freedom of the cold is going to be enough to leave men and women who believe that are available let me tell you a story we need is that we just don't tell you what the subject of the story wants you to know the government is not willing to do the one thing the demonstrators want to apologize for down to what al-jazeera does we ask the question. the truth. the bowl. opening the door to diplomacy north and south korea agreed to hold talks in the demilitarized zone for the first time in over two years. this is live from doha also coming up an early release for

a controversial book about the u.s. president and the white house donald trump says it's full of lies. a show of support for terror on as the u.n. security council meets discuss a week of antigovernment protests plus. everyone should take this one very seriously and take precautions a so-called bomb site plane slams into the u.s. east coast bringing record cold temperatures and stranding thousands of apple its. north korea has accepted south korean proposals for official talks on tuesday the meeting will be held in the demilitarized zone the area between the two countries at it this week cross border communication via hotline was reopened for the first time since two thousand and fifteen that the focus on north korea's participation in next month's winter olympics and china. well myung sick as

a research fellow at yonsei institute for north korean studies he says the focus of discussions will be on the winter games but will expand into other areas there's a concern that the improvements are into korea dialogue which may lead to easing. some of the economy corp programs between the two koreas may undermine the effect in their second extension and may make china changes to add it to away from participating in the international effort to put pressure on north korea here since like the one gentleman though south korea is fair very aware that this is a trap trap set by north korea but you have to walk into the trap you know to for us to use that dangerous tension on the korean peninsula that's the risk of an actual war taking place and second by improving the into korean relations and creating an atmosphere conducive to meaningful dialogue and negotiations eventually

north korea and the united states are likely to agree to have a direct talk on the new collision issue because our you know stay united states government has insisted that north korea first has to it demonstrate junior an attitude that it is really interested in you know easing tension and make a deal with the united states by at least four sixty if they need to restrain yourself from taking provocations the u.s. says there won't be any military exercises with south korea during next month's lympics winter olympics seoul is concerned that if the drills do go ahead it won't have enough forces to provide security for the games present donald trump spoke to south korea need to move jay in by phone on thursday tom says he hopes good results will come from the plans meetings with north korea. so you got the leaders of south korea and the united states agreed not to hold joint military

exercises during the period of pyongyang winter olympic games and to do their best to ensure security president trump says he hopes for the best result for the peace talks between south korea and north korea. a new book exposing what's described as chaos behind the scenes in the white house has been released ahead of shadow donald trump's personal lawyer is threatening legal action or a highly critical picture of life inside the oval office describing the president as mentally unfit for the job than estabrook reports from washington. president donald trump's press secretary came out swinging thursday saying americans are more concerned about policy then a new book on the white house i don't think they really care about some trash that an author that no one had ever heard of until today or a fired employee wants to peddle earlier attorneys for the president sent a cease and desist letter to the publisher and author demanding the book not be released they also threaten former white house strategist steve bannon with legal

action for telling author michael wolff that donald trump jr was treasonous and unpatriotic for meeting with russians before the twenty sixteen presidential election after excerpts of the book were released wednesday and enraged president trump said of bannon when he was fired he not only lost his job he lost his mind initially ban and fired off a tweet saying i won't speak about who lost their minds or ever had one but he later tweeted that the president was a great man that prompted president trump to downplay the vitriol at a white house meeting thursday don't really tell me a great man last night so you know you obviously changes to pretty quick the book is a distraction for a president who is trying to advance his policies in the face of a deepening special investigation into russia's meddling into the twenty sixteen presidential election author michael wolff says he spent eighteen months and conducted roughly two hundred interviews with president from senior staff during

the transition and the first year of his administration in a column thursday wolf seems to question the president's mental fitness for office it used to be inside of thirty minutes he'd repeat word for word and expression for expression the same three stories now it was within ten minutes the book is prompting speculation that the twenty fifth amendment to the constitution could be used to remove the president from office but former federal prosecutor melanie sloan says that he is unlikely to imagine the. majority of the cabinet and the vice president of the united states actually sending a letter saying that the president of the united states is mentally incapacitated is very hard to imagine and there are many commentators who believe this could lead to a constitutional crisis sloan says impeachment is a more likely scenario but with the congress still controlled by the president's own party that too seems unlikely at least for now dion estabrook al jazeera

washington. of the journalist who interviewed steve bannon for this week's cover story in newsweek magazine is alexander nasa ryan he says batman's involvement with the book burned his bridges with the current white house administration he is terrified of what robert mueller the special counsel is going to come up with and he is pointing to gerald question and downtime to new specifically in saying these guys are in real trouble he's sending out sort of almost flares maybe even messages to president trump saying these are the guys you better you have to include in your son the they could be in real real trouble why do that in a book like this in such explosive language i don't know i don't think steve benen really worries about what he says i don't think he's out there to make friends to make money. he doesn't want the former and he has plenty of the latter i think this

is for his ideas and his ideas are bigger than steve benen according to steve benen bigger even than donald trump so he's willing to burn any bridge in order to get where he needs what he believes he the country needs to go i think he is a dangerous enemy even more than he's a useful our i don't think president trump can eliminate steve benen fully even if he will no longer embrace him the way he once did. well the commotion over the new book on the top administration diverted attention away from the president's recent policy push on thursday the attorney general reversed an obama era policy on marijuana that kept federal authorities from cracking down on states where recreational use of pot is legal the government also proposed new rules allowing small businesses on the self employed to band together to buy health insurance it's another attempt to rollback obama's signature health care law trump is also moving to expand offshore oil drilling hundred new five year plan ninety percent of the

nation's reserves would be open up to private companies including waters off the california coast which have been restricted for decades. cash as communications director at the sunrise movement as an organization working on climate change she says the oil drilling plan is potentially catastrophic it's a complete disgrace and it's very clear that this plan is only going to further enrich is all the fossil fuel our eyes while committing the rest of the world to catastrophic climate change threatening local economies and the environment in twenty ten we saw the b.p. oil spill devastate the gulf coast over two hundred million gallons of oil into the ocean. by fisherman's livelihoods damaged the coastline and wreaked havoc on the wildlife we depend on and love and those communities are still recovering the plant and they'll today will undoubtedly caused more harm and it's not

a matter of if it's really a matter when hot air balloon that was carrying tourists and southern egypt has crashed say media has confirmed that one american tourist has been killed and seven others of various nationalities injured it happened just outside the city of luxor . egyptian branch of i saw is calling for attacks on the palestinian group hamas has released a video asking its followers to attack because of based group before showing the execution of a man it said it was a collaborator. responsibility for recent killings in egypt and i just saw nine people shot dead outside a church there cairo and you know i saw a video blamed his failure to prevent the u.s. recognition of jerusalem as israel's capital and its crackdown on armed groups in gaza the u.s. is imposing new sanctions on iran over its ballistic missile program they were set in motion before the recent protests in iran and donald trump is warning there

could be more to come new measures target five companies involved in missile development many sanctions on iran were lifted but international support after the two thousand and fifteen nuclear deal the protests over the past week was sparked by a struggling economy the government blames on the sanctions security council is set to meet on friday to discuss these demonstrations iran's army chief says the protests are over but as his troops are ready to intervene if needed at least twenty two people have been killed in the week long rest say mr ravi reports from tehran. the size of these pro-government rallies is a message to iran's critics at home and abroad. iran's government has plenty of public support and is here to stay speaking to a crowd in the northern city of mashad even a political rival of iran's president in the last election said the predictions by force of an imminent overthrow of the government was a miscalculation. that. this crowd is glorious and meaningful when iranian people

felt the footprint of the enemy they came to the scene and declared their hatred of america's zionists and all the arrogant powers. in recent days would suggest that a majority of iranians are in favor of maintaining iran's way of government especially in the face of violent instability. but they don't necessarily support president hassan rouhani policies the economic problems that sparked in the waning anti-government demonstrations in the first place are still a challenge for the rouhani administration. the main issue for the papal is currently inflation and the economy economic problems have resulted in corruption and moral issues in society economic stability is very important everyone who takes office makes some promises but they can't fulfill them. the recent protests were because of high prices things shouldn't be so expensive did people have to cry out it was because officials didn't care about the people the cost of living is on the

rise as unemployment and the economic boost draw any promised with his reelection has yet to materialize despite the partial lifting of economic sanctions following the nuclear deal in two thousand and fifteen government supporters are calling for all iranians to be a part of solving the country's problems. the government should adhere to its promises the promises talked about during the election and be accountable the whole country can help solve the economic and political problems here for now public support for the government appears to have ended a violent week of anti establishment protests what comes next will depend largely on our iran's leaders deal with the country's economy and what even if they are the legitimate grievances of their own people. former president has been released from hospital his paws. because of his poor health nationwide protests led to the resignation of three cabinet ministers.

twenty five year sentence for corruption and human rights abuses. still ahead head on al-jazeera disappointment and denial from pakistan as donald trump accuses the country of failing to take action against the taliban. and sailing against the passage of time efforts to save the agent down and i'm on. through trying to. deny. and if they come to my. ally the weather still remains pretty unsettling cross western parts of it not quite as storm as it has been recently i am pleased to stay still and eric clapping some very heavy rain across the good parts of france easing down towards a spy cooler air will come in behind for many westerners quite

a rush. across the british isles lost in russia showers to just read the eastern side of the mediterranean some heavy downpours that coming in across cyprus just pushing across turkey towards the live and countries that will make its way through as we go on through friday into saturday meanwhile for the west clear skies into the northwest of all the cool side there's the temperatures in london the high around six degrees celsius for getting up to around ten in syria concert was to be warmer than madrid just nine degrees here with some snow coming in across the high ground of the spanish play the south we could see some snow mix in old piles of africa as well over the next. same area cloud and rain will sink its way further southward socratic snow the possible rock and such out again christiane settle there for about fifteen celsius snow over the atlas mountains we're going to see that snow continuing over the next day or so if central parts of africa well as usual russia shall as they continue little further south. the weather

sponsored by cats on these. you are making very pointed remarks when they're on line the main u.s. response to drug use and the drug trade over the last fifty years has been criminalized or if you join us on sat. in the morning and says i want to color the world. is a dialogue could be was leading to some of the confusion about people saying they don't actually know what's going on join the conversation at this time on al-jazeera. and again you're watching out there as reminder of our top stories this hour north

korea has accepted south korea's proposal for official talks on tuesday the first between the two countries and to get is the meeting will be held in the demilitarized zone set to focus on next month's winter olympics in china. a book on donald trump's white house has been released ad of despite an attempt by his voice to block it they have threatened legal action against former white house advisor steve bannon. who described the president as mentally unfit for the job. and pro-government rallies have taken place in opposition to unrest in the country of it economic instability iranian revolutionary guard says that outside enemies have failed to pose a threat to iran i don't that it's the end of what they called sedition. pakistan says it's disappointed with the u.s. decision to suspend aid for security the exact amount is still being calculated put it could be more than a billion dollars has been blamed for failure to take signs of action against

taliban fighters targeting u.s. troops in afghanistan on monday donald trump tweeted that washington had foolishly given pakistan billions of dollars in aid with nothing in return but lies and deceit pakistan has rejected the accusations muslim jordan has more from washington d.c. . the state department spokesperson heather nauert says it should not come as a surprise to officials in islam abad that the trumpet ministration the suspending security assistance to pakistan she explains why suspended at this time does not mean that it will be suspended forever to stand has the ability to get this money back if you will in the future but they have to take decisive action they have to take decisive steps people have long asked you know why don't you do more about pakistan and i think this sort of answers that question obviously pakistan is important an important relationship to the united states because together we can

work hard to combat terrorism perhaps no other country has suffered more from terrorism than pakistan and many other countries in that part of the region they understand that but still they aren't taking the steps that they need to take in order to fight terrorism it's not clear yet how much more money is at risk already more than two hundred fifty five million dollars that is supposed to be used to buy military equipment has been put into an escrow account so that once pakistan improves its behavior on bringing in members of the hakani network the talabani and other groups to the u.s. to satisfaction it can once again gain access to that money however there is some concern among some analysts here in washington that the pakistanis might decide to retaliate by closing off the border pass from its seaport it in order to get u.s. military equipment inside afghanistan the last time that happened back in two

thousand and twelve there was a significant impact on the u.s. military's ability to equip its troops who have been trying to stabilize afghanistan for you some time now. i saw has claimed responsibility for an explosion in the afghan capital kabul it killed at least eleven people and wounded another twenty five the suicide bomb targeted security personnel carrying out an operation against illegal drugs and alcohol sales i saw had previously claimed responsibility for three suicide attacks in kabul in december that killed dozens. eighteen people have been killed and more than two hundred injured in a train crash in south africa many of a victims were on their way home after the holidays when a truck smashed into the carriages a railway crossing turning a page reports from johannesburg. the shosholoza main is a popular train for families during the busy holiday season it was hearing from the

beaches of port elizabeth to johannesburg but civil hours south of the city it collided with a truck and trailer at a level crossing officials say the driver had tried to beach the train across the track he walked away with minor injuries you can see if we got the clog the driver was taking turns and we thought he was going to go through. the. gardens cause a lot of lives. half of the carriages were out and burst into flames the train was carrying about seven hundred people tourists families and workers who are just said goodbye to loved ones hitting back to their jobs after the christmas holiday stand travelers waited by the road for buses to complete their journey conscious that for many families they will be happy homecoming tunney a page out zero johannesburg. nigeria's military says it has rescued one of the

schoolgirls abducted by boko haram in two thousand and fourteen somi program was found with another girl and a child in the northern town of poker they've both been brought to hospital and u.s. government is being criticized after more than two hundred seventy students from the town of chibok were kidnapped four years ago around one hundred girls are believed to still be in captivity. the presence of togo has spoken out after months of protests against his rule for nothing barry called for dialogue with opposition groups weekly demonstrations have been taken place since august with more than a dozen deaths reported protests is what you rules limiting presidents of two terms in office glassing bay and his father before him have called since one nine hundred sixty seven. let's. dialogue must remain the preferred way of resolving disagreements between political activists.

recently our culture of shared life of courtesy and brotherhood have often been affected by attitudes positions and behaviors to die metrically opposed to our values the situation is intolerable and is detrimental to our common project. large parts of the eastern united states are in the grips of a historic winter storm system called a bombsite plain this map shows the areas that will see the worst of the record breaking low temperatures national weather service as heavy snow hurricane force winds and tidal flooding are expected until late friday and the storm moves towards canada. the extreme weather has caused travel chaos with thousands of flights cancelled many stranded at airports. a large chunk of north america was already in a deep freeze now the northeast coast is being hit particularly hard from a winter blizzard massachusetts bearing the brunt of it blowing snow made out

conditions along the coastal regions of the state there was icy flooding. in the seaside town of scituate massachusetts boats were seen floating in icy waters all of the northeast of the u.s. was hit with what meteorologists were loosely calling a snow hurricane it closed many schools and government offices in new york heavy snow and particularly high winds nearly brought the city to a halt and by afternoon most businesses had closed up for the day the mayor declared a winter storm emergency and has to residents to stay indoors. this is a serious serious storm a tween the very low temperature the strong winds the driving snow everyone should take this one very seriously and take precautions that conditions brought airports to a standstill thousands of flights canceled in the northeast leaving travelers either queuing up to rebook or stranded unsure of when they might be able to fly appetite

was canceled and we never got any information they would be canceled. or delayed and we're not sure it would be on the plan to see further south in georgia water bottles were no match for the cold the rare sight where temperatures this low are highly unusual this is the first time. i've seen snow or even cold ice this much say but back up in the northeast the situation could get worse overnight the governor of massachusetts saying friday likely won't be any better if a foot of snow wasn't enough. the forecast predicts single digit temperatures to move in on friday the storm it hit hard when the temperatures now expected to dip down again to minus twenty degrees celsius and below there seems little chance of much melting away give rosendo york. in china at least three airports are being close and nine others are experiencing delays because of heavy

snowfall there the weather alert has been raised to its second highest level parts of central northern and eastern regions could see up to thirty centimeters of snow . in japan the world famous suki g fish market held its last a pretty dormant new year's auction for closing down for relocation. the highest bidder paid more than three hundred twenty thousand dollars for a giant plane four hundred kilograms suki g. is one of tokyo's most popular tourist attractions and has been open for eighty years the united arab emirates and flights to resume between the two countries want to see a band dubai base emirates airlines from landing after its female systems were prevented from boarding the planes he said intelligence suggests and when which is impossible may have plans to enter and stage attacks the two nations say they now

exchange security information to ease any concerns the gulf has a rich maritime heritage dating back thousands of years but the construction of the traditional doll boat is under threat because of cheaper laughton vessels that boat builders near maadi port of sir who are trying to keep the ancient art alive. history books say dallas has been sailing the warm waters of the gulf for more than two thousand years. but exactly who invented this ancient type of vessel is lost in time maritime scholars believe they could have originated in china around six hundred b.c. . the sails have been replaced by an ancient but they are still used for trade fishing and tourism along the coasts of the united arab emirates saudi arabia qatar yemen no. taliep kafeel nasri has been sailing

tourists along oman's coast the twenty year is a school. i live in create on the sea and the sea is everything to me it's a type of therapy i've spent my life on the ocean on boats like these which are so important as symbols of our heritage the historic pull out of sewer situation dona lagoon in eastern oman was once home to a fleet of hundreds of dals the portuguese the dutch and the british hold their boats in these waters over the centuries all keen to benefit from its ideal trading location. it takes only five days to sail to india from here. maritime trade started flourishing here in the seventeenth century with places a stall a field of sons of all india and africa and so also became a major center for the ship building industry a tradition steeped in history and culture but is now struggling to survive.

this is the only dal building yard in sulu and now. this boat is being built for a country owner when it's finished it will cost more than three hundred thousand dollars and that's without the engine. in keeping with tradition it's being constructed almost entirely from a cd and. originally these boats were literally lashed together using rope. and even now little metal is used as in the past the wood is imported from asia and africa allie's family had been building dallas for more than three hundred years the had the. main challenge we face is the introduction of fiberglass fiberglass dows are easier to build than they are cheaper but wooden boats last much longer fifty to sixty years of course this is our heritage and we must protect it people must know their traditions and protect them without our traditions who are we.

many of these predominantly indian fishermen spend weeks at a time at sea many of their fathers also sailed fishing and trading down to and from india they are reliant on their dals the name of which is actually a swahili would originating in east africa the arabs simply call them meaning ships. a testament to the commercial and cultural impact they've had over centuries in the gulf and well beyond a tradition that people such as captain say they want to preserve. this is al-jazeera these are the top stories north korea has accepted a south korean proposal for official talks on tuesday the first between the two

countries in two years the meeting will be held in the demilitarized zone that's set to focus on next month's winter olympics and. a book on donald trump's white house has been released ahead of schedule that's despite trump's lawyers threatening legal action against former white house advisor steve bannon and the author who describes the president as mentally unfit for the job it's just scrapes for and laughable if you was unfit he probably wouldn't be sitting there and wouldn't have defeated the most qualified group of candidates the republican party has ever seen. pro-government rallies have been taking place throughout iraq in opposition to unrest over the country in the country over economic instability the iranian revolutionary guard says that outside enemies have failed to pose a threat to iran that it's the end of the sedition ot air balloon carrying tourists in southern egypt has crashed state media has confirmed that one american tourist

has been killed and several others of various nationalities have been injured it happened just outside the city of luxor or at least eighteen people have been killed in a train crash in south africa the train was traveling from was less of a to johannesburg when a truck collided with the first two carriages causing them to derail and burst into flames say the truck driver miscalculated the train speed and tried to dash across the tracks. perris former president has been released from hospital he was pardoned last month by president. because of poor health cision triggered nationwide protests and led to the resignation of three cabinet ministers which of mori was serving a twenty five year sentence for corruption and human rights abuses during his rule and large parts of northeastern u.s. and canada are in the grip of a historic winter storm called a bombsite plain york's mayor has declared a weather emergency which will cost as predicted up to twenty five centimeters of

snow. those are your headlines i'll be back with another news update here on al jazeera after the street. valued as a gem of africa my ruby has gone through many changes over the past decades. al-jazeera travels to the kenyan capital to hear from those who witnessed the city's progress to becoming a metropolis and discusses where it's heading now at this time on al-jazeera. welcome to the new year of the stream alive. ok now lab meet driverless cars and. all once part of some fantasy but the future is he at right now today on the street. the story of human evolution is one that is intimately tied.