website at www.aljazeera.com. >> this is al jazeera. >> hello i'm barbara serra. this is the newshour live from london. thank you for joining us. coming up in the next 60 minutes. saudi arabia withdraws its diplomats from iran and cancels all flights as its allies cut or cool their relations with tehran. u.s. and european markets fall after chinese stocks collapse on the year's first day of trading. europe's passport-free zone under threat. are introducing border checks in

sweden for refugees. fresh from his christmas holiday, barack obama uses his executive powers. i'll be here with all of today's the sport. speculation that there will be a change at real madrid. >> three of saudi arabia's allies have joined its diplomatic dispute with iran. bahrain says it's cut ties with tehran. the uae says it's down graded relations and sudan has down grade its diplomats from khartoum. set fire of the saudi embassy in

tehran. >> saudi diplomats on their way home from tehran. as they were evacuated came similar action by some of the kingdom's allies. among them neighboring bahrain. after two days of demonstrations by protestors from sheer shia majority. the gulf state closely allied to saudi arabia accused iran of blatant interference and support of terrorism. the rm actions followed th actii embassy fire. >> we'll be cutting off all commercial relations with iran and will have a travel ban against people traveling to ir

iran. >> translator: unfortunately, the government of saudi arabia seems interested in causing tensions in the region and has aligned its spolg fo policies f. >> after the execution of nimr al-nimr, charged with plotting and carrying out terrorist attacks, targeting civilians and security forces. saudi arabia is adamant he got a fair trial. it is not the first time relations have been cut but fears that it could cause more violence. in eastern saudi arabia, one man had been killed and a child injured. al nimr's brother has been told the cleric will be buried in an

undisclosed location, perhaps causing more protests. >> thousands of shia cleric muqtada al sadr. the iraqi foreign minute industry has condemned saudi arabia's execution of nimr al-nimr. and demonstrators have been on the streets, around 3,000 demonstrators gathered in eastern tehran chanting slogans against saudi arabia's royal family. saudi affairs specially, ahmed ibrahim says the region's instability is because of iran.

>> a lot of country they are expressing their outrage of the iranian extent of terrorism and disrupting the arab nations. whether the demonstration in sudan or in other places. as you can see the bombs of sunni mosque the iraq. this is exactly the footprint of the iranian regime. saudi arabia by taking the decision of cutting diplomatic ties with iran they exploit iran pretty well to the international community and they show the real face of iran. i think iran should come back to their sense is and they should be logical in bargaining in syria or in yemen. at the end of the day, what saudi arabia is trying to did is stabilize the region and saudi arabia had enough of iranian exporting revolutions, exporting terrorism, bombs, exporting human walking bombs. we had enough. it's time to take action.

>> journalist with the iranian english language newspaper kayan international, an organization closely linked to the supreme leader, ali khamenei. >> this is a natural outcome of what has been going on for the past four or five years in syria, iraq and now in yemen. make no mistake: there is no love lost between the iranians and the saudis. no one is going to miss them here because for the simple fact that everything that has happened in iran over the past 35 years ago, is all because of the negative and anti-iran policies of the saudi government and its regional allies. i'm telling you with 100% confidence that everybody is now cheering up, extremely happy not to have any kind of diplomatic relations with the house of saud. iran will continue to support the government of syria, iran

will continue to support the government of iraq, and iran blames the saudi government for its all of support generous sporsupport of moderate head choppers in these countries. we believe it is the house of saud that is behind everything that is going on in the middle east. >> well let's go to the united nations in new york where our jaibdiplomatic editor james bays joins us. james how is the reaction to the breakdown which is so total? >> reporter: i think there's real concern these two heavy weights of the middle east have always had strained relations but now they've reached a new low. that's why u.n. secretary-general ban ki-moon has been working the phones, calling the iran foreign minister and saudi foreign minister. the details were given a short

time ago by the secretary-general. >> the secretary-general reiterated his views on capital punishment and his disappointment of the execution of sheik al nimr whose case the secretary-general has raised with saudi authorities on several occasions. the secretary-general also reiterated that the attack on the saudi embassy in tehran was deplorable but added the announcement of a break of saudi relations with thing government in tehran was deeply worrying. >> iran and saudi arabia actually sitting down negotiating over the peace efforts both in syria and yemen. where does the deterioration of their relationship leave throws peace efforts -- those peat efforts? >> he i think we have to be aware that even before this, it was going to be extremely difficult to deal with those two situations where so many ordinary people are suffering in both those countries.

but perhaps with the new year, couple of days ago, there's been a little bit of new hope. with regard to yemen they had peace talks in switzerland, didn't make any progress but there was a truce in place. i can tell you that truce is no longer in place. that has ended and the saudi led coalition is now resumed its military operations in yemen. with regard to syria, again, a new peace initiative was underway, pushed by the americans and the russians, the idea to get all the syrian parties around the table. the reason they thought it could work this time was that they had backing, they said, from all the regional actors, including saudi arabia and iran, which sat together to push forward that process. a day set for those talks just three weeks from now, geneva ge, 25th of january.

ing staffan de misura was trying the get the last bit of buy in for these talks and now his mission is to try save them. james bays, thank you. iraqi force he are advancing towards the neighborhood of ala eta in the city of ramadi. just a week ago the iraqi government claimed to have liberated the city from i.s.i.l, the large areas are still under the group's control, killed and injured on an i.s.i.l. attack on military attacks northeast of the city of fallujah. at least two sunni mosques have been attacked in the city of hilla south of the iraqi capital of baghdad. several walls have been destroyed, reported the attacks are in retaliation for the execution of the senior shia cleric in saudi arabia. al jazeera's willing ibrahi wilm

is in the capital. >> are iraqi prime minister said today, our condemned today in a very brief statement, put on his page on facebook this event and he said, described those groups who made dissidents as criminal group and he said in his statement that he made in order to iraqi security forces in the province to chase those people, describing them, they are trying to hit the iraqi national unity. also, iraqi interior ministry condemned the act, what happened as a disparate attempt, some groups they are trying according to interior ministry, some groups are trying to provoke iraqi sectarian group against

each other. >> yemeni governmental forces have announced a dowsk dawn curfew in the southern city of aden after fightin fighting bot. saudi led coalition air strikes have resumed following an end of a ceasefire that was in place since mid december. the coalition has been bombing the shia movement in the country for nine months. >> translator: first they hit the gas station with two missiles that burned the entire station. the windows from the homes nearby were blown out and the home was destroyed and after about half an hour the plane came back and hit the home and the gas station again with what seemed to be the largest missile ever to hit yemen. >> fighters linked to the islamic state of iraq and the levant have launched a second attack on an important oil facilities in northern libya after a failed attempt back in october. two soldiers died in the assault on the oil facility near the

town of al sedra. after debt natalling a suicide car bomb, attackers were repelled by force he guarding the oil port. still to come in this newshour, the appearance of a worker from a controversial bookstore. plus there may be a war going on but that hasn't stopped the filming of a tv drama in damascus. we'll meet the actors. and how andy murray has started 2016. >> u.s. and the world stock markets are down following a massive loss on china's markets. it plunged by 7% before trading was actually suspended for the day. the fall is a reflection of china's slow complek growth.

economics growth. are also a new circuit breaker that is supposed to stop the market after 5% loss. adrian brown reports. >> china's 300 top companies, a new system was being used on monday which was supposed to contain market volatility. so when the markets fell by 5% trading was temporarily halted for 15 minutes. trading then resumed, the index then fell by more than 7% so it seems that a system that was brought in to try calm things down actually had the reverse effect. why is the market down? a number of factors. data on monday showed that manufacturing output had contracted for the 10th consecutive month. china's currency is continuing to weaken, there is another

important reason. a lot of what china is producing simply isn't being bought by the rest of the world anymore. the economies in the rest of the world are also slowing, why are they slowing? because china's economy is slowing. it is a vicious circle. in the middle of all of this china is carrying out a vast experiment with its economy now. trying to shift away from heavy industries to an economy that is service-led but it is going to be a painful transition and monday's performance on the shanghai and then ze shenzhen ms was a reason why. >> ended the day down 4% and now the focus has shifted to the u.s. markets. stocks there have followed a similar trajectory. the dow jones industrial average had felt fel around 2%. kristin saloomey is there, kristin tell us a little bit

more about reaction there. >> colonel u.scertainly u.s. mae down with news of this slow down. dow and s&p down 2%. earlier in the day it was down even more following currency in china and a weaker than expected manufacturing month for china have sernd been a certainly been for the largest economy in the world. we're are seeing also a lot of volatility in oil price he as well. earlier in the day on the opening of the markets news of tension between iran and saudi arabia saw oil prices actually rising for a little bit after a very weak finish to the year. oil prices did go up for a while. that's turned around again, now they're back down. so what we're seeing is a lot of volatility in the markets, a lot of uncertainty. a weak start to 2016 after the

end of 2015. 2015 was the weakest year on record since the financial crisis of 2008. and i'm told by sources here that today's opening is the worst opening for the new year in more than 80 years, just to give you a sense of the mood here at th at the stock exchangn wall street. >> kristin saloomey in new york. thank you. publisher mighty current specializes in political books which are banned in mainland china. there is no indication that chinese officials are involved in the disappearance and books published there have no direction over hong kong.

>> only legal officials have the legal authority to enforce in hong kong. no other law enforcement agencies outside of hong kong have such authority. >> steven vines says lee's appearance has raised concerns about a crack down from the mainland. >> this is very, very chilling indeed. because the assumption always was that in hong kong, you could publish what you like. and that there would be problems if you're on the outside of the border. but if you are here, nobody would come over here. nobody would arrest you. the hong kong authorities are keeping very silent. they say they're investigating what's going on. it's not clear. but the popular election here is one of quite considerable disquiet. the only reason we know about this is because of a phone call made to his wife in which he sort of indicated that he was on the other side of the border. she says she had no idea that he was leaving. i mean he's been missing since

wednesday. the other colleagues of his have been missing a much longer period of time. so why are they on the other side of the border, unless there was some kind of operation launched by the chinese authorities? if there's another explanation, we certainly haven't heard about it. >> denmark has imposed temporary identity checks after sweden has imposed similar measures. the schengen area is made up much 26 european countries which agreed to abolish passport controls at their common borders. all but four are members of the eu. traveling trains and buses across the eight kilometer bridge which crosses its border with denmark. deafen mark then started imposing similar measures and called on the eu to better

protect its external borders against the huge influx of refugees. more than a million people sought shelter last year. member states announce tougher rules. from berlin here is bein being.dominidominickane. >> for decades, passengers traveling to sweden or germany through denmark have been able to make use of the eu's borderless system. now the swedish government has imposed these passport checks and say it's the only way to reduce the number of migrants and refugees trying enter its territory. a move that divided opinion among passengers. >> they could impose some control but i'm also -- it needs to be very smooth the commuting back and forth. so it's a balance.

>> translator: if the trains run on time your travel time is doubled. but already this morning there are some who have had their travel time tripled. >> in response denmark has introduced similar checks on those crossing their borders with germany. this is a step backward for europe officials say. >> it is pretty obviously, if the european union can't protect their external borders you will see more and more countries which will be forced into introducing temporary internal border control. this is something we need to being introduce very seriously. >> more than 1 million entered the continent by land or sea. a clear majority came to germany

encouraged by the welcoming attitude of its government. ministers say that migrants offer both a challenge and an opportunity for europe. here at the foreign ministry the message is clear. the mass movement migrants is a european problem that requires oeuropean solution. but officials in the building behind me say the unprecedented number of people coming may mean the schengen zone is in danger. dominic kane, al jazeera, berlin. >> let's talk to alex forest, a journalist based in copenhagen. why did denmark suddenly make this announcements? as far as we know they weren't planning it as well or at least they hadn't announced it. >> no, i think everyone was slightly taken by surprised. but it is a decision that was made 50 danish prime minister, under immense pressure from those on the right of politics. he runs a minority government

and it's a right wing danish people's party that supports that government with many of their policies. they have wanted the danish government to clamp down on what's going on. and i think because of what sweden has done there's a feeling that there is going to be a big problem in places like copenhagen because that's where asylum seekers will decide to stay because they can't get osweden. they decided to put in border patrols, supposed to be temporary but think may last longer than ten days. from germany through denmark into sweden. >> geographically speaking denmark is in an interesting position. quite a small population yet sandwiched between germany on one side which has been very open and generous in its refugee policy and also sweden which

relative to its population has also been very generous in allowing refugees in. in light of all of that, how did all these border controls go down with ordinary danes? >> denmark has not been the most forthcoming when it comes to asylum seekers in the past few months. said that sweden was naive to allow so many people in and was also i think disappointed with germany taking in so many refugees. they have always been quite tough about refugees in general. for example, just before christmas, the parliament here was debating whether they were going to take jewelry and some precious items off of asylum seekers to help lay fo pay for s going to cost here. they are not particularly welcoming of refugees. with that being said, they say they don't want to impose border

controls but there are those who say schengen is dead anyway and this is what is going to happen if sweden is going to impose these kind of border controls. denmark is basically left with nowhere to go. i would say on the whole most people are very supportive of their government and can understand why they're doing it but there is a backlash with danish people here who feel that the government is being too right wing and is being too harsh on these asylum seekers. so you do have too many refugee centers and charities working to try to help them. but i think on the whole, denmark isn't a particularly welcoming country to foreigners and particularly to refugees. >> it's interesting to see how temporary these border controls end up being. alex forest, thank you.

thousands of syrian refugees are enduring wintery conditions in lebanon's becca valley, snow has begun falling and temperatures are plummeting. 200,000 families around lebanon are especially at risk in the cold weeks and months ahead. >> translator: we're preparing but we didn't expect to be spending this much money on fuel or wood. we had put the heater on for three or four hours a day but now it has to be on all day. they are young children. if one of them got sick it would cost us two tanks of fuel. >> the ongoing war in syria keeps causing these refugees, but it hasn't is stopped the syrian drawm in damascus. several actors in neighboring lebanon. only one kilometer separates the filming location from the ongoing clashes between the syrian army and rebels in japba.

>> sometimes during the scene i lose focus because i will be listening to the sound of the mortars waiting to hear where it lands. it is painful, syria does not deserve this. >> still to come in this newshour, puerto rico warns it only has one month of food supplies as it prepares to default on its debt. and we'll have the latest on the three-day standoff at an indian consulate in afghanistan. plus in is sport, details of a season's best performance by this new york knicks player. is.

>> and now a reminder of the stop stories on al jazeera. in the latest move in a deepening diplomatic crisis between saudi arabia and iran, the saudi government announced that it is cutting commercial and air traffic links with iran. global financial markets are in turmoil after chinese market dropped 7% before suspending for

day. border control to deter migration as europe continues to see record numbers of refugees. two civilians are among the latest people killed in the turkish government campaign against the kurdish preliminary party. of the regime of recep tayyip erdogan east of the city of diabakir. pkk fighters believed to be based, the violence has forced many local residents to flee their homes. russian food markets are in their first day of trading since the introduction of ban against turkish food and poultry.

al jazeera's peter sharp is in moscow with the details. >> reporter: the sanctions were imposed on turkey following the shooting down of the russian fighter jet alleged to have gone into turkish air space. turkey supplies 20% of moscow's fresh fruit, tomatoes, apples, oranges. that will have to be replaced. and if that wasn't enough russia is now engaged in a total trade war with ukraine. this is in retaliation for kiev back western sacks against russia. russia's now scrapped the fair trade agreement with ukraine, and that's pushed the prices that it imports up by 6%. bilateral trade has fallen from $50 billion just to $12.5 billion. there have been 23 separate

rounds of trilateral talks between russia, ukraine and brussels. still as far away as ever in reaching any sort of compromise or agreement. >> the gunman suspected of killing two people in an israeli bar is also thought to have murdered a taxi driver. a massive manhunt is still under way after friday's shooting in tel aviv. the alleged gunman is from an arab town in northern israel. are are he was said to have used a taxi and then shot the driver. he is believed to be stilt armed and may strike again. the u.n. special report has resigned. israel has continually famed to grant him access to the territories that he was supposed to monitor. his efforts to help palestinians have been frustrated every step of the way.

he also voiced concerns at the lack of protection for palestinian victims of human rights violations. a powerful explosion has rocked downtown kabul. the interior ministry says it was caused by a car bomb and cannot confirm the exact location. it was the second attack of the day. earlier, a suicide bomber blew himself up. police approached the vehicle as it approached the checkpoint, causing the debt inflation early. afghanistan capital in recent days including a suicide bombing of a popular restaurant with foreigners which two people dead. we're getting reports that a 25-hour gun and bomb siege near the indian consulate in northern afghanistan may have ended. attackers stormed the building in the city of mozari sharif.

indian air force base near the pakistani border. victoria gatenby has the story. >> afghan special forbes he target armtd fighters near the indian consulate in the northern city of maza al sharif. fighters are hiding in a house in a nearby street and at least one civilian has been wounded. >> our special forces and commandos have been deployed in the area and i assure our countrymen that they will eliminate all insurgents. >> india has long supported afghanistan in its work towards becoming an independent state. links to the taliban.

in may 2014 gunmen attacked the indian consulate in the city of haratz. in august 2013, 9 civilians died when the indian consulate inial ingeorgia lal abageorgia lal ba. last week the head of peter greste's army was in kabul for meetings withing slog. withing ashraf ghani. victoria gatenby, al jazeera. an earthquake has killed 11 people and injured hundreds. rescue workers are struggling to reach remote areas, the capital

of manipor state in india, the 6.4 muting quake could be felt as far away from myanmar. >> people say they were jolted right out of their beds, people running out of their homes, screaming, crying. one person we even spoke to this morning said a heavy bell at a temple nearby started ringing just because of the sheer amount of shaking going on. there hasn't been a lot of reports of damage however, the rural parts of the state have poor connectivity to begin with even before the earthquake happened. so getting information from those areas is still only now trickling in. now capital itself which has about a quarter-million people as residents, has reported at least one building collapse. now there are reports that there may be workers underneath.

the local rescue teams are checking that now and rescue teams from the region are still on their way to the area. >> in the next hour the u.s. president barack obama is due to meet with his attorney general to discuss how to limit the number of guns on america's streets. but as al jazeera's kimberly halkett reports, gun enthusiasts are pushing back on the sale of firearms. >> reporter: like many in the united states, the blue ridge firing range. >> not having, not being able to get, it's making people want to get stuff before their abilities are taken away. >> reporter: many are concerned about president barack obama's announcement that he's meeting with his attorney general, loretta lynch, on monday to discuss using

presidential power to impose restrictions on u.s. gun sales. >> we know we can't stop every gun violence but what if we stopped one? >> effort failed in congress. licensed gun stores like this one are required to conduct a background check before a customer buys a gun. but some firearms sold privately at gust shows do not require the same scrutiny. it's called the gun show loophole and it's what some see as a gap in u.s. gun regulations that the white house now seeks to close. the national rifle association, the country's largest gun rights group says increased gun checks will do little to increase gun safety. republican presidential candidate donald trump says owning a gun or the right to

bear arms is a constitutionally covered right. >> second amendment, we have plenty of rules and regulations, there's plenty of things they can do right now that are already there, they don't do them. >> it is a view shared by many that see obama's potential executive actions as no more than a power grab from the people that violates u.s. law. >> as a veteran myself i raised my right hand to defend the constitution of the united states of america not dismantle the constitution. yes, i find it an affront had a some people would choose to circumvent that. >> there are people who feel passionate about it. not just the fact of the firearms but the government saying what they can and dmoot t do and what they can and cannot have. >> actions to make it more difficult are expected to come as early as next week.

kimberly halkett, shan chant ch, virginia. >> your book, gun boy, tawb us through exactly what the circumstances were. >> an 18-year-old student at the college where my son went to school basically had a psychotic break. he went to a local gun shop, ordered an sks semi-automatic rifle, ammunition through the mail, smuggled it onto campus and went on what authorities called a shooting spree in the course of which my son was killed. >> it's interesting that you say he got some of the ammunition through the mail.

according to barack obama, he wants more background checks on sellers and buyers online. what do you think of those measures and do you think those mite have prevented what happened to your son? >> well, i think yes. they would certainly help. as laws stand now, if there was such a kid in such a school today, 25 years later, he would probably still be able to do the same thing this kid did. so i believe yeah, closing the background loophole, will save some lives. is it a complete answer? no, it's not. >> and so what do you think would be the complete answer? do you think there is one? >> no more than there is a pill that would cure cancer. personally, i don't want your guns. you can have your guns. you can have all the guns you want. i just want you to be responsible for them, from the moment you obtain them to the moment you get rid of them. and the person who gets the gun

from you then becomes equally responsible for that firearm. just like cars. it's not -- i don't think it's asking too much. we'll see what happens. >> sometimes it's hard for people, many of our viewers outside of the united states to understand just how divisive an issue, an emotive issue gun control, gun laws are in the united states. in light of that, what do you make of reports that president obama might act through an executive order? how important do you think it is for him to try to get most of the population behind him and the changes that he wants to make? >> well, i think most of the population is behind him. the problem is that they are too distracted, not sincerely behind him, enough you know, a couple of months ago he said people want to know what to do about this horrible issue. and i told him what you can do is become a single-issue voter. because that's what they are. this is a democracy. if people care enough about it, they should vote accordingly. but there's just so many other

issues, there's so much other stuff going on not to mention flat screen tvs at walmart. i think it's hard to get people focused on this playing that's killing 30,000 plus people a year, more than have been killed in automobile accidents. >> president obama said he received too many letters from parents like yourself, teachers and kids to sit around and do nothing. are you hopeful that something will come out of this, that we will see changes in barack obama's last year? >> i'm always hopeful, inevitably there will be changes. and i think -- i really believe we can min find a way to make ts happen. america's a gun culture, we have our guns, and we can improve people's responsibility for their guns. >> speaking to us from gloucester massachusetts. we really appreciate you sharing

your thoughts with us, thank you. >> thank you. >> major clean justify operations are underway in the mid western u.s. following flooding. st. louis, missouri one of the hardest hit areas, residents are beginning to return home aa week after the floods first hit. record high levels in the mississippi river causes rivers to burst. at least 31 have died across several states. puerto rico is in desperate financial trouble. the caribbean island is expected to default on some of its $70 billion in debt on monday and the food crisis is looming. farmers on the island are urging the government to help them boost production, because the majority of items are actually imported from san juan. robert ray reports. >> reporter: four years ago, terra rodriguez opened this small organic restaurant had san juan. today her kitchen is busy

creating food grown locally mostly by her sister's farm. people are packing the tables. a sustainable farm to table menu and a boost to the local economy. >> what i have seen in these past few years, on the one end we become a poster child of something everyone wants on the island which is to have good food and good farming practices. >> reporter: now we're leaving san juan and heading up to the mountains in fact the second highest elevation of puerto rico where terra's sister is farming. danielle is growing food for the restaurant. >> time is running out. >> is there really a food crisis on the island? >> in terms of self-sustainability, yes. studies show that we have enough food to last us two weeks if the ships were to stop coming. >> two weeks? >> two weeks and that's including canned food, probably

even including dog food. >> seafood meats and staples like rice and beans and coffee mostly come from the u.s. mainland. neighboring latin american companies and even china. puerto rico's agriculture sector is stumbling along, representing 1% of the island's gross domestic product. the agriculture secretary says they are working towards more. >> we developed an ambitious plan where they understand we can increase the local consumption from 50% to nearly 25%. >> includes providing farmers with subsidies and new equipment. farm to table entrepreneurs like terra and danielle, say things are promising, but they need more collaboration from the government. the two sisters are trying to revitalize the agriculture of the island, farming and offering

organic food for residents with the hope that people here become less dependent on imports and more ambitious with the soils of puerto rico. robert ray, al jazeera, san juan, puerto rico. >> coming up in just a few minutes, victoria azarenka, the latest from the brisbane open. plus, why pulling the strings of these puppets are giving indonesian people a boost.

>> now, all the sports news here's farra. >> barbara, thank you so much. real pl madrid is set to make an announcement. four points behind leaders athletico madrid, including a four-nil home lost to arch rivals barcelona. let's get more from our sports correspondent lee wellings, live from london. lee any surprises there? >> it's unusual third in their league to remove their manager. not long ago they beat a team 10 goals to 2 with renaldo being at

the center of their play. this is not a rean ordinary clu. this is real madrid. he coached a younger teams so when he came to the club it seemed like perhaps this was always going to happen and it was the right fit. that 4-nil defeat against barcelona, there was just no way back from that for rafael benitez, is he out of the door. what's interesting is coming in, i think he'll need to take time to look at whether zedam is the right man, one of the greatest footballers in history doesn't mean the man manage their b team is going to make a good job at the highest level. you cannot rule out longer term, the moving back to jose marino.

he may come back in the future. >> all right we'll leave it there for now. lee wellings reporting live from lopped, thanfromlondon, thank y. first innings toll of 629 for 6, andy richardson has more. are. >> the task was simple enoughfos capetown test. set about doing just that. england needed wickets to capitalize on their first innings of 629 for 6. what they didn't need to did is miss chances, amler put down. amler took advantage of the under pressure captain to score his 24th test century.

devilles did eventually fall. taking his wicket for 88. jobbers captain as well as this test carried on regardless and he passed 150. also batting his way into form on a blameless wict blameless wd an your honor beaten half-century. a day belonging to amler and safeco. still trail by more than 250 runs but a draw now looks the most likely outcome. >> novak djokovic is opening the year with a win. straight sets at the qatar open. andy murray also had a great start to his new season. the world number 2, thrashed his opponent 6-2, 6-2. murray took just over an hour to finish the mixed team events.

serena williams has pulled out of her match because of a knee injury. bury babe international, belarusian. belarusiaan sitting up a win. >> atlanta hawks top spot in the southeast division. lalo, made 12 straight shots and all seven of his three points attempts at the target finished 111-97 the knicks. that's all your sporlt for now, now back to barbara in london. >> farra thank you. now to a tall story in indonesia. giant size puppets are a centuries old tradition in the

country. originally used to ward off evil spirits, they are now a tradition, as florence looi finds. >> it's a tradition belong to the badawi people on java island. the frame is made of bamboo and hollow allowing the pub it master to crawl inside and bring his puppet to life. originally made to represent ancestors who could ward off evil spirits. but the puppets have evolved to mere decorative roles. they are sought after weddings, consumption ceremonies. circumcision ceremonies. >> it's a lot more fun and there's a lot of laughter.

it's entertaining. >> but on weekends and public holidays, his and his ondo ondo are usually at the square at the heart of the city flanked by colonial buildings. it is where people come for a bit of street entertainment, a slice of color, an alternative to a day out on the mall. >> there are at least five pairs of ondo ondo. for this old jakarta tradition for the puppeteers to make a living. aref says he can earn up to $20 a day. his ambition is to one day make enough money to own at least ten puppets. >> ondel ondel is a tradition. i want to take a picture with them. i think it's important we preserve our culture. >> reporter: it's the pride people have for these icons of

jakarta. that will ensure that the ondel ondel keep on dancing, entertaining generations to come. florence looi, al jazeera, jakarta. facebook founder mark zuckerberg has announced he wants to build an artificiall al assistant, personal challenge for the year ahead. he wants to teach the butler to recognize his friends and let them in the front door, as well as keep an eye on his baby daughter's room. well, let's hope he figures out how to make such a robot. that is it. more on the website, and lauren taylor is good going to have more news for you in just a few minutes. i'll see you tomorrow, bye-bye.

>> you did your research.

>> you're one of the most prepared journalists i've ever known. >> go inside the lives of musical icons. >> i was given a gift... i think i've used it well. >> i want the ballet world to be given the respect that it deserves. >> and global activists. >> i feel compelled to do it, because if i don't do it, who's going to do it. >> revealing conversations you won't find anywhere else. >> still living in these tent cities. >> we're back to square minus one. >> the city is a powder keg at the moment. >> you see transactional sex and no one is held to account for that. >> the united nations has never accepted responsibility for this. >> an ali velshi on target special:

>> getting tough on guns. president obama are models an executive order putting him in the gop line of fire. and markets free fall on the first trading day of the year. to cut diplomatic ties in iran. and the fbi seeks a peaceful resolution to a standoff with an oregon militia. this is al jazeera america live from new york city i'm tony harris. president obama is back at the warehouse today. his first order of business i