as part of genocide the listening post provides a critical counterpoint to challenging mainstream media narratives at this time on al-jazeera valued as a gem in africa my ruby has gone through many changes over the past decades. to al-jazeera travels to the kenyan capital to him 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. the. violent protests against the head of the orthodox church in jerusalem as the community marks christmas we'll be live in bethlehem. watching al-jazeera live from our headquarters and. also ahead. the iranian regime

is now on notice the world will be watching what you do the u.s. is accused of interfering in iran's internal affairs officer request for a meeting of the u.n. security council to discuss the recent protests. the u.n. says it will investigate an attack in the democratic republic of congo that killed fifteen if its peacekeepers last month. u.s. president donald trump takes to twitter to refute speculation about his mental. hello we begin in the occupied west bank where there have been scuffles in bethlehem that's where the patriarch of jerusalem had been holding mass to mark orthodox christmas but as the office the third attempted to leave manger square protesters blocked his car and threw some eggs he's at the center of growing.

public anger after being accused in israeli media of selling off large parts of church land to is really private businesses other protests are planned against the u.s. decision to recognize the roots of them as israel's capital mohamed june following this story covering all the developments for us from bethlehem itself how much is all of this overshadowing the sure there's been a festivities mahamed. well that's right to read in the fact of the matter is that this is really unprecedented in in recent history that you would have these kinds of protests against the greek orthodox patriarch i mean those were very dramatic pictures that we saw this was a protest that had been called for for some time now but i believe that really those that sporting the patriarch about him were still surprised by the ferocity of the demonstrators now we spoke to some of those demonstrators earlier in the day to ask them why exactly they were angered

a lot of it was due to these reports in the israeli media the kerry allegations that the greek orthodox patriarch had been involved in property sales to foreign tax havens in the perhaps those foreign tax havens got those then owned by israel israeli businessman israeli business women now let's take a listen to a little bit more we heard from other lead who he's a member of the orthodox central council. while the other man's a clear and simple we want the patriarch to resign we want reform to the patriarchate assign a legal committee to evaluate the situation in the patriarchate and appraising existing property and administrative and financial reform we want to return property that's been sold off and put a load organize the relation between the arab gulf adults congregation in palestine and jordan and the spiritual leadership in jerusalem and then elect a patriarch for the holy city after the reform has been done. now

during that we must mention that we did speak to representatives from the greek orthodox patriarch it in jerusalem and they stated to us that these reports were inaccurate they deny the allegations that have been going around in israeli media they say that really what's been happening is that the greek orthodox patriarch it has been trying to renegotiate change deals that were made in the past that were to the detriment of members of their congregation mohamed i'm joe reporting from bethlehem thank you. there are u.n. security council has held a special session on the recent protests in iran with the u.s. accusing to iran of stifling the voice of its people other members objected to the meeting insisting the council wasn't the place for the scuffs the 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 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 in the book 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 you. 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 minister sharon is not the spirit leaching for every restaurant that keeps it a flute there is a long history of u.s. bullying at the u.n. but this is preposterous 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 the same bus ravi has more from to herat. shortly after

the u.n. security council met in new york to discuss and to government protest in iran. the roads foreign minister tweet saying that he was glad that member countries of the security council basically rebuffed america's efforts to use the international body to intervene and meddle in what are essentially domestic affairs. 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 foreign 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 saying 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 are 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 and there are conflicting reports about whether the protest was on the withdrawal of state subsidies or the previous round of the tensions. the un is investigating last month's attack in the democratic republic of congo that killed fifteen fifth's peacekeepers the un suspects the allied democratic forces a ugandan armed group was behind the attack its fighters are known to be active in congo's north kivu province where the assault took place the u.n. says it will examine the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the tanzanian nationals and make recommendations obvious miles some atar is

a professor at the university of minnesota he says it's unclear what armed group is responsible for the attack. i think it's very difficult to assess exactly what happened but it's quite feasible that embed feature of the congo and. western uganda that possibility exists but the united nations hasn't been known for not being always quite truthful about these matters so it's quite difficult to spain whether it's the ugandan or my dishes in the congo because the com has been terrible for a very long time due to the regime that's in place in kinshasa so it's hard to tell exactly what happened. u.s. president donald trump has gone on a nother twitter tirade calling the author of a book detailing his first year in office a total loser it's already a hit with readers with american bookstores unable to keep fire and fury stocked on their shelves trump slammed the work was phony and full of lies diane easterbrook

reports from washington d.c. . crowd swarmed this washington bookstore at midnight friday snatching up copies of fire and fury inside the trump white house has of the criterion 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 a 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 light tone 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 will 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 and what they mean by that is he has it and the 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 and john hendren is joining us from washington there is already been a series of tweets from the president himself just a short time ago john. that's right daryn it's just another saturday morning here in washington and this time we have the extraordinary situation where the president of the united states is tweeting in defense of his own intellect that's of course

all based on the reporting in this book he says throughout my life my two greatest assets have been my mental stability and being like really smart. this is really knocking him off of his message and he says that what is happening is that democrats and critics are taking a page out of the book of critics of ronald reagan who used to say that he was suffering from dementia that he was not altogether there but in fact in the book it's members of trump's own administration largely making these accusations steve bannon said he's lost his stuff rupert murdoch. the media baron said he's an idiot. tom barrett the billionaire supporter of trump said he's not only crazy you stupid members of aides in his administration say he is no more than semi literate and of course joe scarborough a morning t.v. personality here in the u.s. saying trump is mentally unfit and in the early stages of dementia that is why

trump has been not so far off of the message that he should be talking about the policies that he wants to pursue in his administration and instead is talking about his own basic intelligence and defending himself against charges that he is in the early stages of dementia and that he's really not altogether there during well speaking of policies that he wants to pursue it least that was a campaign promise we now know that according to reports rather he's laid out plans john on how he wants to fund that border wall with mexico that he had spoken about so many times. that's right all through the campaign we heard we're going to have this big beautiful wall and mexico is going to pay for it well now half of that promise seems to be getting fulfilled at the trumpet ministration is going forward congress is seeking eighteen billion dollars to extend a border wall over ten years but it's clear mexico is not paying for it because the

bill is going to congress that's a wall that would it's a proposal by the customs and border protection it ministration for three hundred sixteen miles it's five hundred and five kilometers of additional barrier by september twenty second twenty twenty seven so they're going forward with this wall with that promise that he wanted that he was repeatedly making throughout the campaign of course mexico is not paying for it the u.s. is now that's what he'd like to talk about because you've got a group of republicans at camp david right now talking about this but this is another saturday morning in which trump is sending out a barrage of tweets that is knocking his own administration off message so people aren't talking about the immigration policy and they're talking about this instead during ok john hundred thank you. still ahead on al jazeera cartel wars political assassinations and a failing just the system we look at the lead up to mexico's twenty eight thousand presidential election. will tell you how

a worldwide ban of certain chemicals is finally helping to heal the planet. welcome back we have some heavy rain developing across southern parts of china the moment certainly through hong kong shanghai. area of snow but across china it should be launching drawing noise in vietnam with temperatures for the south of some rainfall. laos and then as they head into monday still that rain there hong kong probably pushing towards northern parts of taiwan too but again indochina not fairing too badly generally now as you head across into south asia misty and murky and smoky across northern parts of india in fact many other cities have got the same sort of issues at this time of the year but not

a great deal of change expected there no particular warm for delhi just nineteen degrees as a high warmer encroach in pakistan a mix of twenty five degrees now here in the arabian peninsula we do have some shower activity but a great deal but on the north sea towards the gulf of aden we've got the risk of a few showers developing here otherwise a breeze coming in from the northwest keep in the fog of bay for the gulf states twenty four degrees and you'll find temperatures drop i slightly ahead on through into monday by some here of twenty two but still quite pleasant up until about for the risk of some snow showers in the souls of the caspian sea highs of ten in tehran. in two thousand and eight al-jazeera documented a groundbreaking skiing. preparing some of india's poorest children for entry into its toughest university. ten years on we return to see how

the students and the scheme and helping change the face of india. at this time. hello again the top stories on al jazeera protesters got into scuffles with police in the occupied west bank as the patriarch of jerusalem for the office the third arrived in bethlehem to hold orthodox christmas now he's facing protests after accusations of selling our large parts off the church. the un security council has held a special session on the recent protests in iran with the us accusing iran of stifling

the voices of its people other members including russia and france objected to the meeting insisting the council was not the place to discuss the country's internal affairs the un is investigating last month's democratic republic of congo that killed fifteen tanzanian peacekeepers the u.n. suspects the allied democratic forces are ugandan armed group was behind the attack . for the latest report on some of the biggest stories off the year we take you to a refugee camp in bangladesh it's now home to hundreds of thousands of. who fled violence and. the un accuses me on mars government of textbook ethnic cleansing which denies. reports on what the refugees face in the year ahead. with their three children across the border from. 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. there not that i'm good but it 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 he 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 true tells us you are not surrender 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 they were 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. and 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 have escaped 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. biggest challenge that we face right now is that the refugees in the world think about washington d.c. without health services without medicines without proper access to food. eighty percent of. food assistance. if you know breaks of communicable diseases including measles and diptheria in the camps aid organizations estimate around seventy percent of the wells are contaminated the governments of bangladesh 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 governments at least recognize them as written until it guarantees them the same rights and security as citizens of the country

they and hundreds of thousands of other ranger refugees. and call. al-jazeera. at least one thousand people have died in the us during one of the worst winter storms in modern history to hit the east coast the storm dumped thirty centimeters of snow and caused flooding in coastal areas emergency crews rescue people trapped by rapidly rising waters forecasters are calling the storm a bomb cyclon the storm brought hurricane force winds and frigid temperatures. 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 clare's 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. wintery 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 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 any time soon the threat of political violence is casting a shadow over the lead up to mexico's twenty eight thousand presidential election following the murders of six more public officials mexico is coming off its most violent year in history there were more than twenty three thousand homicides in twenty seventeen that's as drug cartels fought for territory and aspiring political candidates worry they'll be the next target and that's creating fears for the democratic process manual or polar reports from mexico city. 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 morals. 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 beary real if they meant that yes

you know at the head of it 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 where money paid it by i work to make. a better place. at least six mexican politicians have been killed in recent weeks this includes of old for 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 a national election drawing near political leaders in mexico. worry over these types of attacks against public servants will focus even a bit at those who came in the end 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 not because of fear less political you know less people voting. and all of that again 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 read up on the al-jazeera mexico city. election officials in honduras have rejected an appeal by the opposition to a no results of november's presidential vote president juan orlando was the clear

the winner last month after he narrowly defeated leftist candidate salvador and. election officials say there wasn't enough evidence to support the opposition's claims of fodor far to dozens of people died in opposition protests during a prolonged delay in announcing those results the german and turkish foreign ministers have agreed to work towards improving recently strained relations ahead of his visit to germany the turkish foreign minister a member that it's called for a fresh start german leaders have been outspoken in their criticism of turkey's crackdown after the twenty sixteen failed coup australia's great barrier reef is once again being threatened by a predator starfish thousands of crown of thorns starfish are understood to be feasting their way through coral during a major outbreak at the southern end of the reef authorities are now trying to work out how to control the spread of the predators nasa says the earth's protective ozone layer is recovering scientists say the thirty year global ban on the use of

certain chemicals typically used an aerosol cans as producing some great results hawkster has more. finally read good news concerning the environment nasa scientists say using 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 which is 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 the harmful ultraviolet radiation 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 changing 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 both on 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. as there. hello again the headlines on al-jazeera there have been scuffles and protests in the occupied west bank as the patriarch of jerusalem the third is in bethlehem to hold orthodox christmas mass he's facing protests after accusations of selling off

large parts of church and many palestinians are also angered at the u.s. incision to recognize jerusalem as israel's capital. while the other man's a clear and simple we want the patriarch to resign we want reform to the patriarchate assign a legal committee to evaluate the situation the patriarchate and appraising existing property and it is sort of in financial reform we want to return property that's been sold off and put a load organizes the relation between the arab gulf adults congregation in power was done in jordan and the spiritual leadership in jerusalem and then elect the patriarch for the holy city after the reform is being done the un security council has held a special session on the recent protests in iran with the us accusing to herat of stifling the voices of its people other members including russia and france objected to the meeting insisting the council was not the place to discuss a country's internal affairs saudi media reporting that eleven princes have been

detained in riyadh and are being held in a notorious 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. u.s. president donald trump has gone on a twitter tirade calling the author for a book heavily criticizing his first year in office a total loser but fire and fury is proving so popular booksellers are struggling to keep up with demand amazon is reporting a two to four week wait to get a copy. in

the middle east.