where model. all that be here now is. people have gone to hear the mission of the army. and i'm just telling people what they think is happening in their country. a nuclear button is put on the desk in my office at all times kim jong un's sends a threat to the united states and an olive branch to south korea.

also coming up iran's president speaks for the first time about demonstrations against his government saying protests are allowed but violence is no. protests intensifying democratic republic of congo demonstrators want the president to resign immediately also. looking at live pictures from new york where they are saying goodbye to twenty seventeen to twenty eighteen celebrations as the world rings in the new year. north korea's leader kim jong un has threatened the united states but also reached out to his neighbors in the south he made the comments in his annual new year's address kim says has weapons capable of reaching the top you. mainland and the

launch button is on his desk he also warned washington that in twenty seventeen north korea had completed its push to become a nuclear force that it's time to start mass producing nuclear warheads but the defiantly that made someone usually friendly remarks about south korea saying the path of dialogue with seoul is open and that he hopes ties improve between both countries. we should actively create an atmosphere to move forward with the national reconciliation and reunification improving ties between the north and the south is an urgent issue that not only the north and south want but everyone else wants it's a grave matter to which the entire korean nation needs to put its efforts towards resolving contacts and dialogue between the north and the south will expand exchanges on cooperation and we should dispel mutual misunderstanding and distrust and take responsibility and our role as the main agent for the unification. al-jazeera as far as mary has more from seoul. the speech was very closely watched

by analysts and its neighbors because it offers an opportunity to get some direction as to what the leadership of this very secretive state of north korea could be thinking of course what the world is most concerned about is north korea's nuclear ambitions and on their skin john reiterated some claim that he's already made in november that north korea has completed its final cush to become a nuclear force and when he made that claim first in november it was when north korea had fired its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile and kim jong un also said in his speech on monday that north korea will call for the deployment and mass production of nuclear warheads and miss else. is from the u.s. mainland is within the range of our nuclear strike and the nuclear button is put on the desk in my office at all times they should clearly understand that this is never a trash sort of reality but what weapons experts say is north korea may not yet

have the technology to miniaturize a nuclear warhead attach it to a weapon that can really enter the earth's atmosphere and the only way to know this for sure is if north korea were to conduct an atmospheric nuclear test and kim jong un did not make any specific mention of such tests but the key message here is that that north korea is a nuclear state even though the outside world may not have any way of knowing that at this stage the u.s. should think twice about starting a war with north korea despite the very belligerent tone he struck with the u.s. he did offer an olive branch to south korea now analysts say it's could be a tactic to buy itself more time while it thoughts its nuclear weapons technology and it's also perhaps a ploy to drive a wedge between the u.s. and south korea who are traditional allies well robert kelly is an associate professor of political science at pusan national university he says it's employing young's interest to improve ties with the south. the north has

a genuine interest in at least reasonably decent relationships with south korea a reason we didn't relationship with south korea that is to say that the north korea misses the days when south korea used to give it assistance and aid and subsidies and stuff like that this was known as the sunshine policy which was continued which was begun under previous liberal presidents and the sop open north korea the current liberal president of south korea bring that back so i think the north koreans are entirely content to have the relationship they have with the united states right now the nukes and the tension and all that obviously with donald trump that's not going to change and they'd like to find a way than to go along with some of the other players the north has done this for a long time sort of playing one off the other off the other right and so if you look at the americans are giving you a hard time when you go to the south i don't really see any change what we see in two thousand and seventeen i am i'm genuinely concerned right i mean the more the north koreans build the more missiles the more nuclear weapons they have the more tests they do and stuff like that the more sites they have the more the pressure raises in the united states to do something more dramatic than sanctions and stuff like that right so many koreans just aren't signal pullover slowdown in any way

which raises the possibility of course the americans will eventually strike. now to iran where the government is using new measures to deal with protesters social media apps including the messaging service telegram which has forty million users have been blocked as the government tries to stop communication about upcoming protests they've been romney's around the country for three days against the clerical elite who protesters blame for economic hardship and alleged corruption the government's warning of a crackdown if the protests continue president rouhani has spoken for the first time since the demonstrations began saying iranians have the right to criticize the government but their actions shouldn't lead to violence is pizza shop. after four days of anti-government demonstrations it's the president's first public reaction trold kathy iranians have the right to protest that can't lead to violence he said. it should be clear to everyone that we are people of freedom according to

the constitution and citizens' rights people are free to express their criticism and to protest however we need to pay attention to the manner of criticism and protest it should be in such a way that it will lead to be improvement of the people and the state. he was also quick to criticize president trump for his tweet about iran. this man who today in america wants to simplify people as they got to meet a few months ago he called the nation of iran terrorists and this video of protests posted on social media has been blocked by the iranian government the ban follows a nationwide demonstration since thursday government ministers said the video encourage more people to join the rallies. we all saw how they misuse cyberspace and promoted violence trained systematic riots toward weapons and explosives crafting simulated protesters to fight the police and encourage the burning of houses and stores these people are surely not part of our people iran's state

television has reported that some social media sites and messaging apps have been blocked to maintain what it termed peace and from the government warnings that iran's revolutionary guards corps was prepared to deploy what was described as an iron fist if the demonstrations continued their commander said the protests have degenerated into people chanting political slogans and burning public property. protests took place again on sunday but the extent of those is still unclear video posted from the city of durham on saturday night show demonstrators dragging away one of those injured state television in tehran said two people were shot dead but denied that police or the army were involved. in the clash that took two lives no bullets were shot from police and security forces the people gathering was meant to end peacefully but the presence of the agitators unfortunately this happened and resulted in the deaths of two protesters. the protests will have rattled the

government they weren't just limited to terror on but took place across the country the only question now is whether they can gather momentum and how long the government is prepared to put up with this challenge to its authority peter sharp al jazeera. israel's governing liquid party has passed a resolution urging the party's leaders to establish israeli sovereignty of a large parts of the occupied west bank and formally a mix the palestinian territory the votes not binding but carries political weight inside the prime minister's party the kurds right wing has been boid by the us recognition of jerusalem as israel's capital. has more from western lucilla. now that the live cooed central committee has voted in favor of imposing israeli sovereignty over illegal settlements in the occupied west bank the question is what comes next many members of the likud central committee in the run up to this vote had thought that this was a binding resolution they had said so which in effect would mean that it would

force that would compel a prime minister benjamin netanyahu and the rest of the likud party to try to take this to the knesset to try to get it passed into law we've spoken to many analysts the however who say that this in fact is not a binding resolution and that there is no way that such an inflammatory resolution would actually get to the knesset in its current form we've also spoken to arab members of parliament and they've said that if this resolution were to go to the knesset in its current form that that would really signal an into the peace process that it would really mean that there was no more attempt to try to find a two state solution to the crisis here now what is important also is what exactly is prime minister benjamin netanyahu going to do next is he going to endorse this what is he going to say many more questions at this hour than answers but a lot of other analysts that we've spoken with throughout the day in the run up to the vote have said that they really believe that this is more of a cynical political calculus

a way for the likud central committee to really rally the faithful especially at a time when just weeks ago u.s. president donald trump recognized roussel in israel's capital whatever does happen next though this is a tense time and this vote may add another element of uncertainty at a time when there is already so much uncertainty well ali abunimah is the co-founder of electronic intifada that's an online news services says the international community needs to back up its criticism of israel with concrete action. i think the details of what. the trescott so what the likud party does is not what's important i think what is important here is the signal this sense to the rest of the world that this israeli government in fact this israeli political regime and what i mean by that is is the whole spectrum of political parties in israel is not interested in is not willing is not capable of

ending the occupation of liberating palestinians this is a political regime across the board all the parties the netanyahu government that are determined to deepen the colonization an occupation of the protestant and so the real signal from this vote is to the rest of the world that if you want peace if you want to end the occupation you have to put real pressure on israel by thought the jerusalem vote was a very important signal but that if things start words and resolutions that nothing would change and this is what the likud voted for kris eisley underscores my point is that resolutions have to be followed up by actions by sanctions by making israel pay a price for fifty years of military occupation the west bank and gaza strip twenty

eighteen we're just starting now is this going to be another year of hand-wringing and empty statements about a two state solution from the so-called international community or are they going to impose a cost on israel for its continued international outlaw status and fire lation it's time for a short break and i'll just say that when we come back and i want to thank you for no good as well hundreds of rubbish me from aleppo my life i got home because you have a direct impact on. system can save both countries. how i we've got some rather blustery showers pushing into the eastern side of the mediterranean that the moment little clutch of storms just fits filter in that

award cypress affecting a good part of the game is that makes its way for the race was rightly tended to snow over the mountain so some wet weather coming into lebanon jordan northern parts of syria a few showers there for baghdad further east is taking lousy fodder dry twelve celsius in kabul over the next couple of days twenty celsius to four tehran on tuesday wintry mix a little further north that will see some prices sky just coming back into baghdad and across the the western side of the region back over towards the levant fun and try to across a good part of the arabian peninsula we have the early morning mist and focused around the the gulf recently here in qatar for example light winds on monday suggest the possibility of a misty start to the new year but the winds will pick up as we go on through cheese day i will help to shift and he early morning mist and fog twenty four celsius the top temperature over the next couple of days and we will see a few showers affecting southern and eastern parts of south africa over the next diode see some rather lively showers too coming into madagascar as you go on

through tuesday with that big downpours for tanzania. in a country where parents often pick who you will marry falling in love can have serious consequences one on one east meets the men risking their lives to protect india's young lovers one east at this time zero on counting the cost flying taxis megadeals then banishment shakeups a look at the flight plan for global aviation in two thousand and eighteen after rob a turbulent here in the middle east. telling us about the state of the world's economy counting the cost at this time on al-jazeera.

come out of the top stories here on al-jazeera iranian president hassan rouhani has made his first speech following days of protests against economic hardship and corruption and he said the government must provide space for criticism but also one protestors that violence was unacceptable. israel's government could party has passed a resolution urging the party's leaders to establish israeli sovereignty on formally a mix parts of the occupied west bank the vote was numb but could strip down procedures for the construction and expansion of settlements. north korea's leader kim jong un says he's open to dialogue with south korea that time should improve between both countries in made the comments in his new year's address he also said north korea has weapons capable of reaching the entire u.s. mainland and the launch button is on his desk. now for the past seventeen years american missionaries have helped make christianity the fastest growing religion in

south korea but in recent mind i and for my pastor or so intrigued me. to preserve the first in the planets first and then the next one is the return. to communicate . in south korea though that message is being ignored christianity is the major faith followed by buddhism but young people are moving away from all religions the latest survey shows that fifty six percent of the population now describe themselves as non-religious. i think people need someone to rely on but i usually go to my family friends and girlfriend so i don't really feel the need to be religious. some believe church leaders and priests live affluent lifestyles with no financial transparency and are out of touch with modern society . it seems south korean religions have failed to maintain the moral and ethical trust of the you know what happened many especially young people have decided to

leave their religion that that's one of the main reasons for all denominations in south korea wrestling with the problem of how to stop the religious decline and how to adapt to fast changing world without sacrificing their principles and values that won't be easy but faiths are desperately searching for ways to modernize and become an important part of korean society once again. less archaic methods are being adopted including discussions and lectures in informal settings and technology is being introduced phone apps have been developed so sermons and scriptures are easily accessible and more and more modern thinking churches are using live streaming video of services. once more popular than christianity here has suffered the most only fifteen percent of the population actively follow the faith now temples are offering temple stays for people to enjoy good food and

meditation in peaceful surroundings as a way of reintroducing them to the faith. they may be considered gimmicks and gadgets but it may be the last chance for faith to stop koreans from losing their religion completely tony berkeley al-jazeera soul. protests demanding the resignation of the president of the democratic republic of congo have turned violent and a seven people were killed and dozens arrested by security forces after catholics called the peaceful demonstrations across the country salah bennett reports. the in the democratic republic of congo catholic worshipers pray this sunday they pray with a political purpose they want president joseph kabila goal acting was asked was very basic these guys nothing to do was find it. was. their prayers were heard by security forces in kinshasa

twenty seventeen ended as it began kabila sick in term as president ended in december twenty sixth saying he refused to step down and the un says congolese security forces killed forty people who protested the decision four hundred sixty were arrested. one year on they marched off to mass twelve a lot of boys and priests were among the dozens arrested tear gas was fired into churches was the hospital is filled with protesters once more like yourself human that always says if your term is over give opportunities to others to run your son of the country you belong in the senate give others the opportunity to lead maybe they'll do it better than you did. catholic bishops brokered peace talks between the opposition and government with the agreement that could be low would leave office at the end of twenty seven tame but he's still in

power and now the catholics and the opposition are united you see me coming in shooting one because it is not just simply because we are coming we have come here in order to the way to pray for all we mission. opposition voices can be heard by ending the fractured country from all corners even in the troubled east a thriving battleground between rebels security forces say they use of force is justified one police officer was killed and this police station was torched by protesters it really struck their stomach we are in need of peace i assure all of our government authorities that our city government is in peace people should sleep calmly because we as professional police we are doing our job. the president kabila says he will stay in power until december twenty eighth saying because of delays in voter registration. meanwhile voices appear to be becoming

increasingly impatient challenge ballasts al jazeera told people have died in a plane crash in northwest costa rica authorities say the plane was carrying ten foreigners and two local crew took off in the village of point a is lead to in the going to cost a province and crashed into a mountainous area the cause of the crash is unclear. a man in the u.s. has been arrested after a deadly end to a prank telephone call the suspect made a false nine one one call to police reporting a murder and hostage situation when officers arrived at the scene they shot and killed a twenty eight year old man it's believed the dispute of an online video game sparked the standoff and also has more. this was where a practice proved deadly and this is the suspect tyler barris police in kansas responding to a cool where a man claiming he had killed his father was holding the rest of his family hostage certain i'm one what's going on here arguing and i heard shots and i heard and he's

not breathing anymore ok do you have any weapons are you. you know what kind of weapons do you have. handguns from just pointing the gun and making sure they stay and it's like a. brother or you don't and you can come on over here is a lot of government are. thinking about clary poured gasoline all over the house and i just fire ok well we don't need to do that ok police sent a special weapons and tactics all swat team to the house where the cooler said he lived but the man who answered the door was twenty eight year old andrew finch a father of two police unaware that it's been a prank calls were taking no chances they confronted mr finch before shooting him you hear the officer primarily has the action on body camera but you have the officers from the other side also giving commands in iraq consistent about put your hands up walk towards us. but he continued to drop down by his waistband which is

a concern he says where people typically would put a handgun or some type of weapon andrew finches mother says her son was not. this go around people without any consequences family was very important here and that to survive him. there mess we have a wonderful man. it's been suggested the suspect and the victim had a dispute join an online computer game there's no research evidence to suggest that video games whether they're violent or nonviolent lead people to become more aggressive in the real world so this just happens to be a spurious. link in this situation between call of duty and the swatting instance i did this week the world health organization brand a video game addiction a mental health disorder police are treating this death as a case of swatting where instigators call nine one one from

a position close to where their intended victim is located. there. now a new threat to the environment is emerging across. sides of walls of rubbish that float in the caribbean along the coast from neighboring guatemala biologists say the level of contamination is unprecedented. ripples in. a sea of rubbish as far as the eye can see it's a wall seven meters deep and several kilometers long we slowly along the caribbean coast of a video posted in the internet by a photographer raised the alarm. the rain biologist the stomach of a this is the tide of trash is killing nearly everything in its path if. this is an eco side caused by garbage carried by the metod well river in guatemala. there are ninety six municipalities especially thirteen they don't have trashed arms and a tributary river from the capital contributes to all this garbage. this is the

rubbish mountain is blocking sunlight from the sea and affecting fishing grounds coral reefs and mangroves. much of the garbage ends up here on a more beach hospital and agro industrial use or putting the lives of funded and cindy. government leaders who blame neighboring what they are for the disaster that what the government says both countries share the responsibility for cleaning up the mess but the money has promised to send the army to clean up the mess but the rubbish higher up on the beaches is already having an impact on communities along the shore i mean believe it or says fishermen like him are unable to catch clean healthy fish i. look at my little boat i can't go far out in the sea to fish the trash is too close. for your son does says the restaurant hotel he manages has fewer and fewer guests because of the filth. but. we have less and less

gas because people want to see clean beaches and we are losing money also because we're spending a lot to clean up and. the hotel ball says the shore is a magnet for the trash marine biologist say much of it is plastic which can take more than two hundred years to disintegrate and much of it is liquid and invisible with experts unable to say how much damage is being done to the innocent just to see to the more us. the world has been running in twenty eighteen with spectacular fireworks displays across the globe but u.n. secretary general antonio used the occasion to world leaders to heal divisions among the people christian summits has a look now at some of the more colorful celebrations. two thousand and eighteen got off to a colorful start down under in new zealand and australia they are a rainbow of fireworks lit up the sydney harbor bridge in celebration of that

country's legalization of gay marriage. in tokyo the color was white japanese revelers released helium balloons each one containing a wish or a prayer for the new year. they were looking ahead to the two thousand and eighteen winter olympic games in south korea and hoping for peace with their neighbors to the north for ballistic missile tests have aroused international fears of a fireworks display of another kind it's one of many international conflicts the united nations secretary general called on world leaders to solve. i mean lurks a red alert for our wills conflicts if they print a new they injure is every merged global in science is about nuclear weapons of the highest since the cold war and climate change is moving faster than we are inequalities are growing and we see violations of human rights i urge leaders

everywhere to make these new year's resolution nettled again bridge the divides rebuild trust by bringing people together around common goals unity is the best. there were a few signs of conflict on this holiday in the middle east just a spectacular laser light show in dubai. and no obvious divisions in europe for hundreds of thousands of people came together to party from london to rio de janeiro with its party on the copacabana beach. and no one knows how to celebrate new year's like new york new york revelers braved bone chilling cold terrorist threats and a blizzard of confetti to ring in two thousand and thirteen sharing one thing that is universal this holiday the hope of even better days to come kristen salumi

al-jazeera. a reminder of the top stories here north korea's leader kim jong un says he's open to dialogue with south korea hopes that ties will improve and his new year's message also said north korea has weapons capable of reaching the entire u.s. mainland and that the launch button is on his desk fries louis has more from salt. it is of course new north korea's nuclear ambitions that the whole world is most concerned about and on that front north korean leader kim jong un used his new year's day address to call for the mass production of nuclear warheads and missiles as well as their deployment in the field now he also reiterated the claim that north korea has now completed its push to become a nuclear force it is a claim that north korean leadership has made with before specifically in november when it conducted

a when it launched an intercontinental ballistic missile which weapons experts say has the capability of reaching the entire u.s. mainland the iranian president hassan rouhani has made his first speech following days of protests against economic hardship and corruption run he said the government must provide space for criticism but also want protesters that violence was unacceptable israel's government could parties passed a resolution urging the party's leaders to establish israeli sovereignty and formally an expanse of the occupied west bank vote was nonbinding but could streamline procedures for the construction and expansion of settlements at least seven people are reported to have been killed by security forces at protests in the democratic republic of congo demonstrators in the capital have been calling for president computer to step down they're angry at his refusal to leave when his term and a year ago and promised elections by the end of twenty seventeen but they've been delayed until december. twelfth people have died in a plane crash in northwest costa rica the plane was carrying ten foreigners and two

local crew it took off and going to cost a province and crashed in the mountains thank you. around the world running them twenty eight teams with spectacular fireworks displays across the globe new york is the latest city to welcome in the new year people braved cold weather to join in the celebrations in times square but those were the headline news continues here on al-jazeera after one on one east india's love come out searching for themselves more than. in the wake of the race riots how much can someone take before they crack the fight for recognition is crucial we needed cooler heads to prevail brothers and it's there's a lot of them where people think that we're certain that their religion and the things that will serve the community well most of the disrespect of al-jazeera explores the history and struggles of the lebanese community in australia once upon a time in punchbowl at this time on al-jazeera.

in india falling in love with the wrong person can be deadly. young people who follow their heart and reject their parents' choice of partners maybe beat or even murder.