Pandemic to help Small Businesses just in time for christmas. And the lights turn on but everyones at home a quiet start to christmas celebrations in bethlehem as coronavirus restrictions keep the crowds away. Welcome to the program what was meant to be a rally to back to Senate Candidates has turned into an opportunity for donald trump to once again falsely claim that he won last months president ial election and hes been campaigning in georgia for 2 republicans who are up for runoffs next month this month sorry the poll will decide which Party Controls a state. Which the u. S. Senate pardon me but trump spent much of the time criticizing democrats and georgias republican governor who refused to endorse a substantiated claims of voter fraud in the president ial election. I want us correspondingly how good how small from the rally. His 1st since joe biden was declared the winner of the nov 3rd president ial election still donald trump says that he is not giving up on challenging and trying to overturn those results in a 2nd term in the white house donald trump is also urging georgia voters to the to the pulsing in january for Critical Senate race he says it will control not just the future of the senate which republicans currently hold but the future of america this is something thats very important and you have to get out you have to vote you have to make sure you have every vote counted everybody. Because its taken this election is control of the u. S. Senate and that really means control of this country the voters of georgia will determine which party runs every committee writes every piece of legislation controls every single taxpayer dollar dumbstruck accuses democrats of breaking the cliff largely still he says he will challenge the result even if. The Supreme Court says it will never surrender. Well joe watkins is a republican strategist and former white house aide to president george h. W. Bush chose we know via skype from philadelphia to talk on the program again mr watkins welcome to aljazeera obviously another crucial role in all so many have obviously said and im the president has also said it will also determine really the flexibility for not just the republicans but the flexibility that president elect biden has to govern. Thats absolutely right because what happens is if the 2 republicans win those senate seats then of course that means that Mitch Mcconnell continues on the leader in the u. S. Senate and republicans control the senate which means that joe biden will d the u. S. House of representatives under democratic control but if the democrats win those 2 seats in georgia of course that means joe biden will control the senate with the help of kamel harris who is the sitting Vice President cast the deciding vote in the u. S. Senate and then also a Democratic House of representatives that will have the house and the senate under democratic control so this is a very very important election from the standpoint of republicans and democrats and so very very important what do you make of the discourse that were hearing from President Trump you know weve got states not certifying wins for biden hes won the election be it not until as everybody actually those representatives in mid December Talk about the fact that they will back him it is a very odd situation isnt it really you know 3 or 4 weeks on after the general election the president ial election that will hes still touting untruths. Well i think the president is trying trying very hard to retain his base he won over 70000000 votes in the november election and the best way to retain at least a good portion that basis to. Continue to challenge your the year the Election Results i dont think is going to succeed in charging them might they go on december 14th when the u. S. Electors come together they will course elect joe biden to be the president of United States but that being sit down people want to retain his power base in the event that he wants to run again in 2024 for the presidency so coming into georgia is the 1st test of that and certainly he has raised over 200000000. 00 since the election about 207000000. 00 since election so he still has plenty of money to keep the base. Very much under his control and maybe that money might be used towards his 2024 campaign which will worry perhaps republicans in the sense that one wonders how much fatigue there is over not just this president ial election but the discourse that President Trump is also continuing to talk about and about perhaps any sort of infighting that a lot of republicans here who want the election do you might say to be called for biden and to move on. There are many republicans who feel that d the election should shouldnt call a while ago and it and that the country needs to move on but theyre going to be very cautious because president remains popular among the Republican Base and they dont want to get them angry they dont want them to to say thing that might hurt them in their chances to be reelected in the next cycle so most of them will be quiet and we remain quiet and theyll wait to see what happens well wait to see how strong the president remains after joe biden thinks office will look to see whether or not hes the able to retain a majority of his base and whether that would be able to continue to build toward a 2024 reelection election bid. Which is still quite a ways away so i think a lot of that will take a wait and see attitude to see the president there were to retain his strength but theres a right now he still has a lot of strength a great deal of strength of Republican Voters around the country where all the dissenting voices why isnt anybody within the Republican Party standing up to trump and saying enough is enough use you youre not speaking the truth you might have a base that aids is supportive of you and they all republicans but this is wrong weve seen mitt romney in the thoughts of venn diagram of politicians but whenever the office. Well mitt romney would use it directly you somebody was good and said that. He thinks that the president is wrong in a number of occasions and he has not been afraid to do that but for every one of them remember whether or not they have power is based on whether or not the people in their base support them in the let them do these seats in the congress and not that which is that jeopardize his or her own seat in the congress by go against donald trump dont throw up his you know got over 70000000 votes in the november election and so were delap or worse no matter how people may feel about him on the other side at least among Republican Voters he has a lot of strip so those republican senators and members of congress are going to be very very slow to criticize him and theyll wait to see if they will to retain that threat in the coming weeks and months after he leaves office which they want to see happen joe what is always good to get your insight thanks so much for joining us from the u. S. Thank you now the u. S. Has reported a Record Number of cave in 1000 infections for the 3rd day in a row and any 230000 cases were recorded over the past 24 hours according to John Hopkins University and thats been more than 2500 deaths in that time now the u. S. Has seen a huge resurgence of the virus over the past month putting immense pressure on hospitals a large scale covered 1000 Vaccination Program is now underway in russia around 2000000 people are expected to receive these but the vaccine this month although final human trials are not yet finished needs back as well. Its called covert back trade name sputnik v. After the soviet era satellite that triggered the space race and now russia says its soaring ahead in its campaign against covert 19. Dozens of clinics in the capital moscow have begun inoculating those most at risk from the virus the city remains the worst affected place in the country 1st in line of people who work in schools the Health Service and social workers the large scale vaccination of military personnel has also begun but each person getting 2 injections 21. 00 days apart. I decided to do it right away not to wait its difficult to say what to expect but i do hope it will stop me from getting ill the russian government approved the vaccine for use in august after recording 95 percent effectiveness of preliminary trials at the time it was touted as a world 1st despite only being tested on several dozen people the speed of the approvals drawn criticism at home and abroad with Health Experts insisting more advanced studies are needed to ensure its safety and effectiveness. But the russian government says theres no time to lose the country has one of the highest rates of coronavirus and his aging Health Care System is stretched. Day one of the Vaccination Program is a success people waited a long time for the vaccine so far so good i cannot say how many people signed in but there are a lot of people who want to be vaccinated but president Vladimir Putin has yet to be vaccinated himself although one of his daughters has apparently been inoculated all of those being vaccinated are reportedly volunteers but some Public Sector workers say theyve been heavily encouraged to sign up in the absence of large scale preliminary tests critics say the mass Vaccination Program is essentially a phase 3 trial in the general population skepticism around this comes from. Very quickly its pretty developed very quickly and it is free. To the general population. If you have been developed say. The trials. Do not appear to have been as extensive as they would have been. The russian government is confident but its likely to take time for the fast track to vaccine to build International Trust eve parker aljazeera. The United Kingdom is preparing to roll out the vaccine made by pfizer and by on take possibly as early as tuesday now but leading doctors are warning the vaccinations will only have a small impact over the winter in an open letter to Health Workers the case for chief medical officers say it could take 3 months before theres a significant drop in hospital admissions the United Kingdom and the European Union are still at all dz british Prime MinisterBoris Johnson and the European Commission president live on delay and admit that major differences remain but the 2 leaders have told the go she has to keep talking. We welcome the fact that progress has been achieved in many areas nevertheless significant differences remain on the 3 Critical Issues level Playing Field governance and fisheries both sides underline that normally agreement is feasible if these issues are not solved. And whilst recognizing the seriousness of these differences we have retired a further effort should be undertaken by our negotiating teams to assess whether they can be these issues can be resolved within barber has more on the negotiations theres been a lot of talk in the press about british on happiness or the European Union trying to insist on a long perhaps 10 year transition period before e. U. Access to british fishing waters would be reduced the European Union have been saying no that is not going to be a problem there is somewhere we can meet in the middle but perhaps a bigger problem is the idea of unfair competition european diplomats have been Briefing Journalists that several countries not just france but belgium spain denmark and so on have been unhappy about the prospect of Michel Barnier giving ground on the rules of what they call the level Playing Field on state aid for example to British Companies and also on what what happens if one side wants to move away from the common standards of workers rights on Environmental Standards and the like so these are clearly sticking points it will be seen by some people as good news that the talks are going to resume on sunday negotiators being asked to get back together in brussels on sunday and sort of underlying and boris d johnson talking again on monday lots of people did predict that in fact the whole file would be handed over to the. Political leaders before any ratification but if there is to be such a deal it has to be done in the next few days because it has to be signed off by the British Parliament and by the European Parliament theres an e. U. Summit on thursday and friday theyll want to know the exact details as well and even if they have got a deal on paper its going to be very difficult a big challenge to get it pushed through by december the 31st theres talk that in fact it might be have to be put in place provisionally without the European Parliament greenlighting it well still ahead here on out as ever we look at the challenges facing kuwait 1000 votes for a new parliament and also. A motion. After a 9 month wait football fans in london to get back into the stadium their stories after the break. A significant noreaster is on its way through the Northeast Corner of the u. S. And that effectively means rain on the coast and then snow inland during sunday itll most be going off towards the eastern side of canada then the cold back washwoman temperatures drop quite considerably for everybody in the east coast theyve already had one plunge in temperatures in the last one week ago we were lantzs max about 12 degrees for a cold gets even further in in fact even down the coast of texas houstons about 60 degrees so this really is a cold plunge once again despite the daytime sunshine is the temperatures for monday were down to 9 atlanta there has been some more winter just crossing the border from British Columbia into washington basically the Pacific Coast is fine and dry and the santa ana winds are dying down at least temporarily. Now with that cold air leaking across the gulf of mexico there will be an increase in the likelihood of heavy rain in mexico western side of cuba as well otherwise its pretty seasonal standard light daily shastas small arms the caribbean but it looks like the north of the constant of south america and costa rica and panama are all seeing a decline in the recent showers. Pakistans k. S. C. 100. 00 or so more than 36 percent we bring you the stories and developments that are rapidly changing the world we live in the water is going dispensable to Economic Activity but industrial users worsening access to fresh water counting the cost on aljazeera. Holding the powerful to account as we examine the u. S. Its role in the world on aljazeera. All. Talk about what you all deserve it means the whole robin a reminder of our top stories in his 1st postelection rally President Donald Trump has again falsely claimed to have won the election in georgia is in the state campaigning for 2 republican senators had a runoff that will decide which Party Controls the senate. And the u. S. Has reported a Record Number of covert 900 factions for the 3rd day in a row nearly 230000 cases were recorded over the past 24 hours it comes as russia has become a large scale coronavirus Vaccination Program. And postbox a trade talks between the United Kingdom and the European Union are set to resume on sunday the 2 sides are deadlocked over issues of governance fishing and competition rules. Now the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union more than 4 years ago but the route out has been difficult the 3 main sticking points are fishing rights fair competition guarantees and how future de. Feuds will be solved even if the 2 leaders reach an agreement Member States can still reject it france says that it wont back a bad deal especially as it tries to ensure it doesnt lose access to british fishing waters the 2 sides of just 25. 00 days to reach a deal otherwise the divorce process will end in a no deal breaks it jonathan lissett is the Deputy Director of the Business Advisory think tank british influence he explains whats at stake for both sides. I would always expect there to be last minutes gesture politics and hard intervention some drama the food resolution that. Im not remotely along fast surprised by whats happened this weekend is not the sort of thing each necessarily expects the through an acrimonious crush out but at the same time you know these things hang in the balance the deal is not guaranteed the differences between the 2 sides are real the e. U. Wants to make sure that it doesnt have a huge compact. Potentially undercutting it on standards or introducing unfair competition by state age or any number of things either now or in 5 years time or in 20 years time and if there is such an act that it wants to make sure it can retaliate isa terrorists who do some of the kind of sanction and so its just about ironing those things out is the most important point here is that the problems that people experience are not going to be resolved by proxy are going to be made worse now fishing which you mentioned before is a key example of that because the fundamental problem is the British Mission is wants to take back control. Of british waters but the majority of the fish that we catch. It into the e. U. So the e. U. As we said well if you want control of your waters then were back control of our markets and. Have exclusive rights to fish in british waters theres no point to that because they dont have the markets and mexico is the e. U. So these problems are simply not going to go away the leader of ethiopia. Is all still battling Government Forces local leaders government soldiers. Fighting is underway outside the regional capital of Prime Minister declared victory a week ago a Communications Blackout has made it difficult to assess conditions on the ground. Several people have been detained in israel amid protests against Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu thousands of people gathered outside yahoos home in whats become a weekly show of anger demonstrators are calling for him to resign over corruption charges and his handling of the coronavirus pandemic israels moving towards an unprecedented 4th election in less than 2 years over the governments failure to pass a budget the United Nations as condemned shelling in yemen which killed at least 6 civilians at least 10 others were injured in the port city of data amid an escalation of violence its the 3rd time in a week that civilians have been killed in attacks and it comes as aid agencies warn of increasingly famine like conditions. Saudi arabias foreign minister says its allies involved in imposing the blockade against qatar on board to find a solution to the gulf crisis earlier the amir of kuwait said he was pleased with how talks have been progressing and that sentiment has been echoed by the Qatari Foreign minister mohammed the number romanow tunney saudi arabia bahrain the United Arab Emirates and egypt imposed a land sea and air blockade of cattle in june of 2017. From quote a nation with our partners and in this process. And with the prospects that we see are very positive towards a final agreement and all the steps we have taken so far have been as i mentioned in coordination with our partners and the eventual resolution will involve parties concerned. The polls are now closed and points parliamentary elections looking to fill 50 seats on the Record Number of women are among small than 300 candidates but as mohammed june reports the votes being overshadowed by covert 19. In kuwait where the economy is worsening as a result of low oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic parliamentary elections still going ahead as planned voters masked up before casting their ballots and said they hoped these polls would begin to turn things around and. I boycotted the past 2 elections this time i thought that i should participate because the situation is deteriorating we need to be united and elect me foremost in the parliament so that the situation may improve hopefully you tell a columnist i hope that the kuwaiti people will choose wisely that they will choose the people who represent kuwait changes a must these are the 1st elections in kuwait since its new emir. Took office in september after the death of his half brother. A civil have with the opposition weekend in recent years analysts say no Major Political shift is expected and with the Campaign Season severely muted due to the pandemic many believe voter turnout will be lower this year up for grabs are 50 seats in parliament and among the 326 candidates a Record Number of women 29 are running. And not go we have to fight corruption by choosing he will represent us inside the National Assembly and be a person with a conscience honesty he really loves this country and its citizens kuwaits nearly 140000000000 dollar economy is facing a deficit of 46000000000 dollars this year in september it was downgraded for the 1st time by moodys investor service. And just a month earlier kuwaiti finance minister warned the government may no longer be able to pay salaries still analysts say its not just the economy that will pose a challenge to the Upcoming Parliament also the like of trust and between people and many people with the and they need them to be. Effective and used to be and i think this is going to be seen in 03 and the Election Results many say that no matter the results the biggest difficulty Going Forward maybe how to overcome legislative gridlock. And. Colombia has been trying to restart its economy after months of covert 1000 restrictions the Christmas Holiday season is seen as a lifeline for Small Businesses but with cases rising again many theory 2nd wave of infections will hit the country soon on a sunday around p. R. T. Reports from bottles largest whole self or was grandstand mahlers bustling get to in the morning was a small resellers and regular buyers from all over colombia has sold for the best in chief his garments of the market are gone are great early rise the biggest gloating wholesale fare in the country taking place this year in the shadow of coal with 19 to be quite heavy this family has had a stall here for almost 20 years of import i was going this year is different but even more important because were all struggling to rescue our businesses from failing to save the sacrifices of so many years was because hed restrictions have hit colombias economy hard especially Small Businesses that are only now starting to recover the weight infections rising once again many feared a lucrative Christmas Season might be cut short if i dont know what was there but selling these clothes is the only line support for us the only way to pay the bills pay off some debt keep. Head above water because we havent received any help from the government. Traditionally demand to go in with take place every december night but this year it has been cut down to 2 per week Shopping Centers of reduced capacity and increased security measures to avoid becoming a new focus of infections but the biggest worry lies outside the malls. Where hundreds of informal vendors occupy the streets with merchandise and thousands of buyers corralled them often without Wearing Masks or maintaining any distance the mayor office just threatened to shut down the insider for unless the crowds are somehow brought there could but the seller circe say that would be an economic catastrophe. Because its complicated and contradictory the government has the right to impose restrictions they see fit but what about our right to survive i mean i live experts say that allowing these events is like playing with fire. Its a difficult period even if the government has been arent and people day in and day out people are tired at this point i expect that after this Holiday Season well have the same situation we are now seeing in europe or the United States people might still fear the virus but theyre done with the restrictions. Its a balancing act between the Economic Needs of the people and the reality of a pandemic that is far from being overcome listen to them and just. The theory is used to throngs of tourists from around the world as team during christmas but the occupied west bank town has just lit up its holiday trees with streets virtually empty due to lockdown restrictions that are ibrahim reports. The best view years it wasnt very hard for us to find at least. Cover the Christmas Tree lighting. The trees live without people they are watching the funny line was 50. 5 what if something. If it was here. That the. Photo was that it would be. 2009 feet. Here footage that this here was exceptional. In her work an agenda and the hotel owners went to separate in a very busy season and more tourist season so they took loans and expanded their business not their in debt not only them but the employees many were laid off and have been looking for alternatives but no one is hiring unemployment rates are soaring and with an average of around 2000 cases each day of the coronavirus a 2nd lockdown is looming this could only mean bad news for a city that has always depended on tourism specifically during the Christmas Season after 9 months fans are shut out by the pandemic have been allowed inside the stadium to watch a game in the English Premier League while it doesnt apply to all games fans in london were able to watch Manchester United beat west ham 31 its because of a change in lockdown rules which allows up to 2000 people to watch Outdoor Sports everybody i know my for support from drill for exactly so it was actually grabbing. The most room for me on his way to get some more throws yeah but if you talk about it you know because i did get more emotional really im so pleased with. Watching others there who have missed the whole rama reminder of our top stories in his 1st postelection rally President Trump has again falsely claimed to have won the election in georgia now hes in the state campaigning for 2 republican senators ahead of runoffs little decide which Party Controls the u. S. Senate this is something thats very in