as we turn to the right. we're all about the stories that matter to you and really. never. really know. how but how could. the be. this is state of the news africa on the program today several countries have been close travel bans on south africa because of a new strain of cold at 19 that's causing a higher number of infections and hospitalizations we'll speak to one of the country's leading our all agencies. need to the 25 year old wondering who's just won a big old bullet proof for providing thousands of people with access to clean drinking water. the old.

advil hear music from the sun how will a new initiative is making it possible bosses to send their choose one over the world. it's good to have your company south africa's say a new strain of the current virus is driving a 2nd wave of infections in the country experts say the new strain appears to be more infectious than be original virus and that cases all spreading fostex it is still unclear if it is also more dancey scientists say the new variant is different from the one party causing concern in britain the number of daily cases has doubled in south africa over the last 2 weeks. for more on this i'm joined by verona just professor berry shooby is the founding. president of the african variety

association and is chairing south africa's ministerial advisory committee on the current virus at vaccine development welcome see if the news africa profit we understand that this new variant off all the 19 in south africa that it seems to be spreading faster than the current one how worried are you about its. i to sydney a sense of concern this variant is called the end 51 why is very in this version to the to the vision one actually was in london in the u.k. it's also 5 a one else is a bit different to go different. but like this one in england we all very concerned because dispiriting very rapidly in fact it is a fault displacing the original virus and this is really going to become the dominant virus in many parts of the country but dounia in the south and eastern cape the west and cape and was it until provinces this is really become the major dominant strain as a says responsible really for a steep increase in cases in

a 2nd wave professor many people in south africa have travelled and will be gathering groups over the christmas holiday how concerned are you about that in light of what you just say that you know this is a problem we actually were anticipating a 2nd wave later in the probably even january favors come. for 2 reasons one of them is or you had a big super spitting event in what's called the rage festivals when the students who finish the high school they have get togethers and many thousands of these jews get together and that's probably initiated the epidemic and others use trying to actually employ a fire that and this is really become now the dangerous as it is night and restrictions. you know all i have that i have increasing risk have increased some restrictions but he does a balancing act they're going to balance what's the people need for their livelihood as he. goes from trying to disease the old lies is livelihood

equation. increase some restrictions but balancing it against what to keep the economy going and what is the discovery of this new variant of the virus needful for vaccine development professor wells fortunately so far does not appear that this is what you call it escaped mutation other was that the either people had augie uniform previous in fiction or if they have the vaccine that they going not to be protected it doesn't seem to affect that part of it the vaccine does appear to be effective suffered they are studies show ongoing but hopefully it will demonstrate that it is not affected by the by any changes and gin the city other words the density all right that's professor speaking to us in south africa thank you. thank you.

so before we move on we would like you to take a look at this. you have. already congratulations. so that was cristo the founder of the in geo water. finding out that she's been awarded the cisco youth leadership award at this is global citizen prize awards and all the prize was set up into an 18 to on a young people who have dedicated themselves to working towards human goals in this case off providing african communities with clean water. is a social enterprise that supplies of a 70000 people in rwanda with clean water on a daily basis now throughout the lockdown crystal has made sure water access run to as continue to operate giving away free water to those who have become unemployed

so they wouldn't lose axes all be forced to return so old and senate few ways of connecting russia. and i'm now joined by her from her office in kigali welcome to news africa crystal so you're supplying clean drinking water to 70000 people every day and to some of them for free just tell us what inspired you to do this. yeah what they're what a crisis is it's a huge crisis no work right now almost 2000000000 don't have access to reliable so forth and what they some thing that affects everything about our lives humans are made of what's out mostly. up to. 70 percent but it is what are but who also need what's out to leave for productive uses to grow well of food to watch to keep it good i didn't see any tension in 20000 it was dim parts of

me we needed water for handwashing so we can fight against group in 1000 crystal just to pick up on the note they will use a good access to what is a basic human right in your home country of one unicef say it's only 57 percent of people have access to safe drinking water your work is incredibly noble crystal but is this not the work off government to provide water to people yes it is the way of governments but governments private sector can support governments to increase this axis yes government has to do it creates the access to infrastructure but as private sector was going to stand and decided just let government do this this in with private sector is involved in creation of roads which end up benefiting companies in the economy at large private sector can also be involved in the work of providing water what it is if your resources shed resource by the pipes in the

infrastructure needed to access that what are not free or easy as it would be require financing and quite large projects sometimes so that people can end up with access to what to that they need right i guess you know there perhaps is a conversation about you know private sector involvement when it comes to industries at all what we call basic human rights whether or not private pay is their profits in a way that they shouldn't but i'm interested to know crystal how the pandemic has impacted your work. much like everyone else who wear heavy ethics it as a company but the biggest to fix came because our customers were affected so our mission that what access from these to provide what in a simple way to make it affordable but even affordable in a pandemic can become impossible so when we not just a drop in demand we reacted very quickly we did it 2 days as a company we reached out and found who was travelling instead it to provide basic amount of what's appropriate we also extended payment plans for customers who go

for our more. at the services like filters irrigation systems and so on crystal we sold excitement when nick jonas told you about your having won that award but just tell us how important that recognition is. this recognition it's quite amazing it's almost like winning the olympics of doing social way it is quite amazing in the utricle mission it comes with money which the company will you put to very good use in improving us over says and i reach across africa but it's also a testament to their work and really been doing in the a very mission focused culture here what axis runga wind up and they make we try to keep tops open and to keep people employed. and that impacted their vision with driving forwards to in 2030 where we 6 to have over 30000000 people using the

services are it's a pretty grand vision so having to support a global citizen in this i wade is a pretty big catalyst for that moment where he says without a vision we'll have to leave it there but thank you and crystal and congratulations to you and all the best for the with that you continue to do. musicians in mali and other parts of africa face huge problems getting the music fans beyond the countries that's mainly because of the difficulty of sending. connections. files and it turns out that music. for a recording session he's called out in bamako. it's a low tech session using a mixer and he's my bow firing. tray or

a seems to be his longing for his hometown of. a town in mali's northern sahara state. when he's happy with the sound tableware will send his songs via whatsapp to his producer at the start hell sounds like in the us come. up with one day my producer asked me if i could record some song tracks with my phone and send it over whatsapp of the always. so i said ok no problem i'll do that about . an article and that's how it started the 1st. sahil sound then puts the tracks on line the idea behind the low tech production is to help musicians from the sad hell to reach new audiences says the producer it's just essentially an experiment to see you know how can we break down these barriers in truth for artists in west africa who really don't have access to things like.

you know the credit card or how they can get on a lot of these digital platforms. some i'm sorry hill sounds artists and now an enhanced and sounds from fans who pay to download tracks if they want to really well go i mean the we've got artists typically artists or many in between it say like $800.00 to $100.00 a service maybe $3000.00 a little god. for trailering as well as making money this is a chance to expand his horizons beyond bamako. a label from mali can't get you to the united states are going on international tourists and kamaka doesn't have that possibility. his heart now is that others will also hear his music and help him to hit the big time.

and on that musical notes that's labeled leave it for today's program be sure to check out our other stories on com forward slash africa we're also on facebook at this that we'll see you next time. every day comes for us and for our planet. the ideas is on its way to bring you more conservation. how do we make cities streamer how can we protect animals and their habitats what should you put the waste. we can make a difference by choosing reforestation 3 d. 1st edition recycling is

a disposable smart new solution superstrings said you know what is going to hurt those truly unique and we know that their uniqueness is one allows us to live and survive good why do you oppose the environmental suit in global 3000 on g.w. and going on. to get out of the book. as 20 twentieth's final really draws to an and you could all we would it is placing bets on oscar contenders people run time like mexican jumping the world simply mundo. will netflix finally win best picture that's coming up on arts and culture and later on the show. musical genius good bridge fun beethoven reimagined as a comic book here. and odd introspective often

dark photos by one of germany's top actors who is enjoying time behind the camera. first in a normal year this would be what's called oscar season the time when studios packed the cinemas with their best movies that was back in the day of course before carving 19 now things are a little different still hollywood is watching the last movies of the year with wide eyes and speculation is heating up here's more from our film reporter scott roxboro. say you know what are you concerned about an overreaction from a. 2021 could be the year netflix finally wins the oscar for best picture. the streaming giant has 3 big films in the running the trial of the chicago 7 set in 1968 gives an alternative spin on hippie history. and the plan was.

i. like real what's. going on is what you should gary oldman stars as the man who wrote film classic citizen kane in manc dissection of 1930 s. hollywood is from new york i removed any distraction eliminated every. rule. and viola davis is a wild 1920 s. blues singer and model rainey's black bottom which features the final performance of the late actor chadwick boseman. right if you can go to the contenders for summer's biggest on or have never looked so diverse. oscar favorites include judas in the black messiah about the f.b.i. is infiltration of the black panther party. one night miami portrait of 4 civil rights giants including malcolm x. and muhammad ali. because we're all fighting.

in which director lee isaac chung tells his own immigrant story. redefined ward where his family moved from korea to arkansas on the 1980 s. . become farmers. in the acting categories pay close attention to anthony hopkins who turns in a late career master class as a patriarch suffering from dementia the father a bit confused something wrong. i mean. and in our night to kate winslet and social ronan as 1900 centuries fossil hunters and secret lovers. but the big oscar front runner is no mad land from director. frances mcdormand is eyeing her 3rd best actress award with a bare all performance as a woman living as

a modern day nomad travelling the american west in a camper van. there's no fun no madeleine one the venice film festival and it's the odds on favorite to take oscars top prize next year. to sail. for it i'm joined now by her film scott roxboro scott so the nominations are being announced in february the awards in april but already it looks like this could be the 1st best picture oscar for a netflix movie but do you think that it will be. yeah i'm not quite sure i mean netflix has come really close before to winning the top prize winning best picture oscar i mean 2 years ago with roma they were within a hair's breath of it but this year i think they're going to also fail the final hurdle i mean they've got a lot of great films of the running this year but i think i think it's going to be known that land. is in my opinion the best film of 2020 and i think it's going to

win best picture oscar and i gently put money on frances mcdormand winning her 3rd oscar her 3rd best actress oscar for this role i mean she plays a woman literally on the edge of society and her performance is astounding i mean it's the most sort of unvarnished real and powerful performance i've ever seen from and i think everybody else can just basically pack up and go home because frances mcdormand has this one in the bag ok so you if you were a betting man your money would be on mcdormand for best actress are you ready to place bets in the best actor category. yeah this one's a little bit harder but i think the smart money has to be on a chad but those men. are a nice black bottom. both but of course stark black panther tragically died this year and this is a very final performance and it's a real knock out and he plays a $920.00 blues musician who's really ambitious and striving to get ahead

a really sort of a powerful powerful performance and because this is. the last performance because this is the last chance the academy has to honor this amazing actor i don't think we're going to miss out on this and i think he's definitely has his performance is definitely going to win best actor interestingly this is a netflix film and another netflix film could win best actor the supporting actor and another african-american actor could take that prize i'm speaking of delroy lindo he stars in the 5 bloods a film from spike lee playing a furious vietnam that who's also an avid trump supporter it's a real raging performance that's gotten a lot of critical support and i think it's picked to win best supporting actor next year ok scott so we could see for the 1st time 2 african-american actors take those top prizes thanks so much always a pleasure. well if you've been watching d.w.

arts and culture you know that this is beethoven year marking 250 years since the composer's birth and illustrator horse is looking at the musical genius from a new angle his comic book out in german is called gold meaning golden boy. larger than life a hero one of music's greats that's how we think of ludwig van beethoven today but berlin cartoonist mikhail ross has now taken the musical giant down off his pedestal and 10000 into a comic hero. in november so this is with frozen fingers since it's winter but what i find amazing is that all of the images we have of beethoven show him looking grumpy. to help people get an idea of beethoven ross turned to the composers childhood in bone a big source of inspiration with the accounts of beethoven's then neighbors got

fried and cecilia fisher does. incredibly direct there's so much detail beethoven is described as a serious child who doesn't laugh much the one who doesn't have much to laugh about and then suddenly when he gets piggy back he freaks out and then he's totally happy and can't stop laughing because going to fuss with pen and ink ross paints a picture of a childhood marked by a sometimes violent father a 2nd rate tenor who drank the family's earnings away at the local tavern. in the south side during beethoven's time the idea of the von dickey indoor child prodigy 1st appeared. beethoven's father thinking his son is fairly talented fairly good on the piano sings hakon make some money with this one i'll turn this one into avant akin to so he comes up with the concept of the golden boy he came up with

this whole plan without realizing the true scope of his son's talent so i tell him for the show. the only person in the whole story whoever forbade beethoven from playing his own music was his father who thought it was their accounts that the boy liked to improvise on the piano but his father was against it and banned him from doing it and he said stick to the notes and do not improvise as they sort of his ear. but how do you to pitch the music of a brilliant composer. mikael ross does it with just a few strokes. off it was i listen to the music to see what images with there but then i had the problem that when it comes to beethoven's music in 20 minutes there are just 5 images of music between 35 for diversity of. the story of a gifted child capable of creating whole worlds with sound but whose ears and

digestion fail him a very human hero. worthy of applause. as one of germany's top actors i think is used to applause he's in several movies a year as stage performances sell out within minutes and as if that weren't enough he's also put out a book of photography. a tree manicured almost beyond recognition. shimmering forest on the back of a trailer. photos that capture the absurdity of the big city and nature's battle with the human world. photos taken across the globe by one of germany's top actors last hiding or. he captures these moments with his mobile phone some of them just odd others

tragic. intimate and i remember that moment with the man in front of the mattress store he was snoring and. thought. that's what it was so embarrassing standing there in the cold knowing that my hotel room was 5 minutes away and he has someone sleeping on the street and just a major away on the other side of this glass that are 5 unused beds in from what's the bed and. we meet up with lars iding at the museum for photography in his hometown berlin finding a says people wouldn't be so interested in his photos if you weren't already a famous actor. who going for it was pretty smart of me to place my bits on acting for 20 years so that i could finally put out a photo book. in german television films in theaters i did his face is

everywhere he published his photos on instagram under the pseudonym or to stick disco. the photos point out flaws and weaknesses enough. human existence despite our best efforts where vulnerable everything we've achieved our lives and the lives of all beings are at risk if we can't curb our appetite for more. dollars and measuring these images you can't escape because we're all part of this system isn't it we're also entangled in capitalism so how can we even look at it from the outside and denounce it because but a little was. the seemingly harmless images that one second glance reveal pain. just as when he was on the theater stage last iding a brings the world to us in its contradictions and tiny failures perfection is out

of reach. and we are out of time that's it for this edition of arts and culture but you can find us online at www dot com slash culture to see their. parents tracing. and.

surviving only one thing and then returning to normal life. meaning what deflation struggles. side effects they don't know if their symptoms will never go away. in trial studies hope to find clarity. for life after the. close of. 90 minutes on d w. i i fucking meal and i'm game did you know that certain freedom land on the coast or killed worldwide but it's not just the animals little suffering the school environment if you want to know how a way flick to the priests i'm a cultural so strange to us as we think is listen to our podcast on the green funds . how does a virus spread. why do we panic and when we'll all miss. just 3

of the topics covered and the weekly radio show is called spectrum if you would like any information on the coronavirus or any other science topic you should really check out our podcast you can get it wherever you get your podcast you can also find us at pretty delis dot com look forward slash science. frank food. international gateway to the best connection self in road and rail. located in the heart of europe you are connected to the whole world. experience outstanding shopping and dining offers and try our services. be our guest at frankfurt airport city managed by from bought.

the day that we do flying from berlin greenlight in europe for the biotech finds are covert backseat the european commission grants final approval for the lifesaving job after easier regulators gave the go ahead earlier today with infections and deaths mounting for many immunizations can't begin soon enough also coming up new revelations in the spotlight thriller surrounding the poisoning of colleagues a number the russian opposition leader now says he knows how it was done embalming

claims he tricked out a russian spy into revealing details about the attack that nearly killed him last summer. welcome to the show the european commission has approved of the use of the corona virus vaccine developed by biotech and pfizer for use in europe the move comes after regulators from the european medicines agency authorized the vaccine earlier today germany italy and austria say they plan to start vaccinations on december 27th the shot is already in use in britain and the united states the main says there is nothing to suggest the vaccine will not work against the new mutant strain of the virus which has emerged in the u.k. earlier i spoke to brussels correspondent mark sunda and asked him why the e.u.

took so long to give its approval for the vaccine. well it did take a bit longer than the u.k. and the u.s. for example but these countries went for the emergency approval although in all the e m a improve a went quite fast they decided to do a more. close that to decide to take a closer look at the at all the data and the upside here is that they know what the they have more confirmation they have confirmation most aspects regarding safety and effectiveness and they have more time to review the evidence and this will actually also help convince people to take the shots at the end of the day now the question is of course why did the e.u. would not go for the emergency approval there's many reasons to it one and most of the most important reason is that this would not break the dynamic of the pandemic because even if we had started vaccinating a week or 2 weeks earlier there still wouldn't have been enough vaccine to cater to

everybody and the e.u. has come under a lot of fire not only for taking quite long but also for not buying and often doses of the vaccine the commission bought half of what biotech eyes are offered them why is that and how could that affect immunization efforts. there are many reasons for this the e.u. . decided to secure doses of vaccines of the many different kinds of vaccines months ago at the beginning of the pandemic to make sure they would have. the vaccine ready for the for the member states so they make contracts with the individual companies 6 of them now back in the day it wasn't clear which vaccine would prove would prove. and which would go through fastest with their approval which would prove effective and this is one of the reasons why they also spread out also another reason is that this axiom pfizer

biotech is the most expensive one quite expensive compared to us doesn't account for example another man another manufacturer of vaccines that is due to get approval and the beginning of next year and. some of the european union states particularly the eastern european states decided to push for the more cheaper versions ryan mack sennett in brussels thank you very much for your analysis. countries from germany and france to india and saudi arabia have imposed travel bans on the u.k. that's as britain battles a new strain of corona virus that's set to be much more contagious the measures are already causing havoc at airports and other travel hubs in the u.k. which is now effectively cut off from continental europe. entry denied tracks headed from england to the european mainland forced to turn back after alarms were raised over the new coronavirus train the channel crossing

to france is a crucial trade route truck drivers and their goods now stranded. young to law by means. glossy to the this is good to like you to give you a little but the next 2 days you know you will make your. call for. travel at london's heathrow airport was also disrupted with some passengers left in limbo. confused at this time was given out i appeared on board in december situation you see the situation is totally different it's hard time to. really put strain on a lot of people but. i think overall we're all just with. the opening up of the country. now sense to see your family get back to you know. the new covert strain

has already been detected in mainland europe and as far away as australia. experts say the newly developed vaccines should still protect against the mutation. russian opposition activist alex a no ball he says he has spoken to one of the security agents alleged to have been involved in his poisoning earlier this year the agent was named in a recent report led by the investigative website belling cat and says chemical weapons experts from russia's f.s.b. had been tailing the ball me for years or were about to play for you as an excerpt from the conversation of on the had with the agent mr posing as a high ranking security official asked the spy what went wrong with the operation that trying to kill him on a flight to moscow. they landed you know what i mean right he took off then they landed the plane there you go the situation ended up not going in our

favor that's what i think if it had been longer then things could have turned out differently or. should british what had been longer konstantin responsibilities you see if you're trying for longer. maybe it would have been flying for longer for example if they hadn't suddenly landed and so on maybe then things could have turned out differently. didn't use moscow correspondent and was sure no one has more emily dramatic revelations there can you give us any more details about their conversation. well there was some dramatic new information coming to light in that conversation including the fact that the f.s.b. the alleged f.s.b. operative that nobody seems to be speaking to there said that the poison that was used to poison the viney was actually put on the in seams of his underwear so far

there had been questions about how and where exactly he had been poisoned ahead of his flight in siberia and the agent also confirmed seem to confirm that the f.s.b. agents on the ground later collected his his clothing and washed it several times in order to destroy any evidence of that poison he also see said this we just saw in that clip that he seemed to think that the emergency response both of the pilot of the plane and of the emergency doctors the responders on the ground were actually what saved his life. has there been any response from russian authorities so far. there hasn't been any response from russian also. so far the authorities here in russia have denied that russia has anything to do with the poisoning of me and they've even gone so far as to say that perhaps nobody was actually poisoned after he landed for treatment in germany russian president

vladimir putin last week at a press conference said that yes of course russian security services had an eye on me but he said that if russian officials had wanted to poison me then they would have successfully done so and now this conversation seems to point again to the fact that that as this be alleged f.s.b. operation was botched which of course could be a huge embarrassment to the f.s.b. and in that sense an embarrassment to vladimir putin himself who used to head the f.s.b. so that's very personal to him in some sense but i think it's unlikely that we'll see that the russian narrative on this will change i think that will see denials over the poisoning going forward as well right emily showing in moscow thank you very much. let's now take a look at some of the other stories making headlines around the world 2 men have been found guilty of killing 39 men women and children from vietnam who suffocated

in a sealed truck near london the driver and another man were convicted of manslaughter the deaths 2 years ago exposing the list of people smuggling trade. the united states has brought a criminal charges against a man over the 1988 bombing of a passenger plane over lockerbie in scotland the attack killed $270.00 people mostly americans the suspect is a former libyan intelligence official one other person was jailed over the bombing but later released. a russian on why is big island has cast an eerie red glow over the night sky lava from kilo way out mountain shot 50 meters into the air hundreds of people reported feeling earthquake tremors the eruption created a new lava lake within the crater. here in germany a man has been sentenced to life in prison for attempting one of the country's

worst anti-semitic attacks since world war 2 a court has convicted the 28 year old far right extremist of murder and attempted murder the defendant killed 2 people and a quarter to attack on a synagogue in the eastern city of hala last year. his only regret is that he wasn't able to kill more people at times chiffon be smiled as the judge read out her verdict she called his crime cowardly and said he will spend the rest of his life in prison. had he succeeded in his attack it would have been the deadliest hate crime in post-war germany but his attempt alone convinced many in germany that anti-semitism has become a problem that authorities do not have under control. it was 2019 on yom kapoor the holiest day of the jewish calendar that more than 50 community members and guests were celebrating in the synagogue and hala. at midday stephon be heavily armed attacked the synagogue. he fired shots at the

door and threw hand grenades. but the synagogue solid wooden door withstood the attack and it saved the lives of those inside. among them was max privoxy chairman of hollows jewish community the experience has left him traumatized. as a desert bird never had a problem with the fireworks on new year's eve in the past but i noticed this year that they made me feel a bit. i wouldn't say they made me nervous but i really don't feel comfortable with them is. it because i associate them with the attack in the death of me these are months look. when he failed to enter the synagogue the right wing extremists shot a woman who had spoken to him while walking by he then storm to a snack bar and opened fire killing a customer. he filmed everything on

a helmet camera streaming the attack live on the internet a sign in the window commemorates the 2 people who were killed. next perverts he has twice found paper swastikas left in front of the jewish community office. once he saw a police officer quietly removing a swastika he finds this unsettling. in the month kind. of politicized when you can't feel completely sure that you can trust or depend on police or security authorities for standing got all these calm then that's a bad thing. politicians in holland throughout germany stressed that combating anti-semitism is their highest priority. the same many jews in holland so they are afraid to show their religious affiliation and public the synagogue door which

saved their lives has been replaced with a new one that is even stronger. sky gazers are gearing up for a close encounter of the celestial kind after sunset today when a great conjunction of planets becomes visible to the naked eye jupiter and saturn will come so close together that they'll look like one pride or the to meet every 20 years but astronomers say they haven't been this close in almost 4 centuries. and a quick reminder of the top story we're following for you the european commission has authorized the biotech pfizer vaccine for use in europe it comes after each new medical regulators signed off on the backseat earlier today several european countries are hoping to start vaccinations on december 27th. coming up next with this news with my colleague kate fergus and phil gayle will

have more headlines at the top of the hour until then you can get all the latest news and information on our web site that's w dot com you can of course also follow us on instagram and twitter there you find us under at studio units on a call for live for me and the entire team here in berlin thanks for watching and basically wherever you may be. like dusty boots muddy ties and drums we deliver urgent lifesaving boxes we give our everything to reach those who need us the most everybody. just feeding their futures. says for the whole hope of lunch saving fruit in the sun much more down roads with no names we feel asleep to live a relentless you know promise to make every delivery special. not

just next day but every day. thousands of children still waiting for that delivery sponsor approx today so together we can deliver inches. new strains of the coronavirus prompt countries around the world to impose travel restrictions on the united kingdom and size that for our reporter and speaks of passengers whose travel plans have been affected by the new rules. also coming up germany's pretty christmas lockdown is a major blow to retailers will they survive but without the usual holiday spending spree. this is the double event ferguson thanks for joining me. 2

new potentially more infectious strains of the corona virus have been identified one in england and the other in south africa it's prompted fears that the next wave of the pandemic could be worse than originally feared let's talk 1st about the new strain in england its emergence prompted a number of countries to impose travel restrictions in and out of the u.k. the netherlands was the 1st to impose a flight ban on sunday morning belgian that followed suit later in the day as did germany but fears over importing this new virus variants are growing elsewhere to france arland switzerland spain and denmark are among the countries who have also since banned flights to and from britain the united states has forced thousands of would be travelers to abandon their holiday plans. rushing to catch one of the last flights to britain many passengers here in madrid

were hoping to make it before the midnight deadline on sunday the start of the flight ban a lucky few made it on time to spend christmas with their families others were not so lucky we know he's here. now i was reading scandal because they had a flight on tuesday but i don't know if they're going to cancel all of them in the end sighed bolt the last seat on this flight to manchester right now. i'm understanding what i mean i'm just a shame that it's happened over christmas you know it's such a shame that we can all go and see family especially over christmas time many countries have also impose a ban on flights to and from south africa which has announced a new variant of the virus different from the one in britain is driving a resurgence of the disease there are some european travelers are luckier than others. we have the fortune of being pensioners in south africa is our 2nd home so

if we only get stuck there and it isn't a drama i think it's better that they start early although i wanted to go to the u.k. as well but unfortunately. we can't. so that's but. airports worldwide are now trying to accommodate passengers affected by the restrictions many truck drivers are also stranded france has barred ferries to prison and shut the euro tunnel only unaccompanied freight is allowed to cross the borders the ban is in effect for 48 hours from sunday night it's a major inconvenience for companies on both sides of the english channel many have been trying to fill their warehouses for weeks out of fear of a hard bricks it taking effect on january 1st. here's how our financial correspondent connaught bosun assess the impact the new travel restrictions could have on the broader economy. the best flights from the united kingdom to europe

this is what makes many people here are concerned what if more travel restrictions are imposed more borders closed will the situation eventually develop like during the 1st corona lockdown in the spring when closing borders restricting travel for the beginning of a huge economic slump the development of mutations of the coronavirus are impossible to predict and this is why people businesses markets are extremely nervous because. and as i mentioned earlier england is not the only country to have identified a new strain of the virus that appears to be spreading more easily scientists in south africa have made a similar discovery to find out more about that let's talk to the reporter alice gallagher she's joining us from cape 10 hi alice good to see you now this is a different strain from the one that's been found in england bring us up to date on what we know about this one yeah exactly it is

a different mutation although the scientists you're say that it looks a lot like the mutation we've seen you kate and they're. also saying that now 90 percent after grown a cases in south africa might is new and they also think it is spreading. although they don't put a number on that yet so they're still researching of course how fast is it spreading and also of course one important thing is is this one more deadly than the previous strain of. ok so a lot of open questions there but what about travel restrictions in and out of south africa are most of the flights still running. you know we're seeing now that countries are imposing travel bans on south africa israel for example germany turkey and as many other also european countries that are still deciding if they are going to close airspace and also here i mean cape town where i am this is devastating and they would be hoped that at least this december they could make up

a little bit for all the income lost and i think actually so far i've not received that africa panicking about this new strain but now that other countries are basically blocking air travel from into south africa i do see that people are getting restless and kind of realizing that this is a big worry and as briefly if you can what about plans for a vaccine rollout in south africa there's no data here yet hope is that will come somewhere in the for. the next year but the south africa has a big problem and that is that they don't have the finances to to secure a preorder vaccines like the western countries they need to compete with them on the world markets and they just can't sell here that's also still. when and when there's going to come and it's probably can take maybe years for the whole of south africa to be vaccinated. thank you very much. now to some of the

other business stories making news german trade union verdi is calling for a strike absence of amazon locations in germany become pain would last until christmas eve the goal is to pressure on the zone into recognizing collective wage and workplace safety agreements during previous disputes of this kind continued to deliver parcels. the european commission has given the green light to a planned merger between italian american carmaker fia chrysler and francis p s a the merger is expected to go ahead in the 1st months of 2021 it would create the world's 4th largest automobile group behind fox 5 all right on this one mitsubishi and toyota. to the united states know where after weeks of wrangling congressional leaders have reached an agreement on a $900000000000.00 stimulus package both on the deal are expected later on monday

it will be the 1st federal aid package since the cares act back in march the stimulus package includes $600.00 direct payments to individuals and an additional $300.00 per week in unemployment benefits here's what the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell had to say. more help is on the work moments ago in consultation with our committees look for leadership and i. thought it was an agreement. it would be another major rescue package for the american people. so should isn't to continue battling those coronavirus this holiday season there will be flooding along. here in germany nonessential businesses have been closed for almost a week as the country struggles to contain rising in section numbers the decision coming in the middle of the all important holiday shopping season is an especially big blow to retailers on

a ready highly difficult year. these days local residents here in dusseldorf only go out to buy groceries or perhaps pick up some flowers the rest of the stores have shut their doors due to the lockdown shopkeeper done the l a p has followed suit even so she comes in almost every day and she still sells some of her sustainable clothing and other products on line chat for that's 5000 zips in an online shop so i've had an online shop since 2017. and luckily i didn't have to start from scratch this year so that helped that it had a good go higher but that doesn't make up for the losses incurred by a lockdown shot it sets up one order has arrived this morning by e-mail the customer will pick up the perfume later online shoppers are mainly locals. but an online shop at that i've noticed that many people i know from the area visit the online shop. typhon none of the customers come from hamburger frankfurt.

or not almost all of the retailers and germany's most luxurious shopping street that could examine dusseldorf have closed their doors shopping centers are nearly deserted. but there is still work to be done at least for this jeweler sonia kies is designing a piece for a client the pandemics global impact has hit her business especially hard her family shop creates custom made jewelry. i don't need unique gems which we carefully select in person as uncut stones at the mines but i can't get over there so i can't fulfill my orders now. foodland her husband shows images from her last trip to a sri lankan mine in march. they've already cut this stone. but more are needed for the order luckily the client is patient an exception to the rule.

our industry isn't great distress many of us are down 30 percent. overall retail sales are down 14 percent in 2020 which is why the industry's trade association is urgently calling for help. we're experiencing a lack of liquidity that simply must be compensated if that doesn't happen it really looks as though up to 50000 shops could soon close. dunya appears at least was able to sell the perfume before noon the customers stopped by that's how many retailers are operating right now she's prepared should the lockdown go on for longer at least until the end of january. and finally we take you to finland snowy far north where visitors would normally be flocking to visit santa claus under the current travel restrictions however crowds in the laplanders town over

avani i may have a $20.00 leaving the winter wonderland looking abandoned but santa too has adapted to working from home he's been communicating with children via video instead quite the business savvy individual he has been charging 79 euro's for a 5 minute cold front's he'll hopefully use to help his elves weather these turbulent times. and that wraps up our show or you can visit our website r t w dot com slash business or on social media as well from me and the team it's divided into care.

surviving colin one thing and then returning to minimalize. millions like 2 patients struggles of long term side effects they don't know if their symptoms will never kill a. child studies hard to fight. for life after the disease. in 60 minutes. girls 2 could have 0

knowledge i'm sure there are of us are 0. in support of. what's a big. guard over some. degree but. this is the deputy is africa on the program today several countries have imposed travel bans on south africa because of a new strain of cold that 19 that's causing a higher number of infections and hospitalizations speaks of one of the country's abusing our agents. and told me to the 25 year old one day just want a big.