that is able to convince canada against cooperating which it is forcefully trying to do now the timing is peculiar because the arrests of men happened just as u.s. president donald trump was sitting down for dinner with china's president paying in argentina last saturday trump claims he didn't know that this arrest was happening at the same time but china views it all as a national embarrassment particularly because maine is considered to be corporate royalty in china not only is she the chief financial officer of wall way which is the preeminent telecommunications company in china but she's also the daughter of that company's founder so she's widely respected among chinese business elites and their condemnation of her as has been swift and scathing they're accusing the u.s. and canada of kidnapping where the next but still ahead on al-jazeera deep divisions threaten the long awaited talks between warring parties to end the conflict in yemen. right now it's time to say. protests

outside a major climate conference in poland but delegates inside are as odds of are a crucial report. hello there are winter storm warnings flood warnings icy roads warnings all in the nearly southern states this mess are plowed him asks for warm draw from the gulf against the cold it is already there so this snow from northern texas from across towards missouri and even west the cheek here and your notes is georgia that's a snow warty don't often see snow to the depths it might fall that far south atlanta seventy four degrees and the rain to the south of it potential flooding right now what happens overnight with first part of sunday and then if you're not there it's generally quiet and far not luck out there in chicago the clouds

building again on the california coast all further north of washington go sort of a nice bit of snow for the north and some rain coming into san francisco southern california not sticking cloudy but dry and i was and here's a picture from monday still snow it looks even though it's going to south carolina that would be a rarity south of this where you know the action is so this is old frontal system just with a few rocky clouds along here but it may well develop into something a bit more substantial forecaster sunday gives you the next one coming out of the gulf so ranger florida yes the bahamas cuba mexico and belize once more that front we're lost but still hangs around a bit from mexico. on counting the cost cattle becomes the first country in the middle east to quit opec un climate talks took place this week in a coal mining town passed by french president emanuel my own policies are so

unpopular counting the cost on al-jazeera. welcome back. a reminder about top stories this hour the u.s. president's chief of staff john kerry has quit his post donald trump is in talks with the vice president's top aides nick is to succeed kelly. french riot police have fourteen running street battles with thousands of anti-government protesters and paris it's the fourth straight weekend of the so-called yellow vest protests

against a government decision to increase taxes on fuel more than nine hundred seventy people have been detained across the country. china is warning canada of severe consequences if it doesn't release a top executive of one of the world's largest telecoms companies hallways chief financial officer and then one joe has been arrested on charges of evading u.s. sanctions against iran the canadian courts are deciding whether to extradite him to the u.s. . the summit of the gulf cooperation council starting on sunday could have major implications for the group's future the six nation block will meet in the saudi capital riyadh casimir has been invited but doha hasn't confirmed if you will be that saudi arabia is leading a blockade against cata which is the brooks deepest crisis in decades. after several false starts the talks ended ending the war in yemen have hit a wall who the rebels on the government divided on the fate of president months

were hardy the previous one to step down but government delegates think otherwise vast and several other issues have clouded the third day of talks for a political solution to the civil war as reports from remember sweden to the us it's a stumbling block just at the time when hopes. were growing. yemen's rival factions are entrenched warning if their demands are not met the talks will fail and as the negotiations continue the who theater controlled and the northern part of the country say they are willing to join a national unity government if president of the obama so hardy steps down so as not out of. the political solution from our point of view should be a new transitional period that has a time frame and must have consensual executive power including the presidency and

the government and must work on certain pillars like security and military operations in sharing food control over the yemeni state and solving unsolved problems. the proposal was swiftly dismissed by the government had the loyalists say the healthy rebels seized power in a coup in two thousand and fourteen and therefore their surrender is a prerequisite for any future deal if you know what i can make. it hard to goes do you think that would solve the problem the problem is cool leaders hardy was elected and it's elections that will decide his fate but if he resigns now that will be dangerous there will be a power struggle there is a third party that is not involved in the talks but whose influence has been on the rise in yemen since to thousand and eleven. these are the secessionists. it movement that wants to break away from the north they are protesting against what

they describe as a society occupation of their land by the separatists themselves are divided between those who want independence and those who want the tunnel me within a federal yemen the talks were always going to be long and strenuous but the millions of yemenis who have suffered bombings starvation and inaction hope the warring factions will give diplomacy a chance so that the war comes to an end. on the ask ourselves talk all. libya's stage oil company n o c has denounced what it calls the occupation of an oil field by protesters local tribesmen to threatening to shut down the fields it would stop the production of of three hundred fifteen thousand barrels a day they're demanding financial assistance for their community and he says the oil is still flowing and warns of catastrophic consequences if the field is closed it's been nearly three decades since i've been on civil war ended but questions

remain over the fate of thousands of people who went missing during that time an independent commission is being formed bought a general amnesty issued after the war means perpetrators will not face justice then how to reports from beirut. what that how when he has been searching for her husband i've known since he was abducted by unknown gunman thirty six years ago lebanon was at war at the time controlled by lebanese sick tarion militias palestinian fighters israeli forces and syrian troops how when he began her battle for the truth in one nine hundred eighty two attracting other women whose husbands sons and brothers had also disappeared. their protest movement continued long after the war ended in one nine hundred ninety only now has the lebanese parliament passed a law calling for a commission to find out what happened to those who disappeared. this is the first

time the lebanese authorities officially admit the war crimes recognize the families of the victims and the missing and acknowledge our rights to know the fates of the disappeared. the higher official figures show at least seventeen thousand people went missing during the fifteen year conflict after years of campaigning families who have come from diverse backgrounds now hope the new law will give them answers they are urging those who have information to come forward they say they are not seeking punishment but closure. we are not responsible for article thirty seven which is about punishing perpetrators who just want to know the fate of our loved ones the draft bill we proposed has nothing to do with punishing past crimes. the international committee of the red cross has stepped in in the absence of any national institution to deal with the missing the i.c.r.c. hopes the d.n.a. samples collected can be used with mass graves are finally identified and open.

and will continue storing them until the commission is set in place as long as that this commission is as we spoke about it its independent humanity. then we are happy to provide all the support. level never had a truce and reconciliation commission after the war but what that how is making sure that past is not forgotten over the years successive governments tried to close the file and declare. there's a reason for many of those who were once militia leaders responsible for killings and disappearances but the new law will not affect the general amnesty to ninety nine which covers crimes committed during the war remains in place. this is the first time lebanon acknowledges the case of the missing now the law needs to be implemented what that how when he is under no illusion that political

and sectarian obstacles could yet again leave this chapter in the country's history and resolved. activists have marched through the polish city of cats of itsa where a two week u.n. climate summit is underway there calling for more action from governments to tackle global warming but attempts to incorporate a key scientific study into climate talks failed after it was blocked by countries into being saudi arabia and the united states the reports. were. protesters deliver their message to delegates meeting in poland the un climate change toolchain is caught between do we need some think now we need action right now not tomorrow not in eleven years that's not how delegates from around two hundred countries are hoping to negotiate a way of implementing the twenty fifteen paris climate accord its goal is to keep global warming below two degrees celsius but saudi arabia kuwait russia and the

united states have refused to endorse the key scientific study it's dismayed and angered most delicate yes. i will not deny that i'm very disappointed with this result this was important work done by experts and delegates on this issue i have heard your positions positions of all of the parties and i hear strong voices in the room which feel that the report of the i.p.c.c. on the one point five degrees is very important yet we have not achieved consensus on how to respond but energy experts say the targets all insufficient and nations is still squabbling over who will pay for it there is also unease that this meeting is in a country where line tom cole the polish government is planning to increase coal production to cut in hoops we have to shut down all fired electricity but there is no place which is a great world never mind a one point five degrees world record fired electricity and any plant that you

decide to build now will be a stranded asset. or. will blow right through the two degrees. protests. the scale of the threat posed by rising temperatures hasn't been fully grasped by politicians after the last some of the droughts and the heavy rains otherwise most of the citizens realize that climate change is hitting them personally but it's the governments that are just protecting the business interests of their local companies or multinationals so that's where the problem is. this cop twenty four and its first week delegates continue to work on establishing common rules on measuring reporting and verifying greenhouse gas emissions i do this from around the world who've traveled to say progress has to be made that tory gayton be algis their. minions head to the polls on sunday for early parliamentary elections

it's the first vote since mass demonstrations ended twenty years of one party rule opinion polls suggest a landslide victory for prime minister nicola passion party which led the so-called velvet revolution robin forrester walkout reports from the air of an. emirate in the armenian earthquake of one thousand nine hundred eighty eight in which at least twenty five thousand people were killed acting prime minister nicola ended his election campaign with a promise that if his party wins khumri armenia's in large cities will become his priority thirty years ago the city was a disaster zone and successive leaders have failed to fix it even. when we say restoring the disaster zone we need to understand not only meeting the housing needs of the people not only restoring schools and killed. but also restoring this city's economic potential. the potential for change nationwide

brought a nickel to power in mass protests this spring. is open style including regular facebook live posts has delighted many armenians has all come back. and reinvigorated armenian politics this first live t.v. debate pitted him against all other party leaders nicole passion yan has for many months enjoyed the power of the street popular power he now wants that power in parliament through what he has promised will be free and fair elections sunday's election will be a test of that promise. some believe that promise has already been broken with passion and accused of using aggressive language and tactics nor atmosphere of fear is acceptable during the election it's unacceptable. inclinations of candidate of complainer. he'd speech is forbidden in the

country but nevertheless it's happening every day back in khumri. who lost his niece in the earthquake believes passion yan will accomplish what previous leaders failed to achieve. passion yanez a man sent by god for the armenian people yes with all my heart i will vote for him . armenians have high hopes there will be disappointment if those hopes are not realized for a steelworker al-jazeera yerevan. more than a year after i still was defeated says life is returning to normal on the east side of iraq's second largest city but it's a very different story in the west of leisel from matheson explains. to hear music drifting across a public square in mosul would have been unthinkable just over a year ago when i saw fighters roaming the city streets and being outside after

nightfall could mean a beating or even death is that. this is a message of peace that i salute is no longer here in mosul the society should live in peace and harmony after these dark days. this is the eastern side of the tigris river here people are trying to reclaim the night while knowing a short distance away lies stark remind us of battles. in the west side of mosul is still in darkness most of the people there. is alive but the west side is dead there is total destruction there it is like to hear regime a bomb dropped daylight reveals the devastation on the western banks of the tigris people who used to live in houses of bricks and cement and western mosul and i was sheltering in tents in camps like this one thousands have lost everything parts of eastern mosul may look like they're returning to normal but people from the west so

there's nothing normal for them to return to. so i don't mohammed has been living in this tent with his family since their home in west mosul was bombed said who lost both arms in the attacks and those with hope we can return to mosul right now security is still fragile our houses are level to the ground there is no life for us there anymore it is better to stay in the camp for the time being despite the harsh living conditions people in mosul see the wreckage west of the tigris as a memorial to the city's dark past. but that the bustling parts of the east are the signs. bright to the future rob matheson. the kodesh region of north and. i mr doha and these are all the top stories the u.s. president's chief of staff john kerry has quit his post donald trump is in talks

with the vice president's top aides nick as to succeed. john kelly will be leaving resign but i don't know if i can say retiring but he's a great guy john kelly will be leaving at the end of the year will be announcing who'll be taking john place it might be or that it debases i'll be announcing that over the next day or two but john will be leaving at the end of the year he's been with the almost two years now as you know if we didn't do. so. we're probably going to see a little while the outgoing u.s. ambassador to the u.n. has made her first public comments on the matter of saudi journalist jamal khashoggi nikki haley told the atlantic a saudi arabia cond be given a poss for the killing and she pointed the finger at the crown prince saying government officials carried out the matter making mohammed bin cylon technically responsible. french riot police have fought running street battles with thousands of anti-government protesters in paris it's the fourth straight weekend of the

yellow vest protests against the government more than nine hundred seventy people have been detained across the country as you. know tax is that important a threat to national unity we must continue with dialogue with coming together the president will propose measures to bring together the french nation to do with the challenges that they have to deal with china is warning canada of severe consequences if it doesn't release the top executives of one of the world's largest telecoms companies hallways chief financial officer men one joe has been arrested on charges of evading u.s. sanctions against iran the canadian courts are deciding whether to extradite her to the u.s. libya's stage rail company n.o.c. has denounced what it calls the occupation of an oil field by protesters tribesmen are threatening to shut down the field it would stop the production of three hundred fifteen thousand barrels a day they're demanding financial assistance for their community and see says the

oil is still flowing and warning of catastrophic consequences if the field is closed those are the headlines join me here for more news after counting the cost. we understand the differences. and the similarities of cultures across the world sentiment or how you take al-jazeera will bring in the news and current affairs that matter to. al-jazeera. hello i'm adrian finnegan this is counting the cost on al-jazeera a weekly look at the world of business and economics this week cattle becomes the first country in the middle east to quit opec as a new dynamic take shape in the oil game also this week the dirtiest fossil fuel as un climate talks took place this week in

a coal mining town and we'll look at why president of manual macross policies or so on popular with the yellow vests or movement. after nearly six decades of membership has left the organization of the petroleum exporting countries the gulf states says it wants to concentrate on gas production and that the move isn't political it's the first middle east nation to quit the oil cartel and the timing is significant to the high profile breakup happened during a key week for opec which is deciding oil policy for twenty nineteen. a some of in java reports. the world's largest supplier of liquefied natural gas is leaving the biggest oil cartel after being an opec member for more than fifty years arthur says the strategic change is needed for its long term ambitions to produce more natural gas but there is one of opec smallest oil producers its main commodity is natural gas but the world's third largest reserves tensions between qatar and opec's

largest producer saudi arabia suddenly increased and the saudis imposed a land sea and air blockade seventeen months ago but the government ministers say leaving opec is not politically motivated i don't want to politicize it i'm a very practical engineer i've been running kewpie for a long time and the way i do business is really practical so we look at work you know what is the value and. you know i like to focus on efficiencies always and i think it's inefficient to focus on something that's not your core business and something this isn't going to benefit you long term so for me to put effort and resources and time in in an organization where i'm a very small player and doesn't have don't have. you know seen what happens in that organization. does not work it's not been a great year for opec it's largest members such as saudi arabia ramped up production while others have carried out cuts meaning the worst compliance by

members in years opec is a bit like a family and it has all the good aspects of a family the closeness but it also has the best aspects of a family which means the squabbles it's not all in like in families they all squabble and you all are sad when one of the cozzens think the sides to break rank but his departure comes as both houses in the us have introduced and the opec bills the so-called no pack bill has gained traction after the trumpet ministrations increased hostility towards opec if passed the legislation would pave the way for opec members to be sued for operating and. as relations between saudi arabia and russia have improved iran iraq and venezuela have found it difficult to abide by wide it will pick decisions that there isn't the first country to leave opec but it is the first from the middle east raising questions about whether others could follow because house decision comes at a time when questions are being raised about who's really setting global oil policy

there's a feeling that normal opec countries russia and the usa a calling the shots more opec's power of the oil markets was made very clear when opec oil ministers met in the end of this week that meeting was all about lobbying russia to agree to any production targets oil heavyweight russia isn't even a member of the cartel but it's been cooperating on production as part of the opec plus group meanwhile oil producers have been hit by a thirty percent plunge in crude prices since october as iran sanctions haven't taken as much oil off the market as expected over supply fears a back with a vengeance the united states is now the world's biggest crude producer and is pumping out a much better rate than expected joining us now from vienna is you have to spend any you have this is the founder and chairman of vienna based j. b. c. energy group welcome to counting the cost and it's good to have you with us so who is really controlling the world's oil policy at the moment opec on the opec

countries well i think opec realized some time ago that it's increasingly difficult to do it alone so they have lobbied the a-y. the group which is no opec plus and russia is playing an instrumental role here. of course those countries have a big cares and they can remove the volume in the market but what we have seen is that when the price of oil is high enough you see a lot of response from the u.s. and so the u.s. shale supply right now is probably the most pressing issue do you think that with cattle with during this week the first middle eastern nation to do so that other countries will pull out of opec and we'll see more more countries outside the organization as part of opec plus. but then within it. it's very difficult to understand the russian oil for countries to be either in or not in the organization of course you can say there is a certain concentration of power with the bigger players they have something to say and their decisions have his huge impact but of course at the same time if you if

you look on the smaller members producing maybe two hundred thousand barrels a day four hundred or more of those volumes down really matter so much when it comes to the end of the day it's always nice if you have more countries are part of it but why do they can contribute well i hope it is a research organization so having access to that research is maybe interesting for those countries but also i would guess having an international platform were the politicians can be seen to communicate and to be on the same level was politicians and public something so overall it is you know there may be many reasons whether it's influencing the price of oil whether it's influencing the supply whether it's influencing the political landscape in your domestic home country or just to have an access to research may be many reasons for that all right so what's going to happen now with the price of oil and twenty nineteen we have this oversupply problem ministers have tentatively agreed to a production cuts where will we go from here well first of all the production cuts

is necessary because there is quite a lot of surplus right now and it's not necessarily just because of the uranium story and the consequences but it is because a lot of supply is emerging from many other countries and on top of that's the biggest supply addition this year of course is to us and you may expect more to come from the u.s. in the next year so that means to stay on top of that i think that they will not try to push the prices back to the level that where they have been remember to last year prices were in the forty sixty range and only then prices really move higher. and i would expect that the price is now stay around sixty sixty five range and stabilize there yet it's really good to talk to your kind in the cross many thanks indeed for being with us thank you very much. the week began with news of a ninety day truce in the tit for tat us china trade war the world's biggest and second biggest economies agreed to postpone further tariffs on goods for three

months starting on january first the pause however doesn't mean that the war is over big differences still remain on things like intellectual property protection something that a high profile arrest has made painfully clear the u.s. is seeking the extradition of one joe mang chief financial officer of weiwei technologies she was arrested in canada on december first in connection with violating sanctions against iran china has demanded her release al-jazeera as adrian brown reports from beijing hallway is the biggest private company in china worth almost twenty seven billion dollars according to the firm's latest annual report it recently overtook apple to become the world's second largest smartphone maker. mongering joe is not just the company's chief financial officer but daughter of the found a company statement says it's not aware of any wrongdoing by her the response from

china's government has been swift and angry it says her human rights have been harmed once her immediate release and a reason for her arrest. you don't have to go china has expressed our solemn position to canada and the us regarding the case china demands them to immediately clarify the reason for their arrest release the detainees and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the detainees while way has been under scrutiny by governments in the united states and elsewhere over its links to china's ruling communist party and whether its operations pose a threat to national security the cia director gina has made clear where she stood joining her confirmation hearing in may would you purchase a while we phone or connect your phone or computer to a while we are easy to network well senator as i mentioned i don't even have a social media account that i wouldn't i wouldn't use while way products mung was arrested on the very day the leaders of china and the united states where agreeing

to a ninety day truce in the trade war between the two countries given her high profile in china and the fact that mung is well politically connected there is one obvious question was president from where she was going to be arrested when he sat down with president xi jinping at that diplomatic dinner in one of stories on saturday and if not why not last year another chinese telecommunications company said he was fined one point two billion dollars in the united states over products it sold to iran and north korea but unlike that de hallway has not so far been formally accused of breaching u.s. export sanctions still to come on counting the cost wholly in. and high why bethlehem in the occupied west bank is say a record flow of tourists. but first who exactly will have to pay for

saving the planet is a big question these days in france this week we see how low income drivers hit by fuel duty septic into the streets will get the situation in france a little later in the program but first let's go to poland where the u.n. climate talks notice cop twenty four got underway this week in a coal mining town it's a chosen location right on the top of europe's biggest reserves of the fuel wasn't an accident delegates have to breathe polluted air as they made their way to the venue that task is to create the rules to change the world's energy supply and change the planet's naturalist and broadcaster david attenborough had this to say when he addressed the opening session on behalf of the world's people might now we are facing a manmade disaster of global scale our greatest threat and thousands of years climate change if we don't take action the collapse of our civilizations and the extinction of much of the natural world.

it's on the horizon well this is the conference which is supposed to signpost the death of coal the most polluting fuel coal use accounted for forty percent of c o two emissions but the coal industry is still very much alive it accounts for forty percent of the world's electricity and millions of jobs worldwide something the u.s. government likes to highlight so there's talk of a just socially responsible transition the world bank group said on monday that it's doubling funding for poor countries preparing for climate change but then there's china the world's top carbon emitter a number one producer and consumer of coal ok it's trying to curb coal power and the deadly pollution but it courses at home but at the same time it's facing mounting criticism for bankrolling new coal plants in other parts of asia africa and the middle east as part of its one belt one road initiative which is there as

robin wright reports now from me and where activists say mining operations of in.