this year in the wake of the nationwide protests there is a growing number of calls to make it an official federal holiday. as people see it as a great opportunity to take to the streets to continue to let their message be her . saudi arabia to open land and air borders to qatar 3 an end to the 3 and a half year embargo. and our intake of this is al jazeera live from london also coming up. it's clear that we need to do together england is forced back into lockdown just hours after scotland as the u.k. struggles to slow the spread of a new coronavirus variant. iran announces its biggest breach of the 2050 nuclear deal is a new relationship with the incoming u.s.

president over before it began. and wiki leaks founder julian assange is one step closer to freedom after a british court blocks his extradition to the us. i know there's been a breakthrough in a 3 year dispute between qatar and 4 other arab nations saudi arabia has agreed to reopen its airspace and land and sea border to cutter from monday kuwait which has been the main mediator in the dispute made the announcement on the eve of a gulf cooperation council summit in. saudi arabia the u.a.e. egypt and bahrain imposed a blockade on qatar in 2017 accusing it of supporting terrorism qatar has always rejected the claim. is the announcement from kuwait's foreign minister i did also have a similar as the kuwaiti emir made calls with cotters emir and the saudi crown prince

based on what the kuwaiti emir his highness shaikh now awful also proposed an agreement was reached to open the land and maritime borders between the kingdom of saudi arabia and the state of qatar starting tonight. expressed his gratitude to the custodian of the holy sites the saudi king for all the efforts he is making to ensure the summit will be successful. how does is just. from doha. obviously this initial agreement only stipulates that saudi airspace and the land border between qatar and saudi arabia and the maritime borders that the 2 countries share will be open it doesn't make reference to the other 3 blockading countries namely the united arab emirates. and egypt however a saudi is the main force at least in terms of the current setup between those 4 countries and it is expected that during this summit that

will take place on tuesday more agreements or more details of the agreements will be announced why i say this is one of the main obstacles because from the very beginning of this crisis back in 2017 when there was international summits that were taking place even in saudi arabia and other countries the amir of qatar said he would not be participating in those unless the blockade on his country was lifted and therefore for this summit to be a success and with all the push and drive that was coming from kuwait from washington to try and find a resolution in time ahead of the inauguration of joe biden or in time ahead of the exit of donald trump for this summit to be a success it needed to have the highest possible representation from qatar and it needed to be accompanied with an agreement now that partially the blockade has been lifted at least from one of those countries is seeing it seems to be

a lot more promising that we are on the cusp of getting a more holistic deal that will at least resolve not necessarily the deeper issues but at least will resolve this current crisis in the form of the blockade that was imposed on qatar cameras on day joins us now from washington so tell us about the role that the u.s. has played in in all this. well we have not gotten any official reaction yet from the president donald trump or from the state department and we also notably notably have not gotten any reaction from president elect joe biden that's to be expected as biden's foreign policy advisers have said that he will not be making any statements before january 20th on any specific foreign policy issues however we senior adviser at the white house has confirmed out 0 with the last hour or so that it was jeered kushner the president's son in law and senior advisor that brokered

this deal and that he as well as to close advisors are on their way to saudi arabia right now if they're not there already to take part in this signing ceremony that is expected in the next 24 hours or so accompanying cushion or according to this senior adviser at the white house it will be abby berkowitz the white house special envoy to the middle east and brian hooke a senior advisor at the state department now according to various reporting here in the united states what we're hearing is that cushion actually started to negotiate this deal between saudi arabia and qatar several weeks ago and was shuttling back and forth between riyadh and doha and when the deal was all to me at least signed by the crown prince and the emir of qatar apparently according to what we're told there were some last minute problems with the deal as of as early as late sunday evening the white house official is telling us that cushion has in advisors had to

kind of work to shore up the deal late into the evening sunday night and into monday morning before it was confirmed that it was a done deal that he had his advisors are off to saudi arabia now clearly this will be spun most likely as a foreign policy and diplomatic victory for trump in the waning hours of his presidency i'm sorry the waning weeks i should say of his presidency 16 days until he hands over power to joe biden gabriels and i thank you very much. well so quick recap of the dispute it's pitch of the gulf neighbors against each other for more than 3 years in june 2017 saudi arabia the u.a.e. bahrain and egypt cut all diplomatic and economic ties with carter they accused it of creating instability and supporting terrorism which causes government denies they closed it only land border and imposed an air and sea embargo kuwait then stepped in to mediate the trumpet ministration also got involved recently in what

was seen as a last ditch attempt to resolve the issue before the president leaves office secret neubauer is a middle east and gulf specialist and the author of the gulf region and israel old struggles new alliances he joins us from washington d.c. via skype thanks very much indeed for being with us and what do you think was the the main factor behind this being resolved at this point. thank you so much for the opportunity. i think that it's important to emphasize that united states has been frustrated with this crisis for a very very long time and the idea was that this us become an embarrassing issue to trump administration specially since it has been a. headache for 40 administration because it has directed energy away from isolating iran and pushing towards a goal of israel normalization process so this this this bad house been something that needed to be resolved that the highest levels of the american

government and that has been a priority for a very long time and they wanted to make sure that as part of their departing legacy that this on necessary spot is not lingering on what you mention in passing there the normalization issues israel starting to build stronger ties with some gulf countries how has that played out in the call in this context. i think it's important to recognize that the anti or international community. not just the united states but israel as well has always wanted to see this crisis resolved and wend u.a.e. and israel realize relations part of the discussions then of course was that decency reconciliation would be part of it it was obviously faced in 2 different sequences the 1st phase was obviously the abraham accord and the 2nd phase was gulf reconciliation in order to to really kind of clean up some of the mess that had

been created in the gulf region during the early phases of the trip button issue how it affect relations with iran though because some of those countries you know have different types of relationships with iran what would it mean if those if that particular problem is resolved and that they. face iran through the g.c.c. more in future. i think it's important to understand though. iran is seen as a stabilizing force both in qatar and in all mon in particular because iran is not the one that has threatened the gulf. disability of the gulf cooperation council at least not in the in this regard but what's important to understand and even if the gulf countries have different relationships with iran it doesn't mean that they want to be closer to iran politically down to the americans so this is this is really what has been a strategic loss here because the target ministration could have secured all of its

legacies without this this crisis by going to europe to your question i think all of the gulf countries want to see the united states we need renegotiate to jay superior way with iran and duck. incoming a bite ministration has already said that that will be a top priority as i think they will see that the gulf states israelis and perhaps are spearheaded by dual man will find ways to find a new path with iran going forward so good to me about thank you very much indeed thank you. the u.k.'s prime minister has ordered and into a new national lockdown as the country's code 19 outbreak threatens to overwhelm hospitals or is johnson says a new variant of the corona virus is causing a surge in infections and deaths and that urgent action is needed to slow it down

our senior correspondent andrew simmons has more. boris johnson had started monday at the rollout of the oxford university astra zeneca vaccine a world 1st easy to store and distribute but any fanfare was lost replaced by a realisation that the spread of covert in the u.k. is out of control by the end of the day came this announcement the government is once again instructing you to stay at home. you may only leave home for limited reasons permitted in law such as to shop for essentials to work if you absolutely cannot work from home to exercise to seek medical assistance johnson had said he hoped the roll out of vaccines could protect the most vulnerable people care homes carers medical staff and people over 70 by mid february he said all schools and colleges would have to close the weeks ahead will be the hardest yet but i really

do believe that we're entering the last phase of the struggle because with every job the goes into our arms we are tilting the odds against coded and in favor of the british people and thanks to the miracle of science not only is the end in sight. but we knew exactly how we will get there early as scotland's 1st minister was on her feet at a recall session of her devolved parliament with a similar announcement we have to say to introduce from midnight tonight for the generation of the january a legal requirement to stay at home except for essential purposes this is similar to the lockdown of march last year and there's another worrying development a u.k. government side to have a good visor is reported as saying that he's concerned the vaccines won't be as effective against a south african variant of covert furthermore. the u.k.

health secretary says he's concerned because the south african variance seems to be more infectious than the u.k. strain the u.k.'s plan straight into this lockdown with no delay on the country's coded alert level has switched to 5 meaning hospitals in our material risk of being overwhelmed the u.k. finds itself at its most critical state since the 1st wave in the spring andrew simmons al-jazeera london still ahead this half hour a final day of campaigning in georgia a state that will decide the balance of power in the u.s. senate. the world's most popular digital currency slumps in value after hitting a record high.

we still got some very wet weather across northeastern parts of australia probable cyclon image and a final warning was issued for that around 18 hours ago that's now in the process of making its way over towards that eastern side of queensland plenty of rain coming through some parts of say over 200 millimeters of rain over the past 24 hours and we could see similar amounts over the next 24 hours or so to happen power cuts but the winds have died down it's all about the rainfall and there will be further flooding unless it is a remote part of the country say that's something of 1st some consolation here wanted to showers over towards the southeast as well brisbane the gulf coast could see some showers based in parts of new south wales down towards a sense out of it toria also seeing a little bit of wet weather for a time notice that right there that's clinging on to that east coast of queensland as we go on into wet wet and stay further west that's where the fight in trial weather is hot enough in perth 37 degrees celsius on the other side of the ditch you've got wetter weather making its way into new zealand particularly across the

south auckland a little bit of wet weather more the way when she weather pushing across northern parts of japan at the moment tucking in behind was very cold air coming in across a good part of northern china and the korean peninsula by using with a top temperature of minus 8. an invitation to bear witness to that life office. the high priests. the trials and tribulations. and everything miracles being just to cease little finds the tests of character and take to witness documentaries with a delicate touch on al-jazeera. the

. elegant reminder top stories here on ars era. kuwait has released a statement saying an agreement has been reached by saudi arabia to open the airspace for land and sea borders with cutter as of this evening it comes on the eve of a gulf corporation council summit. britain's prime minister has announced a new lock down for england the u.k. is recorded more than 50000 daily cases for the past week scotland's meeting has also brought in emergency measures. but here's president all trump and president elect joe biden are campaigning in the state of georgia on the eve of a crucial special election ardan has been rallying voters in the last hour trying to get support for 2 democratic newcomers vying for senate seats they're up against

2 republican incumbents but the politics have been overshadowed by one of the biggest white house scandals for decades 1st let's take a look at what's at stake which uses runoffs in georgia put the 2 republican senators david and kelly lefler against democratic challenges john ostroff and raphael warnock the vote will determine who controls the u.s. senate democrats would need to win both seats to deny the republicans a majority they could use to block large parts of joe biden's legislative agenda if the democrats secure both seats the senate would be split down the middle of vice president elect comma harris would then get to cast the tie breaking vote and the vote is coming against the backdrop of stunning comments made by president trump to georgia's secretary of state. i here's one of the one i. $11780.00 loans which is one more that we have

because we want to say. dalton georgia where president trump is due to hold a rally in a few hours so everyone's there trying to campaign run to the last moment. exactly right it's really the last chance for donald trump even though his power may be winning in the office of the presidency he still exerts a great deal of influence over the base and you can see that with the number of people that are turning up here just in the last couple of hours know the doors opened just about 20 minutes ago the event will start in a couple of hours and then donald trump will speak at 9 pm time here so what's that but 4 hours time he's expected to speak for more than an hour he's going to urge people to get out and vote we also expect him to address the issue of his phone call to the secretary of state we came to know what he's going to say we've had a foretaste of that right wing media over the last 1224 hours or so they're going

to say that the president made his case fairly clearly that he was arguing against the fact that there had been some sort of problem with the vote counting here in georgia and that he did nothing wrong how many times have we heard that about a phone call that the president did nothing wrong but. he's going to urge people to get out and vote even though over the weekend he was saying that the election in georgia was illegal because of the problems that they experienced here in november there are thousands of people who are turning up many of them with masks or going along to the airfield which is probably just about a couple of kilometers down the road here and he will address them to get out and vote realizing that he really has to try and do what he can for the republican candidates as you see the balance of power stands in their way and of course he would like to see joe biden's presidency hobbled from the very beginning and that's what well could happen if the republicans have the majority in the senate and now i

suppose we don't necessarily trust the polls any more than we did before but what is the polling suggest about how this is leaning. exactly right it's always worth putting a word of warning on it lauren the polls suggest that the democrats are slightly ahead no you do take that with a pinch of salt but if you look at the airlie voting in 3000000 people cast their votes early here in this state most of those votes came from areas that would tend to favor the democrats so enter own atlanta the main suburban centers in the suburbs there. you know that they've got to get the people in areas like this in dalton to make sure that the republicans can perhaps get more people at the polls on the day of course voting on tuesday the 5th of january here so they'll be hoping that they'll get they'll get people oh we're very close to the kentucky border and interestingly enough i've spoken to a few people who come from kentucky they're here to see the president to give their

support for him but they don't have a vote so it telling them to go and vote really won't help so the polls suggest that the democrats could just edge that but you're right there's a lot of reasons to be don't fall about the polls a lot of reasons to be don't feel about what happens and one of those could well be turn note on the day of the election people were talking down donald trump's chances of getting a big turn note on election day in november but a lot of people came out and cast their vote for him on that day clearly the republicans and donald trump will be hoping that the same story repeats itself with the senate runoff here in georgia an official thank you very much. iran has announced a new breach to the 2015 nuclear deal just weeks before joe biden becomes u.s. president with hopes to resurrect the pact it says it has resumed enriching uranium to 20 percent purity at an underground facility the european union called the move a considerable departure from the deal also known as the j c p a

a john mccain reports from berlin. this is what the world's great powers have been trying for years to prevent or to minimize the enrichment of uranium in iranian centrifuges to tehran this is a peaceful civilian enterprise that some around the world fear it may lead to the development of a nuclear weapon under the existing vienna record of 2015 known as the j c p a iran should be enriching uranium only to 3.67 percent but now it says it aims to enrich to almost 6 times that number and has notified the international atomic energy agency the i.a.e.a. a day in a tweet iran's foreign ministers said we regimes 20 percent enrichment as a legislated by our parliament the i.a.e.a. has been julie notified our remedial action conforms fully with paragraph 36 of the j c p a after years of noncompliance by several other participants are measures are fully

reversible upon full compliance by all to european allies this act is beyond the terms of the vienna accord which when it was signed brought together britain france germany china russia and the us under then president obama's administration his successor president trump abandoned the deal in 2018 citing iranian noncompliance since then the europeans have been at the forefront of trying to ensure to abide by the terms of the deal helping to by trying to reduce the impact of u.s. sanctions its reaction to monday's announcement in brussels was clear if this announcement is go. could be implemented and also meant to by the iranian authorities it would constitute a considerable departure from iran's nuclear commitments under the j c p o a with serious normal nuclear nonproliferation implications now let me recall also the importance of avoiding any steps that could undermine the preservation of the

nuclear deal and here i would like to recall all the previous statements by all the participants of the j c p a way that they are interested in keeping this deal a life and that the old will be kept alive as long as all the participants believe are on their obligations the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has condemned iran's move you know of years ago little more than a little iran has announced that it will increase the level of uranium enrichment and will develop industrial capabilities to reach your rhenium underground. this is a blatant and absolute violation of its obligations there is no other explanation other than continuing iran's international to produce nuclear weapons and the iranian government believes by announcing enhanced enrichment it might be able to compel the other signatories to the vienna accord to comply think there is a chance because iran has clearly said that if the other parties to the nuclear deal including the europeans and in case if the united states returns to the l.

if they return into full compliance iran will do the same in a very short time the question remains as to what response the u.s. government will give both now under president trump and in just over 2 weeks time under joe biden he helped broker the original deal in 2015 as vice president soon he will have to react as president in his own right dominic kane al-jazeera berlin . south korea and the u.s. have demanded the release of a south korean tanker seized by iran's revolutionary guards in the gulf iran says the cammy was breaking maritime environmental laws and carrying all the 7000 tons of oil chemical products south korean forces have now been dispatched to the area the seizure comes ahead of a planned visit by the south korean deputy foreign minister to discuss $7000000000.00 of a rainy and funds frozen in banks due to u.s. sanctions a u.k.

court says wiki leaks founder julian assange will not be extradited to the u.s. is wanted on espionage charges for the publication of thousands of secret a man in american military documents in 20102011 u.s. authorities are expected to appeal against a decision made back reports from outside the court. it is for now at least the result julian our soldiers supporters had wanted. the wiki leaks founder will not be extradited to the u.s. to face espionage charges for the publishing of classified military and diplomatic documents and 201011 the u.s. claims the leaks broke the law and endangered lives and will appeal the ruling. outside the court assault just beyond say joined by the new editor in chief of wiki leaks welcome the news that said the fight isn't over let's not forget the indictment in the u.s. has not been dropped. her extreme we concerned that the u.s.

government has decided to appeal this decision. it continues to want to punish julian. and make him disappear into the deepest darkest hole of the u.s. prison system there should be a call outs and pressure on the u.s. sides to drop the appeal to say enough is enough. we've had enough of this we have a plan to deal with in his new year but not this. arrived at court from london's belmarsh prison where he's been held since april 29th teen his defense team has always insisted the case was politically motivated powered by u.s. president donald trump's administration but one by one the judge rejected the defense's claims including concerns wouldn't get a fair trial in the u.s. refusing extradition solely over fears he could take his own life if he ended up in

a u.s. maximum security jail the judge said he suffered from severe depression and had been diagnosed with autism after a razor had been found in his cell and he told medical staff about suicidal thoughts. it was footage like this if u.s. forces killing civilians and journalists in iraq in 2007 the true intense was still a t from the u.s. government and after swedish prosecutors opened a rape and sexual assault investigation against him he was arrested in london facing imminent extradition 2012 he took refuge in london's ecuadorian embassy and didn't leave it for 7 years. when i could or finally let british police in to haul a sound out the u.s. allegations were finally revealed for publishing hundreds of thousands of classified documents a maximum 175 year sentence under the espionage act the prosecution has cost wiki

leaks is a criminal enterprise responsible for encouraging its supporters to hack into government computers and steal sensitive information but julian assange has supporters say that he is a defender of freedom of speech and the right for journalists to hold the powerful to account a someone just lawyers will now ask for his release on bail at a hearing on wednesday if granted he could be given a taste of freedom within days barkha al-jazeera london. the world's most popular digital currency has slumped in value after reaching a record high at the weekend one bitcoin was worth a little on the $28000.00 on monday it had risen dramatically over the new year holiday to more than $34000.00 investors seem convinced the cryptocurrency is on its way to becoming a mainstream asset there are more than 18 and a half 1000000 bitcoins in circulation and

a reminder you can catch up with all the stories we're covering by checking out our website just so that is al-jazeera dot com and you can also watch us live by clicking on the orange live icon al-jazeera dot com. from out of the top stories on our syria has been a breakthrough in a 3 year dispute between qatar and 4 other arab nations saudi arabia has agreed to reopen its airspace and land and sea border to cut her from monday kuwait made the announcement saudi arabia the u.a.e. egypt and bahrain imposed a blockade on qatar in 2017 accusing it of supporting terrorism qatar has always rejected the claim. to have a symbol that equated to me or maybe calls the characters emir and the saudi crown prince based on what the kuwaiti emir is high.