tv News Al Jazeera January 13, 2016 10:00pm-11:01pm EST
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country as a refugee. stand down. the danish parliament debates a controversial plan to seize anything of value from refugees seek asylum. and on the attack. syrian force he advance with the help of russian air strikes as presidents putin and obama discuss the growing humanitarian crisis. good evening, i'm antonio mora, this is al jazeera america's international news hour. tonight we begin with iran's release of a group of u.s. sailors. the nine men and one woman were detained by iranian forces. iran says the american forces had entered the iranian area.
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one of the sailors said it was a mistake and misunderstanding on the part of the u.s. crew. they were freed early this morning. secretary of state john kerry praised tehran's handling of the incident. said it would have no effect on the pending nuclear deal with iran. rosiland jordan reports from washington. >> at first glance this video from the iranian military is mom news. ten u.s. navy sailors being detained in the gulf. their patrol boats being searched and the crew waiting to learn its fate. but on wednesday morning the crisis was over, the soldiers handed back to the u.s. >> and i think we can all imagine how a similar situation may have played out three or four years ago. and in fact, it is clear that
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today, this kind of issue was able to be peacefully resolved. >> reporter: kerry was alluding to the fact that he and foreign minister mohammed javad zarif talked at least five times on tuesday to resolve the situation. the pentagon says the crew had experienced mechanical problems with one of its boats and float intermediate iranian waters. bun but iran at first accused the sailors of suspicious behavior and local press said they had been arrested. however vested interest in tamping down the rhetoric, over the nuclear deal between iran and the international community. >> the parties will be resolved especially the united states, and for the time being the iranian forces, the irgc commanders don't want to take any unnecessary risk. >> the deal will ease sanctions on iran if it dismantles its
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nuclear weapons program and may be a reason why the u.s. isn't making a big deal from one of the sailors on iranian tv. >> it was a mistake, our fault and we apologize for our mistake. the iranian behavior was fabulous while we were here, we thank you very much for your assistance. >> not an official policy and wasn't sure whether this was a violation of international treaties. >> generally speaking you are not supposed to show images of detained or prisoners at war. >> showing videos and sailors is not a violation of the geneva convention. they add with so many critical issues facing these countries letting the situation go may be in both their interest. rosiland jordan, al jazeera, washington. >> joining us the executive director of the american iranian council an. glad to have you here.
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what do you think happened? was this simply an accident, sailors stray intermediate iranian waters? >> we know this was protocol. the boats entered iranian waters, for mechanical problems or navigational problems may not be clear but the good news is, the revolutionary guard once they saw the americans and talked to them they came to realize that there was actually some type of navigational problem with their boats. so they could address the issue quite quickly then. >> but then why did iranian officials at first accuse the sailors of suspicious behavior and iranian press accounts said they had been arrested? >> here is quite important where those statements came from. as you know within iran there is quite a wide spectrum of political thought and understanding on what's going on. anything american entering iranian waters could be a suspicion because of the marred
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relations for over three decades because of that marred lens. >> there is no indication that the sailors were treated poorly but at the same time, and it was said they were not treated as prisoners but when you look at some of the video, they are shown on the ground with hands over their heads or sitting on the ground in not a comfortable position. it's not that they were received well either. >> there is a balance. they are taken unsuspicion, this could be one thing. any case, even if it was an iranian boat entering into american waters i would assume they would go through the same protocol making sure they are not armed the land would be no retaliation. keep in mind the united states and iran have a very troubled history ever relations so there is a troubled history on both sides. >> the sanctions are about to be lifted so it is understandable
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they don't want any conflict. but at the same time, why allow this to get even a little bit out of hand, especially the timing when the president of the united states was going to tout the iranian nuclear deal as one of his accomplishments in the state of the union address? >> there are missteps. this case in a multilateral setting as you mentioned, the implementation take for the agreement is coming up imminent. and so there is a lot at stake and we have to make sure that the spoilers who are still there are not happy about the nuclear deal are not given basically a free ride in making sure this is done. >> and there are spoilers on both sides. >> on both sides yes. >> and leaders on both sides at the same time are also saying that the reason this was resolved so swiftly is because of the nuclear agreement and because of the fact that there are these new diplomatic channels. do you agree? >> i 100% agree with that. if this was three or four years
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ago, there was no direct channel between iran and the united states. here secretary of state john kerry picked up the phone and called his counterpart in tehran. this is where the magic can happen in terms of a diplomatic approach to resolve an issue before it gets out of hand. if there is no direct communication not just this event, many more down the line could end up in very difficult. >> but talking about just this event dploaks onl diplomacy onlo far. bought there are a handful of americans held by iranians. >> in the iranian case they are only considered iranian. >> robert levinson is not a dual citizen. >> i agree with you. the only way we can resolve the fate of these who are in iran, not just americans, iranians who are held in united states jails, there needs to be a
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rapprochement. >> do you think that will happen? >> i hope so. i'm not sure what will ahappen in the elections coming up in the united states, the next president his or her position on foreign policy the hope is that the train has left after years of animosity and there is now a precedence that diplomacy can resolve difficult issues between two countries even united states and iran. so in that sense i'm hopeful and all of these small successes may they be on the navy today, or maybe in implementation of the nuclear deal and also possibly u.s. iran cooperations on an array of issues, may they be in afghanistan, in syria, in yemen and on the security of the per shall gulf that is so important for global energy supplies. >> always good to have you with us. good to see you. >> thank you. >> as the iranian nuclear deal nears completion, some thorny
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issues still need to be resolved. one concerns the 1983 bombing of the marine corps barracks in beirut. so far the victims have received none of the judgment they received, froze be in the united states. lawyers for iran's central bank argued that a law used to pass the judgment was illegal. andrew simmons has more. >> on the approach to an ancient egyptian obelisk where the tourist died a solemn group led by prime minister aimmediate davutoglu, the interior ministers of turkey also present. there is a serene feeling here, the whole area has been cleaned up. red flowers are the only visual
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signs of death. no blast damage apart from some wood gouged out of a seat. turkey's government blames i.s.i.l. for the attack. saying it's the organization's third bombing in the country, and the first aimed at foreigners. the suicide bomber has been named by security forces as nabil fadley, a syrian citizen. he is said to have given his fingerprints in istanbul only week ago after an illegal border crossing. it was only hours after the blast that the police say they were able to identify him from his fingerprints. they say he wasn't an i.s.i.l. suspect. one of the most historic places in the world an attack on turkey's tourist industry with foreigners dead. it all sends a chilling message. and a realization of the colossal task facing security
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and intelligence agencies. some tourists appear defiant although many are staying away. >> life here goes on. and if we let this sort of attack like impact or daily lives, i think we are giving in to the threat altogether. i'd rather stay confident and live our lives well. >> i don't feel like going to the place, so yeah, there might be an issue from my side, yeah. >> turkey's interior minister with his visiting german counterpart alongside announced the arrest of one suspected accomplice and described how many i.s.i.s. arrests have been made recently. >> translator: 3318 people have been detained over links to islamic state and other radical groups since the beginning of the syrian conflict. one person was arrested following the investigation after yesterday's attack.
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>> as the morning begins for germans who lost their lives on a package tour in this historic setting, the leadership here is calling for foreign governments to show more solidarity and cooperation with turkey in its fight against i.s.i.l. andrew simmons, al jazeera, istanbul. an explosion and gun battle in afghanistan killed seven members of the afghan security forces. this happened in the eastern city of jalalabad and began when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the pakistani consulate. two others were also killed, a branch of i.s.i.l. claimed responsibility for the attack which is comes amid efforts to restart stalled peace talks with the taliban. in pakistan a suicide bomber killed 15 people outside a polio vaccination center. the attack appeared to attack security forces who were there to protect the facility while a door to door vaccination drive was being prepared. two separate groups have claimed
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responsibility for the blast one with ties to i.s.i.l, another to the taliban. pairs cafe reopened, the karillon cafe was one of a handful of public place instruct by the group. two others have already reopened. the french capital is trying to revive tourism after a decline of visitors following the last akerrs. >> president obama spoke with russian president vladimir putin on the phone today, the 22 leaders discussed the need for a diplomatic solution to a five year conflict. the united nations envoy to syria says the talks are still on track with peace talks expected to begin on january 25th. as paul tradergian reports. >> devastation as far as the eye can see, buildings toppled more
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than 100 killed, ambulances taking away the injured. >> translator: we helped recover a lot of bodies. there were many more hurt. >> reporter: syrian state tv says this armada attack is part of a push to cut off idlib province held by rebels, the babahawa crossing on the turkish border then reclain idlib. >> translator: it was a matter of seconds. everything turned upside down. rockets and smoke everywhere. the young men started recovering the dead bodies. >> reporter: syrian tv says the government troops have recaptured the town of salma, one of the last rebel front lines, russian war planes have carried out more than 120 air strikes in 48 hours to support the syrian army's offensive. since the russian air offensive began in september there have
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been more than 5,000 air strikes. russian air strikes are also reported to have targeted the suburbs of aleppo city. human rights groups say killing at least 12 children and their teacher. >> translator: when the plane hit the school there were many markers. this class suffered the most and the teacher was killed. >> reporter: in the country side surrounding the capital damascus, syrian armed forces helicopters have dropped barrel bombs, at least a dozen barrel bombs were dropped on residential neighborhoods and east of damascus at least three children and four adults were reportedly killed when government forces shelled a neighborhood in duma. home video posted by civil defense is reported to show a wounded child pulled from under the rubble. now surpassed a quarter-million.
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talks to try end the five year war are scheduled for later this month in geneva. paul tradergian, al jazeera. controversial proposals to keep refugees out of denmark. the extremes some lawmakers are willing to go to that are now being compared to tactics used by the nazis. and the self proclaimed patriots patrolling the streets of finland, according to them, to protect natives from immigrants.
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the alleged bottoalleged bomber, ala man claiming to be a i.s.i.l. smuggler, helping fighters infiltrate turkey. >> reporter: a student in northern syria makes a journey to the northern border crossing. a journey he has madeful times y times. a possibility to leave many times for the right amount of money. >> i don't need a larger amount to travel through official border. >> going the other way appears to be true, al jazeera spoark to
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another person who says he is a smig her. >> if you want to go the legal way it will be 75 to 100 turkish lira. he walks next to the trucks. he gives 1,000 her 1,000 lira te driver, and it will be okay. >> this man says he is a former i.s.i.l. smuggler who provided weapons in syria for fighters in chech nachechnya and dagestan. >> it's like daesh is sitting in a room with no windows but one door. even if turkey closes the door a little daesh won't break down that door because they still hope in the following days turkey will open the door fully. >> in syria it's been 100
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kilometers stretch to the east of here along the border that is effectively the front door to turkey and europe for i.s.i.l. fighters. the united states had called on the turkish government to station a 30,000 strong border patrol there but turkey said it couldn't afford the spare troops. so for business for the network of i.s.i.l. smugglers remains brisk. the network of smugglers for i.s.i.l. seems very organized. >> translator: totally. groups come freely into istanbul. they travel by bus not planes. where three meet up, there is a man responsible for managing hotel bookings and their transparent and another for entry -- transport and another into entry into syria. >> since the istanbul attack the interior minister says turkey is committed to tracking down i.s.i.l. sympathizers as part of the government's antiterrorism
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operation. >> a week after the attacks 120 thunde120,000 were suspected. a significant number are foreign fighters. >> sealing the border completely is a tall order for turkey. it's the first port of call for syrians trying to escape the humanitarian disaster of the civil war. if the istanbul attack is a sign of increase in snrn insurgent attacks, then turkey may have to consider closing the border completely. sue turtin, al jazeera. the right to seize possessions and valuable from refugees, the u.n.'s refugee agency called it a xenophobic policy akin to nazi war criminals during world war ii.
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a law meant to discourage refugees from going to denmark. >> translator: with the bill under consideration today the government wants to further tighten the conditions. it should be markedly less attractive to go to denmark. >> the bill is widely expected to pass when lawmakers vote in two weeks. al jazeera's lawrence lee has more from copenhagen. >> getting hard erd in future. would be asylum seekers who present here, will provide the contents of their rucksacks. refugees here will have to wait three years before their families can join them. for people from kobani, that means more than losing her rings from her fingers. >> i don't want to lose my things she said. but if it meant my family was safe i'd pay anything.
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if my family can't come, kobani's not safe. it's only that denmark says it can't cope with the numbers. the breakdown inside the european union means the government in denmark joining countries like poland and hungary enacting laws that means people can't come in. the laws aren't enough, they would like to go after refugees bank accounts as well. >> well, the message is quite clear. if you want to come to europe, you should stay clear of denmark because we are refining the rules and if we have the opportunity to send you back then we will send you back. >> a good half of danish society is horrified of this. where is the denmark that helped the jews escape nazis in world war ii, what has happened to denmark's pride? this placard reads, you can take
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the gold out of my teeth for a decent denmark. no doubt there's an intentional shock value to many of these new laws but many are asking themselves if it doesn't demean a country as rich as this to be acting as a source of pawn broker, taking the rings off refugees fingers in order to process their asylum claims. forcing families to have to wait three years before being reunited is against human rights law and they will try to challenge it. more importantly they wonder how impoverishing refugees further will help them find a new life here. >> making them poor is not helpful for immigration process. they cannot invite their neighbors to a party. they cannot take part in -- they cannot send their children to football because they need to pay a fee, et cetera, et cetera. so they can actually not integrate themselves without having the same amount of money as other danish people have in
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the same situation. >> reporter: it's worth pointing out that those who do get asylum do get treatied really well like these syrian children being taught danish. lawrence lee, copenhagen. >> in finland a newly formed citizens watch is now on patrol. especially in the looout for pluwalkerring the streets but ty say they will not tolerate vigilantes. stranded cuban migrants get a new opportunity to make it to the united states. the pilot program that is helping them get past closed borders. and venezuela's opposition party makes a concession to end the struggle over the new national assembly.
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>> welcome back to al jazeera america, i'm antonio mora. the world economic forum has revoked its invitation to north korea for its upcoming meeting in switzerland. the development comes open the day when south korea called for the toughest possible sanctions on its neighbor. the tensions have been strong ever since north korea claimed to have tested a hydrogen bomb.
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harry fawcett reports. >> on the day that north korea said they sent shots to deter a drone, promising tough sanctions against pyongyang for its nuclear bomb tests last week. earlier south korea's president made her annual new year address to the nation said the fourth nuclear test required a tougher international response than in other years. she expected china to act accordingly at the u.n. >> translator: i'm certain that china is very well aware if such a strong will isn't followed by necessary steps we will not be able to stop north's fifth and sixth nuclear test and we cannot guarantee troop ease and stability of the korean peninsula. a move long opposed by china. >> translator: when one
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country succeeds on security it must consider the security interest of other countries and regional peace and stability. at present the situation on the korean peninsula is very sensitive. >> reporter: in pyongyang the fourth nuclear test remains a triumph. stayed video shows kim jong-un. >> president park and her fellow leaders, north korea has publicly repeatedly vowed its intention of pursuing nuclear weapons as a matter of national priority. harry fawcett, al jazeera, seoul. a group of prodemocracy activists from hong kong are heading to taiwan to witness this weekend's elections, politicians students and participants in hong kong's 2014 umbrella protests.
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biggest challenge to communist china in years. voters in taiwan go to the polls on saturday. the chinese government regards taiwan as a break away province. 180 cuban migrants who were strand fled costa rica have now been allowed to continue their journey to settle into the united states. earlier today they were bussed into mexico. they now have 20 days to make their way north to the united states. it is part of a pilot program developed by washington and central american nations to allow migrants to travel freely to america. >> i'm pleased to announce that we have plans to expand the u.s. refugee admissions program in order to help vulnerable families and individuals from el salvador, guatemala and honduras, and offer them a safe and legal alternative to the dangerous journey that many are tempted to begin. making them at that instant easy prey for human smugglers who
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have no interest but their own profits. >> al jazeera's adam rainey have more from mexico where the migrants arrived earlier in the day. >> back on their way, the first of nearly 8,000 cuban migrants are headed north again. they are part of a pilot program that includes a chart erd flight anered flightand bus. their first step, el salvador, every month authorities register thousands of salvadorns deported from the us. if the program is a success, flights could follow maybe two a day. >> i am sad because i wish all of us could have made it here today because we are all cubans and want to move forward. i suspect they must be on route
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but we cannot all leave at the same time. >> on the road again, and overnight trip to mexico. they have all paid for bus tickets visas and travel insurance. they make it to their first land border, guatemala, they don't even have to get off the buses. the vip treatment includes high level escorts. >> they would be paying a lot more and walking. >> finely day break. new sights seen. and a chance to take a short pit stop on a guatemalan highway. >> translator: here we are, we have survived everything and we achieved our dream. >> once here, the charter stops and they have to make it on their own to the mexican border. >> they've explained but we're
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not sure how to do it. >> this plan put in place by central american countries got this far to the mexican border but now potentially most dangerous part of their journey begins, as they cross through mexico, many of them on their own. adam rainey, al jazeera, mexican border. mimmiami is home to one of e biggest cuban communities. roxana saberi puts it in could be text. >> we have six beds over there. >> you're going to put bunk beds in there? >> yes. >> alicia says she's running out of time to turn this compound into home for cuban hie migrant. >> how many do you expect? >> 20. >> stranded in costa rica for a
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month. valdez, a cuban migrant herself, is in touch every day. she says groups like her nonprofit agency are not prepared to support so many so fast. >> i don't receive any help from the city, from the state, from nobody. the only help we are receiving is from the community. >> reporter: is this a crisis? >> yes. >> reporter: south florida is already home to the largest number of cubans outside cuba. thousands have fled here in the past year alone. many fearing that as relations improve between wash and havana their window to get special immigration status in the u.s. will close. miami mayor tomas regalado. >> the agencies are telling us mayor we cannot take any more people. we are running out of funds. we're running out of places to
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house them. >> reporter: this area has accepted thousands just in the past year so what's a few thousand more? >> it's not human for us as a city to have people living in the streets for several weeks just waiting for their papers. >> but miami-dade county official curtis summerhoff says the area is prepared. especially since all migrants won't come at the same time or at the same place. >> we have a lot of ability to absorb a population or in case of the migrant population we're talking about, quite well here. >> when you hear somebody saying that this is a crisis, or that they're worried about this influx, are they exaggerating? >> i don't know if it's exaggerating for mayor in the circumstances in the city of miami. we have this expectation that the federal government is going to make sure that the money and
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services are here to support these folks. >> reporter: how confident are you that the federal government will step in? >> i am not confident at all. they have not responded to our calls. >> reporter: valdez agrees. so she is relying on these people like cuban immigrants from miami to step in with donations. >> i want to give back what i received when i got here. >> reporter: they leave her with the words, keep fighting. roxana saberi, al jazeera, miami. >> james cason is the mayor of coral gables, florida, a retired u.s. foreign services officer who served at the u.s. intersection in havana. mayor cason, good to see you. >> thank you. >> coral gables borders on little havana, thousands of cubans coming through central america and mexico, thousands coming over the sea. do you see the miami-dade area as being prepared?
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>> probably not. because we've had -- this year we've had 19,000 more cubans coming into the united states than before, and they basically want to come to the miami area so -- but they don't generally come to coral gables because our house he are too expensive. they'll probably go to high leeh around miami. there is an immigration plan implemented. i've talked to several of the other mayors, they're not sure how many are coming, are they all going to want to come here or elsewhere like new jersey. my guess is most will want to come to south florida. >> let's talk about the mess in central america. the migrants are being treated well, then they'll have a struggle from the mexican border to the united states. there is no question once they do arrive in the u.s. they will
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have residency rights? >> that's correct. all they have to do is show up at the border and say i'm cuban and they will be patrolled in and immigration will say see you later and within a year they can get papers and go on to be residents and duet federal funding. >> do you think we are going to continue to see the big influx of refugees fueled by the fear that the preferential treatment the cubans get under the normalization act? >> those privileges will eventually go away, but they are fleeing a dictatorship, look for better opportunities, economic principally, politically as well, and they'll look for any means possible to get out of cuba ca, whether it's marrying a
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foreigner, or whatever. >> on the costa rica nicaragua border, ecuador was a place cubans were flying to, authorized to get to the u.s., is now limiting how many cubans they are allowing in. it's ironic that the government is now treating themto so poorly. >> the reason we have so many this year is ecuador changed their policy, knowing full well they weren't going there as tourists because cubans don't have money for tourism. they were going to ecuador to begin the long journey to the united states. it is a good way to put pressure on the government to end the embargo with the threat of a mass of immigration which they've always used for political purposes. so if they're cutting it off now it's probably because they realize that a lot of their
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brains are leaving along with the others. >> right. because that's likely why ecuador and nicaragua closed the door in conjunction with the cuban government. what does this mean for u.s. cuba relations? the u.s. touted normalization as a part of the state of the union address, we have this report that cubans are holding on to a u.s. hell fire missile that was sent there accidentally. not a good sign. >> i've always held that diplomatic relations, cuba does not want normal relations from the united states. they always said they needed an enemy and we would be it. what they really want is our money and credit from the united states to buy things that they can't. but yes, they've not been behaving as you would expect certainly as a friendly country. they shipped arms secretly to north korea, they've got this missile and it's probably being
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sent around to iran and north korea and elsewhere. they've even asked the russians to allow them to base some of their ships there. they've opened up their espionage lordes center to listen to telephone communications up and down the east coast and they haven't returned all the fugutives from the welfare fraud, the hundreds of millions of dollars that have been shipped back to cuba. so yes, they are not behaving normally and i wouldn't have expected them to. >> coral gables mayor james cason, thank you. three legislators have stepped down in venezuela, the legislature had originally defied an order from the court to ban those politicians. argentina has resumed talks with foreign creditors on
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restructuring debt related to its default in 2001. it's one of the steps taken by the new president mauricio macri. daniel schweimler reports. >> freezing cold winter of new york where the first negotiations have taken place between the argentine government of president mauricio macri and the hedge funds of the united states which claim that something like $1.3 billion is owed to them, as a fallout from argentina's financial collapse in 2001-2002, when it defaulted on debts of about $100 billion. >> translator: i hope we can quickly deal with those debts we couldn't negotiate, when this is resolved we will have more energy more possibilities and more financing for those who want to invest, grow, and create
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work for argentinians. >> the former government of cristina kirchner, said they were immoral, illegal and they refused to pay them. the new government, the new finance min sister says that cost argentina daily, that failure to reach any kind of agreement with the hedge funds. he said that the country is willing to negotiate to find a solution to this problem, as soon as possible, that it will be a fair agreement, it will be a fair outcome, but between argentina's interest able to rebuild the economy to reach agreement with those hedge funds and put behind them the difficulties that the previous government faced with some of its most serious debtors. >> daniel schweimler in buenos aires. coming up, the european government is reviewing poland's
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assess operations by april 30th of this year. a statement from the company's ceo to employees to explain: al jazeera america has done a brilliant job with an unrivaled commitment to adjournment. journalism. al jazeera america launched on august 20th of 2013. in the last two and a half years the channel and its website have been honored you about an alfred dupont award, two emmys, an eppy and many others. the doha board released a press release stating its plans to expand digital presence in the
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united states. poland's right wing government for possible breaches of eu standards of democracy. push for control of the judiciary and state media violates europe's rule of law limits. many people who demonstrated in the streets of warsaw believe so. al jazeera's lawrence lee reports from poland's capital. >> for 24 years this charity tv show has been a staple of polish life. it looks like it may become the most high profile victim of the new government's media law. politician he have started asking whether it wouldn't be better for the money to be spent on a catholic charity instead. suddenly the man who started the whole thing who is a household name in poland is having to defend his praim against the pra claim that it's inconsistent with polish values. >> the values inside us are
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inside all poles, they can be happy but from time to time they can bear a grudge. i love this country and i think that here, love for this country is being expressed with full heart. >> reporter: the new law means the treasury minister gets to decide who runs the broadcast, somewhere like russian. russia. >> it's that serious. they are going to put us in the jail of their own ideas. they don't give the people any freedom. >> reporter: all this is an echo of what happened in hungary. it is not the only thing these eastern european countries have in common. about preserving traditional values in the time of threat. none of the changes that the government is introducing here would have been possible had it not been for the refugee crisis and in particular the nationalist surge that follows germany's response to it. the government here would say
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that it's changes to things like state television are a necessary attempt to bring back some sovereignty to poland inside the european union that has become too liberal. all these protestors would say that poland is in grave danger of losing its democracy. but in the face of warnings from brussels about all this the government has come back fighting. taking to the air waves to accuse germany of a double standard after its state media failed to report the attacks at cologne at new year. >> certain politicians boird wod about freedom of speech in poland which is not at threat. i would expect everyone to be judged by the same measures. >> reporter: the people here are now being bombarded with a political rhetoric that among other things accuses germany's leaders of being bombard he like
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poland, poland is refusing to be told what to do by berlin or by brussels. now to our global view segment with a look at how news outlets across the world are reacting to various events. president obama's state of the union address. the short on policy promises. it added the president has much to be produced domestically. health care, economic revival and social policy but successes in iran and cuba are balanced against a deteriorating relationship with russia and a middle east that is worse than before his termination. britain's the independent disagrees. says president obama's greatest legacy will be his foreign policy, but won't be apparent for years to come. the obama presidency has changed a role that america plays in the world. no longer the policeman but a collaborator and partner. britain's the guardian says,
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cultural strength of the u.s. a strong below against donald trump's campaign of fear and xenophobia. it adds, the looking forward is strongly opposed of trump's tag line of make america great again. globe and mail, shows lady liberty holding in a dark room from donald trump who is surging in the polls. big ploan i money in hollywl jazeera's rob reynolds reports. >> major hits in china like godzilla and pacific rim. china is fast overtaking the u.s. as the biggest movie making place on earth. and the biggest move yet by a chinese company into the u.s.
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entertainment industry. >> i think it's a good requisition for both legendary, and wa g-in because they are complementary. they provide needs for both. this is one plank in a world class company. >> the world's largest film and studio complex in china and recently brought major movie theater chains in the u.s. and australia. has close ties to the government in beijing, but likely the roster will be used to advance a political agenda. >> the led of legendary has been quite forward in his saying he's already talked to film makers, isays it's not going to fit the product or our existing deals. >> films in legendary's pipeline include another remake of king
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kong. not only global ambitions but china's desire to exercise soft power in culture. dominant role in global media controlling 20% of the global film market by 2020. rob reynolds al jazeera, los angeles. >> millions of people are hoping their numbers will win them tonight's $1.5 billion jackpot, powerball mania caused epic lines like these in california and around the country. the drawing for the biggest jackpot in history takes place in just a few minutes. ticket buyers not only cross state lines, many canadians cross the border. that's it for the international news hour on al jazeera america, in our next hour, the polls say the presidential race is tightening in iowa. where the candidates stand just week before the first vote in the nation. i'll be back with more news in two minutes. inutes.
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