aid finally arrives in besieged syrian towns but the government is denying it is starving its own people. hello. you're watching al jazeera. live from our headquarters in doha. also ahead on the program, fans pay tribute to the man who changed rock in roll as david bowie dies from cancer. thousand new zealand south korea sign a deal with samsung for employees who fell sick while washing for the company.

-- thousands in south korea. the mexican government releases of friday's raid on joaquin guzman's hideout we begin in syria where desperately needed food and medical supplies have finally reached three besieged towns. under a deal reached with the government an aid convoy left on monday bound for madaya. they of also been also delivered to two other villages. oppositions are surrounding these places. in eastern ghuda 160,000 people are said to be in urgent help. 9,000 people are tracked in the towns. i.s.i.l. fighters have cut off 200,000 people in parts of the

eastern city of daralzour. a report from u.n. headquarters in new york. >> reporter: trucks carrying food and medicine final arrive in madaya. the town of more than 40,000 people where they have been eating their pets and after that survived on a diet of soup made from grass. >> translation: we have suffered a lot. people killed cats to eat them. others eight grass. -- ate grass. we need to break the siege >> reporter: it is reported that as many as 28 people have starved to death. the ambassador disputes all this >> the information in relation to the humanitarian situation in madaya is based on false information. we have seen reports of deaths, some in the last few hours. we've seen pictures of starving people. are those fabrications? >> yes, indeed.

>> reporter: so reports of mass starvation issued by the united nations and other humanitarian agencies and these deeply disturbing pictures of the towns' population, including children suffering from malnutrition are, he claims, fake. he also seemed to have a different second explanation. >> the terrorists are stealing the humanitarian assistance from the areas and they are keeping this assistance in their warehouses and then they use it as a leverage of political and financial gain for them. >> reporter: the u.s. ambassador samantha power told the u.s. general assembly she had no doubt who is to blame >> look at the grotesque starve or surrender tactics. the syrian regime is using right now against its own people. look at the haunting pictures of civilians, including children, even babies, in madaya, syria.

these are just the pictures we see. there are hundreds of thousands of people being deliberately besieged, deliberately starved right now and these images, they remind us of world war ii. >> reporter: but on the ground in madaya one woman seemed to back the syrian ambassador's explanation. >> translation: the situation in madaya is so bad. before the siege we used to live a proper life. the armed rebels when they entered the village and acted as we all know, they revealed their true colours. in the beginning people were deceived. they're nothing by traders of people's blood judge getting to the truth and chaos of the long war is very difficult. the camera crew who filmed these pictures were operating under syrian government media guidelines. syria remains a country where it is difficult to speak freely and where basic humanitarian needs, the access to food, is being used as a weapon of war.

the u.n. now says it needs the urgent evacuation of 400 people from madaya who need life-saving treatment. janes bay es i.s.i.l. said it carried out the attack on a shopping ma'am in iraq that killed at least 18 people. gunmen stormed into the mall after setting off a car bomb and launching a suicide attack at its entrance. at least 50 people have been injured. iraqi officials say the attack, which lasted over an hour, was carried out by seven men in the capital of mainly shia area. the u.s. commoned in iraq has asked the residents in the city of ramadi to leave within the next 48 hours. the announcement was made as coalition forces and the iraqi army prepared to target neighborhoods are air shiks and ar till re.

dozens of iraqi soldiers have been killed in several i.s.i.l. attacks. a controversial indonesian cleric has appeared in court to appeal his 15-year prison term. he is accused of being a spirlt leader of a group. he fled after a bombing in 1985. that is when he became involved with the armed group and with al-qaeda. on his return to indonesia in 1998 he had speeches against non-muslims. in the next few years he was jailed several times for a variety of convictions, including the exercise for the 2002 bali bombings. he was acquitted of those in 2012, but he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for supporting a training for rebel fighters. in 2014 while in prison he pledged allegiance to the leader of i.s.i.l.

our correspondent is out near the court house. >> reporter: very tight security here at the court in central java where a legal appeal is being held by the leader of a group, who has been jailed for 15 years to donating money to a military camp in 2010. hundreds of supporters have gathered here at the court very angry and demanding his immediate release. he has made a statement himself about this whole case, using very angry language at the prosecutors and police for jailing him for something that he said was an obligation for all muslims to defend islam. so he has been endor r dorsing the military training camp. his lawyers say he didn't know about it and that the money that was donated to palestine was actually going to the group instead. there will be a few more hearings of this case and a

verdict will be expected by the supreme court in february legendary david bowie has died at the age of 69 after an 18-month battle with cancer. one of the most influential music innovators, he helped define pop music during his career. >> reporter: icon innovative, visionary. he was no order artist. he had a career beginning in the 60s to become one of the most recognised performers in the world. born david jones in 1947 david bowie rose to fame with the 1969 single space odyssey. in the area of london where he was born, fans paid attribute >> it was 1977 when i walked

into a disco and heard heros. that chimed with me. >> reporter: his roots were here in south london. in a career spanning six decades, he became a global success and a master of reinvention. no more so than as siggy stardust. i play it for all worth because that's the way i do it. that's part of what david bowie is supposed to be about. i'm an actor. [ ♪ ] changes. >> reporter: when david bowie became ziggy, one of his many incarnations, but flamboyant david bowie never stood still. he constantly changed his image and reinvented himself. he also indian-administered kashmired out a successful career on film and on the stage.

>> what is remarkable about this extraordinary trajectory, it's anal bum every year/18 months. he is writing, recording, touring and at the same time moving on to the next project. it is incredible, an incredible speed and dedication to himself and his conceptual ideas. [ ♪ ] let's dance. put on your red shoes and dance the build-ups. >> reporter: in all, david bowie released 25 albums, a stream of new material brought him new generations of fans which helped him keep one step ahead of his rivals. david bowie was 69. he had released what will be his final album, black star t on friday.

friday arts and culture contributor says david bowie legacy goes well beyond music >> he was a very, very likeable person in the end. he was charismatic and popular. it goes back to what was in the 1970s, when rock music came out of the 60s, it was beetles, stones, dilon. he injected something wild and crazy into it. he said he was gay, put personas on. it was never clear if he was believing in his personas. that was pretty unusual at the time. he was a great song writer at the time and he really pulled it off. he was a provocateur. he shouldn't have been a star. all the things he did were not recipes for pop star domestic at the time, but he sort of brought this whole world along with him.

i think that's the identification that people have with it. they could feel the world changing throughout the 1970s with all his diverse work still to come on the program, venezuela's supreme court threatens to stop of the work of the opposition-controlled congress. plus. >> reporter: in tell aviv, telling you why an arabic song has not only popped the charts here in israel but is also breaking barriers. ng barriers.

welcome back.

a reminder of the top stories. desperately needed food and medical surprise have reached three besieged syrian towns as part of a deal with the government. the syrian ambassador to the u.n. says the reports of people dying has been exaggerated. i.s.i.l. says it carried out the attack on a shopping mall in iraq's capital that killed at least 18 people and injured 50 others. it was in a mainly shia area. a controversial indonesian cleric has appeared in court to appeal his 15-year jail term. he is accused of being a spiritual leader of a group. he was imprisoned for supporting a training camp for rebel fighters. a group of families in south korea has signed a final

compensation deal with electronicss giant samsung. it relates to employees who got leukaemia while working in one of the company's factories. more from seoul. >> reporter: a long running legal battle by five families of five former employees to have rick in addition of their decease and compensated for. they signed the agreement accepting samsung's apology, taking any responsibility for the disease, but apologising for the suffering that they have been through in this battle not having settled it earlier. also accepting a compensation deal which is confidential and that samsung is putting in preventive measures. they said that the chemicals around in that environment had created the diseases.

there were some 150 cases that were being fought in this battle. samsung has been gradually compensating those people and settling and cases in turn. having made a real about-face last year for the suffering that these people have been going through their cases, fighting for compensation, not apologising or taking responsibility, accepting any liability for the diseases in question, however, some family members are still holding out. there are two families who are also in that room behind me who say that they aren't accepting either the apology or the compensation deal on offer. one man who lost his daughter back in 2007 says that his fight will continue mexico says it could take a year to extradite the drug lord joaquin guzman to the u.s. a new video has been released of his capture on friday. from mexico city our

correspondent reports. >> reporter: a deadly raid caught on video by mexican marine. gunfire from both sides as they look for the most wanted man, joaquin guzman. at one point a man is down. a marine's voice can be heard saying "we have an injured man". grenades, bullets and five people killed in the raid. joaquin guzman wasn't to be find. they call out 'where is he? look for him". a woman is asked and she says "i don't know". he had slipped into the sewers and accuratelied for 200 metres before surfacing and stealing a car from a woman driving by. authorities soon caught up with him. he is now under heavy guard at the same mechanics security prison he escaped from in july. mexican officials say it could take at least a year to extradite him to the u.s. where he faces charges of drug trafficking, money laundering and murder. his lawyers will file as many

motions as they can to delay the process. the authorities are keen to get him into the hands the of u.s. authorities as soon as they can. a dramatic turn around from 2014 when they refused to extradite him. now there is pressure on them to hold on to them as long as possible to make sure that that extradition takes place former guantanamo bay inmates have been protesting outside the u.s. embassy in london. the gathering included british former detain yesee who was released in october. president obama promised to close the prison before the ends of his term in office. he will be giving his final state of the union address on tuesday. he is promising this one won't follow the usual script. white house correspondent reports. >> i'm willing to take responsibility for our future and for posterity. >> reporter: seven times now he has done this, addressed a joint congress to detail how he sees

the state of the union >> business leaders around the world have declared. >> reporter: in time it is all about legacy. he is expected to focus on his past accomplishments >> presidents in the last year of their presidency looking to set a narrative about who they were, what they did and how historians and really the public should judge them for the rest of their lives. >> reporter: he will go addressing members of congress, but he will be talking to the american people watching at home >> help me make it happen. >> reporter: trying to get them excited for the coming election, a final public push to try and get his party back in power. the white house released this preview on line >> it is what i want to focus on in this state of the union address. just to mark the progress we've made, not just what i want to get done in the year ahead, but what we all need to do together in the years to come. the big things. >> reporter: this is a president that has had a very difficult

relationship with congress. that was apparent at the beginning of his first term when he was heckled by a congress man. >> liar. >> reporter: and in last year's address >> i have no more campaigns to run. my only agenda, i know because i won both of them. >> reporter: white house officials acknowledge they are unlikely to get congress to act on any big issues, but he will ask them to pass criminal justice reform and the trance pacific trade pact. >> we are not afraid. >> reporter: and he is expected to warn them if they don't act on issues like closing the prison at guantanamo bay, in cuba, he might on his own. he has one year left looking to add a few more accomplishments with or without congress's help venezuela's supreme court mass ordered the opposition

controlled congress to remove three politicians. their election i being questioned by the ruling socialist party. >> reporter: we have just seen the supreme court rule that any decision that the national assembly takes or has taken in the past will be considered no. the supreme court considers the national assembly to be in contempt of court after they decided to go ahead and swear in three of the legislators that the court had decided that they needed no investigate further following allegations that there had been fraud during their election in the december polls. the national assembly had insisted on swearing them in because it's thanks to them that they occupied two-thirds or the super majority of this newly sworn in opposition led is assembly. it is also the first time in 17 years that the assembly is ruled by the opposition, so this is clearly what many here think could be the beginning of a change and one that the government is trying to minimise

or neutralize through different measures, this being the latest of it. one of the possible consequences that this decision might have is that the president will be addressing the country in his state of the union speech not from the opposition dominated national assembly but, rather, from the supreme court university students in south africa are protesting the high cost of education. they say tuition is too expensive and they're demanding that fees be scrapped. although the government provides financial assistance to some, protesters say that is not good enough. the slide of the u.s. dollar has developed. as well as the president's decision to change finance ministers twice within a week. >> reporter: what has happened to these shoes? >> reporter: she needs to buy a new pair of school shoes for her daughter, but she can barely afford them after paying school

fees for her children. she earns $150 a month. 35 goes to school fees, 50 to school uniforms and books. what left over goes to too food and transport. she says prices have doubled in south africa since last year >> here in south africa there is real suffering now. i don't know what this come from really. >> reporter: on monday the rand fell to the lowest levels against the dollar in more than seven years. households were told they will have to limit spending as the prices of items increase. the south african currency, the rand, lost 25% of its value against the u.s. dollar this year. it was partly because a slump in commodity prices. some also say it's because of

the sackings of the foin ministers. >> it is rest of the world. get your house in order economically. you can't have a situation where the rest of the world is losing confidence in south africa. >> reporter: the underperforming economy could also see the congress lose some support to opposition parties, especially in the urban areas during the local government elections in a few months. >> it seems to be blaming the private sector for manipulating the currency, for manipulating the economy, to undermine the administration. that level of trust between the governing party and the private sector makes it very difficult for one to imagine any workable solution to alleviate this immediate problem. >> reporter: government ministers are under pressure to

find solutions fast in the economic crisis. whatever long-term changes need to be made, it's the short-term changes that they are looking for to help the best football in the world has been named for the fifth time in his career. >> it goes to this wonderful player the 28-year-old barcelona forward picked it up at a ceremony in zurich. it is the fourth time he has won the title since 2012. his arch rival was second with his team mate third. the female player was carley lloyd. she led her team to the world cup games. he was named coach of the year.

he guided them to three major titles. for the first time a song entirely in arabic have topped the charts in israel. it is a hip hop treatment. >> reporter: it has been viewed online more than a million times. it went to the top of the israel's pop chart. it is love of my heart, a first single. the success is an impressive feet for any group, but it's almost unheard of for a jewish israeli band that sings traditional songs in a nearly extinct dialogue of arabic. the three sisters who make up the group know they're unlike any other band in israel and are

proud of it >> music is a language in itself. i don't think it should have any borders or something. we just want people to enjoy our music no matter where they come from. [ ♪ ] >> reporter: the sisters are descendants of yemen jews who moved to israel after it was created in 1948. like many israeli jews whose families come from arab countries, they grew up singing the songs of their ancestral homeland. around 3 million have their an says tree to the middle east. that's why these these are arab speaking palestinians. both have been among the poorest and most disenfranchised in israel >> reporter: on the surface it seems a given that such a song should get success in israel.

there is another reason why this is the first arabic language song to top the israeli music charts. for decades after the creation of israel, arabic music and this music more broadly was rarely played on israeli radio. the early leaders of israel were european or jews and their culture dominated. that is slo slowly started to change in the 1970s with artists achieving success, but they blended their music or gave it a distinctive israeli flair. >> i think the system made it very clear from the get go, from the very early 50s, that you need to work twice as harder to prove to us that you are not that kind of arab. [ ♪ ]

>> reporter: from tel aviv and elsewhere they hope to continue to trance end israelis politics and music arena the latest news on our website, aljazeera.com on "america tonight": breaking the flood gates the desperation crossing european borders and how refugees seeking shelter find themselves facing new exploitation. >> i don't see anything i don't hear anything i don't say anything. typical attitude. >> "america tonight's" sheila macvicar on germany in crisis and what the new year will bring. thanks for joining us, i'm joie chen. tensions are rising in central