it sounds like an agreement between criminal busts just like trading in stolen goods that have been taken by the place if anyone ever comes to ask the question these are throw their hands up in the air and say i don't know i was just nominee director we're doing an investigation into. ukraine could you pay bribes you've been corrupt are corrupt they did just what the presidency sounds easier investigation it's the only go this time. the iranian regime is now on notice the world will be watching what you do. the u.n. security council debates the recent antigovernment protests in iran that killed twenty two people.

are there are more. from doha also coming up the trumpet ministration hits back at a book claiming the white house is in chaos and the president is incompetent. and we live in bethlehem to tell you why it's not such a happy christmas for all for christians that this year. plus we're looking at how world wide band of certain chemicals has helped to heal the planet. has held a special session on recent protests in iran with the u.s. accusing to iran of stifling the voice of its people the members objected to the meeting insisting the council wasn't the place to discuss a country's internal affairs like 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 mr 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 in is not the spirit of leaching for every restaurant that keeps it a flute that is a long history of us 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 sat down mike hanna

al-jazeera united nations. has more now from terror on. shortly after the u.n. security council met in new york to discuss anti-government protest in iran jihad serif iran's foreign minister tweeted saying that he was glad that member countries of the security council basically rebuffed america's efforts to use the international body to intervene in meddle in what are essentially domestic affairs that it was another foreign policy blunder for the white house here at home lawmakers are expected to meet in a closed session of iran's parliament to discuss the root causes behind recent unrest in the country many lawmakers of grange for intervention and an effort to treat instability in the country as being behind these protests but many iranian leaders agree with antigovernment protesters that they do indeed have reasonable grievances that regular working men and women in iran do face economic hardships and have every right to protest but for now into government protests are all but

over as pro-government rallies continue in cities across the country. saudi media reporting that eleven princess have been detained in riyadh and are being held in a tourist prison after staging a protest that follows the detention of dozens of other high profile figures last year including royal family members some of them are still being held in a five star hotel as part of what was described as an anti corruption drive the latest arrests are said to have taken place outside the royal palace conflicting reports about whether the protest about the withdrawal of state subsidies or the previous round of detentions. the united nations has condemned a recent series of death sentences in egypt with twenty people reports the executed there in the past two weeks the human rights office expressed concern that the use of military courts to try civilians was 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 yes president donald trump has gone on another twitter to raid calling the author of a book detailing his first year in office a total loser it's already a hit with razors with american bookstores unable to keep fire and furious stocks on their shelves trump's slammed the work as phony and full of lies time left to propose washington d.c. . crowd swarmed this washington bookstore at midnight friday snatching up copies of fire and fury inside the trump white house preserve the cratering right here 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 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 estabrook al-jazeera washington well folks questions around the world are celebrating the christmas holiday the patriarch of jerusalem feel feel for this is a third visiting the occupied west bank city back to have to hold mass to mark the festivities it's also been the cause of growing public anger of to be accused of saying the flaws swathes of church land to private businesses many palestinians are also good at the u.s. administration's decision to name to receive them as israel's capital how much on june has more from bethlehem. despite the best efforts of the organizers there has been a dampened sense of enthusiasm here in manger square in bethlehem in the occupied west bank far fewer people than would usually be here on orthodox christmas eve now part of the reason for that is the fact that there have been calls by groups to boycott the arrival of the greek orthodox patriarch the awfulness the third because

there is growing anger among palestinian christians about allegations that have been made in israeli media outlets that the greek orthodox patriarch has been involved in selling properties or selling lands to foreign tax havens and in those reports it's also been alleged that some of the buyers may end up being israeli businesses that's one reason why there are fewer people here because usually the ushers that would be here to try to welcome the greek patriarch who has not yet arrived they are basically turning a cold shoulder to the patriarch now we've also spoken to the church about these allegations and they have denied the allegations they have said in fact which is going on is that the greek orthodox patriarch it has in fact been trying to rectify bad deals that were made in the past and that that's really what's going on right now now there's another reason why there is such a dampened sense of enthusiasm and that's because of the sense of hopelessness that's really spreading far and wide here because of the decision just

a month ago today by u.s. president donald trump to recognize drew slim as the capital of israel since that decision was made week after week we've seen protests that turn violent in the occupied west bank and in other areas and that's just one more reason why there's a sense of uncertainty and a sense of hopelessness at a time when usually people are so celebrate torreon festive. the german and turkish foreign and says have agreed to work towards improving recently strained relations and of his visit to germany to his foreign minister method to suddenly called for a fresh start to emulate his have been outspoken in their criticism of his crackdown after the two thousand and sixteen failed. as cars have announced our correspondent and jamming to mccain joins us live from berlin sentiment what the two ministers have to say. well or as you were saying the tensions between the two countries have been well it's been a rocky road as it were for the past twelve eighteen months but no evidence of that

this morning here in germany in the hometown of the foreign of the german foreign ministers in my god we're in he greeted his turkish counterpart and there were warm words the two men referred to each other by their first names in a in a news conference they gave a short time ago and they agreed on several things talking about the respective positions their governments have to do with syria with iraq with yemen emphasizing their areas of agreement and they even agreed on the fact that they can't agree on everything else or or much of anything else and that is that was this the leitmotif as it were of the day the thought of the day is the agreements that they have trying not to refer too much to the areas they disagree upon because there are very many areas they disagree upon notably on human rights the german government's position is that several of its citizens who are currently in detention in turkey should not be in detention they say these are human rights issues which they have to raise which they have said previously are unacceptable while there was no

reference to unacceptability as it were today and from the turkish point of view there was reference to the things that bind the two countries together the shared cultural historical heritage they have so as i say many warm words and references to where they agree and not so much reference of the things they don't agree on ok so does that put the relations between the two sides on a more even keel. well that is the question that many people will ask after this they'll point to the fact that the foreign minister was here the fact that president richard type one was meeting his french counterpart yesterday the fact that there is this this desire is a word to to press the reset button on relations both between turkey and germany and turkey in the e.u. because the point to be made here is certainly from the german turkish perspective the two countries need each other the german government obviously has a very vested interest in seeing success for the deal that it helped broker between

the e.u. and turkey regarding refugees regarding where refugees are housed while they are making the journey from war zones into the european union and from the turkish perspective germany is a very important country because of the element of tourism the number of germans who visit turkey every year is very high that something they want to see continue over the course of the last few days there have been cultural messages coming from the turkish government here in germany trying to encourage german citizens to go back to turkey so there are lots of reasons why the two countries want to be two to agree as far as possible the problem for them has been the pronouncements of officials the detention of certain citizens that sort of thing has soured relations but but the point to make here is that as i say today they've been trying to stress what binds them not what separates them ok john mccain joining us live from but in fact only the united nations is investigating last month's attack in a democratic republic of congo that killed fifteen tanzanian peacekeepers the u.n.

suspects the allied democratic forces ugandan armed group was behind the attack as fighters are known to be active in congress north kivu province where the assault took place and then we'll examine the circumstances surrounding the death and make recommendations to prevent similar attacks. still ahead on al-jazeera cartel wars political assassinations and a failing justice system a look at the grim lead up to mexico's twenty eight thousand presidential election . and a brutal cold spell grips the u.s. east coast at least eighteen people are killed after one of the worst winter storms in recent history. hello again a look at weather conditions across asia and for northeastern areas it's

a fairly quiet situation at the moment with a few fronts clear of japan flow still coming from the north so it's not looking particularly warm temperatures remaining subzero in sapporo in colorado during the course of sunday but tokyo getting into double figures cool across the korean peninsula much should expect beijing not much above freezing either and there's a head on into monday not a great deal of change really across much of the region southern parts of south korea likely see some rain developing across more southern parts of china we've got some really heavy rain extending all the way through hong kong to fuzhou and up toward shanghai with some snow on the northern edge indeed as head on into monday we're going to see that area of rain continuing the snow is still in place further towards the south across much of indo china is looking very fine her noida sunshine and highs of twenty three degrees for southeastern parts of asia i think it should be dry across the philippines but pretty wet across much of borneo very wet across java with the risk of flooding in jakarta continuing through into monday so head

across into south asia remains largely dry but again very misty with very high levels of air pollution and temperatures of just one thousand degrees expected in delhi. june nineteenth sixty seven sixty's there redrew the map of the middle east this record is. indeed war war the greatest tragedy in the history of islam fifty years later al-jazeera explores the events leading to the war and its consequences which are still felt today we tried everything to do with nations and try to make. contacts through different countries and it was clear that all this was she knew of the rule in june at this time.

and again you're watching out as there has reminder of our top stories this hour the u.n. security council has held a special session on the recent protests in iran and the u.s. accusing tehran of stifling the voices of its people other members including russia and france objected to the meeting just in the council was not the place to discuss a country's internal. u.s. president donald trump has gone on a twitter tirade calling the author of a book heavily criticized in his first year in office a total loser with fire and furious proving so popular books are struggling to keep up with the demand. on the german attack us foreign ministers have agreed to work towards improving recently strained relations head of his visit to germany turkey's foreign minister mefford have a solo called for a fresh start german leaders have been outspoken in their criticism of turkey's

crackdown after the twenty sixteen failed coup. the trumpet ministration is outlined his first detailed financial plan on delivering the president's promise to secure the border with mexico his proposed budget increase spending eighteen billion dollars over ten years to extend the border war this would mean there would be a wall or some sort of structure along heart of the mexico u.s. border by twenty twenty seven the final price tag is estimated to be thirty three billion dollars including extra security personnel and surveillance measures all of it is funded by the u.s. taxpayer and not the mexican government as promised by trump. the present political violence is over the lead up to mexico's twenty eight thousand presidential election and the murders of six more public officials mexico is coming off its coming from its most violent year in history more than twenty three thousand homicides in twenty seventeen as drug cartels fought the territory but

there are reports. local politics can be a dangerous business in mexico just ask 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. i 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 our goal to make. a better place. at least six mexican politicians have been killed in recent weeks this includes of all four seven i know whether the mayor of a small town in the state of get little who was murdered on new year's eve. with a 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 it also be frightening voters which could damage the democratic process less political participation less third out. because of fear less political less people voting. i know about it 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 its candidates for local posts who are especially vulnerable targets by organized crime twenty one local public servants

were murdered in two thousand and seventy 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 now our next story in the series takes a look at the upcoming winter olympics in south korea the games in china taken on a political dimension with north korea's willingness to take part but those athletes will be in for a cold treat the opening ceremony will be held outdoors for the first time since two thousand and six you can see that here on al-jazeera on sunday election officials in honduras have rejected in a pail by the opposition to a no results of november's presidential vote president won a lander hernandez was declared the winner last month after a narrative defeated leftist cans that salvador. officials say there wasn't enough evidence to support the opposition's claims of voter fraud dozens of people died in

opposition protests during a prolonged delay and the results. of our latest report on some of the biggest stories of the year we take you to a refugee camp in bangladesh it's now home to hundreds of thousands of rangar who fled violence in manama the u.n. accuses mammals government of textbook ethnic cleansing which it denies tossed up but reports on the what the refugees face in the year ahead. with this three children across the border from. the day in december. they joined the more than six hundred fifty thousand refugees who fled the military crackdown on the region in rakhine state in western myanmar she says her husband was killed as they tried to flee their not that august betty 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 truth tells us you are not and there is no ranger in our country going to the country where there are already hinges. western governments including the u.s. of called the crackdown on the predominately muslim or hinge or ethnic cleansing but myanmar has denied access to any independent investigation in rakhine state the ranger 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. 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. at least five percent were beaten to death human rights watch and aid organizations working in these camps in neighboring bangladesh say myanmar soldiers gang raped women and young girls the refugees of escapes deaths 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 the 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 recent studies that eighty percent of. food assistance.

if you know breaks or communicable diseases including measles and diptheria camps aid organizations estimate around seventy percent of the world's a contaminated the governments of bangladesh and myanmar 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. and these four policemen have been killed by a bomb explosion in india ms and kashmir say rebel fighters plan to the device inside a market shop in support town the police patrolling the area where the blast was

triggered it. at least eighteen people have died in the us joy one of the strongest winter storms in modern history to hit the east coast the storm dumped thirty centimeters of snow and cause flooding in coastal areas emergency crews rescued people trapped by rapidly rising waters forecasters are calling the storm a bombsite plane goes under has the latest 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 has fallen 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 any time soon. nasa says the protective. covering scientists say the things he had global on these of seven

chemical septimius an aerosol cans is producing some great has else has more. finally a rare good news concerning the environment nasa scientists say ozone depletion is going down using lead is a protective gas in the atmosphere that shields from harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun this is the source of the good news and that's the satellite that monitors the hole in the ozone layer which was first detected at the end of the one nine hundred seventy s. that's what we're excited about is that we see for the first time chlorine levels are definitely going down and ozone levels are responding to it manmade chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons or c.f.c.'s left chlorine in the atmosphere the destroyed ozone molecules the damage from the ozone layer has been blamed for an increase in skin cancers because of the harmful ultraviolet radiation that gets through and this is the effect it has on plants c.f.c.'s were found in products

like aerosols pesticide sprays packing materials and refrigerants and they were banned globally in one thousand nine hundred seven nasa has released images that show the change in ozone concentrations since the c.f.c.'s were phased out the montreal protocol has been a great success once the protocol was signed in those the regulations went into effect we saw at the surface levels of ozone depleting substances going down but scientists warn that full recovery will take decades because of c.f.c.'s could remain in the atmosphere for another fifty to one hundred years. that is out there these are the top stories the un security council has held a special session on the recent protests in iran the us accusing to iran of stifling the voice of its people of the members including russia and france objected to the meeting insisting the council was not the place to discuss

a country's internal affairs as. saudi media reporting that eleven princes have been detained in riyadh and are being held in a notorious prison after staging a protest it follows the detention of dozens of other high profile figures last year including royal family members some of them are still being held in a five star hotel as part of what was described as an anti corruption drive the latest arrests are said to have taken place outside the royal palace 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 is present donald trump has gone on

a twitter to raise calling the author of a book heavily criticizing his first year in office a total loser fire and furious proving so popular the booksellers are struggling to keep up with demand that is reporting a two to four week wait to get a copy trump says the book is full of lies all the dogs christians around the world are celebrating the christmas holiday the patriarch of jerusalem fearfulness the third is visiting the occupied west bank city of bethlehem to hold mass to mark the festivities there's also been because of growing public anger to me use of selling off large swathes of church land to private businesses german and turkish foreign ministers have agreed to work towards improving recently strained relations and of his visit to germany turkish foreign minister have a solo call for a fresh start german leaders have been outspoken in their criticism of turkey's crackdown after the two thousand and sixteen failed coup

those are your headlines more news continuing here on al-jazeera after inside story . the hotline linking north korea is in use again wants to talk about next month's winter olympics but also wants to discuss this nuclear program when next week's meeting. will make things well this is inside a story.