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 have increased recently in the northeastern shan state. mines like this one a largely closed off to the outside world and have to be filmed discreetly but the people living near them say there is no escaping the pollution they cause to their farmland and waterways saya farms just a couple of fields that he says are now ruined. since the company started to mine for coal i've lost the water for my farm my land is covered with coal dust and i can't grow any crops all around this area in million miles east in shan state is evidence of mining operations recent changes in regulations mean foreign companies can now invest in medium and large scale mining the government has defended its

increasing use of coal to meet the country's electricity needs despite objections from environmental groups. and civil society groups who have been educating people on their legal rights say the relative stability in me in ma could lead to a mining boom. at first we thought it's a great idea for development in our community but in fact it's not good it's getting worse and destroying us. given the state's proximity to china many investors are chinese but companies from japan and australia are also interested and there are fears about a lack of regulation of environmental and safety standards in this remote part of the country. this underground fire at one mine was filmed by a monk who does not want to reveal his identity for his own safety. we don't expect the government to fix this because the problem comes from the government they're cooperating with military and foreign investors and we're very concerned about our

safety because we are in a small local and we're fighting against people who have a lot of money and our opening up to the outside world has been a boost for people in other parts of me and ma but for many in this area the existence of coal under their fields and outside investment is proving a toxic combination. now we've spoken before on the program about the power of what they call e.a.s. g environmental social and governance investing this is when investors leverage their power over companies to change their policies on things like climate change or oil and gas giant shell has been under pressure from investors to include carbon emissions targets in its business model and this week management signed a joint statement with a group of three hundred ten investors the oil firm has agreed to reduce the carbon footprint of the products it sells and link targets to executive pay but in france there's been a u. turn on a fuel tax the french government has backed down on

a planned these will tax hike of the worst riots in central paris for fifty years the so-called yellow vests movement began as a group of unhappy motorists in recent weeks it's grown into a nationwide revolt against what is viewed as an unfair tax system and an out of touch president david schaper reports now on how the so-called yellow vest movement took off. it was the worst violence seen on the streets of central paris since the uprising in may one nine hundred sixty eight. scores of people were hurt and hundreds arrested in battles with riot police it all began with a petition posted on facebook by this woman in may calling for a drop in fuel prices at the pumps a million hits and six months later she was live streaming to her followers driving to the first of the yellow vest protests in november. we're streaming live.

lots of roads have been blocked by the police. the truck driver eric drew eg call for national blockade against fuel prices on his facebook page it's now receive seventeen million hits but it's mark zuckerberg who's behind their success or a chief executive of facebook introduced a new algorithm this year for the company's news feed with this update we will prioritize posts that spark conversations and meaningful interaction between people . the result has been the internet gets flooded by the end of best groups and pages from traditional media outlets are to get a look in and now that they have redraw from this. huge tax they realize that's not enough anymore so i think micro is paying big time on this group them because he makes the game how you game for him to play it was tom who came up with the idea the yellow vests should become the symbol of the protest in

a facebook video posted from the south of france it's received more than five million hits i have something with chants and french people will be motivated and go out traditional forms of journalism are taking a beating television reporters were booed and pushed away by demonstrators join the protests last week academics say according to the demonstrators the real expressions of people can only be found on facebook and journalists are just another elite who are out of touch with the voice of the matter. now students have joined the protests the demonstrations are gaining momentum at this high school north of the capital one hundred forty six of them were arrested by police after clashes and herded into a garden joining us now from paris is very can guy and very is adjunct professor of strategic management at a.t.c. in paris very good to have you with us has the french government done enough to put an end to these protests so the government then they the conversation yesterday but

this conversation is arriving too late and to discipline small a fuckin station so if you had been gone three weeks earlier they would have been able to this shows the protests but now the balance of power is in favor of the streets and the government seems to have lost control of the police seems to be overwhelmed and the people that make up the bulk offer the french society of the silent majority they are starting to realize that they have a lot of. our they have a lot of clout and they can influence the decision so all the frustration that have been simmering for years they are now unleashed in the public space but there's a certain irony here isn't there in that president mccraw is only introducing policies that were quite clear to everybody in the election campaign and that's why people voted him into power and now they're saying we don't like it. yes but the people who actually voted for him really supported his police you know these are

only twenty four percent of the population and if you were to take into consideration the number of people that are a friend themselves from voting you have only fifteen percent of the population that are really in favor of the liberal reforms and i think that michael made major mistakes both in terms of style and in terms of content so in made a series of communication blunders and on top of that his point you see is lacking clarity is lacking relevance so it is a little bit tough for tax reform so fewer taxes here and more taxes there and in the younger the level of economy. levy on the society on the economy is the same so there is no major changes and what is really more worrisome father people population is that there is no end to that you know so there is no vision so why should they make in

a faltering sacrifice so this is not clear and on top of that his foreign policy is better on the more integrated more cohesive europe is more or less a failure so. he has almost everything wrong and the population is bringing that to the scene and as far as governments tackling climate change are concerned this was was all about a rise in fuel tax which is sensibly was about was that to help with the fight against climate change if governments can't raise taxes on fuel is that contribute to climate change how can they tackle their obligations when it comes to the environment yes that's a real contradiction and what we're seeing in france are really raises the question whether climate changes and of fighting against climate change is compatible with economic growth that we have to question or. all of the action to consumption to death to growth all those questions i really have to be tackled and it's true that

if you want to do something to preserve the planet and the climate it's not certain that's just marginal improvements to the economic system will be enough thirty eight really goes totally many thanks indeed for being with us thank you for having me and finally this week the holy land is experiencing its highest number of tourists in years israel says that october figures were record breaking it's exactly what bethlehem in the occupied west bank needs that's where palestinians have been struggling to make ends meet stephanie deca reports from bethlehem. the holy land pilgrimage is a multi billion dollar industry right now it was a very good guest tonight. it's been struggling over the past few years not. trade well you know us as far as i know i think this year has been the best and years and they were so happy to see people coming from all over the world oh

actually in the market out of india all of them going to this pilgrim from brazil tells us everything is wonderful for you ladies from ten years from kenya is this your first time in bethlehem numbers and i'm boy oh how are you finding it the place that a nice little holy writ in what do you call bethlehem is in the occupied west bank and the ongoing political tensions between israel and the palestinians have a direct effect on the tourism industry and the stores are going to the fourth and the reason for the polygamy and that was to come through the not just the bethlehem or to go down to the region and. this year was somehow. if we want to compare it with other years outside the main attraction pilgrims wait their turn to go inside but most of the visitors who come to bethlehem are religious tourists retracing jesus' steps including to where they believe his life

began beneath what is now the church of the nativity but a different type of tourist is also starting to come attracted by big name art and it's raising awareness about the political complexities here the anonymous british artist banksy has been drawing attention here with his hotel next to the controversial separation barrier and boasting the worst view in the world his multi-million dollar art appeared on the separation wall last year for my point on have your it's not of a good idea to have this one over over there between the two peoples is so necessary evil. well the problem is this french family tells us they came here because of the artists' work that they were shocked at seeing the wall. i'm christian and i can't accept that on a land that so symbolic that you build a wall it's not possible they has to be another way than a wall and to terrorize

a population whether the visitors are here for religion politics or art palestinians tell us they haven't seen this many foreign faces in bethlehem for a very long time and hope they will continue to come stephanie deca ending our show for this week if you'd like to get in touch with us to comment on anything that you've seen it a figure on twitter please use the hashtag a j c t c if you tweet be or you could drop us a line counting the cost of al-jazeera that is our e-mail address as always there's plenty more for you online at al-jazeera dot com slash c.t.c. that takes you straight to our web page and they'll find individual reports links even a time episodes for you to catch up but that's it for this edition of counting the cost i'm adrian finnegan for all of us here and thanks for being with us the news on al-jazeera is next. the notorious symbol of the u.s. war on terror one set for close guantanamo bay and it's detainees going nowhere we

have identified as a priority is the construction of a new high value detention center i'm afraid that we're setting the conditions to return back to practice to retaliate in state sponsored torture as we did have done in the past rendition revisited to on al jazeera. i thought this conviction that everyone has a deep reservoir a ton of ability and if you can give them the opportunity wonderful things start to happen sometimes the simplest seditions author missed and packed for. the main things that sets out zero. from other news organizations is that a lot of our reporting is about real people what about ideas or politicians and what they may want to do but how policy and how events affect real people it's ok it's ok ok. a little more complicated i'll put it probably if this is not from the clear i'm going to book the walk. down like my family's status and

wealth has benefited from their choice to enslave. some oversold scar we've been skewed to speak out as a surprise but. this job isn't just about what's in the script or a piece of paper it's about what is happening right now. coming. up with the color line. john kelly will be leaving at the end of the year the man charged with restoring stability to the white house donald trump's chief of staff john kelly is stepping down.

hello i'm mr and this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up. hundreds detained off to another violent saturday of protests in the french capital . of course in the middle of a u.s. china standoff beijing wants canada of severe consequences if it doesn't release a top telecoms executive. gray now it's time to save all the protests outside a major climate conference in ponens demanding action the delegates inside are as. odds over a crucial report. done in tom's white house already has one of the highest turnover rates the senior stuff in u.s. presidential history and now chief of staff john kenney is leaving at the end of

the year the retired marine general has been in the role of the sixteen months he was chosen to bring order to what's been widely described as a chaotic white house trump is in talks with vice president mike pence his chief of staff nick as to take on the role 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 will be taking john's place it might be on an interim basis 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 between the two positions so. we'll probably get to see him in a little while. white house correspondent can be healthy takes a look back at john kerry's time as chief of stuff. we just soiree general kelley crisis may have ended john kelly's time in the west wing but the four star marine

general was brought to the white house to restore order his brothers rather be here's the president donald trump took him from his post as homeland security secretary in july of two thousand and seventeen he replaced the first chief of staff writes priebus thanksgiving kelly's first order of business was firing communications director anthony scare mucci it on the job for just ten days for disparaging white house officials in a profanity laced interview for a time kelley was described as the adult in the white house reportedly imposing military like discipline on staff and limiting access to the president very well but in october of that same year a botched military mission in new share that left four american soldiers dead cause some to question kelly's judgment kelly attacked a congresswoman who criticized the president's mishandling of a condolence call to one of the widows it stuns me that a member of congress were to listen in on a conversation. absolutely stunning. but the controversy surrounding rob porter

a top trump aide may have been kelly's biggest fumble kelly defended porter when his ex-wives accused him of physical and emotional abuse so did the president as you probably know he says he's innocent and i think you have to remember that he said very strongly yesterday that he's innocent but the administration was forced to back away when photos of one ex-wife's blackeye surfaced bolstering her claims the case led to questions about how porter given his police record had received security clearances and led to others in the administration including the president's own sudden larger cushion or seeing their top secret clearance revoked other tromp reports surfaced that kelley had referred to trump as an idiot something both men denied other top officials like former secretary of state rex tillerson and former national security advisor h.r. mcmaster were let go after allegedly making similar insults in recent months

kelli's tenure has been marked with reports of fights including reported shouting match with national security adviser john bolton as well as disagreements with first lady a lani a trump. kelly is the latest in a long list of high profile departures can really help al jazeera the white house the outgoing u.s. ambassador to the u.n. has made her first public comments on the matter of saudi journalist jamal khashoggi this is what nikki haley told the atlantic magazine the whole situation with casualty is we can't give them a pass we cons and the reason is you have saudi government officials that did this in a saudi consulate the saudi government doesn't get a pass we can condone it we can ever say it's ok because and the support saga and we have to say that. the saudi crown prince has been in constant private contact with donald trump's son in law and middle east advisor jared kushner according to

a new york times report their relationship has continued even off to a saudi journalist jamal khashoggi the article reveals that krishna has been a strong advocate for mohamed bin sound the informal contact was made despite a rule that national security council members must take part in all calls with foreign leaders she have a chance he has more from washington d.c. . it's been widely speculated that nikki haley will run for political office again one day and this interview suggests she's in no mood to come down emphatically and offend anyone who may be useful to her in the future yes she says the saudis need to be held accountable but she also says they are the key ally for the u.s. in fighting iran her accountability her idea of accountability repeatedly in this interview is what she calls the dozen or so saudis who have been sanctioned by the u.s. she's pushed by the interview with a what if it's shown that moment is directly accountable then she says well look

then that's up to the trumpet ministration but she does accept that bowing when someone is technically responsible but only technically responsible that's despite what we've heard the cia assessment is that he is fully responsible in their best assessment now we also have this new york times article about gerrard cush news current relationship with the saudis it confirms what we already know jarred mom had been someone are in very constant what's app contact and text each other a great deal that's continuing since the khashoggi murder that jarred the new york times says is advising moment been someone on how to weather the storm and is his biggest supporter in the white house in addition the new york times gives us extra information on how that relationship developed the new york times says the saudis targeted krishna two years ago the reason their opinion that jarred knew very little about the middle east. a protest in four acts for saturday's

a four massive demonstrations across france what began as protests against an increase in fuel tax has spread to wider resentment against president emanuel macaroons government the streets of paris and other french cities are relatively calm now as groups of so-called yellow vest protesters returned home for the night but throughout the day some one hundred twenty five thousand demonstrators descended on the streets breaking barricades and burning cars and vandalizing shops they were met by large numbers of riot police armed with tear gas and water cannon more than nine hundred seventy people are in police custody demonstrations were held across the country this was the scene in the southwestern city of port au barricades could still be seen burning overnight and in neighboring to lose several large fires well it's by protesters in the center of the city french media reporting some thirty seven people were arrested by police the government in paris

is calling for calm because you did 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 and to deal with the challenges that they have to deal with well al jazeera as david chase who was in central paris throughout the day and sent us this report the the were the what the yellow vests called act for the protests played out with some familiar scenes in the center of paris. the hundreds of arrests were made but it didn't stop the clashes the demonstrators tried to storm the blockades mounted by the right police. the is now because the our very slow moving in on the universe protesters who throwing missoni. at the police lights they're now using tear gas to

gas and stun grenades the. the that we did the first act micron didn't act to heed not act treat we don't exist today we do act for to see if he reacts they don't hear the word dignity dignity is all we want the dignity of making a living out of a war all right people from wanting to watch how the poor are going to keep feeding their children that's what i want to know what we give to our children by the end of the month the shouts coming from the crowds. back and resign but his interior minister had his own message for the yellow vests even it was delivered a safe distance from the fray cv massive ridiculous there have actually been more injuries on the side of the security forces than on the side of the protesters because the idea is to contain things but the toxic has its limits particularly

when we're faced with people who want to behave like it's wrong and it's a war that shows no signs of ending soon the standoff is continuing david chaytor al jazeera paris well protests took an equally violent turn in neighboring belgian as the yellow vest protests spread across europe seventy people have been arrested in brussels after confrontations near the buildings that house the european union police used pepper spray on march as he tried to break in the protest as a calling for the resignation of prime minister shaul michel and a few hundred protesters also wore yellow vests in the dutch city of amsterdam they rallied against government policies on the retirement age the price of health care education and migrant problems at least three people were arrested. china is warning canada of severe consequences if it doesn't release a top executive of one of the world's largest telecoms companies the foreign ministry has lodged a diplomatic press protest calling the case quote extremely nost. the hallways

chief financial officer men one joe was arrested last week on charges of evading u.s. sanctions against iran the canadian courts are deciding on whether to extradite her to the united states where she could face the feste he is in prison or castro is tracking those developments from washington d.c. the canadian prosecutor laid out these charges in court on friday and he accuses me of tricking banks that have u.s. operations into doing business with iran against those u.s. sanctions she's accused of doing this by telling those banks that everything was above board when they did business with her company while way when in fact huawei was operating an unofficial subsidiary out of hong kong that was indeed engaged with businesses in the rann now may was arrested at the vancouver airport but this happened at the behest of u.s. authorities on monday her bail hearing will resume in canada and the u.s. .