billions of dollars for the super rich families. that come to. know just iraq. jared krishna's father and donald trump's former campaign manager paul not afford are among those getting presidential pardons in the latest list. hello there i'm a star and this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up and the boils over in southern england thousands of truck drivers awaiting in poor conditions to be tested for the grown a virus. south korea implements its toughest ever measures to contain covert 19 forcing the closure of tourist sites across the country. and chinese regulators

announce an anti monopoly investigation of e-commerce giant ali baba. u.s. president donald trump has issued another wave of pardons granting clemency to more of his allies he's now pardoned 26 people including his 2016 campaign chairman paul metaphors and roger stone his longtime adviser and friend he also pardoned charles cushman that's the father of his son in law jared kushner this is the 2nd list of presidential pardons in as many days tanzi has more for us now from washington d.c. . the major attention is being given to those connected to the russia great investigation. it all trumps son in law and senior advisors father paul manor for roger stone they will get pardons for their roles in the in the rush to get

investigation which is or was remember a rubber bullet didn't convict anyone nor was convicted of collusion with russia but plenty of people were convicted because of their conduct during the investigation both pomona for and roger stone convicted of obstructing the investigation paul metaphor also very convicted of tax evasion bank fraud as a result of all 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 surveys are getting a lot of scrutiny and then george bush's father this is a brother a notorious case in some circles at least jerry krishna's 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 the sister just sent the tape to 2 prosecutors instead and cushions father was done for so he did serve 24 months of that but now he's been officially officially pardoned all at stake into the south. fest at the university of pennsylvania and also the director of its center for ethics and the role of law she joins us now from philadelphia kathy thanks for being with us again here on out is there this so much to unpick let's start with what the founders intended when they gave the president power to issue pardons how does this list square with that. the pardon power was always meant to be an act of mercy on the part of the president and also it's the same power that governors have as the head of their states so the head of the executive branch was meant to be able to exercise mercy when he or she believed that an individual was either wrongly convicted or too harshly treated or when they had shown real repentance for their crimes and it seemed as though there

was a basis for treating them more leniently and the pardon power under donald trump is anything but that it has nothing to do with the merits of the individuals who are being pardoned and everything to do with whether or not donald trump wants to show them special favor based on whether or not they have been loyal to him or whether or not they have a special connection to him as in the case of gerald cush nurse father it is being used as a political tool in this case which was precisely what it was never meant to be ok i was looking at some of the numbers and it does seem that president trump has given out fewer pardons than most presidents but i say shoot a portion of that to people with personal ties to him how is that being viewed it is there a precedent for this. well what donald trump has done with these pardons is to dangle them in front of individuals who might implicate him in some way and then when he's quite sure that they have shown him loyalty will not turn on him he

rewards them such as the case of roger stone by pardoning them roger stone originally had his sentence commuted by donald trump over the summer and now he's been issued a full pardon and this is entirely to benefit donald trump or to benefit his friends and allies this has nothing to do with the justice of the situation donald trump has done this to immunize himself to ensure that these individuals will not speak out against him and will not implicate him in the crimes they have committed. partly with his involvement and with his cooperation one person who is not pardoned here is this former lawyer and fixer michael cohen why not because michael cohen was not loyal to donald trump he turned against him and he spoke out against him when he himself was sentenced and he cooperated

extensively with investigations against donald trump and probably is continuing to cooperate for all we know donald trump uses the pardon power to protect himself and to protect his friends and allies and speaking of that implication donald trump has been plenty of discussion that man of fortune stand with potentially promised pardons when they were deciding whether or not to cooperate with the murder investigation is there a sense that that could actually change the course of events here. absolutely and this is known as the crime of obstruction of justice so if you use the pardon power despite the fact that it is a constitutional power under article 2 for a sitting president if you nonetheless use the pardon power in order to obstruct an investigation into your own wrongdoing that constitutes the crime of obstruction of justice and we know from a supreme court decision that came down this past summer trump the events that

a sitting president is not immune to criminal investigation and ultimately to criminal. to criminal conviction just because he's the president so donald trump could technically be a liable for obstruction of justice for using the pardon power to protect himself and to immunize himself despite the fact that the constitutional pardon power is seemingly unlimited in the constitution or speaking of protecting himself there has been a lot of talk as well of preemptive pardons before trump leaves office do you see that potentially going ahead even for himself potentially. i think that's very possible that he will try 1st of all this may be a warm up to his issuing a pardon for his daughter. and his son in law jarrett pardoning jared's father comes pretty close to that already and i would not be at all

surprised if he issued a preemptive pardon in favor of his daughter and a son in law now a self pardon is an entirely different matter while i believe it's very difficult to contest a pardon for family members that should not be allowed but under the constitution there seems no basis for limiting it but a self pardon is a different matter there are many reasons to think that a self pardon is not legitimate under our system. among them the fact that the self pardon is really not a pardon at all since the concept of a pardon suggests that it's issued by one person towards another person so issuing a self pardon will test the limits of this constitutional power and i believe it's quite possible that the supreme court if indeed this were to be challenged would say that the self pardon is not part of the article 2 constitutional pardon power

although still many many interesting days ahead of us it seems clear finkelstein that over a fence at the invest in pennsylvania your expertise here at al-jazeera thanks for being with us again. thanks for having me. now moving on and more than 100 people have been killed in an attack in a western ethiopian region where ethnic tensions have been escalating that's according to the eat your ethiopian human rights commission as well as amnesty international about attack took place in the region of benny shango goes gomers and amnesty international says dozens of people are still unaccounted for this comes a day after prime minster abbey of men visited that area calling for peace in unity following several deadly incidents and recent months in a tweet he said enemies were trying to divide ethiopia and on ethnic and religious lines no group has yet claimed responsibility elsewhere in ethiopia though government troops have been fighting the people's liberation front in the northern tier a region since the beginning of november raised fears of

a security vacuum in other areas of the country elections to next year have further raised tensions over land and power there. well they have been confrontations between police and frustrated truck drivers stranded at the english port of dover several 1000 still waiting for crane a virus tests to arrive and many of them have no food water or access to some of taishan fronts lifting the blockade that it imposed on arrivals from the u.k. 24 hours ago off to a different corona virus strain was discovered brennan reports from. 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 of the police trying 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 flare and i don't know what's going on the police will tell you what's going on all they want to most of the morning from around the ball to let these people follow them blindly well no 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 and that on wednesday morning but the condition of travel is possession of a negative covert test and getting one of them while trapped in a queue like this is impossible testing is available at the temporary lorry pocket mountain 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 to 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 christmas. 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 the toilet but is a dirty not working. we have no food we have no water yesterday. organized food but it was just a hamburger something. that's all 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 drivers desperate the government says testing has begun

at manston but not enough we have to day 15 and then now they say yes we don't have to. because we're stuck on the way. yeah the car is lucky it's blocked they 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. the u.k. is also facing its rationale though. from people who have arrived from south africa flights from that country have been cancelled we are quarantining cases and close contacts of cases found here in the u.k. 2nd 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 has a close contact of someone who's been in south africa in the last fortnight must quarantine immediately. hostile ahead here on al-jazeera signs of progress and a possible deal as breck's a trade initiations you go down to the wire. and mexico prepares to begin a coronavirus back to nations as the country battles a shock and infection. from . british columbia of all of western counties just a dump a stir about halfway between places and it came from this cloud here which briefly

gave basic conditions to the dakotas and further research minnesota that's probably where the worst of it is but you know so it's happening here woman the head of it was rain coming in behind when the to catch up with each other that turns quite stormy's of potential flash flooding through maybe a higher more likely place like tennessee kentucky then virginia or west virginia which then sees the rain replaced by snow fairly rapid change that will be so you go from 15 degrees to minus 6 in that short space of time as represented probably in new york by a forecast a city forecast for specifically says this certain degrees wet and windy start on friday down to near freezing in the cold breeze on saturday lasting into sunday of the fortunes of the east coast of the u.s. much quieter weather but regular showers i think throughout the great run this around to the east this is the cold front which you seen the effects of in the u.s. as it comes down through the government and how it's so showers over not just of

mexico but quite possibly places like guatemala and honduras where it's already flooded on the ground and we'll see a few showers as far south again as panama. and new perspectives can change a wild. would began as a hobby has grown into a caution 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. it's. on al-jazeera. the you.

have again. let's remind you about top stories this hour u.s. president donald trump has pardoned more of his allies the latest list of $26.00 include his 2016 campaign chairman paul metaphors and roger stone has a long time advisor and friend this is the 2nd wave of presidential pardons in as many days. gunmen have attacked the town of west in ethiopia reportedly killing more than 100 people that attack happened in the beni shango gun was region where ethnic tensions have been escalating amnesty international says dozens are still unaccounted for. and the u.k. is now facing the threat of 2 coronavirus variants after detecting another potentially more infectious strain of 2 people who traveled from south africa over flights from there have now been suspended. well tough new restrictions are

currently in place across south korea to contain covert 1000 limiting gatherings there to just 4 people major tourist spots and national parks are also closed under those measures put in place to contain a recent savage south korea recorded one of its highest daily rises on tuesday west 1100 cases while our correspondent up bride joins me now from the capital seoul can you talk us through these new measures being rolled out today and how they're being received over there i think it's a measure of just how concerned they are therapies are here at this spike this 3rd wave we seeing these restrictions put in place now across south korea really trying to limit the kind of gatherings that you normally see over this seasonal period to try to not to make the numbers worse so we are seeing the limits on private gatherings no more than for people also things like a 50 percent occupancy of hotels which are all busy at this time of the year we're

also seeing the closure now of the ski resorts which had just opened for the winter season and also the closure of other places like a tourist attractions some public beaches national parks it's a tradition at this time of the year for many families to want to go out and see the 1st sunrise of the new year for example while the government is trying to do trying to stop people from having those kinds of gatherings what concerns the government here is that this is the 3rd wave the 1st 2 waves which the government seem to handle quite competently a work in particular areas or particular groups of people this seems to be right across the country now so the government really concerned about the numbers getting out of control and rob i understand the government also doesn't plan to run out of vaccines for some time i imagine people are very happy about that given the uptick in infections. it is certainly focused attention on the vaccination program here in south korea it looked at one stage because south korea

seemed to be on top of this to have this to have this pandemic beef if you like that it had the luxury of waiting to see how other parts of the world rolled out their vaccine so we're not expecting to see our 1st vaccinations here before the spring and then this rolling program through 2021 well that's seems now to be overly cautious people with this latest spike are quite rightly saying where's my vaccine they're seeing people in north america and europe being vaccinated so the government's under a lot of criticism out in criticism that it has been overly cautious it has been running around and as announced thursday it secured millions of more doses but none of these are going to arrive before the spring so what was once an exemplary performance of the government south korea was largely applauded around the world for the way it's handled this pandemic that reputation now looks somewhat tarnished bryant there with all the latest for us from seoul thanks. well speaking of vaccines mexico has just received its 1st shipment of the pfizer biotech vaccine as

a fast country in latin america to have a vaccine ready to roll out but it's also battling a shop rising infections that's overwhelming hospitals john holmes reports now from mexico city. it's what everyone in mexico wants for christmas because the doctor and the woman from pfizer has now finally arrived. as the phrase goes good things arrive in small quantities we have the privilege today of being one of the 1st countries in the world with a vaccine supply to be handed out next year i mexico is the 1st country in latin america to get the vaccine. but for many people it won't be available to the middle of next year and meanwhile the country's in big trouble. mexico city's hospitals rulebooks with very few ventilators left. their queues outside

shops selling oxygen tanks monica aves trouble from another city desperate to get one like many people she's taking care of an infected relative at home. we've come from to luka there's no oxygen there we went to 2 places but they didn't have any till tomorrow and i need it for today because my patient my dad can't go without oxygen. makes her never to go cold the cases down after the 1st wave and now there's more than ever the crowds in mexico city center around december haven't helped. the government just reluctantly declared a red alert for the capital and its suburbs closing non-essential businesses but a lot of people think the authorities to curb the alert for the cup so much through like there's been questions over their attitude towards a pandemic from the beginning the main. come president on the covert so really

where mosques and they've been accused repeatedly of not imposing timely and strict enough lockdowns ok was ok let me say that i don't know but the government has a powerful counter-argument mexico has more than 60000000 poor people stopping them from working could leave them destitute especially since federal authorities haven't brought out a comprehensive plan hunching plan to help them. but he garcia is selling face masks in the street she says there's no way she could stay home was not going to be in a month jim of course not be ashamed to hold out my hand and say help me that's why i'm here i get $7.00 a day even if it's just to buy tortillas for instead the government's to try and make sure that when people do get sick there's always a bed for them. now for the 1st time it looks like that strategy could fail well though there were no queues waiting outside at the 6 hospitals that our team visited emits crew city this week all of which were food health experts say that

could change this january john home and how does it or mexico city. italy's coronavirus death toll has now passed $70000.00 with and talents preparing for a new nationwide lockdown over christmas 3 families have now also launched legal action against local and national authorities over the pandemic a group of around $500.00 relatives of covered $1000.00 victims say they are seeking $122000000.00 in damages they've launched the series against prime minister decepticon say the health minister and the governor of long body. well moving on now and after 9 months of negotiations they're all signs that the e.u. and the u.k. are edging ever closer to agreeing on a post breaks a trade deal talks between the 2 sides continued lace on wednesday as they try to hammer out the final details now god is the director of the market that just sent to freedom and is a benetton bobber lameness fellow at the heritage foundation he says if

a deal is signed it will be a big win for the u.k. well all indications so far coming from london all that a deal is imminent and. i expect that to we're likely to see the deal being signed or put forward actually to morrow morning and if that is indeed the case i think it's a huge breakthrough for the british government off to several months of extremely intense negotiations with brussels negotiations beheaded by lord frost but also in some cases by the prime minister himself this deal sort of i think will be seen as a big win for boris johnson after all i think the 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 single market 0 tariffs in place in the u.k.

of course retains will retain full control of its 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 correct but there have been some concessions made well all. china's regulator has launched an anti monopoly probe into the ali baba group the economist giant and its flamboyant founded jack ma has faced increasing pressure from beijing over its expansion plans last month the initial public offering a valuable as affiliate and group was also unexpectedly suspended 2 days before its shed yule debut well for more let's now speak to sarah clarke she's in hong kong for us so what do we know about why this is happening now. well look it's a huge blow to the alibaba group as you mentioned state media made this announcement on the shin wired news agency that the tech giant would be

investigated over allegations of monopolistic practices are it shows the for the tensions between jack ma he's china 2nd richest man and also worth around has a net worth of around $50000000000.00 of course president xi jinping and it comes after you mention the ad listing the shelves this was the jewel in the crown of the empire it was to be the largest i.p.o. on the stock market time but as you mentioned it was shelved after it was meant to go ahead in november it was to have a jewel listing in shanghai and in hong kong jack ma decided to make the listing in the region as opposed to the united states due to what he described as geopolitical tensions on the regulated said this particular listing it didn't meet the disclosure requirements as a result but shoulder that was after a recent interview that the regulators had with jack ma and his executives such ships really shows that china is now looking to tighten its controls over the tech sector across the milan and clearly alibaba has become

a target it also shows mounting moves also the mounting pressure on this particular company it's one of china's most influential tech giants all companies are in the mainland china chinese state media released this all made this announcement with one line by the news agency so there's no detail as yet about what kind of penalties will be involved now the alibaba shares they tumbled as markets opened in hong kong they fell by about 5 and a half percent at the latest analysis or so in the lines figures show it's now down around 8 percent so the group has responded it's said in a statement that it would comply with regulators and they request that certainly it's a huge blow to one of china's biggest tech companies will continue watching that very closely indeed sara clock there for us and hong kong with all the latest thank you. well the highest profile person that's been jailed on the hong kong's controversial national security law is now out on bail jimmy lies spent nearly 3 weeks in jail on charges that he did with foreign forces several pro-democracy

activists have faced similar charges under that security law critics say beijing imposed on hong kong to silence dissent. turkish journalist living in exile has been sentenced to 27 years in prison on charges of terrorism and espionage. was previously jailed in 2016 for publishing a video purporting to show turkish intelligence trucking weapons into syria. have called the verdict politically motivated while turkey's government says the courts are independent well al jazeera journalist mahmud hussein has now spent 4 years in the gyptian detention without charge nor a trial hussein was arrested while visiting family in december 26th seen a number of rights groups have joined al jazeera and demanding his immediate release his detention is in violation of both egyptian and international law when hundreds of migrants have been left with nowhere to sleep after fleeing

a camp that caught fire and bosnia thick black smoke poured from tents and camp near the croatian border the camp has been strongly criticized by rights groups because of a lack of resources and was due to close police and u.n. officials blamed people who live in who lived there for starting the fire. that this is al jazeera and these are the headlines u.s. president donald trump has pardoned more of his allies the latest list of $26.00 includes his 2016 campaign chairman paul metaphors and roger stone his longtime adviser and friend and the 2nd wave of presidential pardons in as many days gunmen have attacked a town in western ethiopia reportedly killing more than 100 people the attack happened in the bench region where ethnic tensions have been escalating.