yes but precious cargo risking it all. on al-jazeera. the. arab. room. saudi arabia reopening its borders and airspace to qatar a significant step toward ending a blockade. has been announced on the eve of the gulf cooperation council summits which causes a near will attend for the 1st time in 3 years. for the i'm hella mahina this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up. tomorrow carrier for atlanta for georgia cared for america 'd u.s.

president elect joe biden rallies forces to support democratic candidates in 2 runoff elections will determine control of the senate. the weeks ahead will be the hottest year an england is ordered back into a national long time as a fast spreading coronavirus therians runs rampant across the u.k. . so the radia is opening its airspace and borders to cutter imports are being seen as big steps toward resolving a 3 and a half year diplomatic crisis the announcement was made ahead of the summits of gulf neighbors in the saudi city of willa shell reports from doha. that more than 3 years after saudi arabia u.a.e. button and you dropped imposed a blockade on qatar finally a breakthrough but at the military fuck up our agreement was reached open the land

and maritime borders between the kingdom of saudi arabia and the state of qatar starting tonight the 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 a 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 between the u.a.e. saudi arabia and egypt closed their airspace to pottery aircrafts grounding hundreds of qatar airways planes the blockading countries also shut their embassies in and expelled qatari diplomats they issued

a list of 13 demands they said oh how 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 ya'll al-jazeera doha. well gabriel elizondo is in washington d.c.

he explains more about the u.s. efforts to repair relations between sco phone lines. 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 questioner played a pivotal role in orchestrating this deal and that it went back to a trip advisor is made to the region several weeks ago where this deal was finally reached cording this advisor they said that. it was 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 he 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

a senior official told out to 0 in all 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 wider 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. well let's get more now from dummy she's the executive director of the gulf international forum that's a think tank focused on the gulf region joins us now by skype from washington d.c. good to have you with us here on al-jazeera let me start by asking what you make of

this breakthrough the lifting of the border restrictions between saudi arabia and qatar or do you think the signals any kind of return see pre-book april ations thank you for having me. yes or no i think. there are. some calculations that players in the region had to consider when making this one is that there is a change of administration here in washington and the other is the fact that biden will likely return to the j c e o a. and this this these 2 events have caused a recap calibration of risk calculations for the gulf states and i think this. this does show that there are there is some movement geopolitically.

speaking yet the dilemma is structural in a sense in the current context not of the gulf states have the leverage really to get the other to submit to their well while their strategic interests diverged to the extent that there are allegedly be continued tensions along with the this is this is kind of where. confidence building measures were really important and. the agreement that will be signed tomorrow is one big step in that direction however there's still a lot of heavy lifting ringback needing needed to be. done in order to. return back to the priest 2017 relations so if this was the 1st big step what would you say are the next steps what should we be looking out for not only when the g.c.c.

meeting gets underway but in the days and weeks to come how do you see this playing a. that's a good question we are in an president at situation at the as you can see. based on your work that question are spent the night really trying to convince everyone. on this reconciliation there is a lot of work. ahead of the gulf states i think one is the escalation there are small steps part of the dream and is probably immediate is deescalation across the board and then small steps of engagement perhaps more or a chapel between the countries and slowly slowly building more confidence between the states but there's still a lot of work to be done going from here. of course but the very beginning you

could argue in terms of the why it's a regional impact because of course there are tensions between saudi arabia the americans and iran and so on how do you think these developments this rapprochement if you like between qatar and saudi arabia how will that impact the ways the region and the trends that we're likely to see moving forward. i think. there is still a trust interest just a trust deficit that will be there as. it were mentioned and i think that from the perspective of geo political the geopolitical situation well not really change relations with iran fundamentally. there's concerns. between turkey and the u.a.e.

i also think that those those relations are not really going to change fundamentally what will that change i believe it has that u.s. policy towards the region that what's going to change. especially with a biden administration that is not as keen as trump was in engaging the g.c.c. as as its main issue for foreign policy that will change the calculation and i think that will affect saudi arabia the malls and saudi arabia is trying to start a new slate with the incoming administration so a fascinating time that lies ahead so thank you so much for talking us through at that study of software the executive director of the gulf international forum thank you. well let's take a night see the southern states of georgia where u.s. president total trump has just arrived to heads off those crucial senates run all

for he's speaking at the rally in the city of tolson. let's take a listen to hear what he has to say some you know biden was here today also they had 14 people in because. it was no way i just want to thank you you know i've had 2 elections i won both often but some pacing. and i actually did much better on the 2nd one yards great to be back in this incredible state the home of hard working patriots who believe in god family and country. who are all we have you is going to vote in one of the most important runoff elections of the history of our country we're going to frankly forget about write off one of the most important elections really it's really not run off and

selections because it's a big countries depending on you the whole world is watching the people of georgia and you've got to swap them because everything so crooked around them and not and not here they're saying always complaining about you and you don't know i'm complaining about 8 different states. and i think we're going to win a ball you're going to get. everyone you know you're going to show up at the polls record numbers you got to swap them a to get the work done to defeat the democratic streamers and deliver thundering victory to david pretty good ways day to day with everybody we love like david i know david so well he's respected and loved by everyone and someone that. people will say president trumps that we were listening to president elect joe biden of course also held his georgia riley areally air he was thanking voters for helping him to win the presidency and i asked them for more supports to

push control of the senate into the democrats' hands eyes and made no reference to trump's you'll find it efforts to stay in office in america as their opposition friends 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 care not assert take or she's power or powers given granted by the american people alone let's go life that's alan fischer he says and told dalton georgia where trump is holding that rally allen with hads the president and the president elect's both descending on georgia and as we heard from donald trump really his

efforts to say and power his belief that he didn't lose the presidential election really is becoming a focal points of the campaign. and over the next hour or so we're going to hear from the president of course who make the point that people should go out and vote for 'd the 2 republicans in the senate runoff race but he's also going to detail the allegations that he made in a phone call to the secretary of state of georgia on saturday about what he sees as the way that the election in georgia was stolen from him among the things he's going to talk about is dead people voting as we have already pointed out that has been checked by the authorities in georgia there were thousands donald trump claimed there were 2 no one is saying that this election was completely flawless but even his own attorney general said there was no evidence of widespread fraud so donald trump really has got a fine line to tread here he's got to try and make sure that there's plenty of

enthusiasm for the election on tuesday but while also making the point that he believes that somehow he was cheated by the system that carries the elections i think just looking at the crowed it's a reminder of the strength of donald trump and how much the republican party has become the party of donald trump it is a fairly chilly day just a few days after new year here in georgia and there are thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people at the airport ready to greet the president as he still is for a few more days yet not many of them are wearing masks that will be a concern for the authorities here have seen a spike in corporate cases but it shows the power the end fluence that donald trump has over the republican party even though his power as president is obviously ebbing away and allan just reminds us how crucial this senate seat is that we're seeing the president the outgoing president of the united states to send there but

also the democratic party sending their big guns why is it drawing this firepower from both sides. because it all controls the makeup of the senate at the moment the republicans have 48 seats i did emma cuts have 40 seats that republicans have 50 seats the democrats have 48 there are 2 vacancies and so whoever wins this if he when both seats essentially has control of the senate no the democrats are oversleep hoping that they can get those 2 seats that were given a 5050 tie and when come the harvest becomes vice president she will have the casting vote in the senate that's the way it has always been so joe biden can then push forward with his agenda knowing that he has control of the house of representatives the senate and of course the white house so that is why this is so

important that people are saying why is this election taking place know why wasn't this decided in november you know there are a number of reasons that there was one senator who was put in place to sever the rest of the term there was a normal senate election but in georgia if you don't get over 50 percent of the vote there is a runoff election and that is what we're seeing here 2 runoff elections. 2 democrats against 2 republicans and the fate of the senate really at stake here and of course the democrats really believe that if they are to meet radical change then they have to have control of the senate as well that's the stick that the republicans are continuing to beat the democrats with if you vote for them there will be radical change it will be the america you know and that is their message a new job will be the message of donald trump over the next hour or so ok alan fischer there. in georgia thanks very much.

well after weeks of lead up announcements iran has confirmed its rizzi iran's enriching uranium at 20 percent the maze denies this nuclear extortion by the trumpet ministration is another breach of the free practice iran signed with world powers and it could complicate any u.s. efforts to be joined the deal when joe biden takes office the mccain reports environment. 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 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.e.a. 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 its reaction to monday's announcement in brussels was clear if this

announcement is going. it 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 we serious not nuclear nonproliferation implications now let me recall also the importance of 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 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 . so korea is demanding the release of one of its oil tankers seized by iran to hand says the how could carry was breaking maritime environmental laws south korean forces have now been dispatched to the gulf the seizure comes ahead of

a planned physick by the south korean deputy foreign minister so the scale sereni and funds frozen in banks to see u.s. sanctions and iran assess replanning large scale drone exercises state media has shown pictures of hundreds of drones ready to launch from the central province of sindh none of reportedly take part in 2 days of trills from tuesday england has joined other parts of the u.k. by imposing a covert 1000 lockdown the prime minister boris johnson says restrictions will last at least 7 weeks and reports from london boris johnson have started monday at the rollout of the oxford university astra zeneca vaccine a world 1st easy to store and distribute but any fanfare was last 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 too short for essentials 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 tooting the odds against coated but 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 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 might hang 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 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. mexico says it's ready to offer asylum to julian assange just there a decision by a u.k. courts notes to extradite the wiki leaks founder to the u.s. . i. was. his supporters celebrated the ruling outside the courts songes wanted by the u.s. on espionage charges for publishing sizes of secret american news you don't convince a judge denied the request sites in concerns over a songes mental health authorities are expected to appeal. my call on the president of the united states to end this now. mr president tear down these prison walls. let our little boys have their father. free julian. play the press free us all.

well mexico's president under a smuggler lopez obrador says a son just a journalist and deserves a chance is. a far more i'm in favor of pardoning a song and not only that i'm going to ask the foreign relations secretary do the corresponding formalities request the u.k. government the possibility but it's on just free and the mexico option political asylum with all the rights that this entails. the presidents of the central african republic has been reelected to 2nd term supporters of full stand shows to a data celebrated its after provisional results showed him winning more than 53 percent of the votes that means he will need to face a runoff election was marred by violence from an alliance of level groups to address says he'll keep working to unites the country just. well the $200.00 employees of google and its parent company alphabets have formed a union it's

a rare foothold for the labor movement in the tech industry even if membership represents a fraction of the company's work force those who've signed up say they want more of a voice on wages benefits and protections against discrimination google says it wants the go see it directly with the union. the world's most popular digital currency has slumped in value after reaching a record high over the weekend but is still doing pretty well on bitcoin was worth a little under $28000.00 on monday down from 34000 investors seem convinced that the cryptocurrency is on its way to becoming a mainstream assets there are more than 18 and a half 1000000 bitcoins in circulation. lebanon is mourning the loss of legendary composer and co true icon. he was known for a unique she joined of music blending styles from different parts of the world and

her 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 famous 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 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 are you just the little bit of how you hope to follow up on the good lord. has. but also for you. he composed hundreds of songs and the soundtracks productions 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 tutor's or. this is al jazeera and these are the headlines saudi arabia is opening its airspace and borders to qatar in water being seen as big steps toward resolving a 3 and a half year diplomatic crisis kuwait's has been mediating between carter and for arab states there as that was made on the eve of the gulf cooperation council summits in in saudi arabia qatar is a mere shake to mean been hammered out on the well a tense tuesday summit april elizondo has.