the alabama running up towards the eastern seaboard that will clear through as we go on into our monday temperatures picking up by that stage as well noticed a little bit of snow that eastern areas of canada, the central parts of the us will be dry and fine back up towards the northwest will right and snow like that, yet more unset, whether that is going to be pretty heavy, they said will cause further problems for good part of california by the south must have problems lottie, find a dryer across the caribbean, and also into central america, a scattering a shower for the east knowledge for a time, making the way further west. ah, are they protectors or profiteers of free speech of lago? documenting facts on the ground or a purveyor of the state line unchecked, the media can distort narratives and reshape realities. the listening post keeps watch on al jazeera. ah,

china and travel restrictions for inbound passengers just as covet, 19 infections, surge across the country. ah, ma'am, how much i'm doing this is how does your alive from durham also coming up? iran faces international condemnation. after it executes 2 men for killing a paramilitary officer during protests. ah rushes, 36 our cease fire fails to stop the fighting as ukrainians celebrate orthodox christmas. the meadow verses gradually taking shape, although no one really knows what that shape will be. and we explore the next generation of smart gadgets that the biggest tech show in the us.

china is lifted. pandemic restrictions on foreign travel, ending almost 3 years of self imposed isolation. quarantine is no longer required for inbound travelers, but several countries are demanding. pre departure. coven 19 tests for people heading abroad. it follows a surgeon cases in china in recent weeks after the government abandoned its strict 0 co policy. last month, thailand is expecting millions of chinese travelers this year. we'll get more on that shortly from tony ching in bangkok. but 1st let's go live to katrina you in beijing. katrina borders are finally opened but many countries have set restrictions for those travelling abroad from china. where are chinese travelers likely to go 1st? so sunday is really significant. here in china for many, it mocks, the real end of china's cove. $190.00 covey, 19 policy. as you mentioned, for 3 years, it was impossible to leave china and return without having to undergo weeks of

strict government. quarantines of people here, they feel very positive, excited, liberated, in fact, now, according to an online chinese travel business outbound, as such as the outbound flights jumped by more than 80 percent compared to this time last year. and the top destination was thailand, you can see the, the tie flag and the tie embassy far in the distance, just a 100 meters behind me. thailand followed by japan, south korea, australia, and the u. s. these were the fav destination destinations, as well as hong kong, where many here in the may not have family old business connections to those on the island. now, as you mentioned though, it's not going to be completely restriction free. depending on where these travelers choose to go around, 20 countries have added a screening requirements to any passengers coming from china. most recently, portugal in the netherlands have joined the u. s. the u. k. in canada, for example, in requiring this and because of that, experts are predicting that countries in south east asia who have not imposed any

restrictions that they will be the main beneficiaries of chinese tourism in the next few weeks and months. but we have to remember that china has really been angry about these restrictions being placed on chinese travelers. they've called it political, unscientific, despite the fact that anybody returning to china from now on still is required to take a coven 19 test themselves. 48 hours before coming back to china. and katrina, many in china are starting to travel for lunar new year. so the timing of all this is also quite significant, isn't it? a try this weekend also marks the beginning of tune, which is the 40 day travel period around luna and new year and pre pandemic. it was referred to as the largest annual human migration. now last year, 1000000000 trips were made. that's under cover. $190.00 covered 19 restrictions. this year. the chinese government is expecting 2000000000 trips to be ne, there's

a huge demand here, especially for migrant workers working in the major cities. they really want to go home and see family members for the biggest holiday of the year. and many of them have not returned for years perhaps because of strict covered 0 policies here in china. now we do have to remember though, that right now, china is experiencing a surge of corporate 19 infections around the country. so the government is worried about those via that virus being exposed to rural areas where the health system is not as developed and they won't. travelers to be wary of this without sessing, any strict bands they've just said to be cautious about exposing the virus, especially to the elderly, pregnant women and infants. all right, let's speak now to tony ching, who's joining us from bangkok. tony, how are people in thailand feeling about the return of chinese tourists? but it's something of a mixed bag. i think people in government certainly people in the tourist industry

down here in chinatown, in bangkok will be thrilled to hear that thailand is the number one destination for chinese travel agents. at the moment. they are desperate to get the chinese back in 2019, before the coven 19 pandemic, a crack down. the chinese terrace with the largest number of the single visitors to thailand, amounting to about a quarter of the 40000000 people that came to this country. they were also the largest spend the spending more than a $1000.00 per capita over the average 7 day period. so the people involved in the tourist industry, which is vitally important highlands economy. i think the fact that that influx could be returning, particularly after the difficult years they've had, is vitally important. we're seeing the government bending over backwards to welcome the chinese. they had a cabinet meeting last week in which they discussed the possibility of imposing those their restrictions to the chinese government a very on the happy about on chinese tourists and decided not to however,

beyond the tourist interesting, there is a certain amount of trepidation people want to see the economic pick up, but they're also concerned about the flood of chinese doris coming in. particularly with cove. it's so wide spread within china at the moment you had to bear in mind that thailand was the 1st country to see have a chance mission outside china in 2019. so people here are slightly concerned that if there is a new barrier that could come particularly with the wide spread transmission in china, it's very likely to come here 1st. that said, i think overall people are very pleased to welcome back chinese doris. they want them to bring back the bicycle dollars they want to see coming back into their economy. last year we saw 11000000 visitors in thailand. the tourist authority of hannah and announced couple of days ago. they wanted to boost that up to 20000000. but they had hopes before the pandemic that in 2025 they would have 25000000

chinese tourists alone. that's unlikely to happen now. but i think the fact that they're returning that they're able to come and go more easily. now be very good use for those involved in the tourism industry. here in bangkok, all right, al jazeera is tony ching life for us from bangkok. thanks tony. there's been international condemnation of iran after it hanged to man accused of killing a member of the country's revolutionary guard. in november, mohammed mattie kurama was a national karate champion and said, mohammed her seine was described as a volunteer coach for children's. amnesty international says both convictions relied on forced confessions. the e you says it's appalled. the u. s. is demanding what it calls sham trials. stop nigger mortars abby as a journalist and the host of the iran podcast. she says recent executions are only fueling more decent. it seems like a government by rushing through these cases and while human rights organization,

honestly, international specifically saying without any resemblance of justice or due process is essentially trying to instill fear and send the message to the rest of the protesters in the center is that this is what's going to happen to you and that they're using any means to try to crash the protests and to essentially send the protesters back home. the previous to execution, follow the same hot or young man failure on known and executed through rush courts and also abruptly in the early hours of the day. and this time also to be to say, to man $20.21. and both hang especially the, this is the fear of what it's actually doing is generating more anger's generating even more protests. we're seeing funerals of protestors turning into new protests themselves. actually, the 2 men that were hanged were arrested around the protests that were for the funeral of one of the other killed protest. so it just seems to be generating more

anger and more intervals of protests and essentially energizing more people to join this body of the movement. and the sense, ma'am, and miranda is a political analyst and professor at the university of toronto. he believes there's little popular support for the hanged men and says rights organizations have an ulterior motive. we have to be careful about the human rights organizations which are funded. i western governments are funded by institutions closely affiliated with western governments, amnesty international. we know how we're supporting nato and honest on the it is close to it later when the political establishment and the mattresses, we have to remember that over 60 police officers were murdered during this period. if you compare this to that, say the united states,

that would be roughly comparing it with taking into account that the population of the united states is 4 times greater than iran. that would mean like 226060 police officers in the united states being killed by a ryan. so i think if we take a look at things in, in, in this sort of context, then it would be far more complicated than what these western and human rights organizations are. st. 46 soldiers from ivory coast accused by molly of being mercenaries have returned home. the group was pardoned on friday, 6 months after being detained. they were flown to the commercial capital of abbey john ivory coast says the soldiers were part of united nations peacekeeping mission . and molly, their arrest, sparked a diplomatic dispute between the 2 countries. ah rushes unilateral, 36 hours cease fire in ukraine for orthodox christmas has ended. but there's been

no let up in fighting over that period. that's left orthodox christians and ukraine, celebrating christmas in the shadow of conflict. draw stratford reports from keith . ah churches have stood here for almost a 1000 years cubes, lumber cathedral is one of the most important, also talks christian institutions in the world. but this she is christmas. syllabus is different. if you have a buddy of love for the 1st time. the liturgy is being delivered in ukrainian by recently formed ukrainian orthodox church. for centuries, the ukrainian church was conducted the christmas service in ancient slavic, and russia. the times have changed. certainly i saw that. i think people have changed the stays, it's changing. we see historical justice and the nation is being formed. it's very important to eradicate everything russian from ireland, i guess, or russian church as it oh was here before i ever supports in like her russian

energy input is regime was so know, and we can have you bring in church. oh, i'm really glad to see. oh, sentiments like these have been growing since roches illegal annexation of crimea, and areas of the dumbass in 2014. they have now been institutionalized in the country that suffering a full scale invasion, and more than 10 months of war. as the newly formed orthodox church of your crying holes christmas pres. here for the 1st time, the ukrainian church affiliated with moscow has no choice but to hold a service at another site close by you crean accuses it of supporting and even helping russia in the wool. something the church vehemently denies the priest. he is one of a number on

a ukrainian sanctions list. the police and army have rated numerous russian orthodox churches across ukraine since the war started orthodox priest metropolitan . clement says his church has no affiliation with moscow. other than a spiritual one and accuses ukraine of flouting its own constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion worship does not chico simply let us have. tom was sure this is shown by the fact that the contract for the use of the cathedral by our church was terminated without appropriate procedures. another denomination was allowed to conduct the christmas service in the church. and course you as it is aggressive and discriminatory towards the worshippers of our church, it reminds us of the situation that existed in the totalitarian days of the soviet union were condos. yes. there are a few of worshippers at this church on christmas morning, but it isn't under cisco. somebody though. sure, of course we're a little sad that today we're not in a cathedral, but if god's well,

the main thing is to pray humbly and then go to decide as needed. rushes invasion hasn't only pushed ukraine into the arms of the west. it's further dividing, it's all said ox christian communities to chance travel al jazeera give still had on al jazeera ah peruse, president was removed from office, which sparked deadly protests one month on anything changed at opposition. parties and benign are gearing up to contest parliamentary elections for the 1st time since 2019 ah hello, the weather is largely fired across much of china. we have got some wet weather down towards the far safa. the north is generally dry and clear. i pressure in char,

so a lot of settled weather light, whence spousal sunshine, mild up towards the north, mild across the korean peninsula. still with a chance. some snow though, for the 1st western parts of japan that snow extending its way up towards the northern parts of home. she for a time, a little more expansive as we go on through monday. sheltered by the mount is as per usual tokyo getting up into double figures. 13 celsius here on monday, on the mild side, a mold enough in so and beijing where get 4 or 5 degrees above the seasonal average is that wet weather into southern parts of china. that rain will be heavy at times, and we got some very heavy rain now, making its way into central areas of vietnam has been nutting further westwards. as we've been for the coming through the last few days. and it will bring some big down pause. it is light is to cause some flooding into central and southern areas of vietnam as we go through the next couple of days. usual scattering a showers across malaysia to a few showers there into indonesia, and

a few showers to coming into shall anchor over the next day or so. much of india is dry. notice a western disturbance making its way towards pakistan. ah, a new generation of young people are more politically engaged in the one that came before. welcome to generation change a global theories and attempts to challenge and understand the ideas that mobilize move around to work in south africa. if women who are at the forefront as the woke generation, you left me about it get tired of developing resistance strategies, and i just ignite the passion to stand up and fight generation change on al jazeera . ah

ah, you're watching al jazeera, a reminder of our top story is this. our china has lifted pandemic restrictions on foreign travel after almost 3 years. quarantine is no longer required for inbound travelers, but several countries are demanding pre departure. coping 19 tests for people heading abroad. iran is facing international condemnation, natural to hanged, to man, accused of killing a member of the countries revolutionary guard in november. the you says it's appalled, all the u. s. is demanding and in to what it calls cham trials, rushes, unilateral, 36 hours cease fire in ukraine for orthodox christmas. as ended, keith did not agree to the truce and said russia continued attacks is accused moscow of trying to use the situation to reposition its troops. the u. s. president has congratulated republican kevin mccarthy on being elected speaker of the us

house of representatives. joe biden said he's ready to work with the party whose divisions were laid bare during a bruising 5 day vote. mccarthy had to make several concessions to win over hard line republicans who voted against him. alan fisher reports after an historic queen and to leaky into the after night of drama and contemplation, it was 15 time. lucky for kevin mccarthy, the california republican finally flipped enough foods to secure the position. a speaker of the us house of representatives, the speaker, the house, my ultimate responsibility is not to my party, my conference, or even our congress. my responsibility, our responsibility is to our country. he told everyone he had the votes to win on the 14th when he didn't. 2 votes of president gates

gates essentially blocked his way to the chair. as he fell short of the number of votes required by one. it led to incredible scenes on the house floor with the 2 being confronted by colleagues once, when exchanged fingers pointed and physical confrontation apparently avoided. as one congressman had to be held back by colleagues. the conversation continued and suddenly appeared to a john to monday was rejected because he wanted to go again. it seemed summed up by one democrat, if he offered his parties, no money for the poor. madam clerk, i rise to say, wow. and then it was done. mccarthy finally became speaker of the $118.00 congress. kevin mccarthy moved into this because office earlier this week, but several times in the chamber. it looked parameter. a group of ultra conservatives blocked his elevation, but slowly he groaned them don't offering a raft to concessions, including a change of rules and who could challenge the speaker on the promise of seats on

influential committees. democrats congratulating mccarthy on his when the warranty pieces, problems to control his own party. when republican said the issues of the last few days will have no impact on his parties, long term prospect. the 2024 presidential election sleeping ever closer. i think it's been hard on the party and a little bit frustrating, but i don't think it's left a scar. i don't think it's anything permanent, as i've said a number of times as well. 6 months from now. no one will be thinking about this. and that could be an issue for kevin mccarthy. he has an extensive agenda. he wants to push through congress. but to do that, he needs the united party and it has been anything, but in the last few days and hours, i was fisher, i'll just eat up on capitol hill in washington. the u. s. government has deported dozens of venezuela migrants to mexico. mexican authorities say 100 people who had crossed the border were sent back to the city of war. as on friday,

it follows the introduction of new border control measures aimed at discouraging asylum seekers. more than 150000 of in his wayland were caught crossing the us mexico border last year. columbian president, gustavo petro, has made a surprise visit to caracas to meet with his venezuelan counterpart. nicholas, my daughter is the latest sign of warming relations between the 2 countries and comes just days after an important border crossing reopened. ties were cut 4 years ago after columbia's previous government refused to acknowledge maderos disputed 2018 election when voters and been in head to the polls on sunday to choose their next parliament in what's seen as a test of the nations democracy. the opposition is back on the ballot after a de facto ban. and the last election triggered political violence from caught a new i met edris reports. the final push for vote was politicians competing ahead of sunday parliamentary elections. it'd been and

for many voters, they excited about the prospect of restoring confidence in the countries democracy . oh, no. the last legislative election in 2019 sparked clashes that left several people dead after the opposition party was banned from participating. that year, only 2 political parties supporting president patrice to load while allowed. i constitutional court ruling last november, gave a green light to the opposition known to have a position patties. i think at least we have 2 democrats in indian, which are clear with him, but as a defense affordable could come unto the goes to have those. but he, danny bananas, governing coalition is concerned about opposition. political parties included the democratic, growing large number of people to their political rallies. lebron excluded from the bullets as 2019, and one to win a majority in parliament to change the laws. they describe as repressing the

governing cornish of yeah. describes them as insignificant but son, this vote is more than just the election of parliament members. the results will determine who runs for president in 2026. the electoral court requires any candidate for president to get endorsement from legislators and mares in order to run a political party can only get representation in parliament if it gets 10 percent of the total votes cast nationwide. regardless of whether it wins a constituency. the election commission says it's ready, we're gonna plenty to pull up his own muscular department. the prison wanted to quit when we started distribution of election materials from the furthest to the regions nearest to culturally on hold. now all areas have received the needed election materials that the quarter oh, to see hoping this election will restore opposition politics and benign, and that the country will avoid violent clashes of 2019 observers would the watching, not only the conduct, but also the outcome of this election,

it will determine whether or not the streets are calm. ahmed edris al jazeera, go to them. it's been a month since peruse left. his president was removed from office after trying to dissolve. congress federal castillo is arrest, sparked a wave of protest that left 22 people dead. and his prosecutors billed the case against the former leader. many of his supporters say they've been betrayed by the government. arianna sanchez has more from one of castillo strongholds. oh, from their mountain homes to the streets of the small town of lipa high up indiana . oh, hundreds of farmers doing daily the moment demanding the rights to promises. former president bill castillo made during his campaign, yet little hold that lydia bianca says she will not give up from the expectations she had when she voted for him 18 months ago. and the laws are made to favored the

rich. we don't have a voice or a vote. we want a constituent assembly to close congress and we want president dina bullard to, to resign. she does not represent us. well, many protesters here see kathy's removal from office and arrest, make him a political prisoner disorder. cathy, you ordered the dissolution of congress, and the rest of the prosecutor investigating him and corruption allegations. now he faces charges of rebellion and up to 20 years in prison. oh, the theo, one with more than 80 percent of the vote. although people here say he didn't pull any of the promises he made the lawmakers responsible. yeah. because not allow me to work without gusty you. these farmers see their expectations for better living conditions slipping away the blame the new precedent. the novel neuropathy, i have an idea, amer sally castillo promised agrarian reforms,

and we voted for him. but noble artie has betrayed us. she was our sister, but now we want her out. for a month, it was witnessed, protest, death, and destruction. the country is in a state of emergency. farmers here are continuously on strike, taking turns to block the mean highway as he has done what consoles the dunphy we are so tired. all of us. the elderly children janice, but we're all taking part in the fight and that's the only way lonely come. if they don't listen to us, we will continue with our fight. you well contin what weren't moved on biz lucas? the use a symbol fading away, but the people of rudy bessy, his promises are now a force for renewed hope. and the only way for change they said is to continue fighting. men innocent is i just yeah, would i put him to subway trains have collided in mexico city, killing one person, at least 57 others were injured. emergency crews rescued. 4 people trapped in one

group. carriage, mexico capitol has seen several accidents on its metro in recent years. 26 people died in may 2021. when a rail overpass collapsed, calm has returned to the mexican city of calia can the focus of a shoot out between security forces and members of a drug cartel that left 29 people dead. the government has deployed an extra $1000.00 troops to the area. the violence broke out on thursday when police arrested a drug kingpin. video guzman is the son of imprison drug lord l. chapel and an important figure in the powerful sinaloa cartel. one of the world's largest technology events is underway in las vegas. the consumer electronic show offers a 1st look at the next generation of tech. rob reynolds has been trying out what's on offer. ah, the roller coaster of new consumer technology has come to los vegas with thousands of companies showing off the new the cool in the kind of weird. some will hit the

market with a fe, others will be duds. i could run down for you over the years, all the different trendy things that have been the next big thing. ah, and then the next year we come back and it's completely forgotten about among this years highlights l. g as a new wireless tv screen. no more messy cables. the content is streamed from a box that can be situated several meters away. the integration of tech into the automotive world continues. honda and sony have joined together to create a new company called a fella and which they're gonna make a brand new electric vehicle that's going to have the latest technology from sony in into team in, in sound quality in cameras to make a really smart electric vehicle. b, m w, as in a i equipped model that can talk to drivers and learn their preferences and it changes colors to suit your mood. they could have checkerboard patterns. you can have stripes i, if you want to have it blue one day and read another,

you could do that, you could do whatever you like with it. augmented reality products are represented at sea. yes. including these cool head sets from us company, magic leap. the met, averse is gradually taking shape, although no one really knows what that shape will be. and by the way, where am i? sustainability is a theme at the show, john deer as a hybrid electric farm tractor. there are electric motorcycles, bikes, and scooters and even boats. developers hope to disrupt the maritime industry. but he's here in the navy a 30 ah, or in 30, as we call it, is as well as long as range electric high required and america price electric article vote. and the key part of this is that it is 10 x more efficient and traditional gas bird. and there are plenty of off the door just plain cookie products on display. this gizmo can skin your food.