dorie to discover the source of one of the most expensive commodities sent from heaven this time on al-jazeera. al-jazeera recounts the shocking story of the assassination of count folk abene dot . the first u.n. envoy trying to bring peace to the middle east how is negotiations with himmler helped save thousands of jews from nazi concentration camps and how these mediation skills put him at the vanguard in the quest for peace in the middle east. killing the count at this time on al-jazeera.

unwilling to engage the u.s. secretary of state blames the for arab countries blockade in qatar ahead of his visit to riyadh and. you're watching al-jazeera life from a headquarters in doha and the navigator also a heads catalonia turkey and the iran nuclear deal european leaders have their hands full on day two of their summit in brussels china's president takes a page from miles a little red book siege and paint thoughts a set to be enshrined in the communist party's constitution plus. i'm alan fischer and puerto rico it's a month since the hurricane here struck and many communities are still struggling with the aftermath and they're asking where is the government help but they were promised.

hello the u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson has criticized the four countries imposing a blockade on qatar for refusing to engage in talks to ease the crisis he's kicking off a week long overseas trip with stops in saudi arabia and qatar as well when june saudi arabia the united arab emirates egypt and behave in closed airspace and severed trade and diplomatic links with cats harm they accuse it of fostering terrorism charges doha strongly denies one month later tillerson embarked on his first shuttle diplomacy mission in a bid to shore up kuwaiti efforts to solve the disputes the us president donald trump's also offered to mediate pushing for a quick resolution but tillerson now says there is little hope of agreements anytime soon we want to see these countries keep their focus on the areas of mutual cooperation that we have and that includes the fight against terrorism and other things of that nature so i think the secretary is you know

certainly discouraged that nothing has been resolved just yet he's talked pretty consistently although folks haven't haven't paid much attention to it reece recently about the disappointment that the nations haven't been able to do so of the g.c.c. crisis we hope that they well we hope that they'll sit down and have talks but it seems like they're not ready to do that yet so castro has more from washington. florence's comments in an interview with bloomberg news marked a significant change in tone gone was the optimism we heard three months ago when tillerson last visited the region instead he expressed his frustration saying there appear to be a real will unwillingness on the part of the quartet of blockading countries in. progressing with these talks in contrast saying qatar has been very clear that they're ready to engage now the fact that tillerson is returning to the region this

following week and to push further these talks is a long ways from where the u.s. policy on this crisis started back in june if you remember that's when u.s. president donald trump was quick to come to the aid of saudi arabia praising its leadership and in a shooting this blockade and trying to claim credit that was a direct result of president trump's visit to the region since then the white house has been more silent on this topic while the state department has taken a lead here with tillerson returning again. leader is a resuming meetings in brussels aimed at breaking a deadlock over. the british prime minister to resign may is seeking to expand the go see a sense to include trade but leaders want more progress on citizens' rights the u.k.'s financial obligations and the border with northern ireland the deadline for a final deal is marte's twenty nineteen don't know how joining us from brussels

that's a reason may address leaders over dinner how did her speech go down. yes that's right she made a very short address after dessert and before the coffee was served on thursday night only five minutes she spoke but potentially a fairly significant five minutes as you say trying to persuade them to move beyond the thorny issue of money for the time being and start talking about there was no new concession on the table there was no new offer made by the british side but crucially also there was no talk of a hard break no threat to walk away from negotiations if things didn't go britain's way instead the tone was conciliatory this was a sort of appeal for help if you like she said there is an increasing sense that we must work together to get an outcome that we can stand behind and defend to our people that's appointed reference to the difficult to the political difficulties

she's had at home in raising higher and higher amounts of money to pay for britain's outstanding commitments to the e.u. after britain leaves the bloc she reminded them that three weeks ago she tried to break the deadlock by giving a speech in florence offering to meet britain's commitments to the tune of well over twenty billion dollars the problem was that figure is well short of what the e.u. expects which is why it didn't get the warm response that she'd hoped for which is why these leaders have not deemed that sufficient progress has been made to be able to move the talks on the essence of to resume a's message on. but i've come far as i am able to politically. now to offer me some concessions to come along with me in order for progress to be made by jonah for a second because let's just look at the other issues that leaders are dealing with so we're saying that not the only issue on that agenda leaders have discussed catalonia secession bid so far the e.u. has refused to intervene in that standoff and the german chancellor angela merkel

is pushing the to cut funds to turkey over human rights concerns and the blocs leaders are unanimously backing the iran nuclear deal it's a show of support for the agreement that's being denounced by the u.s. president so jonah as we're saying leader is really have their hands full over there in brussels on day two of the summit. oh yes i mean even to reason over dinner admitted breaks it was only one of a great number of issues that the e.u. is dealing with now their hands are full as you say they've been appeals by the catalans to come on board and intervene and negotiate mediate in the crisis there with the european union isn't going to do that apart from anything else it's legally bound to not to not intervene in the affairs of a member state unless that member state asks them to and spain certainly has not so

breaks it only one of a number of issues here certainly but it is a very key moment in the talks over breaks it a moment at which it was to be decided whether they could move on crucially to the trade stage with big business in the u.k. desperately needs to know about in order to be able to plan down the line for the effects of what will happen i think is that they will set a new deadline of the fourteenth of december to look again at whether enough progress has been made and maybe in the final communique today just offer some words of encouragement to resume a to allow her to return return home not further damaged not further politically weakened all right thank you. well speaking of catalonia the pro secession group the catalan national assembly is calling on its supporters to withdraw their money from five of spain's largest banks this is in response to the spanish central government's plans to suspend the region's autonomy on saturday and there is growing tension over the political crisis that was sparked by this month's assassin

vote barker reports on the catalan capital barcelona. spain's political crisis is deepening after failing to comply with the spanish government got to libya will now be stripped of its autonomy. in the absence of a clear response we note that he has not requested and therefore we will continue procedure of triggering article one five five of the concert. to restore legality in catalonia the caps president. had been given until thursday morning to clarify and revoke any independence claim last week he unilaterally declared independence. suspended it to allow for talks but instead of clarifying his position sent a letter to madrid calling for an end to repression and for dialogue prime minister mariano rajoy has repeatedly refused to mediate with the secessionists we're now in uncharted territory article one five five has never been invoked in mainland spain

before they could see devolved powers over the raising of taxes education health care in the police soon in madrid hands of the very worst you could see the suspension of the government and the arrest of its leaders it's hard to imagine any of these scenarios unfolding without more massive protests or perhaps even a change of tactics i think there's no possibility of following like taking arms praising arms and or even like. seeing the birth of a terrorist group i don't think that is a possibility i don't know but some kind of more aggressive i don't want to say by land but more stronger organized an insurgency in terms of political insurgency and her organization i think it's it's a problem. but madrid the show restraint amnesty international's urged the spanish government to avoid a repeat of these scenes on the day of the cattle referendum. they've also asked

for two independence leaders jailed by spanish judge to be released the spanish government expects it to finalize plans for direct rule at a cabinet meeting on saturday. in response the catalan leadership say they'll now formalize independence with a vote of the regional parliament this tense standoff is entering a critical new phase. the. twenty one year old irish egyptian citizen has been released after four years behind bars in egypt the news of a bit of humor was released was welcomed by his family and the government in ireland last month he was acquitted of charges including inciting violence and rioting linked to the demonstrations and twenty thirteen hundreds were arrested there after protests against the military coup that ousted president mohamed morsy pakistan's ousted prime minister nawaz sharif has been indicted in

a third case of corruption it's in addition to the charges that were laid against serif his daughter and his son in law on thursday in july the supreme court disqualified serif from office for not declaring a source of. the investigation was sparked by the panama paper's leaks which accused of fusing an offshore company to buy property in london serif and his family deny the charges. the un children's agency unicef is calling for more funding to help improve conditions for refugees in overcrowded camps in bangladesh the international body says children fleeing violence and mean maher facing hell on earth in the camps a large number of the only six hundred thousand people who have fled a military crackdown in rakhine state are children mean mars military denies allegations of ethnic cleansing saying its operations are targeting armed groups the chinese president is set to have his own political theory incorporated into the

ruling communist party's constitution chinese state media is reporting the so-called xi jinping thoughts will have fourteen principles but it's not yet known what they are the move is expected to further consolidate she's power putting him on par with mao zedong who founded the communist party adrian brown has more from beijing. we've had the chairman mao era the dung sharping era welcome to the xi jinping era state media has confirmed the president xi jinping name is going to be written into the constitution this means he's now in the same club as chairman mao who led the communist to victory in one hundred forty nine and dunk shopping who was the architect of china's many economic reforms but it took chairman mao decades for that to happen and also done shopping's name wasn't added to the constitution until after his death she jinping has achieved that in just five years this is being the congress where he's been stamping his authority outlining his vision for

china not just for the next five ten fifteen years but for the next twenty and he now wants to be around to ensure that happens and the fact that his political thinking is now going to become the party's guiding ideology will of course make it much easier for him to remain in power perhaps for another twenty years now the past few years of course have really been a period of political shock and awe here in china he has turned the communist party upside down tens of thousands of card rates have been purged in his anticorruption drive that drive has also extended to the military now it's expected that at the end of this congress which will wind up early next week will get final confirmation that we're now entering the xi jinping era still ahead on al-jazeera kenya heroes day celebrations are overshadowed by tension surrounding the presidential election rerun we're live in nairobi in just a moment and al jazeera speaks to n.f.l.

football fans to find out if they agree with donald trump's criticism of players taking the money. hello there's been a dramatic change in the weather across spain and portugal we've gone from what was really late summer with this clackamas through to most definitely changed to water not cloud is more one frontal system that means a change in temperature and you just dramatic whether it was this time as well thunderstorms rattled through southern spain and actually all the way through spain there's flooding recorded by video in the southwest from terraces over the border from portugal as any result of thirty or forty millimeters of rain is channeled down the streets fairly obviously now that rain has moved on from spy went to the by the arctic allan's into southern france and the next twelve hours is

a little more or less lose all its impetus in that part of europe and so we end up with a much drier day in spain in portugal this is friday's forecast as little cooler in spain in fronts and the seventeen in france but otherwise generally speaking bright because all the excess and she's going to that spinning circle just west of all yes it's a little storm system quanta major one running through quickly probably fairly windy weather as a result and it will throw some windy weather north in france and of course that green is rain on the old cold front but the rest of europe for the most part is still enjoying rather late you warm.

the top stories on al-jazeera the u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson has criticized the four arab countries imposing a blockade on qatar for refusing to engage in talks to ease the crisis he's kicking off a week long overseas trip with stops in saudi arabia and qatar the british prime minister tourism a is seeking to expand that negotiations to include trade as the e.u.

summit resumes in brussels but leaders what more progress on citizens' rights and european leaders are backing spain as the catalan crisis escalates in brussels the prime minister mariano to appoint received support from the french president emanuel on german chancellor angela merkel but the e.u. says it won't intervene in the dispute between madrid and barcelona. kenya celebrating heroes day a public holiday honoring freedom fighters but the occasion is being overshadowed by the political crisis gripping the country as catherine so explains. can. and murdering a million freedom fighter corroboree jungly reads from his autobiography canyon celebrates him along the thousands of iraqis who battled british colonialists those who fought for democracy in the one nine hundred ninety s. and modern day people who have the country. biden is not happy he says he fought

for land he's yet to get and peace threatened by political brinkmanship. kenya not to. bribe program or affection. bernard from the british an. enemy from we're really in our home and i've struggled at this time in another part of kenya land searching continues to moan a six month old daughter pendle who she says was clubbed to death while in her arms by police in august even me i came out in the house saying i surrender i have my little child holding my child on my chest i want to focus our country and i was talking. since then dozens of other people have been killed during opposition protests calling for electoral reforms before the rerun of the presidential

election human rights groups blamed police for most of the deaths most of those who have been killed while from opposition strongholds like this one the government says that criminals were trying to loot but several people we talked to here say they were attacked in their homes sixty five years ago to their day job working at time and five others were arrested after the british government declared a state of emergency can yet i became kenya's fast president with. his deputy. the pair later fell out because of ideological and political reasons. now the sand. and dry loading that are engaged in what many see as a major battle for supremacy which has deeply divided kenyans along ethnic lines we need to recognize this is probably the last connla or. electoral contest the

best thing is that we don't really see successors within their communities that can run lead the same sort of emotional and and an almost irrational. you know support for the for the various ethnic kingpins. police in the election goes ahead next week baby pandas mother itchin will not be causing her ballot as she did in august she says how can she not have baby paid all to make price of the political feud. and we can now speak to catherine sawyer who's joining us from nairobi celebrations going on behind you as we can see but with so much political uncertainty over the election do we even know if there's going to be an election at this point. daryn let me just start by saying though who is expected to come here in a short while to preside over these celebrations opposition leaders on the other

hand are in western kenya where they're mourning people they say have been killed by police during protests now back to your question a lot of people are asking the same question will there even be an election and now it's becoming increasingly clear that it's difficult to have a credible free and fair election one commissioner who has resigned and fled the country has say to the chair passing of the commission in south i say that he cannot guarantee a credible election he's called for talks between right and president uhuru kenyatta he did meet with my loading guy who said who rate a rate that he wants the election postponed and electoral reforms carried out then he can consider joining rejoining the race who are looking out on the other hand i got his campaign trails he said that he's not going to sit down in boardroom for talks the mandate of the electoral commission is clear the low is clear that an election has to be held within sixty days either electoral commission is not clear

about that they need to go back to the supreme court for direction to remove also last night. the c.e.o. of the commission of the commission as retching also stepped aside this is a man that the opposition has always been say among other people should be removed ahead of the election so now he stepped aside but a lot of the supporters really saying that it is too little too late and there cannot be an election on the twenty sixth diaries so what fears do people have especially with the. possibility of violence if the elections do go ahead. there are a lot of concerns even people who would have wanted to go and vote are fearful and i think there's going to be apathy the election happens. and i think there's also going to be confrontations commission is a particularly in strongholds of the opposition who are in. recently and people

look we're not just not going to vote for we are not going to there's not going to be a vote as i told there's not going to get an election yet so that means disruption in the police out there as well so protecting government property so confrontation is. going to be violence in this area even me during the elections happen then you know millions of supporters are going to feel disenfranchised to the legitimacy of president who are looking at is when is all is going to be put to question and then again you know election within this time for in steep elated by the by the lows and. the saying that we're going to have a constitutional crisis either way canyon's very much caught between a rock and a hard place ok catherine so i thank you. many of puerto rico's communities are still without basic services one month after hurricane maria head people are digging through the rubble waiting for us government aid that was promised but hasn't come alan fischer reports some pointed blanco. on him

is get tired of waiting one month after hurricane rita struck his community was a mess so he called some friends we are in a process to clean up the creek because basically the crane was. a real. houses and around twenty blanco is a ninety minute drive from san juan the island's capital the people here feel that far away from the center they are far away from recovery far from the belief that anyone. it's going to help the government it's almost absent there's almost no coordination roman here just staying with someone. but their reality is right here we see sometimes and i'm sure our guard just provide us a lot but just a couple of patients are not more we ask and then we beg of them for at least two of some excavator to clean over. the area and what we're being told is this isn't

a one off but there are communities across this area that have asked for and waited for government help and now they're doing what they can where they can the hurricane they say it was a problem the greater tragedy is a lack of government action. not far away from here at the hurricane brought a flood that overwhelmed and destroyed the bridge that was a lifeline to a nearby mountain community so the locals built a pulley system which carries food and water and diesel for having heard. we are going to have a great we don't know anything. you know we are just disconnected across the island people are putting in their own fixes to get what they need a local stream by the roadside suddenly with plastic piping becomes the only source of fresh water for clothes washing drinking and even some fun. there is no where to be who wasn't well equipped to deal with a storm the size and intensity of maria one of the federal agencies here see few places are there's this island was pummeled by over one hundred fifty mile an hour

wind what that does to infrastructure that is in excellent condition versus ordinary condition it's still the same it's highly destructive put to me because governor disputes things here are slowly getting better in fact he says they may be getting worse and many communities fear they are being forgotten after a storm none of them will ever forget alan fischer i'll just point to blanco puerto rico. well the u.s. senate has passed a four trillion dollar budget blueprint clearing a critical hurdle and president donald trump supposed to cut taxes the republican controlled senate approved the budget measure by fifty one votes to forty nine. and fans of the most popular u.s. sport are split on the controversy that surrounded players' rights to kneel in protest during the national anthem president donald trump has repeatedly accused players of being on patriotic but the n.f.l.

owners have decided not to sanction players who protest rob reynolds went to oakland to gauge the opinion of football fans. here this is one of the great american sports traditions the tailgate party a chance to barbecue drink some beer and enjoy the camaraderie of fellow fans these oakland raiders supporters showed up early to party in the parking lot near the stadium where their team played the kansas city chiefs thursday night. it's the first pro football game since the national football league owners weighed in on the controversy will play or protests that have made the sport a political football the league's commissioner said players would not be forced to stand and this is something that what we try to do is deal with the underlying issue and understand what it is that they are protesting and try to address that matter in response president donald trump tweeted not forcing players to stand

showed quote total disrespect for our great country the president the players and now the team owners have all had their say so we came here to find out how the fans are feeling michael and lindelof and say trump is twisted the meaning of the players' protests he will if we get what the original message was it was the road says police brutality in the black community with the has been politicized now the flag stands for more gay military the flag stands for equal justice and liberty for all mary all over believes the protests are inappropriate it's their rights to exercise free. speech but. i feel that. the flag and then the national anthem represents our freedom and hands of what our soldiers have bought for most fans agreed the players had

a right to express their opinions if they want to neil i don't personally agree with. say nylander they i don't buy greed that if they want to do that they have that right there's no disrespect not not on it out not it out more but what they do before the game starts is their business and i think it's just a distraction in a topic that's not needed right now with all the other chaos going on in the world others say it's a shame that political mudslinging has soiled the game they love no i just here just watch the football game leave everything else behind and just just watch a football game before the raiders chiefs game got underway several players did kneel in protest players are making political statements and the president is playing to his political base and fans who just want to have fun are caught in the middle while promotes al jazeera oakland california.

the headlines on al-jazeera the u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson has criticized the four countries imposing a blockade on tar for refusing to engage in talks to ease the crisis he's kicking off a week long overseas trip with stops in saudi arabia and qatar. we want to see these countries keep their focus on the areas of mutual cooperation that we have and that includes the fight against terror terrorism and other things of that nature so i think the secretary is you know certainly discouraged that nothing has been resolved just yet he's talked pretty consistently although folks haven't haven't paid much attention to it recently about the disappointment that the nations haven't been able to do so of the g.c.c. crisis we hope that they well we hope that they'll sit down and have talks but it seems like they're not ready to do that yet the british prime minister to resign male seeking to expand breck's at negotiations to include trade as the e.u.

summit resumes in brussels but leaders want more progress on citizens' rights and european leaders are backing spain as the catalan crisis escalates in brussels the spanish prime minister mariano to holy received support from the french president and the german chancellor but the e.u. says it won't intervene in the dispute between madrid and barcelona a twenty one year old irish egyptian citizen has been released after four years behind bars in egypt the news of her but i him her that was released was welcomed by his family last month he was acquitted of charges linked to the demonstrations in twenty thirteen hundreds were arrested there after protests against the military coup that ousted president mohamed morsy the u.n. children's agency unicef is calling for more funding to help improve conditions for row hinge refugees in overcrowded camps in bangladesh the international body says

children fleeing violence amenable are facing hell on earth in the camps. the chinese president is set to have his own political theory incorporated into the ruling communist party's constitution chinese state media is reporting the so-called xi jinping thoughts will have fourteen principles but it's not yet known what they are and the move is expected to further consolidates sions power those are the headlines inside story is coming up next. an indian 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 and how does it. spain's it's going to take away tony as the regional leader ignores a deadline to abandon secession plans what's next for the capital on separatists and how will madrid impose its rich this is inside story.