the the in. saudi arabia reopening its borders and the airspace to cut or a significant step toward ending a blockade imposed by the kingdom and 3 other countries. has been announced on the eve of the gulf cooperation council summits which cutters a mere will attend for the 1st time in 3 years. below the i'm alamo here dana and this is al jazeera life in doha also coming up. tomorrow carrier no day for atlanta for georgia and for america 'd u.s.

president elect joe biden rallies voters just sports democratic candidates in to run the elections that will determine control of the senate. the weeks ahead will be the hardest but i really do believe the intrigue the last piece of the straw. and england has ordered back into a national walked and as a fan spreading coronavirus variant runs rampant across the u.k. . i am. 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 innocent was made ahead of the summits of gulf neighbors in the saudi city of rula. reports from doha. that more than 40 years after saudi arabia you. rain 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 a 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 the 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 cutter is concerned has been a greater degree of resilience over the last few years the thais have managed to lead to labor 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 country that has now demonstrated this so in the lifting of the blockade without them having to address the totally irrational 13 conditions the impact the crisis has had on the gulf cooperation council is unquestionable and whilst differences remain the hope is that moving forward they will be resolved through dialogue or ya'll

al-jazeera doha. well let's get more on this night from gabriel elizondo he joins us live from washington d.c. gave importance remember the u.s. has also played a role in this developments and president from son in law is also going to put in an appearance at that meeting. yeah that's right we heard from a senior white house official that told al-jazeera that jared kirschner the senior advisor to president trump and his son in law is in route to saudi arabia and will be there for this signing ceremony the official told us that kushner played a pivotal role in orchestrating this deal and that it went back to a trip that cushion or in some advisers made to the region several weeks ago where this deal was finally reached cording to this advisor they said that. it was the the deal was in doubt up until about the last 24 hours or so and that cushion or worked through the evening and into the early hours of monday morning to

codify the deal then once it was. that's when he gave word to kuwait and that's when question got on the plane to head to the region we are hearing from the state department senior official told out to 0 this read you the statement so you get a sense of how they're playing this they're say in a statement out 0 state department official says we welcome the news of the decision to reopen airspace and borders between saudi arabia and qatar a resolution of the whiter 3 year dispute between the quartet and qatar is in the interest of all g.c.c. members as well as the interest of the united states so clearly in these final weeks of the trump presidency you're probably going to see the trumpet ministration spinning this as a clear diplomatic win and in some cases it is because it is widely seen as clearly a big advancement although recent history of course shows that donald trump

initially took the side of saudi arabia 3 and a half years ago in this dispute and then sort of backtracked from that and then sort of try to play mediator role the last couple years or so but the bottom line is in the final days of the trump administration they are going to. new spin this in the coming days probably as a clear victory ahead of trump handing over power to joe biden on january 20th i'll just wrap by saying that we have not heard anything from president elect joe biden about this but that is not to be expected biden's top foreign policy adviser said that he will not be making any statements at all about any foreign policy issues specifically until he becomes president on january 20th ok gabriel other zones are there bring us the latest live from washington d.c. thank you let's get more on this night from hillary mann leverett she's c.e.o.

of strategic a political risk consultancy she also served as u.s. state department official she explains now the motives behind saudi arabia's efforts in trying to resolve the gulf crisis. 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 administration even though this was negotiated largely by jarrett cushion or in the trump administration 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 ministration the incoming biden ministration 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 trump administration especially for jared cushier 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 involved. after weeks of read up announcements iran has confirmed it's resuming enriching uranium at 20 percent the move to announce this nuclear extortion by the trumpet ministration is another breach of the free pax iran signed with world powers and it could complicate any u.s. efforts to rejoin the deal when joe biden takes self as dominic kane 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 but 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 and 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 going to be implemented. and i also meant to the iranian authorities it would constitute a considerable departure from iran's nuclear commitments under the j c p o a we serious not 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 that the ill 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 he is willing crees 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 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 us 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. much more still to come here on out to 0 including. one success story now thailand is ramping up coronavirus restrictions to contain a new ad break plus. law. what's next for chile in a sun shaft or a british court brokes the wiki leaks founder being extradited to the u.s. .

it's time for the perfect gentleman. sponsored point qatar airways. it's getting really cold now across northern parts of china more snow in the forecast for japan a fair bit of cloud just making its way across the korean peninsula sinking further south with high pressure in charge the winds are generally light so that's some consolation but there will be some snow there it's at least that western side of honshu if you also into hokkaido chance of want to see showers just around the eastern side of honshu as this massive cloud and rain sweeps out into the open waters quater weather coming back in behind will see temperatures a minus 2 celsius there in beijing add fulling temperature on wednesday just minus 8 celsius there will be more wintry flour is moving across the sea of japan will correct could see some snow as well as we go into the 2nd half of this week meanwhile across southeast asia plenty of shallow showers there into the philippines but more sunshine in the showers for the philippines wetter weather there into malaysia into indonesia some very wet weather now making its way back to

wards of the malay peninsula and smart track you see some very heavy downpours here those heavy downpours the showers they make their way right across into a good parts of southern india also into sri lanka look further north because some very heavy rain a westerly disturbance bringing cold wet and wintry weather for northern pakistan and india. spoke at wace egypt strongman is ruling with an eye and faced on 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 fought and baked into 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.

the at. pases al jazeera quick reminder of our top stories this hour saudi arabia is opening its airspace and borders to carter and what are seen as big steps towards resolving a 3 and a half year diplomatic crisis kuwait says be mediating between qatar and for arab states then as what was made on the eve of a gulf cooperation council summit in houla in saudi arabia matters and we're sick to me in the middle danny will attends tuesday summits. and iran has confirmed this resuming enriching uranium at 20 percent the move that i used as nuclear exists or shown by the u.s. and other breach of the frayed packs iran signed the world powers in 2015.

said korea is demanding the release of one of its oil tankers seized by iran iran says the kemi was breaking maritime environmental laws and carrying over $7000.00 tons of oil chemical products the seizure comes ahead of a planned visit by the south korean deputy foreign minister to discuss iranian funds frozen and banks juice 2 u.s. sanctions. u.s. president donald trump is on his way to the state of georgia ahead of to run off votes for senate seats there. was a loud president elect joe biden held his georgia rally earlier thank you voters for helping him win the white hands he asked them for more support to help the democrats take control of the senate republican party biden made reference to trump's ill founded efforts to stay in office. in america

as their opposition fragile are finding out 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 seize power or power is given granted by the american people alone life nights alan fish in dalton georgia will trump will soon holds that rally and we're seeing high profile rallies in georgia on the eve of this crucial senate race now as we heard from joe biden doubletons efforts to cling on to power are becoming something of a focal points of these campaigns. they really are the good there's not much being said by the republicans that both the

candidates for the senate there are saying that the president was actually fully entitled to make the call and they saw nothing wrong with it their anger seems to be directed at the secretary of state who recorded the tape the conversation with the oval office and then released it to the media essentially don't trump he's going to be on stage in just under 2 hours time he may be losing power in 17 days time but he still controls a lot of affection there are thousands and thousands of people at the airfield just to cite bolton ready for the president to arrive and to to make his speech what we're expecting to hear from him well we suspect that he will go through a list of grievances here the conspiracy theories that he quoted to the secretary of state make claims that of course have been unfounded or disproven in court and then he will ask the people there to go out and vote because this election is very important if the republicans hold on to the 2 senate seats they will have

a majority in the senate that would please don't trump the wind because that would really put a bit of a spoke in the wheel of the train for joe biden's legislative agenda but if the democrats can win and the opinion polls suggest that they just might it will be close but they just might be able to sneak it that will mean that the senate is suddenly tied it 50 people who vote with the democrats and 50 republicans and that makes things a lot easier for joe biden because the casting vote in the event of any time will lie with the vice president and of course after january the 20th that is come a long hard day so you can understand why there republicans were very keen to get donald trump down here and this pulling power and also his influence and they're hoping that he spends perhaps much longer this time talking. about the senate race and its importance rather than rehashing all the claims he's made about the

presidential race and of course the claims he made in that very controversial phone call to the secretary of state on saturday and that it is a crucial senate race there's an awful lot at stake here island but how would you see the these recent developments with the argument with one of the top republican officials in georgia is affecting the republicans chances in this race. well there are some republicans who are concerned that the news came out on sunday he said just a couple more days and it would have been a lot easier for them they believe that it just might convince a few people to stay away from the pores and they need all the tonneau they can get because we're seeing a record number of voters already have cast their vote in early voting and the majority of then from the geographic spread would suggest that they would favor the

democrats so they really need to get everyone out to the polls will people be put off by what donald trump said if you're donald trump supporter it won't make any difference throughout the course of the day were fair from right wing media saying the president did nothing wrong the president's tone was absolutely justified and then they have criticized those who recorded and who leaked the democrats will be hoping it does a bit of damage but they still believe that with joe biden's when here in the state and remember he was the 1st democrat to win a presidential race in georgia since 1902 they're absolutely convinced absolutely convinced that they can take this seat they can win the 2 senate seats for the democrats it would be a real blow if the results were split and they won one of the 2 because they still don't when the senate but they're still hoping they can squeeze it out and they believe that if they do that then the senate becomes really a poet a power center for joe biden they've got the house already and they would have the

white house that makes the agenda and their hopes of radically changing the united states much easier but it's that radical change that the republicans keep pushing saying look if we lose this the democrats will have a free run that is why they're hoping that message donald trump's appearance will be enough to secure the 2 seats here in georgia stay here it won't start on trump has to say but in the meantime alan fischer that live for us in georgia thank you. mexico says it's ready to offer a silent to julian assange after a decision by u.k. courts knott's to extradite the wiki leaks founder to the u.s. . was. the rawest supporters celebrated the ruling outside the court's sounds as wanted by the u.s. on espionage charges for publishing fisons of secret american military documents 6 the judge denied the request citing concerns over songes mental health the u.s.

is expected to appeal. england has joined other parts of the u.k. by imposing a covert 1000 lock time the prime minister boris johnson says restrictions will last at least 7 weeks and descendants reports from london. boris johnson it 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 essential zz to work if you absolutely cannot work from home to exercise to seek medical assistance johnson had said he

hoped the rollout 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 coated 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 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 out 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. silence was one seen as a success story in containing the virus things have changed forcing a tough response scott high the reports from bangkok. it's not the way thailand

wanted to start the new year since mid january the country has seen a steady increase in new locally transmitted covert cases of all going into a full fledged 2nd wave this after no new local cases for months but on monday a milestone was reached the highest number of daily cases since the start of the pandemic more than 740 as the last few weeks most of the cases are tied to an outbreak in some province it's believed to have been brought in by migrant workers in the large seafood industry in the province while thailand was the 1st country outside china to register a locally transmitted covert case it has been successful in preventing a major outbreak heavy restrictions on foreign arrivals and mandatory to eat corn teen help that the 2nd wave has the government concerned responding quickly with restrictions and a system of color coding areas with rising cases. compared to other countries the measures in thailand are acceptable but we can't let our guard down the government has the authority and i support it we have to suffer for

a while to bring down the new cases we have to work together $28.00 provinces designated as red zones are facing the most severe restrictions schools are closed and mass gatherings prohibited restaurants have to limit the number of dine in customers in hours bars and clubs are shut malls and supermarkets remain open but have to measure people's temperatures and set up track and tracing systems the government has stopped short of calling this a lockdown as the people here have been living in relative normality since july the 2nd wave is a bitter pill to swallow also officials are encouraging businesses and companies to explore remote working options. to now runs an open air hotpot restaurant on the outskirts of bangkok these new restrictions cut deep and she is still recovering from the lockdown last year when her lap but i don't want as a citizen i understand the situation and will try to cooperate but as a mother how can i support my family my kid has to eat and go to school what about

my staff they have to pay bills and support their families everyone has their burdens. the thai government is planning to inoculate more than half of its $70000000.00 people over the next several months the 1st round of jabs could come as early as the end of february the vaccine from chinese a scene of a biotech going to health care workers 1st and then it'll look to locally produced the oxford astra zeneca vaccine with the capacity of up to 200000000 doses a year scott hodler al jazeera bangkok. schools have reopened in kenya many parents are happy to see their children back in classrooms but worried too about the lingering risk of covert 19 mohammed as our reports from nairobi. students at the microbes yanni private is school line up to see face musts given out by the government 18000000 students have a ton to school across the country of time 9 months disruption caused by the covered 1000 pandemic but many say conditions of the schools are far from ideal we

have very few. what a boy. and their work who can see that up to someone it was their hand and you think you want one what a phobia is not even without more dust or classrooms the children have to sit shoulder to shoulder 3 at a desk just like they did before the pond demick for just a warning of the often overcrowded underfunded schools ill prepared for the opening in the face of the ongoing pandemic they say there been no new probations to the issue of a social distancing in the classrooms patents too are concerned at the moment we have got a lot of fia's because we really don't know if other children in school are having having their wages or even if they teach as having their wages or even the support stuff in school or having that later so we have that fear but we really hope for

the best and we we shall keep on praying for our kids to be safe covered $1000.00 cases in kenya began surging in october unpicked in november. 1972 cases but day according to the health ministry despite the limited testing for cope with 19 the country house recorded 1625 deaths and almost 100000 cases. many are now word of the reopening of schools might lead to another such in the number of infections. mama dodwell jazeera nairobi kenya. this is al jazeera and these are the headlines saudi arabia is opening its airspace and borders to carter and more are seen as big steps towards resolving a 3 and a half year diplomatic crisis kuwait has been mediating between cutter and for.