a nation where corruption is endemic now embroiled in a battle to hold the power to. how is this radical transformation. i mean. to me that if you want to look shedding light on the romanians pressing for change and there unconventional methods to eliminate corruption remain people at this time on al-jazeera. iran's interior ministry says it will confront disorder as anti-government protests turned violent on saturday.

kalonzo rahman this is al jazeera life my headquarters here and on a very special welcome to view is in new zealand ushering in the new year and twenty eighteen these are live pictures from all planned the sky tower and the bay where new zealand is now offering in a brand new year also on our program a coalition of rebel groups vows to fight on in syria we'll look at what the new year could bring for a country that's been so devastated by war security preparations around the world as nations gear up to bring in the new year. and. i'm dizzy and human on the northern coast of cuba and coming up i'll tell you why the largest island of the caribbean is actually shrinking. to protesters in iran were killed on saturday night during anti-government demonstrations there's confusion over who's responsible for the deaths in the city of beirut. the iranian government is blaming forward agents saying the security

forces didn't file the crowd pita sharples will. for the third day in a row they are out on the streets fighting with police went on into the night anti-government protesters most of them students facing up to riot police outside tear on university but what began as a protest about rising food prices and welfare benefit cuts turned political on saturday. earlier in the day they chanted not gaza not lebanon my life a wrong. don't be afraid we're staying strong together. an expression of anger about claims the government is focusing more on regional issues than economic problems at home. iranian t.v. showed a display of strength by crowds of pro-government supporters in cities nationwide tens of thousands of people on the streets chanting death to america down with

israel in support iran's supreme leader ali khamenei letter that people have protested against inflation other problems but that does not show that our people have turned on each other or are against the ruling system and their leadership. the pro-government rallies were pre-planned to mark the anniversary of the end of the unrest that shook the country in two thousand and nine for some time the been some disparate groups have been protesting whether it was sabre's have lost their savings through these corrupt financial institutions whether his pension is no longer going their pensions will have to live on pensions as people who are worried about the environment this woman is all these groups and they've been testing and testing and you could see that those the those slogans are now becoming more radical you could say that the atmosphere is going tense or intense and most of all what you could say is that they no longer seem to have that fear from the security forces there in that other. one this was

a huge display of support for the iranian leadership the government will be concerned it just how quickly a protest about food prices could become political pizza shop al jazeera dramatic video has emerged from syria showing children being rescued from rebel held parts neda mask is following government asteroid's now these pictures of a child being taken from the rubble are said to be from the damascus suburb or harass them in eastern guta at least thirteen people including five children who are believed to have been killed in the bombardment rescuers are also seen carrying two babies from every window building aid agencies say the siege by government forces that has caused a humanitarian emergency. more than thirty fighting groups based in northern syria are joining forces under the single banner of the syrian national army the announcement was made by the head of the rebel interim government opposed to the rule of president bashar al assad the new unified opposition includes all factions

of the rebel free syrian army the f.s.a. was backed by turkey to push eisel fighters i'm kurdish forces from border areas between the two countries mon couple of is director of policy analysis at the doha institute he says the opposition is presenting a united front in a bid to influence the outcome of the upcoming talks in russia the opposition feel so they are completely marginalized because the balance of the about the possible on the ground has been tilted very much in favor of the regime over the past actually couple of years because of the russian intervention and now the opposition feels that the sense that russians are pushing them to participate this is a compromise next month they wanted to appear very much like united this time and try to influence the sort of political solution the russians might be actually trying to impose on the syrian opposition fighters actually had been fighting for the boss six seven years and then the political solution now they want to preserve

their own place actually in future of syria so now with the russians are actually proposing like an idea to create or to to have them as of any syrian army in the future and to lead them in fact within any city or army in the future said they wanted very much to be able to be seen as united in order to be bought of that sort of solution. now in the democratic republic of congo police and soldiers have fired tear gas at protesters against the president now the orders have been given to cut internet and phone messaging links catholic activists and kinshasa call for protests after sunday mass against president dresses he's accused of seeking to change the constitution to stand for a third term and i could be there was allowed to stay in power until now after agreement with the opposition but the election commission later said an election would only be possible at the end of twenty eight teams at least fifteen people have been killed in a suicide attack at a funeral in the afghan city of jalalabad

a spokesman for the provincial governor says people had gathered to mourn a former district chief as the world prepares to welcome in the new year the un secretary general antonio terrorists has called for unity saying he believes peace can be achieved nationalism and to know for we are on the rise and as we begin to thousand and eighteen a call for unity i do really believe we can make our old more safe and secure we can settle conflicts overcome etudes and defend shared values but we can only do that together i urge leaders everywhere to make these new year's resolution never again bridge the divides rebuild trust by bringing people together around common goals unity is the best of people a big gathering in istanbul at the memorial for the victims of last year's new year's eve nightclub attack thirty nine people were killed when

a gunman stormed into a party armed with an assault rifle and opened fire this year's parties and some public squares have been counseled as part of increased security measures are said in pursuit of reports. most of them thought it was fireworks but it was the sound of bullets fired by a gunmen during the first hours of two thousand and seventeen he killed thirty nine people in a stumbles popular rain on nightclub. it is still only known how he managed to bypass high security measures with a long range automatic rifle ali you know was the managing partner all that klopp who witnessed the shooting he lost his friends employees and customers he say's he still can't sleep. is can you imagine a bullet passing through your body while you're welcome in a new year and you die it has been one year but there isn't

a moment that i forget about this unfortunate attack it's very difficult to live with the spike his grief all you wants people to celebrate the new year outside rather than a home turkish authorities here in istanbul say they have taken all secular to precocious one measure was to cancel parties in popular public squares like taxi and if i am scared and avoid going to crowded places since then to come out and tell you canceling public parties is a sign of government impotence people should be free but they throw fear into people with these measures what's going to happen will happen we get nowhere if we are scared to show these we will be outside celebrating as always terror threats can't dissuade us from terror threats have become normalized for turks maybe that's what makes them feel relatively confident the spike the highly encourage security in wireman and cancel parties in some public squares it seems turks will not give

in to fear this new year seen on kosovo al-jazeera the stumble well australia's new year celebrations are getting underway in sydney a little earlier while it's still a few hours before the start of twenty eighteen there are many families living in the celebrations for the war it's estimated a million people will watch the midnight fireworks over the sydney harbor bridge the show celebrations are also taking place under increased security arrangements because under thomas found out. moving on the greek government is trying to overturn a court decision to grant asylum to a turkish soldier who fled during last year's failed coup in turkey but he's one of eight soldiers who flew to greece in a military helicopter the others had that applications for solid rejected but have lodged appeals turkey has repeatedly called for the soldiers extradition well earlier we spoke to. who is a security analyst on the call destroyed he says if these soldiers get extradited

to turkey they will get a fair trial this issue has become has turned into a sort of big crisis between turkey and greece at the moment we are talking about aid to experience you know. and they are claiming that in their. request they are claiming they did not take part in occupier to the july fifteenth military uprising. but the if you read. the prosecutor's syndic most you will see that there are some serious grim claims about doors officers you know as you may remember and there are around one hundred civilians lost their lives down there and four hundred. and do you see a green night of july fifteenth two thousand and sixteen and i would suggest that. you currently are legal landscape in turkey and the pol tical landscape in turkey after their extradition they will be faced with their fate and. transparent allegro

processes at the moment. life's tough enough for many living on the edge of the sahara desert and it's not getting any better despite the signing of a peace agreement almost ten years ago then matic twenty have suffered war and the drought and a lack of education is a major obstacle to building a new life to have a doll has more. thank you it's a harsh winter you know the new and for many twenty here the stink of cold weather is compounded by poverty. after years of drought and warning the region these former masters of the sahara have been reduced to a state of limbo midway between their previous life as livestock of theirs and the top of this to many suffer now. they're like our country has turned into a barren desert our livestock can no longer survive without plants and graphs in

addition we cannot live in or work in towns. abdurrahman used to live as a nomad roaming with his life stuck in search of pasture and water. now he lives in a makeshift shelter as miserable as the most basic refugee camp there is no running water here no medical center no schools no study supply of food and other necessities to learn that also the i used to own large herds of livestock all my cattle died and i was forced to move to town since i came i do not know what to do i have no profession my children are without work to grow living on donations and aid from agencies to live a little bit but our biggest mistake is that we did not go to school we now found that we cannot work or find a job without education we are harmed by lead to see more than the drought our life is meaningless now. other twenty who settled here years ago still live in humble

mud homes in villages that lack the most basic amenities frustrated with the government and dejected by poverty somehow form associations to mobilize everyone to work. they flatten vegetable gardens and freeze on the village expecting the relief agencies of the government to provide support. but the bottom soil and city a climate than the efforts almost useless but want to go along and the debt rebellion against the central government but the peace that ensued hasn't brought them prosperity hammad fight disease. well still ahead here on al-jazeera everybody grab one toy ok. building trust to reduce crime the american city where police officers have started living right a little of the neighborhoods they patrol. and uncertain future for tens of thousands in bali forced from their homes by a volcano. hello

there it's definitely winter now across the northern parts of asia in fact this is what we're seeing in harbin is the ice sculpture display and it really is a very stunning and colorful site now that's all thanks to the cold weather that we've been seeing that's why we can have all of that those beautiful sculptures you can see we've also got another weather feature that's working its way across us that's also giving us a fair amount of snow and a fair amount of rain as well some of the wettest of the weather is likely to be over parts of japan but he would hit the temperatures aren't too bad we're looking at twelve day in tokyo force in osaka getting to around knowing further towards the west of course not that warm for say beijing will be around just two or three degrees so they could still be a problem with fog over the next day or say

a bit further towards the southeast and the weather here is also being quite quiet recently too but the winds are now feeding up a little bit more in the way of moisture so there will be a little bit more cloud here that will gradually spread its way towards the northeast as we had three cheese day but we're not really seeing any significant rain or not the temperatures there in shanghai will be rising we'll get to around twelve degrees but for the towards the south for many of us in the philippines the weather's been quite quiet over the past a few days but now we have this developing feature that's going to give heavy rain to many parts of mindanao. humanitarian. work and the. retired army general. against attack by search for some. sort of movement. this time on just zero.

welcome back two hours there i'm so ho rama reminder of our top stories to protesters in iran work eld on saturday night during anti-government demonstrations there's confusion over who's responsible for the deaths in the city of to route the iranian government is blaming foreign agents saying security forces didn't fire on the crowd. more than thirty rebel groups based in northern syria joining forces under the single banner of the syrian national army the new unified opposition includes all factions of the rebel free syrian army which is supported by turkey.

people have been gathering in the turkish city of a stumble in the memorial for the victims of last year's new year's eve nightclub attack celebrations and some public squares have been canceled there's been creased security in major cities across the world. government have stormed an army training camp in indian administered kashmir killing four soldiers at least two fighters have also been killed police say the attackers threw grenades and fired automatic rifles in the town of. indonesia more than seventy thousand people continue to live in evacuation shelters a volcano began erupting in early november many are returning to the danger zone every day to tend to that crops and their livestock step vasant has more from bali . well the military on the last day of the year is very somber these people's lives have been on hold for three months they're waiting and just watching the full kaino as you can see it's mostly elderly and children who are still at the evacuation

shelters it's very hard and difficult for the government to convince the others the adults to stay here a lot of people of course have business to do they have no income here they have to send their children to school and as you can see in all reports a lot of people are taking the risk to go up to the full kaino very near to the crater instead of sitting and waiting down here. your mom got that killed stein by helping out in an emergency kitchen his family sought refuge in this government shelter after they were forced to leave to phillips three months ago the indonesian government has ordered families not to return as long as the volcano remains at its highest alert level or so not that no one can mess up on my future looks pretty bleak if i have to stay here in the shelter how can i pay for my children's education i've got no work here at least seventy thousand villages in the danger zone have been forced to leave their homes the three months have passed and boredom has kicked in the local authorities are struggling to keep them away from danger.

every morning like many others goes up the mountain back to his village a thirty kilometer journey by motorbike. nearest to the crater and no man knows exactly how dangerous to feel kaino can be just five kilometers away. with mount after moving dangerously near the old man and his neighbors are mining stones and sand spewed from an eruption fifty four years ago the villages are getting some benefit from the natural disaster then. i forced myself to be brave enough although the government doesn't allow it i'm fed up in the shelter how long do i have to stay there so while only a little smoke comes out of the volcano i take my chance to earn some money in case there's a major eruption hopes he will have enough time to run while the government continues to urge people to stay out of the danger zone its policy has recently become more

lenient to crossing the line for law than can move if it does because the situation is taking so long and because it will cain is activity is not always high people to get back to when it is during the day time to work and come back to the shelter at night. but newman decides not to return to the shelter and spend the night at his house trying desperately to get his old life back hoping and praying that mound i go will go back to sleep very soon step fasten al-jazeera so bloody village. now tens of thousands of people have rallied in togo demanding an end to the fifteen year rule of president a foreigner since he. is the latest in a string of demonstrations organized by opposition groups they want new rules limiting presidents to two terms in office just like up to mark and we've been claiming our rights for four months now they don't even see or sit looks like the current regime doesn't even consider us with the march it is necessary that at

least the state or the government knows that we are tired we want to see definite change liberia's president elect has given his first speech since winning the runoff election earlier this week george weah will take over from ellen johnson sirleaf in the first democratic transition of power in liberia for more than seventy years where former world football of the year has pledged to fight corruption. we were some of the government committed to fighting for the ideas that have inspired our campaign and that is good. for the liberian people those tours in who serve. us the. source of transformational. persons looking. with the low groom. to the murders of course.

we have no bullets will stay on the continent in kenya a head on crash between a bus and a lorry has killed at least thirty people other passengers were trapped in the wreckage are critically injured in hospital a government spokesman in the rift valley region says the bus was on the wrong side of the road as it sped downhill near an acquittal investigators are at the scene of the incident police in australia have recovered the bodies of six people from the wreckage of a seaplane that crashed into a bay north of sydney the plane was returning to sydney from a restaurant twenty minutes away an investigation has been launched into the cause of the crash. the impact of climate change is being felt all over the world especially in low lying scientists. schools and cuba to sink in america at a time lucy in human reports now from the coastal town of high they have.

sent his wife had lived by the ocean for nearly sixty years long enough to notice that something is changing especially when they look towards the key in front of them. forty or even thirty years ago during low tar you could walk over to the quay over there and you wouldn't get wet it was totally dry now the target is never lower than this it's all because of climate change here my daughter grew up here we didn't have this wall and i would lower down there to play on the rocks because it was dry. in high money does a coastal town you're have vanna everyone notices at the water level is rising on this no lying island it's hard to believe but i'm actually walking them top of what was a swimming pool some forty years ago removed about thirty meters away from a beach that no longer exists it's yet another undeniable example of how the ocean is eating away at much of cuba's coastline. a report prepared by the

ministry of science technology and environment warns that by two thousand and fifty coastal levels will have risen twenty seven centimeters and by the end of the century it will be up by eighty five centimeters causing the island to shrink significantly. scientists argue the climate change is also provoking more frequent and stronger hurricanes flooding and at the same time prolonged periods of drought inland. the climate experts who prepared the report tell us a major action plan is being implemented to confront this new reality. we are applying new practice. like planting corals to increase and reproduce coral reefs and more mangroves which are key barriers for protecting the coastline and we need to adopt new construction practices in the caribbean we have experience building on stilts did list is long but scientists concede that inevitably many people will

have no other choice but to leave their homes and move in. the sea in human. money to ask you about not a small city in the united states which for its size has the an enviable reputation as having more violent criminals than anywhere else in the u.s. but police in rockford illinois are responding with a unique approach to crime fighting one hundred explains. this is probably the most dangerous city you've never heard of according to the f.b.i.'s uniform crime report last year rockford illinois is the most violent u.s. city with a population under two hundred thousand block for block more perilous than los angeles or chicago so this midwestern town has launched the most extreme form of community policing in america everybody grab one toy. rockford has officers like eric thurman moving into high crime neighborhoods. to do that to.

me i can't dance forging ties with a community that is often viewed with suspicion yes have a good day normal if there's a shooting in the neighborhood everyone's out. but we go talk to people interview them and what happened no one saw anything or no one heard nothing but you know rather me being here they know they're comfortable talking with me you know there's a shooting right here everyone will come to my door they would come talk to me and they would tell me exactly what they saw thurmond and patrice turner or rockford first to resident officers. is more about building relationships with the people that you police it's more about building bridges instead of busting heads the city's police chief expects to add more resident officers in the next year with standard policing an officer gets the call gets in his car and drives through the scene but a resident officer like officer thurman really crosses the street and knocks on the door of a neighbor who probably already know. the program is less than

a year old but is part of a broader strategy it appears to be working in two thousand and fifteen rockford police solve two of nineteen murders in two thousand and seventeen so far they've solved nine of eighteen and could soon see charges in three more cases we need to have alternate strategies not only iraq right i think nationwide and this is working yes and change people's life should be. in their own critics say a troubled history between police and african-americans will make that difficult i think but. it's basically going to end up with a police presence in communities that i don't think are ready to accept the police as positive forces but in a turbulent city with a long history of ill will toward police. eric spillman says it's a beginning john hendren al-jazeera rockford illinois. she

hasn't yet decided whether to defend the title of the australian open despite making an encouraging return to the tennis court the twenty three time grand slam winner has played her first match since becoming a mother four months ago. she isn't the first player to return to the court after having a baby the non have done so quite as quickly as serena williams and have competitive outings and still to elect an m.p. who was born in that kemba the thirty six year old to come one of the nissans of women's tennis he lay in a supply. serina drop the first set today she has brought on garris when appetite the match unfolded showed she might be back to have beth before. moments of rustiness like they can be forgiven to mean if last match was the australian open final almost twelve months ago and us a panko isn't the world number seven for nothing the twenty year old said before the match she was excited to play against

the idol for the first time but there were no signs of nerves as she cries out the match in a deciding tie break for serena there just stepping on the court was a victory in itself i think i was really good and i feel like this is a wonderful opportunity for me to kind of test to see where i am not only physically but mentally it's like mentally like you have to get over that hump of like go for the shot you're going to be ok now because it's a lot that goes on through a female's body after you have a baby so. i think it was perfect fans will have to wait and see when and wes arena decides to play next as head korea and a new chapter telling gleason how to say are. you watching all just there i'm still robin these are all top stories to protesters in iran were killed on saturday night during anti government demonstrations this confusion over who's responsible for the deaths in the city of route the iranian

government is blaming foreign agents and saying security forces didn't fire on the crowd bolden thirty rebel groups based in northern syria are joining forces under the single battle the syrian national army the new unified opposition includes all factions of the rebel free syrian army which is supported by turkey. in the democratic republic of congo police and soldiers of fired tear gas at protesters demonstrating against the president and orders are being given to cut internet and phone messaging links catholic activists in kinshasa called for the protests after sunday mass president joseph kabila is accused of seeking to change the constitution so he could stand for a third term at least fifteen people are being killed in a suicide attack at a funeral of the afghan city of jalalabad a spokesman for the provincial governors says people had gathered to mourn a former district chief gunman who have stormed an army training camp in the indian

administered kashmir region killing four soldiers at least two fighters have also been killed police say the attackers threw grenades and fired automatic rifles in the town are full of animal the greek government is trying to overturn a court decision to grant asylum to a turkish soldier who fled there during last year's failed coup in turkey and he's one of eight soldiers who flew to greece in a military helicopter the others had their applications for asylum rejected but have lodged appeals turkey has repeatedly called for the soldier's extradition and people have been gathering in the turkish city of his double at a memorial for the victims of last year's new year's eve nightclub attack parties in some public squares are being canceled there's increased security at major cities across the world and thousands of cheering revelers have rung of the new year in new zealand the country is one of the first to actually welcome two

thousand and eighty will be following those events across the globe throughout the day more use in half an hour to stay with us. demonstrations in cities across iran the biggest in nearly a decade. prices on the government's corrupt in two thousand and nine unrest was mat's with a minister a crackdown so how will the government deal with the people's ungar today this is inside story.