ah ah ah frances restricting travel from the united kingdom to curb the spread of the army cron variant. ah, we want your help. is there a light from a headquarters and val time daddy navigator also coming up through us releases all undocumented migrant families from its detention centers and trucks. them remotely, tens of thousands of people in the philippines are forced to leave their homes as typhoid rye makes landfill and business and bloom, mexico's christmas flower that's bringing some cheer this holiday season.

hello, we begin with the current of iris pandemic, and countries around the world are recording their highest daily infection rates. since they started the outbreak, france has now banned non essential travel from the u. k. to curb the spread of the new army kron variant. and that's as the u. k. u c's, a record rise in the number of infections. south korean hospice halls are being overwhelmed by a certain number of critically ill patients. there are warnings the system. there is on the brink of collapse. and on the african continent, the delton on the cross variance have driven infections up by nearly 83 percent. that's the fastest serge, anywhere in the world. this year. natasha butler is in paris with more on the impact the army kron variance is having across europe. the french government indeed, imposing title restrictions, effectively binding non essential travel between the u. k and frauds. and that will,

of course, be a very disappointing to people are both fights the channel. you have time perhaps to spend some of the upcoming holiday season with family and friends, but the french government say that they have been watching the situation in the u. k. with rise in cases say a very closely indeed this is a way of trying to stop the spread of the on the call variance, which is causing so much havoc here. and here in france have been more than a $200.00 detected cases of the army con, very, and of course french government officials say it could be much, much higher already in many regions. in default, we've seen a hospital activating their so called emergency plans, effectively counseling, a non essential surgery operations, in order to free up beds. copay, the top of the agenda. after summit of you, leaders in brussels, they had several hours of discussion on the pandemic. they have looked at the way

that the pandemic is spreading in europe and how in recent weeks we have seen cases spike in many countries. we're looking at cases in many countries that are much higher than they were in previous wave lafayette, a lot of concern. in fact, the head of the european commissioners live on line has said that you lead is expect the omi called varying to be dominant in january, in most of the blogs. what they look, tax also measures to try and stop the spread all the virus for a challenge has more from london, the infection, ready? all rate of alma kron. this new variance is estimated at the moment in the u. k. to be between $3.00 and $5.00. that means that infections are doubling every 2 days. a quarter of new infections are in london yesterday, wednesday, there was the highest number of infections of the whole con, damage so far in the u. k. 78000. that previous record was back in january

of 68000. so you can really see the pace at which omicron is ripping through the u. k at the moment. but the government so far is avoiding to avoiding re imposing strict restrictions what it is doing and the by, with the trying to people to change their behavior at a press conference on wednesday for us, johnson said that he wasn't going to be closing restaurants involved with cafes, etc, he was just going to ask people to think about whether they really needed to go out to the professor. chris with the government chief scientists, was that he hopes that people are going to change the way that they are mingling with others over the christmas period. and really think about whether they actually have to be doing that now rebellious and pays in the conservative party calling

this i think it's sort of locked down by stealth. they're not very happy with it. but i have to say that i really have to move to the country because people are listening to the advice and they are changing their behavior. as we reported earlier at south korea, seen a record, high case count and elsewhere in asia in denisia has begun vaccinating children. just go. washington reports from jakarta in town, grown on the outskirts of decanter. there was no this laughter and even a few tears as these children became part of him. he just coven 19 vaccination. dr . watson. this one little uncomfortable when the needle pushed to my own. but after that i felt ok. hundreds of students in grades to counter received the shot as the government's campaign to vaccinate those in the 6 to 11 age group begins this week . because i feel a bit more brave to go and meet my friends now. when the delta, very and spread through indonesia, from june to august, the nation experienced

a surgeon child dance. now with the situation more under control and vaccines available for children, parents say they feel reassured, must be brought up. i feel it is safe, and now it is like preparing an umbrella for the rain doctor. say it is an important step in making school safer on the vertical and the parents are very encouraging for their children to get fascination. some children are brave, some cries, but we managed to vaccinate all these children with the many countries in the asia pacific were hit hard by the delta, very, and now in the face of the army, cranberry. and they're trying to scale up the vaccination drive. the philippines is in the mid to the 2nd mass vaccination drive. i don't know who people are now afraid of dividing, stop, so they come here. i really the philippine government wants to have at least 54000000 people vaccinated by the end of the year. monk, them children aged between 12 to 17 authorities in south korea. meanwhile,

say they had no choice, but to reintroduce restrictions of the weeks of soaring infections and calls from health workers to east pressure on overburdened hospital. we've seen a huge spike in the number of daily new cases, but also we've seen a significant increase in the number of critically ill patients. now authority say they will focus on administering booster shots and targeting beyond vaccinated a seamless strategy for many countries in the region. jessica washington, i'll just 0 to counter rescue efforts are underway in the philippines after one of the most powerful storms in the world. the sierra hit land typhoon rye balloon from the pacific ocean into those sierra gow islands, forcing nearly 800000 people to flee their homes. jamila island, organism manella with more on the rescue efforts is the most powerful storm to hit the philippines this year. a 100000 people have already fled their homes

typhoon why made land fallen thursday and continues to batter the regions of his science and men de now, on coast guards are rushing to evacuate. hundreds of residents, after incessant reigns flooded their communities. the young and old men are forced to leave their homes with only the clothes on their backs. resident, scary what they can with many hoping any damage will be limited and they'll be able to return home soon. the philippines is no stranger to natural disasters. it is constantly battered by storms and volcanic eruptions. dive when a young in 2013 holds the record as the strongest anywhere in the world. it killed at least 7000 people and displaced millions more. since then, the government has institutionalized emergency and disaster response. but even in

a country long affected by around 20 storms, each year siphoned right comes at the most precarious time. those evacuated can stay in temporary shelters for too long because of coping 19 restrictions. while those in coastal and farmland community say they are already bearing the brunt of an economic recession and fear that the typhoon could obliterate whatever livelihood they have left. the philippine government has pre positioned aid and g as 1st responders across the country. but the typhoon is expected to impact so many provinces is warned. local officials to prepare for the worst jim l as in dog, n, g 0 manila. and in the u. s. one person has died in a new storm system sweeping across the midwest. extreme winds in the state of iowa,

blue over truck and trailer, chilling the driver. high wind warnings are in place from new mexico to upper michigan. gusts have already whipped up, dusting, kansas, making a dangerous to drive the storms. comments president joe biden visited communities hit by last week's devastating tornadoes. heidi joe castro has more. this street in bowling green, kentucky once rang with the sounds of children playing young families lived here. but then on friday, the tor nato came and some neighbors shelter together. they decided to get in the 1st house together, and unfortunately the house was just demolished for the grounds. 11 people died here. 8 of them were children or i don't know what to say, ma'am. it is time when somebody's gone and you're shot, you know what happened to visual as recovery worked ourselves through the debris

left in 16 all last week. superstore leaving the landscape of devastation. authorities fear the final depth hold will be staggering. 9 year old aniston rack lea climbed into a bath tub with her younger sisters and her doll. this photo taken by their mother 15 minutes before the tornado hit. aniston was killed. her sister survived one recounting to nurses which she endured. she said, yes, i was flying around in the tornado and i prayed to jesus to take care of me and he spit me out in the tornado spit out into the mud. president joe biden comforted, stricken families and toward the disaster area. wednesday, i intend to do whatever it takes as long as it takes, as long as it takes to support your state, your local leaders and friends, you recover and rebuild because you will recover and you will rebuild. jarrett

thompson and his family survive by hunkering in their basement. got positive added to large, can't be replaced with profit can you can rebuild. but it might take a while, which we have family friends and other people in the green that are setting up center system with thousands of homes wiped away. the rebuilding process will be long and difficult. the healing even harder. heidi jo, castro, al jazeera mayfield, kentucky still ahead on al jazeera, 3 months on and all the remaining foreigners kidnapped by a criminal gang in haiti, or free or not right after the break. and turkey currency drops to another all time low, but there is good news for a minimum wage earners. ah

hey there, good to see. we don't often say this, but we're chatting about some cloud and rain through the middle east, so we'll pick up the story. there are some showers through the vans moving across iraq into western iran, and that's going to drop down some what weather for a q 8. so we show the 3 day forecast here. really the next several days. we've got that risks. we could even power up some thunderstorms as so we'll certainly be watching that carefully off the pockets thought seems a bit cool here for the hor, at 18 degrees that is below average for this have the year off to turkey. really gloomy conditions here. low temperatures breezy in some spots that rain will turn to snow for people like places like on correct. over the next little bit, we have seen flooding across the congo. so this is force thousands of people from their homes as that flooding intensifies and still more what weather in the forecast for the democratic republic of congo spilling into congo on friday.

further toward the south, some bursts of heavy rain can be expected zambia right through to the bob boys southern sections of most and be great through to eastern areas of south africa and a bit of a temperature divide here, they're going down in johannesburg, but temperatures are on the way up in cape town, getting up to a high of 26 degrees on friday, sir. ah, ah, mother nature's gift of cold full landscapes. but strong infrastructure governance . arising where investments are waiting to flourish. with even supplied by tradition. and where beautiful possibilities are offered.

move the color again, the stories on i'll just say we're this our be on the con. variance is driving a record number of infections in many countries around the world, france a band on long central travel from the u. k. in cases in africa have served by nearly 83 percent rescue operations are underway in parts of the philippines that have been hit by one of the most powerful storms in the world. the sphere officials say about 10000 villages or in the past that type food. at least one person has died in the u. s. as a new storm system sweeps across the midwest. extreme winds in the state of iowa, blue over a truck and trailer killing the driver. this follows last friday is devastating

tornadoes in the region. us missionary group has confirmed the release of its american and canadian missionaries who were kidnapped in haiti. they were abducted just outside the capital porto prince. in october, several of the hostages were released in recent weeks from on this will spring and she returns from washington d. c. so she is not the end of their ordeal then it would appear. so we have no idea what condition they're in or where they are in previous hosted releases. from this group we have at least been told that they were in good spirits once they released. so we've never actually had a breakdown of who had been released before. 5 have been released, as you said in previous months about 2 in november 3 and earlier and december. now these remaining 12 have been released. we're getting some more details about what exactly happened. it appears that they were found around 10 am gmc, in a mountainous area, about 2 hours south of puerto prints that we just found wondering by locals. we

then, we then alerted the authorities be gang that had abducted them had us for $17000000.00 rams. and that is $1000000.00 for each, for each hostage we have no, we have no problem with me. and i never know whether any, any ransom was paid by them by the missionary group, for example. and so that, that glass out standing, we don't know how they all were still waiting for more details, but actually if the past doesn't mean to go by, we probably won't get many more details until to quite some time i would imagine. okay, well thank you so much for that update from washington dc. well, the u. s. has reportedly released all migrant families from it's detention facilities and is now tracking them through ankle bracelets or whitehouse, corresponding kimberly how kit has more from washington dc. this is a campaign promise that the u. s. president made that he would deliver a more humane immigration policy. certainly he set out to make some changes, but a lot of the immigration policy under the trumpet ministration remains in place in

terms of the statement coming from the agency task with overseeing all of this is known as immigration, customs enforcement, our ice. i says in it statement is committed to ensuring that all those in our custody resided safe, secure, and humane environment. and under appropriate conditions of confinement. ice is continuing to make nimble operational changes at its facilities in response to shifting conditions along the southwest border. now terms of those shifting consist, conditions, or that means sharp increase. in the case of one crossing in yuma, arizona went to south western states. there is an increase of illegal immigration or undocumented migrant entering the united states of about 2500 percent from one year ago. i'm add to that. what we should also point out is when it comes to the conditions of confinement, the media hasn't been allowed to see these conditions and they were heavily

criticized under the trumpet ministration, accused of keeping people in cages. the early pictures under the bygone administration didn't look any different. ah, and so they to stop letting the media go in to take tours. and so we don't particularly know how much this is differing from the previous administration to. now, what we do know, however, is that there are at least try to keep families together. so that's what this announcement is, is that families will no longer be held in these detention centers, but they'll still be used for individuals. the associated press is calling on the ethiopian government to immediately release a journalist detained 2 weeks ago. and there's statistics from reporters of our borders show. the dozens of journalists worldwide have been killed this year. victoria again, b has more. a mere monkey, yarrow was arrested in the ethiopian capital, addis ababa accused of promoting terrorism. he was working as a freelance journalist for the associated press. the us base news agency is called

the allegations basis to other journalists will also arrested. they face up to 15 years in prison if convicted of violating the emergency lose brought in last month . the annual global round up by report is without food as paints a bleak picture of media safety and freedom, particularly in ethiopia, a correspondent of the new york times, as been kicked out of the country, which was unprecedented since abbey took office in 2018. there is this communication lot out. i am the northern part of the country and now you're just not able to do independent journalism anymore because only the official narrative about the work is to look. ready for in general's it's been a tough yes, the journalist around the world report is without buddhist says at least $46.00 journalists have been killed this year because of the stories they were reporting. and nearly 500 are being detained. 65 are being held hostage. the most dangerous

countries for media workers or mexico and afghanistan, followed by yemen and india. one of the reasons why there are so many journalists detaining these you're up to 20 person, is mainly because of their deterioration of the situation in 3 countries, including jamar, a, china and the bill hours report is without buddhist says, its findings are alarming bought remarkably, the number of journalist hill this year is the lowest since it began counting 25 years ago. bought the number of journalists being detained is the highest. and in their absence it says vital voices remain silent. victoria gate and be al jazeera gold turkish president, red supply bird won plans to raise the minimum wage by more than 50 percent. next year. workers allow earn a minimum of $275.00 a month. earners in that category will also be exempt from paying income tax, but the turkish lira has lost more than half its value this year alone with annual

inflation at around 21 percent. since customer glue has more from, is stumble turkish government decided 4 percent increase on the minimum wage levels and brought it up to $4250.00 turkish, the rest, which was quite a ball what was expected in the market. however, experts are warning that the inflation is going to sort more and more in the coming months because of the week turkish iraq. and because ever a many of the things are imported in turkey, now they're questioning whether this increases will be able to meet the gap in their income caused by the inflation. and just a quick description was, did this at the beginning of this year, the minimum wage level before the increase was around $380.00. but now despite this 50 percent increase, it is down to $280.00, which we is at least $100.00 less. and this means this 5,

this increase the minimum income people can buy less every month and the food prices are soaring. gas prices are soaring. there's an increase even ended water prices. just even after the announcement of the minimum wage increase, there was an increase on the gas prices. so many are suspicious. while given that there's an expectation of high inflation in the coming months, how will the low income people will be able to sustain their lives in turkey? bank employees in india began to, to they strike to protest against the privatization of public sector banks. demonstrations happens in a capital new delhi on this on the cities of amazon buds and video was off the all india bank officers confederation, which is a union, says the privatization of 2 banks would result in job losses and branch closures. bangladesh. celebrating the 50th anniversary of its independence from pakistan.

earlier prime minister, she has seen a presided over a victory day parade in dhaka, where india's armed forces took part for the 1st time in the hell, bangladesh. the guerrilla fighters defeat pocket funds army in 1971. an estimated $3000000.00 people were killed in the 9 month conflict leading to independence. con we're child re, has this update from dot com. well, it's a national holiday that this started with $31.00 gun salute. aside from the indian military contingent, there are military contingent for 6 other countries, including the u. s. turkey, indonesia, baton. so all of them have actually sunday military contingent to celebrate vocation. due to pandemic, not many other dignitaries could make it this time. it's a year long celebration, celebrating the 100 year centennial, the father of the nation for a ship when jibber amman, 50 years independence day, and the victory day of the day when the pot to san army surrendered to that allied

force, that is, indian and bangladesh. guerrilla fighters to nation was instrumental in supporting bangladesh during the cold war i was russia and india. now, there is also a remarkable journey for the country within the last 50 years facing various kinds of challenges, natural disaster, economic challenges, yet it as able to manage a 6 per cent. judy big growth late now it is one of the fastest growing economy in the wall. it is a middle income country and set to graduated developing nation by 2026. and this is what the government wants to highlight in its 50 year celebration. yet there are the challenges still remains. opposition says there is no free unfair election, either diminishing a space for democracy and freedom of speech. while pakistan's government has congratulated bangladesh on its golden jubilee, there's mixed reaction from bangladesh. she's living in pakistan,

but some have been jumping to reports in karachi. with is shot was a teenager when what is now bangladesh split to be from pakistan. some of his family members died in the violence and he blames pakistan's government for actions that gave rise to bangladesh. nationalism. we had taken the larger portion of pakistan, asia, what subjects our slaves, a lot of sudden that's it. that's it. on december 16, 1971 bucket funny general new jersey signed the surrender document and east pockets on the game by the dash after a 9 month long violent uprising indian soldiers in lori hundreds of thousands of people were killed by those who called for independence and those who wanted to stay part of the united part fun for this, the many focused on you hold india responsible when bengalis of the allies back vash vargas on is not going to ship. and indians realized it more

than been goalies. dunden intervened politically, socially monetarily de established the office of multi by me and tell cut out that sentiment is fueled by political speeches by indian leaders visiting bangladesh for bangladesh. his freedom, the desire here was matched to their pakistan forces carried out atrocities there. in sprawling suburbs of karachi, the 10s of thousands who were forced from their homes have mixed feelings about the split of 2 buckets sun, 50 years on this place, finding that she's in both countries have struggled to find the state many and bugs on feel abandoned, and left with no legal status, sticklers bangladesh, she cannot get an education go to hospital or earn a living because they lack proper documentation. despite government promises,

nothing has changed for thousands of families here about a number. you know, what i will look. this is our country. we are historically been goalies, we should we go, our generations have been born and we demand identity cards. so we can at least living in the last 5 decades, barcas on and bang that they have developed mutual ties. the government has been regulated bangladesh on the golden jubilee and invited the prime minister to visit blackest on. but when it comes to the war of independence, there are some wounds that even time cannot heal. sa, mom and joey, others era, karachi, they appoint such a flower as synonymous with christmas and mexico. it's known there as the north carolina and millions are grown every year. and this holiday season, producers are hoping for bumper sales after business suffered and upon demik, townhome and reports from mexico city. ah christmas is approaching him, mckuddle the her, micah, one of latin america's biggest flower markets. and one plant in particular is the

star of the show. the no chip winner. it takes its name from the spanish for christmas eve. it's endemic to mexico, and it's color means it's become synonymous with the festive season. the government estimates that about $20000000.00 plants had grown a year for a deep christmas isn't the same without it. we met her, she snapped up more than 10 bouquets. when appleautomotive a pot from the fact that it's pretty and joyous, it helps the people that grow it. to me it's a really important falla, that means a lot at this time of year in the us takes, could it quit, le such a to and used it to control fevers and heart conditions. but it was when the us ambassador joe point set fell in love with it took several plots back to the u. s. that it really became popular. now in english, the flowers cool poinsettia off the him. and it's all over mexico city as the cap to comes back to life off to the worst of the pandemic. this is the city's main

artery paseo de la reformer. and this is, it's hall. this is the most iconic monument, a mexico, the angel of independence. and it's a mock of how important the nazi where the flower is. it is a blanket of them all around the foot of the start to and this is where they produced in the green houses of the so chimerical district on the outskirts of the city. perhaps it was inevitable. the egg of florida is that they got flowers in english, is dedicated his life to them from may when their 1st planted, his livelihood rests on these plants. doing well, economic eslinger. practically, it's a year's income and a lot of families depend on this more than one half 1000 families just in such a mil coker for more. and they're hoping for big bounce in sales. as metzger continues to open up in christmas comes john holman. out is eda mexico city ah.