in a four part series al-jazeera revisits the reasons for divisions in different parts of the world and the impact they have on both sides of shame at this time on al-jazeera. every. one of the great patriotic dogs christmas celebrations accusing him of the trail. and welcome to. headquarters and the problem also ahead. if i

weren't involved they would be talking about. us president. himself for the upcoming talks between north and south korea surviving the war the cold wet winter a plea for help from serbia and totally displaced and looking to renew their alliance german chancellor angela merkel to set a new round of coalition talks and a bed to form a government. protests against the greek orthodox patriarch of jerusalem have overshadowed orthodox christmas celebrations they allege sale of church land to israeli spot the scene. and explains from bethlehem. the protests were unprecedented in a display of anger toward the greek orthodox patriarch of jerusalem demonstrators attacked the convoy of the office the third as it made its way to bethlehem's

manger square in the occupied west bank behind all this recent news reports alleging the patriarch has been involved in property sales to foreign tax havens and those properties may end up in the hands of israeli businesses. protesters believe the allegations and say it will make it harder for palestinians to establish their own state but the live now to mount a clear and simple we want the patriarch to resign we want to reform the patriarchate and to sign a legal committee to evaluate the situation representatives of the greek orthodox church of jerusalem deny the allegations and the handle of the snow if we did not as they claim to sell our lands to the israeli occupation those are old deals the patriarch wants to rectify clarify because all those old deals are detrimental to the rights of the patriarch eight and its congregation while this is not the first time the church has been accused of selling some of the numerous properties it owns in jerusalem the outrage now is far greater than it had been before. in manger

square despite the marching bands and music a truly festive atmosphere was hard to achieve. the arrival of the patriarch wasn't just protested local officials also gave him a cold shoulder when they refused to welcome him to the square another issue overshadowing celebrations this year is the decision by u.s. president donald trump to recognize jerusalem as israel's capital in the month since that decision was made there been numerous protests in the occupied west bank and it's really contributed to a growing sense of hopelessness amongst palestinian christians forty year old george was sad says he's never witnessed such a song or mood at christmas is the level of the headline if things remain as is opie pool seek to leave who'd stay here if you see it being so and the city is sad have you ever see. in bethlehem like this thousands would usually be here christmas muslims would show up even before christians palestinian christians in the west bank are worried their relatively small number will continue to do windell and

according to a recent study by the daughter of university college twenty eight percent of palestinian christians said they'd leave this region if given the chance highlighting yet again the growing feeling of despair at a time of year when there is usually at the very least a small semblance of hope mohammed. bethlehem the occupied west bank now jordan says the arab league will seek international recognition of a palestinian state after trump's decision on jerusalem well some members of the league met in the jordanian capital amman jordan has seen a wave of protests against the u.s. and israel following trumps decision to move the american embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem. our goal is to overturn the american decision to recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel and to assert that it has no legal effect. we have specific requests the most important of which is the recognition of

a palestinian state with jerusalem as its capital according to the june the fourth nine hundred sixty seven borders the new york times is reporting that egypt has media there to play down opposition to president trumps jerusalem decision and leaked phone recordings a senior intelligence officer reportedly told leading t.v. talk show hosts to influence their view is to back the decision despite egypt's public condemnation the newspaper quoted a captain asking hosts how it's diverse and different from ramallah which is the current face of the palestinian authority in the occupied west bank captain alcorn he was quoted telling the talk show hosts and the father would not serve egypt's national security interests and could revive her well as director of research and analysis of the absent of washington d.c. and he says this seems to be a disconnect between the palestinian cause and what arab leaders want. generally speaking that abode has been quiet and actually it has been quiet but

a long long time everybody knew and everybody knows what the israeli government has been up to for four decades right now so you know that this is not the be a new thing donald trump just simply made sure that this decision was taken but he must have read the thought that it's a good step and arab regimes would probably support that it's a problem and that got us in it would have to have to do something about it will always be a problem the arab street is not necessarily with the arab rulers on this issue that absolute still believe that the palestine issue is the central issue and jerusalem is the most sensitive of that sense of issue you know the muslim world definitely i think the same way it's a problem that is a basically a bifurcated position you know between the peoples of the arab and muslim worlds and the leaders of the arab and muslim world and. the palestinian equation itself

has to also. come to terms with the with the with the problem with the arab and muslim worlds and the palestinians themselves have to be take up the mantle for their own. cause let's move on to other news now u.s. president donald trump has reacted to accusations that he's mentally i'm set for office describing himself as a stable genius follows publication of a book that question of his ability to do his job at a claim his staff you have as and gentile as john hendren reports from washington tom places a tax on orphan michael will have again a shadow of his policy agenda and i did a quick interview with him a long time ago having to do with an article this book clearly has donald trump rattled the suggestion in firing fury the cabinet members and allies to question trying to intelligence and his fitness for office had gotten under the president's skin the. book has driven a wedge between trump and his one time closest adviser steve bennett but i don't know this man i guess sloppy steve brought him into the white house quite

a bit and it was one of those things that's why sloppy steve is now looking for a job as republican leaders met the president to discuss their legislative agenda for twenty eight eighteen trump began his day with a barrage of morning tweets he wrote throughout my life my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being like really smart and he said that winning the presidency qualifies him as not smart but genius in a very stable genius at that in defending himself against the allegations in this book president trump was knocked off message in it steve bannon says he's lost his stuff media mogul rupert murdoch calls him an idiot and staffers describe him as a semi literate fool but what the republicans who met with trump on saturday wanted to talk about with their plans for twenty eight teen and immigration reform candidate donald trump's signature campaign promise and we are building a wall on the southern border we need safety we need cameras and i will have

mexico pay for that wall it turns out he might have that half right the administration's plan for an immigration overhaul would spend eighteen billion dollars over ten years and add five hundred five kilometers to an existing border with mexico and the u.s. congress would pay for the bill is expected to restore some protection for the so-called dreamers children of undocumented immigrants who were brought to the u.s. by their parents trump recently rescinded an obama era rule protecting them but democrats fear the new immigration funds could be used to deport dreamers who registered for the program or their families they don't have resources that the eight hundred thousand dreamers it's not at all clear that the information that the dreamers volunteered to the government to establish their right to be legally work at work and otherwise could be used to identify and detain and then deport the dreamers but in. gratian was not the top question trump addressed on saturday john hendren. washington. proclaiming his genius the us president said he's open

to talking to north korea trump also said he's hopeful next week's meeting between north and south korea will go beyond the north's participation in the winter olympics. i would love to see. if i were involved they would be talking about. much more serious well tensions on the korean peninsula had cast in early the preparations for the winter olympics next month but as south korea get ready for talks with the north on tuesday many are hoping for a thaw in relations before the games and the next passion are serious looking ahead to the stories set to make headlines this year florence lowy reports from chang the

mountain town of. the site of south korea's first ski resort and it's preparing for . to host the country's first olympic and paralympic will take. some of these slopes. for the event across town finishing touches are being made and people are looking forward to the opening ceremony in february. i'm excited and a bit nervous that i'll be able to watch such a big event taking place here. it's been such a long time since south korea hosted an olympics event it's a good opportunity to promote the country and especially this area. it could also be a chance to improve into korea relations north korea has recently said it may send its athletes to take part in the event something south korea says it welcomes but security concerns over the north's nuclear weapons development remain organizers however say this isn't the first time a huge sporting event is held against the backdrop of heightened tensions but of

course again safety and security are part of all of the olympic games and so it's a part of our preparations that we do but every other olympic committee has also had the same measures in place so we're working to ensure that everything is in place in time for the games. but an even more unpredictable factor is mother nature for costa temperatures on the day of the opening ceremony could make it one of the coldest in thirty years and the stadium has no roof a deliberate design to save time and money officials say to counter the cold they're installing when she and will give out hot packs and blankets to spectators . this is a hot tub a pocket sized portable heater to give it a good shake the chemicals inside react this packing generates heat the last for at least ten hours put in your pocket you hands out warm and toasty. for those willing to brave the cold it's now easy to get to the venue with

a new high speed train from seoul to p.r. china. south korea also plans to use the upcoming on the pics to showcase what it says will be the most technologically advanced games which i mentioned. there's a camera placed on the helmet to competitors and spectators can watch the event from athletes perspective in real time on this tablet which uses five g. technology. no efforts being sped to make the two thousand and eight winter olympics and paralympics a success florence li al-jazeera south korea and in the next part of the us there is a believe according to moscow where the person on course for a fourth term as president will explain why russian politics is still a one man show you can see that here on al-jazeera on monday. still ahead on the bulletin. mourning the dead an end in a minute after police were targeted in the disputed territory. and millions of

orthodox christians celebrate christmas every around the world. welcome to look at the weather across north america those far as the really cold weather is concerned across north america you can see the change in colors as far as the temperatures go over the next couple of days more there is a venture going to push its way in but there's a price to be paid for that in terms of from quite heavy snowfall so coming back to sunday we're going to see an area of rain developing and turning into snow across parts of the midwest through up towards the great lakes and heading into monday then we've got quite a widespread area of snow pushing into the bit lanty region rain for the towards the se but also the potential for some freezing rain along the length of this frontal system miami twenty three degrees for the best place to be yet across the

west more snow heading in towards pacific northwest further south rowsley drawing fire fight them the colorado there was fourteen degrees heading down into the caribbean we've got this area of cloud and rain extending across central parts of the caribbean so it could be quite a bit of heavy rain around and not too much in the way of sunshine so it's still looking fairly wet for panama and possibly costa rica as well of the next twenty four hours and that rain could extend up towards watermelon nicaragua also heading into south america some heavy showers in prospect for both peru and bolivia further towards the dry weather across paraguay and drying argentina with highs of thirty and when a series. on crowds of of course we'll look at the economic reasons behind the rest in the middle east second largest economy plus new year new rules for european firms with . the chief global economist at u.b.s.

what's his dangerous idea cost this time zero. to have you with us on al-jazeera these are our top stories protests against the greek orthodox patriarch of jerusalem have overshadowed orthodox christmas celebrations in bethlehem they allege sale of church land as ready spot the ten scenes demonstrators say that could make it harder for palestinians to establish their own state and jordan says the arab league will seek international recognition

of a palestinian state after u.s. president donald trump's decision to move the embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem decision has been widely condemned to the u.n. rejecting the moon. and u.s. president says he's open to dialogue with north korean leader kim jong un that follows a recent escalation in rhetoric between the two to trump added that he's hopeful of progress in next week's talks between north and south korea. now the government of saudi arabia says eleven princes have been detained and have been sent to an a tory high security prison after protesting against the kingdom's decision to make royals pay they water and utility bills now that's in contrast to dozens of other high profile figures who were detained in a luxury hotel last year during what the government called an anti corruption drive . a series of air strikes by the saudi led coalition has targeted a fruit and vegetable market and gas facility in northern yemen witnesses say the

strikes killed one person and left three others injured the areas under the control of iran backed the rebels who fired a ballistic missile into saudi territory on friday. at least fourteen people have been killed in airstrikes and artillery attacks in rebel held suburbs near damascus there has been a spike in violence in eastern go in recent weeks activists say it's coming under a near a day daily bombardment. elsewhere in syria people who fled the fighting and are facing a battle of a different kind surviving the personally cold winter they've barca has more. than serious southern province of daraa those displaced by war face a new threat whether. this is a camp one of the largest in the region. and her grandchildren arrived here after escaping fierce fighting between syria's opposition groups and i saw a water logged field is now home if the rain continues they'll be forced to leave

where can they go in i'm going to play in a moment when we left our homes without any possessions you can see the rain water around us you can see for yourself how bad conditions are what can we do with helpless the complex basic infrastructure there are no paved roads no drainage people feel forgotten are there are you rubble this used to be farmland it was unfit for people to settle in the first place become hasn't been supplied with any of the basic services no one has lent his or will lend a helping hand none of the relief agencies either. syria's long civil war has triggered one of the worst humanitarian disasters in modern history eleven million syrians have been displaced by fighting hard for the whole population most around six million are internally displaced it is a bleak existence. al-jazeera the italian coast guard says at least

eight migrants have died and eighty six others have been rescued from a boat off the coast of libya rescue agencies say many more still missing and therefore the death toll as high as twenty five the international organization for migration says the mediterranean sea is the world's deadliest border it has almost one hundred twenty thousand refugees and migrants arrived and italy by sea last year. talks between germany's two major parties to form a new void and coalition are resuming on sunday a potential sticking point between angle of the question democrats and the social democrats is the refugee crisis they're divided over whether to allow relatives of people who are already engineered to join them from bavaria dominic cain reports it's time for nine year old michael to do his homework and as in many families his big brother is on hand to help in fact twenty two year old mahmoud is more of a father to michael than an elder brother. because as years eally refugees these

two have been granted asylum in germany but for the past two years their parents and siblings have been stuck in a holding camp for migrants increase. the movie. on germany told them they could come join us here but then a few months ago we were told they could not come the official said you have no documents that prove your brother is related to your parents paid for the papers to come from iraq then they said they needed to test michael's d.n.a. and now finally they've said ok your parents can come. but the brothers' hopes of a reunion have been dashed twice before and their situation is not unique since twenty sixteen germany has put a temporary hold on reuniting the families of people who are not classed as refugees the bavarian christian social union and go to medical system party in the southern state says while genuine refugees should be allowed in those with

subsidiary protection and these claims for asylum are rejected should not we are objecting to the right of so-called subsidiary. accept that if you choose to bring their family to germany because to be honest this would. exhaust our capacities what makes this view more interesting is that stefan meyer speaks on this issue not just for his party but also for angle americans christian democrats but this particular point of view is not shared by the social democrats and with coalition talks between the three parties now intensifying in the new year the question is might this issue be a sticking point because the social democrats believe that where possible families who qualified to be reunited should be allowed to do so the political fight in germany is now about how to bring the government together from parties with such

differing views from mahmoud and michael matalin it's how to bring their family back together dominant game al-jazeera in bavaria. germany and turkey have agreed to work on improving relations their foreign ministers acknowledge that differences remain that said they believe they can tackle the issues through dialogue and cooperation relations were strained by the arrests of german citizens in turkey and burns criticism of the turkish crackdown following the two thousand and sixteen failed coup. went to visit of the childish mission i own for i believe we have the response of. to find a way to get along today our historical legacy and the wishes of our citizens we must not forget that we've both made it our business to do everything we can to overcome the difficulties there have been and german tarkus relations and to find more common ground in the future by remembering everything that binds us together.

we have a difference of opinion on certain subjects we have some problems in fact there was an escalation there was tension but as to foreign ministers we believe we can overcome this through dialogue we believe we can better improve our relations three mutual understanding and sincere cooperation. now it is christmas offer docs christians around the world thousands have attended but not that strong that over to ethiopia orthodox christians follow the old julian calendar and celebrate the birth of jesus christ on the seventh of january asama been a the reports. the him from what's perhaps the largest cathedral in the middle east should in midnight mass. this egyptian church with a capacity of one thousand people open its door for orthodox christmas many of the faithful prayed for a better year ahead after multiple attacks on the gyptian christians in recent months and that's the let me all my life we hope peace will prevail over the world

in general in the specially in egypt and that will get rid of terrorism and troubles. wishing egypt and all the region to live in peace and god to protect us from any kind of terrorism or anything which might hurt us. tens of thousands of security personnel were deployed across egypt to ensure safe celebrations and there were reassurances from the president more than one hundred christians have been killed in attacks in recent months the latest just a few days ago. you are our family you are part of us we are all one christians and muslims and no one can ever divide us. from below roost with e.o.p. the orthodox follow the old julian calendar and celebrate christmas on january sixth and seventh. each celebration is unique so celebrate the tradition of burning of old french's and dried leaves many preserve some pagan traditions inviting dead and sisters to their homes i knew green for instance some fabricate destroyed all

really ancestors of the state some families also spread straw to emulate the nativity scene. to dance. in history thousands attended midnight masses across russia home to more than a third of the worlds. christian russian leaders including president vladimir putin were in attendance. prayers were also held at the church of nativity in bethlehem in the occupied west bank a place at the heart of many conflicts in the middle east and beyond and here there were prayers for better times from injury the al-jazeera now there have been long queues outside supermarkets in venezuela after the government ordered them to slash their prices surprises for jurors to the same as last month or rampant inflation in venezuela has risen to above one thousand percent and that's led to widespread shortages of food and medicine president nicolas maduro is blaming the economic crisis on an international conspiracy but you know something you're going to run we

arrived but we couldn't get on the prices were much lower last night but today the price is a normal they ridiculous prices elevated compared to the income of venezuelans well most venezuelans. in any way we understand that supermarket chains have a right to increase prices because it's relative but not in such an exorbitant manner three hundred percent i think there should be a bit of control and if there were some control we could purchase things. now funerals have been held for four policemen killed in a bomb attack an indian administered kashmir as the latest in a series of bombings by rebels who want to end indian control of the region mohamad vaal has more. turned out to the hundreds of this funeral in the north. it's the birthplace of one of the four policemen killed early on saturday the blast happened in the nearby

town of support in the northern part of the indian administered kashmir. security sources say the opposed to india rule triggered an improvised explosive device targeting a police patrol. thank god the town is about fifty kilometers northwest of synagogue city some a capital of the regional government they say fighters planted the device beneath a shop in a marketplace to target the patrolled the blast or so damaged shops in the area audience who have been key god here we were called to the town today and this was on normal deployment for maintaining law and order these boys were deployed in a small alley in the market and the blast happened in which four of our boys were martyred. to shut down the offices and fed into was made by arab leaders to mock the twenty fifth anniversary of an indian security crackdown not killed forty seven people that operation was a response to the killing of an indian soldier by devils local newspaper say disha

mohammed one of the main rebel groups opposing the indian rule of kashmir has announced it's a response ability for the blasts on saturday the city jim has been witnessing a persones of violence for the last seventy years kashmiri rebels who say they represent the provinces muslim majority have been fighting for separation from india. i loved my. the malaysian government has approved a new attempt to find the wreckage of flight m h three seventy in the indian ocean a spot of three year search for the missing plane its disappearance remains one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries it was on vert to beijing from kuala lumpur when it went missing with more than two hundred thirty people on board malaysia has accepted an offer by u.s. based company to resume the search. around fifty fires have been reported around the australian state of victoria as temperatures soar above forty degrees firefighters have been battling dry and windy conditions to contain the flames

three hundred firefighters and two aircraft were tackling one of the biggest fires at its peak police are investigating whether this latest blaze was deliberately lit . now one person is dead and three more missing in madagascar in the wake of tropical cyclone eva the storm brought heavy rain that's caused extensive flooding and property damage more than ten thousand people have been forced from their homes it is expected to weaken as it moves back out to sea. and again is a problem in doha with the headlines on al jazeera protests against the greek orthodox patriarch of jerusalem have overshadowed orthodox christmas celebrations and bethlehem the alleged sale of church lead to israeli spy the ten scenes demonstrators say that could make it harder for palestinians to establish their own state. jordan says the arab league will seek international recognition of

a palestinian state after trump's decision to recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel will some members of the league met in the jordanian capital amman jordan has seen a wave of protests against the u.s. and israel following president prompts decision to move the american embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem. and donald trump says he's open to dialogue with north korean leader kim jong un that follows a recent escalation in rhetoric between the two leaders were trump also said he's hopeful that next week's meeting between north and south korea will go beyond the north's participation in the winter olympics. i'd love to see them take to. reverse the relationship with south korea i would love to see it go for. absolutely . right you know the tokyo it's a story it's a big story if i weren't involved they wouldn't be talking about the interest rate . if you were there would be much more serious at least fourteen people have been

killed in airstrikes and artillery attacks in rebel held suburbs near damascus they has been a spike in violence in the east and in recent weeks activists say it's coming under a daily bombardment around four hundred thousand people remain trapped under a government seizure running out of food and medicine. eleven princes have been detained in saudi arabia after protesting austerity measures that the royal palace they're being held in a taurus high security prison that's in contrast to dozens of other high profile figures who were detained at a luxury hotel last year during what the crown prince called an anti-corruption drive the italian coast guard says at least eight migrants have died and eighty six others have been rescued from a boat off the coast of libya rescue agencies say many more still missing and put the death toll as high as twenty five the international organization for migration says the mediterranean sea is the world's deadliest border it says almost one hundred twenty thousand refugees and migrants survived in italy by sea last year.

those are the headlines on al-jazeera do stay with us counting the cost is next. valued as a gem of africa nairobi has gone through many changes over the past decades took to 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. hello i'm adrian finnegan this is counting the cost on al-jazeera a 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's second largest economy also this week meltdown and suspect these are the nicknames for the two major flaws discovered in.