everything in between, ah, join me as i take on the lies, dismantle the misconceptions and debate the contradictions upfront with me. mark lamond hill on out 0 ah, results are expected soon in the gambiola presidential election, where votes as use models to cost that balance. ah, hello, i'm darn jordan. this is al jazeera la you from della also coming up, visiting saudi arabia. the french president says he'll work with gulf countries to resolve the diplomatic crisis with lebanon. winter's coming, but russia is accused of putting a choke hold on. ukraine's energy supplies and christmas cheer likes up the

occupied westbank city of bethlehem did as the birthplace of jesus. ah, early election results are expected on sunday and the gambia voters used a unique system for casting that ballots in an election that seen as a test for their country's transition to democracy, turned out was high as they decide whether the president adama barrow deserves another term out here was awkward interest reports on the capital banjo. president adam a bottle arrives to cast his vote, aware that in this tightly contested election, there could be surprises. but the president and his supporters at counting only divided opposition to achieve victory or i am don't present the support but just wanted everybody most not even your to your knowledge. you want to be doing that i

the borrower is challenged by the leading architects of the coalition. but ended in the victory of his predecessor, yada jamie, 5 years ago. they also voted and i confident of women. when i want to say that i have got my what and how did in there it does to god. what is it to him? this election is significant in many aspects, from the record number of candidates to the nearly a 1000000 people who registered to vote. sir, man, boss as the difference between the 2016 election and this one is clear, the ceiling of shia was there. but this one there is no feeling of fear. for my own honest that from my own observation and doesn't mean anything for you as a voter. yeah, it means something. yes. because then someone, if she had a cal glue settings, which is not in line with his own desire for 1st time for to howard demi, it's

a dream come true. it feel nice. would anybody since then? since i was with dell, i wanted to vote because he didn't really feel like i said, 141, put it as an all previous elections since 1947. a unique system is used traditional models along with a drum and bel inside the printer. this could be the last time the mobiles system of voting is used in the gambia or the list of candidates going. it's becoming increasingly expensive to produce ballard boxes for each candidate. and in all of the countries, $1500.00 boats, city, the election commission wants to adopt paper ballots in the next vote. because the system that a sockless country for more than half a century is no longer sustainable. turn out across the country was impressive. and the process large and the peaceful people are enjoying did a feed on the, you know, they have seen the value of elections as a means to piece because gummy is our so,

you know, very canopies love in bottles. are love music. the result of the election is expected within 24 hours of paul's closing. on saturday night army degrees al jazeera by june, the gambia security forces had been deployed to central molly after 31 people were killed in an ambush. a truck was sprayed with bullets and set on fire near the town of mati women and children are among the victims. central marley's become one of the most violent errors in the fight against arm groups linked to iso and al qaeda . if he appears prime minister has called on young people fighting for the to gripe people's liberation front to surrender and not take part in what he called a war without a goal. fighting now said to be limited to areas between the towns of betty and dessie. the government says it's making progress and has captured more towns on the rebels who it's been fighting for more than a year. but their leader denies his troops. i was drawing and says,

the government's engaged in war propaganda of ally ivy. in war there is progress and regression. this is the nature of war. there are sites that we have seized, and others that we've evacuated. and within the framework of the strategy that we set, we withdrew from some positions and we deployed. this is not because of military pressures changing these positions with our decision. france and saudi arabia held a joint phone call with lebanon's prime minister, and was seen as a significant gesture, resolving a diplomatic crisis. the call was made as french president emanuel macro visited saudi arabia of the trips to the u. a. and capitol, the kingdom and of a gold states, withdrew their ambassadors and beirut last month, angered by a government minister who criticized the saudi let war in yemen. the minister resigned on friday, then hauled in beirut reports on the background to the rift. there is no doubt the

new page has been opened, the relationship between lebanon and saudi arabia, a phone conversation between the saudi crown, prince, mohammedan, and the lebanese prime minister. and that she may be, of course, the french president, the realm a crawl mediated. and so it really helped bring about this, this development. it is the 1st time and saudi official speaks to me since he was appointed prime minister in september. it really is a change in strategy and policy on behalf of the our policy has been for us. it is useless to engage with a government that is controlled by the iraqi and back has the law. and me, government is dominated by has the law along with its allies. so now the crown prince, speaking to the prime minister of lebanon, the prime minister of lebanon, tweeting that this is a new beginning is, will help revive relations with a fraternal a brother of brother brotherly relations. because we have to remember gulf arab

states where the traditional allies of lebanon. we talk about this latest crisis that led to saudi arabia and several gulf states severing diplomatic relations with, with lebanon. but the relationship has been strained for years from what saudi arabia percy's is. the iranian control and domination over 11 east politics. so a 1st step has been taken saudi arabia now showing that it is willing to engage at least what the prime minister. but it's too early to say whether or not the relationship as it used to be will be restored for saudi arabia and france also issued a joint statement calling on lebanon's leaders to work on comprehensive reforms. they want action on corruption, finance, energy and border control. emmanuel macro, mom had been solomon also agreed to work on a humanitarian plan. lebanon's people, it's grinding economic crisis is left 3 quarters of the population in poverty. with the number of

new daily coded 19 cases in south africa as nearly quadruple in just 4 days more than 16000 infections were recorded on saturday compared with 4300 on tuesday. it's underscoring concerns about the rapid spread of the new army cron variant from johannesburg smith bill explains how the government's responding by encouraging more vaccinations. this is one of a few 100 vaccination centers in the housing province in south africa. and how ting has been hardest hit by the rise in coven, 19 infections, between 70 and 80 percent of new infections across of africa in this province alone . and that is why authorities are saying that people need to get out and get vaccinated. there has been some level of vaccine hesitancy, about 42 percent of people who are eligible for a vaccine have actually taken that up. but that number dropped to about 36 percent for people who have taken up 2 doses,

who are fully vaccinated. the government has set up a number of drives, door to door awareness campaigns, trying to create awareness around why the vaccine is important, especially because so little is known around the army kron variance. and the greatest concern there is just how easily it spreads. and that is being reflected in the spike in numbers that south africa is experiencing. one area of concern, while hospitalizations of people has remained relatively low, a number of young children under the age of 5 are having to be admitted to hospital . now becoming ill after contracting cove at 19 this recruiting a number of students 12 to 17. since it was open to to that each group a month or so ago that have come in now for, for the vaccinations company would be parents coming in as families for their husband that we have them an optical, a number of infected kids at the surrounding schools. over years where i've been parents, i exercise in quarter a week ago,

this vaccination center had about 50 or 60 people coming through every day. and now that number has doubled. so that is encouraging for people trying to make sure that sub africans are getting vaccinated. but we've also been to several vaccination centers in this province, some entirely empty, some with people trickling through and others more busy. so they're still an issue around vaccine hesitancy, but certainly a significant proportion of the sub african population has been spooked by this new ami kron variant. and more people are coming out to get a job for them. 16 european countries have confirmed cases of the on the con variance, but there is persistent opposition to the reintroduction of measures to slow rising infections. thousands, march peacefully through the dutch city of utrecht. a government imposed a partial lockdown 3 weeks ago and since tightened it to the case numbers being at the highest is the pandemic. again. it's a similarly start picture in germany which reported another $64000.00 infections on

saturday. the outgoing chancellor angler merkel made this appeal to those resisting vaccinations as she prepares to leave office with that being alone, please allow me to day to say one last time. what is of the utmost importance to me these days? we are in a 4th wave of the pandemic in a very serious situation. in some parts of the country, you can only describe it as dramatic overfilled intensive care units, severely ill. people who have to be flown across germany to get the care they need to go for a little bit. that is why i appeal to you again urgently and take the malicious virus seriously. right now, the new on the kron variant seems to be more infectious than the previous ones. get yourself vaccinated. it doesn't matter if it is a 1st shot or a booster. every vaccine helps renewal sedans, military chief says, the army will leave politics after elections that are scheduled for 2023. general abdel fatter albert han, off of the assurance. during one of several interviews,

he gave with international news agencies on saturday. but i am lead the military takeover in october for a deal was struck last month to reinstate the prime minister. nearly 2000 uganda and soldiers of now crossed into a democratic republic of congo to fight alongside troops there. it's part of a joint operation against an arm group which is bringing violence to both countries . cut ha, ha, ha. reports. soldiers from 2 countries on the hunt for one common enemy. troops from uganda have joined their counterpart and democratic republic of congo, hoping that together they'll defeat rebels from the allied democratic forces or 80 f. their targets include the darcy's ruins or re mountains. were the armed group establish itself more than 25 years ago? what producers are uganda and allies carried at an air strike across our border earlier this week. now together with our dear c, troops were on the move on

a mission to push out the rebels in the region. it's an unusual collaboration between uganda and the d. r. c, but both governments say the adf poses a threat. they can't afford to ignore. the armed group is accused of having links to isolate and killing hundreds of people in village rates, and northeastern democratic republic of congo. and uganda, blended for suicide bombings last month. and it's capital kampala law, we're very happy, both governments are working together. we've suffered and cried because of old insecurity and killings. we support it and encourage both armies. villages like these often bear the brunt of the violence. entire communities have been displaced . and regional leaders here, the fighting can spill over to other neighboring countries. we are either the pillars. under reality that these rockies than yoshi ugandan troob say they're ready to stay in the d r. c until the rebels are pushed out. but critics gear,

the presence of foreign troops could lead to more on rest and perhaps to the rise of other armed groups. katia, laquissa, leanne al jazeera for a short break here now to 0. when we come back, we'll tell you about a homely home coming in. the pool has been decades in the making glass. i'm world mcbride in western afghanistan where the just finished harvesting the world's most expensive spice in a country. that right now is among the world's most economically. ah hello there, let's have a look at the weather across north america. and we've seen some exceptional heat for this time of year across large areas of the us and a significant lack of snow in places like colorado. for example,

there's more snow in hawaii than there is in denver. instead we've got drought conditions persisting here, but temperatures are going to come down thanks to a weather system. it's going to slam, once again into western areas of canada, is a bit of a low in that. but look at that, a winter storm is gonna pull in once again. by the time we get into monday, we're gonna see significant snow in british columbia. so much rain edging down into washington. so it's going to be wet for seattle at the beginning of next week. now a lot of that system is going to push across the southern parts of canada. we are going to see the wind pick up as well. and with that we will have blizzards blown across towards the mid west. we're gonna see the snow pick up as well across eastern parts of canada towards the maritimes. very wet across that southeast corner of the u. s. now, new york has seen some dry a days, but is going to get very wet indeed with possible snow. by the time we get to choose a and the temperature will dip right down. now was he had to central america. it's

rather dry for northern parts of mexico, but it's wetter in south ah, one of the fastest growing nations in the oakland development international shipping to become a middle eastern praise. and he skilfully knocked down 3 key areas of development who filling up from it. so connecting the world, connecting the future, won the cost cutters. gateway to whoa trade. lou. ah,

welcome back, a good amount about top stories here. this audi results are expected on sunday, after gambiola voted in an election seen as a test for its transition to democracy. turned out was high as people decided if president adama barrow deserves another fraud on saudi arabia, held a joint phone call with lebanon, and what's seen as a significant gesture result in a diplomatic crisis, gulf states withdrew their ambassadors from bay route last month after the government minister criticized the south lead in yemen. on the south, african government is working to stain up cobit 19 vaccinations. the new on the cross there and striving another wave of infections. the number of new dandy cases merely quadrupling and just for day use defense. secretary lloyd austin says his country is committed to making sure ukraine has what it needs to protect itself. the u. s. ukraine and european allies all at use russia building up forces on its western border to threaten its neighbor. the kremlin denies this. i think there's

a lot of space here for her, for the policy and leadership to work. and again, we're going to remain engaged with our, our allies and our region and our partners in the region. and, and we're going to continue to do everything we can to help provide ukraine, the capability to protect the sovereign territory. meanwhile, russia has stopped exporting coal to ukraine, saying it needs to cover high demand at home. ukraine depends on russian coal to keep its lights on, and as long as he was moscow of using energy as a weapon, shall stratford reports now from tourette's home line close to the front line in eastern ukraine. wind, such as this one, have helped fuel industry in the don bus region and across what was the soviet union for over a century. but ukraine remains dependent on russia to meet its energy needs, especially coal, which is vital for fueling ukrainian pow stations. in 2014 pro

russia, separatists seized control of the majority of the mines. further depleting, ukraine's access to call decades of neglect means much of the mines infrastructure is close to collapse the bottle. do you know if is your thought, the equipment we have is from 958, lack of investment and government? negligence is one of the reasons why we face a shortage that things could be difficult this winter. another problem is that russia caught ukraine's coal supply last month. russia has recently stopped exporting coal to ukraine, saying that this just to watch domestic internal demand for the natural resource. some analysts describing this is nothing short of blackmail, an effort by russia to weapon allies. it's vast natural resources as a means of putting pressure on ukraine. and it's not just cold that russia is using

to try and control your grain. these a gas pipelines similar to those that transport russian gas across ukraine to europe. europe relies on russia around 35 percent of its energy needs, and ukraine gets paid transit these, which were around 2000000000 dollars last year for those days on nearly over the nord stream to pipeline which is expected to be opperation next year, bypasses ukraine, instead transporting gas from russia to germany under the baltic sea, russia trying to divide euro's for russia to energy relations was different states separately rather than we're then go from graham perspective. this means that russia will. ready have has free to, to belie station in. ready between more actively germany has warned russia not to

use its gas exports as a weapon, but has been criticized by other european states and ukraine for exposing kia to more economic pressure from moscow. so analysts say, russia's aim of trying to keep ukraine inexperience, influence is impossible. it is simply not possible to have that sort of control away our neighbors. we've all with investing huge resources military as well as economy because in be and as i see on races. yeah, i think it moscow and age to modify its aims because very simply not really winter is just beginning yet is so worried about the potential electricity blackouts that it's been forced to start importing coal from as far away as the us and columbia. so my goal is to say economic an energy pressure. russia will continue because the more ukraine talks about future nato and e u membership. the

board, moscow sees red, jaw stripe, al jazeera toreto, eastern ukraine. but as well, an oppositional that one guy, though, has joined protests in a state of body ness, where an election has been an old, the supreme court council, the state governors race, which is being one ban opposition candidate. why though, says it shows free and fair elections are impossible. in venezuela judges of ordered a new election be held in general. at least 13 people have been killed and many others injured after eruptions from mount saint mary. the tallest volcano on the densely populated indonesian island of java. huge clouds of smoke and ash, shooting into the atmosphere have also triggered heavy rain at last her up, but in january, but there were no casualties. worshippers in the pool of held their ceremony to welcome the return of an idol that was stolen almost 40 years ago. the statue of 2

hindu gods was in a u. s. museum, an investigation by the f. b. i resulted in its return on saturday from y'all to limber reports now from the peoples of political barton, waited a long time for this to catch a glimpse of their long lost and much loved idol. the 12th century sat u of luxury 9 with worshipped with centuries before it disappeared from the town in 1984, i guess we were sad when the day she worshiped disappeared. what happy to get it back later, it is back where it belonged to statue was briefly seen at sotheby's auction house in new york in the early nineties before vanishing again. it then reappeared at the dallas museum of art and texas artist and researcher, joy davis, spotted it in an online image 36 years ago. since then. she's been working with nepali heritage activist and f b i. agents to ensure it's returned to nepal. it feels like a bit of like a bit of justice in the world. and also just as

a wonderful happiness to see that she had returned and actually back in worship again in the original tempo. and it's, it's a dream. it's a dream come true for many of us custodians conducted religious rights before reinstating the statue in its trying. women thought about square a unique world heritage site. in the past, dozens of cut monday valley's venerated babies have disappeared from here into private and museum collections abroad. what may be objects of art for many have beef, cultural and spiritual significance for generations of napoleon in 1918 and 19 for the plunder of bronze de teeth and stones culture from cats, monday valley region, 2 important books, the gods and leaving the country and stolen images of the pon, have painstakingly documentary more than 200 missing artifacts. the books raised them about the safety and trafficking in the cultural heritage. heritage activists

say there is increasing pressure on the list and collectors and museums to return upon stolen treasures or is it it almost when they see how we worship and take care of our deities? i'm sure people will be happy to return them when they realize what they have it stolen, they must feel guilty while only a small percentage of policy stolen items have found their way home. activists, welcome this happy home coming as the start of the positive trend. remy at the limbo edge is eda gutman do not farmers in western afghanistan of just finished harvesting flowers that produce saffron is the world's most expensive spice. and this corner the world makes some of the best offering hope in a country teetering. on the brink of economic disaster, al jazeera, rob mcbride reports now from hirata province in the fields of hair at the end of the saffron harvesting, is often marked by children from nearby villages coming to pick what's left for pocket money for there is real value in these small purple flowers of the

crocus family that yield the world's most expensive spice. since its introduction from neighboring iran, saffron cultivation has boomed in this province in recent years, and its value to afghanistan given its current economic plight, has never been more important. for saffron producers, the turmoil of the taliban takeover has caused disruption for the shipping and banking services they need for exports. but they say at least there isn't the same corruption. they faced under the old government mexican economy. problems of the banking system are a big issue for businesses, but i think we face list bureaucratic it to fitness and the long term i'm optimistic about the future. extracting the precious filaments from the flowers, processing the individual threads to remove impurities,

then sorting them into different grades requires painstaking attention. it's a role traditionally carried out by women. while men do the work in the fields, despite concerns the taliban, my tried to stop women from working producers. we spoke to say there's been no problems so far and that's good for the wider social significance of this spice or in the last couple of decades. it's been promoted as an alternative to growing poppies for the opium trade. a trend helped by saffron's rising international price . and of course, there will be some interest from the other problem anyway. they see that the price is really high. of course, there is a debt bring also the honda, the contribution of the flooring, the thought from as a lucrative alternative to puppy production. saffron cultivation was encouraged across afghan is done by the previous administration. it stands as one of its more

successful legacies. but the vast majority of the country, saffron and the best quality spice still originates from the fields of had us. it's been recognized by international awards, as among the best in the world, the la mother, the staff cache and her other. i export to more than 27 countries, and i know that sir frank can change the economic face of afghanistan. and i know the soil and other provinces will also produce a frog placing such trust in the powers of one tie, the flower may be hoping for too much, but this is a country in need of any little help right now. rob mcbride, al jazeera herod afghanistan. a giant christmas tree has been lit up in the occupied westbank city of bethlehem, where christians believe that jesus was born. the faithful gathered outside the church of the nativity, hoping the cope at 19 doesn't win another holiday season. bethlehem was all but close last christmas eve abraham was there as the lights went on this the busy it's

bethlehem has a season in 2019 the time it had started in the year 202050. that had hit that door. is that because bob and the weren't even allowed to do with 3 lighting ceremony last year. but the day that the in the thousands and thousands of palestinians are here, that these people are coming from different places from bob. they occupied lot back at the city and is ready this is one of the initiatives this year to revive the economy, christmas market where people can sell their products as well as their crafts. people here in bethlehem have depended on tourism for decades. so naturally when tourism stopped, the economy took a hard hit. now, you know,

christmas people are looking to buy presents and the things are turning around, at least for the holidays. people are willing to spend more to try and bring some bright brightness and hope into the house and have like a happy holiday. so i think during this time people will spend, even if you know it's a bit difficult for them that has been, is do not control that on board. there's so they have to rely on what restrictions israel has in place. november. israel has allowed vaccinated tourists to come in and so people here were hopeful that tourism is going to be back. but soon after news of the new barian has emerged, israel has shut down its borders again. here are saying that while they're glad that there is some sense of normalcy coming back to town, especially during the christmas season, it's the tourism that's going to revive the economy. ah tucker, juggler. headlines here on al jazeera, early results are expected on sunday in the.