road trip across west africa. on a mission to redefine a continent too often misrepresented. the weapon of choice digital cameras. one little venue african football that takes on the rainy season on these quest for the thanksgiving day story of creative gun rather invisible this this time on al-jazeera. and. the investigation into donald trump and his ties to russia moves closer to the oval office.

this is our jazeera live from doha also coming up united nations sends an s.o.s. to the world asking for billions of dollars to help communities destroyed by conflict. calls the ranger by name for the first time and ask for forgiveness for their sufferings plus. u.s. islands of hawaii responding to nuclear threats from north korea by dusting off a relic from the cold war. u.s. president donald trump's former national security adviser has pleaded guilty to lying to the f.b.i. about his contacts with russia michael flynn admitted his actions were wrong but said a senior member of trump's transition team had asked him to reach out to the russians he's a. corporate ing with the f.b.i.

investigation into alleged russian meddling in last year's u.s. election a white house correspondent can really help get reports. arrive at federal court in washington michael flynn ignored shouted questions by reporters. inside moments later the former national security adviser to president donald trump pled guilty to lying to the f.b.i. court documents show the charges against flynn stem from his lying about efforts to obtain advance knowledge of how foreign governments might vote on a u.n. security council resolution about israel as well as phone conversations flynn had before trump was even sworn in as president with the former russian ambassador to the united states surrogate kiss lee ak flynn is said to have suggested to kiss leanne sanctions put in place against russia by the obama white house may be dropped once trump was sworn in and they did not discuss anything having to do with

the united states decision to expel diplomats or or impose a censure against russia flynn's lies to the vice president about that phone call led to his dismissal after just three weeks in office in a statement trumps lawyer said flynt false claims mirror the false statements to white house officials which resulted in his resignation in february of this year nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicates anyone other than mr flynn by his plea in fact may directly tie the oval office to the investigation by special counsel robert muller and whether or not the trump campaign worked with russia this suggests that mr flynt has more information to provide about other things the white house has lied about other things the president himself may have lied about and whether or not the white house including the president himself colluded with. according to the former f.b.i.

director james comey trump once asked him to drop the case against flan and despite claims by the president's lawyer lane's cooperation with the f.b.i. probe shows that most investigation is ask a lady could lead to charges against an even bigger target including the president of the united states kimberly healthy at al-jazeera washington the united nations has launched a record appeal for more than twenty two billion dollars to help victims of conflict and humanitarian crises it says more than one hundred thirty five million people across the world need aid in nigeria fourteen and a half million people particularly women need protection and support that's because of fighting between the military and armed groups more than thirteen million people in the democratic republic of congo need humanitarian assistance many were displaced by fighting between rebel groups and government forces a similar number of syrians are still caught up in

a civil war that's now in its seventh year a third of the money requested by the u.n. is for them but the largest crisis in the world right now is in yemen who has left more than twenty two million people in need with a severe food shortage and the world's worst cholera outbreak diplomatic editor james bays reports from geneva. the u.n. says it's the worst humanitarian disaster on earth in yemen the people are suffering from conflict and a continuing cholera epidemic the situation only made worse by a saudi blockade stopping much of the food and medicine from getting to those who so desperately need it the u.n. appeal for twenty eighteen estimates there are in the country twenty two million people in need the situation in yemen is atrocious the number of people in need. of twenty eight million is approaching twenty million seven or eight million of those people are right on the verge of famine and starvation we

need to get the whole fully opened the fuel to run the water systems can get the fuel to get the food around the country can get in more commercial food as well as the aid can get in until those things happen the situation will continue to deteriorate and the risk of millions of lives being lost will grow yemen is just one of many civil taney assume urgence is making this a time of unprecedented need in its appeal for twenty eighteen the u.n. says it believes there are almost one hundred thirty six million people in need they come up with a plan to help almost ninety one million people will cost twenty two point five billion dollars but i have to say i don't think we're going to get all that money you just have to look at this year twenty seventeen their appeal was fifty two point five percent funded from south sudan to syria from afghanistan to the

refugees from myanmar conflict is the main cause of the human suffering and in most cases these are conflicts with no end in sight james pays al-jazeera at the united nations in geneva. meanwhile saudi arabia's foreign minister says the military coalition in yemen is looking at ways to step up the flow of humanitarian aid blocked idea this month after a missile was fired from who the territory toward saudi arabia says the who think should stop fighting and join the political process and we hope that eventually the who things will realize that this is not in it and that they will make peace there are many citizens they have every right to participate in the political process but they can't control the country not if you're fifty thousand and the country's twenty. it's ridiculous and so this is where we are we are very concerned about the

humanitarian situation in yemen we're looking at ways of intense in the floor humanitarian assistance into yemeni ports and airports in the coming days and few weeks we will make more announcements in the. diplomatic sources have told al jazeera that saudi officials have no objections to attending the annual gulf cooperation council summit in kuwait they have been doubts about whether the summit would go ahead because of strained relations between g.c.c. members saudi arabia the u.a.e. bahrain and egypt all cut ties and impose an economic blockade on qatar in june they accuse of supporting terrorism a charge it denies qatar's i'm a shock to me been ahmed i think any has received an invitation to next week's meeting egypt's foreign minister says he sees no end in sight to the ongoing blockade of cattle i can't really speak about a resolution because we haven't extract it from qatar or any determination that it

recognises the concerns of the four countries that have been mostly affected by the qatari policy there is that clear declaration of understanding and willingness to change course we find that the situation remains. at the current level. germany's chancellor angela merkel and opposition leader martin sure say they're ready for more talks to end the political deadlock it comes at the leaders spoke at a meeting organized by president frank walter steinmeier in berlin germany has been without a government now for more than two months since both major parties lost ground to the far right in september's election merkel c.d.u. party wants to renew its alliance with schultz's social democrats but he's angrily denying reports a coalition deal has already been reached. the news there is the green light for another coalition is simply false seems to come out of the party circles i've just spoken about it with angela merkel on the phone i told her. i

don't want to speculate about who's trying to harm me one thing is clear you have a party. trust. there's still no results in the honduran presidential election even though ninety five percent of the ballots have been counted as growing anger over the delay with violent demonstrations leaving one person dead and twenty injured about a thousand ballot boxes are set to be recounted by hand after irregularities were found that's been put on hold because the opposition is refusing to take part it says the votes been manipulated so incumbent president one orlando numbers are now a leader of the opposition's salvador. venezuela's government and opposition have begun a new round of talks in the dominican republic the top of the agenda is the country's economic and political crisis these are the first formal talks since anti-government protests ended in the july months of often violent demonstrations left at least one hundred twenty people dead and thousands detained the opposition

wants the government to release political prisoners it also wants guarantees that next year's election will be free and fair. pope francis has used the word revenge after the first time on his trip to asia on meeting refugees from the ethnic minority in bangladesh more than six hundred twenty thousand of them fled me in mawson's august the pope was advised against saying revenge on his visit to myanmar early in the week fearing a backlash by hardline buddies groups. and i stated hundred thousand bangladeshis crowded into the so ready park in dhaka as pope francis helped mass but it was later in the day after the pontiff met reinjure refugees that he finally publicly mentioned the ethnic group by name and. will continue to recognize their rights we won't close our hearts to them we won't look in another direction the presence of god today is also cold every one of us

needs to respond in the right way muhammad idris was among the small group who spoke with the pope along with his ten brothers and eight sisters he fled the military crackdown on the region just three months ago he says soldiers burnt their family home in rakhine state and shot his cousin dead. i don't know we have very happy to be in bangladesh but we suffered so much pain and agony and that's what we want to tell the pope. this is only the second time the head of the catholic churches visited bangladesh the last was pope john paul the second in one thousand nine hundred six and this time it hasn't been easy the pope's visit to bangladesh comes as this country the united nations and international aid organizations struggle to cope with more than six hundred twenty five thousand range of refugees that have arrived here since the twenty fifth it's a visit that is proving a huge diplomatic challenge to the head of the catholic church. rights groups

criticized the roman catholic leader for failing to say the name of angel during his three day visit to myanmar nor since arriving in bangladesh on thursday it's believed he refrained in myanmar to prevent a potential backlash against christians there the region has been persecuted for decades by the myanmar government which doesn't recognize the ethnic group just citizenship in what was then burma was drawn in one thousand nine hundred eighty two it's hoped the pope's blessings of just a few of the hundreds of thousands of refugees here in bangladesh will draw greater international attention to their plight they are often described as the world's largest group of stateless people child strafford al jazeera cox's bazaar bangladesh time for a short break here now just when we come back. disappointed that. it's not lived up to the expectation of the people of zimbabwe perhaps not the force for

change he promised zimbabwe's new president fills his first cabinet but plenty of old faces plus. the system will be three three times more powerful than any system in the on earth it could be the beginning of a new era in renewable energy the world's largest lithium ion battery is unveiled more in that state. welcome back as we look at the weather conditions across the americas many areas are actually drawing quite bright a bit of cloud around but you what they're looking at a dry day and highs of ten pacific northwest we still got more weather fronts pushing into the snow over the rockies there's rain at lower levels desert southwest not looking too bad los angeles there twenty one degrees so as you move the forecast into sunday still plenty of snow around seattle will see rain with

a temperature of six and further towards the south a nice working drive fun actually quite pleasant miami there sunshine and highs of twenty seven so let's head down into the caribbean for the islands again a lot of fine weather is expected here sheriff passing through very quickly on the winds kingston jamaica they're looking at highs of thirty through the isthmus the really heavy showers as seen from panama and costa rica and up through guatemala telling to ease away at the moment so there will be a few showers around but jerry not looking too bad you could town is dry makes a go city very pleasant there a twenty one degrees has a mix of heading down into south america we've got showers affecting parts of peru and through into bolivia those could be heavy in places we're also see some heavy rain across southern and eastern parts of brazil was we come further south draw a cross paraguay may see some rain affecting parts of argentina later on.

in jakarta school students are taking up weapons to fight in deadly street battles . one on one east investigates this violent phenomenon. at this time on al jazeera. it's impossible to underestimate the size and scale of the economic crisis it's not just about the billion trillion dollars of debt it's not just about the banks it's not just about the government it's about real people. at the top stories here on al-jazeera u.s. president donald trump's former national security advisers pleaded guilty to lying

to the f.b.i. about his contacts with russia. his actions were wrong but said he was asked. for more than twenty two billion dollars to help victims of conflict and natural disasters world's worst humanitarian crisis more than twenty million people. lost a group of refugees and. the world's. first time the pontiff. on his trip to asia. early in the week to avoid. the more our top story now the investigation into ties between president trump and russia michael flynn is the first member of the trumped administration so far to be charged as part of robert miller's inquiry in october former campaign aides george papadopoulos pleaded guilty to making false statements to f.b.i. agents regarding his contacts with russia and trump's former campaign manager ford

and his deputy were accused of conspiring to defraud the u.s. in dealings with ukraine a charge that arose from investigation they both pleaded not guilty. well the u.s. president has been quiet on the plains guilty plea and talk is turning to who next might be implicated in the investigation into russian meddling in the twenty sixteen presidential election particle has been gauging reaction on capitol hill. general michael flynn was a very visible part of trump's campaign for president one of his earliest and closest advisers his job often go after hillary clinton. by her that's right. that chance came back to haunt him friday oh. his guilty plea will make it that much harder for the white house to downplay the investigation that the f.b.i. now admits is looking into potential collusion between russia and the trump

campaign which the president has called a witch hunt and i think most of us believe it's not a witch on or a hoax and that the f.b.i. director and all others believe this is a legitimate concern for their part democrats dismissed the white house assertion that flynt was a minor figure in the administration hard to distance yourself from one of the most visible of your campaign surrogates and your national security adviser we want to wish everybody a merry christmas on thursday night trump seemed to bask in the spotlight lighting the national christmas tree it was a much different scene after the news broke friday reporters kept out of a planned photo shoot in the oval office the president who seems to love to talk. and tweet stayed silent general flynn is the fourth person close to president that's been caught up in this investigation now that we know he's cooperating it's pretty much guaranteed he won't be the last. al-jazeera washington. now

the u.s. senate's about to vote on a controversial tax bill these a live pictures coming from washington d.c. with senate as i've been discussing the proposals the senate's republican leadership is confident the measurable. critics say it aloud a trillion dollars to the u.s. budget deficit over the next decade president trump says the bill which includes a big cuts in corporate tax will boost economic growth the democrats now who oppose the bill say it would have a damaging impact on working families. in the wake of north korea's latest missile test hawaii has tested its nuclear warning sirens the u.s. is updating old civil defense plans and systems that date back to the cold war reports from los angeles. eerie wail of air raid sirens sounded across hole-y. on friday the first test of its civil defense warning system since the one nine hundred eighty official say they would give why one and a half million residents just thirteen minutes to take shelter the basic guidance

again if you hear this is get inside stay inside and stay tuned it's a direct response to the growing threat of war with north korea pyongyang's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program is developing rapidly undeterred by months of threats bluster and personal insults from u.s. president donald trump they will be met with fire fury and frankly power the likes of which this world has never see before earlier this week north korea tested an intercontinental missile experts say could strike all of the u.s. including east coast cities like new york and washington. air raid sirens like this one in downtown los angeles were a feature of american life during the cold war most of them were disconnected decades ago and technology has moved on a text message and email a phone call on your device on your smartphone whatever it is you have and for

a scenario like we're talking about the nuclear detonation that would be a presidential notification that would hit every single phone in this country they have that capability there's no way to override that alert and that alert will give you specific information about what the threat is and whatever the actions of the public can take in the past government funded full out shelters were stocked with supplies that's no longer an option if we did have a detonation we don't have those fallout shelters anymore people call us all the time on our public lines where the shelters so now we're looking at sheltering in place so you may have to stay inside your home for about fourteen days do you have enough supplies do you have enough you know first aid those kinds of things within your own home so we're encouraging residents to do that no matter how well prepared the general population might be a nuclear strike would be horrific it's an armageddon scenario it's going to be

a lot of fatalities a lot of areas that will not be livable habitable for a very long time as a wise governor said this week a revived nuclear threat has become the new normal robert oulds al jazeera los angeles. people in a rebel held on klav in syria's east and due to have made a desperate plea for more medical and food aid the un school for the media to evacuate and a five hundred people including over one hundred sixty children from the area which is near the capital damascus many of those waiting to be moved are either injured or sick nine people have died in recent weeks while waiting for permission from the government to be allowed to leave. you know the head of the syrian government delegation has criticised the opposition for statements made ahead of the ongoing ninth round of talks in geneva to end the conflict but he says there can be no progress as long as the opposition keeps demanding that president assad step down the government delegation is now back in damascus and says he will decide whether to return when talks with human tuesday the current round of negotiations is due to

run until november fifteenth. violent protests are broken out in bolivia after president evo morales declared that he's running for a fourth term in office as announcement comes after a court eliminated term limits for presidents making way for morale is to run again the ruling was handed down despite a referendum rejecting the idea last year. zimbabwe's opposition activists say they'll launch a fresh campaign to bring democratic reforms after the new president overlooked them in his cabinet and disappointed many by filling his team with senior figures and ruling party loyalists who helped him. reports. the announcement by president of who is in the new government is dividing opinion zimbabweans who know the new leader is a businessman a cautiously optimistic he's picked the right team others say they are disappointed how many military commanders and politicians in the new cabinet have strong links

to robert mugabe and the former government. disappointed. to the expectation of the people of zimbabwe we were hoping that. would have a new beginning would have also a cabinet that is responsive to what the expectations of the. people expect a new. face is not expected. these university graduates hope the new cabinet will deliver on the president's promise to create jobs many graduates can't find a job. twenty three year old innocent has a bachelor's degree and is known as a graduate on a good day he makes about ten dollars selling secondhand mobile phones on the streets for me as a disappointment. you know. because this is what is the current situation i'm just. frightened with is this.

was a. economists say the new cabinet has to rework or scrap some of robert mugabe's policies such as indigenous a controversial policy of black empowerment. and. recently made british and chinese envoys the european union and the united states. after years of isolation. is. struggling. what he's doing and that his

policies don't scare away investors. the reality is that thousands of these graduates join other degree holders on the street. doesn't drastically improve. prosecute. criminals. in the hague that's the conclusion of a preliminary post-mortem examination. of un judges on wednesday. just lost an appeal against a twenty year sentence for war crimes. conflict best go to the trying to find out how the bottle. now the draw is out for next year's football world cup in russia with exciting opponents for the tournament's two debut nations events got underway in moscow office space countdown from russian cosmonauts iceland soon found out it will start their first of the finals campaign against two time

champions argentina and they stop playing at lindela messi well second games against another former winning nation england the tournament kicks off on june fourteenth with host nation russia taking on saudi arabia. now anyone who uses a laptop or smartphone should know the importance of a good battery so with a u.s. electric car make a tesla deciding to make about three strong enough to power an entire city the world is taking notice how the hoax that has moved this seemingly innocuous rural area south australia has suddenly become home to one of the biggest sources of renewable energy in the wild built in sixty days the u.s. technology company tesla has built the largest lithium ion battery which is plugged into the power grid in the state of south australia the state's prem yeah unveiled the john battery which is powered by a nearby wind farm this is an example of south australia leading the world the world's largest lithium ion battery it's right here in jamestown in south australia

and it's already supplying power to the national electricity market australia is a major exporter of calls and is considered one of the world's worst greenhouse gas polluters the state of south australia is demolishing is coal fired power stations and switching to renewable energy that's imperative after a freak storm last year caused a statewide blackout highlighting the reliable supply of electricity the billionaire business tycoon mosque offered to build the battery most salient point here is that the system will be three three times more powerful than any system on earth. this is a this is not like a sort of short like a minor foray into a frontier it's like you know going three times with anyone going before musk also a promise that if it wasn't completed on time it would be free lucky for him the forty million dollar project was switched on ahead of schedule it's a exciting development. the story just kind of been the holy grail for the whole

power business for two hundred years now because if we want to move towards variable renewables wind and solar produce their own trysting when they want not necessarily when we want and so some way of storing the excess that they're producing which can then be used when they're not generating has been something we've looked for for many years people nearby jamestown gave their verdict lifted our spirits because everybody is a happy about it and we have a christian but the result in result i want it because it's never been called into action we really don't know what's coming and. so when it if it does do the job well and good if it doesn't it's just another political. tesla's chief executive wasn't at the unveiling but the state's new power backup surprise i'm sure to please climate change and pollution activists and possibly pave the way for other projects worldwide.

time for a quick recap of the headlines here in al-jazeera u.s. president donald trump's former national security adviser has pleaded guilty to lying to the f.b.i. about his contacts with russia michael medved his actions were wrong but said he was asked to do so by a senior member of trump's transition team. the un has launched a record appeal for more than twenty two billion dollars to help victims of conflict and natural disasters yemen's the world's worst humanitarian crisis with more than twenty million people in need the situation in yemen is atrocious the and number of people in need and through population in twenty to twenty eight million is approaching twenty million seven or eight million of these people are right on the verge of famine and starvation we need to get there fully opened the fuel to run the water systems can get the fuel to get the food around

the country can get in more commercial food as well as the aid food can get in. there's still no result in the honduran presidential election even though ninety five percent of the ballots have been counted there is growing anger over the a with violent demonstrations even one person dead and twenty injured about a thousand ballot boxes are set to be recounted by hand after irregularities were found that's been put on hold because the opposition is refusing to take part and says the votes been manipulated. but francis has asked a group of ranger refugees in bangladesh for forgiveness for the world and difference to their plight was the first time the pontiff used the term or hinge on his trip to asia he'd been advised not to while in myanmar early in the week to avoid inflaming tensions and the u.s. senate is about to vote on a controversial tax bill these are live pictures coming now from washington d.c. where senators have been discussing the proposals the senate's republican

leadership is confident the measure will pass president donald trump says the bill which includes a big cut in corporate tax with respect anomic growth the democrats who oppose the bill though say it will have a damaging impact on working families. well those are the headlines the news continues here on al-jazeera after one of those about. this month the international campaign to abolish nuclear weapons will receive the nobel peace prize but what he's the real threat in a series of special reports al-jazeera examines the state of nuclear proliferation around the world. on the streets of jakarta hundreds of high school students armed themselves ready to fight. these brawls go on for hours.