after nearly two weeks of intense bargaining and years of negotiations, a final draft on a climate deal is now ready. hello. this is al jazeera live from doha. also ahead on the show. an historic election. saudi arabia holds the first poll where women can both run as candidates and vote. the afghan taliban killed 7 people in the neighborhood of the capital, plus - >> reporter: it's not liverpool or the 1960s.

i'm in a country where the beetles live on a new global climate deal is getting closer we're told. the final text expected to be released in just about 90 minutes now. it has already missed at least one deadline, but the french foreign minister says he is hopeful for an agreement. it comes after years of tough negotiations when countries agreed to cut emissions in 1997. that's when the kyoto protocol was signed in japan. they poor countries said they didn't contribute to the issue. in 2009 many thought a new agreement was needed, but the

conference then failed to deliver. it was a pledge to low global warming. another one was to be signed which included developing nations. then there was a plan for voluntary targets to reduce submissions. over to our environment editor nick clerk in paris. we're told the final touch is being put on that draft. what do we know about this? what does it look like? >> reporter: it's looking tweet good, but you've got-- pretty good. we have heard that the french president francois hollande is on his way here. if he is coming, he must be pretty confident that we're very close to a deal. that's a very good sign, indeed. the draft of the latest version will be committed to this committee of paris, which is the consultation set up, comprising

of government ministers. that will happen at 11.30. then at some point a plenary will take place including all parties here and then there will be a tussle and more debate and more objections will be heard and then hopefully there will be the formal adaption of the paris agreement. that's how it could pan out. it may stretch longer into the day, into the night, into tomorrow, but the feelings is that it is going to be at some point this afternoon. let's get the view from tim gorr who is head of food and climate policy. what is your take on it?

countries to adapt to the situations that they are facing. the final draft we in seen did have a pretty strong provisions of finance. it was one of the areas of most progress over the two weeks, but there has been a lot of push back from some of the developed countries over night, so we're waiting to see what's in there. we're hope to see something in there but there won'ting everything that we will look for >> reporter: the sense is that poorer countries will be getting a raw deal, but there is that process that needs to be happening to get on to a launching pad?

this has to be the start not the end. we are still pushing for the rich countries to provide for the poorer countries. >> reporter: given what you know about this final draft, how did it compare to what your expectations were two weeks ago at the beginning of the conference?

gain. this is not the same as the famed summit-- failed summit six years ago, but we need to protect the poor as we move father this would only be the beginning as and when that final agreement happens and let's see what has transpired this afternoon see indeed. thanks. polls have opened in saudi arabia for ground breaking local elections. women are taking part for the first time both as candidates and voters. around 900 women and 3000 men are applying for election. the legal voting age has been lowered from 21 to 18. many young people welcome the changes >> translation: it was difficult in the past to communicate with men, but with the presence of a woman now i can speak through her

not everyone agrees with allowing women to run >> we know that women make up half of society, but her role is not in such places. her home if is at home and bringing up a new generation. if we allow her to get out of our house and do the business, who is going to take care of my son how much of a key moment is this? not just for saudi politics but for society? >> reporter: it is a major shift in saudi society. it is not only the first time that women are voting or even standing in these elections, but it's also only the third time that the country has experienced any form of direct voting in any poll whatsoever. that in itself is very significant. we're going to try and walk into one of the polling stations here to give you a sense of how things are run here. it is pretty quiet, but things are running smoothly here is one

voter who is checking his name on the list. they're given the ballot papers and go behind those boards to register their votes. here it's about the make up of this society and how things are changing in what has been a strictly - a country strictly ruled by an monarchy, and maybe there a shift at the local level, obviously the overriding theme of these is the participation of women both as voters and candidates, but like i said this is the third time only in the country's history that people are voting is something very significant in and of itself as well it is significant. if we put it in context, this is the only elected body shall the council's are the only elected

bodies in saudi arabia. only a third of the members are elected. how much influence do they ultimately have on the political scene? >> reporter: much, obviously. there is about three thousand seats there, only about two thousand as you say are directly elected. the other thousand or so are appointed by the king. when you speak to officials here they say they are taking steps, which may be baby steps, but they are steps towards get democraticisation. they say it may be too lashgts but this is huge. you have to bear in mind the history and social kind of background of this country when you look at things, for example, women and the right to drive and other aspects like this, to have this change is something that is very significant and the fear amongst some people is that they

aren't against giving them, but they're scared if they do it all in one go it would create an earthquake or something that would be difficult to control. their argument is that they will be doing the changes but on their own pace. the other side, critics coming from western countries and so forth saying this is not enough, but for the people here it is a major change nonetheless and something that a lot of people are monitoring very anxiously as we speak indeed. let me correct something i said earlier. two-thirds of the municipal stands for election. taliban siege at a foreign guest mouse in the capital has ended leaving seven people dead. -- guest house. the houses several key buildings, such as. u.s. embassy and u.n. offices.

afghan troops cleared the area close to a guest house popular with foreign nations. two nationals and others were killed. the four attackers were also killed. >> reporter: the attack started with a car bomb exclogs that could be herpete around the city. it went off just by the spanish embassy. >> translation: at first i thought it was a gas balloon explosion, but i saw the dust coming from the back of the bakery. i don't know where it was but i saw two wounded. >> reporter: taliban fighters exchanged gun fire with afghan police and security forces. the taliban says the target was a guest house for foreigners. they were claimed to be trapped. >> translation: a car was blown up. after the blast happened we turned off the lights in the area and special forces started searching the vicinity and

nearby houses. >> reporter: the area is heavily guarded, home to senior governor officials, ngos, medical clinics. blast was closest to the spanish embassy. >> translation: we can all be targets of terrorist attacks, all of us, any western country, but in this case it was not an attack against the spanish embassy >> reporter: this was the taliban's third high profile attack in four days plenty more still ahead including violence in ethiopia at an ethnic minority group says government plans threaten its way of life. syria's president says he wants to find a political solution but refuses to deal with armed rebels.

>> we are scared. >>...have an organized right-wing movement trying to kill others.

you're watching al jazeera. recapping our headlines. a new global climate deal is getting closer with the final draft expected to be released within hours. it's already missed at least one deadline. the foreign minister is hopeful for an agreement. polls have opened in saudi arabia in a landmark election in which women are allowed to vote and can be candidates for the first time. 900 women and 6,000 men are running for election. in afghanistan seven people have been killed in a taliban siege. four afghan policemen and two civilians died in the awe of kabul. court of appeal in cairo was

expected to hear the case known as the rubber dis%al this hours-- dispersal, but that has been postponed to february. 37 people including leaders of the muslim brotherhood are being retried after being sentenced to death or life in prison. >> reporter: it was a peaceful sit in against a military take over which lasted several weeks. the protesters were met with the full force of the state. thousands of women and children were among those occupying the square before security forces moved in. most of those killed were supporters of the post president and the muslim brotherhood which is now outlawed. human rights watch says at least 817 people were killed. egypt's health ministry says 638

bodies were found. it was put at 2600 people died. rights groups say it was one of the world's largest killings of demonstrators in a single day in recent history. now the case is before the appeal court, but most of those being tried are not the ones who opened fire. most of the defendants are muslim brotherhood supporters. the accused are charged with use of force, premeditated murder and possession of weapons and bombs. the muslim brotherhood leaderss in exchill say it is a cover up for the coup. a senior muslim brotherhood leader says the ukrainian staged a sit in to topple the president while raises arms against the

state. as soon as 46 protesters were killed the world turned upside down and europe and the u.s. intervened and supported the protesters. in egypt hundreds of protesterss were killed and these same actors stood with the murderers. another trial is has sentenced to death 14 men. they were found guilty of setting up an operation room at the protest camp. since the military take over more than 40,000 egyptians have been jailed and hundreds sentenced to death in mass trials. many don't expect the next trial to be any different syrian president bashar al-assad says he is willing to find a political solution to the conflict in syria, but he will not negotiate with armed groups. on thursday opposition factions met in saudi arabia. they agreed to enter peace talks with the government in january. the u.s. is cautiously optimistic.

>> reporter: early days of the cease fire in homs after nearly five years of civil war, the syrian government once again controls that city. some are hoping this might pause as a template for a broader nation cease fire. the syrian's opposition decision is being welcomed to form an umbrella group to try to negotiate peace with the regime next year. >> there are some questions and obviously a couple of, in our judgment, kinks to be worked out and i'm confident they're going to be worked out. >> reporter: the opposition's demand that bashar al-assad quit before a transitional government takes power could hold up talks. >> translation: god willing, we will not be negotiating with killers. >> translation: this conference was not aimed at the fall of the re i'm then we won't accept it. >> translation: our first goal

is the removal of bashar al-assad. not surprisingly, russia rejects the opposition's demand. >> translation: when we hear of such talk as let's first decide the fate of bashar al-assad, it brings into question the priorities that guide our partners. >> reporter: bashar al-assad is going further suggesting the opposition isn't a legitimate representative of the syrian people's will. >> it depends on the definition of opposition. opposition for everyone in this world doesn't mean militant. >> reporter: so what could can compel him to step aside? > translation: use of the most modern high precision weapon system allowed us to cause

serious damage to terrorists' infrastructure and radically change the situation in syria. >> reporter: u.s. and british leaders are saying they are expect the country to do what it is supposed >> it ought to stop propping up the bashar al-assad regime, bring the civil war to an end, stop bombing the opposition groups that have been opposed to bashar al-assad. >> reporter: trying to wage war against one while trying to broker an end to the other, a balancing act with no hope of success a son of libya's leader gadafi has been handed over to security forces in lebanon after being kidnapped. that's according to local media which released video showed him being held. he went missing in tripoli in the 1970s. his followers ablain p blame

gadafi, for his disappearance ethiopia says they're not sure about what happened when 24 people were wounded in a blast, and five of them seriously. it happened after friday afternoon prayers at the mosque. over the past few weeks violence has also erupted in the capital over a government deployment plan for the city. an ethnic group is opposing the scheme. it undermines their rights they say. one video shows police opening fire on protesters at a university. >> reporter: it's not known exactly how many people have been killed. activists say this video on youtube shows police firing during a demonstration at a university more than 500 kilometres east of the capital. activists say there are protests

like this happening almost every day. it's a sharp contrast with the capital where developments such as these are springing up all over the city. contributing to the country's booming economy, one of the fastest growing in the world. the government plan to, as it describes, better integrate development across the wider region and is facing many opposition from the people who live here. no-one we asked would speak on camera, but these farmers are being offered cash to give up their land to developers. the vast majority of the people that live around here and the surrounding eau john are the aroma. they're the largest i think in particular group in ethiopia. police have shot dead a number of people and anti-government protests in the region in recent days. we contacted people in villages where we heard they've been

protests and we recorded this conversation. >> translation: no translation. >> this is evicting them. >> reporter: this man is an opposition leader. he served more than three and a half years of an eight year prison sentence for being involved in a terrorist organization. >> the question is development is not only physical development. it's not only building, constructing houses. it should be some kind of human development. those indigenous people open that area must be developed as well. there should be an accommodation in which they must maintain their identity as well. >> reporter: government leaders say they are listening. >> the government will continue

to take measures to address the problems of people. even 1% life is one too many. the government will bring action against those responsible for the loss of lives. >> reporter: as ethiopia builds towards the future, many of the people say they are feeling increasingly left out a main suspect in the rwandan genocide is being questioned. he is accused of personally orchestrating the massacre of tens of thousands of people. he is facing murder and rape and rwanda is calling for his extradition and immediate trial. the chinese internet giant alibaba is buying the south china morning post. it is hong kong's biggest

english newspaper, one of the oldest and most respected publications in asia. the purchase is part of -- a professor of politics at the chinese university of hong kong. he explained the motivation behind the acquisition. >> it is part of a well orchestrated plan by the chinese government to boost its soft power projection around the world and the morning post being an influential paper in the asia-pacific region, it will be used to project soft power and also assure that alibaba's coverage of china will no longer be biassed and seen what they call through lenss mexico hope they're one step closer to having a drug legal

identified. the possession of drug for personal use has been passed. one h cubans are being allowed to post a letter direct to family in the u.s. and vice versa. direct postal services are being restarted more than 50 years after being stopped because of a cold war. since then letters have been rerouted through a third country. the resumption is the latest improvement in relations between the neighbors. it's 45 years since the beetles split up, but in argentina the memory of the fab four is as sharp as it ever was. a week-long music festival is underway. >> reporter: this man is listed

in the guinness book of records for having the largest amount of beetles memorabilia. he became hooked as a buy when he heard the single in high life. he began collecting when john len on was killed 35 years ago. >> translation: the beetles called for that call in freedom of young people. >> reporter: most of his collection is in the museum attracting thousands of visitors a year. >> translation: it is the music. kids know how to sing beetles songs from the smallest kid up to secondary school. >> reporter: it's a long and winding road from liverpool to this area, more than 11,000 kilometres, but 45 years after the band split up, they're as

popular here as ever before. the fab four's following extends beyond argentina. this was 915th beetles week mere, a celebration of their music bringing together bands from all over. the first place in this contest was to play in liverpool. this band from chile. >> translation: for me the beetles marked the point at which modern music began, from the point of view of the composition, the instruments, vocals and more than anything the overall quality. >> reporter: and the fans stretch across the generations. >> translation: because of our age we grew up in the period of the beetles. it was our time. >> translation: i've looked them since i was a kid thanks to my parents and because of this passion i study music. >> reporter: culture, language and distance are no obstacle, it seems, for latin americans to

come together here. as len onand mccartrney would say, all you need is love you can come together with that and others at al jazeera.com you're so tricky... here's the bomb, be careful! e's the bomb, be careful! "allah made me funny". >> look at this stage master allah. this is a lot of room for a palestinian, you know? >> the group uses humor to combat islamophobia and challenge misconceptions about muslims. amer is a palestinian, born and raised in kuwait.