in two thousand and eight al-jazeera documented a groundbreaking school. preparing some of india's poorest children for entry into its toughest universities. ten years on we return to see how the students and the scheme a helping change the face of india. superfluity at this time on al-jazeera. the arab ileum. far from threatens the cut off millions of dollars of aid to the palestinians and says jerusalem is no longer up for negotiation. barbara sarah this is al jazeera live from london also coming up on the program

after days of unrest the tens of thousands of iranians rally in support of the government it spent years cracking down on the opposition it now ethiopia's government says it would release all political prisoners and the more than two hundred works of the italian renascence artist michelangelo go on display in new york looting what is believed to be his first paid. hello welcome to the program palestinian leaders are condemning u.s. president donald trump's right to cut aid to the palestinian authority the president made the statement on twitter where he also said jerusalem is off the negotiating table trump angered palestinians last month by recognizing jerusalem as israel's capital and that he tweeted asking why the u.s.

should make any future aid payments to palestinians when the u.s. gets no appreciation the palestine liberation organization was quick to condemn his latest that twitter warning. i would say that palestinian diets are not for sale and we will not succumb to the acme that imperatives and requirements for peace and unilaterally president campaigns this story done it has a very sabotaged out efforts at that evening and just peace and getting freedom and dignity for the palestinian people by that can i sing occupy jerusalem as the capital of israel he has not done it disqualified himself as a peace real or a mediator by taking sides and by becoming complicit and has as occupation he has also built in the sabotage ts totally destroyed the very foundations of peace either from the palestinian liberation authority meanwhile israel has welcomed the trans statements as it in trump is absolutely right it is impossible to wait and

wait and wait for so many years for the palestinians to go forward in renewed a negotiation they left the room in april fourteenth and for four years almost so they are reluctant to negotiate with israel and they should not be given so much money from the american taxpayer without no understanding that it's time for them to get promoted to come to their senses and go share with israel. well washington is also threatening to cut off funding to the u.n. agency helping palestinian refugees according to the united nations relief and works agency more than one point five million people live in fifty eight recognized palestinian refugee camps in jordan lebanon the gaza strip and the west bank including occupied east jerusalem the us is one of the main contributors to relief agencies for palestinian refugees that goes towards education health and social programs washington donated just under three hundred and seventy million dollars to

the united nations relief and works agency in two thousand and sixteen i was there as mohammed just jew has more now from ramallah. those remarks from vassar haley and the tweets from president trump every inflamed the situation here when it was already tense now we also spoke to a spokesman for an rwa that's the u.n. agency for aid and relief of palestinian refugees in reaction to the remarks from u.s. ambassador nikki haley that the u.s. may cut their funding to he says he has not been informed by the u.s. administration of any changes and u.s. funding to the agency now while the u.s. has in the past threatened to cut funding for the palestinian authority and while funding has been increased these past several years it is being taken much more seriously here the idea that the u.s. may cut funding to honor where the u.s. is the biggest governmental donor to the group they have dispersed just last year around three hundred million dollars of aid that's a huge amount at

a time when need for palestinian refugees are already great and only growing greater. tens of thousands of government supporters are rallying across iraq to show of support comes after six days of demonstrations against the government there gathering in several cities to condemn the unrest in which at least a twenty two people have been killed iran's revolutionary guard it declared on wednesday that the un rest was over rob matheson reports. on a rainy and state t.v. pictures of government supporters filling city streets condemning protests and to dance during the day and. it's basically people who are believing that with so what's happening is against that he jeem and they want to support the regime by saying this is a revolutionary g.m. and we are in favor of it. the t.v. pictures of these days pro-government rallies are

a contrast to coverage of demonstrations against iran's leadership which began last thursday. the government has shut down some social media platform. but pictures have been posted showing damaged cars burning buildings and chanting crowds. protests about unemployment and iran's economy which has been struggling after years of sanctions have grown to include demands for greater freedoms hundreds of people have been arrested the u.s. is demanding an emergency meeting of the u.n. security council if the arraigning dictatorships history is any guide we can expect more outrageous abuses in the days to come the u.n. must speak out president donald trump has sided with the anti-government protesters he's tweeted the people of iran are finally acting against the brutal and corrupt iranian regime all of the money that president obama so foolishly gave them went

into terrorism and into their pockets the people have little food big inflation and no human rights the u.s. is watching iran's foreign minister has tweeted back saying iran security instability depends on its own people who unlike the peoples of trump's regional b f f's are best friends forever have the right to vote and to protest. more pro-government rallies are expected but there have also been calls for more demonstrations against the government it's not clear if both sides will be on the same streets at the same time rob matheson al-jazeera. in a surprise move ethiopia's government has announced it will release all political prisoners and close a notorious prison camp charges against political prisoners facing prosecution will also be dropped that this follows increased pressure for the government to end its

crackdown on the opposition stephanie deck of reports. has been under pressure domestically and on the international stage there have been anti-government protests since two thousand and fifteen the continue to pose a serious challenge to the ruling party the decision to release all political prisoners will be welcomed by many peons some warn it may not lead to major changes in policy. the. idea of the prime minister of egypt realizes that the. political junkie and that is still stuck to a political dialogue in order to avoid really the international community needs to be really the only level of the society. the protests of the past few years of call for political and economic changes. the iranian i'm horrid regions of

lead vocal opposition to the government accusing the ruling party of marginalizing them. activists and journalists have been arrested in what is described as the most serious challenge to think government came to power in one nine hundred ninety one hundreds of civilians have been killed during the recent crackdown human rights groups have accused security forces of using excessive and lethal force. during wednesday's news conference the government announced it's closing the notorious mark callao a prison and turning it into a museum to facilities been singled out by rights groups in the past for suspected rights violations including torture and critics maintain the government needs to address the underlying grievances of the protesters such as economic social and ethnic rights it's not clear what kind of impact the release of political prisoners will have on the growing opposition movement stephanie decker or jazeera. norway is banning weapons exports to the united arab emirates over its participation in the

war in yemen the u.a.e. is a key member of the saudi led coalition fighting who the rebels of the country the coalition has imposed a blockade on yemen leading to widespread food shortages and a major health crisis the u.n. estimates that more than five thousand civilians have been killed since the conflict began in two thousand and fifteen well in yemen itself people say that they are continuing to suffer under the blockade imposed on the country by the saudi led coalition in recent weeks the saudis have allowed humanitarian aid to flow into the country but as the name reports in the port city of hood they the people say that little has changed. far from the front lines and the ports it's a life of increasing challenges for so many yemenis bound by a feeling that they've been forgotten well. our life is miserable with the war raging for years i lost my job too we cannot afford a daily meal if we have

a meal we're not sure if we're going to have the next one a house in salem says his family circumstances are unraveling in a way he never thought possible a lost job then a lost home and now uncertainty over how much worse things could get wound up and. we're left with nothing only god is our rock the nearby who died out port is no longer a source of employment or humanitarian aid since november the saudi led coalition has either blocked or limited access to ports of entry in yemen citing security concerns that a coalition claims to have reopened a court on december twentieth we are in the first week of january and the coalition is still misleading the public fabricating excuses to continue see jean and starving the yemeni people. the interruption in the flow of aid is adding to what is already described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis i love the mother

thought the u.n. reiterated that even if one day the port is operating at maximum capacity it would not be enough to meet the needs of the yemeni people so you can imagine how dire the situation is. salem and his family say they used to be able to rely on some assistance from relief agencies but no more like so many yemenis they are left to cope on their own natasha going to hell does iran. still ahead here on al-jazeera out of reopening the lines of communication north korea places a historic cold to the south plus. i'm a listener and here. so you call on the western region of dzhokhar where voluntary doctors together with the countries my remains are bringing health services to once conflict ridden areas.

how the rain clouds of ready gathered across central parts of china at the moment big downpours coming in here and snow across northern parts temperatures in shanghai well down the race about these hot about seventy eight celsius over the next couple of days by friday it should be a little drier just notice the possibility of want to see showers to scrape in the fossil feast and cold at home called could see some wet weather temps hit around nineteen degrees celsius well whether there's been affecting me in ma in places say has now east still an area of cloud here but i think it's looking to dry right over the next couple of days right across south asia generally try and settle the folk remains across the northern plains so temperatures new delhi no higher than around twenty degrees celsius it will be great here is a system makes its way through things brightening up a little bit no great amount karate will see highs of around twenty six celsius similar values to into parts of the arabian peninsula perhaps a tad cola here in doha on thursday to around twenty two degrees and normally

breeze in place picking up to around twenty four by friday generally some pleasant winces sunshine coming through very little in the way of any significant cloud well the most significant cloud across the eastern side of the mediterranean that's going to to some rather wet weather for the violence over the next couple of days by route sixty degrees. at this time.

a reminder now of the top stories on al-jazeera palestinian leaders are condemning u.s. president donald trump's threat to cut aid to the palestinian authority the president made the statement on twitter where he also said jerusalem will solve the negotiating table tens of thousands of government supporters are rallying across iran the show of support comes after six days of demonstrations against the government in which at least twenty two people were killed and the leader has announced plans to drop charges against political prisoners and close a notorious prison camp it's part of a plan to widen democracy in the country following months of anti-government

protests in two regions. to get more now on our top story that threat by the u.s. president to withdraw aid to the palestinian authority much of that aid is given to the u.n. relief agency which provides help to palestinians in desperate need speaking to earlier under a spokesperson christopher gunness said there has been no suggestion from the u.s. that it will pull support but terms twitter claim isn't helping the already unstable situation. there's a lot of uncertainty in this very turbulent region and we must do everything we can and under is widely recognized in its humanitarian work to bring a sense of calm and indeed in two thousand and fifteen when we came close to suspending our services that sent shock waves through the refugee community five point two million people who are dependent. on under as first responders in times of war we give out food aid a million people receive our food aid in gaza but also in terms of human

development we educate five hundred thousand children over seven hundred schools around the region and let's be clear two hundred seventy thousand of those are in gaza are doctors do nine million patient visits a year so our contribution to the dignity and the human capital of the middle east is widely recognized and we must do everything we can and we will work with our top donors to do that our top ten donors including the us give us over eighty percent of our funds and we will continue to work with them to make sure that we can deliver services as i've said there is enough uncertainty confronting the lives and the dignity of the refugees we serve north korea has reopened communication with south korea for the first time in almost two years of fishel talks between the two governments or should yield for tuesday when it smith has the details. this is the

only official means of communication between north korea and south korea but for almost two years the north koreans have refused to answer the phone until wednesday when they placed a call to the south. kim jong un has given an order to reopen the hotline between the north and the south to contact south korea regarding a right time for talks and sending a delegation to the kyung chuang winter olympics. the decision was welcomed in seoul a day after the government there proposed high level talks amid a tense standoff over north korea's misawa nuclear programs but the u.s. government wasn't impressed we won't take any of the talk seriously if they don't do something to ban all nuclear weapons in north korea we consider this to be a very reckless regime we don't think we need a band-aid we don't think we need to smile and take a picture we think that we need to have them stop nuclear weapons and they need to stop it now. in his new year's speech kim jong un warned the u.s.

he had a nuclear button on his desk. that prompted donald trump to continue his apparent mockery of a president he's nicknamed little rocket man in a tweet the u.s. president wrote i too have a nuclear button but it's a much bigger and more powerful woman his in my book in works north korea has been punished with unprecedented sanctions by the u.n. over its weapons programs the u.s. has warned of more measures if young young conducts another missile test. al-jazeera. parts of india's financial hub mumbai have been shut down by a second day of protests staged by members of the community that are the lowest ranking india's caste system called the strike in response to attacks by right wing hindus in the city of pune on monday they say the police didn't take any action against those who attacked them. for the czechs introduced in parts of europe

zone during the height of the refugee crisis are still in place and that's despite the e.u. calling for them to end but as for restraint ports some countries are reluctant to give up their controls. from an open border for refugees to a closed border for anyone not carrying a passport or a swedish identity card sweden's policy on opening its gates to asylum seekers during the crisis of twenty fifteen is long gone. but police checks on the train from denmark don't seem to be going anywhere soon the sun bridge between copenhagen . was the main entry point for more than a hundred and sixty thousand people who applied for asylum in sweden in twenty fifteen that flow has now dried up on the law allowing restrictions has expired but sweden is one of the countries citing security as

a reason for the controls to continue. the closure of the balkan routes has led to a huge drop in the number of refugees arriving in europe yet sweden france germany austria norway and denmark have all continued to impose controls on that front is. those restrictions legally expired on november the twelfth on the article twenty nine of the schengen borders code but article twenty five allows the countries to extend them for six months if they claim serious threats to public order or internal security. gains and swedes had previously been encouraged to see a newly branded aris and region as a place in which they could freely commute between the countries they say the increases in their journey times are unjustified this is mainly. for show internal swedish politics they're worried citizens are worried here in sweden about the mass

influx of immigrants and trying to show that they're doing something and reality this nothing happens here this is. yeah almost a circus. time journeys of thousands of kilometers from the middle east and africa how finally ended his in recent is the question of whether free movement in the schengen zone can ever begin again is still in the. whole race. it's going to colombia now where the peace deal with far rebels is improving the delivery of health services to more remote regions al-jazeera has. travelled with a group of doctors to see the work being done in colombia's chuckle region. volunteer doctors setting sail their mission is to win support from an indigenous community longer afflicted by colombia's conflict a peace deal signed with five gravels last year means it's now easier and safer for

the navy to bring assistance to poor remote areas through civic military brigades. people here are less hostile to military forces now that they have encreased their hold in presence they're starting to look up to the colombian state and i'm proud we are able to contribute to. it is a classic hearts and minds campaign in a territory where people's allegiances of long been. and where state presences been synonymous with military force see. the government's clear guidelines are to take advantage of the fact that these armed actors are not interfering in these territories anymore so the state seeks to enter with all its capacity and avoid further institutional gaps that might be filled by new criminal groups. but in villages like those gaps remain why filling them will require time and resources.

our health post is not enough for all the villages on the river and they attend only people with health cars we'd love with the brigades could come twice a year. most kids here have rarely seen a to throw. let alone a dentist yeah it takes three to hold this patient down while he has this tooth pulled out his mother says bringing him to a doctor ten hours down river was never an option i know in spite of the government efforts to improve the delivery of health services major logistical problems persist last year sixteen percent of colombia's rural population at two for go medical care because of distances to services. over the course of the day hundreds are taken care of twenty two year old students stephanie says it's worth giving up her weekends. i just like how i feel when people think when i can

contribute to those without the opportunity or the money to get to a doctor for them i do that understand civil military brigades will hardly be a long time fix for chronically poor health care but maybe by the state some time as it tries to pacify these restless areas for good i listen that i. chuckle. businesses in the gaza strip have been struggling under an israeli blockade for a long time many are barely able to keep running and now a cartoon by an israeli rights group shows the reality facing one sweet factory alkaloid reports. a girl called nor buys an ice cream and wins a ticket to visit a sweet factory. where you have heard the. shot has now was a hollow yet. nor the fictional character in an animation made by an israeli rights

group but the factory and its owner mohammed tell bonnie a real and some of the many problems operating under the blockade of gaza by israel in egypt. no discovers them as mohammed shows have around starting with a power cut. electricity is off most of the time in gaza. during my visit i haven't explained it since the siege began ten years ago most of his production lines are closed most of the time. he didn't want to fire any of his four hundred staff their families depend on the wages to employees had their hours cut instead. because the animation also shows the machinery they use has problems to israeli authorities restrict the import of anything they say could be used to make weapons the packaging meant to be done to my city by dismissing these a spare parts that's not being allowed in this machine but cream filling and

biscuits. just technicians come here and service it in order to come this whole production line being down for you some of the equipment these be sent to germany for servicing and that's not allowed either. the mohammed doesn't believe the restrictions or just for security reasons it's there is the day that it's very light this is always the goal but that's. the make the people is somebody that is the political side israel's military assault on gaza has conflicts with hamas haven't helped either three years ago the factory was hit by an israeli rocket. mohammed gifts this week factory to nor has she sees its problems becomes a story of shattered dreams. the rights group that made it cool says it aim to inform people but also challenge stereotypes we wanted to be able to tell the story of the movement restrictions on the gaza strip and do it in

a creative way so that we could attract new audiences and open people's eyes to the fact that there is a different reality inside of the gaza strip than the one they normally hear business is also being hurt by israeli restrictions on exports mohammed says trade won't pick up in less the siege and at the end of the film no makes everything right with her imagination in reality things aren't so simple and causes industries are still crippled malcolm webb al-jazeera in the gaza strip. to another kind of drawing now more than two hundred works by michelangelo are on display at the metropolitan museum of art in new york the exhibit includes dozens of sketches and drawings which rarely go on public display al-jazeera as gabriela is on the went to have a look. art lovers examining the work of a legend a new michael angelo exhibit at the metropolitan museum of art in new york brings together one of the largest collections of the lesser known works of the man

considered one of the most influential figures of western art there's this piece called the torment of saint anthony believed to be michael angelo's first painting it was completed in fourteen eighty seven when he was only twelve or thirteen years old but it's dear regional pencil on paper works better the real draw when he draws us forceful yes espresso he said marble sculptor is so he uses the chalk especially with great force on the paper almost carving on the paper as if it were marble although he considered himself primarily a sculptor michelangelo was also called the divine draftsman and designer at this exhibit there are one hundred thirty three of his drawings many of which almost never go on public display because they are so rare and fragile four hundred fifty years after his death his drawings are often an overlooked part of the artist's

work it took the metropolitan museum of art eight years to collect all of the michelangelo pieces that are on display here they mostly come from over fifty different art institutions and private collections such as those from queen elizabeth and even the vatican an exhibition of this magnitude in importance is a global activity and the met has the resources the commitment the scholarship to do it and it's part of our mission it's part of our responsibility to serve the world in that way and a chance for visitors to look closely at the drawings in the sketch books of one of the world's greatest artists to get a better sense where his ideas originated gabriels on to al-jazeera new york. now reminder of the top stories on al-jazeera palestinian leaders say they won't be blackmailed after u.s. president donald trump threatened to cut aid worth more than three hundred million

dollars a year trump made the statement on twitter in an attempt to force the palestinians back to the negotiating table relations have been tense between the countries following trump's recognition of jerusalem as israel's capital last month's israeli leaders have welcomed trump's stance as pragmatic president trump is absolutely right it is impossible to wait and we wait for so many years for the policy views to go forward and renew the negotiation they left the room you know april fourteenth and for four years will. be reluctant to negotiate with israel and they should not be given so much money from the american taxpayer without no understanding that it's time for them to get from the mighty come to their senses and go share with. iran's revolutionary guards have announced the end of unrest in the islamic republic tens of thousands of government supporters are rallying kentucky to condemn the recent unrest at least twenty two people have died in the

anti-government protests which began in the sod last thursday and spread across the country. in a surprise move ethiopia's leader has announced plans to drop charges against political prisoners and close a notorious prison camp prime minister haile mariam this alina says it's part of efforts to widen them a crash experience for all it comes after months of anti-government protests in romania and amman. north korea's leader has reopened the key cross border communication channel with south korea for the first time in nearly two years it comes after kim jong un that suggests that he would like to ease hostilities with so in his new year's address even agreeing to send a delegation to next month's winter olympics. stay with al-jazeera coming up next it's witness india's reggae resistance that's coming up next and of

course i'm going to have all the day's news for you in less than half an hour i hope to see that.