the legacy of a profitable fossil fuel industry and being an active emanations souls' people in power finland's plummets warriors on a. gulf leaders sign a declaration affirming their solidarity at a summit to help resolve a 3 year embargo against qatar. that society agrees to open its air sea and land borders with council. don't know about this and this is obviously a live from doha also coming up all eyes on the u.s. state of georgia as voters cast their ballots in iran off that will decide which political party will control the senate. and women scoff and go into another local

town to contain covert 19 hospitals struggled to cope with the surgeon infections. leaders from across the gulf region have signed a declaration aimed at resolving the 3 year dispute with qatar as a major summit in saudi arabia representatives from gulf countries including the emir of qatar have gathered in the city of allah that follows a move by saudi to open its air sea and land borders to qatar in what's seen as a big step towards resolving an illegal blockade in the country delegations from oman the united arab emirates coate and egypt also attending. earlier in the time in bin hamad elton was greeted by saudi crown prince mohammed bin someone with an embrace it marked one of the most important moments in relations between the gulf countries in recent years. and up

a half hour block has been built on the basis of our shared roots and common traditions with the aim of serving the interests of our respective people therefore we should all work together towards achieving the goals on the basis of which this block was formed. ok we've got several correspondents on the story will cast was in washington d.c. she's going to have the latest of the u.s. valas of the qatar saudi border and we're going to be speaking to them in just a few minutes 1st of all let's go to. joel it may have looked warm on the tarmac in saudi arabia but there is a long way to go before this issue is actually resolved as in that there are a lot of diplomats some analysts like to call it a confidence building that is required to specially after the past 3 and a half years witnessed so much division being played out in the media being played out an economic warfare being played out in lots of different fields and saw attempts to devalue the qatari ryall that saw fake news being spread by the

blockade in countries that there were these crews that were about to take place and qatar and so forth however what we've seen in laura over the past few hours is a clear indication that as far as saudi arabia and qatar is leadership are concerned there is intent clear intent to try and bridge that divide to try and work towards those confidence building measures and by the fact that the other countries signed the an all or declaration there is also some sort of intense from the other quartets members namely. and the u.a.e. and obviously with the presence of egypt from minister all the egypt is not a member of the gulf cooperation council and there is also some sort of intent from them to be part of a solution the focus of the declaration rob is one of unity it is a declaration not not an agreement and therefore it is each of those countries reaffirming their belief that there needs to be unity between the member states

there needs to be more cooperation and the need to. transcend the differences that have divided them over the past few years and to use mechanisms and frameworks within the gulf. council itself to resolve any future of differences one of the issues of course is going to be the 13 point points of demands the 13 demands were made by the blockading countries and of course qatar has its own particular stance in terms of its foreign relations and so on up until a few weeks ago both sides seemed absolutely entrenched in those positions and didn't seem keen to move it's going to be interesting to see how they work through it given it's taken 3 years even just to get to this stage or from a from a factual perspective those 13 demands will not be met quite simply and this is based on these statements that have come from qatar and its insistence over the past few years coupled with comments that have come out from major international players including the united states the u.k.

germany and others who have dismissed these demands from the beginning as things that were unrealistic when you're talking about enforcing on a country the demand to sever ties with another country like iran for example when you're talking about paying unspecified amounts of reparation without actually giving details what that operation would be paid for or any evidence of it one of these things are seen to be bizarre to say the least and therefore they were nonstarters from from the present from this is were cut again some sort of confidence in the fact that it was able to withstand the blockade which was always put as a condition to be lifted was meeting those 13 demands from the saudi perspective as well as the other countries. they will take heed from the fact that amir attended the summit after the. blockade was lifted on them and they will want to focus their narrative more on coming across as a diplomat now as

a leader of the party and from the image that he is had which was one of the more younger erratic kind of. person and that's where the narrative will be focused. on that saudi arabia as the custodian of the 2 holy shrines back out medina is essentially reestablishing its position as a leader within the region is bridging the gap between and obviously not lost in all of that is the role of other countries like kuwait and the united states to do it so as we say there is a long way to go however in terms of practicality the blockade is essentially lifted now we will be hearing comments from the united arab emirates and egypt over the next few days about airspace being opened about the resumption of direct flights obviously pending covert in the pandemic and so forth but as far as the gulf is concerned this is a major step to at least reestablishing the norm that existed but bearing in mind that even when the prior to 2017 there were those deep differences between the

countries those will probably remain it's just about how they will try and subtle them that we will see a different approach to in the coming coming weeks and months jamal thank you very much indeed talking to us from here in doha i want to speak to muhammad vall he's at the qatar border jamal was talking there about the practical elements of the of this and where you are exactly where those track to the elements are going to come into play the border is going to the indication of whether or not this is actually going to work isn't it. well that's right we've been here for several hours today and there is some movement here we have lots of policeman moving around they have been here in the booths behind me some of the workers or some of the clerics where they are preparing the cameras and dusting off everything and that is a big sign of this of a new situation because you know a few days ago there was nothing even yesterday there was nothing nothing of this type here of this kind that announcement by the kuwaiti government yesterday that

saudi arabia has decided to lift the blockade has been followed followed by this activity today we don't have other details actually and we don't also see the medical teams and preparations that should be in place for coverage because this is a different scenario than before the blockade now we we should see more of of that aspect being displayed here for people to be able to cross will of so understand that the governments both the governments of saudi arabia and qatar need to do some of the formalities of inform their people about how to cross and what kind of paperwork and and thinks they should they should have ready on them before coming to the border so we haven't seen any people crossing so far but the expectation is that things will be moving into the direction of from a full movement of people in the next few days and bringing us up to date of the situation at the qatar saudi border let's bring in heidi jocasta she's talking to

us from washington d.c. kuwait of course has been central in the negotiations for this but we can't lose sight of the role that the u.s. has been playing in this. certainly and you saw jerry questioner the son in law of president donald trump and a senior white house advisor in attendance during the signing ceremony a team led by cushion are getting a lot of the credit here in the u.s. for negotiating the terms of this deal white house source telling al-jazeera that questioners trip to the region about a month ago was instrumental in securing this deal that there was some last minute communication that happened just before this deal was announced that threatened to do to do rail it cushion or himself got on the phone ironed out those issues and then after that boarded the flight to saudi for the signing itself of course this is the latest in a string of diplomatic victories that the white house has capitalizing on its role

in a go shading the normalization of relations of diplomatic relations between israel and several arab states all of the tying the thread tying these deals together in the u.s. interest is trying to unify these gulf states against iran but the trouble ministration is also receiving a share of criticism and fanning the tensions particularly in this g.c.c. dispute of course it was shortly after trump's taking office and visiting riyadh that this this blockade was announced that he gave cover continuously to saudi arabia and its crown prince and particularly in the assassination of journalist in saudi arabia's role in the war in yemen all it is may perhaps fitting that now in the waning days of the trump presidency with 15 days left to go the this blockade is ending and certainly this is a sign a saudi arabia is recalculating its relationship with the u.s. in anticipation of the incoming biden administration knowing that under biden it

will no longer be receiving a free pass it certainly is going to be interesting watching over the next few weeks hoed the g.c.c. countries readjust their relationship to the white house and to the u. u.s. isn't it because the by the administration in many ways as an entity is very different to the top administration but there is an argument suggesting that their goals ultimately could be very similar. well certainly biden has said that he also wants to isolate iran but the the end goal is very different from that of the tribal ministration in that biden wants the nuclear deal to be revived he's been very clear about that certainly iran's latest measures of enriching uranium is making that more difficult but as far as saudi arabia is concerned by that has even said that not only does he want this deal revived he wants to get saudi arabia and the u.a.e. to agree to follow on to go she with iran very difficult diplomatic measure to

achieve but biden has also been very tough on saudi arabia and his rhetoric calling the country a pariah so certainly him humanitarian measures he will there will be a sharp division from what we've seen in the relationship between the trouble ministration in saudi arabia saudi arabia perhaps bracing for an end to what some call its golden years with trump now the trouble be leaving office in just 2 weeks time i did you cast your lot for us in washington d.c. thank you very much it was was very is director of the gulf studies center of qatar university here in doha and he believes the upcoming change of leadership in the u.s. is a key factor to the breakthrough. the holy crisis started and different do politics and international political situation where trump came to the white house you know trump wasn't favorably and would not be there was a plan that things will be changed you know republicans more or close to reality

things were changing and the favor of riyadh and the army and now on for the same circumstances we see the change trump is leaving the white house and your president coming to washington washington and one of the main reason i think which was to me is helping me to understand what's happening is the fact that without the change in the white house without this political change globally without what's happening even related to coronavirus i don't think so we will reach to this point so there was a collective elements pushed to this to happen today and the test of january 2021 so we have to look how much the circumstances will push to mordor i would say unity to more collaboration between the g.c.c. countries there is no doubt that the united g.c.c. is in favor of its own countries it's in favor of the world in favor of washington

but but i think this also needs a contribution of some the world to to keep this unity and also to push to reduce the level of tension rather than pushing toward the tension which we witness and trumpet the 1st year of his presidency in the white house. still ahead on al-jazeera a change of plan the new york stock exchange decides not to remove its shares of 3 chinese communications companies. or we've got a real way to. gain now across a good part of asia we've got more snow coming into japan over the next couple of days bits and pieces that unites us as we go on through our web and stay with us know there across the korean peninsula and it really gathers as we go on into

thursday so why it's widespread snowfall across much of japan by this stage and i suspect we will see some of that grassy pushing over towards tokyo clear skies come back in behind the minus 11 a top temperature in seoul on thursday sever a crisp one for you will see temperatures getting up to minus 6 am basing much of china will be dry as is the case across a good part of indochina but for india we got some rather wet weather now gathering across the south of the country further showers there into sri lanka we still got some wintry showers up across the northern plains pushing up through punjab up towards java and kashmir far north of pakistan also seeing some of that wintry mix but it will peter out here as we go on through thursday temperatures do struggle over 18 celsius top temperature in new delhi and also in a whole further south the showers are set to continue while weather coming into town will not be into carola into maharastra and the showers extend all the way up to moon by.

ok calm and make sure you're not hyping the situation be part of the debate my main characters are women when no topic is off the table there was in the last allowed child marriage to happen legally these are basically archaic walls they are often legitimized and legal one is pedophile an era online jumping to the comic section and he teaches us that this street on out is the era.

you want to go to see it a reminder of our top stories this hour leaders from across the gulf region of signed a declaration aimed at resolving the stream your dispute with qatar at a major summit in saudi arabia follows a move by sighted to open its air sea and land borders to qatar. qatar's emir said time and been hollowed out tony was greeted by saudi crown prince mohamed consult with an embrace it marks one of the most important moments in the nation's between the gulf countries in recent years. polls have opened in the u.s. state of georgia where people are voting to run offs that are going to decide the balance of power in congress as of friday more than $3000000.00 people have cast their ballots an early voting the final days of campaigning so rallies from both outgoing president donald trump and president elect joe biden and a last minute push for victory. let's take a look at the numbers republicans have 50 of the 100 senate seats and democrats have 48 so this is what makes these 2 undecided seats in georgia so important

republicans david kelly loeffler running against democratic candidates john also and raphael warner now if the democrats take both seats the senate is going to be split $5050.00 vice president would be the deciding vote giving democrats control while republicans only need to win one of the seats to hold their majority and it's actually going to i was in the city of columbus in georgia so we're in the last day of campaigning how is the race looking. well so far at this polling place which is the public library here in columbus there is only been a trickle of voters that's not excess unexpected given the fact that most people probably haven't had their cup of coffee this morning and due to the record breaking number of people who voted during the early voting period more than 3000000 georgians republicans in particular are looking at election day to get

a boost because during the early voting period there was a high turnout in areas with a high concentration of african-americans and young voters as well as democrats republicans have been concerned about a depressed voter turnout bear in mind that president trump has overshadowed this high stakes senate rate race with ongoing baseless claims questioning the electoral integrity the one of the state's elected lection officials held a news conference yesterday in a last ditch attempt to debug the disinform ation it says president trump and his allies have spread the election official also a republican urged everyone to go out and vote he said do not self suppress i spoke to a professor at emory university she predicts that due to the shifting demographics and years of effective voter mobilization this race and other races going forward

will be quite close which could mean that we're looking at a recount if the margin between the candidates is quite slim i know natasha the impression is that the drive was to get people out to vote to get the turnout operad of them to actually sway people but how do the candidates do in the parties themselves actually try to appeal to the different sides. well they were made no bones about it both parties said to georgians that this senate runoff would quote determine the future of america hyperbole no doubt but it shows just how much both parties believe the outcome of this race will impact at least the next 4 years of policy with president joe biden elect and his administration the democrats definitely have a sense that they could be making history the 2 democratic senate candidates john f. he is jewish he's young and he's the son of an immigrant he if elected could become

the youngest senator reverend raphael warnock he is a preacher at martin luther king's former church and he could become the state's 1st african-american senate senator they basically framed this race as a way to cater to the needs of georgians they want to expand health care they want to implement criminal justice reform promote clean energy the republicans senator david perdue and kelly lefler both wealthy business people stressed their business accu men said they would vote for policies that created jobs and helped revive our economy but most of their attacks centered on what they said were fending georgians off from quote radical democrats and socialism so how did you originally respond to these messages remains to be seen but there is a sense that no matter the outcome of this senate runoff it will provide a kind of pivot point for both the democrat and the republican parties in terms of

its messaging and its identity in a post president trump era natasha thank you very much indeed natasha gunn i'm talking to us from columbus in georgia. u.k. prime minister boris johnson's concert a trip to india to deal with a covert $1000.00 crisis and booking johnson's order to people in england to stay at home for at least 7 weeks as part of a new nationwide locked on under simmons has more from london. there is a sullen acceptance of what the prime minister had to say but not without questions from why sections of the public and indeed throughout business as well there is a whole host of issues that are being questioned primarily the prime minister's decision being taken after the joint bio security center said that the whole risk strategy is now standing at level 5 this isn't the tear system this

is a security risk system and that is really putting the red light on because the n.h.s. the all the medical health care workers would be facing an overwhelming situation in a very short space of time therefore the button had to be pressed send the prime minister of an all out lockdown now that there was only 36 hours before this a speech by the prime minister in which he said schools are safe most of them can reopen he knew the new variant was very infectious he knew there had been a big increase in cases but the general feeling was that maybe there'd be more restrictions but not this complete lockdown germany is expected to extend its lockdown measures until the end of january regional leaders signaled they would agree to prolong the restrictions after seeing record numbers of cases in deaths last week and missing chancellor angela merkel later on tuesday the shutdown

includes schools and non-essential stores the country began vaccinating people last month when a cane has more from berlin. the prime ministers of the 16 states of germany this federal republic are meeting angle of merkel many of them will be doing it virtually because of the situation regarding covert 19 here in germany and was going to happen well it's been very widely reported that everybody has agreed that until that that the lockdown should be prolonged through to the 31st of january but it is worth making the point that there is some dissent from the prime ministers of 2 states in eastern germany in saxony and thring year where the incidence of covert $1000.00 is very high indeed the suggestion is that those 2 prime ministers would like to have the lockdown extended even further further into february that is so that's one thing that's being considered at this meeting between is to say the prime ministers and i'm going to ackland and her senior cabinet colleagues but there's also been some suggestion over the course of the last 24 hours or so the

germany too might consider making the gap between the administration of the 1st dose of the vaccine in the 2nd one slightly longer although there is some argument about the relative efficacy of doing that and that has not been agreed upon but certainly the one thing we know they are all united on is that the lockdown in place in this country should extend right through to the end of this month and that's everyone believes that with the caveat that some to even longer than that the new highly contagious strain of corona virus has been found in france the health minister says that are around 10 cases and has promised to speed up vaccination france has had one of the slowest roll outs in europe but it aims to have 300 vaccinations centers in operation next week it's in a sharp rise in people being treated in hospital the u.n. says is expecting another wave of mass displacement in asia after a series of attacks more than 100 people were killed saturday when gunmen attacked 2 villages near the border with mali the country's suffered constant attacks from

groups linked to al qaeda and i saw alluded to this as more from the army. last year more than 57000 new displacements have been recorded here in here adding to the more than 400000 refugees and internally displaced persons already struggling with in adequate food and shelter the united nations described the situation as desperate we need more phones we are cutting our partner or up to 2 and a purse because of course to do our job to father complicate the situation of the movement of humanitarian workers is severely restricted not only because of the resurgence of coverage 19 but also they have become targets of these armed groups before there was like a kind of. respect for humanitarian people we don't. know everybody is is a target is your user country that depends on international aid only because of

climate change but also because of conflict now experts here believe that the situation will get worse because of the continuing attacks in different parts of the. south korea is demanding the release of one of its tankers seized by iran to iran says the ship was causing oil pollution in gulf waters south korea has now deployed a naval destroyer to the strait of hormuz seizure comes ahead of a planned visit by the south korean vice foreign minister to discuss any and funds frozen in banks as part of u.s. sanctions the new york stock exchange says it no longer plans to delist 3 major chinese telecommunications companies about turn comes less than a week after it said it would remove the listings to comply with an executive order signed by president donald trump in november continue has this report from beijing . an unexpected backflip by the new york stock exchange reversing a decision to delist chinese telecommunications companies china mobile china

telecom and china unicom just days after it was announced the new century as the 3 companies surging on the hong kong stock exchange on choose day but analysts say any celebrations unlikely to be short lived and the longer term i thing the 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 for a 2nd or listing opportunity maybe in hong kong or maybe in shanghai starboard because those chinese company will face more and more pressure from the record later the decision to delist followed the side of an executive order by u.s. president trump in november banning americans been investing in companies linked to china's military the new york stock exchange says it made that decision after consulting u.s. regulators beijing has accused the trumpet ministration of politicizing trade in arbitrarily suppressing chinese companies made with a certain to surely some political forces in the united states have continuously

suppressed florrie listed companies for no reason reflecting the also today of their system but its impact on chinese companies is limited we hope they can respect the rule of law and the markets the chinese telecommunications companies say any u.s. trade that would have little impact on daily operations it's instead seen here as symbolic donald trump has targeted a number of chinese technology companies grounds of national security then are waiting to see if the incoming biden administration will take a less hostile to do business with china but many believe trade disputes between beijing and washington are set to continue it's based upon you know saying as an as an enemy to us of the u.s. and as a threat to the u.s. now clearly it. as a competitor without a question of a doubt you know it's it's going to be soon the world's largest economy it's

growing very fast it's recovered from the coded 19 outbreak very well and there are also human rights issues that not just america but the whole world is going to be concerned about and rightly so but this may not be the best way of putting pressure on china and while the u. 10 seems to be a lull in tensions between the 2 countries it's certainly not be a debate between al-jazeera beijing. and this is our desire these are the top stories leaders from across the gulf region have signed a declaration aimed at resolving the 3 year dispute with qatar but a major summit in saudi arabia that follows a move by saudi to open its air sea and land border to qatar. as a mere shake salmon been hollowed out tunney was greeted by saudi crown prince mohammed bin solomon with an embrace that marks one of the most important moments in relations between the guy.