in two thousand and eight al-jazeera documented a groundbreaking skiing. preparing some of india's poorest children for entry into its toughest universities. ten years on we return to see how the students and the scheme a helping change the face of india. super thirty at this time on al-jazeera. the arab . the iranian regime is now on notice the world will be watching what you do. here in security council debates the recent anti-government protests in iran that killed twenty two people.

hello there this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up. was a political assassination on a failing justice system we look at the grim that lead up to mexico's twenty eighteen presidential election. christians around the world are celebrating the birth of jesus christ will be live and back to have plus. a dramatic win for oman at the gold cup of nations to cap or tournament overshadowed by political future. here and security council has held a special session on the recent protests in iran with the u.s. accusing teheran of stifling the voice of its people the members objected to the meeting insisting the council isn't the place discuss a country's internal affairs mike hanna reports from the united nations. there was

animated debate in the council chamber before the discussions began their members taken aback by the lack of notice from the u.s. in calling for this public debate the u.s. ambassador adamant that it was essential iran be called to account if the founding principles of this institution mean anything we will not only hear their cry we will finally answer it the iranian regime is now on notice the world will be watching what you do russia had vehemently opposed what it saw as an unacceptable intervention in iran's internal affairs but also argued that the us had another motive in pushing for this meeting used to meet with the blueprint the real reason for convening today is not to protect human rights or promote the interests of the iranian people but rather a veiled attempt to continue to undermine the iranian nuclear agreement would have an agreement that the french ambassador maintained in his speech was crucial also

distancing himself from the u.s. decision to call these discussions with your president but it is up to the arena and to the iranians to pursue the path of peaceful dialogue a dialogue based on full respect for the fundamental rights and freedoms of the rain people given speaking rights and the council iran's ambassador described the u.s. action as yet another attempt at political destabilization following such acts of disruption take in. u.s. administration as flouting international law and this is spect in the practices of civilized behavior in international politics is that ministers and is not the spirit leaching for every restaurant that keeps it affluent that is a long history of u.s. bullying at the u.n. but this is posters example. and indeed at the end of the discussion

members got up perhaps more divided than when they had said. mike hanna al-jazeera united nations. us actually say it rex tillerson has also been talking about a wrong specifically the two thousand and fifty nuclear deal he says the trump administration is looking for ways to keep the u.s. in the agreement congress is working on new legislation that could force one missions i want to see just. for this one of the other float phrases this number was. by the twelfth. which is called the middle of the show for fun. that is the first. you saying as a political pawn of the truman national security project and a former obama administration advisor he says any new legislation is a political move to shield trump from having to deal with the iran agreement a tool and the reason why donald trump hates it is because when he ran for

president you know he called it quote unquote the worst steal our ever but what we've seen is that really he's not able to come up with a better deal he's certainly not able to in the case of north korea and so what they're trying to do politically is just prevent their president from having to be the one to sign off on it to sign off on it every six months which is the current law and so what he's done is he's punted it to congress and they're looking at ways that they can be creative now to essentially throw the ball into congress's court without essentially scrapping the deal altogether and so what he'll do rhetorical as hell call that effects. there's been a third day of rallies in support of iran's government while the largest was in the capital tehran where demonstrators chanted anti u.s. slogans blaming washington for the rest and reports from tehran. another day of pro-government rallies in iran seemingly part of

a two pronged approach to keep detractors off the streets a large show of public support and a heavy police presence across the country with critics inside and outside iran predicting the downfall of the islamic republic the government is determined to publicly project the power of the state at friday prayers in the capital to her own a senior cleric reminded people of iran's real enemies who he says are behind the unrest in the country it's say announced this is what is happening saudi arabia gave the money the u.s. did the planning it was coordinated from u.s. control very means and have gotten weapons are being transferred little by little to iran they wanted to finish is in february that was the plan but he also sympathized with public demands for better economic conditions it had all thought to have the protests was right those who lost their money and it's not too long protest for them people are saying death to high prices we're saying not to what

people are saying should be heard people's rights shouldn't be missed in the middle of this mess. meanwhile what was essentially a leaderless protest movement with competing demands seems to have fizzled out but on social media sites people are still sharing week old videos of anti-government demonstrations. protests last week were the boldest challenge to rock style bushland in nearly a decade but crowd sizes only ever numbered in the thousands in contrast in two thousand and nine more than a million people came out into the streets to protest the reelection of president mahmoud ahmadinejad but for now activists who oppose the government have been sidelined by much larger crowds who support. the. united nations is investigating last month's attack in the democratic republic of congo that killed fifteen of its peacekeepers u.n. suspects the allied democratic forces a gander an armed group was behind the attack it's faces a known to be active in congress north kivu province where the assault took place

and says it will examine the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the tanzanian nationals and make recommendations. the threat of political violence is casting a shadow over the need up to mexico's twenty presidential election for the murders of six public officials mexico is coming out of its most violent year in history and more than twenty three thousand homicides in twenty seventeen as drug cartels fought for territory. reports. local politics can be a dangerous business in mexico just ask catalyst people thirty year old political hopeful who wants to become mayor of the town of hope in the state of morelos. is new to the political scene but he knows that the risk of harassment extortion and even death at the hands of organized crime is very real if. they knew i would be lying if i said i wasn't afraid it would also be

a lie to say that fear is not in the back of my mind but today were motivated by your work to make a better place. at least six mexican politicians have been killed in recent weeks this includes of all four seven i know gather the mayor of a small town in the state of get little who was murdered on new year's eve. with the national election drawing near political leaders in mexico. worry over these types of attacks against public servants. but. i think this is a warning by organised crime against the political parties the problem here is impunity and the phenomenon of political violence the more this will continue because there is no punishment. experts say that the rising level of violence in mexico is not only putting the lives of political candidates at risk but could also be frightening voters which could damage the democratic process less political participation less third now. because of fear less political less people voting.

i know about it and is hinders the strength of a democratic system. there are over three thousand four hundred elected positions up for grabs in the upcoming elections but it's candidates for local posts who are especially vulnerable targets by organized crime twenty one local public servants were murdered in two thousand and seventeen which was also a record breaking year for homicides in mexico the concern now is over the potential for yet another exceptionally violent year as we approach the two thousand and eighteen general election when we get up a little al-jazeera mexico city all those christians around the world celebrating the christmas holiday palestinian christians are marking the day with parades in the occupied west bank city of bethlehem eastern orthodox faith follows the old julian calendar which puts the birth of jesus christ on or near january the seventh

russians. and ukrainians are also marking christmas correspondent jim joins us live from bethlehem so it's time for celebration for many of those christians what's the mood. well laura look the organizers have tried to make this occasion as festive as possible but this is a year in which there is a lot of anger there is a lot of hopelessness mostly stemming from the decision by u.s. president donald trump just one month ago today to recognize jerusalem as the capital. by this time of day usually in manger square it would typically be packed i'm going to ask our cameraman joseph to just try to pan around a little bit and show you it's really not all that crowded yes there have been for sessions of ushers and marching bands that have come through there has been music there are christmas carols playing right now you see the huge christmas tree behind

us which is in front of the church of the nativity but seriously this is much much less crowded than it would typically be and that really speaks to the mood here one of the growing hopelessness amongst palestinian christians wondering what exactly the future will hold now there's another reason there's a really a damper on the spirits today and that's because of growing anger at the greek orthodox patriarch still it's the office the third he's the patriarch for the holy land and we've seen today already dozens of people protest him they are going to try to cut the road that he comes to here when his convoy arrives in about the next two hours laura ok well with sesame backend it will be that for the moment bomb attempt in joining us from maine to school and back him thanks very much. still ahead on al-jazeera the crystallizing donald trump's fast year in office goes on sale despite the white house's attempts to block it. and the fastest growing

refugee camp in the world we'll look at what lies ahead for the rest this. welcome back to take a look at weather conditions across southeastern parts of asia we've had some pretty heavy showers affecting parts of the philippines of the last twenty four hours central areas and also for brunei at the airport more than one hundred millimeters of rain in twenty four hours that's quite a wet day looks of the more showers around the island of borneo the philippines not faring too badly during the course of sunday the circulation here is likely to give some pretty wet weather across java some big storms are likely here and those could well continue into monday sizzles a risk of flooding in jakarta as you move up through the mill a potential we've got to rowsley fine conditions to singapore through kuala lumpur

and through into much of southern thailand and cambodia down into a strategy has seen some very hot weather across southeastern areas of the last twenty four hours or so well on into the forty's as we look at this situation we've got an area of high pressure across western areas this front pushing through introducing cooler conditions there from melbourne but sydney is still looking pretty hot at thirty six degrees cooler fairy slightly as we head on into monday lots of showers across the north of the country there with darwin looking whites but it should be a warm one in perth as for new zealand we've got this area of low pressure gradually moving away so brighter conditions highs of twenty three in oakland. on counter the course will look at the economic reasons behind the rest in the middle east second largest economy plus new year new rules for european firms but that's not all we'll ask the chief global economist at u.b.s.

. dangerous idea trying to move cost this time on al-jazeera. and again you're watching out there as reminder of our top stories this hour the u.n. security council has held a special session on the recent protests in iran but the u.s. accusing tehran of stifling the voice of the people other members including russia and france objected to the meeting its in the council was not the place to discuss a country's internal affairs. the u.n.

is investigating last month's attack of the democratic republic of congo that killed fifteen tanzania and peacekeepers the un suspects democratic forces in uganda and the group of being behind the attack. and orthodox christians around the world are celebrating the christmas holiday five west bank city of bethlehem palestinian christians are marking the day with parades and a mass the eastern orthodox faith follows the old julian calendar which puts the birth of jesus christ on or near the seventh of january the united nations has condemned a recent series of death sentences in egypt with twenty people reportedly executed in the past two weeks human rights office expressed concern that the use of military courts to try civilian. we're seriously concerned that in all of these cases due process and fair trial guarantees do not appear to be followed as military courts typically deny defendants rights accorded by civilian courts reports also indicated the prisoners who were executed may have been subjected to

initial inforce disappearance and torture before being tried now the latest report on some of the biggest stories of the yeah we take you to a refugee camp in bangladesh is now home to hundreds of thousands of who've fled violence in manama child strafford reports on what the refugees face in the year ahead. with their three children across the border from myanmar into bangladesh at the end of december they join the more than six hundred fifty thousand refugees who fled the military crackdown on the region in rakhine state in which the myanmar she says her husband was killed as they tried to flee. but they're not that bad and we couldn't go anywhere because there was heavy fighting from all directions and my husband was shot dead by security forces there are very few people who still remain here they try to go to the forest and river fishing but

the military does not allow them they say you can't go there anymore and you can't harvest the paddies either so people are not able to work the million mom she tells us you are not surrender and there is no ranger in our country go to the country where there are rangers. western governments including the u.s. of called the crackdown on the predominately muslim or hindu ethnic cleansing but myanmar has denied access to any independent investigation in rakhine state. the reinjure have suffered at decades of persecution and violence that was stripped of their citizenship in what was then burma thirty five years ago the myanmar government considers them illegal immigrants from bangladesh and evidence of the brutality they have suffered in recent months is shocking if the charity doctors without borders says at least six thousand seven hundred were killed by the myanmar security forces between the end of august and late september. it says at least

seven hundred thirty range of children younger than five years old were among those killed mostly shot dead doctors without borders also says nearly ten percent of children who died were burned alive in their homes and at least five percent were beaten to death human rights watch an aid organizations working in these camps in neighboring bangladesh say myanmar soldiers gang raped women and young girls the refugees have escaped death in myanmar but the struggle to survive in the camps goes on the u.n. says seven percent of children here are suffering severe acute malnutrition a condition that will kill if not treated properly. biggest challenge that we face right now is that this is the fastest growing refugee in the world think about washington d.c. but without health services without medicines without proper access to food we know from recent studies that eighty percent of new arrivals need food assistance.

if you know breaks of communicable diseases including measles and diptheria the camps aid organizations estimate around seventy percent of the world's a contaminated the governments of bangladesh and gamma say they will proceed with a voluntary repatriation scheme in the coming weeks. says she will never take her children back to myanmar until the government at least recognize them as a ranger until it guarantees them the same rights and security as citizens of the country they and hundreds of thousands of other ranger refugees were born in and call. chance stratford al-jazeera well our next story in the series takes a look at the upcoming winter olympics in self career the games n.p.r. have taken on a political dimension with north korea's willingness to take part but those athletes will be in for a cold treat. be held outdoors for the first time since two thousand and six you

can see that story here on sunday. thirteen people have been killed when a passenger boat capsized off the indonesian island of sumatra is the second fatal boat accident in the area in as many days a boat carrying fifty five people on the move the river hit a large wave and sank in bad weather police say they're still searching for the captain who survived the accident but has gone missing his deputy is being held for questioning. election officials and hundreds have rejected an appeal by the opposition to a null results of november's presidential vote present on all under one and this was declared the winner last month after he narrowly defeated leftist candidate salvador that's rather officials say there wasn't enough evidence to support the opposition's claims of voter fraud thousands of people died in office in protest during a prolonged delay in announcing the results. the author of a controversial book detailing donald trump's first year in office says the

revelations will bring down his presidency trump has gone on another twitter to rage calling writer michael wolff a total loser but far inferior is proving so popular books as a struggling to keep up with demand dynasty book reports washington d.c. . crowd swarmed this washington bookstore at midnight friday snatching up copies of fire and fury inside the trump white house present the crowds are no i can't take your order of the phone politics and prose opened it ten am within thirty minutes eager buyers had nabbed all thirty copies the store had i'm super excited to read this i went to a couple different bookstores even midnight last night there was another bookstore selling this they sold out in twenty minutes why are you so interested in this book why would i not be interested in this book it is so salacious and to see. politics die hard and scary to read it at three hundred twenty pages this is a relatively like home but it is filled with explosive material the author michael

wolff said he spent eighteen months conducting about two hundred interviews with senior white house staff in one passage wolf says former british prime minister tony blair offered this nugget of information to the president's son in law jared cushion or there was he suggested the possibility that the british had had the trump campaign staff under surveillance blair is denying the claim. another passage describes a potential change in saudi arabia the president was considering before his trip last spring to the middle east in the days before his departure he was telling people that the saudis were going to finance an entirely new military presence in the kingdom supplanting and even replacing the u.s. command headquarters in qatar fire and fury wasn't supposed to be released until tuesday but the book's publisher moved the date up after attorneys for president trump issued a cease and desist letter threatening legal action in an interview friday morning author michael wolff stood by his book and added this observation the one

description that that everyone gave everyone has in common they all say he is like a child's. and what they mean by that is he has a and a need for immediate gratification it's all about him the white house is labeling fire and fury tabloid trash president trump wouldn't answer questions about the book friday afternoon but tweeted i never spoke to him for the book full of lies misrepresentations and sources that don't exist still fire and fury is yet another distraction for a white house that is trying to advance among other things a new immigration plan and a spending plan to avoid a looming government shutdown dian us to brooke al jazeera washington at least eighteen people have died in the u.s. train one of the worst winter storms in recent history to hit the east coast had

dumped thirty centimeters of snow and cause flooding in coastal areas and there's a secret rescued people trapped by rapidly rising waters for cost as a calling the storm a bombsite playing. under reports from new york. these are historically low temperatures throughout the east coast of the united states and how are people coping well if they don't have to go outside they're not because officials are saying that these temperatures are so low it's so cold that it's dangerous and warning people not to go outside unless they absolutely have to for those that do it's all about layering layering as many clears of clothes as possible to really get through these low temperatures now this is the east coast of the united states there use to cold winter weather this time of year but this is different there's three key factors that are making this different a large amount of snow that is fall in number one more than thirty centimeters in some areas hurricane force winds are complicating matters and not only that

a storm surge particularly in the north east and new england area of the northeast that are complicating matters as well combine all of that with incredibly low temperatures and you've got really historic freezing area here the mayor of new york city is saying that into friday night into saturday morning with wind chill factors it could get to negative twenty nine degrees celsius here the worst is certainly not over officials are saying that while the major storm has moved out that the temperatures are supposed to remain below freezing throughout the weekend so this area of the united states will not be warming up anytime soon well has some of its warmest right his great barrier reef but it's once again being threatened by a predator. that's been a major outbreak of crown of thorns starfish in the soften and the reef wildlife authorities say they are feasting their way through the coral and saw fish and

native to the area but when the numbers explode the results can be devastating. nasa says a global reduction in the use of certain chemicals typically used in aerosol cans can help reduce the size of the hole in the ozone layer and images show the damage could be almost fully was verse by the year twenty sixty five countries agreed to phase out use of the problematic chemicals known as c f c's in one nine hundred eighty five they rise in the stratosphere destroying ozone limahl a kills damage the is and has been blamed for an increase in skin cancers and i'm on has walked away with the biggest prize a middle eastern football for just the second time in the history of the united arab emirates in the final of the gulf cup after a dramatic night in kuwait city center hamish reports. the action started in the stands long the full kickoff in this gold cup final

between oman and u.a.e. more than twenty planes had carried supporters and journalists from the two nations as they packed the sixty thousand capacity all jobber stadium in kuwait this a team event may not resonate globally but in this region it's like a world cup and the omanis were determined to take the trophy home the. game in their mind we came all the way from oman to take the trophy back and there's no doubt that it's coming home minister has got a little like a little like a little to it because cup is very important for us otherwise we wouldn't be here we're not here as tourists we came here to win the title. on the pitch it was all manned up pose the biggest threat but it wasn't until the eighty ninth minute when the immoralities were awarded the penalty that it looked as though the two thousand and nine champions were in real danger of losing this final. omar abdel-rahman had

the chance to seal a third title for his team but omani goalkeeper phase at the sheedy rose to the ok jand saving the penalty and sending the omani fans into a frenzy things got worse for the u.a.e. as the game was heading to extra time and their hopes of clinching the third title started to fade after a goalless extra time the match went into a dramatic penalty shootout u.a.e. hero amara that of man had a chance to redeem himself but things turned hoadley wrong for the striker. a man held on for a five four win to clinch the second title and send the nation into jubilation the serious charge. that some are two zero zero zero zero zero zero zero have wished them to thank god you finally made it i want to thank all our friends who came here to support us and we just couldn't send them home empty handed. i

congratulate. our fans in oman and the ones that came here to watch us they deserve this victory. that has been overshadowed by political tension by the way and now i know that qatar will be hosting the judgment in two years time right now it's not clear whether the trophy won't be defended with unity i mean restored in the gulf front of congress because they're on the way. there with al-jazeera these are our top stories the u.n. security council held a special session on the recent protests in iran but the u.s. accusing tehran of stifling the voice of its people are members including russia and france objected to the meeting insisting the council was not the place to discuss a country's internal affairs. yes actually of state rex tillerson has also been

talking about iran specifically the nuclear deal he says the trumpet ministration is looking for ways to keep the u.s. in the agreement i want to see just. by the twelfth. i'll just talk. show. first. the u.n. is investigating last month's attack in the democratic republic of congo that killed fifteen tons and tons and then peacekeepers the u.n. suspects the allied democratic forces that the ugandan armed group to be behind the attack the united nations has condemned a recent series of death sentences in egypt with twenty people reportedly executed in the past two weeks seriously concerned that in all of these cases due process and fair trial guarantees do not appear to be followed as military courts typically deny defendants rights accorded by civilian courts reports also indicated the

prisoners who were executed may have been subjected to initial inforced disappearance and torture before being tried u.s. president will trump has gone on a twitter tirade calling the author of a book heavily criticizing his first year in office a total loser but fire and fury is proving so popular booksellers a struggling to keep up with demand allison is reporting a two to four week wait to get a copy trump says the book is full of lies at least eighteen people have died in the u.s. during one of the worst winter storms in recent history to hit the east coast the so-called bomb cyclon dumb thirty centimeters of snow and cause flooding in coastal areas. and all the ducks questions around the world. bank. the eastern orthodox faith follows the old ways of jesus christ on the seventh of january. after

counting the. documentaries. at this time. i'm adrian finnegan this is counting the cost on al-jazeera your weekly look at the world of business and economics this week post sanctions iran is still a hard place to find a job we'll look at the economic reasons behind the rest of the middle east second largest economy also this week. these are the two major flaws discovered in the hardware of nearly every computer and digital device worldwide the race is on to fix the.