is a number of things that threaten our civilization as we know it as an existential threat . otherwise asked if overhauling entrenched economic systems can help reverse the damage. we must go from degenerative systems to regenerating the living world and meet the businesses balancing the books by making the planet as important as profit . that is that dramatic change for society. are we going to collapse, or are we going to rise business critical on al jazeera, harmful pathogens are increasingly affecting our lives with terrible consequences. a new documentary asks why that we've learned any lessons from the h. i. v. epidemic in the fight against coven 19. how we ignored the global sun to put profits before people. and it won't cost ah, time of pundents on all just ah,

russia's president bloody men, putin orders a 36 hour cease fire when you crane to mount the orthodox christmas holiday. ah. the bulk of this is al jazeera alive from dough are also coming up on garages amongst us republicans following a stand off on leadership. the next boat for speaker is expected in the coming out as an emotional reunion. israel's longest serving palestinian prisoners released after completing his 40 years sentence. i'm 23 fighters, say they withdrawing from another town and east and democratic republic of congo. but the army calls it a sham russian

president vladimir putin has ordered a 36 hour cease fire and ukraine forth at ox christmas. it is set to come into effect on january. the 6th, the kremlin is calling on key if to do the same. the russian orthodox patriarch, carol initiated the request earlier turkish president, russia pipe. irwin held phone conversations with president putin and the lensky if key, if except it would be the 1st cease fire between the warring nations since russia launched this invasion almost a year ago. well, let's go live to key f. now, in our correspondence, charles stratford, it's one thing, charles vladimir putin suggesting a ceasefire is another thing, of course. keep excepting one more. can you tell us about their response? well, certainly this stage it seems highly doubtful that ukraine would accept such an offer from president bush. and as you say this initially comes from a suggestion made by the the moscow patriarch, carol, russia, patriarch. carol,

they're looking for they study success. he's 5 from about, well, from mid day, which effectively would be on or that it was christmas christmas eve, right, the way through the next day, christmas day until 12 midnight. and it was a response to the patriarch carol's suggestion that we heard from an adviser in the president's office. mchale police and he just called this a cynical trap. so we haven't had any official statement yet by president zalinski, but one can only assume that he's going to be consistent with what mr. pull the. mr . police said, i mean, just give you a little bit of background here. there's a very create a very interesting sort of change of atmosphere in ukraine that is gathering place in as far as a move away from fundamentally unorthodox christmas here because many

ukrainians associate orthodoxy with russia and by default russian aggression. so for example, christmas that it's just gone by the office for the, for the julian calendar that now is being gradually pushed for by many people and you're going to be celebrated on the 24th and the 25th. there's also the issue that in 2019 the ukrainian church basically was set up a stablish that has no affiliation. what so ever with the most go patriarch is part of these movements move away from any kind of association with russian orthodoxy in the wake of what new cranium say has been, well, 9 years of war. so forget that the problem started the fighting really started in 2014 in don bass and crimea. and there's also the additional issue. the fact that new is eve, new year's day,

or some of the heaviest on bob wants by russia using drones and cruise missiles trying to attack the infrastructure. we understand here are right, the way across ukraine and as crippled much of that infrastructure and left a lot of people in darkness without heat or electricity. so it seems highly, highly unlikely at this stage that the ukranian government and ukrainian military will agree to such an offer by president putin. charles, many thanks, shall stratford live in care. now for a 3rd straight day, the us house of representatives will convene to pick a new speaker. the last 2 attempts were unsuccessful with a group of hard line republicans again blocking kevin mccarthy's bid for the top job. as the 1st time in a century. the result hasn't been determined in the 1st vote. john had written reports from capitol hill. it's a high stakes political stand off on one side republican liter, kevin mccarthy, in most in his party. on the other,

a cadre of strong willed republican rebels in 6 ballots over 2 days like mccarthy's mainstream republicans had failed to muster the votes, to elect him his speaker of the u. s. a. house of representatives, a speaker has not been elected. it was a scene of republican disarray, a block of 19 than 20, then 21, mostly members of the freedom caucus repeatedly stopped the party leader from reaching the necessary 218 vote threshold. mccarthy began the 2nd day of voting with optimism with guy, but the republican rebels wanted dramatically limit the size of the federal government and overhaul the congressional rules to do that. and a series of concessions failed to satisfy them. rather after hours of deadlock votes, they took a 3 hour break for equally fruitless negotiation with the house be an otter, then quickly adjourned for a 2nd day without a speed. democrats watched this slow paced collision with glee,

one bearing an armload of popcorn. the contrast between house democrats on the chaos and confusion taking place on the other side of the aisle could not be more clear. democrat hakim jeffries topped every vote, but fell sure to the majority needed to win. without a speaker, the house can't pass. laws make committee assignments, or even swear in its new members, leaving the united states without a functioning house of representatives. one democrat in particular, lamented the congressional chaos. it's embarrassing to the country. i mean, literally, i got part of this reality that you know, to big have of congress the can function. is this embarrassing really greatest nation in the world? how can i say as republicans battled it out on the house floor? president joe biden joined republican senate leader mitch mcconnell at a bridge connecting kentucky in ohio, funded by a bipartisan infrastructure law showing that even divided government can function

when both sides cooperate. john henderson, al jazeera capitol hill. all right, so the role of us house speaker is one of the most powerful political positions in washington d. c. this peter, his 2nd in line to the presidency and would take over the leadership if something happened to both the president and vice president with the jobs more important, more important role is political. as head of the majority party, the speaker has near total control over what gets debated and voted on by the full house when they come from the same party. the speaker can be one of the president's most important allies, who, when they're rivals, the speaker becomes one of the presidents most difficult. opponents are right over to kimberly hallett. our white house correspondent. she joins us now from washington. d. c. o. kimberly a. what happens if mccarthy is still rejected? is there another figure that republicans can rally behind? yeah, there are other figures that are waiting in the wings. some of the names are familiar

. there is steve scully's, who, a, you may remember was one of the individuals that was shot to a few years ago at a congressional baseball game. he's very popular, but he wants to run the judiciary committee. so he is not keen to step up to the role, but still he is waiting in the wings and other one is jim jordan, that is a very big supporter of the former president. donald trump. he's a familiar name and also there is the name of the democrat had came jeffries, who is popular of not only among democrats as a democrat, but also some republicans. but i'm right now it's still the front runner is kevin mccarthy. and his tactic really is to wear down his detractors, he only needs 4 more republicans, essentially to support him. he believes he can get it. he's been working the phone's but the bottom line is, is that he believes eventually he will get the support that he needs these. c sort

of band of, but 1920 sort of anti establishment republicans are really just trying to do a stunt here. they're sending a message. they don't want business. as usual. they're offended by big corporations getting into politics. and that's really what this is about. and how long they intend to go on and continue the stud a really many people think that it won't last till the end of the week. but historically, we have seen this go on for months and as so a is anyone's guess how long this could continue. but to many people feel that this is running its course and shouldn't go on much longer. but kimberly, one of the consequences of all of this for ordinary people watching from the sidelines. of course this must have an impact on the functioning of the chamber and the ability to legislator to well, it is so starting to have some grave consequences. in fact,

we just have to had some fresh warnings from some law makers of the impact that this is having a there a we've already mentioned that there is no legislative business being done. in fact, the congress members can't be sworn in, but there aren't committees that are being formed as some of them have pretty important roles. for example, there's the foreign affairs committee, there is the intel committee, and there's the armed services committee. they get an intelligence briefings that are pretty critical in terms of the intelligence that they receive and they conduct . a very critical oversight as well, and none of that is happening right now. and that also means that their role of oversight on the white house, on the state department, on the department of defense, the intelligence community, the justice department, all of that has ground to a halt. that means the very important checks and balances in the u. s. government is not taking place and so the longer that this plays out,

the more serious the ramifications come become. and the more potential there are 4 very serious mishaps to occur. so there is fear that the longer this plays out, the more dangerous, and the more perilous this becomes live, the white house can be hungry many thanks for that. now the release of the longest palestinian prisoner has taken place in israel. israeli authorities freed kareem eunice who is also in australia citizen, he been in detention for 40 years. he was convicted in 1983 of killing in australia, soldier in the golden heights. the palestinian israeli was initially condemned to life imprisonment. but his sentence was later commuted around. con is in our village, where many people have gathered to welcome eunice back to his community. an emotional reunion for carry muniz, who spent 40 years inside and his railey jail. he was jailed on the

6th of january, 1983, released just a few hours ago of $530.00 a. m a from a prison in central israel. he was taken to a nearby town. he was given a cod that he didn't know what it was. he wasn't sure it was actually a bus boss. he then pulled his brother's brother, picked him up and brought him here. it's very difficult to underestimate how, how important agreement is, was within the front of political louvin. he was a member of the central committee advising stone if you own, when he was jailed in 1983 for the killing of an israeli soldier in the occupied golan heights. now, this was not part of a political exchange. this was not part of benevolence on the part of the israelis . this was simply the fact the man i served all 40 years of his sentence and

therefore was released with saying now this is actually happening in defiance of the israeli authorities. these radio authorities said that they should not walk this occasion that no one. busy they shouldn't set up, hence the family of ignored that i and they've managed to mark this really now we have been speaking to the man himself, the 2nd listen to what he had to say about freedom. the light deep give hacket yes or no, no bumps. i have a lot of feelings in my wars, don't know how to express. it is the 1st time in 40 years to see the trees in the grass and i used to see on the walls and cement. but to day i saw a lot of different things. i entered so many houses and i sat down on a sofa for the 1st time in 40 years. i got a very strange feeling when i 1st entered my brother's car, to the extent that i didn't know how to sit properly. it is a mix of feelings and emotions to see the sky without bars for the 1st time in 40

years. now wilma, now even when he was inside, presently still remained politically active. he was teaching other prisoners about the palestinian struggle. like i say, he is actually in his writing, the citizens of israel always said that his imprisonment was internal, his writing a matter. but now he's free, he's 66 years old and there's an awful lot for him to catch on. united nations security council is said to hold a meeting later on thursday after israel's national security minister entered the al acts of mos compound. it's mar, bang, give you his actions on choose day, have been widely condemned as provocative palestine ambassador to the you and is calling for strong action against israel. the attack is not only against our wholly sites in a lock so most and then the hot m sharif. there are because of this environment of extremism that this is the really extreme government, the extremist in the history of israel,

is providing is leading to additional aggression against our christian sites. christian, graveyards, you've seen by now that there are crosses over, you know, graveyards, being trampled upon and attacked by extreme settlers. this is a toxic environment. the international community has to speak with one voice. still had an al jazeera oh, well to pope ameritas benedict the sixty's, thousands of munos and paid tribute to the former leader of the roman catholic church. ah

hello, there is a story of extreme cold across northern areas of south asia in particular for pakistan and northern india, we got cold wave conditions set to continue for the next few days. as well as persistent fog issues. you can see that spreading across moving areas of pakistan and india, but further south we go. well, it is much clearer particularly towards that east coast, which is the popcorn cloud pulling into west and areas and want to to shower was touching down as we had for the south. but for the worst of the wet weather, we have to look to sri lanka. we are expecting a wash out a weekend with some of the heavier thunderstorms rolling into columbus. and was we ro, east to east asia? it is looking rather gloomy, or it has been across much of china, but more in the way of sunshine to come, come to see a sitting above the average stretching away from beijing sunshine in shanghai. and hong kong looking relatively settled with some warmth. we've got to rush storms are touching down in taiwan switching all white southern areas of japan with a bit of a wintry mix blowing into the korean peninsula. north korea seen some of the heavy

snow. we will see that when to weather push across the sea into japan with snow flurries expected to stretch all way down from hawkeye to, to han shoe and some very cold weather to come for support. ah, the witness inspiring films from around the world. they shall not stop the violence and kill the power. is beth witnessed intimate portraits and epic struggles because leadership is also not just the people witness, the human spirit and bitter reality. manual believe when a property witness award winning voice is telling groundbreaking stories. witness on al jazeera lou.

ah, go to back here watching al jazeera, a reminder of our top stories this, our russian president vladimir putin has ordered a 36 hour cease far in ukraine for orthodox christmas. it would come into effect at mid day on friday. the seni ukrainian official dismissed it as a policy saying a truce would only happen when russia left its territory. the us house of representatives is convening food the 3rd day in a row to try and pick a new speaker. republican kevin mccarthy has lost in 6 rounds of voting. israel is released is longest held, palestinian prisoner karim eunice was detained for 40 years. he, this is an australian citizen who was convicted of killing them for any soldier in the golan heights. in 1983,

i am 23 rebels of announced their withdrawing from another town, an eastern democratic republic of congo. they say that pulling out from roman gobble. i also announced last month they would leave nearby to mamba. the congo accuse is shawanda of backing m $23.00. something to gully denies. the conflicts was forced. thousands of people from their homes is 2021. will patrick boyar come way is the minister of communication and media and government spokesman for the democratic republic of congo. he says we're wanda, is key to ensuring peace in the d. r. c. read a book made by interstate following the november. and the movement stopped even the it's not really what your plan is because it's trick some times. but you're seeing that the child respecting what we make,

we make it and we will go back to the shepherd. what is it more for what the commander at the end of the meeting are still going to trust the process and that we know the things must be very active. the grounds back to be strong. believe that gender. why not? because he's the one acting beyond 23. we've seen respect or commitment we meant to get or order. we are meeting the following. the recommendation made by all unit by order countries starting the united nations, united states, french or spanish, or germany, or this country. the one i've been asking them to respect, would they agree on the process in beach, in the town, but believe that it will be done. that's the only way we can avoid using forces. as

you know, the regional policies will make a report to different state and it states decide to go to the war with the orders. i mean country, they generally use new one on going back to tradition. by year one, ration need to do what she has to do to make sure to proper siler insistence, being transparent when reporting on his coven 19 out break. the statement comes after criticism from the world health organization that says beijing is under stating the situation that china's foreign ministry says that it always shed relevant data with the international community. it announced one coven, 19 death on wednesday in us despite evidence of a surgeon infections. kosovo says it still planning to get members of his ethnic sir minority to surrender their serbian issued number plates. tensions fled up between christina and belgrade over the plan last year. prime minister albin,

kirsty told al jazeera, he's making no promises to serbia. on the recent crisis. we have given a bit of time regarding implementation until spring this year of because you want to give time for a agreement between console and sonya, which is very much needed for normalization of relations. so as a goods gesture from our side, we have said we are not going to impose fines on those who have these car plates until spring and i will never compromise with the constitution and law. therefore, until spring we have given this time. and hopefully we can have an agreement beforehand. i believe it's fully doable. if there is a willingness from belgrade and especially intensified engagement by

you and us. will marco jury, she is the serbian ambassador to the united states. he says, the international community hasn't placed enough pressure on kosovo. caught fishes thrive, taught by exerting heavy handedness. and by abolishing what has been achieved through the brussels dialogue, processed to undermine the collective political rights of the serbs. in course of true arrests through various forms of harassment through intimidation. and unfortunately, he has also publicly renounced the brothels and the washington agreement. i believe that actually the absence of firmness on the part of international community. when it comes to pressuring him to implement the brussels agreement with its key element or formation of the community of sermon, dorothy municipalities in

a way in bolden him to act you responsibly. so we believe the quality should be held accountable for failing to implement the agreement. and the government, of course, civil should be sanctioned for a year if possible, and our sinister behavior, which almost play to conflict on a number of occasions in recent months. and you can see the full interview with the prime minister across the vo. albin curtsey on saturday. at $440.00 gmc, that's on talked about just there are croatia now. a fully fledged member of the european union. the country adopted the euro and joined the board. if he travels there and on january the 1st, stephanie deca has been asking questions about how they feel about these open borders. it's off season and without the hordes of tourists that usually pac gracious coastline, there's a sense of stepping back in time. just to 15 minutes drive away. the board was

please here to a feeling of emptiness. but this is all about moving forward. krasier joined the open board shanghai zone as of january 1st, and it's being welcome to yes. dennis is a nurse who takes care of an elderly lady in italy working 15 days on and 15 days off. she has been crossing borders for 5 years, and years and pressure. i was traveling through creature slovenia italy border and every country had their own restrictions. we never knew what to expect on the borders, so this will be much better. it will make our lives easier. one, up, one up, and this is what it's all about. the freedom of movement, no more passport checks, identity checks, no waiting in line. the border guards have all gone. that's croatia straight ahead is lavinia. now it's only about getting on your way. no need to stop is still a novelty here. crecia joined the shank in zone on the same day. it adopted bureau, which is now replaced its old currency, the piano and her businessman. it's

a more than welcome development. cloud has been importing and exporting good since 1995, he has seen career again, independence joined the you. and now this for him to it's much better. we saw one of the leprous producer, but i to week 1st i had to do freight forwarding service in italy than in slovenia . and then you went to caricature. we had to sort taxes and lots of other small import costs. it lasted 8 hours some times. now you just go through there and no issues in stopping at all for his son sandra has now taken over the business. we ask him if he's emotionally attached to the old currency, the kuna. as many people have told us, they feel it's a loss of identity poised during all, be honest with you, not much. our business is over the waters. you visit all your markets. you play hotels in voicemail euros for yes, we are doing business. something can euros it will be much easier. now, this will make our business more fluid and our life easier for many here. now being a fully integrated member of the european union with open borders and

a common currency is a good thing. despite some emotional attachments and early problems, as switching currencies, it seems in the long run, many corporations prefer these open roads. stephanie that does 0 on the corporations living near border. tens of thousands of people have attended a special funeral master the vatican of benedict. the 16th is the 1st time in modern history that the serving head of the roman catholic church presided over the funeral of a predecessor that in baba reports ah applause from some of the 50000 boners. as pope benedict's coffin is carried into saint peter's square ah, and a cry from the crowd santo. so beetles, st. now, calling for the beatification, the former head of a catholic church who died at the age of 90. 5 benedict stepped down in 2013 searching poor health. the 1st pope in more than 600 years to resign. his successor

poke francis he came to know him well prayed for him on thursday. you see called italy bertram. gracious father, we commend to your mercy hope a meritus benedict, whom you made, successor of peter, and shepherd of the church national. a fearless preacher of your word, and a faithful minister of the divine mysteries. sandy spencer thought. clearly this wasn't on the same scale as the last people funeral in 2005, when john paul, the 2nd died still 200000 people, came to view benedict's body lying in state at saint peter's basilica before this public ceremony. and many here appreciated being able to say farewell think it's represents a lot about his life and are what we're here, expected a simple celebration, but very fearful he or cindy of for there despite having other things to do to day, i felt that i had to come here, i told myself i had to come and attend holly mass to accompany him in prayer for the current pope is now 86. he said he'll step down if his health stops him

performing the role of the vatican's. foreign secretary recently hinted that pope benedict's death could make that path easier. it was already very complicated, having to man wearing white in the back again. if full frances had resign while benedict was still alive, would have had to former popes and one reigning pope. put benedict was revered as a theologians by many catholics, but by his own admission, he was a leader who failed to act decisively enough on cases of sexual abuse by clerics. his legacy is long and complex. dba al jazeera california's governors declared a state of emergency are too powerful storm, cadillac tricity to thousands of homes and the north roads have been flooded and trees uprooted in sacramento authorities of told people to evacuate coastal areas vulnerable to mudslides is the 2nd storm to hit the west coast in the past week, not charles has more from san francisco.