this is rose and is yeah, now, ah, borders are close, then more vaccines are rolled out to keep the on the con corona virus very impact bay, while scientists raised to figure out how dangerous it might actually be done. ah, laura barbara sour, you're watching al jazeera life from london also coming up with british social. i think elaine maxwell prepares to go and trial accused of helping late billionaire jeffrey epstein abuse underage girls another attempt to resurrect the iran nuclear deal gets underway in vienna and on the front line in eastern ukraine, where the government says a russian invasion could be launched in the blink of an eye,

ah, countries around the world are shutting down their borders to keep a new corona, virus variant out even more cases emerge and scientists race to figure out how dangerous it actually is. meanwhile, anger is growing in south africa where. busy the on the con variant was 1st detected, several countries have banned travelers from that region. although there have been no deaths linked to omicron so far the world health organization has warned that it poses a high risk of infection surges. meanwhile, experts in south africa are predicting cases could rock it the 10000 the day by the end of the week. that's up from just 300 a day, only 2 weeks ago. but they also believe that existing vaccines are probably effective at preventing severe illness. while despite calls from south africa,

the world health organization and the un to lift to travel restrictions, japan has joined israel and morocco in banning all new foreign travelers. more than a dozen countries have now confirmed cases of the new variant including australia, which is delaying that reopening to foreign students and workers for 2 weeks. we're doing everything possible to make sure that i have a ready and we know that as the infections rise, people get sick. some will get severe, especially those who have not been bugs in it. but we know that they will also be incidences where even those robinson, it may get ill and the whole facilities should be ready. or here in the you call, the government is rolling out its vaccine booster program to all adults. nadine barba has more britain was the 1st country to restrict travel from southern africa off to the emergence of the new cove at 19 variance. now the government here has

admitted only crone could pose a greater threat than the dominant delta variance and it's tightening restrictions to limit community infection. close contacts of anyone who test positive with a suspected case of only con, must self isolate for 10 days, regardless of whether they have been vaccinated or not. faced companies will also be made compulsory in shops on public transport in england, unless an individual has a medical exemption. this is not all doom and gloom at this stage, and i do not want people to panic at this stage. if vaccine effectiveness is reduced, as seems pretty likely to some extent, the biggest effects are likely to be in preventing infections, and hopefully there will be smaller effects on preventing severe disease students. at the same time, the government scientific advisors are recommending people are offered booster jobs just 3 months after their 2nd vaccinations. and the programs being extended to any

one age 12 or over. over in portugal, they've identified 13 cases of omicron among team members of the lisbon based professional soccer club balances. only one had recently traveled to south africa as more and more countries place restrictions on people traveling from south africa and the region. the united nations is urged the world not to penalize countries for identifying and sharing crucial science and health information. that's a theme taken up by the world health organization. ami kron demonstrates just why the world needs a new are caught on polemics, our current system. this said, this incentivized countries from alerting others to threats that will inevitably land on their shores. many countries in europe are already worried about the winter. here in milan, people have to wear face coverings outdoors, as well as in doors between 10 in the morning and tenant night. but as nations

consider how to protect their own populations, the calls get louder to ensure developing countries can access vaccines. the dean baba al jazeera as a fine asia, only hong kong has reported cases of the new strain, but that hasn't stopped restrictions being imposed by governments across the continent. tourney chang has more details. no sooner had japan declared victory against coven 19, and relaxed its entry requirements, and the door is slammed, shut its prime minister, announcing on monday that he would be taking no chances with the new varian. geiger was in with regard to foreign visitors entering japan from midnight on november 30th. we will ban entry from all parts of the world. thailand and indonesia announced new although less stringent bands on arrivals from southern african nations lockdown have been devastating to the tourist industry here. and many southeast asian nations will be reluctant to impose blanket bands. the philippines

started an ambitious vaccination drive on monday to inoculate more than 9000000 people in 3 days. it's travel ban of 14 nations includes european countries with a new variant has been found. we are dba, we can steal our, my more value. we should delay these as much as we can really prepare the health systems capacity repaired. our design isolate ah, g 3 city oh, actually constructed one travel gateway that was opening up rather than shutting down is the land border between singapore and malaysia. 3000 people crossed this border daily until march 2020, when it was shut down, stranding thousands. so pretty much i'm excited to go back to my family here to my home country. oh, i know a lot of families i've been thought normally syncing up all. ah, visa has been a good opportunity for me to go back to us a militia, those visit my grandparents,

my parents, my families, and stop young. for now, a special bus service will limit visitors to $3000.00 a day as other borders around the region shut down. these travelers will be hoping this journey isn't one way. tony chang, al jazeera banker. ah, iran says it's optimistic after talks resumed in vienna to save the 2015 nuclear deal representatives from russia, china, germany, france, and the u. k. have been negotiating with iranian officials. the u. s. is there, but only holding talks in directly dawson jabari has worn off from vienna. this is seen as a very beginning of what could be really the newly appointed team from iran and from the new government of everything. right. you see, is headed by the iranian deputy foreign minister, alibaba murray,

and his team of 38 men who are very well versed in the countries economy. they're all specialties at their specialists in iran's economy, from various different divisions of the government. they are here to find out what the other side will likely do in terms of moving forward. they're trying to gauge the mood from the europeans as well as the americans. i spoken to sources into iran who are looking at the other parties involved to say that they are seeing some members in the negotiating teams from all sides that are very well versed in terms of the security of the countries. meaning that they, it ladies are expecting iran and other programs, not just a nuclear program will also be brought up. that is, of course, something the renew of said they will not do. and they said they were only here to discuss how the americans will lift their sanctions that they've impose on or on the deputy foreign minister has said they are on nuclear program and other programs

as well as iran regional involvement is not for negotiations. but to, of course, the parties involved, including europeans, have said that these talks are not going to go on forever, that there needs to be some kind of resolution as soon as possible the trial of british socialite elaine maxwell is beginning in new york. the 59 year old is accused of enabling the crimes of convicted peter fall. jeffrey epstein, who died 2 years ago while awaiting trial maxwell insist she's innocent and denies any wrong doing. let's go live now to gabriel is on the who is following developments there. gabriel, it seems that there was a delay in getting this trial started. what's happened? that's right. it's a little after 2 pm here local time. and since about 930, when the judge came into the court room for the last 5 hours or so, she's been dealing with jury issues that took quite a long time a little longer than expected. they originally had about a pool,

about $600.00 potential jurors. and over the last couple of weeks that's been whittle down. and they had an extra 50 that they were dealing with here and it just took several hours to finally get the final 12 years. and the 6 alternates that are now seated. it gives you an idea on how complex this trial is going to be, because it's going to go on for about 6 weeks. and the jurors have been admonished by the judge not to follow any social media, not to discuss the trial with anybody. this is common in all trials, but particularly in this trial, that is so high profile that there's been so much media attention about it for so long. not only about elaine maxwell and accusations of sex trafficking against her, but also who loom large over this trial is her long time partner. now deceased, who is jeffrey epstein, who will also cast a big shadow over this trial as well. so it's going to be very complex and

a lot of drama, potentially in the next 6 weeks that this trial is expected to go on. absolutely. it's got a lot of elements, doesn't money, fame of power, facts. but do we expect the names of other famous friends of maxwell and that scene to be brought up during the proceedings? well, anything's possible in a trial, that's number one. but the judge has said that she will limit any reference to anybody else. and when i say anybody else, that's a, the, the dozens of very famous people that were part of their social circle, several very prominent people, like bill clinton, donald trump, prince andrew, just to name a few. they are not on trial here. the judge made it very clear this trial is about the. busy the alleged crimes committed by delane maxwell and to a lesser degree her relationship with jeffrey epstein. and so it will be very

interesting if the prosecution tries to bring other names into this trial in some way, shape or form. will the judge allow that? and if she does, how far will she allow the prosecution to probe into the social life or former social life of gain maxwell and jeffrey epstein. this is going to be a key aspect of this trial, but it's important to remember they are not on trial. they just happen to be long time friends of this couple for so many years, but they are not on trial. this is ultimately about dealing maxwell and to a lesser degree. jeffrey epstein. gabriel alexander will be following that trial a for us over the next a few weeks at gabriel. thank you. still ahead here on al jazeera, i live in a life of humiliation. protest. there's block roads in lebanon with no end in sight,

for the country's financial meltdown class. with a powerful storm flips, vehicles rips off rooms and brings down a clock tower. a miss campbell killing at least 4 people here. ah hey, there hope your week's off to a good start. we got a lot of snow come, natchez, for the alpine region. so that includes switzerland, austria check republic into southern sections of germany and poland. meantime, a cool blast of air right across the bulk and sorry of, or just a high of 0 on tuesday, sophia bulgaria to degrees. but we've got a swath of snow moving across the country. sophia, could pick up about 2 to 5 centimeters of snow,

maybe even more as waltz coltrane is punching across turkey numbers here, weight out of whack. so traps on $24.00 degrees that also for the levant, his while be root at 30, but watches this friends moves across, tribes on goes from $24.00 down to 12 degrees and be route from 30 to 90. after you are very right now, since mostly settled, but temperatures a bit below where they should be, this found the year lives been just a high of 13 northwestern europe. right now. our next storm system swoops into the republic of ireland and also the united kingdom. so white and windy conditions to be expected here on this weather report in africa. right now. we're a switch in wind direction. it's going to make a big difference in cairo. you go from 29 on tuesday to just the high of 22 degrees on wednesday. that's it says her the there was since i was

a little boy in india. my dream was to make for the wood fence. so finally i was going to do it one man's quest to realize a lifelong ambition to studio chose was off my own village and get permission going behind the lambs as gotten the saying brings his personal story to life. al jazeera correspondent, my own private bollywood. ah, ah, blue ah, a reminder now of the top stories on al jazeera, more countries closed their borders concerned by the new york corona virus variant, omicron. world health organization says that there is a high risk,

it could lead to a sharp increase in the global number of cove at 19 cases. the trial of british socialite, delane maxwell has begun in new york and 59 year old is accused of enabling the crimes of convicted peter fall. jeffrey epstein, she denies any wrong doing and talks to resurrect the 2015 nuclear deal. have restarted in piano, iran's top negotiator said he was optimistic after the 1st meetings were held on monday. iran, once all us sanctions dropped before agreeing to any deal. activists in lebanon have been blocking roads in protest against deteriorating living conditions caused by the economic crisis. the local currency is in free fall and the government has failed to provide the social safety net for the poor after scrapping subsidies on a central goods center holder reports from beirut. these young men say they've run

out of options and that's why they've returned to the streets. lebanon's economy has all but collapsed. now, we are hungry and buying meat for our children and that is a dream. we are living a life of humiliation. i read in there is no end in sight for the financial meltdown. the country needs international financial assistance, but politicians are not reforming. a state riddled with corruption. i also know really the politicians are destroying us. they made us for this young man don't have the crisis is not new, but it's got worse because the government lifted its subsidies on essential goods due to a lack of foreign reserve. the fall out of the economic collapse has left 3 fourths of the population. poor and the united nations is warning of even worse conditions if no solution are found. the local currency,

the lira continues to lose its value against the dollar. it's affecting purchasing power. while a cash strapped state has so far failed to give the poor promised financial aid, although vile inflation is climbing into the dollars exchange rates fluctuates every hour. that's why we don't put the prices on good side. and since they are adjusted all the time, the crisis began in late, 2019 authorities use force to end a nation wide protest movement and thought about cabinet seats for more than a year. they form the government in september, but it hasn't met for 6 weeks now, because of new political divisions in lebanon. we're not like any other country where people are going to the stated things would change because we're not only confronting a government we going from the government, which is backed up with a very powerful militia, been laying around and age in which it has but many worn growing poverty could

change that mom, mom, we don't have money to buy bread and medicine for our sick family members. we can't cope with the situation. many have lost faith in a political class blamed for ruining the economy after decades of corruption. but for now, there is little hope for change. the road to recovery appears blocked. then there, osha zita. they loot an attack on a prison in a jury as north central plateau state has left at least 10 people dead and led to the escape of more than 260 inmates. prison service says gunmen opened fire on the facility in the state capital joss on sunday evening. one guard and 9 prisoners were killed. 10 prisoners have been recaptured so far. georgia is a former president. me house that gosh, really has appeared in court on charges of abuse of office. he used the hearings in the capital to believe she has an opportunity to publicly denounced the georgian

authorities, 2nd, really has been held in jail since returning from exile last month. he faces 6 years in prison for corruption, but says the charges are politically motivated. robin foster walker has more now from the capital tbilisi were supporters of the former president are protesting. it's quite chaotic here. the moment they manage to close both the lane, both roads in and out of the city. you can probably see behind the some of the support is on that road bridge and, and also right now somebody being stretch it away from the scene because really emotions running high here. people are very angry. those are the support, the former president, that he thing on standing trial at all. and those supporters have come out today in the crowd of several 1000 to show that support for him outside the court, where he's due to make an appearance today where he's been charged with abuses of

power and full use of excessive force back in 2007, a long time ago. now, of course that was then this is now because that guys really is basically been in prison since the 1st of october. and we've been expecting to see him make an appearance in court the last few weeks. but he, on each occasion the authorities were saying, no, it's not safe for him to come out. we're worried about his health. all we're worried about the security situation. and i have voice concerns that, that this idea allegations that he supported might try to spring him, were to really get him out. bella luce and president, alexander lucas shanker, has accused that lithuanian authorities of dumping the bodies of migrants on the border between the 2 countries. this way they have rejects the claims, same bella roost the staging, beatings, crippling, and even people's deaths. and blaming them on

e u. countries. the uses lucas shank goes weapon ising desperate people tricking them into crossing into poland. this way near and latvia, the block says it's lucca. shank was revenge for sanctions imposed on bella. ruth, after it's brutal cracked down on democracy protesters cease fire monitor is that say there has been a significant increase in fighting between russian back separatists and the ukrainian military since rushes troops build up near the border. moscow denies any plan to invade ukraine, calling the allegations hysterical and malicious. shall stratford reports now near the village of wood. yeah, now on the front line with the ukrainian military pouring rain pitch black. this is a front line trench east and ukraine. we follow ukrainian army soldier who leads us along the pav with mud. filming using night vision,

there are trenches like these that snake hundreds of kilometers across a conflict zone in which more than 14000 people have been killed. you sound that machine gun bar echoes through the blackness. so in the last 10 minutes, sounds like a lot more smooth homes are coming from the direction of daniel called the commander's taking us up to a ford observation post. it is a lot closer to separatist positions. we reach you, observation, post with 3 soldiers stand in the cold. they are nervous until us to keep our voices down because of the enemy is close to the for sale cup a little music newsletter is sporadic shooting from both sides because we can't see anything even using the night vision. nathan, to loosen them for when we say shooting, we mean shooting is no man's land at no particular target,

but it's important to prevent reconnaissance teams taken advantage of the fog and rain visibility 0 or kim political. i recommend you leave this place now. the canteen, a small, well stocked, 23 year old rome of joined the ukrainian army 6 months ago and was trained by the u . case royal lancers, as part of nato's mission to defend ukraine against what it says is russian aggression nondiscriminatory estimates. and we have a lot of things to improve on. the trainers had great combat experience, so we learned a lot from them. i joined the army because of the injustice wilmonson and our people are forgetting there's a war going on our country. we are led down into one of the girls sleeping quarters, warm and quiet soldiers, gravel sleep, they can before their shift starts again. the soldier who doesn't want to identify himself. he says he had friends who joined the russian bank separatists,

fighting the government, the other than you're doing. i don't think about it. i don't feel anything. i'm a soldier and i have a task to do. regardless whether it's someone i know he's now the enemy. all relations are last reconciliation will take generations. these people have crossed red lines. so what kind of friendly relationship could there now be? early morning the light reveals trees in the foggy gloom. the rain has stopped. soldiers discuss the night's events some plan. looking out across the conflict, broken landscape for an enemy with no doubt equal convictions. you say they also have a right to fight charles rap with al jazeera war dina eastern ukraine. several towns in northern spain were severely flooded when 2 rivers burst, their banks, the reverse spilled over following heavy rain and snow bro, bye storm r. when across the weekend, in the city of big bow, dozens of cars were submerged and flood water and the band and by their owners. at

least 4 people have been killed in the turkish city of iss them ball after it was struck by a powerful storm with gale force winds. at least 19 others were injured in the storm, which knocked over a clock tower and threw vehicles on to their side. officials say the wind blew as fast as a 129 kilometers an hour. the storm also impacted flights with turkish airlines ascending at least 6 plains, unable to land to other airports. in honduras, left doing candidates show matter. cast throw has claimed victory in the presidential election. castro says that voters have reversed the authoritarianism. but the governing national party also announced that its can, that it had one man with rapid reports, not from the capital tegucigalpa. so monica lucy, when for celebrations in the honduran capital, tegucigalpa,

ah preliminary results from the national electoral council placed opposition candidates your magic ass through in the lead? ah, your final tally was far from completed. the news was enough to spark celebrations in the streets of the city. oh, follow up with hasn't i for the thought of for the 100 people this represents an awakening apiece. a hope. the people are overwhelmed by so much wrongdoing and misery over the past 12 years the people needed to breathe. the people have woken up those daniels. oh, earlier in the day eager voters queued for their turn at the ballot box. ah, and pulling locations extended their closing hours to allow everyone a chance to cast a vote. many expressed a distrust of the electoral system signing a disputed general election 4 years ago when the governing national party claimed

victory despite evidence of fraud. good service. oh, on the 30, being going on with the right and all with howard so much in just i'm actually quite happy with me. even though i'm coming later. my bony pole is in the late hours on sunday opposition leaders humana. gastro spoke to supporters, claiming victory over national party candidate, nasty as food farm us. we are going to form a government of reconciliation in our country. a government of peace and a government of justice. the 2021 on your in general ledger wise, under one little boy berman memory would really be boring, but violence still on the streets. the moon now celebrated

under an election. officials of also said voter turnout is the highs since the 1980s when the country returned to democratic rule. oh, man with lebanon al jazeera dig lucio both wondrous social media giant twitter has announced its co founder jack dorsey is stepping down a seal. stocks initially jumped to more than 10 percent on monday, after reports of his resignation. dorsey has faced internal pressure to resign from the role he will be replaced by chief technology officer by rank are going to, well, one of australia's best known indigenous actors. david gould police has died of lung cancer. he made his name in the 1971 movie walk about before performing in films such as crocodile dundee, and basil norman's epic production. australia. ne, received several owners for his acting. born in australia's remote are none land. he did not see his 1st white australian until he was 8 years old. his exact birth

date is uncertain, but he was believed to be 68 years old. ah . and now reminder of the top stories on al jazeera, the world health organization says the army con variant of coven 19 poses a very high global risk of surges. more countries of close their borders concerned by the new variant, south african experts are predicting cases could rocket to pen 1000 the day by the end of the week, up from 300 just 2 weeks ago. but they also believe existing vaccines are probably effective at preventing severe illness.