which will see a move to really point of forces from the port and assist the and the establishment of a guard order it a governorate wide ceasefires the un will play a leading role in the ports and this will facilitate humanitarian access and the floor routes to the civilian population and it will improve the living conditions for millions of yemenis who have also reached the move to understanding to ease the situation to ease and i believe this will lead to the opening of humanitarian corridors of us and the facilitation of the money before coming here you have already agreed on a prisoner exchange now you have agreed on a timeline and details for implementing the exchange allowing thousands i repeat thousands of yemenis to be reunited with their families and finally a very important step for the peace process you have agreed to engage in

discussions on a negotiating framework in the next meeting these a critical elements for the future but a political settlement to end the conflicts based on your constructive engagement treatment we have a better understanding of the positions of the parties and you have agreed to meet again to continue to discuss these further at the end of january during the next round of negotiations but would be now and generally will always be available to go on discussing and trying to reach progress all the other those years that are still pending for this question and agreements what you have agreed here will mean a lot for the future of yemen it will mean a lot for the yemeni people will see concrete results in their daily lives and allow me to make a personal statement and to pay a personal tribute to the people of yemen i was high commissioner for refugees

during ten years. and during those ten years i visited yemen several times. somali refugees were coming to yemen a country that is of course poor country and with enormous problems the borders of yemen the daughters of the yemeni people the hearts of the many people were always open to somali refugees they were granted prima facie refugee startles and when you look at the world today and the difficulties refugees face in so many parts of the world we need to pay tribute to did a lot of city to the hospitality of the yemeni people the yemeni people as demonstrated a silly their duty with other peoples in need debt these herbs are our three but and that these are to do everything possible as international community

to support yemenis in finding a solution yemeni solutions for their own problems to get immense today mean a lot not only for the yemeni people in a lot for humanity if this can be a starting point for peace and for ending humanitarian crises in yemen shook around thank you very much thank you you thank. sort of foreign affairs of. gracious hosts. thank you very much six a lengthy third dear friends this is indeed a very special day for yemen for the united nations and for us here in sweden and you know that this is a day when we actually celebrate light it is maybe difficult to see from the

outside here but but we are and i want to say first of all thank you all a for traveling to this far away snow we place and for your earnest efforts. mirroring what until you get ters was saying he started his wrapping up a trespassing twenty four million people are in urgent need of help ten million of those don't know where their next meal is coming from he said they had reached an agreement a government wide ceasefire around the port city of data easing the situation in tiny's as well cities as clearly back on the table despite what some reports were saying a little earlier this week what they've agreed will ease the lives of people there finally he said they are going to come up with a framework in the next set of talks shuttle to the end of january he went on to say as well between now and those next timetabled block of discussions pick up the phone if you need to if you want to because we can always talk we can always listen

on the margins of this broader process and then he put out a personal statement really to the people of yemen he was saying that in his previous job at the united nations he was in charge of the u.n.h.c.r. and he said in his experience when he was aware of somali refugees leaving their country going to yemen the hearts of yemenis the doors of yemenis were always open and they had shown a solidarity with the people of yemen and this process is about yemenis. finding a solutions for yemen let's talk now to not be able cudi he is formally a u.s. diplomat and a deputy chief of mission in yemen he joins us on skype from washington what's your reading of what we've been hearing so far from antonio terrace. i'm very pleasantly surprised then i think this is a remarkable achievement for a roughly one week in sweden. the only week there was

a rumor that there are was and they getting it on a prisoner exchange plan but no details and so now they're telling us that the things that have been working worked out there is a timeline for this prisoner exchange and there are thousands of prisoners on both sides so this is good news in the. second and frankly i don't think many people thought there would be an agreement on what they've done because it's such a thought for a show but apparently they have very good ether some kind of a first the cease fire in the data and secondly inutile management off the poor so that the poor can continue functioning and everybody in yemen can know the benefits of that. that's amazing frankly this is a really excellent. dies the other important military front there seems to

be a question mark about that but at least a readiness to try to reduce tensions there and i imagine. that is would be dealt with at the next session now that's the other important achievement is that there indeed will be in excess of these talks and they've even eggy the no framework on an end genda. so i am now all of a sudden. very optimistic that this is in the in a good first step and we hope that others will follow holding the peace is sometimes a lot more difficult than waging a war so out of what they've agreed. not withstanding the prisoner swap because once that's done it's something that's done that won't but that will carry on in perpetuity clearly but to what they've apparently achieved so far what is

potentially the weakest link in this chain for some sort of peaceful settlement. well the. mean. for one is a bit complicated then and things could go wrong in the implementation of it. because. the government still wants to be in control but apparently they very need to and you are a management how you how you do that and how you separate the forces on the ground is tricky because they're very close to one another the other thing is they didn't say anything of. a general ceasefire meaning that the aerial bombardment from saudi arabia that of correlation could continue. and probably well as some sort of pressure mechanism and that could disrupt things

i mean the severing is if they don't stop they couldn't hit somebody or something whether by mistake or deliberately which would set the whole thing rolling backwards. there's also room for deliberate destruction there are people who forces almost there. are benefiting out reaping material benefits from this war and they could do something to this so in the it's like walking sewer landmine here. but at least there seems to be eroding map ahead and we have to consider that part of the thing but surely a continuation of the air raids would be utterly unacceptable not least because of another aspect to yemen that we're discussing which is american politicians about to vote to send what will broadly be a symbolic message to the trumpet ministration which will be you've got to do less

with saudi arabia because we cannot be complicit in what saudi arabia does in the skies over yemen i mean look this is indeed their weakest link here it is the u.s. government and the company ministration which could behind the scenes work something out with saudi arabia without reaching the point of. all military times they could simply convince them to unilaterally the style of the war from the air and stop the bombardment that would be very helpful because it would be a signal to the who these. things are going in there and their action that they will not be a bag now and it's going it's over. so i'm i'm hoping that something is missing worked out but frankly this is

a this is the disturbing point in the whole thing if you as long as i'm pleading enough one way or another on the solid used to stop there you know weidman this could still all go backwards. when these talks began people weren't very they weren't particularly optimistic i think that's a fair interpretation of what the the choreography was in the run up to this but there seemed to be an off camera don't quote me dynamic going on on both sides and it was this we're yemenis first before we are anything else and if that's true what led to that mindset on both sides of this conflict. i've always maintained that the yemeni identity is strong everywhere in yemen.

there were all who has problems with the north and the south and these governance issues they're not it's not like people seas or southerners feel they are not yemenis it's the feeling that they have not been clearly the dome or the ears if the center of government had even on the idea of the last lot of. them fairly in terms of distribution of wealth this interview should of positions in government etc. we wouldn't be in the trouble we're in today and but you see them whether at the peace talks in sweden and i've heard this from friends who have been on the ground there that when they get together over lunch or you know over coffee they talk to each other of really there's no problem socially in yemen there's never been a problem and this like all this well i think they all still feel like brothers and

sisters angry at each other no doubt but they realize that they belong to the same family and that's what timothy gives one hope that the country will get back to peace and to being in one piece in my opinion something would have to be done. to the southern question to avoid this eruption and this is not time for the southern nurse to be asking for independence what is a sane autonomy for interrupting you know be a korea what kind of running out of time one last point when you talk about something has to be done is one of those things that has to be done perhaps at some point maybe at the next set of discussions or the discussions after that set of discussion. this is a proxy conflict to the people who we are looking at right now in rimbaud in sweden to they have to do an about face and talk to the proxies talk to let's let's call

them their sponsors and say actually do you know something we don't need you we don't want you we don't want you involved in our country if only because we are yemenis first and last i think so i think if you talk to ordinary yemeni years and i think this has been a missing link everybody has to listen to the voices of the young man talk to the men and women all over yemen talk to the young men and women journalists yemenis were are in sweden covering this they do their best to be in europe to really look their best not to be partisan and if misstatement joint statement comes out from the delegates more snow in their legations there to e.m.i. news can settle our differences among one another we don't need saudi arabia really don't need the iran thank you very much for whatever you have done for us up to now but please leave us alone stop interfering and we'll work it now or i think that

would be great never corey there in washington great to get your insight on this developing story as ever thank you so much for joining us here on al-jazeera well the keynote speaker there in north of stockholm of course was the u.n. secretary general antonio terrace he was speaking from the heart at one point but he was also talking about that ceasefire crucial cease fire announced in and around the port city of data he said both sides have agreed to stop fighting and eventually one control to the u.n. that's also what he calls a mutual understanding on deescalation in the city of tire use that follows the prisoner exchange deal as announced at the beginning of the discussions and they have also agreed to meet at the end of january let's listen in to what mr potatoes have to say you have reached an agreement on the day the port city. which will see a move to really point of forces from the port and the since the and the establishment of a guard moderate a governor it wide ceasefires the un will play

a leading role in the ports and these will facilitate the many turning excess in the floor routes to the civilian population and it will improve the living conditions for millions of yemenis well as we were just discussing there with our guest from washington the u.s. senate likely to vote on a resolution in the next few hours to end u.s. support for the saudi led war in yemen senators voted sixty to thirty nine to advance the measure on weapons during a similar move was defeated in march but bipartisan support has increased since the murder of jamal khashoggi the vote coincides with the final day of those discussions in sweden trying to get them to a stage where the conflict is over. the united states with very little media attention has been saudi arabia's partner in this horrific war we have been providing the bombs the saudi led coalition is using refueling their

planes before they drop those bombs and assisting with intelligence alan fischer joins us live now from washington alan how do we think the vote's going to stack up . well it's almost certain to pass through the senate but there's a problem the problem is the first of all the house yesterday essentially closed the door on any discussion before the end of the term and you remember there will be a new congress starting in january so they're not going to devote debate yemen which means that if it doesn't pass through both houses of congress then it effectively dies on the floor of the senate and then the further problem is that even if it does get through the house and will come back to that in a second that donald trump has said that he is going to veto it could it get through the house in january when suddenly the house of representatives becomes a democratic institution run by the democrats they decide what is discussed what is debated and the of the votes to push things through there is every possibility of

that but it may not be veto proof so donald trump will still have the upper hand when it gets to his desk but what happens in the senate is important because it's symbolic what we're seeing are a number of people number of leading senators who in the past have been very forceful in their support for saudi arabia now is saying hold on a second we don't think we can do this so what are the objections well the republicans say look the reality is that since we stopped air to air refueling of saudi aircraft we're not really involved in the war in yemen and that's been the case since november but they are still providing intelligence they're still providing expertise in certain areas and that is what's led barely sanders and democratic senators to get together with some republicans to say the united states is involved in this war and when you have people like lindsey graham who's a big supporter of donald trump and formerly a big supporter of saudi arabia saying enough is enough we need to stop this then

saudi arabia has more than a p.r. problem in the u.s. senate does that mean that donald trump will be held to account or won't be held to account not wishing to use loaded language in this conversation alan but you know if you've got people who are that influential in effect saying look we cannot be complicit in war crimes we cannot be complicit in human rights abuses he can presumably then just say well crown prince mohammed bin solomon's a very powerful guy and we have to work with him. well it all then boils down into technicalities is the u.s. actually involved in the war in yemen there is a say the republicans and certain people in the white house are saying that is not the case when they were supplying fuel air to air refueling aircraft then yes you could argue that they were involved mitch mcconnell has said and he is the leader of the republicans in the senate if you want to pick a fight on the authorization of force on the congress's war act this isn't the fight so there are technical ways that donald trump can stand back and see look

that we're not involved in this fight all we're doing is supplying intelligence but of course we know they're also supplying weapons and you remember the m. from a bomb attack earlier this year it was a u.s. missile that struck and killed a number of children there are people who are very critical of paul ryan who is the third most important republican in the country or certainly will be for a couple of weeks the speaker of the house and he shut down any possibility of this being raised on the house floor there are those even in his own party who say that is a heck of a legacy to leave the final thing you do before you walk out the door you give up your life as a politician to stop a debate on something as crucial as this when there are lives at risk thanks ellen . sri lanka's top court has unanimously overruled the president's decision to dissolve parliament saying it is unconstitutional the case involves more than a dozen petitions that challenge president must republish citizen has been the

trigger snap election sri lanka descended into a political crisis when citizen assent to his prime minister ran away from a singer who won the confidence votes on wednesday when else and under his hands the latest from the capital colombo. the decision that many out here the supreme court of. historic basically found that prison might be policy was in violation of the constitution of sri lanka when he dissolved parliament now the bases which had been questioned was the fact that the president according to the constitution could not dissolve parliament before parliament completed four and a half years of its term at the point that president seriously in the dissolved parliament it was at least a year and two months short of that time period and the seven judge bench where hearing made a unanimous decision all of them agreed that the president had violated the constitution so what this means is parliament stands basically reinstated the

dissolution has been knocked down by the apex court in sri lanka now there are still issues yes the entire disillusion of the changing of prime minister sparked a constitutional crisis but there are for the issues which will be coming up in for the days there is the sacking of prime minister brown of become a singer who claims he's still the legitimate prime minister his successor the former president rajapaksa basically has his authority has been questioned in the court of appeal and there is a restraining order stopping him from functioning as prime minister now he has appealed that restraining order but as you can see many things still remaining to be resolved. british prime minister to resign may has now arrived in brussels to ask e.u. leaders for concessions on a deal but the e.u. has released a draft statement saying the agreement cannot be renegotiated may survive a leadership challenge last night from our own party two hundred people voted for

her one hundred seventeen voted against dominic kane from brussels. today of meetings for to reason main here in brussels at the european summit she has meetings with the irish teashop the prime minister of iraq up who obviously is important in this in the discussions around the backstop for northern ireland that's something which has been a real bone of contention for many members of the u.k. parliament then she has a meeting with the president of the council of ministers that we donald tusk and finally of course a meeting with the all other heads of state heads of government of the e.u. the question will be what room is there for for any kind of clarification or interpretation those words are important because those are the words that president ford younker used to euro m.p.'s in strasbourg this week when he said there was no room for renegotiation but perhaps intelligent clarification interpretation but at stake here is how is it possible to find the same form of words interpreted in one

way in brussels and by the twenty seven e.u. leaders and interpreted entirely differently by the parliament in westminster that is the real issue at stake here we know that today the german parliament has voted through a motion which says it would be an illusion to believe that rejecting this deal would lead to a renegotiation that's everything that's at stake here in brussels today. paul brennan with more from westminster and london. when she's won the vote she's got the confidence most of most of her conservative parliamentary m.p.'s but the sentiment of parliament as a whole remains the same as it was and that is that that simply isn't the arithmetic there for her deal as it stands to be passed by a majority of the parliamentary votes she needs the do you pay that the democratic unionist party even and they're not going to back her because they still have real

concerns about the irish backstop the very issue that she's gone to brussels to talk about today and the discontent over the reason is leadership persists i mean how she's done depends on who you speak to her allies say that this success in the no confidence vote has given her the mandate to continue with her plan her opponents say that the numbers of the vote one hundred seventeen who said that they had no confidence in a fatally damages her fatally wound as a prime minister. a warehouse in the democratic republic of congo has burned nearly all voting machines in the capital kinshasa just ten days from the forthcoming elections working machines have been a sensitive subject with opposition politicians holding rallies against their use over recent months the election commission says the vote will still go ahead michel about us. this is what remains of a large election commission warehouse in kinshasa the capital of the democratic

republic of congo inside were voting materials distant for polling seem to throughout the city ahead of presidential elections on december twenty third is that it's a dirty trick because they have guards why didn't they call the fire brigade that night but it's all scheme to find ways of pushing back the elections. it started at about two o'clock in the morning local time more than nine thousand voting machines were destroyed the majority of election materials for other provinces had already been delivered and i'm impatient to where we have the impression that this may be a criminal act as the fire was declared in two places inside the store in the same moment we cannot say more for now but we would like to ensure our populations that the equipment from kinshasa that burned here will be replaced there is no worry about the coming elections even though the damage is serious. voting machines are a sensitive subject in the d.l.c. traditionally elections here are decided by pain and paper ballots they arrive for

the first time in february when hundred thousand are being distributed across this vast nation the second largest in africa to be used by forty six million registered voters is the government marketed the benefits saying they would cut costs and speed up vote counting. the protests have been how across the country against the use critics have argued they need power to work and only nine percent of the country has electricity which is often unreliable others say they're illegal and tasty. and easy to rig at rallies in september and october there was backlash. i know. money did this system. we cannot participate in elections that we know already will fail because of these voting machines. the election commission has yet to confirm whether the fire was

caused by arson and now tasked with salvaging an election that is already long delays and momentous president joseph kabila has been in power since two thousand and one twenty one candidates are vying to replace him what may be the country's first democratic transition of power since independence any sixty years ago charlotte dallas. the eritrean president. has arrived in the somali capital mogadishu for an official visit. to the two nations restore diplomatic relations recently after nearly fifteen years of a break this is the first visit by an eritrean leader in decades. president after work he has visitors the first ever for an area training needed to visit somalia in nearly two decades the country signed a deal in july to reestablish diplomatic relations somalia's previous government had accused there a trail of supporting the opposition groups of former somali leaders also accused

or trail of providing weapons to the armed group al-shabaab. so you see in your research and author of understanding eritrea he says reconciliation between eritrea and ethiopia earlier this year has led to the rest of the region beginning the process of mending fences. there was recently meetings between the eritrea and the sudanese or that the earth. the somalis and the ethiopian governments most recently in november in ethiopia and that was when a deal was done which is really behind today's visit to somalia by president this hour there are suggestions in what has to be careful about this that there are going to be there's going to be security cooperation between the eritrea. and ethiopia and and the somali government as you mustn't get the somalis are fighting al-shabaab are in a very fragile condition and b.

eritreans now that they've ended their conflict with the ethiopians have thousands of troops available. it is possible that a brigade will be sent from eritrea to somalia to increase the security of the city somali government. that is something that is on the cards perhaps it will be signed today in mogadishu i mean i think the relationship with the south. they really brokered the deal between ethiopia and eritrea along with the americans so. why do we say our interest in the mall of africa and that's something that has developed in there in recent months how far it will go we don't know it was a lot of money changed hands between the saudis and. to make the deal we don't know what is being done with the eritrean. but the saudi relationship with these

countries is absolutely critical. the french government is urging the so-called yellow vest protesters not to hold demonstrations as we can following the attack on the christmas market and strasbourg earlier this week on monday the french president emanuel macro offered a minimum wage boost and tax concessions to end the movement the protests which began more than four weeks ago over a rise in the tax on diesel fuel quickly escalated into calls for him to resign. just that we're saying simply that it's not reasonable to protest and security forces have been deployed on a massive scale in the past week particularly in the last weekend of paris and following the terrorist attack at the christmas party in strasburg it would be preferable if on a saturday everyone calms down and avoid putting more pressure on the security forces should come to me. let's just take you back to the next few minutes rimbaud in sweden you can see there and to make

a terrace they've changed their venue ever so slightly. let's just listen in to us to get out as you say needs. first of all. to play to. the courage and determination of the legation that we're able to overcome many difficulties many different position from as many obstacles. and to really start a serious process to build a common future. today's agreement. is particularly important because includes all data. and it is made him believe that the question of whether there was the made top grades in the nation to making sure that this will be the first step of a process that we hope that we lead to the end of the parties and just be

a. meeting between the negotiations with some positive aspects but without a structural change in the situation that we face. i strongly believe that the fact that it was possible to come to an agreement on the data that you have a huge impact bombs from the. security situation and yet the life of the people of the area of huge impact in the humanitarian situation the country the fact that we came to an agreement on the danger that many would consider the most difficult of the problems on the table given as the hope that this process will now be moving step by step and that will be able to overcome all . all the obstacles that we face knowing that only a political solution can solve the problem there is no military solution to it and

again i sent all parties and understood that and the agreement of two days the demonstration that they are serious in moving with all the obstacles with all the difficulties this will be a complex and legacy process for both the parties want to move towards a solution and that is for me the most important signal of today's meeting. and once once again it will sound of course i want to pay tribute to the team that much of it is that. i fall of these negotiations closely and i am i have never seen someone shabbily so much from capitol hill and speaking to so many people so many times to make sure that it will be possible to come to where we are and i pay tribute once again to the two delegations that were able to come to the and the standards of today. lovely to the people to the intercession.

i want to come up with the end as i commissioner for refugees and i can tell you the journals into the song and then to the hospitality of the people of yemen is absolutely outstanding i've seen yemenis chairing the federal they have been so money is coming to the coast risking their lives to support those that were seeking protection in yemen and yemen as have all problems including already getting the civil war still receiving some of these when their daughters are in their borders open them in some hassle for the world when unfortunately it's so many more of them so many daughters and so many are cyclops today so on the ground is these of all the efforts that the international community had made and eyes also during this process that all. all of the regional actors and all the members of international community do that bernard fired for members of the group because of

all the elected members who quit because you all of a country looks blue note ever got a tory because contrary they were all commuters to make sure that peace would prevail and that we would really have a meaningful first step in the no action for peace there is a long way to build up and lots of issues to discuss that up lots of agreement leaders. this is just the beginning but at least it's the beginning of a process in which there is a clear we will to come to an end resolves to use peace in yemen and the future of don't you know many people who serves. thank you very much as i said this morning we came here and we can go on we lowered expectations plans high ambitions and of course that we've made the sound of hope

and. we are happy in this day that we can see in consultations have been taking pleas in a good spirit good faith and with concrete undertakings and a good concrete result in the end and i think from the first time i understand that there was a handshake between the two sides here and an agreement a proper agreement so we're we are very happy as opposed to cause for point this event thank you so much thank you to general for joining us here in prague thank you mark you're going to send your whole team here. well called strong . thanking everyone for their contributions over the past week or so and so they could serve as the. u.n. secretary general not lowering the bar when it comes to the expectation that he clearly feels but just a little bit of a word of caution from him saying this is

a complex and a lengthy lengthy process he thanked the various delegations the two main delegations on either side of the earlier order for him hold that we were bringing you earlier yemenis deserve full efforts he said it is a highly meaningful first step for peace and was unique basically what he was saying is what's unique about this is that we have a clear will on both sides for the right results so that's the latest from those talks we are expecting to hear from mr terraces special envoy to yemen that's the un's martin griffiths is in as mr griffiths who's been so instrumental in making sure that these talks got to where they got so far and it has been astonishing to see because they did they did a week ago as mrs ralston was saying there they did go into the very beginning of the first session with pretty low expectations but mr griffiths has been so instrumental in making sure that they managed to make real meaningful sustainable

progress particularly with that prisoner swap and also when he was giving his opening address and this was generally perceived as being a very very good call on his part he's put together a committee of quotes ordinary yemenis to give him advice including eight women and eight men from civil society so they're not politicians they're not fighters they're not rebels they're not sponsored by anyone outside the country they are real people who've enjoyed the conflict and they're going to feed back to him on a regular basis how they think these discussions are going how they think the peace process is going and to make sure that he's folding into his thinking the real day to day requirements what has to happen particularly with places like the port city of the data eighty percent. seventy or eighty percent of the humanitarian aid has been on the dockside there should in theory now start flowing and that was one of

the key things that everyone said had to see movement they had to get who data ring fence they had to get it dealt with as one of the main crucial issues and it would appear on the face of it following the announcement from antonio ters forty minutes ago that they have managed to do that as soon as mr griffin starts talking we'll go back there live to sweden. tensions between moscow and washington up worse and after russia deployed two nuclear capable bombers to venezuela to take part in military exercises the venezuelan president nicolas maduro has consistently accused the u.s. of plotting to overthrow him he's done. the pair of russian to you one sixty bombers arrived in venezuela on monday take part in a ten hour joint training mission over the caribbean they are capable of carrying convention or new killer tipped missiles with a range of more than five thousand five hundred kilometers the u.s.

secretary of state might bomb pale issued a tweet condemning what he called to corrupt government squandering public funds and squelching liberty and freedom all the people suffer. the u.s. criticism inappropriate from a country it said could feed the whole of africa with half its defense budget a white house statement said they had been assured by russia that the planes would depart by friday president vladimir putin earlier this month in moscow expressed his support for the venezuelan leader nicolas maduro when you might use names to support we know and understand that the situation in venezuela remains dire we support your efforts of reaching understanding in society as well as all efforts aimed at improving relations with the opposition the venezuelan president who has long accused the united states of meddling in his country's affairs welcomes russian support he without providing evidence accused the u.s. specifically national security advisor john bolton of plotting to overthrow him or

even going. i mean for today i come out once again to denounce the plot set forth by the white house to destroy venezuela's democracy to assassinate me and to impose a dictatorship in venezuela mr john bolton has been assigned once again as the chief of a plot to fill venezuela with violence and to seek a foreign military intervention a coup president the daughter also accuses neighboring colombia of working with the americans to undermine him a claim the colombian government in a statement condemned this disobliging disrespectful and columbia south a mission is of an imaginary war. meanwhile been a strain is continue to protest often tashan with police or to leave the country in the thousands to escape rampant inflation food and medicine shortages and what the demonstrators called police and government corruption and repression that al-jazeera companies and governments around the world are aiming to be carbon free

by twenty fifty to help keep climate change in check there's a growing focus on conference such as poland where coal is the primary source of energy the country's hosting annual c o p international climate conference mcleod has that story from cattle peachey. across poland this is still a familiar sight the smoke of domestic coal fires burning to keep the chill of winter at bay and it's a scene replicated by the chimneys of millions of homes across the country. you know the the acrid smell of coal smoke in the air in this part of the city of kind of it's where the climate conference is being held is almost overpowering and you can really see why in the weeks leading up to the climate conference that the city was found to be the second most polluted in the whole of europe. i head off to meet me col dhamma sic third generation miner he receives sacks of coal as part of his pay to feed a hungry boiler that heats his home. this is the way ninety percent of rural people

heat their properties gas is coming more and more to the cities but coal is still prevalent the climate conference wants to change things i don't think it's possible in our country because the mining industry is too established people would lose jobs. it's not just emissions from the chimneys of people's homes but also of course from the coal fired power stations that provide eighty percent of the nation's electricity it's an industry that provides sixty thousand jobs in industry into the fabric of the it's a lazy region of poland and industry many say is here to stay. coal plays a big part in the so-called energy equation and it's important because simply we have it with the sixth biggest producer of coal and i don't see it changing we need to make the important distinction between coal mining and c o two emissions we can still use coal but in all friendly ways it's clear these are sensitive times for

polish coal twenty kilometers from cuts of it this happens. so we actually just started filming the premises here and security from the coal arrived in the college block to thin they calling the police they don't want to territory after some debate will move on we can't film at the site say to the hay city stand inside the conference venue remember it's all about climate and polling. coal is the thing is coal jewelry as coal say three of the event sponsors a cult company's business i meant of our past we need to focus on our future and in my opinion the future and therefore see this is spring in poland there will be up to one hundred thousand new jobs created in clean economic sector in two thousand and fifteen so there is an alternative the most important is to call me u.k.

my nurse president president john j. do dodd says he will not lead others mud at the polish coal industry coal is here to stay he says it's evident that for coal dependent nations like potent the transition to clean energy is a long long way off. the clock al jazeera out of it's out. there stay with us when we come back we'll have the news for you sixty minutes of news and comments we'll get the latest right up to speed on those yemeni peace talks taking place in rimbaud north of the swedish capital stock come by. from the cave blue sky of the doha morning. to the fresh autumn breeze in the city

of the night. yesterday the cloud was beautiful i showed you some photographs i hope you saw them i have none today and that's the cloud is just breaking up it was a mess of thunderstorms i still producing some showers a funnel sassoon see on and following up the line into brazil this is typical for this time of the year rains redeveloping over argentina keeping it cool in buenos aires is getting hot again in a sense here not too bad forty votes on the good friday and the showers in ecuador and pokey recently and the same is true in peru that's a repeatable event it's droit dry north of the constant in venezuela and colombia throughout the caribbean just a few passing showers even this gray cloud here do nothing very much proper cheryl to but the onshore breeze in honduras has continued to pilot the right has got have been some sort of flooding here hundred fifty millimeters in the last twenty four hours so that's now drying picture some big shots potentially around jamaica cuba the version but more especially what's coming out of the us across the gulf is

regenerating a line of dark green that is right significant right through florida but then through western cuba that's the cayman islands quite possibly to billy's and southern mexico and we still got some rain catching the eastern side of honduras. the weather sponsored by cattle and race. this is al jazeera. hello and welcome i'm peter w. watching the news line from our headquarters here in doha coming up in the next sixty minutes. what you have agreed here will mean

a lot for the future of yemen it will mean a lot for the yemeni people we'll see concrete results in their daily lives yemen's rivals reach a deal at the talks in sweden after the u.n. agrees to play a leading role in the port city of new data. tensions are high in the occupied territories after israeli raids in palestinian attacks. sri lanka supreme court rules it was unconstitutional for the president dissolved parliament. and i'm fina how much with all the sporting coding days after the call play better doris trophy goes to brazil's pac and win the next best thing in the comp us with america in the final. ok let's get going here on the news our breaking news perhaps the most significant

breakthrough in ending the four year long conflict in yemen un backed talks in sweden have ended with a number of agreements today the secretary general of the un on twenty good terrace says there's now a clear route to ending the war tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions more are now on the brink of famine. thank you average then agreement on the day the port city which will see will really prime month of forces from the port and the since the and the establishment of a guard order it a governor it wide cease fires the un will play a leading role in the ports and these will facilitate humanitarian access in the floorboards to the civilian population and it will improve the living conditions for millions of yemenis and as we've been hearing the deal centers on two cities that have seen some of the worst violence a cease fire has been announced in the crucial port city of who data the u.n.

says it will eventually take some level of control there there's also been a quote mutual understanding on deescalation in the southern city of tire follows a prisoner exchange deal and an agreement to meet again at the end of next month joining us now but i can't director of the center for conflict and humanitarian studies at the doha institute welcome back to the news hour and it looks very very good on the face of it it's extremely promising i think this is the best we've had so far on the yemen now or for you let's talk specifics how did the how did they manage to pull it off. well i think first by focusing on a number of issues that both parties are likely to agree on and there were issues that have a humanitarian that mentioned so they focused on the whole day the ports terms of discussions the airport and exchange of prisoners the agenda that they came to discuss with not was not really a wide ranging agenda martin garbus did very well to leave out

a lot of other important though complex issues like the. future of the south of yemen and many other aspects were not brought to the table at this particular time so that has helped them really focus their mind on these issues in addition i think this meeting has had an exceptional international support partly in the aftermath of the case the resistance from saudi arabia became less so they had to national community has lobbied together the intervention of sweden is important in that it brought along with it the whole european union on board so now we have the european union supporting this agreement margin referenced with his ex in the support from the united kingdom and the united states and of course the united nations. attending announcing that exalts is a very good way to conclude it and also nobody can take anything away from mr griffiths because he was literally kind of kettling carolling different people from

different delegations getting them out of the hothouse environment in yemen literally on the plane with them to amman and back again to get them to amman talk to them have a face to face and then take them back again and then literally fly with them to sweet i have actually had the pleasure of working with him back in one thousand nine hundred nine and i know the man he's very hands on and he's very pragmatic and has an incredible ability to wait and see and judge actions and. patient very very patient and he did very well in actually if you recall in the in the days when the at your peace process was started so right from the very beginning when martin was brought forward i think the hopes have risen as far as as yemen is concerned how do they keep everything simmering along in the right direction between now and the next set of discussions there for the end of january . i think the key thing is now for both parties to accept and respect what they've agreed to and start implementing on the ground and for this the united nation

requires a massive injection of resources now and capacity so that they be able to withdraw the troops from her day that starts where they need them some mechanism to monitor the withdrawal of troops if they go ahead with the exchange of prisoners obviously there should be a mechanism to report and to investigate the exchange and make sure it is fair it's been completed and if the two parties show enough confidence in each other over the coming few weeks i think the next round of talks could genuinely need to lead to significant changes in the situation today what happens if the raids coming out the sky the saudi air raids don't stop. i think given the pressure on saudi over the last few months very unlikely that would you just take any major air raids on yemen these days certainly not on her data certainly not on the areas that they've agreed cease fire at you. and you shouldn't forget the pressure that is coming under from

the united states you know there today there were debating the same issues of the senate's and. major important changes in the regional context now the key for progress as said is for the true parties to use this as a measure of building confidence amongst them but also saudi arabia iran and others should really to frame from getting. in tangled into this process should allow it the possibility of realizing those agreements interesting you mentioned. the pressures coming on that will get into the nitty gritty of the u.s. in just a moment here on the news but in reality now is what we're seeing saudi arabia hemorrhaging power hemorrhaging its desire to exert and display power in the region it may not be hemorrhaging the the anger or the desire that leads to it but it's not if it begins to do less in yemen or do nothing in yemen that's

a manifestation of what we think well i don't think it's about hemorrhaging power it's about them changing tactic and they were obviously would want to remain the dominant force in the region i think a lot of countries in the region would like them to remain the dominant force in terms of providing stability and certainly yemen has no future without an agreed stability and some kind of understanding where with saudi arabia but the tactics can and should change i think the use of violence and power in terms of attacks and i mean they have come to the conclusion that that has led them nowhere it's now been a few years lots of people being killed there's a major starvation brewing in the country so it is i think a smarter way to. move forward particularly after the last few weeks of pressure on so i did a bit to show that they can be the way to making peace in yemen south america as a thank you so much. well as we were just hinting at there in the us the senate is likely to vote on a resolution to end u.s. support for the saudi embassy coalition in yemen senators have voted sixty two

thirty nine to advance the measure that happened on wednesday a similar move was defeated last month but bipartisan support has increased since the murder of jamal khashoggi the united states with very little media attention has been saudi arabia's partner in this horrific war we have been providing the bombs the saudi led coalition is using refueling their planes before they drop those bombs and assisting with intelligence. alan fischer joins us live from washington so alan if and when they get the vote what do they do with it. that's exactly right and because of what's happened in sweden over the last couple of hours the whole dynamic me actually change what we're going to see in the senate is largely symbolic they are going to pass a move which says that the united states needs to no longer be involved in the war in yemen there are those on the republican side and those in the white house is say

well since we stopped doing to refueling of saudi aircraft we're no longer really involved in active fighting in yemen although opponents would say look if you provide the intelligence if you are providing expertise then you are very much involved that the idea that this could go through the senate and then into the house was can it ended on wednesday when paul ryan in one of his last taxes the republican speaker of the house of representatives essentially shut the door on any sort of debate there would be another problem as well if that had actually gone through the house and ended up on the desk of donald trump in the white house and he was going to veto it and i'm not entirely sure that either move would have had a veto proof majority now will this be raised again in january when the democrats take over the house twelve hours ago you would have said almost certainly but if things are changing and there is to be a ceasefire and the war in yemen starts to wind down the democrats might think that

their views would be better spent and their time better spent on other issues rather than tying themselves up with this but certainly what is happening in the senate is important and it's important because of this it is a bipartisan move which essentially censure saudi arabia sends a message very clearly to them that people in the united states are not happy about what's happening in yemen and when you have people like lindsey graham leading the fight he is ill leading republican. a friend of donald trump and a big supporter of saudi arabia in the past then you can see that saudi arabia just doesn't have a p.r. problem in the united states it is a problem convincing senior politicians that they are doing the right thing not just in yemen but elsewhere between what happened in march and when i think the vote was some forty four to sixty yesterday were that with

a two game changers the first one the jamal khashoggi in the second one the bombing of the bus with children on board. the bombing of the bus while upsetting and certainly distressing for a number of senators wasn't that big a game changer it was almost and this is probably a bit flippant to say it was almost written off as one of the things that happen in war certainly there were people who raised it in the senate and in the house but it didn't get any real traction the game changer has really been the death of jamal khashoggi and the game changer there for that has been the fact that people like lindsey graham simply don't believe what saudi arabia is saying they believe that mohammed bin salman the chrome prince is very much behind the killing of jamal khashoggi and in his words they need more than we need them so he is taking an opposite position from the white house who are very keen to keep this strategic alliance go.