this is deja vu news live from berlin independence after more than three hundred years ukraine's or to orthodox church formally sever ties with moscow and new to create grant's autonomy to an independent ukrainian church that until now has been overseen by russia will go back to kiev in a moment to talk about the implications. also coming up a fragile truce in yemen hangs in the balance of the u.n. special envoy is a virgin rebel leaders to respect a cease fire war and famine have left millions facing starvation and one of the

world's poorest countries. riot police crackdown on gang violence in brazil the on grass is the first test of new president charcoals an arms hardline law and order policies. i'm soo nice to have you with us the newly founded ukrainian orthodox church is holding its first christmas mass in the capital of the service comes just hours after church leaders formally received a decree of independence at a ceremony in istanbul ending more than three centuries of russian influence and ukraine's president petro poroshenko had campaigned for the split which as a provoked anger in moscow. let's bring in matthew cook for a journalist with the kiev post he joins us from the ukrainian capital for more on the story matthew thank you very much for joining us now this is a pretty significant day of the first mass of an independent ukrainian orthodox

church after more than three centuries of russian control tell us more about the lead up to the split. good evening thank you for having me this is been a very significant event and it happened actually quite quickly when you consider it discussion started around october very quickly it was it became clear that ukrainian orthodox church would receive this decree of independence that would give it independence from moscow then the two unrecognized ukrainian orthodox churches that existed in ukraine they were unrecognized meaning they were seen as schismatic or non-canonical voted to unite their neck to their elected a new leader metropolitan at the funniest and very soon they received almost and the most being the degree the decree of autocephaly that may not mean a lot to the average person but that is essentially the decree of independence for the church and it's extremely significant for believers of the ukrainian orthodox churches that were not subordinate to moscow because until this moment they were

unrecognized there with their church was on recognized by the metropolitan of constantinople but this is also a split orthodox christians in ukraine hasn't tell us more about that. well this is a divisive issue because there are there are for first of all political aspects but there's also a very deep religious aspect a person can be very very big hatred of ukraine while simultaneously being added herit to the ukrainian orthodox church of the moscow patriarchate so this is a this has divided this divides orthodox christians granted who are already in some ways divided but it has received a lot of support both from those ukrainian orthodox christians who are who are not subordinate to moscow whose churches were not support to moscow previously and also from many ukrainians who themselves are not particularly religious but who are patriotic and view this as a step towards greater independence for ukraine from moscow and it should be said also that to some degree the direction in which people move may be affected by the

direction of their priests if the priests are supportive or want you to join this new ukrainian unified church then maybe they will go to but if not they will stay with the. moscow of the mosque warrior church not the only mention that moscow is not very happy about this step tell us more about whether this will further still tensions in the region. well i think this will further stoke tensions that said tensions are already quite high and of course they have been since two thousand and fourteen when russia annexed crimea and supported separatists in the eastern donbass region at the same time tensions have risen most recently at the end of november russia seized three ukrainian boats that were attempting to cross into the sea of us all through the carriage straits and captured twenty four russian say are ukrainian sailors so this is already a highly tense moment and i think ukraine is concerned and is preparing for the possibility of greater tensions the ukraine the orthodox church of ukraine the

newly formed one that just received recognition has warned about the potential for what the it what it called religious provocations in some regions of the country with the idea that these publications would be used to form a media image in the russian media an image a negative image of ukraine in the russian media so far though it's unclear what what russia's response will be it is it is suggested that this that ukraine was that the that the patriarch of constantinople gave ukraine the ukraine orthodox church independence in return for money it was said that's not true there's been accusations this is entirely politicized but so far there these are just accusations all right matthew cooper a journalist with the kiev post making to us from the ukrainian capital thank you so much. thank you. now the u.n. special envoy to yemen has arrived in the country to try to shore up a ceasefire agreed to last month since then there have been reports of repeated violations of the truce which applies to the port city of ho data

a crucial entry point for aid shipments yemen civil war began in twenty fourteen and a saudi led coalition intervene of the conflict a year later it's led to a devastating humanitarian crisis with millions on the brink of famine. and he hopes to save what is a fragile cease fire un special envoy martin griffiths knows that the longer they can keep the gun silent the more precious aid can be delivered to the destitute country. yet both sides of the conflict report that the other has already violated the treaty with gunshots a daily disturbance in a round hole data. and a dispute over the wording of the ceasefire could be its downfall the deal says the port should be turned over to local authorities the yemeni government interprets that to mean their own authorities the rebels however say it means the officials currently running her day to support their allies. at stake are the lives of millions of yemenis who depend on aid to survive like the

young patients at this clinic in her job in the northwest abraham is struggling to survive. my flesh and i am none of the aid gets to us none of the organizations aid or food supplies reach us. i love them even when they stop at the registration we didn't get anything out of the war in yemen has resulted in the world's worst humanitarian crisis a short term ceasefire say aid groups is only the first fragile step in pulling the country back from the brink. since two thousand and fifteen the who three rebels with backing from iran have been fighting against the yemeni government which received support from saudi arabia. the un hopes the kings can be ironed out of the current ceasefire in the next few days but what small progress has been made since december is threatened by the constant sound of gunfire. let's catch up now on some

other stories making news around the world at least thirty people have been killed in an accident at a gold mine in afghanistan were port suggest there was either a flash flood or a tunnel collapse at the facility in the northern province police say several others were injured. royal officials in malaysia say can mohammad the fifth best step down they gave no reason for his resignation which follows a lengthy leave of absence and rumors that he had married a former russian beauty queen it's the first time a malaysian monarch has abdicated before completing their rotating five year rule. authorities in brazil of sent hundreds of military police to end a wave of gang violence in the northern city of four to lace up it's the first test of newly installed president jarboe sonars hardline law and order policies the right wing leader has pledged to make the streets safe again. the off the mark of intense vandalism in northeast brazil. for a week they will file an attacks on shops banks and buses in the city of full to

listen. so in response brazil's central government steps in three hundred troops are being deployed across the region to shore up security. the upsurge in violence came as a new government took over in brazil president. who was inaugurated just a few days ago campaigned for a tough crackdown on criminality that is part of his sweeping reforms justice minister sergio morrow announced tougher measures in brazil's prisons prisons often controlled by gangs. the gangs responded by going on the attack. today i didn't go to work i was scared because i was told that there was no way to guarantee my safety that is what people are living through the president both an hour is popular although often offensive a derogatory is frank language resonates with millions of brazilians brazilians who

hope he can end the years of gang violence. pope francis has waded into the deadlock over migrant stranded in the mediterranean sea calling for them to be given a safe port in which to dock the pontiff spoke out while celebrating mass at. vatican he called on european leaders to show solidarity and stop arguing over the fate of the migrants rescued last month by two humanitarian ships that they are currently set off the coast of multiple e.u. members decide which country should take them. while the plight of migrants at sea continues to make headlines but many also travel by air and land from turkey to reach the e.u. on the mediterranean island of cyprus even that their problems are still far from over it's just a ninety minute flight from istanbul to turkish occupied northern cyprus from there it's a short drive through the buffer zone to southern cyprus and the european union more and more asylum seekers from iraq and syria are making the journey because shelters

are overrun many how to live an overpriced hotels or on the street a family of four receives seven hundred thirty five euros in aid per month. the number of asylum seekers arriving in cyprus has shot up fifty percent since twenty seventeen. authorities are angry with turkey for allowing them to travel freely to the north of the island. some of these nationalities are exploited they're fucked for turkey for certain or agreement with these contras little club or movies or cool clothes the u.n. refugee agency says the three to five year period for processing asylum applications is creating major problems because migrants are forbidden to work during this time it is extremely challenging for them to find employment and self sustainability and that has led to a situation of homelessness and destitution that has

a very alarmingly increased. only five percent of the asylum seekers in southern cyprus are housed in this camp the rest have to find a home for themselves and pressure is growing to find a solution and quickly. the opening game of the asian cup almost provided the first shock of the tournament with hosts the united arab emirates needing a late goal to secure a draw against our range the lower ranked visitors opened the scoring through mohammad to me but was just two minutes remaining auckland calio converted a penalty for the one all final score. today sees syria face off against palestine players from both sides have plenty to deal with off the pitch with turmoil and the palestinian territories and the continuing conflict in syria but they're using those issues as motivation. sometimes football and politics simply cannot be

separated the asian cup match between palestine and syria sees two of the most troubled and controversial teams at the tournament faceoff several of the palestinian players were born outside of the territories they see the asian cup as a chance to show solidarity with people in their ancestors homeland and. it's something very nice to defend the people. to represent these people that are in a constant battle out on the pitch i think it's good that we'll be out there to defend them. likewise the syrian players are focused on bringing a small sense of relief to people in a country ravaged by civil war. we have to keep going with sports in order to put smiles on the faces of the syrians whether in football or any other game sports bring syrians together in spite of their suffering during the crisis. syria's german coach ban shun is avoiding talk of politics he wants his side to

concentrate entirely on the sporting task at hand it's a great challenge for all assume football players and for all our friends for the syrians to play the greatest asian cup ever with twenty four teams and for at least two of those squads they know how much more of these matches mean to the people watching back home. back today is christmas day for orthodox christians around the world in turkey the day is marked by the traditional diving for the cross in the bosphorus dozens of hearty swimmers who braved the cold for the honor of retrieving the sacred prize from the murky waters in istanbul this year a picture of bartholomew did a fake out before flinging it out to his left it cause some brief confusion for the lead swimmers but they found it in the end traditional cross story is also practiced in other countries including greece and cyprus. a minor in our top story here on ukraine's orthodox church has formally severed ties with moscow

a new decree grants autonomy to an independent ukrainian church that i'm told that was been overseen by russia the split has provoked anger in moscow. german state by state. the most colorful. the liveliest. the most traditional. find it all and any time. check you with a web special. take a tour of germany state by state. w. darko.