facing realities growing up when did you realize that you were living in a special place the so-called secret city getting to the heart of the matter why is activist in jail just because he expressed himself he had the story on top to al-jazeera at this time. this is really an attack on the news itself is a lot of misunderstanding of what free speech is supposed to be about the context it's hugely important setting the stage for a serious debate out front at this time on al-jazeera. the united states puts a hamas leader on its global terror list the palestinian group calls it a dangerous development.

i'm kemal santa maria here in doha with the world news from al-jazeera there is a reprieve for thousands of syrians sheltering in the united states as the trumpet ministration says they can stay but your rivals. donald trump signs in order to keep the current town of a prison camp open and possibly to send i still find his there and kenya's government shuts down three t.v. stations just hours after their broadcast ran a road to mock swearing in as president. so in the palestinian territories in the past twenty four hours we've had a series of developments offering hope to the long besieged people of gaza but also challenging the palestinians political leadership u.s. president donald trump first of all used his state of the union address to reiterate america's recognition of jerusalem as israel's capital but then the state

department listed the political leader of hamas mohammed. there as a global terrorist imposing sanctions against him meanwhile israel unveiled a billion dollar plan to help ease gaza's humanitarian crisis but it wants the international community to pay for it and the european union pledge an extra fifty three million dollars in aid to palestinians as well lots to cover they will stop with this from roslyn jordan in washington the united states formally declared the palestinian group hamas a terrorist organization in one thousand nine hundred ninety seven twenty one years later washington says hamas is political chief. is himself a specially designated global terrorist because thanks to his leadership hamas has killed seventeen americans the designation is that any assets honey a house in the u.s. are now frozen he can't travel there and u.s. persons cannot give him any financial support one official says honey a is

a clear threat to u.s. national security and he has been a member of hamas since the one nine hundred eighty s. and he rose through the ranks in large part but continually championing terrorism against israel. and years calls for a renewed into fatah just last month underscore how important today's designation is we will not be distracted by hamas as efforts to obscure its true and bloody nature of the plan my honey a call for a new uprising against israel in december because of this we are no telesur to a lasting peace agreement between israel and the palestinians the us president donald trump's decision to recognize your islam as the capital of israel something mandated by congress welcomed by the israeli government and condemned by palestinians who want east jerusalem to be the capital of their future nation while honey i attended a funeral for a hamas member his aides told reporters they don't take the us is move seriously

while the other side of ismail haniya it is clear that putting the name of ismail haniya on the terrorism list by the americans came at a time that the us administration is targeting jerusalem and putting sanctions and preventing the aid of the morra which is a continuation of the crimes against the palestinian people that it isn't is not always thought we have looked at this that is forbidden or does them no religion is for this reason we are considering this statement of is the foolish statement committed by people who know nothing about what freedom for the us says it will do all it can to stop hamas from destabilizing the middle east the problem for the trumpet ministration a ma says it won't be deterred rosalyn jordan al-jazeera washington the thoughts now of saying who is a political analyst of the term a national security project and told us that having his addition to the u.s. terror list actually comes as no surprise. this is not

a very significant policy change on the part of the united states because for many years since the one nine hundred ninety s. hamas as an organization has been already recognized as a terrorist organization by the united states and so therefore simply saying that the leader now is being singled out for individual designation as a terrorist is not a huge difference although it will place individual sanctions on him as a person hamas has never been a party to the negotiating talks with the israelis it's always been with the palestinian authority we don't recognize hamas as a legitimate government and city and so it doesn't quite accomplish any political and national security space again it's just more a talking point added to the trump administration's rhetoric that he's supposedly

fighting back a terrorism and today the state department officials remarks specifically quoted mr hani is comments on a nother intifada but i think it's important for english speakers to understand that the word intifada translates to uprising in anguish and that was a direct response to president donald trump's decision to unilaterally recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel which is exactly why u.s. national security experts for many years have warned against the united states unilaterally making this decision because it would precisely do that foment tensions and increase risk for american citizens. the european union meanwhile has pledged an extra fifty three million dollars in aid for palestinians following the u.s. decision to withhold funding foreign policy tree federica mockery made the announcement of the donors meeting in brussels after

a warning from the un that gaza's economy is on the verge of collapse. and also at that brussels meeting israel presented a plan to help rebuild one billion dollars plan but it would be funded by the international community iran contra ports now on some of the daily challenges of life in gaza. gaza is crumbling the siege imposed by israel and egypt now in its eleven pm and three walls have left its infrastructure in ruins everything is in dire need of repair or replacement buildings roads house services this is a shot they refugee camp mo nobody out of his house is not fit for human habitation according to the local united nations agency yet there's no money for even basic repair much less extensive reconstruction. and we are a family of eight people living in a small house until now we can provide food and i can't explain the knowledge i only have two small rooms the house is too small and it's falling to pieces the

blockade dictates the day to day reality for two million people in gaza where israel controls the borders space and waters goes an economic experts are warning that even if help is given immediately as security and humanitarian situation might be unavoidable many youth. many of. anywhere the social. graces and. hey in ramallah the news that the israelis are talking about a billion dollar deal to ease humanitarian suffering in gaza has been met with skepticism and experts are wondering what any deal might actually mean or what those that really needs is an entitlement a serious entitlement effort led by the by the studios i don't think. of the bottom three to speak of all deliberate a month at a time when is why it is putting forth for the bed the development of gaza many

blame israel for girls is current state but others also say that the rift between the palestinian authority and hamas the largest political group in gaza has meant that things have stagnated gaza remains under siege imran khan. now the news thousands of syrians have claimed refuge in the u.s. will not be allowed to stay for at least another year and a half the troubled ministrations decided to extend temporary protected status to the seven thousand syrians currently however it says it won't be accepting the new applications from syrians for that program remember i have a twelve million syrians have been displaced since the conflict began in two thousand and ten more on this from alan fischer in washington d.c. . so back in two thousand and twelve because of the fighting in syria the u.s. government awarded temporary protective status to syrians living here in the united states what does that mean well it means if you meet certain criteria and repeat

certain fees then you could live here without the threat of being deported back to syria now that program has been under review and the department of homeland security has unknowns because it's going to extend it for a further eighteen months and it also says that's because the situation in the on the ground in syria hasn't changed dramatically from six years ago now that means about seven thousand syrians will continue to be covered by the program but if you're arrived after late twenty sixteen you will not be covered by the program and that covers about two thousand people who've arrived here since then from syria no the trumpet ministration has removed temporary protective status from a number of countries recently including sudan haiti and nicaragua and says other countries will also lose that status but for the moment the majority of syrians seem to be safe more on this now from must the father who is the executive director of the syrian emergency task force that is an advocacy organization involved in

this issue he reckons here in the u.s. will be happy to hear this news. well temporary protected status means that individuals that are in the united states under a student visa work visa or any other. are able to remain in the country and are not sent back to syria or any country where there is either a human made a humanitarian disaster or a natural disaster that would in danger of their lives and so it is a law that is focused protecting people that if they were to be returned back to their home countries their lives would be in imminent danger. over travel documentation that they can utilize if they need to to shovel for a new you know emergency and so the number one thing which is work and the ability to stay here legally not be under threat of deportation or detainment are important so they're able to lead lives that allow them to function and survive through this stuff here and until the future of syria's is

a little bit clearer. this president on trial has decided to keep the guantanamo military prison in cuba open using an executive order that his predecessor barack obama of course a promise to close it but failed defense correspondent. a big stage and a chance to make good on a big campaign promise us president donald trump announced a newly signed executive order he will keep the controversial guantanamo bay military prison open in the past we have for leslie released hundreds and hundreds of dangerous chair. only to meet again on the battlefield including the isis leader al baghdadi when we captured who we had who we released both of those statements are just not true i saw leader abu bakar al baghdadi was released in two thousand and four by iraq and according to the u.s.

director of national intelligence of the seven hundred fourteen get mo detainees that have been released one hundred twenty one are suspected of returning to the fight that's around seventeen percent the executive orders as detainees can be transferred to the prison but it doesn't mean they will be it gives the secretary of defense ninety days to decide if anyone should be sent there a decision to do that would be controversial to many across the globe the international community needs to condemn the latest statement from donald trump president trump saying that he will keep the president and we know it doesn't we know it costs of awesome and we know that the human rights abuses manifold and it's a stain on any justice system there are forty one detainees still being held in guantanamo the majority have not yet face trial and even those cleared for release are facing an uncertain future as the trump administration decides if others will meet the same fate patty calling al-jazeera washington. the yemeni government and

the session is have swapped prisoners in the southern port city of aden the government's headquarters were taken over during three days of fighting in the city dozens of people have been killed in this battle between the southern council secessionists and government forces russia's dismissed us and un supplied evidence that iran was the one supplying missiles to yemen's hooty rebels russia says it is inconclusive and that it would oppose any bid to put sanctions on tehran russia's ambassador to the un vasoline the bends argued missiles used by the rebels may have been shipped to yemen before an arms embargo was imposed in twenty fifteen. the associated press news agency has released video it says confirms reports of a massacre of range of muslims in may and last month earlier this month the main man military confirmed the killing of ten range of muslims whose bodies were found in a mass grave the a.p. says the video appears to show the bodies of half buried men its investigation

suggests more than five mass graves have been found but a massacre took place and good in. the news agency also spoke to villagers who say the death toll could be more like four hundred people may and must govern as previously denied any reports of the massacre scott hide in yangon as the government had anything to say about this video. come on no they haven't and we reached out to them pretty much right after sosia press release the details and the video that we just saw now they haven't said anything they said they hadn't seen it yet and then that they would get back to us or we're going to get back to them later on to see if they have any comment on that but if any if the track record from before this is any indication they're not going to comment directly on the commom that is something that's very interesting because when you look at as you have mentioned the military admitted just a couple weeks ago that some of its soldiers in rakhine state during august were

involved in the killing of ten civilians that came just two months after an internal investigation by the armed forces here said that none of their soldiers none of their officers on the ground in were kind state were caught in any wrongdoing a couple of months later saying that yes in fact some soldiers were involved in the killing of ten civilians so it's very insane when you see when things come out you know there have been human rights watch reports about what's happened in rakhine state in that period in august but then after systematic rape violence against the hinge villages the government has flat out denied it or just ignored it so we're not expecting these associated press images to be addressed directly by the government but again it's by. building body of evidence of what took place during those two months last year c'mon scott this has been a development today in fact in the last few hours you were actually reporting earlier on the reuters journalists who are in what's happening with them. and that's where we are right now we're at the courthouse there still in that

courtroom behind me now these two journalists are charged were charged in december mid december with an old law back to british colonial days the illegal holding of private or secret documents and now this came after they were investigating what has been happening in the kind state or what did happen in rakhine state during this period of question they said that they they and the reuters news agency said that they met with police officials that handed over documents and then almost immediately after that they were arrested and they have been detained since middle of december now this courtroom hearing today we heard initially was going to be just about bail that they're going to be granted bail and can go back out with their young families while the court case continues but now we're also hearing that the prosecution is called a witness so it's going to be a little bit longer of a session today but again come all this is just an underlying example of how closely. the government here is protecting anything that happened in rakhine state

to any investigation of what happens there obviously they're going to react in the very harsh manner come on ok scott had learn yet gone back to. still ahead for you here on al-jazeera we're taking a look at a grassroots mobile network helping mexico its indigenous communities keep in touch with the rest of the world. how our recent spell of unsettled weather seems to have cleared away from much of the middle east now so we have got clear skies coming in behind in a bit of cloud there just into afghanistan eastlink across pakistan that will continue to drive its way further east was around the black sea the caspian sea this area cloud just stretched across georgia armenia. that's in the process of pulling away as well so baku getting up to around seven celsius father draw across the events eighteen degrees there in beirut i will get up there at eighteen maybe

nineteen degrees there for baghdad and for kuwait city touch warmers to go on into friday thank fine and try a little bit of a wintry mix them into the northeast as actions of the region but elsewhere as you can see it does look settled and sunny settle in sunny to across the arabian peninsula here in doha twenty two cells is feeling a little chilly and that's not going to change as we go on through the next few days quite a keen always a possibility of a little bit of lifted dust and sand stripe richard to into worse southern africa for the most part the drought continues for cape town twenty four celsius here still a few showers just around the eastern side of south africa and they'll still be there as you go on through friday capetown stays dry a little more cloud rolling in over the mountains but further north a chance of sounds. explores prominent figures of the twentieth century and how life will really

influence the course of history was the cuban revolution communist the way feel castro is a feudal east another coming east just roll into this country che wanted international revolution became a point when the relationship came to an end the icons of revolution who changed the course of latin american politics. and fidel castro face to face at this time on al-jazeera. with al-jazeera these are our top stories the united states has designated the political leader of hamas. a global terrorist and impose sanctions against him the state department accuses him of being involved in terrorist attacks against israeli

citizen citizens how mass is branding the decision a violation of international law. thousands of syrians of cambridge future in the united states will be allowed to stay for at least another year and a half the trumpet ministration has made the decision to give extended temporary protected status to seven thousand syrians but they must have been in the u.s. since august twenty sixth state which means any new arrivals will be placed on hold . and u.s. president on trucks decided to keep the guantanamo the military prison in cuba. via an executive order his predecessor barack obama had promised to close the facility within a year of taking office. the kenyan government says three t.v. stations that broadcast opposition leader ran a red ink as mock swearing in ceremony on tuesday will be staying off air indefinitely thousands of protesters have gathered in the opposition stronghold of kisumu to. the release of an opposition m.p. who was arrested there angry the authorities declared the opposition movement

a criminal group for doing to himself says the twenty seven thousand presidential election was stolen from him due to voting irregularities here as katherine saw in nairobi with. a very tough statement coming out of the interior ministry with a cabinet minister saying that what happened on tuesday was an attempt to overthrow the government so basically talking treason he said that the government has launched investigations into that and also investigations into pop conspirators and facilitate says he says that the government has also launched investigations into media houses particularly local media houses whose live signal was switched off and he said the reason why that happened is because it was a threat to national security we also had that who presided over the swearing in. was arrested and tarot gateshead and we know with that the government has declared this national resistance movement which is. a unit that was introduced by the

opposition last year so the government has displayed this movement an organized criminal group so a very tough position taken by the government and will be interesting to see how this investigation will conclude whether it will lead to their arrest of reloading i was very careful with the words he used in the oath thing on tuesday swearing to be the people's president which is not exactly the same as the president of the republic of kenya he also has a huge following you can just tell from the number of people who turned up for that swearing in on tuesday a walk day so perhaps going to be problematic to arrest him but government officials saying that nobody is above the law. health care workers teachers students they wore out of their voices to the anti-government protests in togo staging a nationwide strike this is the latest demonstration calling for an overhaul of togo's political system and an end to the ruling family's fifty year grip on power

on a honda has the story. before he looks more like a street party than a protest but behind the smiles a serious complaints hospitals without water equipment to staff teachers on pitch a full wages students burdened with crippling debt and a president who refuses to give up the position in his family for more than fifty years was we will not give up we will not stop until he quits power was i the five months protesters have been calling for an end to the political dynasty togo is the only country in west africa that doesn't adhere to presidential term limits that's kept than a single family in power for half a century first missing by a dam of the thirty eight he is and then his son for missing there who took over in two thousand and five when his father died president four pledged in late september

to hold a constitutional referendum but the proposal for a two term presidency is not rich proactive that means missing big could stand again even twice potentially keeping him in power until twenty city limits of a good. result but that doesn't mean we know the total these are determines they are not with us on the street just to have fun this movement began because they know they must take a stand here i coalition of fourteen opposition parties has been leading the mess demonstrations since august security forces violently suppressed some early gatherings people have been killed and they've been arrests and detentions. if their intention is to intimidate us so we stop telling people what's going on well they are wrong we will not stop arresting our members will not give young people jobs or bring democracy and change that is why we will not stop a. few here have experience life under

anyone other than missing day or his father discontent like this and also don't listen priesthood into didn't togo it's put the president under enormous pressure but he's still showing little interest in vacating his seat. and. the u.s. public health chief has resigned over a financial conflict of interest documents brenda fitzgerald traded in tobacco and health care stocks while she was the director of the centers for disease control and prevention fitzgerald was appointed by trump in july and is the second high profile health official to step down that was after the health secretary tom price resigned in september over allegations he had misused government aircraft. also the u.s. environmental protection agency says it won't be enforcing regulations under the obama administration to combat water pollution the a.p.a.

says it is suspending the rules for two years while it considers whether to keep them at all the clean water policy focused on smaller rivers and streams the trumpet ministration says suspending that water policy will offer a more economic security to farm at this. u.s. government's dismissed reports that it intends to cut off aid to puerto rico for months after it was hit by a powerful hurricane. the federal emergency management agency fema says it has been evaluating whether there are sufficient supplies on the u.s. territory and a decision on whether to cut aid completely has not yet been made the agency is winding down food and water distribution there are roughly six hundred thousand puerto rican still without power. now australia's domestic spy agency has secured thousands of highly classified government documents intelligence officers arrived at the national broadcaster the a.b.c. on thursday morning after today had

a series of exclusive reports this week citing confidential files on current and previous governments but what was later revealed was that the documents were found inside a filing cabinet that was sold at a second hand shop prime minister malcolm turnbull has ordered an urgent review into the breach. now across a mobile phone network built in rural mexico has become an important link connecting indigenous communities and the world but authorities say the ultra low cost service could actually be breaking the law as reports now from one state. is paying his mobile phone bill forty or broccoli three dollars for unlimited calls for the month as a municipal employee in the town of something ness in southern mexico that is his most valuable tool for coordinating public works up until a few years ago however something this population seven hundred fifty was just one of countless areas left in the dark by telecom companies that was until a nonprofit group called the indigenous communities telecommunications network came

to town. it is helped a lot not only for this community but for the people of two or three neighboring towns who come here to use the service has been a big help. for years the police had gone out to sell service providers to expand their coverage but without a profit incentive telecom companies aren't known for making investments in rural villages some estimates suggest that more than forty percent of mexicans live in areas outside of cell phone reach. but with the installation of two when tennis and a single call routing system half the population of something isn't how connected at a price they can afford there is a problem however the mexican government has charged the nonprofit group who built the network nearly one million pesos about fifty two thousand dollars to operate. said to me you can make a thousand calls in a month and it won't generate any cost it's only going to cost you if you call long

distance so i don't think it's for but as we say the government is the government and they're always trying to apply their taxes. through the mobile phone network to people of something this can finally contact emergency services make long distance calls or simply order a cab. members of low income communities invest their own money to create the network locally sourcing materials to build an entire communications infrastructure the result is mobile phone and internet services and almost ninety eight percent lower cost than other providers in mexico. the network is still new and far from perfect but locals seem thrilled to have any service at all for public workers like deal the user own network is about more than just connectivity it means the members of his community are being better served monitored up until. well how come mexico.

you know what al-jazeera these are the headlines this hour the united states is designated the political leader of hamas ismail haniya a global terrorist and imposed sanctions against him the state department accuses him of being involved in attacks against israeli citizens how mass is branding the u.s. decision a violation of international. that is me is not. just for. no religion it's for this reason we are considering this is the foolish statement committed by people who know nothing about what freedom for. the european union meanwhile says it's pledged an extra fifty three million dollars in aid for palestinians following the u.s. decision to withhold funding we used foreign policy chief federica mockery made that announcement at a donors meeting in brussels that's after u.n. warning that gaza's economy is on the verge of collapse the yemeni government and secessionists have swapped prisoners in the southern port city of asian governments

headquarters were taken over during three days of fighting in the city and twenty people have now been killed in this battle between the something council session has and the government voice forces. thousands of syrians who claimed refuge in the u.s. will be allowed to stay for at least another year and a half the trumpet ministration made that decision to give extended temporary protected status to seven thousand syrians syrian refugees must have been in the u.s. since august of twenty sixteen meaning any new arrivals will be placed on hold overall twelve million syrians have been displaced since the conflict began in two thousand and eleven the kenyan government says three t.v. stations that broadcast opposition leader. mock swearing in ceremony on tuesday will stay off air indefinitely. dozens of protesters have gathered in the opposition stronghold of kisumu to demand the release of an opposition m.p. who was arrested they are angry that your forty's declared the opposition movement

a criminal group and the unofficial inauguration a form of treason says the twenty seventeen presidential election was stolen from him use of voting irregularities those your headlines here on al-jazeera witness starts right now. they're the children of jailed chinese criminals with nowhere else to go one beijing shelter is giving them a home when he speaks the children growing up with their parents behind bars at this time on al-jazeera. the hog.