why it would be a big deal that a muslim to be a look to the united states congress war 2 has changed rewind in america on al-jazeera. hopes of a castle block a breakthrough saudi arabia says significant progress has been made in resolving the gulf crisis. well i'm maryanne demasi and london you're watching al-jazeera also coming up on the program bangladesh ships hundreds of rango refugees to a remote island despite complaints that being forced to go americans are urged to wear masks and threaten with more stay at home orders as the u.s. suffers its worst day yet for deaths and infections. and wine advert designed to

highlight racial discrimination has sparked a backlash in japan. hello welcome to the program saudi arabia's foreign minister has said he's hopeful a deal could soon be reached and the basic dispute with cattle it's been 3 years since saudi arabia bahrain the u.a.e. and egypt imposed a land sea and air blockade on cattle well in the past hour kuwait samir says he's happy with the progress that's been made. as our reports. crucial days ahead for gulf nations talks aimed at and in the 3 and a half year blockade of qatar seem to have achieved significant progress kuwait's foreign minister whose country has been be generally mediating and and to the crisis says he is confident. a constructive and fruitful talks have

taken place recently where all the parties have stressed their desire to reach a final agreement and resolutions to preserve the region stability and harmony maintain the interest of the peoples within this context we express our appreciation for the latest efforts by jared cushion or the u.s. president advisor qatar's for him an assertion mohamed min of the manner thani says he also remains optimistic about the prospect of a deal we have achieved certain for certain point of time more than a year ago and then things has giordano and right now there are some more moments that we hope that this will put an end for of this crisis because we see and we believe actually that got a few nitty 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 a few hours after the kuwaiti and qatari statements saudi arabia's foreign minister

also said significant progress has been made and all sides are close to reaching an agreement. we hope that these. this progress can lead to a final agreement which looks in return i coude say i am somewhat optimistic that we are close to finalizing. an agreement between all the nations in dispute to come to a resolution that we think will be satisfactory to or the gulf cooperation council has welcomed the news in a statement its server development reflects the strength of the g.c.c. its cohesion and its ability to overcome all obstacles the new developments come a few days after the us president's senior adviser jared questioner made a visit to the region he held talks with a meet of qatar shift i mean but how middle 30 and saudi crown prince mohammed bin

said man the visit was widely seen as a last ditch effort by the trump administration to end the land sea and air blockade that was imposed by saudi arabia u.a.e. behind and egypt qatar in june 2017 the blockade in countries sever diplomatic ties with doha and issued a list of 13 demands for qatar to implement. they include downgrading ties with iran closing a turkish military base and shutting down al-jazeera qatar dismissed the demands as a violation of its sovereignty the us has been trying to and the blockade were reared it might undermine its efforts to contain iran's influence in the region in the last few months american officials had been hoping some of the arabia would open his space to the tide of flights and move the trump administration believes

will deny iran an estimated $100000000.00 in annual viz qatar pays to fly over its space the coming days and weeks which show if the gulf rival nations are ready to set aside their differences one of the ones of the roqueted might take even longer to heal. our bangladesh if r.t. to ship the 1st group of rain a muslim is from a camp to a remote island despite pleas from some refugees to abandon the move more than 1600 people boarded a naval vessel for the isolated island of char the bangladeshi government says some rain had to be taken that ease overcrowding in refugee camps its navy has built houses hospitals and mosques on the island but the united nations is concerned that

refugees have been moved there against their will. no i don't they're forcing my son and his family to go he didn't want to go before see him i came to see him probably for the last time. a little only my family didn't want to go there taking them by force if my family go there to the island they would die because of floods . but they mercilessly beat my brother and broke 2 or 3 teeth but when they brought him here brother didn't want to go to the other they beat my brother and they brought my nieces and sister in law here last month. or russian char didn't even exist until recently as one of several unstable islands that emerged from the sea 20 years ago after spilt bunched together at the mouth of bangladesh is mango river the island is quite remote it's more than a 120 kilometers away from the coxes bazaar refugee camp and the northernmost point

of me and my rock kind stay where more than 730000 ring of muslims fled and military crackdown critics say bashar isn't safe either snow to be lashed by cyclons it's prone to flooding during the monsoon season but the government in bangladesh is saying it spent $400000000.00 to build shelters there and a 3 metre flood in bank meant around the facilities tanveer choudhry brings us more now from cox is bizarre. finally the controversial relocation of rowing i refuse to remote coastal island a bastion charter has started out of 2500 listed rowing as it does 1642 rowing guy refugees are on their way to this remote island by and have a bath and now the government has come under severe criticism from local and international human rights bodies as well as the un despite all those the government is determined to go ahead and relocate at least 200000 growing refugees there in phases now we know talking from the growing refugee is

a camp as well as. 300 plus who are rescued from the world who are living and as i learned most of them are not happy with the situation preferred to stay in the bartering with me and my where they feel closer to home they can visit their extended families and they can help each other out now there is a lot of controversy a shot list where made by the camp leader a lot of growing us told that they were enticed and forced into putting their name in there and we cannot independently verify that now the government on its part says the facilities are good there's never base hospital at least 120 clustered villages with good modern facilities despite all there is there are still a lot of controversy the government in sees the concentration is a major problem in one area and it cites security reason to moving theirs rowing us to a disagreement island. all now to the situation in ethiopia the federal government is saying that it captured or killed most of the leaders of the restive tigre

a region as it aims to bring an end to the months long conflict there but the head of the to grain people's liberation front says that civilians in the regions capital mcalary have been protesting about looting by eritrean soldiers who are supporting ethiopia now it's difficult to confirm any of these crimes because of the media and communications blackout in the area but the united nations has said that it is concerned about the situation facing refugees inside to gray almost $100000.00 refugees from neighboring eritrea were living in camps in the region and many a thought to have fled the u.n. is hoping to get access to the region to deliver aid next week and says food and medicine is running out malcolm webb is following developments from neighboring kenya and says that the conflict doesn't appear to be of. the un's or freeze for the co-ordinates a coordination of humanitarian affairs is that it has reports of continuing fighting in many parts of the sea gray 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 free taking control of the regional capital of macquarie but their enemy that c.p.r. left said that it wasn't over they filed to continue fighting on the c.p.a. reported still control thousands of fighters and substantial stocks of military hardware researches say that thousands of civilians being killed in the fighting there will have been reports of massacres 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 is almost no access to humanitarian workers human rights workers and journalists. around the past few minutes a new stay at home orders been announced for san francisco this comes as leaders in the u.s. call on people to wear masks in war and they warn of even more drastic restrictions ahead as the corona virus outbreak continues to shatter records over 200000 new cases were detected on thursday and close to 3000 deaths reported as well that is

the highest a rise in both infections and fatalities so far it's part of the country's deadliest 3 day stretch since the outbreak started or the surge in cases also hit the economic recovery 245000 americans found jobs last month but that's down from 610000 new hires in october president elect joe biden has been talking about this and kristen salumi is following developments from biden's hometown of wilmington delaware so the economy continuing to add jobs but the pace is has slowed quite considerably. absolutely the latest data and certainly the president elect joe biden himself are painting a pretty grim picture of what's ahead for the u.s. economy with more than 10000000 jobs that have been lost since the pandemic began still not back those people still out of work and their unemployment benefits do run out before the end of the year on top of that you've got the crowd of virus

infections and hospitalizations and deaths in this country surging and more restrictions on business expected to go into effect and joe biden talked about all of this and the impact that it's having particularly on working class americans not only are they losing their jobs completely sometimes losing hours at jobs many have lost unemployment but many have lost health insurance and many are at risk of losing their homes with one out of 6 renters in the country behind on their payment all of this again painting a very dire situation biden said congress needs to act and needs to act quickly this situation is urgent if we don't act now the future will be very bleak murders need help and they need it now and they need more to come early next year

but i must tell you i am encouraged by the bipartisan efforts in the senate around $900000000000.00 package for relief it's a bipartisan if congress if we can use as they work out the details of this relief package that have to focus on resources for direct public health responses to close 90. and while congress does seem to be moving forward with a relief package that could help workers before the end of the year you heard joe biden there saying that that alone will not be enough he sees that as just the 1st step he's promising to have another round of proposals to stimulate the economy ready to go as soon as he takes office after his inauguration on january 20th. thanks very much from wilmington delaware christian salumi thank you kristen well the development u.s. president donald trump has ordered the withdrawal of nearly all american troops in

somalia by january 15th of course this follows other announcement other announcements that we've had on withdrawals from afghanistan and iraq before his term ends and pull the inauguration of president elect joe biden heidi joe castro is in washington now with more any more details on this. larry and we know that the total number of u.s. troops in somalia currently is somewhere around $700.00 and while that number may not be large the pentagon has long considered this mission against al shabaab in assisting the smalling government to be a cornerstone in the u.s. policy against al qaeda and its affiliates around the world and the pentagon statement announcing this this withdrawal it makes takes pains to say that these troops will be relocated to neighboring nations of somalia and in fact cross border operations may yet continue and the statement does say that the u.s. is not abandoning its african allies of course this does fall on the heels of

president trump's decision last month to also draw down troops in afghanistan and any rack down to $2500.00 u.s. military troops in either of those countries that too is set to take effect by january 15th mariyam thanks very much from washington i know joe castro. it was al jazeera live from london still ahead on the program istanbul's i in the sky keeps watch on social distancing as turkey brings in new restrictions to curb a surge in corona virus cases and we'll tell you about the daring offer ration to save an endangered giraffe stranded on a sinking in ireland. hello we've got cold windy weather heading towards the southeast of australia over the

next couple of days still have some heat concerns over into central and northern parts of the country but you can see how the the waynes are going to drive away and from the southwest there are a westerly direction initially and then a significant cold front will sweep its way across south australia towards the southeast so some heavy rain coming in on this system could be cold enough for a touch of snow over the high ground you see on the snow coming through here set in the case and see parts of tasmania but even it's victoria southern areas of new south wales as we go on into sunday the temps just fullbacks just 20 celsius in melbourne 20 celsius there to fall adelaide rick getting around 10 degrees below the seasonal norm start to dry up as wetter weather heads towards new zealand have had some bits and pieces of wet weather into japan recently that should move out of the way over the next couple of days some showers just straddling honshu for a time on saturday as we go on into sunday it will brighten up and warm up

a touch temperatures in tokyo to around 15 celsius laci dry well as you try to across the korean peninsula but just not just want to see wintry flurries for north korea. pakistan's k.s.c. $100.00 episodes more than 36 percent we bring you the stories in development is that a rapidly changing the world we live in the water is going dispensable to economic activity but industrial uses worsening contest of fresh water counting the cost on al-jazeera. holding the powerful to account as we examine the u.s. is room in the hour on al-jazeera. the on the earth.

a recap of the headlines this hour now gulf states appear to be nearing a resolution with counter over that 3 year blockade saudi arabia's foreign minister says all the nations involved are close to finalizing an agreement after significant progress in talks human rights groups say that concerned rangar refugees have been forced into a remote bangladeshi island government says the group of more than 1600 people moved to ease overcrowding in camps and united states has suffered its worst day yet for corona virus infections and deaths with close to $2900.00 fatalities the surge is also stalled at the economic recovery with just $245000.00 jobs added last month. well now the mayor of mexico city has called on businesses in the capital

to close their offices to help fight a surge in coronavirus cases people have been urged to work from home and the local government will scale back operations this as the president encourages mexicans to cancel new year travel plans and even avoid exchanging christmas presents the nation has the world's 4th biggest caseload with over 1100000 infections overall officials admit that figure only represents a fraction of the true number of infections let's go live now to emanuel rappler who's in mexico city i suppose there must be concerns that the worst of this crisis is yet to come. that certainly appears to be the case will go over the latest numbers more than 108173 confirmed deaths mexico still accounts for the 4th highest death toll from cope at 19 in the world the bottom line is that mexico is still in really bad shape the big surprising news on friday

is the change of tone from the mexican president who throughout the course of the of the outbreak here in the country has been criticized for downplaying the severity of the virus he's been criticized for not wearing a mask when appearing in public for questioning the efficacy of wearing a mask on friday morning he had a very different change of tone he came out saying people urging people to stay in their homes not go out unless absolutely unless it's absolutely necessary now a big concern right now here in mexico is occupancy at hospitals if you go outside right now you see the amount of people that are out in the streets not wearing masks going into businesses and restaurants the amount of traffic that's out in the streets almost have prepared demick levels it's easy to see why so many medical professionals are at wit's end over the lack of policy other than to simply urge people to stay in their homes there's here in mexico city for example occupancy is at 69 percent that number is high in itself but it's only an average some hospitals

are already saturated or operating beyond the point of saturation there's one hospital the school hospital which is a covert designated medical center is operating reportedly at 122 percent occupancy that is a major concern last week there was a group of doctors and nurses from a lot of assets one of the biggest hospitals in the mexican capital who basically threatened to stop treating patients unless the government imposes even a partial lockdown to prevent people from going out into the streets and becoming infected with the virus but if people likely to listen because there is a holiday coming up on december 12th millions of people. gather and get together for this now they've been told they can't do it. well that's just the thing the world health organization just last month came out saying that the mix that mexican authorities need to start taking things more seriously after

cases and deaths doubled in a matter of just 2 weeks but throughout the course of the pandemic both federal authorities and local authorities here in the mexican capital have stopped short of declaring anything that could be perceived as a lockdown anything that could be seen as a shutdown of the economy in fact any initiative for facemasks or any initiative for social distancing has actually been led by private businesses it's been led by by individual citizens it hasn't been until these recent weeks where we've seen this exponential growth in cases and more deaths here in the country that we're seeing the government seemingly start to realize that without enforcing some sort of restrictions contagion is going to continue to grow people are going to continue to go out into the streets hospitals are going to continue to saturate and we have now heard from the mexican president outlining these sort of recommendations for the holiday season telling people not to exchange gifts not to travel over christmas and new year's not to not to attend christmas parties there is an

expectation that a lockdown is almost inevitable at this point thanks very much from mexico city. well as concerned as well from health officials and they are worried about a shot rise in infections there as well around 30000 cases a day have been reported in the last week and maybe 200 deaths on friday now more restrictions have been introduced in an effort to try and stem the contagion to reports from. area near istanbul's taksim square is now being voted toward by police room to see how many people are walking through it's pedestrian only zone it's part of africa to tackle the suppression of covert 19 issachar street or remains a popular tourist destination despite a global pandemic. the police allow almost 7000 people to cross at the same time here while others wait to enter this came after the turkish government

and ellesmere measures from overnight curfews to partial weekend lockdowns the government wants to encourage people to stay at home as the number of daily call with 9000 cases of course to come 3 surpasses 30000 we need to observe but also to proceed there's no need for full curfews people have businesses to run controlled progress is important with masks and social distancing especially before the vaccine according to official data at least 22000 people walked through a stick last street at any given time and this number reaches around $28000.00 during the summer. the crowd restrictions only apply to sick last street to other public squares that are s. crowded as the streets are still open to everyone. and some here who play in the measures that have been imposed are not enough to prove when the suppression of call it 19 since many spent always committing to work they would like to see more

restrictions on public transport and fewer measures on open public areas like the streets. smoking outside has also recently been banned restaurants and cafes are only open for takeaways and delivery foreign tourists we spoke to say it was easy to come here for a visit the spike the restrictions which was 3rd. we don't need to bring p.c.r. tests to come inside the tree is good for tourism i mean we're going to be walking the street more relaxing that in other countries in europe but the turkish medical association say's the measures are too little too late for the clear very late to impose restrictions except for the essentials you must close over production facilities for at least 10 to 15 days we've already lost 207 medical

personnel so far these are the 1st hours of a full weekend lockdown and a quieter friday evening in text him weeknight curfews have already been in place for a week some sectors are excluded from the restrictions now many are waiting to see if these latest measures will help turkey curb the virus or if it will be forced to impose a full lockdown because al-jazeera stumble. the u.k. and the e.u. still haven't managed to work out a break sit deal with less than 4 weeks to go until britain's transition period comes to an end the chief negotiator michel barnier says they've agreed to cause the talks because the conditions for a deal haven't been met but as prime minister boris johnson is now expected to hold talks with here paying commission president said i want to lay in on this saturday . well now to belarus the un's top human rights official is calling on the government to release people i'm lawfully arrested during months of anti-government

protests michelle bachelet says that she's had reports at least 27000 people have been detained since that disputed election in august they include protesters activists and journalists hundreds of thousands of demonstrators have continue to protest the rule of president alexander lukashenko. i know with concern that at least 4 person lost their lives in the context of the protest numerous accounts as quote demonstrators some buses being rammed only cheesed keat and severely beaten with their thumbs during the disposal of rallies and other sports where giant ny he is facing a backlash in japan over a television commercial company says it highlights discrimination but it's led many people to call for a boycott of the brand or mcbride explains. the video features 3 teenagers who face bullying at school but overcome discrimination through sport. 2 of the girls are from racial minority groups and for some the ad wrongly portrays

japanise prejudiced online criticism accuses nike of creating a false impression of japan from another critic the one that's prejudiced is nike while others have promised i won't buy nike ever again i think that they see the as . a necessarily negative towards and and i think you have an older demographic it more male who are against this one of the featured teenagers belongs to japan's ethnically korean community mainly a legacy from japan's colonial period when it ruled over the korean peninsula touching on the troubled relationship between the 2 neighbors always rekindles all the name all cities especially for the older generation but for younger people in japan there seems to be a greater acceptance of diversity with sports leading the way the success of japan's multi racial rugby team in last year's rugby world cup was widely

celebrated and the emergence of biracial tennis star nyoman osaka who is featured in the ad is having a profound impact the images experiences that are project in the air you know i think resonate with young japanese over the summer we had black lives matters march is here japan is served lean and zigzaggy towards greater tolerance and diversity but of course there are people are not comfortable. for its part to nike is standing by the ad saying discrimination is a global issue and it exists around the world but clearly some in japan would have been happier if the company had focused on a different part of the world of the pride al-jazeera. now conservation a thing can ear of you some engineers hate to say that you're off on a slowly shrinking island who's an endangered rothschild you're off was stranded on

the island the waters of lake bearing go rising by almost 15 centimeters a day which means the island is getting smaller she was loaded onto a rough made of steel and empty drums and pushed across the lake safety fortunately there are plans to move another 7 giraffes in the coming weeks. just took a quick reminder of the headlines now gulf states appear to be near a resolution with cattle following the 3 a blockade saudi arabia's foreign minister says all nations involved are close to finalizing an agreement to significant progress in the talks cateye has been under an illegal land sea and air blockade by saudi arabia bahrain the u.a.e. and egypt for 3 years the foreign ministers of qatar and kuwait have also spoken about progress we have achieved certain for certain

point of. more than a year ago. things go down and right now there are some movements the.