases operates on the white continent which is you know. we know the exposure there is extreme it can have a physiological effect on people because of isolation in changes at a light several components that can act as a mere spross and because of the work they do there. the 36 men are reportedly healthy but i'm to quarantine in the southern chilean city of perm body now. but cove in 1000 continues to spread elsewhere in latin america increasing pressure on governments to find medicines and vaccines fast chile announced it will start vaccinations next week mexico and argentina in the next few days. most countries in

the region will begin with a pfizer vaccine but argentina has other plans for now there's lots of anxiety among latin american government to start vaccinating the population as soon as possible because there's fears of a 2nd wave early in 2021 argentina's government for example announced that russia sputnik vaccine is expected in the next few days and that a vaccination. pain is expected to begin as soon as the local taliban to. argentina signed a deal for 10000000 doses with russia but there's very little information yet about support makes efficacy and possible side effects so many people are skeptical about taking it. as soon as it was you know. there's not a lot of information on the russian vaccine we don't know if they had 11000 best. burgeon time authorities may have a report but we haven't seen it it's probably ok but the government has failed to

communicate that effectively. over 1000 has had devastating effects in latin america's economies and health care systems. it has now reached what many call the end of the world as the virus continues to spread a vaccine is the one chance governments have to make it stop. when a site is. your child is there it means the whole problem reminder of our top news stories large parts of england are being put under even tougher kovac 19 restrictions as a mutated variant of the virus spreads new infections have risen by 57 percent.