this is. his self-appointed task is to create sustainable housing for the rural poor. to bring the beauty king to vietnam and space. and to convince developers that his dreams are attainable but changing minds can be as good as altering space. rental architecture continues with greening the city at this time on al-jazeera. president trump rejects accusations he's mentally unfit for office describing himself as a stable genius. so i'm mariama rising in ondine you're watching algis there are also coming.

thousands rally in support of iran's government as the foreign minister mocks the u.s. for its emergency meeting at the united nations. angry scenes in bethlehem as palestinians protest against the greek orthodox patriarch accusing him of selling church land to his ratings. and good news from nasa the hole in the ozone layer is getting smaller thanks to the global ban on c.f.c. chemicals. president trump has rejected accusations that he is mentally unfit for office describing himself in a tweet as a stable genius it follows the publication of a book that questions his ability to do his job and claims his staff view him as a child michael wolff book went on sale on friday four days early despite threats

of legal action from trump's law is the president has described fire and fury inside the white house as full of lies misrepresentations and sources that don't exist he insists he never even spoke to wolf the author to nice president meanwhile is telling his focus to keep pharmacies as humans congressional leaders at camp david infrastructure and welfare reform are expected to be on the agenda as well as immigration the troubled ministration plans to ask congress for eighteen billion dollars to build a security wall along the mexican border while some democrats have outright rejected the plan both democrats and. because have been working on a compromise to protect the border and also protect the hundreds of thousands of young young undocumented migrants so if worn all this let's speak to john hendren in washington d.c. and so a great deal going on in terms of the legislative agenda but no doubt all of that is still being overshadowed by the revelations in michael wolf's book has donald

trump's latest tweet done anything to. dispel doubts about his mental stability. well he woke up and stepped on his own message again this was this obviously this book has obviously struck really close to home with the president now he has been arguing that this is just people taking a cue from critics of ronald reagan suggesting that he has dementia that he's not as smart as he claims to be but in fact these claims are coming a lot of them from people within his administration people like steve bannon who says quote he's lost his stuff to the author and then rupert murdoch in that book calls trump an idiot billionaire supporter tom barrett says he's not only crazy he's stupid so these or the claims that trump is striking back again at and today he tweeted throughout my life my two greatest assets have been my mental stability

and being like really smart and he went on to say he thinks becoming president on his first try qualifies him as a genius and a very stable genius at that so he's spending all of his time talking about this and not talking about those legislative achievements that he's trying to put together with those republican members of congress that camp david right now that's right because that we know that the plans to ask congress for some eighteen billion dollars to build that promise security wall what do we know about this meeting at camp david with congressional leaders how's it going. well that plan hasn't been formally introduced but administration officials have talked to the associated press in the wall street journal they've outlined a little bit about that it is eighteen billion dollars for an extension of that border wall that would bring it about halfway across the southern border of the u.s. but that there is no saying for certain that that agreement will come through democrats are adamantly opposed to this and one reason they don't want the wall they want to

point out that trump insisted mexico would pay for that wall which appears to be an empty promise there's now a bill presented to the u.s. congress for that amount instead also this deal takes care of the so-called dreamers these are the children of undocumented immigrants who brought their children across the border president obama protected them with the deferred action for childhood arrivals act trumped rescinded that and then he punted to congress so congress is supposed to come up with some kind of solution for that and that's going to be controversial they are in this bill seeking ten thousand new immigration agents three hundred new prosecutors and democrats are very concerned that that money and those people will be used to round up perhaps the families of these so-called dreamers and perhaps the dreamers themselves who had to register with the government to be part of that program so the government knows who they are all right john thanks very much john had to bring us all that a test from washington d.c.

. now they've been angry scenes in the occupied west bank as the patriarch of jerusalem attempted to leave manger square in bethlehem after mocking the orthodox christmas. he has been at the center of growing public anger after being accused of selling off large swathes of church land to private businesses now these protests and the tension in bethlehem have cost a shadow over what's supposed to be a festive uplifting period as mama chandru reports. despite the best efforts of the organizers there has been a dampened sense of enthusiasm here in manger square in bethlehem in the occupied west bank far fewer people than would usually be here on orthodox christmas eve now part of the reason for that is the fact that there have been calls by groups to boycott the arrival of the greek orthodox patriarch the off list the third because

there is growing anger among palestinian christians about allegations that have been made in israeli media outlets that the greek orthodox patriarch has been involved in selling properties or selling lands to foreign tax havens and in those reports it's also been alleged that some of the buyers may end up being israeli businesses that's one reason why there are fewer people here because usually the ushers that would be here to try to welcome the greek patriarch who has not yet arrived they are basically turning a cold shoulder to the patriarch now we've also spoken to the church about these allegations and they have denied the allegations they have said in fact which is going on is that the greek orthodox patriarch it has in fact been trying to rectify bad deals that were made in the past and that that's really what's going on right now now there's another reason why there is such a dampened sense of enthusiasm and that's because of the sense of hopelessness that's really spreading far and wide here. because of the decision just

a month ago today by u.s. president donald trump to recognize two slim as the capital of israel since that decision was made we got to we see protests that turned violent in the occupied west bank and in other areas and that's just one more reason why there is a sense of uncertainty and a sense of hopelessness at a time when usually people are so celebrate torreon festive. now thousands more pro-government demonstrators have been rallying in iran in a show of strength after more than a week of anti-government protests the government supporters marched in the streets waving a grainy and flags and chanting death to america death to israel and death to person iran's government has blamed western nations of amending the unrest to which the same twenty two people killed and more than a thousand arrested in the last ten days on is accusing us of abusing its power as a permanent member of the un security council after it called an emergency meeting on the protests so is

a must really joins us now from the iranian capital and so what has been the reaction there inside iran to the u.n. security council meeting. well iran's leaders today are no doubt celebrating with they'll consider another diplomatic victory against the united states shortly after the u.n. security council met to discuss these anti-government protests the foreign minister of iran survives or tweeted out that he was glad that the majority of the member countries rebuffed america's attempt to misuse of power to essentially bring what is a domestic iranian issue onto the international stage as a result so called it another foreign policy blunder for the trump white house we've also heard from president hassan rouhani is office his chief of staff making a statement saying that this attempt by the united states to further isolate iran was not only desperate but only further isolated the united states itself in the global arena. and a lot of people are still struggling to understand what triggered the

anti-government protests. and we have seen the government mobilizing its own supporters in response to that is there an expectation that anti-government demonstrators will. continue to turn out on the streets. well we've been trying to track those and anti-government demonstrations have just become a kind of murmur there are all but over there are social media posts and and indications and reports of more ongoing at the government protests in periphery cities in outlying provinces in the country but nothing that we can easily confirm the pro-government protests as you said are continuing as the government continues to try to cement its footprints on the streets but the government is taking note of the grievances that sparked these protests lawmakers are expected to hold a closed session of parliament on sunday and are likely to will be discussing what

the nature of these demonstrations were and what sparked them in the first place now there's two schools of thought some lawmakers see this as. foreign countries creating instability inside iran through espionage but some lawmakers have also sympathize with the demonstrators and say that the economic grievances are valid the protests that began based on economic concerns are completely valid and that a lot lot of iranians face economic hardship and whether the lawmakers agree or disagree with the protesters one thing that they've all realized is that if they don't address the concerns of regular working men and women in iran that these protests could spark up once again i thank very much same restaurant kathrine. moving to syria now where in east fourteen people have been killed by as strikes in the rebel held area of eastern ghouta artillery attacks were also launched by syrian forces on parts of the countryside outside the capital damascus and the been

reports of an increased number of as strikes deliberately targeted targeting hospitals in rebel areas in the last ten days so we can discuss this and more now with hamish to brighton gordon who is an advisor to a coalition of medical charities in syria thanks very much for speaking to us how would you describe the level and the intensity of s. strikes in rebel held areas but also well particularly in and around the eastern ghouta area of syria. good evening the last ten days it's been horrific the about attacks particularly. christmas and new year period we've seen over ten hospitals attacked and put out of commission in both. the damascus suburbs but also in live in the charity voice and you mentioned it's been promised that hospitals that have been hit both these areas are supposed to be the

deescalation zones at the start talks agreed some seven months ago and all supposed to be protected we were fortunate on the twenty seventh of december that we managed to evacuate twenty one very seriously injured people and there was a short cease far which the russians and the syrians agreed however since then the attacks seem to have intensified markedly and we currently have twenty five very seriously injured children who need urgent medical corps at least. four hundred adults but at the moment pounded in the very few hospitals that were working most of them are now asking which. and so no doubt that increases the agency of the situation you mentioned the deal that was struck to evacuate a number of people. who had certain medical life threatening medical conditions.

is that deal the extent of it or are negotiations ongoing to get more people out well certainly we thought that was the initial part of it and there is that list of one hundred twenty five children and four hundred i don't see the urgency of course most of them with myself and dr david knott have been talking to the russian hauraki and the syrian ha rocky i know so the united nations and the united nations have been trying to get a cease fire. to get a little money people out there are the russians the sponsoring peace talks in sochi unfortunately a lot of the syrian opposition groups that are attending what we're trying to do is encourage the countries like britain and the u.s. and france to get behind the u.n. sponsored peace talks in geneva to try and get a cease. syria is

a seesaw so that those seriously injured children are treated. twenty five percent of children are dying malnutrition there are people starving all over syria and we need to get in and we need to allow the peace process to the point to diplomatic solution i think the only way it's going to work actually is we have a u.n. peacekeepers on the ground and lisa that seems our way at the moment but things are as desperate as they were this time last year know that when seventy people were killed by these are destroyed. well begin to speak to you again when you have more news on your efforts but for now thank you very much hamish depressing gordon. watching which is there still to come. after the my smiling year in mexico is history of six politicians lead to fears for upcoming elections. and from florida to new england much of the u.s.

east coast wakes up to dangerously low temperatures. welcome back we have some heavy rain developing across southern parts of china at the moment certainly through hong kong fuzhou toward shanghai and north of that an area of snow but across indochina it should be largely dry for her neuer in vietnam with resort temperatures for the south a real some rain for laos and then as we head into monday still that rain there hong kong probably pushing towards northern parts of taiwan too but again indo-china not fairing too badly generally now as you head across into south asia misty and murky and smoky across northern parts of india in fact many other cities have got the same sort of issues at this time of the year but not a great deal of change expected there no particular warm for delhi just nineteen

degrees as a high warmer in crouch in pakistan a mix of twenty five degrees now here in the arabian peninsula we do have some shower activity not a great deal but on the southern end to the north sea towards the gulf of aden we've got the risk of a few showers developing here otherwise the breeze coming in from the northwest keep in the fog of bay for the gulf states twenty four degrees in tow you'll find temperatures dropping way slightly as a head on through into monday some here of twenty two but still quite pleasant up and without the risk of some snow showers in the southern side of the caspian sea highs of ten in tehran. in russia many cuddy's migrant workers. grazing. in an increasingly global trade. labor force left vulnerable to exploitation the. people in power investigate.

little to stand. at this time zero. zero combined with al-jazeera let's update you on the stories making headlines donald trump has rejected accusations that he is mentally unfit to be u.s. president saying a tweet that his track record shows him to be a stable genius it follows publication of a book that questions his ability to do his job and claims his stuff even as a child. to have been scuffles in the occupied west bank as the patriarch of jerusalem attempted to meet manger square bethlehem following the orthodox

christmas celebrations feel fearless the third is accused of selling off large swathes of church land to private israeli businesses. and thousands more government supporters have taken to the streets of iran in a show of strength often more than a week of anti-government protests which twenty two people were killed. when all the stories we're following closely saudi media is reporting that eleven princes of been detained in riyadh and are awaiting trial to staging a protest outside the royal palace a prince is said to be being held in a notorious high security prison that's in contrast with dozens of other high profile. because they were detained in a luxury hotel last year during an anti corruption drive there are conflicting reports about what sparked the protests with some outlets saying it was about the removal of state subsidies while others say it was about the previous round of detentions all this is the saudi king announces plans to give a monthly allowance to state employees military personnel and pension is to help

offset the impacts of economic reforms for the next year one point one eight million saudis employed by the government will receive a payment of two hundred sixty seven dollars a month to help with the rising cost of living one point two million pensioners will also benefit by receiving one hundred thirty three dollars a month and military personnel involved in the country's nearly three year old war in yemen will each receive a bonus of more than a thousand dollars the announcement comes days after the kingdom double petrol prices and introduced a five percent value added tax to a broad range of goods and services a budget plan released last month projected a deficit of fifty two billion dollars for two thousand and eighteen now for police officers have been killed in an explosion in indian administered kashmir during a strike called by separatist leaders in the town of sopore hundreds of police and paramilitary with patrolling the streets in anticipation of violence leading

separatist groups says it was behind the bombing kashmir is claimed by both india and pakistan both nations of ministering part of the region. police in southern mexico are being investigated for mudda after the dismembered bodies of young men were found outside at the beach resort of acapulco state authorities in guerrero said the men had been arrested last saturday after a brawl at a christmas fair and police officers were laid to suspected of murdering them at least one of the young man has disappeared. families have been demonstrating in the state capital against the possible police involvement in that disappearances. well now the threat of political violence is costing a shadow of the lead up to mexico's presidential election later in the year the mud as of six more public officials well than twenty three thousand people were killed in twenty seven thousand making it the deadliest year since records began in one thousand nine hundred seven and reports. local politics can be

a dangerous business in mexico just ask people thirty year old political hopeful who wants to become mayor of the town of hope in the state of morelos. always new to the political scene but he knows that the risk of harassment extortion and even death at the hands of organized crime is very real if. they knew i would be lying if i said i wasn't afraid it would also be a lie to say that fear is not in the back of my mind but today were motivated by our goal to make a better place. at least six mexican politicians have been killed in recent weeks this includes of all four seven i know whether the mayor of a small town in the state of get little who was murdered on new year's eve. with a national election drawing near political leaders in mexico. worry over these

types of attacks against public servants you look at even at this. i think this is a warning by organised crime against the political parties the problem here is impunity and the phenomenon of political violence the more this will continue because there is no punishment. experts say that the rising level of violence in mexico is not only putting the lives of political candidates at risk but could also be frightening voters which could damage the democratic process less political participation less third out. because of fear less political less people voting. no about it and is hinders the strength of a democratic system. there are over three thousand four hundred elected positions up for grabs in the upcoming elections but it's candidates for local posts who are especially vulnerable targets but we're going to use time twenty one local public servants were murdered in two thousand and seventy which was also

a record breaking year for homicides in mexico the concern now is over the potential for yet another exceptionally violent year as we approach the two thousand and eighteen general election but it up a little al-jazeera mexico city election officials in honduras have rejected an appeal by the opposition to a novel results of november's presidential election present on our land amandas was declared the winner after the narrative defeated opposition candidate sounded on a strong election officials say there wasn't enough evidence to support claims of voter fraud dozens of people died in violence following the vote the german intel case foreign ministers have agreed to work on improving relations following talks on saturday in germany but astral ties had become strained off the arrest of german citizens in turkey and the men's criticism of the turkish crackdown after the failed twenty sixteen coup the foreign ministers acknowledged the differences remained but said they believe they could tackle the issues through dialogue and cooperation. visit of the childish nation i believe we have the responsibility to

find a way to get along due to our historical legacy and the wishes of our citizens we must not forget that we've both made it our business to do everything we can to overcome the difficulties there have been and german tarkus relations and to find more common ground in the future by remembering everything that binds us together. we have a difference of opinion on certain subjects we have some problems in fact there was an escalation there was tension but as to foreign ministers we believe we can overcome this through dialogue we believe we can better improve our relations three mutual understanding and sincere cooperation there is down when it came as more on the meeting the watchword for this meeting was agreement the two ministers seeking to stress the areas of policy that governments have which they share particularly regarding the situation in syria and iraq and yemen saying that their interests

coincide and they are almost in lockstep with each other regarding the way ahead in those countries they tried to avoid referring to the areas they disagree upon because those areas are considerable particularly in so far as the human rights issue is concerned inside turkey the german government position for some considerable time has been that several of its citizens who have been detained there on the under the guise of political issues well they say that's unacceptable that's what they have been saying for some time no reference to unacceptability in this meeting instead the foreign minister for germany's ingmar garvey all talked about the fact that there there has been progress and there is more progress that's needed the point here is the two countries need each other certainly from the german perspective the deal regarding refugees between the e.u. and turkey is something that really needs to succeed from the german perspective likewise from the turkish government's perspective germany represents a very important country. the eastern united states and canada are waking up again

to wreck or low temperatures in the wake of what meteorologists refer to as a bomb cyclon temperatures in some parts of poland as far as minus forty degrees celsius with gusts of more than one hundred ten kilometers per hour dumping half the meter of snow at least eighteen deaths of so far been blamed on the snowstorms the national guard has been mobilized to assist with emergency response temperatures on expected to rise significantly until monday. when out to australia where the great barrier reef has long been under threat from manmade pollution but now the world heritage site is being destroyed by one of its natural predators tens of thousands of crown of thorns starfish a carny eating their way through coral at the southern end of the reef this is the fourth major starfish outbreaks since the one nine hundred sixty s. and authorities have started culling missions to protect the fragile environment.

nasa says the hole in the ozone layer is getting smaller thanks what many scientists claim is the most successful environmental agreement in history research shows chlorine levels in the stratosphere rapidly declined after manmade chemicals known as c.f.c.'s were banned over thirty years ago and a hoax has more. finally a rare good news concerning the environment nasa scientists say ozone depletion is going down. is the protective gas in the atmosphere that shoots from harmful ultraviolet rays from live some this is the source of the good news and that's the satellite that monitors the hole in the ozone layer which was first detected at the end of the one nine hundred seventy s. that's what we're excited about is that we see for the first time chlorine levels are definitely going down and ozone levels are responding to it. chemicals cooled chlorofluorocarbons c.f.c.'s left chlorine in the atmosphere the destroyed ozone

molecules the damage from the ozone layer has been blamed for an increase in skin cancers because the harmful ultraviolet radiation gets fried and this is the effect it has on plants c.f.c.'s were found in products like aerosols pesticide sprays packing materials and refrigerants they were banned globally in one thousand nine hundred seven nasa has released images that show the changing ozone concentrations since the c.f.c.'s were phased out the montreal protocol has been a great success once the protocol was signed in those the regulations went into effect we saw at the surface levels of ozone depleting substances going down but scientists warn that full recovery will take decades because of c.f.c.'s could remain in the atmosphere for another fifty to one hundred years. as there and also eastern chinese city of harbin is one of the coldest in the wild but for a month every year it becomes an unlikely magnet for outdoor swim as these brave or

masochistic perhaps swim as a racing in temperatures forecast to drop as low as minus twenty degrees celsius six hundred contestants are taking on the competitions which are part of hopkins annual january ice festival the majority are middle aged or elderly chinese who believe the frozen funds can bring health benefits director would love to get involved in that as well. well there's much more everything we're covering right here including analysis that takes you behind the headlines all the latest on that emergency u.n. security council meeting about the protests in iran al jazeera dot com. look at the stories making headlines now. u.s. president donald trump has described himself as a stable genius in response to accusations that he's not mentally fit for office. it follows the publication of a book that questions his ability to do his job and claims his staff view him as

a child michael wolff book went on sale four days early to spite threats of legal action from donald trump's lawyers. moving to our other top stories and thousands more pro-government demonstrators have been rallying in iran in a show of strength after more than a week of anti-government protests the government supporters marched in the streets waving grainy and flags and chanting anti western slogans iran's government has blamed western nations for fomenting the on rest which has seen twenty two people killed and more than a thousand arrested in the last ten days it's a must drive the has more from the tap run into government demonstrations have just become a kind of murmur there are all but over there are social media posts and indications and reports of more ongoing government protests in periphery cities in outlying provinces in the country but nothing that we do usually confirm the program who protests as you are continuing as the government continues to try to cement its footprint on the street but the government is taking note of the grievances that's

for these protests lawmakers are expected to hold a closed session of parliament on sunday saudi media says eleven princes have been detained in riyadh after staging a protest outside the royal palace are reportedly being held in and notorious high security prison in contrast with dozens of other high profile figures who were detained in a luxury hotel last year during an anti corruption drive saudi news website says the princes were protesting the kingdom's austerity measures and have been scuffles in the occupied west bank as the patriarch of jerusalem attempted to leave manger square bethlehem of the holding mass of the orthodox christmas the a few last the third has been at the center of growing public anger after being accused of selling off large swathes of church land to private israeli businesses. now up to date with all of our top stories people are coming up next but much more

on all of our top stories in about twenty five minutes time we'll have a full blessing for you to. migration whether for safety and freedom from conflict and repression or for economic benefits has become one of the dominant things of our time but this huge flow of people isn't only aimed at europe and the united states many from central asia and to russia in state so what faces them on the right.