hello i'm adrian finnegan and this is that he's out live from doha coming up in the next sixty minutes the investigation into donald trump and his ties to russia moves closer to the oval office. the observation sounds of s.o.'s to the world asking for billions of dollars to help communities destroyed by conflict. pope francis asks the hinge of people for forgiveness for what they've gone through and for the world's indifference. or the results are in everything you need to know about friday's draw for russia twenty eight. u.s. president donald trump's former national security adviser has pleaded guilty to lying to the f.b.i. about his contacts with russia michael flynn admitted that his actions were wrong but said that a senior. a member of trump's transition team had asked him to reach out to russia's ambassador to the united states he's now cooperating with the f.b.i. investigation into alleged russian meddling in last year's election our white house correspondent kimberly helka reports arriving at federal court in washington michael flynn ignored shouted questions by reporters. inside moments later the former national security adviser to president donald trump pled guilty to lying to the f.b.i. court documents show the charges against flynn stem from his lying about efforts to obtain advance knowledge of how foreign governments might vote on a u.n. security council resolution about israel as well as phone conversations flynn had before tribe was even sworn in as president with the former russian ambassador to the united states sergei kislyak. flynn is said to have suggested to kiss leon sanctions put in place against russia by the obama white house maybe dropped once trump was sworn in and they did not discuss anything having to do with the united states decision to expel diplomats or or impose a censure against russia flints lies to the vice president about that phone call led to his dismissal after just three weeks in office in a statement trumps lawyer said flynt false claims mirror the false statements to white house officials which resulted in his resignation in february of this year nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicates anyone other than mr flynt by his plea in fact may directly tie the oval office to the investigation by special counsel robert muller and whether or not the trump campaign worked with russia this suggests that mr flynt has more information to provide about other things the white house has lied about other things the president himself may have lied about and whether or not the white house including the president himself colluded with russia according to the former f.b.i. director james comey trump once asked him to drop the case against flynn and despite claims by the president's lawyer flynn's cooperation with the f.b.i. probe shows that most investigation is ask. could lead to charges against an even bigger target including the president of the united states kimberly helped get al-jazeera washington lived out of washington without serious ruslan jordan so rose what exactly has flynn pleaded guilty to. he's basically pleaded guilty adrian to lying to the f.b.i. about his contacts with the russian ambassador to the united states he basically told them that he didn't have any conversations but they essentially caught him in his law and under the rubric many assume of getting more information out of him they basically cut a deal with michael flynn where he then walked into court on friday as we just heard from camberley how that played guilty to that one charge but in a statement that he released to the press after he entered his guilty plea he did indicate that he would be cooperating fully with robert muller's investigation as sensibly so that his own punishment will the will be lessened by the amount of cooperation he gives in exchange for it so where does this leave the wider investigation. well there are a number of reports from many media outlets here in the united states on friday evening suggesting that he was engaging with various russian officials during the presidential campaign in two thousand and sixteen as well as during the transition between the obama and trumpet ministrations at the behest of senior campaign and then transition officials those reports are suggesting that among the people instructing him to talk with the russians as well as basically giving him talking points include the president's son in law garrett cushion or who is also a senior advisor in the administration as well as with k.t. mcfarland she was for a very short time the deputy national security adviser while michael flynn was the national security advisor she has sent been removed from that post and she's awaiting confirmation to see if she will be the new u.s. ambassador to singapore it's not where clear excuse me whether her nomination is now going to be in jeopardy but there are numerous reports suggesting that these two people who were working very closely with now president donald trump were giving like will fly an instruction on how to do what he was doing if that is indeed the case adrian then certainly robert mueller and his vest to gators are going to want to know much more about those interactions and those instructions we'll have more on the investigation into donald trump and his ties to russia later in the news for the moment rosalind jordan in washington many thanks. the united nations has launched a record appeal for more than twenty two billion dollars to help victims of conflict and humanitarian crises it says that more than one hundred thirty five million people across the world are in need of aid in nigeria fourteen and a half million people particularly women need protection and support that's because of fighting between the military and armed groups there more than thirteen million people in the democratic republic of congo need humanitarian assistance many were displaced by fighting between rebel groups and government forces a similar number of syrians are still caught up in the civil war that's now in its seventh year a third of the money requested by the u.n. is for them but by far the largest crisis in the world right now is yemen war has left more than twenty two million people in need with a severe food shortage of the world's worst outbreak of cholera our diplomatic editor james bays reports now from geneva. the u.n. says it's the worst humanitarian disaster on earth in yemen the people are suffering from conflict and a continuing cholera epidemic the situation only made worse by a saudi blockade stopping much of the food and medicine from getting to those who so desperately need it the u.n. appeal for twenty eighteen estimates there are in the country twenty two million people in need the situation in yemen is atrocious the number of people in need of population in twenty of twenty million is approaching twenty million seven or eight million of those people are right on the verge of famine and starvation we need to get the whole fully opened the fuel to run the water systems can get in the fuel to get the food around the country can get in more commercial food as well as the aid can get in until those things happen the situation will continue to deteriorate and the risk of millions of lives being lost will grow yemen is just one of many civil taney assume urgence is making this a time of unprecedented need in its appeal for twenty eighteen the u.n. says it believes there are almost one hundred thirty six million people in need they come up with a plan to help almost ninety one million people that will cost twenty two point five billion dollars but i have to say i don't think we're going to get all that money you just have to look at this year twenty seventeen their appeal was fifty two point five percent funded from south sudan to syria from afghanistan to the refugees from myanmar conflict is the main cause of the human suffering and in most cases these are conflicts with no end in sight james pais al-jazeera at the united nations in geneva. saudi arabia's foreign minister says that the military coalition in yemen is looking at ways to step up the flow of humanitarian assistance it blocked aid earlier this month after a missile was fired from hooted territory in yemen towards saudi arabia says the who these should stop fighting and join the political process we hope that eventually the who things would realize that this is not in it and that they will make peace there are many citizens they have every right to participate in the political process but they can't control the country not if you're fifty thousand and the country is twenty eight. that's ridiculous and so this is where we are we are very concerned about the humanitarian situation in yemen we are looking at ways of intense in the flow humanitarian assistance into yemeni ports and airports in the coming days and few weeks we will make more announcements in this area actually is the deputy united nations director of human rights watch she says the u.n. needs to address the causes of conflict instead of just asking for more aid. it's a really high number in such a political climate where we see people increasingly looking inward in big donor countries like the u.s. and the u.k. people aren't willing to pay they are interested in focusing on things close to home instead of crises and conflict and suffering far away aid is absolutely essential but it's not enough and it's just treating the symptoms rather than the disease itself which are these manmade problems in yemen you have a blockade in south sudan you have a grinding conflict that is included war crimes and those are the issues that need to be solved by world leaders including those here in new york at the security council they need to take decisive action on a crisis like myanmar we're still waiting for the un to even pass a single security council resolution on the crisis that's atrocious pope francis has used the word or hinge after the first time on his trip to asia while meeting refugees from the community in bangladesh more than six hundred twenty thousand of them have fled me and since august the pope was advised against saying the word ranger on his visit to myanmar earlier in the week for fear of backlash by hardline buddhist groups strafford reports. and i stated hundred thousand bangladeshis crowded into the so ready park in dhaka as pope francis mass but it was later in the day after the pontiff met reinjure refugees that he finally publicly mentioned the ethnic group. will continue to recognize their rights we want close our hearts to them we won't look in another direction the presence of god today is also called every one of us needs to respond in the right way. muhammad idris was among the small group who spoke with the pope along with his ten brothers and eight sisters he fled the military crackdown on the region just three months ago he says soldiers burnt their family home in rakhine state and shot his cousin that. i don't know we have very happy to be in bangladesh but we suffered so much pain and agony and that's what we want to tell the pope. this is only the second time the head of the catholic churches visited bangladesh the last was pope john paul the second in one thousand nine hundred six and this time it hasn't been easy the pope's visit to bangladesh comes as this country the united nations and international aid organizations struggle to cope with more than six hundred twenty five thousand range of refugees that have arrived here since the twenty fifth it's a visit that is proving a huge diplomatic challenge to the head of the catholic church. rights groups criticized the roman catholic leader for failing to say the name of angel during his three day visit to myanmar in the world since arriving in bangladesh on thursday it's believed he refrained in myanmar to prevent that the tension or backlash against christians there the reinjure have been persecuted for decades by the myanmar government which doesn't recognize the ethnic group just citizenship in what was then burma was drawn in one thousand nine hundred eighty two it's hope the pope's blessings of just a few of the hundreds of thousands of refugees here in bangladesh will draw greater international attention to their plight they are often described as the world's largest group of stateless people. strafford al jazeera cox's bizarre bangladesh people in a rebel held on klav in syria's eastern ghouta have made a desperate plea for more medical and food aid the un has called for immediate evacuation of five hundred people including one hundred sixty seven children from the area which is near the capital damascus many of those waiting to be moved to leave injured or sick nine people have died in recent weeks while waiting for permission from the government to be allowed to leave. because of the rockets all the houses we live in have holes in the ceilings there is nothing else to say it is not enough that we are hungry and cold we are covering ourselves with nylon sheets to keep us warm and lighting fires to cook we are like a barn animals now we eat what can i say god help us we don't know what will happen to us what is going to be the end of us what now what are we to do our children are gone dead from the shelling and the others have fled the head of the syrian government delegation has criticised the opposition for statements made ahead of the current round of talks in geneva. says there can be no progress as long as the opposition keeps demanding that president bashar al assad step down the government delegation has now returned to damascus and says it will decide whether to return to geneva when they go ca sions resume on tuesday the current round of talks to find a solution to the conflict is to run until december fifteenth. you know with the news hour on al-jazeera still to come on the program. this is a more p three three times more powerful than any system in the on earth could be the beginning of a new era in renewable energy the world's largest lithium ion battery is put online plus. disappointed. expectation of the people of zimbabwe zimbabwe's new president fills his first cabinet with plenty of old faces. and in sport england and australia prepared to butt heads in the second test of the ashes series. u.s. senate republicans say that they have enough support to pass a controversial tax bill later on friday party leaders sounded confident after securing the backing of three republicans who've been holding out and these are live pictures from the senate floor in washington where we're expecting that vote to take place shortly critics say the bill will add one trillion dollars to the u.s. budget deficit over the next decade president donald trump says the bill which includes a big cut in corporate tax will boost economic growth but the democrats who oppose the bill say will have a damaging impact on working families let's bring in william black who's a professor of economics and law with the university of missouri in kansas city joins us now live from there good to have you with us as you saw that vote that looks as though it's going to take place any time soon it's hugely unpopular among the american public and with the with democrats and yet the republicans determined to press ahead with it what's going on here. it's also usually unpopular with economists what's going on is the great paradox and that is the weaker that president trump gets more generally with the failure of the legislative agenda until this point with the special counsel investigation that of course the progress was just illustrated with the guilty plea of the president's former national security adviser in circumstances where he seems clearly to be testifying against the president's son in law. and the whole host of republicans saying behind the scenes how much they hate and think even that the president is a moron to quote the secretary of the treasury and to trump's own treasury secretary the paradox is that the republicans have actually gotten weaker in congress and that now has more power over them than he has had it any point in the presidency and that to his strength comes in part from the very weaknesses we've talked about so that they congressional republicans are now desperate to have something pass anything. that's what i was going to say this this all comes down the fact that that ought to so long that that desperate to get it get a bill through. that's the first part the second part is they are particularly desperate to get the key provisions of this bill through for their donor base and the donor base of course these are the wealthier people and this tax is cut is overwhelmingly going to go for the wealthiest americans and the donors are saying pass this bill or don't come back to us for more contributions and then basically the key political fact is that trump's base is still with trump and that trump's base is what turns out in primary elections so congressional republicans don't fear democrats anywhere near as much as they fear trump's base in the prime republican primary and kompas played on these theories quite well the president says that that this bill is going to boost economic growth the democrats though say that it's going to damage working families whose right well economists say that this is going to add only they're a tiny amounts in terms of growth there's a clear consensus among economists so overwhelmingly this has nothing to do with growth and everything to do with redistributing income again towards the wealthiest americans professor really good still too many thanks indeed william black that in kansas city thank you the president of the european council says the e.u. will refuse to move to the next stage of breaks it talks unless a board a plan is agreed with ireland speaking after a meeting with the irish prime minister in dublin donald tusk said the island will have the final say on what will be the only land border between the u.k. and the e.u. . it was the u.k. that started breaking. davis both ability to put those credit commitment to do this necessary to avoid a hardboard let me show you very clearly. if the u.k. . i don't it will also be unacceptable for the. prosecutors in the netherlands say that bosnian croat war criminal slobodan probably died after taking potassium cyanide inside a courtroom in the hague that's the conclusion of a preliminary post-mortem examination probably a drank the poison in front of u.n. judges on wednesday prosecutors say the liquid caused his heart to fail the seventy two year old just lost an appeal against a twenty year sentence for war crimes during the one nine hundred ninety s. yugoslav wars investigators are trying to find out how he managed to get the bottle past security zimbabwe's new president has disappointed many by filling his first cabinet with senior military figures and ruling party loyalists but no opposition politicians a number of ministers and military leaders who served under former president robert mugabe back in power. has been gauging reaction in the town of chinoy. the announcement by president of who is in the new government is dividing opinion zimbabweans who know the new leader is a businessman a cautiously optimistic he's picked the right team others say they are disappointed at how many military commanders and politicians in the new cabinet have strong links to robert mugabe and the former government. disappointed. to the expectation of the people of zimbabwe we were hoping. would have a new beginning would have also a. concept of what the expectations of the. people expect and. expected. these university graduates hope the new cabinet will deliver on the president's promise to create jobs many graduates confines a job. twenty three year old innocent has a bachelor's degree and is known as a graduate on a good day he makes about ten dollars selling secondhand mobile phones on the streets for me is a disappointment is it. raises misplaced pride because this is what is the current situation i've just been forced to draw was a bit of surprise frightened with his this. was a this is what. economists say the new cabinet has to rework or scrap some of robert mugabe's policies such as indigenization a controversial policy of black empowerment is the term take away indigenization and he buried. it because there's. just. one percent. and they. didn't. when i got recently made british and chinese envoys the european union and the united states say they are keen to re-engage with zimbabwe again after you. as of isolation the government statistics agency it's all now said i didn't even want to thank you van if you can get jobs the mob is unemployment rate is small and while you seem to be struggling zimbabweans hope president but i've got one knows what he's doing and that his policies don't scare away invest as i the c.e.o. nothing will change the reality for now is that thousands of these graduates were lucky join the degree holders on the street if economy doesn't drastically improve her. chinoy zimbabwe. in the wake of north korea's latest missile test hawaii has tested its nuclear warning sirens the u.s. is updating old civil defense plans and systems that date back to the cold war reynolds reports from los angeles. erie wail of air raid sirens sounded across hawaii on friday the first test of its civil defense warning system since the one nine hundred eighty s. officials say they would give hawaii's one and a half million residents just thirteen minutes to take shelter the basic guidance again if you hear this is get inside stay inside and stay tuned it's a direct response to the growing threat of war with north korea pyongyang's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program is developing rapidly undeterred by months of threats bluster and personal insults from u.s. president donald trump they will be met with fire fury and frankly power the likes of which this world has never seen before earlier this week north korea tested an intercontinental missile experts say could strike old the u.s. including east coast cities like new york and washington. air raid sirens like this one in downtown los angeles were a feature of american life during the cold war most of them were disconnected decades ago and technology has moved on a text message and email a phone call on your device on your smartphone whatever it is you have and for a scenario like we're talking about the nuclear detonation that would be a presidential notification that would hit every single phone in this country they have that capability there's no way to override that alert and that alert will give you specific information about what the threat is and whatever the actions of the public can take in the past government funded full out shelters were stocked with supplies that's no longer an option if we did have a detonation we don't have those fallout shelters anymore people call us all the time on our public lines where the shelters so now we're looking at sheltering in place so you may have to stay inside your home for about fourteen days do you have enough supplies do you have enough you know first aid those kinds of things within your own home so we're encouraging residents to do that no matter how well prepared the general population might be a nuclear strike would be horrific it's an armageddon scenario it's going to be a lot of fatalities a lot of areas that will not be livable habitable for a very long time as a wise governor said this week a revived nuclear threat has become the new normal robert oulds al jazeera los angeles. will get a weather update next to on the news out then. it's any good us to use a new gallup and the just to show that you have been and if he's a psychology guru it's a matter of national pride why there's little appetite in fronts to give up nuclear weapons plus lebanon's mountain of waste beirut struggle with rubbish becomes a human rights issue. and it's sport a straight aiming for an eleven. rugby league world title and he's here with all the rest of the sports on the road system. from the clear blue sky. to the fresh breeze in the city. hello again the weather across much of southern china is looking quite good at the moment really all the way from shanghai then to on kong and it's looking pretty good with sunshine now for vietnam we still find conditions for high noise but you see more central areas there's a lot of share activity there so flooding remains a risk the moving on through into sunday that flow is still quite strong so the showers continue annoyed out in the sunshine across the rest of indochina for life for me amar looking fine plenty of sunshine young gone look at my some of the two degrees i said down into southeastern parts of asia we still got fairly heavy showers affecting much of the philippines or in the eastern side we've got heavy showers across northern parts of borneo southern areas germany knocking to powder we've lost the heavy rain which has been affecting java that's cleared away southwards so up through the mill a place where it's been very wet in recent days there's still some rain affecting northern parts of the peninsula and into southern thailand how do you into sunday weather conditions here still looking quite unsettled low pressure system out in the andaman sea that's going to draw in more shower activity across the region generally and then as we move across the south asia very wet in far southern areas further north and generally dry and sunny. the weather sponsored by qatar and always. when the power goes out. there's only one humanity trying to. local heroes to many he steals to leftist. but keeping the lights on is dangerous work. out your forces cracked arm spock speaking to flight. powerless a witness documentary at this time on al-jazeera. al-jazeera is award winning programs to take you on a journey around the globe and. expose analyses. it's all about who's in charge who controls the resources and documentaries that will in your eyes it's a technology story it's a business story it's a social story and it's a political story all wrapped into one it's unpredictable television that truly inspired us only on al-jazeera. good to have you with us adrian sitting in here in doha with the news from al-jazeera our top stories this hour u.s. president donald trump's former national security adviser has pleaded guilty to lying to the f.b.i. about his contacts with russia michael flynn admitted that his actions were wrong but said he was asked to do so by a senior member of trump's transition team. the u.s. has launched a record appeal for more than twenty two billion dollars to help victims of conflict and natural disaster yemen is the world's worst humanitarian crisis right now with more than twenty two million people in need. and pope francis has asked a group of ranger refugees in bangladesh for forgiveness for the world's indifference to their plight it was the first time the pontiff accused the hinge on his trip to asia he'd been advised not to use the word wanted me and earlier in the week to avoid inflaming tensions. one on our top story donald trump's former national security advisor michael flynn and his guilty plea to charges of lying to the f.b.i. the u.s. president has so far been quiet on the latest developments and talk is turning now to who next might be implicated in the investigation into russian meddling patty culhane has been gauging reaction on capitol hill. general michael flynn was a very visible part of trump's campaign for president one of his earliest and closest advisers his job often go after hillary clinton. by her that's right. that chance came back to haunt him friday was. his guilty plea will make it that much harder for the white house to downplay the investigation that the f.b.i. now admits is looking into potential collusion between russia and the trump campaign which the president has. a witch hunt well i think most of us believe it's not a witch hunt or a hoax and the f.b.i. director and all others believe this is a legitimate concern for their part democrats dismissed the white house assertion that flynn was a minor figure in the administration hard to distance yourself from one of the most visible of your campaign surrogates and your national security adviser we want to wish everybody a merry christmas on thursday night trump seemed to bask in the spotlight lighting the national christmas tree it was a much different scene after the news broke friday reporters kept out of a planned photo shoot in the oval office the president who seems to love to talk. and tweet stayed silent general flynn is the fourth person close to president that's been caught up in this investigation now that we know he's cooperating it's pretty much guaranteed he won't be the last to call him al-jazeera washington bruce fein is a former u.s. justice department official and constitutional lawyer he joins us now live from washington d.c. good to have you with us again as well get your thoughts on thank you and something patty was saying there about the president who loves to talk and tweet what do we make of his relative silence on this sofa. well i think he senses danger there we know that mr flynn got a relatively minor charge that carries maybe a prison term of less than six months in a fine that's clearly lenient in you'd expect that mr moeller would have done that only if he expected something in return namely cooperation which would lead to other dominoes to fall moreover mr flynn had indicated later that someone high up in the white house directed him to speak to miss the ambassador of russia and though only persons who would have authority in my judgment at that level would be those who are acting at the direction of the president himself the speculation is that gerrard questioner was the intermediary between the president mr flynn but the idea that jared questioner on his own initiative a junior official who's got no experience at all in government seems utterly ludicrous and that all means that the finger is pointing more and more towards mr trump so how does his team get from this this guilty plea. to proving that there was collusion. well suppose that mr flynn now testifies under oath that he acted in speaking to mr kosilek at the direction of gerrard questioner and now that brings then question or into the play and commissioner then is going to be asked will who spoke to you because we know somebody of that youth and inexperience is not acting on his own cushion or at that point could plead the fifth amendment or he could implicate the president one of the hazards that i think mr trump confronts is that he's so narcissistic he doesn't really have friends who are inclined to go the extra step to try to save him from peril he almost alienates everybody because he throws them under the bus and tease them as disposable furniture if he doesn't need them anymore so that's going to be a real problem for him because in many of these cases it's interpretating intent it's interpretive motivation and what people say and in read from body language can be critical here and i don't think mr trump really has a whole lot of allies on that score so where does this go that i don't want to lay out you know. well i think that one of the things that's lurking in the background is the testimony of mr komi was that mr trump had asked him to refrain from further investigating flynn flynn was a good guy can you stop your investigation it's highly unlikely that that president made that overture without having spoken to mr flynt in advance so he knew of what the state of the investigation was and mr flynt obviously have an interest in having it stopped and if you could identify a corrupt motive for mr trump in asking mr called me to lay back from mr flynn in his investigation that would be obstruction of justice that really reads you into the domain of impeachable offenses and crime and that something else that could come from mr flynn's testimony as to what he had told the president with regard to the ongoing investigation and perhaps was consulted before mr komi was in fact fired let's find goods to you as always buddy thanks for being with us thank you. but overall peace prize is due to be awarded on december tenth picking up the award this year is the international campaign to abolish nuclear weapons or i can the group is dedicated to creating a world without nuclear weapons we're looking at the nuclear status of countries worldwide into the run up to that award ceremony in oslo as heroes tony berkeley continues our series in france the world's third largest nuclear weapons state. when france carried out its first nuclear test in algeria thirty seven years ago it joined an elite club before nations until one thousand nine hundred six france carried out more than two hundred nuclear tests most of them in the south pacific that elite club is now stretched to nine countries france is third in the list with three hundred nuclear warheads fewer than the u.s. and russia but more than china and the united kingdom while the french tend to think that as long as russia is a potential military threat to europe and as long as there are a number of threatening nuclear powers in the world is safer to keep nuclear weapons than to get rid of them especially since we already have a well functioning arsenal its nuclear deterrent known as force to flap all strike force consists mainly of its triumphant submarines for carry nuclear warheads one is it see all the time at a cost of more than eight billion dollars they are the most expensive submarines ever built since one thousand nine hundred one france is almost hard it's nuclear stockpile but unlike many other countries there is little nuclear debate here all political parties except for the greens and most of the general public seem to be in agreement that nuclear weapons are a necessity france's nuclear weapons stockpile pales into insignificance. compared to that of the united states and russia and it cost the french taxpayer four to five billion dollars a year. but this is not just a case of money for the french it's also about prestige many feel a collective pride that nuclear weapons ensure france does not have to rely on the u.s. or nato for its defense to be. with big muscles you have big. i am the dominant. country but not for you is it's ridiculous to use a nuclear weapon but just to show that you have them and this is a psychology. but pride costs france will soon need to modernize its nuclear arsenal and that will push annual cost up to between nine and ten billion dollars a year within the next decade and that is beginning to spark a debate it may be the cost that will prove the ultimate deterrent to france's deep and abiding relationship with nuclear weapons tony berkeley al-jazeera paris well the next part of our series takes us to russia which is armed with the most nuclear weapons in the world we look at moscow's arsenal and the friction that is causing with the u.s. you can see that story later here on al-jazeera the electoral court in honduras says that ninety five percent of ballots been counted but there's still no result five days after the presidential election the army is calling for calm as uncertainty leads to growing frustration and unrest irregularities were found in more than one thousand ballot boxes their contents will now be recounted by hand at the moment incumbent president one of london's one unders has a narrow lead over the opposition's salvador. lebanon is struggling with another rubbish problem two years after it brought the last one under control but this time it's the way the waste is being disposed that has public health activists worried they know how to reports from beirut. lebanon's rubbish is being collected but it's what happens next which is causing concern activists are warning of a new garbage crisis in the making and serious health risks. two years ago the streets of the capital beirut and surrounding areas were clogged with un collected trash and the stench filled the air the main landfill was full and there was nowhere else to go it took months before government leaders found a temporary solution since then the mountain of voice produced every day in the lebanese capital is taken to two new coastal landfills but they are quickly becoming close to overflowing. leaders are considering enlarging landfills and importing incinerators but environmentalists accuse them of not wanting to solve the problem. propose all souls' the problem in six months and the e.u. is ready to offer the twenty five million dollars needed the problem is environmentalist's looking for sustainable solutions for the politicians with landfills so they can reclaim land for development purposes. the situation is worse outside the capital where there are no waste management facilities this is one of hundreds of open waste dumps and they are being burnt environmentalist say lebannon has never had a comprehensive waste management strategy. human rights watch is sounding the alarm with a report called as if you are inhaling your death the open burning of waste is dangerous say activists lebanese who live near the dumps complained about health problems. when they burned the trash i lose my breath and i can't breathe i use this inhaler because i can't take a breath. i mean my kids are growing up here and you know there is no way of protecting them what will happen to them ten to twenty years from now they will get diseases. activists are blaming the government for failing in its obligations staff at the environment ministry weren't available for comment there's actually very simple solutions to this problem and we're fortunate that the vast majority of solid waste could actually be either recycled or composted but at the moment around eighty percent of it is either being landfilled or dumped and some of that is being burned. the garbage crisis did spark several weeks of protests demonstrators accusing politicians of corruption not much has changed since then except that mornings about a public health emergency are growing louder than. germany's chancellor angela merkel and opposition leader martin schultz say that they're ready for more talks to try to end the political deadlock there it comes after the leaders spoke at a meeting organized by president frank. in berlin germany has been without a government for more than two months now since both major parties lost ground to the far right in september's election local c.d.u. party wants to renew its alliance with schultz's social democrats spot schultz's angrily denying reports that a coalition deal has already been reached. the news there's the green light for another coalition is simply false seems to come out of the party circles i've just spoken about it with angela merkel on the phone and told her it's only acceptable i don't want to speculate about who's trying to harm me one thing is clear you have a party to use destroys trust. more now from al-jazeera as a locale and in berlin. well it appears that angle of michael doesn't seem to be much closer to being able to form a coalition government with the f.p. day she met with the president and the head of the s.p.d. martin short of a night they were very tight lipped about those talks when they emerged but today after a german newspaper wrongly reported that the s.p.d. was ready to enter coalition talk came out with very strong language denying those reports on the other hand i'm going to merkel cd you seem to be extending a hand to his party thing they are very much ready to start coalition talk so that we can prevent germany going to another election all of this of course is happening against the backdrop of the far right party the air the which is holding its party conference this weekend if a grand coalition is formed between merkel and will they would end up having the numbers to be the largest opposition group in parliament and that something that many here would pull german politics to the right diplomatic sources have told al jazeera that saudi arabian officials have no objection to attending to attending rather a gulf cooperation council summit in kuwait there have been doubts about whether the summit would go ahead due to strain relations between g.c.c. members saudi arabia u.a.e. bahrain and egypt cut ties and imposed an economic blockade on fellow g.c.c. member qatar in june qatar's amir shaikh to mean been hammered out fanny has already received an invitation to next week's meeting a judge in the canadian province of quebec has temporarily suspended part of the law banning face coverings it's part of a religious neutrality law passed in october which forced people to uncover their faces in order to give or receive public services the judge says that more guidelines are needed on how this would work in practice civil liberties groups that argued that the law discriminates against muslim women. now if you use a laptop or smartphone you'll know the importance of a good battery so the us electric cars make a tesla deciding to make a battery strong enough to power an entire city the world is setting up and taking notice how the huckster has more this seemingly innocuous rural area and south australia has suddenly become home to one of the biggest sources of renewable energy in the wild built in sixty days the us technology company tesla has built the largest lithium ion battery which is plugged into the power grid in the state of south australia the state's premie unveiled the john battery which is powered by a nearby wind farm this is an example of south australia leading the world the world's largest lithium ion battery it's right here in jamestown in south australia and it's already supplying power to the national electricity market australia is a major exporter of calls and is considered one of the world's worst greenhouse gas polluters the state of south australia is demolishing is coal fired power stations and switching to renewable energy that's imperative after a freak storm last year caused a statewide blackout highlighting the reliable supply of electricity the billionaire business tycoon mosque offered to build the battery most serial port here is that the system will be three three times more powerful than any system on earth. this is a this is not like a sort of short like a minor foray into a frontier it's like you know going three times further than anyone's gone before must also promise that if it wasn't completed on time it would be free lucky for him the forty million dollars project was switched on ahead of schedule it's a exciting development. the story just kind of been the holy grail for the whole power business for two hundred years now because if we want to move towards variable renewables wind and solar produce their own tricity when they want not necessarily when we want and so some way of storing the excess that they're producing which can then be used when they're not generating has been something we've looked for for many years people nearby jamestown gave their verdict lifted our spirits because everybody's a happy about it and we have our christian marks on the but. the result in result will tail wind it because it's never been called into action we really don't know what's going on and. so when it if it does do the job well and if it doesn't it's just another political stunt. tesla's chief executive wasn't at the unveiling but the state's new power backup surprise i'm sure if you please climate change and pollution activists and possibly pave the way for other projects worldwide. just ahead on the news hour wrestling star john cena takes a break from body slamming and tries his hand at cricket and he will be here with all the details in sport. facing the realities if a piece of machinery goes wrong is there a train of litigation true which we can bring a legal system to bear getting to the heart of the matter i don't think we needed the ball but some of my producers that hear their story on talk to al-jazeera at this time. is quiet the signal is given. out it so it's safe to walk to school last year there are more than thirty meters in this community in one month the police say this area is a red zone one of several in some townships and children sometimes a court in the crossfire when rival gangs fight the parents and grandparents have started what they call a walking past to try to take the violence i lost my son. go i also lost my but there are more than one hundred fifty volunteers working for several working buses teachers say it is working class attendance has improved the volunteers also act as security guards. well again time for sports here's andy. thank you very much will host russia will play saudi arabia in the opening match of next year's football world cup and christiane our own allies portugal have been drawn alongside twenty ten winners spain the group stage draw took place in moscow with european champions portugal up against spain morocco and earing ran in group b. defending champions germany are in group f. with mexico sweden and south korea russia's opener with saudi arabia will take place on june the fourteenth in moscow egypt you're acquire the other group a teams group beat portugal spain morocco and iran. champions france are the top seeds in group c. alongside australia peru and denmark argentina face first on qualifiers iceland in group d. croatia and nigeria also in their brazil are in with switzerland costa rica and serbia in group f. germany will be aware that the last two defending champions be knocked out in the group stages belgium england panama and tunisia make it group with poland senegal colombia and japan in the final for the top so you from each group go into the knockout rounds here's our sports correspondent leigh welling's the first thing that really stood out about the draw was actually a much spine versus portugal that could only come about because spain weren't in the top seeds you always expect spine with their brilliant track record to be among the top seeds but they weren't and they will play portugal what i would say is with walker when they run in the group both spain and portugal will expect to progress whatever happens in the march between them as for the first time finalists iceland you could barely have got a more attractive guy for them to ply the smallest lever to take part in the world cup a fantastic achievement to qualify despite what they achieved in the european championship last. and they're playing argentina in moscow it's going to be another amazing day for the people of iceland what i would say is to manage expectations it's going to be extremely difficult for iceland to pick up points in that group. really don't expect them to qualify for the knockout stages if they don't it will be quite a story in some of the toughest. i look at brazil switzerland costa rica and serbia and i think you've got three strong teams what really strong this being my favorites and i think they're going to call anything the group of death but i think that one looks the toughest along possibly with that ice and group with argentina in it as well as croatia and nigeria former england manager sam our guy says everton's ambitious plans for the future convinced him to come out of retirement to the sixty three year old a signed an eighteen month the club's new manager ever center in the bottom half of the premier league table i've been offered a number of jobs between retiring from crystal palace and sort of almost officially retired for the first time i was before and sort of said you never know what might happen so i got offered more jobs when i set up which i then the video for the mill ife australia will be the big favorites to successfully defend their rugby league world title when they take on england in saturday's final australia have won their last twelve games against england including an eighteen four victory in the opening match of this tournament england's coach's accuses opponents of cheating rock rules in the build up to the game in brisbane well it's part of the part of fear of. big guys in particular so you know i want to win we want to win. it all adds to the driver of a world cup probably woke up following us so. you got to fly the rock there you know and so that's that and that's the camera. if you win the right well then you're a great chance of being successful so that's it's pretty simple going right below now the bizarre case of the head but greeting has dominated the build up surrounds him of the ashes series between australia and england the second test coming up in adelaide after australia won the opening test time count since the smith saw the funny side as team a camera bancroft described being head butted by england's jonny bairstow in a bar weeks earlier claimed it was his way of saying hello. i certainly wasn't mocking his team i was certainly laughing at cameron in the way he delivered. the events of what had happened and. i don't know cameron that well yeah i haven't played a lot with him but. he was very dry and. different in the way things came across and you know i think if you guys got a good laugh out of it as much as i did i'd like to think that. steve has in a good amount of humility about him and he's laughing at the scenario and the comments rather than the situation and things and i think it's important we just move on really one man most cricketers wouldn't want to head but has been trying his hand at the game wrestling superstar john cena is in australia meeting sydney thunder players ahead of next month's t twenty big bash lee seen did eventually get the hang of batting but said he didn't really fancy the idea of having a ball. wicket is when i take the ball and it bounces and it hits the top thing and all those things collapse yeah that's what i did one way to get there first of all i don't ever a bit bored me actually doing so i think like that. and competitors at the marathon they saw him per getting ready for the toughest stage of the race organizers of the legendary sahara events are putting on a sister event in south america while stage three was a relatively short twenty five kilometer jog on saturday a seventy kilometer route awaits the total route just over two hundred forty kilometers and with the exception of some strictly russian water runners have to carry all their own supplies ok that is always sport for now more lighter and that is it for the news out there in jordan here with the latest on the day's top stories just about what i'll say again by from. december on al-jazeera we look back at twenty seventeen through the eyes of five families who've been affected by some of the big stories of the year in an increasingly polarized world people and sheds light on the darkest abuses of authority ten days of comprehensive coverage about nuclear arsenals around the globe and the impact they have on the diplomatic stage a special program dedicated to this year's nobel peace prize laureates i can and their pursuit of a nuclear weapon free world and we look ahead to the big stories that could dominate the headlines in twenty eighteen. december on al-jazeera. right. a dead end road trip across west africa on a mission to redefine a continent too often misrepresented. the weapon of choice digital cameras. it was sold one of the new african for dug up takes on the rainy season on this quest for that even as story of creative gun rather invisible war this this time on al-jazeera. al-jazeera. and. the investigation into donald trump and his ties to russia moves closer to the oval office.