the south korean tech giant blames a slump on growing competition from chinese smartphone makers and a cut in orders for their memory chips at least seven people have died in a deadly cold snap in america in some parts of the midwest and northeast in the u.s. temperatures are lower than in antarctica john hendren has more now from willis in michigan. in arctic freeze envelops the american midwest bringing dangerous cold in record low temperatures this is an event unlike any we've seen in a generation i think it's really important that we protect people the arctic air of the polar vortex is sweeping the region driving temperatures down to thirty below zero celsius it goes o'hare airport with wind chills in the suburbs making it feel like minus forty eight the predicted low of minus thirty three at o'hare on thursday would be chicago's lowest temperature in recorded history the weather system stretches across a huge swath from the dakotas in the north that minus thirty degrees celsius to

maine in the east and as far south as alabama to prevent freezing chicago sets the train tracks on fire schools post offices and businesses are closed even a few minutes exposure to temperatures this low can cause frostbite one local forecaster is warning if you shut your eyes for too long they can freeze closed it's that kind of cold. the frigid air that forms a polar vortex once spun around the stratosphere over the north pole but its current now disrupted is pushing down into the u.s. the arctic blast leaves a mess of crash cars and broken pipes with days to go before the cleanup begins john hendren al-jazeera willis michigan. so had her announced six deaths every day for a lot of refugees and migrants trying to cross the mediterranean. the united arab emirates is accused of using spyware and to hug the i phones of rival leaders and

activists. the dangerously cold weather continues across the good parts of north america so. a this cloud into those central hours that's going to make its way a little further a switch in tucked in behind us where we have the italy cold weather the temperatures will start soon ease as we go through the next modest seventeen cells in chicago represents something of a warming as they were getting up around eight or nine degrees away this days value so that is something of an improvement cooler weather clear weather making its way into new york minus eight the top temperature here i was also west's well we're getting up to around twelve celsius in seattle mid teens there for san francisco notice and right down towards someone half of california clear through as you go on into friday further north around the pacific northwest western parts of canada war

rain and snow coming through here let's get back into the midwest upper midwest chicago a modest five celsius really is something of a warning as we go into the weekend and beyond will see temperatures creeping into double figures by the early part of next week that could herald a rapid thoughts of something else to watch out for next week meanwhile down into the caribbean still cold enough in about it around twenty six celsius cloud bits and pieces of rain to into central parts of cuba also affecting parts of the western caribbean this weekend. in the next episode of science in a golden age i'll be exploring the contributions made by scholars join the medieval islamic period in the field of medicine. science tend to be a good subject to bring different people from all over the world together. to such an icon much of. the more i learn about the more i respect science in

a golden age with professor jim unfairly on a. one . or. but again you want a reminder for our top stories this hour and u.s. president donald trump has promised some court to d. a self-proclaimed leader of venezuela one who died and the two men spoke on the phone and he joins thousands of people streets venezuela for another day thanks to . the united arab emirates says the saudi led coalition in yemen has struck ten training camps outside to keep the city of the data on wednesday renewed fighting there is threatening a cease fire deal struck in sweden last month. donald trump has lashed out at his

own intelligence chiefs calling them naive and wrong of the threat posed by iran the u.s. president suggested they go back to school after officials contradicted his claims on key national security. the united nations is warning that refugees and migrants crossing the mediterranean sea losing their lives alarming rate new figures released by the un's refugee agency shows six people died on average every day last year it estimates more than two thousand two hundred migrants died or went missing one attempting the crossing the routes was particularly deadly for boats leaving from libya where one pilot hasn't died at sea for every fourteen there arrived in europe that's despite a major drop in the number of refugees reaching europe one hundred thirty nine thousand arrived in two thousand and eighteen which is the lowest number in five years but the u.n. commissioner for refugees is blaming politicians for the crisis. it's a race between countries not to peak the people so it's

a negative race it's in and peacefully diary the race that the governments for political reasons are performing pushing the responsibility of this rather simple gesture to pick a few. miserable people. in their country charley actually is a spokesman for the un refugee agency he says the number of migrant deaths in two thousand and eighteen was deeply concerning the number of people arriving on european shores by mediterranean roots down substantially compared to previous years we're back now to levels that we were typically seeing throughout the early two thousand but what is deeply concerning is that for the fifth year in a row more than two thousand people lost their lives and this is happening particularly on the central mediterranean where on the route from libya to europe

a combination of smugglers and traffickers attempting ever more dangerous journeys figure of more than two thousand dead could in fact be quite far higher these are only the ones we know about and there remains a lack of n.g.o.s operating search and rescue operations because of restrictions that have been imposed on them by states and we're seeing that deadly consequences of that now many of these people are in need of humanitarian assistance many of these new people are in need of international protection and this is having a deterrent effect on boats who may wish to conduct search and rescue operations one of the things you in a.c.r. is really concerned about is that if this situation continues we may have vessels particularly commercial ships waver or even ignore distress signals for fear of being stranded at sea for days on end. scaring migrants and refugees capsized off the coast of djibouti at least fifty two people are confirmed dead many more are

missing one hundred thirty were on board the boats the coast guard is still conducting search and rescue operations with patrol but thousands of people from east africa often attempt to cross the red sea in the hope of finding work in gulf countries. it's been revealed that the united arab emirates took advantage of spying software to hack the i phones of activists diplomats and rival foreign leaders reuters news agency investigation found that the u.a.e. used its hold known as tama to monitor hundreds of people in two thousand and sixteen and seventy among the target scatters amir a senior turkish official and human rights activists to the reuters journalists involved in the best occasion christopher being jolted get been have been speaking to our desire and they gave more details on how the hacking happened and the tools that allowed the u.a.e. to spy. what you finding was the existence of project raven which is a cyber mercenary unit in the united arab emirates that was largely staffed by

former us intelligence operatives country hired these people over to a contractor to essentially run their own office of cyber program so this included surveillance of dissidents journalists rivals in the region and as we found out in our story it also eventually included the law americans karma was a was a cyber weapon that was used by project rave in to infiltrate and to hack into the i phones of opponents are enemies of the u.a.e. and what made it really unusual was that like with most of these types of exploits or hacking tools you know will send somebody an e-mail or send somebody a text message and they have to kind of trick them into clicking on that link right and that's usually the trick here what was really unusual is that all you needed was the person's phone number or email address and it would automatically send a text message to that person they'd have to click on that they need to interact with it all he would just automatically begin to infiltrate the person's i phone

all they need to do is receive the message and then from there are they the tool could begin to just download all the person's photographs all of their email all their location data. and you know all their i messages there is a great interesting to tar obviously because that is a kind of a regional rival of the u.a.e. specifically they went after a lot of members of the royal family including the emir of qatar himself they were able to hack into his i phone and for at least an i phone at least we know it to be an i phone that was used by him and the i phones of many of his family members and you know people associated with the royal court. eleven's currency the lira is under pressure or if it is that without much needed reforms it could lose its value even more western in an already bad economic situation central bank has dismissed the fizz for the first time is taking measures to safeguard there as well from beirut. the lebanese the euro has been pegged at one thousand five hundred to the

dollar since one nine hundred ninety eight there have been concerns over the years about its value especially during times of political and economic instability which are all too common here but now some lebanese fear a currency collapse the central bank says that won't happen but is preventing exchange dealers from making statements so as not to cause panic despite the assurances people are worried and a vocal america's about them but the central bank tells us that they devalue but the economy is bad people barely can afford to eat with us from atlanta if the economic situation continues the way it is then the lira will really be in danger we need a government to deal with the crisis lebannon has been without a government for nine months now politicians are fighting over the sectarian distribution of seats which means much needed structural reforms can't be carried out the little bit of. the lure is at risk people have little faith in the national currency ninety percent of them used dollars money transfer firms must now

exclusively use local currency when dispensing cash sent from abroad it's part of preventive measures adopted by the central bank to support the legal route we are now using the demand on your body is near and terms of monetary policy which means that we will have more stable prices. like there is an emergency need that pushed them to issue this decision at this time. banks are also taking action such as offering high interest rates to persuade customers to convert their savings into lior as the world bank the international monetary fund and credit rating agencies are all warning about what they describe as the country's worrying financial condition they say lebanon's risk profile is rising and that's the problem because investor confidence is needed to attract. capital lebanon's economy relies on that

. banks have also been trying to bring in dollars not just to sustain believe as value but fund the government which spends more than half of its revenue just to service the national debt. that is its short goods all foreign products see and this is that reflected high level of interest and all of that my services that are taken by the sanford back so far those measures haven't involved what many fear such as the capping of the dollar withdrawals that would be a good indicator of lebanon monetary stability. in the united states the youngest member involved in the nine hundred sixty nine killing spree led by a criminal and cult leader charles manson has been recommended for release from prison leslie van who knew who was nineteen at the time has been serving a life sentence for her role in the mud is the sixty nine year old who sought parole nearly two dozen times but has always been denied the group led by months

and was held responsible for seven murders reynolds has the latest from los angeles . it was fifty years ago that this city los angeles was thrown into a state of fear bordering on panic and the united states as a whole was horrified by a series of gruesome murders they became known as the tate la bianca killings and as the investigation unfolded it became known that they were the work of what was then called the manson family after charles manson a life time petty criminal who developed an incredible ability charismatic ability to get people to follow him he assembled a small group of so-called family members mostly young drifters or runaways and they committed these horrific acts killing sharon tate and several of her houseguests and leon and rosemary la bianca over two nights in august

of one nine hundred sixty nine now a parole board here in california has recommended that the youngest member of the manson family leslie van hooten is now eligible or suitable for parole then hooton was nineteen at the time of the killing she was convicted of murdering leon and rosemary la bianca and she is now sixty nine years old charles manson himself died in twenty seventeen well into his eighty's u.n. human rights experts are calling for an impartial investigation into friday's dime disaster in southeastern brazil at least ninety nine people have been confirmed dead so far off of the time holding an old waste collapsed and caused a sea of mud to punt sometimes a brewing. over two hundred fifty people are still missing. representatives of

brazil's indigenous peoples are gathering in sao paolo to protest against president policies they say the far right leader is stripping away their control over ancestral lands the country's home to nearly one million visited at one indigenous community in the northern state. in the past it was their remoteness the protected once modern society reaches these isolated communities it often becomes their. patients farmers taking land deforesting minus polluting. the collude with or ignore the transgressions. this is indigenous people now say the president. will only make the situation worse. indigenous people if we do not keep our guard up we will lose a lot so we do not accept anything less than what is guaranteed in our constitution

if needed we will fight to defend our rights as posts in our does not respect us. three main education health and territories we are putting the emphasis on territory because territory in compassing everything we don't have our territory we don't have health or education. the past four years have seen a fifteen percent rise in the murder of indigenous activists across brazil with the killers rarely brought to justice. in this community. to protect their lands and to maintain their languages and culture in the face of encroachments. but now they're fighting for their very survival. only about half the three hundred fifty seven indigenous territories and i was on a state have been fully registered the president both sonando has said repeatedly that not one centimeter more would be demarcated as indigenous land why he should one percent of the population have twelve percent of the land campaign

a sphere that will only open the way for further conflict shared assume. there's a feeling that indigenous rights have been abolished with no punishment for those invading indigenous land or making death threats well that's already a bad situation will now be worse i mean yes the new government has placed indigenous issues with the agriculture ministry which has promised to promote agri business it's not what they. want to see for future generations. i was born here my father my mother my grandparents were all from here and they died here and the new generation has come along to take care of us they will not allow the non-indigenous people to take away our land this latest battle in a conflict that's been raging for more than five hundred years there's a new just begun. that there al-jazeera amazonas state brazil.

so i mean these are the headlines here in the u.s. president all trump has promised support to the self-proclaimed leader of venezuela on died or the two men spoke on the phone i join thousands of people on the streets of venezuela for another day of protests calling for the military to stop supporting president nicolas maduro he has directly appealed to the american people and asked for their help in preventing what he called a vietnam in latin america. the united arab emirates says the saudi led coalition in yemen has struck a ten who think training camps outside the key port city of her data renewed fighting is threatening a u.n. backed cease fire deal struck in sweden last month and the united states some republican democratic politicians are trying once again to stop the trumpet ministration from supporting the saudi led coalition fighting in yemen when yemenis see made in usa on the bombs that are killing them it tells them that the

united states of america is responsible for this war this is not a message the united states should be sending to the world the united states should not be supporting a catastrophic war led by a despotic saudi regime with a dangerous and irresponsible military policy donald trump has lashed out at his own intelligence chiefs calling them naive and wrong over the threat posed by iran the u.s. president suggested they go back to school after officials contradicted his claims on key national security issues british prime minister's reason may has met the opposition leader jeremy called and trying to find common ground on a deal for leaving the european union parliament has given mad two week deadline to renegotiate agreements with the e.u. and peace have asked her to demand changes to what's known as the backstop the contentious issue of the border between the republic of ireland and northern ninety

two boats carrying migrants and refugees have capsized off the coast of djibouti at least fifty two confirmed dead and many more are missing. or you have to take the headlines here on odds or come on years after science in the golden age. as politicians in washington. we talk to the people at the center of the story many of them just said oh no it's very dangerous since so many guns are there and it's not it's a very safe place migrants smugglers and people who live along the border. patrol just zero. modern high tech advances in medicine and health all of course the result of many centuries of development with experimentation much of which took place in the islam that quote between the ninth and fourteenth centuries a golden age of sawyer is during this time scholars in the stomach world made huge contributions to medicine and created

a body of knowledge that was tremendously important and influential around the world for many hundreds of years. which is professor of theoretical physics but born in baghdad and i'll be exploring states of the art biomedical science and the covering the current to be you should made to the field the sculls the golden age. it was during the islamic golden age that medicine started to be treated as a true science with emphasis on empirical evidence and repeatable procedures during

that time medical books were written they became standard texts throughout the world to many hundreds of years off come here to the hum of hospital in bellhop to see how the ideas of the stillness in the medieval to stomach world compare. our modern medicine. the hospital's neonatal unit deals with premature newborn babies who are suffering from a variety of conditions is the only one of its kind in qatar and babies are referred here from across the country all in all our doors we probably have chose to seventeen to eighteen hundred babies that amounts to about ten to eleven percent of the total birth that occurs in this hospital so it is by comparison one of the biggest units in the world we do look after babies who wore as small as twenty three or twenty four weeks just asian so if you're looking at

a five months pregnancy autumn on someone with pregnancy and that in itself is incredible i mean not that long ago twenty three twenty four we call just days and there's no way that survivor was a little and we've come a long way at this hospital there carrying out pioneering research to improve the treatment of babies born with neonatal and simple but the that's is babies born with serious neurological damage because of a problem with oxygen or blood supply in the womb. the gold standard of treatment is putting these babies on a cooling map for us to try to reduce the temperature and limit the potential ongoing damage that could ensue in the brain however it does not really provide an appropriate success rate worldwide gear work trying a simple remedy that we believe has potential which is that addition of a drug called magnesium sulfate but it's never been tried in combination with the cooling. to improve the reliability of their research the hospitals using what we

call a control group some of the babies receive magnesium sulfate whereas a separate group the control group don't receive it this allows the hospital to compare fairly. effects of the treatment with and without the drug. so this particular study is a double blind placebo control which means we are offering some of our babies a placebo or some or giving them magnesium sulphate we don't really know which are which otherwise i don't know why the virus a little bit why it's exactly one thing that's of tremendous interest to me is that this idea of a control group actually goes all the way back over a thousand years to a persian physician by the name of a razi who built the first hospitals in baghdad who was looking into the causes and treatments of meningitis and i believe he had not only his sample of patients but

he had a control group to which he wasn't it minister in the treatment in one case it was blood letting you know isn't the way to treat meningitis but the idea of a control group goes all the way back to to a rocky this is actually one of the all most important components of research that we do how a control group to try to to ensure that you know our studies come out as non-biased as possible to comparing it absolutely out of the. other as he was born in the city of re to her on in the mid ninth century and he was an early proponents of applying a rigorous scientific approach to medicine during his distinguished career he served as chief physicians of hospitals in both ray and baghdad. in the early tenth century the ruling telling him back that defeat after razi where in the city he

should build a new hospital so a rise he designed experiments he hung up around different locations to see how quickly they rotted and so determined the place with the cleanest air this was typical of a razi you have a problem you design an experiment to find the answer. during the golden age the dissection of human bodies was considered disrespectful but there was one group of people who knew quite a bit about anatomy butchers albeit the anatomy of animals vomit and human. well even though this is just a lamb's not a human all we can still see quite clearly the different compartments the different chain biz within the heart this isn't something very familiar to his physicians of the medieval age.

in the seventeenth century william harvey famously carried out his groundbreaking research into the circulation of blood in the function of the heart but in nineteen twenty four an ancient document was discovered this was a text written by him in the seals the thirteenth century arab physicians in it he described the basics of pulmonary circulation how blood doesn't move across from one side of the heart that the other has to take the long way round around the body this four hundred years before harvey. building on the writings of physicians like him enough he said william harvey our understanding of the heart has continued to develop her field hospital in the u.k. is part of the country's largest center for heart and lung disease there cutting edge treatments build on the work of professor maggie. one of the world's leading

heart specialists who set up the hospital's busy transplant unit and has received a knighthood in britain for his services to medicine the heart is such like a magical girl the more i learn about the more i respect. because it goes on incessantly beating quietly maintaining life professor yet who is also interested in the history of medicine as part of a paper he commission for medical journal he's researched the life and work of illness. here we have a scholar. born in syria in the early part of the thirteenth century he was a policeman because he was studying he was. a theologian and here was a scientists if you lie he was a discoverer but arguably his most important contribution was his commentary on

medicine in which he looked at how blood moves through the heart so this is the heart and you can see quite clearly the right ventricle and the left ventricle and these are two completely separate chambers the question has been. how does blood go from the right ventricle to the left and through. the centuries the accepted view had been that of the renowned greek physician galen galen said that blood passes directly between the rights and left ventricles of the heart through tiny holes in the septum the dividing wall that separates them from the feast was the first to challenge galen's view he established that there weren't any holes so they had to be another way for blood to pass from rights and left the contention of some persons to say that this place is poor us it's be on the preconceived idea that the blood from the right men to him

has to pass through the process. and they are all. just as he's quoted this saying that for somebody as young at this person at the time when he was twenty nine the height of the coverage of the state such a thing it's absolutely remarkable. galen said that there are holes in the septum. if you open the right ventricle like and doing now it is solid there on no channels whatsoever even if he's was absolutely right. in the feast dated that the blood must first pass through the lungs where he said it mingled with them before it came back to the heart and was pumped around the body and now we know. the blood from the rights ventricle goes

into the pond they are three is here goes around the lawn. comes back. in deeds own the navy seals into the offensive so this is the pond and the research relation which comes here that is the discovery it's now obvious what it was and then. evelyn if he says description wasn't widely accepted at the time and it wasn't until his manuscript was rediscovered in the twentieth century it is work was universally recognized it's now part of the long history of medicine that continues to evolve today we have learnt a lot. more grant how to stop it how to respond to how to replace how to mend the. person or. the journey continues.

early hospitals did exist in the ninth century baghdad but these were little more than hospitals for the sick offering care but not much in the way of cure however hospitals as we recognize them today giving treatments and offering medicine for free they begin to appear around the empire in cities such as cordova and damascus . in order for these hospitals to provide care they needed a knowledge of medicines and surgery the most important work of the golden age was written by the great tenth century philosopher and physician been seen or better known by his latin name at the center this is my personal copy of his great text the canon of medicine. the full work was a multi-volume group of techs that took on where the greeks left off physicians like galen and hypocrisy in this.