we are the ones traveling the extra mile. there are the media. there we go. we go there and we give them a chance to tell their story. lou . ready australia is testing plans to reopen its economy despite the surgeon army chrome cases. ah, by sammy's a, dan, this is al jazeera alive from dough hall. so coming up, paul's open in the gambia, in a timely contested presidential vote will be live from the capital ban. jewel u. s. president joe biden says he's crafting a plan to prevent russia from invading ukraine, but moscow denies its planning an attack. and reviving the fortunes of the ancient

town of nazareth, after years of economic decline. ah, the new cove in 19 variant is gaining more of a foothold around the world a week after south africa identified it. australia is planning to go ahead with reopening its economy despite the new variance spreading in the country. but with 13 suspected cases detected so far in sidney states are also moving to tighten domestic border restrictions. mass demonstrations and melbourne are already on the way against vaccine mandates. meanwhile, germany is reporting a further rise in new corona virus cases. nearly 65000 infections,

imposing tighter restrictions, including banding, unvaccinated people from most public places to avoid that feared 4th wave of coven 19 the world health organization says ami crown has been detected in 38 countries so far. it's calling on nations to focus on preparing health systems instead of imposing travel bans. bit in the defense situation today, and then we was at the beginning of 2020, we have to what do we know what works? and so this is something that we had expected that nobody should mind being 2 rounds of the variance. and so it just something to worry about. certainly we didn't want to see another barrier damage and sped around the world at this stage and certainly not working. wanted but we're not entirely surprised and i think we're much better prepared to handle it. well, joining us from cambra is dr. son, jaya santa. and i are cap, associate professor of infectious diseases that stray the

a national university good to have you with us. so 1st of all, do you expect the number of a crankcase issue? we expect them now to explode. it's potentially in australia yet not just in australia, but around the world. so well, it was wonderful that south africa was able to alert us as early as they discovered at the very end. the real reality is that it was already would already have been in some places when that was announced, as we know from the netherlands, which i found it 2 weeks earlier in the south african announcement. so yes, i expect us to see for the sprint and communities for within australia and other parts of the world. but that may not necessarily be a bad thing because it will give us a lot of opportunity to, to understand how this very works in highly vaccinated countries. now, do you think then a federal authorities doing the right thing by saying, hey, what i'm going to impose a national lockdown?

we're going to go ahead with trying to reopen the economy. yes, i think so. i would have a close. this is a rapidly moving space, so i think not just australia, but the whole world is being very cautious in the next 2 weeks and gathering as much data as quickly as possible to one of the standards. and so far from what we've seen, we know that this is a barrier that can infect people who've been fully vaccinated with at least 2 doses and sometimes 3. but we haven't seen much in the way of increased hospitalization, so it may well be similar to delta or potentially more infectious. so that is the case. a lot of highly vaccinated countries can continue to open up in the way that they were doing before. so is it safe to say that so far? the australian data is showing what they found in south africa, that the symptoms are mild or mild?

the when it comes to coven 19 to say yes, but it really only dies because those cases you've mentioned in sidney have, i mean, just been discovered. so we will have to see how the natural history in those cases evolves over the next few days. but that is certainly what we're seeing in other parts of the world as well. so we certainly not going to panic, we're just going to cautiously gather data. so if that's the case, then why do you think on a local level, some states are talking about increasing restrictions. so at this stage, not all states and territories within australia have discovered the con variant in the cases or the a c t where i am in camera, which is a 100 percent of people over the age of 12 vaccinated and wells with cities. we have an economy here. so other states who have opened up are a bit nervous,

but they haven't closed board is for example, south australia is just making sure the people who travel for me to say are getting tested on arrival, end of day 6 from when they come into the territory. but the other thing about australia is in the last 2 years, the states and territories have demonstrated a lot more autonomy when it comes to controlling their borders. so there is somewhat of an arbitrary approach to how they control the board for their own state and territory. all right, don't sunday. and then i, aca, thanks so much for talking to us. thank you. 7 pulse of just opened in the gambia as tightly contested presidential vote recalled. 6 candidates running for the country's top office incumbent added my barrow is speaking. reelection faces strong opposition from former vice president, while son or daughter, both initial results of the voter expected on sunday,

the gambia as 1st democratic election. since former president jama, fled to exile, driver joins us now and we were expecting a good turn out. does it look like those expectations of being met? exactly, so me very tough is very good. this is the early. this is the opening of the vote in by july and what we hear from across the country, the turn out is massive and it's no surprise. this is a foster election in nearly 30 years for gambia and why a voter will go and cast his balance without having to worry about being observed. be intimidated after voting or being arrested after boarding. remember, 5 years ago there was an election of this country keenly contested, where the opposition united against for my long time, the ruler, jeremy,

and eventually they voted him out. but those not election was really, really, although there are elements of tension, it's milder than when compared to when yeah, i was in power. but here what we seeing this morning is a massive turn on lot of people, hundreds of them queued up and waited for the open and which was just 7 minutes ago that waited for the opening. and now the pulls are open. people are casting that balance. any indication who might be leading the race so far? while some pools, recent polls gave the company slide 8 over his opponents, but things could change in this country. the country, as we saw in become electioneering campaign issues, patchy issues market and it's a small issue like that could really, really tip the balance of power. nobody who say exactly who is going to win. but basically, it's a very tied race, like you said in the introduction,

but whatever it is, the vote or that decision is now in the hands of voters who i hear killed up to cast their ballots, to elect the new leader. whether it's going to be the company who stays or it's a new leader who is coming in tomorrow, we probably will know who that will be and tell us a little bit about the unique voting system that's going on involving marbles. right. the exactly. so maybe solved the can be very, very well. it predates a country's independence, the pre independence that electrons was held with marble. these are small, tiny mile bows around shaped in a rod foam. and then there are the bulk drums or the ballot boxes in convention of butter boxes. in the ballard drums, there is a bell inside, which of course, when the marble is dropped inside the hall at the top of the bottle drum,

it hits the bell and it makes a sound indicating to the water. the election of fixtures of security and party agents. in fact, a bullet has been tested. those models then at the end of the day, tallied or counted and given to each particular candidate. what do we have here is actually 6 number of ballot boxes of ballot drums and the mid out in different colors with posters of the candidates who are standing in this election. where that will guide the voters to vote and how to vote. now, what we hear, the election commission chairman told argentina prior to this day that considering the situation this year, why you have more than 6 candidates. it will be too expensive to continue to hold in this electro tea to use the system of voting, but to sub this going to one for more than half a century. so they want to move to the bulk paper, simply because it will be too expensive and that because the number of candidates are getting more and more, they want to make sure that the,

the bulk papers will stuff them. right? because they don't have the resources to print 6 or even 10 to, to even create 10 bullet boxes for each candidate. a better hold that probably contesting an electron in this country. so they will re, it's not the more candidate they have, the more expensive the election will become using the mobile system of voting. so they want to revert to the bottle of paper like in many other countries. all right, thanks so much. i did respect now the u. s. is warning, it's prepared to take action against russia. if it's bade ukraine, the number of russian troops has been rising along the border. the kremlin says it's nothing to worry about. ukraine believes russia could mountain offensive as soon as next month. us president joe biden was asked about the crisis by a reporter, a

with the stand off in easton, ukraine is making it more difficult for people to access basic services. trips that used to take less than an hour can now take an entire day or longer. child stratford reports from nova throat ski. they stand in the cold waiting for instructions from a ukrainian soldier. this is one of only 2 places where people can cross. the more than 400 kilometer front line in eastern ukraine. that's why i think we haven't

been able to freely come and see our relatives and friends for more than 7 years. both sides make obstacles for us. i'm using my ukranian passport and they now say it's not enough for me to cross. i have to go on line. i've been trying for 3 days . many of the elderly and infirm came to the cranium, government controlled side to collect their pensions. sure. only around a $100.00 a month. the 1st separatist checkpoint is around 3 kilometers down this road. now before the conflict started in 2014 the journey chime from the town of done this to here was around 30 minutes. but now because of the complexities of traveling across the separatist controlled region, many people decides to come via the russian border. and that can take more than a day. nikolai is a company, he's wife to separate his control. don't ask. he can't find a nearby hospital and the government controlled side the can carry out the life

saving operation. he says, she needs years or for more than i'm 80 years old and live bruce so much. i hope my children and grandchildren can live a better life. maybe i just hope doctors can save in my why you as they say, hope died last but it's so difficult. it's terrible of this happens to us at our age the checkpoint is only open twice a week. red cross trucks pass carrying tons of aid for around 3000000 people the you and expects to need humanitarian assistance next year. and that's on both sides of the front line. soldiers tell us they have shilling a few kilometers from here. every night. c spy monitors with the organization for security and cooperation in europe. say both sides regularly break ceasefire

agreement, signed in 2015. the sale has just arrived from separate is controlled on ask all my friends who wants to leave, and most of my family have left some to ukraine or russia some to europe. many still there miss what life was like before 2014 they wait for a seat on the bus to take them across. what's called no man's land. feels they never imagined they'd be afraid of before this complex started. 7 and a half years ago, cha stop it, al jazeera novel, trotsky, eastern ukraine still ahead on just the gun as government accused of trying to downplay a deadly outbreak of yellow fever. turkey announced his plans to curb spiraling inflation. will they work? ah,

ah, look forward to burritos guys. with sponsored by capital airways. hello there. winter's certainly been felt across europe at the moment and there's more snow to come this weekend, particularly across those central and northern areas. now that's good news for the ski resorts in places like austria, they reopened on friday, but bad news areas like southern germany, we've got to read warning out. yes, a heavy rain and ice on saturday. now where it's not wintery, it's suddenly wet and windy. we've got low pressure that's pulling that heavy rain across greece into turkey. now behind it, there is a brief pause in that wet and windy weather, but there's more to come thanks to low pressure, putting its way across the north, west, working west to east as bringing unsettled conditions. heavy rain and blustery showers . to britain, an island. it's going to get wetter and windy awful pots of iceland as well. you can see that slunk moving in there. and a wintery mix continues across scandinavia,

edging into eastern parts of europe, we're going to see some heavy snow in poland. come sunday. now in the south, unfortunately it's not looking any better. we've got some really wet and windy, nasty weather pulling into france as well as northern areas of spain. and by the time we get into sunday, it's going to be heavy rain once again for southern areas of italy as well as coastal areas of the a dramatic. but there's a pause in the bad weather for greece with sunshine in athens on sunday. oh, the weather sponsored by katara, always listening post cuts through the noise. we're talking about competing narrative, but seeing modern dental's being used to perpetuate those competes, imperative, separating spin from fuck all 3 versions of the story and some elements of the truth. but the full story remains and complete on the parking the stories you're being told, it's not a science story at all. it's a story about politics. the listening post your guide to the media on a just 0,

lou. the me watching out this time to recap our headlines now. australia is planning to go ahead with reopening, it's the economy the fight, the new variance spreading in the country mass demonstrations melvin are underway again. vaccine mandate poles have opened in the gambia in a tightly contested presidential election record 6 candidates running full of post vote. see this crucial for the country future you as president joe biden says he's going to have talks about the russia. you crime crisis with president vladimir

putin. washington's warning is prepared to take action against moscow if it invades ukraine. french president demanded micron as held talks with cut his amir on his visit to doha. the pair disgust, cooperation, including humanitarian operations in afghanistan, micron science concert for its role in helping with evacuations from cobble following tony bon take over the system, i have intensified much of it organized thanks to guitar, who permitted the operation which evacuated french citizens, dozens of irish citizens and numerous africans who were in danger because of the activity they were doing. their thanks to the window of opportunity guitar has given us, we have been able to evacuate hundreds of french citizens from afghanistan and just under 400 afghans. the, the open government says it's pushed to grier. rebel 5 is out of all the positions in the fall region fighting is now said to be limited to the area between the towns

of buffy and dessie. no comment from rebels. video obtained biologist there appears to show to ryan forces retreating north. the government recently launched the counter offensive. also the grind fighters advanced towards the capital, addis ababa, your highness volta. mariam is an international relations lecturer who specializes in the whole of africa. he says it's in the government's interest to appear as if it's making gains for the t. p l. f is shown, it's not easy to defeat. they have been pushed out many, many times and they have come back to strike again. and so, you know, this is just not very credible kind of information because i mean bottles are one, but the water may not be one. this is a situation that is still evolving and,

and the propaganda water is also its cream, the heat at the and so it's hard to believe what is being told by the government because the government has been taught to lie a lot to gram place and will never because it's, and it's essentially crisis for them. and so, you know, this is, this is just not the end of it. i mean, they can lose battles like they will not work for you. and i mean, you know, i'm in a few months ago, they were, it was, we were taught completely theater. and then they reached the rate watcher, one shot in combustion. and they reached all kinds of places. and so this is, this is, this is part of, i mean this is just the media campaign by the government to try

to revive it. sounds viable a viable but really not far from yellow fever in ghana is cause the death of at least 35 people over the past 2 months with dozens more suspected infections. the government is trying to secure 400000 doses of vaccine from the world health organization mater chandry reports. waiting to be examined by a doctor. these patients are here to protect themselves from yet another deadly virus. yellow fever has killed dozens and gone as west gunshot district, but health officials here say, despite the rising number of cases, death or slowing down wherever we identify cases in the community. you go in there to look for making wiki search and we have fox news. girls who are not protected again, the disease. yellow fever is transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito

symptoms are mild and can develop up to 9 days after exposure. but about 15 percent of those infected develop serious illness that can lead to potentially fatal bleeding. and organ failure. cases have been detected across a white age range from 4 months to 70 years. with women accounting for more than half of the cases in garner. there are concerns, the government is down playing the number of those infected and not all cases are being report it, you got to numbers and then you also look at what is on the ground. if it appears all the cases are not reported simply because of the lack of integration and for the health, people need a lot of times. now what about all of our different telephone and how the carton? yeah, there are also concerns about sure teacher vaccines garner is trying to secure 400000

doses from the world health organization and hoping they are able to contain the outbreak before it becomes more widespread. her marriage or 3 arches error, turkeys presidents is outlining government plans. the salvage the economy. after the value of the turkish mirror sang to a historic, lo, high inflation is pushing up the cost of goods and making manufacturing more expensive. sim casala reports from a stumble. this is a new routine for ali who owns the score market and assemble. he has the frequency update the prices on many goods as the turkish lira continues. it's free for its laws that these 40 percent of its value against the dollar since september. august says a suppliers increase the prices he has to do the same according to the timber of agriculture. the difference between produce or selling prices and what people pay for goods and supermarkets rose 9 fold in november. the government accuses

supermarket chains, a stockpiling and manipulating prices. social may the phil takes us juice, for example. it was 29 years before the latest price increase. now i have to sell it for 41.5. our customers are reacting, even some of them get that. it's not us, but the economy in the country present register for john argues high interest rates are behind all the countries economic problems. he says he asked the central bank to curb interest rates so that companies can borrow for less and buy boosting growth and exports. turkey can become europe's new china. the goal and says at assessing a new model for turkey is economy. but the experts warn it's may fail as the country is suffering chronicler. high inflation and relies on foreign funding and energy resources. it can almost like professor ruskin say. the policy is highly

unusual and it's not working. how compute kiss me that is it the children's future, most citizens, a wage workers creating jobs by production is good by any means, but it needs a plan and priorities. inflation is pressure is rising. so turkey should switch to a conventional economic policy. the law says add on, has recycled 3 treasury and finance ministers and fire to central link governors in a year and that on earth investors took it took you do full to us a good despite the phone investors fund managers see a great deal intentional here. the uncertain seasons, other risk factors stop them from coming. we need to bring down both economic and geopolitical risk premiums by proving it's under control. presenters on voc party has governed turkey for 2 decades and ahead of an election scheduled for 2023. he has promised all economic problems who will be sold in the next 6 months. but right now, many people say their biggest challenge is the rising price of food,

fuel medicine and other essential goods. and they're waiting to see whether the government can en turkeys, currency crisis. so the answer is stumble. modern day nazareth is one of his most significant palestinian israeli towns. but a growing number of residents fear its historical legacy is on the threat. high false reports from their nazareth, the home of jesus christ, his long drawn pilgrims and visitors from around the world. the hundreds of years its old city rang to the sounds of shopkeepers and crops. people this century though? oh, sounds of dwindled. a handful of businesses struggling on. but here and there, splashes of color show signs of a fight back. reson zombies, at any decided to renovate an old warehouse with traditional measuring colors and materials and to work and live in the old city. with emission i'm telling it's not easy, but if me and another person and another one opens their,

their work there can be years was taught here. and they also find a house and live here. so they will need service. it's. it's like organically, it will open by itself, but it will take time. there are signs, it is beginning, young palestinian israeli designers and entrepreneurs have been moving in, inspired by earlier artists who left their mark. a bedroom ceiling bears the work of one of many lebanese painters brought into decorate fine homes in the 19th century. a few streets away, an 18th century treasure that long been in decay, the sariah or palace built by local rule or die. her alma is now under the stewardship of the municipal government, but as being used informally, by local activists. just enough we saw there was a building like the sir, i are closed and neglected, and no one was doing anything with it. we had the chance to open it with the goal of turning it into

a cultural center with the little money that we have something that will serve the community here. many here point to a restoration program 20 years ago is one of the reasons for the old cities emptying nazareth. 2000 with funding from the israeli tourism ministry was intended to prepare this biblical city for people visit. they say the project ripped up ancient cobblestones. remove the shops, wooden doors, replacing them with steel and modern stone. they say the disruption of all this removed trade from the old city from which it's never recovered. its appointed nazareth municipality now excepts where once there were 450 business is operating in the old city. now there are just 50 this beautiful architecture. one of them, this painstakingly restored restaurant. it seemed by many as a 1st step in the revival movement. it's owned by renaissance husband, who pines for the mattress of his childhood, and intellectual and cultural center. i am sure it will come back because the city

still have very much power and much very good. the positive energies. people like present many coming back to the, to the origin and to the, to the identity. actually, the old city is always been the heart of nazareth. now a growing group of residence wants to get it beating again. harry full said al jazeera nazareth. ah, and let's take you through some of the headlines now. australia is planning to go ahead with reopening the economy despite the new variance of cov 19 spreading in the country. mass demonstrations and melbourne are underway against vaccine mandates to.