kenyan elections intractable war in syria refugee crisis troubles in venezuela and tensions on the korean peninsula and al-jazeera news special looks back on the biggest stories of twenty seventeen through the eyes of families who lived through them. the opportunity to understand a very different way were there before something happens and we don't leave after. this is al-jazeera.

alarms the whole room when you're watching the al-jazeera news our lives headquarters here in doha coming up in the next sixty minutes the message from the new president of zimbabwe as he delivers his state of the nation address it's time to turn around the country's struggling economy plus. i where the first person and the last word and now you are. barred from me and the united nations investigator told to stay out of the country also in. my view that we can sell this to the american people we ought to go into a lot of work. u.s. senate republicans pass a major overhaul of the tax code that they say will deliver economic growth although democrats beg to differ. good riddance to bad rubbish. the gates of hell are swinging wide to allow him entrance

a sexual assault victim reacts to the death of an archbishop who helped protect priests accused of abusing children. and we marquis here in captivity for al jazeera journalist ahmed hussein. welcome to the program zimbabwe's a new president and the. same proving the nation's struggling economy is number one priority that's the key message from his state of the nation address government will soon and. robust engagement and a reengagement program with the international community in our continued to be to rejoin the community of nations may make government is committed to open a zimbabwean up to investment by building

a free spirit going to me which are brilliant it's zimbabweans and is well coming out so there's how to answer his live for us in the capital. in harare you were able to listen to some of what the president had to say an economy does seem to take precedence. exactly he has just finished speaking and he spent a large chunk of his speech talking about the economy is what zimbabweans wanted to hear in the last few days they saw prices of basic commodities rising for no apparent reason things like chicken beef. bread cooking oil in some cases even doubling people wondering what is going on you promised them that when they came into power they saying you promised us that things will change and things on the ground don't seem to be changing the main opposition party in d.c. had a press conference earlier they said they also felt deflated because the economy does not seem to be improving he said a long time talking about the economy saying that the policies will be consistent

they'll be no mixed messages coming from the government and his main focus is creating jobs and easing the cash for the u.s. here we did talk to deal about the economy as you say these are the many challenges for the government and he doesn't just have to think about the economy does really have to think about the political lay of the land and to generate. a challenge to the farmers you might say who can grow the food the nation needs as a whole and the farming community leader great deal of help. exactly. he talked about. who has. he also say that he's put. in place agricultural productivity on the funds for example with. the agriculture minister.

people and to make sure farmers on the ground know what they're doing. be able to come back and work with the president. indicated they want to. be an agriculture as well it won't be easy a lot of people are skeptical about how he will handle the controversial issues but he is saying what the right things on economy and everything else people just want results talk they want action. to his robert mugabe did say he wanted to have. with the international community and to rejoin the community of nations through the economy those are words that will please the international community and perhaps heartened the domestic audience as well. exactly almost every day since he was sworn in it was his officials coming out saying let's forget about the past we've made enemies because of our policies. we

want foreign direct investment come into the country speaking. they say that they hope for they are willing to work with them. they want to see. on the ground the key will be. they say that if that election is free. if its nationals are coming to the observe the election if there's no violence it could be the first indication that stability is returning to zimbabwe and they'll be. be willing to come in and invest in the industries and the funds and other markets in the country but it is a wait and see here saying what the right thing for people i didn't repeat the question now is how long is it going to take to turn around the economy will lead us to now how are you analyze a speak to those in power to see what they have to say will come back to you through the day thank you let's cross over back to alex macgames who we spoke to him about half an hour ago lecture a law at the university of kent in the u.k.

a former advisor to morgan chang gries and barbara's former prime minister joins you from town to break via skype good to have you still with us alex of course as harry said our correspondent in zimbabwe the president took a large chunk of his state of the nation address and focused on the economy which we knew he would do we just get to this point about what internationally the markets want to hear from the president and what he can practically do maybe in the next one hundred days as he's suggesting that would encourage them that there's a bob way is potentially on the right track. well i think the markets to be happy in the. very positive statements that the president has been making about and of that in transparent economy and that market forces who are allowed to have more sway and obviously they're also be keen to err about the protection of property rights something that the president is officials at the king jam for size in the

last two weeks it's important to ensure that the judiciary is independent to ensure that whenever there is any disputes they can do so to in a manner that is fair and objective and so they're making the right noises we please the international markets whether or not this can actually be delivered in truckee is over because another question we're going to see how this will be implemented over the next hundred days of course will be more knowledge this on his speech about the economy so let's talk about the politics now the opposition party the small ones the big ones especially the m.d.c. who really want to see some sort of difference in the policies on the politics of the country what you think they will be focused on but we haven't quite heard from morgan chiang rai yet on camera but what do you think what do you think his opinion is of the current situation and how it progresses. well i think the opposition has

always felt that the economy apart from themselves the economy is one of the biggest openings to be if without and i'm used to look at the under at the new leader meeting and where they are concerned is mostly on electoral fronts on how to reform the political environment for a long time has the is cured in favor of. and these are the messages that they're presenting for the part. i also believe that they need to use tact. independent messages wheelchair. policy issues so far those things are not coming out very well and they will need to stop doing that because of is already running with a message which is based on on policy how important is it that when you have groups like the the freedom fighters that fought for zimbabwe up to independence in one nine hundred eighty turning against the incumbent zanu p.f.

party led by robert mugabe at the time they are obviously watching very carefully what happens does not and god will have to get them back home bored into the party as such or are they a force to be reckoned with a force that he has to appease already please anybody and they were supporting him during the time that i was think there's a key to campus life and. perhaps one of the strongest supporters and so there are as they're working together he has brought in some of the war veterans. back into government they had been discarded by mr mugabe and so they're going to be working together i think they're very very closely as we go towards the elections next year well we shall see what does happen for them as i left my gaze and thanks so much for joining us and for your insight from can't thank you. no mere man has blocked an independent u.n. investigator from entering the country the un special rapporteur on me and more

yang he had been due to visit in january to assess human rights including abuses against muslim bring in rakhine state elise says there must be something terrible happening in rakhine and hopes the government will reconsider more than six hundred fifty thousand refugees have fled to neighboring bangladesh since all this to escape a military crackdown young healy spoke with us earlier on al-jazeera from seoul she says she never imagined i would go down this path and is deeply disappointed with its decision to deny her entry. there's a lot of big words that have been sent in my to there's this incident a lot of kind of strong very strong condemnation but it doesn't seem like the military government is taking heed to any of this i think it was disappointing to. the international community could not want to come up with a stronger resolution while on the security council. it was

a presidential statement but that having said that it was an improvement we've come so far from that we have never i think we're the first person and the last president would have never threw that nehemiah choose to go down the path it was opening up it is the road to democracy the transition after ration of the people you know all over this point to to a success story for me but i'm really deeply. disappointed and very saddened by the this decision. to deny cooperation with my mandate of with any other human rights mechanisms and most of to silence people who speak out about these kind of we're jealous of

today's. senate has passed a contentious one point five trillion dollars tax reform bill the tax cuts and jobs act is passed. it's the country's most sweeping tax of holding more than thirty years of this brings president donald trump one step closer to his first significant legislative victory the bill and goes back to the house of representatives for a final vote in the coming hours well out there is complete how could his covering the story joins me live now from our bureau in washington d.c. with something like this that's so wide and large there are winners and losers when it comes to tax reform is complete. that's right and certainly when you pointed out that this is going back to the house that's because of a bit of a procedural hick up they were hoping this would be done and dusted by now the republicans in the house and the senate but because it was discovered that there was a vote of course already in the house but that there were three provisions inside that legislation that were deemed unlawful they're going to have to vote on it

again so a little bit hard to keep score of all of this who are watching but that's what's happening it is expected to pass and then it will be signed into law certainly this is significant terms of winners and losers because what many have been focusing on is the corporate tax rate being cut significantly from thirty five percent to twenty one percent and while they're certainly we are told there are going to be gifts for ordinary americans as well many americans have not read this legislation in fact many lawmakers have not read this five hundred plus piece of legislation but certainly it is being promised and hailed as a win for the middle class after eight straight years of slow growth and under-performance america is ready to take off coupled with a regulatory reforms that have already been implemented by the administration we know comprehensive tax reform major middle class tax relief. and making our

businesses both large and small more competitive around the world will complete this will be a major achievement for a beleaguered president two scott poll ratings the pumps the worst four for any president but certainly he'll be pleased as he heads towards the christmas break right out certainly debatable whether these are the lowest poll ratings of any president but certainly there stagnant and unpopular in terms of what has been accomplished so far because as you pointed out the president has had some legislative challenges he has not been able to pass obamacare he's been in office almost one year and still doesn't have that major legislative victory so perhaps a in advance of the anticipated victory does we expect from the president when he appears at the white house a little bit later he took to social media as he often does here's what he had to disable he said the united states senate just passed the biggest in history tax cut

and reform bill terrible individual mandate obamacare repealed goes to the house tomorrow morning for the final vote if approved there will be a news conference at the white house at approximately one o'clock pm that is eighteen g. for our viewers so the president already showing his excitement about what has been a long time in coming but not missing that opportunity to take a swipe at his predecessor because of course well he didn't get obamacare repealed as he promised on the campaign trail he has managed to take away that what's called an individual mandate or the requirement or the that you be forced to buy health insurance so trying to tuck that little victory in as well but certainly this is something that democrats are hammering on saying that the protections that were put in place by barack obama for for ordinary middle americans is quickly disappearing under this president who of course completely come back to for more analysis also when the president does speak for the moment thank you. well the u.s. and canada will co-host a summit attended by foreign ministers from fourteen countries in january to seek

progress on the north korean nuclear crisis now the announcement was made after u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson canadian foreign minister chrystia freeland the meeting will be held in the city of vancouver now last month moth korea tested its most powerful ballistic missile yet when it says it's capable of reaching the entire u.s. mainland we believe that a diplomatic solution to the crisis is essential and possible he will use this gathering in self pity to advance our work on diplomatic efforts towards a more peaceful prosperous and nuclear free future on the north korean peninsula and to demonstrate international solidarity in our condemnation for his actions we will not accept you as a nuclear nation a nuclear weapons nation and all of the share one policy or one goal of theirs in the fall complete verifiable denuclearization of the korean pollutes well or plenty more ahead here on the al-jazeera program the parts of puerto rico that are still

without electricity u.s. officials promised to speed up recovery efforts months after hurricane maria. and divided catalans to cast their vote on thursday will be live from barcelona on election many hope will result spades session crisis and in support of former wimbledon champion set to return to tennis four years after retiring. i want to head on a vote on the u.s. decision on jerusalem at the un the us ambassador has sent a threatening e-mail to other members of the general assembly that he warned them against supporting a resolution to reject donald trump's recognition of jerusalem and the e-mail reads the president will be watching this vote carefully. requested i report back all those who voted against us as you consider your vote i encourage you to know that the president of the u.s.

take this vote personally. it's now one thousand days since the conflict in yemen escalated with the saudi led military intervention now the coalition has been backing president of the rebel months who had these forces against the shia rebels a power struggle that's turned into a regional confrontation thousands of people have been killed and millions are on the brink of famine. reports. doran was walking out of her father's cement factory north of the capital sana'a when the building was hit by an airstrike but the blast waves twisted her back she's now struggling to walk doctors say her spine was damaged during the attack while her life has been shattered by the conflict in her country dreams of graduating and becoming doctor and i used to go to school and fit my life was beautiful because i could walk and right now i can't walk to school i can only go to the wheelchair i used to be able to sit

in a chair at my desk and write but now when i try to write my hand hurts i used to love writing but now i can't even hold a pen. but the conflict in yemen shows no sign of abating on tuesday the who thiis fired a ballistic missile to was the saudi capital of riyadh they say they were targeting a meeting of senior officials of the yemeni royal palace saudi arabia accuses iran of supplying the houthi is with the messiah and as the conflicts continue there are fears of a wider regional confrontation the healthy is the remain defiant and when i heard. we face a war carried out by ten countries and their attempts to create more divisions and chaos but that has failed and we still lead the front against the aggressors. meanwhile the fighting rages near the capital sana'a forces loyal to president of

the. are struggling to break the defense lines civilians caught in the fighting. thousands of people have been killed since the start of the conflict into thousand and fifteen and i'm going to my hope is that two thousand and eighteen comes along with peace and end of aggression and blockade imposed on my cunt. but i also hope that all the parties come together and build a democratic state. millions of the yemenis struggle to find food and shelter the country which faces the world's biggest humanitarian crisis is also politically divided. by the international community to negotiate a settlement suffered a setback earlier this month when the country is asked that leader. there was killed by the whole of these in sinai. but for many yemenis like neuron perhaps

suffer the most in this conflict and and to the fighting can't come soon enough how about our al-jazeera and as we mentioned it's been a thousand days since the saudi led coalition began its military campaign against the who tease we'll explore the political and humanitarian impact of the conflict in an in-depth discussion on inside story with hashem harbor at seventeen thirty g.m.t. on wednesday campaigning for cattle earliest parliamentary election has ended thursday's vote who was called by spain after catalonia as leaders declared independence in october the election is expected to indicate the extent of public support for session from spain polls show a hung parliament is likely leaving the political crisis unresolved for more on this let's go over to paul brennan who joins us now from barcelona it's all quiet before the polling booths open on thursday paul. it is that's despite the stakes being so very high this election of course is the first indication at the

ballot box at least that we have as to whether catalonia has fallen down as a independent state within spain or whether it's actually going to decide to throw its lot in with madrid as you say the indications are no clear knockout blow for either side at the moment the poll of polls shows that the separatists or independents people they've got around forty seven percent of the votes and forty three point seven percent for those who would prefer to stay within the union of the overall spanish and spanish government to discuss the fact that we won't have perhaps a knockout blow. and telling journalists who lives here in barcelona now look it's going to be disappointing to people that they're not going to have a definitive outcome from this. i think so many people will not be happy to find out that probably the two blocks are more or less equal and it's going to be very

difficult to find an agreement to have a majority very likely even though one of the two sides might get more seats than the other they might not get to the majority of seats that's very likely going to happen what does this do for the politics of catalonia is this simply going to mean more discord going down the road how they're going to resolve this issue so i think the first consequence will be that it's going to take a long time to form a new government even they might get to go to a second round of elections and that implies that the spanish government will be actually governing kathak catalonia through their one hundred fifty five article of the spanish constitution for a long time and i don't think that's a very good news for anyone. the idea of other issues i mean the election campaign has been totally dominated by pro separatists and pro unionist side but this is a major metropolitan city. speaking to residents there disappointed that issues

like health care the problems of tourism other issues are not being added it's amazing how much all of these issues have disappeared from the from the political discourse the the two blocs the independent is the constitutional east bloc so to say they're all concentrated on talking about this conflict so there is a very very few minority of people were actually trying to discuss other issues and noticeably the party that's led by other callao the mayor of barcelona is the only one that's actually trying to change the axis of discussion and trying to put other issues i'd say it's obviously the city will continue running there is it's really just it's a it's a one issue election i'm afraid the results stuck emerging after about ten pm local time tomorrow because proportional representation more likely to run midnight by the time we get a really definitive outcome thanks very much paula. now the u.s. has promised to speed up recovery efforts on federal assistance to puerto rico

after top officials visited the island on chews day puerto rico continues to struggle after a devastating hurrican three months ago with over two thousand one hundred thousand homes damaged several municipalities are still in the dark with no electricity the governor says needs a lot more financial assistance on top of the five billion dollars already pledged by congress but the big guns will see how responded to our needs and to our petitions and there are several steps of this way there's a tax reform and there is the supplemental. and we see that there is there are senators and congressmen there are acting. you know against the best interest of the people were but we got we will campaign we've seen a lot of. videos. and had an opportunity to talk to people back in united states who actually suffered as

a result of what's going on here. we have a complete one hundred percent understanding of all the suffering that people go through. probably not. through compassion is there we do understand that there are very significant. after causing flooding and mudslides across the philippines tropical storm a kite attack is headed to vietnam and the bill a peninsular this week at least forty three people have been killed in the philippines the hope is fading of finding any more survivors the storm hit on saturday forcing eighty eight thousand people to leave their homes to be going to house more from bill around the island. according to rescuers there are at least five bodies trapped in the rubble it's going to be difficult especially over the last few days when the incessant rains have hampered operations now president rudy gotos are due was on the ground a few days ago and promised to provide immediate assistance to families he's

seventy is from this area he is from this region and he feels very much connected to the people of samarra and related but there are questions as to not just the emergency response but the preparation for disasters like this one as you know eastern beside this region has always been bogged down by natural disasters one of the most powerful and devastating as i point ever hit the country happened right here typhoon haiyan swept the eastern to sayas more than four years ago and left more than eight thousand people dead and since then during that time a former president benigno aquino and now under the time of president bush there there have been a lot of discussions and efforts when it comes to dealing with we have elicitation but more importantly experts would like to see how the government is doing when it comes to making communities far more resilient that these should not be much more reactive but much more proactive when it comes to preparing for disasters like this one. well here's rob now with the wealth is that still

a continuing risk. for the philippines in fact increasingly looks like a weakening storm even as for the malignancy but i'll watch it more active actually even than that current conditions of the storm is what's been happening down in australia we look at this full last two days it's an active cold front which went through melbourne yesterday produced some flooding i apologize this is somebody holding a mobile phone of course hail size of golf balls here as you can see and of course there was a certain amount of wind damage trees down power outage to about one hundred thousand people for a time of c. being cleared up that's thing is marched on since it's a twenty four hours later it hit sydney almost over the top of sydney at lunchtime because there's so much difference in temperature either side it was thirty nine degrees at midday then as it went through a big drop in twenty four that's really comes from an active cold front now it will lose business interest is now twenty four degrees is the forecast temperature this

is for tomorrow now we did mention carjackers would have a look see her car exactly where it is it's a massive cloud it has been for a while and it's very hard to see the center and it was affecting those in borneo yesterday if anything he's throwing more showers into the south of vietnam stop tickly strong storm no has it ever been without his big feature which tells potential to bring rain in the next few days on its route in three days towards peninsula where it will still be weak so thanks very much for well still ahead here on the al-jazeera news. maybe out of iraq but displaced people are still weary about returning to their homes we'll explain why. and it's bore the toronto maple leafs with. the client for the special diversity caved in the n.h.l. to stay with us here on out. you on. three months when they're on line the main us response to drug use and the

drug trade over the last fifty years has been the criminal mind or if you join us on saying no you will first this week's over the morning in the second i want to cover the world in darkness and this is a dialogue that could be what leading to some of the confusion online with about people saying they don't actually know what's going on join the colobus conversation at this time on al-jazeera. the carter center.

welcome back you're watching i was a reminder of our top stories in barbara's new leader says building an open and transparent economy is a major priority and. in an address to the nation said he committed he is committed to building a system that's welcoming to zimbabweans as well as foreign investors also the u.s. senate has passed a contentious one point five trillion dollar tax reform bill this brings president donald trump one step closer to his first significant legislative victory of representatives will hold a final vote in the coming hours. and the independent u.n. investigator blocked by me in march from visiting next month as told down to zero

the she's deeply disappointed with the decision dan healy warned that there must be something terrible happening in rakhine state more than six hundred fifty thousand ring of muslims have fled to neighboring but rather since august was a military crackdown. french president. bashar assad is the enemy of millions of his own people after the syrian leader accused paris of supporting terrorism and the war of words began as french officials blame assad's government for failed peace talks aimed at ending the syrian civil war now the syrian president responded saying that paris has spearheaded support for terrorists in syria and mccraw is therefore unfit to discuss peace settlements the french president then hit back at us and describing his statements as acceptable because it's the international coalition that's been at the forefront of the battle against eyesore. meanwhile a new round of talks aimed at ending the civil war in syria starts in kazakhstan's

capital star of the day the two day meeting will focus on implementing a cease fire deal brokered by russia turkey and iran the kazakh foreign ministry says the talks also address issues including the clearing of land mines in the release of hostages in syria. meanwhile in syria people displaced from isis former stronghold of rockers say they're being pressurised into returning to their destroyed homes parents they're worried about their young children stepping on unexploded bombs or some a bit of it reports. that it's not easy claude's from rubble but the family has little choice their home and rocco was hit by a near strike as i filmed was driven out they've been living in displacement camps but life was so tough there back home a zombie and her children could step on a mine on an unexploded munition. half times i'm from the el mission that neighborhood i'm constantly worried about the young children it's difficult to live here there's nothing with no house if you live outside now after the fall of life

of the fact the capital the people of russia complain no one is helping them i would armor his thirteen children and he says the camp management i need told him to go home and then we'll look at this the house is gone there's nothing left nothing to eat or drink we need something to survive i was once home to more than a quarter of a million people after nearly five months of fighting eighty percent of the city is destroyed. doctors without borders says during the battle nobody cared about it or billions and the coalition inflicted a deluge your fire on the city. reconstruction is estimated to cost billions of dollars but since isis defeat in october if you have announced the billing this to foot the bill or even provide basic infrastructure health care and education the ancient city was a crown jewel of empires dating back more than two thousand years it's never been leveled like this before beyond the river euphrates was isis capital iraq which was under their control since two thousand and fourteen now the city has been taken over by kurdish led forces but it remains in ruins and i say the limits are still

being cleared. by just continue to discover rep and dumps eisel to leave guns and ammunition from the syrian army that is generally the area is safe but there are some i saw weapons left to protect the people we are doing mining of the city we are here to protect civilian career the displaced arab population find me hard to believe people wouldn't comment on camera but many say they are under their occupying force go to fight in the night accusations that their arabs from their towns and villages. but unless there is a serious push to rebuild and rehabilitate raptors gaping wounds bear the risk of fostering some other group like i saw some of the job made out of iraq on the western bank of the euphrates river it's no year since al jazeera journalist mahmud hussein was detained imprisoned in egypt he was arrested while visiting his family the security services say he's under investigation but have not referred him to

court if they are stable force. for three hundred sixty five days mahmoud hussein has been held in an egyptian prison the crimes he stands accused of range from incitement to broadcasting fake news with the aim of spreading chaos al-jazeera strongly denies all allegations against his saying and demands his immediate and unconditional release i think we have to continue our efforts in order to keep the egyptians out of the position totally is our colleague in which percent before working at the networks headquarters in the qatari capital doha the same was based on al-jazeera is now closed bureau in cairo his family says his physical and mental health had deteriorated considerably over the past year and that he's being denied adequate medical attention for a broken arm my father is emotionally and mentally distressed because he feels that he is there and the dog sitting behind the bars without connecting and crying. and

he's away from his children his family his father his mother and he can't do anything the coverage of hussein's case by egyptian media has also had a major impact on his family shortly after being arrested he was paraded on national television which branded him a terrorist my sisters and ground their face social stigma everything in their schools everyone calls them that they are sons and daughters of protest and they are not worth flipping during egypt they are not safe each one of us is not safe. human rights groups and press freedom groups have condemned hussein's detention is the latest in a string of arrests by gyptian authorities targeting al jazeera staff in the country a year and a half ago ibrahim hello the former editor in chief of al-jazeera arabic was sentenced to death in absentia for endangering national security accusations he

denies egypt also in prison al-jazeera by her mohammed mohammed and peter greste on charges of spreading fall. news in a case that was widely condemned by international media outlets and politicians alike they were freed after being held in prison for over a year it's unclear when or if mahmoud hussein will be released but the message to his egyptian jailers is the same from him his family and his employer prevent mood because journalism is not a crime in the outside of the al-jazeera headquarters in doha and i was there are journalists around the world are calling for the release of our colleague mahmoud to say staff here in doha have been showing their support for hussein by holding this event in arabic channel news stream they want to see him freed from prison. the form archbishop of boston cardinal bernard law has died was an influential figure in the u.s. catholic church he was forced to step down after it was revealed that he protected

several priests accused of abusing children and the hoax to possible. is a dramatic fall from grace for the highest ranking catholic official in the united states. cardinal law once favored by the late pope john paul the second was forced to resign after it was revealed that he had failed to remove priests from his ministry who had been accused of abusing children the former archbishop silence over child molesters in the priesthood sparked the worst crisis and american catholicism news of his death provoked more anger in massachusetts where he was the archbishop of boston good riddance to bad rubbish i hope the gates of hell are swinging wide to allow him entrance i am a mother of three of children that have been sexually abused by priests. no law has everything under the cap and he will not admit anything he will not mean

what does. he abuse in boston extended over six decades involving over two hundred thirty priests and more than seven hundred fifty victims there harvard educated law was implicated in a scandal after a boston globe newspaper investigation was published in two thousand and two leaves know that as long as i am in a position to do so i will work tirelessly to address this crisis and to underscore its apparent this is a wake up call for the church the paper use court documents reveal in the carter who had moved priests who had abused children from parish to parish without alerting police parents. his actions led to a public uproar and mass protests before his resignation at the end of the year the newspaper's investigation was then made into an oscar winning movie in two thousand

and fifteen. boston priest molested kids in six different versions over the last thirty years the church found out about it and did nothing we haven't committed any long term investigator for resources to the case despite his involvement in the clergy sex abuse scandal of the vatican continued to support cardinal law and offered him a position in rome within the church he focused on building catholic jewish relations and acting as an unofficial envoy to cuba cardinal bernard law died in rome he was eighty six years old how to help there. barbara doris is the executive director of snap the survivors network of those abused by priests she joins me now via skype from st louis in missouri nice to have you here live on al-jazeera mistress' does the death of cardinal law actually close the chapter on his involvement with the abuse allegations or does this continue to linger on

amongst the catholic diocese in the u.s. i think it continues to linger on because of the way it's been handled by high ranking church officials nothing basically has changed cardinal law the boston in disgrace and yet ended up in the vatican in a position of power and prominence i think it's time for pope francis to send a very strong message by burying cardinal law quietly quickly and without pomp and circumstance a man who protected child predators who allow predator clergy to continue to be moved from parish to parish just not deserved to be buried with high honors in your opinion there so why is it so difficult for the catholic church to deal with the problem when it has been an ongoing problem not just in the united states but in other dioceses in other parts of the world as well where do you see the problem

or how do you see the problem being tackled. i think it hasn't they haven't changed their behavior because they haven't been forced to all of their needs are being met they continue to get donations people continue to show them respect and yet they continue to hide and protect the predators so until civil authorities step in and hold them accountable not only the predators but those who enable and protect and shield them nothing is going to change what numbers are we talking about as far as your concerned with the people that you deal with in terms of the cases that come in front of you or know you that day by day week by week or month by month basis we're still hearing from people who've been abused by members of the clergy was in the last year or two so this crisis is not all that people say well you know we have heard anybody who was abused in the ninety's but you have to remember it takes people decades before they can find the courage and the healing to step forward and publicly admit they were abused so this crisis is far from over survivors for

survivors this is a particularly tough time of the year christmas brings up many memories are divisions within families over whether or not you can reveal that you were abused by a priest and cardinal law's death will bring back many of the bad memories of what took place in boston for the moment we'll have to leave it there has been fascinating speaking to barbara doris there from snap in st louis thanks for your time. now a new investigation in iraq has found the number of civilians killed in the battle . to push i thought from mosul is ten times more than previously thought now the associated press has studied more records from october last year to the fall of i saw in july this year found up to eleven thousand civilians were killed now that's a significantly higher number than the one given by iraqi prime minister hyder other body which is around one thousand two hundred sixty civilians killed the a.p. investigation found that one third of the deaths were due to bombardments by either

the u.s. led coalition or iraqi forces and they blame zeisel the violent final violent assault for another third of the deaths now it couldn't be determined by more records which side was responsible for the remainder of those that were killed lori headed to the international security correspondent at the associated press and one of the authors of the report joins me now via skype from paris these are quite significant accusations to make you obviously feel that a.p. can stand by the figures that they're presenting to the international community. we can we spent four months compiling records both from the morgue in mosul and comparing them against multiple databases from. governmental organizations including air were as amnesty international drug body count and a u.n. report that came out recently and what we found was that there was

a significant under-reporting of the number of civilian dead in militia will in the nine month battle to drive eisel why do you think the iraq authorities for example haven't gone into those areas too you might say do of but why you see families that are being torn apart by this conflict because it. goes on there will be missing family members that will want to be found questions will be asked those questions will be asked of the government. and i think that many of the people in mosul are asking those questions certainly the men that we spoke to in the morgue who are working tirelessly to count the bodies and to try to figure out what killed all of the civilians and who they're receiving and whose families are asking for closure so that's a question that i think is going to become increasingly important for the iraqi government have you managed to present this evidence to the iraqi government as yet

. this story today is presenting the evidence to them and what have you had to do reaction from them not as yet what do you expect or what sort of reaction would you like from baghdad. i think it's not so much a question of the reaction that we would like i think more importantly is the reaction that all of those in mosul would want to hear from the government that represents them and i think that there's there are questions that need to be answered and certainly the people of mosul are going to be asking them as years go on in terms of the lawmakers that were in position before i still took over in mosul. can they be involved in trying to resolve these issues of missing people those that were killed be a conduit perhaps between reports like yours of them the government trying to find and trying to find a way forward well i think that would be

a really interesting resolution because there are in addition to just those that were killed in the battle there are as we know hundreds and thousands of people who were killed by eisel in the years that the extremist group took over mosul and so there is going to have to be some kind of accounting done if only to start the process of rebuilding the city without feeling as though we've left behind when this country has left behind those who have already died or for the moment to lori from associated press joining us in paris thank you so much for your time thank you . kim jong. he's the lead singer of one of south korea's largest biggest pop groups shiny the twenty seven year old's body was found at a hotel room in seoul on monday police say he committed suicide one of kim's close friends posted on social media that he left a note revealing his struggle with depression and fame. and then.

has been born in new orleans. louisiana. a species of african. kenya. their only one hundred left in the wild. well still ahead here on the al-jazeera news. a rare victory in the international sporting arena will be here with that story.

ok mark it's time for sports is talk to you and thank you very much to help the international paralympic committee have delayed a decision on whether russian athletes will be allowed to compete at next year's winter games in chang an announcement was expected on friday but while the ban on russian competitors have been upheld they've been given an extra month to meet the criteria required to lift about suspension this thing to the world anti-doping agency green stating russia russian athletes will only be permitted to compete as neutrals had for praise and limpid games. it's been four years since marion bartoli walked away from the professional tennis circuit but the twenty thirteen wimbledon champion is making a comeback the french woman quit the game just weeks after winning her only grand slam title in london since then she's found work as a t.v. commentator but has also struggled with a viral illness bartoli has won eight titles and reached a career high ranking of seven in two thousand and twelve it's going to be your

challenge i have stayed out of practice ahead of me but i'm hoping to be ready for march and the miami open i'm reducing forewards to be on the court to get in front of you to feel your support specially in paris of course in roland garros in my home country for the also for the fed cup. and we in britain will come back on so uncommon in women's tennis belgian kim clijsters was retired for two and a half years but won the u.s. open upon her return another belgian just seen and heard just a twenty month retirement before she returned to competitive tennis in two thousand and ten and martina hingis first retired from tennis in two thousand and three at just the age of twenty two after winning five grand slam singles title as a teenager she returned three years later retired again came back again and won twenty doubles grand slams before her retirement last month. so for now in manchester city dominated left in

a penalty shootout on tuesday to reach the league cup semifinals an artist silver put thirty one nil up and it looked like it would end that way first before leicester's jamie vadi scored a late ninety seventh minute equalizer sending the game into extra time and penalties man city coming out on top winning the shootout for three why arsenal have also made it through to the last four by beating west ham one nil danny welbeck scored the goal for the gunners just before half time austin was never actually lifted the league cup trophy before were two more games the coming up later on a wednesday bristol play mentality united while chelsea face bournemouth chelsea have failed to reach the semifinals of the competition for the last five years being knocked out at each quarter final stage for sure both wants to go through to the next round or are like us and therefore disease and we must be focused and.

i think we we appreciate the game very well. and the defendant does that mentality and. under our laws but now we have to play that to play and to try to fool to go to the next round in spain at last to come a dread have reportedly leak arrivals barcelona to feed over their pursuit of one of the league's top players striker and one griezmann recently signed a new contract to stay in madrid until twenty twenty two but he's still been linked to a move of a number of european clubs athletic i was alleged to the botha loan to have made an illegal transfer approach for the france international former wild card winning brazilian strike over mario is planning to run for president of the brazilian football confederation in an effort to help clean up corruption in the sport the fifty one year old is currently a senator in his home state of rio de janeiro and has played an active role in

leading corruption investigations the news comes just days after marco polo they'll know who is the current c.b.s. president was given a ninety day suspension by fee for wade's alleged he is involved in an ethical conduct. the toronto maple leafs have celebrated one hundred years since the team's first ever game in the national hockey league believes were one of six foundations teams in the league's opening season in one thousand nine hundred seventeen a century later they hosted the carolina panthers at a special time of two pm on a tuesday and it proved a memorable occasion all round for toronto manor and tyler bozak both had a goal and three assists in a crushing eight one victory. in the n.b.a. the sacramento kings fought from behind to be the philadelphia seventy six ers on wednesday sacramento were at a sixteen point deficit in the third quarter but they recovered from that to lead by a point in the fourth for the help that lead for the rest of the game one hundred one

to ninety five with school. american skier mckayla schifrin is stumping us as a gold medal favorite less than two months out from those olympics and shiffrin won her third world cup skiing event of the season on tuesday triumphing in the giant slalom in called chevelle all three of her victories of come a different discipline she also topped the podium in traditional slalom in november and in downhill earlier this month the twenty two year old leads the overall well top standings by one hundred ninety one points from germany's victoria reckons. meanwhile it was a less successful race for catarina through prayers this happened not quite the way she would have wanted to cross the finishing line i'm sure the austrian was disqualified but luckily she wasn't hurt in the fall. while north korea is largely isolated from international community football is one arena where they've been trying to stay in touch the women's national team won the east asian football

championship for a third straight time last week and the north korean news agency supplied this footage of the team being greeted upon their return at pyongyang international airport north korean teams remain active in asian club and national team competitions. thanks very much tatiana all you have been watching the al-jazeera news are i'll have more on the other side of the break over for hard to live from toss the other way after all of the news our team thanks very much for your time and your company.

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