countryside say took taken control of the threat to dick tal visits and villages around it and now the toughest syrian rebels are calling for help from the force wants to try and repulse the office of a best them by the al qaeda affiliates all this comes a little over a week since the president of the united states donald trump announced the withdrawal of about two thousand u.s. troops to a station in syria there has been a skirt umble to fill the vacuum that will eventual had been left by then with the broad will of the us forces with turkey and iran did in the way talk your force has promised the united states a fellow mother took a life it will deal with not only remnants of i said but also of those al qaeda affiliates and could be the main reason why the higher to to have a shot has now cut it out on offensive on the turkish allies in syria of course

talking also wants to cut out an autopsy on the ton of men be dropped has been controlled by syrian kurds and right now we do not know when the offensive is going to happen but turkey has been massing troops such as florida and has put its allies the free syrian army on a wall forty. plenty more ahead on this news hour including. we'll look at what effect from his yellow vest protesters could have on this year's european elections . and we'll tell you why millions of people in africa's most populous nation are steering clear of banks plus novak djokovic has put to the test at the cost of open beer will be here with that match and more in schools. brazil's new government has announced a major policy overhaul including

a move expected to open up the amazon rain forest to increased commercial exploitation the country's new far right president. issued an executive order giving the agriculture ministry responsibility for demarcating indigenous lands the decree strips the indigenous affairs agency of their power which has angered rights groups the government has also promised to introduce an anti crime bill next month john coleman has more from the capital brasilia. president but also not overt only just been sworn in really when he started to try and take action and come good on his campaign promises one of them was not one centimeter more of land for indigenous reserves and he signed an executive order that all intents and purposes made that happen there was obviously outcry from indigenous leaders who would see this is a thin end of the wage at the moment it doesn't affect established indigenous reserves in the country but they fear that a president who's made no secret really of his plans and decide to develop brazil's

natural resources would then move on to that next the agricultural minister the new agricultural minister also came out and said that brazil has too many environmental laws the agriculture ministry at the moment is really in the hands of the agri business lobby who would also like to develop and stop farming on the brazilian countryside remember that more than half of this country is made up of the amazon rain forest also the new security the new justice minister came out and said that the president to charge him above all other things to try and deal with impunity this is a country that's coming off the back of the biggest corruption scandal in latin america in the new president bill sonando has made it really a priority and a campaign promise to get to grips with and to be down corruption in the country. michel thirty years of arrested two people on suspicion of smuggling migrants

across the english channel into the u.k. and iranian national and a british man were detained this week the government to point extra patrol boats in the channel after more than two hundred migrants attempted the crossing in december . a prominent egyptian rights activist is appealing to the president to pardon his wife he's been sentenced to two years in jail for mac just a mouthy was arrested for posting a video online denouncing the treatment of women in egypt and accusing guards at a bank of sexually harassing her she was charged with spreading false news her husband mohamed loftie is asking president abdul fattah el-sisi to view his wife as a victim the electoral commission in the democratic republic of congo says results for the presidential vote may be delayed because it hasn't received most of the ballots regional monitors say sunday's election was relatively well managed despite several challenges technical and organizational problems meant many people were

unable to vote while more than a million others and three opposition strongholds were excluded because of a boat and security concerns a spokesman for one of the opposition candidates says he doesn't mind when the results are published as long as they are an honest reflection of the voters in the prism of the quirkier for me i doubt it will be sunday because some corners of the country have not transmitted the results but i can't speak for the commission whether it's on sunday or monday or tuesday we don't mind what we want our results published that reflect the truth of the ballot boxes that is the most important thing and meanwhile a spokesman for the congolese ruling party says the internet will continue to be shut down to prevent disorder. the common front for the congo regrets the internet shut its monday but notes that some people tried to use the internet to put the congolese people against each other. we asked the population to remain calm and

white peacefully for the provisional results that the electoral commission will publish in the coming days economists are warning bad debts and low savings are threatening the survival of nigeria's commercial banks many people refused to put their money in accounts saying banks can't be trusted with interest reports. they yearn to get in bungalow farms and sells onions to some nigeria's neighbors at the peak of the season he makes about thirty thousand dollars a week despite this income he stopped taking his money to the bank at a bank he although i'm not satisfied with the services i receive a used to have an account that i was disappointed several times so i put my earnings back into the business and invest in real estate. and millions of other nigerians either not putting their money into savings account or have never even set foot in a bank. economist blame a number of factors including low income and poverty but even some of the reach

looking elsewhere to take their money if you look at the investment of fortune it is that i will open especially our save nigeria and that will lead to associate head was in this to me and such ventures it because less is until four they were. in the country and are led to this to our side but importantly. the sabin's culture must be institutionalized by the government itself with many banks going out of business during the last decade economists say better supervision and enforcement is needed to attract the savings and investment the banking system relies on. any institutions to roll in to destress of the high profile obvious tortola this are said been taken away from being combative in twelve long it indicates that the surveillance system provided by some tomko nigel

and i don't deposit insurance corporation is adequate or low all that is a deliberate quote i was on the part of that of the great truth authorities banks are becoming lino with fewer branches and staff and acquisitions and mergers are also becoming the new. bank used to be here someone else is renting the building now after decades of doing business the bank shut down because it didn't have enough customers many people up and don't have enough. there's a distrust of the banking system. small businessmen like they want more from the banks access not only to loans but better returns on their savings too if that's not provided the banks may find a number of customers contributing to savings accounts riddling father. reese al-jazeera. nigeria there have been protests across the indian state of carola against the entry of two women into the suburbs temple police fired tear gas and

water cannon against a group of demonstrators in the state capital the women were the first to enter the temple since the supreme court overturned a centuries old ban on women of menstruating age the protesters support the temple's refusal to implement the court ruling saying hindu values are under attack the temple and the dispute over gender equality are now at the center of a political fight just months ahead of national elections reports. under the cover of darkness and escorted by police these two women defied religious hardliners by entering one of hindu isms holiest shrines the shop a remodel temple in the southern state of carola which attracts millions of worshippers ear their historic move is backed by india supreme court which in september ordered the authorities to lift the ban on women or girls between the ages of ten and fifty from entering the temple. but the temples authorities refused so by by the court's ruling and subsequent attempts by women to visit had been

blocked by thousands of the booties supporting the ban conservative hindu groups say they believe women of menstruating age would defile the temples in her shrine local media is reporting the chief priest briefly shut the temple for purification rituals it disappear any any issue of politics and elected in politics by am saying days after these two women ended up being. a dad the baby act was fitting that replay my piece for the vote there have been these three men and getting it not object added not paris is maybe peacefully silent yeah louden gives me meant to go on what ship before that board. the care of a state president of the hindu nationalist party claims that these events are politically motivated. the b.g.p.

has been seeing the local government orchestra going to plan what happened there declared able to destroy the ability to achieve this commune is going to fold in the devious means advantage to be to this. it's an issue that's become increasingly contentious on tuesday millions of women from across the state formed six hundred twenty kilometer human chain and called it the woman's wall dorsett jabari al jazeera. rescue workers in the philippines are struggling to reach areas cut off by floods and landslides which have now killed at least eighty five people still most money hit shortly after christmas devastating central provinces most of the victims died when their homes collapsed a state of calamity has been declared in three provinces to give them access to emergency funds critics say a bangladeshi branded actually prime minister's landslide victory in sunday's election could allow her to become even more authoritarian shaykh has seen his party won more than ninety five percent of seats in parliament securing her third

consecutive term in office but a student movement which backed tech campaign has been accused of violence and voter intimidation child stratford put those allegations to its movements. twenty five year old son hussein is the leader of bangladeshis ruling party student movement called the child to a leak it has tens of thousands of supporters the opposition say prime minister sheikh hasina used the chance really to intimidate threaten and commit acts of violence against them during the election campaign. including this attack on the motorcade of opposition leader kemal hussain. to be able to see the victims with the awami league. mission there was no violence committed by the roaming the us we followed the election commission when we kept communication ties with the awami league candidates they needed to know what the younger generation wants the opposition alliance has rejected the election is demanding another under

a neutral interim government hussain rejects the allegation made by international human rights organizations that the league and the sheikh hasina has committed major human rights violations including forced disappearances and the murder of opposition activists. sina has become known to the international community as a mother of humanity we were able to help their hanger refugees are exhausted this proves she is humanitarian and that there was a lot of extra judicial caning and two in the military government paused do you deny that there was no intimidation by awami league supporters like your youth movement for. not only me but one hundred million voters they were new generation millions that through the won the league we won our independence and it's through the party that they dream of a modern bangladesh will be realised. the opposition say more than ten thousand of its supporters were rest is it during an election campaign it calls

a farce hussein and his young supporters say the opposition has no grounds to complaint. for al-jazeera dhaka. still ahead on al-jazeera why life is about to get harder for palestinian prisoners held by israel. and argentina's cloned polo ponies we ask if scientists are riding roughshod over ethical considerations. and liverpool and manchester city meet in the top of the table battle in the english premier league on saturday but hear from both camps and sports with me at. the nice pink skies by the taj mahal. or is the sunsets in the city of angels. how it was a creep into the cloud and the rain into china this was the last light rain that runs through shanghai having dropped

a few spots inland but the breeze is turning the north east to resist turning again should we do it this time it is doing so take the most with a bit of warmth and therefore cloud and spots of rain should be no more than spots of remember we want to guarantee it so it's twelve degrees in shanghai was potential rain six and would try to do this will probably stop in the morning mist and fall being too persistent and it certainly isn't as cold as it could be in fact so little bit different for january weather which is the case for the south as well we don't expect for example to see cloud here spinning up into a tropical cyclone in january for the gulf of thailand in fact i can't find any record of it having happened before but it's happening now and it's heading in the next two days through southern thailand and the far south of miramar as well probably will be a wind problem but it will be a rain problem it takes a lot of energy out of the sky but it doesn't mean that we don't get equally big showers you know it's the rainy season for indonesia has been

a problem in java recently in the next two days i think the problem of heavy rain is likely to be further east in java and possibly bonnie. the weather sponsored by cats on race. thanks love to make loans to some friends because behind the suffering a millions of taxpayers because those taxpayers never go away is a new one born every single day a nineteen it is an emerging national message economy but it deals with visually request rationing 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 but i think one of our biggest strengths is that we talk to normal everyday people we get them to tell their stories and doing that really reveals the truth people are still gathered outside these gates waiting for any information most of them don't know whether their loved ones are alive or dead or miami really is a place where two worlds meet we can get to washington d.c.

in two hours we can get set on jurists in the rest of central america and about the same time but more importantly is where those two cultures north and south america meets us to teach it like it's a very important place for al-jazeera to be. welcome back. a reminder of our top stories this hour donald trump resigns congressional leaders to return to the white house on friday after both sides failed to reach a deal to end the partial government shutdown the president is refusing to budge until he gets funding for his wall along the mexico border. at least thirty one people are dead after days of intense fighting between two armed groups in northern

syria al-qaeda linked fighters and rebel forces are blaming each other for starting the violence in libya and aleppo province it's. brazil's new government has announced a major policy overhaul including measures loosening protection of the amazon rain forest president diables and are also promised to introduce an anti crime bill. the head of apple has partly blamed the u.s. president's trade war with china for missing out on billions of dollars worth of business tim cook warned of lower than expected earnings for the first quarter of this year also citing we could demand from china last year washington and beijing imposed a series of tit for tat tariffs on each other's goods a truce agreed last month expires in march sean nichols is a technology reporter at the register a technology news and opinion website he joins us now via skype from san francisco sean just how much of this is actually an impact of the trade war and just how much of this is slipping demand for i phones. well it's ok that's that's

a very good question i think what apple would like to do is really kind of as much as possible site china site the trade work site has issues as the cause of this but as you noted the over the last couple years apple has significantly increased the price of the i phone with tim cook special explanation of this is you're seeing kind of a combination of the trade wars kind of causing problems in china kind of worries over the economy and that's making people less likely to go in and purchase apple products so it's so you're seeing both apple saying this is the train where the economic policies but it's also you know our products are more expensive and fewer people want to go in the store and pay that much for a phone so give us a bit of context just how big of a market is china for apple. oh it's a major i mean over the last several quarters that something tim cook has really

emphasized to investors and shareholders and analysts is that china is seen as a major market for apple. obviously is probably one of the biggest untapped markets in the world for for apple and a lot of other companies in the u.s. and europe. you know what they are competing significantly with a lot of chinese companies that do have a presence there but i think apple sees this apple especially you know who fancy themselves as a high end streeter is kind of a more expensive phone distributor really see a very large significant market. in china so in every scene any kind of impact on the set price after this announcement today. yes i believe in after hours trading there was something like seven point five percent drop in apple's share price i mean this isn't a huge hit for apple as far as the shortfall i believe it's only about four or five billion out of an eighty four billion dollar revenue. for the quarter but this is something that investors are paying attention to and they did punish apple pretty

significantly in after hours trading and john i want to ask you about the well beyond china just how is apple doing there with its demand for i phones is this a china specific issue. it's mostly china specific apple is has stated that china really kind of stood out amongst all this in a lot of other areas in geographies. they were ahead of or meeting their revenue estimates that said they did note that the i phone specifically was was what was kind of an outlier there that is course their biggest product line their biggest cash cow so. it china is the probably the big hit in this but they also acknowledge that overall there is kind of a negative trend for the i phone so nicholas is a technology reporter speaking to us there from san francisco thanks john thank you the u.s. congress starts its new two year session on thursday democrats have retaken control

of the house of representatives in part because of a surge and younger and more divest candidates the republicans retain control of the senate roslyn jordan has this preview on what to expect new year new session of congress the public's expectations of success are high the american public is so much more engaged than they normally are they are paying attention to politics they're not just letting things happen after the november elections the republicans retain control of the senate but it's the democrats who now run the house their ranks are younger more liberal more ethnically diverse and filled with many more women. they want to check president don't trump policies and to pass legislation of their own immigration reform investigating saudi arabia's ties to the us and expanding health care coverage. but first ending the federal government shutdown how dangerous is this why we need

a wall the president wants up to five billion dollars for a border wall between the u.s. and mexico and he says he won't reopen the government unless he gets that money democrats say they won't give the president money for anyone that means eight hundred thousand federal workers aren't being paid and a variety of federal services are not available until further notice the president seems to be stuck on a wall or barrier or whatever it is that he's calling it today but i think that they've given him plenty of options plenty of ways to open the government president trouble owns the shutdown he is the person who said that he was going to shut down the government he needs to go away from an impractical wall and we're going to reopen the government break up a kind of gridlock reading the members of the one hundred sixteenth congress their first chance to show the public that they can solve the most difficult of political problems rosalyn jordan al-jazeera washington israel's prime minister benjamin

netanyahu is on time growing pressure to expand illegal settlements as he launches his reelection bid last week israel announced plans to extend an existing settlement south of bethlehem from there al jazeera stephanie deca reports. we are deep in the occupied west bank just south of bethlehem trying to find the location israel has earmarked for the latest announcement of its illegal settlement expansion an area rights groups are calling to it's striking how many settlements are already cut across this land land that is meant to be part of a future palestinian state and he could make resident monied for wagga helps us find the hills a small group of settlers are already here. for example take bethlehem their settlement block in from the north and road sixty from the west and the settlement of efrat from the south and to koa is there behind us what's going to happen to us

what's left where should we palestinians breathe when you're looking for west bank today it's not a blisteringly and continuities you're going to continue to between the villages and cities all e business here are. real to faggy is an expert in the geography of the land where the settlements are and what their presence means here's your a zillion so we have a big live view of settlements this is the more than any bloke and you have to give i was able to work on my earlier that we look at me in the big kind of go to. the jordan valley but it's more dangerous than this one it's me in that all the biggest city in north of this garage it's your own will be divided for two pieces one of them is surrounded with something in the north and second settlement and so there is no go for the city one word the rights group peace now is fighting this latest

expansion in the courts arguing this land should be allocated for palestinians not to build more illegal settlements i'm afraid that the coming months before elections will be used by the settlers to set facts on the ground that the government will not want to fight against and the government will issue new plans and new facts because. they feel that it's a window of opportunity not knowing what will be after the election and with trumpets ministration in their back they can do whatever they want back in the west bank on a road that skims a small palestinian village we come across to israeli settlers. we ask them where the new allocated area is. and they say it's in the settlement of a from what they believe that this is their land given to them by god unless there is significant pressure on israel by the united states and the international community to reverse this decision peace now tells us that it's only a matter of a couple of years until see bulldozers arrive here and start building thousands

more illegal settlement homes stephanie decker al-jazeera south of buffalo him in the occupied west bank. and israel's public security minister has promised to make conditions worse for palestinian prisoners he says jails will remove cooking rights begin rationing water and reduce prisoners autonomy they'll also lose the right to be housed with members of their factions says the new policies aimed to deter future acts of violence more than five thousand palestinians are being held in israeli jails as political prisoners many say they've been subject to torture and violence while in custody more than two hundred children are among those being held rights groups say more than one thousand eight hundred are in need of medical care with about seven hundred suffering from serious or chronic illnesses palestinian prisoners often protest against the poor conditions and there have been several hunger strikes in recent years. as secretary general of the palestinian national

initiative he says it would be another escalation of human rights violations by israel. the fact hansing now these punitive acts against palestinian prisoners is very clearly related to the fact that there is a nearly ministers are using suppression and operation of palestinians as an instrument in competition in the upcoming elections some ministers are in france incumbent activities others torturing people through imprisoning them especially children. now wanting to make conditions much worse for post in persons and others are greeted policy of violence against palestinian people so in my opinion this is one of the way over a skeleton in the human rights violations rescue workers in indonesia searching for twenty people buried beneath landslides in west java at least fifteen bodies have

been recovered so far mariana hunt has more on the wall of mud and debris came without warning just before sunset on new year's eve. about one hundred people live in the village of scenarios me it slammed into the heinz burying at least thirty buildings many up to every this but i only had to run to the back of my house and saw the barn turn upside down and then be carried away by source of so much soil coming my way very very fast. at least thirty five people are thought to have been swallowed up by the landslide survivors and rescue workers for the most part using basic tools their heads and to clear the thick mud to find survivors and the deeds but this is dangerous work ongoing heavy rainfall on the unstable soil has triggered at least full more landslides hampering the refits soon

it is me village is on the hill one of more than thirty areas within the sukhumi district that disaster relief officials head assist to be at medium to high risk because you are not a decree or policy to make sure. the wave you leave invest is really weiss and. but that's little comfort for those whose family and friends i did well still missing. that day my brother was visiting me down at the beach in the afternoon he said he wanted to return to his house i asked him to stay overnight but he said no i'm afraid of the tsunami and then i heard what happened there i came straight away to look for him indonesia was hit by more than two and a half thousand netra disasters in two thousand and eighteen including earthquakes cannick eruptions tsunamis and landslides. this disaster

on the last day of the year took the death toll for two thousand and eighteen across indonesia to more than three thousand the highest number in more than a decade median hond. well french president had no shortage of challenges last year has saved his being out of touch anger with his government came to a head with often violent yellow vest protests and as bennett's misreports from paris political rivals are trying to capitalize on the mood in the country to prepare for the next european elections in may. they have no leader no manifesto no political party and no candidate yet five months before election day for the european parliament france's main political parties a nervous about what they call the yellow vest effect was was. there's no political party that can decide on the out of the people we other french

people that fought for the land and we continue the struggle no political party is above the french people should. not honestly i'm not going to fight because i don't want to fight with people who look down on us who talk to us disrespectfully who despise anthony leave us alone anonymous you aisy one of the protestors strongest demands after tax relief is for direct democracy referendums rather than more elected representatives that worries e.u. leaders just forty percent of french people voted in the last european elections there is a real crisis stuff for presentation and europe is part of it in particular as the european parliament is not so well known by most people it's important to. show much better what true up is doing for people for all people from a high of three hundred thousand protesters nationwide in november to thirty thousand by the end of the year there may be far fewer yellow vests willing to take

to the streets every week but polls consistently show support for more than seventy percent of french people support the political parties a trying to harness actually saying you know there's one thing i think that we can from on there are topics on the table meaning what actually is in your appearance in your opening and that's for them on the road on a day to day basis only one opinion poll has tested how yellow vest candidates might fare in new york election and it suggested they'd win twelve percent of the vote and almost all asked would be at the expense of the far left and far right the same poll said micron's republican on the move to get twenty one percent of the vote whatever the yellow back to the biggest problem might be the yellow vests own base which is so far resisted attempts to create a leadership. but it's. still ahead on al-jazeera it was a tight race to the finish at the cross country ski world cup event in germany.