ah ah ah, ah, thousands take to the streets in sudan to protest against military takeover. several are injured us. security forces, fire, tear gas. ah . you're watching all the 0 light from a headquarters and ohio dating and abigail, also coming up more flight cancellations across the world arise uncovered 19 cases . throws christmas travel plans into disarray, 3 migrant boats, capsizing greek waters in the a. g n. c. and as many days, dozens killed,

a smuggler switched to a more dangerous route, slipped off from a tropical rain forest to the edge of china itself. now saw a launch has the largest most powerful telescope ever built to unlock new clues about the universe. ah, hello security forces have used your gas as they attempt to disperse protesters in the capital har. tomb. thousands have been on the streets to rally against the military takeover. a number of people have been injured. there has been a heavy police presence and internet services have been cut. mohammed val has more from cartoon. there has been a failure on the part of testers. to cross that bridge is linking to lincoln central cartoon to both their own man and body. so that hasn't happened,

unlike in the previous, on the previous occasion. and that has really reduce the momentum of the protests today within come to me is some central cartoon. there have been 2 or 3 attempts to reach the presidential police 1000 flight to march, and they came as close as one or 200 meters. but they were all dispersed by police . we noticed that the presence of the security forces this time around is 3 times bigger than during the previous occasions, particularly the last one in military or so out of visible in this 3 b does not participate in the clock down the protesters as rebel 4, because they know se on that will be down during the day of the protests. so whatever type of coordination or level of coordination, they need to do, they do it ahead of time. they know where to eat. they know where to march when

they meet and so on. on the side of the forty's, they, yes, both the internet and the internal phone networks are down in christmas. travel plans have again been thrown into cale by the pandemic, be highly transmissible. army kron variances forced airlines to cancel more than 4000 flights worldwide. in the u. s. sick and isolating airline employees are causing severe staff shortages. gabriel alessandro has more from new york on friday, of course there were more than a 1000 flight cancellations just here in the united states and were starting to see more cancellations here on saturday as well. united airlines saying they've already got to dozens of flights that are either been canceled already this morning here in the east coast to united states or could be as the day moves along. it's only a little after 10 am here in new york. so as the day moves on,

we'll likely see more cancellations, delta airlines and other one of the major carriers here in the u. s. is saying they anticipate more than a 150 white cancellations over the weekend either today on saturday or going into sunday. the issue here is basically pilots flight attendance ramp crew ticket agents that are either calling in sick because they have symptoms or they have tested positive for corona virus or, and this is the big one. they think they've been exposed to somebody that has cooked tested positive. that's a big issue as well. because even if you're exposed to someone, of course you have to corn teen for 10 days, which means you can't go to work, which means the airlines can't fly if they don't have people that can fly them and operate the airplane. so that is being a huge problem here. and this is what we're seeing with the spread of the on recon variant that is accounting for over 70 percent of the new positive coven cases in

the united states. philippines has shut its borders to foreign tourists during the christmas holiday period. citizens are allowed to enter the country, but the strict rules and longer quarantines have made it impossible for many migrant workers to go home for the holidays. barnaby. lo has this story from manila . after having to suffer one of the world's longest and most restrictive blocked doubts, filipinos are out and about daily coban 19 cases are down to hundreds from a peak of 20000 a day. during the delta wave of infections, most restrictions have now been lifted. but the country's main airport remains only half as busy as it was before the pandemic. the threat of the armor chron variant, has halted the government's plans to re open borders. the 1st way by which the 1st strategy with employ to delay the entry of the on the crown variant is to ban the

entry of travelers from countries that have community transmission of the virus variant migrant philippine workers are exempted from the bad. but that doesn't mean they can travel without difficulty. there around 10000000 filipinos working overseas. here. many of them look forward to coming home during the holiday season . but the emergence of the army could vary as disrupted international travel. john, good saga, who works as a nurse in the u. k. has not been back in the philippines for 2 years. he had hoped to be able to fly home this christmas, but the you case armor can search has made that impossible because of the new larry and i'll make ron and a number of cases that had been increasing. there. now one thing back actually the, the old quote because we have been the 1st way. i think i'm a pretty soon there they will be, they will announce that, and we're going to be unlocked down because of the neighboring countries are on

lockdown already. and it's not just leaving that's difficult. john says he has friends who are having a hard time getting back to you. okay. it there in manila at the moment, but i was, they just told me that they won't be able to, to come back here. because of the child's restrictions, despite travel constraints, however, the philippines health department has detected the army chron variant in 3 international travelers. there's a fear it will quickly spread, but the government says the situation is under control. barnett below al jazeera manila. at least 13 people have drowned after their migrant boat capsized in greece's a g and c. it's the 3rd disaster and as many days bringing the combined death toll to 27 smugglers had been increasingly using the dangerous route from turkish embarkation. points like chess man, budrum to italy to enter europe. and this is to avoid the heavily patrolled a gin islands or turkey correspond. it was so sardar has more from here, and so ha,

mostly there is a refugee is, are being, are taken by this smugglers from cheshire mer, an boardroom. and also the city is like i done and is mer also or the or stay a horse provinces for the ross a. but when that how we can say that it's actually keeping changing due to the security issues. the smugglers are well aware of the security concerns and the security forces are up to them. so they keep changing their actually location or getting the people on board and taking them to the agency and down to the mediterranean sea. but as i said, woodrum check met either in an ism or are the main location. so then these refugees are being taken by the bought by. it's my of the smugglers to greece. italy asked the pain animus sometimes to malta and the cypress as well. do you m? refugee agency says that in just this year and 202-111-6000 refugees have been across in the mediterranean sea and

a 55 percent of them were trying to reach italy. 25 percent to subpoena and 7 percent of them to greece. but we can see that the, the did the agency and did it had any have been to, has to have been turned into a graveyard for the refugees. because the un virginia says that just in last year, 2500 people have either died or gone missing in mediterranean patrimony r as the associate director of the refugee law law. but york university, she says, tragedies like these will become more frequent as immigration policies harden in these horrible tragedies really are a symptom of some of the increasingly hard line, border enforcement policies that we've been tracking and seeing all around europe and indeed the world. and unfortunately with increasing border enforcement and the way that you know, different context across the world are developing, people are sometimes forced to take more dangerous route. we're really talking about open water. and oftentimes people resort to having to take

a small boat that is often overloaded with people. and these votes are not really made to carry large groups with people, for example. and also, you know, just the basic kind of navigation that is sometimes very difficult is very hard for people who are desperately seeking safety. really important for us to remember that, you know, this kind of sharp border enforcement that we're seeing all around europe in the book called it for to europe. it will not stop people from seeking safety. instead, it'll compel people to take more dangerous routes to try and circumvent being captured by border ported. and at the end of the day, it's really more about thinking about the humanity of it all. we're talking about human beings that are losing their lives to see, and it's incumbent upon all of us to think about how we address the root causes that force people to migrate. in the 1st place, greece is about to restore a grand entrance to the acropolis and athens with dust 'cause in controversy. among some archeologists who say the project goes beyond its intended aim of restoration,

it follows an outcry earlier in the year when a concrete pathway leading up to the acropolis was laid down. johnson roblis reports from athens to enter the acropolis in athens, visitors zigzag up this ramp built in the 1950s greece, as it's now going to give them the experience athenians enjoyed 25 centuries ago when they came to worship their patron goddess athena. a grand staircase, 25 meters wide envisioned as part of the gateway to the acropolis and reimagined by artists. for centuries, the peloponnesian war between athens and spotter interrupted its completion. but the man in charge of restoration on the acropolis as rebuilding, it would be a celebration of the democracy that conceived it with the establishment of democracy. the number of citizens was 10000 and all of them had to participate to the festival. it was

a duty for thee and since citizens, they participation and tear, therefore they had seriously and substantially to widen, to increase, they weight of the ramp. and finally, to create the staircase once dictated the width of the staircase, was the width of the entrance to the acropolis behind me. built 25 centuries ago. it was designed to allow at least $10000.00 athenians and dozens of sacrificial oxen on to the open space around the temple of athena, where a great sacrifice would take place each year. goddess intends to open up this gate house so that all 5 of its doorways can be used. but some archaeologists say rebuilding the staircase crosses a line from restoration to reconstruction. or you gonna get these from there though . i don't say that we should necessarily preserve the zigzag ramp, but this is not a decision of one person. there needs to be a wider discussion. it's

a huge intervention. even if we had all the original material that we don't have the right to do it on such a scale, then in and get us get plenty of new marble has been inserted into the buildings of the acropolis as part of a 40 year restoration project, including in the gate house who's restoration, daniela's oversaw it's a compromise between 2 schools of thought. conservationists believe in preserving the historical record interventionists would rebuild the temple of athena to its classical glory. and it is that high classical period that tourists come to mark and celebrate to day. so it would appear that got us is merely giving the greeks and the world's visitors what they want. but critics say his view favors some parts of the archaeological record over others. jumps r o plus al jazeera athens still ahead on al jazeera. oh, for

a better your head is covered. 19, dampens christmas celebrations around the world. 30 years since the collapse of the soviet union and we look back on one of the 20th centuries, most ever tell moments ah hello. thank you for joining in the rain risk is still there for us on sunday, across some of the golf. let's go over those details right now. all has to do with this ribbon of cloud that could very well generate some show is let's go into a closer look, trying to pinpoint where this will be. and i also wanted to mention this risk when coming down from iraq is shamal. so we'll see when gus in dough to about 50 kilometers per hour, there are some of their showers could work into re add into bahrain into northern portions of cats. or these could be some thunder downpours as well, and temperatures in riyadh well below the average of 22 degrees. thanks to that

cloud cover. really putting a cap on things. lot of clouds and also showers work in across the pakistan. the hor, at 16 degrees is lamore bod, 17 and off we go to turkey. those winds will be winding up through the boss for about 50 kilometers per hour. is stumble has a high of 14 degrees storms. once again, bubbling up around kinshasa into congo. a gabble southern portions of cameroon, lagos, exceptional heat at 36, pretty close to re record your may get there. so keep tabs on that. also seen storms through botswana, zimbabwe, eastern portions of south africa, cape town at 29 degrees, but prepare for your temperatures. are on the way down, that's it, says it ah cutter. one of the fastest growing nations in the bonnie cutter needed to oakland and development. international shipping companies to become

a middle east and trade money skilfully mazda 3 key areas of develop, filling up from connecting the world, connecting future. ronnie, carto cutters, gateway to whoa trade. ah, the me. hello again. the top stories on al jazeera tear gas has been fired, and professors in the capital, hard to thousands, are back on the streets to rally against the military take over, at least one person has been injured. internet services has been more than 4000

flights. have been cancelled worldwide throwing christmas. rob applies into k, on transmissible, on the contrary, into the current of iris as affected flight cruise. major airline, at least 13 people have drowned after a boat hearing migrants capsized off of grief from a g and c. c. 3rd such disaster in greek waters and as many days bringing the combined debts whole to $27.00. the largest and most powerful space telescope ever built as launched from south america. decor large lifts from a tropical rain for us to the edge of time itself. james, where begins a voyage back to the birth of the universe. scientist hope the james web telescope will help humans better understand stars and galaxies that are over 13000000000 years old program zeros manual rap hello was at the long side and crew in french kiana. he says the vibrations created by the lift off could be felt throughout the control room. seems like all systems are nominal here. the excitement is palpable

behind us in that control room. just moments ago we could hear the sounds from those powerful rocket boosters. more than 480 metric tons of solid rocket fuel propellant just enough to blast off and send this spacecraft more than more than one and a half 1000000 kilometers away from earth. you can just really feel the vibrations here in the building. and really here, here, those sounds. but as far as we can tell, everything went off without a hitch in terms of that initial lift off. but again, this is really just the beginning. 27 minutes after lift off is the part that the rocket itself is doing its job. that powerful, heavy duty area and 5 rocket that's carrying the james webb space telescope, in that ferry, at the 27 minute mark that faring is going to open up and release the telescope itself. at that point, the telescope becomes independent on its way to the lagrano 2 point or l to 1500000 kilometers away from earth. this is an optimal point where the telescope

it's going to have. it's back toward the sun and being and point, its powerful light collecting soul like collecting gold plated mirrors toward the cosmos. collecting light, observing the infrared spectrum, being able to peer back into the early stages of our universe, further back than any other space telescope before it. again, this is the largest and most powerful space telescope ever built ever sent in the outer space. and many people are seeing this as a promise to rewrite the history books cloth pont pianos, one of the scientists who worked on that launch. he says it was beautiful to see things running so smoothly. one of what a beautiful launch there was. obviously a lot of nervousness today this morning. yes, we all came in very early. it's only 8 30 in the morning here. but it was just beautiful to see everything went off without

a hitch. the team's work been tastic, just to see the collaboration between the massive teams and the european canadian teams and area and who provided the rocket that we are in 5 that we launched on. but we're not done. we know where you have. we have many months in front of us with lots of work to do before we are ready to do sign the telescope in for a telescope. so it has to cool to really low temperatures. only about 50 kelvin above absolute 050 degrees celsius, absolute 0. so because you have to unfold in space and we still have, have almost all deployments left to do. most of those happen over the next 2 weeks, where we unfold a large and some shield to keep the telescope cold. and the primary mirror itself has to be unfolded as well and focus in order to take sharp images. so we're

excited to get going and do this, this job that we've been practicing for so long. saturday, march the 30 years since the fall of the soviet union mikhail gorbachev resigned the soviet president on this day in 1991 marking the end of nearly 70 years of the ussr. that was after failing to contain, to fall out of an attempted cool months earlier and independence movement among soviet republics. so let's take a look at the events that led to the end of a world power at all began with the 1917 russian revolution. workers and soldiers overthrew the romano of empire and established communist rule. the new government was led by vladimir linen until his death in 1924. joseph stalin took over for almost 3 decades, which contributed to its status as a world power. and by the time mikhail gorbachev became communist party leader in 1985, the economy was weak. it led to industrial strikes and military tanks,

taking over red square to challenge his rule. a crew was attempted, but president boris yeltsin led a successful campaign against it. in 1991. gorbachev resigned and the red flag was lowered over the kremlin as the russian flag was raised. samuel romani is a tutor and specialist on russian foreign policy at the university of oxford. he says gorbachev's reforms with a most far reaching and many have been reversed. since bruton overshoot legacy initially all through the jet transition towards an attempted democracy, the transition doors of free market privatization, the easing of cold war tensions was followed by an improvement of us russia relations intermittently over the next 15 years. but now under vladimir hooton's leadership, we've seen these act reverse. we've seen authoritarian consolidation. we've seen, di, stayed on companies taking over private enterprises and even more importantly, you seen a return to systemic confrontation between russia and the last that was arguably sharper than it wasn't. 19 it is the former soviet republics when

a multiple different trajectory sound like the baltic states, estonia, lapierre, the mania were able to enter the european union were able to decision towards market economies were able to develop dynamic, innovative, private sectors. if those that were presented by corruption, others like bella roost, largely stayed the same as the, as always has done with minor tweaking the planned economy. so largely in place and sound like russia and ukraine. i do on partial reforms in russia in particular, it was a cute economic depression. and deb organized crime and a breakdown of law and order in the 1st decade after the so be claps. and now we've seen a degree of stabilization lease on the streets, but also a resistance to diversification of resistance to reform as early resemblance of the late 19 seventies and early 19 eighties. communist truth and reconciliation commission has called for a former president via john may to face trial for human rights abuses. it based its investigation on hundreds of testimonies from people spanning decades of violence.

alexander lurch reports a 3 year long investigation in the gambia has recommended former president. yeah. john may be put on trial for murder, torture and sexual violence. yeah. johnny, this responsibility for the killing, for both my more money on moment to me, where the former president seized power in 1994 and for 22 years over. so a regime that has been accused of committing hundreds of human rights abuses in 2017 jar me was forced into exile and equitorial guinea after losing an election to adama barrow under president barrow the gambia as government set up the truth reconciliation and reparations commissioned to prob allegations of jeremy abuses the panel heard from hundreds of witnesses who offer testimony about alleged human rights violations. their stories were broadcast on radio and t v for the country to hear. the government now has 6 months to decide. it's next step. we are hoping that

got me to give me a commitment and i've made a commitment to implement the recommendations of becoming something been makes on actually and as i head right now, the article in december of present keys on. but of course the, i just got this on the chinese have not just have not been profile against anyone. so i guess on that. but i guess many at home and abroad hope to see the former president on trial though he remains in exile. but gambia weren't the sole targets of the re jim j. yeah. jeremy's victims include over $44.00 gun eons who were massacre. they include nigerians, they include senegalese. and the thinking is that if all of these countries got together and help gambia to create a court, it would also provide the political impetus for equitorial guinea,

where j jam is living on the commission is intended to promote healing and reconciliation for victims and survivors. but y'all may still retains considerable support in the country. the possibility of his return from exile was a key election issue. earlier this month. on the rock concerns, his political supporters could hamper efforts to put the former leader and his associates on trial. germany has yet to reply to the commissions findings in the past, he's promised to return to the gambia, but he's been barely seen in the years since his exile. the report may make him question whether he would even want to alexander, lurch al jazeera. at least 4 people in zimbabwe have been killed after a bus collided with the fuel tanker and then burst into flames. the crash happened on a busy road, connecting the eastern city of monterey to the capital herrera. witnesses say, report rather some people escape before the explosion. dozens of others are being

treated in hospital for serious injuries. people around the world have been celebrating christmas day. and as jillian wolf reports many shared the same wish, an end to the pandemic. o people around the world are celebrating christmas, with many refusing to let the impacts of coven 19 affect the fest of cheer in australia, the 1st part of the world to ring. and christmas day people flocked to sidney's glistening bondai beach. as summer temperature soared, strain of expect you made the most of it. there's no flights harm aba. i'm celebrating new, the bestbuy archive albino strategy. i love been a bundle. i been on the base for christmas glazed drink. i'm thrown him. well, what low kid you want, you got fit bodies running up and down the b. you've got to stop and you've got the water. you've got the sunshine. whereas if you want to be people also gathered in

bethlehem where christians believe jesus christ was born as a modem. i better place with a joy to the word ah, in india christian communities celebrated across the country from hyderabad to new delhi. as did those in south korea, china thailand and the philippines, jambert messiah disguised. but i'm happy, at least we can now hear miss at our church before and there was no chance to go to church. well, and that's why we are taking the opportunity to go to the church while it's still allowed. firefighters and mexico became santa's helpers for the day, delivering toys to vulnerable children and their families. while in venezuela volunteers gather to feed people facing hunger in the united states,

shoppers packed stores to get their last minute gifts. but not every one made it home in time. travelers were stranded at airports across the u. s. and the world as thousands of flights were cancelled. a result of staff shortages as coven 19 infected crew members. ah, this year's christmas wish shared among most people who coordinated could eat that there is no more covert that we can go back to how we were used to living. that's if little in the vatican po francis reminded the faithful to be humble and used dialogue to resolve conflict and in the gulf regions. big as roman catholic cathedral welcomed its 1st ever christmas mass. in bethlehem, a smaller than usual crowd gathered to celebrate with a similar message as everywhere else. i've got on on my leg as you wait a slab. bethany, although the situation is hard with coded, people want to live and spread joy all around this year. we hope the corona virus

would disappear, this police upon own nation. the violence within our society will end and the atmosphere will stay as it is now, full of love and joy between every one. a message of hope reverting across nations around the world. gillian wolf, al jazeera, the hello again. the headlines on al jazeera security forces of use your gas and they attempt to disperse professors in the capital. hard to me. 1000 have been on the streets to rally against the military takeover and the number of people have been injured. why my vol has more from cartoon the day progressed, and particularly after sunset, we have noticed that the protest has begun to wayne at the house.