>> a day of raging battles in yemen between houthi rebels and soldiers and now a ceasefire but will it hold? ♪ ♪ ♪ hello there i'm barbara serra. you're watching al jazeera in london. a ceremony held for an iranian official.

and protests held in chechnya for "charlie hebdo" it's and a basic education. >> hello there thank you for joining us. we begin the program in yemen where a crucial ceasefire appears to be holding in the capital sanaa after hours of fighting between shia rebels and government forces. earlier the houthis seized an army base near the presidential palace killing nine people. they also took control of state media and fired on a convoy carrying the prime minister. well it's the biggest challenge yet to the u.s. backed government of president who has accused the houthis of trying to lead an attempted coup. making them yemen's de facto top power and raising tensions

across the political spectrum. omar al saleh reports. >> the building is a imol symbol of who wields power in yemen. something lard to know at the moment. the information -- hard to know at the moment. the situation is described as a state of flux. >> there are places where state ask in control houthis are in control, some of the yemeni army are responding to his command and that's why both ministers of the defense and interior were there in this committee. but there are people who wear the uniform they do not obey the orders of the superiors. >> houthi rebels have been at odds with the government for years but they took control of the capital and nine other provinces last year.

many see them as the real rurals of yemen thanks to the alliance with forces that are still loyal to the former president. in order to allow his son to become the next president. but monday's fighting has made the situation worse. >> nothing like this has been seen before. this case is the first of its kind. even the attack on sanaa months ago was nothing close to this. the attacks months ago on sanaa by the houthis only focused on certain areas of the capital there were no attacks on the president or the prime minister. >> houthis are said to have taken control of force he outside the capital. and the prime minister's convoy was attacked but by what is being described as a third party whose identity hasn't been

confirmed. the declaration of a ceasefire earlier in the day largely has been ignored. some security forces are refusing orders but certain forces are still loyal to president hadi. kidnapping of his chief of staff on saturday, it's not clear whether hadi could win what is his last battle. it could signify the withdrawal of prime minister hadi. dividing yemen into two federal regions or break away. omar al saleh. al jazeera yemen. attack on syria on sun happened near the golan heights

and killed six members of hezbollah. attending fun ralings of some of those killed. al jazeera's nicole johnston reports. >> a few thousand people turned out to the funeral of jihad mumia. one of ten people killed on an israeli attack on sunday. son of an hezbollah leader one belonged to iran's revolutionary guard. the significance of this funeral is that jihad mumia was arriving inside hezbollah a man being croomed for a much more senior position. this sounds like a planned and coordinated attack. israel has targeted weapons convoys before but first time it has carried out such a direct hit against a group in syria.

the question now is: how will hezbollah respond? >> wait and see. our message will continue, our line will continue never stop. >> hebs says there will be retral yaition when the group is ready for it. >> actually, we are angry bit for the past 30 years hezbollah has always taught us that any retaliation has to be logical and any installation has to be well thought of. >> reporter: thousands of men from hezbollah are in syria fighting on the same side as president bashar al-assad. this has divided lebanon. there are those who support the group and the syrian president and those who back the rebels saying hezbollah should keep out of the war next door. some analysts say eight years ago, large crowds would have rallied against hezbollah after an attack like this. but not anymore. >> today hezbollah is no more an

arab hero. he's on the opposite. he's seen as backing a dictator who is killing an arab population. >> last week hezbollah's leader says the group has long range sophisticated missiles that can strike israel, anywhere, any time. still, few expect this attack will lead to a war between israeli and hebs right now but certainly increases tension. nicole johnston, al jazeera beirut. >> as we reported, a general in iran's revolutionary guard was killed. let's remind you a bit about the revolutionary guard. the group was found after the 1979 revolution and to protect genes possible coup. now its influence stretches much further. it has an army, navy and air force. it is thought there are around

150,000 fighters. its paramilitary arm is the lehud force. often prettying outside iran. the revolutionary guard is believed to be involved in intelligence gathering and educating sir thank you so much for joining us on al jazeera. we'll talk in a little bit more detail about those attacks and the response from hebs. i would like to focus on this general from the revolutionary guard. the statement we had from tehran said he was on assignment to syria giving crucial advice to shia fighters fighting shea. whatwhat does this have influence

across the middle east. >> the revolutionary guard is the part of the islamic republic of iran, in terms of taking on its enemies which today is not just israel but also saudi arabian and also i.s.i.s it's a group that protects iran's interest, a group that gives financial and military support to groups which iran is close to. and of course, in iran today the military body that's closest to the supreme leader, politically speaking is the revolutionary guard as well. >> but how much influence do you think they have, for example, in the fight against i.s.i.l. right now? >> in iraq, they have a lot of influence. in iraq they are the only force which has boots on the ground. they are taking on i.s.i.l, in fact according to an irannan official iran has created a 20

kilometer military zone on its border with iraq. if any i.s.i.l. forces get near iran in agreement with iraqi government would protect that. iran is very much involved in the fight against i.s.i.l in iraq. this syria also but in a lesser extent they are doing it through forces of bashar al-assad, whereas in iraq, iran is in some cases taking on i.s.i.l. directly. >> and just going back of course to the attack, it also killed six members of hezbollah. considering how invested hezbollah is in syria what shape do you think its retaliation will be if any what actually can they do right now? >> well, one scenario is if they fire are forces, hezbollah has an estimate of 60,000 to 70,000 rockets.

they could fire that into israel. in israel that is not seen as being likely, to deter israel against a possible military strike against iran's possible nuclear installations. not many people believe it will happen. what we are probably going to witness an attack against an israeli sholding holding abroad. this is the form of hezbollah retaliation that we are likely to witness. >> thank you sir for having joined us. the turkey president represent erdogan has chaired his first-ever cabinet meeting. it's something that hasn't been done by a turkish head of state in more than adecade. the opposition session it is another attempt by erdogan to expand his powers ever further.

from istanbul al jazeera's bernard smith reports. >> exercising his coocialg right to a cabinet meeting, is seen by some that the clearest education so far that recep tayyip erdogan is remolding his position from ceremony to executive. normally the turkish prime minister sits at the head, now he had to move over and erdogan was in charge. >> these two politician he have worked long enough. to -- politicians have worked long enough oop always emphasizes the leadership of erdogan. >> opposition parties say the president is trying to grab power. >> the constitution has left it so weak that the president could actor arbitrarily. if he could get away with it. it looks as if under the

circumstances he can. the political environment is such that he can play such a partisan role in violation of the constitution. >> constitutionally turkey's president is supposed to be a neutral figure above party politics. erdogan says as the first president elected by the people he has a mandate to exercise more power. now, he wants to change the constitution to create an executive presidency. but to do that erdogan's ruling ak party has the challenging duty to push through a new constitution. bernard smith, al jazeera istanbul. >> much more to come. including the argentina prosecutor found shot dead.

could the tide be alternating against the ebola virus in west africa? >> then john seigenthaler breaks down the issues. >> we need to know what's going on in our backyard. >> plus, objective analysis and live reports from across the nation and reaction from around the world. the state of the union address. special coverage begins tomorrow at 7:00 eastern. right here on al jazeera

>> "consider this". the news of the day, plus so much more. >> we begin with the growing controversy. >> answers to the questions no one else will ask. >> real perspective. "consider this". monday through thursday, 10:00 eastern. only on al jazeera america. >> hello there i'm barbara serra. here are the top stories on al jazeera. a crucial ceasefire is holding in yemen. iran has confirmed that a member of its elite revolutionary guard was killed in an israeli air strike on syria on sunday which

also killed six hezbollah members. and recep tayyip erdogan has chaired his first parliamentary cabinet meeting. men sentenced between three years and life in prison in the city of mansura. convicted of multiple accounts including belonging to a terrorist group and insighting violence. also in egypt families of 20 coptic christians captured in libya have protested in front of the u.n. office in cairo. taken by unknown gunmen earlier this month. many travel to jeecht egypt in the oil sector. and al jazeera continues to

demand the release of its employees who have been imprisoned for over a year. peter greste, boax baher mohamed and mohamed fahmy have denied their guilt. lawyers have asked they be released and. >> lives have been lost in the area in repeat days. hundreds of thousands of people in chechnya have been demonstrating against the picture in the "charlie hebdo" application of mohamed. loyalist of russian president vladimir putin.

pepper sharp has the latest -- peter sharp has the latest from moscow. >> this is without doubt one of the biggest demonstrations in the chechen capital of grosne. heeding the call of their president taking to the street to protest against the caricatures of muhammed. president who joined the march had called for a million people to get out in the streets in peaceful protest. it was an opportunity for the president to remind the kremlin that he enjoys widespread support in not just chechnya but in nearby republics. there was no congregation here, take your hands off our prophet. he said he would never allow the prophet to be insulted and we are ready to die for this.

he said european politician he are insulting the guise of free speech and he says western countries are only interested in provocation. the russian government only too aware of the department of feeling against the "charlie hebdo" publication was too quick to distance itself from the je suis charlie movement. just how widespread is the support for that move. peter sharp, al jazeera in moscow. in germany protests are taking place supporting the antiislam group pegida, after a rally was cancelled in the eastern city of dresden. the decision was taken after threats made to one of the main organizers. dozens of people have gathered in berlin meanwhile to show solidarity.

to show more rallies of support in other cities. cameroon's army say they have freed around half of 60 taken by boko haram. many of the hostages are children. emerging of sunday's suicide bombing in the nigeria town of potesku. nobody has claimed responsibility but boko haram are very active in the area and it bears all of the hallmarks of one of their attacks. the armed group wants to create an islamic state in and around morningnorthern nigeria. three people are dead after police opened fire against protesters in the democratic republic of congo. five more people wounded.

opposition party members were demonstrating in the capital city kinshasa. also lou president joseph kabila to stay in office beyond his official end of term in 2016. mali has been declared ebola free. erica woderica wood reports. >> a year after the outbreak in west africa there are still people dying every day and still doctors risking their lives to hemhelp them. >> an indication from mali that all their hard work is beginning to pay poch. >> after 42 days of monitoring with no confirmed ebola virus cases and in accordance with the international sanitary directive i declare today january the the

18th2015 to be the end of the ebola epidemic in mali. now no longer will the country be subject to special treatment abroad. confirming their new reported cases for at least five months. but work must continues to make sure they keep up the momentum of falling infection rates. >> translator: we are here to ending the guinean government is very weak we are also trying ohelp the doctors to drive ebola out of the country. >> reporter: how to keep driving ebola out of all the infected countries will be the subject of a special session of the eun executive board on sunday. erica wood, al jazeera.

>> european union officials are in brussels following the paris attacks. arriving in the belgian capital, talks will also focus on the eu's relations with russia. nadim baba has more. >> the foreign policy chief of the eu met with the secretary-general of the arab league. others have been stressing the need for greater coordination and sharing information with arab and muslim nations stressing that they're the first to suffer from what's called jihadi terrorism. many ministers have already made it clear on monday that they don't see the ultimate solution in bringing in tougher legislation across the eu but rather, in trying to deal with

so-called jihadis that go to places like iraq and syria and then return. the eu's antiterror coordinator stressing people who do come back should be jailed unless they have blood on their hands otherwise they should be put into some kind of program for deradicallization. at the same time, many ministers are stressing the real solution is also to be found on the internet trying to crack down on hate speech and people who try to recruit fighters through social media and the internet. now all of the measures that are being discussed here in brussels will go forward to a summit meeting held in three and a half weeks from now. the general message we ought to share a lot more information before we start to bring in much tougher laws. >> an argentine prosecutor has

been found dead in his apartment apartment. investigating a1999 bombing in which 85 people died. >> alberto nisman's body was found in his apartment only a day before he was to address a congressional hearing over which he indicated was evidence that implicated a number of officials over perverting the cause of justice trying ocover up the evidence behind a bottoming in 1994 of a jewish community center in which 85 people died. a shell case was found by the body, a handgun but there is no indication yet as to what exactly happened. there has to be an autopsy. although prominent opposition members are already saying this was not suicide. so a major political scandal is developing here. and what has been said about

nisman he was under pressure because the presidential office said quite croikly that categorically crazy ridiculous unconstitutional but he was claiming that the president was trying to arrange a deal whereby oil was supplied to argentina in return for grain. because of the massive crisis in the energy sector here, with a major shortfall in funding. so was it political motivation? was this suicide? there is really a major political crisis going on now in argentina. >> getting a basic education is a struggle for many children in kenya so now many are turning to unofficial schools. ama boiting explains.

>> this is not the sort of classroom that the government says it wants for these children. but this is all that's available to them. they attend care tears orphans education center in one of the slums in nairobi. it is known as a complementary school survives mainly on donations. the founder of the school says they provide more support to children than a government school could. >> translator: if i compare to the government's cost we address more needs because a child could come to this school without sandals and uniform. some children need medicine during the day and we give it to them. this would not happen in the public school. >> many of the children are fans or have patients sick with hiv-aids. the facilities are simple but the school is serving a need. if these children weren't here they would be on the streets easy prey for criminal gans. according to the government there are around 2,000 schools like this in kenya but analysts

say the figure is probably much higher. amos kabudi last been researching schools for the past six years. what are some of the challenges? >> one lack of structures. these schools are managed by owners who see only the profits. they are not able to professionize how they run their schools. poor and barrel literate, therefore high turnover in the schools. the government is not providing solutions, and address the specific issues. we need the schools in the islam areas, high capacity that can comment the large populations we have in the slums . >> free primary education supports some of these schools financially where books and other financial materials.

it's the complex issue with no easy answers. analysts say the government needs consider what is best for children in the long term. i'm ava boitang, al jazeera niesh. niesh. nierve. nierve. nairobi. nairobi. a show about innovations that can change lives. . >> the science of fighting a humanity and we are doing it in a unique way. this is a show about science by scientists. let's check out the team of hard-core nerds. dr crystal dilworth is a molecular neuroscientist. tonight - basil mint and more