i mean i. mean if you want to be shedding light on the roumanians pressing for change and the unconventional methods to eliminate corruption remain the people at this time on al-jazeera. all jews. and. palestinians say they won't be blackmailed after the white house threatens to cut off hundreds of millions of dollars in aid. alone sami's a than this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up

a show of support tens of thousands rally in iran to back the government off the days of our greste. ethiopia plans to free political prisoners and shots in a tourist prison camp move to foster national reconciliation. president donald trump accuses a former aide of losing his mind after comments in a new book about life inside the white house. leaders say they won't be blackmailed after the u.s. president threatened to cut aid worth around three quarters of a billion dollars a year donald trump tweeted the threat accusing palestinians of not wanting peace talks he also said jerusalem is no longer up for negotiations relations with the u.s. have plummeted. since trump recognized jerusalem as israel's capital last month or

the cuts threaten money allocated to the palestinian authority most u.s. funding goes towards development and not directly to the authority itself also at risk is funding to the united nations relief and works agency or un rule which assists palestinian refugees the u.s. is the largest donor now both measures if they go ahead would cut around seven hundred sixty five million dollars a year in aid to the palestinians homage and gloom reports now from the city of ramallah in the occupied west bank 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 god 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 more dead than 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 really means the there would be more hunger and less ability to survive look at what the gazans have sustained because of the israeli 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 aid getting scarcer the only thing it seems palestinians can count on is even more uncertainty homage to him and dizzy into the occupied west bank. spokesman christopher gunness told there's been no official word from the u.s.

that it will pull the support organization says it will continue to provide healthcare and education it had no indications whatsoever from the u.s. administration that they intend to cut funds from under they remain 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 and 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 absolute massive our contribution to human development is really widely recognised as being widespread and indeed profound. iran's ambassador to the united nations is accusing the u.s. of interfering in his country's domestic affairs or merely use a few wrote a complaint to the u.n. secretary general it comes after days of unrest in which at least twenty two people have been killed the government's received to show support in the form of tens of thousands of people who rallied to condemn the unrest matheson reports. on a rainy and state t.v. pictures of government supporters filling city streets condemning protests and deaths during days of. its basically people who are believing that what so what's happening is against that he jean and they want to support the regime by saying this is a revolutionary jeem and we are in favor of it. the t.v.

pictures of these 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. 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 arrangement 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 that people have little food begin flée should. 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 it's not clear if both sides will be on the same streets at the same time a lot matheson al-jazeera. u.n. spokesperson for the secretary general i'm tony harris has called for an end to the violence in iran the secretary general is following with concern recent developments in the republic of iran he deplores the loss of life in the protests

he urges respect for the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression and that any demonstrations take place in a peaceful manner further violence must be avoided. is here and his government has announced they were lace all political prisoners and close in a tourist prison camp in a surprise move charges against many who are facing prosecution will also be drops this follows increased pressure on the government to end its crackdown on opposition voices stephanie deca reports i. hope he has been under pressure domestically and on the international stage there have been anti-government protests since two thousand and fifteen they continue to pose a serious challenge to the ruling party the decision to release all political prisoners would be welcomed by many peons some warn it may not lead to major changes in policy. there but the go on the idea many

implicit in the prime minister of egypt realizes that. it will continue to be a. political junkie and that it is still stuck to a political dialogue in order to avoid really being sidelined by the international community needs to be really. only eleven of the society. the protests of the past two years of 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 come and 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 marc allow a prison and turning it into a new zealand 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. u.s. president. down to his former chief strategist steve batten follows publication of eggs from an upcoming book and which bannon calls trump's eldest son treasonous for meeting a lawyer linked to the kremlin in two thousand and sixteen that meeting is central to an investigation into alleged russian meddling in the presidential campaign time these to probe now. for the first time a furious donald trump publicly thrashed his former strategist over comments in an upcoming book 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 in fire and fury inside the

trump white house band and says donald trump jr was treasonous and unpatriotic when he met with russians who claim to have dirt on democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton press secretary sarah sanders called the president saying or at bannon justified i would certainly think that going after the president's son and absolutely outrageous and unprecedented way is probably not the best way to curry favor with anybody the book's release coincides with special prosecutor robert miller's investigation into russia's meddling in the twenty six thousand election and possible collusion by the trump campaign it includes interviews with white house insiders including bannon and paints an administration in chaos the white house tried to distance itself from ban and wednesday saying the president had little one on one contact with bannon but bannon was the c.e.o. of the president's campaign played a key role during the president's transition to the white house and was chief

political strategist until he was fired last summer in the book bennett says he advised the president to move the u.s. embassy in israel from tel aviv to jerusalem immediately after he took office he is quoted as saying we know where we're heading on this let jordan take the west bank let egypt take gaza let them deal with. or sink trying i would love to tell you people banning continues to have a strong connection to president trump's nationalist core but sanders downplayed suggestions that those supporters might break with the president it's a question you're going after steve bannon the president's base is very solid it hasn't changed because the president hasn't changed his agenda hasn't changed as yet bannan hasn't commented on the blistering words from the man he helped propel to the highest political office in the world diane estabrook al-jazeera. the u.s. president's former campaign chairman paul man of forty is suing the u.s. justice department and special counsel robert muller over the rush or investigation

amount of forces trying to fend off his criminal trial due to start in may he faces laundering charges related to work he did for the ukrainian government his lawsuit accuses mala of going beyond his legal authority by filing the charges against him . lots more still ahead on al-jazeera the jury in the u.s. decides the fate of a turkish banker accused of taking part in a scheme to breach sanctions against iran plus. i'm a listener i'm here to report on the western region after car where voluntary doctors together with the country's marines are bringing health services to once conflict ridden areas. and there is still bitterly cold for us in parts of north america here's some

pictures from chicago and i feel cold just looking at them look at the amount of ice there own not river that is bitterly bitterly cold and now we're going to see a little bit more in the way of snow as well see this little system in the south is gradually edging its way eastwards that one's bringing us a fair amount of rain across parts of florida and a fair amount of snow elsewhere as well and it's running its way towards the northeast on thursday here it is in the northeastern parts of the states and in the eastern parts of canada giving us some very heavy snow and some very strong winds mixed in with that as well that system will eventually begin to pull away northeast which as we head through friday and behind it staying bitterly cold water what is the maximum that's a maximum room and minus twenty degrees still incredibly cold the place where it's a lot warmer is towards the west where l.a. will get to around twenty as we head down towards the central americas here we've got our line of thunderstorms as we've seen over the past few days searching from panama and colombia all the way up towards the northeast we've seen plenty of showers over parts of jamaica through parts of cuba and into haiti as well this

system still with us as we head through thursday and friday and giving us the very heavy rain and for the south a quick look at rio we're expecting more shots. in the most unlikely place to be. willing to talk about a new wonder the signal to challenge teaching perceptions of africa. and bring photography to his community. a story of hope and beauty in the face of adversity. the new african photography. congolese dream at this time how he does it.

back you're watching out zero time to recap our headlines now palestinian leaders say they won't be blackmailed after the us president threatened to college worth around three quarters of a billion dollars a year in a tweet donald trump blamed palestinians for refusing to engage in middle east peace talks also said he'd taken jerusalem off the negotiating table. if the obvious government says it releases all political prisoners surprise announcement by the prime minister will see the. prison turned into a museum follows months of and protests. and the u.s. president is lashing out at his former chief strategist steve balance sang he's lost his mind it follows publication of excerpts from an upcoming book which bannon

denounces trump's eldest son as treasonous and unpatriotic. a turkish banker has been found guilty by u.s. courts of taking part in a scheme to violate washington's sanctions on iran mahmoud taylor and days how those who are accused of moving billions of dollars worth of iranian money through american banks disguised as food and gold sales tello was an executive at the state owned bank. kristen salumi has more from new york. attila was the deputy general manager of whole bank the turkish state owned bank at the center of the scheme to launder iranian money in violation of u.s. sanctions a tylo was one of nine people charged by u.s. prosecutors in the case but the only one to stay on trial his lawyers described him as a blameless pawn someone who was not knowingly involved in any scheme to do anything

and they put the blame on his boss and reza zurab who was the lead defendant in the case until he decided to plead guilty and testify against attila he also implicated president erda won in turkey has been aware of this case back when he was prime minister being aware of the scheme he claimed that he spent. forty to fifty million dollars in bribes on bribes to a former economy minister and he said that attila was really the designer of this scheme and the jury apparently believed that even though there was no evidence that attila himself had ever taken any bribes in relation to this operation he now faces potentially decades behind bars for a scheme that he may have helped design but he others like got rich off of least fourteen people have been killed in ass strikes in northwest syria this footage shows the aftermath of an asteroid which destroyed

a hospital on the outskirts of it live three people were killed eleven others died in strikes across it live in hama the syrian opposition says russian and government forces carried out the attacks. if the province is thought to be the last remaining rebel held area in the country of importance size at least it's inside one of the so-called deescalation zones set up last september an effort to scale back the conflict with no letup in the fighting tens of thousands of civilians are fleeing the area so they don't hold the reports. they set up tents wherever they can on the side of roads in open fields syrians are still on the move trying to find a safe place many have already been displaced more than once these people are from the north and how much countryside and from the villages along the neighboring provincial borders of lib areas that have become battlegrounds and as we fled the

bombardment and the airstrikes we can't go back because our house was hit and it is now destroyed they are targeting civilians and their homes not the rebels. the recent wave of displacement coincides with winter weather is setting in and making life even more difficult near freezing temperatures are common here and many fear they may have to live out in the open for a long time they have nothing to return to and some of their villages have been recaptured by government forces for many going back is not option. we had to leave the area because of airstrikes we tried to return to the village but it was talkative again we hope that the regime doesn't control the area the united nations says up to sixty thousand people have been displaced in recent weeks it also says aid is scarce there are already an estimated two hundred thousand displaced people and people who fled from areas across the country retaken by government forces. are

being displaced for the past seven years running from one place to it's horrible if god doesn't help us no one can. even the children the regime wants to control every single area. the violence is not confined to areas close to the frontlines villages across the province are coming under fire. hospitals bakeries markets have all been hit by air strikes. under rebel control in two thousand and fifteen it is also supposed to be a russian guaranteed deescalation zone. it is a heavily populated province an estimated two million people live there people fear the presence of. a coalition dominated by front which declared its independence from al qaida could be used as a pretext to launch an all out offensive the russian military did say the main goal is to defeat that group in syria in two thousand and eighteen. people are worried pro-government forces want to storm rebels however believe the military campaign

aims to recapture a military airport and lift the siege on to loyalist towns in the province whatever the objective the offensive continues to cause much suffering. beirut. and north korea has reopened the telephone hotline with south korea for the first time in almost two years this comes ahead of talks between the two governments scheduled for tuesday 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 want to 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 take a picture we think that we need to have them start nuclear weapons and they need to stop that 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 and my bottom 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. equitorial guinea's government says it is false that a coup against president. one man was shot dead after security forces used to govern fire to disperse what the government says were mercenaries gathered near the border with cameroon officials blame the alleged coup on opposition groups president obiang is africa's longest serving leader has often been accused of corruption and human rights abuses he's been in power for nearly four decades now. in colombia peace deal with fog rebels is improving the delivery of health services to more regions. traveled with a group of doctors to see the work being done in. volunteer doctors setting sail their mission is to win support from an indigenous community longer flick did 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 what people here are less hostile to know terry 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 presence has 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 criminals. 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 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 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 to for go medical care because of distances to services. over the course of the day hundreds are taking care of twenty two year old students stephanie says it's worth giving up her weekends it was started. 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 me by this time as it tries to pacify these restless areas for good i listen to them. cities in the u.s. continue to brace for it stream cold weather and may just know storms along the northeast the cold snap is expected to worsen in the coming days as calls some parts of niagara falls to freeze. and in tallahassee florida people woke up to see snow falling for the first time in nearly three decades the governor has declared a state of emergency more than two hundred works of the italian renaissance artist michelangelo gone on display at the metropolitan museum in new york al-jazeera as gabrial alexander 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 us for school 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 and 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. i'm sam is a down with a look at the headlines here on al-jazeera now palestinian leaders say they won't be blackmailed after the us president threatened to cut aid worth around three

quarters of a billion dollars a year in a tweet he blamed palestinians for refusing peace talks he also said he taken jerusalem off the negotiating table iran's ambassador to the u.n. is accusing the u.s. of interfering in iran's domestic affairs wrote a letter of complaint to the u.n. secretary general the u.s. is calling for an emergency security council meeting to discuss anti-government protests in iran days of unrest have left at least twenty two people dead but on wednesday the government received a show of support in the form of tens of thousands of people who rallied to condemn the unrest and the u.s. president has lashed out at his former chief strategist steve balance saying he's lost his mind follows publication of excerpts from an upcoming book in which ballon denounces trump's eldest son as treasonous and unpatriotic it's over a two thousand and sixteen meeting with

a lawyer with kremlin connections the white house press secretary calls the claims baseless. i think that is a ridiculous accusation and one that i'm pretty sure we've addressed many times from here before if that's in reference to comments made by mr bennett i'd refer you back to the ones that he made previously on sixty minutes where he called the collusion with russia about this president a total farce so i think i would look back at that if anybody's been inconsistent it's been him certainly has been the president or this administration of ethiopia his government says it will release sam padan old political prisoners a surprise announcement by the prime minister will see the notorious prison turned into a museum it's part of a plan to widen democracy following months of anti-government protests. a turkish bank has been found guilty in a u.s. court of taking part in a scheme to violate washington sanctions on iran mammoth how can i tell others were

accused of moving billions of dollars worth of iranian money through american banks disguised as food and gold sales. witnessed documentaries that open your eyes at this time on al-jazeera. twenty first century africa a continent undergoing great change and finally seizing control of it. but it's been a long box i want good years ago for doug i feel was a could go down to going to have to write about how to make money. i'm a composite independent competent. in the post-colonial you for photographers like my legs the big shots that you call for us. but elsewhere the narrative was of a call roll on manageable.