part of genocide the listening post provides a critical counterpoint challenging mainstream media narratives at this time on al-jazeera and. on. u.s. and british companies have announced the biggest discovery of natural gas in west africa but what to do with these untapped natural resources is already a source of heated debate nothing much has changed they still spend most of their days looking forward to for the dry riverbed this one five years on the syrians still feel battered or even those who managed to escape their country haven't truly been able to escape the york. fleeing to safety dozens the dead and thousands affected as another major storm battered essential america.

hello i'm down john this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up spain apologizes for a violent police crackdown such as the political deadlock continues. the philippine president is accused of a cover up as he acts against officials investigating corruption charges against his family. and a lawsuit in the united states sets up a clash between conscience and contraception. another tropical storm is battering countries in central america tropical storm nate is getting stronger as it approaches the u.s. gulf coast and could become a hurricane before it hits new orleans flooding and landslides have killed at least twenty five people across costa rica nicaragua honduras and el salvador david most asthma. is one of the poorest. trees in the western hemisphere tropical storm

nate has just made it that much poorer three thousand homes destroyed communications cut the force of the storm ripped boats from the sea and left potholes large enough to consume cars. passengers on this bus were so panicked escape was the only thing on their minds made pummeled central america with heavy rains during the week. that the flood has taken away almost everything that all these people had in their home they had breakfast in the morning but not had lunch nor a dinner because everything was taken away from them where waiting for any help that would be well received so many children are crying with hunger in neighboring costarred he cut the storm left at least seven people dead and some five thousand people were forced to leave their homes the western province of one acoss they was the hardest hit schools across the country were closed for two days deaths were also reported farther north in honduras and el salvador. now neda's swing

in north and picking up strength as it heads towards the u.s. gulf coast in preparation new orleans mehr declared a state of emergency the current forecast indicate three to six inches of rain over the duration of the system which is going to be thirty six to forty eight hours and potential double that. although overall rainfall may not be as high as other tropical events short durations of rain as we can see can produce flooding we are particularly mindful in this regard for this particular storm of coastal flooding because of the potential storm surge for those areas of the city that are outside of the levee system. yet another deadly storm in the americas leaving a path of destruction in its wake. david mercer al-jazeera. catalonians regional president has met community leaders in barcelona to discuss

what to do after sunday's referendum the group includes lawyers academics and members of the barcelona football club catalan separatist leaders say they're planning to go ahead with secession despite a ban from the spanish central government the prime minister mariano rajoy has rejected any talks on the matter but madrid has apologized for the violent response by the police during the secession vote local health authorities say around nine hundred people were injured culpable reports from barcelona. as apologies go it was a little lukewarm the spanish government spokesman said he was sorry for the hundreds of catalan voters injured by national police and civil guard riot units but he said they were just following orders those orders to stop sunday's referendum from happening at all direct from madrid on. and i said this very clearly before they were following an order they weren't order to avoid in a legal vote they were ordered to seize ballot boxes if there were incidents and

there were people who were injured evidently we are almost sorry other than those words there was no hint at madrid softening its stance on friday catalonia as police chief only weeks ago hailed a hero became the villain appearing in court in madrid major just stepped up arrow commander of the regional muscles disquieted a force was lauded for a swift response in august to the attacks in barcelona in madrid prosecutors accused him of sedition or inciting a rebellion for failing to quash support for catalan secession the process ation leaders of two of catalonia civic and grassroots organizations face the same charges prosecutors say the leaders revved up crowds around cattle and government offices on september the twentieth. and the human blockade hampered raids by national and civil guard police under orders from government leaders in madrid.

is that i invoked the right not to make a statement because i don't recognize this court's competence in relation to the crime we are accused of sedition because we are convinced we have not committed any kind of crime as the crisis lurches on there's a whiff of disarray among cattle and process session politicians some want to call a potentially historic parliamentary meeting for monday that debate could lead to a full blown declaration of independence others favor rescheduling it until tuesday and yet more sensing they may have overplayed their hand suggest catalonia may not yet be ready for independence at all call pennell al-jazeera barcelona spain hundreds of people have held a rally to demand free and fair elections in serbia as capital opposition leaders accuse the ruling party of tampering with voter lists in the run up to local elections next year the vote is seen as a test of president alexander his rule one presidential elections earlier this year

opposition parties are hoping to dilute his power in belgrade the philippine president is being accused of trying to cover up allegations of corruption within his family by supporting the impeachment of the chief judge in the supreme court and an ombudsman president rodrigo to tend to says dissenting voices want to impeach him to melinda and has more from manila. my president would be good to thirty is accusing opposition members of plotting to this that belies the government to terror to says orbits month conchita carpio morale is and supreme court chief justice lord are part of a wider coalition that includes the liberal party and the leftist movement both were appointed by former president binney the leader of the opposition liberal party. or ellis office is investigating allegations that the terror to secret bank accounts containing hundreds of millions of dollars he acquired in his decades old stint as mayor of davos city in the southern philippines there to denies the

allegations an impeachment complaint filed against supreme court chief justice has been deemed sufficient by congress the majority of our allies of that there to. surrender is accused of committing irregularities in her statement of assets and liabilities a document that declares a government official's personal wealth said and his lawyers say the allegations are baseless the charges are. absolutely with. the facts and. do not even constitute. under the constitution you would get there to has recently challenged the two government officials to resign with him. at least part of it i did not start this rock. critics see that it is actions as

a ploy to silence them senator line of the dba a long time opponent of the purpose policies. on drug trafficking charges a case mostly based on testimonies of convicted illegal drug traffickers. came from. our decades of being a local political leader without realizing the nation is different from the city of buffalo where it's become very defensive which. critics say did their day is on dangerous ground they say he's attacking institutions that investigate corruption and bad governance or uganda's ations like the supreme courts and the ombudsman that must remain independent and free from any political interference dogon al-jazeera minola saudi arabia's ambassador to the united nations has rejected accusations that his country's lax towards child casualties and its war in yemen

the u.n. says hundreds of children have been killed or injured in attacks on schools and hospitals by both the saudi led coalition and who the rebels mike hanna has more from the u.n. . report lists four thousand recorded violations against children by government forces in some twenty zones of conflict along with over eleven thousand violations by non-state groups but in a carrot and stick approach the format of the report has been altered those states or non-state perpetrators that have been gauged with the un and committed to improving protection for children are placed in a separate blacklist from those parties that have shown no remorse or concern about their actions the saudi led military coalition in yemen is placed in this category what became of vanden clear he said there were some listed parties even through many years to three years that had generally been attempting to put in place may shows that i mean they had acknowledged the problem the creation of the

category may be an attempt to persuade perpetrators that there is political value in engaging with the u.n. but critics contend it could also be a patent attempt to diminish the saudi anger that followed the military coalition's inclusion in last year's blacklist frankly. the facts speak for themselves the numbers except in response the saudi ambassador said the coalition was committed to working with the u.n. but rejected what he called inaccurate figures quoted in the report we exercise the maximum degree of care and precaution to avoid civilian harm that regrettable effects of this conflict are a direct result of the haughty and forces loyal to former president signing. use of immoral and illegal actions that put this in million population at risk while acknowledging that the saudi coalition had committed to measures protecting

children in yemen but insisted the saudi coalition still has charges to answer in her report virginia said that dangers to children in yemen show little sign of diminishing i urge the coalition to improve these measures she said the dangers to children in yemen remain an acceptable a high in two thousand and sixteen the question is a threat to children in conflict zones like yemen less today than it was during the reporting period last year amidst yet another round of claim and counter-claim the answer would appear to be no mike hanna al-jazeera united nations let's get more now on our top story tropical storm nate the storms killed at least twenty five people in parts of central america it started near the central american coast on thursday and brought widespread flooding across nicaragua honduras and el salvador it's now just off the coast of cancun mexico and is gathering strength forecasters

a spec the storm will become a category one hurricane before hitting new orleans on saturday or sunday let's get more now from joshua wurman he is from the center for extreme weather joins us from boulder colorado joshua thanks for talking to our jazeera let me just ask you first tropical storm nate has already killed dozens of people and caused damage across wide parts of central america how strong was this storm when it hit central america . now i was just a tropical storm which meant it didn't have extreme winds when i run across central america of course it still caused torrential rainfall and flooding which unfortunately killed dozens of people these tropical storms can still kill many many people through flooding in addition to the more intense winds with major hurricanes i'm the experts joshua tell us that the eye of the storm has now moved out to sea and it's heading towards the southern coast of the united states is it

likely then to pick up strength out of the water nate is already picking up strength and it's almost at hurricane strength probably by tomorrow morning in the united states that will be a hurricane and it will be a probably a category one hurricane maybe a category two hurricane as it makes landfall anywhere between louisiana and alabama and about twenty four thirty six hours we're hearing that the mayor of new orleans has declared a state of emergency in preparation people then must be worried as many of them of course remember the devastation caused by hurricane katrina yes and it's wise in a very vulnerable city a very low lying city like new orleans to take precautions when a tropical storm or soon to be hurricane is coming their way that said name is very

unlikely to be as intense as katrina katrina was a very large storm it was also considerably more intense than nate is likely to be but since it's a weather forecast we don't really know exactly there still is a chance maybe at the ten percent chance that they could become more intense than forecast and so it's prudent for a low lying city like new orleans to take precautions well ahead of time they're going to get a final thought from you i mean we've already had hurricane harvey and joe's a this year and now we have tropical storm nate barreling towards the u.s. why is this year's hurricane season so active and so destructive. well we're not really sure there's fluctuations year to year with hurricane seasons and last year wasn't nearly as active this year is very active sometimes people point towards climate change but year to year variations happen anyway so in order

to be suspect more suspicious about climate change causing more hurricanes we really need to see this kind of trend over several years right now we're not really sure if it's climate change or just normal year to year variation just a woman from the center of a severe weather says thank you very much for talking to us thank you dr szell break here in al-jazeera when we come back. i'm hiding the task that appointing a weekly team trying to maintain his and be at find out why thousands of people are fleeing the democratic republic of congo and coming in. on tourist flocking to this quaint corner of south korea's capital but we'll tell you why not everyone's happy on that status. with. hello it stopped snowing in montana and the big shot of the kansas

a moving up towards the midwest that's this line of cloud here that probably the most dramatic change is going to happen on the gulf coast later in the weekend in the immediate future then we've got these showers running at through illinois and just across the canadian border as well ahead of it still quite warm in the twenty's in new york and washington behind it's not as cold as it was denver twenty three but the temperatures for montana but seattle's fourteen so round about single figures i thought for most of the time but look what's happening down in the gulf coast rain's coming in now this is ahead of a developing hurricane by the time we get to the early hours of sunday it will probably make landfall quite close to new orleans but beyond that can't be certain where it will go its main risk is not from wind as is often the case it's from the amount of rain but it's a little bit too far i hate to say how dangerous it will be i think it's fairly quick moving it's not a huge storm so it will be unpleasant but probably no worse than that but watch this space further south it's currently revolving somewhere near the coast of

honduras in this massive cloud here and its main immediate risk is the amount of rain it could bring up towards the yucatan before it goes into the gulf of mexico this is a wet area including parts of jamaica and cuba. a mining company is heading to australia to build one of the world's biggest mines will it be an economic bonanza or an ecological disaster. at this time when i visit .

welcome back the top stories here this hour another tropical storm is battering countries across central america tropical storm night is getting stronger as it approaches the u.s. gulf coast has caused the deaths of at least twenty five. the spanish government has apologized for the violent response by the police during the secession referendum in catalonia on sunday senior police officials in the region have appeared in court in madrid big investigated for sedition. and saudi arabia's ambassador to the un has rejected accusations that his country has a lax attitude towards child casualties in his war in yemen the u.n. says hundreds of children have been killed or maimed in attacks on schools and hospitals by both the coalition and rebels now an anti-nuclear weapons organization has been awarded this year's nobel peace prize

the international campaign to abolish nuclear weapons or i can is based in geneva bonamy reports. the announcement from norway's capital also on the norwegian nobel committee has decided to award the nobel peace prize for twenty seventeen to the international campaign to abolish new player weapons i can i kept the geneva based coalition of campaigning groups for more than one hundred countries has promoted a treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons. this is a time of great global tension. my fear. is to unspeakable horror the specter of nuclear conflict more if there's ever a time for states to declare their opposition to nuclear weapons that moment now.

with north korea's repeated nuclear weapons tests and its trading of insults with the united states war seems a more real possibility now than at any time since the cold war the united states has great strength and patients but if it is forced to defend itself. we will have no choice but to totally destroy north korea donald trump is also threatening to take the united states out of the iran nuclear agreement the negotiations for the nuclear treaty were boycotted by the americans but the other nuclear weapons states britain france china russia israel india and pakistan also say they won't sign the message we are sending is to remind them of the commitments that they have already made that say also are obliged to work for

nuclear free world. these weapons of fire and fury have not been used in anger since one thousand nine hundred forty five but the haunting images of hiroshima and nagasaki still testament to their horror to be phillips al-jazeera london the united nations says it's braced for a further exodus refugees from me and martyr bangladesh already over half a million religion across the border since the end of august they're escaping a military crackdown in rakhine state that's been denounced as ethnic cleansing myanmar claimed was battling separatist fighters but groups say security forces. have torched hundreds of revenge of the edges and driven people from their homes. millions of women in the u.s. may no longer have access to birth control through their health insurance under new rules brought in by president trump it's one of the number of new religious freedoms which trump promised during his election campaign donna broch has the details. it's a move that could impact millions of american women the trump administration is

rolling back on obamacare mandate requiring insurance coverage for contraception the white house said effective immediately a new rule allows employers to refuse contraception coverage based on religious or moral reasons this is a president who supports the first amendment supports the freedom of religion i don't understand why that should be an issue the american civil liberties union was quick to respond it filed a suit in san francisco saying the rule violates the separation of church and state and discriminates against women but while the courts may exempt some employers from providing contraceptive coverage their workers might still get it anyway really they put a duty on the government to step up to the plate to provide a way for. the people who potentially stand to lose them and to get that

bridge in another gesture to the religious right attorney general jeff sessions issued a number of broad guidelines aimed at protecting religious freedom one says religious organizations should be able to hire workers whose religious beliefs are consistent with theirs critics say that could allow some employers to discriminate against the l g b t community and others but for president trump the guidelines are a reaffirmation of the commitment he made to evangelical voters who swept him into office and who he continues to court free speech does not end at the steps of a cathedral or a synagogue or any other house of worship we are giving our churches their voices back we are giving them back in the highest form. with this executive order we also make clear that the federal government will never ever penalize any person for their protests good religious beliefs but these moves could set the

administration up for another long battle in federal court diane estabrook al-jazeera washington the body of a missing u.s. soldier has been found two days after an ambush of a military patrol in baghdad he's one of four u.s. troops killed in that attack by suspected fight as it happened two hundred kilometers north of the capital niamey united nations is worried that growing violence the democratic republic of congo is making the region's refugee crisis worse the d.s.e. is already host to more than four hundred seventy thousand refugees including hundreds of thousands who fled fighting in burundi in the past two years but even more people have fled the city to take refuge in neighboring countries about four hundred ninety thousand lived the most recent outbreak of violence has driven more than three thousand over the border into zambia from a harem of thomson i reports. doesn't know if his wife is dead or alive he

was separated when they village was attacked in the democratic republic of congo and security forces were fighting against militia groups in the area in the chaos he grabbed his children and ran it took them weeks to walk to the zambian border agent he says traumatized his children. but people are dying their hands in his cut off with machetes pregnant women had the unborn babies. i said if we stay you know we will die. other refugees also say they were forced to flee ethnic clashes aid workers have caught this the largest influx of congolese refugees into zambia in the past five years. say. this place more than one so you can have been refugees and before and had referred to in the hold that you would be safe and secure for them to stay but they have been displaced yet again. tired exhausted. and in

need of shelter and lifesaving humanitarian and the united nations refugee agency says on average between sixty and one hundred people crossing into zambia each day sixty percent of the new arrivals are children the most recent arrivals day and communal structures until more resources are available on average for families in this one area. a day one in the morning and one in the evening the men picked up by what the women do the cooking aid workers say there are more than three thousand registered refugees in this transit center and more are still coming. at the end of the day another bus arrives from the border with sixteen families people hope some of their friends neighbors and relatives are inside. it would mean there are life and i would have to be safe in zambia and unfortunately. his wife isn't on the bus either but he hopes he's still trying to get to zambia she managed to reach tens of ghana the united nations is warning if the security situation in neighboring gets

worse the humanitarian needs on both sides of the border will become more dire. al-jazeera challenging zambia south korea's capital seoul is littered with skyscrapers they were built during a time of rapid economic growth after the nine hundred fifty s. korean war it was a period known as the miracle on the han river but is now a push to preserve some of the older homes that might have been forgotten. went to see some. in this bustling metropolis in the shadow of skyscrapers these houses known as hummocks are a slice of days gone by traditionally made from wood with tiled roofs they're designed to be cool in the summer and warm in the winter but as south korea modernized many moved out preferring the convenience of new apartment buildings or . their nominee handouts levels because most collapse. would take special effort to preserve the. turned this old hanukah into

a guest house with modern amenities and international touches from british designer wallpaper to arabic style tiles it's one of a number of new businesses that are turning rundown neighborhoods into trendy hotspots and changing the face of the place eighty three year old park junge salk has called home for fifteen years compared to us it's really want just as many bars and restaurants have opened up in this area especially this year and the residents have sold their houses and laughed professor leak studies gentrification in seoul he says some of the residents felt forced to leave this area become so expensive. because it is it used to be a. lake and that as opposed to staying in this area others didn't appreciate being turned into a tourist attraction even with those people writing thank you. so that became a huge issue as couple of. as

a couple of years at another nearby village tourists are encouraged to visit quietly one more inconvenience is that these hanukkah's can be difficult to maintain and require specialized repairs but the city government wants to preserve them and offer special subsidies and loans to owners. do you says it's all about striking the right balance so more of these houses don't disappear on a porch on a cut it is important to preserve coexistence and conservation and come up with ways to interpret the henoch in a modern way to share with people. taking beeld and reimagining it for the new generation to enjoy kathy novak al-jazeera song. remind of the top stories here on al-jazeera a tropical storm as killed at least twenty five people in central america night is expected to become a hurricane by saturday as it heads to cancun and moves into the gulf of mexico

nicaragua and costa rica were hit by the storm on thursday well the mayor of the u.s. city of new orleans has declared a state of emergency as tropical storm nate approaches the southern united states i want to reiterate this to the people of the city or as we have been through this many many times there is no need to panic we're encouraging the public to do all they can to prepare as we do in every weather event you have to have a plan you have to repair it to protect your personal property it is the cooperation of the citizens that make these events work really well with a great first responders who as you can see a well prepared and well organized catalonians regional president has met community leaders in barcelona to talk about what to do next after sunday's referendum on secession the group includes lawyers academics and members of the boston a football club council and separatist leaders say they're planning to go ahead with secession despite of that in the spanish central government hundreds of people have held

a rally to demand free and fair elections in serbia as capital opposition leaders accuse the ruling party of tampering with voter lists on the run up to local elections next year the vote to see the test of president alexander who catches rule one presidential elections this year opposition parties are hoping to dilute his power in belgrade. the philippine president is being accused of trying to cover up allegations of corruption within his family by supporting the impeachment of the supreme court's chief judge president regurgitator says dissenting voices want to impeach him saudi arabia's ambassador to the un has rejected accusations that his country has a lax attitude towards child casualties in its war in yemen the united nations says hundreds of children have been killed or in or maimed in attacks on schools and hospitals both the saudi that coalition and who the rebels are being blamed on the american civil liberties union is suing the trump an illustration after it rolled

back measures on birth control and ploys will now be exempt from providing health insurance that covers contraceptives to their employees the measures aimed at protecting religious freedom the lawsuit claims the change would be unconstitutional those are the headlines the news continues here on al-jazeera after what i want them to watch. understand the difference. and the similarities of cultures across the world. matter how you take al-jazeera bringing the news and current events that matter.