deal has been reached to reopen borders with the u.k. tuesday at midnight, providing citizens about nations can provide proof. millions of doses of vaccine, distribution is due to start sunday. the kremlin activist, releasing

a recording of what he says is an agent trying to poison him. thank you for joining us. we start in france. prime minister has announced borders with the u.k. will reopen at midnight, meaning thousands of people stranded on either side of the english channel will be able to travel, providing proof of a negative pcr tests dating back less than 72 hours. the decision comes the same day the european commission of eyes to all states to lift travel restrictions with the u.k. france had not waited for any use dissensio decision. for more on this story, let's cross over to london.

i imagine a lot of relief for the british government in terms of trade, also allowing french and english citizens to travel. reporter: the announcement of the end of that closure that people can travel now will be welcome news. we need to look at what the definition is that those people who can in the trouble. were talking about air travel. -- who can travel at the moment. were talking about -- we are talking out air travel. we are talking about train travel. if people have a negative test result and can show proof of that that has been taken within 72 hours, and if they are french citizens traveling from the u.k. , eu citizens coming to the

u.k., and either going to france or transiting through france, that can go ahead. as far as british citizens and third country citizens are concerned, and traveling to france or transiting through france, it is different. they can do so, but they can do so only if they reside permanently in france. that is where the devil is in the detail. this is in a context where a new tier was created saturday, announced by boris johnson, because there was this huge rise infections, and therefore it was deemed necessary because of the new strain of covid-19 that spreads more quickly and at a higher

ra, although it is not said to be more dangerous, and it is said likely to respond to the covid-19 vaccine, so you have got some relief, but it does not include everye, and this is the misery because of the pandemic and european countries and france being worried that that strain making it into their countries. anchor: can we, do you have any other information on how easy it will be for those who travel to get pcr tests? the nhs only give them out if you show symptoms. there are thousands of trucks in the county of kent. reporter: let me address the first aspect.

we are waiting for the french ministry and the british ministry of transport. ey are currently 3000 backed up in the approaches to the most crucial port in the united kingdom for that link between france and britain, and the freight going through, representing 20%f all freight, 10,000 lorries per day normally transiting. the lorries, they will have to wait later this evening for the announcement of what the agreement applies to them. they are hungarian, romanian, polish, sometimes returning to fran with perishables. restaurants, homes, supermarkets , they are now worried they will have shortages. the pcr tests, the test that is

required being done as proof within 72 hours that you can go to france, the categories in people and citizens i described, no, there is no clarity on how easy it will be to get, the cost, the logistics, so apart from the backlog of people who have not been able to for various reasons to make their journeys back and forth, now there is a lack of clarity on that. that is what needs to be resolved, as well as the backlog. if you do't have to, don't come tier four stricken to the u.k., it will not be an easy journey in the coming days. anchor: thank you very much for those those clarifications. the u.k. is not the only country

facing international isolation. a great number of countries are battling travel to and from south africa, after a new strain of covid-19 was found circulating there. health officials say it is a different strain than one identified in the u.k. we have the details. reporter: when this german family flew to south africa in early december, they were hoping to enjoy a break away from the coronavirus in europe. now, they don't know when they will be able to go back home. >> i did not think it would be affected in the way it has been affected. that is shocking. i don't know which way things will go. reporter: several countries, including germany, switzerland, turkey, saudi arabia have suspended all flights from south africa, and the list keeps growing, this following the

discovery of yet another strain of covid-19. the south african variant is different from the one identified in the united kingdom , but both appeared to be more contagious. local authorities believe the mutation could be responsible for a recent spike in cases, as the new variant is dominant among recent confirmed infections. >> we are seeing 20 or 30 different lineages, and now we only see one, the 501 variant, and it is spreading fast. reporter: south africa has recorded more than 900,000 cases , making it the worst affected african nation. scientists are working a long time the who to determine what implications, if any, the new strain can have on the pandemics solution. anchor: pfizer and biontech are

ready to roll out the vaccines before the end of 2020. they will start as early as sunday, as europe tries to catch up with the u.s. and britain. in france, formal approval is needed from the french medical regulator. they are do to make a decision on christmas eve. this extract is from an interview with the french health minister. >> [indiscernible] [speaking in french] anchor: the kremlin are calling activist alexei navalny's sanity

into question after he said he tricked an agent into revealing details of a plot to kill him. he released details of a conversation with an agent who told him amongst underthing oths that the poison had been placed in his underpants. we have this. reporter: taking a mocking tone, the kremlin spokesman sought to undermine alexei navalny's mental state. >> in general, the patient is suffering from delusion and persecution. we can clearly determine delusions of grander. he has even compared himself to jesus. reporter: this afternoon, he released a recording of himself speaking to a man he desibes as a state security agent, posing as an aide, he claims to

have duped the agent into revealing details. the agent said was sent to remove all traces of novichok and that the nerve agent had been placed in his underpants. >> [speaking in foreign language] reporter: media outlets identified the man alexei navalny spoke with as a trained chemical weapons specialist. alexei navalny collapsed on board a russian flight in august and is recovering in berlin after weeks in intensive care. the eu impose sanctions on russian officials following the attack. after tests and multiple labs confirmed he was exposed to novichok. moscow said it was imposing retaliatory sanctions on eu member states and institutions. the fsb has described the phone call as fake, while the criminal and denies any link between the russian state and alexei navalny

's poisoning. anchor: marcello crivello has been arrested on suspicion of bribery. he was elected in 2016, but lost reelection early this year. he says he is a victim of political persecution, having previously denied any knowledge of payments being made to city hall. police believe companies were being offered to pay off officials in order to secure contracts. brazil does have a long history of bribery in elite circles, and it is not the first time the top politicians have been arrested on similar charges. thousands have been taking to the streets in armenia to put in in to the prime minister's visit to the south of the country. demonstrators are unhappy with his peace deal with azerbaijan over the region, and they vowed

to keep striking until he steps down. we have this report. reporter: as thousands march to commemorate those who died in the six-week war, demonstrators have been taking to the streets of the capital, calling on the prime minister to step down. >> [speaking iforeign language] >> the gatherings pushed him to cut short a visit. the opposition has now begun a nationwide strike, promising to hold elections when the time is right. >> [speaking in foreign language] reporter: fighting with azerbaijan ended early november.

he bowed down to the demands, signing a pce deal brered by russia, giving up three districts around the regio it is a significant gain for azerbaijan, but it did not go down well with many armenians. >> [speaking in foreign language] [ siren] >> [speaking in foreign language] reporter: it is mainly populate by ethnic armenians, and it declared independence in 1991, but its sovereigntyas never internationally recognized. the first war ended in 1994 ter 30,000 people were killed. at least 5000 armenians died in the latest conflict. azerbaijan has yet to release a

death toll. anchor: that is the end of this addition. thank you for watching. stay tuned to "france 24." for now, bye-bye. ♪ ♪ >> hello and welcome to the "france 24" interview. our guest is the sister of the saudi activist who has been imprisoned for 2.5 years without trial because of her activism in favor of the women of the kingdom of saudi arabia. saudi arabia is preparing to host the g20 summit virtually because of the coronavirus pandemic. i want to thank you for being with us. >> thank you. anchor: your sister in jail for more than two years has decided to begin a hunger strike late

october. why did she decide to do that? >> she started the hunger strike because she is not allowed to have regular contact with her parent and she saw another prisoner on her case, they are allowed to have this regular contact, so she says that it is her right to have this regular contact. she is not only allowed to have a weekly call to my parents, and it is not guaranteed for the first almost year. there are some contacts on and off, but not regular contacts. anchor: are you worried for her health? she tried a hunger strike for a short period a while ago. this has been going on for several weeks.

do you have information and are you worried? >> she started a hunger strike a while ago for the same reason, she was not allowed access to my parents, and my parents visited her six days after starting the hunger strike, and they saw how bad she was. so, of course, today we are very worried, especially that we contacted the director of the prison, the minister of justice, we contacted the saudi commission for human rights asking for to see how she is doing, if she is ok, if she is alive, and they do not answer . the only answer we got is that we are considering your request. we will check it and come back to you. they never came back to us. anchor: you spoke last year about the torture she had endured, including possible acts

of sexual harassment and so on. do you have any evidence of this treatment has continued or has it stopped for the past month? >> evidence, we don't have, but in her contacts, physical contacts, when they are allowed to see her physically, she did not mention further physical abuses. there arlots of mental pressure, psychological pressure, but not electrocution, as she used to have before. anchor: right, i imagine you are in touch with your parents in saudi arabia, so they are not able to communicate with her. how are they feeling right now? are they feeling under pressure, are they worried, what do they feel? >> of course, she is their

dahter, so they are worried about her. myarents are very strong. i prefer not to talk a lot about him. i am pud of them and they are strong people. i hope they have this solid mental capacity. anchor: right, obviously this decision to go on a hunger strike is happening as the country is about to host the g20. many human rights organizations, mayors of large cities in western europe, the u.s., european parliament, the united nations committee on women's rights call on her to be released from jail as well as other women activists. do you think the time is now that this is the time to put pressure on the regime? because of the g20 summit? >> yes, of course.

they need to put pressure on them, so it is a question for the leaders of the world to put pressure on saudi arabia, so also at least for the summit to renew its image, so it is a good opportunity for everyone to make this step to talk to saudi arabia, and saudi arabia needs to be doing the right thing. anchor: right, obviously this is essentially a political decision , and the g20 is about heads of state, heads of government calm mingling together -- calm mingling -- co-mingling

together. are you trying to bring him face-to-face? >> of course, saudi arabia has allies, western allies are the strongest saudi allies, and saudi arabia is not a country by itself, it is a country that has interconnections with other countries. of course, they can influence other countries and other countries can influence them, and everyone knows that, and i think it is the responsibility of leaders to exert pressure on saudi arabia, and i feel bad to say that, because i would like my own leaders to take the steps to release my sister and the other activists whout getting under this pressure. unfortunately, they did not do it. i am very hopeful they will do

the right thing very soon. nevertheless, i also hope that leaders of the world, eecially close leaders to saudi arabia, do, do something good for, for saudi people as well. anchor: right, obviously talking about a close ally, probably the closest ally is the usa. president trump has been very kind, let's put it this way, with the saudi regime, especially in the wake of the murder of the saudi journalists jamal khashoggi in turkey. he has been accused of protecting the king and the crown prince. we are seeing probably a transition in the white house. joe biden, the president-elect has said he wants to reset,

reshape the relationship with saudi arabia. are you putting some hopes on him, telling the king, the crown prince that they have to do much, much better when it comes to humans rights and women's rights in particular? >> so, how i see it, i see that saudi arabia is fearing the new american administration. as you said, joe biden also expressed that he would like to reshape the relationship with saudi arabia, so what i hope is that saudi leaders become smarter at this stage and released my sister and the other women in order to reengage with their own people, because they stopped in gauging with their own people, and give -- engaging with their own people, and have

a normalized relationship, not tension, in our relationship, so i would like to call my leaders, saudi leaders to say this is the time. do not embarrass yourself anymore, and release my sister and the other activists, because you will have, i mean, you fear the american administration. why are you keeping these fears? do something in order to improve your conditions in image as well. yeah, to have that, to gain trust again, though i believe it is her, but i think they need to have a new page and start to have a fresh start. anchor: right, the last question , the question you must have asked yourself hundreds of times , this seems schizophrenic. her sister was an outspoken

activist. she was arrested because she decided to drive when it was banned, but was put in prison just a few weeks before driving was allowed. some rules have been relaxed, but it seems schizophrenic but at the same time the rules are relaxed, but activists are thrown in jail. how do you explain this? >> it explains the saudi regime. they are doing reforms not because they would like to do reforms, but to improve their image outside saudi aria. this is the first reason. then, they would like to silce anyone who asks to improve their conditions, so by having this allowing women to drive, of so it isot good for theucceed, government. they would like to say that they decide everything, but this can

never be able to, can never be able to do this for everyone, so when we see the charges against her, the charges are absurd. i don't feel him like charges, so, of course, i am very sad to see saudi arabia in this position. they are trying to improve their image, but they are destroying all the trust people have five jailing people just because of their opinion, and sometimes just because they are asking for good things, so the situation in saudi arabia needs to change. anchor: thank you very much for being with us here on "france 24." and thank you for watching this addition. stay tuned for more. ♪ -- this edition.

stay tuned for more. ♪

12/22/20 12/22/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> make no mistake, this agreement is far from perfect. but it will deliver emergency relief to a nation in the throes of a genuine emergency. amy: congress has approved a $900 billion pandemic relief package after months of stalling. but many economists say far more needs to be spent to address the economic crisis.