Mutation of coronavirus South African scientists work to understand the new strain plus. Im scott harder in bangkok thailand often described as the venice of the east many of the 10000000 people here use the waterways to get around but the boats are big polluters so the city is putting greener version. First begin with brags and signs that a trade agreement between the e. U. And u. K. Is imminent u. K. Prime minister boss johnson is expected to speak from downing street shortly the e. U. Is also set to announce details of a deal johnson and e. U. Leader ursula on the line are reportedly finalizing details in a series of phone calls britains chief negotiator david frost was in talks with e. U. Counterparts in brussels late into wednesday night when a deal will need to be ratified by both parliaments view k. Parliament will have to do this before britains transition period ends on this ember the 31st. Weve got reporters covering the story from both sides Bernard Smith brings us e. U. Reaction from paris 1st lets begin with asad by live in london so as in we werent spanking word on the street was by this point bars johnson was supposed to have spoken what still laying things. Well downing street we understand from mr vers johnson is inside we are expecting something imminently weve been told there will be an announcement for the last few hours but we havent heard anything yet no the u. K. Left the e. U. Bloc back in jan and generally 31st that theyve been but abiding by e. U. Rules of the end of the year on the 31st of december they would be believing the Single Market a Customs Union the internal e. U. Market now the negotiations have been ongoing we understand the Sticking Point has been the fisheries the fishing industry even though it makes up just a fraction of the u. K. Economy in fact less than one percent but as it stands under the current you what happens is the e. U. Member states have access to british waterski your Member States have focus of how much fish they can take from those for just not the discussions have been going on going about what would change how much how much access will they have how much quotas are they havent actually done to the details of how much quotas of what kind of fish will they have and that seems to be hit the suit in the ongoing Sticking Point and the discussions between the 2 books still dont know what the details of this deal of you understand it could be about 2000 pages long and it still has to be ratified by the u. K. Parliament. And there is a big question here as well about what will happen next even if a deal is announce is there enough time to put it into effect before the transition period ends. At dunder standing here is yes that is created. To Parliament Parliament can be recalled m. P. s can then take a look at it scrutinize it and vote on it and right now if even the opposition here they are for a deal because they were always maintained a deal is better than no deal but the referendum should place 5 years ago over 17000000 people voted to leave the interview and although if full vote bars johnson may be able to get this deal passed parliament the real the real people to win over those people that wanted to leave the e. U. What will they make of the deal that they see as a victory as the papers are making here in the u. K. This morning hugh its going to be interesting were going to have to come back to you no doubt for now thanks so much as i said lets get some reaction from the other side of the channel is go to france burns with joining us live from paris whats the word on the street there. Sami fishing is as important to the french and the danes and the dutch as it is as important to the british and thats why its coming down to huddling over how much fish can be caught when im by whom and we understand that in fact the specific types of fish sold sound eels and herrings how much of these fish e. U. Boats can catch in british waters is specifically what d is being debated now the amount of fishing to war in terms of its contribution towards its friends is g. D. P. 1. 6 percent which includes agriculture as well is miniscule but fishing is a psychologically important fronts as it is to the british its also important to the day on the dutch and nobody can be seen to be giving away to the british too much was the british also dont want to be seen as giving too much away thats why were down to this haggling even if there is a deal today its going to be too late to be ratified by the European Parliament by the end of this year and they have to do that so the understanding is that the e. U. Will find a mechanism to implement the deal in an interim stage while the on in the new year the e. U. Gets to ratify it but its much more important for the british that there is a deal britain exports 47 percent of its exports to the European Union coming from the European Union to the u. K. It is just 8 percent but make no mistake both sides want a deal if there isnt warm they all feel some pain. And some pain is something where both sides of things go really experience to a certain point thank so much for the smith there. If youre his Prime Minister abu ahmed has deployed military forces to an area where government killed 100 people mostly media reporting the army killed 42 armed men in the Western Region of benish angle gomers Prime Minister abu ahmed had visited the area the day before the attacks he called for peace immunity following several deadly attacks between ethnic groups in recent months the attacks are separate from the conflict in ethiopias Northern Region the u. N. Says it remains concerned about ongoing fighting and a lack of humanitarian access the conflict has raised fears of a security vacuum in other areas of the country lets take a little deeper of a look at the conflict in the region. Which borders sudan and south sudan is one of ethiopias 9 regional states fighting there has been ongoing in one way or another since 2018 various ethnic groups in the region have been clashing with supporters of the Oromo Liberation front the violence there is displaced tens of thousands of people in the past 2 years martin webb has been monitoring the story he says this latest violence caused victims belonging to various ethnic minorities to flee the area. More than 100 people were killed in the attack that happened dawn on wednesday and survivors of said the attackers set peoples homes on fire and then shot men women and children dead many of them as they were running away some of the survivors told Rights Group Amnesty International that the attackers were armed members of the Good News Community down the good news is the Largest Ethnic Group in that area and they said that the victims belong to the. Ethnic groups who are minorities in that area is the latest in a succession of waves of ethnically targeted violence that have happened in that region since september Prime Minister and as he said earlier today said he sent troops to try and quell the violence and state affiliated t. V. Had reported that federal troops were killed 42 of the men who were involved in the massacre we havent been able to verify that the local officials also said that those Government Troops had recovered weapons including pows and arrows from the armed men who were allegedly responsible for this attack u. S. President donald trump has issued another series of pardons hes granted clemency to 26. 00 people including his 2016 Campaign Chairman paul foot and longtime advisor and friend roger stone well he also pardoned charles the father of his son in law. You have reports from washington d. C. Do you swear the testimony you are about to give should be the truth this set of pardons includes more figures swept up in the investigation into russian meddling in the 2016 election Robert Muller and his own words quote did not find that the Trump Campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with the russian government and quote but several in the Trump Campaigns all but were convicted as a result of their conduct during the investigation all 400. 00 crimes that were dug up as part of the increased scrutiny of both the trooper former trunk Campaign Chairman paul mann afore he was convicted of obstructing the Russian Investigation but also several counts of bank tax fraud related to his Political Consulting work for the Ukrainian Government before he joined the Trump Campaign. For some other force pardon confirms a suspicion they had during the russian meddling investigation democratic congressman adam schiff tweeting during the investigation trumps lawyer floated a patent amount of what amount of fault with drew his cooperation with prosecutors lied was convicted and then trumped praised him for not ratting trumps public not completes the corrupt scheme nolas until the bitter end it was a witch hunt theres no question about that longtime political operative and friend of donald trump roger stone who was also convicted of lying to congress and to my ledger in the Russian Investigation his 40 month sentence had already been commuted by donald trump in july the father of Donald Trumps son in law jarrett is also on the list Charles Kushner was given a 2 year sentence for tax evasion witness tampering and Illegal Campaign contributions you notoriously filmed his brother in law with a prostitute and then sent the tape to his sister in an attempt to prevent her from cooperating with prosecutors had long been an expectation that in the last days of his presidency dont trump would pardon those he felt showed him loyalty during the rush for investigation it has nothing to do with the merits of the individuals who are being pardoned and everything to do with whether or not donald trump wants to show the. Special favor based on whether or not they have been loyal to him or whether or not they have a special connection to him as in the case of jared kush nurse father it is being used as a Political Tool in this case which was precisely what it was never meant to be also as expected vetoed the National Defense authorization act the 740000000000 dollars legislation passed by congress that funds defense spending. President trumpet objected to provisions designed to slow down the withdrawal of u. S. Troops from afghanistan and the renaming of u. S. Military bases currently named off the confederate generals the president also called for the insertion of a provision removing Legal Protections for into that companies into the in the a however both the house and senate are expected to meet next week to override the president ial veto. Washington of Pakistan Court has ordered the release of the man convicted over the killing of u. S. Journalist daniel pearl in 2002. His being freed pending an appeal earlier this year the high court overturned his murder charge but that was challenge by polls family their appeal will be heard in early january poll was a reporter for the wall street journal. Still ahead on aljazeera chinese regulators announce an end to monopoly investigation of ecommerce giant alibaba. South korea implements its toughest measures yet to contain coded 19. Of the time for a repeat of what happened about a week ago and that is a change to a cold wind out of the siberian interior northeastern china across the still open seas towards honshu the potential snow fall the power for me to to to meet as i was it depending on the height above sea level its not even going to be reading at sea level now tokyos in shelter but you will see mark fuji getting whiter and whiter and theres like to be again avalanche risk certainly weve driven unstable basin we had rain days ago if youre not in japan there the pictures are much quieter when the temps to still low by by day and night there is cloud increasing in central and Southern China a sponsor of rain certainly is possible not much chance that over most of india was to talk about a cold wave so of overlaying the temperature regime where its blue is frost as we close that in lahore in new delhi the cold wave extends down to addition and these are overnight temperatures so the lowest youre going to get they dont get to change very much during the night they pop up into the low twentys by day you get 3 or 4 hours of fine weather above what is otherwise persistent fog and poor air quality that may change you want to places if youre lucky in lahore was showers on sunday but generally not. The silence has been this to. Believe this. Is one of scandinavia some largest iron ore deposits. And its driving a wedge between those seeking wealth. And those defending their way of life. Gala a witness documentary on aljazeera. Rule the on. The old. Welcome back youre watching aljazeera time to recap headlines now there are signs a trade agreement between the e. U. And u. K. Is imminent u. K. Prime minister Abbas Johnson is reported to be finalizing details by phone with e. U. Leaders live on the lion johnson is expected to hold a News Conference in the next few hours if he appears Prime Minister has deployed military forces to a Western Region where a gunman killed 100 people have been visited the area a day before the attacks to urge peace and unity between ethnic groups. The u. S. President of trump has granted clemency to more of his allies the list of 26. 00 pardons and commutations includes his former Campaign Chairman paul manifold jarrad couche notes father and roger stone advising friend. Large parts of england are being put under even tougher covert 19 restrictions from saturday that has a more contagious variant of the virus is spreading new infections have risen by 57 percent in the past week more people are in hospital the than any time since april but the u. K. Is also facing the threat of another separate corona virus mutation from people whove arrived from south africa flights from there have been cancelled we are quarantining cases and close contacts of cases found here in the u. K. 2nd were placing immediate restrictions on travel from south africa and finally and most importantly anyone in the u. K. Who has been in south africa in the past fortnight and anyone who is a close contact of someone whos been in south africa in the last fortnight must quarantine immediately. Has more on the new strain from johannesburg. This new variant inside africa was identified in concern at our province eastern cape in the garden it thats along the cape town area the Health Minister says the numbers are alarming more than 14000 new infections in the last 24 hours it is recommending more restrictive measures be put in place the measures already in place include a nighttime curfew are called going to be sold on certain days and at certain times and some beaches have been closed but Health Officials say some South Africans seem not to be listening to the warnings theyre saying some of them are posting pictures on social media photos and videos of them at big parties called superspeed events where they arent Wearing Masks and they arent practicing social distancing the government what is trying to do is to try and make sure enough hospital beds are available across the country in government and private facilities so in some provinces for example some doctors are discharging patients that they think are stable those people are being told to go home to make way for cope with 19 patients additional staff have been put on standby this talk and in some areas military doctors and nurses may be called in if it does get to that stage the Health Officials also warning that if these infections keep rising so therefore could reach its peak within the next 2 weeks is a similar scenario across the continent infection rates are rising and more countries are imposing more restrictive measures for example but one is the latest country to impose a nighttime curfew malawi as it is closing its borders for at least 14 days officials here are concerned that as more and more people keep traveling especially around the Festive Season they could be at increased infections not just in this part of africa but the rest of the continent as well. International travelers arriving in new york will be forced to quarantine for up to 2 weeks thats under the new rules announced by the mayor in response to those new virus strains being discovered in the u. K. And south africa quarantines will be monitored by sheriffs with heavy fines for those who break the rules. Mexico has received its 1st shipment of the pfizer bond tech vaccine its the 1st country in latin america to have a vaccine ready to roll out but its battling a sharp rise in infections thats overwhelming hospitals john homan reports from mexico city. Its what everyone in mexico wants for christmas. And the one from pfizer has now finally arrived. As the phrase goes good things are vive in small quantities we have the privilege today of being one of the 1st countries in the world with a vaccine supply to be handed out next year i mexico is the 1st country in latin america to get the vaccine. But for many people it wont be available to the middle of next year and meanwhile the countrys in big trouble. Cities hospitals rule but with very few ventilators left. There are queues outside shops selling oxygen tanks monica evillest trouble from another city desperate to get one like many people shes taking care of an infected relative at home. Weve come from to lead care theres no oxygen there we went to 2 places but they didnt have any till tomorrow and i need it for today because my patient my dad cant go without oxygen. Makes her never to go koby cases down after the 1st wave and now this more than ever the crowds emits crude city center throughout december havent helped. The government just reluctantly declared a red alert for the capital and its suburbs closing nonessential businesses but a lot of people think the authorities the clerk for the cup talk much to like theres been questions over their attitude towards a pandemic from the beginning the minutes come president. On the covert so really where mosques and theyve been accused repeatedly of not imposing timely and strict enough lockdowns ok lets get better now but the government has a powerful counterargument mexico has more than 60000000 poor people stopping them from working could leave them destitute especially since federal authorities havent brought out a comprehensive plan hunch a plan to help them. But he it gussie is selling face masks in the street she says as know way she could stay home was not been a month in of course not be ashamed to hold out my hand and say help me thats why im here i get 7. 00 a day even if its just to buy tortillas a few instead the governments to try and make sure that when people do get sick theres always a bed for them. Now for the 1st time it looks like that strategy could fail although there were no queues waiting outside at the 6 hospitals that our team visited in mexico city this week all of which were full Health Experts say that could change this january john home and aljazeera mexico city. New restrictions have come into force across south africa as the country tries to control the pandemic during the holiday period the nation has been recording around 1000 new cases a day bryant reports from seoul. Having Won International recognition for its handling of the pandemic and setting standards for testing and tracing south korea now struggles to contain this 3rd wave it seems earlier successes may have bred complacency compounded by pandemic fatigue on windy days and an overconfidence had growing on many peoples minds and you lowered their guard when you were relatively successful in dealing with the 1st and 2nd operates and want international praise for it in south koreas 3rd biggest city in Chan Jang Hanna Ram is one of a team of traces who were working around the clock what makes this surge so hard to control is how widespread it is often to go out of control you cannot have what i saw all the new confirmed cases and daily a preview magickal survey i thought wow this is really getting out of control ski resorts are now being closed and private gathering severely restricted in size the ice skating rink that would normally occupy the space in front of seoul city hall nonexistent this year seoul has its Christmas Tree as usual but not the normal ceremony for switching on its lights that was held online just one of the many seasonal traditions south korea is having to forgo this year families would normally visit beaches or National Parks to see the 1st sunrise of the new year many of those have been closed by a government increasingly concerned by what that new year will bring from a pandemic it thought it had under control robin bride aljazeera sold. Our cutters informed the u. N. Security council that bahraini fighter jets violated its airspace it relates to an incident on december the 9th bahrain is one of 4 nations along with saudi arabia egypt and the u. A. E. That have imposed the blockade on qatar since 2017 Castillian Christians are preparing to go ahead with christmas celebrations in bethlehem despite a surge in covert cases in the occupied west bank the festivities and Midnight Mass are centered on the church of nativity where christians say jesus was born but theyll take place without a congregation tourism in israel and the occupied west bank has been halted since israel imposed the ban on foreign travel in march covert 191 of the Worlds Largest Ecommerce Companies is under investigation by china beijing is accusing a barber of monopolistic behavior its yet another blow for the companys founder jack ma his government regulators attempt to rein in his expanding Business Empire saira clock reports from hong kong he has a net worth of around 50000000000. 00 and his chinas 2nd richest man jack meyer is also the founder of the ecommerce giant alibaba which regulators accused of using monopolistic tactics they have been signaling for quite some time that changes are what they do not want. And since control the market and be sure is filled by 8 percent when stock markets opened the investigation is part of a wider government crackdown on chinas booming internet space its also yet another setback for the Alibaba Group which planned a jewel listing of us and company last month regular has said it didnt meet Disclosure Requirements in the i. P. O. Was shelved 2 days before its market debut. As we all know its already the Largest Online Payment Service provider in 1000000 china and still have a lot room to grow most of the mainland part and they dont use cash anymore they simply use a cell phone to pay everything not only apparel not only that you know the fastest but even they buy a car to use a mobile phone and group is the crown jewel in the early barber empire the listing was expected to raise as much as 37000000000. 00 that would have made it the Worlds Largest i. P. O. Since all giant saudi aramco listed last december the largest i. P. O. Today is i believe the Saudi Arabia Oil company which is listed a couple of years ago at 28000000000. And Sister Company alibaba went public in 2014 listing on the New York Stock Exchange in a 25000000000. 00 flight this time the company chose the domestic market in china for its debut but the mega float is on hold for now this latest investigation is part of the governments escalating scrutiny of jack expanding empire and represents heightened tensions between chinese president xi jinping and the billionaire in a state but the company says it will comply with the regular his requests it executives are expected to be summoned in coming days sarah clarke aljazeera hong kong. The most high profile person jailed on the hong kongs Controversial National security law is now out on bail she spent nearly 3 weeks in jail on charges that he colluded with Foreign Forces forces will continue to remain under house arrest. Thailands capital is notorious for traffic and pollution including on board to waste well now the government is looking to make one popular method of transport greener and quieter scott explains. Fishing out his front door like he has for the last 40 years amarin it needs your mom lives in a community of houses built on stilts lining the edge of bangkoks busiest can now while the fishing might be convenient the steady increase of commuter boats rushing by has become unbearable he says but theres some relief on the way a switch to electric boat. The banking electric plants will generate less noise i wont bother people so much but. Bangkok was once described as the venice of the east and many of the 10000000 people here still use its waterways to get around. And the boats used to carry them are noisy big polluters putting toxins in the water and into the air. So the City Government has launched a quieter and greener alternative a 3 month electric boat Pilot Program right in the center of the capital 8 boats to start and so far theyre carrying a 1000 passengers a day so while it takes 4 hours at the pier to fully charge the batteries to run the twin engines for the boat these solar panels provide the power for the instruments and the lights on the vessel called the biggest challenge is changing peoples minds we have to encourage them to switch from private to Public Transportation routes are a good option because of the heavy street traffic so the introduction of electric boats can help both congestion and reduce pollution the boats and most of the components are manufactured here in thailand only the motors in the batteries are imported theres hope that the indigenous industry will expand so one day the vessels will be 100 percent tie i think evy is a kind of. Initiate the next step to encourage people. Even the government itself to the most seriously think about how the even electric vehicles because it didnt is the next generation fall fall in very much a friendly times potations so while the government hopes that the program is successful and that the fossil fuel powered boats are on the way out could be getting some good news his canal is set to be the next phase for the electric boats and that will allow him to fish in peace and relative quiet its got harder al jazeera bangkok. And lets take you through some of the stories here on aljazeera now there are signs a trade agreement between the e. U. And u. K. Is imminent