america, climate change denial stubbornly mistrusted the fact. despite soaring temperatures, raging wildfires and shrinking water reserves the world's largest economy, it's still split along ideological lines. so can ever reach consensus to avoid catastrophe. climate wars ought to on a just 0 when i have is on july last working in asia and africa, that'd be days where i'd be choosing and editing my iron stories in a refugee camp or to know what that tricity and right now where confronting some of the greatest challenges that humanities ever faced, and i really believe that the only way we can do that is with compassion and generosity and compromise. because that's the only way we can try to solve any of these problem is together. that's why are so important. we make those connections. ah,

china ends travel restrictions, but inbound passengers just as cobit 19 infections. surge. ah, hello, i'm down, jordan, this is al jazeera la you from dough instead of coming up, iran faces international condemnation. after it executes 2 men, the king had our military officer during protest. russia spoke to 6 hour si, fi i failed to stop the fighting as ukrainians celebrate orthodox christmas plus o. old shook up the eldest festival. that's raising hopes of a major comeback. frustrating tourism china has lifted pandemic risk. some foreign travel ending almost 3 years of self

imposed isolation. quarantine is no longer required for inbound travellers, but several countries are demanding pre departure. cobit 19 tests for people heading abroad. it follows a surgeon cases in china in recent weeks after the government abandoned its strict 0 cobit policy. while the lifting of restrictions coincides with a start of the lunar new year, trouble rush, china's help ministry says it's concerned about the virus spreading. as people gather for celebrations, governments urging people to wear mosques on public transport. katrina, you as more from patient will here on sunday for many people living in china. it knocks the real end of the 0, covet 19 policy, because before to day it was impossible to leave china and enter without having to undergo weeks of strict government, central and home quarantine. so from today, people feel very excited and quite liberated to go and travel outside the country. according to a major chinese travel business website searches for outbound flights compared to

this time last year jumped. why more than 80 percent in the favorite destination was thailand? you can see the embassy, a few 100 meters behind me. they're going to be very busy, no doubt over the next few weeks processing visas. other favorite destination searched for include japan, south korea, the u. s. and australia. some countries up to 20 have impose restrictions on passengers screening restrictions, ask them to take a quotation if they are found positive, they weren't able to pull their flight. so these countries, most recently joining this list include portugal. the netherlands have joined the likes of the u. s u k, as canada, this weekend marks the beginning of tune, which is the 40 day travel period leading up to and around the noon and new year period pre pandemic. it was described as the loudest annual human migration in the world. and this year, authorities are expecting 2000000000 trips to be made. nationwide, a lot of demand is going to be coming from migrant workers. you've been working in

the cities. many of them have not returned home to see their families in rural remote areas for the past 3 years. and the government is very worried because right now the country is experiencing a surgeon called the 19 infections. and the worrying about exposing these rural remote areas which have less developed health systems to outbreaks of the virus. all right, so there's been international condemnation of iran offered hung to men, accused of killing a member of a power military force. in november, ahmed metty cromwell was a national karate champion and said, mama, a seine was described as a volunteer coach for children. amnesty international says the convictions relied on false confessions. they you says it's uphold the u. s. is demanding an end to what it calls shun trials. neg motors. are these a journalist from host of the iran podcast? she says recent executions. ernie feeling more dissent. it seems like the government by rushing through these cases and wild humor, right,

organizations international, specifically say without any resemblance of justice or due process is essentially trying to instill fear and send the message to the rest of the protesters and the sensors that this is what's going to happen to you and that they're using any need to try to crush protests to essentially send the testers back home. the previous 2 execution follow the same pattern, young man, failure, known, executed through rush courts, and also abruptly in the early hours of the day. and this time also, it seems to be the same to men, $20.21 and both hands, especially. then the goal of this is to still here, but what is actually doing is generating more anger, generating even more protests with the funeral of poor testers, turning into new quotes. has them felt? actually the 2 men that were hands were right around the tests that were for the

funeral of one of the other killed protesters. so it just seems to be generating more and more interval of protest and essentially energizing more people to join this body of movement and this sense where mom and miranda from the university of tehran, he believes there's little popular support for the hang man and says rights groups have an ulterior motive. we have to be careful about the human rights organizations, which are funded by western governments or funded by institutions supposed to be affiliated with western governments. amnesty international, we now have supporting nato and on a son. and it is host differently with the political establishment, and we have to remember that over 60 police officers were murdered during this period. if you compare this to the united states,

now 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 225060 police officers in the united states being killed by 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 saying. ah, for us as unilateral 36, our c's, fine ukraine, the orthodox christmas ended. but there was little let up in fighting over the period. that's left to orthodox christians in ukraine, celebrating christmas in the shadow of conflict. charles dropped reports from keith . oh churches have stood here for almost a 1000 years cubes, lumber cathedral is one of the most important orthodox christian institutions in

the world. but this, she is christmas. syllabus is different a lot for the 1st time. the liturgy is being delivered in ukrainian by recently formed ukrainian orthodox church. for centuries, the ukrainian church is conducted the christmas servicing ancient. slavic, and russian times have changed. she has m, i saw it. i think people have changed to stace, 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 that oh, was here before i ever supports in like her russian or z input is regime. oh, so no, and we can have you bring in church, so i'm really glad to, 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 halls. 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 war. 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. that is not. she could 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 europe 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 condo suitor. there are a few of worshippers at this church on christmas morning that it is malicious. get somebody there? sure. of course, for a little sad that to day when not in a cathedral, that is god's will. 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. sorry, this is john to our top story on china lifting travel restrictions for inbound

passengers. thailand is expecting millions of chinese travelers this year and his name is tony chang joins us live from bangkok. tony smith, china opening its borders. how important is this then for thailand's post coven tourism market? is vitally important. and the terrorist authority in thailand says they hope that the numbers will get up to 20000000 this year. last year it was just over 10000000 . so that's a significant increase. but if you look at pre 10 friends them numbers are the chinese arrivals made up more than a quarter of time and tourists sort of target. so i think they are trying to encourage people to get. 3 back as quickly as possible until that end, the time government decided last week that it wasn't going to impose any new restrictions on arrivals from china. but it is going to require that all tourists arriving in thailand are able to show vaccination certificates. i think that's because they're very aware,

the chinese government was going to react very angrily when it saw the requirements being imposed on other countries like the united states, the and the u. k. so chinese tourists will be leaving today, arriving to morrow. we got 2 flights coming in to one of them, apple only 500, but they say that's going to increase very quickly. but about a 100 flights this month. they hope more than a 150 next month. and they want to get those numbers back very quickly. the tourist industry very important here. some people say it makes up to 25 percent of g d p. and it was largely shot down for more than a year during the coven pandemic when thailand imposed various house restrictions on people coming inside the china. again, the number's back in china is going to be very involved in doing that. yeah. tony and how ordinary people in thailand feeling about the return of chinese taurus, again, hello, who are involved in the tourist industry? very excited. we've seen lots of preparations here in chinatown, him bank cove,

but i think outside of those immediately employed in the tourist industry, there is a certain amount of trepidation, obviously they want the economy to improve. and i think everyone's very aware that at the tourist center industry improves, they'll be knock on effects generally. but they're also very health conscious. if people still worry moss, even though the government mandate was dropped several months ago. and i think they're also aware that with a large number of chinese tourists coming into the country and cove, it's spreading widely within china. there is the possibility of new variance into again in a thailand we saw the 1st transmission outside of china in 2020. when it started to spread around the world, people haven't forgotten that here. none the less economic recovery is foremost in most people's minds. i think the fact that chinese terrorists are coming back again will make a lot of people feel a lot easier, especially in the build up to the chinese new year. all right, i tony jen,

life us there in the tie capital bank op 20. thank you. all right, a lot more. let's come here now. jazeera, we look ahead to the parliamentary election, putting beneath fragile democracy to the test law. sound californians are weathering a wave of devastating storms which continue to back to the coast like more. not stay with us. ah fellow, the weather is pretty a wet across much of the middle east at the moment, including here. the cats are, you can see that long line of cloud that's been bringing some heavy downpours. little bit of localized flooding across central parts of saudi arabia, through canada, of a side of the gulf, pushing across into where ran a western disturbance dis, just gathering up towards the afghanistan, some snow that that'll make his way across northern parts of afghanistan to push on towards pakistan, scattering a shower around the caspian sea,

just running back to was that east aside all to mediterranean and they still there's go on 3, monday by monday. wet weather may, will make his way across iraq through q wait move. air is a saudi arabia. i think we should be in the clear hearing caught up by that stage doha, around 20 degrees celsius with some present spells of sunshine, sunshine, a shower mile across northern parts of africa. we got some what a 2 showers just around the coastal fringes of libya and northern areas of egypt as well. west africa generally try but along the coast again here we might just see one or 2 showers, but real heavy showers. they are coast drapes across the tropics, move very heavy rain there into the democratic republic of congo, just around the brief valley, more showers the symbolic way, and also for mozambique. ah, ah,

ah, ah lou ah, welcome back to provide about top stories here. this, our china has lifted pandemic restrictions. i'm fine travel after almost 3 years. quarantines no longer required the inbound travelers,

but several countries are demanding pre departure, coping 19 tests for visitors from china. iran is facing international condemnation offered hang. 2 men accused of killing a member of our military force in november. you says it's a pull. all the u. s. is demanding an end to what it calls sham trials and rushes unilateral. 36 our sci fi and ukraine for orthodox christmas has ended. keith did not agree to the truth and said russia continued its attacks. that he was moscow trying to use the situation to re position its troops. what shall fire could be clearly heard in the front line town of back. moot, which has been abandoned by most of its residents. ukrainian president vladimir lensky says. the gunfire came from russian position. it reaches the chill. wouldn't have quoted his meal, by the way, once again, the world has seen how deceptive any statement at any level coming from moscow is they were saying something about the supposed cease fire. the reality however, was that russian shells once again hit back boot and over ukrainian positions. 46

soldiers from ivory coast accused by molly of being mercenaries returned home. the group was pardoned on friday. 6 months after being detained, there were flown to be commercial capital. i begun, i reco says the soldiers were part of a united nations peacekeeping mission, and molly arrest bought a diplomatic dispute between the 2 countries. voters in beneath ned to the poles on sunday to choose their next parliament what scene of the test of the nations democracy. the opposition was back on the ballot after a de facto ban in the last election triggered political violence from caught the new address report. yes, the final push for votes as politicians competing ahead of sunday parliamentary elections in benign 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,

but left several people dead after the opposition party was banned from participating. that year, only 2 political parties supporting president, patrice delores, while allowed i constitutional court ruling last november gave a green light to the opposition known to have a petition party's. i think at least we have 2 democrats in indian. we jaclyn was asian buttons at the fest. affordable good. come on fall the goes to have those. but is there any bananas governing coalition is concerned about opposition? political parties, including the democratic, growing large number of people to their political. ronnie's lebron excluded from the bullets that sprang to 19 and one to win a majority in parliament to change laws. they describe as repressing the governing cornish in here describes them as insignificant but sunday 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 costume. quincy, the election commission says it's ready with the money. the proposal must valid department, the present value to quit when we started distribution of election materials from the furthest to the regions nearest to call to my own mode. now all areas have received the needs of the lecture, materials that the quarter ought to see are hoping this election will restore opposition politics and benign, and that the country will avoid valid cautious of 2019 observers would be 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 quarterly. around $200.00 people had been moved to safety in a hill town in northern india, after their homes developed severe cracks or problems believe to be caused by

shifting soil underneath the town of just me off in the himalayas. it's a popular destination of the pilgrims and tourists that's led to the construction of new buildings and roads in recent years. people in the u. s. state of california trying to clean up off of days of devastating storms. many a bracing for more severe weather expected, a sweet northern regions. in the coming days. alexander bias report dominic kings restaurant would normally be full of dinars, enjoying food, an ocean views, but not any more. the village of capital, it was among the worst to be hit by last week's storm. it stirred up some of the biggest swells in years waves as high as 7 meters tore up historic piers and damaged homes and businesses. it's our family restaurant, you know, we've had it for like a decade it's, it's definitely places where we thought

a lot of good memories, it's more than just a business. so it's, it's really hard to see it kind of in the state that it's in utility companies are working to restore power to tens of thousands of people. california's governor declared a state of emergency to help with the clean up. but the damage bill is in the millions, while they're reasonably feeling just traumatized. i mean it's, it's, it's emotional as our community. we know that, that when you look around at the wreckage, there were the rebuilding looks like in an arduous process. the storm was powered by 2 phenomena, a large airborne stream of moisture called an atmospheric river and a hurricane force system known as a bomb cyclone. for 2 days it battered the region with fierce winds and torrential rains. we actually witness the appear go down,

and it was not only your sight to see, but to hear it, to hear the pylons rapping against each other. and the destructive force of the water was just incredible. and now to come the day after and to see it works like a war zone here. it's the 3rd storm like this to hit california in a week. researchers say climate change is making them worse and more frequent. the severe weather has killed several people since new years and as communities try to pick up the pieces, there's no reprieve just yet to back to back storms are barreling in from the pacific, and more than 15000000 californians remain under flood watch. alexander buyers, al jazeera, hundreds of protest as of march through the us border city of el paso in texas. i had a visit on sunday by president joe biden. it comes as days after he announced measures to reduce a surgeon arrivals of the southern border. they include the deportation of up to

$30000.00 migrants and refugees every month from cuba, nicaragua, haiti, and venezuela. gala with any buffalo. again, not all of us are bad people and most of us came here to find a future for our children. now all of us came here to do bad things. i'm a family man and i came here to work and provide a better future for my daughters. aliya and dozens of venezuelan migrants have already been deported to mexico on the bike and administration's new policy. mexican authorities say a 100 people who had crossed the border was sent back to the city of juarez on friday. more than a $150000.00 venezuelans were caught crossing the us mexico border last year. columbia president, gustavo petro, as made a surprise visit to caracas to meet with his venezuelan counterpart. nicholas madura is the latest sign of warming relations between the 2 countries and comes just days off to unimportant border crossing reopened. ties were cut 4 years ago after columbia's previous government refused to acknowledgement euros, disputed 2018 election when it's been a month since peruse,

left. his president was removed from office off the trying to dissolve congress. i dro castillo's arrest spot, a wave of protest that left 22 people dead. and as prosecutors build a case against the former leader, many of his support to say they'd been betrayed by the government. marianna sanchez has more from one of castillo strong holes. oh, from the mountain homes to the streets of the small town of lipa higher began oh, hundreds of farm is doing daily the munch demanding the rights to promises. former president bill castillo made during his campaign, yet little lydia bianca says she will not give up from the expectations she had when she voted for him 18 months ago. 11 the laws are made to favor 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. many protesters here seek a fuse, removal from office and arrest making a political prisoner disorder. cathy, you ordered the dissolution of congress, and the rest of the prosecutor investigating him on corruption allegations. now he faces charges of rebellion and up to 20 years in prison. oh dorothy, a one with more than 80 percent of the votes. although people here say he didn't pull any of the promises he made. the lawmakers was points about because wow, so dusty you, these farmers see their expectations for better living conditions slipping away. they blame the new precedent. deena vulnerability, i have an idea a 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 who has witnessed protests, 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 annoyed the elderly children, yarmouth, but we're not taking part in the fight plan. that's the only way lonely. come, i didn't listen to us. we will continue with our fight. you welcome to what one month on video castillo is a symbol fading away. but the people of woody bessie, his promises are now a force for renewed hope. and the only way for change they say, is to continue fighting mcginnis. and just, i just see that would hipa a booty, mac. to subway trains of collided in mexico city, killing one person, at least 57 others were injured. emergency crews rescued. 4 people trapped in one carriage. mexico capitol has seen several accidents on its metro in recent years.

26 people died in may 2021. when a rail overpass collapse, colombians took to the streets this week to celebrate diversity. it's all part of an annual festival known as the black and white carnival, terribly southwestern city of pascoe and it falls on indigenous spanish and african traditions. the purpose is to promote equality and respect among people from different ethnic backgrounds. and we're here to take part in the carnival. we came with our family to enjoy diversity. it's a way to recognize our culture and our ancestors. we're happy to celebrate this tradition. australia is bracing for an increase in unemployment as economic growth slows and interest rates rise, tourism there was staging a revival and one festival near sidney's drawing crowds and providing much needed boost to the economy when hate levels you've got to follow that dream wherever that dream may lead elvis presley,

once crude for many impersonate is of the king of rock and roll. that dream leads to the small australian town of pox. o for a few days every year. people of all ages from all around the world come here slow for them. the annual parks elvis festival is australia's grace lands. after 2 years of doing nothing and you know, us entertain as being in home. it's great to be back out again in the parks is buzzing. it's great for the economy for parks, and it's just great to see everything back up and running again. this is the 30th edition of the event which is returned after 2 years of pandemic disruptions. $25000.00 visitors are in town, providing the local economy with the boost of around $15000000.00. to haver everything back in full swing after 3 years address 2 years of covered and to have

it back in full swing is so important for the emotional benefits to the community. not only to help it recover from a difficult few years, but also to prepare for what lies ahead. consumer confidence is falling in australia as interest rates rise. so 2023 is expected to be tough. it's quite a challenge for a lot of the small communities and our businesses. i was saying funny businesses closed out and you know, i fall by the way. so i, you know, during those drawing times i for now those worries have been set aside as 1000 channel. the king. it is the atmosphere. the people are e, every pub cobb shop shop. i and i have a dress up, they fame, their stores. everyone gets in the spirit of the festival. elvis presley also sang about satisfying his soul by having a party. and that's exactly what this festival is or.