more talks with pyongyang saying he's even willing to meet north korean leader kim jong un. raids across villages in the west bank after an israeli settler shot dead in the occupied territory. former trump advisor steve battle steps down as the chairman of a rocket with new side days after a pop of break with his ex boss and after a fire as devastating floods thirteen people are killed in southern california as heavy rain triggers mudslides and wipes out homes. south korean president says he's willing to meet north korean leader kim jong un if the success of such a summit would be guaranteed when moon pledged to push for more talks with the north to resolve differences between the two nations over pyongyang's nuclear program this follows talks between officials from the. two nations on tuesday. when people's lives need to be stable and therefore relations cannot continue to worsen between the koreas i do not seek immediate reunification firstly we need to tackle key issues between the two koreas this is my top priority i want to emphasize the denuclearization of north korea will be the first step to peace i will try to remove the distrust between north and south korea and provide a safe a daily life for everyone so let's get more on the. spot and kathy novak she is live for us in seoul so progress on the into korean talks cathy but are they any such of a solving the bigger issue to talking about the bigger issue of the north's nuclear program. well monday and has been making this speech and taking questions on the occasion of the new year and obviously the north korean nuclear issue is the big challenge of his presidency and he has really emphasized that his priority is to promote peace that there cannot be another war on the korean peninsula and that he says that with the support of south koreans he was able to promote his policy of emphasizing dialogue which culminated in these high level into korean talks just yesterday which were the first talks in more than two years so the fact that both sides could sit down at all is being celebrated but of course he says that the ultimate goal must be to pursue a denuclearized north korea and he says that he had the that the united states has supported the interest in talks but of course it would want to see the bigger goal realized of talking more about denuclearization and when south korea says it brought up that issue at the talks yesterday it drew sort of a rebuke from north korea who said that it is not helpful to bring up the nuclear eyes ation and that it continues to a game its nuclear weapons towards the united states and not towards its fellow koreans to some progress perhaps still needs to be made on that front as florence louis reports. until recently north koreans refused to even pick up the phone when south koreans called the border hotline so it was significant to see resawing who's in charge of into korean relations for the north korean government stepping over the border into the south he led a five member team of high ranking diplomats into a meeting with a south korean counterpart in what's known as the truce village at panmunjom. our talks resume after north and south korean ties have been severed for a long time but i believe the first step is have to journey with a number indeed we came to this meeting with a serious and sincere attitude and with the thought of giving our brethren who have high hopes for this dialogue and valuable results as the first gift of the year on the meeting did produce results north korea says it will send a delegation of athletes and team members to next month's winter olympics in south korea the south says it will consider suspending sanctions if it helps north korea's participation in the games in. both sides have also agreed to hold military talks to prevent accidental clashes and ease tensions as well as conduct other high level exchanges to improve into korea ties but attempts to discuss north korea's nuclear bomb and missiles program got nowhere with the head of the delegation from pyongyang warning that such discussions could damage relations the north has long maintained that its nuclear arsenal is necessary to deter an invasion by u.s. troops and south korea's proposal for talks on reunions for family members who've been separated for decades met with little response from the north despite that many in the south see any talks happening at all as a positive step. for us. i believe these formal diplomatic discussions can result in peace for an a c. the korean peninsula is a dangerous place that's under the constant threat of war and i hope those concerns to him become reality and after a year of high tensions on the korean peninsula and in japan and across the pacific including the threat of military action by the u.s. these talks are already being heralded as a breakthrough florent slowly al-jazeera saw. and a breakthrough that is being at least in part credited cathy to moon and his approach to the whole issue but just how difficult is approving it for him to balance you know keeping. the u.s. of ally happy and the escalating tensions with the north. it is a delicate balancing act for south korea and in fact some analysts have suggested that perhaps the reason that north korea was willing to come to the negotiating table was to try to drive a wedge between south korea and the united states because if you look at the policies of inverses the u.s. president donald trump pushes more for engagement and dialogue where is donald trump tends to push more for a campaign of pressure and was saying today in his news conference was that he says they work together that the ultimate goal of sanctions and pressure is precisely to bring the north korea to the negotiating table so he says that he has the support of the united states when it comes to these into korean talks he wants to see more talks going forward and as you mentioned he would be willing to have a meeting with north korea himself in the summit meeting under the right circumstances he says there should not be a summit meeting for the sake of a meeting but if you believe that's north korea was sincere and that they may produce results from such a meeting he'd be willing to sit down and have one elizabeth kathy thank you very much for that that is kathy novak with all the very latest joining us live from seoul thank you. to other news now the israeli army has carried out raids on the villages close to the occupied west bank town of nablus after thirty five year old israeli settlers shot dead the army has declared the area to the southwest of nablus a military zone there are reports of skirmishes in the villages of tel and saga or tension has been simmering in the palestinian territories since u.s. president donald trump announced last month that the united states was recognizing jerusalem as israel's capital fourteen palestinians have been killed in the on the rest of the occupied west bank and gaza since then last week threatened to cut off aid to palestinians and said jerusalem was off the negotiating table how false it has more from west jerusalem. well the israeli military says that this thirty five year old man a rabbi from the illegal outpost of about gilad just southwest of nablus in the occupied west bank that he was in his vehicle on route sixty the main road near that illegal outpost where he lived and he was shot dead from a by a from a passing vehicle the military not saying whether it was one gunman or more but there are reports that twenty two bullets struck the vehicle that he was shot in the neck and chest taken to hospital where he was then pronounced dead at the military responded by declaring a military zone southwest of nablus israeli soldiers entering two villages tel and sorrow there were confrontations with local palestinians in those villages before the military the soldiers withdrew to the entrances of the villages they also carried out raids within nablus itself western neighborhoods of nablus seizing security cameras as this hunt for the suspects in this incident continues israeli settlers as well gathered around a checkpoint at least one area throwing stones at palestinian vehicles in response so pretty tense situation in the hours after this shooting nablus itself is surrounded by illegal israeli settlements and outposts has long been an area where there have been clashes between palestinians and settlers the last fatal shooting by a palestinian on israeli targets took place in september when a man entered at a checkpoint at the entrance to an israeli settlement shot dead three israeli security forces members and was then shot dead him self the difference in this instance the perpetrator or perpetrators are still on the run and since then we've had the donald trump decoration about jerusalem so the whole situation in the palin's palestinian territories is more tense there have been weeks of protest. we have plenty more ahead on the news including you'd. like to build or go ahead with his campaign promise but won't president trump make concessions on a deal to protect young immigrant. mexico city's new drive to force millions of us to take lessons for the first time. and the sport of manchester flawless endless football season is challenged by a second side. u.s. president former adviser steve baton has resigned from his role as executive chairman of the right to a news website brought bought a calm days after all the remarks about it made about trump and his son and the recently published book far and few in it that and called two thousand and sixteen meeting between donald trump jr and a group of russians treasonous let's get more on this now we're joined by cost estabrook she's live for us in washington d.c. so bad and brought but saying it was has decision to leave but how likely is that die and what are you hearing. well there's rampant speculation in washington that he didn't leave on his own that that steve bannon may have actually been pushed out of the right bar there's a billionaire investor who by the name of rebecca mercer whose family supports republican and very conservative causes and she sits on the board of breitbart she's an investor in breitbart and last week she came out and publicly slapped down steve bannon for the comments that he made in the book fire and fury so there is speculation that she may have had something to do with his leaving breitbart today is he down and out and what does all of this mean for his you know his political career and mission. it exactly what he's down at the moment and he's had a fairly precipitous fall in the last six months or so you know he used to breitbart sort of advance this nationalistic movement and that got him associated with president trump and he was able to run his campaign and then make it into the white house well now he's fallen out of favor with president trump he's lost his position at breitbart also tonight he's lost a radio show on satellite radio so he's lost the platform for that movement but this is a man who sort of had many lives he was in the navy he was an investment banker he ran breitbart then he was c.e.o. of a presidential campaign so at the moment he's down but i would scarcely say he's out he's probably going to go lick his wounds and probably reemerge. within the next few months or maybe. before that diane thank you very much for that finale that don estabrook live in washington d.c. . well soon after trump assumed office baton was appointed the white house chief strategist which gave him a direct line to the president before months into the high profile job he began losing the confidence of his boss and april baton was removed from a key role in the national security council and things went downhill for him from there and august he was fired the investment banker turned media executive then returned to breitbart news the controversial comments like calling the sacking of james komi as f.b.i. director as the biggest mistake in modern political history only added to balance tensions would trump we're going to get more on the smell and speak to bill schneider professor of public policy at george mason university who's joining us live from los angeles very good as always mr schneider to have you with us on al-jazeera so right now he does seem a very ostracized figure what does that say given his past popularity about the president's current popularity with the all tried and the republican party the president remains very popular with the all right with the republican party because look what happened the president has not fallen the van and was destroyed by michael. tended to take the president from like raising questions about his mental stability instead the victim turned out to be the baton and so you don't think this book you know fire and fury has had a negative impact with trump's supporters with his base at all. with his not with his base and among the larger electorate yes because it raised some important questions which people are publicly asking about president trump's mental stability and his ability to do the job but among the trump base his core supporters including most of the republican party and that's a bit of a surprise because he was a real outsider the fact is trump is the republican party is now by donald trump and so apparently is the all right movement which is the far right conservative movement that's the band comes out of instead of turning on trump they've turned against the band and has not only lost his job at the white house but at the media empire he helped create and recently has senate candidate roy moore lost to a democrat in alabama the first time that's happened in decades do you think that one can come back from this depends on his relationship with trump donald trump is very critical he calls him what do you call him sloppy steve and he denounced him he said that you thought he had lost his mind but trump has this history of attacking people and then eventually reconciling with them if trump needs bannan particularly as we get closer to twenty twenty than in could be resurrected everything depends on how donald trump regards the band and how we use him how he treats him and what happens to bannon's america first movement you know aimed at tearing down the establishment in the mean time especially now that he no longer has that media sort of megaphone to promote his plan of promoting incumbent senators against republicans this year. well i can tell you that most republican members of congress perfectly in the senate especially the senate republican leader mitch mcconnell they're doing a little happy dance tonight because they're very pleased with the downfall of steve benen he was threatening to oppose them with insurgent candidates the insurgent candidates are still there look before there was the ban and there was a tea party movement which ran insurgency against republican incumbents so the threat is still there but bannon really a pit in my eyes than personalized that threat so for the moment the republican establishment is relieved very interesting to get your thoughts on this in the snide as always thank you for your time bill schneider joining us live from los angeles thank you reza now donald trump has once again said that he wants a border wall the long mexico as part of immigration reforms he also says a bipartisan solution is needed to protect some seven hundred thousand so-called dream immigrants so far the republican controlled congress has failed to reach a deal on their status the term dreama says used to refer to people who were under the age of sixteen when they entered the u.s. illegally a deal which protects them from deportation expires and much can really help it has more. well certainly there has been repeated speculation about the president's mental fitness when it comes to his presidency those accusations intensifying in the past week but that may have been countered by a spontaneous press conference by the president a bipartisan appearance of both democratic and republican lawmakers here at the white house that appeared to run in front of the press real time negotiations on a thorny issue that has been under resolvable in the united states for years and that is the issue of illegal immigration as well as border security the president showing that he not only despite accusations to the contrary was engaged in new the issues but he also seemed to signal that there was a willingness to work with his critics particularly when it comes to issues like border security and something known as doc our deferred action on childhood arrivals essentially what to do about thousands of illegal immigrants brought to the united states living here for years but brought here as children many now adults we don't have six months from the start but i think you're going to negotiate i mean you will agree and maybe we won't i mean you know it's possible we're not going to agree with you when it's possible but this should be no reason for us not to get this done a joke i will say when this group comes back hopefully with that agreement this group and others from the senate from the house comes back with an agreement i'm signing it i mean i will be signing now the issue of immigration is key to a looming deadline and that is funding the u.s. government that deadline a little more than a week away may have something to do with the fact that republicans democrats along with the president working together in a bipartisan fashion the president is still insisting that he wants funding for his border wall along with southern u.s. border with mexico but seems to be striking a more conciliatory tone with his political opponents that may have something to do with the fact that this is an election year congressional elections are set to be held in november. to iran now a supreme leader ayatollah ali how many has blamed western powers for the recent unrest in his country how many also suggested that ons region arrival saudi arabia funded some of the demonstrations he says yvonne's enemies took advantage of economic problems to try and stabilize the government saying basabe has more from ted on. when anti-government protests began last month iran's supreme leader said he would speak about the unrest at an appropriate time knowing his would be the final word. on tuesday ayatollah ali khamenei blamed foreign intervention by iran's enemies for the demonstrations that resulted in the deaths of at least twenty two people. according to evidence there's a triangular part and it was formed by the u.s. and zionists the money came from a wealthy government it appears in the gulf their development was henchmen hired as millions for this plot he also had a warning for anyone seeking to use these demonstrations to overthrow iran's government you failed he said and you will fail in the future to i in his speech the supreme leader said that what he calls foreign agents who are behind the anti government demonstrations adopted the slogan of high prices knowing that that was something that would resonate with many iranians come when they acknowledged economic hardships faced by iranian fans and admitted the country had work to do to solve its own problems. but people struggling to pay their bills say there needs to be less talk and more action to improve living standards i don't know much to look at the said yeah these protests are because of economic problems people are frustrated they have to pay rent they have university students and their families to sally's are not enough for their expenses that don't make you quoted on child there's been some economic depression in society for a while job opportunities have decreased god willing it will get solved we're still got to this will be more economic problems were a preliminary cause but some people and some foreign agents misused the situation to create tension with one man who didn't speak to us on camera said iran's leaders have been blaming foreign countries for domestic problems for years and that it's natural for people who are frustrated with their leaders to take to the streets after all he said that's how the islamic republic of iran came to power in the first place. turkey's foreign minister has summoned the ambassadors of iran and russia to protest the violation of. via turkey is reportedly accusing syrian troops of breaking the agreement and their push to retake opposition held areas of. russia iran and. deescalation zones and made an effort to end the seven year war russia and iran support the government of president to back opposition groups while another deescalation zone is the damascus suburb of. the syrian government's bombardment of the rebels how as and ten supplying rebel fighters a desperately hold on to territory even talks with syria's ally russia four hundred thousand civilians struggling to survive the winter with medical and food supplies . name has more. the fog of dust from buildings reduced to rubble was still thick as people began transporting the injured and pulling out the dead twenty three people were killed in strikes in eastern on monday night. now home to the derby the war planes didn't stop day and night they shell only civilians and target residential neighborhoods and markets eastern ghouta is a short drive to the capital damascus which is remained relatively calm throughout the war but the lives of the four hundred thousand people here are very different the never ending stream of bombs has created shortages of everything from food to fuel. the last two weeks have been especially intense one hundred twenty six people are estimated to have been killed since december twenty ninth. the new i five a man on that video who demand the international community stops the shelling of innocent civilians we don't have any food or mates in here and use kuta we under siege for a long time and we hope god will help us. syrians contemplating leaving their homes are faced with a dilemma for example the displaced who sought refuge in opposition held it lib are in danger again it is the largest rebel stronghold and government forces are in the midst of an offensive to regain control tens of thousands of civilians already in dire circumstances have been recorded as displaced since the first of december due to the fighting with the onset of winter safe shelters among the biggest concerns as many families are fleeing into areas that are already at full capacity into communities with depleted resources people in eastern guta fear if they leave their homes they'll never be allowed to return the un is accusing the syrian government of implementing a policy of force displacement to radically alter the demographic makeup of areas previously controlled by the opposition natasha going to name al-jazeera. libyan coast guard say up to one hundred migrants may have drowned in the mediterranean sea after they evolve a boat was punctured only sixteen survivors were found the incident happened off the coast of the city of zawiya migrants from two other boats trying to make the dangerous journey across the sea of also rescued in total living in coast guard picked up about three hundred refugees and migrants nearly three thousand people drowned in the mediterranean sea last year that is down from four and a half thousand the previous year. now hundreds of thousands of displaced people in yemen a struggling to survive in caps without basic health supplies or sanitation more than two million people have been forced to leave their homes since the war began three and a half years ago bernard smith reports this family will get just a few minutes of warmth from fire here in merritt province yemenis who've lost their homes in the civil war are beyond the reach of even the most basic relief that aid groups can provide people here are escaping either who three fighters who control the capital or they're escaping as strikes and attacks by a coalition of countries led by saudi arabia two million yemenis have been displaced since fighting began in september twenty fourth seen as a. little worse and should we left our homes because of the war we found ourselves here without anything we have nothing here but. we don't have food and the weather is very cold. four hundred sixty thousand displaced people are in camps like these in mara province they don't get any humanitarian assistance. we leave here in despair we have kidney problems my kids are also sick i have nothing and i can do nothing we urge all countries and international organizations to pay attention to us. disease is rife as well as the world's worst cholera epidemic diptheria is on the increase and following the killing of ten thousand people in the fighting the u.n. says eight million yemenis are on the verge of famine bernard smith al-jazeera still hand on the news our main opposition valves to step up anti austerity protests and cracking down on online crime we'll take a look at why new law combating hate speech in germany is facing so much criticism . from a fresh coastal breeze. to watching the sunset on the australian outback. welcome back we've seen quite a lot of cold air pushing along way south across eastern parts of china into taiwan we're just starting to lose it although still you see how noisy mix of thirteen degrees is pretty chilly then a lot of cloud as well probably some drizzle as well beneath that cloud as we head on into thursday we're not going to see a vast amount of changes staying dry and fine for the most part if not particularly warm annoyed just going up to fourteen degrees across the rest of indochina not as cold and certainly brighter more the way of sunshine here yangon thirty two degrees much as you'd normally expect having done so feast in parts of asia we've got a fair few showers across central southern parts of the philippines scattered showers across borneo java looking a bit better to carter there with thirty one degrees as a high but some heavy showers likely through them in a pinch there for singapore and kuala lumpur will see some downpours but in the forecast on the other twenty four hours that rain becomes quite intense across into port could be some localized flooding here but moving up into thailand of the cross into cambodia and southern parts of vietnam the weather is generally looking dry and fine across into south asia it's dry should expect it smoky as you'd expect highs to just twenty degrees in delhi further towards the south the risk of a few showers for tamela due through into wards flanker highs of thirty expected in colombo. the weather sponsored by cats on everybody's. news has never been more available it's a constant barrage of it with every day but the message is a simplistic you have the brain the good logical rational person the crazy monster and misinformation is rife dismissal and does not well documented accusations and evidence is part of genocide the listening post provides a critical counterpoint to challenging mainstream media narratives at this time on al-jazeera and the reported world on. u.s. and british companies have announced the biggest discovery of natural gas in west africa but what to do with these untapped natural resources is already a source of heated debate nothing much has changed they still spend most of their days looking forward to for the dry river beds like this one five years on the syrians still feel battered or even those who managed to escape their country have been truly unable to escape the you're. going to have you with us on the c.n.n. news out of these are our top stories south korean president moon j.n. says he's willing to meet north korean leader kim jong un would propose to falmouth to resolve differences between the two nations of the pell grants nuclear program this follows talks between officials from the two nations on tuesday. that israeli army has carried out raids on the villages close to the occupied west bank town of nablus soft and israeli settlers shot dead it's to clear the area to the south west of nablus. military. u.s. president donald trump's former advisor steve bad and has resigned as executive chairman of the right twenty news website breitbart this comes just days after around remarks bad and made about his son in the recently published book and fury. we're going to get more now on those attempts to reduce tension tensions between north and south korea we're joined by robert kelly professor of political science and diplomacy through some national university and he's joining us on skype i believe very good to have you with us on al-jazeera as always mr calley what tuesday's talks do you think to resolving into korean relations and possibly starting work on the korean issue did they lay the groundwork. i think they did it's important to have north korea come to the table they offered that's nice that's rare north korea such a dangerous place that when they do offer we should always reach out and. i think there's a great deal of skepticism out there the commander of u.s. forces in korea give a speech after the north korean offer last week in which he said we should be cautious about this i think there is general consensus in the korean analyst community that people who do what i do that we should be cautious that we shouldn't rule or the north koreans just for being willing to talk but the north koreans haven't talked to south korea in two years so it's good that they came back and it went reasonably well it seems and hopefully they're going to meet again and there you know we know the north koreans are going to participate in the olympics so that gets the ball rolling and then hopefully you can start discussing more serious stuff in the in the future you know the nuclear weapons and when we get to that very serious issue of nuclear weapons how do you think these two sides can reconcile what they want which is very different the north is you know it wants to be accepted as a nuclear state the south wants dean. on the peninsula so how do they work the sound. right i think first it's important to say that north korea has actually said multiple times that it believes in the denuclearization of the nuclear of the korean peninsula so it's a little bit awkward it is kind of the north koreans going back on their word by saying something well we're not going to give these things up they have actually formally said at least three times that they that they would and i think south korea's going to press them on that but like you said i think you're right there are things one of them up instead of i think that's the south koreans would do is press for smaller things for example there's a growing concern about nuclear safety in north korea right people worry about a true noble style incident there was a tunnel implosion at the north korean primary testing site that killed two hundred people several months ago so there were worries about that i think south koreans might try to get the north koreans at least back into something like the international atomic energy agency on the north probably demand concessions for that i think it's unlikely the north korea the south koreans will just go directly for g. nuclearization some big bang deal the north koreans. we will go through that instead you'll see some small steps on things like nuclear safety how much the north koreans have with the kind of doctrine that they have for the use of nuclear weapons so the sort of a series of small steps but again that's better than nothing at least they're moving the progress on save more short term issues how do you think the u.s. has reacted very positively to the talks so far how do you think the u.s. is looking on and and china to you are they feeling any less pressure than they have over the pasta to do something. sure i think generally speaking everybody is pleased everybody is happy when the two koreas talk i mean ultimately these are intercranial shoes and they really should be resolved by the two direct parties right the americans japanese chinese the rest of us were really it we're really on the outside and ultimately it's best of the koreans hammer this out themselves i think everybody including the chinese agree on that i think the americans are probably a little bit upset that the north koreans going to participate in the olympics does kind of what the americans in a weird position of having the north korean athletes actually march under their own flag if they do i wonder how the americans will respond to that so i think perhaps the two koreas will march under a kind of generic korean banner to avoid that sort of weird situation but broadly speaking i think the american government is one of the two koreas to talk for a long time and we saw donald trump attempt to take credit for the two koreas talking to one another but it does it is sort of a little bizarre given that donald trump spent the last year demonized as you know in real fire and fury and all that kind of stuff and now all of a sudden they're talking i think the north koreans are hoping that that might actually induce a bit of a. division between the americans and the south because americans want to isolate north korea and now the south koreans are talking but but broadly speaking it's been in america's interest for a long time to get north korea to the table and get them talking to the south so i think everybody thinks this is a good thing and very interesting days ahead mr kelly thank you as always for your time we appreciate it robert kelly joining us live from jerusalem thank you have. thank you. french president emanuel mcconnell hailing has visit to china as the beginning of a historic partnership he joined president in paying and promising to promote free trade and combat climate change a vision sharply at odds with that of u.s. president donald trump problem brive has more from beijing china and france are hailing this visit as a new era for strategic partners xi jinping and emanuel mccraw signing multi-billion dollar trade deals from aerospace to nuclear energy projects and reaching what they say is common consensus on a range of issues from climate change to international security. sure we have made an agreement to improve global issues we are faced with climate change and terrorism china will be working together with france so we can have a win win situation and develop a new strategy that helps everyone in the world we have both agreed to have open and deep communications macross says his visit is a recognition of china's role on the world stage and she's preeminent position as chinese leader this is micron's first state visit to china as president and he wants the trip to become an annual event to highlight the deepening relationship between china and europe are growing stronger as their respective relations with the united states become more unpredictable and strained and i think. it is time for european leaders including the french president jacques rogge to really balance off their leashes against the united states with their relations with china macron began his visit in the ancient city of shan one of the starting points of the ancient silk road. his full support for what president xi calls his belton road initiative of new road and rail links seen as the modern day equivalent of connecting east with west is popular here mark rome will also take away from beijing a recommitment to the paris climate agreement seen as crucial after the united states walked away from it in doing so france and china are positioning themselves as global environmental leaders setting an example for the world to follow bright al-jazeera beijing police into nauseas capital have fired tear gas at demonstrators who stormed a supermarket during anti-government protest demonstrations have been taking place since monday when people rallied and more than ten towns against the government's planned price and tax hikes it says the measures are necessary to produce its ballooning deficit and satisfy international lenders to his prime minister yousuf shah says two thousand and eighteen will be the last year of economic hardship well analysts close on what r.t. says the protests have a science that the government must take action to address people's concerns with. the tax increases in the new budget coming to be now and this is gotten a lot of people nervous and. upset their country we seek an inkling is of the arab spring which number one for the people itself carries worries also for extra investors carries that same old view of the middle east of trouble not a safe place to invest so the government really needs to do something about this in order to fix the change expectations and help the country flourish internet activists and opposition politicians in germany have criticized a new law aimed at combating hate speech online opponents say the legislation allows freedom of expression in germany to be policed by u.s. based multinational companies david chase reports from berlin. the first victim of the new law is no less than the deputy leader of the extreme right alternative for germany party beatrix one stork responded to a new year's eve greeting by police in cologne posted in arabic on twitter the city was the scene two years ago of mass sexual assaults touring celebrations most of the suspects were described as being of north african and arab origin in a post on twitter and facebook she asked what the hell is happening in this country do you think it's to appease the barbaric gang raping hordes of muslim men stalks accounts were temporarily suspended on the ground she had violated the new hate speech law party said legitimate political opinions had been censored not about censorship but of course this law does give politicians like mrs fun story the opportunity to claim that there is political censorship in germany and to portray herself as a martyr and i think this is one of the biggest political mistakes in passing the end i hate speech law because it helps parties like the if the to transport their narratives into the population and gain greater popularity the justice minister heiko mass who introduced the legislation said it will prevent calls to murder hate speech and holocaust denial which he described as attacks on other people's freedom of expression but opposition is mounting. the green party is leading the charge for changes in the law. it's a very sensitive area and the question of where freedom of speech ends and the protection of personal rights begins has been determined to the very highest judicial levels in germany for decades the law now is too abrasive and gives too much power to the companies facebook says the legislation is fundamentally new it's unique in the world because of its complexity is a challenge for all involved even though german satirical magazine on the internet has become a victim of the new laws twitter suspended their account after the use of frayed barbaric hordes while poking fun at the controversy i spoke to their editor in frankfurt over skype yes. we'll have to keep watching this because funny talk is ambivalent and we know that real people struggle with it how are a bunch of what's going to distinguish german courts struggle as well the magazine is now back online its latest issue has a cartoon of president donald trump asking his secretary of state how they can restore some safety rex tillerson replies stop all this tweeting you idiot david chaytor al jazeera berlin of course in pakistan has granted bail to a cleric accused of inspiring armed groups of him her mother will be released from jail on medical grounds he's been in prison for eighteen years on charges of sedition and terrorism and for training pakistanis to fight u.s. forces in afghanistan. landslides in southern california have killed at least thirteen people and thousands something falls from the highlands recent fires have made the area vulnerable to flooding more rain expected on wednesday rob reynolds reports from. torrential rain brought devastation to parts of california already ravaged by wildfires only weeks ago. deadly mudslides raced down canyons in montana seato near santa barbara leveling homes and leaving behind a boulder strewn wasteland a car lay stranded the fate of its own are unknown. rivers of thick gray muck course through upscale neighborhoods and roads were overwhelmed including the major north south coastal highway one hundred one. the recent fires stripped steep hillsides a brush and other vegetation that normally anchors the earth in place the bare landscape makes the soil more susceptible to giving way without warning in the heavy rain what happens once the ground gets saturated it starts giving it's kind of like building a sand castle at the beach is out and gets saturated with water it's going to slough off and that's what we're seeing here behind me. as crews work to clear roads and move debris word came that several residents had died in the floods thousands of others were under mandatory evacuation orders the death toll is expected to rise rob reynolds al-jazeera los angeles at least twenty nine people are dead after. parts of madagascar over the weekend tropical cyclone tore through the southeast of the country emergency officials say the region. is the worst affected further north parts of the capital. remain flooded the crossed into madagascar on friday bringing with it wends of up to one hundred and ninety kilometers an hour twenty two people are still missing and more than seventeen thousand have been displaced seventy eight people were killed. last march. but to one of the world's largest cities now where you don't have to take a test to get a driving license in the eyes of mexico city three people are killed every day and thousands of traffic accidents reported now reckless drivers under government pressure to stay away from bad habits david meserve reports. it's a typical tuesday morning in mexico city and parents drop their children off at school it's a chaotic scene a woman applies makeup in her rearview mirror another leaves her car in the middle of the street an argument breaks out after a man backs into a vehicle that's being double parked. mexico city is one of the world's most populated metropolises every day more than five million vehicles clogged streets. road accidents are common more than a thousand people die in crashes every year traffic accidents are now the leading cause of death for children between five and fourteen years old the government says this must stop as much as wanted to traffic related that's unacceptable because they can be prevented we can do this in steps through new regulations infrastructure that knowledge use and training. officials have already reduced speed limits and install traffic cameras now efforts to change driving culture are focused here this is one of the government offices in mexico city where people come to get their driver's licenses or maybe i should say where people come to buy their licenses because all you need to bring here is a piece of government id a utility bill and pay the equivalent of forty dollars and within five minutes you're walking out with a license to drive it's just that easy. but this is changing starting in two thousand and eighteen drivers will have to take driving courses run by internationally credited schools before applying for a license it's a big change but one that many residents say is necessary but. i still feel a little bit nervous even though i try to control it but i feel a lot safer by taking this course will help me avoid getting into accidents when changing the habits of millions of drivers will take generations but in one of the world's biggest cities the cost of doing nothing is simply too high david mercer mexico city. prosecutors are investigating the u.s. tech giant apple after slowing down older models of its month that has more from paris. in france one in five smartphone users only use an i phone each new model causes much excitement but not everyone is happy with the u.s. manufacturer a french consumer watchdog has filed a legal complaint saying apple deliberately slows down old i phone models to encourage customers to buy new ones where they they are doing what we call plan the sense two or two. to buy a new one. it's a marketing strategy and think we have enough proof to make this. hope says apple uses software updates to slow down its phones the watchdog says recent updates coming sided with the release of the i phone eight in from such a practice is illegal under french law it is a crime to deliberately shorten the life span of a product in order to try and force consumers to buy new ones where he's found guilty can be punished with a prison sentence a large fine and companies can be forced to pay up to five percent of the annual earnings in paris some apple customers welcomed the investigation. in for it's important to know what's going on because we are all hostages of multinationals marriage and looking for months i bought a new find that i have to charge all the time and the updates my kids slow i think it's done on purpose even though it's illegal here after a flurry of similar lawsuits in the us last year apple admitted to intentionally slowing down its old phones saying it was done to help the long battery life some analysts say the company should have been more transparent everyone knows that their phone starts to lose power after a certain time and this is actually quite a clever way of dealing with it was interesting is how it's been presented in rather a negative large something that's apple's fault for not communicating better that they were doing this to help their users al-jazeera contacted apple in france for comment but has not received a reply faced with a criminal investigation though the stakes here for the tech giant are high natasha buchla i'll just sirrah paris had a sports news still ahead on the news out of dachau valley by champions touchwood offense comes to us from a troll at. for his father. thanks very much the international olympic committee has it's ascribed north korea's decision to send athletes to next month's winter games as a great step forward in the olympic spirit delegation of athletes fans and journalists will be sent to pyong chang in neighboring south korea the countries have been holding official talks for the first time since two thousand and fifteen after months of rising tensions the i.o.c. says it's now waiting details before deciding which north korean athletes can compete our sports correspondent lee wellings says this is a rare piece of good news for the committee this is a huge relief for them they were worried about a boycott involving russia originally with acute doping problem they've been worried about the potential of a boycott like. they're worried about the tensions in the region i mean those worries don't completely go away but the easing of the tension is a huge boost for an organization that is how one problem after another when the actual action starts it will be brilliant for the i.o.c. as well because people will be concentrating on some great sport one thing not to expect from the north korean winter olympics is any kind of medal washoe gold rush will many competitors are told it largely revolves around to figure skaters and that's really all i can do sic very good partnership of being trying to canada was very hopeful of completing that always been the suggestion they would compete in pyongyang and now i can do that would be a huge relief to them and they have the possibility of a medal meant that good then also of course be a big spotlight on. threw out the guns because they might be the only complaints does the window still open for all the north koreans to qualify but obviously thomas want to know with that there isn't a lot of strength in winter olympic sport in north korea so it's more about the symbolism and of course it's not just competitors it's also the journalists the officials the delegation from north korea and the possibility of teams marching together that still exists goes way beyond sport now here's a look at the history of the two countries at the olympics north korea boycotted the last olympics in south korea that was the one nine hundred eighty eight summer games in seoul twelve years later at the two thousand sydney olympics athletes from the two countries walked together under a unification flag for the first time in an olympic opening ceremony four years later they walked together again in athens but the two thousand and six winter games in turn was the last time the two countries did that at an olympics the i.o.c. has other big how they had it before kyung chang has been the involvement of russian athletes in november they ruled that athletes would only be permitted to compete as neutrals after accusations of state sponsored doping but forty two russian competitors have formally appealed their lifetime olympic bans the court of arbitration for sport the court says the final decision on each case will be made by january thirty first a week before the games begin deputy russian prime minister vitaly but cole is also appealing his breath manchester city's near almost flawless season has been tested in the english league cup bristol city took a surprise first half lead from the penalty spot in the first leg of their semifinal but kevin did brynn levelled the score for the home side in the fifty fifth minute and that was followed by a ninety second minute goal from sergio guerra cityscapes with a two one victory. argentinian football legend carlos tevis is back training with his old club book of juniors and he seems to be feeling right at home which isn't too much of a surprise as it's his third time joining the side to have his was officially unveiled as a book of player on choose day the move comes after shanghai china why ended his contract a year earlier the thirty three year old striker played just sixteen games and scored only four goals in the chinese super league to have as began his career at boca juniors in two thousand and one a former champion has been forced out of the dakar rally for a second straight days sam sutherland crashed in peru zico desert while leading the bike category during the four stage the british defending champion had to be airlifted out with a back injury and is being treated in the capital lima. two time champion in the car category had crashed out of the race twenty four hours earlier stefan better hansell is top of the overall standings. well number nine you're on a concert has hit trouble ahead of the upcoming australian open concert was beaten in the opening round of city international by. the defending champion losing in straight sets the year's first grand slam starts in melbourne next monday. twenty sixteen australian open champion actually kerber looks to be heading a form in time for another title till the german is in this year and picked up another women's city against the williams curb are coming from a set down to beat williams who reached last year's final in melbourne. that was sporting a sumo wrestling has been grappling with controversy ahead of the new season three of japan's top ranked rustlers performed and you all knew your ring entering ceremony in tokyo on choose day the year's first term it begins on sunday but the image of the country's national sport has been tainted after an incident at a bar last october a former grand champion at a young rival over the head with the remote control of a karaoke machine he was fined four and a half thousand dollars last week sumo is supposed to be about hierarchy and discipline. it is ok to be strict but only if it's for the sake of the other person and as long as that leadership isn't bicycle only on your emotions that's the game i was really shocked when i first heard about this case for foreigners sumo is a sport that represents japan and the sport is highly respected by japanese citizens too i didn't expect something like this to happen. and that's all you sport for now more later and that does it for this al-jazeera news hour from the elizabeth purana thank you for watching. you are making very pointed remarks where on line the main u.s. response to drug use and the drug trade over the last fifty years has been the criminal mind or if you join us on saying no evil person just wakes up in the morning and say i want to cover the world in darkness this is a dialogue and that could be what leading to some of the confusion on line about people saying they don't actually know what's going on join the colobus conversation at this time on al-jazeera one of the really special things about working for al-jazeera is that even as a camera woman i get to have so much empathy and contribution to a story i feel we cover this region better than anyone else would be what it is you know it's very chancy liberally particularly because you have a lot of people that are divided on political issues we are with the people we live to tell the real stories i'll just mended is to deliver in-depth journalism we don't feel inferior to the audience across the globe. unbelievable it sounds like an agreement between criminal bosses trading stolen goods that have been taken by the place if anyone ever comes to ask the question then sort of throw their hands up in the air and say i don't know i was just nominee director we're doing a investigation into. ukraine could you pay bribes you've been corrupt are corrupt i did just what the president say al-jazeera investigation is the only goal at this time. it's something very strong to get someone an ambitious young artist from the mean streets of mozambique to signal to reveal the unseen truth about his country. the pleasure to see. african photography. at this time. moving forward south korea's president says he's willing to meet north korea's leader kim jong. il on down jordan this is a lawyer from doha also coming up raids across villages in the west bank.