he achieved something that never happened before. the army takes control in zimbabwe but military commanders deny it's a couldn't say president robert mugabe is safe.

no data this is al jazeera live from doha was a coming up. an act of aggression lebanon's president says nothing justifies the detention of prime minister saad hariri inside the arabia. just terrific the u.s. secretary of state visits me in march to condemn the army crackdown against training of muslims but stopped short of calling for sanctions. and an expedition to the french alps way disappearing glasses are seen as a major indicator of climate change. we have seize control of the country but deny they take over is a coup in address on state t.v. an army spokesman said criminals around president robert mugabe were being targeted

military commanders say he and his family are safe but it's not known where their soldiers are patrolling the streets of the capital harare and roads to government buildings are blocked the military supporters are praising what the head of the war veterans group called a bloodless correction zimbabwe's opposition movement for democratic change party called for a peaceful return to constitutional democracy this is. allowed . but i think. from the look of things. that was being propagated by. we have extensive coverage on the story tanya page is watching events from johannesburg in south africa but first it's got our correspondent in harare. so.

the military say that the gobby and his family are well do you know if that's the case. well we haven't seen them and they haven't appeared on television since all this happened so people can really do is believe what the army is telling them and wait and see what happens next right now some veterans are giving a press conference here in harare. some of those who were arrested and dragged to court for calling. suggesting that he step down and they say that they were tired of him leading this country they wanted him out and that was last year they giving a press conference and when they walked in the room they were shouting we have taken it we have taken it they mean they now control the party and they say they support what the army did on the streets. but tense people are slowly coming into the city center but harare as usual busy self and other parts of the country other

towns and cities we're told it is quiet day to day. and i'm easy calm in harare this after confusing scenes on the streets of zimbabwe with a night of unrest as military vehicles rolled in there were also reports that soldiers were seen loading ammunition these developments followed a warning on monday that the military would step in if the sacking of candidates they favor within the ruling party didn't stop a statement was read by soldiers on state radio this is not a military takeover and things will return to normalcy. and used. and. we are only targeting criminals around him who are committing crimes that are causing social and economic suffering in the country in order to bring them to justice but this is sparks fear of a military coup even now with all the confusion we do know that the army in sirte

is so this way and running the country and telling the people what to what to do what to believe and hundley in the news taking over their broadcast those are very unusual in other countries we call those the. zimbabwe army chief constantino cheering i want earlier this week the military could step in if party pages didn't stop but she was quickly accused of treasonable conduct by the zanu p.f. in a statement he was reacting to the firing of the vice president in a seminar the week before when i got well had close ties to the military and was revered for his revolutionary work in fighting for the country's independence a fight that also boid president mugabe to power in one nine hundred eighty when i got was removal apparently followed a series of disputes with the first lady grace mugabe her leadership and vision to succeed our ninety three year old husband had triggered infighting within her party she is popular with the sonic youth faction dubbed the g forty. but you know i

think contradicts an earlier promise mugabe had made saying only those who fought in zimbabwe's liberation can preside over some probably being fifty to grace is not a war veteran and like awful amos and i got one nor the army generals who threatened to intervene. the first lady. would like to govern after her husband but i don't know anything that says that that is illegal and the military moving in clearly to stop her does not ring like a like a good move to me one of the first announced casualties is the finance minister who the army stated they had to take and despite the military emphasizing the president and his wife are safe these look like troubled times ahead troubled times possibly but do we have any idea at this stage what the military is end game is here. that is the million dollar question officially insisting that this is not

a coup referring to robert mugabe as president heads of state and commander in chief a lot of adults are speculating some are saying perhaps they could be some kind of exit package agreed for them but leading towards a mediation perhaps. people to me can come and bring the two sides together the different factions the army talk about the problems and find a peaceful solution to this crisis so it could be an interesting. few months the honest truth is until senior officials speak out publicly and tells them what actually is going on to keep updating them people will continue to speculate right now people are waiting to see the news bulletins on the state t.v. the normal programming has resumed and the whole bulletin is. cation which way the country's going alright thanks for heard. we are hearing that

south africa's president jacob zuma has spoken to robert mugabe let's bring tanya page she is live in johannesburg with the details on that what do you know about the conversation and. well what he has said publicly in a statement and we are expecting him to make an appearance on state television here that the president of south africa jacob zuma we don't know what he said and his written statement so far and that doesn't make reference to a conversation with zimbabwean president robert mugabe however it does say that he is watching with great concern events unfolding across the border are calling for calm and restraint from all sides involved saying that he wouldn't want to see an democratic on constitutional change of power in zimbabwe a close neighbor and also you know all sides to come together and talk and urging

as well the zimbabwean military its army to maintain peace and security at the moment the borders are open the airports are open the flights are taking off and landing from here and and so there aren't any travel warnings or restrictions on players from south africans going into zimbabwe although some foreign governments the u.k. and the u.s. have warned bear citizens in harare to be going about their daily business but very cautiously and perhaps not going out to any sort of political event so south africa as well as south africans as well in the many zimbabweans who are here also watching quite cautiously but and no sort of statement publicly on television from the president himself because whatever happens in zimbabwe will obviously have an impact on south africa and you mentioned zimbabweans who are living then there are

many of them i should imagine they are very concerned about what is happening. oh absolutely and we're not only talking about what's happening today but over the many years that zimbabwe has it been experienced this economic decline under the presidency of president robert mugabe there have been many thousands of zimbabweans who cross the border coming to south africa looking for work looking for jobs because they just don't exist in the way in enough numbers to really sustain the growing population there and and the money the remittances that zimbabweans make here in south africa and same time play a really important role in the economy in the last census the south african government said they were one point seven million non-self african nationals living here they don't know how many of them. but it would seem to be you know the largest proportion of those number they all have family they all have friends back home and not just in harare but around the country obviously and they were reaching out to

those people today to make sure everyone's ok and and just the same as people at home also hoping that this stays peaceful possibly we'll learn more when we hear from jacob zuma things of that journey of age lebanon's president says nothing justifies prime minister saad hariri being detained in saudi arabia shallow and says it's a saudi act of aggression three recently announced his resignation during a visit to the saudi capital last week and he's promising to return home soon let's go to the heart of she's live in beirut tell us more about what iowans been saying . well definitely lebanon stepping up the pressure on saudi arabia and this is going to further deepen the crisis because the president said this is an act of aggression from saudi arabia an aggression against lebanon sovereignty against lebanon's independence as well as the relationship between lebanon and saudi arabia we have to remember you know saddle had he is a saudi ally saudi arabia has a lot of influence in this country now the president saying that relations are

going to be affected the president also being very clear saying that saddam had he and his family are detained and we will not accept until they both return him along with his family we will not stop until the hostage is free that's the words he has been using now lebanon has launched a diplomatic campaign over recent days reaching out to western capitals to arab capitals to try to release a saddle had e.d. so you know this diplomatic campaign is continuing and we know that the lebanese for foreign minister was in paris late yesterday he met the french president and the french foreign minister will be in saudi arabia later today so diplomatic efforts are continuing lebanon making it very clear that their prime minister who you know suddenly resigned on november for they believe he is a hostage and lebanon i should imagine extremely concerned about the knock on effect as far as debility is concerned that lebanon is not seen as a proxy battleground between iran and saudi arabia. well yes jane

in this sudden resignation really it shocked the nation destabilized the nation there was a lot of tensions people were worried that saudi arabia chose to make lebanon really the center stage of its rivalry which is playing out across the region with iran lebanon enjoyed a year of relative stability in a very turbulent region so people were extremely concerned and then you heard saudi arabia and its gulf allies call on its citizens to leave leave lebanon immediately adding even further further tensions and what the resignation what they were hoping with this resignation it was really a saudi move against hezbollah of course a proxy of iran in lebanon but so far this move has backfired because the country has come together all the different rival political camps coming together all of them to mandate that saddam had he needs to return home for them political differences are still there but this is not what they're talking about today what they're talking about is the need for saddle hetty to return even though the prime minister the resigned prime minister has tweeted just a few minutes after remarks saying i am fine i promise you i'm coming back home but

very few people believe that he is really the one you know typing these tweets thank you that it's. still ahead on al-jazeera. frankly i had no real recollection of this meeting until i saw these news reports i do now recall. general jones. facing tough questions about russia and presidential campaign. contemplates bills and blames the us. we've got some quiet weather coming in to japan for the time being but so what weather never really to. pulling out into the open waters all the north south of

that we've got to settle whether the hong kong at around twenty eight degrees celsius with some pleasant sunshine sunshine the showers as per usual across southeast asia some larvae downpours coming back into the philippines over the next day or two easing a little further west with a scattering of showers there across malaysia and potentially seeing some big downpours and singapore for example and staying very wet for indonesia thirty two. sun blessed beaches breathtaking scenery but there's another reason that draws people to cyprus it's not always easy for mixed faith couples to marry in the middle east and that's why the mediterranean island has become an ideal destination for couples and love to have a civil marriage al-jazeera world looks at what happens when romance cuts across religious lines cyprus island to forbid in love at this time on al-jazeera.

and again the top stories on al-jazeera commanders in zimbabwe say they've seized control of the country but deny they take over is a coup an army spokesman said criminals are on president robert mugabe were being targeted he and his family are said to be safe so know where they are. lebanon's president says nothing justifies prime minister saad hariri being detained in saudi arabia shown says it's a saudi act of aggression really suddenly announced his resignation during a visit to the saudi capital last week. to take his president is and have talks

with the emir of qatar reject tie better what has been a major supporter of cats since june when four arab countries cut ties and imposed a blockade on tuesday their man said the saudi led bloc has no desire to end the crisis he was at council's looking for sustainable ways to meet its needs is following the story from doha. this is. the second visit to the region and two in july he also visited saudi arabia and kuwait and expressed a desire to have all the parties set aside their differences and negotiate a political. crisis but turkey has also sided with sending troops at the peak of the quizes here and also sending cargo planes and vessels carrying food supplies to qatar there's no indication that we might see any

political settlement of this explains why qatar and turkey are expanding trade and economic cooperation here qatari investors are now looking into opportunities in turkey and turkish investors are stepping in sending supplies from different parts of turkey to qatar to ensure the food supplies continue but at the same time qatar has strong relations with saudi arabia the united arab emirates and would like to maintain those races and this is why turkey is willing to see an immediate political and to the crisis in the g.c.c. countries u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson has called for a credible and impartial investigation into the crisis he's made lead. me in my capital to listen once those who committed crimes to be held accountable he described the scenes of what happened to the rangar at the hands of men massacure forces as just horrific. when mark response to this crisis is it is critical to the

terminator success of a transition to a more democratic society a key test of any democracy power through the smoke all over the marginalized populations it is the responsibility of a government and its security forces to protect and respect the human rights of all persons within its borders and to hold accountable those who fail to do so scott had as more from him of capital now if you don't. u.s. secretary of state rex tillotson was only on the ground here for a couple of hours on wednesday he met with the commander in chief of the military services here in myanmar then he met with. the government the civilian government leader here for this nation and then after that meeting with he held a press conference and in that press conference he said that one of the most important things when dealing with the situation rakhine state and the range of refugees is that there is a credible and impartial investigation into what happened over these last several

months sending these six hundred thousand plus refugees over the border into bangladesh he said that that's critical and also tying into that he said that the united states is still very supportive of this nation and its transition into a full democracy he says it's very important for a nation for democracy to protect all citizens within its borders people within its border and that's the civilian government's responsibility that's the military government's responsibility and another thing that touched on that is been brought up in several weeks coming into this meeting today on wednesday and that is the possible reintroduction of sanctions here in the end mark he said broad base economic sanctions on the nation as a whole is not the way to go now but what he did say he left the door open through these investigations into what happened impartial investigations that if there are specific pieces of evidence and intelligence to point to specific members of the military here there could be specific and targeted sanctions against those individuals that he said is still

a possibility right now the intelligence is not there and that's why he emphasized the need for an impartial investigation go forward unlike the army's own investigation that was released on monday exonerate itself from any wrongdoing. in opposition. is returning to politics he was on his head of the cambodia national race. the supreme court is due to decide and says de waited to dissolve the posse which prime minister says he is trying to tell his government from is a crackdown on opposition members and civil rights groups. the u.s. attorney general has denied he misled congress during his testimony last month sessions was questioned in an investigation into alleged russian made lying in the two thousand and sixteen presidential elections several tons of reports. it's raise your right hand. swear that this isn't the first time the attorney general has been accused of not being honest with congress but jeff sessions was adamant i don't

think i'm. is right there me doing something wrong i had no participation in any wrongdoing at issue sessions previous testimony that there were no contacts between members of the trump campaign and the russians claiming to represent the kremlin since his last congressional appearance to trump campaign staffers have testified that they told sessions they were in contact with what they thought were russian officials and that's sessions memory i do now recall that the march twenty sixth meeting at the dropout tale that mr papadopoulos attended but i have no clear recollection the details of what he said at that meeting after reading his account into the best of my recollection i believe that i wanted to make clear to him that he would not authorize to represent the campaign with the russian government or any other foreign government for that matter democrats on the committee working to pursue another issue as well it's emerged that the department

of justice it's evaluating whether to appoint a special counsel into hillary clinton into among other issues lingering questions about clinton's foundation donations and government policy while she was secretary of state for example republicans welcomed the prospect but were impatient what's it going to take to get a special council democrats were less enthusiastic in a functioning democracy is it common for the leader of the country to order the criminal justice system to retaliate against is political opponents their department of justice can never be used to retaliate politically against opponents and that would be wrong however sessions' reiterated his. commitments made during his confirmation hearing. here an investigation into clinton he would recuse himself. washington. back to our top story the

military takeover in zimbabwe south africa's president jacob zuma has being making an address let's listen to what he had to say but confined in his home. i have also managed to get. the briefing about the situation in zimbabwe. but of course given the seriousness of the situation i've taken a decision to send and boy to be able to contact the leaders of the defense force who have undertaken these operations but also to meet with president mugabe so that we have a more clear picture of what is happening in zimbabwe i will also be sending an envoy to the present to his excellency president. of. to brief

him as the church person of the organ of sadoc peace and security so that today is a close into action between us and it is in bobby and i am hoping that the defense force will not move and do more damage that they will be able to respect the condition of them barbara as well as the people of them. so that this situation does not go beyond. the situation where it is now particularly because we are now in contact with them as well as the president. we are hoping that this situation is going to be controlled so that peace and stability comes back to zimbabwe other because

president jacob zuma in a taped address there just saying that he will be sending an envoy to zimbabwe in order to meet up with robert mugabe and find out what the situation is and assess the situation there he also confirmed that the south african defense force will not get involved in the military takeover there now venezuela's blaming the u.s. for making it impossible to repay its debts the rating agency standard and poor's has declared the nation in selective default after failed to make two hundred million dollars in repayments due in october john hendren reports. then this whale is in default with apparently little hope of paying off its creditors the declaration by the ratings agency standard and poor's comes after venezuela with sixty billion dollars in debt in just nine point six billion in its bank accounts missed a second deadline on a debt payment the red carpet was rolled out for a few foreign investors who might be willing to keep the country afloat at

a price that as well as vice president tariq allah seamy said the country is the victim of an economic war being waged by the us and foreign lenders and. this is salt of the us government has made jointly with the venezuelan opposition today venezuela is limited to seek financing find it also is faced with the need to consider a new formulas to get out of this complexity critics say then as well as leaders have prioritized clearing debt over a growing humanitarian crisis that has left many of its people hungry and children dying in hospitals with medical shortages venezuelan president nicolas maduro blames the u.s. for his country's crisis so he's turning to his traditional rivals the compromise front that i'm not sure not like all that i pulled a couple international agreements with the people's republic of china a working perfectly and will continue to go that way i could announce that we have reached a renegotiation a refinancing agreement with the russian federation. in spite of president we do

rose plans u.s. firms still own much of venezuela's debt in the trumpet ministration wary of providing an economic lifeline to his administration has blocked americans from pretty supporting in any debt restructuring talks with diminishing cash revenues then as well as financial problems are likely to get even worse john hendren al-jazeera i want to take you back to the comments made by south africa's president jacob zuma in the last couple of minutes aside as bring in tony a page from johannesburg tell us more about what he had to say about the situation in zimbabwe. well the president was very clear in calling for calm and restraint from all sides in zimbabwe he's confirmed that the south african government is sending on boys to zimbabwe but also to angola angola because it is currently the chair of the. committee of politics defense and security south africa sending its minister of defense and veterans and state security to both of those

countries he confirmed that he has spoken to zimbabwean president robert mugabe who told south african president jacob zuma that at the moment he is confined to his home but that he was fine no other details given there but that would be extremely reassuring to too many zimbabweans and also an indication of the need the desire among the military at the moment as we understand it to maintain peace and security there and also said that the south african government was currently talking to the zimbabwean defense force as well in an earlier written statement the president had said that they would not want to see an unconstitutional change of government and that he hoped that there would be an amicable resolution to what he describes as a political impasse what sort of clout does south africa have when it comes to zimbabwean tell us a little more about their relationship in the past that leads us to where we are

today. well south africa is in a bit of a sensitive spot obviously we know there's been quite a lot of criticism from the international community pertaining particularly to elections in zimbabwe over since independence in one nine hundred eighty when president mugabe first came to power he's now been in power thirty seven years but the south african government in line with the african union and said at the regional body here in southern africa has never been that critical because you know there's an important ally it's south africa's biggest trading party in the region and also that just generally isn't the style among most african countries he was as i see it pains to point out that they wouldn't tolerate or an unconstitutional change of power so we have also of course heard from the military saying this is not a military takeover so certainly here in south africa not only people in government

but also ordinary people on the street and there are many zimbabweans here of course also waiting to see exactly how the situation is which is still quite fluid is going to unfold and very briefly has already spoken to robert mugabe he says that he's safe other than that we know nothing. we don't know we don't know. much more than that president zuma saying that he's spoken to he's confirmed that he is confined to his home which supports this. reports out of harare that he's under some kind of house arrest but i think what's going to be important to see is to see just how the military manages. the reemergence of president mugabe into the public sphere he was expected he and his family or at least his wife grace mugabe to make an appearance at of an event later in the week whether that will happen or not we don't know and what he will say when

he is released from those confinement of his home as well we will just have to wait and see all right let's leave it there tanya page wrapping up for us in johannesburg we just heard from jacob zuma saying that as far as the south african defense force is concerned it's not going to get involved he has spoken to robert mugabe all we know at this stage is that he is safe the military has taken over important positions in the country will not care at this stage what the end game is over what sort of tussle for power is happening at the moment but obviously we'll update you on all the latest news as it comes to us right now though it is inside story to stay watching.

who's to blame for the purpose of the g.c.c. crisis says he's ready to talk with locating countries have to do so so what will it take to break the deadlock this is inside story.