when the winning the will of the people hinges on the mass media state p.r. machine it's going to overdrive. just he's been feeling saying. we just don't know yet where the lines will be drawn between what can be said and what constitutes that. some journalists decided to sacrifice their integrity for access. the listening post time on al-jazeera. a major changing of the guard saudi arabia fires defense force chiefs in a military shake up.

hello and welcome you're watching al-jazeera live from our headquarters here in doha also coming up a five reprieve from the bombing in syria's eastern is due to take effect in two hours but will people actually leave plus. i'm i would like thanks a shake up the house to the villages a little and all of a pope a call from one nobel peace prize winner to another for me to end the torment of the range of refugees also ahead. from russia with love how dawn says a spreading a message of kindness around the world to. top military commanders have been fired in the shake up of saudi arabia's defense ministry those dismissed include the army's chief of staff and the heads of the.

ground and the air defense forces no official reason has been given for the overhaul but it comes to saudi arabia faces growing condemnation over the war in yemen saudi led coalition is supporting pro-government forces fighting to see rebels backed by iran let's get more analysis of that from james dorsey he's a senior fellow at the s. rajaratnam school of international studies he joins us on skype from singapore james dorsey what impact will this have on the conflict in yemen i think that remains to be seen i think there are probably three aspects to the changes in the military command one is to bring to show that this is a more youthful a younger administration both to the domestic audience and the international audience the problem with assessing the impact on the war in yemen is that we don't know really what the sentiment is both within the saudi public as well as within the saudi military with regard to the yemen war there is no question that there

must be criticism but that criticism has not been allowed to be aired it was announced by the king but is it really being driven by the crown prince i don't think there's any doubt about that. the crown prince in effect saudi arabia is region is the person who is running the country the king is obviously king but he's very much driving the. the program that the crown prince is trying to implement the people that he's put in place therefore is there a honeymoon period here i mean some critics of saudi arabia would say saudi arabia i.e. m.b.'s they are overstretching themselves in various areas of conflict not specifically war type conflict but broader abrasive relationships across the region and there does come a point surely when the crown prince has to realize that he has to stop bleeding into these conflicts something you either win or you withdraw. well i would assume

that on the other hand one has to keep in mind that in effect the crown prince has changed the government structure of saudi arabia if this was in the past a ruling family that ruled by consensus it is now a one man rule now there is no doubt that there are critics within the family and within the power structure and i would also have no doubt that there were knives on the table but as long as he can keep an absolute grip on power he is relatively secure when you talk about his relative security does that mean we're likely to see more changes or not i think that we're going to see changes in personnel both within the military as well as the civilian administration simply because he's putting his own people in and he wants to project a certain image of the kingdom james always good to get your insight many thanks james dorsey there with the last rajaratnam school of international studies in

singapore thank you russia's wielded its influence on the war in yemen it's vetoed a u.n. resolution which would have condemned iran for failing to prevent its weapons from falling into the hands of hussein rebels and instead the u.n. security council unanimously adopted a resolution which did not mention iran fanatic at a james base reports now from new york for the middle east this was an important moment russia for the first time casting its veto in the security council to protect iran it came in a moment of high drama in the council chamber to rival resolutions on yemen put to back to back votes. the one vetoed by russia was a u.k. draft back strongly by the u.s. which contained criticism of iran it received eleven votes in favor because of russia's position it failed they moved on to russia's own draft without any mention of iran security council members aware that sanctions in yemen would collapse if

there was no new resolution back to unanimously it led to angry exchanges the u.k.'s resolution was a simple common sense when it called out iran for giving the who these the tools to threaten yemen's neighbors and to threaten freedom of navigation through the red sea. but this common sense attempt to hold iran accountable has failed. i will be frank the wording in the british draft is liable to have dangerous destabilizing ramifications and this is not only a political to the situation in yemen but also to the region overall this will never to believe escalate regional tensions and lead to conflicts among key regional players the vote had been postponed for several hours as the u.k. tried but failed to reach a compromise with russia the acting british ambassador had earlier told me he wanted his resolution to reflect the findings of an independent panel on yemen but that report was not only critical of iran russia doesn't like the outcome of

certain expert panel reports but does because it like the messages doesn't mean it undermine everything they say so we'll be urging our colleagues for the good of the united nations system to vote in favor of areas in which your text doesn't reflect everything in the panel of experts reports as a mention of us torture camps is not the same mention of the bombardment by the saudis in the in the galatea of that in the resolution so our text focusing on part of what the problem of our text has the support of the council and that's what matters thank you very much in the end he did receive the support of the majority but the key takeaway is the fact that russia was prepared to cast its veto the trumpet ministration constantly says that terror is the stabilizing the middle east region and that it's prepared to take action we've now had confirmed what we expected that russia will block the u.n. route to any such action james outages era of the united nations well in another

huge conflict in the way will be clear for people to get serious east and puts a region in less than two hours from now it's happening after at least twenty six people were killed on monday in the latest bombardments of the rebel held enclave the russian president has ordered a five hour ceasefire is a brazilian following. the order of the russian president with the aim of eliminating casualties among the civilian population of eastern guta a daily humanitarian pause is being introduced starting february twenty seventh from nine am to two pm and a humanitarian corridor will be created for the exit of civilians its cordon its have been prepared and will be announced soon. with the latest it is not yet clear what the details of this proposed russian cease fire between nine am to two in the afternoon are going to be so far what we've seen is that this humanitarian ceasefire will mean that a corridor will be opened and people will be allowed to exit people inside eastern

huta do not want to exit from their homes they have been seeing what has been happening to me when they have been seeing what has been happening to people in the riot and they do not want to exit their own homes to places where they don't know what are the conditions going to be like if it is going to be in the south near the border with jordan are they going to be moving with the words the city of damascus the syrian capital or will they be forced to move because continuing to be a front line between government and rebel forces so these are all questions that people who have been asking they're angry they're frustrated they say that this is not they were expecting what they were expecting from the united nations security council resolution on saturday evening where there was a unanimous agreement that there will be a thirty day ceasefire across syria people have been expecting humanitarian aid deliveries to be brought into them this is an area home to nearly four hundred thousand people and a few hours they think is not going to help them aung san suu kyi is facing a new warning from three women who like her nobel peace prize winners there urging

me and mas leaders to condemn the violence against thievery hinge on refugees or possibly face prosecution for genocide this comes as the un's human rights council in geneva is set to hear from in moscow minister of international cooperation in the coming hours it's cultural. accounts of violence and bloodshed now victims share their stories with three nobel peace laureates irish peace activists move eight maguire is one of the peace prize winners visiting rock into refugee camps she is urging only on mars leader aung san suu kyi to visit some of the country's most affected areas right on what. was called are their family out in front of the white house was the firing of each chunk. of. my first century right all three laureates united for the same cause tawakkol karman

from yemen and iranians. also visit a cock's bazaar they say myanmar's government and suci also a noble laureate must be held accountable for what's happening to the revenger failing to do so they warn could lead to prosecution for genocide if she couldn't is still only this girl and she has to resign now that's a very important otherwise she will be followed through with the international criminal court almost seven hundred thousand will hinge on how fled the country since the start of a military crackdown six months ago myanmar's army says it's targeting terrorists these nobel laureates are urging the u.n. security council and the international criminal court to hold the government accountable suchi has not yet publicly condemned the violence. we have not only come to listen to the tragic stories of these refugees we are above all

a loudspeaker for their voices to be echoed throughout the world and to make the world aware of their plight we urge the international community and governments to help end this crisis we urge the u.n. security council to take measures to bring me and mas government to book we are the voice of the oppressed range. a call for accountability and hope that the call of these peace laureates will be heard beyond this community devastated by violence cuts hello poseable yon al-jazeera. well benjamin's awak he is an independent sufi stage analysts he says aung sun suu cheek can no longer be held in the same esteem fellow laureates it's not only a genocide but it's not ongoing genocide and it's one over which she is presiding sadly however the fact of the matter is that three nobel peace prize winning women is no longer seemingly on song suchi preferred peer group but rather she seems more inclined to be included with the likes of china's being war or cambodia soon soon

or perhaps most appropriately present it's fair to say the philippines who like her was democratically elected and has sense presided over his case actively perpetrated grave international crimes crimes against humanity sadly three nobel peace prize winning women aren't your peer group but rather a dictatorial. around which she is surrounded here in southeast asia still to come here on al-jazeera sports bridging borders off to the winter games south korea lays the groundwork for the noles to take part in the paralympics also ahead. there's no need for him to wherever he goes of course now we just i was awaiting discoveries but king's latest sporting.

hello israel we see some decent cloud shapes over iran around the caspian sea but listen very obvious cold front here. that could well be to produce some decent thunderstorms as it runs east out of iran and eventually to pakistan but the focus by day is it's falling apart so a bit of snow still to come maybe the top and beyond that then it's all clear and back towards iraq northern syria the still rain here and this rain likely in eastern turkey snow and some height looks breezy to seventeen degrees in beirut as an example but it won't stay even that relatively settled the day after the clouds starting to kick in again what's that's already come out of syria iraq moving across iran to a few showers seem likely there significant development happening in western turkey but it's quiet and down in beirut and it's warmed up in baghdad but look at the bottom bottom end of what's happening here we've had rain recently and significant

thunderstorms in amman in saudi arabia and in qatar there's more rain forecast in qatar bahrain for tuesday twenty two degrees for wife austria a decent amount of rain in the ground that's a few millerites for this part of the world it looks quieter here the day after but the cloud hence maybe significant rain if you're lucky for the u.a.e. . mine would have been. the most other. one is. on the nineteenth of december twenty sixth mahmoud hussein was detained by the egyptian authorities he remains behind bars without a trial al-jazeera world investigates his case and media repression in egypt. journalism is not a crime this time on al-jazeera. you're

watching al-jazeera reminder of our top story so far this hour saudi arabia's king solomon has replaced top military commanders in a shake up of its defense ministry no official reason was given for the overhaul but it does come a saudi arabia faces growing condemnation over the war in yemen. the russian president has ordered a five cease fire in syria's eastern starting at seven hours g.m.t. a humanitarian corridor we opened allowing people to leave hundreds inside the rebel enclave has died in more than a week of bombardment by syrian and russian forces. three nobel peace prize winners are calling on fellow laureates aung sun suu ciii to condemn violence against the

minority. leader she risks prosecution for genocide the group is visiting ranger refugees in camps in bangladesh. a north korean delegation to the winter games in south korea is now returning home representatives wrapped up a three day trip that took in the closing ceremony in chang meanwhile talks are being held to discuss north korea is taking part in the paralympics they'll start on march the eighth in a meeting last month it was agreed that pyongyang will send one hundred fifty participants bright has more now from seoul. the dialogue has continued to choose day in south korea trying to build on the olympian goodwill delegations from north and south korea have been meeting at the peace village in panmunjom on the d.m.z. and working out details for the visit by north korean paralympians to the paralympics they are sending a team of one hundred and fifty athletes cheerleaders coaches and reporters there

has also been a significant meeting tuesday morning between the leader of the north korean delegation general kim young child with his opposite numbers in south korea's unification ministry at a closely guarded hotel in the capital seoul before returning to north korea again with protesters taking to the streets and general kim's presence here is controversial he is seen as a figure that is behind a number of attacks against south korea over the years but the fact of his presence here has been significant and there have been statements from both north and south to continue this dialogue to have regular meetings and at a very senior level the big question is whether you know the united states will become involved but it still set a precondition that north korea abandons its nuclear program or commits itself to abandoning nuclearize ation before talks can start but president of south korea has

added to the pressure calling on the americans propped possibly to reduce that demand to reduce the threshold before talks can start but with the current thinking the current hard stance in washington right now might be a concession too far. so of africa's new president has real pointed a number of ministers sacked by the former president jacob zuma several run the post and thirty change use in the reshuffle include two former finance ministers including private gordon takes over as public enterprises minister zoomers ex-wife was also given a position welcome weapon from johannesburg it's not the overhaul that many ram oppose the supporters or many south africans who were hoping for a clear change of direction and an anti corruption drive would have hoped for many ministers from the previous cabinet who appointed by former president jacob zuma and implicated in many of the corruption scandals that afflicted his government

have been reappointed but in different positions the most controversial of those three appointments is musi got a foreigner from former finance minister he's been reinstated in another powerful position the ministry of home affairs one position that will point that will reassure people who are hoping for a change of direction is the appointment of pravin gordhan the former finance minister he's been appointed in the ministry of enterprise he has a reputation for cleaning up any ministry that he's been in charge of so that will reassure people who were hoping for some change poses stuck with iraq and a hard place on the one hand trying to please the supporters and those who wanted a complete change of house and a new direction on the other hand he still has to pick a date and seize national executive committee that put him in position as the leader of the a.n.c. and can recall him at any time to keep his job he has to keep different factions within the a.n.c. placated as well as trying to push through what he says is his agenda of cleaning

out corruption and fixing the economy. many students in the northeast of nigeria say they are too scared to go back to the school where armed men abducted one hundred ten girls last week the nigerian government has admitted for the first time on monday where the girls were kidnapped classes have since resumed at the school and that she believes she was bullied because of her arm took the people. iraq is hoping to lure international investors to help develop its oil and gas industry with victory declared over eisel fighters government ministers are meeting executives in berlin to discuss how to exploit its vast reserves is dominick. iraq has some of the world's largest proven oil and gas reserves much of them yet to be exploited because of years of war this installation in kirkuk is a case in point nine billion barrels of recoverable oil are believed to be underground government forces dislodged kurdish fighters from here last october now

government leaders in baghdad are keen to boost production with enough. we have endeavored to reassess this failed and production of this great reserve we have reached an agreement with british giant b.p. to carry out seismic survey operations and studies to raise the output capacity to as much as seven hundred fifty thousand barrels per day when he signed the deal b.p.'s representative said if the field is looked after it will be prosperous for the whole country for generations to come and that's the problem for the iraqi government maintaining control of the oil fields so as to release the revenue they contain the federal minister they have defeated the threat from eisel but the group was blamed for killing two policemen and guarding oil fields last weekend. which matters because there is so much natural wealth under the ground surveys suggest iraq has more than one hundred forty billion barrels of proven oil reserves right now the whole country produces just four point three million barrels per day

generating as much as ninety percent of revenue for the economy. if x. ability to export has improved a lot compared to what we used to have before i still in two thousand and three and two thousand and four we didn't produce more than three and a half million barrels a day however for the past two years our production capacity has been much larger this doesn't mean they were full output now factors like oil market conditions and opec cuts are intervening. with so much oil the market for natural gas has been overlooked for many years iraq is estimated to have more than three trillion cubic metres of natural gas reserves with only a faction being exported here two ministers are looking to raise revenue this is the venue where for the next two days delegates will be thrashing out the major issues facing the iraqi oil and gas industry for the coming year the question will be what sort of progress what result this conference will achieve dominic came out

zero burl in. the party of the german chancellor angela merkel has approved a deal to renew its coalition with the social democrats the decision by the christian democratic union puts mrs merkel a step closer to a fourth term as leader of the social democrats will announce next week whether its members support the deal germany has been without a government for five months now after merkel's party lost ground to the far right in last september's election. the us supreme court has dealt a blow to attempts by president trump to end protection for undocumented migrants who enter the country as children it refused to hear a plea by the trumpet ministration to end the program is complete. it's an issue that has divided americans for years the deferred action for childhood arrivals or daca program was put in place by president barack obama it allows hundreds of thousands of young immigrants brought to the u.s. illegally as children to live and work in the united states. trump wanted to end it

and plan to start phasing out the program in march raising the threat of deportation for many of the so-called dreamers but last month two federal judges blocked that saying it needs to go through the legal system so the trumpet ministration tried to bypass the federal appeals court by taking it to the country's highest court on monday the supreme court refused to hear the case well it makes its way through the appeals court. the administration is appealing lower court rulings to the ninth circuit the same court the blocked the president's controversial travel ban that would deny entry to people from mostly muslim majority countries it's true shared when every single case filed against us is in the ninth circuit we lose we lose we lose and then we do fine in the supreme court but what does that tell you about our court system the supreme court announcement is a victory for roughly seven hundred thousand dreamers. for months they've been demanding

congress act to protect them from deportation but congress has failed to come up with a solution the white house says it's not giving up but that legal process could take months leaving the ultimate fate of dreamers uncertain kimberly health kit al-jazeera washington. spring king you see in bolt is poised to reveal his new sporting move in the coming few hours the eight time olympic champion says he signed for a football team the jamaican trained with the south african top in pretoria last month both retired from athletics in august party giggs is a football writer based in germany he says bolt was due to trial with the german club received opened next month. yeah it's been said for a war that you signed bought would join dortmund in trying around this time of year which is why i think they have been linked is the most obvious logical destination that being said a lot of the talk about you sign both playing at dortmund has come from the same boat unself and the club did confirm that he would stop by for

a training run at some point over the next couple of months when they spoke in october but nothing since then and not a club that would be one to do a publicist on if you will that they do have their links with with pienaar so again there is that there is that logical conclusion but i would be very surprised if if dortmund do sign you saying about other years of course a free agent so would come for nothing but change of pace with one of the world's most popular dance companies taking its message around the world the more you see of ballet is performing here in cattle for the first time as part of a cultural exchange laura burdon money reports now from opera house. it's just one hour before the performance and artistic director ellen the show the copa what results is hard to ensure that before they take opera house stage they can't put a foot wrong as a ballet company has to maintain

a reputation as one of the best in the world our needs to bring to bear the so over rational people all the people who know. eagle morsi has founded the company in one thousand nine hundred thirty seven it was the first week traditional folk dance into its repertoire with an aim to reflect the world's diverse cultures customs and costumes. it's important to share this kind of art because the build bridges between nations . we want to share with people the kindness in a g. sincerity and openness of the russian people. should recover says the value lies a link gauging a worldwide audience to sharing and exchanging ideas through culture. the art is higher than politics even the political is clever by the culture for

them means something you know we are not a political persons we are all the people. during the year of culture russia showcasing more than one hundred exhibitions and shows and kata and all starting with a movie set down the company here and qatar as an opera house now the artistic director of the company says she hopes the sculpture exchange will help to build bridges and showcase the rich history of russian. both carter and russia believe these offense are important to promote stronger ties between the two nations. this is our year this year of culture reflects the wealth of creativity in both countries and the desire of intellectuals and innovators to build bridges and revive common values to see the culture of. the service culture of you to see this wonderful soup or to speak here for

a couple of weeks. i would like to have more people. come to russia. have been a company drew on the first tradition. and took the world by storm a legacy seven it's determined to continue. the revival and the outlook there are there. and you can keep right up to date with all the top stories via the web sites al-jazeera dot com. ok there we are here we go let's recap the top stories for you so far today the saudi king king solomon has replaced top military commanders in a shake up of its defense ministry now those fired include the saudi army's chief of staff and the heads of the ground and the air defense forces no official reason

was given for the overhaul but it does calm a saudi arabia faces growing condemnation over the ongoing conflict in yemen. the russian president vladimir putin has ordered a five hour cease fire in eastern syria it showed tool to start at seven hours g.m.t. a humanitarian corridor will be opened allowing people to leave hundreds inside the rebel enclave have died in more than a week of bombardment by syrian and russian forces. following the order of the russian president with the aim of eliminating casualties among the civilian population of eastern guta a daily humanitarian pars is being introduced starting february twenty seventh from nine am to two pm and a humanitarian corridor will be created for the exit of civilians its cordon its have been prepared and will be announced soon. three nobel peace prize winners are calling on the fellow laureate aung sun suu kyi to condemn violence against the engine minority warning myanmar's leader she risks prosecution for genocide the

group is visiting revenger a few g.'s in camps in bangladesh. a north korean delegation to the winter olympics in south korea is now returning home representatives wrapped up a three day visit that took in the closing ceremony in pyongyang meanwhile talks are being held to discuss north korea's taking part in next month's paralympics. south africa's new president has reappointed several ministers sacked by the former president jacob zuma cyril ramaphosa announced thirty changes in the government reshuffle and he students in the north east of nigeria say they're too frightened to go back to the school where armed men abducted one hundred ten girls last week the government admitted for the first time on monday that the girls had been kidnapped it's believed they were taken by book order on fighters you see in bolt is poised to reveal his new sporting move in the coming few hours the eight time a limp dick champion retired from athletics in august now he says he signed for a football team the south african club that he trained with last month has hinted

at a possible up next it's counting the cost come back with headlines at the top of the hour aussie them public. doing this for the benefit of saddam people so you see the importance of the outcry. witness documentaries that open your eyes at this time on al-jazeera. has i'm sick of this is counting the cost on that visit or your weekly look at the world of business and economics this week how corrupt is your country we'll talk to transparency international about the latest global rankings also this week the petro venezuela becomes the first government in history to launch its own crypto currency plus south africa's new president need.