mister gates on al jazeera oh to play an important role with. ringback mm ah, this is al jazeera ah, hello, i'm north taylor. this is the al jazeera news. our live from london coming up germany bars the unvaccinated from much of public life as it tries to contain a dramatic rise in current of ours cases. almost one and 4 cobra tests come back positive in south africa as health experts investigate the dangers of the new on the crone variant. president joe biden tightens international travel restrictions and urges booster shots as he promised his to speed up efforts to vaccinate the

world. and the u. s. warns at russia could face serious consequences if it invades ukraine as moscow denies allegations it's planning an attack. and i'm devin. us with sports live from our fee for our cup studio. well, tell someone at no joke of it backs the decision to suspend old w t a tournaments in china. it comes as the international olympic committee say. they've spoken. it's a chinese player punch. why is disappearance of making a sexual assault allegations and sparks at wild wide concern? ah, germany's national and regional leaders have agreed to ban unvaccinated people from much of public life to try to stop a 4th wave of cobra infections. outgoing chancellor angler macro describes the far reaching measures as an act of national solidarity. this,

as the european union's public health agency says the new omicron variant could become the dominant strain over the winter months under simmons has more in less than a week. the on the chrome variant has swept the globe with more uncertainty about cove it in many countries, especially in europe, new restrictions were being introduced anyway with the winter surgeon delta variant infections. germany is the latest to announce new measures. signs like these vaccinate immunized is the way this country and others are now heading the unvaccinated on our bod from access to all but essential businesses such as grocery stores and pharmacies. angler merkel says new stricter measures are essential in a situation she finds depressing. as it was got anything on the internet and to be quite honest, the fact that we are now in the middle of such a strong 4th wife does not make me happy. it depresses me,

especially when i look at certain regions here in france, where the health services struggling with record numbers of covet infections. the government scientific advisor believes the on the chrome variant will be dominant within a matter of weeks divine me. soon as i can brag a regular volume, the real enemy is the 5th wave with the dell to variant. there will be some time before the army con variant establishes itself in france and in europe. in general, we estimated to be at the beginning of 2022 of at the end of january. you do need one in the u. k, where booster jobs will be available to anyone over 18. the arrival of the omicron variant has led to a clamor for vaccinations. we're starting to see people who i think probably anxious about the new very within come across in class to get people coming for their 1st and 2nd jazz that they couldn't possibly had months ago. you case prime minister boris johnson himself got his booster on thursday in germany. the

government will also consider compulsory vaccinations. and as people put their hopes in jobs, being able to ward off or ma chrome, something that scientists are still unsure about. there's a chilling prediction from the european union's public health agency. it says that within a few months the omicron variant could be causing more than half of covered infections in the e u. and from the norwegian, capital alls low nova warning more than 50 people have been infected with the over crown variance at a christmas party in a restaurant. the government says they were all vaccinated. andrew simmons al jazeera or an 11 and a half 1000 new covered 19 cases were detected in south africa in the past 24 hours . as health officials warn the new variant is driving a sharp increase in infections. that soft infection rates doubled in a day on wednesday, or macro has become dominant across south africa,

which was the 1st country to report on the highly mutated strain neighboring zimbabwe is also reported their 1st case of the variant in the past few hours. early evidence suggests omicron poses a higher risk of reinfection. manila is foreign developments from johannesburg. will expert suspect that it is the only con variant that is causing that sharp rise, whereas previously it had been the doubt of variance and this was their main concern. just how transmissible army kron is how it would affect people, and just what role vaccines would play in terms of protection. now the institute of communicable could, communicable diseases has said to day that there is, chances are the people who had coven 19 before. it's likely that they still would be infected by this new variant, despite having antibodies. in fact, chances of being re infected may have risen about 3 fold. so that continues to be a concern in the last 24 hours. they have been 11500 new cases of

coven 19. and what is of particular significance? even though south africa has a total of $40000.00 existing active cases of coven 19 in south africa. even though that number is significantly lower than many other countries in the world is the positivity rate. that's now it 22 percent up from 16 percent just a day ago. so it's clearly giving scientists a better picture of just how transmissible this particular variant is years. president joe biden has unveiled new actions to combat cove. 19 saying the emergence of the on a cron variant increases the urgency for bush to vaccines and testing a speaking at the country's national institutes of health. he laid out a nationwide pandemic plan for the winter months. but he said should unite the nation with a common purpose, and the pan includes tied to restrictions for international travelers. but biden, called for com while santas learn more about the new variant. we're going to fight

is variance with science and speed. not chaos and confusion. just like we beat back over 19 in the spring, a more powerful variant deliver in the summer and fall as result, we enter this winter from a position of strength compared to where america was last winter. last christmas. here in a one percent of american adults are fully vaccinated. this christmas, that number will be 7772 percent, including more than 86 percent of seniors the most vulnerable population. she ever tend to join us live from washington dc. what's the strategy here? to prevent lock downs, according to joe biden, to make as many resources available as possible. this was supposed to be the winter plan. that button was going to be announcing anyway, even before the emergency moment on the chrome, because in the winter time it is expected. they will be more infections but, but the, the, the emphasis change somewhat in the sense that now biden is all going forcibly that

the 100000000 eligible adults who are due for a booster shot according to the c, d. c. and who haven't taken it, should take it now, particularly because of the emergence of a mac on a slightly controversial opinion among some scientists. but that is one of the main planks of the. so with that in mind, they're expanding access to expanding outreach calls, text messages to those of who are eligible for abuse assault to get them them. family vaccination clinics will be set up around the country so that families, whether they're getting their 1st shot, the booster shot, whether it's children, they can all do it at the same time. they will be mobile units as well. they're also looking now into preventing school closures. in particular, the cdc will announce their findings into, instead of closing an entire school, if one case is found, whether it is viable simply to test and keep testing. students who've been in contact with whoever had the code in the school and keep the school open at home private testing. if this is quite interesting, one testing kits in the us have been pretty expensive. it was like $4030.00,

which means that there isn't, was widespread testing. you can't test yourself before you go into into a crowd onto aeroplane that easily necessarily. so they're going to make those much more available. there's still some sort of applied to whether they will be free at the point of purchase. whether you, you have to make a claim to your private health insurance company which might be less effective. it's stuart, but the point is they do recognize that they're trying to expand home private testing kits in the us so they can continue to keep tabs on this in spite of variance, sir, response teams, medical stuff or who will go to areas that are particularly on the strain because a covert the number of days will be, will be increased and as you said at the travel restrictions for those coming into the u. s. have been tightened up before it was within 72 hours of travel. someone would have to take a test not to be within one day of travel, they will have to take a test and she usually promised to speed up if it's to vaccinate the world. how would you do that? that's an interesting spot because yes,

as biden himself points out, you know, one has, has made more doses available than the u. s. than everyone else has combined resources to co, back from these other these other things that they are the same as the u. s. is but there has been a lot of questions about how slow the u. s. has been in trying to get those vaccines out. he's not pledged 200000000 days since 900 days for the developing well, but the problem is that the entire philosophy that we began with that now that we have on the chrome, that's why we should talk it in the booster shots. and that's why we, you know, we, even the healthy out of those people who are at risk to get results any way that entire philosophy has been questioned by the world health organization repeatedly, just in the last 40 hours, we just check that was a speech by the director general w h i saying no. first of all there's no evidence that the booster shots help people who have only con yet anyway. but secondly, they say, look, you want to prevent variance. you can't be giving booster shots, people who aren't a particular risks. you have to start getting those out to the developing world. and clearly this is a very different philosophy. shandra jones,

you thank you very much. richard lessons is an infectious disease specialist at the university. of course, natalie joins us live from durban in south africa. thanks for being with us. again, just want to ask you in terms of the latest data you've seen there, would you describe the current spread of on a cron in south africa? yeah, good evening or, i mean it's spreading very rapidly through our community again, and i think you know that it, this bread, it's time started very much in how tang providence and it's more generalized in that province now. but really what we're seeing across the country now is, is the exponential rise in cases. and that's when the numbers get scary, as you say, that each day you're going up by a carpet, substantial amount. and, and what we're seeing still is that this piece of research you, you mentioned that came out today from some colleagues, giving us

a little another piece of the puzzle. ready that, that there clearly is an increased risk of re infection. so that's people who have had cobra before and now testing positive again. and we have teams, you've been tracking that over the course of the pen that may can, they can show just in the past few weeks that the, the number of people testing positive again, has gone up quite substantially. and that gives us this clue again, that this, that this baby and had significant kind of immune if asian properties that it can get right and some of the protection. what about any clues as to how severe an illness it can cause? yeah it's, it's still early to have with that and i know it's very frustrating that, that we come on show his and, and say that and we'll probably be thing it for another week or 2. because still most of the spread up until very recently has been in the younger age groups. and

so, so a lot of what, what doctors are seeing it's still mild, but we need time for, for the older age groups to be effective to, to start to really see and get a clear picture of the severity of illness and bring the also sat, how how affect to the very the vaccines because can be against it. that's right. i mean, clearly we're seeing infections again and people that are, that are practicing dated. but the key, the key thing is what you say are, are we seeing an increase in severe disease among the vaccinate? and that's, that's just going to take time to, to gather that data. and to really get clarity on that. the point, know south africa, a high rate of vaccination and many other african countries, but the still are issues with the, with the roll out. what, what are they, what's, what's causing a kind of hesitancy or difficulties with getting the jobs out to people. i think

it's, it's been a mix of things for some time now. i mean, supply has not been a problem for, for quite a while. now. we have plenty vaccines to get into art. and i think it's a mix of still access problems that we haven't made it easy enough to for people to get the vaccine. and that may be particularly in rural areas where people live further from the vaccination fights. and then there is clearly still some hesitancy and fear about backseat side effects and many things that are unfortunately still kind of fed by, by the misinformation and information that, that we see all around the world. a, i mean, is it, and is that the main major issues? it disinformation misinformation from social media that is that the bigger problem rather than historical distrust of, of governments. and so as i say, i think it's a mix. i mean, i think, i think access and, and, and actually just make it easy for people to get the vaccine. it's still,

it's still one of the major things on. but i think the misinformation is an important one and it's a difficult one to to, to deal with that as we see everywhere at which, unless else thank you very much and have her take the time to talk to somebody there. appreciate your time. thank you much more head on now. does your news or her remain in mexico? biden's white house brings back from peer a law forcing asylum seekers to stay over the border. the u. n. peace have billions of dollars to help more people in need around the world than ever before. and in sport and deadlock, overpay and conditioners for players leads to the 1st lockout in major league baseball for 30 years. ah, united states top diplomat has met face to face with his russian counterpart to try

to diffuse mounting tensions over ukraine. sexual state and abe lincoln and foreign minister sang oliver of disgust russia's troop build up near the border. at a meeting in the swedish capital stock home, it has been smith's reports from moscow. their positions are a long way apart. this was the 1st face to face meeting between antony blinkin and sir guy lover of since joe biden became us president. the u. s. secretary of state, use the encounter to warn russia of the serious consequences, including sanctions, if it invades ukraine. c. it's now on russia to deescalate the current tensions by reversing the recent true build up. returning forces to normal, his time positions, and refraining from further intimidation and attempts to destabilize ukraine were watching the situation very closely, were in close contact and coordination with our allies. russian back separatists in east new crane had been patrolling these trenches for more than 7 years. after

russia annexed crimea, now a build up of russian troops along the border. more than $90000.00 says the government in kiev is fueling fears of a russian invasion. across the field, ukrainian force is a holding exercises. russia says ukraine is being provocative, deploying more than half its army, a 125000 people to the east. russia dismisses as inflammatory. any suggestions is preparing to attack. the kremlin is also floating the idea of a new european security packed to try to stop nato from expanding further east. we, as president putin stated, do not want any conflicts. but if i nato partners have stated at no one has a right to dictate to a country that would like to join nato, or whether a can do or not. we can say that every country is able to define his own interest to guarantee their security. in the spring, there was a similar show of russian strength along the ukraine, border tensions east after

a 1st summit meeting between the russian and us presidents. russia's deputy foreign minister says he's hoping for confirmation that there'll be some sort of contact between vladimir putin and joe biden. in the coming days, i could be a phone call or a virtual meeting if it does happen, than just as in earlier this year. that could go a long way to calming tensions on the ukraine. russia border. bernard smith, al jazeera moscow, both russia and ukraine of accused each other ramping up tensions in recent weeks. ukraine says more than 90000 russian soldiers near the border, but claims that it is preparation for an attack have been denied. russia accuses ukraine of plotting to recapture areas in the east of the country held by pro russia rebels. it says ukraine has gathered about 125000 soldiers near the conflict june. something which that side has denied ukraine is not part of nature, but russian president vladimir putin has warned that any expansion of the alliances

military infrastructure into ukraine would be a red line or not by or neutral which had of ukraine for him at the international. think tank chatham house, thanks very much for being with a certain, with a build up of troops that we've seen a how lucky is it that russia will make some kind of incursion into ukraine. while with this current build up proseries, clearly trying to communicate that the military option is on the table. there are the options, as i am sure, but a lot will depend on how the west and especially the united states, re eggs. to use the language of ultimatums and pressure that we have heard today from foreign minister, earl of roles and from president putin. this is basically also shows that this side, the us and russia we have heard in that is little before you stalking past each other. and russia simply denies the truth that it has create to the conflict. a

chopping all parts of ukrainian saturday on the east and arming these militia and proxy groups that are undermining ukrainian territorial integrity. and how far do you see the biden administration would be prepared to go to defend ukraine? this is a very important question and an interesting one. clearly we have heard from 6 through blinkin that the economic sanctions on the table. so this is clear that they will be willing to deploy measures such as have not been used before, possibly disconnecting russia from swift, or banning some of the operations of russian gas and oil companies. that in a way, finance fujen, very armament and budget doubt. but there are 2 other pillars that have to be seriously consider one is of course, diplomatic, and what could be done here beyond the summit that we can crate so much. and another one is of course, military security,

helping ukraine to tear russia by raising cost of an or potential aggression. you alluded that to the summit to which that has been took or another biden fusion . some it is. how lucky would that be to deescalate the attention of the situation in ukraine? why it seems like we can need the summit more than by them? and the question is, what is the question that we would like to discuss of the song? and because that matters a lot, if you would like to propose some kind of ground bargain to buy a bite and about spheres of influence and actually vetoing, derive of independent states such as ukraine, but also georgia to decide if you a strategic orientation that is clearly it should not be the subject of such meeting. there are us rational bilateral relations, and that could be perfectly discussed, such as nuclear nonproliferation and control over the arms armaments terms about

kind of nato and ukraine. and what, what kind of dynamic is there with a ukranian? still leaning towards wanting some sort of affiliation with, with nature, and whether nature would actually be interested in that to the stage. well, 1st of all, i would like to say that nato is not offering ukraine any even membership action plan. so ukraine's eventual membership in the alliance is not on the table even at the midterm. so this whole, you know, and you rotate thread, russia is presenting to the world as if ukraine is already becoming the member of the alliance. what ukraine would like to have strategically? yes is the full fledged membership. are also in the european union in the, in the natal. and it's quite supported by the population there around the would take place today over 70 percent, with volt flores and the ukrainian political establishment. the majority of political parties are always promoting trans atlantic integration for ukraine,

and they're getting elected to the parliament because ukraine is the real representative democracy. so there is a real demand to fill in the security, voc them in ukraine that emerged after the collapse of the u. s. a saw that years ago and received a new tv show. thank you very much deed for to just thank you. now us as restarting a controversial border policy, which will force refugees and migrants to remain in mexico while their applications for sign him a considered the policy was initially introduced in 2019 under former president donald trump. it was rescinded when president joe biden took office in january, but a federal court in texas as a return that decision saying it did not follow proper legal procedure. migrants are expected to be sent back as early as next week. what kind of joins us live from washington, d. c. homeless or work mike?

well, that texas court ruling was upheld by the supreme court which agreed that the bible had ministration had not investigated fully enough before removing this particular law. biden had described the lo, introduced by president trump as in humane and his administration, got rid of it immediately. however, now, in the light of the supreme court judgement, the administration is we introducing this remain in mexico protocol. it has spent the last few months at discussing with the mexican government ways in which this could be imposed in a far more humane manner than it was in the past. this includes, for example, providing transport for individuals to encampments within mexico, where they can stay while they are waiting the court cases to proceed within the united states. a significant matter as well was that the us agreed to mexico demand for a time limit on the legal process, a maximum of 6 months to be taken to decide the case of each particular individual

. but this is, of course, going to have a massive impact on tens of thousands of people. the byte and administration. one understands is looking at its immigration protocols to see how it can rewrite its immigration policies in a way that would satisfy the courts and conservative politicians and who will be most affected under the reinstate to do well, the 10s of thousands of people who cross the border from the mexico into the u. s. and have at the stage been sitting within the united states, waiting for the legal process to conclude. now they will be moved back across the border into mexico while the legal process goes underway. there are some exceptions . this applies mainly to single individuals, unaccompanied children will not be impacted by this number of other categories of people will not be impacted. but generally,

you are looking at tens of thousands of people who come monday will be moved back across the border and to mexico to await the lu joe judicial process and decision are within the united states. my can are reporting that. thank you very much. iran has submitted to draft proposals to european powers working to revive the 2015 nuclear deal. officials meeting in vienna are attempting to bring both iran and the us back into the agreement. it aims to limit iran's nuclear activity in exchange for sanctions relief. european negotiators of azure on to show seriousness during the discussions on wednesday, the u. n's, nuclear watchdog wound iran, is continuing to expand it uranium enrichment capabilities. despite the ongoing talks, only hash m is in vienna with more and iran struck proposals. the 2 lines one on the sanctions relieve the 2nd is on iran, rolling back its measure as the post 2018 measures. and from that,

there will now be waiting to hear from the world whether this is acceptable or not, as we had, as you understood from a new ring in diplomatic sauce. these before are built up and what was agreed on during the past 6 rounds of talk. know some of the points that contradict with the j. c. p. all the nuclear deal that was struck in 2015 omitted, and additional elements and points that the radians to see as crucial to go ahead with the talk were added. today. the iranian top, negotiate sort of the bucket, cutting back with the european, with the russians on the chinese. and it is believed to be meeting also later today with mr. ross, to the head of the i a, a. as for the,

the talk this round of talk, there is no clear picture whether it's going to continue or it's going to be halted and be resumed later. maybe this month or next year. what challenges her life from london still ahead not just ruins, but a symbol of a post on they last campaign as aim to stop redevelopment in west jewish mims songs for the nation. so here is a unique skills to ask. took it politicians plus i'm john again, raska in half are going behind the scenes that is a re growing the next well. i hey, there are getting going on your weather forecasts for europe and africa. we're going to begin where all the action is. so we find ourselves in that central med into the

adria attic, see the eastern shores of the adria attic, see, but a lot of rain come battery for southern portions of italy. give you an idea of the moisture around the eastern shores of the adria attic. see, sorry evo could see up to 20 centimeters of snow, but go closer to the water. most start to, to bravo. nick, we're going to get dallas with some heavy brain. same goes for the western portion of greece, also disturbed weather for western areas of turkey. this includes is mere 19 degrees, sceptre is have popped up here on correct 13 and a breeze through the boss for assist stumble. we'll see gus about 50 kilometers per hour, but nothing like we fell just a few days ago. iberia flood stricken areas of northern spain will touch on that in sac. but 1st to the north west, we've got a run of atlantic rain towards south west of england. western france, we could see some flooding toward the north east of france. snow moves away from latvia into saint petersburg, russia, and now we'll go to iberia. we're much of that rain has petered out, so we've got dry conditions in store here. and we'll end this in northern africa

where we've got driving rain for northern areas of algeria and tunisia. tunis has a height of 12 degrees. ah, a mass pro democracy movement, violent crackdowns assassinations. and you imposed sanctions. all tactics in the struggle that ensued from the 2020 bella roost him presidential elections. that shook the country, self proclaimed dictators seat of power. and now, new tactics, migrants, people in power investigates the humanitarian disaster unraveling on europe's borders and asks what's next. and the battle for bella. bruce on a jazz eda wood swan, a will be part of the greatest global gathering in history, the expo 2020 dubai woods. one i will be there to showcase hope investment opportunities are unique culture and heritage, economic diversity and pristine.