>> only on al jazeera america. gunmen attack a hotel populated with tourists in the libyan capitol of tripoli. 11 people are reportedly killed. ♪ hello, i'm darren jordan you are watching al jazeera lye from doha. also on the program, u.s. president barack obama arrives in awed -- saudi arabia to pay his respects to the team. argentina's president decides to disban our intelligence agency accusing rogue spies of trying to

undermine her. ♪ we're getting reports that a siege at a popular hotel in the libyan capitol is now over. earlier i spoke to al jazeera's correspondent who was on the scene in tripoli. >> the situation is very tense here where the attacks happened that killed four persons including a filipino national and three libyans and injured 11 people. now security forces here are besieging the hotel. they say the operation to free the hotel and free the hostages inside the hotel is over and now they also say that they have managed to rescue eight american nationals who were inside the hotel when the attack first happened. as we know report is coming from these security forces say that the attackers were three and

they designated a car bomb in front of the main gate and after that they got into the hotel and went right away to the -- the upper floor, where they engaged in by using hand grenades and engaged in exchanging fire with the security apparatus here in the hotel. they also used ak 47s and they used [ inaudible ]. now the security apparatus say that experts are checking these explosives. they have prevented any media to work in front of or inside the hotel, because they said they need to check first the explosives and make sure it does not pose any danger. >> and just to remind our viewers, this is supposed to be one of the most safest hotels in the capitol. >> reporter: exactly, as you

know the security situation is not very well prepared here in tripoli, especially with many armored groups are -- are [ inaudible ] in the same line of the capitol and around the capitol of tripoli. this hotel was very well-known to host diplomatic missions and the international delegates after the latest series of attacks from the foreign embassies and international mission here. but the -- talking about security situation here in tripoli, it is -- it was not that difficult for the attackers to get into the hotel, especially to use a car bomb to pave the way for them to get into the hotel. iraq's minister of transport says the shots fired at a plane landing at bagdad's international airport were accidentally. they were said to come from a

iraqi training camp nearby. >> reporter: a senior member of the iraqi parliamentary security committee says they have been told by iraqi officials that the gunfire was a result of live fire exercises by iraqi security forces in the complex around the airport. this is a huge complex, and includes training for special forces and others. but it raises more questions than it actually answers, and a lot of the airlines that have suspended their flights want those questions answered before they decide to fly back in. security has improved around bagdad and it is thought to have been secure around the airport compared to a few months ago before iraqi security forces moved in with shia militias to dispel parts of isil around the airport and the perimeters of bagdad. security officials and analysts say this doesn't appear to be a major threat but it is

certainly very worrying to airlines passengers and businesses that operate around here. u.s. president barack obama has arrived in saudi arabia to meet the new king salman bin abdulaziz al-saud. obama cut short his visit to india to pay respects to the king's family. sheehab from washington's point of view how significant is the trip? >> reporter: what we're hearing is this is not just an opportunity to pay respects to the late king but really to get a measure of the new king king salman to see what he wants to do now. there has been some [ inaudible ] about his state of health and there have long been rumors that he has dementia and long denied by saudi arabia.

so it will be interesting to see his state of health. we see though that president obama has put together very hastily an enormous delegation to accompany him, including john kerry, various national security advisors, the commander of central command, various bipartisan members of congress john mccain, james baker, condoleezza rice so really an enormous delegation to show their respect. the topics we understand -- well they are pretty self explanatory, syria, iran saudi is unhappy with the negotiations with iran. yemen, and the houthi takeover. and the islamic state of course. what we were told wasn't been on the agenda is human rights.

nor indeed oil prices which some could have expected would be on the agenda. but it's a very brief visit, only about four hours, then they will all head back to the states. >> as you say the relationship has been strained on issues like syria and iran. can this visit reset the relationship? >> reporter: well, i think a reset maybe asking too much for one dinner and four hours. there are different levels there is cooperation on the islamic state. although here in washington there is concern about whether money is going towards jihadi groups from saudi arabia. there is a fascinating talk given by a senior member of the defense department -- the under secretary of defense for intelligence last week he was

talking about yenman who was talking about there's cooperation between the u.s. and yemen houthis. which isn't probably going to take saudi arabia happy. and he said last week now, quote, the tough part is talking sense to the saudis and getting them to agree to more influence in yemen for the houthis. obviously barack obama is looking towards his legacy with that deal in iran so there were complicated discussions ahead. but there is this level of pragmatism isn't there? a case by case basis in this relationship. it's no longer that sort of -- that strong commitment on everything. >> all right. thank you. now in the last hour greece east new prime minister alex siprus has announced his cabinet. we understand the cabinet has now been announced. what is it going to tell us

about the direction greece will take going forward? >> reporter: i think the most salient point about this cabinet is it consisted almost entirely of stead-fast leftists. the affiliation has remained on the left. they have never been to other parties closer to the center. there have been left-wing ministers in the government before but there are often people who have laundered through the socialist party. this is the first time you have a clutch of stead-fast leftist formally from the communist party of greece. but are still firmly on the left. that's the first and most salient point that emerges. the second is that in the very sensitive central post of the finance ministry the development ministry which is so important to greece after six

years of recession, the foreign ministry so important to greece after a series of years in which its relationship with the rest of europe has been badly batters, but it also faces difficult situations on its eastern fringe. you have academics, intellectuals, people in some cases affiliated with the party, but in some cases have been relative newcomers to it therefore, one is inclined to observe that their affiliation with the parties based on -- on merit and their intellectual and conviction-based closeness to its positions, rather than because they are considered a safe pair of hands. so those are the main two observations. >> john thank you. aragain -- argentina's

president has moved to disband the spy agency faiz jamil has more. >> reporter: after more than a week of controversy, and protests, argentina's president has announced a major shakeup in the intelligence agency. >> i have taken the decision for the secretaryate to be dissolved. the replacement will be appointed by the executive but will require the agreement of the senate to be able to function. >> reporter: the prosecutor was found dead in his apartment last week a day before he was supposed to testify at an inquiry into the 1994 bombing of a jewish center. he spent a decade investigating

the attack which killed 85 people. he accused the president in involvement with a cover up. some analysts say the powerful domestic spy agency operates with too much autonomy and has a murky history. >> translator: no one is going to blackmail me. no one is going to intimidate me. i am not afraid of them. they can say what they like. make the accusations that they want to. let the judges call me. may the prosecutors denounce me. it doesn't bother me. but they are not going to move me. >> reporter: police are continuing their investigation into the death of the prosecutor and a bill to revamp the spy agency will be sent to congress. it will restrict the contact and influence between government officials and the new zealand. faiz jamil al jazeera. still to come on the program, a bumpy ride for

russia's economy, why experts have labeled its investment status junk. and we'll look at how indonesia's new president has performed so far. more on that. stay with us.

♪ welcome back. a quick reminder of the top stories here on al jazeera. a siege at a popular hotel in tripoli is now over. gunmen stormed the hotel. eleven people, including three attackers are reported dead.

the iraq' minister said shots fired at a plane were accidental. greece's new prime minister has officially announced his cabinet after being sworn in on monday. his new finance minister now has the job of talking to the european union. now russia's economy has had a rough 24 hours. the u.s. credit rating standard and poor stripped the country of its status on monday. >> reporter: and the bad news just keeps on coming. shoppers in moscow already squeezed by sanctions, now looking on as the country's credit rating tumbled into junk status. >> reporter: i don't see any actions of the government. everything they say and write

remains on the page. i don't see anything being done to get life back to normal. >> reporter: the realization that it is going to get worse before it gets better. >> reporter: i think it's going to continue for several years. we are going to fall further behind then we will try to crawl out of it and that's going to take many years. >> reporter: downgrading the credit rating to junk will further batter the country's global image. so what are junk bonds? if an american investor purchases $1 million of russian bonds back in june of last year those bonds would now be worth $262,000. that's a 74% loss in an investment made just six months ago. junk. thomas is a market strategist for a major russian bank. he says the hit on the country's credit status will have a damaging effect. >> i think it's a very difficult

situation, and i think there is an acceptance that russian growth this year will contract quite sharply, and indeed that's probably one of the main concerns of the credit ratings agencies. it's the fact that at the moment monetary policy and the policy of the central bank of russia is very restricted at the moment. >> reporter: the russian president was remarkably upbeat in a press conference. but putin's outlook continuing increasingly increasingly faulty. >> reporter: we have breaking news coming out of yemen where the president has been released by houthi fighters. hashem how significant is this development, him being released? and remind us about the background of his abduction in the first place. >> well he was quite instrumental over the last few weeks. he is a close aid to president

hadi. and he was abducted last week by houthi fighters. they accuse him of -- they said when they arrested him, they -- they found in his phone, he -- he saved a phone conversation with the president where they were both colluding to try to undermine the houthis in their near future. this is the same man who was appointed to become yemen's prime minister a new months ago, but the houthis rejected it saying we don't trust this man, this man seems to be an ally of the americans. now that he has been now released by the houthis, this could be seen as a first step towards reconciliation because the president hadi in the past had said you have to release my chief of staff. but there are ministers who are still under house arrest. if they are also allowed to go

home we can see these as parts of a confidence-building measure. >> as you say, hashem it's a positive step but there is however, this worrying power vacuum in yemen. the president has resigned. so who is in charge if anybody? >> there is no one in charge for the time being, except for the envoy from the united nations who is trying to negotiate a new deal. the houthis have recently come up with a new idea of setting up a presidential council lead by [ inaudible ] but where they have more say. but this -- this has been so far rejected by most of the political factions and by hadi himself. >> you have reported expensively from yemen, how dangerous in terms of the bigger picture, how dangerous is the instability in

yemen and the wider area as a whole. >> well if the situation continues, you might see yemen disintegrate disintegrating. they are moving their fighters towards those areas. if the south breaks away, the [ inaudible ] will disintegrate and you will see more violence. one of the groups to take advantage of this situation is likely al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula. and neighboring countries will be concerned about violence spilling over the border. so it's a very delicate situation now for the yemenease the international community. >> thank you very much. kurdish defense troops celebrated a victory after four months of fighting for control of kobani. some residents have decided to return although fighting continues in nearby areas.

tens of thousands fled the fighting after isil launched an offensive in september and took control of most of kobani. human rights groups say police killed dozens of protesters last week. they demonstrating against changes to election laws. malcolm webb reports the government has also been criticized for clamping down on press readings. >> reporter: this is a popular television journalist here in the capitol. he hosts a talk show critical of the government. he shows us where he was covering the violent anti-government demonstrations last week. demonstrators think the president is trying to change election laws to extend his rule. these protesters were pleased to see him there, but after that he says he was stopped by a police major. >> translator: he took the cam ma and then fired his gun next

to my head. he took the camera in the police car. he has forcibly taken by property. >> reporter: the intimidation doesn't end there. this television station has been off of the air for more than a week. it is owned by an opposition politician. the manager accuses the government of switching it off, because it broadcast the opposition's call for protest. >> translator: the government says we must have democracy, but we can't have that without freedom of the press. since they closed us down it mean there is no democracy and no freedom of the press. >> reporter: during the protests, government also shut down the internet and text messaging services. radio france international was switched off for a day too. this tv station belongs to the catholic church. its transmitters have also been switched off by the government. it's normally seen as being more neutral than the stations that belong to politicians, but the

priests who run it think it was switched off because they also air calls for demonstrations. >> reporter: there were dozens more demonstration stations still on air but they had to close them to prevent violence and looting. >> we can't accept to use television stations to call people to commit criminal offense. if you do so we stop you. that is our responsibility. >> reporter: back at the tv station, technicians pass the time watching football. the government says the closed tvs will be back online soon. malcolm webb al jazeera, in the democratic republic of congo. the indonesia president was elected as a so-called man of the people but just 100 days into office and his popularity is already falling.

>> reporter: he started his presidency with a bang. the president ordered a sinking of fishing boats that entered indonesian waters illegally. his neighbors in asia were not amused. but at home the president received public support for being firm. >> translator: our fisherman are catching a lot more fish now. nobody dares toen tur our waters people. when i gave orders to sink the ships at first nothing happened. i had to give the order three times for the november -- nav i have. >> reporter: and that lead to the execution of five drug dealers. and his fuel subsidies have also played well but many indonesians have not been impressed by his drive to clean up the country's institutions which including the nomination

of a police chief widely believed to be involved in corruption. >> i think his main failure is he a political pragmatist and he is willing to so call deal with the devil, meaning he would be compromising on certain issues at the expense of grander ideas, and the problem is now -- the question is how many devils is he willing to deal with. >> reporter: it is the country's first president who does not come from the elite, although his ordinary background helped him to be elected, it does not provide him with a strong power base. volunteers who helped him during the campaign are now warning him not to bend to political pressure. >> translator: we know he is under a lot of pressure. a lot of people with vested interests are making it very difficult for him. we are volunteers want one thing, a better indonesia.

>> reporter: the president has been given five years to show he can improve life for indonesians, but many will want to see some results a lot sooner. already in his first 100 days. the president who is known as a man of the people is being tested. while many in indonesia are giving him the benefit of the doubt, others are wondering if he has enough power to push for the changes he promised. very few organizations can say they have averted 7 million deaths in the last 15 years. but the global health partnership says it has done just that. and now it's bringing together donors for a meeting in berlin to ask for money to continue their operations. tarek bazley explains. >> reporter: childhood vaccinations have long been identified as a cost-effective way to improve the health of a population. but for many of the world's poorest countries, that cost is

still too high. and that's why the gavvy alliance was started. many other organizations, u.n. agencies governments, the vaccine industry private companies too, now back the organization. it's goal is to find the resources to improve access to vaccine for children living in the world's poorest countries. and since 2000 it says it has vaccinated 500 million children and prevented more than 7 million deaths. [ applause ] >> reporter: now members of the alliance have been meeting in berlin hoping to get enough money for the next five years. >> we have eradicated smallpox 95% reduction in measles. stronger economies as a result. this is the power of vaccines no other intervention touches so

many lives on earth. >> reporter: but the charity doctors without borders which vaccinates hundreds of thousands of people in poor countries each year says it doesn't get access to the cheaper vaccines instead it is forced to pay much higher prices and as a result children miss out. >> some of the best most important new vaccines to save children's lives are being rolled out in some low-income countries with gavvy support. but the prices of these vaccines are not sustainable, and we truly believe they can go much lower. >> reporter: if it gets the money it is looking for, it says 300 million children can be vaccinated in the next five years. and this will allow it to build on its already successful start. tarek bazley al jazeera.

now, a quick reminder you can keep up to date with all of the news on our website. there it is. all of the latest on the siege in tripoli, and release of the yemen chief of staff. aljazeera.com. that's aljazeera.com. stay tuned. >> the us is now the world's largest oil and gas producer in part because of what's happening here in north dakota where advances in fracking have unlocked crude oil in the bakken shale formation in the western part of the state. north dakota is now producing more than a million barrels of oil a day. ten years ago there were fewer than 200 oil-producing wells in the bakken. now there are more than 8,000. >> they call it boomtown usa this is where all the money is. it's crazy the amount of money you can make here. >> this rapid pace of development and the flood of workers coming here, has given north dakota the lowest unemp