stories. of diverse cultures. and conflicting politics. one on one east on al-jazeera. this is al-jazeera. hello welcome i'm peter dhabi you're watching the news our live from our headquarters here in doha coming up in the next 60 minutes. angry crowds stormed the u.s. embassy compound in iraq from planes in iran and issues a threat. north korea's leader kim jong un vows to develop a new strategic weapon and accuses the u.s. of gangster like tomorrow it's. a desperate battle into the new year to save homes

and lives in australia the military is on standby as lightning starts even more bushfires. protesting on into 2020 of the defiance is set to continue in hong kong. and the city of lights and lock this is right now the latest city cheering a new day. iraqi protesters have taken their rage against u.s. airstrikes on a shia group to america's embassy hundreds of people marched into the heavily fortified green zone and surrounded the embassy in the iraqi capital baghdad some of them managed to storm the compound and set a security post on fire they were angry over some. these u.s.

airstrikes in iraq and syria targeting a powerful iranian backed group the hezbollah brigades on iraqi soil the incident at the embassy happened as funerals were being held for the fighters killed in the u.s. air strikes the u.s. is deploying additional troops to reinforce the diplomatic mission it's blamed iran for the unrest on tuesday but tehran denies it had anything to do with it simona fulton begins our coverage with this report from baghdad green zone. the angry and determined they marched across the river tigris through unmanned checkpoints into the heart of the fortified green zone thousands of members of the iranian backed popular mobilization forces and their supporters surrounded the compound of the u.s. embassy to deliver a stern warning notice. this is a message to trump and to the american embassy and consulate in baghdad. watch out you have touched our soldiers and our brothers they said fires at the outer gates

as they try to get inside the embassy grounds the situation appears to be escalating now with hundreds perhaps thousands of members of the popular mobilization for setting the reeds to the close of the u.s. embassy there for throwing stones there burning the trying to climb the wall to reach the u.s. embassy compound and they're chanting anti-american slogans they're demanding the waves roll off american troops from iraq. the action is in response to u.s. airstrikes that killed dozens of fighters from the hezbollah brigades which form part of the popular mobilization of forces it all began as a funeral procession to honor those killed crowds pay their respects as the bodies passed by and vowed to avenge their deaths and the other on their lives over. this cowardly act was carried out by the u.s. and israel they will pay a high price we will take a strong stand and we will not forget the blood of the martyrs. as long as there's

breath inside of us we will tell them that we are here on the streets and we are here to stay and there will be an aggressive response to their pieces are not saying. top pm of their support of this march including hard money the leader of the biggest bloc in parliament and there is. bullet an insurgency after the us led invasion in 2003 they pledged to use both military and political means to expel us troops that are part of the dharma this embassy has proved its conspires against iraq this is the embassy where they spy on iraq and where they lead to destruction of iraq this is where the saboteurs are supported the u.s. embassy is located in the heavily fortified green zone for months iraqi security forces have guarded it against anti-government protesters but this time they appear to have orders to stand down the prime minister has condemned the attack on the embassy but the fact that these crowds have been allowed to reach the embassy gates

appears to signal the government's implicit endorsement of the message that they're trying to send iran has strong relations not only with the security groups that we talk about that we've been talking about but also with the political groups with the institutions with state actors inside iraq and across the political spectrum from. and kurdish groups. through loudspeakers crowds in tahrir square who've camped out for months to protest against the government and the iranian influence renounced any connection to the group that entered the green zone this attack on the u.s. embassy could turn into a diplomatic crisis many fear it could be the beginning of an escalating proxy war between the u.s. and iran on iraqi soil say want a full teen al-jazeera baghdad. let's cross live to gabriel elizondo in washington where donald trump has been tweeting about the unrest as of tuesday gable how has the u.s. response shifted during the course of the day. yeah and it has shifted as we know

the policy and statements that come out of washington in this particular administration can change on a dime very quick as we've seen in some other instances and we saw a lot of shifting in that a little bit of that on tuesday as well initially when these protests started the u.s. immediately focused on securing the embassy deployed what we think were about 100 rapid reef response marines from the region to the embassy to help buffer security there but the administration was pointing the finger directly at iran saying that iran was responsible for these protests without a doubt but then you saw as the day want to long administration officials and even u.s. congressmen and women also putting the pressure on iraq wondering questions were being why didn't iraq allow this to happen how did iraqi security forces allow these protesters to get so close to this u.s.

embassy in this heavily fortified green zone and questions were being asked about that might pompei o actually spoke to both the iraqi president and prime minister and president trump himself also spoke on the phone with the prime minister as well in a readout from that indicated that he questioned the prime minister or asked the prime minister to please secure the u.s. embassy and do everything in his power but then we're seeing on tuesday evening president trump now tweeting again pointing the finger again directly at irani tweeted and i'm going to read it iran will be held fully responsible for lives lost or damage incurred at any of our facilities trump tweet went on to say they will pay a very big price this is not a warning this is a threat before in the in the tweet with happy new year so the big question now is trump threatening iran should. they can any attacks continue on

us. the sillies that the u.s. think it says iran is behind it but then the big question is what is us going to do beyond these threats and there's simply no answer to that question yet gabriel thanks very much let's talk now to max abrams he's a professor of political science at the northeastern university in boston he joins us on skype from the max welcome back to the news greats have your insight as usual are we heading towards a situation where the u.s. and iran having a full on confrontation on iraq he soil. i think back to other problems are going to ask ali but i don't think it will be our follow on confrontation but clearly we're in a tit for tat environment where today the embassy the u.s. embassy in baghdad would store and that was in retaliation to u.s. strikes against what's called his beloved brigade some of the. popular mobilization forces you know. that i was in response to there are attacking in iraq

e military installation increased cook which killed an american contractor here ringback and there were no signs of the us dying to have one of trial has indicated that he's going to escalate even further of the iranian militia groups whatever you want to call have also been quite clear that this is not the end they call out of the operations against the embassy but there are still outside in the green so an intense it their leadership says that they're going to continue pushing against u.s. forces are even attacking them in so far as the united states leaves iraq and that's not really for seeable washington certainly there will continue to be

some sort of u.s. diplomatic presence nevermind the $5000.00 plus u.s. troops in the country and so i don't see any end to this i think i see things getting worse but i also don't think that trump wants an all out war against iran and iran is smart enough not to want it all out war against the u.s. as well but when we talk about the iranian militia here the militia around the region not just in iraq isn't there a key difference here some analysts have been saying to us there is a difference because the hezbollah brigades or cut tape hezbollah is controlled directly from iran and their argument goes well look this is out there in the public domain and everyone involved in this knows it. it is confusing because we refer to. in iraq but more the more well known one is in the levant lebannon increasingly out of syria these are separate groups but of course

what they have. is that they're both iranian backed sometimes this one based in iraq is called a paramilitary group which would suggest that it's directly in the arm rather where is hezbollah the party you've got the more well known and loving on who is seen more often as a resistance group are or even a terrorist group depending on what your politics are but this is real but there's no doubt about i mean we're really just putting here is there's no doubt about it that this is very much a proxy of the iranian government and it's in control in order to spread some of its influence in iraq as well as to me the u.s. presence there more cost is the trumpet ministration actually on the front foot given or despite his back story when it comes to you know people like john bolton moving away from the administration and the trumpets to towards the 2015 iranian

nuclear deal because iran when it comes to those proxies around the region but specifically now with iraq it can't try to hide behind its critics might say this idea of plausible deniability. well i think that d.c. is very clear on any attacks by the popular mobilisation courses are seen as attacks by iran itself and so there is no of plus a whole lot to do with the when attacks can be linked up to these militia groups they're basically seemed as coming directly from tehran however that doesn't mean necessarily that there needs to be direct confrontation coverage asian between the u.s. and iran for example another high the president somebody's life bernie sanders or a whispered who are they might be more inclined to say you know what this is in

iran's neighborhood the iraq project has been a failure since 2003 and sure iraq is projecting power but that doesn't mean that the u.s. needs to stay there in large numbers and to escalate against you and so these are we are going politicians have a lot of each and see in terms of determining us foreign policy even if we all accept that the violence is coming one way or another from tehran. saban's there in boston thank you very much my pleasure. plenty more still to come for you here on the news hour including 2019 saw anger in france over efforts to reform the pension system and a new tax on fuel we'll tell you what the president's been saying in his new year's address. allegations of forced abortions we'll speak to ethnic kazakhs who say they were detained alongside a week of muslims in china and in the sports news the disappearance of a footballer's father colombia's world cup midfielder demands answers from the head

of the country's army. lightning strikes have started new bushfires in the australian states of a tory up as the crisis there and neighboring new south wales threatens to get even worse hundreds of people remain trapped on a beach for a 2nd day as they seek shelter from growing bushfires in southeast australia the navy is preparing to evacuate people by sea and air from the waterfront in the town up in victoria in the state of new south wales towns a cloaked in an orange and red haze at least 12 people have been killed more now from laura but in many. as a massive wildfire towards the town of. $4000.00 people flats towards the beach those with boats went one step further as now the 5 fronts come through. every one side the sound got together to the dogs up the frog that supplies but i never see

them i get. the fire burning across 730 square kilometers i think day began and could resume it turned day to night this video was recorded. we're just getting some invisible and i have a name so they reckon that they say. that it's the wards of north east at the moment and it started in the town of no it didn't get me a military leader is currently under. back at the moment there's a number of houses we believe was lost in and around that community we've got 3 structure i'm sitting in with a community literally standing side by side with our community at the beachfront victoria's premier looked towards the australian defense force for help wildfire bosses try to calm residents not just america but across the states in the number of communities. and again this was a scenario that we forecast a number of guys ago so our focus today is very much about how we can gain how we

can support those impacted communities in the neighboring states of new south wales scenes repeated the community have come to the local surf club with the ocean as their access and this was a bait during the new year's holiday coastal towns a popular vacation spots authorities of tens of thousands of holidaymakers to go home or cancel their plans because the pavement for evacuation center. work is really bad it's hard. apocalyptic this is the middle of a very. major cities of not escape the choking smoke and flames a monday 100000 people were urged to evacuate from 5 melbourne suburbs while this was filmed in western sydney just so far with. australia's wildfire season is breaking records. the 1st major fires started in early september before the arrival

of spring the product of soaring temperatures dry ground and strong winds they've now destroyed more than 40000 square kilometers of land at any given time dozens if not hundreds of fires are burning and the full heat of summer has yet to arrive in manly al-jazeera. the north korean leader kim jong un has promised to develop his country's nuclear weapons program he also said he'd soon launch a new strategic. weapon denuclearization talks between pyongyang and washington stalled in october south korean media is reporting that in his annual new year's address mr kim said the u.s. would quote suffer helplessly if he continued to delay talks he accused the white house of making gangster like demands rodman bright joins us live from so push your reading of these comments from the north korean leader. that's right peter

is i think as people here have expected or indeed have fear that north korea seems to be turning away from the path of dialogue with the u.s. that this avenue it seems is leading nowhere as far as the north koreans are concerned and so has returned to talking about developing its nuclear deterrent as you mentioned then talking about developing a new modern modern weapons system but interestingly saying that the depth and the scope of the power of this system its nuclear deterrent will depend very much upon the united states and its attitude so it does seem as though north korea is holding open the door slightly on the possibility of the united states coming back with some concession but it would have to be in the near future this does seem to be like a final warning from north korea but interestingly we haven't had

a launch of a longer range missile that everyone had been expecting of course all through december people were talking about this christmas present a christmas surprise for the united states from north korea seeming to indicate that it was prepared maybe to return to launching i.c.b.m.'s intercontinental ballistic missiles well we haven't had one of those so it does seem as though while north korea is quite happy to use the threat of that it seems to accept that it might go it might be counterproductive to actually have all of those launches so comparatively when you compare the language of this statement and this is a statement that is on the workings of this plenary session of the workers party of career that has just been held up in pyongyang we don't know yet whether kim jong un actually will make his new year address and if he does that it will probably be messages along this. this lines but this does seem to contrast with the kind of

language with which we could have expected 2 years ago when they talked about conflict and we are virtually at a stage of war and that could be a devastating strike at any moment it does seem at least to avoid that kind that kind of aggressive language peter rob thanks very much. new year's celebrations in hong kong worse scaled back thousands of protesters gathered across the financial hub including along the waterfront the famous traditional fireworks display was significantly reduced used to security concerns and t. china demonstrations are now into their 6th month florence who is in hong kong she says new year's celebrations haven't distracted the protesters away from the new year festivities away from the neon the shopping streets of hong kong protesters have gathered here outside a subway station this protest is to mark 4 months since police stormed the subway station images from that day show police hitting people with back to firing pepper

spray passers by were caught up in the violence now and that incident angered a lot of people here who have accused police of using excessive force now one of the demonic that the protesters have been making since the start of the protest nearly 7 months ago is greater than with accountability. they want an independent investigation into alleged the police misconduct in january a preliminary report is due by the police watchdog but protesters say that is not enough because they deemed that agency like the independent now there's no indication that the government is ready to meet this deadline and her sisters have said they will continue with that push for more protests into the new year. china's president says he sincerely hopes for the best for hong kong and its people in his new year address she jane pings that a prosperous and stable hong kong is the aspiration not only of the territories people but also the expectation of mainland china pro-democracy protests in the

semi autonomous territory began in june people were upset about a bill calling for the extradition of criminals from hong kong to mainland china the legislation was withdrawn but demonstrators have since been demanding full political reforms here's what's here's more of what president xi said in that speech saying. the situation in hong kong has been everybody's concern over the past few months without a harmonious and stable environment how can there be a home where people can live and work happily we sincerely hope for the best for hong kong and its competitor it's a prosperous and stable hong kong is the aspiration for hong kong's competitor it's as well as the expectation of the people of the motherland. or president xi jinping also took the opportunity to highlight china's successes over the past year katrina you has this summary from beijing. during his new year's eve speech she jinping seemed to emphasize 2 messages patriotism and unity this was really

a speech that was about whipping up the national fire of the chinese people but reminding them of some of the main successes of the communist party this past year in 5 g. technology the building of beijing's new airport and most importantly the celebration of the 70th anniversary since the founding of the people's republic of china it was quite a bit devoted to the splendor of the glory of that parade but there was one damn spot in xi jinping speech he mentioned the success of macau the 20th anniversary of macau which took place in december but also he mentioned that the chinese people were quite concerned about what was happening in hong kong he said that not without mentioning directly the protesters that it was difficult for the people of hong kong to enjoy their lives without stability and you wish the hong kong people well now this speech very much is it's also about. rallying the people he actually

mentioned that china is not afraid of any dangers of any obstacles of any barriers and i think that's he was his subtle pointing to some of the challenges ahead and the reality is china is starting 2020 on the back foot this is a country which is experiencing a lot of difficulties at the moment he listed a lot of achievement of that some of the things he didn't mention was at the moment china is embroiled in this prayed with the u.s. which has not seen a substantial resolution it's seen these ongoing protests in hong kong it seems taiwan pulled away even further and it's also seen a growing spotlight on reports of human rights abuses against the we can was in population in shin john so for xi jinping this speech was all about really calling on the chinese people to stick together really firing up that nationalism and also reminding him reminding them that is that there is a lot of hard work ahead and we see that going forward it's not only going to be about positive. messaging for the chinese people what we also expect is a way to clamp down on any dissent that china is really going to intensify things

like patriotic education and also word prop probably going to see some ramping up of things like surveillance and censorship on behalf of the communist party. muslim women who were detained in detention camps in the northwest of china accused the authorities of abusing them and forcing them to have abortions al-jazeera spoke to some of them in part 2 of our special series a salad binge of reports on the plight of ethnic has access say they feel there's nothing they can do to bring their abusers to justice. on this wall in the in kazakhstan are the faces of people who were held in china relative say they're being held in internment camps with beijing called reeducation camps to counter what it calls extremism. or was held in such a camp she didn't talk about her experience until after she'd been awarded citizenship in kazakhstan she says abuse she suffered has scarred her for life and she frequently suffers headaches. when i was crossing the border they saw i am

using what's up i was detained and sent for thera medical test they found i'm pregnant and forced me to abort after the abortion they isolated me in a clinic they gave me some medicine which they said was for tuberculosis i don't know what it was members of the turkey community accuse chinese authorities of using abortions as a weapon against muslims either women afraid to reveal their identities have also told al jazeera about abuse at the camps the relative safe haven in kazakhstan is only for its nationals and does not apply to ethnic conflicts or chinese nationals and that's among the causes creating empty china sentiment inside cars because. dozens of people were arrested in neutral cardinal monti during in mt sinai demonstration in september these men crossed illegally into gaza to stand after the reportedly face terrorist meant by chinese authorities past their mr han and when i get him only now risk being sent back to china activists see events like this fuel anti sign a sentiment and kazakhstan should not roll over for its powerful neighbor if nick.

jews are prosecuted mass massively prosecuted for example in russia in europe israel states they will. talking against of its government must defend any ethnic cousin in the world this analysts working with a government funded think tank says the china kazakhstan relationship is a delicate subject as a domestic chinese internal affairs but a center if you take take into account the united nations motions on the we go if your stance or position was quite pragmatic and we abstain from voting. on. this motion so we have more independent stance and by the same time we realize the geopolitical realities so i believe it's. a style diplomacy where we try to sustain the relation the same time show our case some question why should kazakhstan oppose china with which it shares a 700 kilometer border with other muslim majority countries support beijing earlier

this year more than a dozen member countries of the organization of islamic cooperation or i.c. signed a statement in favor of china's policies commenting on internment camps a chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman has said the rigorousness city is part of the big family consisting of 56 ethnic groups in china tightly united together like the seeds of a pomegranate they are living a better life and fully enjoy freedom and rights china also enjoys friendly and close relations with the vast majority of muslim countries in the world. many of because exceed china's violating human rights on a large scale in the name of fighting terrorism they say their next generation has been killed before birth and their muslim identity is being systematically erased yet they argue there is no leader from the islamic world standing up to support them. some enjoy it out of syria and marty kazakhstan. still to come here on al-jazeera exactly 20 years after the bloody putin came to power we look

back at 2 decades of him in office russia strongman become obvious youngsters risking their lives in one of the world's most dangerous extreme sports. and brotherly love for the box is the most valuable player in the n.b.a. shocks his own family with his brilliance. go. through it. hello there we've been watching this big winter storm across all the sections of the united states is beginning to work his way from. beginning to weaken but plenty of cat as you can see here and it's also brought a fed dumping of snow up into new hampshire 10 centimeters of poland and at the town of exeter and you can see had trying to keep those walkways clear but there's actually a much much better pictures go through wednesday so new year's day should be

a dry one fairly chilly but not for you too bad one celsius in toronto the snow would have cleared just hovering close to freezing and also a note but generally across the eastern half the u.s. but if a different story out across at the rock is look at this a mass of snow pushing its way into wednesday but again it's fairly short lived that kid is out of the way and makes room for a few into coastal areas so it could be an unsettled day into seattle but certainly some very heavy rain then pushing in across much of the south in the southeast so wet and atlanta and we could have a similar class flooding some of that rain could be quite heavy at times wanted to showers particularly impacting the leeward islands over the next couple of days and areas of rain across central america but nothing particularly heavy it's really a fairly cloudy picture but it's improving nicely in the bahamas with a high on thursday over 25. a city defined by military occupation there's never been an arab state here at the

capitol of jerusalem everyone is welcome but this departs structure that maintains the can only project that's what we refuse it was one of the sound the us of a settlement with this and the story of jerusalem through the eyes of its own people segregation occupation discrimination injustice this is apartheid in the 21st century jerusalem a rock and a hard place on al-jazeera with its leaders in jail a greek neo nazi party when eyes on the lives mothers and daughters of the imprisoned leaders to represent them. the women behind the fearsome right wing nationalist party going to do not try to when you say i'm not you know what exactly does it mean it means national nice to golden dawn girls a witness documentary on al-jazeera do you support the masters.

welcome back you're watching the al-jazeera news hour live from doha a reminder of your headlining stories additional u.s. troops have arrived in baghdad to secure the american embassy there after a day of violent protests iran has rejected u.s. accusations that it was behind the hundreds of people marched to the compound in the green zone but just as angry over u.s. airstrikes against a shia group in iraq and syria on sunday. lightning strikes have started new bushfires in the australia. in state of victoria as the crisis there and neighboring new south wales threatens to get even worse the navy is preparing to evacuate hundreds of people trapped on

a beach in the town of kuta which is surrounded by flames. the north korean leader kim jong un is vowing to develop what he calls the new strategic weapon denuclearization talks between pyongyang and washington stalled in october. the deadline for gunman in the central african republic to hand over weapons is passed and there's no sign that's happened at least $41.00 people were killed during days of fighting between market traders and armed groups in the capital traders issued a 48 hour ultimatum to the gunman to surrender their weapons when a dress is in the capital of the u.n. is sending in more troops. well this is the market killing last week in which 21 people have been killed somebody has been injured the united nations is just saying that it's finally deploying more troops to the area to do the people and also ensure that peace is maintained in this area apart from that. they're also saying

that i should a side order has now been issued anyone carrying a weapon in this neighborhood looks like a b. sides the warring sides themselves actually tired of what's been happening all these yes but the. the tipping point was when militias who have been protecting traders at this market from opposition militias from coming here and fighting them are the ones who eventually intimidating and of course exporting money from the traders here and also when the traders we acted as had enough is enough they took up arms against them and then the united nations now and the security forces the central african up with coming in to maintain the peace now the united nations and local security forces deploying to this market by the way i should while ago we saw patrols of united nations mission in central africa going around the market to ensure that the new declaration is maintained and supported at all cost.

the gambian president adama baro has created a new political party which could allow him to run in future elections barrow has formally registered the national people's party naming himself as its leader his relationship with his previous policy had been deteriorating amid widespread protests calling on him to step down his 3 year mandate as interim president ends next month. and i'm going in court has frozen the assets of africa's richest woman as part of a corruption investigation isabel dos santos is the daughter of the former president at watoto santos assets owned by her husband and a business associate have also been frozen the golden government has accused them of course in state losses of around $1000000000.00 dos santos as the freeze is politically motivated. the french president emanuel has called for calm across the country in his new year's address there has been widespread disruption in france for almost a month now amid strikes over his planned pension reforms is in paris. it

was an unusual protest against the french government's planned pension reforms members of the paris opera orchestra played a concert to demonstrate against the proposals. we would do to show that our job is to play music and it makes us all happy deaf we've been forced to strike for a month and cancel $45.00 performances for needy 4 weeks people including lawyers teachers health workers and even ballerinas have demonstrated against the government's plans fearing their pensions will be reduced and they'll be forced to work longer transport workers strike has disrupted rail bus and airline services the french president has been under pressure as a break his silence over the protests in his new speech he try to diffuse the crisis. make no mistake on this important subject that so close to french people's hearts and identity i hear their fears and anxieties i also hear many lies and

manipulation must always right i'm calm doesn't mean backing down but respect each other's differences my only compass is and will be the interests of our country macrame hope that his speech will end the protests but workers at this trade union meeting in paris said they wouldn't back down many of the workers damaged here have been on strike since the beginning of december and they say that the only thing they would persuade them to go back to work in their protest would be if the government was describe its pension reform plans they said we started to strike and we plan to finish it because as long as the government doesn't restore to reform we'll continue to strike we're not the only ones this analyst says that macro has failed to convince some people that the reforms are nessus. larry michael has not managed to isolate the strikers because riff you know the pension system is everybody's problem and he hasn't been convincing enough i think the lack of trust

in the politicians words in france at the moment is very deep and that's the main problem when my core say don't worry everything will be ok you're not going to lose in this reform people don't trust him. mccraw has a record of pushing through controversial reforms but this one is proving particularly challenging the government says the changes would modernize the pension system make it fairer and save public money it will resume negotiations with trade union leaders next week but with neither side showing any sign of backing down the talks are unlikely to be the maybe it's the tasha butler just paris. the government in lebanon says a former new cern chairman who arrived in beirut after fleeing bail in japan enter the country illegally carlos go and who is a lebanese citizen faces trial in japan over alleged financial misconduct well i'm a german jew was outside one of his residences in beirut from there he sent us this

report. we now have confirmation from the lebanese government that mr going is indeed in lebanon there was a statement that was issued by a lebanese general security it's a very brief statement it reads carlos cohen has entered beirut in a legitimate way and there is no need to pursue him legally i guess that really puts to bed the question as to if the lebanese authorities are going to be cooperating with any request by the japanese to perhaps extradite mr go and of course you know now because you know if there is no extradition treaty between japan and lebanon so that adds to the murkiness around this case we are indeed right now in eastern beirut it's a rainy day where in the neighborhood i should be a behind me is one of the houses own by mr goh and we do not know if he is indeed there there is a bit of a security presence here right now one car from the internal security forces and a few of their police people that are here guarding this house but there's been no other incidents to speak of out here today now there was

a statement issued by mr goh in spokesperson in france several hours ago he had said that he was not fleeing justice but in fact he was escaping injustice now i'm paraphrasing there so let me read you a little bit more of what his statement said mr goh and said i am now in lebanon i am no longer hostage to a biased japanese judicial system where the presumption of guilt prevails where discrimination is widespread and where human rights are violated this in total disregard of the laws and international treaties that japan has ratified and which it is bound to respect. protesters are camping outside mexico's embassy in the bolivian city of la paz they're insupportable libya's interim government after it expelled the mexican ambassador the protesters accuse the mexican embassy of sheltering alliance of the former president evo morales bolivia expelled mexico's ambassador and spanish diplomats on tuesday. teenagers in colombia risking their lives writing modified pushbikes duns tea party ways is the country's more extreme

version of gravity by taking a sport invented in the u.s. many youngsters say it helps them forget the troubles in their neighborhoods and asunder m.p.'s he reports now from met again. as night falls and maybe even a group of teenagers ride their modified bikes down these vertiginous roads they crouch to increase speed passing trucks in cars at up to 100 kilometers an hour. called gravity bikes they're columbia's more extreme version of an already dangerous sport invented in the united states and for many youngsters from poor crime ridden neighborhoods on the hills around the city it has become a deadly pastime 17 year old model is one of them all i suppose i don't know you're always thinking about the risks people crashing getting killed in the serious accidents we all suffer i know i need to think and understand i can kill myself but we keep doing it because it's our passion. to go faster the bikes are

rebuilt often from scratch riders personalize them and attach weights to the frame to make them heavier pedals and chains are removed to reduce friction. to get to the top of the hills riders latch onto passing trucks at times using homemade hooks on a line. marlin has survived 3 close brushes with death and proudly shows his scars his friend tattooed on his belly the name of a cousin who died in a gravity bike accident in. the town. on the outskirts of me as a band the practice out right. 3 of marland's writing companions this year and serious accidents have been. so much so that this hole where most of them said he had started safety campaigns and also donated helmets and nobody really seems to be using. this school psychologist says most of the kids come from broken homes and

some fall into drug abuse their bikes becoming a way of demonstrating their value in courage you know i know but i guess you get me if you ask them. they'll say they do it for the adrenaline the desire to experiment but the truth is they are often dealing with depression parental absence so becomes a self destructive way of excusing from their reality. no night nobody here likes to crash the fall nor ruin the bike that was built with so much sacrifice and time but it's our lifestyle and we don't have any other safer place to do it. now understands he needs to take more precautions but says he won't be dissuaded i listen and. 2 decades ago let me put in was handed the acting presidency in a surprise new year's eve speech by the then president boris yeltsin 20 years later mr putin has brought russia increased influence around the world but it appears to

have come at a price as ransom explains now from st petersburg. unpredictable not making compromises and using swift decisive moves that's how put in slate coach described his young pupils judo skills at an exhibition at his former sports cool in st petersburg but anatoly words could easily describe the president's leadership style and even today in his late sixty's put in likes to be seen throwing judo champions on the mat maintaining his image as a strong fit much old leader. my father said to me when he congratulated him after his inauguration was remember it's like sports when you attack remember your defense when you're on defense. it's a lesson put in seems to have taken seriously during his 2 decades in power and dominated by his goal to make the russia great again he's improved the lives of millions of russians suffering from the collapse of the soviet union and provided

some stability but also he went to war in georgia in 2008 and next crimea in 2014 and backed separatists in the east of ukraine that same year. has played a decisive role in the war in syria and has become increasingly involved in other conflicts around the world i. wouldn't 0 and maybe even as example is free to be great when the 17th century managed to expand the russian empire. and invasions now 3 centuries later put in like a modern day. has risen from the ruins of a collapsed soviet union like bits of the great what then is holding a tight grip on society and some say his victory has come at a great cost. decision to hand over the presidency to putin was a serious miscalculation says filmmaker. who followed put in close. join his 1st

year in office and make this film put in swiftness of. the street in. those people who came up with this excess supply and want to treat putin as we know him of course not they were looking for a quiet executed who would as yeltsin said in my film deal with daily affairs while important things would be done by important people this was the scenario what happened to that scenario we have been watching in the past 20 years. when you would be rich or poor to be any more i could not guess that fresh and russian voters would be so spineless and soft to surrender without a fight not only power but their own freedoms like that forever. shown in russia i. thank a growing opposition against potential has been met with growing repression but

while tens of thousands took part in street protests a few months ago put in still has a large army of fans growing up and put into russia these young judo play you see the president as a role model and while he has only 4 years to go until the end of his last official term put an end game is as unpredictable as his judo moves step faster than al-jazeera st peter's. still to come here on the news the sports news 3000 kilometers apart tennis rivals preparing for a tournament with a big difference.

odd. thank you very much colombia's world cup football one fernando kintaro has demanded answers from the new head of the country's army it concerns the disappearance of his father more than 20 years ago in terra was 2 years old when his father haim a went missing in 1905 his family allege that he disappeared after falling out with the commander of the base where he was doing his military service that commander was eduardo zapatero who was sworn into the top military post on monday can terror has now asked to meet zapatero the case is one of many taken up by colombia's national center for historical memory which claims more than 80000 people were forcibly disappeared between 158-2015 in one large city. i join in the feeling and pain of the content of family i want to tell one foot in

undocking terrell that i also respect him that you are our football idol and that the doors of my army commander are always open for you and your family. scottish club glasgow rangers have demanded action after claiming that their colombian star alfredo loss was racially abused by celtic fans were sent off after diving to try and win a penalty the end of rangers' $21.00 win to make gestures to the crowd as he walked off on sunday scottish police are investigating. english premier league players won't get much chance to celebrate the turn of the decade there are 9 more games on new year's day. as manchester city host everton who as of last week have kahlo onslaughts in charge is the italians the lowest profile club in some 20 years after spells with the likes of ac milan and real madrid but pep thinks carlo will make efforts and great again he conduct one of the greeters and more experience to use in europe the least he's huge in when the turban is because you are in an

incredible manager so we don't think it's incredible news for english football his bike. he can make an incredible job there in order to hear those fixtures for you arsenal the money and i said probably the pick of the bunch if you're wondering where league leaders liverpool are they play on thursday to the n.b.a. and there were some brotherly love for the milwaukee bucks as they ended the year high at the top of the eastern conference with a win over the chicago bulls milwaukee star player until the comp all was back in action after a back injury the reigning m.v.p. scored 23 but it wasn't. the crowd this dunk absolutely astonishing his teammate and older brother than us is unfair to kabul a man known as the greek freak still managing to surprise his own family bucs winning 123202. plans to slash the amount of time it takes to play

a cricket match have been cautiously backed by the sport's founding country england the world governing body the i.c.c. is looking at proposals to cut test matches from 5 days to a mere 4 after 2023 the english cricket board is tentatively agreeing test matches have been played over 5 days for the past 140 years but only a 3rd of matches in the modern game now require a 5th day the world's top tennis players are preparing for the 1st tournament of 2020 the new a.t.p. cup team event but in very unusual circumstances world number one rafael a dollars in perth in western australia where he'll lead spain in their group 3 and a half 1000 kilometers away in brisbane big rival rich is with serbia after the group stage the team's all had to sydney for the knockout matches the tournament begins on friday and has a $15000000.00 prize fund. that's always support and i will have more later on. more than half the world is already into the new decades this is how 2020 was

ushered in around the world i of the 1st places to celebrate new zealand where a fireworks display was launched in the sky tower in oakland. those celebrating in the chinese city of shanghai were treated to a unique spectacle more than 2000 drones took off from the banks of the hong you'll recall they form different happens in the night sky the forms ending with them forming the numbers during the count to 2020. in moscow the new year was welcomed with fireworks on the banks of the a moscow river in his annual new year's address the russian president vladimir putin called for unity. and this was the scene in one of the most famous streets of the world essentially saying how it's just packed up and was full of talk of the younger triomphe was lit up to ring in the. set for this news i will leave you with pictures of some of 2019 biggest stories.

demonstrate his united kingdom opposition to a proposed extradition. now it's the summer off it's called. protesters say it's become about much more than a proposal or i to about the future of this city halls closed on a record breaking day for hong kong elections by democracy party secured a record number of see its. place the way the political and social unrest is sweeping south america. in slow play they talk about. i wrong why you don't get the memo challenges his legitimacy on some day he's still the president of bolivia why did they choose de rozan and then nick so i this is how the end of 30 years of rule looked. when president almighty bashir was deposed. after 18 months of protest and

4 months of negotiations sudan's routing made its way home town and the opposition coalition and so fine a power sharing deal. protests turned to celebrations of the news and both of his resignation. it's not about where you are legion says lyon this deeply divided sectarian countries play all walks of life are united against the political leadership. panic among the crowds of protesters as gunfire and coast around central baghdad protesters say they want to live in an independent iraq that's a public site state and your rod. people are dying entire school systems book club singing we are in the beginning

of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of economic growth how did you. play what words to the prime minister can adequately express the pain and suffering of new zealand stock as they walked words to the anguish of muslim communities targeted by hatred and violence. in churches on one of the most important days of the christian calendar. this is what the end of self declared caliphate looks like. a movie a car al baghdadi is dead. that china's now run outs. with the opportunity to serve the. country i know

boris johnson returned to damning street triumphant the conservatives have redrawn britain's political map. as the result was never in doubt article one is adopted woodruff is the us president in history to be impeached it's a disgrace indeed administered kashmir has been cut off from the outside world the indian government has revoked the region's autonomy. a nobel peace prize winner the plane thing is by the military now defending them and herself against charges of genocide. i accept this award on the awful video pins. especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the cause of peace this is so obviously just so. this is so low.

it. likes.

in the case to have. police department has the potential to be biased in a number of different ways there are too many opportunities for the computer to get a. check in those officers who commit those data entry is wrong to be saying that your son the truth is wrong to. kill becoming a suspect before the actual crime and in-depth examination into preventative policing pre-crime on al jazeera new leaders please childred in this refugee camp the latest victims of the unending sectarian violence in central african republic among them are survivors of unspeakable violence 10 year olds his mother is dead her father is gone killed because they were christian by their own muslim neighbors this is the least you home in overcrowded refugee camp of 23000 people surrounded by armed militia groups celine wants answers she says she wants to be asking the

questions and so we traded places inch took the microphone will we find peace how can we make the violence stop when will i be able to return home. angry crowd stormed the u.s. embassy compound in iraq donald trump claims iran and says it will have a quote big price to pay. hello again i'm peter w. watching al-jazeera live from go also coming up north korea's leader kim jong il and boast to develop a new strategic weapon and accuses the u.s. of gangsta like to moms. desperate battle into the new media to save homes and lives in australia of the middle.