>> saudi arabia pulls its diplomats from iran and cancels all flights as tensions escalate over the tehran embassy attack. i'm lauren taylor, this is al jazeera live from london. also coming up, world markets take a dive after fears of economic slow down deep owner. refusing to give up, the armed group occupying a federal building in oregon. reality checks in sweden and denmark to cope with a record number of refugees and migrants.

hello saudi arabia's allies have rallied to its side in a growing diplomatic dispute with iran. following kingdom's execution of a dissident shia cleric. bahrain and sudan cut all ties with iran, andrew simmons reports. >> reporter: saudi diplomats on their way home from iran, transiting at dubai airport. as they were evacuated, came similar action of the kingdom's allies. the gulf state close to saudi arabia accused iran of dangerous support for terrorism. the actions followed arson attack at the saudi embassy in

tehran. saudi arabia accused iran of doing nothing to prevent it. a war of words is escalating. >> we decideto cut off all diplomatic relations with iran. we'll also be cutting off all air traffic to and from iran. we will be cutting off all commercial relations with iran and we will have a travel ban against people traveling to iran. >> translator: unfortunately, the government of saudi arabia sees its interest in creating clashes in the region. in recent times policies in line with that. >> shia right across the middle east have been demonstrating after the execution of nimr al-nimr. he and 46 others including al qaeda preacher targeting civilians an security forces. saudi arabia is adamant he got a fair trial. it's not the first time diplomatic relations have been cut. but there are fears it could

cause more violence. in an incident that village in eastern saudi where people are mourning nimr al-nimr's death, the saudi press agency reported that one person was killed and a child injured. his brother has been told he will be buried in an undisclosed location. >> vj live in washingtonrosilann washington, d.c. >> deescalating these tensions, the u.s. of course considers saudi arabia a key ally in the region and it has been engaged with iran in terms of trying to dismantle that country's suspect ed nuclear weapons program. the u.s. considered both countries essential in trying to deal with things such as the

fight against i.s.i.l, trying to end the civil war in syria and trying to resolve the crisis inside yemen. and it says that both countries really do have a lot to bring to bear. however, a senior administration official told recorders earlier on -- reporters earlier on monday that as far as actually getting involved directly in trying to mediate this situation between the two countries, this official said that this is not something that the u.s. wants to be in the middle of. it doesn't want to be the owner of this process as it were. and this person is reiterating that the leadership in tehran and in riyadh should do the right thing and try to resolve their differences as quickly as possible. >> you mentioned the issues of syria and yemen the conflicts there. what's the think on how much impact this will have on efforts to resolve those crisis? >> well, as far as syria's concerned which is of course the more immediate concern from the

international community's perspective, the thinking here in washington is that the u.n. orchestrated talks on january 25th, between the government of president bashar al-assad and members of the syrian opposition, will go ahead. there isn't the fear at this moment that those talks are going to fall apart. however, they also note that certainly anything is possible which is why they're reiterating these very strong calls. what's also important to note is that members of the obama administration notably officials here at the u.s. state department starting with the secretary of state john kerry have been doing a lot of direct outreach trying to make the appeal to their counterparts in iran and in saudi arabia, that they really need to find a way back from these tensions. while it's up to any country to decide whether or not it's going to have diplomatic relations with another country, the senior administration official is stressing that in this

particular case, whatever the tensions are, they need to have a big-picture focus on what is really important and that's trying to maintain stability in the region. >> rosiland jordan, live for us there in washington, d.c, thank you. a major groab major global l markets have posted drops, on the back of weak chinese manufacturing data and a falling currency. monday was also the first test of a new stock market circuit breaker in china which is supposed to stop trade when loss he hit the 5% mark. adrian brown is in beijing with more. pardon me, we don't have adrian

brown's report. dow jones industrial average fell almost 300 points and the s&p 500 index also posted a loss and the nasdaq composite index ended down more than 100 points. also a poor showing in china new data indicating that u.s. manufacturing had contracted to its lowest level in six years further dampened investor confidence. kristin saloomey has more now on how china's stock plunge affected the u.s. markets. >> reporter: china's economic slow down weighed heavily on u.s. markets on their first day of trading in the new year. the dow jones industrial average and the standard & poor's index both closed down about 1.5% and down even more so during the trading day with a lot of volatility. a lot of american businesses very concerned about what is happening in china lower currency and worse than expected economic data in terms of manufacturing in china in

december, all having an impact. also oil prices continue to be very volatile in the united states. they were up for a little bit, on news of tension between saudi arabia and iran, two largest oil producing countries in the middle east. some thought that that tension might raise oil prices for a while but that didn't last long. at the end of the day, the market closed down, a down start to 2016, after a very flat 2015. >> armed protesters continue to occupy a government building in the u.s. state of oregon. the group is demonstrating against an order for two farmers to return to jail. the father and son were convicted of arson on public land in 2012 and served some jail time but a court ruled their sentence is were too lenient and ordered them back to prison. the men said they started the blaze to protect their property

from wildfires. >> white and steven hammond are being forced to report to prison today. for a crime they did not commit. and they've been put twice in jeopardy for. they've already served prison time for this already. and now they're being forced to go back again. and it is been left to us to decide whether we allow these things to go on, or whether we make a stand. so they will not happen to other people across this country. >> u.s. president barack obama says that his planned executive actions to tighten gun laws will respect the second amendment right to bear arms. obama met the attorney general, loretta lynch, to discuss ways to curb gun violence and the unregulated selling of firearms. congress has refused to adopt proposals to close loopholes in the law that currently spairs

unlicensed gun dealers to require are background checks on its clients. initiatives would be rolled out over the next several days. in 2015 there were 52,573 incidents of gun violence in the united states. in the same year 13,329 people died in gun violence, the campaign for tougher laws have been gaming momentum since the sandy hook shooting in 2012 when 20 children and six adult careers were killed. happened when president obama began his second term in office. since then, more than 210,000 have been shot and injured. tom ackerman is in washington for us and has more on the proposed changes. >> while did he not go into very many specifics other than to say he was confident that the

executive authority he would be exercising was certainly within his boundaries, despite the oaks of many republicans who say that what he is doing is extra-constitutional and that ultimately he will be overthrown in the courts. what obama said was that even though this is not exactly the optimum that he can expect it was what he felt he must do. >> u.s. justice department is suing, violations of the clean air act. last september vw's admitted to fitting so-called defeat devices in 11 million cars. the company could face fines exceeding $90 billion in the case. denmark and sweden have become the latest countries to instilling passport

restrictions. in the schengen area. dominic kane reports. >> officials are conducting passport controls. except that according to the rules of the schengen zone they shouldn't be. for decades, passengers traveling osweden 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 says it's the only way of reducing the number of migrants and refugees trying to enter its territory. a move that divided opinion among passengers. >> controls, i'm also kin to it needs to be very smooth commuting back and forth. so it's balanced. >> translator: if the trains run on time your travel time is doubled but already this morning there are some that have had their travel time tripled. >> in response, denmark has introduced similar checks on

people crossing its border with germany. the dane are prime minister says this is a step backwards for europe. >> i think it's pretty obvious that we are in a situation if the european union can't protect the external borders you you will see more and more countries which will be forced into introducing temporary internal border control. this is something we need to take very seriously. >> reporter: 2015 was a watershed year for migration to the eu. official figures show more than 1 million people 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 represent both a challenge and an opportunity for europe. here at the german foreign ministry the message is clear.

the mass movement of refugees and migrants is a european problem that requires a european solution. officials in the building behind me say, the unprecedented number of people coming may mean the schengen zone is in jeopardy. dominic kane, al jazeera, berlin. >> still to come on lrs, pulings the string of these puppets have given indonesian peep a boost.

>> hello again a reminder of the top stories here on al jazeera. government of saudi arabia has announced that it is cutting commercial and air traffic links with iran. the latest move in a deepening diplomatic crisis between the two countries. major global financial markets have all posted loss he, after chinese stocks drop 7%. denmark and sweden become the latest european countries to impose tighter restrictions as europe continues to see record arrival numbers. advancing towards the neighborhood of alefa in the city of ramadi. the government claimed to have liberated the city from i.s.i.l. but largings sections of the city are still under i.s.i.l.'s control. military attacks in northeast of

fallujah. yemeni forces call dusk to dawn curfew. air strikes of the saudi led coalition have resumed following an end to ceasefire in places since mid december. bombing 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 facility in northern libya after a failed attempt in october. two soldiers died in the assault on the oil facility near the town of al sidra. after setting off a suicide car

bomb, forces were attacked. libyan city of benghazi, confusing reports what brought down a mig 21. fighters from the benghazi council armed group. the group loirchgd the i.s.i.l. ilinked to i.s.i.l.also claimin. a powerful explosion rocked the downtown of kabul. could not confirm the exact location, second attack of the day. earlier a suicide bomber blew himself up close to kabul airport. there were no injuries as police spotted the vehicle as it approached the checkpoint. blast follows a series of attacks in the afghan capital in last days, at a restaurant popular with foreigners which left two people dead. a three day siege at an

indian consulate has now ended. gunmen tried to storm the building in the city of mazir al sharif, coincided with an attack on an indian air force base near the pakistani border. a powerful earthquake in northeastern india and bangladesh has killed 11 people and left hundreds injured. rescue workers are finding it difficult to reach remote areas where people may still be trapped. six people were killed in impal, the capital of manipat state, five people died in bangladesh. the 6.4 earthquake was felt as far away as nepal and myanmar. fez jamil has the story. >> it happened in the middle of the night, people were jolted out of their beds, people were screaming crying, one person we

spoke to this morning said a heavy bell at a temple nearby started ringing because of the sheer amount of shaking going on. there hasn't been a report of a lot of damage however the rural parts of the state have poor connectivity even without the earthquake happening, the information is still trickling in. the capital itself which has a quarter million people as residents has reported at least one building collapse. there are reports that there may be workers underneath and local rescue teams are checking that now and rescue teams from the region are still on their way to the area. >> thousands of syrian refugees are enduring wintery conditions in lebanon. snow has begun falling in the becca valley region. 200,000 are especially at risk in the cold weeks and months ahead. >> we stayed up all night

removing snow off the tent. we cleaned snow from the roof so it won't cave in and we keep the stoves on all night so the snow on the roof melts faster. what shall we do? god help us from this. >> the op going war in syria hasn't stopped a season of filming underway in a drama in dmams damascus. one drama, one kilometer separates the filming location from the ongoing clashes of the syrian army and rebels. >> sometimes during the scene i lose focus because i will be looking to the sound of the mar tars, it imortars, syria does ne this. >> according to president recep tayyip erdogan, government

forces killed more than 3,000 are kurdish fighters this year. hit civilian areas where pkk fighters are believed to be based. violence have forced many residents from their homes. special reporter of palestinian civil rights has resigned. efforts to help palestinians have been frustrated every step of the way. he also voiced concern at the lack of protection for palestinian victims of human rights violations. >> puerto rico is in desperate financial trouble. caribbean island is expected to default on some of its $70 billion of debt on monday and to make matters worse a food crisis is looming. farmers on the island are urging the government to help them boost food production because the majority of items are

imported. robert ray has the details from san juan. >> four years ago, tarra, rodriguez besosa opened this small organic restaurant in san juan. today her kitchen is busy, creating foods grown locally mostly by her sister's farm. a sustainable farm to table menu and a boost to the local economy. >> what i've seen in these past few years on one end we become a poster child right of something that everybody with wants on this 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 in puerto rico where textara's sister daniella is farming. >> 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 foods, probably even including dog food. >> reporter: seafood meats and staples like rice and beans and coffee mostly come from the u.s. mainland, neighboring latin american companie countries andn china. the agriculture industry is stumbling. puerto rico's agriculture secretary says they are working towards more foods be produced. >> we have developed a plan where we understand we can increase the local production from 50% of our consumption to near 25%. >> while the government has implemented a plan to develop the island's agriculture

structure, farm to table entrepreneurs like tara and daniella, say they need more cooperation from the government. 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. >> pro-democracy leaders in hong kong are urging the government to investigate the latest disappearance of a book publisher. lee vo is the fifth to go missing. mighty books specializes in books banned on the mainland. authorities there have no jurisdiction over hong kong. >> the tradition under the basic law namely only legal enforcement agencies in hong kong have the legal authority to

enforce laws in hong kong. no other law enforcement agencies outside of hong kong, that is, has such authority. >> giant size puppets are a centuries old tradition in indonesia. originally set to ward off evil spirits, have now a tradition. flowrns looi has the story. >> ondelondl is a tradition in indonesia. the frame is made of bamboo and hollow, allowing the puppet master to crawl inside and bring his puppet to life. andel andel were originally made to represent ancestors who could ward off evil spirits. but they moved to more decorative roles.

even for the inauguration of buildings. children get a kick out of seeing the puppets walk through streets. >> going around, it's more fun and there is a lot of laughter. it's entertaining. >> but on weekends and public holidays, andel andel are usually at the square at the heart of the old city, flanked by colonial buildings, it is where families come for street entertainment. a slice of color, an alternative to a day out at the mall. there are at least another five pairs of andel andel in the square. but there is enough curiosity for the puppet owners to make a living. people pay to pose for photos with the puppets. he says he can earn up to $20 a day. his ambition is to one day make

enough money to own at least ten puppets. andel andel is a jakarta tradition so i want to take a picture with them. as a batawi myself i think it's important that we preserve our culture. >> it is the pride people have for these icons of jakarta. that will ensure the andel andel will keep dancing entertaining generations to come. florence looi, al jazeera, jakarta. >> major cleanup operation he are underway in the are southern u.s., residents are beginning to return home a week after floods first hit. record high levels in the mississippi river cause the levees to burst. at least 31 people have died across several states. facebook founder mark zuckerberg says he wants to build an

artificially intelligent assistant, to recognize his friends let them in the front door as well as keep an eye on his baby daughter's room. much more, are at any time, the address is aljazeera.com. different stories about the environment. one message. >> this year is blowing our minds. >> storms generated by a powerful weather system. >> these urchins are in trouble right now, why is that? >> our oceans getting warmer and more toxic. land frozen for years now melting. what is happening around the planet and what can science do about it?