host: you are watching live from paris on france 24. these are the headlines. another significant turnaround in the stance of a major arab state in relations with israel. he has told palestinians he still stands behind a two state solution in the middle east. france will be under an 8:00 p.m. curfew from december 15. it will be lifted for christmas. new year's eve is set to be a quiet one. covid cases continue to rise in france.

the lockdown has been paused. a 1.8 trillion euro budget to repeat -- reboot the eu after the coronavirus pandemic. we will have more on how brussels solved this one and what that massive sum of money will be used for. this is live from paris. ♪ host: thank you very much for being with us. relations are being normalized between israel and morocco. morocco will allow direct flights to tel aviv. the kingdom of morocco has made a significant declaration. he and morocco are committed to

a two state solution. good evening. how is all of this going down in israel? >> in israel, it is the first night of hanukkah, the festival of light, and it appears this is light, too. a ver effusive response from israel's prime minister who was to happen.n trying to get this in israel, they are happy. in palestinian territori, far less. morocco previously had diplomatic relations with israel. it ended them during the second intifada. th have resumed, which is why there was a phone call from the king of morocco to the palestinian president to

reassure them that even though diplomatic relations with israel were starting again, it did not mean he had abandoned the palestinians. host: a declaration from the king. does it take the edge off and reassure the palestinians in any way? >> i'm not sure. i think palestinians are feeling very buffeted by this. three arab nations -- sudan is in a slightly differt category , but three arab nations. it has changed everything because the deal always was that normalization would flow from the resolution of the israeli-palestinian conflict. i don't think the palestinians really know how to handle this diplomatically yet.

this is yet another reminder and i think that's why the king did call, to reassure them that it isn't the end of the process, just part of the process. host: in terms of what happens next with flights being established, is there any word of other arab states perhaps following suit or is it too soon to say? >> i looked back in the archive, and in august after the decision, we saw american officials telling us that yes, it's possible morocco could be one of them. they are still saying to us off the record that there could be more. of course, the time to deal with donald trump is getting shorter and shorter. the window is closing. could there be more? yes, but joe biden will likely be the one to reap the fruits of these abraham accords. host: indeed.

trump had much vaunted his middle east peace deal which, depending on who you asked, worked or didn't work. our correspondent with the best take on how it is happening in jerusalem and beyond. thank you. morocco then becomes the latest arab nation to normalize ties with israel, which could be seen as one of donald trump's biggest political achievements. we have more on how this came about and how it has been received internationally. >> they have been called the abraham accords, a name with all the gravitas of judaism and christianity. the deal to establish and normalize ties was brokered by the united states. leaders in the u.s. and israel hailed historic breakthrough. >> they agreed to finalize a historical peace agreement.

everybody said this would be impossible. >> this is the greatest advancement toward peace between israel and the arab world and the last 26 years. >> the accord has been joined by numerous arab nations including bahrain, egypt, jordan, and the uae. normalized relations may also mean collaborating on investment, tourism, and telecommunications. security ties will also likely be felt. as part of the deal, israel has agreed to suspend annexing part of the west bank, though netanyahu has stressed the projects are delayed but not canceled. this normalizing of ties with israel has split internationally. some praise it for creating peace and others call it posturing by donald trump and benjamin netanyahu. for many palestinians, it is

akin to a stab in the back. they feel it marginalizes their plight as they rely on arab nations to help them resist israeli occupation. such relations should not be in place until a palestinian state is created, they feel. host: a one point 8 trillion euro budget and pandemic recovery package for the european union has been approved. 1.8 trillion euro. the eu reached an agreement with poland and hungary that would unblock the landmark post coronavirus recovery plan. the president of the european council said in a tweet, now we can start with the implementation of building back our economy. the landmark recovery will drive forward a green and digital transition. we are glad to announce that our correspondent is live in brussels following every twist and turn of this story. tell us how these issues with

poland and hungary were resolved. maybe start by telling us what the issues were. >> well, what they opposed was one specific part of the budget. a new mechanism was introduced that would tie some funds to adherence to the rule of law. it's a way the eu was trying to findor a long time to stop the authoritarian drift happening specifically in hungary and poland, worrying signs and other countries as well. hungary and poland obviously didn't like this, and they did not have the power to veto this mechanism, but they do have the power to veto the budget as a whole because it requires unanimous approval. so they said take this mechanism out or we will not pass the entire budget. this is a seven year budget for the eu, passed every seven years, and that is why it requires unanimous approval.

there was a lot of back-and-forth over this in the past month. in july, there was different understanding about what had been agreed. as the days got closer to the suit, they said if hungary and pola do not drop their veto, we have to get this coronavirus recovery fund, so the fund that was agreed on july 1, we need that right away because it's for covid recovery. we will have to strip that fund out of the overall budget and approve it separately through enhanced cooperation where they can exclude the member states and just adopt it with 25 of the 27 member states and then poland and hungary won't get it. in the end, poland and hungary did conceit. compromise is -- did concede. the compromise is that poland and hungary will have a chance

to challenge this in court. the commission has given its word that it will not activate this mechanism against them or anyone else until the european court of justice rules that it is legal. that could take two or three years. a lot of people have noted that takes the party through to the next election in hungary. >> indeed, there are so many layer's to this story. -- so many layers to this story. where does this massive amount, 1.8 trillion euros fit in with the recovery budget? can you clarify that for me? >> the 750 billion fund is part of the larger budget. it is the reason this particular budget is so big. bigger than any eu budget in history. that fund is part of it.

that is for immediate covert relief. that can be doled out by eu member states as they wish. the commission is borrowing that money on the international markets. the credit rating of every eu member state will be used to guarantee it. that's what's so novel about that particular financial vehicle. for the rest of the budget, that's the usual stuff, agriculture, funds to help the poorer regions of europe, research funding, climate funding, all kinds of things. the regular seven year budget is not dramatically different than previous sev year ter except that this one has 30 percent of funding designated specifically for climate spending. this will go into effect on january 1. even if they had stripped out the covid recovery fund, that

would have left the rest of the budget stranded. it's not an ideal solution because if they had not agreed by january 1, they would have had to rollover the 2020 budget and frozen spending for a while. it has happened in the past when the countries or european parliament have vetoed. but these financial frameworks are always full of drama. this year was no disappointment. tonight, we will have a budget in place, and more importantly, this history making covid recovery fund will for the first time neutralize the debt of eu member states. host: so resolution on that issue. for once, we are talking about something being resolved, which is not the case when talking about braggrexit, which is where

we are going next. now, boris johnson been quoted as saying there is a strong possibility of a no deal brexit. they u.k. prime minister flew back from brussels late last night after meeting over dinner with the european commission president. the dinner ended with no progress in terms of resolving brexit. earlier, johnson had this to say. >> the deal at the moment is not right for the u.k. whatever new laws they brought in, we would have to follow, or else face punishment, sanctions,

tariffs. that's now a strong possibility, strong possibility, that we will have a solution that is much more like an australian relationship with the eu than the canadian relationship with the eu. host: 12 months ago, he was talking about having an oven ready deal. that's now still in the air. meanwhile, the eu seems to have thought through the post brexit reality. >> in a two page statement, the eu released a contingency plan for what it called significant uncertainty over whether a trade deal would be in place by january 1. >> the conditions have to be fair. they have to be fair for workers and companies. and this balance of fairness has not been achieved so far.

our negotiators are still working and we will take a decision on sunday. >> the contingency plan says the eu is fully prepared for and no deal scenario. basic connectivity would ensure that air traffic between the eu and u.k. would continue without interruption for six months. aviation safety would keep regulations in place to avoid the grounding of eu aircraft. basic road connectivity grants access to truck drivers and freit for six months. fisheries would allow shared access by eu and u.k. vessels to each other's waters for up to a year. >> it really does underline the fact that to keep planes flying in the sky, to keep trucks crossing the channel, one has to take emergency rules. >> von underline and u.k. prime

minister boris johnson had a three hour dinner on wednesday but came away without making substantial progress. britain left the eu in january, but the transition ends on january -- on december 31. a no deal exit could create tariffs and job losses in the hundreds of thousands. host: francis to enter a curfew from december 15. the announcement was made thursday. the curfew will be enforced across france. this is the latest in the fight against covid-19. the end of the lockdown has been delayed because the number of new cases each day continues to be three times the target number. >> we will reuse the curfew --

reissue the curfew on december 15 and it will be tougher than initially announced. firstly, it will start at 8:00 and not 9:00. secondly, it will be strictly controlled with limited exemptions. contrary to what we had planned, this curfew will also apply to new year's eve. host: the latest on the covid-19 combat here in france. figures continue to rise. cultural venues will remain closed for another three weeks. culture is a sector in france that is particularly dear to french people and one of the reasons france is a leading holiday destination. for more on the impact of this, we are joined by the museum's deputy director, center. thank you for being with us. how big of a disappointment is

thisontinuedockdown of cultural venues? >> i must confess it is a rea sadness for us. we knew it was going to happen. we still had a little hope because we really think that beauty and art are real necessities. and we receive a lot of visitors. host: march was when theirst ckdown happened. so we are coming up on almost a year of disruption to the sector. can you quantify for us how badly the cultural sector has already been affected? >> in france it's a bit specific because we are rather lucky in the museums.

we are supplement by the authorities. we are quite privileged because we were able to promote and finish all the projects we wanted to do. for example, i just installed a beautiful exhibition of british art which is already to be open to the public -- all ready to be it's sad that we don't have visitors to come. last summer and especially during august, we did not have all of the foreign tourists, but we had lots of french ones, and we were able to see people from france. i must say we have been able to attract people again and show them that they have to go see their local heritage. host: indeed.

there are many things you're trying to do and many things you just cannot do right now. do you think that culture in france will recover, or do you think it will be scarred forever by this covid-19 pandemic and its effects? >> well, as i was saying, i think the for museums it will be all right. it's much more difficult for artists who are dependent -- for theaters, for cinema, for bookshops and the publishing system, the publishing economy. this must be terribly difficult. i really want to showupport of all of these institutions to artists and the cultural world. but i really don't know. i think we are in a dark transition right now. host: the best thing we can do

is hope that things move on quickly. thank you very much for joining us. thank you for sharing your thoughts about the situation. the museum deputy director at the bordeaux. thank you for joining us. spacex launched its shining, bullet shaped, straight out of science fiction starship several miles into the air from texas. the six and a half minute test flight ended in an explosive fireball at touchdown. elon musk says this rocketship could carry people to mars within six years. despite of the catastrophe, he was thrilled. >> all went well until the last minute. after lifting off from cameron

county in texas, space x's starship prototype went into flames as it touched down. despite the disastrous ending, elon musk was upbeat. it's playing the lack of fuel tank -- explaining that the lack of fuel tank pressure was to blame, he congratulated the team saying the flight provided all the necessary data. mars, here we come, he tweeted. ter planning to behe first private company to send humans to the international space station, musk plans to take peop to the moon and then to mars. >> earth-mars synchronization occurs roughlyvery 26onths. we had one thi sumr. in roughly two years, there will

be anoer one, and then two years after that. so six years from now. if we get lucky, maybe four years. >> the first stage booster will send -- stand more than 120 meters tall and carry 100 crew to orbit. this rivals jeff bezos blue origin for affordable space travel. the first tourist scheduled to fly on the starship is a japanese billionaire. he's training to travel to the moon in 2023. host: host: mars is the ultimate destination, it seems. you can find out more here on earth at france 24. kate moody is in the house. not this house, her own house. socially distanced in line with current regulations.

france 24 wants to keep us all as safe as possible and free from infection. kate, good to see you looking extremely well. we hope that continues. you have been looking at the continued closure of theaters, cinemas, and museums. what kind of financial losses will that incur? tell us the story. kate: significant losses. for theaters and cinemas in particular, this is a time when they usually attract a lot of paying customers. this sector directly accounts for 2.3 percent of gross to mastic product in france. there are over 635,000 full-time employees and 270,000 part-time or temporary workers. the first lockdown in thepring cost over 22 billion euros, a

quarter of t industry's annual turnover. and those losses don't include the latest lockdowns from november and now all of december. during the first lockdown, the louvre alone said it lost 40 million euros. museums did open for a few months between lockdowns, but many found it expensive to implement social distancing regulations that are now required indoors. one museum operator said if he has allow for eight square meters per visitor, it is not financially viable for him. many in the arts have pointed out that theaters and cinemas are places where spectators can observe good social distancing rules. good audience members sit quietly. they can wear masks. the risk of infection is low. but they will have to wait until january 7 to find out when they will be able to open. in the meantime, the government

will continue providing financial aid for the sector. this includes loans and direct payments from the solidarity fund. host: paris is a very different place without all of these cultural venues functioning. let's go to the closing bell on wall street and a major new player made a stockmarket debut today. tell us more. ka: airbnb made a splash on the nasdaq. shares were priced at $68 per share. it opened at more than double that. that pushed the market value to near 100 billion dollars early in this sessi. it closed over 85 billion. for comparison, marriott is valued at $42 billion. so it was a big moment for airbnb. the company began 32 years ago

with people renting out mattresses in san francisco. while the travel sector has been hit by the pandemic, airbnb has fared better than others. it has hit that sweet spot of people who are hoping to travel but not comfortable staying in hotels. it propelled the nasdaq to a high close. it ended in the green while the dow jones and s&p 500 closed slightly lower on the session. the european index closed relatively flat. host: u.s., the number of weekly jobless claims has shot up to its highest level since september. what's the story there? kate: those weekly numbers have been climbing pretty steadily for a few weeks now. 853,000 people filed applications for unemployment benefits lose last week.

that's about 150,000 -- benefits last week. that's about 150 thousand more than the previous week and four times higher than the weekly average before the pandec. meanwhile, there is still no breakthrough on capitol hill. lawmakers are still divided over what to do and what to spend. the clock is really ticking there. more than 20 million people are collecting some kind of unemployment benefits in the united states. more than half of them could lose their eligibility for those funds by the end of this month if lawmakers don't implement emergency programs. host: thank you. do stay safe. our business editor kate moody joining us from home. we take a very short break. the news continues live from

paris. ♪

12/10/20 12/10/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> 270 million people are marching toward starvation. failure to address their needs will cause a hunger pandemic that will dwarf the impact of covid. amy: as global hunger surges i miss the cover 19 pandemic, the world food program is awarded the 2020 nobel peace prize.