like people who are like i'm not says my host on this on this booze truth is it anyway on outages there are. oriented to order to own. al-jazeera. eleanore and tired of this is the al-jazeera news hour live from london coming up saudi arabia and its allies agree to end their 3 year blockade and restore full timers with qatar to summit in the kingdom. georgia votes in a crucial runoff election that will determine the balance of power in the u.s. congress. daily covert cases hit a new high in the u.k. with an estimated one in 50 people infected in england where a needle down has been imposed. on devon ash with sports as the number of private

19 cases in the english premier league doubles a record of 40 players and staff of tested positive in the last week but the league says games will carry on as plans. saudi arabia and its allies have agreed to restore full diplomatic ties with cutter ending the illegal 3 and a half year blockade of the country leaders from across the gulf region have signed a declaration calling for solidarity and stability at a summit aimed at resolving the dispute got as a mere shake to mean been hammered of funny was welcomed with an embrace by saudi crown prince mohammed bin sound man as he arrived for the summit there's a day after the announcement that saudi arabia will reopen its air sea and land borders to cutter a declaration aimed at resolving the dispute was signed which will enable member states to combat any threats to gulf security it also ensures no interference in

each other's internal affairs but full reconciliation could still be a way off the u.a.e. egypt and bahrain did not send the heads of state to the summit even though the agreement calls for the restoring of gulf cooperation and brotherly ties to mother and child forts from dover. after 3 and a half years of a crisis that threatened the very core of the gulf region g.c.c. leaders have agreed to end divisions and in a new era of cooperation the olympic relation is 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 and yes all the outstanding.

whether it's turning of diplomatic relations flights etc all of that will now go back to normal earlier the summit's had got off to a promising starts when saudi crown prince mohammed bin said a man insisted on hiding qatar's emir shift i mean been some of that funny as the letter touched down in the saudi city of the clearest indication yet that both countries were on the way to mending relations the qatari leader confirmed his attendance at the 41st street summit of the 11th hour only after saudi arabia agreed to lift the land air and sea blockade it had been imposing on since 2017 in his opening remarks to follow leaders crown prince mohammed bin simon emphasized the importance of cooperation and unity between the g.c.c. member states you. today we are in a dire need to stand united in the face of the challenges namely iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs and other agendas adopted by its respected in the region which undermine the stability of the region this demands that we dovetail our

efforts with the international community to cement the stability and security of the region also in attendance at the summit was senior white house adviser on president donald trump's son in law jarrett christian or it was off to his visits to doha in the riyadh late last year that's a breakthrough in negotiations that had been led by coates was. reached since the start of the crisis quits had been exerting its efforts to solve the disputes with its late amir ships a bottle of medicine successfully preventing the military invasion of qatar it was no surprise them but a lawless summits was named after together with the late senator over a man who also passed away in 2020 with all 4 blockading countries now agreeing to open their land air and sea borders to put out the gulf region can now begin a new chapter one that its leaders say will be written by all of them together. the. cattle's emir shaped i mean been hammered out funny has tweeted about the deal

saying today the page of disagreement was turned over with a spirit of responsibility and a walk working towards a new page that reinforces the meanings of solidarity and cooperation for the sake of what is good for the gulf people and to help confront the challenges facing the region thanks to the state of kuwait for its huge efforts to bridge the divide and to achieve gulf unity now and is the director of policy analysis at the arab center for research and policy studies he joins us via skype from doha so the dispute went on for more than 3 years what would you get was the driving factor in resolving it finally. well i think maybe the bodies involved mean the saudia arabia may have come to the conclusion that the continuation of this crisis actually is absolutely bunk this and to its baby die and actually to bring gore the copies together especially not having a new administration and the white house was completely different from the from the

outgoing what i mean he had that the madness to actually believe that that the new incoming administration for joe biden and would grow and be more critical of the saudi arabia and other counties in indonesia considering that he was the cork on one hand and also considering war in yemen on dato on the other if you add to that actually what the by the administration is planning to do with iran because we also expect that joe biden will probably try to rejoin 2015 you cannot deal with with iran that is something that actually is not is not good and actually for some this is a house likely to be actually seeing it so so i would be the saudis it decided that that the day that they look at of course there was not a very successful venture out of. that it may have undermined its from policy in one way or another so i think this is this is why they decided that probably this

is the time to end it and as i said and bring all the g.c.c. countries together in order to face a new and you have that is the bike and and which saw that it would be needing a very singular ally and that he in order to feel as a new challenge is expected without considering concerning iraq on the program because between the united states and iran on one hand or the pressure that is going to be put on saudi arabia by the by the administration on the other so all of these things that actually mean happened. may have for saudi arabia to rethink its policy concept and it was certain it got out and maybe other issues also in the region and how would you say normalization of relations between israel and someone else countries would have played into this. well i think this author has maybe decided actually to go for the conciliation with caught on to the rather than the same the same bat that you had up in medicine but he'd have taken this this year

because as you know how good it is that he did all this that it or is that it's the host of that do more and that the 2 most important and sacred sites of muslims around the world so it might find it extremely difficult actually to. to have like a public. beach out towards the doors is about you so i believe in decided eventually that maybe if we try and with our house i mean because of house here in order that actually getting involved in another. i mean and wise or. maybe had was then shot to was. so good it may have decided actually to to take that to the bat which which i actually feel it's got to be over. with a slight smile and come on thank you very much indeed for analysis. thank you.

coming up on the news hour from london rolling out but not fast enough health workers in europe and the u.s. say vaccines are arriving too slowly. i'm very disappointed with this news the head of the w.h.o. says china still hasn't authorized entry for its team some of whom are already on their way to investigate the origins of a covert pandemic. and a sport with gemma was a marine you gets ready for his most important match as the talk and head coach. people of the state of georgia are voting in an election which could have a crucial impact on joe biden's powers as president a special runoff to choose the state's 2 senate members will decide the balance of power in congress for the entire country 3000000 ballots were cast ahead of polling day a record that represents almost 40 percent of the state's registered voters children

acted biden as president in november ending an 83 decade winning streak for the republicans or run offs in georgia picked the 2 republican senators david and kelly lefler against democratic challengers john ostroff and raphael warnock the vote will determine who controls the u.s. senate democrats would need to win both seats to deny the republicans a majority they could use to block large parts of joe biden's legislative agenda if the democrats secure both seats the senate would be split down the middle the vice president comma harris would then get the car to get to cast the tie breaking vote was 50 at a show name in the city of columbus in georgia tell us about the turnout where you are. with less than 3 hours before the polls close the georgia secretary of state says that throughout the day this election has been proceeding smoothly with average wait times at polling places

like the one behind me averaging one minute that's not at all unexpected when you consider that a record more than 3000000 georgians already cast votes during the early voting period i spoke to a professor at emory university who says she expects this race to be close given the shifting demographics of georgia and years of effective voter mobilization targeting black and other minority voters it's what helped president elect joe biden flip the state to make it democrat in november it was the 1st time a democratic presidential candidate had done that in 28 years so she says she expects the race to be tight she also expects going forward from today for all races in georgia the newest battleground state to be close she says that we can expect to see races with someone by democrats others won by republicans in what she says is reminiscent of what happened here in the 1980 s. and 1990 s.

as white democrats migrated away from her migrated to the republican party no matter what this runoff will bring an official and to the election cycle of 2020 and give georgians a respite from what was at times an intense and caustic campaign and attention the elections become a bit of a referendum on the president how has that changed it. trump loomed large over this senate runoff the 2 republican incumbent senators david perdue and kelly lefler are stanch trump loyalists kelly lefler says that she's going to join a number of republicans on wednesday who will be opposing what should be a routine certification of biden's win look this has been very much as we've seen throughout the general election last year kind of a by unary choice with each party either supporting or opposing trump for the

republican candidates their strategy was to to attack democrats calling them radical and saying that the vote for the republicans was a way to stave off socialism with regard to the democratic candidates john aasif and raphael warnock they really frame this race as one to help everyday georgians they said that they wanted to expand health care for the needy they wanted to help put forth a more effective pandemic response they wanted to implement criminal justice reform and promote clean energy president elect joe biden was at a rally for the 2 candidates we attended yesterday and if you listen to the way he promoted the 2 candidates it tells you a lot about the trump factor in this race he said that if and warnock were quote honorable decent and qualified men who would work for georgians and show loyalty to

georgians not for trump and to show that i am thank you very much indeed. trump supporters are gathering outside the u.s. congress in washington d.c. they're protesting against the certification of last year's presidential election results which is due to take place on wednesday they believe election fraud is behind president donald trump's loss to joe biden a claim constantly repeated by the outgoing leader since the november vote police of closed off streets and businesses nearby have been boarded up. police in the u.s. capitol have arrested the leader of a controversial far right group cited by president trump henry erykah terrio who heads the proud boys was held at a pro truck rally in washington d.c. on monday he's been charged with destruction of property over the burning of a black lives matter bana in december he was also charged with a firearms offense for carrying ammunition at the time of his arrest. the teenager charged with fatally shooting 2 men and wounding a 3rd at a protest in the u.s.

state of wisconsin has pleaded not guilty karl rittenhouse appeared with his lawyer by video in a canoe should count to court on tuesday he is charged with 1st degree reckless homicide and 5 other criminal counts related to the shootings the incident took place in august as a demonstration organized in response to the shooting of a black man by a white police officer days earlier. the state of california has seen a new record number of corona virus cases with 74000 in a single day 379 deaths were also reported there on monday one of the highest one day totals the state has seen officials say the pressure on hospitals is reaching critical levels with intensive care units stretched to capacity across the u.s. as a race to vaccinate but wouldn't 15000000 doses distributed fewer than 5000000 have been given out let's go live to rob reynolds in los angeles so the situation is in

california is quite serious and it. yes lauren california and the nation are really entering the darkest period of time. since the pandemic began with those figures that you cited 74000 new cases of covert 19 reported on monday hospitals and the whole healthcare system is really buckling under the strain here in los angeles county ambulance crews have been told that they should not transport to hospital any patients who are not responsive they should try to revive them but if they are unable to do so they're not going to be of taking them to the hospital for any further care and they're also rationing oxygen telling the emergency medical teams not to give oxygen from a tank to any patient below 90 percent oxygen saturation levels in the blood

there are also reports that there are short supplies in the hospitals themselves of . pure oxygen which of course is needed for covert patients and for other people with long conditions in los angeles now one person dies of coded every 10 minutes and one person is infected on average every 6 seconds that's according to the mayor of los angeles eric garcetti and the governor of california gavin newsom says that we are now in the midst of a surge on top of a surge meaning that cases were already rising and now we're just down we're beginning to see the beginnings of the post december surge the result of people traveling gathering together and failing to properly social distance over

the holidays the winter holidays which have just passed nationwide. i the figures are also quite grim there have been 356000 deaths recorded in the united states and the centers for disease control projects 424000 people will be dead from cove and 19 by the 23rd of january and meanwhile that the rollout of the vaccines on the some criticism of the time is taking to get people vaccinated. well you know the trumpet ministration had said that they were going to vaccinate 20000000 people by the end of 2020 after the vaccines 1st became available that didn't happen the figure of number of people vaccinated is $4500000.00 at that rate it will take a very long time to vaccinate enough people and in addition there seems to be

shortages of supply of the vaccine in some areas now as usual as it has throughout the pandemic the trumpet ministration has refused to offer a coordinated nationwide strategy or plan for the vaccine rollout instead it is leave dumping that responsibility on the states and localities sometimes on individual hospitals or or county health officials and each state has its own plan no generally the states are prioritizing health workers 1st and then people in nursing homes who are most vulnerable to dying from coven if you will get the vaccine but some states are growing their own way for example in tennessee and florida scuse me the state governments have decided that all seniors can get the vaccine on a 1st come 1st serve basis so then we've seen pictures of long lines of people in

their seventy's and eighty's standing by the side of the road waiting for hours to get into a clinic to get the shot only to be told when they arrived at the allocation of that day's vaccines has already run out there are websites and phone networks that were set up to. facilitate information about vaccine provision but that those many of those have basically collapsed under. the strain of of the demand and medical staff of course these are the people who are suppose we had ministering the vaccines but they are by and large in hospitals trying to save lives so there's a big shortage there here in california the national guard has been enlisted to administer the the injections the governor is also talking about having pharmacy

workers and dentists come into into the the fight as well in order to get these desperately needed potentially life saving vaccines to the people who need them already reynolds thank you very much indeed. u.k. has reported more than 60000 coronavirus cases in a day for the 1st time a day after the government announced a new national lockdown in england last week an estimated one in 50 people had coronavirus in england thanks in part to a new strain which is spreading rapidly in the capital a barca reports from around the sign painters went out at dawn reaffirming the rules the spread of coronavirus in the u.k. is spiraling out of control after months of confusing on and off restrictions for many of the new total lockdown lore in england from wednesday is a wearisome next step but the new variant of the virus 50 percent more transmissible than the 1st threatens to wreak havoc on the nation's health system

in a downing street briefing the prime minister called for one last major national effort to stem the virus before massive vaccinations term the time when the number of patients in hospitals in england is not 40 percent higher than the 1st peak in april. i think obviously everybody you all want to be sure that we in government are now using every 2nd of this lockdown to put that invisible shield around the elderly and the vulnerable in the form of vaccination only a few days ago the government was urging parents to get ready to send their children back to school after the holidays but now under the new restrictions they're close to virtually all people must work from home and all hospitality and non-essential shops shut and there are fines for rule breakers scotland wales and northern ireland have imposed similar measures it is almost

a mirror image of the 1st national lockdown 10 months ago we're very familiar concerns about the impact on businesses in the economy which is why the british government says it will release extra billions to help soften the blow the streets in central london are quiet and empty but after days of government indecision other areas seem slower to catch on. the majority of people packed the latest lock down but rather than the oldest simply being old people to follow the rules and expose the rule breakers experts are calling for greater government plan and support in many ways the problem doesn't lie with people's resilience with their psychology with their willingness to do things it lies with government policy so if you look at the areas where there is low at here it's low compliance like for instance of isolation in the u.k. it's very much to do with the fact that we give people precious little support to do something that is difficult for instance it's very difficult if you live in

a multiple captaincy house to isolate from from others so we could as they do for instance in a number of countries we could give people who tell the accommodation to support people people are also more likely to follow the rules if the measures are working the fear is that the tactic employed in earlier waves won't be enough alone to contain the new variant this remains one of the country's best hopes the rollout of the oxford astra zeneca jab began on monday the government sets numbers just targets of inoculating 13000000 vulnerable people by the middle of february this is now a critical race between the virus and the vaccine the park out jazeera london governments around the world are scrambling to vaccinate their populations as fast as possible israel has the highest vaccination rate so far at almost 16 out of 100 people you am behind follow with just over 8 and 3 percent respectively the u.k.

may have administered more than 1300000 jobs but that's only 1.39 in 100 people and the us has given out more than 4 and a half 1000000 doses which is 1.38 people and 100. criticism is mounting of europe's slow cave a 19 vaccination drive with countries trailing well behind the united states u.k. and israel just 10 days after an occupation started some e.u. members already facing vaccine shortages and one country the netherlands has yet to start the step fashion reports from amsterdam it looks like inoculations are in full swing in the netherlands but one important thing is missing a needle while all neighboring countries have started vaccinating more than a week ago the dot just holding dry runs with the 1st covert night in japs to be given in the next few days an embarrassment according to medical experts the last company to start speculating. on what's on board.

so late. but what went wrong also prime minister mark hurd to have no comment ahead of an urgent debate in parliament on monday the minister of health admitted he had made a mistake by counting on a different vaccine other than the price of biotech one to become available 1st this has led to frustration among medical workers who are dealing with the worst influx of covert patients since the start of the pandemic 1st leventis. we have definitely been frustrated we have gone through emotional months and though this happens you look at other countries for vaccinations are in full swing feel jealous why can't we do this here. from your knees the dutch daily mirror us the chaotic strategy overall across the e.u. is empty fractionation santa not only symbolizes the country's failure to inoculate its population rapidly it also shows how you opinion countries considered to be

well organized have handled this covert 19 pandemic so poorly it was meant to be a common tax a nation program has led to serious delays and not only here in the netherlands. in france only a few 100 japs were given in the 1st week due to bureaucratic hurdles but the government says it's quickly catching up with thousands fact elated on monday in germany where hundreds of thousands have been unoccupied it vaccines are quickly running out and a 2nd shop might have to be postponed many are blaming the european commission for the slow rollout to $27.00 member states and the lack of facts scenes for its 400 $50000000.00 people the e.u. is accuse of being so keen to work together and step that it fell behind countries where the european medical agency has yet to approve the more than a vaccine which is already widely used in the u.s. and u.k. after pressure the netherlands moved its vaccination program forward and will now

start inoculating medical workers and employees of care homes on wednesday but it will take months before vulnerable groups like the elderly will be vaccinated stop fast and al-jazeera amsterdam. lots more still to come this hour including supporters of central african republic president to celebrate his reelection opposition figures brand his victory a farce. nicolas maduro talking to his grip on venezuela with the swearing in of the new national assembly. and japan's top sumo wrestler is one of a number sportsman to contract coronavirus details coming up in our sports person. that we've got some proper wintry weather across much of europe now that includes

central parts of the mediterranean still plenty a storm a rumbling away here what a nasty area of low pressure this one is sport a fair bit of snow to northern parts of italy nother area of low pressure is bringing a fair bit of snow up towards the crane pushing a little further north which will see snow up around the baltic states into scandinavia germany denmark sweden all seeing some snow over the next couple days and some rather heavy snow could see maybe as much as a meter of snow coming across parts of the alps over the next day old say cold enough across western areas for 5 celsius for london and paris but again up to 6 degrees in madrid and falling you might be struggling to reach 3 celsius in madrid on thursday and by thursday a fair bit of snow coming in across the spanish plain as well so certainly something to watch out for there noticed some very wet weather also moving through the straits of gibraltar so southern areas of spain pushing across into northern parts of morocco seeing some very wet weather wet weather continue into central parts of the med where it's at wintry weather there which was that eastern side of

here but for much of northern africa to the northeast it's fun to drive go some warmth around in car attempts here at $24.00 celsius with more of those showers clinging on to any cost. they join one of the world's most notorious ahmed groups. but found a way out rebuild their lives and now help by that it's. a tale of course recruitment child soldiers and the refit exploitation of women and daughters of al-shabaab part of the radicalized you'd see in this tunnel just 0. a policy imposed decades ago pregnant woman part that she would select to be goods and when the boy is changing demographics across asia with far reaching

consequences for creating a pool of socially disadvantaged young men so you have the system where people at every level were being hit being given money money to agree to star as a ship or money to get other people to agree to sterilization how does their examines the politics of population control. our minor top stories here are a 0 go for leaders have signed a declaration to restore full time with qatar and end their 3 and a half year blockade promotion calling for solidarity and stability was agreed at a summit in saudi arabia attended by the emir of qatar. and verses in the us state

of georgia are electing 2 senators in a vote with national importance the runoff will determine the balance of power in congress. and estimated one in 50 people in england had coronavirus last week for them 60000 new cases were reported in the past 24 hours the 1st time that barrier has been broken in the country's outbreak. germany is extending its nationwide lockdown until the end of the month and introducing tougher restrictions in an effort to get control of surging corona virus infections chancellor angela merkel said the country needs to restrict contact will strictly. seed lettuce not to revert to our goal of course remains to get below 50 infected people pretend 1000 inhabitants in 7 days so that the tracing of infection chains is possible again this becomes even more important because we're aware of the mutation of the virus in the u.k. which spreads more quickly and thus causes more infections for contact this means

we have to be particularly careful here for. brazil's health ministry has just reported that another 1171 people there have died of cabbage 19 the country also confirmed more than 56000 new infections and south africa's president has called for an urgent coronavirus meeting as the total number of deaths there past $30000.00 level 3 measures were due to expire next week and there's uncertainty around the reopening of schools this month there are fresh concerns about a new variant spreading rapidly in the country but the w.h.o. and experts in south africa say there's no indication it's more trials but transmissible than the one identified in the u.k. nor should it totally negate effectiveness of vaccines. the head of the world health organization says he's disappointed china still hasn't authorized entry for team of global experts a set to visit to investigate the origins of kevin 19 all new year after was 1st reported i'm very disappointed with this news given that 2 members had already

begun their journeys and others were not able to travel at the last minute but i have been in contact with senior chinese officials and i have once again made it made it clear that the mission is a priority for doubly joe and the international team i have been assured of that china is speeding up the internal procedure for the earliest possible deployment we're going to get the mission underway as soon as possible. the world bank is warning that rising coded infections and delays in vaccine distribution could seriously impact the world's economic recovery it says the global economy should expand 4 percent in 2021 assuming that seen roll ups become widespread throughout the year but should infections continue to rise it warns that global growth could be limited to 1.6 percent emerging and developing economies are expected to grow 3.4 percent in 2021 after

a contraction of 5 percent in 2020 meanwhile china's economy is expected to expand by 7.9 percent foreign growth of 2 percent in 2020 to scones or there is a manager at the prospects group at the world bank and joins us now from washington d.c. thank you very much and for being with us so on the issue of the growth figure and that 4 percent figure if vaccine rollout becomes widespread from what you've seen so far we're on track to to meet that or not. yes of course it is our beside forecast this is soo warms that the vaccine runner proceeds as we currently in business or so that would mean in the major advance economies the major emerging markets also what 50 percent of the population majority of the population would be vaccinated towards the end of the year now if this was delayed by say a couple of quarter's growth could be money out of one half percent like you said then 4 percent interest which you want and that delays this catch up this reversal

of last year's output losses by yet another year and to talk about the need for sustainable growth that's less dependent on government debt so far how much of that of that has there been and what sort of things do you mean by sustainable growth yes what drove the outcomes last year would've been much worse had it not been for this unprecedented policy stimulus but of course for good looking ahead. the challenge becomes for us to just make sure that the recovery against such but then it also becomes the challenge of really boosting long term growth long before the pandemic growth has been slowing potential its long term sustainable full employment kind of growth has been slowing we expected to soar through to 2020 s this is made worse by the pandemic it really is time for a major policy push to boost growth was proactive it in hunting growth and tell me what the challenges are for developing economies in particular so that really bends

on the country at 1st i think actually in the short term all countries face the same challenge to bring the pandemic under control without the pandemic being brought under control it's just hard to see any recovery global recovery but and truly that that periods of course final for nations and vulnerable and why have a fallen saturday support but then it becomes not country specific then it becomes a. question of what are the bottlenecks in each country's growth so somehow this money public investment other countries there needs more reforms for 2 governance geranium corruption others may need business climate reforms response that can really put state owned companies on has equal footing with private companies reforms that encourage competition so it becomes a country specific which country needs which types of reforms to really get a boost to growth that raises productivity over the next decades and if there was

one thing that richer countries could do for poor ones either now or in or towards the end of the pandemic what would you say that should be. well what has been much discussed is jittery so even before. condemning that outreach and i can't hide a pandemic has raised a lot of deaths by another government it's by another 16 percent of sponsors. and it was me that this was exactly what was needed to to avert worse outcomes but of course not the challenges and if we are heading into an era of slowing growth shown just supported some of us in this debt and at least half of the low income countries for example already i don't that is all there are superior risk out there some of these may actually required to treat thank you very much indeed to francisco for your time thank you. and the prosecutor in japan is one of the latest financial casualties of the pandemic.

at the new year or action at tokyo's biggest fish market the most expensive tuna went for around $200000.00 just 10 percent of last year's price fall in demand has been driven by diners stay at home. israeli military says a security official shot and killed a palestinian man who allegedly tried to carry out a stabbing the army says the officer saw a man approaching a junction in the occupied west bank together with an israeli soldier he fired warning shots into the air the suspect threw a knife at the security officer who responded by shooting him. at least 22 people have been killed with machetes and guns in a raid on a village in democratic public of congo and go fish officials said the attack in the south east village of wendy was carried out by the allied democratic forces a militia blamed for hundreds of killings in the past year it's the 2nd mass killing in a week in the east india r.c.

25 civilians were killed on new year's eve. the share has declared 3 days of national mourning following the massacre of 100 civilians gunmen carried out a series of attacks in 2 villages in the south west and to bury region just a week after the presidential election the government said an investigation had been launched to find the perpetrators witnesses have said that more than 100 armed assailants on motorbikes surrounded the villages on saturday before opening fire on . the un is expecting another wave of mass displacement in new share after that series of attacks well 100 people as we said were killed on saturday when gunmen attacked a village to villages near the border with mali new share has suffered to violence from groups linked to al qaeda and i so as an address reports from me. last year more than 57000 new displacements have been recorded here in the 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 forms we are putting our partner. to help us because of course to. 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 the journey is a country that depends on international aid not 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. opposition figures in

central african republic say president 1st. victory last week's election is a farce final results showed reelected with more than 53 percent of last week's vote that means you will need to face a runoff but opposition figures are half the population was unable to date because of violence from rebel groups has been following developments from senegal. despite and the announcement made by the election commission there's no celebrations outside. there as party headquarters the united hearts movements that's because he's under pressure from the international community as well as different actors in the country so wait for the official validation by the constitutional court and that will happen in 2 weeks time remember 9 count candidates have appealed the election results saying that the president has not won the popular vote saying that only half of the electorate was able to go out and vote the

polling stations were closed because large parts of the country is in the hands of armed groups one of the candidates even suggesting that there should be another election held that the conditions for the elections were not adequate for a democratic vote take a listen to what he has to say not. cancelling the results is one solution holding a 2nd round is another but no matter what the results announced yesterday cannot be accepted now on groups that were once fighting against each other are now united under a coalition they called the coalition for patriotic change there just 20 kilometers away from the capital bangui they've taken over large parts of the country this despite 812000 strong un peacekeeping to additional troops sent by rwanda president paul kagame to send additional troops to the capital bangui as well as russian

fighters on the ground ensuring the protection of the president himself there's been reports of russian fighters wearing ski masks heavily armed patrolling the streets of the capital while they're just 20 kilometers away a spokesperson from this coalition says they're ready to take over the country but they're also open to dialogue with the government. venezuela's president nicolas maduro has tightened his grip on the country and its institutions with the swearing in of a national assembly controlled by his socialist party it marks the end of control by the opposition boycotted last month's election because they said it was neither free nor fair one god or who is recognized by several nations as the country's interim leader instead lead a virtual opposition congress session. the army more about it i tell you this without any rhetoric that we cannot fail we cannot but succeed this time we have to repair walter's been damaged we have to rebuild what has been destroyed to rebuild

what has been damaged by hatred betrayal and violence opposition leader why door has found a diplomatic offensive and called on his supporters to take to the streets. in a very big if we're standing here for those who have not given up we're standing here for those who want to return to their country we're standing here for workers and the health sector has to mean because we never a verse arise from ortiz where. the u.s. director of national intelligence is the latest official to point the finger at russia over a massive hacking attack the government now says fewer than 10 agencies were hit by the bug that was attached to security updates from a software firm called solar winds president trump has downplayed the attack and attempted to shift the blame away from russia let's find out more from that gabriel is on the he's in washington d.c. 1st a gamer what does they statement say who's responsible. yeah that's right this is

really a definitive statement by the wider intelligence community pointing the finger directly at russia the statement says that it is in their words quote likely that russia was the origin of this attack and they said it was a serious compromise that that will require a sustained and dedicated effort to remediate this statement also said that the purpose of the attack according to the intelligence agencies in the u.s. was not to bring down computer systems in america but rather to just intelligence gather and to get intelligence and they believe that was the purpose of this attack now this is a significant statement because it comes from 4 different key government agencies the u.s. director of national intelligence but also who signed on to this statement was the f.b.i. n.s.a. and homeland security as well so that was is why this is considered such a definitive statement and while they're not saying if that is absolutely russia

clearly they're saying it is very likely in this statement they did not provide any evidence on how they are reaching that conclusion now this so-called solar winds attack that happened last month was one of the most devastating and significant cyber attacks here in the u.s. in recent memory it brought down or at least brought it was an attack on at least no less than 10 federal u.s. government agencies and as well as dozens of other private companies as well were also hit by this including microsoft and many others u.s. government was clearly caught caught flat footed with this because they weren't even they weren't even didn't even know that they were that this attack was happening until the government the u.s. government was informed about it by private cyber security companies so clearly they are making progress in this investigation but now intelligence community at least now coming out definitively saying they do believe it was russia that was behind it so they talked about the who might be behind it to the americans know how

it happened. no they don't they're still investigating that but there are 2 leads that they're working on right now number one is they do not believe that this attack occurred in russia they think that it actually occurred within the us but was run by russia and that all of the sensors that the n.s.a. has that that monitor incoming probable cyber attacks just simply missed this probably because of that they're still investigating it but clearly this was a big big miss by the n.s.a. and the 2nd thing is this happened and. you know they think that this was begun this cyber attack during perhaps november when a lot of the n.s.a. was focused on security for the u.s. presidential election so they think that the hackers might have taken advantage of that to kind of well the intelligence agencies and the n.s.a. was kind of focused on the election that they could have taken that advantage of that to plant this bug they release them to thank you very much indeed. still ahead

this news hour powering ahead we'll tell you which country is the 1st in the world to sell more electric cars than petrol and diesel combined. and action from stage 3 of the dakar rally in saudi arabia is coming up with.

a. norway has become the 1st country in the world where electric cars make up the most new vehicle sales new vic figures show that 54 percent of all vehicles purchased

last year were electric that's up from 42 percent a year earlier tax exemptions have made the market will competitive it's part of the norwegian government's goal to end the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2025 lauren fix is an automotive analyst and says no way can get ahead thanks to its wealth we have to remember that the electric grid across every country is quite old because it hasn't been around for more than a 100 years but a lot of it hasn't been updated and that's the biggest problem it's not the purchase of the vehicle it sort of a chicken and egg you can have the vehicle and charge it home but we've had problems here in the u.s. were cities have had brownouts and there's no ability to charge your car or those charging stations are just that enough of them and that's going to be the biggest problem that norway is going to have to her have to clear because without that you can't charge a vehicle people will then get frustrated and go back to diesel and petrol i think there is a place for gasoline and diesel and electric but also you'll see what china is

doing which is blue gas it's a form of hydrogen and compressed natural gas and those together can propel both battery and combustion engines and that may be one of the solutions in the future without having enough electricity to charge of re car. thomas porter has gemma thanks lauren we start with football in the english premier league has announced a new record of 48 coronavirus cases in the last week that's more than double the record set the week before the latest figures are come as india and scotland begin new lock downs with cases on the rise this elite sport is allowed to continue for premier league matches if he spent in recent weeks but league officials have once again reiterated there is no plan to shut down play scotland's government says league champion so to have questions to answer over the training camp in dubai the team left on saturday of for the one where the trip just before scotland went into full lockdown with the public asked not to travel internationally the government wants its football association to investigate south to say the trip was arranged months ago under proof by the government in spain there was good news for barcelona

at leno messi and his team mates were tested off due to stuff members tested positive on monday but all the results came back negative both formula one driver at lambeau norris has tested positive for 19 in dubai where he was on holiday ahead of a training camp he lost his sense of smell that has no other symptoms and is now self isolating norris is the 4th f one driver to contract the virus after world champion lewis hamilton. strolled in the us at the n.f.l.'s cleveland browns we with that head coach kevin is to fancy for their 1st playoff game in 18 years he set a positive for the virus as have 2 of his coaching staff and 2 players as well the browns pay the pittsburgh steelers on sunday and it's unlikely to be rescheduled and japan's top sumo wrestler has also contracted the virus so a grand champion had to go it was tested after losing his sense of smell the mongolian born wrestler has won a record 44th top division titles and was training for the new year grand sumo

tournament which begins in tokyo on sunday you see him a stablemates one now also checked the women's tennis season starts on wednesday with the abu dhabi open inside a secure bubble and before sophia cannon is the top seed in the competition and she just plays to get some matches in before the defense of her australian open title next month. of course that's not the most ideal situation you know obviously wish we could go out or you know walk around the city but we can i mean like i said it is what it is i'm just happy to be here i'm happy to be traveling somehow trying to try to you know keep it as normal as possible but yeah the rules are quite harsh for everyone i mean it's crazy what's going on but with the whole with the whole byron so i hope it's going to find a vaccine and hopefully as far as our intention irish lions rock pretoria south africa is under threat because of the pandemic is scheduled for july but organizers a considering ways to avoid cancellation they include playing behind closed doors

in south africa shifting the series to the u.k. and ireland office spending it by a decision is expected in february in a paris ash and head coach mitts says any big players welcome at the club continues to be willing to play in a messy but he says his biggest challenge will be getting the best out of his current squad which boasts the balls most expensive plan neymar and world cup when it came in a back way he used to play for p.s.g. is excited by the talent on check my 1st theme. so amazin messina team we have where he says you may come from amazing squads. but look this is not new for me it's not new for you the new residents and we've got to remember louis groups. really believe they can perform once. put detainees form a club top lower into the final of the english league cup after a 2 you know when i have

a brand fit special face one of the 2 manchester clubs city or united at wembley next that semifinal is on wednesday and it's a rematch of last season's dobby at the same stage which city won on the way to clinching the trophy for a 3rd successive year united to maybe one win from going top of the premier league but in cup competitions they've lost 3 semifinals and a manager only got a social. it's always a good question how important is it and then then i can answer that very. the next game is always important but of course a semifinal is a chance to get to get to the final to get your hands on a trophy in the next round it's not just learning to win 7 is also. their right to feel that we can go all the way with our performances we are confident we go into the game in good form there's no excuses qatari driver has one stage 3 of that act in saudi arabia the toy to drive to 2nd stage in

a right a 2nd in the general cost ossification meeting head of defending champ car sites is also close the gap on stephan at hansal the frenchman had to stop in today's special stage to fix a puncture but he still tops the standings by more than 5 minutes. today really we. know he did goodness he gave. everything working very well you know what we need done. really quite happy with the bears because. to win this did something good and that's what you'll support for me this evening thank you very much indeed. and that's it for me and our entire live for this news hour coming back in a moment in our full roundup of the day's news thanks very much indeed for watching i have.

when the news breaks the impact of the storms in honduras has been particularly devastating when people need to be hurt no group has claimed responsibility for the shooting on the outskirts of srinagar in indian administered kashmir people here say they're living in fear al-jazeera has teams on the ground they never ate the sky for food back home we simply don't know if we contiki to bring you more award winning documentaries and life seems on edge and online. to

hillbilly a harmless caricature or a malicious label denying the people the culture to justify the exploitation of their natural resources that the batting haka thing has been so successful that even people in the region believe the stereotype then becomes dangerous it's only a region of trash so. why not trash it what's in a name hillbilly a witness documentary on al-jazeera. because context is a live feed in dead storytelling around the biggest issues done buffy had to do the show do it again. the last episode of the new series exposed the imperial origins of the drug trade commerce was good for fire are always good for commerce of use thanks very much want to go and opens passage from the far east to europe and the united states. any money the only money in these mountains is open. drug

trafficking politics some power the era of empires and al-jazeera. saudi arabia and its allies agree to end their 3 year blockade and restore full timers with cotter at a summit in the kingdom. ameritrade of us is our jazeera live from london also coming up georgia votes in a crucial runoff election that will determine the balance of power in the u.s. congress. dady coby cases hit a new high in the u.k. with an estimated one in 50 people infected in england where a new lockdown has been imposed. and the supreme.