>> a rare murder charm in israel for an attack on a palestinian family in the occupied west bank. also i had, syria's starving city, we get a look at the city under seen by government forces. outrage at saudi arabia's execution of a shia i can't dissident has iran warning repercussions. the missing journalist in

hong kong. we begin in israel where prosecutors charged two jewish settlers in connection with an arson attack in the occupied west bank. one is an adult charged with murder and the other a minor charged with being and accessory to murder. this is all that's left of the family home. in july, masked assailants attacked it with molotov cocktails burning it to the ground, the mother and child burned, the only survivor is 4-year-old ahmed. >> i'm in the bedroom where the attack happened last july. it's gyp credible to see so many personal belongings of the family that died in that attack still here, even the pram used to push ali around, the 18-year-old baby who died in the

attack. this is where his crib was when he was sleeping on that night. the brother of the wife that was killed said that it was around 2:00 in the morning that sudden live the window behind me was smashed and the molotov cocktails thrown inside. according to a statement that sad, the father who died a few days later in hospital said that he grabbed ahmed and made a beeline for the door. his wife grabbed what she thought was ali, a bundle of blankets sand both parents on fire, so we're told tried to get out of the house. when they did get out of the house, according to this statement, there were two masked men stand said there, ahmed, the young boy was pushed back into the house and the door closed and two parents were basically left to die or burning on the floor outside of the house. now, there are great doubts here

in this village as to whether justice will be served. when you look at the statistics, there are very few cases of indictments being made against israeli citizens on alleged attacks against palestinians. a very macabre or somber atmosphere in this village as these murder charges are made today. human rights groups say there's a culture have impunity in israel which allows attacks on palestinians. that that was a surge of attacks, doubling in the past five years. a major study by an israel rights group over five years found 92 cases and without any charges. the latest figures reveal 96% of military investigations into allegations was misconduct end without any action. a national security correspondent for the jewish

lampost said jewish authorities want to settle the violence. >> ultimately it's going to be proven by the number of indictments, the number of cases closed. we look at violence against palestinians, especially price tag attacks and these attacks that occur by a small group of hard core extremists are especially hard to prosecute, hard to find informants, forensics, there's a lot of things required to build indictments. you simply don't have enough people getting convicted or sent to jail, it's always going to lend credence to the claim they are not doing enough. that doesn't mean it's not a priority to the police. they fully understand the abilities those events have to lead to violence. after the douma fords, that is pretty much when this wave of stabbing attacks and shootings

start, not long after that. things on the temple mount had a big role, as well. the police know that acts of violence by settlers or other israeli extremists and spark retribution attacks and really enflame things. their main concern is just to lower the flames. that's what the security forces are interested in. they do certainly care, the problem is they haven't proven enough success in prosecuting these people and hopefully this case, assuming that is the right guy, that he will be convicted. tense relations between regional rivals saudi arabia and iran struck to new low. forty people have been arrested in tehran after demonstrators set fire to the saudi embassy. they were angry at saudi arabia's execution of a shia cleric. the executions were protested

against. condolences were offered to the entire muslim world from beirut. >> to the family of the scholar and martyr, his family and to the muslims everywhere and the great muslim scholars and islamic centers and everyone asking for rites, my condolences to all of them for the martyrdom of this brave scholar. >> let's talk to a middle east analyst joining us live from beirut. we are hearing him saying that this execution cannot be taken lightly. these sort of words, sentiments were to be expected. >> well, i've been listening to him for the past half hour and it is one of his typical speeches, where he covers the

gamut. this particular presentation that he is engaged in right now is really focusing on saudi arabia and trying to delegitimize saud. he started his speech with the condolences you just remarked and praised him. he went to a very anti saudi attack, trying to portray saud as being illegitimate rulers of the arabian peninsula. the consequences of this cannot be but extremely seriousness because this kind of revisionism of history is not something that will be beneficial to either the shias in general and particularly the shias of lebanon. >> do you think these sort of words will provoke a saudi response? >> well, it will pro bowl provoke a response, but if one

were to take a public opinion poll in saudi arabia, 95% of the saudis will actually back the ruling family. that doesn't mean that there are not dissidents in the kingdom, but the vast majority of the people in the kingdom stand with the ruling family. this is something that people have to realize, the saudi government, the regime is not weak. on the tan rather, it is quite legitimate and strong. that is one issue that is very important. second, if in fact in his presentation he said that riyadh is engaged in all kinds of activities raking friendly yemen to syria to iraq elsewhere, procedure trying saudi arabia as some kind of a cancer spreading throughout the region, which of course is also a misreading of the history, if you take each case separately, you will find that there are political steps that were taken and once all of

the political steps were exhausted, the war started whether in yemen, iraq and elsewhere. the other thing that he said which i think is particularly dangerous is that he mentioned the fact that the eastern province, where the majority of saudi shias are looking could in fact be separated from saudi arabia, because that's where the oil wealth is, this is extremely dangerous talk. it kind of spreads tradition in the minds of a lot of audience members who are obviously enjoying listening to this kind of talk, but obviously we've heard this before in the 1915 they used to claim that saudi oil was arab oil and now he is saying essentially that perhaps saudi oil does not belong to the saud. you go down this way and up pretty soon hit the kind of red lines that will be extremely dangerous. >> we'll certainly be keeping an

eye on that speech as it continues and the possible fallout from it. thank you for joining us from beirut. isil has killed more than 50 rackingi soldiers in three separate attacks. 23 soldiers died near in a luge. >>. this video from the armed group show them bombing army barracks near the crossing. in particular right, 13 soldiers died shortly after another attack that killed 18 people. our reporter is in baghdad with more. >> last hour, isil fighters succeeded in launching three major attacks in two provinces. the first had six isil fighters wearing suicide vests succeeding infiltrating the military base north of tikrit.

according to the government, three of them were killed in crossing fire between iraqi forces and the three of them reached inside the space and blew up themselves. according to the security team force from the city, at least 13 people were killed and 10 were iraqi security forces. syria's opposition is trying to agree on who should be part of upcoming direct talks for the assad government in two with weeks time. they are immediating in the saudi capital riyadh. the opposition wants an exclusive syria keeping state institutions intact. president bashar al assad will be allowed to participate in negotiations but he must leave power after a six week negotiation period. prehave notes must be met to stop government attacks to allow aid into opposition areas and facilitate the return of millions of refugees. >> the war in syria is causing small towns close to the lebanese border to run out of food and medicine. a recent prison swap was meant

to end the siege between pro government forces. you may find some of the foot acknowledge in the report disturbing. >> the people were promised help. it hasn't come. shops are empty or closed. on the streets, dejection and despair. >> we've only got water. how come there isn't food? in the end, we were eating starch. everything has gone. >> no one is allowed to leave. up to 40,000 people have no food. the situation is extremely bad to the extent that some people have eaten cats. >> in the middle of a winter chill, children are reduced to scrabbling for scraps or picking weeds from the roadside in a desperate attempt to fill tiny plates. bullets and bombs didn't kill these victims, they starved to death. humanitarian aid was part of a prisoner swap deal in december. dozens of sunni fighters and

their families were transported out of the town. i have not exchange, hezbollah and shia fighters were given safe passage out of small towns in northern syria. northwest have damascus and close to the lebanese border has been the focus of intense fighting, but the rebels lost control of most of the town to the syrian army. many residents believe pro government forces are still blocking supplies. >> we've dealt with 150 cases of unconsciousness. people were uncon she's because of malnutrition. they hadn't been getting food for a number of days. >> medical staff of struggling to help rising number of syrians suffering malnutrition. what sound there is on the streets come mainly from children playing or people trying to salvage what they can from remnants of the battles. after months of deprivation,

residents hoped for the help. many are now wondering if it will ever arrive. >> still to come here on al jazeera, we're in sri lanka where wildlife is under threat. we'll tell you why. on canada's east coast, the bay has the highist and most vigorous tides, i'll look at a project to generate clean electricity from the ebb and flow of the tidal waters behind me.

>> hello again, this is al jazeera. here's a quick reminder of top stories. israeli prosecutors charged a jewish man with murder over an arson attack on a palestinian home in the west bank. three family members including an 18 month boy died in the attack in july. 40 people arrested after demonstrator set fire to the saudi embassy in tehran, angry as saudi arabia's execution of a saudi clutch eek and 48 others. six suicide bombers targeted a camp in particular receipt. a human chain has been formed to highlight the suffering in a besieged city in yemen. houthi fighters are fighting for control of taiz. citizens are appealing to the united nations to help end the siege and allow vital supplies in. pro-government forces backed by saudi arabia have set up their

own blockade at the rebel held capital sanna. saudi-led coalition spoke to al jazeera a short while ago, defending the coalition strikes in yemen and says the united nations report in december that more than 100 tuns of aid was delivered to taiz in yemen is contradictory. >> they sign the agreement and get the money and ship to airports, but it is not getting to the ground. with this food and medicine get to the houthis and they use it -- so why the united nations does not condemn this action. isil claimed responsibility for attacking egyptian soldiers in the sinai peninsula. the group says it has killed 10

soldiers in rafah. the sources in egypt say only one was killed. on friday, egyptian airstrikes hit a number of targets on the area. dozens of soldiers were killed last year in sinai. a gunfight has resumes at an indian air force base. one began man is believed to be in the base which came under attack on sunday. seven indian soldiers and gunman have died. it is being investigated whether they had linking to packs stan. we have the latest. >> this attack on sunday caught everyone off guard. after saturday's attack, officials were patting each other on the back, said the military had done a great job killing these four gunmen and the operation was over. saturday afternoon, fresh firing was heard. there was confusion. some said this was part of a search operation after the attack, others saying that wasn't confirmed. hours later, they did say there was at least one gunman still

inside the base which was being confronted by security forces. whether this gunman or gunmen were part of the initial group that attacked saturday, or part of a new group, that hasn't been confirmed yet. the blame is automatically right away going on to armed groups in pakistan who routinely say they will target india, especially military incidents lakes. yesterday on saturday, the countries home minister had a conciliatory tone saying he wanted to break relations with all of india's neighbors, including pakistan and that the country would defend itself. hardliners or are blaming the pakistani government for helping these groups routinely attack india which india has always said happened by pakistan denies. another book editor has disappeared, the decision from the same company that publish political books banned in china.

protestors demanding to know the fate of publisher lee bow, the fifth person from the same companying to missing in recent months. last seen in hong kong, his disappearance is the most troubling. >> the most scary thing is, is that there's no news and no truth on what happened to those five publishers and even the central government and the hong kong government refuse to respond on the whereabouts of these people. >> the hong kong government said it is investigating. local media is reporting lee phoned his wife from across the border in mainland china after bin taken against his will. he told his wife he was insisting in a investigation and told her not to make a scene about his disappearance. she is quoted saying that lee left behind his paperwork that

he would have needed to get across the border. >> hong kong is a home to a flourishing business in political books about china's political ruling elite, banned in mainland china. it was agreed before the hand over from british colonial rule a free media. the arrests were alarming. protestors took to the streets on sunday over what they see as an attack on academic freedom. campaigners believe it's all part of the same gradual process by the chinese government to grind down hong kong's autonomy. >> the chinese authorities certainly believe that stability of the party regime is more important containment of subversive information is more important and certainly more and more chinese leaders tend to believe that hong kong is less and less important for china's

modernization efforts. >> at the bookstore itself, no signs of life on display only the covers of books that for now are no longer on sale. messages of support, this one wishing the missing staff a safe return soon. rob mcbride, al jazeera, long congress. the united has begun the new year with a new set of sustainability goals. world leaders back in new york in september approved 17 new targets on tackling hunger, poverty and climate change and global problems. the goals replaced the millennium goals which expired in 2000 fib. governments will use the objectives to frame agendas and policies over the next 15 years. one of those goals is to end deforestation by 2020. we have a report from the national park. >> nature in all its beauty, century ago, 80% of sri lanka was covered by forests, today less than 30%.

even with part of the country's oldest and largest nature preserve has suffered from encroachment as the countries population expands. over 1,000 hectares of forest adjoining the preserve have been cleared for housing, creating a large outcry from environmentalists. these films show the extent of the deforestation. >> the main reason these areas come under threat. >> the outcry to halt any further land being cleared for housing in the area. >> as the population grows and progresses, forests like this and the animals in them face increasing threat. environmentalists say land ordered to be deforested should

be used for development rather than clearing remaining forests. changes course they say would be disastrous not least for wildlife. the sri lankaen leopard are among the animals under threat. environmentalists say the new government appears to be responding to their concerns. a presidential task force is coordinating a three year environment protection plan aiming to reverse damage and expand the country's forest cover. >> we are working together to ensure at least by end of three years we will have an addition of another 5,000 to 6,000 hectares of rye forestation. >> the challenge is to strike the right balance between on the one hand the need to free up lands for development and the on

the other, the need to protect the environment, especially for wildlife species already on the verge of extinction. al jazeera, northwest sri lanka. the new year has begun in el salvador just like the old one ended, as one of the murder capitals of the world. 29 residents were murdered within hours of festivities, including gang members killed when they shot at police. the murder rate surged as drug gangs battled it out. 16 people on average died every day. in mexico, three days of mourning have been declared after a city mayor was shot dead. detectives are investigating the politician's murder in temixco. in the u.v. floods have

veceded in parts of the midwest where a massive cleanup is underway. homes downstream are still in danger. it is threatening tennessee, louisiana and texas. solar and wind energy are growing in popularity as alternatives to fossil fuels. in canada, there are plans for turbines to be put under water, straight into the tidal flow. we report from nova scotia. >> can the planet's biggest tides be used to generate power? that's what they're exploring here on the shore of the bay's narrowest points. 14 billion metric tons of water, more than the combined flow of all the worlds rivers moves through this passage each day. >> tidal energy is taking a wind turbine and putting it underwater essentially in a high flow environment. >> in partnership with government and the local power company, a european firm is

building a 15-meter wide turbine with plans to submerge it and get it spinning earlier this year. an earlier attempt failed in 2009 when a smaller unit broke down hours after it was put in the water. this time is different, says the company. >> we've learned that we have to have local, very local characteristics in terms of currents. this is where we have learned from this past experience and this is why we are back began in the bay. >> it's low tide and i'm standing quite literally on the bottom of the ocean. every day, twice a day, the waters surge in here and turn this mud glad into a bay that can be 12 or more meters deep. north america's first tidal project is across the bay. the annapolis station has been generating small amounts of power since 1984.

the under sea turbines are a marge larger scale. fisherman say that the spinning blades of the turbines will almost certainly disrupt or damage migrating fish that use the tidal flows to move in and out of the bay. >> it's only clean energy if you ignore the fundamental premise that these things kill fish, turbines kill fish. it's not a vacuum out there. there are fish living there, traversing the area. >> even though scientists whose research laid out the potential of the project say there's a long way to go before the sea bottom is covered with dozens of turbines pouring nor score and its neighboring states and provinces. there are a lot of challenges. the marine environment is differ to work in. the initial cost, the electricity that generate it will be high and we also have this question of what impact it will have on the environment. >> balances that impact against the costs of energy from fossil fuel will be crucial.

can tides so high they make rivers run backward help climate change or should they be left alone to ebb and flow as they have always done? plenty more to be found there on our serve site, there it is on the screen, aljazeera.com. >> the top of the world - the arctic circle. an environment that is at the same time hostile and fragile. warming temperatures are warming ice at historic rates... adding to its distress, man's unquenchable desire for fossil fuel. the quest to retrieve arctic oil is underway, but how prepared is the world to handle a catastroph s