To Disperse Protesters rallying outside parliament to demand an early election. And donald trump says hes prepared to make history by testifying it is only impeachment inquiry. Hello the us says its abandoning its position on israeli settlements in the occupied west bank and will no longer consider the illegal sector state says the construction of civilian settlements is not inconsistent with International Law the move has been welcomed by israels Prime Minister who says it right and historical wrong but pakistans president has condemned it and the e. U. Has stated that it continues to consider all israels settlement activity illegal player says he will leave the status of the west bank to the israelis and palestinians because shes. Calling the establishing of civilian settlements inconsistent with International Law hasnt worked. It has an invents the cause of peace the hard truth is there will never be a judicial resolution to the conflict in arguments about who is right or wrong as a matter of International Law will not bring peace this is a complex political problem that can only be solved by negotiations between the israelis and the palestinians. We have correspondents covering the story in washington d. C. Jerusalem and the west bank lets start with that was in jordan in washington a talk as to how significant a change this is for the u. S. Position. Laura this is a very significant change in position this policy was 1st stud devised after analysis in the u. S. State Department Legal office back in 1978 so this is been on the books and u. S. Policy for the most part of those 41 years yes there was a tweak in the way that Ronald Reagan looked at the settlements question when he was in office in the early 1980 s. But consistently ever sense when you put the question to u. S. Officials do you believe that israel has the right to build settlements in the occupied west bank every official from almost every administration with saying no we do not we believe that this violates not just International Law under the geneva conventions but it also violates a number of u. N. Security Council Resolutions going back to the early 1970 s. And as long as the satellites are there its going to be much harder to negotiate some sort of peace accord between the palestinians and the israelis and more important to create a contiguous territory for the palestinians to have their own country roads and thank you harry for citizen in west jerusalem for us so whats the reaction been that to this announcement. Well certainly for perspective its a very happy and fortunate thing to have happened for him just 2 days before the end of benny gantz as his main rivals mandate expires for him to try to form some kind of Coalition Government after a 2nd inconclusive election in a row then you know says as you say that the it writes is storable wrong rejects the false claim that settlements is inherently illegal and that opponents of this decision deny history and truth benny gantz himself his opponent has said that he applauds the statement where is the head member of the palestinian israeli many powers in israeli joint lists of politicians in the Israeli Parliament the knesset im annoyed a has come out and condemned it and finesse in yahoo this is one of the very gratefully received by products of all this it allows him to try to drive a further wedge between gantz and the palace in israeli politicians because hes been talking for the last couple of days almost incessantly about the threat to Israeli Security the threat to the very state of israel should benny gantz make up a minority government with the support from the outside of palestinian israeli politicians so it gives him Something Else to argue on that front if you cast your mind back to the last election in september just before that he said he was going to annex the Jordan Valley he didnt get explicit u. S. Support for the people contrasting the lack of that with the us recognition of israeli sovereignty of the occupied Golan Heights before the previous election in april so now this is whether the motivation is this or not its a pretty big gift for netanyahu when it comes to his own attempts to try to stay in power the question is what will he do with this very big signal of u. S. Approval for greater enhanced israeli sovereignty in. Occupied west bank given the fact that in the moments Israeli Government is extremely tenuous he runs accounts a good ministration with all sorts of negotiations going on to see who might try to be able to form a government in the coming days and weeks before thank you need abraham joins us from ramallah in the occupied west bank so a big change in u. S. Policy on settlements so what are people saying there the main thing weve heard from different palestinian officials is condemnation although they would tell you that it wasnt a surprise this administration hasnt been siding by the palestinians they officials with tell you that they been theyve been siding with their right is really wing government and theyve been giving israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu gift after another member were 2 weeks away now from the 2nd anniversary of the declare ration by the u. S. President donald trump that hes going to be recognizing jerusalem as the israeli capital which he eventually did weve heard from the p. L. O. Secretary general saw about it too said that the u. S. Is now replacing International Law with the law of the jungle calling upon the International Community to deter the u. S. Saying that the decisions in the remarks by the current administrations are a threat to International Peace and security weve also heard from Hamas Movement who said that this is a continuation of the u. S. Policy and that the u. S. Has been providing a cover for the Israeli Occupation ending how do these settlements affect palestinian lives. When we say israeli settlements lorand were not talking about scattered units here and there were talking about more than 250. 00 illegal israeli settlements and outposts scattered around the west Bank IncludingEast Jerusalem where there are around 600000 israelis residing illegally in the west bank they are connected by a series of rude infrastructure they are taking up a lot of palestinians Natural Resources including water now this is on the ground but theyve been mushrooming also and theyve been using the support of donald trump since he was elected peace now organization would tell you that the plans for its really settlements in the occupied west bank has doubled compared to the 3 years before that now or on another level that palestinians would tell you that they are killing any opportunity for a 2 state solution theyre eating up lands and theyre preventing any possibility for a contiguous future palestinian state need abraham thank you very much. Stuff about who she is the secretary general of the Palestinian National initiative he says washingtons decision is a violation of International Law. Silden is a crime lucian International Law and you took nice it doesnt stop it being a crime in reality a mr going 3 years announcement is nothing but. Violation of International Law actually to mix the United States administration participant with israel in the violated International Law in committing crimes against International Law at the same time this announcement does not legalize illegal activities of israeli illegal settlements and that does not change our intentions with our determination to continue our fight and struggle to end all forms of racist settlement activities in the occupied palestinian territories. Yemens usually rebels say theyve seized 3 vessels in the red sea including a saudi ship saudi arabia had earlier accused him of hijacking a ship towing a south korean drilling rig official has told outages there they will release the drilling rig once they can confirm it belongs to south korea the saudi government is calling the instant a terrorist operation failed icon is a part triad global of march im secure she Risk Management company he says this isnt is a sign of why do tensions in the region. Weve seen over the last 6 months alone the power play the interchange between iran and saudi arabia and lets not forget thats exactly what this is about so no doubt there has been that the proxy influence through the butties wire on to saudi assets and really the target here is the saudi vessels the tug the santa battle that is saudi flagged and is likely to be saudi crude so thats the real aim or target of all the of the captures of war so whats our reaction bob this is exactly what weve been advising our clients for the last 6 months it is that saudi assets in particular are a specific threat form iranian backed will proxy efforts against their own saudi assets in the areas particularly in the sudden red sea dozens of protesters have staged a dramatic escape from the Polytechnic University campus in hong kong that many more antigovernment protesters remained trapped and 2 prominent figures went out by police on to the campus to mediate a sign that theres a growing risk of bloodshed that brian reports from hong kong. A number of streets in the cow loon district of hong kong turned into a riot zone other parts of cow loom brought to a standstill. Protesters were called out in support of students besieged indian a by Polytechnic University campus the idea was to Stretch Police was all seized to breaking point to take the pressure off the students still barricaded inside. After a fierce confrontation with police on sunday and early monday students whod been occupying the campus and its surrounding roads for days took refuge in the main college but. During the day groups of protesters emerged from the building to be confronted by police and arrested their treatment sparking anger from some People Living nearby you have to give chance to students. Meaning to me. How i basically said at the situation is more like these police have threatened to use live ammunition if the students continue to use potentially lethal weapons. Most alarming. They did weapons were used in a 40 target university which has become a bit unfair treat despair as a refugee for extremely violent virus 50 bettman so far as has reached a critical level righteous. So intention murder officer at all costs for parents of the students the wait for news is particularly fraught or hey mounting for i hope the government and police wake up thing and stop using violence so the kids hang on im out safe and sound to them to find theyre. Adding to their anxiety explosions have been heard from inside the building setting off fire. But as darkness fell some students were seen scaling down the campus building and disappearing into the night. Their fellow protesters trying to cause diversionary mayhem on the surrounding streets coming on the 5 frontier gas rubber bullets and ball to kind and the protesters have been gradually trying to herd the way forward with made over they can find most notably these low jump rollers which is simply not so much full and theres more to cannot open up i. Proceed students represent to some the mob rule that is threatening the citys future for others especially younger protesters theyve become a rallying point for further resistance robin bryant aljazeera hong kong. To head this hoffa while the president of spains catalonia region could soon be declared unfit for office. And iraqs protest movement is leading to a literally revolution. Hello that the hate is still very much in evidence across much of australia the same radius of the south across into tasmania and we have had some very vigorous thunderstorms along the Sunshine Coast to the north. But as we go through the next couple of days that heat is going to work its way across into South Australia 30 celsius in adelaide and eventually work its way further east was not cheap bad choose to melbourne at 19 and temperatures have actually finally come down in Western Australia so by wednesday 27 celsius a mix of sunshine and clouds and then the time it is continuing to climb across the great by look at this in adelaide 42 degrees celsius not the only saving grace with this is that by thursday the heat continues to work its way east was so the temperatures go massively up by wednesday just one celsius off the november record of 42 of course we have to reach that 42 that on the thursday it does cool down dramatically 23 actually by then a couple of trees below the average is rather unsettled into Christ Church 20 celsius cloudy skies and ologhlin but more probably in the way of sunshine quite brisk winds for the next couple of days into the north island and then as you see by wednesday we have got rain still impacting much of the south island but not bad at 15 in christchurch and feeling ok in oakland at 20. The british iraqi journalist visualizing complex statistics and a simple. I think it was a summary sites of communities to break apart from the systems and to collect data in a way that makes a represent different. Challenging mainstream misconceptions keep the bike rates in control in the stations doesnt alienate people it doesnt make people feel like im not smart enough to understand spews truth is it any way on aljazeera. Reminder the top stories here are knowledge 0 the u. S. Says it will no longer consider israeli settlements in the occupied west bank illegal palestines president has condemned the move but has been welcomed by israels Prime Minister who says it right to historical wrong. Yemens hoofy rebels say theyve seized 3 vessels in the red sea including a saudi ship saudi arabia durley or accuse them of hijacking a ship towing a south korean drilling rig. Dozens of protesters in hong kong are staged a daring escape from a university besieged by Police Plastic ropes and escaping on motorbikes. Police in georgia have fired tear gas and water cannon to clear protests as rallied for a 2nd day near the Parliament Building in the capital tbilisi thousands of people attempted to blockade parliament demanding an early election opposition activists say more than 20 were arrested 1st began on sunday when 20000 people rallied in tbilisi the anger that part of it failed to pass planned electoral reforms which would see full proportional representation. Would be. Coming 1st he will cause more from tbilisi. The protesters are now moving off track down the street from right the heart of the. 24 hours you rightly said responded the protesters on songs i put padlocks up around parliament entrances and hundreds blockaded the streets around parliament and i think they were expecting. A long wait before the police took action in fact the police of reacted very quickly indeed they are moving off down the street now clearing the opposition supporters who. Were cooling for the government to resign after results on the last week against electoral reform. The government had trimmings to make changes to the letter system so that they could be a proportional representation in the elections next year with a remake on that when the lawmakers rejected this legislation us we cannot court the opposition very angry. That the opposition say that george air is no longer a democracy because everything is rules they say by one man seen a vinney severely the countrys richest oligarch who is governing chairman of the ruling party and it was he that made the promise of democratic reforms back in the summer so when hes governing party m. P. s chose not to endorse those reforms that will pull people out onto the streets again those tensions were reignited off the governing party who will make his choice to reject that legislation here in Parliament Last week. Russias Foreign Ministry says 3 Ukrainian Naval ships that were seized last year have been returned to gunboats and the tugboats were taken in the cut straight between mainland russia and crimea which moscow an extreme ukraine 5 years ago the handover is another step in efforts to end the 5 year conflict in Eastern Ukraine where russian backed rebels fighting the government. Yes president all trump has tweeted that he likes the idea of testifying in his own impeachment inquiry even though he insists hes done nothing wrong inquiries examining whether trump leveraged military aid to pressure ukraine to dig up dirt on his political rival democratic president ial candidate joe biden a White House Correspondent kimberly hellcat reports are you talking about the witch hunt is that what you mean is that we never in modern history has a sitting u. S. President testified before a congressional inquiry but President Donald Trump says he might. In a monday tweet trump said i like the idea and will in order to get congress focused again strongly consider it congress is looking into whether or not the president committed impeachable offenses when he withheld military aid to ukraine hes in office. Way over his head and trumps tweet is a direct response to this