as it comes into effect in the yemeni port of her data of reports from the ground say they're still erratic fighting. hello i mean this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up. it's forty years of economic reforms as it engages in a trade war with the united states the u.s. says it's warplanes have killed more than sixty al shabaab fighters in somalia. and

the pristine landscape on the frontline of the global war on drugs we have a special report from. a u.n. brokered cease fire has come into effect in the yemeni city of her data but reports say sporadic fighting is still taking place in the embattled port the fighting pits saudi and u.a.e. backed government forces against the rebels in the area the warring sides had agreed on a truce during political talks held in sweden last week international observers are expected to arrive to monitor the cease fire is critical for the supply of food aid for millions of yemenis on the brink of starvation and there are many challenges on the ground for those international observers as out diplomatic editor james bays explains from the united nations. the u.n. security council has started work drawing up

a draft resolution that would indorse what was agreed in stockholm last week and give a mandate for a u.n. monitoring mission in yemen news that has been welcomed by the spokesman for the u.n. secretary general it will be. i think it will send a strong signal from the international from the international community in support of the un's work of this where mr griffiths has done what mr cameron general camera . will lead the dots general patrick who's leading the monitoring mission has been briefing the un secretary general antonio good terrorists on his plan i'm told the first members of the monitoring mission the assessment team will be on the ground in yemen on wednesday the watchwords i'm told or form follows function they'll look at the security situation see what functions they need to perform and then decide on the form the number of monitors they're going to need to come from member states

the united nations people with military experience but people who operate on the ground in an unarmed capacity one of the problems the u.n. is facing here is that the talks in stockholm went much better than expected so the u.n. is having to pull together this monitoring mission at very short notice while the yemeni mother of a dying two year old is being prevented from traveling to the u.s. to say goodbye to him that's because the trumpet ministrations travel ban on citizens of five mostly muslim countries the council on american islamic relations is asking the state department to issue a waiver but there's been no response so far mike hanna reports from washington. the first travel ban was imposed just days after president trump took office. it face numerous challenges before the current version was up killed by the supreme court earlier this year it prohibits the citizens of iran libya somalia syria and yemen from traveling to the u.s. without a special waiver and among those barred from entry is the mother of

a two year old boy dying of a rare brain disease in a california hospital abdulla her son was brought to the u.s. for treatment by his father early he's now being kept on life support so his mother can bid farewell but despite numerous requests there's been no way that issued by the state department now we see the muslim best effect in the most dehumanizing way and we're running out of time we're calling for the department of state to issue a muslim ban waiver to allow seamus will of the wife of a u.s. citizen the mother of a u.s. citizen to hold her child one last time until allow her to mourn with dignity and a direct plea made by a grieving father my wife's economy every day wanted to kiss and elder son. who. for the one most hang.

time times are in me now please help us to my family together in the stark odds facing a mother who wants to join a husband and dying son statistics reveal only two percent top requests for a waiver succeed mike hanna al-jazeera washington. china is marking forty years since its economy opened up to the rest of the wild president xi jinping hailed its achievements and growing influence on global affairs but the anniversary coincides with a major trade dispute with the u.s. both sides agreed to a ninety day true sally this month to allow for negotiations aimed at ending the standoff the u.s. accuses china of unfair trade practices which beijing denies adrian brown joins us live now from beijing a dream we've been hearing from president xi speaking at the great hall of the people i imagine it was quite the nationalist celebration did he say anything

significant. a lot of what he had to say i have to say we have heard before the reason why everybody was watching the speech so closely is that we were looking for signs hints of any possible concessions that president xi jinping was prepared to make to try to ease the current trade friction with the united states now china's already agreed to cut auto imports on the u.s. cars and to stop buying more u.s. soybeans again so we were hoping perhaps imagining that there might be further concessions those concessions did not happen other than a vague promise from president xi for china's economic reforms to continue the reforms begun by dung sharping exactly forty years ago but more this was a speech i think about china's identity and china's position in the world he said that no one could condescendingly tell china what to do he said that china was

moving to the center of the world and he also said and i think this was a message aimed at independents movements in taiwan and hong kong that the desire for a united china he said had never been stronger he also outlined you know all that it's happened during the past forty years it was very much a sort of report card from the party he said the poverty rates for instance had been cut by more than ninety four percent but he didn't mention that some eighty million people here in china are still living on less than two dollars a day so a wide ranging speech lots of vague promises lots of platitudes but very little specific detail age and change and being as also been criticized for backing off some of those market friendly reforms and then shopping and existing or state control forty years now from forty years on from the opening up now how is the economy doing there's been a bit of a slowdown. yes it's there's

no doubt the economy has started to slow and that's partly due to the trade war but i think what she jinping was also demonstrating today was the fact that you know look we have managed to grow our economy without democracy without a free media without a free internet without being overly concerned about human rights so i think he wanted to stress again also that the party's role in the economy hats remain paramount so we have the same contradiction that we had in fact forty years ago we have you know the heavy hand of the state was controlling a free market planned a planned economy and you know forty years ago economists were arguing it simply couldn't happen if the experiment would fail world china's leaders have proved that the experiment can work and is still working for now out of there is adrian brown

live for us in beijing thank you a.j. . u.s. airstrikes have killed more than sixty people in from the area the military says all were fighters from the armed group al-shabaab the pentagon says the attacks over the weekend. where in coordination with somalia's federal government a somali intelligence official told me dia that military vehicles and a camp where hit had to kill him has this update from washington d.c. . the u.s. military not giving out a ton of details but they do say that on december fifteenth air strikes were launched at about forty kilometers southwest of the capital mogadishu and that thirty four fighters were killed air strikes the following day on the sixteenth killed another twenty eight fighters for al shabaab the u.s. military says they don't believe any civilians were killed or injured in the bombing campaign the associated press is reporting that sources inside the somali government say that the reason for the attack was they believed al shabaab was about to launch an attack on

a somali government military facility so the air strikes were called in we've seen a pretty sizable increase in the number of air strikes in somalia since u.s. president donald trump came to office he's given the u.s. military pretty much across the globe more authority to launch air strikes this will be the most airstrikes in recent memory in somalia conducted by the u.s. in cooperation with the somali government this brings the total to forty six airstrikes for the year. in britain the leader of the opposition is submitting a motion of no confidence in the prime minister that's after tourism a pushed back a crucial vote on the country's deal to leave the european union to next month with exit day on march the twenty ninth fast approaching and with no deal officially in place some politicians say the deadlock can only be resolved with effect and referendum paul brennan reports. the prime minister theresa may adamant there would be no meaningful vote on bret's it until january parliament appeared almost pointless on monday but having failed to make any concrete progress in her talks

with european leaders in brussels last week this is may was judy bound to report back to the lawmakers in london she acknowledged the widespread hostility to have a plan but she warned bravely against holding another referendum another vote which would do irreparable damage to the integrity of our politics because it would say to millions who trusted intimate prosy that our democracy does not deliver. another vote which would likely leave us nose further forward than the last and another vote which would further divide our country at the very moment we should be working to unite around the threat of a no confidence vote in the prime minister organized by the opposition labor party appear to have been neutralized and theresa may set the week of january fourteenth for the rearranged meaningful vote to justice proceedings drew to a close labor leader jeremy called and decided to go for it so mr speaker is the only way i can think of of ensuring a vote takes place this week i'm about to table

a motion which says the following that this house has no confidence in the prime minister due. to to her failure to allow the house of commons to have a meaningful vote straightaway on the withdrawal agreement and framework for future relationships during the u.k. and the european union and that will be tabled immediately mr speaker thank you to . the procedure now is that confidence. motions tabled by the opposition will take precedence over government business and its parliamentary convention that any such request be granted this week that seemed to be winding down into a christmas holiday just warmed up again. al-jazeera. weather is up next but still ahead on al-jazeera a u.s. senate report says russia used social media to meddle in u.s. politics. and is still meddling today. thousands rallied in a show of support for the reinstated prime minister.

hello again it's good to have you back well here across the western part of we have been seeing a lot of messy weather with the storm systems that are coming in off the mediterranean and over the next you days that is only going to be getting worse from tuesday as well as into wednesday you can see that storm system really affecting parts of greece and turkey well as we go towards wednesday a lot more rain comes into play and it's going to be windy as well so we can expect to see some localized flooding in certain areas anywhere from turkey down here toward syria maybe even jordan as well as into lebanon temperatures a little bit cooler than average would syria seeing temperatures in aleppo at about thirteen degrees and beirut well maybe about seventeen degrees for you they're not looking too bad for much of the gulf over the next few days not a lot of clouds in play but temperatures look quite nice for doha as we go towards

the holiday here twenty five degrees here on tuesday as we go towards wednesday we are looking at about the same here but temperatures down here along the coast for salada you are going to be seeing the rain ending by the time we get to wednesday but more rain is going to be a problem over here towards parts of somalia there very quickly as we go down toward southern part of africa we are looking at better conditions down here towards the south heavy rain up here towards harare at twenty four degrees and over here towards madagascar we're looking at partly cloudy conditions with a temperature of about twenty six. on counting the cost we'll assess the state of the u.k. economy continues to broker its way out of the. world look at a major milestone for the internet. the watch your economy. this is the opportunity to understand in

a very different way where there before something happens and we don't leave. welcome back. a reminder about top stories this hour a u.n. broken ceasefire has come into effect in the yemenis thirty of data but there are reports that sporadic fighting is still taking place in the embattled port between saudi and u.a.e. government forces and who the rebels. china is marking forty years since its economy opened up to the rest of the wilds but the anniversary coincides with a major trade dispute with the u.s. both sides agreed to a ninety day truce this month to allow for negotiations aimed at ending the

standoff. u.s. air strikes in somalia have killed more than sixty people the military says fighters from the armed group al-shabaab the attacks on saturday and sunday are in coordination with somalia's federal problems. russia is being accused of using every social media platform possible to influence the twenty sixteen presidential election in donald trump's favor to new reports say it's still working to support him millions of social media posts have been studied in the first comprehensive analysis provided by someone other than the social media companies themselves alan fischer reports. if you can think of a social media platform there's a strong chance the russians used it to try to influence the twenty sixteen u.s. presidential election from you tube facebook and twitter to read it and instagram and more to reports commissioned by the u.s. senate intelligence committee says russia's internet research agency or i r e tried

to capitalize on divisions in u.s. politics it pushed more than ten million tweets more than one thousand you tube videos and their own one hundred sixteen thousand instagram posts all together that translated into a potential of reaching more than one hundred forty million people. one of the reports concluded what is clear all of the messaging clearly sought to benefit the republican party and specifically donald trump but one expert says it's not clear if just pushing the message had any impact the russian certainly tried to interfere in american elections and continue to try and interfere in american politics are they actually making a difference it's not clear what they're doing legal in some of the more indictments of shown certainly not but it's really important thing to separate out affective ness from legality and morality right these are all survive different issues and difference of stakes a place reports say that the russians push conservatives on key issues like gun rights and immigration while sending misinformation to largely democratic

supporting african-american voters are doing them to boycott elections and they support u.s. intelligence reports of russian interference and the action of special counsel robert miller who's investigating possible russian collusion in the election to indict a number of russian hackers and officials president donald trump has both criticized possible russian interference and described it also as a hoax president putin he just said it's not russian except our intelligence community his conclusion that russia is meddling in the two thousand and six election took place the reports also criticized the tech firms who provided data to the investigators saying that they seem to provide no more than the minimum information required and will add to pressure on those firms to do more to prevent election interference the report does not cover any potential action in the recent mid-term elections the committee's leading democrat mark warner says it's time to

get serious in addressing the challenge of interference and he hopes there could be legislative action to follow alan fischer al-jazeera washington. well former f.b.i. director james comey has called on us republicans to stand up for the values of the country on certain questions in congress carney said president trump's constant criticism of the f.b.i. was harmful to the rule of law trump lames investigations into alleged links between russia and his presidential campaign in adjustment what chung's the president of united states is lying about the f.b.i. attacking the f.b.i. and attacking the rule of law in this country. how does that make any sense at all at some point someone has to stand up in the face of fear of fox news fear of their base fear of being tweets stand up for the values of this country and not slink away to retirement but stand up and speak the truth members of the u.n.

security council live expressed concern over kosovo's decision to turn its security force into an army the announcement last friday angered so bia and prompted the security council meeting on monday u.n. peacekeeping chief. called on both sides to refrain from any steps that could escalate the situation goldberg album of kosovo has made a mistake it's only that we had it for five years unnecessarily to establish an army the decision for the army might be belated but in no way is it the wrong one it's believed it because we waited for goodwill from those that never showed any goodwill towards council. we are free seeing more and more difficulties in the area of course when we talk here and i have to say the time very much worried very much concerned and a bit even afraid of the future and for the future not only.

for my people of our country serbia but of an entire region. a french court has ruled against three former high school students of african descent who accuse the state of racial discrimination they said they were stopped and searched by police on a school trip because of their skin color that a judge in paris disagreed that asked about the reports. it was a visibly disappointing verdict for these french former students they had sued the state for racial discrimination for an unexplained police stop and search in paris after high school trippin twenty seventeen but a french court ruled that the police had done nothing wrong. the judge said there was no discrimination because the students were in a class where there were other so-called ethnic minority students of a young french people who were black and arab because the others were not search but have a similar physical appearance they couldn't be racial discrimination. this injustice

makes me want to fight more this verdict makes me through shocked and outraged it was a paris's gal do you know train station that police officers took aside the three students after the train arrived from brussels they had to open their bags and hand over id cards in front of their classmates mamadou said the verdict sends a message the young men like him are second class citizens. but this is. france's motto is liberty equality and fraternity but i don't think it's the same for everyone it depends on what you look like we grew up and your origin. racial profiling is illegal in france but some young people say that they feel singled out by police because of the color of their skin according to france's human rights young frenchmen of africa an arab heritage all twenty times more likely than others to be stopped and searched by fridge police without an explanation.

happens to me you are hanging out in town the police come and search you the last twenty minutes they stop you without any special reason the case is thrown a spotlight on the often tense relationship between french police and young men from the suburbs those here say that although the verdict was unexpected they will continue to exercise their rights and appeal the decision the al-jazeera paris riot police and hungary are trying to control thousands of anti-government protesters in the capital bitter pest the crowds are angry about a new labor law passed in parliament last week that allows employers to request up to four hundred hours of overtime a year without paying for up to three years prime minister viktor orban the right wing government says it's an attempt to fix a labor shortage and to allow workers to more but critics call it a slavery. sri lanka's prime minister says his united national party will form new

political alliances to safeguard the country against corruption addressing tens of thousands of supporters at a victory rally runnel the chroma singer thanks those who stood by him during a political crisis lasting fifty one days in el fernandez reports from colombia. planned as a fight for justice this rally in colombo became a celebration of run of the committee his reappointment as prime minister and the man who's been at the center of the two month long constitutional crisis was in his element of it and i am i guess the only people that they were his strength in the historic fifty one days the appointment by president mighty policy to say no of mine the rajapaksa to replace victor messina brought together a fractious united national party angry at what they called a blatant violation of democracy the party and its alliance partners rallied to protect their leader so did party supporters opportunity when lp

a pretended we voted against mahinda but the president ought to mean it's that pain the need to defend our rights that's brought people here. it's become missing his fifth time as prime minister he's been careful not to criticize president syria cena despite scathing attacks by him party leaders are following his cue realizing they have to work with the president for at least another fifteen months become a singer told supporters that mistakes had been made during his three and a half year government the fifty one day political crisis has given run over her missing her and his political partners a shot in the arm helping them bring together the largest political gathering that they have had in recent years they have admitted shortcomings when they were in government and promised to correctly i believe that. the prime minister ministers and parliamentarians must get closer to the people we acted against corruption but legal action has been slow we will address this the former president

and now former prime minister minded rajapaksa says he resigned to ensure the stability of the country and allowed president to appoint a new government something the president vowed never to do with victory missing her at the helm on sunday he insisted that his personal stance was not to appoint wickham a singer but said he was doing so to respect parliamentary traditions. seriously in his bid to dissolve parliament and cause snap elections was ruled unconstitutional by the supreme court last week become a singer says a new political alliance will be formed to safeguard the country a possible reference to plans for his new government and elections that will be tested when they go ahead in the coming months when if an end is. colombo in india four people including an opposition leader in the congress party have been jailed for life for their involvement in riots against sikhs in the one nine

hundred eighty s. so john criminal was convicted of inciting the killing of a family and the torching of a sikh temple the riots followed the assassination of then prime minister indira gandhi by her sikh bodyguards thousands of caciques were killed in the violence. on the southern border is on the front line in the global war on drugs every year tons of heroin opium and marijuana a smuggled in from neighboring afghanistan despite costly international efforts child stratford finds out why stopping the drug trade has been so difficult. because of not a guess was a heroin addict for seventeen years she's getting treatment at this government health center in tajikistan's capital to show. her husband used to smuggle heroin into the country from neighboring afghanistan by swallowing sealed bags of the drug . many young people. despite knowing they will be

sick i don't understand why no one told me when i started using heroin we thought it was just about enjoying ourselves. is a front line in the global war on drugs a war that the international community is struggling to win in some places along the one thousand three hundred kilometer border with afghanistan the villages set among the premier mountains are so close you can see and hear children playing on the other side the un estimates around twenty percent of afghan drugs pass through to markets around the world all that separates afghanistan from tajikistan certainly in this region is the river which as you can see in places like this is literally just a few meters wide now international experts say that despite hundreds of millions of dollars having been spent to try and stop the smuggling of drugs from afghanistan across this border the effects indeed the success of domestic

policies with international assistance has been minimal tajikistan's and he narcotic agency was keen to show us how they deal with the drugs they see. bags of opium or hasheesh blocks boxes of heroin thrown into an incinerator. the government says more than three tons of heroin has been intercepted so far this year. drug traffic by it. is getting lower this shows to better controlling the situation but the u.n. drugs agency and the u.s. and european governments are regularly accused as you can stand of not doing enough . the u.s. says it's believed much of the drugs that moved through the country do so with the help of corrupt police and government officials some international report estimates drug smuggling accounts for almost a third of tajikistan's economy last year

a record nine thousand tons of opium was produced in afghanistan mainly by all groups including the taliban almost double the amount from two thousand and sixteen and with little sign of peace in afghanistan it's expected tajikistan will remain a major transit route for drugs or the way to russia china and other countries around the world shall stop at al-jazeera or the tajikistan afghanistan border. and these are the top stories a un brokered cease fire has come into effect in the yemeni city of her data but reports say sporadic fighting is still taking place in the embattled port between saudi and u.a.e. backed government forces and who the rebels china is locking forty is since if the economy opened up to the rest of the wild but the anniversary coincides with a major trade dispute with the u.s.

both sides agreed to a ninety day truce earlier this month to allow for negotiations aimed at ending the standoff u.s. air strikes in somalia have killed more than sixty people the military says fighters from the armed group al-shabaab the attacks on getting on saturday and sunday were in coordination with somalia's federal government britain's opposition leader has submitted a motion of no confidence in prime minister to resign may. hold a crucial vote on the deal to leave the european union may is facing intense opposition to have proposed agreement and has postponed the voters in parliament to next month. russia is being accused of using every social media platform possible to influence the twenty sixteen presidential election in donald trump's favor to new reports prepared for the u.s. senate say moscow is still working to support trump former f.b.i. director james comey has called on us republicans to stand up for the values of the country on certain questions and congress carney says president donald trump's

constant criticism of the f.b.i. is harmful to the rule of law and the president of united states is lying about the f.b.i. attacking the f.b.i. in attacking the rule of law in this country. how does it make any sense that. at some point someone has to stand up in the face of fear of fox news fear their base fear of the tweets stand up for the values of this country and not slink away to retirement but stand up and speak the truth riot police in hungary are trying to control thousands of anti-government protesters the crowds are angry about a new so-called slave law passed in parliament last week as allows employers to request as much as four hundred hours of overtime a year without payment for up to three years those are the headlines join me for more news here after counting the cost. the two new zealand

scientists who lit a double life so secret even kept it from his family. but his activities would have a military impact to which he would pay the ultimate price. al-jazeera world investigates the life and death. the two new zealand drone engineer. hello i'm sammy's a dan this is counting the cost on al-jazeera your weekly look at the world of business and economics this week the cost of brokering brags it will look at the state of the u.k. economy as it heads into a new year and uncertain times. also this week a major milestone for the internet half of the.