Government and the president. And ukraines conflict has claimed 5,000 lives says the u. N. We are in the countrys east where people are living in fear. Tributes have been pouring in for saudi arabias late King Abdullah. Leaders from around the world have attended his funeral. Power has now passed to Abdullah Abdullahs half brother, salmon. And one of the late monarchs grandsons has been named as deputy crown prince. We will have more on that in a moment. But first erika woods reports on the funeral. Reporter dignitaries arrive from all over the world to pay their respects. Among them the mayor of kuwait the Prime Minister of egypt, and the leaders of neighboring countries. After they arrived they gathered for sample funeral, lasting less than an hour the ceremony was a chance for foreign dig that tears to greet the family. International leaders passed on their respects through statements. The kingdom of bahrain said and u. S. President barack obama said as a heard, he was always candid and had the courage of his convictions and a similar sentiments from the former president of israel. Its a real loss for the middle east and real loss for the peace in the middle east. He was an experienced leader and a wise king. Reporter the u. N. Secretary general said and its a legacy that standings out in saudi history, one his successor will have to choose how he will carry on. He unleashed a Foreign Policy that was far more dynamic, interventionist and militant in some ways than any previous saudi king. He sent troops to bahrain to stop the uprising and many other things like that. This is very unusual for saudi leadership, but this is one of the things he has done. Reporter countries like qatar and bahrain have announced periods of mourning, but saudi arabia following its own tradition will not. Also the former king has now been buried in a family plot in a simple unremarkable grave. So far the path of royal succession in saudi arabia has been clear, but a look at part of the family tree shows how complex it could become. Abdullah was the latest in a line of successes to the king who reigned until 1953. Power passed to the half brother salman who is already 79 years old. That makes the late kings brother the new crown prince only 10 years salmans, jr. After that the picture becomes more complicated with hundreds of princes potentially in line for the thrown. Although the new king has just appointed his nephew as deputy crown prince. Lets bring in a former member of the Saudi Council who joins us now on the line. Thank you for joining us and im sorry for yours and the countrys loss but i would like to talk about the important moves we have already seen in place. The fact the nephew is moved into the deputy crown prince position. How important do you think that is . What sort of statement is it . Thats right. Thank you for having me. And thank you for the condolence. We lost a great and kind man. He was our king and also our father figure. This move is very dramatic very drastic. First time that we jump to the grandchildren of the founder of this country. The grandchild is the son of the late prince knife. And he is the grandchild of [ inaudible ] who was the founder of saudi arabia. So jumping the line of sons going to the grandson is the first time of course secondly. It opens line to whole new generation and much younger, much within the time and what is very significant about it is that Prince Mohammed, prince nive has died. And right now who is in line is not the son of the king he has chosen on his qualifications, which is very encouraging, and shows a very strong move towards, you know, stabilizing the country and assuring succession. Im sure that it deals with the succession issues that might come up in the future and also a nod to the enormous Youth Culture that you have. The enormous numbers of youth that you have in the country and the many problems they face employment for example. Yes, of course. This is a young country. The majority are young, below 30 but that has been the case for the past 20 years, and we still didnt have young rulers so this is a very drastic jump and again, hes the crown prince is minister of defense, but he is neither the son of the king nor the crown prince so its to us a very encouraging move for saudi citizens and we see it as not only assuring succession because it jumps to the next generation it happened quickly, and seems to be widely accepted, and i think was a very great choice. And a young defense minister too has been named. I mean this comes at an important time for the country within the country. You have the rise of the jihadists, the issues in yes, maam mren yemen on your border the struggle between conformists and others. This is an interesting time. Yes, he was the foreign minister from before since his father died. His uncle became only for a short time a prince then he was appointed. [ inaudible ] and now we add to it a young minister of defense. We have seen very dramatic moves here. Things we havent seen for decades. And its very encouraging, a breath of fresh air. Thats good to hear. Because im hearing about a lot of jitters in the country because of the events happening in the country and on the borders. Do you foresee a continuation of this sort of policy that is out there at the moment . And a steady hand on leading this oil crisis . Well the oil crisis oil goes through cycles every few years ups and downs. We are facing one now. But we are fortunate enough to have built huge reserves. I think King Abdullah really put us on the right path. Our per capita income has doubled and our reserves [ inaudible ] so were in a very good position to face oil crisis. As far as moving on to the next generation it was he who appointed Prince Mohammed as minister of interior a very young prince at the time jumping many of his uncles. So this put him on the right track, from there he became now second in line for the thrown but King Abdullah put the first step there. It was King Abdullah who appointed prince ahman as the minister and as head of the crown prince [ inaudible ] so also is a very young man. But prince abdullah put him on the right track as King Abdullah, so these policies they are continuing them due to the late king and maybe thats why he has, you know, gained so much love from his people. He began putting us on the right track. Very good to talk to you on this day. And on those unprecedented moves. Thank you. In syria at least 40 people have been killed in fighting near homs and the capitol damascus. There have also been clashes in a border town. Nicole johnston is following developments from beirut. Reporter dozens of people have been killed and injured by air strikes east of damascus. Also reports of air strikes carried out in homs countryside. Activists have been saying there has been a large increase in the number of air strikes over the last couple of days across syria, because the weather has improved and the skies are clear. So the government has been carrying out those air strikes. Now the war in syria has spilled over into lebanon. On friday we had Syrian Rebels attack the Lebanese Army in the valley on the outskirts of a town that is very close to the syrian border. Its a porous border an area around 65 kilometers long, 10 kilometers wide and there are fighters from nusra front as well as syrian levels who have pledged their allegiance to Islamic State of iraq and the levant. The lebanese say a somebody of Syrian Rebels have been killed and as well as a number of soerlsd from the army have been both killed and injured. To yemen now where a large explosion has been heard in the north. Its considered a houthi rebel strong hold. The groups fighters took control of the area during the 2011 uprising. Meanwhile people have been protesting against the houthi rebels. They accuse the group of staging a coup. Demonstrators are threatening to close ports and want local governments to refuse any orders from the capitol. Rallies have been held across the country. The unrest is obviously raising fears that the country would plunge into further turmoil. The president and cabinet have handed in their resignation letters. Politicians need to approve the resignations for them to take affect. The president had been at odds with leaders from the houthi shia minority who took control of the capitol in september. Their fighters have surrounded beparliament building and the president ial palace gunmen have also encircled houses of the defense minister and the intelligence chief. Yemens Prime Minister is among those who resigned. He said he dwant to be part of the collapse of the country. It is raising fears that yes, maam mren could dissend into complete disarray and as gerald important reports. Reporter the leaders were targeted in bomb attacks. Across the country people have been reacting to what they see as a houthi takeover some in celebration, others in anger. In this city they demonstrated over the desieged president resigned. Translator we say to president hadi he must not run away from taking responsibility. He must complete the peaceful transition of power. We will stand with him. Reporter but hadis decision was made under pressure. He has been holed up at his home since the houthis stormed the president ial palace and surrounded Parliament Earlier this week. The houthis signed a u. N. Brokered deal in september, but they are demanding a bigger say in government. Translator i want to assert again that the crisis cant be resolved other than what you agreed upon through the outcomes of the peace and National Partnership agreement. I call on you all to have wisdom and National Spirit and use dialogue and Political Action to resolve any disagreement. Reporter with the Political Uncertainty comes security concerns. Separatists in the south have renewed their calls for a split from the north. And supporters of the president there, the only line of security against alqaeda are saying that will no longer take orders from the capitol. Some activists view this as the unravelling of hardgained reforms. After the counter revolution they destroy all of the news of our peaceful revolution and the 340es important thing that they destroyed is the peaceful [ inaudible ]. Reporter backed by iran and in control of the capitol the houthis are also accused of colluding with the former president saleh. A confluence of forces showing who now has power in yemen. Much more still to come here on the al jazeera news hour. More harm than good. Well tell you why these people in hey hey tie u. N. Peace keepers to pack up and leave. New asian cup champions will be crowned in australia. That and the rest of the sport is coming up in about 40 minutes. Doctors without borders says one of its hospitals has been deliberately bombed by sudanese forces. The air strike hit the center that operates in the mountains of the south region. There were more than a hundred patients in the hospital at the time. Mark is from doctors without borders, and explained why he believes the bombing wasnt a mistake. Were quite sure that the targeting of the facility was was intentional. The plane had nothing else in mind. We have communicated to the government at all times. They know where we are. If it was a mistake or not, it is very clearly a public place with a lot of people about, so its hard to believe that thats a mistake the United Nations says the death toll from the fighting in Eastern Ukraine has now exceeded 5,000. The separatists are getting more territory, and their leader says he will not take part in ceasefire talks. Charlie stratford reports. Reporter we followed a rebel escort and headed north out of donetsk. The rebels at this check point said we could go no further. Ukrainian military has retreated from this village only hours before we arrived. The rebels were in control now. This is about 30 kilometers north of donetsk, and up until yesterday it was occupied by the ukrainian army. All that remains of the ukrainian armys presence here are the bunkers, and their dead. Ukrainian military equipment, a few personal belongings are scattered around the bunkers and trenches they had dug. Its my motherland i fight for it. There were injured soldiers we tried to help them. Reporter this video he shot of ukrainian soldiers they had taken as prisoners of war, he says. Translator i want to put this on the internet so their families know they are still live. Reporter he takes us to a house and shows us ga freety he says was written by the ukrainian soldiers. It reads russia alcoholics get out. Reporter there are still a few People Living amid the destruction, most are reluctant to talk. I dont support either side. I just want peace. This lady tells me. As we prepare to leave, explosions could be heard in the distance. The rebels say they expect Ukrainian Forces to try to retake the village at anytime. Charles stratford al jazeera. The heard of libyas Militia Group has died from injuries he suffered while fighting in benghazi. He was admitted into hospital after fighting Government Troops several months ago. He fought against forces loyal to the late libyan heard in 2011. The following year he founded the militia, which has a presence in a number of libyan cities. Egypts president has said he would like to see the case against three al jazeera journalists resolved. Our colleagues have been imprisoned in egypt for 391 days. Mohammed fahmy peter greste and Baher Mohamed were falsely accused of colluding with the outlawed outlawed muslim brotherhood. Charges they deny. Translator we have no interest to put any citizen under detention outside of the rule of law. But there is pint also that i would like to highlight here which we are trying very hard after four years of tush lance to regain the rule of law. At the World Economic forum, a few throw people are in davos to discuss challenges. Adrian finighan is also there. What has been discussed today adrian. Well let me give you a flavor of some of the sessions that we have seen here today. Discussions on transportation russia, Global Governance keeping worldwide in the worldwide web, india, poverty and displacement education, latin america, employment middle east security and peace. And thats just a snapshot. Among the high profile names speaking here today, john kerry, u. S. Secretary of state, he gave a speech on the horrors of extremism. And president francois hollande. And the finance ministers of germany and spain, and right now bill and Melinda Gates are speaking. We also have the u. N. Secretary general here. He was talking about one of the hot topics here this year Climate Change. He called for 2015 to be a year of action on Climate Change. The french president also touched on Climate Change too. He was calling for greater Global Investment in Greener Technology as a way to halt Climate Change. He hosts a crucial u. N. Climate conference at the end of this year 2015. Earlier today i spoke to [ inaudible ] she is the head of the Framework Convention on Climate Change at the u. N. I asked her about her hopes given the chaotic nature of the preliminary talks in lima last year. It is actually going to be the culmination of several years of effort of all 194 countries of the world to come together to an agreement that is going to combine the collaborative effort of the world, of all countries, of corporations of the Financial Sector to address Climate Change. Thats not going to be easy. But it is very very evident that this has now gone beyond something that is only the responsibility of governments and also needs to have the support and impetus from the corporate sector. So thats what this conversation is all about. So many times the Climate Change conferences almost reach a deal. Is there going to be a dealing at then of the year . We have had five Climate Change conferences in a row all of which reached the agreement planned for that moment. All five years leading up to this we have been able to reach difficult, but in the end the agreement that was needed. Of course as you say, the final agreement on what the structure is going to be for the next 20, 30, 40 years of addressing Climate Change that is on the plan for paris, and yes, i do think they will reach that. Why . For many different reasons. A, the technologies are coming down in price, investment is going up political will is going up and there is a draft text on the line. That is a very different situation to what we had in 2009 in copenhagen where we didnt have a draft text. So one year ahead of time we have a draft text. We heard the u. N. Secretary generals comments on Climate Change. What are you doing here . This is my first davos, so it is not a recent invention, but it is a very concerted effort on the part of the u. N. Climate secretary secretary secretary to reach out to others. Its a very much of a financial issue and corporate sector issue. And davos allows you to have those conversations in one place. And thats why im here. Reporter the u. N. Secretary general said an agreement later this year would set our lives and world on course for a Better Future but given the chaotic nature of those talks in lima last year not everyone shares her optimism in spite of an agreement between the u. S.