perhaps that's what's in a name hillbilly but witness documentary on al-jazeera. saudi arabia reopens its borders and space to counter a significant step towards ending a blockade imposed by the kingdom and 3 other countries. the breakthrough was announced on the eve of the gulf cooperation council summit sweet scott says a man will attend for the 1st time in 3 years. alarm clock this is out 0 life and also coming up we're going to fight like hell i'll tell you. brooke from rally supporters ahead of a crucial senate election a day off the recordings revealed he pressured officials to overturn his defeat in

the presidential front. the weeks ahead would be the hardest but i really do believe the entering the last spring england voted back into a national lockdown it's a false reading coronavirus variance runs rampant across the. society arabia is opening its airspace and borders to cuts are in what is seen as big steps towards resolving a 3 in a hole if you have diplomatic crisis in outs when it was made a head of a summit of gulf neighbors in the south. well a shell reports now from doha. that more than 3 years after saudi arabia the u.a.e. button and egypt imposed a blockade on qatar finally a breakthrough but at the military i left it to lead to a. 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 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 the house 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 this as far as cutters concerned has been a greater degree of resilience over the last few years the ties 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 that 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 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 show ya'll al-jazeera doha. but enough from gabriel elizondo who has more from washington d.c.

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 that some advisers 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 hillary mann leverett is c.e.o. of strategic political risk consultancy she also served as a u.s. state department official and she explains 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 about 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 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 battled 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 has focused like a laser beam on both iran and israel and for him to have the saudis

have to 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 where it's normalizing with israel so i think those are the motives and brought. us president elect joe biden and president donald trump have rallied in the state of georgia ahead of 2 crucial senate runoff elections republicans need to win at least one of those seats in order to retain control of the senate trump says he'll do anything to make sure that happens has the latest now from don'ts and in georgia where the u.s. president spoke just a few hours ago. the last push from a president whose power might be waiting but his influence with the base of his party remains and diminished he came in their thousands for the rally in rural georgia to get to the vote effort for a crucial senate right. no but from a president who won't except to last november's election a list of unproven grievances and complaint it was no way and i just want to thank

you you know i've had 2 elections i won both of them it's amazing he did stunt his attention to the senate race are doing people to vote to maintain a republican majority limiting the new president's agenda your vote tomorrow will decide which party controls the united states senate the radical democrats are trying to capture georgia's senate seat so they can wield unchecked unrestrained absolute power over every aspect of your lives. the battle in georgia also drew the attention of the president elect he held his rally earlier in the day the message though was the same as his rival get out and vote in america as your opposition friends are finding now all power flows from the people from the people. that's our history the president still believes november's election was stolen from

him in a session he made in a controversial phone call to georgia's top election official at the weekend but with no hard evidence the secretary of state said it simply the president was wrong i'm very confident in the results we have here in georgia and that's the cold hard truth is present trying to not carry the state of georgia we've hung on this fair elections here the senate runoffs gave joe biden the best chance of a clear run of his legislative agenda if the democrats win both seats the republicans they have to maximize turnout in areas like this if they're to have a chance and victory secures the senate but will also fuel donald trump's unfunded claims that he did much better in this state in november alan fischer al-jazeera dolton georgia. police in the u.s. have arrested the leader of the far right group called the proud boys in the rica terrio was detained at approach rally in washington d.c.

on monday he's been charged with destruction of property of to taking part in the burning of a black lives matter a band that at a protest in december terror is also facing farms charges iran has been showing off its drone technology as tensions simmer with the united states state media has shown hundreds of drones ready to launch from the country's central if someone from the reportedly take part in today's drills from choose day south career is demanding the release of one of its oil tankers seized by iran iran says the cook came he was breaking environmental laws the seizure comes ahead of a planned visit by the south korean vice foreign minister to discuss iranian funds frozen in banks' juta u.s. sanctions robert bryant has more now from so. south korea does have a naval vessel in that area as part of the international anti piracy effort that vessel has now been deployed or redeployed to the waters where this tanker was

seized but is not likely or expected to be doing much but monitoring the situation and seeing how this develops the iranians have accused me of environmental pollution the operators of the vessel here in south korea deny that and say that this vessel was in international waters it is thought that this is part of an ongoing much wider dispute between iran and south korea over seas to funds here in south korea this is $7000000000.00 worth of funds which are owed for oil products imported from iran into south korea which since the imposition of much tighter sanctions by the united states south korea has frozen has not given access to iran to these funds if it did do so then it would risk being sanctioned itself by the united states so these monies are the on the subject of ongoing negotiations and a dispute between tehran and seoul there is

a meeting coming up an anticipated meeting a visit by a vice foreign minister from south korea to tehran where obviously this will appear on the agenda a run is desperate for any funds it can get at the moment given its economic circumstances so it is an expected and it is thought that the this happening right now the seizure of this vessel ahead of this anticipated meeting is more than mere coincidence. the president service central african republic has been re-elected to a 2nd term the electoral commission says it fast there are changes it has won with more than 53 percent of the vote attacks by rebel groups were launched before and after the election many fear that the violence will continue cut your leapers hadi and as this report. reelected to a 2nd term president foster our conch to tara says he can unite a divided central african republic it's an ambitious goal at

a fragile time because barack obama's work in the results monitored by the electoral commission show he received an absolute majority in an election marked by violence and the challenges are many central african republic is still recovering from a civil war. the president's supporters are hopeful he can bring peace and stability . people don't need weapons to take power we have suffered so much the president has done his best to bring the country forward in 5 years that's why central african voted for him. unrest has persisted before and after the election attacks by armed fighters aligned with rival politicians kept thousands of voters from going to the polls they seized the city of benghazi you and threatened to take over more and attempt to take control of the capital was stopped by soldiers u.n. peacekeepers in reinforcements from russia and rwanda. i support another party

i'm with the l.p.c. opposition group but if the president won it's because he deserves it he's a man who's fought for this. now prosecutors are launching an investigation into a former president francois posies he's accused of plotting a coup which the election may be over but many people in the country are bracing for the possibility of more violence. so the young how does here. still come here and al-jazeera once a success story no thailand is ramping up coronavirus restrictions to contain a new outbreak plus. what is next for julian assange orange after british court blocks the wiki leaks founder from being extradited to the united states.

how i would say some rather nasty weather moving across northern parts of india recently and even to the south the scenes of very heavy showers around sri lanka and southern areas of india but up to the north where we've seen some big downpours some thunder a showers but a bit of snow just around in kashmir but it's the heavy rain which is cause recent problems one consolation as it has been clearing the poor air quality that we have seen in recent days and weeks across the north of the country with warnings still remain in force just across kashmir pushing up into northern parts of pakistan some heavy downpours likely to turn wintry as we go through the next few days further south it quietens down somewhat but we will see heavy showers around the time will not do kerala and also into sri lanka no sort of same in the showers across the arabian peninsula meanwhile we got a little bit of cloud in the northern parts of saudi arabia north of that general drive 5 plenty of hazy sunshine quiet weather just around the gulf we could see

a little bit of early morning mist unfold here mccotter over the next couple of days further south lots of hazy sunshine in that stretch just out across the whole of africa we have got showers just around tanzania wet weather all the way over towards namibia and we'll see some very heavy showers this week the south africa. and a territory that's been under constant sea trip 12 years. and in a state of perpetual conflict with its neighbor. women are swimming against the tides and challenging stereotypes and that isolated society. al-jazeera wild fun is 5 palestinians making a difference. the new women of gaza on al-jazeera.

or. are you watching out there are mind of our top stories this hour and a saudi arabia is opening its airspace and borders to cutter and what is seen as big steps towards resolving the 3 and a half year diplomatic crisis q.h. has been mediating between cotton for arab states for the announcement was made on the eve of a gulf cooperation council summit in a lawyer in saudi arabia is a man shake time in hama del tani will attend to choose days some of. us president elect joe biden and president donald trump of rallied in the state of georgia had a 2 crucial senate runoff elections that republicans need to win just one of those

seats to retain control of the senate. now the new york stock exchange says it no longer plans to delist 3 major chinese telecom companies means that these firms will continue to be traded on the exchange the details were provided for the u.-turn let's hear now from dickie wall who's a stock analyst and he says that this was an unexpected nudes. it came in to his surprise but honestly speaking we can see those 3 telco share price rebounds quite significantly in the morning and the longer term i thing this tendency or the situation will not change at all because most of the old chinese companies are now this thing in the u.s. there was sick for seek for a secondary listing opportunity maybe in hong kong or maybe in shanghai starboard because those chinese companies will face more and more pressure from the regulators test no question asked at all let's join katrina you in beijing katrina

jose has beijing likely to perceive that you today. well this is definitely going to be seen as a positive move we haven't had any official response from the aging yet but these 3 companies are state owned at the biggest chinese telecom companies in the country and they play a very significant role in china's economy so when the decision was 1st made to delist them from the your new york stock exchange beijing really saw that as an attack on china they said that the trumpet ministration was politicizing trade and they said it was an unfair move that would harm the markets in general that being said though this move to delist was also allowed to be perceived as a symbolic one as these 3 telecom companies trade relatively few shares on the new york stock exchange so they maintain that were that this was not going to impact market operations in general that was largely seen as symbolic

a way to shake confidence a way to put american but investors off having any involvement in chinese companies and really a move to accelerate decoupling between china and the u.s. so this move this reversal will definitely be perceived as a positive thing beijing is likely to see this as maybe a move in good faith by the biden administration as a sign that they're not really keen on decoupling as the trumpet ministration was and that the willing really still to continue doing business with china or katrina thanks for that katrina you the beijing news though on the pandemic and thailand was once seen as a success story and containing coronavirus know things have changed forcing a tough response scott hide the reports from bank it's not the way thailand wanted to start the new year the country has seen a steady increase in new locally transmitted covert cases evolving into a full fledged 2nd wave this afternoon 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 maturo 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 let her not that i don't know 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 scene of a biotech going to health care workers 1st and then it will look to locally produced the oxford astra zeneca vaccine with the capacity of up to $200000000.00 doses a year scott hodler al jazeera bangkok. england has joined other parts of the u.k. by imposing a covert 19 locked on the prime minister johnson says restrictions will last at least 7 weeks and your severance reports now 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 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 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 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 part the seas 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's concerned because the south african variant seems to be more infectious than the u.k. strain the u.k. is planned 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. miscarry says it's ready to offer asylum to julian assange a decision by u.k.

court to extradite the wiki leaks founder to the united states. was this his supporters celebrated the ruling outside courts songs as blunted by the u.s. on espionage charges for publishing thousands of secret american military documents the judge denied the request citing concerns over songes mental health the u.s. is expected to appeal against the decision they've bollock reports from outside the court. it is for now at least the result you supporters had wanted was 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 some 2010 and 11 the u.s. claims the leaks broke the law and endangered long leaves and will appeal the ruling. 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 should be a call out 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 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 intends for 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 his 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. russia has eased restrictions that banned women from working in hundreds of professions the so-called new women jobs list have been in place since the 1970s included professions considered dangerous and threatening to women's fertility that's all changed now 12 female drivers have signed up to work in moscow's underground rail system women can also become truck to drive us and long haul truckers. 2

brothers in bangladesh are doing all they can to bring attention to a red dog breed on the brink of extinction the sorrel hound has been treasured for centuries but only a few dozen remain in the region the rubber dust brothers are using social media to set up mating dates with pure breed owners it's believed they descended from english a greyhound zone by landlords hundreds of years ago. a lovely clock in doha with the headline terror in al jazeera and saudi arabia is opening its airspace and borders to catherine what is seen as big steps towards resolving a 3 and a half year diplomatic crisis kuwait has been mediating between qatar and for arabs .