>> we report from baghdad where people are living in fear of the ministry of defense and they insist the city is safe. celebrations at the vatican as

pope paul vi gets one step closer to sainthood but there is a row over homosexuality. hurdling towards mars. we will tell you about the exceptional space encounter that occurs once in a million years. >> we begin in yemen where the new prime minister has arrived in sana. a from new york where he was serving as the country's ambassador to the united nations. he was already met by the president. there is still fighting across the country and demonstrations against houthi rebels who control the capitol. a report. >> reporter: yemen's most popular sunni prove incident and the anti-houthi sentiment is increasing. the bearers say it all: no to armed malitias. >> that's shared in a number of areas. but for the rebels making their

ad vance, it's a different story. >> akmed is the civilian face for the group. armed with his klasnikov and political spin, his group now controls northern yemen and is expanding to the south. he says they are not trying to sees power. >> in order to continue our revolution and making it succeed, we need to target forces of corruption along with other political forces. this is what our popular committees are doing. we don't want to cease power or control areas rather than protecting it. the houthis swept through the capitol last month largely unopposed taking over government bills and military basis. they also have six other provinces. it made them a rising political and military power. they fought six conflicts with the government in the past with a force that could reach up to

50,000 fighters, although a reliable number is hard to come by. armed with heavy, medium and small weapons, houthi leaders say they want more rights, political representation and equal say in the government. their critics accuse them with attempts to seize power and relying on iran to advance the shia cause in the country and region. but the group's ability to maintain control over vast areas it now controls is questioned. many people here believe the houts were deposed in 2012. the country's military and security fors are set to remain under his influence. >> could explain the military's inaction to stop the rebels' advance.

there is no alliance dwoen us and the president. we have the support of the people in all of the areas we are in. it's historically known whoever has the pour in capitol gets to control political decisions. we have the power, but we don't want to be alone. >> >> sanaa could have. >> from the border, bernard smith reports. >> reporter: turkey's military might be ready and able to join the fight against the islamic

state of iraq in the lavant. but the government is far from willing to play an active role in the u.s.-led coalition. en as more and more isil mortars have landed on turkish soil, the government has, if anything, hardened its stanchion to allow coalition jets to use air basis. >> i think turkey will be under more pressure if kobane falls but turkey's lines are pretty clear. if it feels it will be more involved in the conflict t has to have coalition partners support its aspirations for a buffer zone a no-fly zone or a wider goal which mayro rofl removing assad. >> teshingey from the kobani region. in all, there are 1 and a half million sirians sheltering in this country. the government here bliepz it's doing it's bet.

there is one subject on which turkey and the u.s. agree that need to train and equip what they can consider moderate syrian opposition. there are three free syrian army brigades fighting alongside the that the is as far as the turkish government is willing to go for now. bernard smith, al jazeera, on the turkey/syria border. >> isil's push to take the town of koba ne has led to more people turning in to turkey. valerie amos visited on the turkish irwin border. she says around 1.6 million people have fled since the syrian crisis began four years ago. here in this school we have 5,000 people. half of them are children living in a situation where they are

being supported the world food program, by unicef, afad and other partners but have come together recognizing that the children need psychosocial support. people need to be housed and sheltered and that this is a transition to a more settle the camp situation. >> there has been a suicide bombing in iraq the bomber was inside a shia mask west of baghdad when he blew himself up. we will be speaking to the core respond event, imran khan in baghdad in just a few minutes. first a look at his report. the government is trying to reassure iraqis the capitol is safe. in market places in neighborhoods like these, 31 suicide bombers have struck in the last 45 days. >> government statistic has people worried iraqi politicians aren't doing enough to protect the capitol and its people. omar says the short walk from

his home to his shop is dangerous. >> we are living in fear. every day i open my shock, i think a bomber could attack. we shut the shop by midday. after that, it's too risky to open. >> he is angry at the government. >> enough conferences, enough meetings. i hope this government will change things but nothing has changed for us. for us iraqis, it's a cycle of violence and death. there is no hope. in order to calm fears, the ministry of defense is on the pr offensive and it's issued this video insisting baghdad is safe and ready is face any challenge. malitias will be importantly for the defense of baghdad and they have held rallies like this one to show how ready they are to fight. these malitias make many nervous. they are afraid there could be a return to the kind of sectarian

blood shed that nearly drove iraq to civil war a few years ago. >> the car bombs are on an almost daily basis here sectarian issues, and dealing with that is the only way to build a lasting peace. dealing with that will be crucial. however, there is a more pressing concern. isil fighters are now on three sides of this city. >> and they showed no signs of slowing down. the camtol has always been in their sight. with each village and town they take, they get closer, making people here even more nervous. em iran khan, not exactly helping government efforts to convince people the capitol is safe, imran. >> reporter: exactly right. >> all right. we apologize. we are having a little

difficulties hearing imran. >> allies are calling for a end to the fighting in libya. they say they are ready to impose sanctions against individuals. forces loyal to renegade general halifa hafta are fighting in benghazi and kikla. thousands of civilians have fled the violence. in egypt, medical and security sources say at least six execute force personnel have been killed by a roadside bomb in the sinai peninsula. the bomb is said to have exploded as al patrol passed by. al jazeera continues to demand the immediate release of journalists in egypt. they have been imprisoned for 295 days now. they are accused of helping the outlawed muslim brotherhood, a charge they deny. they are appealing against their convictions. to the vatican where this

morning, pope francis presided over the beatfication of pope paul vi, a step shy of sainthood of the pontiff who led the catholic church between 1963 and 1978. as claudio reports, controversy lingered over the celebration. >> on sunday, saint peter's square was once again filled with cheering catholics. for once, the pope they came from was not francis, nor was it the other pope, benedict xvi, who made a rare appearance. they came to celebrate the beatfication of paul the vi, one step short of sainthood. it's credited with modernizing the catholic church in the 1960s, but also criticized for reaffirming the ban on birth control. 50 years later, change in the catholic church is still hard to come by. sunday's mass also concluded the

so-called senate, a summit of bishops who debated the church's a lot stud on modern family issues including homosexuality. their initial report which stated that hom 0 sexuals have gifts and qualities to offer to the christian community represented a dramatic change in the oven demonizing language used in the past. a catholic italian gay couple has just had their marriage officialized by the mayor of rome. they were surprised and delighted. >> at a time change in language is almost revolutionary. pope francis was the first to address us directly, referring to us in official documents directly as homosexuals, acknowledging our existence. now, we hope words are followed by actions. >> when it comes to language in the catholic church, the devil is in the detail. >> the initially report published on monday recommended that the church should welcome

homosexuals. by thursday, that change to a much softer approach stating gay people should be provided for within the church. then on saturday came the final wording stating that homosexuals should be simply treated with respect. >> the change in language shows there is a split between those 2 agree with pope francis that the should should welcome everyone including homosexuals and those who stick to tradition. now the pope has one year to reassure the conservatives. the senate report has laid the ground work for another larger summit of bishops next year. only then, it will become clear whether pope francis has perform the miracle of finally, resolving how the church should deal with homosexuality. claudio langa, vatican city. still to come on al jazeera, from furniture seller to indonesia's new.

he has a faithful following. rolling out the red corporate for the morenia film festival.

>> i wanted to be in on the big >> many of these involved >> you are watching al jazeera. let's recap the headlines now. yemen's new prime minister met with the country's president in sanaa, appointed to the top job last week. he returned from new york where he was serving as yemen's ambassador to the united nations.

at least 21 people have been killed and 35 injured in a suicide bombing in iraq. shia mosque was targeted in the attack which took place west of baghdad. kurdish fighters in syria fought off an assault by isil near the town of kobane. the group was trying to capture the border crossing. if they had succeeded, it would have cut off kurdish fighter supply lines. more than 1,000 health experts are meeting in berlin to discuss ways to stop the spread of ebola. according to the world health organization, more than 9,000 cases of ebola have been reported worldwide. the west african countries remain the worst hit by the outbreak. almost two and a half thousand people have died in liberia. sierra leone has seen at least 1200 dead and more than 860 have died in begini. the total number of fatalties currently stands at around 4 and a half thousandguinea.

the total number of fatalties currently stands at around 4 and a half thousand. more from the world health conference in berlin. >> before the summit started in berlin on sunday, the president of liberia issued an appeal to the world asking every single nation that could do something to help to do so. she said it doesn't matter whether that's money, whether it is clinical expertise or actual personnel on the dproumd in west africa. now, germany has actually stepped up what it is pledging in terms of cash to about $130 million. it's set to send several hundred volunteers both military and medical staff. in the last few hours, we have heard from jooefrm's health minister accepting that the international community did act too slowly to begin with. also, the fortunately minister saying that the world wasn't prepared for an outbreak of this size but some of the medical experts here are perhaps leaning toward the assessment of people

saying we were warning you there. the appeal went out and you weren't quick enough. so over the next few days, i think there are going to be a lot of calls for governments to coordinate their action and to get people there as well as troops into west africa starting to phil gaps and to back phil because a lot of the pressure on hospitals and clinics to treat ebola victims means people with other diseases are starting to suffer as well. >> protesters continue to man barricades in hong kong after another night of scuffles with police. demonstrations remain centered in the mongkok district. activists are calling for free and fair elections in the city. the government only allows candidates vetted by beijing to campaign. police accuse radical groups of being mind the recently confrontations.

the area remains a high-risk area. activists as well as troublemakers are mingling with other protesters. from time to time, they planned, organized and direct various actions to prove occasion our officers and create chaos. joining us live, sunday saw a bit of tensions flaring there. what's the situation like now? >> reporter: this is the high-risk area that the superintendent was talking about. basically what's happening behind me is police are guarding an enter sense they cleared on friday morning. after that, protesters came back friday night. there were clashes. they came back saturday night. there were clashes again, and now, here it's sunday evening, and police and protesters are in a face-off. but this time, both sides are prepared. the protest have come with hard hats, goggles, are prepared for any eventuality and the police,

on the other hand, have buses and buses of reinforcements should they be needed. right now what's happening is that they are trying to negotiate with the protesters. there are two legislative council members there trying to calm things down as there has been a call to arms, so to speak, for protesters to come here to make sure playoff police don't try to clear this area before work on monday morning, just a few hours away. >> we are hearing signals from officials that aren't exactly comforting coming so close to the talks. what are they sawing? >> that's right. the chief executive spoke today and he did two main things to reiterate that beijing has been saying there has been foreign influence in these protests and the second thing is that beijing is not going to relent. they are not going to give hong kong full democracy in these talks which puts the students on the backfoot. already, they are coming in with

very little optimism, but these talks are still going to go ahead. they are goi what they are goino get out of it is a big question mark. >> it is indeed. thank you so much indianee i can't's president will take. others worry he won't be able to bring about much needed change. from jakarta. >> a rocky way to the presidency, the softly spoken former furniture seller was elected president in july. ever since then, he has faced opposition to the country's politically elite. >> that's why thousands of volume up tears have decided to throw him the largest inauguration party ever. they are inviting as many people as possible to show support for the man they consider one of them. >> this is a president of the people people. he goes straight to the people. he nodes what we need and what

this was. he knows what our problems were. only 44% of the seats in parliament. it's 1 r.n. why lost a parliament vote. some political observesers describe it as a deliberate attempt to obvious struck his policies. they include closing the growing gap between rich and poor, building infrastructure and cutting fuel subsidies. >> fwefz hoping to work together. we don't need to tackle each other. the best spirit is toing work together. he has led the aggressive opposition against him. i have told all of my supporters

much different plication political opinions cannot be a reason to be divided. this is not allowed. we are one nation, one people. we have to be united. >> it's been a tough road to the presidency. while the president is expected to face strong opposition inside ptarmigan pardon me, outside he managed to concentrate a large and faithful following. now all indianindian easias are if he will meet what some are calling unrealistically high expectations. >> the man, himself, was very much aware of the pressure he is facing. >> that's really a burden for me. but when i see the people, my energy increases. it shows to me that i need to work hard for them. >> although he has already fought hard to get this far, his job only becomes more difficult after this inauguration. it begins on trying to improve lives of 240 million people al jazeera.

>> revenge u workers say hope of finding survivors of one of nepal's worst mountain disasters is fading. villagers familiar are the rugged terrain have been asked. 39 people are thought to have died in last week's after launch. 30,000 have taken place in the beijing marathon. many wore face masks to protect themselves from the dangers of bringing in the area. the pollution was 13 times the level considered safe by world health organization standards. there are fears of an environmental disaster off canada's specific coast. a russian container ship carrying hundreds of topics of fuel is adrift linking it to a toe ship snapped. it was heading home from the u.s. state of washington when suddenly lost pour in bad weather last week. it's a close encounter with mars that occurs just once every million years. a little over an hour, a comet

will brush past the red planet. here are the details. naultd after the observatory that first spotted it, the comet citing spring has come from the far reaches of our solar system. for more than a million years, it's been travelling towards the sun, slowly warming and developing a tail full of gas and dust. it will swing by mars 132,000 kilometers from the planet. >> at the time of the close encounter, it will be almost the closest to the son. when they do that, they release a lot of materials, dust, solid particles and gases, water and hydrogen and all of these particles, all of these ejecta are going to interact with the atmosphere of mars. >> will be the interesting thing. >> that interaction will be recorded by no fewer than five

spacecraft, three orbiters and two nasa rovers on the planet's surface have all been prepared for the comet. >> it's going to look at shape and rotation and the brightness of the nucleunucleus. it's going to study the coma composition to and look at the atmosphere between comet and mars. >> the spacecraft are trying to understand how external forces affect the marshal atmosphere. billions of years ago, it was supported water. those areblied to have been eroded by solar winds, energy from the sun, leaving just a thin coat of carbon die objectionide. the interaction could she hd lit on the how it occurred and could pose a threat to the pace craft. >> it may be a hazard we have studied and mold it extensively. we now believe when mars gets very close to the dust tail,

about 100 minutes after closest approach, all of our spacecraft will be on the opposite side of the planet. >> scientists belibly the gas a dust could cause auroras in the martian atmosphere. they say their spacecraft will be in anique upons to record this along with the exact motion of the comet. it's information they say will help us better prepare for the next close encounter, al jazeera. >> in mexico, the 12th annual film festival is underway. adam rainey has had a sneak preview. >> it's show time demand is high. welcome to morelii's international film felt value. it's a unesco world heritage side but in a state battered by drug violence. >> the head of the festival, though, says mexico isn't just a bloody landscape. >> mexico has a 3 years of

history and this is one of the most important cities in mexico. therefore, it makes perfect sense to make a film fest cal, world class, in this beautiful city. >> some of the films deal with mexico's violence and impunity one is a documentary that follows mothers of the missing across mexico and to the u.s. as they search for clues of their children's whereabouts. al hands row, one of the most famous directors opened with his film, "birdman." for him, the festival is a chance to show another side of the country. sometimes it distorts the reality and the perception of the people can be disstarted one in one state of one country that is much more conflict than violence. >> for the rest of your life.

>> it is a complex country. it's people like people everywhere have a taste for life's simple please user. they want to take advantage that all this festve value has to offer, seeing a classic film under the stars. in mexico. >> catastrophic aftermath. we're flying to leyte- the hardest hit island where towns were torn up and reduced to rubble -