doug we were able to tell in a two part series on al-jazeera world examines one of the most controversial court cases of the so-called war on terror the holy land falling at this time on al-jazeera. and this is different not to say that whether someone is going for someone is very red but there's going to be any truth that i think it's how you approach an individual and i think it is a certain way of doing it you can't just barge in and get a story and fly out. this is zero. of them to me went on this is the news hour live from london coming up in the next sixty minutes i would say that palestinian dogs are not for sale and groom not to come to react i mean i'd wager amongst palestinians as donald trump threatens to

cut off hundreds of millions in aid. after months of protests if you will demand says it will free all political prisoners and close in the tourist close encounter . and a trusted aide not enemy number one doesn't trump slams his former chief strategist steve bannon saying he's lost is by. far a small help all the day's sport including one of the most prestigious football awards in the world will be handed out on thursday we'll tell you who is favored to take home african player of the year. a very warm welcome to the news hour palestinian leaders say they won't be blackmailed after u.s. president donald trump threatened to costs aid worth more than three hundred million dollars a year made the statement on twitter the latest sign his frustration is now i'm

seeing over the lack of progress in the middle east peace process if he does follow through on this threat it would affect the lives of millions of palestinians who rely on aid from ramallah in the occupied west bank with reports. for. a mother of three palestinian refugee children a routine trip to the doctor was already riddled with complications. but after hearing the u.s. may decide to cut more than three hundred million dollars of annual aid to the united nations relief and works agency for palestinian refugees or as it is known she now worries a bad situation may worsen. it's getting more difficult it's getting more complicated and things aren't getting solved everything is becoming more expensive gold laws available to the poor is not nowadays on wednesday residents of the occupied west bank woke up to the news that u.s. president donald trump may halt aid payments worth hundreds of millions of dollars

to palestinians if they're no longer willing to talk peace sixty year old wooden a fool like so many other palestinian refugees here relies on this under a well supported clinic in a refugee camp a health center that depends on foreign aid. it's hard because of the difficult situation in all conditions and it allows us to go to this clinic while officials tell us they've not been informed by the u.s. administration of any changes in funding to the agency the cuts could have a devastating impact approximately five million palestinian refugees are eligible for services close to eight hundred thousand of them live here in the west bank and another one point three million are in gaza condemnation from palestinian officials who insist they are still very much committed to the peace process was swift many of them said palestine was not for sale we've lived for a long time without the american aid and we couldn't some sort of buy without american aid and if it's really means that we there will be more hunger and less

ability to survive look at what the gazans have sustained because of this raid the siege of gaza. but but people you know i'm not willing to sell their homeland for money now faced with the prospect of a political solution growing dimmer and humanitarian. getting scarcer the only thing it seems palestinians can count on is even more uncertainty how much improvement is either among the occupied west bank well 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 in 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 seventy million dollars to the united nations relief and works agency in twenty

sixteen well nor a spokesman christopher gunness told al-jazeera there's been no suggestion from the u.s. that it will pull support on the aid organization will continue to provide health care and education across the region we have had no indications whatsoever from the us administration that they intend to cut funds from under they remain of the single largest donor last year giving us three hundred sixty five million dollars we have daily conversations with them and as i say we've had no indications whatsoever of a funding cut our contribution to the human dignity and the capital human capital of five point two million refugees the middle east is widely recognized it's enormous we run schools for half a million children seven hundred schools we are doctors do nine million patient consultations per year we have nine thousand students in vocational training

centers we have tens of thousands of disabled refugees we serve our micro finance department dispenses tens of millions of dollars of loans every year it's huge our contribution it's obscene massive our contribution to human development is really widely recognised as being widespread and indeed profound. in the spy's movie ethiopia's government has announced it will release all political prisoners enclosed in a tourist prison camp by mr howe mariam decile and says as part of efforts to white democracy following months of anti-government protest steph decker explains i. think europe is been under pressure domestically and on the international stage there have been antigovernment 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 was the goal of the idea many implicit in the

prime minister of egypt realizes that the will continue to be a. political junkie and that it is still stuck to a political dialogue in order to avoid really be sidelined by the international community needs to be really the only level of the society. the protests of the past few years a call for political and economic changes. hiromi and i'm hard 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 of accuse the 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 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. well hundreds of people have died in a wave of protests in ethiopia since twenty fifteen the un to get them and demonstrations have been led by two ethnic groups they are all well on the ammara they accuse the government of political and economic discrimination the government led by a tiny to green elite retaliated by imposing a state of emergency in october twenty fifth in emergency was lifted after ten months of the government introduced an antiterrorism law which critics say has been used to arrest dissidents and opposition leader. joining me from cuba in the u.k. is our will alo he's a law lecturer who studied political trials in ethiopia for nearly ten years

serving a warm welcome to the program good to have your company why has the prime minister made this move. i think the political landscape in ethiopia has been changing over the course of the last two and a half years starting with the or more protests than the protests in them hard a region which made it absolutely impossible for the government to continue business as usual as your reporter said the government responded by cracking down on protesters and then ultimately declaring a state of emergency to calm the situation but what happened after the result of the protest movement and a few other factors is it kind of challenge and confrontation within the ruling itself equality in that has been held together through a range of strategic and ideological much nations in the past so the ruling quality

in which. enabled the to grow in people's liberation front to dominate all aspects of political life in the country began to be challenged from within in the sense that the or more people to make radical going to vision and people do credit movement began to ask questions began to assert themselves so this is say surely change of the political landscape the ruling college and found itself on the verge of a rivalling the country found itself or the cusp of what's going to explosion and the only thing that they could really do with this stage is to try to respond to the demands of the public and what the government is saying is that we want to leave the political prisoners precisely to facilitate a national consensus a russian of course a national reconciliation but also to open up the political process and i think the best way they can open up the political process is by releasing political prisoners

the political opposition who are locked behind the bars so dr allawi right now do the public believe the government i mean when we're talking about political prisoners you know what does that mean and what guarantee is there that all of these people will be released or part. so the question of who is a political prisoner is is a very subjective question but in the context of ethiopia there are people who are arrested tried and convicted not because they have committed a criminal offense but because of their ideological position or their political persuasion so people who are accused of for example corruption where in fact they may have committed corruption but the real reason behind arresting and prosecuting those individuals is not because they committed an act of corruption but because the government wanted to eliminate those individuals from the political space there are several people in thousands who were. arrested suspected of committing

terrorist acts there are several people who are accused of committing what are called crimes against the state such as in the international security these are all by definition political prisoners who are. accused of basically put critically motivated. offenses so these are all political trials who might stand a chance of being released if the government goes ahead with with its pledge but the question of whether or not the government can be believed. is one that divides a lot of people some people say that because the political landscape is shifting if in the interest of the government itself to do this if the government doesn't do this then it would be very difficult to hold on for a very long time there are others who are skeptical some who are cautiously

optimistic but my own personal belief is that the government would all or even though it may not assert it is all political prisoners it would it is very likely to to honor this pledge because this is no longer an option for the government if it doesn't do this then it is probably i think inviting it or not reveling that's our joining me from university does alan thank you. now u.s. president donald trump has his head of his former chief strategist steve bannon in an excerpt from an upcoming book banning calls trump's actions during the twenty sixteen campaign quote treasonous and unpatriotic trump has issued a statement saying steve bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency when he was fired he not only lost his job he lost his mind he went on to say steve has little to do with our historic victory steve doesn't represent my bases only in it for himself he also accused baron of playing a double game saying steve pretends to be at war with the media which he calls the

opposition party get to spend his time in the white house leaking false information to the media to make himself seem far more important than he was steve was rarely in a one on one meeting with me let's speak to diana as to brooke who is live in washington d.c. for us hi there diane so why is the white house responding so forcefully on this. well part of it i think has to do with the president being very defensive when it comes to his family sara sanders his press secretary said just a little while ago in a press briefing that you don't curry favor with the president when you call his son treasonous and unpatriotic which is what bannon allegedly said in this book when donald trump jr met with these russians before the the election year ago in the summer to talk about potential dirt on hillary clinton. and

he's she said you know you he sort of stepped over the line when he did that and again this also comes at a time when robert muller is still bearing down on the administration looking into meddling into the two thousand and sixteen presidential campaign and potential collusion with the trumpet ministration the other thing to keep in mind here too is steve bannon had a has a strong appeal to the nationalist movement which is part of president trump's core audience and so it raises questions as to whether those some of those people in his core might side with bannon. sarah sanders was asked about that today in the in the press briefing and she said she thought that the core the core nationalist group would stick with the president and support him but it just raises a lot of questions within the white house right now in this book it talks about a lot of chaos and certainly that is something that we're seeing today and i am

let's talk to you about poll man afford and he's going to be suing well but. that's right paul man a fourth was the president's campaign manager for a very short time during the summer of twenty sixteen and he left the campaign was let go in favor of a steve bannan he was indicted last fall for money laundering by special prosecutor robert muller as it related to his lobbying before he came into the campaign well now momar is suing i'm sorry man a ford is suing malar and the justice department saying that muller sort of stepped over went beyond the investigation that this money laundering accusation or indictment relates to his lobbying business not what he did with the campaign but again the u.s. justice department gave moeller a very wide berth in investigating the administration and the cam and the election

and so it would argue that it had every right to look into his business dealings be when he was with the campaign or before he came into the campaign to anticipate there live from washington d.c. to and thank you well joining me now via skype from new york is david cay johnston he's an investigative journalist and author of the making of from a defense of a warm welcome to the program good to have your company should not be what more can be surprised that this rather bizarre relationship i see some people calling it took sick on twitter eventually soured you know because to donald trump all relationships are transactional and donald has a long history of turning on people the moment he thinks it's in his interests and remember donald trump is not a strategic thinker he thinks ahead about two minutes or so bam has said these things about him and donald has responded by saying you know damn you have no influence which is utter nonsense also goes to another point about donald in the

thirty years i've known him he creates his own reality if donald says you are to believe it's the way it is. so i wonder what all of this kind of pouring on twitter is doing to not just american public policy it's because we're talking about it here is it diverting our attention from the other issues that really matter is is that part of the strategy well yes donald absolutely wants to distract us from the simple fact that he is totally unqualified and one of the points michael wolff makes in his book is donald never expected to become president the night of the election you know he was in shock about it which has been reported previously he has a new novel is not qualified to be a current town councilman in a small city he has no experience no knowledge of the world for example as i've said many times he does not know a sunni from a shia and why it matters and so he's doing irreparable damage both to the us into

the rest of the world so long as he remains in office so how then david does u.s. politics hold a man like donald trump who wants to talk about foreign policy on twitter except you're accountable. well the constitution united states was designed to be durable it did not anticipate a malignant narcissist who has no loyalty to anyone but himself and that includes his family is all about loyalty is only to himself. in the us congress is supposed to be the check on him under the american system of checks and balances but instead we have seen the republicans who control the house in the senate try to protect donald to divert to avoid inquiry now if the control of congress changes a year from now then we will see very quickly serious additional investigations into trump into his incompetence and he was wrongdoing but that depends entirely on

the political system acting as the framers intended not as a defense and protection mechanism for bomb david just going back to to ban him for a second then he's still popular with those on the right will he still wield any influence on trump's base. i'm sure i mean trump's base which is narrowing steadily. is are are consist of people who over the last forty years have gone nowhere an anomaly donald trump ran for president basically of the policies in a trilogy of books that i wrote about how the elites of washington had written laws and passed rules that nobody knew about until i dug them out of the public record you know wrote about them that take money from the pockets of the many and redistribute it to the few. those people are looking at donald trump to be their savior and they're seen among those who are nativists and racists and supra white

supremacists they see both donald and steve bam as champions of their interests that isn't going to change the big question america is will the centrists and the liberals in the progressives actually turn out to vote in enough numbers next fall that we see a change in our congress to make a johnson there joining me from of rochester new york david thank you thank you this much more to come here on the al-jazeera news hour tens of thousands take to the streets in iran this time it's in support of the government. i'm going to somewhere to get your economy as a western region have to cough where voluntary doctors together with the country's marines are bringing health services to once called sick three then areas and be on the trip compare for the first outing of the new year details later with sports.

north korea has reopened communication with south korea for the first time in almost two years official talks between the two governments essential for tuesday on monday north korea's leader kim jong un made a rare conciliatory offer of talks touring his new year's address barna smith reports. 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. but 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 on my button 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. burnet smith al jazeera. norway is banning weapon exports to the united arab emirates over its participation in the war in yemen the u.a.e.

is a key member of the society that coalition financing hooty rebels in the country or the coalition's imposed a blockade on yemen leading to whites red 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 twenty fifteen. israel's parliament has given preliminary approval for legislation that would make it easier for a court to impose a death sentence on people convicted of murder in incidents classified as terror attacks the bill still requires three more readings before it becomes law currently though the death penalty can only be imposed if a panel of three military judges passes the sentence unanimously fifteen members of the knesset voted in favor of the people's or forty nine or against a woman who should she be i think that to extreme situations there is also simple logic the simple logic is if someone murders a loss he will not spend the rest of his life in jail but he will be executed. so

side bombers killed eleven people at a mosque in northeastern nigeria it happened during dawn prayers in borno state which is at the center of the conflict with iran say the group's leader released a video claiming responsibility for a series of recent attacks in the area. tens of thousands of government supporters have been 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 iran's revolutionary guard declared on wednesday the unrest as being over reports. on arabian state t.v. pictures of government supporters filling city streets condemning protests and deaths during the day and. it's basically people who are believing that what so what's happening is that against that he jeem and they want to support the regime by saying this is a revolutionary dream and we are in favor of it. the t.v. pictures of these days pro-government rallies are

a contrast to the coverage of demonstrations against iran's leadership which began last thursday. the the government has shut down some social media platforms. but pictures have been posted showing damaged cars burning buildings and chanting crowds. the. 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 arabian 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's 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 but it's not clear if both sides will be on the same streets at the same time. al-jazeera. we are watching the. border checks in defiance of the e.u. and its philosophy that free travel. has entered pressure on the national health service hospitals are ordered to take drastic measures. and in sport i return to

the court at last for this tennis star far will tell us more. hello there we've had some very active weather across europe recently it's all thanks to this spiraling massive cloud herit but winds to the netherlands of over one hundred forty kilometers per hour in the whole of this region was very very windy pretty wet at times to that system is just running its way towards the northeast and slowly becoming less intense as it does so in behind it there's the next system pushing in but this one isn't quite so intense so heavy downpours for some of us in france and a fair amount of snow over the alps and this one gradually edges its way eastwards as we head through friday we see some rain tailing back through parts of spain portugal but to the north of that there is still rather mild look about nine in

london and around twelve in paris the southeast corner of europe it's very quiet to the moment we're looking at fine sunny weather and athens will get to around fourteen degrees across the other side of the mediterranean it's fairly unsettled currently you can see one system there making its way into turkey just stretching down towards the northern parts of egypt and libya but the whole thing's working its way eastward so for the north coast of egypt should be a bit brighter there force on friday the systems making its way through lebanon in the east there meanwhile elsewhere generally fine and settle for us across the northern parts of africa with nineteen at the maximum temperature there him or about. in russia many. creasing meet for many a global trend. for left vulnerable to exploitation

the. people in power investigate. little to stand. at this time i. discover a wealth of award winning programming from around the world the need more find professionals. to study find powerful documentary debates and discussions as prime minister you do need to be critical of all this any and all sexism challenge your perceptions the contours of this story are shaped by the interests of the countries involved only on al-jazeera.

welcome back a quick mind our top stories here were knowledge is iraq palestinian leaders and condemning u.s. president donald trump's threat to cut aid to the palestinian authority president made the statement on twitter where he also said jerusalem is off the negotiating table. that the o.p.'s leader has announced plans to drop charges against political prisoners and calls in a tourist prison camp as part of a plan to whiten democracy in the country following months of anti-government protests in two regions u.s. president donald trump as his have his former chief strategist steve bannon saying he's lost his mind it comes after bad and cold trumps actions during the twenty six campaign treasonous and unpatriotic in excerpts over the book. more now on our top story the threat by the u.s. president to withdraw aid to the palestinian authority businesses in the gaza strip

are already struggling under an israeli blockade many are barely able to keep running and some forced to close due to a lack of supplies and all the difficulties of cotton by an israeli rights group shows the reality facing one sweet factory malcolm webb reports not gaza. but. a girl called nor buys an ice cream and wins a ticket to visit a sweet factory. hey you have heard even my son are allowed a shot in the snow was a hollow yet was nor is a 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's off most of the time in gaza. during my visit i had

explained that 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 and 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 made to be done to my city by dismissing the need to spare parts it is not being allowed in this machine but the cream filling and biscuits the kids technicians come here and service it in order to come this whole production line being down for you some of the equipment these he sent to germany for servicing and that's not allowed either. the mohammed doesn't believe the restrictions are just for security reasons it's there is the way that it's. this is always the goal but

that's. the make the people is ready for this because that. israel's military assault on gaza these 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 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 unless the siege ends 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. a turkish bank has been found guilty in a u.s. court of taking part in the scheme to violate u.s. sanctions on iran mahmoud hakon a along with us was accused of moving billions of dollars worth of iranian money through american bags disguised as food and gold sales focus since then he has been following the trial for us in new york hi kristen so tell us more then about who is. so how come the tila is the former general manager deputy general manager of hulk bank which is the turkish state owned bank that prosecutors say was at the center of the scheme to launder more than a billion dollars of iranian money through the turkish banks so that it could be spent in the united states and on international markets in violation of u.s. sanctions now he is one of only nine people who are charged in this case the only

one to stand trial and his lawyers paint him as a blameless pawn in this case they don't deny that there was the scheme to launder money only that it was a tiller who was taking part in it that he played any willful role in taking part in the scheme they say he was a civil servant at the bank someone who never took a bribe but he was brought down if you will by the star witness in the case was originally believed defendant but then pleaded guilty in the hopes of getting a lighter sentence reza rob he's a turkish iranian gold trader he's married to a turkish pop star is very well known in the country and he was considered the lead defendant until he began testifying and in the process implicating government officials in turkey he claimed that president recip tie affair to one when he was prime minister had known about the scheme he claimed that he paid a former economy minister forty to fifty million dollars in bribes he never claimed

that he paid a bribe to a tila interestingly enough and prosecutors never claimed that a tila took a bribe but they said he was essential in designing the scheme as the head of international banking and someone who was a sanctions expert and they said to the jury that he didn't have to take a bribe in order to be guilty of these charges in the jury apparently found that compelling because they did find him guilty on five of six charges money laundering being the only one that he was found not guilty of conspiracy and wire fraud all of that he's now been found guilty and could spend many years behind bars for that and kristen what does this verdict mean then for the government of turkey. well the turkish government has denied any wrongdoing in terms of violations of sanctions they say iran is a legitimate business partner with turkey and they also claim that this whole trial is really just an attempt by. islamic cleric a turkish cleric who left the country and now lives here in the united states. to

overthrow and undermine the turkish government he was implicated in a coup attempt in two thousand and sixteen and actually a lot of the evidence in this trial came from an investigation within turkey that was started by turkish prosecutors and turkish investigators in judicial members of the judiciary there that case was thrown out in turkey because it was found to be connected to glenn and it was also considered a glutton glynnis plot but a turkish police officer fled the country and brought a lot of the evidence from that case to american prosecutors that was used in the trial u.s. prosecutors deny there's any such connection at all what this does mean for turkey probably not a lot to mess to clean at home everyone has strong support and strong control of the media but it means that u.s. turkish relations are under continued strain and it's likely to mean more anti-u.s. rhetoric coming from turkey at a time when things are very tense in the region kristensen me there joining me live

with the latest on that from new york thank you to senior members of germany's far right f.t. posse of being investigated for alleged incitement to hate shit over social media polls and beatrix film store to criticize the peace in cologne wishing follow us online a happy new year in arabic so when it came has more now from berlin. the decision by the police to investigate alice vida the co-leader of the alternative for germany party alongside their investigation into the comments of her colleague bed weeks one stalk came at a point when we knew already that several hundred people had complained themselves about the point the points that the bear took from stalk had put out on social media the interesting thing to to say here is that following new year's day news it into news the new law has come into effect in germany which regulates what can and cannot be said online as much as it does in the broadcast media of the written

major and in the street as it were and so the question that the police will have to with the authorities will have to work out is whether the comments that were made by. talk by alice vital do contravene the law and then there is the question of the motivation behind it because several years ago in twenty fifteen years eve twenty fifteen when many women complained in the city of cologne that they had been assaulted by people of a with a migrant background the alternative for germany was very hot on on pointing out the danger is that the same thing is appearing to be sent now the difference is that very very few allegations of assault were made on new year's eve twenty seventeen so the question would be what the motivation is behind the decision by these two ladies to make the comments they have made and the investigation is ongoing britain's hospitals are being warned to take drastic measures to cope with surging demand as one said grains on the national health service experiences much higher activity in the colder months doctors say the institution is struggling to

cope need parker has the story. hundreds of british hospitals are in the grip of a winter crisis patient numbers regularly surge during the colder months but this year sickness levels have sought to ease the pressure and health officials have banned doctors in england from carrying out all non-emergency surgery such as cataract to hip replacement operations until the end of january people have been told to only go to hospital in a real emergency some patients are waiting twelve hours to see a doctor others are being treated and kodos medical stuff but also feeling the strain on twitter this doctor apologize for third world conditions at the hospital he worked in i shouldn't be and t. is every day at work because of a lack of resources and lack of capacity wrote this nurse an estimated fifty five thousand procedures are expected to be postponed in the coming weeks and h.s.

chiefs have defended the move this is a planned response to a winter that we knew was going to be difficult and we are managing that in the way that we expected and we're taking early action we're not waiting to have to respond to what the n.h.s. is one of the u.k.'s most revered institutions offering free health care to all u.k. residents but it's under mounting strain so much so that this time last year the red cross the international aid group said that if things didn't improve that it raised a humanitarian crisis. and the n.h.s. is still struggling to cope. many doctors blame successive governments for starving the service of funding all in a gradual attempt they say to privatized the public health service we've seen the n.h.s. over this decade undergoing the biggest funding squeeze since it began. seventy years and what we've seen in this decade is approximately forty billion pounds of

cuts by the time we get twenty twenty not simply on pressed into the n.h.s. it's not surprising we're seeing the kind of scenes. this winter around last winter the government insists the delays are part of a well planned system that comes through operations of time critical procedures will go ahead as planned but all many people can see is a cherished service sinking deeper into crisis the barca al-jazeera landed. in colombia the peace deal with fark rebels is improving the delivery of health services to more remote regions al-jazeera is alexandra ramp yet he 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 remote areas through civic military brigades when

people here are less hostile to military forces now that they have. a presence they are 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 prison says 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 brigades could come twice

a year. most kids here have rarely seen a toothbrush 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 a major logistical problem persists last year sixteen percent of colombia's rural population at to 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 it will start to feel. just like how i feel and think when i can contribute to those without the opportunity or the money to get to a doctor what i did at the 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'm. so the head on al-jazeera in sport bad weather holds at this race in germany far up will have over school. and more than two hundred works of the italian. go on display in new york including what's believed to be his first painting. business updates. going places together.

business updates. going places.

orders. in the heights in the refugee crisis still in place despite the calling for them to end on the e.u. rules controls can be put in place but only for a limited time and some countries are reluctant to give up those 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 sixty thousand people who applied for asylum in sweden and 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 he is god. 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 africa how finally ended here in recent years the question of whether free movement in the schengen zone can ever begin again is still in the. whole race al-jazeera. now let's get all the day's news with is in doha. chile thank you so much the biggest names in african football are gathering in ghana the continent's player of the year award is set to be announced and for the very first time fans are playing a part in the vote two thousand and fifteen winner here emerick has again made the

final three he was the leading african scorer in europe's top leagues in two thousand and seventeen with twenty eight strikes in the german bundesliga for rossiya dortmund sodium on a our liverpool is trying to become only the second senegalese player to win it see helped his country reach next year's world cup in russia mohamed salah also of labor pool is the favorite to win he played a big part in getting egypt to the world cup for the first time since one nine hundred ninety and has already scored twenty three goals this season for his club as i mentioned earlier for the first time the public will help decide the winner of the award earlier he spoke to football journalist gary al smith and asked him how much of a factor the public vote and social media will play in picking a winner. well the thing about media especially where egyptians are concerned is that there's a running joke that it's not really a joke if you put anything on social media it will be in egypt sharon is going to

weigh in from the get go there is one popular web site in the off the boat site one very popular one they actually stop running polls for their money and for play out that month somewhere in october because. any time they put it up their mom it's a law and so that's about it i mean he does want to be busy every couple columbia wants which is good to exclusively by friends and i am told by insight is it wasn't even a contest is that because the up and i see it's a very big deal i mean i can't underestimate it's it's actually probably taken more seriously than the rest of it all take something like there. which many people see has been reduced to a contest between the highest school to high school scores in the world especially when messi and ronaldo join the fray about ten years ago the african people still calls that very. sweet when it comes to quote discussions and prestige on this

continent. barcelona's record signing of ballet is set to return to action on thursday after a four month injury layoff the legal leaders will travel to celta vigo for the first leg of their round of sixteen copa del rey tie around madrid will also be playing on thursday they travel to the second tier side in the opening leg of their round of sixteen tie or i'll be trying to start the year on a much more positive note they ended twenty seventeen with a three nil home defeat to barcelona and now trail them by fourteen points and. we're still live in three competitions and we have the same hope for giving the best in each match. back and we have the greatest enthusiasm for winning this first leg. in the english premier league chelsea missed a chance to move second in the standings after drawing two two with arsenal arsenal were two one down after ninety minutes before hector baron rescued a point with

a goal in a tie all confirmation here that chelsea stayed down in third place a point behind matches united and sixteen behind runaway leaders that man city arsenal say six but top them can move further ahead of them on thursday when they play at west ham. meanwhile manchester city manager pep guardiola has hit out at premier league bosses he says the hectic christmas and new year schedule is a risk to players health while many other european leagues are enjoying a winter break on choose day city played their fourth game in eleven days city did the walk for three one but already ola believes this run of games is a disaster for players little to kill them. so. who are the bosses have to reflect the little. guys to play through the first two i know the show must go on and it doesn't matter with. the managers here another

one and the players are the ones but. he had to pull out of his first two events of the twenty eight thousand season due to an ongoing elbow injury but novak djokovic has confirmed he will return to the court this month ahead of the australian open the twelve time grand slam champion who hasn't played competitively since wimbledon will take part in two exhibition of events in melbourne next week after that the former world number one will decide whether or not he's ready to play in the season's first grand slam which begins in melbourne on january fifteenth. finally extreme weather in germany forced the cancellation of the sprint stage of the skiing's annual tour diski race earlier these are the conditions that the female skaters had to contend with as they begin the fourth stage of the race it was subsequently cancelled as founder and lightning began to hit the course organizers announced that it would not be rescheduled.

and that's all you support for now it's now back to julian london. thank you more than two hundred works by michelangelo are on display at the metropolitan museum of art in new york the exhibition includes dozens of sketches and joins which rarely go on public display or 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 still a regional pencil on paper works that are the real draw when he draws serious 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 man 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. that's it for me and the team for this news hour i will be back with much more of the day's news. ahead of the september twenty fourth national election survey showed job unless a satisfied for the state of their economy this is easily a stone year's biggest tech success story the company was bought by microsoft in

two thousand and eleven we bring you the stories that are shaping the economic world we live in counting the cost at this time on al-jazeera. with bureaus spanning six continents across the globe. al-jazeera as correspondents live and bring the stories they tell of a. few of us. and that's the stuff. we're at the mercy of the russian camp for palestinian al-jazeera fluent in world news june nine hundred sixty seventy six days there redrew the map of the middle east is a mecca to victory of the me in that war war the greatest tragedy in the history of islam fifty years later al-jazeera explores the events leading to the war and its consequences which is still felt today we tried everything went to the united nations and tried to make

a shirt has contacts through different countries and it was clear that all this was the north of the wall in june at this time. we understand the differences and the similarities of cultures across the wound. so no matter where you call home al-jazeera will bring in the news and current affairs that matter to you. al-jazeera. i would say that palestinian dogs are not for sale and will not succumb to react mean wage amongst palestinians as donald trump threatens on twice is a cut off hundreds of millions in age.