forest baby thirteen years ago dr lee was one of the first to conduct research on forest bathing he concluded that the essential oils the trees produce to protect themselves from germs and bugs can boost the human immune system. into forests my research has shown that forest trying to reduce stress hormones. in the future the time may come when doctors prescribe forest instead of medicine. agents former military chief of staff is arrested after announcing he's running for president.

this is from london also coming up u.s. authorities confirm that president trump's attorney general has been questioned. with russia. the united nations says turkey's military offensive in northern syria has displaced five thousand people with many more in need of a i don't want an intricate beautiful thing destroying. drama the shape of water leads with nation. challenges seen as a potential threat to the reelection of the egyptian president. has been detained by the military and has called off his campaign for the military chief of staff's formally declared his intention to run as a presidential candidate. saturday. in a televised statement the military said his bed without obtaining the correct permits. he's also accused of committing forgery to be included in the votes

a database or two other presidential hopefuls were forced to quit the race earlier this month one of them mohammed i was about the nephew of former leader anwar sadat said last week he wanted to protect his campaign because from intimidation or arrest. the main concern is are we going to really be able to continue in the race under such a climate and the answer that we've all reached is that we don't think we can continue in such an environment and we have decided not to run former prime minister an air force general ahmed shafiq had also announced his interest in running but he was placed under house arrest and then deported from the united arab emirates where he'd been living in exile his lawyers say he was detained as soon as he landed in cairo later announced over twitter that he was withdrawing his candidacy. and was made military chief of staff in egypt in two thousand and five under former leader who's mubarak the time of the revolution in two thousand and

eleven he was closely involved in liaison with u.s. officials including james mattis who's now trumps defense secretary he was forced to resign by former president mohamed morsy in two thousand and twelve and subsequently formed his own party to fight in elections sure is a professor of security studies at the institute and he says a counter-reaction from and then supporters is possible. this is not just someone from the ruling establishment this is the deputy head of the supreme council of the armed forces the former chief of staff someone who is accused of architect or being the architect of the twenty for britain to eleven coup against mubarak so he's is very well connected i think he had presidential ambitions during the time when he was in supreme council of the armed forces but now it is interesting is the whole supreme council who now has changed the one thousand generals that were who were willing egypt back in twenty eleven only one old only two that exists from them from these nineteen is sisi as a president and the midst of defense that rest of them are all gone or retired

pushed aside marginalized and he's one of them so i think he would find some support among these nineteen generals but they don't exist anymore as the top at the top of the armed forces. u.s. justice department has confirmed to our desire that attorney general jeff sessions was questioned last week over alleged killers in between donald trump's presidential campaign and russia so sions was interviewed for an inquiry that by the former f.b.i. director robert mueller it's believed to be the first time a president a member of president trump's cabinet has been questioned in the inquiry a trump has described the accusations of collusion as fake news and as a witch i speak to our correspondent kimberly how could he joins us now from the white house in kimberly how significant is this questioning of sessions. well not only is it significant because this is the first time we've had

a cabinet member of donald trump's administration being questioned but also too because jeff sessions has unique knowledge given his position leading up to his role as attorney general in terms of some of the things that robert muller the special counsel is investigating first of all jeff sessions in that transition and also on the campaign was certainly heading up donald trump's foreign policy team as well to he was deeply involved in the firing of the former f.b.i. director james comey and then you have to remember too that he recused himself from this investigation something that has been very much criticized by the president who has suggested that not only should he not have done that but also to that he fact should have protected the president more so this is significant because not only is it something that he has unique knowledge to but also to this seems that the questioning is getting more aggressive intensifying by the special prosecutor

because you have to remember since august there are now have been four trump aides that have been question and well they were low level charges there have also been two within that four that have pled guilty right now as the course of the intensified is and given that we're covered at level no could the president himself the question larry. he certainly could i know that there is interest by the special prosecutor but under u.s. law the president does not have to answer questions that you have the right to remain silent and the president himself has been rather cryptic nick about whether or not he will allow himself to be questioned fact when he's been asked that very question by reporters he's answered yes he's answered no he's answered maybe and as of january tenth he said we'll have to see what happened so this is a classic play from the trump playbook he likes to keep his opponents guessing and off balance but the bottom line in all of this is that legal experts say if the president is question it would be certainly very risky for him given his

temperament his volatility and also to oh what seems to be a problem for this white house is that this cloud is not disappearing we've been told by the president's own personal lawyer that it would wrap up by the end of the year of course now we're getting into the end of january and it's very much continuing at in fact intensifying ok we're going to be there for a moment can we have a reporter from the white house or united states vice president mike pence has visited the western wall in all key parties true slim during the second and final day of his visit to israel the wall in the old city is one of the holiest sites in judaism pence was shown around the site by the a rabbi earlier in the day he met the israeli president reagan rivlin and to the whole of course memorial the u.n. says that at least five thousand people are fleeing fighting in the syrian region of a free in the mid turkish shelling and a ground operation. to take its offensive which also involves strikes

is now into its fourth day it's believed some eight hundred thousand civilians are living there many of them displaced from other parts of syria. well my friend is surrounded by turkish and free syrian army forces to the north east and west and syrian government forces to the self believe most of those fleeing are traveling through government held territory to an enclave inside aleppo city is controlled by kurdish forces but the syrian observatory for human rights is accusing government forces of blocking them seventy deca has the latest now from an talk here at the turkish syrian border the village of how mad which is now been announced at the f.s.a. have taken a significant why because it lies very close to the turkish border in the area just close to where we are just a further east of a hyundai and it does play into the narrative that we heard from the turkish prime minister just a few days ago that their plan is to establish what he called up to a thirty kilometer security zone pushing the y.p. g. away from its borders it has been a fluid fight however on the ground there are incidents when villages have been

taken by the free syrian army and turkish forces and you know a day or so later retaken by the white b.g. but of course turkey has superiority when it comes to the sky they're flying jets they're bombing from the air and that of course carries with it a huge advantage the assert your state says the syrian government may still be using chemical weapons rex tillerson says twenty one people who suffered breathing problems in the rebel held enclave near damascus on monday were victims of a suspected chlorine gas attack rebels say while smoke was released of the syrian government forces fired a white slave was released after the forces fired at barge rockets into duma a similar attack was reported there on generator thirteenth causing seven cases of suffocation. well aid workers in the democratic republic of congo warning of mass starvation because of continuing conflict they say three million people in the region do not have enough to eat including four hundred thousand children fighting

between the army and rebels means farmers have been unable to plant crops for several years as katherine soy now reports. a year old couple go to his mother more baca and three siblings spent two months on the road from their village to. capital kananga with little to eat they had fled the fighting between government forces and the combine and supper rebels which was adding to communal conflict that already existed it's been a month since they arrived and both mother and son still have symptoms of malnutrition. it was very hard walking so long with my children at some point i couldn't walk at all if it wasn't for the help of the people we were with in the forest i would have died. i ten that the nutrition center mothers bring their children to get weight and for food and medicine she did was distended belly discolored hair and left their dicks data all these signs that he need assistance

humanitarian agencies about four hundred thousand children in this region are mon norrish and more than three million people are facing starvation because they have been unable to plant crops for three seasons it's quite difficult to see they're still on the crisis in class five because most of the affected are in five villages that are hard to access people who had fled to the forest but are now coming back home and those who are still displaced able. much help let's not forget this has been a protection crisis and right now when the conflict has. been dispersed in certain areas we start to see in very difficult cases of children that have seen a lot of atrocities committed on their on their farms we've seen children's that has had to witness how their parents were killing her mother people here are now receiving some mate but in this area last year dozens of people were killed the

catholic church put in the figure for the antiochus a region since the conflict began at around three thousand both rebels and government forces accused of the killings and. i do not want to go back to my home village my house is destroyed my children were killed how could i return. at the center. he is going to be all right he'll get all the medical the nutritional help needs that be consignees that maybe other children won't be so fortunate because aid agencies don't have enough resources to go around katherine saw al-jazeera a sigh central in the democratic republic of congo also to come here on al-jazeera . and ask in faith to higher ground after a seven point nine magnitude earthquake sparks a tsunami warning parts. remembering humerus

a killer the man known as the father of south african just has died from prostate cancer. hello some of the coldest air around and i went on the planet is just drifting into concepts stan are running up against that is this cloud he now this represents high speed wind up in the atmosphere so it's just plowed really with this this is lower stuff and not over turkey's or develop into something of a another winter storm which will slam through the levant during the weekend but this is the picture on wednesday sent in by written by sky skies feeling it was cloudy the rain started to fall in cyprus for example high tension el monte minus twelve far away geographically plus twelve in tashkent so you can see the cold is hiding up here and stay there i think but as i say this developing system in the

eastern med so that's the picture for thursday not a particularly pleasant one for lebanon or indeed syria nor turkey fast amounts of snow here south of atoll nothing much is happening the breezes cut off or thomas will be out slowly in qatar still thirty one in mecca suggestion the cloud will build on the western side azadi but i think it will stay dry all deciding we seen quite a few big showers recently in south africa which is you know been largely dry some rain fell in cape town that has welcomed maybe a few more showers around us if i was in durban maybe the focus.

arts. and i get a reminder the top stories here are not sarah and egyptian presidential candidate sami i'm nine has been detained by the military and has called off his campaign he was seen as the only potential threat to the reelection of abdul fattah el-sisi. it's been revealed that u.s. attorney general jeff sessions was questioned last week ever alleged connection between donald trump's presidential campaign and russia. thousands of people are

fleeing fighting in the northern syrian region of africa and on the fourth day of turkish shelling and the ground offensive. india's prime minister has warned against what he calls threats to global civilization as he made the opening address of the world economic forum in switzerland there are also caution that protectionism is spreading three thousand delegates including seventy one of the tins are attending this year's summits in the ski resort of davos u.s. president will trump will close the gathering on thursday. a strong earthquake has struck the gulf of alaska prompting a tsunami which has not been lifted the epicenter of the seven point nine magnitude quake was two hundred ninety kilometers southeast of kodiak island a tsunami warning was issued for southern alaska and the west coast of canada as far as vancouver. it was just off the midnight

local time when the quake struck sending coastal residents scrambling to higher ground to take shelter from possible tidal waves officials had warned residents as far south as san francisco to be ready to evacuate coastal areas until the tsunami alert was canceled so we get to remind everybody this is not a drill this is an actual tsunami warning everybody get at least one hundred feet above sea level high school parking lot killer about just saying however it is very backed up right now so you won't make it there by minutes so the best place right now is the high school parking lot. to get your homes and make it a safe place the mayor of paris is called an emergency meeting off to serious flooding in the french capital the river saying his best its banks in paris and authorities have claimed several roads in canceled cruises with levels have risen to at least three point three meters above normal. sweden has summoned china's

ambassador if the reports bookseller agreement high has been detained by beijing again swedish citizen was one of five hong kong based booksellers who disappeared in late two thousand and fifteen for selling books which detail the private lives of communist party officials material which is banned in mainland china a jim brown explains. well graeme in haiti is chinese but he's also a swedish citizen and as of tuesday his whereabouts remain unknown the only official information we're getting is coming from the foreign ministry in stockholm and from his daughter now she says that her father vanished while traveling to beijing by train in the company of two swedish diplomats apparently he was taken away by unidentified chinese officials it's not known exactly why he was going to beijing but the fact that he was in the company of two swedish diplomats suggests that he suspected he might well be detained now this is not the first time the way

has suddenly disappeared he vanished in thailand while on holiday in two thousand and fifteen only to emerge in china shortly afterwards along with other publishing colleagues from hong kong he then later gave a televised confession on state television in which he admitted to being involved in a traffic accident some ten years earlier now subsequent to that televised confession he had remained detained until october two thousand and seventeen and had been living in the city of bono his disappearance comes just a few days after a prominent human rights lawyer was detained while taking his son to school now human rights groups say that in the past three years more than three hundred activists and lawyers have been detained as part of president xi jinping continuing campaign on dissent. tuesday marks fifty years since a u.s. spy ship came under attack off the coast of north korea more than eighty say lives

from the u.s.s. pueblo spent almost a year in jail before being released by the navy looks at how this story could provide insight into the current tensions on the korean peninsula. north korea's leader kim jong un opened this military museum in twenty thirteen with a valuable trophy as a centerpiece the u.s. says play below captured in one thousand nine hundred sixty eight and still on display in pyongyang today here's a recent has a little bit of this can be a good educational place that can pass on the conviction of the war era to a new generation so they can win against the u.s. period at least if they start or not the war. many thought the united states should have gone to war in one thousand nine hundred sixty eight and it was preparing for that possibility eighty two men were taken prisoner and one was killed in the attack on the ship carrying classified documents and equipment but the us was fighting in vietnam and did not want a second korean war it held

a series of meetings with north korea at the border village of puntland and after eleven months the prisoners were released diplomat a father was properly backed by really strong and on mr baker both demonstration of you know military forces by the us bone young chick says that combination of engagement and pressure negotiating while continuing to leave open the possibility of war is the strategy that can be applied to the present situation intercourse talks at the same border village ended in the agreement for north korea to participate in next month's winter olympics in south korea. two north korean ice skaters have qualified for the olympics and the venue for their competition will be here in ganga and on the north eastern coast it's also the site of this display a reminder of another military incident one north korea would prefer to forget the

submarine ran aground during an infiltration in one nine hundred ninety six forcing the twenty six north koreans to fleet all but two were killed along with eleven south korean soldiers and six civilians the vessel salvaged and put on display on the shore where the incident occurred relics on both sides of the divided peninsula that remains technically at war serving as reminders of the fragility of peace kathy novak al-jazeera condoms south korea to israel now which is accuse the united nations of unfair treatment during a meeting in geneva and he has been following events. well the last time israel's human rights record was under review here that was five years ago these rallies actually boycotted the session well on tuesday there was an israeli delegation here and they pointed out several areas in which they said there had been improvements in the human rights situation in israel for example increasing

access to legal aid for the country's bedouin arab population setting up an action plan to combat racism against people of ethiopian origin and fighting human trafficking but what many countries talked about was the country's obligations to protect the human rights of palestinians living in the occupied palestinian territories east jerusalem the west bank and gaza israel is the only state in the world that can be called an apartheid state we remain deeply concerned at the denial of the right of self-determination to the palestinian people in the absence of which no other human right can be exercised or enjoyed in this regard south africa is of the view that the issue of east jerusalem and the two state solution are fundamental to the right to self-determination of the palestinian people who have brought a protest from israel about inappropriate language and after the session israel's ambassador here suggested the delegation hadn't got

a fair hearing we came to the n.p.r. with the hope of having a constructive exchange the many recommendations and comments that have been made the member states will be carefully reviewed. unfortunately is is i've mentioned in my concluding remarks some representatives have decided once again to raise this opportunity to wage a political campaign against israel and its try today exerted discussion to lead to the do not belong to the human rights agenda with a un report on israel's human rights situation is due to be adopted here later this week but in the past israel has not allowed un reporters to carry out their own investigations so the mistrust between israel and some of the member states of the human rights council is likely to continue for some time hundreds of kenyans of march should nairobi demanding action after allegations of sexual assault at a fly ship hospital in the capital dozens of women many of them new mothers say

they were sexually violated by male staff during their stay it can yes a national hospital the government has ordered an investigation in the hospital is reported to have hired more private security guards. who can and now a woman who has just given birth to be raped. you know we live in a society where we need to protect women and yeah deposit was supposed to protect us the same person who is raping you saw what we are we going as a society where are we on the moral fabric it is the fact that violence against women we may be the critical issue i cannot imagine or must be told that this place of the rot in this society it is this pick up oil that two women freshly from delivery beds are met with facts. when they can't they can't they can live protect themselves. pakistani police have arrested a man suspected of raping and killing a seven year old girl said and sorry his body was found in

a rubbish dump earlier this month the suspect was arrested near the city of quetta where the girl was found him at a spot hour rage on social media and it led to protests across pakistan. now the oscar nominations are out ahead of a ceremonial martial forth that will be watched closely for how the academy reacts to recent events in the movie well of the film picking out the most nominations was gramma del toro's fantasy drama the shape of water with thirteen nominations overall including best picture and director three billboards outside of being missouri got seven nominations including best actress for frances mcdormand betrayal of a mother seeking revenge on a sex attack and is seen as topical in the wake of abuse allegations against senior hollywood figures she'll be up against a short list which includes ronan in a gritty go it film is also nominated for best picture and best director allowing

the oscars to avoid the all male shortlist of directors that was criticized at the golden globes and after complaints in recent years of the so white oscars there was a strong showing for get out which is a horror film satirizing us race relations including best the right to nomination for jordan peele one consequence of the sex abuse scandal is the presence of christopher plummer among the nominations for best supporting actor in all the money in the world he took on the role of john paul getty for reshoots just two months ago to kevin spacey was dropped rob reynolds reports now from los angeles. this year's oscar nominations reflected current social concerns about sexual harassment of women and race relations for example the film three billboards outside being missouri is at its bottom line a film about violence against women and it features a strong indomitable in fact female lead in francis dick dorman both

were nominated won for the best picture award and big dormant for best actress the film. by jordan peele get out is a satire horror film about race relations in america and no fewer than four. black actors and actresses were honored with nominations in acting categories the film that got the largest number of nominations overall was the shape of water and that was written by a mexican director here bold or featuring again a very strong female lead in sally hawkins so as art reflects life the oscars reflect the current state of society a man a known as the father of south african jess's die from prostate cancer.

a few months economy was famous for his distinctive afro jazz sound as crisp and more than five decades he gained international recognition through hits such as sweats and blues a song that became synonymous with the empty apartheid movement and south africa because i was seventy eight years old and speaking to i was there in two thousand and seven scott explained how music spread the n.t. apartheid message right across the world. i think it was a major catalyst to. the entire world of blood was happening in south africa. harry belafonte gave were actually started around nine hundred sixty three to sing a lot of songs of winter they won a grammy for an album called an evening with bella four and then my game over and they were immediately banned but it took another twenty years for it to catch on

and by nine hundred eighty six nobody was recording is cd with the song that i ever said. with the but three notes and mandela by then there was international fever. of concern but music not just africans but international musicians all over the world in every language saying about gays the part of did and that helped i think to. pressure the countries that were doing business with. to pull back. to morrow nor the news are covering right there on our website al jazeera dot com is the address on the top stories plus lots of comments and analysis to al-jazeera dot com is the address. all right let's have a look at the main stories here and out there and the last challenge is seen as a potential threat to the reelection of the egyptian president fattah el-sisi has been detained by the military and has called off his campaign for military chief of

staff sami and now formally declared his intention to run as a presidential candidate on saturday the military saying one has not obtained the correct permits and committed forgery to be included in the voted database well another candidate forced to quit and was sadat said last week he wanted to protect his campaign workers. the main concern is are we going to really be able to continue in the race under such a climate the answer that we will reached is that we don't think we can continue in such an environment and we have decided not to run if we reveal that the u.s. attorney general jeff sessions was questioned last week over alleged collusion between donald trump's presidential campaign and russia it's believed to be the first time a member of president trump's cabinet has been questioned in the inquiry that by the former f.b.i. director robert mueller. united states vice president my pen says this is the

western wall in occupied east jerusalem during the second and final day of his visit to israel the wall in the old city is one of the holiest sites in judaism. thousands of people are fleeing fighting in the northern syrian region of free and with turkey's shelly a ground operation take his offensive which also involves asteroids is now in its fourth day explains some eight hundred thousand civilians are living there many of them displaced from other parts of syria. the u.s. secretary of state says the syrian government may still be using chemical weapons rex tillerson says twenty one people who suffered breathing problems in a rebel held enclave need to mask it's on monday where victims of a suspected gas attack aid workers in the democratic republic of congo are warning of mass starvation because of continuing conflict they say three million people in the castle region do not have enough to eat and that includes four

hundred thousand children. all right up to date with the headlines now for news coming up in just twenty five minutes we'll see that by foot. more u.s. backing for israel and palestinian vice president mike pence says the u.s. embassy will be moved to jerusalem next year and washington will back a two state solution but only if both sides agree amid so much distrust and despair at u.s. policy is the so-called peace process still relevant this is inside story.