try to make. contacts through different countries and it was clear that all this was during the war in june at this time. we understand the differences and the similarities of cultures across the world. so no matter where you call home al-jazeera will bring you the news and current affairs that matter to you. al-jazeera. i would say that palestinian rights are not for sale and we will not succumb to react when i wage amongst palestinians as donald trump threatens on twitter says a cut of hundreds of millions in aid. all of them telling what all this is al jazeera live from london also coming up

after months of protests ethiopia and says it would free all political prisoners and clothes and a tourist prison camp. once a trusted aide now enemy number one donald trump slams his former chief strategist steve bannon save has lost his mind. and tens of thousands take to the streets in iran this time it's in support of the government. palestinian leaders say they will be back mailed after u.s. president donald trump threatened to cut aid worth more than three hundred million dollars a year made the statement on twitter the latest sign that his frustration is mind saying over the lack of progress in the middle east peace process if he does follow through on the threat it would affect the lives of millions of palestinians who were lying on the aide from ramallah in the occupied west bank mohamad junction 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 gotten laws available to the poor is not now days 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 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 allow us to go to this clinic while officials tell us they have 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 american aid and we couldn't some sort of buy without american aid and if it's really means that there will be more hunger and less ability to survive look at what the gazans have sustained because of the israeli siege of gaza. but the 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 aid getting scarcer the only thing it seems palestinians can count on is even more uncertainty mohammed among the occupied west bank. washington is also threatening to cancel 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 in the west bank including occupy the should loosen them u.s. 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 on rule spokesman christopher gunness told down to see whether there's been no suggestion from the u.s. that it will pull support and 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 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 of nine thousand students in vocational training centers we have tens of thousands of disabled refugees we serve a 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 a surprise move ethiopia's government has announced it will release all political prisoners and close in a tourist prison camp prime minister helen maryam desolated says as part of efforts to white democracy following months of anti-government protests stepped back over towards. theo has been under pressure domestically and on the international stage there have been anti-government protests since two thousand and fifteen that 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 reality is that. political. don't leave and that is still stuck to a political battle in order to avoid reading the. national news to be the. only level of the society. the protests of the past few years of call for political and economic changes. hiromi and 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 eighty 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 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. well as a law lecturer he studied political chiles and if you play a for nearly ten years he says the government risks collapsing if it doesn't honor its commitment. 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 even 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's me norma said 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 of. us president donald trump has hit out at his former chief strategist steve balance in an excerpt from an upcoming book banning calls trump's actions during the twenty sixth campaign called treasonous and unpatriotic jumper's issued a statement saying steve bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency and 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 base is only in it for himself he also has band playing a double game saying steve pretends to be at war with the media which he calls the opposition party yet he spent his time at the white house looking 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. well it's big to dion estabrook is live in washington d.c. for us hi there diane so why is the white house responding quite so strongly to this. well julie i think sarah sanders who is the president's press secretary summed it up fairly well this afternoon when she says you do not curry favor with president trump when you accuse his son of committing treason and being unpatriotic and so in other words what they're saying is steve bannon really crossed a line in this book when he said that. donald trump jr should not have met with these with this russian lawyer who claim to have dirt on hillary clinton he said that he should have immediately not he shouldn't taken the meeting at all and he should have immediately gone to the f.b.i. and of course this comes at a very sensitive time for the tron white house because right now robert muller is in the midst of this deepening investigation into russia meddling into last the two

thousand and sixteen presidential campaign and possible collusion by people within the trump white house so that's it's a sensitive time for them and president trump doesn't like disloyalty and he sees this is being a mark of disloyalty by bannan of the other thing to keep in mind too is steve bannon really brought in this sort of nationalist movement into the white house that was those were people that were sort of loyal to him from his breitbart newspaper and they remain loyal to him in the big question is will those people continue to be loyal to president trump and they are part of his core now according to sanders today that those people continue to be loyal to the president and will continue to follow him but obviously this book and these excerpts are causing a lot of consternation within the oval office on this wednesday evening and and what else is in the big. well the book really paints

a white house that was in chaos from from the moment the president won the office up until late last year in the book it said the president really never expected to win and maybe didn't even want to win it also so that molony a trump the president's wife the first lady was very upset when he won the election didn't want to move into the white house and bannon also says that he encouraged the president from day one to move the u.s. embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem so a lot of explosive details in this book that is slated to come out next week i am desperate there live from washington d.c. diane thanks president tom's former campaign aide pool man a ford is suing the u.s. justice department in a civil lawsuit the name special counsel investigative walford moola motorists investigating alleged collusion between donald trump's presidential campaign and

the russian government something both parties deny investigations resulted in a man a fourth being charged with conspiracy against the u.s. and money laundering related to the work you carried out for the former ukrainian government the man a fourth who pleaded not guilty says the charges go beyond most legal authority and he's asked a federal court to rein in the investigation so head here on miles just as when to push new pressure on the u.k.'s national health service his hospitals are ordered to take drastic measures. and more than two hundred works of the italian renaissance artist michelangelo go on display in new york including what's believed to be his first painting. and i bet we've had some severe weather of

a possible stray recently being new south wales where we've seen some of the worst of it was a scene the wind so strong that they've ripped up the trees and also the roofs off pounds as well just about make out the little thunderstorms there is a gradually of what their way towards the east but the easing now and should be a lot more settled over the next few days instead the wetter of the weather is in the northern parts and here it looks like it should stay fairly wet as we had to meet the day and on friday to some of the downpours here very very useful towards the west here in perth we've got a top temperature of around twenty four degrees now if it was new zealand and we're looking at some very stormy weather look at the satellite picture his that area of time galloping its way towards us and it's developing very rapidly and some of us in the north island there's going to be a lot of heavy rain there as we head through the day on thursday they could well be a problem with flooding for some of us as the system makes its way across us eventually on friday it we working its way slowly towards the southeast a behind it still quite a few outbreaks of rain there from the south lawn and we'll also be looking at times to up towards japan and for many of us here it's fine unsettled just

a few outbreaks of snow today in the northwestern parts of honshu instead in the western parts of i might be plenty of snow and some of that's going to be rather heavy as it works its way east. in russia many cuddy's migrant workers and grazing. echoing an increasingly familiar global trend. labor force left vulnerable to exploitation and xenophobia. people in power investigate. little caucus time and. this time around is iraq.

the mind of the top stories here on al-jazeera palestinian leaders are condemning u.s. president don't chomps threat to cut aid to the palestinian authority the president made the statement on twitter where he also said jerusalem is off the negotiating table if the o.p.'s leaders and i don't sponsor drop charges against political prisoners and close an atory as prison camp is part of a plan to whiten democracy in the country following months of anti-government protests to hundreds. who is president. as his former chief strategist steve bannon said he's lost his mind comes after band of cold trumps actions during the twenty sixteen campaign treasonous and unpatriotic in excerpts over the new book. tens of thousands of government supporters have been rallying across iran to show support comes after six days of demonstrations against the government in which at least

twenty two people were killed iran's revolutionary guard declare the rest is over matheson reports. on a rainy and state t.v. pictures of government supporters filling city streets condemning protests and deaths during days of unrest. 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. but 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 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 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's security. the instability depends on its own people who unlike the peoples of trumps regional be f.-f. so our 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 matheson al-jazeera. the turkish bankers been found guilty in a u.s. court of taking part in the scheme to violate u.s. sanctions on iran mehmet how can a loan with eight of those was accused of even billions of dollars worth of iranian money through american banks disguised as food and gold sales until it was an executive at turkey's state owned bank a signature kish official says the verdict against him is void and that international law has been violated trial has strained relations though between the two nato allies 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 the death penalty can only be imposed of a panel of three military judges passes the sentence you now missing fifty two members of knesset voted in favor of the parcel and forty nine were against. a woman who should she be mixing i think with the extreme situations there is also simple logic and simple logic easy if someone murders a loss he will not spend the rest of his life in jail and he will be executed. north korea's reopen communication with south korea for the first time in almost two years official talks between the two governments a shadow for choose day on monday north korea's leader kim jong il and made aware conciliated ago for of talks during his new year's address bernard 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. 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 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. but it's meant al-jazeera. suicide bombers killed eleven people at a mosque in northeastern nigeria it happened during dawn prayers in gambrel in borno state which is at the center of the conflict with boko haram launches they beyond groups released a video claiming responsibility for a series of recent attacks in the area. norway's banning weapons exports to the united arab emirates over its participation in the war again in the u.a.e. a key member of the society led coalition fighting hutu rebels in the country coalition has imposed a blockade on yemen and into widespread food shortages and a major health crisis u.n. estimates more than five thousand civilians have been killed since the conflict

began twenty fifteen. border checks introduced in parts of europe in zone during the height of the refugee crisis are still in place and that's 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 as paul research what 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 and sixty thousand people who applied for asylum in sweden in twenty fifteen that flow has now dried up 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. 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 or assumed 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. of time journeys of thousands of kilometers from the middle east and africa how finally ended here in recent is the question of whether free movement in the schengen zone can ever begin again is still in the whole race al-jazeera. britain's hospitals are being warned to take drastic measures to cope with surging demand as winter grind song but are still health service experiences much higher activity in the colder months delta say the institution is struggling to cope with . 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 health officials have by doctors in england from carrying out all non-emergency surgery such as cataract or 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 staff but also feeling the strain on twitter this doctor apologized to third world conditions at the hospital he worked in. i shouldn't be in tears 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. 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. over those 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 that we are persuaded to run last winter the government insists the delays are part of

a well planned system for the cancer operations and time critical procedures will go ahead as planned but all many people can see is a cherished service sinking deeper into crisis the park al-jazeera london. more than two hundred works by the telly and master michelangelo are being displayed at the metropolitan museum in new york the exhibition includes dozens of sketches and joins which really go on public display including his first ever painting gabe elizondo went to have a. 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 is 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. well you can find that much more about the stories we're following on our website head straight to w.w.w. dot al-jazeera dot com. or mind our top stories here on al-jazeera palestinian leaders say they will be blackmailed after u.s. president double chum threaten to cut aid more worth more than three hundred million a year a truck made the statement on twitter 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 i would say that palestinian votes are not for sale agree not to come to react meet their out imperatives and requirements for peace reluctantly president graham has the story good because they were somewhat gouged out efforts at that to bring a just peace and getting freedom and dignity for good student people if you will be as leaders announced plans to drop charges against political prisoners enclosed in a tourist prison camp by minister how mariam desa lynn says it's bonded efforts to democratic space for all comes after months of anti-government protests in a row me and a mara charges will be dropped for all political prisoners on the prosecution of pardons issued to those already serving sentences. u.s. president donald trump has hit out of his former chief strategist steve bannon in an excerpt from an upcoming book banning calls trump's actions during the twenty sixteen campaign treasonous and unpatriotic trump has responded by saying bannon

has quote lost his mind and is only in it for himself. iran's revolutionary guards have announced the end of unrest in the islamic republic tens of thousands of government supporters are rallying to condemn the release and on the rest at least twenty two people have died in the anti-government protests which began in march last thursday and spread across. north korea's leader has re-opened a key cross border communication channel with south korea for the first time in nearly two years comes after kim jong un suggested in this new year's address that he would like to easel still it is with so even agreeing to send a delegation to next month's winter olympics inside kaliya. norway is banning weapons exports to the united arab emirates over his participation in the war in yemen the u.a.e. is a key member of the side led coalition fighting hutu rebels in the country. hope you stay with us here and i'll just say are people in power is coming up next

thanks so much as always for your company see said. facing new realities your president said that there would be a complete audit a hundred percent ordered that orders hasn't happened getting to the heart of the matter so are you saying then that the future of the g.c.c. will be in doubt. here the story. on talk to al-jazeera at this time. migration whether for safety and freedom from comforts and repression or for economic benefits has become one of the dominant things of our toys but this huge flow of people is don't be aimed at europe the north states many from central asia but to russia in state so what functions that on the road.