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>> a warm welcome to the news hour. the u.n. says at least 400,000 syrians are living under siege completely cut off with no access to food or to medicine. it says both the government and opposition are stopping vital supplies from reaching people desperately who need them. government forces have trapped people in three years outside of damascus, and to the south, which is been under seen since july. the u.n. said that the islamic state in iraq and the levant has trapped many more in the cities.

and rebel groups have trapped several areas. four million syrians have been registered in egypt, iraq, jordan, lebanon, and in turkey. many refugee camps and makeshift shelters have seen snow in the last week. of those who seek safety in europe are struggling with the now freezing temperatures. medics say there has been a spike in illnesses in the refugees in the balkans. >> a protest on the border between syria and lebanon less than kilometers from towns under siege. there are syrians and lebanese marching in solidarity with people suffering nearby including some who are from the areas where people are trapped. >> we came to lebanon because of the regime airstrikes. they destroyed our homes. they burned our fields. there is nothing left. the people fled with their

families. they put them in a big prison. >> there have been marchs in syria as well. people here want to make sure that their fellow syrians get access to food and aid as soon as possible. there are more than 40,000 people alone who have been without proper food for months. the last time the u.n. was able to get aid to them was in october. al jazeera managed to speak to a resident of the town. >> we don't understand how the world can do nothing to resolve this crisis after witnessing such tragedy. civilians are being killed. >> unfortunately, there are many places under siege in syria's war. and more than 400,000 people have been cut off from food and medical supplies. that is something other syrians in lebanon say they can relate to. >> we lived in the same situation because of the hunger.

we came to stand in solidarity for those there. it is the same for all people. >> we expect that humanitarian operation, the join operation should take place in the coming day. >> the aid will help a small number of people out of the thousands who are suffering through this five-year car. caroline malone, al jazeera on the syrian-lebanon border. >> joining us is a senior fellow from the center of progress and served as secretary of defense from 1981 to 1985. a very warm welcome to the news hour. watching these pictures is incredibly distressing. there are very many different

parts of syria now under siege. where are we diplomatic? we've seen some of the fighters removed to turkey who are going to be involved in some of these discussions. do you think we're going to make progress there? >> well, i think the fact that they lifted the siege is one hopeful step that they're willing to deal with this situation before the talks. the big problem with the talks up until now, obviously, has been the dispute between the saudis and the iranians over the shia cleric and the storming of the embassies. if they can get the saudis and iranians to the talks that will lay the groundwork for the rest of the parties coming together to set up some sort of transitional government. hopefully they can list the siege of a lot of these cities because the siege has been a military strategy, but that's

the strategy they've been using. >> and does that tell us, larry, that by using these siege tactics, does that mean that help and support from russia is in a way being effected because they can afford to sit there and wait until republic groups and opposition groups decide to make bread and make these agreements? >> well, the fact that russia has gotten involved has certainly hell assad, but on the other hand it has facilitated negotiations because the russians don't want this war to continue to go on forever. they're much more concerned about isis. they're going to be sure that they'll keep a foot hold in syria, and they can keep their naval base. and what it looks like now is that assad will be able to remain in power until march o of 2017. and then you can have--and during that time you can have a transition. if you can stop the sieges and the combat obviously it will

help the several hundred thousand people who have been eating grass and trying to live on water and salt. >> and larry, every time we have this conversation here in al jazeera, it sounds to me that there are so many steps that need to happen to make such a very small progress. what do you think the immediate future looks like in terms 69 diplomatic progress? >> well, the fact that the saudis and the iranians have said that they're going to show up given the problems they've had since the execution of the shia cleric is very hopeful. the united states and the russians don't want to see this move on so they can fight isis. the iranians seem to be living up to the terms of the nuclear deal, so i think there is hope there the saudis realize they have to do something about yemen which is draining a lot of

resources and it's not making any progress, and also causing the deaths of many civilians. >> larry joining from dc. thank you very much for joining us. >> turkey has introduced restrictions for syrians an attempt to reduce the number of refugees coming from other countries like lebanon and egypt ow officials say that refugees are still welcome. more refugees are arriving on the greek island of lesbos. well, some of the refugee who is have made it as far as serbia have boarded trains in the town of sid. they're heading towards croatia and the european union. there has been a spike in illness among the refugees as she struggle with the

temperatures. two people have been injured in the egypt state television reporting one of the two attackers has been killed. well joining us live from doha is bureau chief, thank you very much for joining us. now the reports about this being a terrorist attack, what can you tell us? >> actually, this is not the first accident, and for sure it will not be the last as the security situation in egypt is very complicated. we are now very close to the anniversary where egypt government has seen the security situation and tense. yesterday was similar attack on

very close to the pyramids, and by the same ways, by the way the government for the first time said it's a terrorist attack, and that it is just a criminal accident or attack. this, you know, by the way the government is trying to--we can see the fears, trying to reduce the fears and terrorism sector, which is the suffering since the crash down of the russian but we notice two positive elements. in these attacks there is no--we

can say there are no victims, or the government succeed to reduce the bad effect of that attack. but on the other hand we are--we can see facing the only one vision, soul vision. there is no other vision. only the what the government is saying all the security official saying we don't have media covering that kind of attacks or that kind of accident. so we don't need any of the people who have been arrested in the attack. the government has already arrest one of the people who attack the hotel. today also we cannot know by

absolutely fact if this is a terrorist attack or just a criminal attack. we cannot know. the government only have their only vision. we can say the only way to know is to ask the official security official. we know that the government has issued the terrorism, and said that nobody can tell the news except for the government. no one can cover the--that kind of and you can see any other information even he knows other

information, he can notice that, or he will be under the law of tomorrow. he will be one of the people who are accused by advocating or even saying supported the terrorism. so we're only facing the one vision or we can see one news comes from one side, no other side. >> thank you very much. tensions between north and south korea have worsened over the last 48 hours after the north allegedly tested a hydrogen bomb. >> it's a tactic not used since august, and one the north

koreans call an act of war. exactly at midday friday south korea restarted it's loud speaker propaganda broadcast. a former north korean military officer defected to the south ten years ago. she said that the broadcasts are effective. >> there are people who defect after listening to the broadcasting. the soldiers who are at the front line living to the loud speakers. soldiers equipped with fully armed weapons. now they're exposed to propaganda broadcasting. along the 250 kilometer border here aren't just anti-north korean government. they clue global news, there are more than ten speaker locations. the south korean government says that the broadcast will continue indefinitely. british foreign secretary philipp hammond urged south

korea show restraint and say that the broadcasts are simply rising to the bait. but it's not clear how north korea will react. >> they may take hostages. there are hostages who are picked up for pseudocrimes in the state. so she pond to crimes like that. >> for now the military and the people of south korea wait for the response from its northern neighbor along with the rest of the world. al jazeera. >> take a look at the history of north korea actions. >> the hydrogen bomb test has provoked celebrations in the

rallies in pyongyang, scientists say they have found radioactive particles in the test site. we have a very warm welcome to the program. thank you for joining us. why now. why did north korea test this now? >> well, they've got--there are several reasons for that. the problem is there are too many reasons to do it as opposed not to. technically speaking it's a hydrogen bomb. they need to keep testing to make sure that their weapons work and secondly, there are political reasons. a young leader, it's kim jong-un's birthday today. he doesn't have much experience. he rules in terms of legitimacy he gets from being son of his

father and grandfather, leaders of the state. they have he doesn't really have an awful lot of joys in a sense. he has the nation to come in from the cold, he is rather stuck in this. he has the celebrations, his birthday, it's started with a big bang. >> you have mention there had are very few incentives for good behavior by north korea. does there need to be other better options for them? >> yes, i think so, although immediately one qualifies that there are no good options. there are plenty of histories another sticks nor carrots seems to work very well. i must say i'm quite impressed

that the foreign secretary shows restraints, and annoyed and furious as south korea deserves to be i don't see how these loud speakers are going to help. what are they going to do in the return. >> what about china. what role can china play here? they have to be cheesed off that they had no warning that this was going to happen we now have had a mini row between china and the u.s. and china are shooting right back. but their ultimate responsibility for this. china could put the finger on the wind pipe. if china were to stop taking exports of coal and, etc.

that would make a big difference. but they don't want to destabilize north korea. there is one thing than north korea. that's chaos on their border. they don't wasn't nukes and so on. they would rather see them tak not take those risks. >> thank you for your thought. >> thank you. >> coming up on the news hour. chinese market shows signs of recovery after panic cause the government to suspend trading. a night of revelry gone wrong. we'll have the latest from germany where there have been a number of crimes for new year's eve in cologne. and some officials could get a second chance to get things right in future details coming later in sport.

>> human rights watch say 140 people have been killed in two months of protest over land rights in ethiopia. demonstrators are opposing the expansion into ethnic land. fear that the farmers will lose their lands. the state includes the ethiopian capital and it's hope to some 30 million people. well, we're joined earlier by the deputy director of human rights watch africa division who updated us on the situation face there had by the protesters. >> the government has presented what is known as the faster plan which does expand the municipal boundaries. now the problem is that it's not really clear what kind of discussions they've had with people who will be effected. clearly the protesters claim that there has been insufficient consultation. they're very concerned, the protesters, that there won't be

compensation for farmers and others displaced by their lands by this plan. this is one of the main reasons that these protests have been sparked and have been growing in intensity over the last couple of months. but there are other grievances. many of the protesters are romo one of the biggest ethnicities. and they have long-standing grievances over this government and previous governments. and so these protests are very much building on historic grievances with the government, and unfortunately have taken a very brutal and violent turn. >> cologne's police chief has been temporarily relieved of his duties days after the wave of violence against women on new year's eve. the police began to make their first arrests after complaints from 100 women who say they were sexually assaulted, robbed or attacked in the city.

dozens of men have been involved in a sheers of attacks on the night. emma hayward has the story. >> it was supposed to be a night to celebrate. instead, new year's eve in cologne turned into chaos and violence. with allegations of series sexual assault robbery and threats by groups of men against dozens of women close to the cathedral, and an internal police report says that officers were not in control. >> i thought to myself if we stay here in this crowd they could kill us. they could rape us and nobody coo notice. there were so many people that i was no longer in control of myself, where to go or how to defend myself. it felt like they were in power and they could do anything with women who were in the street partying. >> protesters say that the police could and should have done more. what happened more than a week ago is fueling the debate in

germany about immigration. witnesses say that many of the suspects looked like they were arab or north african. more than 30 suspects have been identified by german police. some of those are asylum seekers, but they are connected to the sexual assault allegations which faces violence and robbery charges. angelange postecogloucharges-- >> for me personally this is intolerable. it is important that everything that happened must come out into the open. >> cologne is home to a large muslim community. many of them are ethnic tours could have lived in the city for decades. they're worried that people are pointing the finger to muslims and north africans when the facts are still not clear. >> it has nothing to do with the religion. it's about the individual.

lack of respect for women is not a religious problem. >> everyone says that this is something to do with muslims. i've been here for 30 years myself, and i've never seen anything like this. >> the german chancellor has warned any formers involved in the crimes could now face deportation. >> mexican president says drug lord guzman has been recaptur ed. el cha po was escaped from a tunnel, he was rearrested after a shootout with security forces. well, al jazeera's in mexico. and natasha, what more do we know about how the capture happened? >> well, first of all, i think its important to note that this has been a huge embarrassment for the mexican government.

they have been putting the pressure on attempting to arrest him a few weeks ago. there was a close call in his home state of season loa, but he got away. the mexican government are saying this morning the military responded to a building in his home state at season loa after someone called with the complaint. there was an armed holdup. we don't know if it was a house, but the media are reporting that it's a hotel. they say there was a shootout. and during that shoot out they killed five criminals and detained six people including joaquin guzman. we've been talking with people in mexico. while this is big news for the mexican government and the american government where he's wanted for drug charges, people here on the streets are reacted

with a blaze attitude. they say he has escaped twice and there is a possibility that he'll escape again. >> reflecting on what you said, are the government going to be able to hold on to him this time? >> so as i mentioned a few weeks ago the government said there is a close call. they thought they were close to capturing guzman in the home state of seneloa but he got away. this has been a huge frustration for the american government. they had asked mexican government after guzman was initially recaptured in 2014, to extra died him to the united states. the senaloa cartel is believed to be responsible for bringing in a significant amount of twain that is on american treats. but at that time the president

has asked to extradite him. we spoke with an analyst today, and he said that he thinks that it's very likely that the president will have a change of heart and be willing to extradite guzman to the united states where there is less likely a chance of an escape. i do want to mention that the american drug enforcement administration treated a congratulations to the mexican government after news of his recapture surfaced this morning. >> natasha there in qua guadalajara. thank you for that update. still to come. scared to return to sinjar. those who are too fearful to go home. the economy that is in a state of emergency as prices fall to their lowest level for more than a decade. and defending champion, as

he battles the flu. we have details later in sport.

>> a reminder of the top stories here on al jazeera. 400,000 syrians are cut off from help under siege. a resort town along the red seacoast, attackers were killed. south korea has resumed prod began d--resumed--propaganda broadcasts to the north. the chinese markets were twice forced to shut down under controversial su sur circuit

breaker rule. >> in china red is a lucky color. it shows you that sales are up. 12 months ago the share market was at its highest level. but for now that winning streak is over. the market is in a slump. since june stocks have lost more than 40% of their value. and some small investors are less than happy. >> we don't want to talk about it. we need to go back. >> they blame their problems on foreign speculators as well as a measure that was supposed to calm markets but had the reverse affect. >> the government is trying to protect individual investors b but the system is not perfect. it needs to be improved. >> the authorities have responded to that criticism suspending the circuit breaker

rule tha. the start of 2016 has set a pattern for what is expected to be a very difficult year for the world's second largest economy. >> we do think there is a chance for slowdown. in china we put that between 1 and 4. >> this is not the indicator of china's economy. the leader has more pressing issues. namely over capacity in state controlled industries like coal and steel, and widespread job loss speculation in the coming months. >> in neighboring north korea the military claimed to have successfully tested a hydrogen bomb. the markets worry about

deepening diplomatic tensions between iran and saudi arabia. last week china's president seemed to allude to the challenge it's confronting his country. he told the nation that fruitful gains come with persistent efforts. his way of saying perhaps, it's going to be a tough year. adrian brown, al jazeera, beijing. >> the united states army general responsible for the guantanamo bay detention center is unhappy about the pace of prisoner transfers. he says it has taken far longer than originally anticipated about. general kelly denying allegations that they're deliberately slowing the movement of prisoners. >> the fact that there was reporting about people in

uniform, people in detention ops, in any way shape or form slowing down or trying to impede the release of detainees from my perspective is complete nonsense. it's an insult, frankly, so servto serving officers that we would in any way impede the progress. >> about a quarter of ramadi in anbar province remains under the control of the islamic state in iraq and the levant. iraqi forces began taking back parts of ramadi two weeks ago. government troops have begun to take control. it's been a month since they

recaptured sinjar from isil. the sinjar still sits deserted still not allowing residents to return for safety reasons. as reports from the camp, many of the ethnic eth ethnic yazidis don't want to return any way. >> for this family, all displaced yazidis, returning home would not begin to help. >> if my family isn't there, i don't have the heart to return to sinjar because my heart is broken. it's like an open wound that salt was poured into. >> he shows us a picture of his oldest son, who isil kidnapped after storming sinjar in august of 2014. his daughter, daughter-in-law, and grandson were also taken. written on every face inside this tent are stories of u

unrelenting pain, unbearable loss. his sister-in-law had two of her children kidnapped. she has no idea if they're alive or dead. >> how can we go back? we can never go back. i can't sleep a single moment at night thinking of them. >> at the camp in iraq many have become accustomed to living in a kind of purgatory. children, women, and men steel against the bitter cold with the knowledge that worsening weather, as bad as it may be, is nothing compared to the hell they lived through in the past year and a half. >> another sad reality to the approximately yazidis here while many would like to return home, they can't. neighboring sinjar while cleared of isil two months ago by

kurdish peshmerga fighters is still off limits to yazidis who do want to go back. everywhere you look ruined. they tell me that they can't yazidis to return until mosul is also cleared of isil, and there is no telling when iraqi forces will be able to accomplish that. but there is another reason, too. >> everywhere they start the building. there is no place for them to live in. >> but none of that makes a difference. his family's house in sinjar is also destroyed. but even if it were still standing without the rest of his family he'd never consider it a home again.

at the camp in iraq. >> a swiss christian missionary has been kidnapped for a second time. it is thought that seen here being rescued in 2012 was taken from her home in timbuktu. she was kidnapped and it's understood that she was warned that she would be executed if she returned to timbuktu. thousands are protesting against saudi arabia's execution of a shia cleric six days ago. the demonstrations started aft after friday prayers in tehran with protesters carrying the picture of the sheik and chanting death to the saudi royal family. there are similar demonstrations across the family.

>> israeli she's have shot dead a man suspected of of killing a man. he was reportedly killed during a hoot out in a in a mosque. he was identified from the cctv shootings and he was accused of killing two people in a bar and a taxi driver. now we have this update from injuries limb. >> the situation came to a deadly end when the police tracked him down in the north of israel. he tried to flee the building in open fire, and that is when police returned fire and when he was killed they say oldly. the police reporting that none of their officers were injured in the exchange. again in the background of all this there is criticism of the police and security forces for

their failure to track him down for so many days. while they have not described the attack on new year's day as terrorism, they describe the attacker as terrorist. we've seen months of violence and has seen police and security services not connecting the action to this latest unrest. many israelis are breathing a sigh of relief that he not only has been captured, and killed. the question remains over his motive. >> oil prices have fallen to 3

$33 a barrel, the lowest level in a decade. analysts have predicted that 2016 that would be $85 a barrel for russia, $75 a barrel for nigeria. the world's largest petroleum exporter saudi arabia inside it to be $93 a barrel to break even. and venezuela, which is already in a poor economic state, in fact, it's in a state of emergency, it needs oil prices at $111 a barrel. we go to caracas where inflation continues to rise. >> otherthey love old and new

alike, but admits that the story that the collection tells is grim. it. >> this out in 1981 is equivalent to $116. now it is only equal to $0.50 which is not even good enough for a candy. >> a recent report butts the oil rich country inflation rate at 270%. it is the worst crisis in history. >> the only commodity of importance in foreign trailoid falling at levels below the last 11 years. it's the perfect storm. >> hardship is widely felt by

venezuelans where according to a study poverty has increased from 25% to almost 70% in just one year. >> because it depends almost exclusively on oil this weakened drop left the economy in free fall with shortages of the most basic goods that evacuate on a daily basis. >> an infall food vendor who works night shifts as a phone operator at a bank says two jobs are not enough. >> this situation effects us deeply. on top of it we can find what we need. we're dantley having to find new ways to make things work. >> experts fear the magnitude of this crisis could snowfall into a social commotion as more and more are affected by the country's deep recession.

>> and venezuela's president has condemned the removal of the portrait of his predecessor from the national assembly. that sparked protest for images of chavez to be put up on every street corner. >> this is the most serious insult in the 200 years of history against bolivar. i want to condemn in the name of the venezuelan people for the horrific insult against bolivar. >> a great white shark has died after three days in a japanese

aquarium. sharks need to constantly swim to create oxygen. but it suddenly dropped to the tank. it refused to eat anything since being caught. still ahead this news hour, hitler's controversial manifesto is published for the first time in german. and we have more on the english cup coming up with rahul.

>> adolf hitler's controversial mein kampf has created wide controversy. >> adolf hitler's book remains. in mein kampf he puts across communism, his vision of a dominated europe and his venomous anti-sentiment feelings. the institute for contemporary history felt it had to act to reduce the impact of the ideologies in the book and to expose it's inaccuracies.

>> the information demystified the information spread by lit her, his lies and truth in propaganda. >> but that's not enough to justify this new publication. >> yes, the copyright has expired. do i have to republish? do i need to motivate people in a negative way? i'm simply loss for words why the stupid book is being republished. >> the shadow of national socialism is so long that it can still be seen on the streets of germany. plaques have been placed across the country to commemorate the victims. here the family is remembered. he was murdered in auschwitz in

1944. >> germany is a multi cultural society. germans are very well aware of their past and all the--everything that is gone wrong with the regime of the third reich and all the cruelties. >> nevertheless in recent time right wing movements such as the anti-islamic groups have staged rallies. some people have argued that the far right may welcome this publication, that the authors of this new annotated version say it should not stop them from educating future generations about the evils of national socialism. dominic kane, munich. >> now for all the day's sports news here is rahul.

>> julie, thank you very much. we go to liverpool, despite playing the fourth tier of english football it was the home site exeter and it was forced to play a near reserved team. it's one of those little known players who got the equalizer, of at halftime they would score and then a few minutes later they would equalize for liverpool. 2-2 the final score between liverpool and exeter. >> well, cristiano ronaldo is go nowhere. following the game on monday they were quickly to praise the player.

>> he's the heart and soul of this team. >> what is very good and makes me so happy is that i see this team doing very well, very well, very, very well. that's something. that's why i'll sleep very well tonight because we had a great practice today. actually, the last three days. but especially today. the day previous to the match and it was tech. >> now barcelona will appeal a two-match ban over a scuffle in the tunnel following wednesday's cope at a de pa copa del rey against h espanyol. a fight broke out in the tunnel with the accused taunting several of the espanyol players. meanwhile, barca had distanced

themselves. they woulthey would condemn the media on the instagram account. this is part of what he said less and less they talk about football, strategy, play, and runs the score goals, the saves, and the spectacle. now football refuge association board recommended starting trials next season to determine when a ball has crossed a line. but players and managers have called on technology to be used in other aspects of the game. >> it's a very difficult job. one person, two eyes, and in many games now we have 10, 20 cameras. you have millions of people

watching the games so we have to do what we can to assist the referee. the game is getting faster and we have to support the referee to enable them to make the right decisions. >> part of an investigation into corruption at fifa, the connected to others carried out by prosecutors last year. several top football officials and businessmen have already been indicted in an alleged scheme involving bribes for broadcast rights. >> michel platini has announced he's pulling out of the race t to run for president of fifa.

>> i sense there is a great jealousy from uefa towards fifa. i think it's especially the ca case. i wouldn't say they're scheming. i would say that not a plot. i don't really know. but my arrival was seen rather negatively. >> making the most of misfortune. the 50-year-old now leads teammate by 27 seconds after the start of the 542 kilometer state, the longest of the race, eight minutes while they're matched early on. the champion lost time in the second half of the stage after

suffering a puncture. now the biggest names in tennis are continuing their preparations down under, the australian open, roger federer would manage to keep on track. he was given a stone test in the quarterfinal time. federer won the first set, 6-4, but lost the second on a tiebreaker and the exhaustion is beginning to show. they go into the third set and they recover to take it 6-4, and in the semifinals he'll play australia's dominic king. i enjoyed it. maybe some of you guys, too, who

knows. >> and going into the final with a straight set win. now if you need some inspiration to get back into the gym this new year, have a look at this. a norwegian sprinter has become an online hit after showing her training regime. the 27-year-old is seen leaping upstairs at a stadium in south africa. >> thank you. you can find much more on our website. why not take a look. you can see the top story on the page there. the attackers attacking the egyptian hotel. we'll give you details, and whatever you can click on that is most popular you can find it on the front page. that's it from me, julie mcdonald. we'll come back with more on

today's news. >> the only live national news show at 11:00 eastern. >> we start with breaking news. >> let's take a closer look. >> this is al jazeera america live from new york. >> at 7:00 - "news roundup".

tony harris gives you a fast-paced recap of the day's events. >> this is the first line of defense. >> we have an exclusive story tonight. >> then at 8:00 - john seigenthaler brings you the top stories from across america. >> the question is, will these dams hold? >> and at 9:00 - >> i'm ali velshi, on target tonight... >> ali velshi on target. digging deeper into the issues that matter. >> i'm trying to get a sense for what iranians are feeling. >> it's not looking pretty. i gotta pay my bills. >> you gotta do somethin', you know? try to keep your head above water. >> sunday... $38. thursday... $36. for this kind of money, i really don't give a s*át. >> a real look at the american dream. only on al jazeera america.

>> so desperate they're eating salt for sustenance. the u.n. say 400,000 syrians are cut off from food and medicine. hello there, i'm julie mcdonald. this is al jazeera live from london. also coming up, the mexican drug lord el chapo escaped from a supposedly high security prison in july is recaptured. cologne chief of police relieved of his