the matter in oh, these restrictions are completely unjustified and unfairly discriminate against our country. south africa, the president calls on government to scrap travel bands and instead focus on vaccinating the world against koby. 19. more cases of the micron, very 1st identified in south africa, are appearing globally as investigations continue into how dangerous it is. ah, hello, i'm. this is just in a live. also coming up, france declares it won't be held hostage by british politics on migration. after a crisis meeting that excluded the u. k. voting coming to an end in the home during

the elections former 1st lady, mont castro hopes it will make her. the country's 1st female president and socialized lane maxwell protest, go on trial, accused of abetting the crimes of late sex offender jeffrey epstein. ah, the south african president has demanded an immediate end to travel bands that he's called unjustified and discriminatory against his country and its neighbors. sir ram opposed to address the nation after a highly mutated variance of coby 19 was a dent identified by scientists there. and governments rushed to close their borders to southern africa in response. we are deeply disappointed by the decision of several countries to prohibit travel from

a number of southern african countries, including our own following the identification of the army con variant. this is a clear and completely unjustified departure from the commitment that many of these countries made at the meeting of the g 20 countries in rome last month. and his latest remarks, the world health organization, again urged against sudden travel bands, saying it will take weeks to know if the on the kron variant is more transmissible or causes worse. symptoms of cases of the variance have now been confirmed in more than 10 countries on opposite sides of the world. let's go live now to meet a miller in johannesburg. so for me to clearly south africa feeling very aggrieved . a battle this in the sense that they, they did all the right things. they identified this variance and told the world about it. and the response to getting is travel bass. and

that's exactly why they're so angry really and frustrated that the response from many of the countries that have been travel not only to south africa, but southern africa in that scientists have done everything they needed to, to ensure that the world is made aware of exactly what's going on and also the scientists and experts spoken to said there's no clear indication of where this mutation originated. it doesn't mean just because of african scientists have identified it that it's from south africa. there's great concern around the impact the travel bag will have on the region, especially at the time of year when they should be thousands of travelers from the rest of the world's coming to the region for holidays. but one of the other issue that they've pointed out, and i think what was a, what appears to be the message from the president around me, of course, is that he is not heightened restrictions within the south africa routes of africa

remains that level one. so i think also sending out a defiant message to the rest of the world, say, there's no scientific foundation for such a travel bad. and as far as containing the spread in, in south africa and appeal for more south africans to get vaccinated, they is acknowledgement that they has been arise in cases in the last couple of weeks about 500, on average every day that's gone up to about 1600, but even then the government is saying in europe there an average of 20 to 40000 cases a day. and why is south africa being singled out again, going back to the travel band, but looking at vaccinations specifically, they has been a slow uptake of vaccinations. about 41 percent of adults in south africa have really received at least one job that goes down to 55 percent for people who are fully vaccinated. so the government is really to sell the africans to get

vaccinated. in fact, there's a stockpile of vaccines in south africa, specifically that aren't being used in this concern around that. the president has also said that they are considering mandatory vaccinations for people who use public services or go to public events. so that's something that they're considering who ensure that at least 70 percent of south africa and their targets are vaccinated by the end of the year. which at this point they're quite far from all right, for me to meet a life 1st there in janice, but thanks for meeting i taught us infectious disease experts. anthony fancy has been meeting with us president joe biden, he told biden it will take about 2 weeks to get definitive information on the transmitter ability of the on the chronic virus. my camera is lifeless in washington dc. so mike, we know the president has been meeting with with his, his cobit team on this. what else has come out of it?

well, president biden has been meeting with them, but virtually while he's been on holiday and then tucker, he returned to the white house today. and soon off his return. he met in person with his chief medical advisor, doctor anthony t, and the rest of his cobit team. the white house been released, the faith been saying that the president was informed that it will take 2 weeks to be able to verify the transmitter ability. the severity and other characteristics of this new variant. doctor anthony g also told the president that it's absolutely essential that everybody gets fascinated, who isn't. and very importantly, that all those at all to vaccinated and retrieve their last shot some 6 months ago should get a booster. dr. policy saying that this boost shot could be absolutely critical in determining the separate t severity of the cobit virus. dr. policy making very clear to that

vaccinations clearly while they may not actually stop the virus, do certainly make the patients feel a lot better should they contracted. so that was the message from the chief medical adviser to president biden. the president himself is due to speak publicly to the nation on the new variant in the course of tomorrow. mike, thank you, mike. can i in washington force while taking a closer look now at how countries are attempting to seal themselves off passengers arriving to the u. k, from all 10 of these southern african nations need to core and teen as a sunday. that's the same for people from 6 to these countries entering japan. and for monday, the united states is banning travelers from 8 of them except for american citizens . but others are going further from monday, morocco will hold all incoming air travel from around the world for the next 2 weeks. and that follows a similar decision by israel, which is just implemented a ban on all foreigners from entering the country. is harry faucet now with more

from occupied easter recently getting in well the getting was good. sunday was the final day of relatively unrestricted arrivals at israel's main airport. you rules me, no foreigners, save those with special exemptions will be allowed into the country. in the world harshest response to the army kron variant is raise. returning home, we'll have to current team for 3 days. if vaccinated 7 days, if not, and be diverted to quarantine. hotels, if they've been to read list countries in africa, the weekly cabinet donuts for the 100 holiday, while ministers voted on measures destined to ruin many holiday plans, shoved dick, but now we need to tighten up our borders in order to keep israel open internally. i understand that we need to change vacation destinations and go into isolation of unreturned. this happens in my family as well. restrictions on the countries borders is not an easy step, but it's a temporary, necessary step. in another controversial move,

the security service will once again trace transmission by monitoring people's phones. although, unlike earlier in the pandemic, the government says this will be reserved the confirmed cases of the ami chrome variant. the immediate impact of a list, of course will be 1st felt in the tourism industry, not just in israel, but here and occupied east jerusalem. and in the occupied west bank as well. a tentative recovery built on the reopening of the board, the tourist just a little bit earlier this month is not being thrown into doubt. to risk you've already arrived can finish their trips, but soon the supply of customers will dry up again. it was the beginning that was the beginning of what we hoped to be the return of the tourist industry and the return of tourists to, to israel. and again, this is another flap in the face, further into jerusalem's old city shopkeepers who'd only just reopened a contemplating bringing down the shutters. again, i don't think is, will i?

because the 1st of all this could be everywhere around the world. not only in this country and for the tourist who got in height and concerns about getting back out. this is not good news, partially because i hope we can go home. which is the problem with the planes that are coming year. i don't know if that going to go back the governments message better. close the board is early and reopen off the 2 weeks and close them late and regretted. recent experience, though, tells of temporary restrictions being stretched well beyond the end dates few here . a betting that the tourists will be back soon. are you will sit, i'll just 0 occupied east jerusalem. and the u. k. government says it will convene an urgent meeting of g 7, health ministers on monday to talk about how to respond. ne barker reports from london. the on the con, variant is in europe with every passing hour. more cases are detected with the single largest number of infections found on to flight that arrived here at amsterdam shipple airport on friday from cape town,

and johannesburg of the 624 passengers on board. $61.00 tested positive for cove at 19. the more than a dozen half the omicron variant, all and now isolating laportia and 100 percent of the people who return from southern africa will be contacted. we also asked the municipalities to visit 100 percent of the people at home to check whether they are really isolating the on the corn variance now being identified in germany, italy, the u. k. denmark, belgium, chet, republic, and austria with case is likely to be circulating in france according to the french government. the urgent message from brussels couldn't be any clearer vaccinate vaccine night vaccinate boost, boost, boost as much as is possible. because this boosting of vaccination arrays us a level of antibodies and stimulates the memory cells for coverage of viruses. therefore, this is the police of the immune system. the europe wide response has been to

restrict flights from several southern african countries and introduce mandatory testing of people arriving from abroad. travelers coming here to the u. k will have to quarantine for 10 days at their own expense. moves some scientists believe won't be effective in stopping the spread. it's concave unite you to imagine that you're going to be able to prevent discretion. busy of to be exempt as resorting to the case as an example. in belgium, re added to traveling belgium, i ended up with the gate and she had absolutely no direct contact with anyone from southern africa. scientists in italy have produced the 1st image of the variant that has more mutations in spite proteins, the part that interact with human cells compared to the highly infectious delta variant. in the absence of any hard data on how wide spread overland, the alma con variant is, or indeed any information on whether or not existing vaccines conferred degree of immunity against it. scientists are urging caution due to march by way of new

restrictions, and it could have a negative impact on europe's economies due to little. and it could take the pandemic in a dangerous new direction. these walker al jazeera london or the rest. the days news ahead, al jazeera gains, exclusive access to the battlefield. front line in ethiopia is a far region plus ah, it's carnival time in senegal. capital, a relatively new event to celebrate old traditions. ah hello, good to see. here's your headlines for the americas. still. what weather for the british columbia, south coast, but more organized band of rain will rolling on tuesday to this. we go right now.

we've got some snow squalls hanging around. the great lake sir, had been weather statements there and quite a potent system rolling up the atlantic. this is going to impact the canadian maritime. so whites and wendy and halifax, with a high of 6 degrees looking settled for the us gulf states. we're into the sunshine for a tallahassee, getting up to a high of 18 degrees and the desert southwest. things are also calm here and in some spots. i look this denver 21 degrees that is well above where you should be for this at the year. next stop are going to central america, and we're getting dowse with some rain for sharika and panama, panama city. getting up to a high of 30 degrees, south america, that top and we do have some rain sauntering around, pretty persistent band stretching across through northern parts of paraguay, asencion getting up to 28 degrees. if we go further toward the south, disturbed weather around the river, plate region is now starting to pull out toward the south atlantic montevideo $21.00 degrees, but were in the sunshine for coma. doro riva davia with

a high of 25. that's it. see soon. ah, the killing the debate, 90 percent of the world's ricky cheese have come from a common impacted country. the climate emergency is putting more pressure on cities across the world and amplify your voice. it's not really the future. it's now not a lot countries. this completed, we cannot lose hope. we know what to do and we have the tools to do to get all this to you all now to sierra. ah, ah, ah,

the me. hello again. you're watching. i just a reminder of our top stories to south south africa. the president has criticized border closures following the discovery of a new strain of the virus describing it is completely unjustified. ceramic also says has been a rise in cove in 1900 cases since on the crone was identified cases and now been found in more than 10 countries and a number have added travel restrictions, all foreigners on our bond from entering israel for 2 weeks. talk us infectious disease official, anthony fancy has been meeting with president joe biden, he told button it will take about 2 weeks to get definitive information on the transmission ability of the, on the card various on a positive, just close in home. do us where people are choosing who will replace the present

one, orlando hernandez, his time in office has been played by chronic unemployment, violence and allegations of corruption left his candidates. jamara castro is hoping to ask the governing right wing and national party and become on doris. first female president, her rival is the current mayor of the capital to goosey gulping among well wrap, hello is there for us? why now? so marrow and there's been a lot of tension and worries about violence ahead of this election. how things been playing out on the election day as being a lot of anxiety growing among hunter and citizens in the lead up to the general election really during the the as, as steam was still gathering during this election season here in the country. there were more than 30 political candidates that were killed since the primary elections in 2020. and that, as you can imagine, really fueled a lot of those anxieties. a lot of those tensions and worries that 100 and citizens

had as they went to the polls today. now it is about 18 minutes past 5 p. m. local time, here in the capital city, douglas, he got up holes have just started to close. the polling stations here we're, we're out right now. this is actually the 3rd holding station that we've arrived at are staying open, trying to give as many 100 voters an opportunity to cast their back their, their ballots. now, despite this sort of larger than expected voter turnout during these elections, there's a huge mistrust of the electoral process here in the country. and that has to do more so than anything else. with what happened in the last elections, we have to consider that the national, the ruling, national party of hunters, has been in power for the last 12 years. the last presidential election in 2017, according to international electoral observers, was able to claim victory under fraudulent circumstances. so there are many who have that large mistrust of the electoral process. now as a result of that,

but that large voter turnout may be an indication that people are more optimistic this time around. the fact that there's more than 7000 electoral observers around the country trying to make sure that that type of fraud doesn't happen again. but if you're asking about the mood, i would say that it's jovial, it's optimistic, and people are hopeful that this time around won't see the type of violence that played out in the days that followed the election results 4 years ago. a sense as well? man, well this is a pivotal election for on dearest would decide the migrant crisis and worsening poverty. how big of an impact could this vote have? absolutely. it very much has the potential to be a pivotal election for the country. not only could this be an opportunity for hundreds to see the country move away from 12 years of a one party rule, but this is taking place. as you mentioned, under this backdrop of a historic migrant crisis, fueled by worsening poverty,

which in turn also is fueled by corruption corruption that many here in the country see the ruling national party as being to blame for that corruption. so there is a the opposition candidates, pneumatic, astro who is of the left is leave it at party. many argue that she's the most radical change that hunters could see if she would to be elected. she's a former 1st lady, she would also become the 1st female president of honduras. so there's a lot of expectations over what the outcome finally could be of this election. as we mentioned, polls had ab started to close, but people are hopeful that regardless of the outcome, whatever the outcome will be will be one that is peaceful and will lead that type of violence that people saw following. 3 the election at 4 years ago. oh, mama, rappel lifeless, they're into goose, yelp. now france says it won't be held hostage by the u. k. domestic politics on migration. european lead is attended an emergency summit on the issue in the french

poor city of cali. but the british were not invited. the meeting was called up to 27 people died while trying to cross the english channel. rory challenge reports from cali. they wait, because that's all their lives have become here. the queueing for charity clothing, anything to fight the early winter chill, but ultimately there waiting for an opportunity. if, when that comes, it might kill them keys and from sudan heard about the 27 people who died in the channel this week. it hasn't put him off when you date and do something. that's good for data, but you dial a new is leading vajella so dilute, i think that is good. so it's better to tie together today. drive you running behind your dream. they're trapped. no european country wants them and they know it until we are dying of. yeah, it will our discipline, those,

the only option just do is their shoes. tell them to say french police have stepped up. beach patrols recently. storms have made this a treacherous time to attempt to crossing, assuming you can afford a $3300.00 smugglers, a charging. and the inflatable thing is they use a small and vulnerable refugee charities, according on governments to make legal options for migrants and asylum seekers. easier, and what we need is a, is a better, a solid system is not fit for purpose at the moment. and we call for something that doesn't force people to raise their lives and about because the channel on sunday ministers from france, germany, belgium, and the netherlands and europe in commission diplomats met to discuss the crisis. they pledged more unified policing and the use of e resources like an e u border agency plane to patrol frances coastline. past the u. k. was absent disinvited by france after boris johnson angered emanuel micron by tweeting

a letter he'd written to the french president containing previously rejected policy suggestions. said to handle that, have i, this joint work mating can only be done in a serious way. and without being hosted to domestic politics, macro said several times this week that the relationship with britain must be relationship with equals. we are not auxiliaries of britain. this issue has always been one that requires co operation between france and the united kingdom. and right now that is filing, yes, british politicians like to blame france to distract from domestic problems, but with french presidential elections approaching the u. k. isn't the only government playing to the home crowd by throwing insults across the channel. meanwhile, desperate people, a shivering in the cold and drowning in the sea, will reach helen's outer 0 kelly or the conflict in ethiopia. t grice state has now spread to other areas, including north eastern, a far region where most imports come through. i just data is the 1st international

news channel to gain access to the region since the fighting began. mohammed tato arkell from us the channel, the arabic reports from the town of chip for now. medina. hi there medina is set up to let you know we are now with the city of she for strategic city that separates the regions of a fall. and hara, it's also not far from the tea gray region. it was the main stronghold of the t great frontal now, which controlled the strategic area and the manifestations of the fight in a very clear around us. this was a major fighting for there's been a large number of killings and a large displacement movement. the situation is still chaotic and difficult. everyone around us has been turned into an armed person. that could be militia members, a federal soldiers. i'm still, most of the residents are civilians. this is the strategic shift for a city which was the center of the fighting between the fighter of the t great front and forces from afar supported by the federal government. mom about our call

. jeff, for the other thousands of people have been out on the streets of sending goals capital for the great duck carnival, elaborate face paintings. fire eaters, and you just ins. showcase the country's diversity nicholas' hoc report ah, to the beat of the drums. and under the protection of the conch wall, a mid dinky spirit from southern senegal, there is no stopping to curse carnival, the roaring simba a hunter that spend too much time in the forest turning into a lion is here to clear the busy streets to make way for this parade, rosella, i came all the way from cousin mancha to take part in the carnival. this is what we do before the harvest of rice. earlier in the day, children took part in what is the 2nd edition of a 3 day carnival with a theme of legends entails of senegal kind of in law. he believes it, it's an event that promotes the cultural diversity of cynical. it's out of love of

culture that we came up with a concept to promote and add value to our historical diversity. the carnival was cancelled last year because of the pandemic with the countries borders now, reopening to tourists. before the discovery of the new variance, participants waited in the night, expecting thousands of visitors to come and watch them performed the final parade. ah, the organizers had hoped that this event winter trap large numbers. but it has been down by the, you know, with the strain of the current of barbara and well, there are no, no cases here in senegal. fear of the virus is spreading. browse in the barn, it's sellable ready to pandemic has badly affected setting all the corner. they would relies heavily on toward them and about like them. while there is no tradition of carnival in senegal, there is tradition of using music costumes and dance to tell a shared history and get people moving to the beat of their culture. no matter

where they're from. nicholas hawk al jazeera de carr, a jeffrey epstein and hugh lane maxwell were once among the world's wealthiest and best connected people. but if there glamorous lives k crashing down when epstein killed himself while in jail and 2019 facing federal sex trafficking charges. and on monday maxwell will go on trial for her alleged involvement. busy gabriel elizondo reports from new york create a how much did elaine maxwell know about geoffrey epstein alleged sexual abuse of under age girls? that will be the central question in the trial of the 59 year old british socialite, facing charges of sex trafficking and other crimes. he is going to be the invisible presence hanging over this. and that is why i think that she is going to have to explain something that everybody really wants to know. what

was his hold over her? what was that relationship? a big unknown on the trial is how far the judge will allow the prosecutors to probe and epstein and maxwell's high profile social circles that included many household names from politics, industry, and entertainment. one being britain's prince andrew and his accuser, virginia roberts, who says she was trafficked by maxwell to the prince per sex. when she was a teenager is likely not going to be called as a witness. he denies any wrong doing, but prosecutors are expected to call at least 4 other women. all epstein accusers who are going to tell the jury, maxwell groomed them for sex with epstein, one when she was as young as 14 years old. it's a trial with all the trappings of a salacious, drama, sex power, money, and fame. but victims rights advocates hope that the jury does not get distracted

by that and instead keeps their focus on the women who say they were abused by epstein. and that it could have only happened with the help of maxwell. this is an example of one of the most horrific and long enduring patterns of sex trafficking and child exploitation. there are so many victims and whispered kick, really disturbing about the case is how open they operated. and how many people knew, and how many people they involved in this exploitation scheme, maxwell has pleaded not guilty and denies all the charges. her legal team will try to cast doubt on the allegations and the testimony based on evidence that happened more than 20 years ago. the trial is expected the last 6 weeks, if convicted maxwell faces up to 80 years in prison. gabriel's hondo al jazeera, new york, internationally renowned a fashion designer,

virgil ablow has died at the age of 41. in a statement on social media, his family said he'd been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. 2 years ago, i blo, founded the brand off white, and in 2018 became the 1st african american to lead the men's were line at louis return. ah, it is as you get around up of the top stories now south africa as president has criticized border closures after the discovery of a new strain of the koran of ice calling it completely unjustified. su ramifications also says there's been a rising cobra, 1900 cases since on the crone was identified we are.