Minister r. B. I. Bird is sending the army to the Western Region of benny shango governments of 100 people have been killed there by an unknown gunman Amnesty International says dozens are unaccounted for. France is sending 10000. 00 culver tests to the u. K. Health care thousands of Truck Drivers stranded by new Coronavirus Border restrictions train drivers have piled up for days after france temporarily closed the border. Well more now on our top story and a barber takes a look at the negotiations and how the deal was finally done. Its taken endless rounds of stop start talks between the u. K. In the European Union now at the 11th hour a trade deals emerged. One area of dispute that seemed compromise is fishing rights outside the e. U. Britain has control of its exclusive Economic Zone but its had to budge on how much access e. U. Trawlers have theres also been movement on state aid to allay the e. U. Fears that European Companies could suffer from unfair competition after all the uncertainty recriminations and u. Turns the u. K. Finally has a trade deal with its biggest commercial partner in reality its very far from the deep and special relationship promised by the previous Prime Minister but its a start and it means the worst damage under a no deal scenario can be avoided. The governments independent spending watchdog says that would have knocked 2 percent of u. K. Growth in 2021 alone partly because of temporary disruptions to cross border trade and for. One cane breaks it watcher the deal sends a political message to diplomatically the fact that both sides are shaken hands on a deal puts them on the same side and they now both have an imperative to Work Together to make this deal look as good and run as smoothly as possible and that will minimize short term disruption but it will also mean that the u. K. And the e. U. Arms at loggerheads as i think they would have been in the event of a no deal outcome but even with this deal u. K. Businesses still have plenty to worry about only a small number of transport companies have had access to britains new Border Crossing software expected to be rolled out just a week before the transition period ends there are concerns about britains current jobs crisis deepening if firms relocate to the e. U. And there are still Unanswered Questions about how to avoid physical border checks between Northern Ireland part of the u. K. And ireland an e. U. Member or the deal still has to be ratified by the European Parliament for now both sides will be happy to have something to show for the torturous negotiations but they know their future relationship is still being sculpted nadine barber aljazeera london. I think of when is a professor of politics at the university of kent and an associate fellow attack house he joins us by skype from london thank you for telling us here on aljazeera so what happens next what is the next step after all of this. Well for Boris Johnson the next step is to essentially get on and rebuild the country after this divisive moment to deliver on everything that hes promised his new voters to define what he means by Global Britain and to begin to reshape the National Economy around those new trade deals with other countries from outside of europe and also to level up britain this big promise to do more for the regions and less for london for the European Union meanwhile the priority is sensually to move on without a major power this is the 1st time in the entire history of the European Union that one of its major powers has voluntarily left and has now got a new trading relationship with it and so both would need to navigate the next few years together deciding what theyre going to do around things Like Services what theyre going to do around things Like Research policing intelligence lots of other little areas that still need to go she asian but fundamentally this is essentially like a couple after a divorce trying to figure out are we going to stay friends is going to be acrimonious is that potentially some reunion later down the line that essentially is where we are now like that ourselves and instead they have a lot but i think ive had that phrase in a political context before like what do you make of how this has been prevented by both sides im showing this into bostons press conference and the one from the e. U. With us live on the line as well very different tones taken by both how do you make of all how it was put forward. Well the titan here in london from Boris Johnson and his conservative allies has been triumph and they claim that they have had the upper hand in the negotiation of they want this negotiation in their eyes that of course its all mainly optics its about johnson trying to hold together his leave electorate and for europe its about showing the integrity of the Single Market staying in place that. The United Kingdom would not be able to access the Single Market without ensuring that it is that hearing to certain rules and regulations until the European Union this is about reassuring other Member States of the negotiations have been handled as well as they as well as they can be but but a broad level were seeing something both riddled historical significance today and we should not be silent of the fact that these 2 big blocks. The United Kingdom and the European Union have decoupled in a meaningful way and that will be with us for the rest of our lifetimes and bricks it of course will be discussed for decades if not centuries to come a conscious on coupling you might say thank you for that Matthew Goodwin there fessor of politics at the university of kent Palestinian Christians are preparing to go ahead with christmas celebrations in bethlehem to spikes in covert cases in the occupied west bank the festivities but not mass assented on the church of nativity where christians say jesus was born will take place with no congregation as they know tourism in israel and the occupied west bank since israel imposed a ban on foreign travel and monch due to covert it 19 joining us now from bethlehem is needed it for him need not a lot of people around it looks festive. Whats the mood like there in bethlehem on christmas eve. Well let me start by telling you that. Looks really different than usual let me take you through what happens throughout the day usually thousands of pilgrims from all around the world come here and greet the latin patriarch as he enters the Nativity Church and known seeing the start of the christmas celebrations this year weve seen very few people around he left and patchy our past really quickly here. And you know because of the restrictions many of opted not to come the authorities have limited access to the main just where without. And advised really old people to be abiding by Health Measures now i dont this time in the evening there is a stage that the. Acquirers from around the thing Christmas Carols this is not happening here even the stage is not even set up now the Midnight Mass itself is going to be happening but no dignitaries as far as the tourist tourism minister told aljazeera no dignitaries from the palestinian authorities will be in attendance but very symbolic different palestinian cities will be in the attendance so i can tell you that its really really not looking a lot like christmas in bethlehem thank you for that our apologies there for the technical issues with. Perhaps a microphone cable but thank you that made. Your assertions have come into force across south korea already trying to control the pandemic during the holiday period the nation has been recording around 1000 new cases a day or by prime reports now 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 one international praise for it in south koreas 3rd biggest city in jan jan hanna ram is one of a team of traces who are 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 itll be a 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 so 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 Robert Bright aljazeera sole. Women in Central African republic have stated a demonstration in the capital ahead of sundays president ial and legislative elections in march through calling for a peaceful and secure from tensions have flared in the past week with rebels capturing around town on tuesday and barry is now in the hands of un peacekeepers and National Security forces. At least 20 people died when a boat carrying migrants sank off the coast of tunisia they were thought to be trying to reach the italian island of lampedusa when the vessel capsized genesee and coast guard officials said 5 people were rescued and theyre looking for 20 others qatar has informed the u. N. Security council that bahraini fighter jets violated its airspace it relates to an incident on december 9th brain is one of 4 nations along with saudi arabia egypt and the u. A. E. That imposed a blockade and called thousands 2017 talks to resolve the crisis are reported to have made progress in recent weeks. Pakistani court has ordered the release of the man convicted of the killing of u. S. Journalist daniel pearl in 2002. Is being freed while an appeal is under way earlier this year the high court overturned his murder charge that was challenged by polls family made rashid is a journalist and author of taliban militant islam Oil Fundamentalism in central asia he says International Pressure could lead to his real present. There must be a very serious internal middle she ations going on in islamabad between the government the intelligence agencies the military. And of course if this case is sent up to the Supreme Court in islamabad its quite likely that he would be jailed again the problem is that hes being hes being rejected all know for several years on 90 day detention order which is not exactly what he you know hes been convicted of murdering daniel. And. And hes been sentenced to 18 years in jail. But you know his actual yelling and being carried out on a on a had not basis or a 90 day tension order now the question is i mean every 90 days we are having this crisis you know the same bike or freezing the government tries to block it or issues an appeal against freeing him and usually wins. Oh it plays oh no this time around its the rift between the government and the courts and the intelligence agencies is quite large. Us president all trump has issued and now this areas of politics hes going to claim it seats 26. 00 people including his 26000. 00 Campaign Chairman for metaphor and for to start on his long time advisor and friend he also part in childs quest to the father of his son in law Jack Shephard townsite 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 for unrelated 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 rusher 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 metaphors paul confirms a suspicion they had during the russian meddling investigation democratic congressman adam schiff tweeting during the Murder Investigation trumps lawyer floated a pardon to mount a 4th man a fault with drew his cooperation with prosecutors lied was convicted and then trumped praised him for not ratting trumps public now 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 mileage 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 trump vetoed the National Defense authorization act the 740000000000 dollar legislation passed by congress the funds defense spending. President from could object to provisions designed to slow down the withdrawal of u. S. Troops from afghanistan 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 area however both the house and senate are expected to meet next week to override the president ial veto she. Wrote washington. One of the Worlds Largest Ecommerce Companies is under investigation by china beijing is accusing on a barber of one of a list stick behavior instead of a blow for the companys founder jack ma is government regulations attempt to rein in his expanding Business Empire circuit reports from hong kong he has an iq worth of around 50000000000. 00 and his chinas 2nd richest man jack meyer is also the founder of the ecommerce giant alibaba which regulators have accused of using monopolistic tactics they have been signaling for quite some time changes are what they do not want edge of an essence control market and be sure is filled by 8 percent when stock markets opened the investigation as 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 and 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. 00 china and still have a lot room to grow most of the mainland part cash anymore they simply use cell phones to pay everything not only apparel not only that you know but they buy a car. And group is the crown jewel in the alley 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 oil giant saudi aramco listed last december the largest i. P. O. Today. Of the Saudi Arabia Oil company which is. 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 jacks 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 its executives are expected to be summoned in coming days sarah clarke aljazeera hong kong. Iraqs government recently devalued the local currency the iraqi dinar by more than 20 percent is the biggest currency devaluation against the dollar since the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein traffic has this report from baghdad. For more than a year theory abraham has been coming to protest in central baghdad to demand Better Services political reform and an end to what he says has been decades of government corruption and mismanagement. But hes here today because like many iraqis he is shocked and angry about the governments recent devaluation of the iraqi deano against the dollar by more than 20 percent and you have stunned by the governments action i will i think to lose almost quarter of myself because im paid indiana the finest meanest that says it wont affect us how well its not. The government said it had to devalue iraqs current c. Because of a collapse in the oil prices brought on by a slump in Global Energy demands due to the coronavirus pandemic this devaluation is the biggest since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 and experts are saying it means the already a reasonable Economic Situation for millions of iraqis could get even worse. This is back dance usually bustling wholesale market but its been very quiet since the devaluation of the dino. The collapse in iraqs industrial and food producing sectors in recent decades means most food and domestic products are imported from neighboring countries especially turkey and iran but china do not have. A boat good to the old dollar price and now we have to sell the devalued price to put my prices on for a lose a lot of money it hits every day people the hardest and there are no jobs because we dont have a comma so think is in charge this means shopkeepers have had no choice but to suddenly put their prices up too and still go out and i still havent received my give out of my fanchon and even when i do it it will be much less all the prices have suddenly increased of course it is affecting all stood up. Even before the current see devaluation the world bank predicted and shop rising property in iraq. Almost 90 percent of Iraqi Government revenue comes from oil but plummeting prices have caused a cash crisis. Iraqs Public Sector has tripled in size to more than 4000000 employees since 2003 delays in payment of government salaries and the lack of private sector jobs have fueled the protests. Hundreds of people have been killed in the crackdown no one has been called to account for the deaths it is the disaster is that the vaster for the middle class the lower class but not the top class obviously but the main reason is corruption corruption is the one because there are other Oil Producing countries that are not affected as iraq is of course iraq self and dollars so they dont get affected but the people are getting their salaries in there and so instead of ripping off the budget theyre ripping off the lawyers themselves and that means more Financial Hardship for iraqis and potentially full civil and political wrist. Baghdad. Is notorious for traffic and pollution including on its waterways now the government is looking to make one popular method of transport green a and much quieter scada reports from bangkok. Fishing out his front door like he has for the last 40 years amarin it needs your own 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 boats. To the electric plants will generate less noise i wont bother people so much that. 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 of course the biggest challenge is changing peoples minds we have to encourage them to switch from private to Public Transportation boats are a good option because of the history 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 even is a kind of steel. In the sea it the next step is to encourage people. Even the government itself to the most seriously think about how the even electric vehicles because that is the the next generation full full environmental friendly times but asian 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 can now 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 aljazeera bangkok. The start of the next football world cup from qatars star less than 2 years away the tournament itself will last less than a month but organizers hope its benefits will be felt for years at the ridge said reports. Ahead of the 2022 world cup the ongoing transformation of cattles landscape is hard to miss but organizers will the impact of this event to be felt far beyond the countrys borders. The generation amazing project is helping to build football facilities and train coaches in deprived communities all over the world and it already has a decade of work to its name. Went to a new generation is in started in 2010 almost 10 years ago now. The 1st thing that we did was we built a football pitch in a refugee camp in the region so we looked at jordan and lebanon obviously those are the areas that were being affected with 3rd of the refugee populations coming in and then based on that kind of wanted to expand or sort of embarked on. This some of footballs biggest names have got involved to spread the message and share their expertise including australias all time leading scorer tim cahill who played at 4 world cups so really generation amazing is the legacy i really want to target education and grassroots this is how i started at 16 you know its very difficult for me to get my opportunity from and to even play in a world cup to be honest with you so i feel privileged to be in this position so far the generation amazing project has reached more than half a 1000000 people in 5 different continents bit in haiti rwanda or back here in cats all the central things of inclusive it see and gender equality remain the same as a kid terry girl i love playing football but i dont feel like i am given the opportunity to play it here without being diagnosed by my community or people in general so i really wanted to like find a solution for that. Room situation and allow other girls like me to play football here and guitar i think will be a great form for that sort of change because for those who do not necessarily. Are aware of what qatar stands for are what the world cup is yet to bring or like programs like generation amazing i think it will allow them to see a different side and understand that football is something that is for everyone. Game changing individuals making sure the middle easts 1st world cup is about far more than just a 4 week football tournament on the richardson aljazeera. Well thats it for me for this news hour ago ever ill be back a moment with more of the days news and all the very latest on the u. K. E. U. Post that trade deal. Discovered kazakstan has a new strategic location at the crossroads of europe and asia. Develop and grow your business. In the leading logistics trade business harbor in 1st in a country with a great business climate. System a tax regime and just investment incentives employ a well educated highly skilled and multilingual workforce. By investing in kazakstan you invest in the largest economy of the region where the growth and prosperity of your business will always be our key priority. Invest in kazakstan seize the best opportunities in the heart of eurasia. The silence has been this. Belief this. Is one of scandinavia so largest iron ore deposits. And its driving a wedge between those seeking wealth. And those defending their way of life. A witness documentary on a. Be the hero the world needs. Washing. All. Together we still need shes more than we do apart finally a deal is done in the u. K. And do you reach a post breaks a trade agreements up to 5 years ago she ations. This country will remain culturally emotionally historically strategically geologic. Attached to europe. A minister boss johnson praises the deal and promises britain will always be a passage of the e. U