and the similarities of cultures across the world and. so no matter where you call home al-jazeera will bring you the news and current affairs that matter to. al-jazeera. al-jazeera. hello i'm barbara sara this is the al-jazeera news hour live from london thanks for joining us coming up in the next sixty minutes riot police dispersed thousands of angry protesters in sudan as president omar al bashir dismisses them as traitors. turkey says the united states has agreed to disarm kurdish fighters in northern syria u.s. president donald trump warns the government shutdown will last until he gets

funding for his controversial border wall with mexico. and i'm peter simmons in doha with all the sports as india go in search of the first ever cricket test series women in australia it's one one going into the boxing day match in melbourne and. we begin the news hour in sudan where riot police have dispersed thousands of protesters trying to march on the presidential palace in khartoum the demonstrators are angry at rising food and fuel prices and blame president president omar al bashir is government for economic mismanagement by this by promising reforms earlier this week the long time ruler has now this missed the protesters as traitors and foreign agents our correspondent hippa morgan has more now from the two. they started by protesting against rotation of credit and rising inflation but

seven days on the demand has completely changed they're now demanding the government and its twenty one year rule and step down the government which is led by president omar al bashir has responded using tear gas and live ammunition. president omar al bashir addressed his supporters in tuesday hickeys the protests as of being influenced by external h.d. the feeling. that as a. thank you for hosting me thank you for your support a new clues he hasn't which is your response to every foreign trade to outlaw and destructive person you are the ones responding to them right now from here you are responding to all the churches in foreign agents i support you and with your support i will be back here next year and. thousands came out to protest in the capital anyway some opposition groups have voiced support to the protesters they say the people have legitimate reasons for

turning an economic crisis into a political crisis for the government but the being as we cannot at this moment lower our demands to economic ones only the protesters started demonstrating at the bridge if you will and financial instability however they are now demanding the toppling of the regime and changing it at the masses of realize that there is a strong relationship between the economy and politics the regime has promised several times to forward to direct its part of the crisis is the nature of the regime which spends a lot of money on protecting itself and on buying loyalty and support. president bashir has faced protests before but throughout his reign he's never had to face protests this big protests that those participating in seemed to turn him into keep going till date demands are met he morgan has their own medicine. for more let's talk to sudanese american journalist israel who was based in khartoum for eight years he joins us live now from washington d.c.

sir thank you so much for joining us here on out first of all what have you made of these protests in sudan i mean the situation there has been difficult for some time but what do you think what do you make of the protesters and why they've taken to the streets. done this year two thousand and eighteen and it's been a very difficult year for most particularly economically with inflation around seventy percent with the value of the sudanese pounds hauling him into about a one dollar equal to sixty pounds and the price of basic goods going up very high and this all comes in a overall. sense of political disc discontent in the country so it isn't really that surprising that we see people taking to the streets to express the how they feel about government policies i mean it's interesting how perhaps something that initially started about food and fuel price hikes actually then

became very much i directed protest against omar al bashir his reaction has been interesting as well initially promising concessions and now we hear some talk of the protesters being traitors for example what do you make of his change of tack and do you think any promise that he makes about reforms or change can be believed . i don't think most processors and political actors in sudan feel they've heard this before. the government i mean after the two thousand and thirteen protests were to over two hundred people protesters or. were killed by security at least allegedly. there was a process of a national dialogue that took over two years. the outcome of that national dialogue for most of them years from what i and from my reading and talking to different

people is that these are not genuine reforms that we've heard this before and it's time for a genuine change a genuine participation in the affairs of the country how united or not is the opposition because if omar al bashir is or seemingly so unpopular right now would make sense that perhaps someone else would emerge as a potential i'll turn it even when one way or another but how divided is the opposition to down. well that's a good question and that really has been one of the issues i mean the for a long time the cities up as should have been divided there are various. actors political parties rebel groups used groups so for a long time i think the government has been able to make use of that very fact that the opposition has been quite divided but i think with what we're seeing now is

that different opposition groups are. calling on their political base to take to the streets to join these protests why how that translates into actual. political gain. remains to be seen but yes there is a history of the. division within the political parties amongst the political opposition but i mean i think you know all comes all these regardless of the active in opposition politics or not really have felt the burden of the economic woes that have taken place this year israel. sudanese american journalists are thank you for sharing your thoughts with us turkey's foreign minister says the u.s. is going to take back military equipment supplied to kurdish led forces in northern syria for weeks turkey has been threatening to launch

a new offensive against the kurdish fighters who partnered with the u.s. in the battle against isis but that operation was delayed at the president donald trump announced that he was pulling u.s. troops from syria turkey and the u.s. have now agreed to cooperate to assure that there isn't a power vacuum following the u.s. draw and began joint withdrawals around the city of mumbai last month. well this is all part of the month vision agreement reached between the u.s. and turkey back in june as part of that deal the us guaranteed that kurdish fighters would withdraw from a beach to the east of the euphrates by the end of two thousand and eighteen a new city council would also be established by local arabs from the region who have been displaced by war the road map was put in place in order to avoid a confrontation between the u.s. and turkey washington has been training and arming kurdish y p g fighters since two thousand and fourteen but turkey considers the group a terrorist organization seen in close a group has more now from istanbul. turkish officials how welcomed the u.s.

decision to withdraw from syria they also welcomed a commitment to with take weapons provided to y.p. to fighters in order to fight against in syria and we when you speak to the military experts and security experts they have doubts about the way how these weapons are going to be collected because they say there is a huge amount of weapons provided to the white p.g. and no one can assure that these weapons have been haven't been taken out of syria to iraq or other places or no one can guarantee that these weapons can be delivered by the white p.g. to russian military forces over there or the syrian regime army forces inside syria of course it is a question mark also for turkey whether united states is totally going to isolate the y p g in syria in that case the scenario comes up for the turkish officials still consider whether the white preacher is going to ally with the syrian regime or a rush hour we know that two kurdish delegations from the syrian democracy

a council which is the political wing of the s.d.f. have been to moscow and they have been discussed they discussed about the future of that is the euphrates where turkey and threatens to hold the military operation in order to clean the region from the white p.g. and to moscow has been the second capital after paris which hosts. meetings for the s.d.f. main the a y p g and turkey says that this is the hosting of p.k. k. in their own capitals now talking to the source as an anchor they are very uncomfortable about this latest dialogue between moscow and the s.d.f. u.s. president donald trump says the partial government shutdown will continue until he gets funding to build a wall along the southern border with mexico trump also repeated his criticism of the federal reserve. they raising interest rates too fast because they think it got to me so that. i think that. they will get it right

i can't tell you where the government's got to be up and i can tell you it's not going to be open until we have a wall fence whatever they like to call it i'll call it whatever they want. but it's all the same thing it's a barrier from people pouring into our company into our country chevron tansey has more now from washington on the face of it it was a tough restatement of donald trump's position b. twenty five percent of the federal government that's currently shut down wouldn't reopen until he got the money for his wall however you could interpret his statement as suggesting some wiggle room for negotiation he didn't just call it a wall he said the federal government is going to open he said until we have a wall a fence whatever they'd like to call it perhaps you think there's a way forward in negotiation if he if he really is on the idea of a concrete barrier which he's already been doing in the last few weeks talking

about steel slabs artistic steel slabs perhaps he thinks there's a way for the last offer we heard from the white house was over the weekend which was not for a concrete barrier which wasn't for five billion dollars so perhaps the white house hopes there is a way forward but from what we're hearing from the democrats that are just as confused as anyone else there was this tweet from chuck schumer who said different people from the same white house are saying different things about what the president would accept or not accept to end his strong shutdown making it impossible to know where they stand at any given moment and some of those reconvene on thursday when negotiations that that continue. indonesian rescuers are searching for hundreds of missing people following saturday's deadly tsunami but torrential rains are hampering their efforts the best hole in western java has now risen to four hundred twenty nine people with a further one thousand four hundred people injured and experts are warning residents to move to higher ground amid fears of more high tides and possible

tsunamis andrew thomas reports now from on the glass. this seems in prime decline all the media indonesians have seen lots of bass this year the drudgery of a cleanup following a disaster this is what remains of the hotel look who is me at the end all day and will greeting guests when the tsunami hits on saturday both were swept inland by the water and were injured as they were tumbled it was terrifying but not completely unexpected. i saw what happened and i knew i just knew it would happen here i just didn't know when. palu is the city on indonesia's fourth largest audience struck by another tsunami and earthquake in september more than two thousand people die like that and two major earthquakes killed more than five hundred people in the eastern island of lombok

a few months ago so just and volcanologists say the amounts of tectonic activity in indonesia in twenty eighteen hasn't been particularly unusual what is unusual is that the areas destroyed were heavily populated increasing the number of victims that's meant a very busy year for emergency services and aid organizations that help survivors pretty decisively the same thing beyond our planning yet so that say we don't read . the rest of it it isn't to assist us and they also collect money over and under now some of the fight this and they're not in the north hundred land is now in the first stage of a disaster recovery process that is more advanced in other parts of indonesia it's almost as if this rain which is constant since the tsunami hit even mocking the people of hundred i think try to clear up and dry out their lives but it will clear

and like here it will improve that little comfort right now but the narrative in indonesia is a familiar one undertone of al-jazeera. hundred. plenty more ahead on the news hour including we visit the u.s. church which is saving an el salvadoran woman from deportation indigenous venezuelans fleeing the economic and political collapse at home say they're going hungry in colombia and then sport a new twist on one of basketball's biggest rivalries peter will be here with that story and more. but first the best toll from a gun and suicide attack on the government compound in afghanistan's capital has climbed to forty people no armed group has yet claimed responsibility for monday's attack which was one of the deadliest assaults in kabul this year hundreds of people were trapped in the building for hours as gunmen went from floor to floor

shooting government employees there and a hundred ports. as the sun started to go down across the afghan capital kabul fires still burning and the attack on the government building was coordinated and went on for hour was a suicide bomber threw explosives packed into a car before gunmen stormed the building and systematically moved through it firing an employee. it was a frightening sound from the explosion we got scared an escaped people were very upset and everyone was running away police evacuated more than three hundred fifty government workers others reported themselves in the rough ases. but many more were caught up in an attack that reportedly went on. for eight hours. and i was walking. in the area when suddenly there was a huge explosion it knocked me down the taliban launches regular attacks and

controls nearly half of afghanistan but i still known. reach me is diana she is active too both armed groups have launched coordinated attacks like this one in the past this is a sensitive time in afghanistan as the attack unfolded pakistan's foreign minister was in kabul for talks with the afghan president afghanistan's peace process was on the ridge and. the u.s. has been pushing to revive peace talks with the taliban and just four days ago u.s. president donald trump announced plans to withdraw all seven thousand american troops half of the u.s. force in the country so we are proud the taliban representatives speaking to the u.s. special envoy. last week and they are set to meet again and the saudi capital riyadh next month we have. representatives from saudi arabia.

attend those meetings as well. when it was over at least fortunately it's very monday deed but most of the at this point people working for the government and about to hit home for the day down hunt down to zero. at least six people including three suicide bombers have been killed in an attack on the foreign ministry in the libyan capital tripoli they detonated a car bomb before opening fire on the ministry two of the attackers managed to get into the building twenty one people have been injured but for the bill he has more now from tripoli. the interior minister calls it a terrorist attack he also stated that the criminal investigation department is currently conducting forensic and d.n.a. analysis to recognize the identity of the attackers and the motives behind the attack this is the third time state institutions get under attack in

this year but yet interior minister admits that there is chaos in the security system. we have been consumed by our own internal fighting and rivalries that's why we couldn't have official security forces that are well equipped and trained to prevent such attacks we have many challenges but we will never give up and the same context the foreign minister says that the ministers his headquarter has been damaged by the attack and the employee is well starved over work in another facility he also appears for the international community for help and how the early certainly the only this is a message to the international community we have demanded that the arms embargo on libya be lifted security cannot be maintained in libya unless your security council gives an exception by party lifting the arms embargo and certain qualities of

weapons so we can combat terrorism. two similar attacks targeted to state institutions in the capital tripoli this year the high national election commission's headquarters in may and the state oil firm national oil corporations headquarter in september but yet the security apparatus does not seem to have been improved to prevent such attacks. syrian state media is reporting the country's air defenses of intercepted missiles near the capital and state t.v. gave no further details and it didn't say who they thought was behind the strike meanwhile the israeli military say their air defense system has intercepted an anti aircraft missile fired towards israel from syria in the past israel has launched a series of air strikes into syria which they say targeting raney and hezbollah forces fighting alongside the syrian government's army.

tennesseans have been protesting in the capital following the funeral of a journalist who set himself on fire there as exhorter green was making a stand against economic problems within the country before his self-immolation who posted a video online calling for a revolt police used tear gas to disperse the protesters who blocked roads and. thousands of asylum seekers living in tents on one of greece's a.g.n. islands are enduring another winter without proper shelter heating or running water there is no space at the official camp which is supposed to house them and as john psaropoulos reports from some most they'll continue waiting in the cold until the government builds somewhere for them to leave. when abdullah and his family from afghanistan arrived on some us a few weeks ago they were given blankets and sleeping bags but nowhere to live because there's no space in the government run camp together with a friend they made this tent for their wives and children but there isn't enough

room for them all make an embittered by sleep outside the tent only my children and my wife have the tent one night i sleep on the ground one night on a chair one night i asked my friends if i may sleep with them one night i sleep outside the camp in a town one night i sleep in a mosque. the former interpreter for u.s. forces in afghanistan says all the children are sick this blue tarp all in isn't waterproof so on days like this the rain drops through in a high wind many tents are pulled apart and heavy rains can cause them to slide off their base of wooden pallets into the mud almost three thousand asylum seekers live in similar conditions in an olive grove beside the camp those who have the money by tents to put under the tarp all in the lucky ones have camping stove but an open flame is a fire hazard some light wood fires and burned plastic food containers and egyptian asylum seeker trying to stay warm died of carbon monoxide poisoning last year

unless of course his family is suing the greek government for failing to provide housing government handouts can be difficult to get many spend hours queuing for food. to go early in the morning to wait for breakfast food service begins at eight and i can get food at nine i give the food to my family and then rejoin the key for lunch i wait there for three hours and then i wait another four or five hours for dinner starting at four o'clock i spend all my day in the queue for food for my wife and children. this camp was built for six hundred fifty and already houses twice that many a few new arrivals still build their own accommodation on vacant spots inside the camp these men say they found the timber in town because. the truth is the situation is not the best given that asylum procedures take this long the good news is that the government is looking for a new space where we hope conditions will be better this camp used to be an

artillery range it was hastily chosen and built in twenty sixteen to all of the e.u. turkey agreement the army was the only institution that could get the job done in short order until now has fiercely resisted the official camps expansion the government now seems to have overcome that obstacle and plans a new camp next year that will be twice as large as this these asylum seekers have a whole winter to survive first jumps at all plus most a lack of food and other essentials in venezuela has forced hundreds of thousands of people to look for their next meal in neighboring colombia they include a growing number of indigenous people but they have complained of a less than warm welcome alice under-employed the reports now from the border city of. standard bellies in this in the gaze of children are telltale medical signs of hunger they're all members of the indigenous yuko tribe left in

search of food they now call home a makeshift camp just over the border in colombia. there was a huge crisis in venezuela no medicine no food for our children we had no options but to leave. chief the uneasier left his land in the mountainous. area have been hoping to find relief instead he says his tribe must face the restaurant and discrimination. in recent months some of the you have clashed with police attempting to block their entry was. he now resort to illegally crossing the river dividing the two countries. the lens of the u.k. divided by the border and their legal status has never been formalized traditionally they've been free to move across at will but that's more difficult to go back in two thousand. court ordered states to protect.

internal conflict but the ones who have the right here fleeing the crisis often don't have the documents to prove their ethnic identity. some of those who have made it across the recycling cans to help feed their families. there's live on the streets of the border city of begging or braving baskets and had. their own of the jesuit refugee service says of the millions who have left venezuela it's the indigenous people who are worst off he doesn't just want to know we are in a crisis and we need the government to provide timely responses three ukba kids died from malnutrition there are special needs these communities have that must be recognised to provide protection whether there are colombians or not. on the outskirts of members of another tribe are working to expand their shack twenty one

new arrivals are sleeping in this small room. and i want to stay here i don't want to go back to venezuela and the same is true for my children and the rest of the tribe but we can all live here we need land housing health services the crisis in venezuela has many layers and while colombia has worked hard to help the fleeing menace where the indigenous communities feel their plight has so far been neglected . just. a second the central american child asylum seeker has died in u.s. government custody u.s. immigration authorities say an eight year old boy from guatemala showed signs of potential illness on monday he was taken to hospital and died several hours after being diagnosed with a cold and fever earlier this month a seven year old girl also from guatemala died after being detained by border agents. well just a few kilometers north of the white house a u.s.

church is giving sanctuary to a woman facing deportation to el salvador strict government immigration policies mean that role as lopez is spending christmas away from her family just so she can stay in the country also in jordan has her story. growth a good. move to the u.s. thirteen years ago to save her life. i came here from a salvador because the country was growing so violent and there were people threatening me especially one person who had threatened me several times. but because. missed an early hearing in the immigration court the u.s. government said she must return to. her flight was meant to be on december tenth. as hired a lawyer and someone suggested she seek refuge at a church. as it happens the members of cedar lane unitarian universalist church near washington d.c.

had decided in may two thousand and seventeen that they would provide refuge to immigrants in need they new u.s. immigration officials normally avoid entering houses of worship to detain people facing deportation orders while some say the sanctuary movement violates u.s. immigration law the senior minister says cedar lane is both following the law and living its values our act of fate. is to be in solidarity with rosa. that that is our primary focus and goal and and supporting her and giving her the space and the time that she needs in order for her to receive due process in the trump era religious activists in the u.s. have stepped up efforts to protect asylum seekers and lopez has been willing to publicize her case but she really wants to be back home in virginia with her three children

in the meantime home is with the congregants of cedar lane. but i will always think them because they gave me a very warm welcome and they've embraced me as a member of their family and they've promised to protect me all of them all of them all of us. the best possible gift at this christmas time rosalynn jordan al-jazeera the festa maryland. plenty more still ahead. preparations are underway for democratic republic of congo's long delayed election on sunday but questions remain over whether it will actually bring. tell you why ancient christian traditions in the occupied west bank are under growing threat from the israeli occupation and in sports the man in charge of the english premier league pace setter is insists the title race is still wide open.

hello again welcome back to international weather forecast we're here across southeastern europe watching a big storm system that's been moving through parts of turkey now up through the black sea and into the ukraine and with that storm we do expect to see quite a lot of rain as well as winds even still in the higher elevations and for sure the storm is going to really stay out here in the same location for the next several days so going to see quite a bit of accumulation expression those higher elevations from korea your temperatures going down high temperature here on wednesday only reaching to about zero and athens is going to be a cold day for you a little bit more sun in your forecast at about six but as we go towards thursday notice it gets even colder air filters in from the north minus one is going to be your high out here towards the west what we're looking at single digits for most

locations london at nine degrees we're going to be seeing mostly cloudy conditions there down towards zurich it is going to be a better day with a temperature of five degrees for you well that same storm system i was talking about in turkey is going to cause a lot of problems here across the eastern med and down here towards egypt as we go towards wednesday the cold front is going to extend down here towards the coast that means rain anywhere from benghazi over here towards alexandria we are going to be scenes of winds in the forecast as well but for tunis it is going to be a nice day with the temperature a few fifteen. step into the unknown with central america's first ever theatrical production by actors with down syndrome. a life journey illuminated on stage each performer transformed with the raise of

a curtain. witness time to love a back stage to. the latest news as it breaks i'll go on both sides of the political spectrum are you know it seems in their criticism of victor governments with detailed coverage only change so far as to make it explicit thank you this communist party will remain as the only party. from around the world the idea of an armed intifada as opposition to the occupation is gaining support that's moving away from diplomatic negotiations.

welcome back here's a reminder of the top stories on al-jazeera sudan's president omar al bashir has the smith's protesters rallying against him in the capital as traitors and foreign agents earlier police fired tear gas and live ammunition on the anti-government demonstrators were angry over the rising cost of living turkey's foreign minister says the u.s. is going to take back a military equipment supplied the kurdish led forces in northern syria it's part of a plan for the city of being read between and current washington which will eventually see the complete withdrawal of kurdish fighters from the area the us president has warned the partial government shutdown will continue until the secure is funding for its border war with mexico donald trump wants five point seven billion dollars added to the budget and says he will not sign off on any spending legislation without. at least twenty seven people have died in

a bus crash in the democratic republic of congo the vehicle collided with a truck in to around two hundred kilometers southwest of the capital kinshasa the health ministry says excessive speed was to blame for the accident several people were taken to hospital suffering serious injuries. well staying in the d. or c. voters there will head to the polls on sunday but many remain concerned the election will be compromised it's already been deferred by a week because of technical and logistical problems now electoral commission workers are racing to finish preparations for the historic vote catherine sawyer reports from the capital kinshasa. electoral commission technicians in kinshasa a deal with a crisis they have to make sure thousands of electronic voting machines recalled from other regions and four million new ballot people will walk on. to have been to. stroy bad fire in a warehouse crippling dipali in the city and leading to

a postponement of the election a lot. of you have four million voters here but we also needed some spares ballots so we ordered for five million people as we know organizing them disobey district and walking hard to make sure they are ready for election of the year and send you official say out of routine materials already in regional headquarters across the country this analyst believes getting them to polling stations during the rainy season in a country with bad infrastructure poor security in parts as well as an outbreak in the east will not be easy. in terms of just six nobody is able to give. on the temple so credibility of the process is very very low robot come back hella trains. that are to be deployed to the provinces he's already visited many parts of the country as it electoral process to this

point has been a sham i don't. been unable to publish their. stations in. detail so you might have stationed. a machine meant for those used to manipulate the outcome these are difficult and uncertain times in. people here in the camp who told you not to trust. they say they're afraid the election could be postponed again and. on sunday they're not confident it will be credible we don't trust the process but we must go vote one week is nothing but on election day we will take responsibility we either have a good election they resign or we force them to leave. the only thing we expect president kabila so we find another solution and i think the electoral commission is just a puppet of the president and he is the real problem the commission is under pressure

to be reasonably credible election on sunday with just a few days to go many. al-jazeera. and the museum in senegal is showcasing millions of years of african history but many of the artifacts reside abroad because they were stolen by slave traders and colonizers now calls are growing for them to be returned as the reports from. it is under this tree that the story begins three million years ago in africa with the beginning of the human species it's a tale of a long journey from which most never returned part of the slave trade there were sorrow and destruction along the way but also color courage the spiritual and humor leaving those that want to learn more in our religion it's so overwhelming i

don't really understand it some of it some milieu some of it's not but it definitely grabs you by the guard. the museum of black civilization has been fifty two years in the making it's the brainchild of single or senegal's first president nicknamed the poet president because he spent a third of the national budget on arts and culture it's a legacy president mikey is carrying on. the law still. keeping our culture is what saved african people from attempts made up making them soulless people without a history and if culture does link people together it also stimulates progress. work on the museum only began in two thousand and fifteen after a thirty four million dollars donation from china the exterior was inspired by the media the city of great zimbabwe now a world heritage site while the inside is modeled on a senegalese hut fourteen thousand square meters in size when this museum the call

from african countries to get their artifacts back in no longer be ignored because this space is a celebration of black artistic expression and so whether storing or not much of it comes from outside the continent. the museum's director shows us the century sward of. it was stolen from senegal and is in possession of the french who have now lent it to the museum. but when they stole our belongings they weren't art they were just objects of daily life but then colonizers to find these objects in art the aim of this museum is to show that african art is in fact much bigger than that our focus is not just on the past but also on the future and the voice of the diaspora. a large part of the museum is dedicated to contemporary art with many pieces from the caribbean the diversity of the collection that's been assembled so

far is unique for many africans who come to visit it is a much more than a museum it's a mirror to see themselves in a new light hawk al-jazeera car. in china at least five people have been killed after a hijacked bus slammed into pedestrians in the southeastern city of. police detained a man armed with a knife at the scene he's now in custody and police are investigating the suspects motive more than twenty people were injured in the attack. north korea has been ordered to pay five hundred one million dollars for the torture and death of an american student also one beer died in the u.s. last year just days after being released from prison in north korea he'd been custody since two thousand and sixteen after being sentenced to hard hard labor for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster a u.s. court ruled that pyongyang is liable for. damages to his family.

i saw have claimed responsibility for an attack in northern iraq which is kill two people eleven others were injured when a car bomb was detonated in the city of tal afar the city fell under i saw control in two thousand and fourteen but was recaptured by iraqi security forces in two thousand and seventeen. iraqi christians are celebrating christmas at them are use of church in baghdad the city is one of the oldest christian communities in the world but their numbers have dropped significantly since the two thousand and three u.s. led invasion and the rise of feisal but it's not all bad news for the community iraq's cabinet has just approved a law to market christmas day as an official national holiday imran khan has the latest now from baghdad. this is a much more hopeful christmas than iraqi christians have seen in a very long time. use of church the st joseph's church in central baghdad

people in riding across christmas day. attend mass and there is a very hopeful at was say that things have changed christians that there are much more secure than they ever have been just give you some facts and figures the last census that was undertaken was in one thousand and seven and there were about one point five million christians living in the country on officially in two thousand and eighteen the nearest figure that we can get is about two hundred fifty thousand persons left they fled the us led invasion and occupation of iraq in two thousand and three and then when their homes were destroyed by eisel in mosul and on the outskirts of baghdad in two thousand and thirteen two thousand and fourteen now the iraqi government wants those christians to come back indeed what they've done is they've made christmas day and national holiday across iraq for all iraqis to take place not only have to go to a lot of the hotels here the public spaces and the big christmas trees and of the

decorations like the ones you see behind me up in the hotel so there's a real sense that christians are much safer than they ever have been and the iraqi government would like them to come back to a safe and secure iraq. pope francis says use this annual christmas message to urge people to see their differences as a source of richness instead of danger speaking to thousands of people gathered in st peter's square the pope prayed that the spirit of the season might enable israelis and palestinians to find a way towards peace he also prayed for political solutions to the conflicts in syria and yemen. may this christmas help us to rediscover the bonds of fraternity may it enable palestinians and israelis to resume dialogue and undertake a journey of peace that can put an end to conflict that has for over seventy years wrecked the land chosen by the lord to show his face of love with the child jesus allow the beloved and the beleaguered country of syria once again to find for

eternity after these long years of war. while hand carved wooden mangers and statues made in bethlehem are sought after around the world but this centuries old trade is on the threat because the christian population is dwindling in the israeli occupied holy land and as the passion the name reports now from bethlehem that's creating an opportunity for palestinian autism's. enter the christmas house workshop and the smell transports you to the all of tree groves rooted in the holy land for millennia jack jack i'm on is a fourth generation wood carver his creations range from this nativities seen on route to a church in france to tiny statues of jesus and mary displayed in people's homes across the globe you know really a dollar free of the holy land if we are talking about a tree that grow in the holy land walk and the tree growing up for twenty two

hundred years three hundred years the demand for all of wood carver crafts is high but business owners say it's become more difficult to find workers that's partially due to the decline in the christian population in the holy land experts say one hundred years ago christians comprise seventeen percent of the palestinian population today it's less than two percent this is important to have a christian community living stalls i wove we call them you know people living in the whole of places other jamal hodder says the struggle of living under israeli occupation continues to push christians to emigrate we see our mission here as a service of the whole community and the same time preparing the way for a better future a future based on justice peace and reconciliation the ongoing exodus of christians from the holy land means jochum an is hiring muslim craftsman including.

we in the city of bethlehem live together like brothers we don't differentiate between religions this profession brings us together when jimmy. predicts difficult times ahead for the wood carvers he says the supply of all of wood is dwindling due to the demolition of palestinian groves there are strict sions as. release place on land and the fact younger people are abandoning farming we have to plan for the next generation how and when and how and where they will get that a would maybe they have to import from being from other countries one of his daughters has expressed an interest in becoming the fifth generation of the family to carry on the trade but it'll be more than a decade before she's old enough and it's difficult to predict whether by then the political situation will prompt her to leave her homeland or how this ancient

tradition might have changed natasha going to. bethlehem still ahead on al-jazeera the u.s. city that may just have posted a its last ever n.f.l. game peter as the details coming up in sport. as this year trial would expect to go see a show comes to an end. we examine what the top stories might be a judge are going to be very impressed with the result. in the new year. joining us. as we take a look ahead to twenty nine seen on al jazeera. they wanted forty three billion dollars worth of weaponry that was six billion pounds

in commission. there is no hope of any more because there's always a small cobbles people for really really good business. in essence we in the united states have privatized the ultimate public function more shadow on al-jazeera. britain's queen elizabeth has their liver and her annual christmas message urging peace and goodwill the ninety two year old monarch also warned against tribalism

saying the first step to understanding each other was to offer respect some cultures believe a long life brings wisdom i'd like to think so perhaps part of that wisdom is to recognize some of life's baffling paradoxes such as the way human beings have a huge propensity for good and yet a capacity for evil. right time to get all the sports news now here's peter thank you barbara liverpool manager you're going club believes four or five teams are still in the race to win the english premier league title the reds are looking to end a three decade wait to become english champions and off four points ahead of second place manchester city they take on newcastle at home on wednesday by manager says he squad does have the mental strength to continue with a title push there are always it's always very important but this voice of

god. this was because he. she from the past already big things. by a good position to believe. that we did that all together so so far we only really did steps together that's what we have to do. man thirty or away at leicester city of lost two of the last three he games as many as they lost in their previous sixty one premier league matches sort of mine third place six points behind little spurs beat everton six two last time out. i still believe that leave it with much of the city the real contenders for the forward it to win the premier league and then. we had it there. soon on much tonight there's still a long way i finished still a long way to say if you are going to the annoying team just to do so early there's a new twist on one of basketball's biggest rivalries braun james is taking on steph

curry in the golden state warriors for the first time with the l.a. lakers braun is more used to taking on golden state as a cleveland cavaliers player teams have made twenty two times in the n.b.a. finals over the last four seasons the braun moved to the lakers or any of those who charged with reviving a team that hasn't won the championship since two thousand and ten wells again it's a for the sports news of a school says basketball fans should be enjoying these great players while they can . probably the best all around player of all time is the bron james steph curry special and he does a lot of special things he's changed the way the n.b.a. is you today in the way that teams are playing today him shooting threes from thirty five feet and you know the pace of the n.b.a. is a lot faster because of a guy like steph when it comes to all around play le bron james one of the best passers in the n.b.a. one of the best rebounders in the n.b.a. and he could still score at will even though he's thirty three thirty four and we. hardly ever question that he's not the best all around player in the n.b.a.

or of all time even any time of bronze on the floor it's a threat. laws of balls been playing pretty well defensively call who is was stepping up but the end of the day they just don't have the firepower to beat it seem like golden state who has five all stars five superstars on the roster and we haven't even seen one of them play yet this season so when you have one superstar in your roster and today's n.b.a. it's kind of hard to become a threat so until le bron james gets that anthony davis or gets it. so it helps melt next season maybe even at the trade deadline i can't see him being much of a threat when it comes to the playoffs the n.f.l. team the raiders are leaving their longtime home in oakland california the city's fans are despondent on the city's leaders are angry as rob reynolds reports oakland isn't taking the raiders departure lying down. the oakland raiders have played their last game in this fabled coliseum home to many

a sweet victory and bitter defeat there's a lot of memories in this building there been a lot of great players a lot of great cultures and a lot of a really memorable football games played in this building the raiders are much like their hometown gritty aggressive frequently the underdog oakland the less glamorous less wealthy and less gentrified city across the bay from san francisco loved its raiders with the passion the most frenzy denizens of raiders nation reveled in rural in a stadium section nicknamed the black hole and everyday. i love them. they represent us and we represent them you know the eleven came and we don't stand behind them one hundred percent now the team's owner mark davis is ripping oakland's love and loyalty by abandoning it the raiders are moving to the ritzier environs of las vegas sin city agreed to pay seven hundred fifty

million dollars in taxpayer money to build a new stadium for the team raiders fans say that's unsportsmanlike conduct they need to stay and would be but i don't and in town you know they've been here on the here is a lie you want to move outraged the city's leaders are suing so this is an antitrust lawsuit and a breach of contracts it and we are seeking the maximum amount of damages that we will be able to prove and we believe there are substantial oakland says the league acts as an illegal cartel that fixes prices and routinely blackmail cities with threats to relocate its teams unless they help pay for bigger fancier stadiums and other improvements i am proud that we stood up against the same down from the n.f.l. it has got to stop. the idea that the n.f.l. can exploited the emotions of their fans to extort money from

taxpayers who have such greater needs the n.f.l. and davis didn't respond to requests for comment davis reportedly called the lawsuit malicious the raiders coach got nostalgic before the final game after a lot of wins over the years you know seeing a lot of the old highlights of the great raider teams. i get excited i get emotional about it but emotions and loyalty are cheap and in professional sports the real name of the game is money rob reynolds al-jazeera india's cricket captain virat kohli has been doing he's base to downplay the heated rivalry with his australian counterparts and pain the pay had a number of less than friendly verbal exchanges during the second test of a series at one point the umpire had to intervene when the two clashed while payne was batting

a serious level at one one ahead of wins they stewed taste in melbourne india have never won it's a series in australia both teams are you know passionate and desperate to be obviously those things happen on the field and as i said as long as the line is not crossed. you have no issues and i said that before the last just as well. i'm sure tim and myself both understand what happened and we definitely don't want to do something unnecessary. when you get a big need like we did in perth against the number one team in the world. you know gauzy going to grab the conference a little bit and come to melbourne feeling a bit better than we did when we went to perth. but yeah the same we feel we're improving every game. but we know we need to take stacking up good days and. include it as a test cricket if we can do that for another four or five days come by far we think we'll be right in the thick of it again that's what the sport barber expects you in london peter thank you very much for that and that is it for this news hour do stay with us though going to be back in just

a few minutes with more of the day's thanks for watching. thanks love to make loans to sufferance because behind the suffering millions of taxpayers because those taxpayers never go away is a new one born every single day and ninety it is an urgent national necessity that we have officially requested the education of the support mechanism we created together because i happen to live in creeks somehow i'm a sinner i'm a bad person. that's machine on al-jazeera.

hoping for better living standards and more security the people of bangladesh will cost their vote in a general election with special coverage from across the country we'll assess what direction the nation could take. bangladesh elections on al-jazeera. short films of hope and inspiration. a series of short personal stories that highlight the human triumph against the odds. al-jazeera selects.

al-jazeera. and for you. the. riot police the spurs thousands of angry protesters in sudan as president omar al bashir this missing this misses them as traitors. hello i'm barbara starr you're watching al-jazeera live from london also coming up turkey says the united states has agreed to this arm kurdish fighters in northern syria u.s. president donald trump warns the government shutdown will last until he gets funding for his controversial border.