>> coming up at 6:00 p.m. this is al jazeera. >> l welcome to the newshour. i'm darren. these are the top stories. reject a plan to hold the whole country together. the battle continues, we're on the front line with peshmerga forces still trying to drive i.s.i.l. fighters out of northern iraq. >> translator: the palestinian authority has chosen to launch a confrontation with the state of israel and we're not sitting

idly by. >> israel decides to cut off urgently needed tax revenues to the palestinians. and the frond ranks of science. but first let's start with breaking news from somalia. a massive suicide car bomb has hit the exam mogadishu. the armed group al shabaab has claimed responsibility for the attack which target ed the national security and safety agency. there are heavy cacials casualties. that an attack is believed to be in receipt retribution for an attack awhich killed a leader.

only days before. african union forces have stepped up their force against al shabaab. now attempts to hold yemen together as a country are in deep trouble. there's been a bombing at the presidential guest house about 100 kilometers south of sa 92 nah. sanaa. on the political front the leader of yemen's houthi front has rejected the prop of dividing yemen into six regions. growing impatient for reform. omar the houthi leader has then rejected the plan to federalize the country. what's behind the move and what does it all mean? >> well, i think the new realities and the victories

achieved by the houthis the military victories as well as the political gains means yemen's political landscape has changed. and i think the houthis would like to take advantage of that. the national dialogue was approved last year. but since then, things have changed and the houthis are in charge of at least nine provinces, and they want to take more territory. so they are the rising power. and then want to impose perhaps their own agenda on the political players. what's interesting darren, in this is that the houthis were part of the national dialogue and they agreed on dividing yemen into six federal regions. now it seems they've changed course and they are calling for only two regions one in the north, one in the south. analysts here believe the move is triggered by the fact that the houthi leader wants to

maintain the control over north of yemen as well as to influence the southern region. >> omar so where does this leave the national dialogue initiative? because as you said this was supposed to stabilize yemen politically. but looks like the houthis are emboldened to impose their will. >> absolutely, darren. the houthis when they took over the capital in september the u.n. as well as other diplomats and other western countries including the political players in this country sat together and signed a new agreement. that agreement is called the peace and partnership agreement in which the houthis will gain more political representation. in turn they have to withdraw, and this, well, that never happened. now the houthis including leader senior leaders within the movement, say while the new peace and partnership agreement is a new reality and what we

signed before something different, and that's why based on that, i think the houthi leader abdel minik al houthi, stated this is a new reality and the new houthi revolution will only continue. i think the u.n. at some point will have to come out and give a statement in regards where they stand with what the houthis have mentioned darren. >> just a final thought from you omar. the houthi leader says he plans to move into the oil rich state of mareb. what do the yemenis think of that? is this a wider paragraph perhaps? >> that the houthis are populating according to a plan and in that plan they want to extend their grip and their control on province of mareb. it is rich and where most of

yemen's oil is exported. it is also rich with gas. with the houthis portraying this resolution quote unquote is to confront al qaeda and al qaeda presence in different areas. and that's why the leader on saturday said he fears mareb will fall into the leader, the spread of terrorism however people here are not taking that seriously and they do think this is going according to a well organized plan on behalf of the houthis darren. >> omar, thank you. australia's prime minister has made an unannounced visit to iraq. tony abbott spoke to haider al-abadi in the baghdad capital. carried out bombing raids against cite as a part of a u.n. pled coalition to wipe out the group. peshmerga forces are trying

retake their momentum, one in the village of sultan abdalla where peshmerga forces were reportedly in full control just a few days ago. the capitol of mosul and erbil. mohammad adow reports. >> about 80 kilometers from the capital of the semi autonomous region. there are i.s.i.l. fighters still holed up in some sections of this village. sultan abdalla is where there was heavy fighting just two days ago, between peshmerga and i.s.i.l. fighters, although at one point peshmerga fighters say they were in total control of this town, they say now there are pockets of resistance in the town and getting incoming fire

from the positions of i.s.i.l. here in the camp and at this front line we have seen some unexploded ordnance, particularly mortars that peshmerga fighters said they lost to some men. what we also know is that the village of sultan abdalla is also close to the strategic i.s.i.l. strong hold of mosul and one of the reasons why maybe the i.s.i.l. fighters don't want to use the village is they're using it as a defensive position so the peshmerga and other fighters don't move closer to mosul. what the peshmerga force is are telling us is it is strategic source of water for the town which is not far from hire and ithere andon the highway to baghdad will give them the opportunity to cut

i.s.i.l. supplies. palestineian authorities are accusing israel of trying to starve their people by withholding tax revenues. israel's prime minister has been justifying the move. >> translator: the palestinian authority has chosen to launch a confrontation with the state of israel and we're not sitting idly by. we'll not allow the drag of the idf commanders to the hague. entered an alliance with the hamas war criminals. >> under the 1994 oslo accord it transfers them to the palestinian authority so kit pay its public sector workers. but that means israel can withhold revenues as punishment. victoria gaten by has more.

gatenby has more. palestinian unity deal that brought together hamas with its secular faction. in response to the overwhelming street at the u.n. general assembly to recognize the state of palestine and it imposed a similar punishment in april 2014 after mahmoud abbas petitioned to join an international force. accounts for two-thirds of the palestinian authority's budget. without it, the country can't pay the 160,000 public sector gross it engages. because the pa economy is government-dependent these employees and the money they spend form the economic backbone

of the occupied territory. >> mustafa barbouti speaking from ramallah, he says they are discouraged. >> sick and tired. more than 47 years of occupation is enough and the system of apartheid which is much worse than in south africa is intolerable. israel is intolerable to the international community. for the first sometime now they will be held accountable in front of the international criminal court and in front of the international community. if israel is sure they will not be held accountable before the criminal court because they did not commit crimes why are they so worried? they know very well they have

committed war crimes, destroying 96,000 houses in 51 days and killing 2370 people and injuring 17,000 of whom 4,000 were children is definitely a war crime. on the other hand, what we are doing is an act of plan nonviolent are resistance. >> happened in the town of flaeta near the lebanese border on saturday. 20 troops were killed and 35 soldiers were taken hostage by al qaeda soldiers suburb of the capital of manama, demonstrators are and inning the release of their leader. the family of the al qaeda

suspect is accusing washington of neglect his health. abu anas al-libi was captured by u.s. troops in tripoli in 2013. >> they deprived him of his rights and are responsible for his death. they abandoned treating him when he woke up from the coma and sent him back to prison. he never got any medical treatment. >> more to come here on the newshour including roma funeral refusal. plus a new sighting in the wreckage of the airasia flight, authorities say the plane shouldn't have been in the air at all. that's more to come. now a mayor in france is being accused of racism for refusing to allow the burial of a baby

from the roma community in his town's cemetery. christian leclerc says there's a shortage of burial plots. harry smith reports.. >> on monday a baby girl will be buried in the town of visu. she died of sudden infant death syndrome at just two and a half months. her parents want her buried in the school in which her siblings go to school but the mayor refused saying there were few plots available. he also told the paris newspaper that priority of the space in champlain is because due to those

who pay taxes in the town. >> it's clear they continue want them that's all there is to it. they are suffering as much as any other french family who lose a baby. how can they refuse this, it's disgusting unjust, inhuman. >> the mayor in visu is a doctor who has treated the family but even if he had never met them he would still offer them a burial place. >> translator: you have to put yourself in the place of this mother, these parents. they have just lost a piece of their world not having the child rest in peace it's inhuman. i'm not trying to express any point of view, we will accept her in our village. >> offered his condolence he to the family who haven't been named. but the case has raised once

again the treatment of france's 20,000 roma who have long suffered discrimination poverty and that access to public services. harry smith, al jazeera. >> cardinals from cape verde. able to vote for the pope's successor. four life boats have been seen since the crew of the passing ferry spotted the partially submerged hull on saturday. no distress call was heard from the ship which was encountering heavy seas. seven of the crew are polish, the other missing man is from the philippines. more bodies have been identified from the airasia plane which crashed into java sea last sung. so far 31 -- last sunday.

>> so far 34 bodies have been recovered and they say they have seen another large piece of the wreckage on the sea bed. meanwhile, indonesia's transport minister is threatening to ground the airlines because the plane shouldn't have been in the air at all. sphoofn has thestep vaessen has the story. >> the ariel has been found operating the flight that went down without a proper license. the air transport minister doesn't rule out other sanctions. >> air traffic control organizations, the airport management and the airasia and also the other airlines. and also the whole flay in this

air transport. in the schedule air transport. including our own people. if any airlines does the same thing we will cancel the license or the specific route. if everybody doing it we will cancel everything. >> aviation analysts say it is thought only airasia which has been breaching regulations. indonesia's airline industry has a poor safety record. nearly all its airlines are banned from flying to europe after the international organization down graded its aviation rating in 2007. many safety things have not improved since then. >> translator: there was some improvements but i have to say nothing specific or consistent. we wasted a lot of time.

>> airports here are not equipped to deal with the rapidly growing airline industry.the country's main airport in jakarta has the capacity to deal with only one-third of the current flow of passengers leading to worrying statistics are near plane collisions because of heavy air traffic. >> many indonesians can now afford to fly. an estimated 160,000 board airplanes every day. a booming industry struggling to keep up with demand. instead of banning indonesian airlines, the former transport minister says that other unions should help. >> european union please come here please help indonesia. are you happy that we have these accidents so you can punish us? you are a developed region. your airline industry is developed and we buy many

airbuses from you. >> while the minister of transport says he wants to take many measures to improve the record the investigation continues to find out why the airasia crashed. increasing the chance he of finding the black box flight recorder soon. step vaessen, al jazeera jakarta. >> north korea says the decision was hostile and repressive but denies any part of the cyber attack. follows the movie, "the interview." police and mourners are gathering in new york for wake of police officer wenjian liu. he was one of the two police officers shot to death by a gunman in december.

social media said he acted in revenge for the unarmed shooting of black men by police. courtney key keely what are you expecting today? >> what we are expecting for 11:00 which is one hour from now, a chinese ceremony to honor sergeant liu. then there will be eulogies. when mayor bill deblasio gives his eulogy, all eyes will be on him to see if any of the police turn their back on him. his partner's funeral officer ramos, several hundred turned

their back out of a sense of disrespect because they disagree with some of his tactics and they feel he sided on the protesters when the grand jury failed to indict a police officer in the death of a fellow named eric garner in staten island. two police were killed in what the police department is calling an assassination. anyone who turns their back that will be a sign of disrespect, they shouldn't do that, they won't face any discipline but he says now is a time for grieving not grievance. >> now courtney just a quick final thought from you. as you say those officers turn their backs on the mayor bill deblasio at the last funeral. what is being done to mend the relationship between the city and the police force?

>> well, bill deblasio is a mayor that campaigned, he's married to a black woman his son is half black and when eric garner was killed, you remember "i can't breathe" he said over and over again he had been tackled by cops. the mayor refused to suggest an indictment and it didn't go to trial. mayor bill deblasio was very outspoken that his own son had to be coached by him to deal with an aggressive police force here. that didn't set well with the police tors. the issue of michael brown there not being an indictment against the police officer involved in that. a young black boy in cleveland was shot and there was no indictment. this is a growing nationwide upon that now is here has sort of crystallized here in new

york. >> courtney keely, thank you. burma, myanmar as it's officially named has been celebratingcelebrating an anniversary first since 1965. >> a ceremony is watched by the prime minister, government officials and members of the public. this is the first time the day has been celebrated in this way since the military took power in a coup 52 years ago. the country can transition smoothly to democracy. but away from the military parade a skeptical crowd gathered protested calling for freedom and the release of political prisoners. they stood chained beside chained

beside the monument that marks the independence from the british in 1968. >> though we got independence, we are still deprived of basic human rights. the authorities can arbitrarily detain us any time if we speak out. >> reporter: opposition leader annansangsuchi. >> we need to restore the values and the mind sets we once cherished and now lost. >> there are no state sanctioned celebrations for independence day but people have been marking the day in their own way. >> i had to get all my friends together to clear up the trash by the pipeline to hold this, we

want to have fun on this day but we don't know anything about politics. >> the visions of independence are yet to be fulfilled because all of the successive leaders in this country are all selfish and corrupt. if that tradition can be changed then our country will improve. >> the government has promised it's a tradition that will be changed as i it moves into democratic rule. a tradition of military dictator ship which has left behind decades of huge rights abuses erica wood, al jazeera. >> from a distance it looks like paradise but closer look shows environmental disaster in senegal. plus. >> occupied west bank where street signs aren't necessarily helping palestinians find their way around. >> find out who came out on top.

sana will have all the details. stay with us. us.

welcome back. a reminder of the headlines here on al jazeera. a massive suicide car bomb has hit the somali capital mogadishu. near the heavily fortified international airport. the armed group al shabaab has claimed responsibility. palestinian leaders are accusing israel of trying to starve them out of $127 million in tax proceeds. yemen houthi leader has row just a seconded a plan to divide the country into six federal states. also a bombing in the courtyard of the presidential guest house of dana city. joins us live via skype from the yemeni capital. ha kim whyhakim, what does this all

mean? >> darren, last year in the national dialogue the houthis rejected the six federal system for the new yemen but president ahadi forced his views during the national dialogue and the houthis promised they would not stay silent and the dialogue has come. within the constitution it states that all stage will be in the new yemen. this is where the houthis objected and to be honest with you we do expect the president to bow down to houthi influence and pressure because right now they are basically in control and hadi wants to be sure that he gives this a last try. >> right. well apologizes or the that we seem to have lost him if we can we'll get him back a little bit later in the program if we can.

let's move on shall we? on the west bank, road side signs are creating confusion. reporting from the occupied west bank. >> if you rely only on street signs in the occupied west bank it almost feels like palestinian towns and villages don't exist here. that's because the israeli don't doesn't allow the palestinian authority to put up its own road signs. so many yition use the hebrew step the ones in arabic. we stopped several people and asked them where they were. >> you normally know the street as the yitzhar line. >> there are no signs indicating this road leads to a palestinian area. >> there's no arabic name for this area. there is an arab village here but i can't remember its name.

>> reporter: traveling across the west bank is a challenge in other ways too. while settlers have exclusive use of main roads palestinians have to use segregated networks. not only the arabic names completely absent from street signs but some areas near settlements even the arabic spellings of hebrew names have been erased. >> the main obstacle is the israeli occupation. it doesn't allow us to put street signs especially on major streets and bypass roads in area c which are under full israeli control because they fear our signs would confuse settlers. >> the issue is about much more than just finding your way around. >> the most imminent danger is when the colonial terms are used by individuals under occupation.

another danger is raising the memory of the place connected to the original owners of the land. by using names that serve the interests of the colonizers and the ultimate success of the colonial project. >> palestinians have always said the goal of building settlements is to break up the territorial integrity of any future palestinian state. and these road signs are just one example of how israel can severe connections between palestinian areas and people's connection to their past. al jazeera in the occupied west bank. >> al jazeera continues to demand the immediate release of our three journalists who have been imprisoned in jeement for more thanegypt formore than ayear. peter greste, mohamed fahmy and baher mohamed were wrongly accused of helping the muslim brotherhood. alpeter greste and mohamed fahmy

have filed requests for them to be deported. pristine waters and sandy beaches but now overrun by environmental pollution. >> this beach was famous for its beauty. villagers called it the copa cabana of senegal. some of the neighborhood are trying the clean the shoreline but they can't stop this. which started off as a slow trickle of domestic sewage has turned into a steady stream of industrial waste. slaughterhouses canneries and chemical companies use this beach as their dumping ground. when she realized that it was making the children in her

neighborhood sick. >> they constantly suffer from diarrhea and respiratory problems. we constantly have to take them to the doctor. >> the tests ar stownding. tests astounding. it contains high levels of mercury and cadmium. this water is not just polluted, it's poisonous. billions of liters of it continue to be discharged into the ocean. this level of pollution is illegal yet none of the factory owners have been fined or prosecuted. >> they employ thousands of people and they are an important contributor to the economy. we can't just shut down the factories. we need a long term solution. >> france and the eu are funding the solution of a 15 kilometer

water filter. it will increase the quality of the water but will not stop the pollution. taking years to build. she believes too many people are becoming comfortable living with the pollution. nicholas hawke, al jazeera bay of vandecar. >> the cooler weather gives australia the chance to bring brush fires under control. nicole johnston has more. >> south australia is fighting the fires with everything it's got. dropping tons of water, from the ground trying to douse the flame. it's risky 22 firefighters have been injured so far. now the weather has turned cooler. it's dropped 10°. this may not last. >> we're expecting more hot weather which will create

conditions for the fire to escape. and we would like to contain it within it's general perimeter. >> reporter: a dozen homes have been destroyed in the adelaide hills. alex's place is one of them. >> all my positions and documents and paperwork lost my pets cars, few collectibles are all gone, yeah. >> people are returning to their homes to see if they are still standing. over 11,000 hectares of bush land has been destroyed. farming property as well. fires have become a regular feature of the australian summer. six years ago, more than 170 people were killed in one of the worst bush fires in recent history. this one is being brought slowly under control but it's unlikely to be last one this season. nicole johnston, al jazeera. >> stay with us here on al

jazeera, lots more to come. exploring pluto and beyond. we look at the new intergalactic missions for this year. and it's kara to the rescue. sana will have more on that, stay with us. us.

>> let's take you live to new york now where police and mourners are gathering for the wake of police officer wenjian liu. one of the two police officers who were shot to death in their patrol car. the mourners dearing for the mourners

gathering for the wake of the second police officer, wenjian liu live pictures there of the second funeral for the officer wenjian liu, who was killed with another officer last december.now from an inflatable cobble stolen to emploild unionembroiled banners disobedient objects is on display at the victoria and albert museum. emma hayward reports. >> they are the face he of loved ones lost in conflict. created from stencils recreated on the wall of one of london's oldest museums where art and politics collide. from the early symbols of the suffragette struggle, to a truck with a death mask from a man

who'd been executed in the u.s. this exhibition examines how everyday objects are used by social movements to further their cause. one of the most recent, the umbrella used by antigovernment protesters in hong kong. >> we retake as our starting point the late '70s. social struggle really against the rise of near liberalism of globalization and also the rise of new technologies that offered activists new ways to depate. >> here the symbols of rebellion and social institution where-year-oldsocial media is the driver of debate. how-to guides on offer at the museum have been used by protestors in recent months. visitors are being invited to leave their own messages here a reference to michael brown the

unarmed black man shot dead in ferguson missouri. while over here, save our nhs britain's national health service. these blurred lines between art and politics are celebrated here so too is the idea that protest is an essential part of civil society. emma hayward, al jazeera london. >> all right time for sport sana is here. >> dacadhaka rally, is getting underway. 30 stages which is also set to end in the argentinian capital. andrews simmons reports. >> extreme motor sport is what it's all about and this man son a high. the company that's dominated the motorcycle category for 13 years

in succession. >> we are many riders here but only one can win. let's hope that we would be the winners. let's see if we are lucky. >> well, there's a lot more to this event than luck although it's needed in good measure. winner of last year's car category driving a mini is spaniard nini roma. among their winners is stefan peter hanzel. some of the toughest challenges in this endurance rally motorcyclists like this italian used to race yachts. competing for the first time. >> i used to do a lot of regattas. >> extraordinary risk whether you're on a motorcycle, a quad-bike, driving a car or a truck.

it moved in 2009 because of the security situation in the sahara. the crowd have no warning whatsoever. south americans love their motor sport, particularly here in argentina and since this rally came from sahara they well and truly adopted this race. >> we want the race to stay here to bring more tourism. it should always stay here. so it can strengthen the unity between latin americans. >> the rally director says even if they could return to africa, south america could still be a venue. >> one year in daca, one year in the south american arena it could be the best balance between the two. it's a dream if one year we

will do it, we will do it. >> used to the extreme motor sport fever here. >> now let's cross now to our correspondent andrew clementceau. andrew, the race is underway, what's happening now where you are? >> well, the big news is ninny roma had an appalling start. he broke down just near here. i spoke to him a moment ago standing near the car looking absolutely crestfallen. it appears he told me it seemed like he had an electrical problem he was losing air pressure as well, the car was chugging along. it's not clear whether he had to retire or not at this stage. and his team mate in a mini

is -- was doing the best this the first two checkpoints at this stage. and of course the peugeot team, a very successful team in the past won many daccas,ing like stefan peter hanzel in their ranks present a serious challenge to the mini team. they have this buggy type peugeot type, a two wheel car and felt more nimble than the four wheel mini. >> andrew, there have been many accidents over the years and we've heard there has been some injury over there as well. >> that's right. sadly, this is part of the whole package with this race, everyone knows the level of risk and it appears that there's been an accident involving a motorcycle.

huh friz friday basilhumphrey baz ill has basil has an injury. there are risks like that. >> andrew tell us about the atmosphere of the start of the race and right now. >> well right now we've come to the end of this first checkpoint, all of the cars are through. the atmosphere is really quite extraordinary. people are here on a day out in very good mood. each year, there are more and more people from argentina coming to this rally. of course it goes through chile and bolivia as well. there are some environmental issues unresolved but by and large argentina is a natural place for motor sport. fangio comes from here.

there's lots of heritage and there's also a feeling that what africa's lost is a gain for south america. it brings together a unity of latin americans around this sport. >> andrew simmons, thank you very much for that. moving on to football. the spanish repair league, leaders real madrid face barcelona. double helping helping sri lanka to a double inning league. not allowed the tourist to recover after stumble for 78 for 5 on day 1. giving them a first inning's lead after the kiwis scored and 22 for no loss trailing by 113.

south africa finished the first inning with a 92 run lead, led the charge scoring 128 the windies have scored, 59 for 2 they need this match to level the three-all series 1-all. opening day of the hoffman cup. lucy sarasova carried her best form into the new year and opens her new campaign with a straight-sets win over world number 7 6-1 6-4. saparova beat bouchar and beat 6-4, 6-2. two of the nba clark atlanta beating the second best

team portland. four minutes in and didn't let it slip. leading the way with 27 points, game looked pretty much done in the third but the trail blazers 20 behind, lamarcus hit a game winning stroke, 115 to 1:07 win.the new york knicks have played down fears one of the biggest stars anthony is going to be missing the rest of the season. he has been suffering a sore knee all season. expected to miss their clash with the bucks bucs later on sunday. the report suggesting anthony will be rested and safe for next season. >> i don't think shutting down is really the conversation that we're having. i think like we've talked about

carmello is involved in all of the discussions because it's his body, his career. and so you know we're all talking about what's best for him, what's best for the team. right now it's just taking some rest and getting some recovery for the foreseeable future for maybe the next week or so but not anything more than that has been discussed in terms of for entire season. >> that's the sport from me. of course we'll have all the latest on the dacca rally a little bit later. >> thank you sana. the new year is promising to be a big one. the first landing of a spacecraft on a comet space exploration expanded like never before. our tarek bazeley explains. >> nasa's new horizon craft will make the closest ever passing by

pluto, giving us an unparalleled view of a world we know little to nothing about. >> pluto whether or not we call it a planet will be visited by a spacecraft. large body will be visited buy spacecraft that we launched a decade ago. to me that's mind boggling. >> in april another craft dawn is said to arrive at the dwarf planet ceres. between the planets of mars and jupiter. the problem of space debris will also get attention in 2015. 17,000 trackable objects larger than a coffee cup are currently in orbit around the earth. they are a threat to satellites and the european space agency is set to test new capture technology. based on space nets.

>> being in space you don't have any problem of drag and when the net reaches the body of the debris the net impacts an the debris and the masses continue their courses so they wrap around and they entangle the debris in a way it is impossible to disentangle. >> once caught they plan to drag debris down towards earth where it will burn up in the atmosphere. mother craft roast rosetta is still orbit being and talzing analyzing as it travels towards the sun. in january nasa plans to launch a satellite to measure solar wind. putting up one to explore how the earth's magnetic fields

affect the planet. india, china japan and russia are also planning a number of satellite launches. thee are intended to enhance -- these are intended to enhance satellite communications and give us an understanding of our planet's place in the solar system. tarek baseley, al jazeera . >> collapsed in recent decades. efforts have been made to restore former glories but as rory challenge reports in the first of our two part series on russian science the country faces challenges ahead. >> the open roof lets in the atmosphere. challenges go beyond having to wrap up warm. >> we have to reduce this gap

between us and developed countries. this requires a lot of resources in the budget located for science, so i think the main policy is that science is not very important. >> reporter: this observatory was built in the 1950s which was a golden period for soviet science lasting through until at least the 1970s but the collapse of the soviet union dealt a crippling blow to research here. all that money and prestige had had been lavished on scientists just disappeared. it drove many of the scientists who mate soviet science beating for the u.s. a spanish firm that monitors academic journals puts only russia's dominant academy of science, and ranked the country

15th for scientific research. the problem for some are not just about money thearl cultural andthey'recultural and structural as well. >> some programs it's very unclear actually what they want at the very end. so money invested but then it disappears and we come back. so they're not approaching in my opinion some good goal. >> vladimir putin shook up research funding with a decree saying institutes should compete for it and stop assuming they should just be handed cash. another policy sea change for russian scientists to cope with, if they want to reach for stars. rory challenge al jazeera moscow. >> stay with us here on al jazeera, more news ahead at the top of the hour. quick reminder, you can keep up with the news on our website aljazeera.com. there it is, aljazeera.com.

[[vo]] an america tonight in-depth series. >>my first column was, “hey, where are the weed-smoking moms at?” [[vo]] one year legal. >>i'd try chem 4, alien dog, and girl scout cookies. [[vo]] and it's become big business. >>the state of colorado is profiting immensely off of this. [[vo]] now, we cut through the smoke and find out

what's really going on. >>we can show marijuana is leaving colorado. [[vo]] the highs and lows of a year on pot. hello, i'm richard gizbert, and you are watching a special edition of "the listening post." much of the news in 2014 looks back. we'll start 2015 looking forward, and where som