the diverse range of stories from across the globe from the perspective of our networks journalists on al-jazeera. saudi arabia and its arab allies agreed to restore full diplomatic ties with cattle at a summit to resolve the 3 year long blockade. peter w. watching al-jazeera live from the also coming up voting is underway in the u.s. state of georgia where to run off races will determine if the democrats can claim control of the u.s. senate. england and scotland go into another lockdown to contain covert nineteen's hospital struggle to cope with a surge of infections. also this half hour

a change of plan the new york stock exchange decides not to remove the shares of 3 chinese telecoms companies. saudi arabia the u.a.e. bahrain and egypt all agreed to restore full diplomatic relations with cattle the kingdom's foreign minister made the announcement following tuesday as gulf summit in it's the most significant moment in regional relations since the illegal blockade began 3 years ago delegates from the gulf countries signed a declaration calling for solidarity and stability. you know like the correlation. has achieved a settlement of all issues outstanding in a way that is entirely satisfied factory to all nations involved all the countries involved we are extremely pleased with having been able to achieve this very

important breakthrough that we believe will contribute very much to the stability security of all our nations in the region we we have as you mentioned been working very hard towards achieving this breakthrough for many years and the timing is. just that it's that we were finally able to reach that conclusion and reach. a mechanism that was satisfactory to everyone and i am happy to report that we are at a place where everyone is satisfied and happy and yes all the outstanding. whether it's turning of diplomatic relations flights etc all of that will now go back to normal. here's what the saudi crown prince mohammed bin sol man was saying earlier. our block is being 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. zeros correspondent following events out of saudi arabia for us here in doha so jamal we really need more details on this tony. but the truth is peter i don't think we're going to get to the actual details of. exactly what went down in the meetings between christians and the emir of qatar took them one of them funny or. saudi arabia where it was some movement was finally made for a breakthrough what's we've got so far and what was very clear in the language chosen by both the saudi foreign minister as well as the g.c.c. secretary-general is that they wanted to gloss over those details they described it as all parties being content with what was agreed and try to focus more on the unity that all the member states have reaffirmed on the fact that things will go

back to normal at least in terms of diplomatic relations ambassadors from each country represented in the other respective one and the flights and borders being opened up so yes there are questions that are still unanswered but the ones that we do know or the answers that we do know are the 13 demands of the blockade and countries had wanted qatar to succumb to essentially. with withstood that of the past 3 and a half years and has been able to overcome this blockade in spite of those demands not being met the g.c.c. has not got a particularly outstanding stunningly good track record when it comes to unity over its history and it was interesting wasn't it because when the when the saudi foreign minister and the g.c.c. secretary general both asked the same question is there a mechanism in place to solve any disputes in the future they both kind of sidestepped that a little bit. well that's the but the point is you know the irony is that the g.c.c. in its founding charts in its mechanisms it actually has

a system for disputes to be resolved however whenever there have been disputes or often when there have been disputes rather than the member countries referring back to those mechanisms they've either imposed unilateral action or have taken are the routes like as we saw in 2017 with the blockade or even back in 2014 when those countries withdrew their ambassadors from as well and the truth of the declaration and that's why our imports and according to the career are not an agreement if it were an agreement there would be a government sure there would be some sort of mechanism or a new form of way to find solution to problems the fact that it's called a declaration the fact that there has been an insistence on using the term unity cooperation restoring the credibility and building good as it enters its 5th decade that is testament to the fact that there isn't any form of new way to do it

but maybe the positive is that they've found that actually the by ignoring the mechanisms within the g.c.c. that's hasn't worked and therefore the countries should really go back to how they had essentially intended the g.c.c. to operate in terms of conflict resolution one of the front page pictures i'm sure it's more morning will now online of course will be the emir of cats are embracing and being embraced by the saudi crown prince mohammed bin salma so given that offset against the detail that we got so far such as we got contained within the communiqué if cats are arabia quotes friends does that mean that cats are is a friend of egypt because egypt seems to have played a big role in this and also does that mean that say cats are is less of a friend to the powers that be in ankara because that was a friendship that was reforged in the immediate aftermath of the blockade having

kicked off. well as far as qatar is concerned from the very beginning and what was the thing that it had an issue with was that it's wanted to as any country does be responsible for its own foreign policy and it has always told the other g.c.c. member states that each country has its own sovereignty and therefore should have the freedom to establish diplomatic ties with whoever it seems sees fit the contradiction here peter is that in the final communique the secretary general said that all member states will work to have a you know unified and united foreign policy that's just bizarre because even for example if you were to look at the european union although it had a foreign policy chief each country had its own in the room and space to have its own excuse me its own from policy with whom it's wished for having said that and not lost on me that you know we report for our does europe which is based in qatar but the truth of the matter is this is that from the very beginning cut has come

out through either statements of its foreign ministry or through action to say that it did not want to be antagonistic towards egypt or any other country and the proof of that is that drew mubarak's europe during the time right after mubarak was toppled by the revolution and the military was in charge and during the time of the . president mohamed morsi egypt invested billions of dollars in to the economy and therefore it showed that it didn't have a problem with another country and that's that country had a problem with it so yes on the face of it it seems that there is a shift in the dynamic but i think that still we will wait to see if there anything major changes they are. seen as corresponding to moderates torch and get your insight into this developing story thank you so much. let's move on the u.k. has recorded almost 61000 new covert 19 cases for the 1st time since the pandemic began the prime minister boris johnson says more than 1000000 people are now

infected that's 2 percent of the u.k. population mr johnson as a lot of people in england stayed at home for at least 7 weeks as part of a new nationwide lockdown and 2 simmons is in london there is a southern 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 lock down 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. under simmons reporting that germany is expected to extend its locked measures until the end of the month regional leaders signaled they would agree to prolong the restrictions after seeing record numbers of cases and deaths last week the meeting with the german chancellor angela merkel later on tuesday the shutdown does include schools and non-essential stores the country began vaccinating people last month france's promise to speed up its vaccination program after critics accuse the government's rollout as being scandalously slow and inept the countries have one of the slowest rollout anywhere

in europe the announcement comes as the new highly contagious strain of cope with 19 has been found in the country the health minister says there are around 10 cases so far francis seen a sharp rise in people being treated in hospital. turning our attention to the states voting is underway in 2 crucial senate races in georgia that will determine whether president elect joe biden's democratic party will have a majority in the upper chamber more than 3000000 people had already cast their ballots in early voting an unprecedented figure for polls outside presidential elections the final day of campaigning so rallies from both outgoing president donald trump and incoming president joe biden and a recording published by u.s. media in which mr trump pressures the top state election official to overturn his losses caused controversy let's look at how the numbers on pack right now republicans have 50 of the 100 senate and seats and democrats have 48 so this is

what makes these 2 undecided seats in georgia so important republicans david per and kelly last are running against democratic candidates john also off raphael warnock if the democrats take both seats the senate will be split $5050.00 now as incoming vice president kamel harris would be the deciding vote giving democrats control while republicans only need to win one of the seats to hold their majority especially going to joins us live now from the city of columbus georgia natasha good to talk to you again how's the turnout been going so far. well it's been very light at polling centers like the one behind me across the state that's not a surprise that wait times are less than 10 minutes because of record early voting turnout in the state of georgia more than 3000000 people the thinking is that

republicans would tend to vote on election day so the republicans are looking for a high turnout today there has been a real concern that because trump has overshadowed this race because he has spread disinformation about the integrity of the election process that this would depress voter. turnout among republicans democrats on the other hand feel they are coming in on into election day buoyed by a very high turnout in early voting period more than 76000 new voters were registered since the presidential election and one of those grassroots organizations that has effectively worked to mobilize voters particularly black voters and other minority voters says that 112 more than 112000 people voted in the early voting running early voting period for the runoff who didn't vote in the presidential election the democrats in this case sort of sniff the winds of change

in the air biden was able to flip georgia the 1st time a democrat had done that in a presidential election in 28 years and now democrats could make history john the young son of a jewish man of immigrant could become the youngest member of the senate reverend raphael warnock could become the state's 1st black senator their messaging was to have an effective response to the pandemic to create a livable wage to expand health care to promote clean energy the republican incumbents who are fighting to retain their seats on the other hand stressed their business ak human they're both wealthy and were are former business executives senator david perdue and senator kelly lefler also spent a lot of time with airing negative campaign ads that focused on what they called fending off quote radical democrats and socialism senator produce said he did not think trump's descent from ation would have any bearing on the turnout but

privately republicans in the state are quite concerned no matter what happens in the senate runoff and every professor i spoke to says she believes it will be a close race and that's because of the valving demographics and voter mobilization efforts over the years but no matter what. evans in this race this does bring to a close the 2020 alexion cycle and it may be a point of reckoning for both the democrats and the republicans as they look to their messaging their identities in a post president trump era just to be clear natasha does this give mr biden potential here for a clean sweep he's got the white house he moves in end of january does it mean that the democrats can get the congress and the senate as well well as you mentioned the president elect joe biden already has a democratic controlled house of representatives and he is so close just 2 seats away from having as you called it

a full sweep and full control of government and you know that that is why he spent 3 times coming here in the last 2 months to try to get people to vote he said yesterday at a rally we attended this is it go to the polls this is a new day for georgia and a new day for the people of america natascha going to i'm reporting live from columbus in georgia thank you so much natasha. still to come on this program president is reelected in central african republic while the opposition though is refusing to accept the outcome. ennius rabbani a pillar of the lebanese music scene has died at the age of 83 looked back at his life.

it's time for the perfect gentleman. sponsored point qatar airways the weather maze pretty quiet across the middle east it's nice and settled now bits and pieces of cloud into northern parts of saudi arabia you might just catch a spouse or 2 of light rain but nothing much to speak of a chance they want to show us up towards the black sea but otherwise as you can see it's largely dry and fine maybe a shower just a across the southern end of the red sea highs here in doha of around 21 celsius with some pleasant sunshine coming through as the winds for a light the sunshine extends down across the whole of africa plenty of showers there into the heart of africa more wet weather coming back towards the gulf of guinea showers there into was zambia becoming more widespread these heat of the day showers of course very wet weather though still continues into central and eastern parts of south africa that wetter weather will not a little further north woods as we go on through thursday gradually pushing up into

mozambique there be some showers all say coming into zimbabwe botswana also seeing some showers and longer spells of rain but nothing too much to speak of notice things do improve across the south africa as we go on into friday temperatures getting up into the mid twenty's for cape town and for port elizabeth not too bad into hundreds burgas well for madagascar that's a case of sunshine and showers and kind of the reef a $29.00 degrees. finland has committed to cutting its carbon emissions with the world's most ambitious reduction goal carbon neutrality in just 15 years now it's very tired to actually get it and we can do it if we want to but 1st the nation must tackle the dirty legacy of a profitable fossil fuel industry it's and being an active emissions source people in power finland's climate warriors on a jazeera. form

. welcome back you're watching al-jazeera i'm peter double your top stories so far today saudi arabia the u.a.e. bahrain and egypt have agreed to restore full diplomatic relations with cattle recording to the saudi foreign minister is the most significant moment in regional relations since the illegal blockade began 3 years ago. the u.k. has recorded almost 61000 new covert 19 cases for the 1st time since the pandemic began prime minister boris johnson has all the people in england to stay at home for at least 7 weeks as papa new nationwide lock down. and the polls have opened in the u.s. state of georgia where people are voting in 2 senate runoff elections that will

decide the balance of power in congress as of friday more than 3000000 people that cast their ballots in early voting. the new york stock exchange says it no longer plans to delist 3 major chinese telecoms companies this about comes less than a week after a said it would remove the listings to comply with an executive order signed by president trump in november katrina you 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 in the longer term i think 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 seek for secondary 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 from 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 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 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 covered 90 outbreak very well and there 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.-turn seems to be a lull in tensions between the 2 countries it's certainly not be different between

al-jazeera beijing well stephen and this is chief global market strategist with x.e. a global institutional financial services company he says the move was never a security issue but rather a political one i've never seen anything like this happen but i think the n.y.s.e. is sort of looking at this in trying to disavow themselves from the proposal it occurred around obviously this was really a political knock down more so than a security concern i think we're seeing a developed economy sort of margin head here for for technology domination rather than supply chain domination so anything that the u.s. at least president trump can do to notify china's far reach as far as technology concerns he's going to try to do it look the popular vote in the u.s. is negative and anti china biden would have had trouble reversing these measures but i think the n.y.s.e. is seeing through this given the proximity of biden coming to office right now at least giving him a chance to make a decision in the immediate changes expected to the china relationships are going

to not happen immediately when biden takes office but i think he's going to keep the pressure on him but i think he's going to keep the dialogue open and see where it takes them into the year 2021 and beyond. the former head of a state owned chinese company has been sentenced to death for bribery and corruption lies ya mean was convicted of taking more than $260000000.00 in bribes to court and chen jin said lies punishment was because he'd been quote lawless and greedy in the extreme the chinese president xi jinping zanti corruption campaign has seen hundreds of officials arrested since it was launched in 2012. the president of central african republic faust in our homes to the ira has been reelected as supporters celebrated the final result showed him winning more than 53 percent of the vote last week that means he won't need to go to a runoff election was marred by violence from rebel groups aligned with political rivals. cancelling the result is one solution holding

a 2nd round is another but no matter what the results announced yesterday cannot be accepted because following events in senegal he has the latest now on the opposition's efforts to deal with just a minor is the election. 9 of the candidates have appealed or complained to the election commission saying that twitter has not won the popular vote their argument basically is you know with the country mostly in the hands of armed groups half of the electorate 900000 people were unable to vote 2000 valid stations or polling stations were open given those circumstances they say this vote or this election is illegitimate going even further the 2nd in this race and the most close to 2. in the percentage raise. in a press conference said that perhaps there needs to be

a new election altogether at stake here is a country that's the size of france are rich in minerals and in gold and this is where we've seen 300 at least russian fighters there's been 300 russian officers that were just sent during the election as well as helicopters sent by the russian state we've seen rwanda saying troops are sending troops over in what used to be a former french colony where france has had a strong influence and intervened in 2013 caught in the middle of this of course are the millions of people from the central african republic most of them living in poverty dependent on humanitarian aid and many of them that are continuing to be displaced by the ongoing fighting between armed groups and the government despite the presence of 12000 u.n. peacekeeping troops iran has been showing off its drone technology amid tensions with the united states stink media showed hundreds of drones ready to launch from

the province the reportedly being deployed in 2 days of drills. well the $200.00 employees of google and its parent company alphabet of now formed a union the membership represents a fraction of the company's workforce but it's a rare foothold for the labor movement in the tech industry those who've signed up say they want more of a voice on wages benefits and protections against discrimination google says it won't negotiate directly with the new union. lebanon is mourning the loss of a legendary compose a cultural i call it he was known for a unique genre of music blending styles from different parts of the world under chappelle looks back on his life. when a song 1st lays eyes on the hood in 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 the us wrote songs for her that helped to cross the factional divides and became a source of pride for all lebanese. songs that you just wrote for his children during the war continue to help others today.

the un's children's agency unicef uses them and psychosocial support programs for syrian children using music to teach them about social harmony and reconstruction for him an immense source of pride. for those saudi just the little bit of how you hope to follow up on the. book. he composed hundreds of songs from 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 viewed with the room at a system of a golden age would not exist without. the tutors are.

lots more news whenever you want it of course on the web site the address al-jazeera dot com we will sum up for you all the top stories right now. ok let's update your headlines so far this off saudi arabia the u.a.e. bahrain and egypt have agreed to restore full diplomatic relations with cata the kingdom's foreign minister made the announcement after tuesday's gulf summit in it's the most significant moment in regional relations since the illegal blockade began 3 years ago. polls have opened in the u.s. state of georgia where people are voting into runoffs that will decide the balance of power in congress as of friday more than 3000000 people had cast their ballots in early voting the final days of campaigning so rallies from both outgoing president trump and president elect by.