. >> this is al jazeera. >> hello, and welcome to the news hour. our top stories suicide bomber blows he is up in a police station in instanbul tourist district. a palestinian man convicted of a kidnap and murder of three israelis is sentenced to life the prison. the wife of a shamed mexican mayor involved in the disappearance of 43 students is charged with organized crime. hello, i will have all

your sports as the race to become fifa's president races up. >> the suicide bomber has blown herself up inside a police station. in it stainable district let's go straight to bernard smith, in southern turkey, what do you know about this. >> as you say that very touristy part, to the museum and the blue mosque and she walked into that we are told, and she said in english she said that she had lost her wallet, and after she said that she detonated explosives. killing herself and critically injurying a policeman who was near

her, and then he died less than a couple of hours later. and another policeman is being treated for less nonlife threatening injuries. what is interesting about this is that it seems the woman was deliberately targeting the police. she could have targeted anywhere on her way to the police station but many thousands of tourists who were around that part of istanbul at an time, and would be been there but instead she specifically and apparently deliberately went into this police station before detonating herself. but the police have obviously chordenned off the area. >> how unusual is it to see this type of violence

there was an attack last week well about five days ago the istanbul office of the prime minister now threw two grenades outside the grenades didn't go off. but a group claimed responsibility for that attack. there has been, no claim of responsibility for this attack let's live it there, thank you. >> a palestinian man convicted of the kidnapping and murder of three young israelis in the occupied west bank has been sentenced by an israeli court. he has been given three life sentences over the killings in june. stephanie decker is in west jerusalem with this. >> upon reading the select, the judge stated this is one of the worst cases of kid p thatting and murder in israel's

history, it led to an influence on the security situation here. he was accused convicting of kid happening the three teenagers. they were found buried in a plot of land that he owned in the occupied west bank, and what prompted this in the end in the occupied west bank arresting all of hamas' leadership. also raising many villages and homes. it caused incredible tension, hamas also increased it's rocket fire and of course he then saw the gaza war take place in july, so certainly a whole chain of events one can that say that escalated tensions on the ground here so now a verdict by the court, three life sentences many the center

of the capitol there. on fuse's fight the suicide car bomber checked an army point. seven soldiers were killed there. two also attack add mosque where 23 soldiers were killed. one of the largest iraqi army bases where the u.s. has advisors and trainers station. they come as iraq celebrates army day. it was marked by the prime minister laying a wreath at the unknown soldiers monument in baghdad. it is the army's ninety-fourth anniversary, and this year's celebrations are marketing a more somber than many the last few months. the iraqi army has lost lives territory and

prestige as mohamed reports. >> in thear charred 100-kilometers from west of the capitol. this unit is at work. they use a robot to hunt for devices left behind by isil in one of the villages. this is what is making the difference. but the work is challenging the many ways. >> many land mines can by fighters we are making some gains and gradually retaking territory from them put our capacity is limited as no policeman in terms of dismantling i.e.d.es this is from the capitol of the province. the region remains under isil's control and now her trying to take control over them too and army is trying to avoided

that they got a boost recently when they joined the fight against isil militia man loyal support police in patrolling the neighborhoods and districts. the government is still unwilling to answer question whose are willing to join the fight against isil. >> the government has not helped us so far we have called for help, and asked for assistance from many ministers but our calls seem to be falling on deaf ears so we have stopped asking for help. >> sunni tribal leaders say they need weapons and air support. but they are faith in getting help has almost vanished. they are now seeking help directly from the united states. they have agreed to a

sunni leaders visit to washington. >> the growing concerns here in iraq, but the can descend if it doesn't reveal it's military to replace the numerous groups operating here. and to do that the government would need all the help it can get. the northern iraq. >> let's talk now to the retired general mark who was the former assistant secretary for political military affairs. under george bush, he is also the former spokesmen for the u.s. military in iraq and he joins me live from washington d.c. good to have you on the show, what do you think has gone wrong with this military? >> first of all i would make some clarifications. the united states is responding but not going around the government of baghdad, but in coordination with the

government of baghdad to create the tribal security forces under the control of baghdad. for which the united states is going to provide a significant amount of arm as ammunition and equipment. >> i want to foe what has gone wrong in the past. you are the military spokes man and the bush you promise to train up this military, to provide hardware, clearly the u.s. failed? well let's be very clear about that, it is true that in june a significant amount of the forces retreated from the battle they ran from the battlefield, attribute that to the lack of the american willingness to stay inside of iraq, after 2011 as we are seeing now. >> and disbanning the army? >> the army was formed quite soon after 2003 but it is iraqi relate to the

current issue, as we are doing in afghanistan has a force of 10,000 stays behind after 2011 to continue the development and the equipping and the progress with the iraqi security army, we may have had a different income to what we are seeing today. >> why do you think the u.s. has dragged its heels when it has come to providing. what is going on there. >> well, i think what went wrong there is an administration that believes that they were voted into power to get us out of iraq. they are now realized that the error of that mes take and we now have at least 3,000 american soldiers 1.6 billion military arushing to iraq and hopefully we can recover pressure the mistakes that have been made in the first part of this. >> i want to know from you what you think the u.s. can now do, much of it's military equipment is now being used against u.s. forces we have seen

attacks in an bar attacking your forces and against the iraqi army. >> well, first of all let's be very clear not much of that equipment some f it that was handed over fell in the hands of the enemy, that happens in every war and there hasn't been one in the history of warfare, where enemies haven't taken possession of the other side's equipment. having said that, the policy the thwarted there tough security forces to try to rebuild the iraqi security forces. in his speech for army day said we are not there yet, we still have a long way to go, but we are much better off now than we were in june so waywe try to co is fix the policies that came about over the last couple of years both on the part of prime menster maliki, who is afraid that the sunnies would be seen as

a force that would create a cue dethat against his government and frankly an american administration that was trying to turn the page, it just happened to turn the page well before the chapter was over. >> always good to talk to you. thank you, jane. >> canada's foreign minister says it is working closely we jinx governments who secure the release of al jazeera journalists mohamed fahmy. a canadian citizen has spent more than a year in prison in egypt along with peter greste and bahar mohamed. they were wrongly accused of broadcasting false fuse. allegations which they and al jazeera defy. lawyers have filed requests for them to be deported from egypt obviously we are pleased that he was granted an appeal we have been working closely at senior levels with the government and we have further news to afounds we will. but we're obviously this

canadians protecting free will of expression, speaks well to the issue we are speaking about today. and we have further things to announce we will let you know but we are in a critical faze. >> a little bit of breaking news to bring to you coming from the u.s. from the state department we hear that some of the 53 political prisoners will be released we will have more on that when we find out who they are and when that will happen, still to come, the global slump in oil prices threatens the future of america's small scale producers and how as opposed is now the key to determining the edge of the stars. plus. the lawyers here in the argentina, i will be reporting on an all electric car that makes to noise.

live in mexico city, how did this play out and what is the response been? well, jane, it was interesting to see people reacting to those pictures on t.v., being led to a maximum security prison where she spent the night she was using

the husband's office according to the attorney general here in mexico. so people are happy that she is at least behind bars in the maximum security prison, because the charges are indeed very serious but the other hand the relatives of the four student whose disappeared and were presumably massacred say they are disappointed she has not been charged with their death as well. although the investigation still remains open. >> thank you for that, we will stay with mexico, security and many other issues are on the abrenda. mexico's president meets pram in washington. american capitol joins us live from the white house, see a few lines are coming out of that meeting what are you hearing about it? the president, president

obama running just a little bit late, so we are just now starting to see the two leaders video cameras were allowed in able to play just the beginning of president obama's comments and the issue of human rights in the 43 missing students that was a top of the agenda, i can tell you the protestors that have gathers would have liked to have seen that and is that the mexican government has made reformates he applauded it wasn't even then that he brought it up. commerce and funding of infrastructure and trade. than he got to the 43 students basically saying we have been following the tragic events of the students whose lives were lost. basically said the obama administration supports those reforms. >> global stock have fallen for a second day

in part driven by fears of the oil prices which fell below 50-dollar as barrel on monday it is bad news for producers. the economies of oil producing nations such as russia and nigeria. in june last year, the price of crude was hitting 115 flash as barrel, six months later it had fallen behalf to around 57-dollar as barrel but why? new drilling techniques including fracking have allowed access to large volumes of gas this has driven down the price of oil. in the u.s., that eat threatening the future of thousands of some called wells that are mering the end of the usual lives. reports in the state of pennsylvania. >> outside stands a central old relic of the oil industries dawn. >> this one is still

pumping. and so are hundreds more scattering around the town. that lies beneath the surface. >> and it will probably do this, it has been doing it since 1882, it will probably go another 100 years if we are allowed to do it. looking at them individually these wells don't seem very aggressive but there are more than 100,000 of them operating in the u.s., and they account for 11% of the total oil production. in 2012 by comparison these wells matched all of opec member state output the latest and hydraulic fracturing could extend the working life but as the price of crude has fallen by almost half in the past

year they claim is that rules threaten their long term survival. >> at least at $100 oil there was some possibility of cleans. with the regulations but these are almost 50% of the price of your product over a three month period. big companies with expensive fracking cost to curtail their expansion plans. permit applications for new drilling in the u.s. drop by almost 40% in just the month of november. bill climb spent 70 years in the oil drilling business says he doesn't know how much longer his town can stay active in the industry that put it on the map. >> it isn't going to be like it was but we are keeping a refinery running and that's keeping graphic.

that rephonery doesn't have enough oil to run. because there won't be anything left. >> if the price of crude doesn't start recovering soon no amount of oil that's still left to much here will be enough. tom ackerman, al jazeera bradford pennsylvania. how are the marketing dealing with what is going on at the moment. >> and that demand for oil isle faking, now some of that is true, demand by the world biggest customer for oil the united states has been falling but that's been going on for another a decade, as we become more fuel efficient, but demand is also dropping in other parts of the world that's got really the problem the problem is that the traditional oil producers. but now you what have tom

was talking about remarkable fracking operations about to make it one of the biggest many the world you have the oil in canada, you have norway, mexico, all of these countries that were not opec producers. that are now putting all this on line, so while it is always a matter of supply and demand, this isn't as much of dropping deman as it is over supply so there's a lot of reasons this would be going on, but the bottom line is opec and saudi arare yeah they have the to keep on low isle prices is trying to price somebody out of the market but saudi arabia is refusing to budge pretty good fuse for saudi arabia and those putting petrol in their car. >> yeah, look, there are folk ms. saudi arabia and in fact across the full f

nations that rely on revenue, because it hurts everybody to have that kind of low isle price, but yeah, the bottom line is you don't see any consumer complaining about their low gasoline prices around the world it is a bit of a tough situation for some countries. when you think about it, because when you look at a place like venezuela where they get so much of their budget, and russia, by the way from oil everybody suffers as a result. you saw patty out there in the snow oil and energy and fracking has been one of the biggest job the ground zero for fracking operations the state of north dakota it has a 2% unemployment rate. the rest of the united states is averaging around five in change, 2%.

you can get a job that pays you more than $100,000 a year in the oil industry, it is hitting people's investments so oil is always a give and take, there are always winners and losers and sometimesner in the same house. >> thank you very much. let's update you on the united states briefing. cuba has freed some of the 53 people that the u.s. regards as political prisoners. it was agreed as part of a move to normalize tied. washington says it wants to see the other prison neffers released soon for the 114th session. republicans now control both houses of congress. kimberly reported now on the challenges ahead. >> on capitol hill.

>> veteran washington reporter has been covering the congress from inside the tiny radio booth for 35 years legislative grid lock between democrats and republicans result fire department just 296 laws. a low not seen since the 1940's. so voters made some changes they re-elect add majority of republicans but they replaced the democrats control of the u.s. senate, and put the republicans in the charge of both chambers the pressure is on the republicans to prove they can make this new session work better than the last. >> already the top senate republican has indicated a bill to finish a controversial oil pipe line transporting unrefined oil from canada to the gulf of mexico, will be a

top priority. >> we will be starting next year with a job creating bill, that enjoyed bipartisan support. with republicans in charge, it is also expected there will be friction over legislative efforts to repeal sections of president obama's healthcare reform. and his executive order allowing millions of people who enter the u.s. illegally to obtain work permits and avoided deportation. >> congress will also need to vote, on whether to raise the u.s. debt limit by mid march expected to get contentious though if republicans decide to tie a debt limit increase to issues like immigration or healthcare. because president obama has already said he will veto any legislation he doesn't like. >> but mcconnell is optimistic, he thinks there are a few areas are congress and the president may find compromise. >> a trade deal, that's been stalled for a long

time and accused call transportation bill, so called infrastructure roads bridges they may be able to accomplish a compromise on that. what is expected isn't an end to congressional grid lock just a new version of it. al jazeera washington. >> jerusalem's patriarch patriarch -- orthodox christmas eve. will lead a midnight mass in bethlehem the city where jesus was born. most churches celebrate on january the 6th and 7th. emigrations in the holy land are et being started christmas celebrations are winding down. symbolizing the baptism of christ. the opposition leader

wasn't the attendance ahead of elections later this month the feast is a 12th day after christmas marking the end of the season. much more still ahead on the news hour, 100 days in power and still no government how afghanistan's political deadlock is effecting ordinary citizens. plus in the cross fire, intense shelling forces thousands to three their homes. and the skiing world mourns the death of two young u.s. teen skiers details coming up.

>> again you with watching the al jazeera news hour. a reminder of the top stories. >> a suicide attack in egypt has injured one and killed another. he blew herself up. palestinian man convicted of the kid p thatting and murder of three young israelis in the occupied

west bank has been sentenced by an israeli court. they have been given three life sentences over the killings in down. >> in mexico the wife of a former mayor linked to the disappearance of four students has been charged with organized crime and money launderingen p it comes a as mexican president travels to washington for his first official visit to the white house. >> some breaking news, u.s. president barack obama has vowed to block the keystone isle pipeline, should it pass the republican controlled congress. that pipeline would stretch from canada down to the gulf, it failed to pass the senate many november, president obama says the legislation makes it on his desk, he won't signing it. we know that republican senators say they will keep pushing the vote. it's bun 100 days since he took office, but he hasn't form add government. the taliban has repeatedly mocked him over the delay.

jennifer glass has more from kabul. >> is outside most of the military afghans are portioned to stand in long lines. with not many results. >> if they fill out forms from nearby offices. >> there is some work going on in government offices but not like it used to be, it is so slow because ministers have not been appointed so other government officials can't do their jobs. when papers are signed it is by acting officers. he plames the president i voted for him as president he is ruling in a coalition government, some say the unprecedented alliance with the delay in the new

government. >> we did identify all of our problems in the last within hundred days, but now it is time for us to act upon those problems. >> since the inauguration, this t.v. station has been following the government's progress with a nightly program called 100 days. with each show focusing on a deferent subject. >> i think the afghan people expect more. i think that it was a change. and that they wish to change for the better. but they have been certain shortcomings undermine the whole. of the government, initiative for the past 100 days. >> the government has made some progress. signing a security deal with the u.s. and nato, and reopening the investigation into the country's largest bank scandal. >> afghans aren't just watching the progress on television, they are also finding it on the internet. here afghans work on the

side of the road on the website, the afghan public can report and comment on whether the government is keeping it's campaign promises. >> there are -- people should have tools to make the government come to them, and to force democracy it shows the administration has achieved four of the 110 promises on day 99. they couldn't wait any longer they owned their own cabinet and say if there isn't a new government they plan to take to the streets. al jazeera kabul pakistan's general assembly has passed a bill which killed 148 people, most of them children. civilian courts are both conviction rates of only 3% in terrorism related

cases p it passes there the president will sign it. violent protests over the killing of four opposition entered their second day protestors burning buss and clashed with police. intense shelling between inyeah and pakistan, at least 11 dozen people have been killed in the latest fighting. >> the young the old and even the cat until this farming village in indian add mensterred cashmere have been caught in the cross fire, and the cycle of violence once again. >> the government should give us safe shelter we

are suffering each day. thousands of people have abandoned their homes some have found safety in these shelters. but farmers still had to leave something special behind. >> our domestic animals are back at home, and they are dying due to hunger or fighting. >> in the last few months there has been renewed tension. the recent fighting between india and pakistan began almost a wier ago, four people have been killed, in october, nine indians and nine pakistani civilians were also killed. in the worst violence in a decade. we don't know the reason why it is happening, it is either the fault of the government, or the army and nobody is helping. but there has been a shift on the indian

administers side. with no party getting majority there are efforts to form a coalition government, if that happens some think this could be a step towards more stability. >> that keep the problem other than make it a national problem. this is slowly getting more and more intense between two countries. and one hopes that the violence will stop. >> the violence eventually sup sides. natasha, al jazeera. >> the last international airline operating in libya has grounded it's flights indefinitely, turkish has blamed the security situation on the ground, on monday, the arab league held a special meeting to

discuss the worst situation. we have more. >> but now it too has grounded itself flights. pause the fighting is getting worse across the country. here in the air base in the southwest. where forces of the libya dawn coalition are on the offensive pep they have one goal to bring the country back to it's feet and be able tomorrow to rebuild waywe had regretfully lost yesterday. the supreme recently ruled the gnc is the only lawful body in libya.

>> speak to the arab world. >> i am officially calling on the league to intervene to institutions. and syrian citizens from entering libya. >> the militias of libyan have escalated to terrorist acts. recently allowed the area adding to the suicide attack on the parliament. in recent years from have been attempts to bring the two main sides into

these conflicts together. thigh seem far apart, al jazeera. >> advisers to yemen's president have arrived to meet the leader of the houthis government, they are expected to discuss why their leader reject add plan that could device yes then into six federal ren joes. meanwhile in the eastern prof vince, they have pledged to protect the province from any shiite houthis advance reports. and these men want to respond. >> what irony.

the criminal accuse it is free and honorable. and destroyed them, we are protecting our province with the legitimacy of state a message that we will live with dignity or die. there is electricity and other services it is the duty of the state to protect the people, the latest crisis started last week, when they had a large convoy pass through the province several people were killed all of the heavy weaponed were confiscated the tribe say the large force and weapons would be handed over to the houthis group mow the fighters are mobilizing their forces. they already control the provinces including -- >> now they are sending

large enforcements towards towards the outskirts. it could be another time of time before there's a conflict. last week they called on the state to defend the province where plans to hand it over to al quaida. >> the state fails he says despite this will act alone. take over most of the country, these say the houthiss are trying since downlast year to seize the bodies. that's why they have joined forces and in tribal traditions this means they have either live or die together. >> it is also weak, the minser is divided along political and tribal loyalties.

al jazeera. >> video footage has emerged showing a fireworks explosion in columbia that left at least two people injured and 17 homes damaged. take a look at this. local authorities are investigating the cause of the explosion. further sport new york including details of a sizable payday find out why they have been rewarded in a moment.

♪ ♪. >> taking a look at the night sky you can see thousands of stars like these with the naked eye. have you wondered how old they are and how their age is determines? how old stars are based on their rates of spin. >> small cool starseses like our own hard to determine how old they are, the researchers have used data from nasa's spice drive, this observed dark spots like these, on the surface of the stars over time. now the dimming can now tell us how quickly the star spins the stars and planets from around the same time, so knowing the age is key to finding out

if a planet is capable of supporting life. let's bring in the lead author of that study an astronomer at the harvard smithsonian for astro physics exciting stuff tell us what the eureka moment was. the moment was really way back. when we were planning for part of planning for the mission. we would be able to measure the spin periods for very old stars. that's when i realized we would be able to build this clock. >> why is this so important? >> so we can determine their ages. >> well, it's important because if you want to study evolution in space. the evolution of cars and planets, clusters of stars and stars and galaxies, knowing the ages of stars

the critical to create a time line of events. just like here on earth when we want to study evolution, we need to date fossils. in space you need to determine the ages of stars to study evolution. >> exciting stuff that you can determine where life might be. what sort of life are you talking about? so that's the specific application of it. s to are the star which is we have found a vast majority of planets systems beyond our own solar system. and if we want to study the evolution of those planet systems of the planets themselves or the atmospheres or look for bio markers or signs of life. we need to foe the ages of those planets.

but stars and their planets form at the same time so they share the same age so if we can determine the age of a star we also have the ages of this planet, so this method essentially indirectly gives us the ages of planets as well as around sun like stars. >> incredible stuff and thank you for sharing your findings with us. sports news now. >> thank you very much. a new challenger to face when hend thats for another term as head of fifa later this year. time to shift the focus away from what he called a minister to controversy and back to sports from earlier. the world's game deserve as world class gov vonning body, and a model of ethics transparency

and good governance. the headlines should be about football, and not about fifa. so what dewe know about prince alley? he is already a top official in fifa, he has held that position since january 2011, when his campaign focuses on uniting and raising the profile of asian countries in football. the premier league is also the head of the jordanian and west asian football federations. the successfully championed the listing of the ban in women's football, something sports writer and author james montague believes makes him a got presidential candidate. >> it is not a huge shot, that he is going to stand from this position. the european expo and he does take a lot in the box, he is very young, he is 39 years old.

he is seen as a retomorrowing candidate you have to see that he champions women's football particularly the ban -- which basically is revolutionized women's football within the middle east. and he also when i interviewed him in 2013, he is very much in favor of the standards of the safety of and surrounding future world cup. he does take a lot of the, political prisonerses based whether or not he can build that support, hi doesn't even have the support of the asia football federation. >> on the pitch now there are two english third round ties to be played later they include an all premier league clash. they had contrasting fortunes the two sides. they have made their best ever start to a premier league campaign, they are currently 7th down in 13th. >> it is a really important opportunity for us to be in a different competition. the athletes are the best domestic competition in world football.

and as you can imagine they are really exciting looking forward to playing at home, and be facing now a very strong team. >> massive shock at the qatar open tennis, world number three roof fall nadal out of the first round, by a player ranked 127th in the world. he won the opening set against the german player well meanwhile canada is taking a lead over the united states, in the hoffman cup, serena williams now wants to bring her a of coffee on court. the lack of caffeine seems to show, the american putting in a rather sluggish performance. the canadian who was a

wimbeldon runnerup, and ranked 6th closed out the match, the teammate in the main sport. >> day three of the rally is coming to an end it takes competitive over rocky. from san juan. right now is qatar's the minidriver puts sunday disappointment when he was stripped of his stage one victory for speeding. no such problem on monday's grueling 625-kilometer stage which he won. taking overall lead he was seven minutes and 42 seconds ahead of his nearest rival that's south africa dose driving at toyota. >> tributes have been payed to the two young u.s. team skier whose died in an avalanche on monday. one minute of silence was held, to remember 20-year-old 19-year-old

price who was killed in the austrian alpine resort. they are in a group of six years the other four escaped unhurt. they had a disappointed first match scoring just 42 runs in the two innings, it was left to the home side of the team, to lead the way in the second inning. many the test cricket rankings with the test mates and a check for $500,000.

they were unbeaten half centuries from shane watson and captain steve smith as well australian at 3:38. mow the dallas maverick have made it six straight wins in the nba their latest victims were the brooklyn nets. scores a 3-point in overtime. in the 96-88 win and that moves him into 7th place on the nba all time scoring lift with 27,412 career points. more sport for now. >> thank you very much. the u.n.'s health agency says the ebola outbreak sweeping west africa has now killed 8,153 people. one of the worst effected countries is liberia

where the government has decided to allow safe burials and stop cremations where 1 million children remain. they have more. they have worked sense the lie borian government ended the policy of cremation for victims of ebola, it was unpopular who prefer to bury their dead. >> health workers say unsafe burials continue to be a source of infection, but people have resorted to secretly burying the dead. the increase in number of

new infections still down to over 20,000 reported cases people are still dying. the world health organization latest statistics show more than 8,000 people have died since the outbreak. 1700 of them were in guinea. and in sierra leone. in liberia, which has been one of the worst effected countries more than 3,000 people have been killed. and it's not just the dead end sake. every aspect of life in the liberian capitol is severely effected. educators are warning that being out of school will impact children's learning and social interaction. >> because they have learned they were not have the time to make up for them. earn in school open, the school will be opening any time soon.

and each act of kindness brings back some hope. in a country where ebola continues to kill. >> al jazeera. >> i'd like to remind you of that breaking news that we brought you a little earlier u.s. president barack obama had vowed to block the keystone oil pipeline should it pass the republican controlled congress. that pipeline would stretch from canada down to the gulf, it failed to pass the senate in november, u.s. president obama says if the legislation makes it to his desk he won't sign it we will have more on that in the next bulletin with lawrence taylor, and jane adult ton, thank you for watching.

a mention cab president is in washington, with organized crime high on the agenda.