choosing between buying medication eating this is a dialogue i want to get in one more comment because this is someone who is an activist and has posted a story join the global conversation at this time on al-jazeera ahead of the september twenty fourth national election survey showed a satisfied to the state of the economy this is easily a slow news biggest tech success story the company was bought by marcos off in two thousand and eleven we bring you the stories that are shaping the economic world we live in counting the cost at this time on zero zero. and to keep open the detention facilities in guantanamo bay. and the orders america's controversial prison in cuba to remain open reversing the

obama promise. hello i'm barbara starr you're watching al-jazeera live from london also coming up the e.u. pledges fifty three million dollars in extra aid for palestinians but will it be enough to solve a funding crisis the scandal surrounding germany stop car makers and their use of monkeys in a mission tests hits the german parliament just how much did the government know and what do you get when you combine a blue moon a super moon and the total eclipse well an event that no moon gazer would want to miss. it's long been symbolic of the grave human rights abuses committed during the so-called war on terror but now u.s. president donald trump has this. cited to keep the notorious contactable military

prison open through an executive order former president barack obama had promised to close the facility in cuba within a year after taking office but while many prisoners were indeed released obama was unable to keep his promise to shut down guantanamo together in his state of the union address on tuesday trump warned hundreds of dangerous terrorists had been released in the past but this would no longer be allowed to happen. to reexamine our military detention policy and to keep open the detention facilities in guantanamo bay tham asking us to ensure that in the fight against isis and al qaeda we continue to have all necessary power to detain terrorists wherever we chase them them where ever we find them. and in many cases for them it will now be one turn and.

that's the same time as of a few months ago our warriors in afghanistan have new rules of engagement. with their roic afghan part military is no longer undermined by artificial time and we no longer tell our enemies our plans. well it's almost ten years since the last the taney was brought to guantanamo bay so the tribes proposal to start sending people there again is a major departure seven hundred eighty people have been held there at different points since two thousand and two many without charge or criminal trial most have since been freed but one hundred ninety seven transferred repatriated or resettled on the president obama however forty one people are still being held obama was unable to fulfill his pledge to shut guantanamo altogether because some prisoners

were deemed too risky to be freed and they include highly that shaikh mohammed the alleged mastermind of the nine eleven attacks who was charged with two thousand nine hundred and seventy three counts of murder well joining us now in the studio is my affair why she's the director of reprieved that's an organization focused on ending extreme human rights abuses including counter-terrorism practices thank you so much for joining us here in the studio i mean we obviously he said in the state of the union address on tuesday but all of trump had made similar noises about one panel bay so it's all really a surprise what's your reaction to well there's been a lot of rhetoric about filling up guantanamo with bad doods but this is a really retrograde step the executive order that he has now issued says that he will revise a bomb as planned and a plan that i think the rest of the international community supported to close guantanamo and instead keep the. facility open the torture chamber that it is open

it's quite i mean it's sort of raises the question of how many prisoners around the world would they want to send to guantanamo mean who do we know anything about that because he says now it's all about i saw effectively well it's an interesting question because the reality is this is all bombast and rhetoric from the president that we've seen before guantanamo has been proven not to be effective in the fight against terrorism in fact president bush said that it was being used as a propaganda tool for our enemies in increasing terrorism so this is really as i say a retrograde step on the part of the president i don't think it shows a real desire to combat terrorism to combat instead i think it's another bit of bombast you know the chest thumping about terrorism to distract from other issues we just heard before i mean i suppose the good news of the result is that actually hundreds of people have been released from the town of bay there's still forty one left your organization actually represents eight of them just give us

a slight sort of picture of why a lot of these forty one people are still in one town away and the kind of situation that they live there on a day to day i mean they're stuck in limbo effectively now aren't they that's exactly right and they have been an indefinite detention without charge or trial which means they have never been told why they're there they have never been given a chance to prison presented defense to have a day in court fifteen years some of them have been i'll give you one example of a guy that my organization works for his name is tofik honey he was brought to guantanamo in two thousand and three so he's been there since then in two thousand and ten he was cleared for release by the obama administration that means since two thousand and ten he has been entitle to be released and just to confirm that process of clearing someone involves six agencies in the u.s. coming. a unanimous decision that this individual is safe and can be released those

agencies include f.b.i. cia department of defense so he was cleared he had three occasions where he was prepped to be shipped out of the prison and there on each of the occasions it didn't happen on the last time he was actually fitted for his departure clothes and then left there these are people who have suffered just vast amounts of torture inhumane treatment and indefinite detention without trial which is a form of torture according to the un special rapporteur on torture former choir members i mean you mention in this particular case the man had been detained two thousand and three i mean obviously a lot of things have changed in the international atmosphere regarding the so-called war on terror since then do you think the fact that a lot of american allies of now turned against guantanamo bay do you see that that will make a difference in any way when the sort of ease that the u.s. may find in sending people there i think there are two really important points now that the international community needs to condemn the latest statement from donald

trump president trump saying that he will keep the prisoner when we know it doesn't work we know it costs a vast amount and we know that the human rights abuses are manifold and it's a stain on any justice system the second point is to reflect on the results of this brutal experiment they have been terrible we have not seen a reduction in terrorism if anything as before it is a tool a propaganda tool for terrorists add to that the brutal torture that these individuals of suffered add to that the years of indefinite detention and then the the ten plus million dollars that are spent of taxpayer money in the u.s. every year per prisoner just to keep them there indefinitely detained without charge or trial many of them cleared for release my have for going to have to leave it there the rector of reprieve thank you. you are the latest on some break. news coming into us here on out is iraq the u.s.

state department has designated the senior political leader of hamas that's israel haniyeh as a global terrorist now roslyn jordan is in washington d.c. for a say in this news just coming into us now just explain a little about what it means. well according to a press release just issued by the u.s. state department this doesn't nation says that. and i'm quoting now is the leader and president of the political bureau of hamas going on to say that he has close links with hamas is military wing and has been a proponent of armed struggle including against civilians continuing to quote he has been involved in terrorist attacks against israeli citizens hamas has been responsible for an estimated seventeen american lives killed in terrorist attacks so what this means barbara is that his financial assets are going to be frozen there will be

a travel ban imposed on him and this possibly makes it to perhaps easier for the u.s. justice department to try to bring him to trial for his alleged role in the deaths of these seventeen americans the designation only comes after a considerable review among the various u.s. intelligence and law enforcement agencies and the designation again does raise the possibility of prosecution if it is smile honey if a case could in fact be put together and is this a surprise that we know that this was going to happen. the u.s. government never telegraphs when it's going to be designating one person or one organization as a potential terrorist or a terrorist organization. designations have come under some political scrutiny with political actors either in this country or in other countries asking for this kind

of designation but typically this is something that is very closely held and only done after considerable consultation not just within the u.s. government but perhaps with other governments as well. joining with the latest there from washington rawls thank you. and the european union is giving an extra fifty three million dollars in aid to palestine following the u.s. decision to withhold funding the e.u.'s foreign policy chief said that he chemical he made the announcement at a donors meeting in brussels the u.n. has warned that gaza's economy is on the verge of collapse we know the more we can achieve progress on the ground the more this can help prevent violence and the more this can help. a political process so in this context we believe it is important that the palestinian authority is committed to unite the west bank and gaza on the one single and legitimate authority. well by joins us live now from brussels.

how did this come about and ultimately did the europeans have the will and not just the funds that the step in for the u.s. . or barbara despite that announcement by the european union of this new package of aid i don't think anyone is expecting that to change anything quickly and it's important to note that aid package is for basically state building for strengthening political institutions are particularly in the occupied west bank and for debt reduction and helping businesses and so on it certainly not to replace the activities of the united nations agency. and today's meeting really was more of an attempt to express the international community's commitment to what's known as the peace process which is effectively on hold following donald trump's announcement that the

u.s. would recognize jerusalem as israel's capital because such an angry response from the palestinian leadership but they said that they wouldn't actually attend any further talks with the u.s. involved in the last few hours we talked to the palestinian foreign minister who said that they were naively rejecting the u.s. sees a role in the peace process but that it could no longer have a monopoly as a broker and in fact the co-host of those talks norway's foreign minister admitted that we're a long way from seeing palestinians and israelis at a high level round in the gosia eating table any time soon. there is a need for the international community to recommit to a common strategy and building the institutions that will ultimately lead to a negotiated two state solution and there is also a need for a comprehensive plan in supporting and the reception of control in gaza.

and then again what's under that's the u.n. agency in charge of all this sang about the funding shortfall. or barbara we've just been hearing from unruh is boss who's on a european trip he's already been in japan and he's basically touring the world at the moment trying to to raise commitments not just in the short term but the longer term two for his organization he says he's not worried about the future of honor but he admits that at the moment with the u.s. pledging just sixty million dollars for this year that's a three hundred million. dollar shortfall compared to what they contributed in twenty seventeen he's mentioned the possibility of arab states particularly in the gulf increasing their contributions he says that what really matters though is that

the americans a still part of the process he says is still talking the u.n. he's still talking to the u.s. wouldn't go into details but he seems to be hopeful that actually there might be some kind of softening of their position if not many political leaders in the region are warning that there could be further violence if the palestinian economy deteriorates further particularly in the gaza strip and up with the latest there from brussels that. two british lawyers have submitted a review of human rights in saudi arabia to the un human rights council a saudi arabia is currently chairing the council but is facing drug criticism over a wave of arrests and the tensions within its own borders it's accused of arresting political activists and the taney detaining them without charge on a dickson is one of the authors of the report he hopes that it will encourage countries to put pressure on saudi arabia to change we were commission to look into

exactly what has happened and present a legal report as an army recommendation is that step should be taken by the general assembly to suspend the government of saudi arabia from the human rights council it being completely contradictory and ironic for a government with systemic patterns of abuse as we've highlighted in the report to be sitting on the council and in fact previously to have have chaired the council we are hoping it will go over not as many states to recognize the problem and to confront the government about the situation in the jails and in that way put pressure on the need for real change not suppose a reform but real change and then what we are hoping of course that depends on the states in the general assembly is that that that suspension will act as a major lever on the government there to clean up their act and to make

a proper new start so that's not on the program we joined the colombian special forces on the night patrol as they look for smuggling gangs on the lawless border with venezuela just them. welcome back we still have some fairly cool air across southern parts of china and indeed into indochina we are temperatures recovering a little bit in hanoi on thursday after two days with temperatures of tens and eleven which are really quite low for this time of year but the cold air is still around so really seen highs of fourteen head into friday but hong kong gets back up to near normal temperatures otherwise have a bit of snow across more central areas but much of indo china is looking fine plenty sunshine temperatures into the low thirty's so let's head across into south asia where we have a fair bit of cloud still pushing towards sri lanka's shower clothes these are sort

of seen some significant rainfall totals being reported of last twenty four hours to be more showers here in the forecast to otherwise the usual issues apply across northern parts of india and pakistan across through towards buying a vest that of mr unfold and general poor air quality as we head into friday twenty five is the likely high in dallas not too bad temperature wise here in the arabian peninsula is be a little bit cooler in recent days but it's still pretty pleasant so we've got lots of moderate winds coming down through the gulf region twenty two is a high into otherwise we're still seeing temperatures of thirty in mecca some patchy close down through the red sea just a chance of a shower but it should be dry and sunny in yemen highs here of twenty three. i am doing this on the benefit of saddam people. so bad they see the importance

of the our guys. who witness documentaries that open your eyes. at this time on al-jazeera. barbara's here i here's a reminder of the top stories on al-jazeera the u.s. state department has designated the senior political leader of hamas israel nia as a global terrorist his financial assets have been frozen and he's now the subject of a troubled u.s.

president donald trump has signed an executive order to keep guantanamo military prison open reversing an order by his predecessor to shut the facility down and the european union is giving an extra fifty three million dollars in aid to palestine following the u.s. decision to withhold its funding. venezuela's economic collapse has led to a surge in crime not just at home but also in the neighboring colombia criminal gangs are finding it increasingly lucrative to smuggle goods across the border selling them for as much as three times the price. he went on night patrol with colombian special forces on the hunt for smugglers along the venezuelan border. shots ring out over the simoom believer bridge dividing colombian business where as people dodge and run for cover. in the last four months at least fourteen gun fights have erupted in the border town of. the gun battles have left forty people

dead as colombian in venezuela and crime groups fight for control of the lucrative contraband of goods on this poorest lawless border the mayor says people are terrified. we need the national government to wake up about the effects of venezuela's crisis we are being told we need to prepare for what will come what is not what is already here. since been president shut down the border last year to all but foot traffic violence has increased tenfold. inflation is too profitable and temptation for the gangs. in two years the colombian peyser has increased forty times in value over diminish. cross borders smuggling once limited to petrol now extends to scrap metal fruits meat or anything that can fetch three times its price in. response has been increasing police presence on the ground.

so we're going to look for trucks full of contraband in this area probably informants already warned the smugglers of our presence so the trucks can be hidden in one of the trails. in pitch darkness in complete silence the officers patrolled true a maze like collection of ever expanding trails but it's like finding a needle in a haystack at this. columbia special forces are on the lookout here on the river toci which divides bin it's from colombia this is just one of over one hundred forty known crossings that smugglers use to move goods into colombe and of course it's practically impossible to control all of them despite the police best efforts but experts say the fight is also undermined by the lack of collaboration between the two countries and exacerbated by persistent corruption there's no doubt that the border is being sold to the highest bidder this area is in the hands of criminal enterprises dedicated to drug trafficking large scale smuggling extortion

kidnapping human trafficking and it has been activated by the closure of the border the rising crime is just another side of be increasing economic and social crisis in business where law that has no end in sight i listen to them. folks fight against supervisory board has called for an immediate inquiry into who commission tests in which monkeys and humans were exposed to toxic these are fields folks fight against suspended its chief lobbyist on tuesday following the controller city and dialer has suspended a board member of the discount on the monkey experiment took place in new mexico in two thousand and fourteen and was funded by the w. dime lawyer and b m w o for more on this story dominic cain joins us live now from berlin what is the wider reaction in germany between. has been to the revelations at the weekend. well barbara the thing to say first of all is pretty

much revulsion widespread revulsion from politicians from the media from just most people looking at the new seeing it and saying to themselves how is something like that possible what sort of ethical dimension was operating in the minds of those who approved such tests to make them think that it was ok to do that sort of thing and that effectively that level of shock that emerged over the weekend when the news first broke is now being replaced perhaps by questions about as i say the ethical dimension of this and what it says what it reveals about the mindset operating in the upper echelons of the motor industry particularly of those three firms but remember also that this this scandal if that is the right word to describe it it's not happening in isolation this follows relatively hard on the heels of the diesel gate scandal which involved german firms german most of those devices called the defeat devices which allowed the cars seemingly to pass rigorous

emissions tests when in fact clearly they would be in it was it was flaunting the system it was circumventing the system so clearly the feeling is very much one of revulsion and then moving on perhaps to how could this happen and how can it be prevented from ever happening again yeah i guess i'll make in many ways the damage is done but how important is the handling of the continued handling of this affair going to be to the german car industry. well clearly the three involved in it sort of certainly two of the firms involved it felt that the affair was so considerably important that two of them this is stop one each from and from folks foreign had to be suspended and the statement that says come up with today is quite well it seems to to pull no punches i will read a few excerpts from it saying we are appalled by the nature of implementation of the studies we expressly distance ourselves from these studies and we condemn the

experiments in the strongest terms. well that's clearly the feeling that many people have the problem for these companies as i say is that they have to compete in an environment where people already have the suspicion that perhaps not everything that is done in the name of the german motor industry is entirely above board that's the suspicion of that i'm not implying that myself but certainly there are those who fuel that suspicion it's also worth pointing out here that there are environmental lobby groups one prominent one which has said that they believe that the degree of working together between senior government ministers and the motor industry is to close and they believe there should be a distance between them and that's clearly something that will be explored in a great deal more manner in the next few days and weeks john mccain in berlin with that story dominic thank you for the pakistani government has recommended that afghan refugees be given a five month extension to their refugee status the announcement dispelled fears of

a large scale repatriation of refugees back to afghanistan well then one point four million afghan refugees are currently in pakistan their legal status officially expired on the same birth thirty first but the pakistani cabinet extended their stay by one month's. a us judge says more than two hundred and sixty five people have come forward to say that they were victims of convicted sports dr larry nasser who is back in court to be sentenced for more sexual abuse charges around sixty people are expected to have their statements read in court over al you get allegations that nasser abuse them at an elite club in the u.s. state of michigan that's it was sentenced to up to one hundred seventy five years in jail or earlier this month for assaulting over one hundred fifty women and girls during his time as a doctor for the u.s. gymnastics team. a leading swiss islamic scholar has been questioned by police in

paris over allegations of rape and sexual assault a french judicial official says two lawsuits have been lodged against it tariq ramadan who denies the charges french media reported last year the two women had filed complaints against from of them for an alleged rape in two thousand and nine and the assault in two thousand and twelve. are rare a celestial event known as a super blue blood moon is gracing the night skies yes the three part lunar eclipse means the moon appears much bigger much brighter and redder than usual the spectacle can be seen in north america the middle east russia india and australia from predators was of the griffith observatory in los angeles. large crowds of people gathered here on a mountain top above los angeles the site of griffith observatory to see a rare and stunning celeste below vent the total eclipse of the moon as the

earth's shadow fell across the moon it dark and people waited anxiously and then there were. dozens of gasps of delight as the lunar eclipse reached its point of totality the moon turned a eerie shade of blood red and stayed that way for the better part of an hour now the moon is emerging from the earth's shadow and people are begun to leave the area as the sun comes up but there was a definite energy in the air here this was an unusual conjunction of events a lunar eclipse the turned the moon blood red it was also a super moon because the moon is much closer to the earth than it usually is because the moon has a kind of elliptical orbit sometimes it's closer sometimes it's farther away that

made the moon look larger and it's what's called a blue moon that's not an astronomical term it's a more of a folk term it means that when there's a chew full moons in a single month so that's what happened here on the last day of january and many people said that watching this put them in the mind of putting everything in perspective here seeing a political turmoil and division in this country and around the world watching this celeste deal of event made them realize they said that human affairs are not the be all and end all of existence and that there's a very large universe out there that goes. without us. and a reminder of the main stories on al-jazeera start with breaking news the u.s.

state department has designated the senior political leader of hamas israel hania as a global terrorist he's now subject to a travel ban and that's had his financial assets frozen. in jordan has more now on this developing story. this doesn't nation says. and i'm quoting now is the leader a president of the political bureau of hamas going on to say that he has close links with hamas is military wing and has been a proponent of armed struggle including against civilians continuing to quote he has been involved in terrorist attacks against israeli citizens hamas has been responsible for an estimated seventeen american lives killed in terrorist attacks. u.s. president donald trump has signed an executive order to keep the notorious prison at guantanamo bay open revoking at the city by his predecessor to shut it down in a state of the union address on tuesday trump warned hundreds of dangerous

terrorists had been released in the past but this would no longer be allowed to happen the u.s. military prison in cuba has long been a symbol of human rights abuses during the so-called war on terror the european union is giving an extra fifty three million dollars in aid to palestine following the u.s. decision to withhold funding the e.u.'s foreign policy chief it became a getting me made the announcement at a donors meeting in brussels the un has warned that gaza's economy is on the verge of collapse. while the announcement the spelled fears of a large scale repatriation of refugees back to afghanistan that is the story that pakistan has decided to extend the right of afghan refugees in the country to stay there by another five months. to british lawyers have submitted a review of human rights in saudi arabia to the un human rights council saudi arabia is currently chairing the council but is facing growing criticism over

a wave of arrests and the tensions it's accused of arresting political activists and detaining them without charge well those are your latest headlines here knowledges there are going to have more news for you in less than half an hour is for sure that breaking news coming out of the states coming up next it's with us about.

what about a hug.