courses talked about the person holding on to their own standards and again he mentioned this canada style deal but no one's really seen journalists or the politicians have an old opposition have yet to see the details and it could be that once they see this and they get down to the details of this deal they may start objective it's ok now to give this soundbites and have this triumphalism and sign very joyous about even the e.u. but when people start looking at those details there may be some objections as for fishing he actually acknowledged that the had made some compromises and one of those compromises was in regards to the fishery industry the fishing industry now he said that the u.k. share of fishing in british waters will increase from $2.00 to $35.00 and a half years time he said the e.u. had wanted that to happen in 14 years put that u.k. had compromised to 5 and a half years time so again once he said and also he said that this is

a 500 page document so once the parliamentarians take a look at it you may see some objections but already the british papers this morning were saying that this is a victory and bars johnson does have a flair for drama and the theatrical it's some may say that it's no coincidence that this deal has been announced on christmas eve so tomorrow all the news all the papers will have bars johnson's victory and how yes clinched distil for the night you can do. ok thanks so much for that as a bag there live for us in london well u.k. prime minister abbas johnson posted this photo announcing the deal is done it still needs to be ratified by british parliament johnson speaking just moments ago calling it the biggest trade deal yes and one that makes thank you k. in new delhi and truly independent nation. i think this deal means a new stability and a new certainty in what has sometimes been

a fractious and difficult relationship we will be your friend your ally your supporter and indeed never let it be forgotten your number one market because although we've left the e.u. this country will remain culturally emotionally historically strategically geologically attached to europe. the european commission's president assad alliance says the deal is fair and balanced the responsible thing for both sides she said it's time to put brakes that behind at the end of a successful negotiations journey i normally feel joy but today i only feel quite satisfaction and frankly speaking relief. i know this is

a difficult day for sam and to our friends in the united kingdom i want to say parting is such sweet sorrow. but to use a line from t.s. eliot what we call the beginning is often the end and to make an end is to make a beginning. so to all europeans i say it is time to leave rex and behind our future is made and europe. chief breaks it negotiated michelle ban the air thanks negotiators on all sides for reaching a deal that everyone can support. the clock is no longer ticking. after 4 years of collective the 4th in the e.u. you need to keep. to preserve stability on the island of ireland to protect the citizens and this is going to market to build

a new partnership which is you get thank you all thank you all. but it's worth joins us now live from paris but it may have had a victorious sort of tone from boris johnson really really fortunate from us live on the line. it was relief this is been 9 and a half months of talks 4 and a half years after the united kingdom voted to leave the european union the priority one of the priorities for the e.u. throughout these negotiations is said was to maintain the integrity of the single market and the lion has said that this is been the case they have achieved this in these talks the united with the united kingdom the integrity of the single market will be effectively will be retained there are effective tools to react if fact competition is distorted this is all to do with the level

playing field that has been so key to the negotiations between the european union the united kingdom the e.u. wanted to make sure that the u.k. once it is doesn't have to obey european regulations that the u.k. did not diverged too far away from european regulations and therefore wasn't able to compete on fairly so the 2 sides of agreed some sort of mechanism yet to be discovered by us while the report is being read this 500 page report but there will be a way of making sure that a level playing field is maintained and to make sure that level playing field is maintained that will allow the u.k. to have this free access for goods to the european union's markets this was so important for the u.k. to get. and that of course one of the the final stumbling blocks was the issue of fishing access to water is fishing quote is both sides talked about that in their

speeches as an avanti line and boris johnson do you ever explain that for us why was this such a big issue. i mean it came down to today as far as we understand such minute discussion in detail as saying how many souls sandels and herrings could be caught by vessels in british waters this is how important fishing is on both sides of the channel ass's very psychologically important in britain an island nation it's also very important to the french to the danes and the dutch all who most of all most many of whom all of whom fish at some level in british waters so while in but france for example only 1.6 percent of for french g.d.p. comes from fishing and agriculture and forestry is together they are very powerful lobbies they have a lot of influence in french politics so it's just important for the french and

manual mccrum to be able to say they haven't given too much away in terms of fishing as it was important for the british and in fact emmanuel macron has said in the last hour or so in response to this deal that the unity and firmness of the european union has paid off and we heard michel barnier saying that the e.u. $27.00 sticking together during the negotiations of the last 9 and a half months has left them in a position of strength as far as they are concerned but fishing at least they managed to reach some sort of compromise on that in these last few minutes ok but it's not there thanks for that from paris. well jonathan this is a political commentator and deputy director of british influence he joins us by skype from london thank you for your time. i'm sure you were listening to what we heard from parson and live on the line i was interested in what boris johnson had

to say when he was saying i'm not saying we can have our cake and eat it too but also kind of yes i am saying that from what you know it from both sides where do you think they both compromised well as far as i can see the only major e.u. compromise was in fishing. that they agreed on 5 and a half years a transition period which seems to think closer to the u.k.'s tomorrow and he used long but if you listen to boris johnson what he was actually saying is barrie abundantly clear that the u.k. is the party which has made the most newmans interest not anything and we can see in johnson's last and his very detailed long statement he really had nothing to boast about all than the usual cliches about taking back control of trade laws money or sachin which simply we already have control of of course and so on the key issues such as a level playing field and he has made it clear they got what it fundamentally

wanted which is alignment and if the u.k. diverges the e.u. has a right to respond with tariffs that was that he used fundamental asked how many do so. in that press conference from johnson she is not denying that we've been locked out of security databases which is a vital element of ek policing and he simply responded to the journalist by saying everything will be falling with security that is not the kind of assurance which french people need. what will change from january 1st for every day people in there in the u.k. in the e.u. will people notice this immediately. well it seems although i see we need to read the small print to deal addresses there but it seems that he case it since he treats it as. country nationals so i have to carry 3 different cues for

example when passed into the e.u. and it's also not clear actually if you can use it since we'll be able to enter the e.u. on the fast january because of coronavirus the e.u. has rules have been the only e.u. citizens have an automatic right to enter the e.u. and o.c. u.k. citizens will not be easy and will say that is something to address that we do know that he has a citizens will lose their free movement just like e.u. citizens will in the u.k. and that means that it will be limited to 90 days for example in a 6 month period in the e.u. and so if you have a 2nd time for example will in the e.u. or if you want to work that or tie that there is options have not been lost the title. and finally since this all began back in 26 tainted today so much has happened has a net i mean the rise and fall of tories that may think about it david cameron. they day there's been a lot what stands out for you as the biggest event the biggest twist all 10 of the

breaks that saga that is a really good question. i suppose. i suppose of in january 2017 when theresa may stood up in front of the busters and said 1st of all that we were leaving the single marketing cousins in which no one advantage will that another been made clear through the very and so destroy she guaranteed a hard rock senate which we're now seeing and then she said no deal is better than a bad deal so immediately she placed a threat. you know law to apocalypse over our heads which we have been living with . indeed it was a lot of possibility until today so that was a fundamental dereliction of duty which she starts out for which bruce johnson has taken to its natural conclusion the british people did not bring to self-immolation and this is not very easy job we collapse and we compared to close buddies most of

. it will of course go down the history books like that john family is there a political commentator and deputy director of british influence. ethiopia's prime minister of the op ed has deployed military forces to an area where gunmen killed 100 people local media is reporting that the army has killed 42 armed men in the western region. prime minister had visited the area the day before the attacks he called for peace and unity following several deadly attacks between ethnic groups in recent months. the attacks are separate from the conflict in ethiopia's north into great reach the u.n. says it remains concerned about ongoing fighting and a lack of humanitarian access the conflict has raised fears of a security vacuum and other areas of the country. let's look

a little deeper at the conflict in this area. the borders sudan and south sudan and as one of ethiopia's 9 regional states fighting there has been ongoing since 2018 various ethnic groups in the region have fought with supporters of the liberation front the violence has displaced tens of thousands of people in the past 2 years. welcome webb has been monitoring the story for us he says this latest violence caused victims belong to various ethnic minorities to flee from the area. more than 100 people were killed in the attack that happened dawn on wednesday and survivors of said the attackers set people's homes on fire and then shot men women and children dead many of them as they were running away some of the survivors told rights group amnesty international that the attackers were on members of the community down the good news is the largest ethnic group in that area and they said

that the victims belong to the. ethnic groups who are minorities in that area is the latest in a succession of waves of ethnically targeted violence that have happened in that region since september prime minister he said earlier today said he'd sent troops to try and quell the violence and state affiliated t.v. had reported that federal troops were killed 42 of the men who were involved in the massacre we haven't been able to verify that local officials also said that those government troops had recovered weapons including bows and arrows from the armed men who were allegedly responsible for this attack. now the u.s. has seen almost 18 and a half 1000000 cases of coronavirus this year it's also had a devastating effect on the economy the president donald trump is holding up a stimulus bill that he's called wasteful shaper tansey is in washington d.c. for a c have their moves on there to increase stimulus checks going out to americans from

$600.00 to $2000.00 what's the latest. there is some confusion right now here in washington as you said donald trump but the last minute said that he objected to the stimulus bill which was going to give $600.00 checks to those earning less than $75000.00 a year he said that the check should be should be $2000.00 for each person only under $75000.00 and democrats said great this is exactly what we were trying to get by wasn't exactly actually having nancy pelosi in the house leadership we're actually trying to get less than that but he's around is not as we're trying to get more so what we saw this morning here in washington was the house democrats introduced a standalone bill that would give $2000.00 checks to those suffering as a result of covert economically they tried to get it through unanimous consent but as that name suggests that requires you know limits they didn't get it the republican house minority leader objected ridgeley nancy pelosi said that was going

to be at the this is going to be their attempt but progressive said wait a 2nd let's try to go for a real bill that states do this in a standalone bill and have people really stand up and say whether we agree that that americans should be getting more that will not happen on monday the house will convene on monday there will be a vote all in 2000 bill stimulus checks on monday it's very likely to pass on monday so that leaves things very interesting for mitch mcconnell in the senate the general sense is much more calls on likely to introduce that bill to the senate because of his 1.5 dollars and 1.5 trillion dollars in tax cuts is fine for the super wealthy but but you know suddenly he's a deficit hawk when it comes to financial help for the for the poorest in society having said that they're the only reason which mcconnell was interested in similar strikes in the 1st place was because he's worried about this georgia senate runoff race race which is going on which will happen on johnny the 5th so if he's being seen to be standing in the way of help there is a concern amongst republicans they may lose control of the senate in the new year

so there's all this bubbling away all the while there we still don't even know where the doll truck really is. veto this bill he just said he was he was very offended by but we don't even know for sure whether even in terms to veto it so just a great deal of chaos right out of washington. tansey there in washington d.c. for us thank you. mexico is battling a sharp rise in infections outs overwhelming hospitals to home on reports from mexico city. it's what everyone in mexico wants for christmas. and the one from pfizer is now finally arrived. as the phrase goes good things are vive 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 rule but with very few ventilators left. there are queues outside shops selling oxygen tanks monica evillest 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 code the cases down after the 1st wave and now there's more than ever the crowds emits crude 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 capital much through like this. think questions over their attitude towards a pandemic from the beginning the mates can president and the covert so really wear masks and they've been accused repeatedly of not imposing timely and strict enough lockdowns ok. 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 on child plan to help them. but she is selling face masks in the street she says there's no way she could stay home was not in them and. 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. instead the government's opted 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 although there were no queues waiting outside at the 6 hospitals that our team visited emits crew city this week all of which were full health experts say that could change this january john home and how does it or mexico city. france is sending 10000 cars attests to the u.k. to help clear thousands of truck drivers stranded by new coronavirus border restrictions for a drivers have been piled up for days in the english port of dover they were cut off to france close the border response to this the discovery of a new more infectious strain of the virus there waiting on coronavirus tests so they can cross into france or a challenge has more on the truck drivers stranded in the u.k. by the latest cover 19 border restrictions. well there are places in alpine valleys moving faster than the traffic in the moment with police having shut down much of

the port area and its main access roads truckers have been finding. other smaller roads try to get down and get onto a ferry out of the country we know that for days they've been backed up through the motorways to roundabouts and petrol stations they've been parked up on grass verges and then lay bys using whatever facilities they can find to make their lives a bit more comfortable while they wait and wait and wait some scuffles have broken out between truck drivers and the police well the good news is that the borders are open again. to get onto a ferry and across to france you have to have a negative covert test and that seems to be the real crunch we have been speaking to people trying to make that journey successfully actually who say that the ferries are the moments that are leaving and leaving a hard empty and that is presumably because the supply of testing or at least

getting the testing to the drivers is not working particularly well at the moment and the french are trying to help out by sending 10000 tests and some firefighters across the channel to try and help clear the backlog but the home office is still warning truckers interest etc to stay away from dover and the area as much as possible. new strains of the grown a virus are emerging in africa with separate mutations recorded in nigeria and south africa new variant is believed to be more infectious contribution to experts have called an alarming rate of spread the country's total number of infected is rapidly approaching $1000000.00 a number of nations have restricted travel from south africa as a precaution i would also has more from johannesburg on the new strain that's emerged in south africa. this new variant inside africa was identified in concern at our province eastern cape in the garden it that's along the cape town area the

health minister says the numbers are alarming more than 14000 new infections in the last 24 hours it is recommending more restrictive measures be put in place the measures already in place include a nighttime curfew are called going to be sold on certain days and at certain times and some beaches have been closed but health officials say some south africans seem not to be listening to the warnings they're saying some of them are posting pictures on social media photos and videos of them at big parties called super speed events where they aren't wearing masks and they aren't practicing social distancing the government what is trying to do is to try to make sure enough hospital beds are available across the country in government and private facilities so in some provinces for example some doctors are discharging patients that they think are stable those people being told to go home to make way for covert 19 patients additional staff have been put on standby this talk and in some areas military doctors and nurses may be called in if it does get to that stage the

health officials are also warning that if these infections keep rising there for the could reach its peak within the next 2 weeks is the simplest barrier across the continent infection rates are rising and more countries are imposing more restrictive measures for example but one is the latest country to impose a nighttime curfew malawi as it is closing its borders for at least 14 days officials here are concerned that as more and more people keep traveling especially around the festive season there could be an increase in infections not just in this part of africa but the rest of the continent as well. is a researcher and head of health systems research group the barcelona institute for global health he joins us by skype from barcelona thank you for your time mr lazarus beyond the border restrictions that we're seeing now do these new strains of the virus change any of the calculations around when life might return to normal . they really don't it's a very it is really is

a reminder of how quickly we need to move to roll out the back seat and sort of a wake up call the good news is that it's not more lethal or resistance to that. it is more transmissible ok so we definitely know that the vaccines definitely work against these new strains. well it's always hard to say definitely and definitely to the best of our knowledge so far they're working ok france is sending tests crowd of our test truck drivers to get them into the e.u. how do you think it's hard to get them into the u.k. how do you think that countries will respond. to the new strengths well you know this is a new strain that was identified in the u.k. recently there's now been a new strain of variant identified in the south in south africa so my wrist is new to it that's no surprise it just means we need to move very quickly we need to

reduce the number of cases so we need the same protection measures as always face masks and washing travel restrictions avoiding large groups so that we have less about iris in the community so this less likelihood that it will mutate further and become a serious problem i guess my question is more you know you we all remember back at the start of the year whenever it was still trying to get it get a grip on what this was going to mean for the world countries were very stringent they they completely closed down borders unless you are a national here in qatar it was difficult for people to come back in are we going to see more of that as we see more mutations of the virus do you think. you'll probably see it because initially it makes good sense while we study the buyers but now we know that the strain that was identified in the u.k. is all across western europe just yesterday and i think another 30 cases were identified in denmark and italy piracy granted a small percentage of a lot of cases so once we know it's spreading and with

a series of the travel restrictions what we really need to avoid is is additional new variants and those things you mentioned the mask wearing that that they had washing we've all got very good at that so that is a good thing thank you for that jeff that lets out there every set right head of health systems research group at the bus load in st for global health. thank you. still ahead on al-jazeera south korea prevent sids toughest ever measures to contain covered 19. a very somber christmas this year on the usually very busy back to have a blanket across of us had them again. the wind is changing again for japan it's not coming out of the cold interior so it's snow showers again maybe half a meter at worst but typically

a bit less than that is widespread away on the western slopes of home shoe and hawkeye to and if it carries on beyond saturday there will be rather more snows and that most places a dry and cold is an increase in the cloud in southern parts of china which will bring a shower or 2 for hong kong i think you'll just see the wind picking up so from such they almost it gets probably windy or windy especially batar yet to monday the skies are largely clear i was the strength the northeast monsoon it has helped to build some pretty big showers in vietnam recently they're going to keep hammering on to the east coast so it will see an increase in the amount of rain in central southern philippines and more recently the deteriorating tropical depression that went through southern thailand has still left a legacy of showers behind it the showers are pretty stories about india the cody's and the persistent fogg's or cold wave in the north for a dish or up through delhi and that means a long time foggy overnight lifts halfway through the day the air quality only briefly improves has does usually start of the day they may be an improvement in

northern pakistan with the whole getting close enough to see if you show is almost sunday. one half scottish and half where the least so diversity is really important to me and al-jazeera is the most diverse place i've ever worked we have so many different nationalities and this is east brought together in this one news organization and this diversity of perspectives is reflected in our coverage giving a more accurate representation of the world we report on and that's a key strength of al-jazeera. the american people have finally for poking around here as i see it when america is off balance or become more dangerous the world is looking at us with a mixture of sadness and. with the election behind us while the republican party

dumptruck the fuel weekly take on us politics and society that's the bottom of. the diverse range of stories from across the globe from the perspective of our networks journalists on al-jazeera. our geologists our her mind of our top stories this hour here at the u.k. to go shares have agreed a breaks a trade deal up to draw down sent off a bit it talks the british parliament has a week to rest wires before the u.k. ceases to be governed by trade rules at the end of the year. if the o.p.'s by.