we met the age of the corona virus pandemic the nobel interview on al-jazeera. we hope that. this progress. blockade breakthrough on the horizon saudi arabia and cash will say progress has been made in resolving the gulf crisis. hello there i'm just on the attack and this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up the u.n. says food is running out for tens of thousands of eritrean refugees inside ethiopia's tikrit region the coronavirus pandemic continues to bring bad news to the u.s. economy which remains the wilds of west affected country. and bangladesh transfers

hundreds of refugees to an isolated island despite concerns from the un and other rights groups. now saudi arabia's foreign minister says all of the nations involved in the gulf crisis are close to finalizing an agreement after a significant progress was made over the past few days katsa has been under an illegal land sea and air blockade by saudi arabia bahrain the u.a.e. and egypt since june 2017 present senior adviser jared kushner recently visited both riyadh and our hala the foreign ministers of council and kuwait also said there's been some progress. we hope that these. this progress can lead to a final agreement which looks in reach and i can say i am somewhat optimistic that

we are close to finalizing. an agreement between all the issues in dispute to come to a resolution that we think will be satisfactory to all we have achieved set in for a better set certain point of time more than a year ago and then things has voted on and right now there are some movements that we hope that this will put and for this crisis because we see and we believe actually that gulf unity is very important for the security of the region for the stability of that region and for for the sake of our people this need this crisis needs to end well a deal between katherine and saudi arabia would signal the end of a dispute that's pitted the gulf neighbors against each other for more than 3 is now in june 2017 saudi arabia the u.a.e. bahrain and egypt cut all diplomatic and economic ties with cata they accused it of

creating instability and of supporting terrorism which cattles government denies they closed its only land border and imposed an air and sea embargo kuwait initially stepped in to mediate but there had been little or no compromise the latest effort by the trumpet ministration is seen as a last ditch attempt to try to resolve the issue before he leaves office well let's now speak to andreas create he's an assistant professor at the school of security at king's college london he joins us now from there andreas has clearly been some progress here between saudi arabia and cattle but just how close are we to a breakthrough do you think especially given that doha says it wants a holistic resolution which involves all of the countries. yes hi i look we are so obsessed of the last 3 days to come and see a an announcement been made of a breakthrough i think you know we have to we should forget this thing 42 months of a crisis is of almost tomorrow it's going to be 3 and a half years exactly where the gulf people have been sucked into this crisis much as elites as much as everyone who is living in the gulf so to kind of resolve this

which is essentially an ideational crisis as much as an issue but it's crisis you know this is a marathon this is not something that can be done overnight i think it's a positive development in the sense that the current effort between kuwait and the americas as a mediator between is essentially between qatar and saudi arabia and these are the 2 parties who are now willing to talk to one another and come to a big basically came to an agreement to eventually negotiate an agreement if you will so it's a preliminary agreement to kind of to kind of agree to an interim period where both sides can monitor others commitments and goodwill to actually solve this crisis well so let me ask you that how significant have the visits been that we've seen over the last few weeks from now on pump air it seems that most people expected movement perhaps on the air block area but not necessarily much alison and now we're hearing well abu dhabi come to the table. right i mean this there been very significant progress made i think as the country's foreign minister was saying this

is been in the making for nearly 18 months now but it has kind of really speeded up this process over the last 3 to 4 months and the agreements have already been negotiated the americas of mit suggestions of how to kind of come up with conflict resolution mechanisms because that is very important how to monitor any problems that might arise between qatar and saudi arabia the idea here is that the saudis will bring in the other parties to that to that crisis the other parties up to the blockade but obviously the saudis are under immense pressure to make concessions at the moment because they want to look what is a constructive player in the gulf and in the mena region to the new biden administration in the united states but they now have also the pressure to bring in up with rb into the fall which is going to be significantly more difficult because the actual parties to the conflict ideational ideologically speaking it is this is qatar and the u.a.e. these 2 parties are not aligned and it's too kind of bring these 2 together is going to be the biggest challenge that's why the 1st step needs to be a resolution which in saudi arabia and qatar all 30 talk about the timing of this

then do you think this is an attempt to define a diplomatic win for the trumpet ministration to try to perhaps leave a stronger and to run legacy here how do the gulf countries actually view about. well it's not about how the country's view by and really this is still about the trump administration the pressure has been put by the truck ministration and cushion on all parties to come to the resolution to come to a resolution but obviously you know there are mixed views i mean the saudis see biden very much as someone who will discontinue the kind of transactional middle eastern policy that we've seen from trump the immoralities on the other hand are also concerned because there will be more human rights conditionalities so you know their engagement in the whole of africa yemen and also libya is year and quite a lot of scrutiny. by them instruction is overall a very positive development so it is it remains to be seen to what extent you know biden will continue exercising that pressure because like i said this is an interim

agreement to come to an agreement and it's very very vulnerable very fragile external spoilers and i think the u.a.e. at this point are probably the greatest spoiler to solving this crisis because there were the ones also last year 2019 in november we were very close to a breakthrough and it was again the u.a.e. is intervention that kind of undermined the entire process and with anime watching the gulf cooperation council summit at the end of the month very closely andreas krieger there from king's college london great to go in fact to get on out of there thanks for being with us hunter s. thank you. now the united nations says it's concerned about the situation facing refugees inside ethiopia's teaberry region about 100000 refugees from neighboring eritrea house there that they have reportedly been fleeing in search of safety ethiopia's army has been fighting regional forces there now for about a month ethiopia has hosted eritrean refugees for almost 2 decades now most of them are in the t.v. region because it borders eritrea many of them fled political persecution and

mandatory military service the un's access to routes leading to for refugee camps housing those refugees in tikrit have been blocked since the recent fighting began has been calling on the federal government to open up access and don't choose day the u.n. said food has run out finale 100000 refugees who were sheltered in t. gray on malcolm webb is following all of this for us from neighboring kenya where you and bill frist for the coordinates a coordination of humanitarian affairs is that as reports of continuing fighting in many parts of it's a grey region last week prime minister ahmed said that the government forces were in control of the region the government military operation was over that followed government taking control of the regional capital of the kelly but their enemy the c.p.l. of said that it wasn't over they filed to continue fighting on the c.p.l. as reported still control thousands of fighters in substantial stocks of military hardware researches say that thousands of civilians being killed in the fighting

there will have been reports of much because of civilians by militia aligned to both sides the leaders of both sides deny it but it's very difficult for anyone to verify any of these claims because there's almost no access to humanitarian workers human rights workers and journalists well as protean egeland he is the secretary general of the norwegian refugee council and he has access to the t.v. region as long as it you. and we're very worried we had 100. 90 on the ground but many of them had to flee that sense this is been was known for some time now 96000 eritrean refugees came to t. great because they felt it was safe that they say they fled from persecution in every tree and not only don't know at all and hopefully convoys will reach there

is parts of the great now monday just over the weekend we will have access now next week for the 1st time in more than a month if we did this tribute of tova. but since then we couldn't do distributions we couldn't be with the refugees and nor the other people . we know are. in there i'm now in. i was in the refugee camp just came back from the air the people who flee from the great tell about violence they tell about widespread insecurity of course there are many more internally displaced inside the great then there are the 50000 refugees who have come here we need access it seems to happen next week the prime minister has been able to come under regional conflicts he mediated peace between at the opiah and eritrea hopefully there will now also be talks re

conciliation. and in great we do not need another conflict and not not the refugee on the horn of africa there are up too many people suffering there from the poor and. well turning to the corona virus pandemic now and more than one and a half 1000000 people have now died from co the 19 wild wide a 3rd of those deaths happened in just the last 2 months with several countries reporting record numbers of deaths and cases the resurgence of the virus is also stalling the u.s. economy's recovery new numbers show it added 224-5000 jobs back in november that's the slowest month of growth since recovery began in may the u.s. also remains the wild west affected country and is currently reviewing the pfizer vaccine for approval and hopes to release a decision this month but the u.k. which was the 1st western country to approve that vaccine has come under fire from

regulators they've suggested their approach may have been too hasty well as alan fischer reports u.s. health authorities or thora teeth seem to be taking a more cautious approach to the rollout of vaccines. the f.d.a. the food and drug administration came under pressure from the trumpet ministration to push forward with the vaccine approval they wanted to know why the u.k. was in a position to approve it sooner than the united states there's a meeting eliot this week between the head of the f.d.a. and mark meadows who's donald trump's chief of staff according to steven hahn at that meeting was robust which tends to mean. the diplomatic language for people show to you one another and certainly said that they will go through the process as quickly as they can though the f.d.a. here in the united states intends to hold public meetings on the 10th of december into the vaccines there the evidence from the drug companies will be presented people will be able to ask questions but it's expected that these vaccines will get americans to youth's or through his asian pretty quickly after that the trumpet

ministration then hopes to have 20000000 vaccines heading out across the country very soon after that in the days immediately after approval they will go to front line workers in the 1st instance and they're talking about somewhere in the region of 50000000 vaccines being available by very early next year but certainly the f.d.a. under pressure to produce results quickly given that the u.k. is no moving forward with its vaccine program. british prime minister peres johnson says breaks the talks with the european union have reached what he's describing as a difficult point he says oppose frex a trade deal depends on the u.k. committing to a level playing field for competition rules and standards germany says it wants an agreement but not at any price while francaise threatened to veto a bad deal negotiators are hoping to settle on a plan by early next week. well still ahead here on al jazeera egypt's human rights

record in the spotlight as international pressure forces it to release a 3 rights group employing. and hollywood bows to streaming one of the biggest to deal with as it's going to stop releasing films online at the same time as in sentiments. the weather looks like it's on the across the middle east. and right into northern parts of the region anywhere from the caspian running down across the gulf pushing towards the red say this by and of cloud marks a line denoting where we have cooler air to the north is that i mean warm red to the south a haven down 30 celsius but it's 10 degrees cooler in kuwait and then between that boundary where we have got a nice a lot of rain which pushes all the way up to wards syria lebanon and jordan this

week go on into sunday that western weather will shift its way through kuwait into that western side of iran we are lucky to see some flooding here as a result of that west where that doesn't quite make its way through casa we could see should drift a little further east which is we go into the early part of next week but it will freshen up temp destructors get to 2425 celsius in doha as we go into next week so you'll notice that bunya showers meanwhile across central parts of africa line of heavy rain coming out of angola sliding across. down into mozambique and what's the weather continue recent was the weather to into the eastern side of south africa for a time showers into central areas and what's the weather to madagascar. frank assessments you've got colleagues on the. the canaries what is the situation there is only one doctor and one nurse or $1.00 to $200.00 people informed opinion

how big does foreign policy figure in the early stages of a bomb in the situation he comes into office for this huge amount of foreign policy experience in-depth analysis of the dates global headlines how will the place where you live get there see when there's no money all the rest the rich countries are fighting for inside story on al jazeera. hello again i'm the star let's remind you about top stories here the salah the foreign ministers of saudi arabia cats are and media to kuwait of all signals that progress is being made on resolving the gulf disputes saudi arabia's foreign

minister says a final agreement is within reach. the un's refugee agency says eritrean refugees in northern ethiopia have fled to their camps because of the conflict in tikrit there are more than 100000 refugees in that region and there are fears they now have limited access to food. coronavirus pandemic is continuing to stall the u.s. economy is recovery it added $245000.00 jobs in november that's the slowest month of birth since may. well that's now return to our top story on the signals of progress regarding the gulf crisis al-jazeera senior senior political analyst has more. i think we are. heading towards the last phase if you where before. clearer more comprehensive statement is made about the resolution of the gulf crisis my sense is that perhaps there are one or 2 issues.

to be ironed out and and there's guns that has to be some sort of an ok engine for them to actually sign on whatever the deal is now we all know that that is a gulf a gulf summit happening. and maybe next week or so right usually it is in the in the middle of the in the beginning a middle of december and i think probably those going to be a good occasion for the kuwaitis to introduce the new agreement between qatar and the other gulf countries so all in all i'm probably heading towards that and 2nd the all the signs are positive i think it's just worth mentioning just for our own sanity that bush not played an important role in the crisis itself 3 years ago when apparently according to former secretary of state rex tillerson. questioner knew when he was in saudi arabia doing that meeting between president trump and god and his gulf allies that there was something cooking against caught

up and he remained silent he didn't even tell his own secretary of state so really when it comes to question i mean it's nice that everyone you know is being thankful and appreciative and all but i think when it comes to solving this crisis this has been a goal solution to go from. now the u.s. secretary of state mike from paris says that washington is optimistic that the dispute will be resolved i think it's a weapon. we are very hopeful that the. dispute between the saudis the qataris can be resolved we hope so because we think that's important for peace throughout the middle east but most importantly we think it's the right thing for the people of each of those countries we're going to keep working to do our what we can sell it they conversation great dialogue. the international nuclear watchdog says iran is installing new more advanced equipment to enrich uranium the i.a.e.a. says centrifuges are being added to the underground problems in the tums under the

new k.t.o. need less efficient machines can be used iran's leader has recently passed a law allowing for more in richmond and limiting watchdog inspections. the un refugee agency says bangladesh must not force ranger refugees to move to an island off its quest aid groups have expressed concern about people being coerced into relocating their navy officials say more than 1600 range refugees are heading to the island from cox as bizarre. ports. these 200 refugees are stateless homeless and many have survived violence and now the future too is looking uncertain moving 1600 will hinder the move to a family uninhabited islands in the bay penco but their destination bashan china is considered by many to be dangerous. the u.n. refugee agency warns it is only emerged from the ocean 2 decades ago and it's

produced students are flooding it says no one should go against their will but some are him to say they have no choice other than mine and out of work and mercilessly beat my brother and broke $23.00 teeth then they brought him here my brother didn't want to go to push on the letter of the law is enforced my son in law didn't want to go they literally forced him to board a car they threatened to kill him otherwise. the refugees are being both from here in cos it's bizarre to the city of chittagong the island is about 40 kilometers by sea some people on the ship say it gives them some hope for only about how you know how the bangladesh government is giving us assurance of a better life they'll give us a good environment food and shelter and so we're going there in a coup to prolong camps there are 800-0021 1000000 people living in back in dish and so crowded to to get away from that situation we are going to follow up we're

not happy at the camps if we go back to me and more we may have a people but we don't have anything there to prove our citizenship so we didn't agree to go back we heard from seniors as well as that. television that will get much better facilities up to sean char bangladeshi authorities spent years building shows is on the island to accommodate up to 100000 people and they say it will help to ease overcrowding in the largest refugee camp in the caucasus vog that's home to move the millions who hinge on. the majority fled 3 years ago in a military crackdown on the muslim minority and the man in the old enemy among denies genocide the u.n. called it textbook ethnic cleansing. the u.n. says it doesn't have access to the island but rights groups say they want to know if they were hindu or receive appropriate medical care ensure the human rights freedom of movement education and one thing and then all the able to come back nor

about the money out to 0. 0 the un says hammon like conditions have repaired and parts of yemen aid agencies i want to time is running out to prevent mass starvation and the outlook is even less for next year famine has never been officially declared in yemen where after 5 years of war 80 percent of the population depends on. the window to prevent famine in yemen is narrowing is new figures reveal record high of acute food insecurity in the country that's according to a new information today from the food culture organization the world food programme and unicef the agency's new integrated food security face classification analysis for yemen indicates that pockets of famine like conditions will face 5 food insecurity have already returned to the for the 1st time in 2 years they warn that the number of people experiencing this degree of catastrophic food insecurity could

nearly triple from 16500 currently 247000 people between january and june 2021. gyptian with ours he said released 3 human rights workers who are being held on terrorism related charges after an international outcry they were working for one of the last rights groups still operating in the country when they were arrested last month and accused of joining a terror group and spreading false news the arrests were condemned by western governments activists and the un by hussein bore me as in egypt and libya researcher at amnesty international he says international pressure helped to secure the release of these workers from an egyptian prison. it's simply because it shows what we and other human rights organizations and activists have been saying for years which is that in order to have really change in egypt syria needs to be coordinated and public action from egypt allies in europe and in america when we had set we have a clear example where is this pressure work with egypt and as such it's very

important that this pressure is maintained. european and north american states that egypt listens to because there are so many human rights defenders of syria mean behind bars but exactly from the already means behind bars muhammad bucket manual musri saab to fit their list that never ends and as such international community is a need to look at this moment as an opportunity not just not this is a very minor victory but it's an important unity because it was out the human rights movement in egypt is it remains to face an existential threat and we would be in the same location 2 or 3 or 4 months is that the message doesn't maintain that coordinate up at the last 40 years under the trumbull administration we have seen that say u.s. which is a major ally and partner to egypt has taken a back role on human rights and democracy issues in egypt and other countries and

this has materialized in even more oppression egypt in where ization shorty's were able to commit much much more violations against human rights defenders members or vi community the christians and many many others including jordan the wrists and al-jazeera continues to demand the released of journalists mock waitressing has now been detained without any formal charges in egypt for more than $1400.00 days hussein was arrested wrong vacation with his family in cairo 2016. well you may remember this time last year venezuela's president nicolas maduro his political survival seemed to be hanging by a thread and now opposition parties say about boycott upcoming elections that means many are as likely to reclaim the only state institution he doesn't currently control the national assembly has seen human ports. right in this slum in need and the state candidates to the national assembly from the ruling socialist party go house to house handing out free face masks and more importantly this paper free

to their homes and it's a copy of the ballots all you have to do is vote it's very important missing from the ballot of venezuela's principal opposition parties they've decided to boycott the polls citing probable fraud leaving little doubt about the election outcome. 5 years ago the opposition won total control of the assembly a devastating political defeat for president legal last moodle. after his $2800.00 reelection was marred by charges of vote rigging the leader of the legislature one by bore declared himself the interim president with broad domestic and international support. yet despite overseeing that israel is worst ever economic crisis acute shortages of food medicine and even water harsh u.s. economic sanctions as well as several coup and assess initiative attempts nicole

last month has survived. now he is about to reclaim the only state institution he doesn't control. went 5 years and plots and promises to destroy me enough for 5 years of clinton for foreign intervention and war for venezuela for 5 years of the spirit it's a not for. regaining control of the legislature may not give me the international recognition he craves but it could fracture continued support for y. dog as. interim president his legitimacy has rested on being the elected leader of the current legislature going to greece is. always there when you say that you'll recognize quite oh until the end of my time in power how long do you mean one year 520 are we talking about an imprint sooner rather than later this symbolic recognition of quite oh explodes if we can't produce change and that's women duras winning the hand. well. with the mainstream opposition refusing to

take part in elections that they say will be rigged venezuelans who once voted overwhelmingly for change are apathetic and demoralized. but for him battled president maduro reclaiming the national assembly will send a clear message that he is truly empowered at least for the time being you see in human al-jazeera. now the trump administration has sued social media giant facebook accusing it of favoring foreign workers over americans the lawsuit claims thousands of high paying jobs were reserved for overseas out because it says facebook refused to consider u.s. workers entirely for some roles in a hollywood fast want to brothers has announced it will make its blockbusters available to stream online at the same time as their cinema release it's a major shift in an industry hit hard by covert 19 lockdowns studios have been forced to bypass cinemas as closure see their traditional revenue streams dry or.

well the original gun used by the late actor sean connery in his 1st james bond film has now been sold for a quarter of a $1000000.00 the walther p.p. k. became an icon of the film franchise after appearing in the 1962 movie dr no it's old far higher than expected at auction more than a month after the actor died at the age of 90. this is al jazeera and these are the headlines the foreign ministers of saudi arabia cattle and media ways of all signals progress is being made on resolving the gulf dispute saudi arabia's foreign minister says a final agreement is now within reach qatar has been on the illegal land sea and air blockade by saudi arabia bahrain the u.a.e. and egypt since june 2017 president tom senior adviser jared recently busy.