journalist signed the petition. cushion his father and donald trump former campaign manager paul manifold among those getting presidential pardons in the latest list. this is our live from doha coming up. angry truck drivers protest at the english port of dover where thousands are still stranded after couvade blockade. private gatherings restricted interest sites closed in south korea this is toughest over measures to contain covert $900.00 come

into force. chinese regulators announce a 90 monopoly investigation of thomas john and. so the new u.s. president donald trump has pardoned more of his allies the latest list of $26.00 include his 2016 campaign chairman paul money and roger stone his longtime adviser and friend he also pardon charles cushion of the father of his son in law jared it's the 2nd wave of presidential pardons in as many days speak to shepherd times he's live for us from washington d.c. and as she had the president quote on a bastion is ongoing issuing a policy. right presidencies usually are and as usual with the presidential pardons it's an interesting list of 26 people as you as you mentioned of a very well connected people who have managed to get the ear of the president

including and in a very trumpy in a way a former border guard who was accused of violence against undocumented migrants and seems like a like a rather symbolic perhaps in some ways but clearly the the major the major attention is being given to those connected to the russia great investigation and gerrard don't trump son in law and senior advisors father paul mano for roger stone they will get pardons for their roles in the in the rush to get investigation we should all remember robert well they didn't convict anyone nor was convicted of collusion with russia are plenty of people were convicted because of their conduct during the investigation by paul matter for roger stone convicted of obstructing the investigation paul model for also convicted of tax evasion bank fraud as a result all for the scrutiny that he got from investigators and they found all sorts of. criminality in his financial dealings when he was a political consultant for the ukrainian government before he joined the trump

campaign so those are getting a lot of scrutiny and then george bush's father this is a rather a notorious case in some circles at least jerry christmas father was convicted. of various crimes including intimidating a witness which and that consisted off him hiring a prostitute to meet his brother in law recording the encounter and sending the tape to his sister in an attempt to prevent his sister from cooperating with prosecutors persisted just sent the tape to 2 prosecutors instead. father was done for say he did serve 24 months of that but now he's been officially officially part and or as you have thanks for that has she ever times you are reporting from washington d.c. let's speak to bill schneider now who's a public policy professor at george mason university joins us by skype also from washington d.c. bill schneider welcome to the program. catering very much to his own interests rewarding friends and family and close political allies how does this compare with

previous presidential pardons. well presidents have been proponents have been controversial in the past even president clinton pardoned some people will a lot of people thought were unfair in this case though there's a long list of pardons and there are more yet to come he has another month in office the pardons are particularly controversial because some of them involve collusion with russia some of the been both up the special counsel's investigation but in every case but almost every case is pardoned someone who has been very loyal to him he's rewarding the loyalty of his supporters many say and it makes a mockery of the justice system do you think that in coming by did ministration in congress should change the law to to kind of limit the president's ability to pardon. he can't it's in the constitution it's an absolute power already president to pardon anyone was committed a crime against the united states that's a federal crime

a president has total unlimited ability to pardon anyone convicted of a federal crime the limit is he can pardon one who's convicted of a state crime like a financial misdoing or a. murder for instance it could be as a crime and a couple of the people he's pardoned of federal pence's are being accused of state crimes particularly by the state of new york and those prosecutions can continue he cannot pardon those people or if he has it's an incumbent power to pardon but if he uses that power to pardon to obstruct mr obstruct justice but it's a different ballgame isn't it structured justice that can be a federal crime yes if it's a peril investigation a couple of the people were convicted of obstructing justice and the president and that's pardoned them right and getting double trouble trying to pardon himself and

to space in future legal trouble can he do that. that's a debate there's no clear legal answer there are some legal authorities who claim they can partner anyone including himself and some who say no he does not have that power i don't know what the yes i'm not an attorney it's a debated issue among legal experts richard nixon was pardoned but he didn't pardon himself he was pardoned by his successor gerald ford. that bill schneider in washington d.c. more than $100.00 people have been killed in an attack in a western ethiopia region where ethnic tensions have been escalating that's according to the ethiopian human rights commission and amnesty international it's not it took place in the region of it benny shank will go is amnesty international says dozens of people are still unaccounted for this comes a day after the prime minister apne aap and visited the area calling for peace and unity following several deadly incidents in recent months in a tweet he said enemies were trying to divide ethiopia along ethnic and religious

lines no group has claimed responsibility elsewhere in the country government troops have been fighting the take right people's liberation front in the north and to grow region since the beginning of november it's raised fears of a security vacuum in other areas of the country and elections june next year have further raised tensions over land and power. they have been covered between police and frustrated truck drivers stranded at the english port of dave are several 1000 still waiting for corona virus test to arrive many have no food water or access to sanitation france lifted the blockaded imposed on arrivals from the u.k. 24 hours ago after a different corona virus strain was discovered and only those who tested negative of being allowed on to ferries brennan reports now from denver. facing a 4th night trapped in their vehicles and unable to depart for callaway. frustration and anger led one group of drivers to briefly blockade inbound freight

arriving from france there was a confrontation at the police tried to clear the road a demonstrator lay down in front of one of the lorries. speak to the drivers and time and again the lack of information is what's really causing tempest a flat and i don't know what's going on the police will tell you what's going on all they want to most of them from around the ball to let these people follow them blindly no no no no no it. should be bustling now instead it is ghostly shut down by the impact of the new variant of covert in the u.k. the french ban on arrivals ended on wednesday morning but the condition of travel is possession of a negative kovi test and getting one of them while trapped in a queue like this is impossible testing is available at the temporary lorry pocket manston airfield which now has nearly $4000.00 trucks and their drivers parked on

the site is on a desolate windswept hilltop 20 miles away from the port at dover. the sound being carried on the wind is the sound of the drivers inside this field blowing their horns is an expression of frustration and misery this field is a truly desolate place to have the prospect of spending. manston is the government's primary holding area it was designed to cope with any disruption that might have been caused by breck's it from the accounts of those parked here and now it is failing its 1st real test their toilets but is a dirty not working. we have no food we have no water yesterday. or got food but it was just something. and we don't know when we. can get home from from that airport here to there were confrontations

with police 2 people detained as frustration led to scuffles again the lack of information and organization have left the drive is desperate the government says testing has begun manston but not enough we have today sitting here and then now they say yes we don't have to. because we're stuck on the way. yeah the car is stuck you. have one way here. and we don't know. the u.k. government says it will take a few days to clear the backlog of vehicles christmas for many here is going to be a deeply miserable experience paul brennan al-jazeera over well meanwhile large parts of england are being put under even tougher with 90 restrictions from saturday it's a more contagious variant of the virus spread further new infections have risen by

57 percent in the past week and more people are currently in hospital it's in any other point since april united kingdom is also facing the threat of another corona virus mutation from people who've arrived from south africa and flights from that country have now been cancelled. we are florentine in 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 tough new restrictions are in place across south korea to contain covert 19 limiting gathering suggest for people major tourist spots or national parks they're also closed under the measures put in place to contain

a recent surge south korea recorded one of its highest daily rises on tuesday and with almost 1100 cases a speak to robin wright who joins us live from the capital seoul and rob tell us more about the new measures being brought in today. i think it is a measure of just how concerned they are therapies are these are the toughest restrictions yet and they've been put in place across the country trying to discourage any gatherings indoors or outdoors or private gatherings of more than 4 people also stipulating that hotel occupancy be kept at 50 percent this of course is getting into the holiday season and the government is very concerned about increasing the 3rd wave by people getting together for seasonal gathering so we're seeing ski resorts being closed we're also seeing the closure of a national parks and it is a tradition at this time of year that families would go out and see the 1st sunrise of new year from a mountaintop well the government is trying to discourage that this is all attempts

really to try to keep this 3rd wave under control the concern is for the authorities here that the 2nd and 1st waves that were dealt with here and dealt with very effectively really focused on the particular groups or particular areas of the country the concern is that this is now so ubiquitous it's so widespread across the country and we're still seeing daily cases of new infection of running around about a 1000 per day which again compared to other parts of the world it does not seem that serious a problem but compared with where south korea was at just a few weeks ago it is increasing concern here and like everywhere all this makes a vaccine rollout all the more important the government doing on that front. absolutely the government here is facing increasing criticism for what looks like an overly cautious approach to vaccinations. you'll remember of course that south korea is often seen as the poster child of epidemiology and the way it is handled

this pandemic seems to have done everything by the textbook and seems to have done it right so one stage it did seem as though it had the luxury of waiting to see how rollouts of vaccines took place in other parts of the world before rushing into its own program here so we're not going to see the 1st vaccines arrive in south korea until the spring and then the government had set up this elaborate process of having waves of vaccines people being vaccinated throughout the whole of 2021 and now with this increase in the number of cases people are quite rightly saying where are the vaccine so the government is coming under increasing criticism for its overly cautious approach it has run around and try to secure millions of extra doses but of course it's doing that at a time when every other developed country in the world is competing for a vaccine so we've having news that more vaccinations are on the way but they won't arrive until the spring they can't hurry up the delivery of these things so at one

stage it did look as though south korea's exemplary record in dealing with this pandemic does look somewhat tarnished rob thanks for that robert right there in seoul south korea now after 9 months of negotiations there are signs that the e.u. and the u.k. are edging very close to agreeing on a post trade deal talks between the 2 sides continued late on wednesday as they tried to hammer out the final details and let's speak now to gardner who is director of the margaret thatcher center for freedom and joins us live by skype from washington d. c. mr gardner so how behold can we be on this seems a legal text or under review in a european capital city is it is it will have a deal to mar. well all indications so far coming from london all that a deal is imminent and. i expect that we're likely to see the

deal being signed or put forward actually more of mourning and if that is indeed the case i think it's a huge breakthrough for the british government after several months of extremely intense negotiations with brussels in negotiations we had by lord frost but also in some cases by the prime minister himself. this deal certainly i think will be seen as a big win for boris johnson after all i think. according to the latest reports we have have made some significant concessions here and this deal will result in the united kingdom being given full access to the e.u. single market 0 tariffs in place and the u.k. of course retains will retain full control of its borders its laurels and also its own trade as well so i do think this is a significant. victory for for the prime minister if if the reports

are are career i certainly there have been there all those of course who say it's made me very well very last minute very far from the other ready deal that we were promised what do you say to those who say this being russian is disorganized and sloppy and there are a series of concessions including as you all know especially on fishing to try and sort of break through. you know it does appear to be the case that the british government has made concessions on be on the issue of e.u. access of british territorial waters but at the same time i think that the e.u. is also making the seat of concessions on this front and the e.u. will not have access to those territorial waters beyond a period of a few years and that i think is a big climb down actually by the european union and the reality is when you want to sing hugely complex trade deals like this that inevitably there are

you know concessions that are made on both sides here but i think that overall from what i can see. the u.k. has has gained. you know significantly in all of the nearly all of the key areas that the british government has been has been pressing and overall i think in terms of concessions they are far more significant on the e.u. side than they are on the british side i think the prime minister would be very pleased with the agreement that that has brought it would lead being struck here has been a lot of concern about the coming months deal or no deal and it's certainly the case that it even with a deal that imports and exports on both sides will have issues with compliance costs a new customs forms to fill in new rules to abide by it is going to be messy isn't it. well undoubtedly i think that there will be some you know complications with regard to some of the new measures that will be put in place on

the on the u.k. border but you know i think the the alternative certainly is the new deal scenario i might view as the u.k. would you know which would do ok under under no deal snorri but i think the european union would actually be hit very very hard by i know you'll snore especially germany and france the germans in particular export a huge amount of products to the united kingdom and i think germany press very very hard for a deal to be to be negotiated the french i think have been the most difficult in terms of the negotiations but france would be i think significantly damaged by no deal. yet and i think that the e.u. is certain a far far better off if a deal is in place there will be some as you mentioned some bureaucratic complications that will be in place but i think that overall i think the u.k. e.u. trade deal will be a tremendous success and i think that you know the united kingdom outside of the

european union will thrive and prosper even more so with a with a good deal in place that that guarantees british sovereignty and self-determination and. you know the report study indicates that the u.k. has succeeded in getting nearly everything i wanted actually in terms. or i will leave that no god and appreciate that thanks what my pleasure thank you very much now that time is regulators launch in 90 monopoly probe into the. comments johnson that's flamboyant founder jack ma has faced increasing pressure from beijing over its expansion plans for more let's cross live to sarah clarke in hong kong tell us more is agent 2nd largest corporation shares have dropped what's happening. all of this decision today being announced by state media in china is a huge blow to the group that we're the largest i.p.o. on the stock market that was the atlas thing and that was meant to make its debut

back in november it was to be a jewel listing in hong kong and shanghai that decided to shun the united states to a what the alibaba group described as a geopolitical tensions but this particular listing back in november it was suspended 2 days before it was to make its debut that security authorities in china made that announcement back in november they decided after a recent interview with jeff marni executives that the regulators decided that this particular i.p.o. listing didn't meet the listing qualifications or disclosure requirements so today's announcement on thursday coming out of china that the alibaba group is now under investigation of allegations of monopoly is as yet another blow to this particular group as you mentioned a just my he's the china's richest man a 2nd richest man he's got a net worth of around $50000000000.00 in the end was to be the crown jewel and this alibaba empire so that particular world's largest i.p.o. that's on hold at the alibaba group shares that at the moment they dropped about 5 percent they dropped 3 percent when the market opened in hong kong on thursday at the chinese regulators have said that they wanted to touch one troll over these

tech groups across the mainland and clearly alibaba group has been the target now state media has released one line about this announcement on thursday there's no detail yet as to what kind of penalties will be involved there are certain things about sort of what the who called. tensions are high in the central african republic ahead of presidential and legislative elections on sunday a new alliance of groups calling itself the patriots coalition for change has threatened to march to the capital bangui the united nations mission says it's pushing back the rebels to prevent them from taking control of important supply routes and strategic towns catherine soy reports now from bangor. make. wide quickly spread that troubles could be making their way to the capital who are in the city center and suddenly everyone around us started running and traders were closing the shops many were here. while the mostly muslim armed groups

arrived in force and of us through the then president francois so no one wants to be caught unawares at this time the town's out an incident in the p.k. 12 suburb on the outskirts of the city treat the commotion. memo says we have been told that government troops and trucks came speeding into the city people panicked and started running the soldiers fired into the year to contain the population but that only caused more panic we went to p.k. 12 and found more of the same this man told us he is fed up and frustrated big. trouble is always a c.r.y. i would like to know what all the international forces are doing here yet there's no peace he says it's an emotional time for everyone ahead of sunday's general election what's happening here just shows how much fear and tension there is a head of the election people who've been talking to us saying that they're worried

that the rebels could be advancing even if the fighting is going on in the countryside many kilometers away from. some of the country's main armed groups have joined forces calling themselves the patriots for change here they're threatening to march to borghi demanding the election be postponed and a transitional government formed state and u.n. officials have accused former president was easy of starting a rebellion in an attempt to overthrow the government and disrupt the ports since last friday where the lines between decks present position into 3 armed groups have attacked is up in this area in both mbali and this deputy head of the u.n. mission tells us the blue helmets are protecting main supply routes and towns the whole rest of the country 71 percent of the voter registration sites where the electoral cards are distributed are open and people are coming massively as they

are in bangui which i saw myself yesterday to get their electoral card. most of the opposition presidential candidates have stopped their lection campaigns and want to pour rescheduled the government however says that is not an option catherine saw. hundreds of migrants have been left with nowhere to sleep after fleeing a camp the called for in bosnia thick black smoke poured from tents and leaper camp near the croatian border camp has been strongly criticized by rights groups because of a lack of resources and was due to close police and un officials blame people for starting a fire. the music reports from the cup. well we can see it still do smoke behind my back i'm currently on the side where there is camp in northwestern bosnia we can still see the smoke rising above the dance on to one side and on the other side we can see several 100 refugees and migrants which are

now basically left without a limitation international organization for migration said they would withdraw from the camp because the camp is not suitable for the winter and because the government in bosnia and herzegovina hasn't provided a not their temporary shelter for refugees and migrants basically this camp was set up in april and it was imagine only as a temporary side for my grandson and refugees and it was supposed to shut down a few months ago the government has only a few days ago decided to set up an official camp here but now monts are needed before it is prepared for a permanent stave off refugees and migrants meanwhile there is no solution for old these people you see behind my back companies in the netherlands are concerned about the financial fallout of heartbreaks it will cost the economy an estimated 21000000000 dollars in lost exports and their own $70000.00 jobs and their affairs

the delays at ports could become even longer still vast reports now from raw data. even without additional paperwork there are delays at the port in rotterdam due to stockpiling of produce in the united kingdom leaving the netherlands has increased over the past few weeks authorities are expecting even longer queues in january after they found a 5th of companies are not prepared for bracks it. you know. there will be so much paperwork so much paperwork and i think this will lead to huge the way in the longer waiting times for loading and unloading and our customers i don't know of this is such a smart decision. if the u.k. parts from the european union without a trade deal more forms will need to be filled in meaning people will need to spend

more hours undergoing custom checks delays that could be disastrous for these dutch fruit exporters with fear their products might rot around a 1000 trucks leave for the u.k. every day shipping 40000000 tons of goods every year for decades this has all gone smoothly and seamlessly after years of preparations and the final deadline rapidly approaching for many a new reality is slowly sinking in deal or no deal after breakfast on january 1st everyone travelling from. will have to bring their passports drivers and passengers without proper documentation will be stopped without exception to sort out their paperwork without causing delays these lorry drivers are directed to free parking spaces at rotterdam ports up to 700 trucks can stay here for 24 hours until travel documents are in order hundreds of drivers are expected to be stranded every day despite a government campaign warning these changes were coming. we have

a 0 tolerance policy without documents you count on to the terminal this will be a tough lesson because time is money. if you make this mistake once you'll make sure next time everything is in order we expect this problem to disappear within 6 weeks. but many experts say companies can hardly be blamed for a lack of preparedness if only a few days before the deadline for a deal it's still not clear how bracks it will work out so many entrepreneurs that i have talked to over the best few years have said well we want to prepare for perhaps it but what are we preparing for we don't know what it's going to look like so how can we do it and of course we go please try to do as well as possible with all the paperwork and stuff but still it's very difficult if you're not really sure what you're preparing for the worst case scenario for dutch and upon earth will be if in case of no deal import duties are imposed so products will become too

expensive to export and for $300.00 companies supplying parts to british common factors the future will then look especially bleak step fasten al-jazeera a madden. or let's have a quick recap of the headlines here or not is there a new u.s. president on trump as part and more of his allies the latest list of 26 include his 2016 campaign chairman paul metaphor to roger stone his longtime adviser and friend he also pardoned charles the father of his son in law. it's the 2nd wave of presidential pardons in as many days gunmen have attacked a town in western ethiopia reportedly killing more than 100 people it happened in the british angle groomers region where ethnic tensions have been escalating amnesty international says dozens are still unaccounted for this comes at a.