a north korean leader might one day visit the south where when the smoke or i got excited thought i played me think it becomes the beer that i return home. but now i think one of the reasons for his visit is to sustain his regime so i don't think we're going to see any unification. the mood of optimism was also tempered when it came to relations with the us kim says he wants to meet with president donald trump again but had this warning. if the united states continues to break its promises and misjudges our patients by unilaterally demanding certain things and pushes ahead with sanctions and pressure against our republic then we have to seek another way to protect our country's sovereignty and interest under stablish peace and stability on the korean peninsula. twenty nineteen clearly holds the prospect of further improvements in relations but with the ever present risk of the process stalling or even going in reverse of the bride al-jazeera so. let's take

a break them from politics and take a look instead at how the world celebrated twenty nine thousand. reports. about one hundred thousand people lined the banks of the river thames in london to watch the celebrations. thousands packed the shans elisei in the french capital to watch the fireworks display at the after tree and there was heavy security deployment after the recent best protests. bad weather didn't deter crowds from gathering in the greek capital athens for a dazzling display of the acropolis. people partied into the new year in the indian capital new delhi but the celebration started thousands of kilometers away. in auckland harbor a new zealand. and thousands of people watched brightly colored file extruding into

the night sky city authorities say the share what the sky tower standing three hundred twenty eight me to stool is the highest file x. display in the southern hemisphere. a couple of hours later it was the turn of a strain is not the city sydney i. despite thunderstorms on monday more than a million people were at the waterfront watching eight and a half tons of fireworks go off the biggest display the city has ever seen. but. this was the scene in central pyongyang the north korean capital where the crowds got not just by a wax but a laser and dance show. and hong kong mixed it up with local and western melodies accompanying the big bangs

ah the beaches in rio de janeiro a packed as the sky lit up. and not to be outdone tobias file works exploded over the world's tallest building the bush khalifa barbara and house sarah. coming up in this fall's news. sport is so fun and we all take it so serious expansionary me but i. don't hear from serena williams and roger federer ahead of them much anticipated match up. a lot again solid being controlled by belly but it's tremendous from the potential so i think and he was determined to go on could you do so though at the point of a sword to avenge its people slaughtered eighty eighty is he smashes the frankish

on captures the king of tourists seizes the tree crops and this is a great military victory the crusades an arab perspective episode three unification of this time on a just. when the news breaks on the story. when people need to be heard. and the story needs to be told. with exclusive interviews and in-depth reports. al-jazeera has teens on the ground to bring you more award winning documentaries. and life needs on air and online.

now it's time for the schools use with care thank you martine three time major tennis champion andy murray has got the new year off to a winning start murray is warming up in the president's national as he aims to be in the hunt for the first slam of the year the australian open he had a terrible two thousand and eighteen playing only six tournaments last season because of injury at one point in his match with james stuck with he appeared to have some trouble with his cough but didn't ask for treatment are we going on to win this first round match in straight sets. it's not easy to sort of sum up. you know in one sentence or in one answer has been it's been really hard eighteen months a lot of a lot of ups and downs as you know tricky just kind of get back on the court competing again so i'm happy i'm back here again i want to try enjoy as much as i

can and. yeah just try try and enjoy playing tennis as long as i can i don't know how much longer it's going to last but. get ready for a big match up on the tennis court in the coming hours serena williams will face roger federer for the first time in a competitive match the multiple grand slam champions are the one cup representing their countries serena is playing alongside france's t a foe who joined her at a news ball on monday while roger federer is paid with belinda bench itch for the swiss the toupees will face off in a doubles match in perth shortly both may be better known for the single successes but they're also enjoying playing with partners. and so called to play with france's and to be on the floor with him and like i said we just pretty much laugh the whole time and. you know that's what it's about sport is so fun and we all take it so serious expression to me. playing with berlin that is the third year we're doing it it's been a lot of fun i think it's like serena said it's so nice to be playing on a team for a change sure i have

a massive team myself when i travel but you know cheering on somebody to do when they're playing mixed doubles together i think it's a lot of fun and experience football has been into english premier league winning teams is back after completing a doping ban same industry has signed with west ham united after being out of the game for eighteen months because he won your older link again with manager manuel pellegrini he played for a month as city now three one two premier league titles in the league cup and six seasons with city before moving there the frenchman was at all small for three years now sri was banned for using an intravenous drip treatment when he was playing for severe in spain in two thousand and sixteen he signed for west ham till the end of the season but he has a heart warming comeback story about english football's most successful manager reuniting with his protege there's no bigger name at manchester united than alex ferguson now he's mentoring caretaker manager only going to one of those in the crowd when you stand with them veiled and focuses on a in two thousand and twelve so she has had three wins from his many matches since

taking charge after the sacking of joyce the marine year and that's obviously boosting the spirits a seventy seven year old ferguson he's been at united's training ground for the first time since a brain hemorrhage eight months ago. i had him for fifteen years so obviously he's influenced me more in the fifteen years before then he's done in the last week but obviously i do keep him informed and. he did. yesterday and i think he enjoyed his time at the training ground and we had a nice future and stuff and that encourages he's he knows that we are you know this stuff about it's it's an united through and through and you know we we're going to do whatever we can too. to the last second that we've been here we've got to do everything we can for us and man united do as best as we can united's back in action at newcastle on wednesday two clubs ahead of them are

lining up in the next few hours for a place tottenham are at cardiff while host fullam the gun is now expected to lose their longest serving player midfielder are in ramsey at the end of the season he's been linked with five big european clubs including champions league holders rail madrid well with the play off places said the n.f.l. has had its annual clear out of coaches it's become known as black monday the jets broncos buccaneers dolphins and cardinals all cut their head coaches loose but the biggest surprise was the firing of cincinnati bengals marvin lewis he'd been with them for sixteen years he was the second longest serving head coach in the league behind bill bennett check of the new england patriots with the third straight losing season in attendance down it was time for the bengals to make the cut i didn't deliver what the number one goal was not the world champions and we did not get that. one of ben lot of positives but that's the one goal was to coach the to look forward to doing the playoffs is still a few months away in the n.b.a.

but the houston rockets are doing their best to make sure they're contenders they've now won ten of eleven games and james harden was not once again stand out for them he got a triple double with forty three points ten rebounds and thirteen assists in this one hundred thirteen one hundred one win over the christly it also looks hardens fourth straight forty plus point game they've tied for fourth in the western conference after that when. the indiana pacers also pulled off a fifth straight when he picked up on the deep omar's turner and. bonus combined for sixty two points as they beat the atlanta hawks one hundred sixteen to one hundred ninety. a fistful of dollars for one hundred forty seconds of fighting fun and now floyd met money mayweather is back in retirement the former multiple world champion gave japanese kickboxer attention nessa coa a towelling flooring him three times in the one and only round in tokyo exhibition bout was worth nine million dollars to forty one year old mayweather it was

essentially just entertainment value but often as he was still talking up his opponent it's hard his age but i don't want to say is this was a fight because it was a fight it would've been twelve rounds it was. it's more than i mean it's an action but in going i mean it's but teaching. a young hungry lion a true champion i take my hat off to him for even getting that's where a circle with a guy like myself with so much experience mark. i was really gases as i seriously thought i could do it i never felt disappointed when john morgan is a reporter for m.m.a. junkie he says tension is the coaled pick himself up from the setback. for tension asacol i mean this is good it's awful again he was dominated the slighted if somewhat the expected result i mean a twenty year old striker he's incredible watch he's amazing but he doesn't have

the experience that a forty year old floyd mayweather has he's just not that level of world championship skills and let's be honest he's a kick boxer yes that entails boxing but the speed the spacing the movement the timing it's all different that so my the just purely relies on their hands it looks like mayweather knew what he was getting into here full always says you even said in a press conference here in las vegas coming you look i'm always going to be a side i'm going to put things that you know where they're best for me that's exactly what we didn't know which is getting it so for us ecologists was huge exposer yes it's disappointing for him but you know the great thing about the japanese like culture especially is they really don't focus on what's up with the losses were about you or your spirits and what you're willing to do to get in there for him to say hey i'll take a chance it's when you're twenty years old a gives a legend a future hall of famer a former world champion like floyd mayweather i'd like you know i think you stock will take a little hit right now but i think at the long run it will improve big for his career our own out of the really serious stuff our as no with the big sporting

highlights to look forward to in twenty nineteen. january kicks off with the asian cup football tournament in the usa australia are the defending champions for the tournaments that's held every four years on the continent the n.f.l. super bowl returns to atlanta for the first time since two thousand in february but will the philadelphia eagles make it to the playoffs agone get to defend their title the next major event of the year is the cricket world cup in maine england will host the best ten cricket nations over six weeks in the fifty over format competition june is always a busy month and twenty one thousand will be a big one for football fans france will host the women's world cup where the united states will try to defend the trophy they won in canada four years earlier. taking off at the same time is the africa cup of nations although we won't know who's hosting that until later in january remember that cameroon restricted the tournaments after concerns over safety and readiness at the same time south

america's biggest football championship the copa america will be hosted in brazil and once football appetites are satisfied it's over to japan for the rugby world cup in september the country is hosting the tournaments for the first time as twenty rugby nations vie for the trophy and then the world's best track and field athletes will gather in caps are to compete in the. world championships there are lots to look forward to that is. thank you very much indeed stay with us to say you will be in the chair in a moment. cultural

history of some scribe layer upon layer at times erase others rejuvenating and reinvent. through the transformative power of public art an unlikely collision of hip hop culture and indigenous tradition forms a community building project led by the godfather of graffiti. on a. al-jazeera . you read every your. it was one of the

biggest bank robberies of modern times with over eighty million dollars stolen from bangladesh a central bank one of one east investigates how cyber hackers infiltrated the global banking system and on al-jazeera. we understand the differences. and the similarities of cultures across the world so no matter how you take it al-jazeera will bring you the news and current events that matter to you al-jazeera. donald trump agrees to slow down the withdrawal of u.s. troops from syria we'll look at what that means for the tense standoff in the

country's north. pole raman you're watching over there a line from our headquarters here in doha also coming up the u.n. threatens to stop sending through to yemen if the warring sides keep stealing it from starving people. also a new path in a new year north korean leader kim jong un warns of an alternative plan for deep nuclearization also. by one of the new year a year in which i was there able to work more freely without threat. of more welcoming twenty nineteen revelers in new york reflect on how dangerous twenty eighteen was for journalists. bought into the program u.s. president all trump says he won't rush out of syria after coming under intense pressure from allies and senior figures in his republican party last month trumpet

abruptly announced that all two thousand american troops will be brought home immediately following what he described as their victory over i saw or backtracking on plans for an immediate pullout from tweeted that his drive to end u.s. involvement in was still made him a hero and he said if anyone but donald trump did what i did in syria which was isis loaded mess when i became president they would be a national hero isis is mostly gone away slowly sending our troops back home to be with their families while at the same time fighting isis remnants. castro is our correspondent following events for us from washington d.c. and if we sort of follow events where you are one wonders whether the president really is backtracking or is it sort of new wants to buy sort of the pressure his own party is putting on him because of that initial decision. good morning so

so it appears that when donald trump made this initial announcement on december nineteenth or the thirty day withdrawal of u.s. troops that it was made with virtually no consultation from his military advisers it was a decision that was widely panned by his own administration and by members of his own party so despite the spin you may see trump attempting to use in his latest tweet that that casts some belief that he may have had this plan all along all signs point otherwise that this is indeed backpedaling now this new four month withdrawal timeline comes after trump visited u.s. troops stationed in iraq and also met with his political ally republican lindsey graham a senator. over the weekend who attempted to convince the president to reconsider

this withdrawal and so there is still some possibility we know there are voices in the administration who would rather see u.s. troops stay in syria not just this sort of. extended withdrawal but at the very least these four months is what commanders on the ground have asked trump reportedly and it will give u.s. forces time to plan a less hasty withdrawal and resolve questions like what to do with the equipment that's left over so of course you say military commanders have to decide how they're going to withdraw and syria. also the incoming defense secretary has to consider how to deal with this considering he has very little experience in the field. that's right patrick shanahan is no military commander at all up until this point he's only been a member of the pentagon for eighteen months and prior to that he was the c.e.o. of boeing the aviation company and so there is some doubt about how much of

a developed world view or military experience that he brings to his new role as acting secretary however gym mat is who resigned he's the former defense secretary as of midnight in the u.s. he resigned over trump's decision to hastily withdraw the u.s. troops to syria and from afghanistan in his farewell memo to his employees he did say that the agency remains in capable hands but perhaps read as another off handed criticism of trump's decision he mattis also told members of the u.s. military to stay the course and to avoid distractions so will leave this kind of struggle cosponsored washington thank you. a book written by two turkish journalist sheds new light on the planning of the murder of jamal khashoggi it includes details about the preparations by the saudi

operatives in the hours before the killing now the book also contains a previous unseen pictures of the same agents outside the saudi consulates residence office with bags reportedly used to carry remains to be. the entire team didn't go to the consulates but five of them went directly to the consul's house to prepare and receive the backs the pictures confirm this fact. turkey wants to investigate this properly it happened on diplomatic grounds and that means a forcible entry to investigate would create a crisis for turkey and even if evidence were to be found it would be considered a legal does not want that well another murder journalists have been remember during the rainy new year's celebrations in new york organizers want to highlight how treacherous twenty eighteen was some members of the media as they hope for a better year ahead gabriel was that.

it's one of the focal points a year's celebration around the world this year joining the york's mayor bill de blasio for the traditional lowering of the crystal ball in times square several prominent journalists had an event that was not just about welcoming two thousand and nineteen but also recognizing how dangerous two thousand and eighteen was for the profession journalists are facing jail amy and all for the people already. all of the journal among those recognized was the committee to protect journalists an organization that promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists around the world. they say two hundred fifty one journalists were imprisoned during two thousand and eighteen but another fifty three journalists were killed in targeted attacks. including washington post columnist jamal khashoggi who was

murdered and dismembered by saudi government agents soon after he entered saudi arabia's consulate in istanbul he was especially in the thoughts of those at times square you know it's been a pretty tough year i think that's one of the reasons that we're the honoree journalists around the world and in this country as well have struggled and so i want to see a new year a year in which journalists are able to work more freely without threats and do their political work independently so prominent have attacks on the media ban in two thousand and eighteen the time magazine named khashoggi as one of its persons of the year we didn't do anything wrong the others all journalists including two reuters reporters jailed in me and maher for reporting on atrocities against the roof. and staff at a local us newspaper in maryland who survived a mass shooting that claimed the lives of five of their colleagues you are the enemy of the people just sit down please trump's frequent attacks on the media have

also come under the spotlight in october the committee to protect journalists called on president trump to dial back the rhetoric this after a trump supporter from florida sent more than a dozen bombs to critics of the president two of which went to the c.n.n. offices here in new york there's been a lot of hostility towards the press to me i think that nationally for new year's eve to celebrate things if you've got a lovely sleep times here is named after a newspaper and i think this is a tie to say like the importance of freedom in the present what is it journalism and celebrate when writing for new years and say that's had twenty nine even be a year when respect in journalism in a free press. as a ball dropped in times square celebration but also remembering all the journalists killed or imprisoned who would. get the chance to see it because of their truth telling reporting which made the target gabriel's sandow. you're.

never sorry you coalition and who the rebels are being accused of stealing and selling food aid meant for millions of starving yemenis the un food agency is threatening to suspend aid shipments unless the thefts stop the world food program says about two thirds of relief supplies delivered to think control strongholds has been taken by armed groups associated press also saw documents suggesting that rations intended for families and theirs are being stolen but armed units working with the saudi and iraqi coalition. the fate of the yemeni port city of a danger is that the center of a un back cease fire agreement between the who tease and the pro-government forces the un has accused both sides of failing to all of the terms of the deal which calls for all sides to withdraw rob matheson takes a look at the fragile truce. rare smiles in the yemeni port city of hiding on the streets cautious optimism about the un brokered cease fire which appeared to

be holding in the closing days of december. during the almost four year conflict in yemen data and the people who live here have been bombed and shot at. as opposing sides of the battle to control the city the port of her data is yemen's lifeline where most food imports equipment or medical supplies arrive desperately needed by hospitals like this one in the city of ties in western yemen which patients including fired one hundred rely on to survive. i'm from our marker and there's no renal dialysis the most important thing is my treatment without it i'll die. much of tell us has been destroyed as have many other parts of yemen at least sixty thousand yemenis are reported killed in fighting nationwide between warring factions including hooty rebels and pro-government forces backed by

a coalition led by saudi arabia and the united arab and its. aid agencies say millions are close to starvation it's estimated eighty five thousand children have died from malnutrition some hope the worst is over. god willing we will see a better future the end of the crisis and peace in the region in particular. i don't. expect that in twenty nineteen for yemen to stop and peace political reconciliation. in sana'a to the north of to ease more devastation but here too among the destroyed buildings some optimism. and we hope the aggression will stop and the economy and life will improve. back in what data not everyone is convinced the ceasefire will hold. decision is

justin. we haven't seen any.