to unite her coalition partners following last month's election the german chancellor agreed to limit the number of new arrivals to two hundred thousand a year it appears to be a concession to her party's bavarian coalition partner which has been one of the strongest critics of merkel's refugee policies. the international committee of the red cross says it will reduce its operations in afghanistan seven members of its staff have been killed there this year six died in an attack on an aid convoy in february and last month a physiotherapist was shot dead by one of her patients another four workers have been abducted in less than twenty four hours from now liberians will be heading to the polls to choose their next president twenty candidates are competing to replace africa's first elected female president and nobel peace prize winner ellen johnson sirleaf and she led liberia's transition from a fourteen year civil war that killed more than two hundred fifty thousand people

those were the headlines the news where it is on in half an hour to stay with us. on accounting a cost u.s. billionaire president donald trump wants the cop taxes but how will his plan impact ordinary americans explain vs catalonia the economic implications plus calm again what's behind the collapse of australia's auto industry counting the cost at this time on al-jazeera. you will all. see. when the sun came up on the morning of tuesday september nineteenth the people of domenica got their first glimpse of hell it's just like for a moment the windows of their small caribbean island nation was destroyed people were missing some of your dead these images filmed by

a camera man who works for the government is some of the only footage from that morning the night before the eye of category five hurricane maria made a direct hit it ripped apart anything in its path. the entire country was left without electricity water or phone service there was no way to contact the outside world or the world to reach and buddy inside domenico when dark for nearly forty eight hours nobody knew you could even existed anymore eventually the scale of the destruction was evident the nation of domenico would need to be entirely rebuilt. the man leading the recovery efforts is the prime minister of domenica roosevelt skerritt when he took office in two thousand and four he was only thirty one years old at the time making him the youngest head of state anywhere in the world he faces huge challenges right now how to rebuild

a country that is in ruins and how to uplift people that are facing their darkest times we came. here to speak to him about what it was like to live during that hurricane the challenges his country now faces rebuilding and also the threat of climate change on or island nations such as this roosevelt scare the prime minister of domenica talks doubt his era. mr prime minister we have a lot to talk about but a lot of viewers around the world might not know a lot about domenica so i want to share a few things you were the last caribbean island to be conquered by europe primarily thanks to fierce resistance from the local indigenous tribes here eventually if you were colonized this island by the french and english but you gained independence in one nine hundred seventy eight. you're an economy that was based on export bananas for many years but you've changed the economy

a bit and now it's up and coming eco tourism here you have no military and the ninety five percent of the population self identifies as black or of mixed race and because of the volcano you know islands here it's considered the nature island of the caribbean beyond that what do you want the world to know about domine very peaceful country very welcoming country very hospitable people we have the top five best insights into. the second largest. leak in the world. would have many boiling lakes beautiful foreign fund the. only country in the caribbean which has national. trail. from the south to enough to the east from the east to the west the country. blocks and beaches waterfalls rivers through

a sixty five rivers. only country one of the fewest few countries in the world to boast of the caribbean sorry of local indigenous population. so wonderful country you know forty five percent well put if i put into a country protected by law as forest forest reserves. we had one of the. national parks and one top of national park this was a national park for forty years school heritage site for twenty. very days it was a fight small economy davis if i recall supplied many of the caribbean islands we produce. a pretty. not very developed but certainly very pristine and beautiful island when the eye of the hurricane hit your island what was the moment when you said this is going to be

really bad i think from the moment my roof got. i said to myself and the. sense of what's up to friends in the kitchen that when we wake up in the morning we're going to see a country device to. the. fellas it's of do we really hearkens today's island which in forty five hours moving very very slowly so the moment my roof went away i felt that we're going to have serious destruction on the . printer. that will be true. but i had to face reality. so live in and put an experience in a station of i felt the country would have been devastated. after the storm passed the next day when the sun came out and you were able to get out on the streets and see the destruction what did you see and what was going through your

mind. and i saw the destruction in the neighborhood really because this will host and there will be pretty strongly . most of them recognize and respect and construction cords and. every hole every house in this area was it was impacted by the hurricane. every tree dollar polar lines were down telephone lines were down and. my mind started to rescind on other communities they know what out of honorable. out of communities where you know the houses were not constructed to the construction codes. and i felt like if this area was impacted. we would have a complete national devastation. so i walked from my home town. and as i went along you could just see the device station and meeting people

everybody's hope with an impact that. we could see do their fair deal with trauma in the eyes of the people and the expression. so i was able to move very early into the city in different parts to look at my family and of course to look at the destruction of just total destruction and i was able to go on to have a cup till eternity to see it and fly it over the country and visit in many villages what i. what i felt would happen on a monday night tuesday morning after that happens the country. complete devastation and every street and every village in the country. it is it is very painful to see the suffering and anguish people. flying into the island

everything is brown all of the trees are just completely destroyed there's one researcher there's been looking at the destruction he's estimated that one hundred percent of the agriculture has been destroyed on the island and that ninety eight percent of the homes have either been destroyed or damaged. his career i recall just one hundred percent destroyed is no question that one is one hundred percent here. varian trees. for a reason every single tree has been impacted fires or entire forest have been. completely washed away and of course what ninety five plus percent of homes affected their homes they'll have to be request from her completely. if you will that can be salvaged for new roofs. you may see some of them standing but structurally. they are not solid to have to be demolished. so his character the tourism has been impacted. all of the hotels have been affected adversely when

you're out on the streets and you see people homeless what do they tell you and how does it make you feel. pressured to myself. because in large measure of days a feeling that they are going to require me to meet with you know i recognise that as a leader a country that is my responsibility people are happy to do life yes but in many instances they've lost everything. and. we have. you know we have to instill in them the hope the expectation the assurance that if we will together we can make life better for sales with the help of international community so it it is a myth and people can very depressing. it it is very emotionally draining

because you don't know want to see people in that suffering. i can't stop at night because i know that many people who was roofs open skies. you know and when it rains at night one can imagine the deep south for any people. and. people are still and in shock many of them are still in there getting over it a bit not completely but discuss and will be for us for a long time. you know people are still breaking into tears every single day. to come to this office to see me. people are still emotionally distressed and the fact is the same people who have to provide the services the nurses a doctor the police officers the public servants and all of them have lost their homes their life investments you know. some of them up their properties are not

insured and you know so it's very very disturbing thing for demand for the emotional state of all people do you have any idea how much money you're going to need to rebuild now after hurricane maria. because we have invited the world bank to come in to do. rapid assessment would rely on them to advise us and advise international community of the of the for size cost of reconstruction is going to but you're talking to. hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars to build homes to build schools to build hospitals the infrastructure several bridges washed away it's money to have that money. and we wouldn't print money you know we don't have money. you know we are developing country. with poverty levels the time of trouble cost america what twenty five or so percent. we

have very limited capacity if any to borrow. we can borrow commercial rates so. you know if we need international help we absolutely. must is of the international community and our hope and prayer is that. is that there will be goodwill among nations and. and. the recognition that they need to come to our rescue and it's literally going to come to our rescue. the. we really need the international community and to help us in this situation. just a few days after the storm you chose to get on a plane to go to new york to address the united nations why we went there to declare an international humanitarian emergency nominee. and to indicate to the

united nations that our country would need the help of all countries we don't grieve today. we buried yesterday and i am sure that as i return home to morrow we shall discover additional fatalities as a consequence. but we also took the opportunity. to lead in terms of coming to know that this discussion on climate change and its impact on contradict it. had been going for too long and in the process of all of these conversations and discussions and workshops and seminars and summits people die and. people's livelihoods of been washed away people's lives lives lived there was a being blown away countries are disappearing you know where it is that we have spent all this money to build in this country you know and in a matter of

a few hours it is don't to his knees it is flattened before dissenters no order generation had seen more than one category five hurricane in their lifetime in distant years this is happened twice and notably it has happened in the space of just two weeks to deny climate change is to procrastinate while saying. it is to deny the truth we have just leave it is to mock thousands of my compatriots who in a few hours without a roof over their heads will watch the night descend on dominico in fear of sudden much like us and what the next hurricane may bring and we need to lead it as coming to know that we need the help i'm going to help from every single

conscientious. will leader in this country anyone leader who would sit in his own country and see the situation in dominico and not give a helping hand it would be very very unfortunate for the future of the world we as a country and as a region did not start this war against nugent would not provoke it. the war. do you have any doubt that this was climate change. historical facts and the magnitude of hurricane will tell us that we see no bitches washed away we say in the driest spell has taken place no punching i mean ill in many can in his islands you had what you call a dry season and indeed racism is already in and you have sometimes a rainy season all you have is drought so we're seeing the change in climate

climate to conditions and every single time you're seeing in the hurricanes are getting stronger i mean. there was a category four. it was beyond five i was here was a one hundred sixty five miles well. you know what kind of infrastructure could we stand this you know. which country would be standing and the fact is we have never to run we have island we just this is a. place where you could we could go from one province to annoyed or four ones to daughter to secure some from the hurricane this is an island and you feel flown over the country and where could this people go to run away from the hurricane they were in shelters the shelters were affected so they left their home and went to the shelters said they were going back that there's no adequate gun so there's we have

no. no reservation to say emphatically that climate change is responsible for what we've experienced day in and dominate and we need to act now because if we do not contradict america and we're not making the case only for dominic we're going to case for all of the world and especially for developing countries like ours that are going to receive in the brunt of the destruction and devastation from the storms and this terms of the only happening during the hurricane season happened outside of the hurricane season a few years ago we had a trough system in december christmas eve. cause lives cause major destruction so we have no doubt that the climate change is responsible for its trends of desire again. in a lot of capitals around the world the discussion of climate change is theoretical for you is it theoretical or is it practical practical. you know you know it is

all saying we have said. it we have started to notice it the exams we know when we have said the exams is the practical situation you've seen it because the streets are good our culture you know whole are going to survive in the next few months and two years we're going to reconstruct thousands of homes people are going to reconstruct their health centers the hospitals the schools the bridges they've been washed only the lord was loving cocked holy go restore their the private sector hotels i've been destroying this this is all life or labor who you know the forest was probable because system or supply there was a bible over we rivers we know the access to them in terms of benefiting from that the entire country had been brought to its knees and so this is a practical situation that we're facing you know to the point really if you know if they may say so you know if some level of humility the premise of the country was

wilderness for quite a few quite a few days. you know it tells you about the extent of our vulnerability a small island states who are facing the brunt of the wrath of hurricanes and storms largely due to the effects of climate change the united states is considering pulling out the paris climate accord. how would that affect your country you know we we do not believe that climate change ought to be and i don't it's going to be. an academic exercise and i said previously we leave in this experience. the folks in florida to tell you the folks in texas will tell us what to do they have experience and this is climate change oh hope is that the united states will recognize this. and come back to the discussion to

those have some some discussions what it really concerns you may have a whole kind of mix of amendments but we absolutely need leadership of the united states. in this discussion without them it would make things much more difficult for concha because the united states you know it has the results is it has the capabilities. it in many respects it is required to show some leadership in troops in and dealing with issues relating to the climate to conditions in the world this isn't the first disaster you've had to deal with in two thousand and fifteen tropical storm erika caused a lot of damage here on the island you asked for over six hundred million dollars in aid to rebuild after tropical storm erika did you get that money. they've been coming. maybe. half of that.

would have not materialize you know the challenge you have in many situations there's a very protracted process of preparing those resources and. in circumstances that i believe the international community the international financial systems need to recognize that. the next hurricane season next year and if we do not move quickly to rebuild homes and to put in mitigation systems in place is not to go a long time. so the comment was a made must be. must be robust and this efficiency. is in the harsh realities which we are faced and so we got quite a bit of help quite a bit of commitment but these commitments and the money took over a long time to materialize like all countries domenico has a political opposition how do you plan to work with them to move the country forward to reconstruct the country after this tragedy this this reconstruction is

going to require absolute national spirit every single citizen organization and institution. and there's no room for any partisanship. any division within the country. what we intended as ago and we were discussed is and we've second advice from. various sources is to put in place a national reconstruction team and that national reconstruction team will have representation from all stakeholders the church the political part is included in the parliament your position the parliament itself. unions n.g.o.s the private sector the various by receptive groups the farmers the local community organizations and every single stakeholder group will be involved in this national

construction team because it is going to require absolute cooperation and understand in involvement and contribution positive contribution there's no time for negativism people are suffering people need help we rely on international community energy in this country should be united to build this country and restore their lives and livelihoods of people so they have a part to play one would have to switch to see how disciplined and mature. we can be as a people as we try to have these very very difficult and daunting task we are building this country given all of the destruction when you go to bed when you close your eyes what is your hope for demeaning in the future. well not going to bed you know. i leave the office every night after ten ten o'clock and get in. my preparation is. that people

will still be thousands of them and how do we go about restoring their lives and and giving them the hope to live. and. we were doing some things we know we're pretty patient is to provide supplies food supplies water to people make sure the depopulation hydrated make sure properly nourished to minimize any potential health risk in the country for the worst you know you want to have is a break of some of the water one disease in the country so we're seeking to manage this. and sure enough the security of the state clear in the road so it can create access to the community but the person is and the welfare of the citizens and we're going to need a lot of help quickly to to have some who was in solutions or citizens we can to

improve the telecommunications services so people could be in touch with each other because this would this helps in reducing the amount of the levels of citizens so my appeal to the international community. is too big. to small mr prime minister we wish you and your country all the best in the difficult days ahead thank you for speaking. with us. in the house. when news coverage consists of a punch headline

a five second sound bite and an easy solution. says challenge the status quo expose double standards and debate the contradictions. for the new season of the show the frank. up front. at this time i'll just hearing . when we manage the financial system between one nine hundred forty five one thousand nine hundred seventy one there was not a single financial crisis in the well and then in one thousand seven hundred. feet and they said no no no we don't need. discipline. thank you. love to make loans to sovereigns why because behind the sovereign a millions of taxpayers we can see reaction to the liberalization fight just as we saw in the one nine hundred twenty s. and it's going to be getting to ready is ugly in many parts of the world where

people are saying if my government went look after my interests then i would look for a strong if he's a fascist i don't care if you promises to secure the stability of my life and my people i will vote for him i think that's where we're heading and i don't think our leaders have the vision to understand that's the threat that we face. this is al jazeera. and live from studio fourteen here at al-jazeera headquarters in doha i didn't obligate i welcome to the news grid of the diplomatic dispute between turkey and the u.s. escalates what for type travel and visit was struck sons.