civil no matter how much they know about a given crisis or issue all the parts of the site in this area the spell object is overpowered as al-jazeera correspondent status will be strong to do. with. the world. lead tidings of great joy because this is a deal. prime minister boris johnson shows off what he calls his presents to the people a break citigroup meant some trades with the european union. but the work isn't quite over yet see you diplomats will get a christmas day briefing before a vote is held to ratify the deal next week. know that i'm hittin and this is all dizzy or life and don't harm also coming up

tighter restrictions to control coronavirus governments around the world reacts to the rapid spread of covert 19. and coronavirus means a slightly more somber a celebration of christmas across the globe this year. well after years of uncertainty the european union and the u.k. have agreed to trade deal that will redefine their relationship for decades to come in a christmas address to the nation british prime minister boris johnson called the brics agreement a tightening of greats joy e.u. leaders are calling it a fair and balanced arrangements for each island's begins our coverage from london this means that the u.k. has voted to leave the european union. finally breaks it down 4 and a half years after the referendum almost at the end of the 11 by. transition period

. the u.k. and the e.u. argues negotiated compromise and cajoled but they've done what many feared they couldn't and agreed to a future trading relationship and it's a moment of reflection for the european commission president. at the end of a successful negotiations journey i normally feel joy. but today i only feel quite satisfaction and frankly speaking relief for the u.k.'s prime minister it's a political success that caps a year which gave him very few of them there will be no palisade of terrorists on january the 1st and they'll be no non-tariff barriers to trade and instead there will be a giant free trade zone of which we will once be a member and at the same time be able to do our own free trade deals one area of

disputes that seem compromises fishing rights outside the e.u. britain has control of its exclusive economic zone but it's had to budge on how much access as have there's also been movement on state aid to allay e.u. fears european companies could suffer from unfair competition and now both have an imperative to work together to make this deal look good and run as smoothly as possible and that will minimize short term disruption the government's independent spending watchdog says not reaching a deal would have nots 2 percent off u.k. growth in 2021 alone partly because of temporary disruptions to cross border trade but even with this deal u.k. businesses still have plenty to worry about only a small number of transport companies have had access to britain's new border crossing software expected to be rolled out just a week before the transition period ends. there are concerns about britain's current jobs crisis deepening if firms relocate to the e.u.

and there are still unanswered questions about how to avoid physical border checks between northern ireland part of the u.k. and ireland in the member for now both sides will be happy to have something to show for the torturous negotiations boris johnson insists the relationship is still closed this country will remain culturally emotionally historically. strategically geologically attached to europe but in the year of covert the u.k. is finally done what the 2016 referendum result demanded if distance itself from europe rory talents down to 0. well with a trade deal finally reached between reached and britain decoupling from the rules breaks it remains a divisive subjects in the case as people across the country spend christmas under new coronavirus restrictions for many breaks it has given a sense of joy and relief others though expressed

a mix of fear and frustration as 4 and a half as a 4 and a half year waits comes to an end it's it feels really good to live in an independent country again out of it out for sure hopefully didn't give too much from fishing rights but there's got to be a compromise somewhere it should be a nice christmas present for the country just get it all finished in time i don't mean don't make now i think a very nice christmas present for the country in the long term in the long run you know i think it's got on for too long i don't think it's going to be good i don't think it's a good idea in the 1st place a student is a good idea but that's where we are and. we're just going to see i hate breaks and i think it's completely retrograde step one of the i can remember life before we joined europe and i remember things getting better. in every way. on the fokker has the latest reaction from london for us and they have a deal to be done what happens next. well in the immediate

coming days we've got michel barnier the chief negotiator who's going to be a little bit later on christmas day of course going to be addressing the e.u. . summit to them to basically take that message back to their respective countries but we know largely because the e.u. has been briefed very closely throughout the whole brics of the gauche ation process that they are now happy to ratify the agreement in the new year so what the agreement is for the time being is at least it's a temporary agreement in principle whereas here in the u.k. the british government has to get the deal through parliament let's not forget johnson has a significant majority in parliament it's expected to breeze through especially now that we know that the opposition labor party are poised to back it as well largely on the basis that it is the lesser of 2 evils given the very real prospects of

a no deal bracks it has loomed over the past few weeks or so but selling it to the british people as a whole might be harder let's not forget 2016 the referendum 52 percent voted to leave the 48 percent to remain those divisions haven't gone away although a lot of people if it t. a lot of people have resigned themselves to accepting that this is simply just the way things are going expect an awful lot of spin in the coming weeks as the british government tries to sell this to a country pretty much divided that this is all in the nation's best interests it's everyone's trying to spin this is a way not just boris johnson but the e.u. as well and it's important to remember is that not that compromises are made on both sides. yeah right now it's difficult to know the depth of these compromises if you look at some of the reports coming out of france of the netherlands that makes it look as if the u.k. has conceded a significant amount especially when it comes to fishing but of course the message

from from boris johnson is that this is something of a christmas miracle a triumph for the british government and this is the start of a new exciting path for the country and most importantly 'd the economy as well it's difficult looking into the details to see exactly what boris johnson can be patting himself on the back for given that when it comes to fishing an awful lot has been conceded so after 5 years of a transition period when it comes to fish the amount of fish that the e.u. will be able to fish in british waters will then incrementally reduced by 25 percent per year that's what the e.u. wanted the british government wanted it to be closer to 60 percent that's an idea or one of the many many details within this 2000 page text that will have a clear understanding over the coming days but an idea of how much the government

here may have had to give to make sure that the deal is in place before the end of the year what's more suck about in the months the years to come for a day that we need barker live from london thank you. what a half a 1000000 coronavirus cases are being recorded every day across the world south korea's just suffered its worst surge yet for the record buys daily infections country put in place its toughest ever restrictions this week with popular tourist venues closed until early next month the u.s. continues to record around $200000.00 cases every day starting on monday though everyone travelling to the u.s. from the u.k. must have tested negative for the virus after a new strain was discovered in britain this is one of a number of the variants believed to be more infectious others have a marriage in south africa and nigeria and they're being blamed for the steady increase in cases which continues around the worlds. well despite the surge in

cases vaccines are providing hope across the world 3 countries in latin america have begun its mexico an intensive care nurse received the 1st dose of mexico city here's john home. the 1st latin americans to be vaccinated against covert nurses and doctors in mexico few would argue with their place at the front of the line more medical staff have died here than in any other country in the world in which a massive wooden i'm going to feel much safer now at work the truth is that we're really exposed to all types of body fluids so having the vaccine is really going to help so far because only received 3000 doses the line to get them snaked around the block should have arrive each week they can't come soon enough the mexican government is pretty triumphant about the arrival of the vaccine but it's not here in time to save the country from its current problems in the capital the hospitals

are almost full and now there's very few ventilators available for the population of one of the biggest cities in the world mexico city's no red alert with essential businesses closed a group of nurses in the vaccination queue told us how things were in their hospital. that are out there without recompute leaflet and patients in serious conditions and ventilators but you can eat i mean we just might at this minute and a lot of deaths to about 7 a day at the moment and a lot of people coming in from the moment we start our morning shift. they are those of their colleagues who are nervous about any possible side effects from the vaccine but they said the benefits power outweigh their concerns we don't know what is the most games that are not sometimes we have to us light and we want to be with our family i want to hug my grandmother and even more christmas with. latin america a bios epicenter needed some light at the end of the tunnel and i know this looks

like it but the. segments of the population won't be vaccinated for months yet elise it's a start john home out is it or mexico city. japan's prime minister. is releasing 2600000000 dollars in funding to help medical facilities treating the coronavirus the country's been breaking infection records and a daily basis for 3000 cases were confirmed on whedon's day medical alert system of tokyo raising at highest level on the unprecedented spike in affections and 3000 people have died more than 210000 have been affected across the country. mali's main opposition leaders similar c.s.a. has died of covert 19 the 71 year old veteran politician was in france receiving treatment for the illness called into his family say was kidnapped by an armed group and held for 6 months in northern mali in march or campaigning for elections

a former finance minister and 3 time runner up presidential candidates say was a prominent figure in mali in politics for 3 decades. to come on al-jazeera the brics a trade deal brings near immigration regulations in the u.k. and the e.u. will assess how that will affect millions of people working for jobs and steering into the future we'll tell you how chinese manufacturers are dominating the market for affordable electric cars. how i once again we've got more snow in the full cost for japan over the next couple of days this area class now pulling out of the way but the winds coming back into a northerly fete that will feed more showers more wintry weather in the course northern parts of the whole issue through hokkaido levels souses top temperatures there in

tokyo there lossy dry not quite as cold as it has been recently in the salt temperatures here at around 7 celsius but just 4 degrees that for beijing similar conditions as we go on into west sunday will be a few showers west of weather just pushing through the east china sea there's one there way up towards q she and indeed into south korea so we will see increasing cloud and rain coming through here increasing cloud of great so into southern parts of the by have been go that maze more showers coming into strong lanka saturday those showers start to fade away and come sunday i really do gather we could see some localized flooding coming through here for much of india though it is largely dry that dense fog and smoke continues across more than pass unnoticed some west of weather just coming into northern parts of pakistan meanwhile across the right in potential that is lost the settled and dry because some wet weather in the forecast a little further north cloud and rain for afghanistan.

water scarcity has become a major global issue the demand is going straight up and the supply is going straight down turning an essential natural resource into a commodity traded for profit just because it's life doesn't mean it cannot be priced what about the guy that can afford it in that case tell these water. al-jazeera examines the social financial and environmental impact of water privatisation loads of water on al-jazeera. the. i am. this is

al-jazeera quite right off the headlines for you know you embassadors are meeting to discuss the trade deal with the u.k. they're expected to endorse it ahead of ratification the 2 sides have finally agreed a 0 tariff deal after months of tense negotiations so careers recorder's biggest daily increase in corona virus infections the start of the pandemic it reported more than $1200.00 new cases of all doubt as tough a step or restrictions. let's go back to our top story now that breaks that deal also means that from january 1st immigrating to the u.k. will be much harder for e.u. citizens gone is their automatic right to work in britain instead they'll have to meet the same requirements as everyone else it's a point space system similar to the way the strictly an immigration system functions basically applicants need to be searched total number of points to be allowed to come and work those points are awarded for things like how old you are

what job you g. answer with you speak english a special bonuses are being given to workers who are desperately needed in the u.k. for example anyone with a job in health care which is critically short staffed they'll be fast tracked through the system jonathan portis is a senior fellow of the economic and social research cancels u.k. in a changing europe initiative basic kings college in london he says the pandemic has given officials time to perfect the system before it's put under pressure. the previous system where we have free movement of your pins and the difference is there for knowing your games is system is the same for everybody he wants to come to the u.k. to work or study it the 2nd point is that the main the thing that really gets you a work visa to come to the u.k. is that your have a job offer for a job that is paying more than about 25000 pounds a year and is above a certain skill level there are some points around that that change at the edges

but that's really the key. the key thing that gets you there it's a job offer in a job that has a certain skill level of that pays more than 25000 pounds a year and then as you said there are also some special essentially exemptions for healthcare workers it means they don't have to meet quite the same threshold as everybody else if we weren't in the middle of a pandemic you would expect considerable people to lay's it's that confusion as we move from the current system to the news it is as you say huge change for british immigration policy but of course the fact is hardly anybody is immigrating to the u.k. to take a job just at the moment because the economy is still very much flat on its back because of the because a pandemic so in that sense we have at least i think there a few months until we start the full recovery from have it we have

a few months to get the system properly up and running. it's the last day of campaigning in the central african republic sprezzatura election but with a violent one up to the votes campaigns up in limits its opposition leaders are calling for the election to be for sports the focus is on the recent fighting between government soldiers and the coalition of rebel groups in the west of the country there are talks of a possible ceasefire with the election day set for next sunday catherine so is in the capital bangui she says while negotiations continue between politicians or people just want to avoid another conflict. just 2 days ago we were on the street and the word came out that. there were coming in this because there was a lot of panic in and out it was just a small incident that involved a shooting by national army they shot in the air to contain them crowd

but then it caused so much panic in the city almost a shutdown that you can imagine the house and the situation either we're being told that if you don't work. in the countryside where and especially in the west where this new coalition was formed from now you talked about the postponement of the election there have been presidential candidate moves to the constitution. of at least on our own men because of the security situation we expect. more of that today they say that it is too much and they feel people will not be able to come out to vote one of those presidential candidates. that has already withdrawn 180 and like you mentioned this all comes about because of this new coalition that had been threatening to march to. they have now called for trial wants to negotiate with the government but government of the hold up in sticking to a thing that they're really for negotiations and i've been talking like i mentioned

to a lot of central africa and here he was saying really they have no appetite for another conflict. millions of americans will have to wait until after christmas for any government relief as the political deadlock continues right $100000000000.00 covert $1000.00 stimulus package president donald trump surprised republicans when he sent the bill back to congress for amendments this week he said the $600.00 direct payments in the bill were too small and called for 2 sons and dollar checks per person democrats support the increase but republicans are blocking it. china's fast growing electric vehicle market is the largest in the world after a slump earlier this year the sale of electric cars nationwide is gaining speed again but while foreign brands dominate the luxury markets chinese carmakers are right selling them with more affordable models to you reports from the old so in

china. for one shelling owning a car once seemed impossible she couldn't afford one but the release of this mini electric model changed that it cost around $5000.01 5th the price of the average car here the 25 year old graduate says she didn't hesitate to buy one and. the cost is really low and the whole country is being encouraged to protect the environment . so i decided to buy it unlike most electric vehicles this car can be plugged into a normal $220.00 volt outlet it's made by local car maker and has overtaken tesla at the top selling electric vehicle in china. the brand is a joint venture with general motors to target younger consumers and less affluent drivers. huge untapped market in china we are redefining the

concept of new energy cars they are no longer just expensive and. in the southern city of your electric vehicles are common sight china's leaders say cities like this are leading the way beijing wants electric vehicles to make up 20 percent of all car sales in china by 202550 percent by $23530000.00 of these many electric cars are produced every month now the manufacturer is focusing on chinese consumers but. in the markets of other developing countries in southeast asia. most of the world's electric vehicles are made in china. it's for that too place is associated with religious celebrations at christmas time or bethlehem and the occupied west bank and also the vatican will this year both of mark the whole as a with a meeting celebrations when it will begin with these abraham in bethlehem with more

on this year's midnight mass at the church of the nativity oh apologies we don't have need abraham's package yet but let's take you to the vatican where pope francis lads' a low key christmas eve mass cattleya lopez what a young man as the reports eve mass led by pope francis the celebration in st peter's basilica usually brings in more than 10000 faithful but with covert 19 about 100 people stood in the pews of a smaller rear section of the church a reflection of christmas amid a pandemic that scaled back or cancel celebrations across europe and the world. he got close to the start of the night here come get. a challenge the pope said

must be met with strength if i swap it out in fact the kid was that the vatican's mass was moved up to our 2nd plywood italy's 10 pm curfew once the epicenter of the pandemic italy is once again struggling with covert 19 that reported more than 500 coronavirus related deaths on thursday and another 550 the day before overall italy has recorded more than 2000000 cases. of it. it's strange it feels like a war scenario where something bad is about to happen but at the same time there's a sense of hope that's what we all need right now. this was st peter's square last year with people lined up to receive the pope's passing but now the world is different pope francis will not be making his usual public appearances in st peter's square throughout the holiday season but it's really strange to be here and

to see that feels really nobody run from the metropolitan and it was empty. the. vatican is taking measures to protect the 84 year old pope especially after more than a dozen infections were reported among the vatican swiss guards a mass unlike any other in recent history marked by a pandemic with millions of faithful hoping next year will be different. than al-jazeera. well let's see if you can take you back now it's a bessler ham where the coronavirus pandemic has meant more muted celebrations at the church of the nativity here's need a perhaps reports. it didn't look a lot like christmas this year in bethlehem celebrations were strict. to the bare minimum as covered $1000.00 cases search. only if you were

shippers were allowed to attend the midnight mass in the church of the nativity the pandemic with with its burden of suffering and the. 6 to imagine a different world made up of new so he dug a team and for a 1100 nation ships were processing the sort of place by giving. and they were all full of a few becomes a benefit for every one. the palestinian president and many foreign diplomats didn't join the christmas service. but the day started with a low key reception of the latin patriarch of jerusalem a procession to welcome him back thousands this year he gave his blessings from a distance. behind the advent of has seen and you can feel the town's sadness this is not how christmas looks it's also the 1st time that we didn't attend the

christmas tree lighting ceremony. bells stein's 1st cases of covered $1000.00 which reported in bethlehem in march tourism dried up in a country that have a depends on it. the tourism ministry says the losses this year are estimated at one and a half $1000000000.00. and up a chill many makes a living out of tourism here in just community based tour guides and says 2019 was a very good season now he expects his business to pick up in october of next year we had maybe a year in advance that was the 1st time maybe we had the sons the birth of jesus you know. so it was a mess and we would expect an amazing year and things have changed but it's going to be. an. almost all christmas related festivities were called. instead treated corded christmas carols were broadcast on line the

palestinian authority says it tried to limit gatherings as much as possible to combat the spread of the coronavirus this year there are fewer christmas lights and decorations than usual but some here tell us that the message of christmas is all about hope and they're praying that next year will be. well worth getting that report back in the end snyder france is not. as marks christmas eve by hosting its 1st choral concert since it was nearly destroyed by fire. on the paris landmark is gradually being rebuilt as france battles the coronavirus vigils choir hadn't been back in sight since last year's blaze girls and 4 involved

in that service said it was an important moments. in motion. and you can find much more on that story and others of course at a website just head to. dr syria dot call. my. this is al-jazeera these are the headlines here ambassadors are meeting to discuss the trade deal with the u.k. they're expected to endorse it ahead of ratification the 2 sides have agreed. tariff deal after months of tense negotiations the e.u. commission president praised the.