Transcripts For ALJAZ NEWSHOUR 20171231

And the clock just turned to midnight in a strange year two thousand and eighteen has a arrived in the postie has begun. Other news and with the new year comes a new alliance of rebels in syria saying they will not give up. Iran restricts access to social media after days of bands of government protests plus. A million a fantasy known good elsewhere tons of rubbish mainly from but they are not only causing a direct impact in the system but tensions between both countries. So its. Hoppin you did so all of us down and. Were looking at quite a display live pictures from sydney harbor where some twenty eight thousand fireworks are exploding off the iconic bridge as thought more than a Million People are out there to watch the twelve minute display with a billion people like also watching from around the world display kicked off with a brain drain by well paid which was in celebration of the l. G. P. T. I. Community two thousand and seventeen being the year that a Straight Year legalized same sex marriage theres a great celebration going on. A couple of hours ago i was in the Church Records abunimah you can hear in the Consumer Products explosion is going to have the most recognizable building in the citys skyline new zealand was among the first countries in the world to welcome in two thousand and eighteen. But with the rest of the world preparing to welcome in the new year the u. N. Secretary general antonio good terrace has called for unity saying he truly believes peace can be achieved. National is meant to know for we are on the rise and as we begin to thousand and eighteen i call for unity i throughly believe we can make our old more safe and secure we can settle conflicts overcome etudes and defend shared values but we can only do that together i urge leaders everywhere to make these new years resolution never again bridge the divides rebuild trust by bringing people together around common goals unity is the path. People have begun gathering in istanbul as a memorial for the victims of last years new years eve nightclub attack thirty nine people were killed when a gunman stormed into a party and opened fire this is celebrations have been canceled in some public squares as part of increased security measures because he has more. Than. Most of them thought it was fireworks but it was the sound of bullets fired by a gunmen during the first hours of two thousand and seventeen he killed thirty nine people in a stumbles popular rayno nightclub. It is still unknown how he managed to bypass high security measures with a long range automatic rifle ali you know was the managing partner all that klopp who witnessed the shooting he lost his friends employees and customers he says he still cant sleep. Says can you imagine a bullet passing through your body well your welcome in a new year. It has been one year but there isnt a moment that i forget about this unfortunate attack its very difficult to live with the spike is grief are you wants people to celebrate the new year outside rather than at home turkish authorities here in istanbul say they have taken all secular to precocious one measure was to cancel parties in popular public squares like tax seemed you know i am scared and avoid going to crowded places since then to come out and you know you cant swing public parties is a sign of government impotence people should be free but they throw fear into people with these measures whats going to happen will happen we get nowhere if were scared to show these we will be outside celebrating as always terror threats cant dissuade us from terror threats have become normalized for turks maybe and thats what makes them feel relatively confident despite the highly currys security in wireman and cancel parties in some public squares it seems turks will not give in to fear this new year seen on Kosovo Aljazeera to stumble. On new york as another major city on high alert especially ahead of its annual new years eve celebrations in times square up to two Million People will gather for the famous ball drop at midnight brian reports on whats happening behind the scenes to keep people say. Its cold at the crossroads of the world attracting visitors from near and far to ring in the new year but this year more than ever. Times square is in the crosshairs. The new York Police Department has seen an increase in iceland speired attacks three in the past sixteen months killing eight people most of them tourists i spend i hate was petrified about me coming to times square on new years day because of all the risk you know i see all of the policemen around and cameras missing like they keep for to say but id rather not be around i think were ready john miller the departments Deputy Commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism says arsenal is more focused on attacks in the west as it loses ground in places like iraq and syria the shift has been towards marketing the propaganda to the masses on the idea that some tiny tiny infant asimo percentage of them may act so may go out to millions or hundreds of thousands of people but a five of them do something if three of them succeed or one of them its a great impact what the terrorist groups are focused on is low tech low cost but high impact. N. Y. P. D. Patrol offices and special ops teams are the first line of defense this year more will be stationed on roofs and and tells and nearby parking carriages will be closed police will also be using more dogs trained to sniff out someone carrying explosives in the crowd this is actually where the ball is going to drop behind the scenes at the n. Y. P. D. Joint operation santa will also be watching the crowds for suspicious behavior not just in times square but all around the city and offices have new guidelines on how to handle a would be suicide bomber its a moment of great pride for new york city city officials insist time square will be safe terrorists regard new york as the exact kind of place they want to disrupt and new yorkers respond consistently with strength and resiliency and plenty of tourists are willing to take the risk and i feel like theyre doing everything that they can so i feel like we should have nothing to worry about i try not to think about a last resort with so much security cold weather more people away from this holiday tradition than fear. Aljazeera. The iranian government has warned protesters they will pay a price if days of unrest continue to protest as were killed in antigovernment demonstrations in the city of dorrit on saturday night there is confusion over who is responsible for the deaths irans government is blaming foreign agents saying Security Officials did not fire into the crowd interior minister is pointing to social media for exacerbating the unrest checks on the year. Who abuse the polices selfrestraint opposes shall be responsible to the people for the disruption and disorder nothing will be solved by disruption and lawlessness ferocity as well no one who created the situation provoking turmoil in promoting violence in cyberspace meanwhile the social media apps telegram and instagram have been temporarily blocked in iran the government says its to maintain peace amid the protests pizza shop has more. For the third day in a row theyre out on the streets fighting with police went on into the night antigovernment protesters most of them students facing up to Riot Police Outside tear on university but what began as a protest about rising food prices and welfare benefit cuts turned political on saturday i. Earlier in the day they chanted not gaza not lebanon my life a wrong you. Dont be afraid were staying strong together. An expression of anger about claims the government is focusing more on regional issues than economic problems at home. Iranian t. V. Showed a display of strength by crowds of progovernment supporters in cities nationwide tens of thousands of people on the streets chanting death to america down with israel in support irans Supreme Leader ali khamenei. But people have protested against inflation other problems but that does not show that our people have turned on each other or are against the ruling system and their leadership. The progovernment rallies were preplanned to mark the anniversary of the end of the unrest that shook the country in two thousand and nine for some time the been some disparate groups have been protesting whether it was sabres whove lost their savings through these corrupt Financial Institutions with a pension is no longer going their pensions will have to live on pensions as people are worried about the environment this woman has all these groups and theyve been testing testing and you could see that those slogans are now becoming more radical you could say that the atmosphere is going tense and intense and most of all what you could say is that they no longer seem to have that fear from the Security Forces there in the other. One this was a huge display of support for the iranian leadership the government will be concerned that just how quickly a protest about food prices could become political peter shop al jazeera. America mortazavi is a journalist for Iran International its an independent Online News Service she says the demonstrations have escalated much faster than expected well ive been speaking to some mostly reformists political activists in iran and theres us widespread understanding inside iran that the mobilization Organization First started by antiroll many hardliners in the city of mash which actually happened to be the base for one of his main rivals in the last election and it wasnt expected to be anything beyond just slogans against the administration and the president but it seems like to descend would then the every day iranian in the population is just so much deep heard that is has gone beyond the presidency and it has gone all the way up to the Supreme Leader which is very worrisome for all factions of the of the stablish men. Video has emerged from syria showing children being rescued from rebel held parts of damascus following government as strikes and one thousand people including six children are believed to have been killed in the bombardment and as the fighting continues rebel factions have an ounce again a united front to stop the Assad Government savants. Reports. After almost seven years of war in syria a routine sound in a civil damascus. City for what is strikes have continued in the rebel controlled suburb of ghouta close to four hundred thousand deceit syrians here have been bombed for years. As a dash to search for survivors debris scarcely removed before movement is fluttered under the rubble. Disoriented and scared children stumbled through the mangled metal and wreckage and kids make up the highest number of the dead and injured in syria. Besides the shelling in the air strikes have also continued in the countryside of western syria. These families have been forced to leave their homes because of the ongoing push by Syrian Government forces to regain control of more areas bordering hama and prominences. By god look at the kids when the planes hit near the children my god how they scream the biggest push for us was our kids they dont know anything but the sound of airplanes and shelling a life of exhaustion and terror. That rebels are trying to stop the steadily advancing syrian army and theyre forming a united front called the National Army its made up of thirty seven factions from aleppo there are homs and hama but its not the first time that a Similar Group has been announced and questions remain about how scattered militias will be brought under a united chain of command and how will they be funded. The government and the National Army. Servants and guards for the country and our families on all syrian land we call on you to be united and to agree on the National Project to support your sense here who have announced an open war on the enemies calendars show a new year with a change of dates doesnt mean much for syrians whove lived through almost seven years of suffering some of it jobby the others there. Is director of policy analysis at the Doha Institute he says the opposition is presenting a united front in a bid to influence the outcome of the upcoming talks in russia the opposition feel completely marginalized because the balance of the on the ground has been tilted very much in favor of the regime over the past actually couple of years because of the russian intervention and now the opposition feels that since the russians are pushing them to the south of france next month they wanted to appear very much like united this time and try to influence the sort of political solution the russians might be trying to impose on the Syrian Opposition fighters actually had been fighting for about six seven years and then the political solution now they want to preserve their own Police Actually in the future of syria so now with the russians are actually proposing like an idea to agree to to have them. Of any syrian army in the future and to lead them in fact within the syria army in the future so they wanted very much to be able to be seen as you might in order to be part of that sort of a solution at least seventeen people have been killed in a blast in the afghan city of jalalabad explosives rigged to a motorcycle decimated join the funeral of a former district chief the taliban has denied involvement in the attack. But you will still ahead here on the news hour including the struggle for nomads in the peace deal signed nine years ago hasnt helped them. And ignoring the danger signs in bali villagers risk returning home despite a rumbling volcano. And. A looking to finish. With their premier League Record intact it will have all the latest. Palestine has recalled its ambassador to pakistan after he attended an event with the main suspect behind the two thousand and eight mumbai attacks palestinian envoy. Provoked in india for appearing alongside half a siad he was accused of planning the attacks of two men were condemning the us recognition of jerusalem as israels capital Foreign Ministry says it was an unintended mistake but not justified gunmen have stormed an Army Training camp and into the midst of kashmir killing four soldiers at least two fighters have also been killed police say the attackers threw grenades and automatic rifles in the town of pul valma india accuses pakistan of training and arming fighters in the disputed region although pakistan denies the allegations Security Forces in the democratic republic of congo have shot dead two people during antigovernment demonstrations catholic activists in kinshasa called for protests after sunday mass president Joseph Kabila is accused of seeking to change the constitution to stand for term orders have been given to cut internet and phone messaging links. In kenya a head on crash between a bus and the truck has killed at least thirty people the passengers who were trapped in the wreckage are critically injured in hospital a government spokesman in the rest valley region says the bus was on the wrong side of the roads that sped downhill and then investigators are at the scene of the incident. Life is tough for many living on the edge of the Sahara Desert in asia and its not getting any better despite the signing of a Peace Agreement almost ten years ago. People have suffered and then drought a lack of education is a major obstacle to building a new life reports. Its a harsh winter. And for many twenty here the stink of cold weather is compounded by poverty. After years of drought and war in the region these former masters of the sahara have been reduced to a state of limbo midway between their previous life. And the total distribution many suffer now. Our country has turned into a barren desert our livestock to no longer survive the plants and grounds in addition we cannot live in or work in towns. Abdurrahman used to live as a nomad roaming with his life stalking in search of pasture and water. Now he lives in a makeshift shelter as miserable as the most basic refugee camp there is no Running Water here no Medical Center no schools no study supply of food and other necessities to learn about also i used to own large herds of livestock all my cattle died and i was forced to move to town since i came i do not know what to do i have no profession my children are without work to grow living on donations and aid from agencies to live a little bit like our biggest mistake is that we did not go to school we know found that we cannot work or find a job without education because we are harmed by only to see more than the drought our life is meaningless now. Other twenty who settled here years ago still live in humble mud homes in villages that lack the most basic amenities frustrated with the government and dejected my poverty some half formed associations to mobilize everyone to work. They planted vegetable gardens on three days around the village expecting relief agencies of the government to provide support. But the bottom soil and city a climate then the efforts almost useless but want to go along and the debt rebellion against the Central Government but the peace that ensued hasnt brought them prosperity mohamed fighting a disease. A new phenomenon is apparent throughout honduras eco sides the walls of rubbish that float in the caribbean along the coast from neighboring guatemala ill just say the level of contamination is unprecedented for anna sanchez reports from hunger the a sea of rubbish as far as the eye can see its a wall seven meters deep and several kilometers long when slowly along the caribbean coast of undo this video posted in the internet by a photographer raised the alarm. The rain biologist the stomach of a this is the type of trash is killing nearly everything in its path if. This is an eco side caused by garbage carried by the matal river and water mala. There are ninety six municipalities especially thirteen dont have trashed arms and a tributary river from the capital contributes to all this garbage. Data says the rubbish mountain is blocking sunlight from the sea and affecting fishing grounds coral reefs and mangroves. Much of the garbage ends up here on a more beach hospital and Agro Industrial residues are putting the lives of funded and cindy changer government leaders to blame neighboring what they meant for the disaster that what the government says both countries share the responsibility for cleaning up the mess but the money has promised to send the army to clean up the mess but the rubbish highly on the beaches is already having an impact on communities along the shore i met lou believe it us is fishermen like him are unable to catch clean healthy fish. Look at my little boat i cant go far out in the sea to fish the trash is too close. Well your son does says the Restaurant Hotel humana just has fewer and fewer guests because of the filth. We have less and less because people want to see clean beaches and we are losing money also because were spending a lot to clean up every day. Ball says the shore is a magnet for the trash marine biologist say much of it is plastic which can take more than two hundred years to disintegrate and much of it is liquid and invisible with experts unable to say how much damage is being done. Just to see more. And then to the asian more than seventy thousand people continue to live in evacuation shelters after a volcano began abruptly in early november many are returning to the danger zone every day to tend to their crops and livestock so fast and has more from bali. Well the military on the last day of the year is very somber these peoples lives have been on hold for three months theyre waiting and just watching the full kaino as you can see its mostly elderly and children who are still at the evacuation shelters its very hard and difficult for the government to convince the others the adults to stay here a lot of people of course have business to do they have no income here they have to send their children to school and as you can see all reports a lot of people are taking the risk to go up to the folk a know very near to the crater instead of sitting and waiting down here. You know mom got that kill stein by helping out in an emergency kitchen his family sought refuge in this government shelter after they were forced to leave to fill it three months ago the indonesian government has ordered families not to return as long as the volcano remains at its highest alert level or so not that no one can let up on my future looks pretty bleak if i have to stay here in the shelter how can i pay for my childrens education ive got no work here at least seventy thousand villages in the danger zone have been forced to leave their homes the three months have passed and boredom has kicked in the local authorities are struggling to keep them away from danger. Every morning like many others goes up the mountain back to his village a thirty kilometer journey by motorbike so bloody village lies nearest to the crater and no man knows exactly how dangerous to feel kaino can be just five kilometers away. With mount auburn looming dangerously near the old man and his neighbors are mining stones and sand spewed from the eruption fifty four years ago the villages are getting some benefit from the Natural Disaster then. I forced myself to be brave enough although the government doesnt allow it im fed up in the shelter how long do i have to stay there so while only a little smoke comes out of the volcano i take my chance to earn some money in case theres a major eruption hopes he will have enough time to run while the government continues to urge people to stay out of the danger zone its policy has recently become more lenient to cross the line for law than camille if it does because the situation is taking so long and because it will cain is activity is not always high people to get back to are going to use during the day time to work and come back to the shelter at night. But newman decides not to return to the shelter and spend the night at his house trying desperately to get his old life back and bring. Go back to sleep. Stuff aljazeera village. Time for all the weather now with stephan says something of an odd phenomenon seen in south africa thats right getting a tornado on camera its great getting an orange one. Lets take a look at what weve got then this video taken from near johannesburg you can see this is like an orange b. It really is theyre hanging down from the clouds whats happening there is the cloud the funnel of the cloud is funneling down to make a tornado but its already affecting all the dust on the ground and all the dirt in this part of the world is a kind of orangey color so thats why weve ended up with a sort of tornado thats an orange color so thats thanks to this weather system here thats what brought us that a bit of weather some heavy rain as well as the or tornado but thats now clearing away towards the east and behind it it should be a lot drier as we head through the next few days a couple of residual showers perhaps on monday the first day of the new year and twenty nine degrees will beat them up from there in durban now as were in this part of the world lets have a little more going on to the other side of madagascar because weve also got this blob of cloud here now its not very organized at the moment but it does look like its beginning to pull itself together and form into something slightly more sinister so it looks like its developing into a tropical feature probably a Tropical Storm and its working its way towards the northeastern parts of madagascar now its moving pretty slowly and i dont think its going to reach the coast for another three days or say but between now and then theres a lot of heavy rain to come for the eastern parts of madagascar lots of wet weather and then as we head through wednesday and thursday well see that storm hit and even more flooding will occur. Thanks seth so has hair on aljazeera everybody wants or. Building trust to reduce crime in American City where Police Officers live in the middle of the neighborhood they patrol plus im to see a new man on the northern coast of cuba and coming up ill tell you why the largest island of the caribbean is actually shrinking. And in sports and encouraging return to the tennis court for a new mother Serina Williams jol be here with that later on. In a country where parents often pick who you will marry your love can have serious consequences one on one east meets the men risking their lives to protect indias young love for one east at this time on aljazeera. News is happening faster than ever before from different places from different people and you need to be part of back you need to be able to reach people wherever they are and that means being of course all social media platforms this is where our audience lives as well as in front of a t. V. Theyre on their smartphone theyre on the tablet theyre on the computer. And thats the way of all to the true media network. Twenty seventeen has been full of stories that have changed the Global Political landscape and aljazeera has been there to cover them or. Join us as we look back at some of our most memorable interviews of the year the special edition of talk to aljazeera at this time. And again youre watching aljazeera as reminder of our top stories this hour. Lets turn to is one of the first country in the world celebrating the end of two thousand and seventeen well coming in two thousand and eighteen with. Up to one point six Million People are crowding around sydneys iconic harbor for the annual new years eve fireworks display. Irans interior minister has warned antigovernment protesters they will pay a price of days of unrest continue the government is now blocks access to social media and instagram it follows the deaths of two protesters in the city of dora and on saturday night. More than thirty rebel groups based in Northern Syria joining forces under the single banner of the syrian National Army a new unified opposition includes all factions of the Rebel Free Syrian Army which is supported by. The greek government is trying to overturn a Court Decision to grant asylum to a turkish soldier who fled during last years failed coup in turkey is one of eight soldiers who flew to greece in a military helicopter the others had their applications for asylum rejected but have lodged appeals to he has repeatedly called for the soldiers extradition. Spoke to met him whos a security analyst and columnist for al monitor he says if the soldiers get extradited they will get a fair trial. This issue has become has turned into a sort of big deep crisis between turkey and greece at the moment we are talking about experience you know. And they are claiming that in their. Request they are claiming that they did not take part in our q party in july fifteenth military uprising. But the if you read the. Month to the prosecutors indignant you will see that there are some serious grim claims about doors officers you know as you may remember there are around one hundred civilians lost their lives turned around four hundred civilians injured in on and do you see a grim night of july fifteenth two thousand and sixteen and i would suggest that consider it is currently a legal landscape in turkey and pol tical landscape in turkey after director addition they will be faced with a. Transparent two legged processors at the moment. Federation of journalists says more journalists are in jail than is any other time and recently is two hundred fifty journalists bloggers and cameramen are imprisoned worldwide one hundred sixty of them in turkey eighty one journalists were killed this year compared to ninety three last year the i. F. J. Says this number is still unacceptably high mexico afghanistan iraq and syria tops the danger list and the i have to point to an alarming increase in the number of media workers killed in india. Dramatists thats right but we are middle eastern joe. Morals are. Two two hundred fifty usually used. To store doors that was destroyed at least our intuition and its for this reason its very important to recall to your. Daughter to to because mostly bottled mostly but on preserving the world for the least we want to do it sixty four but east orange or. Out of there at the modern middle east of its journalist Mahmoud Hussein its now been more than a year since he was arrested and jailed in egypt its attention has been renewed ten times since then the same is accuse of broadcasting false sneers as spread chaos which he and aljazeera strongly deny he has repeatedly complained of mistreatment in jail. Now is a small city in the United States which for its size has the an enviable reputation as having more violent criminals than anywhere in america but police in Rockford Illinois are responding with a unique approach to Crime Fighting two hundred explains. This is probably the most dangerous city youve never heard of according to the f. B. I. s uniform crime report last year Rockford Illinois is the most violent u. S. City with a population under two hundred thousand block for block more perilous than los angeles or chicago so this midwestern town has launched the most extreme form of Community Policing in america everybody grab one. Rockford has officers like eric thurman moving into high crime neighborhoods. To. Dance forging ties with a community that is often viewed with suspicion. That theres a shooting in the neighborhood everyone. But we go talk to people. And what happened no one saw anything or no one heard nothing but you know rather me being here they know theyre comfortable talking with me. Or they would come talk to me and they would tell me exactly what they saw thurmond and Patrice Turner or rockford first to resident officers. Is more about building relationships with the people that you police about building bridges instead of busting heads the citys police chief expects to add more resident officers in the next year with standard policing an officer gets the call gets in his car and drives through the scene but a resident officer like officer thurman really crosses the street and knocks on the door of a neighbor who probably already know. The program is less than a year old but is part of a broader strategy it appears to be working in two thousand and fifteen Rockford Police solve two of nineteen murders in two thousand and seventeen so far theyve solved nine of eighteen and could soon be charges in three more cases we need to. Nationwide. Critics say a troubled history between police and africanamericans will make that difficult i think that. Its basically going to end up with a Police Presence in communities that i dont think are ready to accept the police as positive forces but in a turbulent city with a long history toward police. Says its a beginning john hendren zero Rockford Illinois. The fourth pot of all series looking ahead to two thousand and eighteen we examine the future of syria two thousand and seventeen was a good year for president assad with his forces recapturing large swathes of territory from the opposition but while the conflict appears to be winding down in some areas the prospects of genuine peace still seems far away reports from beirut. Syrians in search of safety there may be less violence because of russian brokered local cease fires but there are still active frontlines in some areas of the country over the past year the opposition lost sizable territory and the Syrian Government with the backing of russia and iran have also recaptured areas from. The government is stronger than it has been since