i really felt liberated as a journalist loved about it was getting to the truth as an eyewitness that's what his job. afghanistan has the best geology of all both mentally resources and under a burden why are they so poor to measure you guys when finally form a government that we may have the tocsin land this century now and the more we lead the place down the more they push back we knew it was coming the question was do we sit back and wait or do we surprise them with a preemptive strike on the on the one at this time on how does your. leaving spain catalonia is deposed leader is in brussels where he says he will respect new actions next month.

and this is al jazeera live from london also coming up. calls for the election result to be an old saying it undermines the public's face in democracy. russia's foreign minister denies interfering in last year's us presidential election after monday's grand jury indictments. they are not going to stick to you that's why i'm saying here. and refugees refused to leave an australian run prison camp in papua new guinea saying their lives. begin in brussels where the deposed leader of catalonia has spoken for the first time since charges were filed against him for declaring independence from spain colors please them all says he's not in belgium to seek political asylum but to act

in quote freedom and safety in spain he faces charges of rebellion sedition and embezzlement along with several other members of his dismissed cabinet the catalan police headquarters have been raided by the spanish civil guard as they investigate who helped facilitate the ban secession referendum during imposed on friday dissolving the regional government and ordered new elections says he will accept the outcome of that vote called for december the twenty first. in regards to the elections called by the spanish central government we think there are democratic challengers and we're not scared by democratic challenges quite the opposite if the spanish government wishes to carry out these elections to legitimize article one five vives use of. course we will face these elections and i was there was david chase has the latest from brussels. that oppose catalan leader has not said a word for the last four days so he was in the middle of

a media scrum today there were very anxious to hear what he had to say essentially he said that he was in brussels not to seek political asylum as many people were speculating a but to use the the freedom and the safety of brussels which he described as the heart of democracy in the european union to carry on with his hand his campaign he said that what madrid was doing was using violence and intimidation against the project of catalan independence and he said that he essentially agreed that he would take part in the imposed election reason election on december the twenty first but he left open exactly how he's going to do that because is he going to stay here and campaign or is he going to go back to spain he said he wouldn't go back to spain without what he called legal guarantees but they're still preparing charges edition and bezel mint and rebellion against him and some seven of the

ministers he had with him here in brussels and so it seems unlikely that will happen somehow he's got to keep this campaign going from this distance from inside brussels where he feels safest and over the next few days perhaps we'll see some more events planned by the cattle and leader to make sure that the world keeps focusing on this issue and he keeps getting his message across that he doesn't want this to be a violent confrontation he wants peace and he wants dialogue say from brussels to barcelona where al-jazeera is hard to abseil hammy joins us live and hala i think people in barcelona have been reacting to that press conference by colus bushnell. but i think. probably they were relieved to hear. because. there has been speculation over the last twenty four hours he was in belgium and then.

here in barcelona actually came out. how long. it was going to. many wanted to understand why. such a crucial time and why didn't he stay he here and carry on what he called for which is basically. now they would probably take on board. the fact that. he actually. thirty years in prison and that would be one of the reasons he's away they would actually point the finger government any way. triggering article one five five and older steps taken by the spanish government. people who do feel that he should have been here now in an interesting twist.

after. depicting five men members of the now deposed regional government. and the caption under the picture was. representative of the. people and they were meeting inside the parliament building with an interest in the background . now we'll have to see how that plays out because. not allowed to do that. in a government building. and what about the spanish national government what is it doing right now. extraordinary meeting that should be underway now. we are supposed to hear from them later on maybe in a statement or maybe also in

a press conference but certainly they have been watching events unfolding they've been quite silent on really the whereabouts of push them on except for the foreign minister saying that it wasn't a problem for the leader to go to brussels that at this point he's still not a fugitive he's not indicted and he's allowed free movement and we also heard from the interior ministry a sort of subdued statement yesterday saying that they were actually worried about him showing up in this building here which is the headquarters of the regional government then him traveling to belgium but apart from that we haven't heard any other reaction that may come later in the day or in the evening rather all right after how many but i say thank you. thank you. has called for the results of the took ninety eight point two percent of the with

the turnout below forty percent. mention of a legal challenge but when the election result will undermine the public's faith in democracy. from nairobi. he will accept the results of the election that were released on monday evening and the president who can. he says is now embarked on what he calls a come for electro justice and he says he will achieve by calling on his supporters to come out and protest picket the court and services companies or the president's family and other people allied to this is what reloading. this illusion must no stunt if allowed to turn really make a complete mockery of a listers. be the end of the boat as

a means of instituting a government in kenya will completely destroy the public confidence in the vote. people who will not turn out to vote in elections with the term and outcomes. comments will not come as any consolation to many kenyans who want to move forward and leave the whole process behind them it's been a long electoral process we've been hearing of this election since june this year and it's been a process marked with violent protests attacks on the ideas and threats to the electoral commission staff all the signs of a country on the brink and it promises to be even a longer process and more painful one if raila continues with his uncompromising stand. russia's foreign minister says allegations his country meddled in last

year's u.s. presidential election are fantasies so he was speaking a day after the first charges related to moscow's alleged involvement in the election were made public using the word because. without a single piece of proof we are as you know being accused of meddling not only in the us election but also elections in european states recently there was no legation that moscow decided the minister to appoint in south africa there is no limit to fantasy. and the lawyers of social media giants facebook twitter and google will testify before u.s. senators in the next few years is part of the investigation into whether russia used the tech companies to interfere in the election facebook says about eighty thousand posts were produced and as many as one hundred twenty five million american users alone may have seen the russian based content let's take you to algiers could be halkett in washington d.c. for more on this and how significant you think it really is this hearing involving

the social media companies in that larger russia investigation. it's very significant felicity it's the first of two days of testimony that we expect on capitol hill from these tech giants facebook google twitter certainly there's been an acknowledgement from these executives that there is an awareness that russia did make purchases of significant ad buys in advance of the election with the intention of trying to manipulate the outcome and well the conclusion has been from for most investigators that in fact the outcome would not have changed there certainly is concern on the part of lawmakers as part of this broader russian probe to make sure that this doesn't happen again so expect that there is going to be significant testimony in this panel investigation that will be taking place today as well as the one that will take place on wednesday but you also have to remember too that some of these questions that will be posed by lawmakers may not be as hard hitting as we expect given the fact that these companies have also donated according to at

least one study to forty percent of the senators on these panels in terms of political donations so that's sort of the double edged sword in washington there's always this appearance of trying to get things done but at the same time this holding back if you will as well because of the fact that there are these donations that have been made to senators that make them often a little reluctant to take the action that many on the part of voters might be looking for here in company one day off of the indictments that we saw all monday has there been any more response and reaction from the white house to that. well certainly the white house seems to be taking the approach of trying to deflect it's on the defensive well continuing to maintain it has nothing to hide what's most interesting in all of these indictments as we've had an opportunity to adjust them over the last twenty four hours is the fact that while most have been focused on trump's former campaign manager paul man of ford who is facing very serious charges

and there is a lot of scrutiny now on this figure george papadopoulos that in fact we know has pled guilty to lying to f.b.i. investigators and now it appears is working with robert muller in his probe into possible collusion in the twenty sixteen presidential election the reason that he has become such a focus of media attention particularly is the fact that within that indictment he's called a proactive cooperate or that seems to suggest he has been working with the f.b.i. investigative team for some time may have been and is providing evidence that could lay the groundwork for further charges so that is why there is a lot of scrutiny expect in the upcoming press briefing with the white house press secretary sara sanders that this will be the focus of media attention and questioning yes absolutely fascinating isn't it given how good life there at the white house for us thank you. still ahead on the program talks on syria's war.

without progress on a prisoner exchange. with a leader who became a symbol for a nation but what will. the future of his kurdish people. hello and welcome back or take a look at weather conditions across the levant and western parts of asia but of pushing through but you know it's quite remarkable temperatures there are twenty three and almighty and really this time of year temperatures should be about ten degrees out best well we will find cold weather eventually pushing in across this region as we head through into the latter part of the weekend in particular so drop by about ten to thirteen degrees same goes for type can't meanwhile we've got colder air further towards the west you can see there across parts of turkey temperatures struggling a little bit of snow as well higher elevations cooler conditions around the eastern

side of the mediterranean and pleasant effort by that highs of thirty one kuwait city to look at my sort of thirty three here in the arabian peninsula the humidity is still fairly high temperatures are up for this time of year to thirty for those still very pleasant here only get better with time really on the other side of the peninsula is looking fine for a medina and mecca temperature again in the mid thirty's so nice weather conditions there to have a across into southern parts of africa we've got to variable amounts of cloud actually coming through the convergence is developing so far as the forecast is concerned it's looking largely dry and fine pleasant day ten and twenty one but we got some showers in the eastern side of madagascar.

right. welcome back reminder of the top stories here on al-jazeera the deposed leader of catalonia has spoken for the first time since charges were filed against him for declaring independence from spain. says he hasn't gone to belgium to seek asylum.

opposition leader has called for the result of the presidential election rerun to be a nulled warning it could undermine the public's faith in democracy. and the lawyers of social media companies facebook twitter and google are due to testify at a u.s. senate hearing into alleged russian interference in last year's presidential election. russia has invited thirty three syrian groups and political parties to attend what is called a syrian congress or national dialogue in the black sea resort of sochi in mid november russian officials have indicated one of the points that could be considered would be a new constitution for syria meanwhile a seventh round of talks aimed at ending syria's war has now up to the end kazakhstan's capital a starter we can cross trust or respect our desires correspondent imran khan a neighbor and was there any progress at all in this latest round of talks. well the answer is that is yes and no no the astonished conference wrapped up as you say

in the last hour or so and what they were doing is they were discussing a variety of subjects and what the syrian opposition wanted to do was really push this idea of a prisoner exchange they actually call them hostages they want some three hundred thousand people freed by the syrian regime and also what they want to do is find out what's happened to these people there also there are some ideas that these people some of them at least could be in prison some of them have died and some of them their whereabouts simply isn't known now three hundred thousand people is a lot of people clearly so that's going to take some discussions and that's really what came out of the meeting today is that they will continue to discuss whether there will be a release of these some three hundred thousand people will find out what the fate of these three hundred thousand people are also what they discussed was the deescalation zones now this meeting was very much about the technical aspect of the deescalation zones they were agreed at the sixth round of talks in september now what they're looking at is what role the various different guarantors as they're

called and that's russia iran and turkey are going to play now this was all discussed but the deescalation zones have been very controversial let's take a look at what they really mean for syria. the talks in a start to have concentrated on strengthening the deescalation zones in syria established in september those owns include it live province northern homs eastern ghouta and parts of the border with jordan security in the zones has been guaranteed by russia and iran who backed the syrian regime and by turkey the rebels that keeps the foreign powers firmly entrenched on the ground in syria but the charity international rescue committee is concerned that civilians have been forgotten. the safety of civilians has not improved with the establishment of the so-called deescalation areas with so many armed groups not covered by cease fire agreements we have even seen periods of increased aerial bombardment the idea that peace is somehow broken out in syria is far from the reality we see civilians

trapped in the area a pessimistic that the astonished talks will change anything. actually the entire us donna process is a failure it is nothing but empty promises we will do this we will do that all life . the horst on a process is a failure many years have passed since the beginning of the revolution and nothing has changed to me the situation will remain as it is. the syrian opposition also claims civilians are being targeted the escalation areas which are being breached by their g.m. and iran on almost daily basis and russia's are going to and it's supposed to do something about that the deescalation zones are in place for another six months however that might get extended but what the a stunt to talk seem to be proving is that russia is leading the charge however they are walking a tight rope between the international community and all the different syrian

factions but they do seem to be backing syrian president bashar al assad. it's not just the deescalation zones that are under discussion the syrian opposition want a prisoner exchange but there's been no agreement on that so far u.n. backed talks are scheduled for geneva in late november in iran you just talked there about the u.n. but talks that russia itself is coming. up the idea of another talk another meeting in sochi what do we know about. all i can tell you is at least thirty groups have been invited to these talks but what's different about these talks is they haven't run along the tracks of other talks so far the u.n. backed talks are very political talks here in a start of a very much on the basis of military and stopping a cease fire sorry creating a cease fire these talks seem to be the russians deepening their involvement within syria and asking various different syrian groups now let me just go through some of

them these groups include the opposition they include the syrian government but they also include ethnic minorities within syria itself and key religious groups as well to give their opinion on what they see as the future of syria it's likely that they will discuss the constitution but these won't be major talks what they will be however is talk to allow the syrians and some thirteen hundred people are coming to these talks parent late to discuss what any future for syria takes place but i have to stress these are talks that are going to have a major effect immediately these are much more talks about what the future of syria might look like and these are coming from the syrians but as i also say it's further proof of the fact that russia is really the one country in the world that's really pushing forward in syria is really the key player iran in a sort of thank you. the president of the kurdistan regional government is in the last twenty four hours of the massive barzani's presidential term finishes on

wednesday and he said he wanted stand it the end of his twelve year run follows the controversial referendum on to session that he pushed through last month so being funny about what people in the regional capital of bail think about him standing down. time affords an element of perspective and even though daily routines here haven't changed the political landscape has shifted for the kurds of northern iraq so how is it seen by the youth we meet mohammed an engineer he is currently unemployed and like many playing away their time here they're educated would find it hard to get a job. you don't present barzani's term expired not now but a few years ago yes he is a symbol of our nation but in the end someone has to replace his position if you believe in democracy in any country any leader when he finishes his period he needs to let someone replace him i think it was a good move by the president. the backlash to the controversial referendum on

secession is viewed by many as the reason for brazil and his decision to step aside love him or hate him he is a man many view as a historic figurehead of the kurdish struggle. leaves his post you can consider that our kurdish nation will disintegrate because we see him as a father we don't just see him as a leader here's our kurdish father leave the presidency aside what barzani did for the kurdish nation no one else can do and no one else will so what now commentator he will osman says it's the first time in kurdish history a leader of his caliber gives up his post in this manner a possible scenario is that we may will. come with no president. or president. president. with very little powers. of course something like this numbers that he would accept a position like this i don't know who's going to be the next prime minister but i

can bet. quite a lot of money on him being a present. and that's the bottom line even if my suit by design he isn't the president he will continue to wield enormous influence i think by him stepping back he's allowing his nephew. and mitch of amber zani to lead the negotiations and back then you know the top priority now in kurdistan is not forming a government is not putting the kurdish house in order. it is important but the top priority in buying it today in kurdistan is to form a united representative delegation that is powerful and goes to baghdad. most people we speak to say the hundred year old dream of an independent kurdistan one which suddenly seemed so close has been broken but they also firmly believe that it can be fixed stephanie decker al-jazeera. funerals have been held

in gaza for eight people killed when israel destroyed a tunnel on monday five fighters from islamic jihad and two were members of hamas is armed wing who were trying to rescue them israel says the incomplete tunnel toward its territory was intended for attacks but hamas say it was for importing food and supplies and his destruction is a dangerous escalation but it smith was at one of the funerals. says that israel's timing of the attack on this summit was a futile attempt to sabotage efforts to repair palestinian unity because in the last three weeks i must be coming over control for the government institutions here in gaza to the palestinian authority and significantly this week it's expected that control of border posts will be handed over from hamas to the neither side wants this issue to escalate israel has already pointed out that it took this tactic this attack took place on its side of the border what is crucial now is that hamas

manages to persuade. the other fighting groups here in gaza persuade them mitch to retaliate against israel by launching rockets over the border because that would soon have a severe negative impact on attempts to repair almost in the news at least three people have been killed by a bomb near the u.s. embassy in kabul afghanistan as defense ministry says at least fifteen others were injured in the suicide is high it was in an area where many foreign embassies and government departments abased. refugees have barricaded themselves inside an australian run detention center in papa new guinea and refusing to leave the masonic compound was closed on tuesday after a court deemed it was illegal but the six hundred refugees who remained say it's too dangerous to leave reports. these refugees are desperate to stay. inside

a detention center that they fought to close our men. are safe maybe it's my last. you see here maybe not who knows our life is in deep danger. refugees was saying to the man a silent attention seemed to buy a stray leah four years ago holding pain until a permanent solution was found and a deterrent for those who might follow. the locals of papa new guinea were always hostile it was an attack in twenty four tane that left one refugee did the concept and conditions of men a silent who widely condemned finally according to the legal and a strangely agreed to close the same to pay refugees compensation. but as the facility was decommissioned and security forces left on tuesday refugees reported. yesterday and authorities are all out into a bad inning these refugees

a sense really. and they have serious concerns for their safety on medicine and whether they may be are not so barricaded themselves into the center. it's now a see each water electricity and food supplies have been cut off. the water tank is empty. as best i can be nice to die. but we are at the stage the asylum seekers were given alternative accommodation on the island but they say it isn't equipped to protect them from the locals they are not going to get it was safe to go into that's why i'm staying here this is a crazy situation everybody's been screaming about wanted to get out of the place where we saw that we had to close it and move them into a different facility and require those the refugees to go back to their country of origin and now they want life destroyed. government says the prison closure is

a matter for papua new guinea and yet pub in new guinea disputed that in a statement on sunday which leaves refugees caught between two governments and a hostile native population challenge ballasts al-jazeera with one hundred days to go until the start of the winter olympics in pyongyang chang the olympic flame is on its way to south korea the torch was less at the palace the next stadium in the greek capital athens which hosted the first modern games in eighty ninety six or now be paraded around south korea in a relay of more than two thousand kilometers before reaching pyongyang the opening ceremony on february the ninth. and a reminder of the top stories on al-jazeera the deposed leader of catalonia has spoken for the first time since charges were filed against him for declaring independence

from spain collis pushed them all says he's not in belgium to seek political asylum but to act in quote freedom and safety and rid imposed direct rule on catalonia on friday dissolving the regional government and ordered new elections in december i wish them all says he will accept the outcome of that vote. in regards to the elections called by the spanish central government we think they are a democratic challenge and we're not scared by democratic challenges quite the opposite if the spanish government wishes to carry out these elections to legitimize article one five vives use of course we will face these elections kenya's opposition leader raul danger has called for the result of the presidential election rerun to be an old president a hurricane as it was declared the winner on monday with ninety eight point two percent of the vote but the turnout was below forty percent because the poll was only hearted by opposition supporters are doing or made no mention of a legal challenge but won the election result will undermine the public's faith in

democracy. the lawyers of social media companies facebook twitter and google will testify before u.s. senators later on tuesday as part of the investigation into whether russia used the companies to interfere in last year's presidential election facebook says about eighty thousand posts were produced and as many as one hundred twenty five million american uses may have seen russian based content russia has invited thirty three syrian groups and political parties to attend what it calls a syrian congress or national dialogue in sochi in mid november russian officials have suggested a new constitution for syria could be a key discussion point a seventh round of talks aimed at ending syria's war has now finished in kazakstan capital stone or at least three people have been killed by a bomb near the u.s. embassy in kabul the attack happened area where many foreign embassies and government departments a base a quarterly report u.s. congress on tuesday found civilian casualties are up fifty two percent on last year

and those are the latest headlines here on out is there a stay with us inside stories next. three of donald trump's former advisors are indicted the probe into russia's involvement in the u.s. election is digging deeper so whose name could be honest next and could this investigation sink the u.s. president's administration this is inside story.