al-jazeera. saudi arabia reopening its borders and airspace to cut or a significant step towards ending a bookcase imposed by the kingdom and 3 other countries has been announced on the eve of a gulf cooperation council summits which cutters a mere over 10 for the 1st time in 3 years. or that i'm alamo here dean and this is al jazeera life in doha also coming up. tomorrow carrier for atlanta for georgia and for america 'd 2. u.s.

president elect joe biden rallies voters to support stem across the candidates until ronald the elections that will determine control of the senate. the weeks ahead will be the hottest year but i really do believe the entry the last piece of the straw. and england is ordered back into a national lockdown as a fast spreading coronavirus variance runs rampant across the u.k. . saudi arabia is opening its airspace and borders to qatar in what are seen as big steps toward resolving a 3 and a half year diplomatic crisis the united front was made ahead of the summit's of gulf neighbors in the saudi city of willa. reports from doha. and more

than 3 years after saudi arabia u.a.e. behind and egypt imposed a blockade on qatar finally a breakthrough but that the military fuck up an agreement was reached open the land and maritime borders between the kingdom of saudi arabia and the state of qatar starting tonight this statement from the kuwaitis on the eve of a g.c.c. summit in saudi arabia was not a surprise since the crisis began they've been mediating between the deeply divided members of the gulf cooperation council the united states has also been urging gulf countries to resolve the dispute in order to maintain the stability and security of the region. for decades rivalry and differences in foreign policy have divided gulf states but when that worsened in 2017 few expected the region would be thrown into crisis and the land air and sea blockade imposed on qatar saudi arabia had shut only land border cutting imports and its food and medicine supply chain the train the u.a.e. saudi arabia and egypt to close their airspace to pottery aircrafts grounding

hundreds of qatar airways planes the blockading countries also shut their embassies in doha and expelled qatari diplomats they issued a list of 13 demands they said doha must meet including shutting down the al-jazeera news channel the positive aspect of it as far as cutters concerned has been a greater degree of resilience over the last few years the thais have managed to learn to live with the blockade and that has helped really help them discover better ways of living and more efficient ways of sustaining their economy their expenditure managing their affairs and resulted in an extremely resilient contrary that has now demonstrated so in the lifting of the blockade without them having to endure as the totally irrational 13 conditions the impact the crisis has had on the gulf cooperation council is unquestionable and while the differences remain the hope is that moving forward they will be resolved through dialogue show ya'll

al-jazeera doha well let's get more from gabriel elizondo he joins us live from washington d.c. and gave the u.s. is also planes something of a role in this development this president trump son in law sets couldn't appearance . yeah that's right we have actually not heard from the president himself donald trump publicly about this mail so it should be noted have not heard either from president elect joe biden that's to be expected because biden's advisors have been saying he would not be commenting on any foreign affair smathers specifically until after he was inaugurated on january 20th however they did just get a statement in from the state department here in the u.s. just within the last half hour or so and i want to read it to you it says we welcome the news of a decision to reopen air space and borders between saudi arabia and qatar

a resolution of the white or 3 year dispute between the quartet in qatar is in the interest of all g.c.c. members as well as in the interest of the united states that a statement coming in just recently from the state department and while there's been no official statement from the white house senior white house official has told our desire that it was jared cushion or that did negotiate this deal jared cushion of course being a senior advisor to the president as well as the president's son in law according to this white house official this negotiations took place several weeks ago and cushion a couple advisors went to the region and met with the leaders of saudi arabia and the emir of qatar the deer deal was apparently negotiated but then within the last 48 hours or so according this white house official there potentially was a hang up on it and that cushion or was negotiating the deal with officials in

qatar and saudi arabia up until sunday night into the early hours of monday morning efficient tells us that questionnaire as well as abby berkowitz the white house. special envoy to the middle east as well as brian hook a special advisor to the y. to the state department are all in route to saudi arabia where they plan to attend the signing. ceremony expected to happen within the next 24 hours we can expect that we will be hearing from the white house and they will be spinning this as a big foreign policy victory. specially here with only 18 days 16 days now until president donald trump leaves office and hands over power to joe biden ok gabriel zones are there live from washington d.c. gave thank you let's get more on this now from hillary mann leverett she's c.e.o. of strategic a political risk consultancy she also serves as a u.s. state department official joins us now by skype from mclean in the states of

virginia good to have you with is here on al-jazeera this is an important break free but is also just a beginning you could argue what was sort of things should we expect to happen moving forward. well it is just the beginning but it is important and i think 1st and foremost it's important for the saudis to have put something concrete on the table to show to the biden ministration even though this was negotiated largely by jarrett questionnaire in the trump ministration i think for the saudis it was critically important to put something concrete on the table to show that the saudis could make concessions with the incoming biden administration incoming but administration is in my from my understanding is really looking to pressure saudi arabia to come down relatively hard on saudi arabia in terms of human rights treatment of journalists treatment of saudi saudis who are living abroad who are

embattled with the government in saudi arabia so for the body to ministration this will be an important signal that the saudis can move forward they can do something constructive i think for the for the remainder of the trumpet ministration especially for jared questionnaire he is focused like a laser beam on both iran and israel and for him to have the saudis have take these even minimal steps to normalize with qatar shows that he can maybe push them even further to get even harder on iran and to make steps more to take more steps towards normalizing with israel so i think those are the motives and but this is an important breakthrough for countries in the region but it's also important for the united states as well given have invested the u.s. is in this region. well i think for the trump administration and this is something

concerning to many here in washington in the waning days of the trunk administration there's real concern evidenced by an op ed in today's washington post by the that 10 former and only living u.s. secretaries of defense they're very concerned that they're trying to ministration in its waning days could use a foreign policy crisis coupled with internal protests here in the united states to somehow do something to question or to undermine the outcome of the election so it is something very important in terms of people in the trump administration and possibly looking to do something about the election and it's really concerning to those in the by and others who are wary and very suspicious of what the trump administration may do so it's 1st and foremost very important substantively for the countries in the region in the middle east but here in washington it often comes down to just politics and i think most people looking at it here are very wary of

what the trump administration may do politically with the situation and it's waning days and as we move forward from the trumpet ministration to the biden administration an easing of the g.c.c. book aides is very much on the wish list of not just the biden them coming by the ministration also the trunk team as well how do you think this is going to impact regional dynamics as we move forward. well i think the hope is that i mean i think the major concern was that the what the what saudi arabia and the emirates bihari in egypt were doing to qatar was really counterproductive for their own interests and for u.s. interests and for still that stability in the region that. they were in a sense pushing doha closer to attack iran when most in the region were concerned about what tehran is doing so it was seen as very counterproductive and what this could potentially do would be clean to clean the slate and to allow that by the

administration to really start a new in the region with countries in the g.c.c. working more closely together and not is not pushing each other dividing each other and pushing pushing each other towards towards iran so that's that's the hope ok hillary mann leverett joining us from mclean in virginia great to get your thoughts your analysis on this issue thank you very much. well after weeks of lead up announcements iran has confirmed its resume enriching uranium at 20 percent the move denies this nuclear extortion by the trumpet ministration is another breach of the 3 packs iran signed with world powers and it could complicate any u.s. efforts to rejoin the deal when joe biden takes office so 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 teheran this is

a peaceful civilian enterprise but some around the world fear it may lead to the development of a nuclear weapon under the existing vienna accord 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 day in a tweet iran's foreign minister said we regime is 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 reaction to monday's announcement in brussels was clear if this and also . that is going to 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 we are serious not on 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 alive and the deal will be kept alive as long as all the participants deliver 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 . still to come on out of his ear and. what's next for you in a song as after a british court strokes the wiki leaks founder from being extradited to the u.s. . and elias trapani a pillar of the lebanese music scene dies at 83 to take a look back at his life.

hello we've got some quotes of weather coming into the eastern side of the u.s. for the time being his right sleet and snow pulling out of the way still clinging on to the canadian maritimes as we go through chews day and of course in quotes with a coming in behind us i said temperatures hovering around freezing that a bit of a wintry mix are rolling across the prairie on either side of the border but look out to the west it was coming in more right state and so coming in to say pacific northwest and that'll slide its way across washington state oregon pushing down across northern parts and the into the northern of california eventually making its way further east was that snow that we had moving across the rockies well that tends to right as it pushes across the southern plains heavy downpours there just around texas up towards console but it is quiet it was used to see both little on the chilly side temperatures in new york and they say around 6 degrees celsius quite across the caribbean some lovely sunshine coming through for the most part little bit of cloud and rain there into northern parts of cuba but just around the

yucatan peninsula but it is say for the islands it's generally fine and right that will change having said that so the wind would seeing more the way of rain as we go through wednesday wish i was anywhere from around to trinidad. egypt strongman is ruling with an eye and faced and the silence from his allies is deafening the us was perfectly happy to trade off the march for sea for security while western leaders turning a blind eye when even the citizens have forgotten victim to his repression executions torture or censorship is not acceptable and you won't hear such strong words from let's say berlin or paris or london man in cairo on al-jazeera.

my. this is al jazeera quick reminder of our top stories this hour saudi arabia is opening its airspace and borders to qatar and more are seen as big steps towards resolving a 3 and a half year diplomatic crisis kuwait has been mediating between carter and 4 arab states. innocent was made on the eve of a gulf cooperation council summit in our rula in saudi arabia qatar is a mere schecter member has been hammered out danny who attends tuesday's summits. and iran has confirmed it's received a mitchell uranium at 20 percent the move to answers you could extortion by the us and other breach of the freight pact iran signed with world powers in 2015.

south korea is demanding the release of one of its oil tankers seized by iran iran says the hunt cook county was breaking maritime environmental laws carrying over $7000.00 tonnes of oil chemical products with the seizure comes ahead of a planned visit by the south korean deputy foreign minister to discuss iranian funds frozen in banks do you see u.s. sanctions. u.s. president donald trump and president elect joe biden are both rallying supporters in the state of georgia on the eve of one of votes for 2 senate seats biden's 2 democratic candidates need to win both seats to give the party effective control of the senate. was probably already have a majority in the house of representatives republicans only need to win one of the senate seats to retain control biden told supporters it's time to read washington

the dangerous politics in america as their opposition fragile are finally now. all power flows from the people from the people. that's our history that's our law that's our tradition that's our constitution that's our democracy politicians cannot assert take or see these power or powers given granted by the american people on her own. alan fischer is in dalton georgia where president trump is jews to hold a rally in around 45 minutes he's expected to speak for more than an hour and 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 had that about a phone call that the president did nothing wrong but he's going to urge people to get out and vote even door over the weekend he was saying that the election in georgia was illegal because of the problems that they experienced here in november that are thousands of people who are turning up many of them without masks or going along to the airfield which is probably just about a couple of kilometers down the road here and he will argue 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 george 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 you look saying has been a nice in england says the u.k. report some of the record number of new coronavirus infections were in 50000 were

confirmed so monday and she simmons reports from london. 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 earlier scotland's 1st minister was on her feet at a record 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 pick advisor is reported as saying that he's concerned the vaccines won't be as effective against

a south african variant of covert furthermore might hang the u.k. health secretary says he is 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 are now 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. a u.k. court has booked the extradition of wiki leaks founder julian assange to the u.s. he's wanted there espionage charges reports from the courts. it is for now at least the result julian assange 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 in 2010 and 11 the u.s. claims the leaks broke the law and endangered long leaves and will appeal the ruling i outside the courts assan just fiance joined by the new editor in chief of wiki leaks welcome the news that said the fight isn't over. let's not forget indictment in the u.s. has not been dropped. very extremely 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 us sides to drop the appeal to say enough is enough we've heard enough of this we have a plan to deal with in this new year. but not this sounds 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 a son wouldn't get a fair trial in the u.s. refusing extradition soli 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 intenser still a t from the us 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 us 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. lebanon is mourning the loss of legendary composer and cultural icon elias ra ra bonnie it's

an entire genre of music that end in western in middle eastern styles under chappelle looks back on his life. when a song 1st lays eyes on the hood of the 1973 film my blood tears and smile the audience is introduced to a melody that manages to capture true love and utter heartbreak at the same time. decades later this and other songs composed by in the us right bonnie are timeless classics the soundtrack for so many other moments. born in 1938 he was the youngest boy in a family full of talent with older brothers months or an aussie who married singer faith in the 1950 s. . she and the rock bonnie brothers shaped an entire genre of music born in lebanon distinctly different from anything else blending western and middle eastern styles

with lebanese folklore politics and audiences loved it. during lebanon's civil war and the us wrote songs for her that helped to cross the factional divides and became a source of pride for all lebanese. songs that you just wrote for his children during the war continue to help others today. the un's children's agency unicef uses them and psychosocial support programs for syrian children using music to teach them about social harmony and reconstruction for him an immense source of pride. for most saudi just the little bit of how you hope to follow up on the good learn. the. the also for you.

he composed hundreds of songs and the soundtracks for dozens of films over his long career songs that continue to be played by people across generations lebanese music as we know it and beauty with the romanticism of a golden age would not exist without. a tutors are. here and these are the headlines saudi arabia is opening its airspace and borders to qatar and more are seen as big steps towards resolving a 3 and a half year diplomatic crisis has been mediating between carter and 4 arab states when they announced it was made on the eve of the gulf cooperation council summit in saudi arabia qatar samir shaikh to mean been hammered out tunney well the tend cheez day some.