at this time on al jazeera. al jazeera. where everyone. i really felt liberated as a journalist was. getting to the truth as an eyewitness that's what this jobs bill . zero. dollar i'm so this is the news hour long from london coming up in the next sixty minutes a diplomatic breakthrough between north and south korea but pyongyang signals it's

not willing to discuss the burning issue its nuclear program the syrian bombardment of eastern ghouta intensifies civilians inside the rebel held and play say the warplanes just one stall and chinese ears main opposition valves to step up onto a stir she protests unless the government drops its new budget. and i'm far is small in doha all the latest sports news including a great step forward in the olympic spirit that's how the i.o.c. are describing north korea's decision to send athletes to next month's winter games and jiang chang. much anticipated talks between north and south korea have wrapped up on the all being described as a major diplomatic breakthrough officials from the chinese side for eleven hours and eventually agreed seoul would lift sanctions temporarily so north korean ashley

could visit the south for next month's winter olympics it represents the biggest thaw in relations for years opinions nuclear ambitions were off the table florence lim reports from so. until recently north koreans refused to even pick up the phone when south koreans called the border hotline so it was significant to see resawing gorn who's in charge of into korean relations for the north korean government stepping over the border into the south he led a five member team of high ranking diplomats into a meeting with his south korean counterpart in what's known as the truce village at panmunjom. our talks resume after north and south korean ties have been severed for a long time but i believe the first step is have the journey with the we came to this meeting with a serious and sincere attitude and with the thought of giving our brethren who have high hopes for this dialogue in valuable results as the first gift of the year on

the meeting did produce results north korea says it will send a delegation of athletes and team members to next month's winter olympics in south korea the south says it will consider suspending sanctions if it helps north korea's participation in the games in. both sides have also agreed to hold military talks to prevent accidental clashes and ease tensions as well as conduct other high level exchanges to improve into create ties but attempts to discuss north korea's nuclear bomb and missiles program got nowhere with the head of the delegation from pyongyang warning that such discussions could damage relations the north has long maintained that its nuclear arsenal is necessary to deter an invasion by u.s. troops and south korea's proposal for talks on reunions for family members who've been separated for decades met with little response from the north despite that

many in the south see any talks happening at all as a positive step. for us. i believe these forward diplomatic discussions can result in peace for an a c. the korean peninsula is a dangerous place that's under the constant threat of war and i hope those concerns to become a reality and after a year of high tensions on the korean peninsula and in japan and across the pacific including the threat of military action by the u.s. these talks are already being heralded as a breakthrough florence al-jazeera seoul for more on this let's talk to ambassador joseph the tranny in washington he's a former special envoy for six party talks with north korea and a former cia director of east asia operations thank you very much for spending the time to talk to us. here is almost a clever way of the north koreans behaving by having these friendly talks with their neighbors by getting some sanctions lowered to allow them to send a team to the olympics i was cutting the united states out of the equation i'm kind

of wondering how china might react to this they might also say well it's worth easing sanctions. you know china has been very positive and rusher certainly also on this and and we all want to be hopeful but i think your points are very accurate i mean we've seen this before with north korea i think sanctions are biting and they're significantly hurting and so north korea's looking for some relief and they feel they've had a good year twenty seventeen was a very good year for. going with the missile launches it to include an intercontinental ballistic missile nuclear test a so-called hydrogen bomb so he's now saying i've shown what i could do and i realize you all have these sanctions to include russia and china implementing these sanctions so i need a little relief so i think some of us who have been involved in negotiations and we've seen twenty five years of the goshi ations and and what have we accomplished

not for much given where north korea is with the nuclear and missile program so i think the key is to be hopeful to watch things but to be very realistic this is not a breakthrough this is been done before by north korea but hopefully it'll be dilutive different this time but we should exact something from north korea this should be confidence building also coming from north korea as it is from south korea and the u.s. with the suspension of joint military exercises and they need to stop launching missiles and having nuclear tests indeed and that's what north korea has always said the reason for its nuclear program now the white house reacted saying it's not the cheney for north korea to end international isolation by denuclearizing but is there a sense here that actually start to thaw could we just say well maybe they will have nuclear weapons from now on because it's going to be nobody really pushing to get rid of them if indeed it's true that they're only pointing in the united states . well i think this is this is the point i'm making and i think your point is right

on the mark north korea wants to be accepted as a nuclear weapon state to be the nice nuclear weapons state to accept the fact that they have nuclear weapons i think many of us is saying and i think south korea certainly china and russia are with japan in the united states i think we're all in sync on that issue of denuclearization comprehensive the nuclear is a ship of the korean peninsula north korea with nuclear weapons would lend itself to a nuclear arms race in the region and also the potential for proliferation possibly nuclear weapons nuclear materials to include for so material getting into the hands of non-nuclear weapon states getting to the hands of non-state actors to terrorists i think north korea with nuclear weapons would be a danger to the region it would be a danger to the global environment the global community we've got that north korea is now sending them to send a team to south korea for the olympics that deeming the peace and takes it's

a symbolic move though isn't it it's not really about sports here it's about the fact that they are being welcomed back into the fold if you like that's exactly right the big welcome to the fold this is this could be a very positive confidence building measure if we see reciprocity from north korea no nuclear test no missile launches if they resume the separated families where they bring the families together to visit with the brother in the north those would be positive moves but eventually north korea has to sit out and talk about the nuclear weapons program very good to get your thoughts such as the chinese speaking to us in washington thanks very much for thank you. turkey's foreign ministry has summoned the ambassadors of iran and russia to protest the violation of a so-called a deescalation a zone in syria turkey is reportedly accusing syrian troops of breaking the agreement in their push to retake opposition held areas in the province russia iran and turkey agreed on for deescalation zones last may in an effort to wind down the

seven year war russia and iran support the government of syrian president bashar al assad while turkey backs opposition groups and other deescalation zone is the damascus suburb of eastern ghouta the syrian government's bombardments of the rebel held and calais is intensifying rebel fighters are desperately trying to cling on to the territory even resorting to talks with syria's russia in no man's land four hundred thousand civilians are struggling to survive the winter with medical and food supplies running low on. the fog of dust from buildings reduced to rubble was still thick as people began transporting the injured and pulling out the dead. twenty three people were killed in iraq strikes in eastern guta on monday night. you know if you made the derby the warplanes didn't stop day and night they shell only civilians and target residential neighborhoods and markets eastern is

a short drive to the capital damascus which is remained relatively calm throughout the war but the lives of the four hundred thousand people here are very different the never ending stream of bombs has created shortages of everything from food to fuel. the last two weeks have been especially intense one hundred twenty six people are estimated to have been killed since december twenty ninth. the new i five a man on that video who demand the international community stops the shelling of innocent civilians we don't have any food or mates in here and use kuta we under siege for a long time and we hope god will help us. syrians contemplating leaving their homes are faced with a dilemma for example the displaced who sought refuge in opposition held in lib are in danger again it is the largest rebel stronghold and government forces are in the midst of an offensive to regain control tens of thousands of civilians already in

dire circumstances have been recorded as displaced since the first of december due to the fighting with the onset of winter save shelters among the biggest concerns as many families are fleeing into areas that are already at full capacity into communities with depleted resources people in eastern guta fear if they leave their homes they'll never be allowed to return the un is accusing the syrian government of implementing a policy of force displacement to radically alter the demographic makeup of areas previously controlled by the opposition natasha going to aim al-jazeera. french president emanuel mccraw is hailing his visit to china as the beginning of a historic partnership is when i was saying the thing a federal trade deals with chinese president xi jinping micron's been pushing for french companies to have greater access to the world's biggest population especially in nuclear power era space and phoned romney bright has more from

beijing china and france are hailing this visit as a new era for strategic partners xi jinping and emanuel mccraw signing multi-billion dollar trade deals from aerospace to nuclear energy projects and reaching what they say is common consensus on a range of issues from climate change to international security. we have made an agreement to improve global issues we are faced with climate change and terrorism china will be working together with france so we can have a win win situation and develop a new strategy that helps everyone in the world we have both agreed to have open and deep communications macross says his visit is a recognition of china's role on the world stage and she's preeminent position as chinese leader this is micron's first state visit to china as president and he

wants the trip to become an annual event to highlight the deepening relationship between china and europe growing stronger as their respective relations with the united states become more unpredictable and strained and i think. it is time for european leaders including the french president jacques rogge to really balance off their leashes against the united states with their relations with china macron began his visit in the ancient city of scheana one of the starting points of the ancient silk road. his full support for what president xi calls his belton road initiative of new road and rail links seen as the modern day equivalent of connecting east with west is popular here mccrum will also take away from beijing a recommitment to the paris climate agreement seen as crucial after the united

states walked away from it in doing so france and china are positioning themselves as global environmental leaders setting an example for the world to follow robin briard al-jazeera beijing political analyst and economist tango says china and france are moving forward in replacing the u.s. as the world's primary superpower. i think you can sum it up in what macron said let's make our world great again obviously a dig at donald trump but it reflects reflects the reality that things are changing saying that b. as the us retracts there is an opening there and i think macron intends to take that opening not only for france but e.u. and that means cooperating with china what's happening is that the vacuum that's being created obviously is being filled and china is aggressively pushing out it wanted on its side france to recognize and be of very vocal proponents of the belt

and road initiative its master plan one trillion dollar effort but that effort needs more money it cannot be done by china alone so they're looking for partners europe is obviously the one the belt and road initiative most of it goes towards europe it's the biggest market for china so therefore it makes a lot of sense micron is doing the right thing by getting their first extracting very good concessions for his economy and also putting himself as a leader macro is looking he has to have a partner if you can in his book revolution he made it very clear that he's pro globalization he's very concerned about climate warm climate change these types of things are drawing him closer to china because the u.s. simply is not playing ball. coming up on this news hour from london bad weather and toxic gases complicate the search for thirty one missing sailors off the coast of china u.s.

tech giant apple is being investigated in france over its submission that it deliberately slow down its own government phones and in sports the u.s. president on the trump tries to school political points out of college football's biggest game. his is prime minister yousaf childhood's trying to soothe anti-government sentiment promising twenty eight will be the last year of economic hardship it follows protests in ten towns on monday demonstrators took to the streets angry over price and tax increases the hikes have been imposed a sponsor of a new austerity measures agreed with foreign leaders lenders they've been processed in sudan as well where the cost of a loaf of bread doubled after the government removed subsidies from its twenty eight team budgets the movies in line with reforms agreed with the international monetary fund jordan has announced it's cutting the state subsidies on bread as of

next week prices could surge by one hundred percent and the recent protests in iran were triggered by price rises for basic food items like eggs and poultry. to talk more about this i'm now joined by world affairs analyst klitzman thanks very much for coming in to al-jazeera just broadly when we've got all these countries now saying that they're hiking up prices and people can't afford the very basics like a loaf of bread what is going wrong with with a functioning economy is it should be able to provide for their that people a great question two thousand eight hundred sort of very dismally for the middle for the middle east and north africa these issues are not new issues to the region to previous issues sick time for them to develop florists what we see today and it's not good for the people themselves the softness of situations by analyzing economies of the middle east they're much more opaque much more difficult to

understand political decisions take a lot more effort to understand as opposed to western democracies. and economies so more deeper analysis would need to be to understand the real reasons behind them but it's not a crystal i mean let's take a sedan to start with and then talk about the i.m.f. impact they're there they're obviously taken money and that comes with economic reforms expectations other squeezing their people too quickly. reason that people too quickly and too strong to be only so much a nation which is as fragile as diet can take and then he won't go also considering that sudan has just been relinquished of science and by the u.s. so has just enough time to breed and get itself together so still it takes a while for the country to get back on its feet and you see the public discontent happening now because of these decisions and then switching the constitution is it could these protests get worse what could be the long term ramifications because i'm reading some people are saying it's actually now costing us more to leave them

pro the uprising which is a worrying situation it is a little bit of a work situation but we see the tax increases in new budget coming to be now and this is going to a lot of people nervous. of sets of their country we see kind of in clings of the arab spring as you also mentioned which number one for the people of south korea's worries but also for excellent investors carries that same old view of the middle east of trouble not a safe place to invest of the government really need to do something about this in order to fix the change expectations and to help the country flourish and could the big an international bodies like the world bank like the i.m.f. could they be doing more you mentioned how sudan is only just getting itself onto its feet can maybe relying more on the assistance i think there's only so much an extra body can do to fix an internal situation the people themselves in the government absolves need to take a better look at themselves and what they can do to help their people first and

external bodies and funders second sometimes these two agendas get conflated and the wrong messages get sent out because my morality thank you very much for and solar systems on understanding this bad weather and toxic gases are complicating the search for thirty one missing sailors off the coast of china they were onboard an iranian oil tanker which collided with a cargo ship on saturday if i has been burning on board for three days and this preventing crews from getting close to the tanker the vessel was carrying more than a million barrels of oil sparking fears of an environmental disaster in the east china sea although the chinese government says it had not found a large scale or a leak adrian brown has more from near shanghai. the drama is happening some one hundred sixty nautical miles out in the east china sea it's happening in international waters which is why the response has been international south korea

has sent a number of postcard vessels the u.s. military sends an aircraft to help in the search for the thirty two missing crew members from that iranian oil tank but now at the moment there are two operations taking place one to put out the fire broke out on the tanker the other of course to find those missing crew members now the tanker was comparing poor than a million barrels of ultra light crude oil spondon so it's very toxic colorless odorless which means it's very very hard to detect the priority now is to prevent the ship exploding and then sinking of course that would threaten a real environmental catastrophe in the meantime officials in shanghai say there is no evidence that this act is affecting traffic going into or out of the port shanghai of course is one of the world's busiest port officials also say that an exclusion zone is now in force which means that no vessel can sail to within ten

kilometers of the accident site if possible business rescue operation continues that exclusion zone. in egypt's more than three hundred seventy people have received jail sentences for taking part in the deadly sit in protest four years ago they were charged with causing the deaths of two placement and other counts of attempted murder for taking part in the protest in support of ousted president mohammed morsy in trying to thirteen dozens were killed after egyptian security forces stormed the square. police in germany and italy have announced a major maffia bust arresting one hundred sixty nine members of a notorious organized crime gang around sixty million dollars worth of assets were also seized in the joint multinational operation for oh up marring cohen clan based in southern italy have infiltrated businesses in southern and central germany including wine food refuse collection and funeral services

a number of public officials are suspected of corruption. prosecutors in france are investigating the u.s. tech giant out poll after it had met or to slowing down older models of its i phone last month the inquiry focuses on accusations that they've broken french consumer law by attempting to force existing customers to buy new phones that after battle has more from paris. in france one in five smartphone users owns an i phone each new model causes much excitement but not everyone is happy with the u.s. manufacturer a french consumer watchdog has filed a legal complaint saying apple deliberately slows down old i phone models to encourage customers to buy new ones where they know they're there doing what we call planned obsolescence two or two in the purpose for people to buy a new one if it's a marketing strategy. didn't care that we have enough proof to make this.

hope says apple uses software updates to slow down its phones the watchdog says recent updates coming sided with the release of the i phone eight in france such a practice is illegal under french law it is a crime to deliberately shorten the lifespan of a product in order to try and force consumers to buy new ones those found guilty can be punished with a prison sentence a large fines and companies can be forced to pay up to five percent of their annual earnings in paris some apple customers welcomed the investigation to see. if will work it's important to know what's going on because we are all hostages of multinationals meritage and looking once i bought a new find that i have to charge all the time and the updates make it slower i think it's done on purpose even though it's illegal here after a flurry of similar lawsuits in the u.s. last year apple admitted to intentionally slowing down its old phones saying it was

done to help prolong battery life some. analysts say the company should have been more transparent everyone knows that their phone starts to lose power after a certain time and this is actually quite a clever way of dealing with it was interesting is how it's been presented in rather a negative light on think that's apple's fault for not communicating better that they were doing this to help the users al-jazeera contacted apple in france for comment but has not received a reply faced with a criminal investigation though the stakes here for the take giant are high natasha butler i'll just sirrah paris thailand's foreign minister has confirmed that former prime minister yingluck shinawatra had been in london since september photos purporting to show you were posted on social media she's seen posing with a woman outside london's harrods department store the former prime minister left thailand to avoid being jailed over a rice subsidy scheme the lost billions of dollars and ireland's current prime

minister appears to be a little more camera shy finding another way to dodge or could questions from the media after making his statement for thailand's children's day. asked his aides to bring out one of several life sized campbell cutouts prepared for photos with children invited reporters to direct any follow up questions to his to damage the replacement the military government is coming under increasing pressure to hold elections almost four years since it seems to. much more to come on the news hour including plastic is not so fantastic in the u.k. the use of micro beats is found in cosmetics pharmaceutical giant pfizer is criticized by alzheimer's groups over its decision to end life changing research on japan's sumo wrestling season prepares to start as the sports grapples with scandal .

hello there we're so got an area of cloud is drifting its way southwards across the caspian sea it's here on the satellite picture drifting its way southward breaking up a little bit as it does say so it's just really in its eastern edge where we're going to see any significant snow as we head through the next day i'll say wednesday that's drifting its way eastwards across to our untouched and as we had three thursday and the temperatures there for struggling minus two is the maximum you know marty towards the west there be a good deal of cloud stretching through many parts of iraq and up still towards turkey turkey where the heavier rain is a most of that we stay around the coast a bit further towards the south and here in doha it's getting quite cool now during the day in the sunshine it's pretty good twenty three degrees is the maximum but at night we're dropping down to around fourteen or fifteen so it is feeling quite cool there a little bit of cloud around the south eastern coast of oman there that we more

cloud around the red sea and some of those showers a lot need to be rather heavy as they drift their way northwards as we head into thursday as we head down towards the southern parts of africa we've been watching all storm alva but it is now drifting away from madagascar so things there definitely coming down only a handful of showers really as we head through the next couple of days is that there's wetter weather out towards the west and for many of us in the northern parts of allah. there were over forty charges as i recall but primarily it was material support for terrorism the holy land foundation was the biggest muslim charity in the us i'd definitely say that this was a political trial and that these were political prisoners because we were able to see the secret i would hope we were able to tell it in a two part series al-jazeera world examines one of the most controversial court cases of the so-called war on terror the holy land falling at this time on al

jazeera world. discover a wealth of award winning programming from around the world we need more fine professionals to talk carroty is to model a good meal generation to study finds powerful documentaries debates and discussions as prime minister you do need to be critical of all massaging and all sexism challenge your perceptions the contours of this story are shaped by the interests of the countries involved only on al-jazeera. welcome back reminder of the top stories on the news hour north korea says it's not

willing to discuss its nuclear weapons program with seoul because its arsenal is only and the united states officials from the two sides have met for the first time in more than two years the syrian government is intensifying its bombardment of. damascus meanwhile turkey has summoned the ambassadors of iran and russia to object to the violation of the deescalation zone. and he is main opposition party is calling for protest against what it's calling the unjust twenty eighteen budget protests erupted in more than ten towns on monday against the price of tax hikes so his being killed. in action nations has approved the largest ever emergency relief allocation of fifteen million dollars for yemen the u.n. says the humanitarian crisis in yemen is the worst in the world seventy five percent of the population is in need of aid after hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the fighting are trying to survive in camps without basic health and

sanitation provisions but miss smith reports. this family will get just a few minutes warm from the fire here in province yemenis who've lost their homes in the civil war are beyond the reach of even the most basic relief that a groups can provide people here are escaping other fighters who control the capital some or the escaping strikes and attacks by a coalition of countries like by saudi arabia two million yemenis have been displaced since fighting began in september twenty four team. should be left the homes because of the war we found ourselves here without anything we have nothing here but. we don't have food the weather is very cold. four hundred sixty thousand displaced people are in camps like these in mara province they don't get any humanitarian assistance. we leave here in despair we have kidney problems my kids are also sick i have nothing and i can do nothing we are all

countries and international organizations to pay attention to us. disease is rife as well as the world's worst cholera epidemic deeply area is on the increase and following the killing of ten thousand people in the fighting the un says eight million yemenis are on the verge of famine bird smith al-jazeera and i'll just say one has condemned the closure of its bureau in yemen the office is based in the southern city of ties which is show security authorizes entering the building on his own recalls on ties authorities to reverse a decision and allow its journalists to carry out their professional responsibilities a ban on using tiny pieces of plastic in cosmetics has come into force across the u.k. micro beats are used by manufacturers in products like toothpaste face cramps and shower gels they wash down drains and end up in the sea they are swallowed by fish

and other wildlife there is a growing momentum to clamp down on the use of plastics as a push to ban the use of plastic straws which can take hundreds of years to decompose and politicians in the u.k. are proposing a so-called levy where consumers are challenged thirty cents extra when they buy coffee in a disposable car according to the plastic oceanus a foundation was an eight million tons of plastic is dumped in the engines every year we can now speak to erik solheim the executive director of the united nations environment program and he joins us now via skype from nairobi great news that the u.k. is banning micro babies but how do they how do we push that to be a worldwide situation. nations have all the it's fantastic. in the land global. action from governments. that don't need action from business to place these old fashioned problems you're much the tools and i think

you mentioned that about business i mean that this idea of a lot a levy all those cups that people use when they drink coffins and just throw i straight away but only not looking at taxing the wrong people surely the companies who make an awful lot of profit from selling coffins to people all over the well surely they should be paying for the disposal of those cups as their companies should do much for a number of companies are most contemporary to replace these products with new and much for the market that make the press to grow potatoes so sure. of the stuff but the action from consumers from governments from from from the big big in this is together make the moment he wins plus that you have a quote there's two fifths of the drinking water. particularly harmful those are so small they become the controller when they get into office why should we be doing

on that much more global scale than these individual sort of attempts have it when we look at the amount of plastic that's now thrown into the ocean an enormous amount of them hasn't asked me more about a sort of global perspective on this and individual nations. actually we should get to the plastic you simply don't need like straws or does my groupies have the no use simply don't need them. should the front that it plays spend for those present problems we may need so to preserve too much longer can be closed by graphics made from biodegradable materials and those big plastics which are very useful so make a car to light them then use less gasoline or make it building a tighter that's come to pass to be should use a combination of getting rid of what we don't need to replace what is useful. what

do you need and china of course some ramifications sent in the u.k. by ban banning the imports of plastic that it was despising off for the u.k. again it's something like china making those decisions how much is that going to have to make a nation to consider how they are dispensing with that waste if that is well nation really moving fast on them farm and have to say that this because the leadership from the top there is so strong but coming down on clamping down on pollution and making national products cheap think china has do not absolutely come for the sun i would also start acting on microbial plastic but we could see even the all nations to act in the middle of nations start in concert in the business and civil society to step up their mum much that i came back a much freer thoughts erik solheim speaking to us that the executive director of the un environment program. iran says it is for the times by its

foreign enemies to turn legitimate protests into a plot to overthrow the islamic republic supreme leader and how many rotund his trip to st and there is evidence of a plan made by the u.s. and israel funded by a rich country in the gulf i have been protests in more than eighty cities since late december when these twenty two people killed they said thousand people have been arrested they must ravi has more from teflon. he is basing what he's saying are no doubt. the country's intelligence apparatus and the information he's gleaning from the state stablished minister titian's but it has to be said that a lot of this has to iran's experience in context of foreign intervention in the country this is very reminiscent of the nine hundred fifty s. when demonstrations against democratic elected leader is overthrow those who found to be instigated by foreign agents for a leader of states for the cia and that that thinking that experience in historical

context plays into. every facet of iran's leadership certainly always this wrong and it is always tied with their current experiences back to what they've experienced in terms of foreign intervention in the country in the past and that colors a lot of what they see on the streets down into that activists and opposition politicians in germany are outraged at and you know and it come back saying a rising tide of online hate speech facebook twitter and other social media sites are being forced to remove offensive content or face fines of up to sixty million dollars the legislation is being widely condemned for allowing the policing of freedom of expression in germany to be placed in the hands of large multinational companies based in the united states david chaytor reports from berlin. well the first victim of the new law is no less than the deputy leader of the extreme right

alternative for germany party beatrix one stalk responded to a new year's eve greeting by police in cologne posted in arabic on twitter the city was the scene two years ago of mass sexual assaults during celebrations most of the suspects were described as being of north african and arab origin in a post on twitter and facebook she asked what the hell is happening in this country do you think it's to appease the barbaric gang raping hordes of muslim men stalks accounts were temporarily suspended on the ground should violated the new hate speech law party said legitimate political opinions have been censored not about censorship but of course this law does give politicians like mrs fun story the opportunity to claim that there is political censorship in germany and to portray herself as a martyr and i think this is one of the biggest political mistakes in passing the end i hate speech law because it helps parties like the if the to transport their

narratives into the population and gain greater popularity the justice minister marx who introduced the legislation said it will prevent calls to murder hate speech and holocaust denial which he described as attacks on other people's freedom of expression but opposition is mounting. the green party is leading the charge for changes in the law. it's a very sensitive area and the question of where freedom of speech ends and the protection of personal rights begins has been determined to the very highest judicial levels in germany for decades the law now is too abrasive and gives too much power to the companies facebook says the legislation is fundamentally new it's unique in the world because of its complexity is a challenge for all involved even a german satirical magazine on the internet has become

a victim of the new laws twitter suspended their account after the use of frayed barbaric hordes while poking fun at the control of a c i spoke to their editor in frankfurt over skype just. like we'll have to keep watching this because funny talk is ambivalent and we know that real people struggle with it how are a bunch of bots going to distinguish german courts struggle as well the magazine is now back online its latest issue has a cartoon of president donald trump asking his secretary of state how they can restore some safety rex tillerson replies stop all this tweeting you idiot david chaytor al jazeera berlin a number of celebrities have slammed clothing retailer h. and then after the browns news an image of a black child wearing a sweatshirt with the slogan coolest monkey in the jungle and be a star lebron james took to social media to condemn the move posting

a modified version of the original placing the words with king of the world canadian saying at the weekend said he was shocked and embarrassed by the photo and would cut ties with the company which he has a clothing line with rapper p.j. they also hit out on twitter h. and m. has apologized and her movie image. more than two hundred people have been injured in a train crash in johannesburg the second crash in the south african city in less than a week a commuter train hit the back of another train stuck in the station after a mechanical failure south africa's rial regulator is blaming human error off for signal failure it comes five days after eighteen people were killed when a train hits a truck on a level crossing. and saima support group say they're disappointed by drug giant pfizer decision to end research into the disease the pharmaceutical company has also stopped funding parkinson's research between them illnesses affects more than

fifty million people john hundred. the decision by drug maker finds or to end its expensive high risk research into all timers and parkinson's disease marks a devastating blow for tens of millions of people around the world in a statement pfizer says this was an exercise to reallocate spending across our portfolio to focus on those areas where our pipeline and our scientific expertise is strongest the alzheimers association says it's disappointed that pfizer is ending its investment in neuroscience research pharmaceutical companies have long argued that the more money they have available for research the more patients would benefit it was a sales pitch pfizer c.e.o. made in washington last march our responsibility is to produce the best and greatest medicines we can they can make the biggest impact on human life this industry needs to have a return that allows it to continue to do its research although president trump

answered that call in part with the largest corporate tax cut in u.s. history pfizer like many other companies is not plowing the benefits back into research it's just announced a plan to use the tax break to benefit its investors by buying back ten billion dollars of its own stock pfizer which makes the lucrative pill viat does say it plans to detail its plans to create a neuro science fund later this year but that's likely to come as cold comfort to the more than seven million people across the globe living with parkinson's in the forty four million living with alzheimer's john hendren al-jazeera now it's a special day for catholics in the philippines one million of them on gathering for religious procession in the capital to touch a seventeenth century statue of jesus christ they believe come perform miracles general allen. every year these have become a kamil years scenes around the million filipinos camped out for the annual

procession of the black as a rain more than ninety percent of them come from the poorest communities with hopes and prayers they come here longing for a respite from the harshness of their daily lives. the reason i became a nazareth deaf with the ease i used to be unable to walk when i got healed i devoted myself to the nasa remains my i'm going to make it leaves you with a light feeling. that's nothing if you're can bear it for those who do not believe in the literal something that is rather close. to home not something that is over the interest by the hierarchy of the romans now that i've heard in the past it was night it is for that. little on with. many of the little boy or girl but it will be. still to come on the program vance williams some as a setback and have

a build up to the year's first grand slam paris here with that story later on in school thanks.

in a world where journalism as an industry is changing we have fortunate to be able to continue to expand to continue to have that passin that drive and present the stories in a way that is important to our viewers. everyone has

a story worth hearing to. uncover those that are often ignored we don't weigh our coverage towards one particular region or continent wide joined al jazeera. mexico taking steps to change its reckless driving culture which thousands of accidents on an average of three deaths per day despite being one of the world's biggest and busiest cities drive us don't have to take any tests to get their driving license they have a mexico city. it's a typical tuesday morning in mexico city and parents drop their children off at

school it's a chaotic scene on the prize make up in her rearview mirror another leaves her car in the middle of the street an argument breaks out after a man backs into a vehicle that's being double parked. in mexico city is one of the world's most populated metropolises every day more than five million vehicles clogged streets. road accidents are common more than a thousand people die in crashes every year traffic accidents are now the leading cause of death for children between five and fourteen years old. the government says this must stop as much as what it does traffic related that's unacceptable because they can be prevented we can do this in steps through new regulations infrastructure that knowledge is some training. officials have already reduced speed limits and installed traffic cameras now efforts to change driving culture

are focused here this is one of the government offices in mexico city where people come to get their driver's licenses or maybe i should say where people come to buy their licenses because all you need to bring here is a piece of government id a utility bill and pay the equivalent of forty dollars and within five minutes you're walking out with a license to drive it's just that easy. but this is changing starting in two thousand and eighteen and drivers will have to take driving courses run by internationally credited schools before applying for a license it's a big change but one that many residents say is necessary but. they still feel a little bit nervous even though i try to control it but i feel a lot safer to can this course will help me avoid getting into accidents when changing the habits of millions of drivers will take generations but in one of the world's biggest cities the cost of doing nothing is simply too high david mercer

al-jazeera mexico city. with all the sports. thank you so much sue the international olympic committee has described north korea's decision to send athletes to next month's winter games as a great step forward in the olympic spirit a delegation of athletes fans and journalists will be sent to kyung chang in neighboring south korea the countries have been holding official talks for the first time since two thousand and fifteen after months of rising tensions the i.o.c. says it's now waiting details before deciding which north korean athletes can compete our sports correspondent lee wellings says this is a rare piece of good news for the committee. this is a huge relief for them they were worried about a boycott involving russia religion with the huge doping problem they've been worried about the potential of a boycott like. they're worried about the tensions in the region among those worries don't completely go away the easing of the tension is

a huge boost for an organization that is how one problem after another when the actual action starts it will be brilliant for the i.o.c. as well because people will be concentrating on some great sport one thing not to expect from the north korean winter olympics is any kind of medal washoe gold rush will many competitors are told it largely revolves around to figure skaters that's room. and can do sic very good partnership of be trying to canada was very hopeful of completing that always been the suggestion they would compete in pyongyang and now i can do that would be a huge relief to them and they have the possibility of a meadow that good then also of course be a big spotlight on them throughout the games because they might be the only competitors the window still open for the north koreans to qualify but obviously time is running out with that there isn't a lot of strength in winter olympic sport in north korea so it's more about the symbolism and of course it's not just competitors it's also the journalists the officials the delegation from north korea and the possibility of teams marching

together that still exists goes way beyond sport now here's a look at the history of the two countries at the olympics north korea boycotted the last olympics in south korea that was the nine hundred eighty eight summer games in saw twelve years later at the two thousand sydney olympics athletes from the two countries walked together on that under a unification flag for the first time in an olympic opening ceremony four years later they walked together again in athens but the two thousand and six winter games in turin was the last time the two countries did that at an olympics the i.o.c. is the other big headache before the winter olympics has been the involvement of russia. an athlete's in november they ruled that athletes they would only be permitted to compete neutrals after accusations of state sponsored doping forty two russian competitors have formally appealed their lifetime limit ban set the court of arbitration for sport the court says the final decisions on each case will be

made by january thirty first a week before the games begin. donald trump has been quick to pick fights for athletes during his first twelve months as u.s. president but he made his first appearance at a major sporting event on monday. received a somewhat mixed reaction before the national college football championship game between alabama and georgia in atlanta he's been particularly critical of n.f.l. players who neil during the pre-game national anthem to protest against racial injustice but in college football players only take to the field after the anthem has been played trumps all alabama take the title. while number nine you want to contact has hit trouble ahead of the upcoming australian open contact was beaten in the opening round of the sydney international by ignoring. the defending champion losing in straight sets the year's first grand slam starts in our next monday.

twenty sixteen australian open champion and julie kerber looks to be heading form in time for another title tilt the german is be in this year and picked up another win in sydney against venus williams kerber coming from a set down to beat williams reached last year's final in melbourne. they had of the tour de france is the followed from the failed dope test a four time champion chris froome risks polluting the new cycling season firm was found to have doubled the allowed level of a legal aspect drug at last year's spanish walter burton hasn't been banned while the sport's governing body carries out and se asian. we hope to have an answer as soon as possible we don't dream but a quick counsel to avoid polluting the season even if it wasn't planning to right before the tour de france but of course we hope to get answers quick as possible to move away from from the downs the sport of sumo wrestling has been grappling with

controversy ahead of the new season three of japan's top ranked wrestlers performed an annual new year ring entering ceremony in tokyo choose de vere's first tournaments begins on sunday but the image of the country's national sport has been tainted after an incident last october a former grand champion it's also a young rival with a remote control of a karaoke machine at a bar and he was fined four and a half thousand dollars. and that's all your sport for now it's now back to you and . thank you for now lots of weird and wonderful things take place in las vegas and this week it's the annual see ask the consumer electronics show and you also show off the latest tech gadgets from south driving cost of dancing robots can experience more than twenty thousand cutting edge products on display and chris pollan is at the show in las vegas. this is the fifty first consumer electronics show coming from las vegas this year every year this show unveils technology some

of it becomes very integral to all of our lives things like the v.c.r. high definition television satellite television all made their debut at the show what will be this year's breakout or last thing here that we don't know yet we're hearing lots of talk about driverless cars and home assistants the connected home where you can control things in your home the lights the door locks just by using your voice also hearing about five g. cellular technology that will make things a lot more connected with rapidly speaking sensors that use the cellular waves we've collected a lot of products around here that are making some buzz here everything from entertainment bluetooth speakers magnetic bits stick to things a very powerful battery that will keep it charged for about a year you run out of power you could plug in up to eleven devices on this thing really good in places that have a lot of natural disasters and don't forget there's plenty more to read and watch

on our website to scan al-jazeera dot com to say much more on breaking news and opinion that is it from. the team full of this news hour that julie macdonald will be here with you in a moment with much more of the day's news don't go away thanks for. you are making very pointed remarks where on line the main us response to drug use and the drug trade over the last fifty years has been to criminalize or if you join

us on sang no evil person this wakes up of in the morning and says i want to cover the world in darkness and this is a dialogue and that could be what leading to some of the confusion on line about people saying they don't actually know what's going on join the colobus conversation at this time on al-jazeera the need for doing something very strong to communicate with someone an ambitious young artist from the mean streets of mozambique. to reveal the unseen truth about his country's. future the muslim people don't claim to see is really difficult did no good in politics change. african photography. at this time on al-jazeera. the sams in archaeology graduate from iraq is also a part time going to pergamon museum which includes a reconstruction of the famous ishtar gate in bubble most of the people he's

showing around came to germany as refugees this is just one of several berlin museums taking part in the project called a meeting point and as well as bringing people together one of its aims is to emphasize the contribution of migrants right up to the present day to western culture office and language here bill because i've been here for some time i can help them with lots of things that mrs ford to me the great thing is it's not just about museums about forming a new life is a part of life it's culture. north and south korea agreed to hold military talks but discussions on nuclear weapons will be off this hate. but i'm sure they want all of this is a live from london also coming up accusations the.