it's like the wild west they can do anything and the really hard for them to get the all powerful internet is both a tool for democracy and a threat somebody who controls ten thousand people at home for the understanding voices and they distort the debate in the echo chamber world of fake news in cyberspace the rules of the game have changed there are no precedents people and out investigate this information and democracy. at this time on al jazeera. this is al jazeera.

hello i'm rob matheson this is the news hour live from doha coming up in the next sixty minutes harsh words at the united nations as the u.s. accuses russia of blocking a resolution condemning chemical weapons in syria. u.s. financial markets plunge is it a correction all the start of something bigger. a state of emergency is declared as the political crisis in the mold to use deepens. and new doubts about the future of south africa's president as the n c calls a special meeting to discuss his fate. the u.s. is accusing russia of blocking a u.n. security council statement condemning the use of chemical weapons by the syrian government the us ambassador nikki haley's says there is obvious evidence of recent chlorine gas attacks by the assad regime but russia's a q. the u.s.

of waging a propaganda campaign now is that the base was taking place at least forty nine people were killed by syrian and russian airstrikes in a province and eastern gota according to activists outside syria aid agencies are warning hundreds of thousands of displaced syrians at risk of being forcibly returned to their homes despite the violence a modern that in just a moment but first our diplomatic editor james bays reports from the u.n. on another heated debate at the security council. the attack was brazen and blatant at least eleven people were treated after an airstrike in syria chlorine was probably used this the latest in a series of what seem to have been chemical attacks it led to a war of words in the security council a meeting you were not supposed to see this regular monthly session on the issue is usually held behind closed doors but an angry u.s.

ambassador demanded it was made public nikki haley condemned russia for not even agreeing to a press statement on the latest attacks if we can't even take the first step of a staggering accountability for chemical weapons use we have to seriously ask ourselves why we are here russia which is used its veto to avoid action on this issue was strongly criticized by ambassador hayley and by her french and british colleagues it's ambassador vaseline a benzema hit back for which you didn't statements by these representatives as always contain very little truth mixed with mountains of lies and lose your prisons and. where is the presumption of innocence prior to any investigation you were accusing the so-called regime quote unquote. with that point here appeared to make nor clear facts in twenty fifteen the un security council unanimously decided to create the joint investigative mechanism or jim to work out exactly who was guilty

of chemical weapons use it concluded that in four cases the assad government was responsible for using chemical weapons those exuma afterwards russia used its veto to stop the renewal of the gym leaving the security council powerless does it just not highlight the importance of the security council i think you are very right with the fact that these the use of chemical weapons continues time and again in syria is a challenge to the very authority of the security council. the security council continues to talk but on this issue is unable to act the continuing sporadic chemical attacks underlining its weakness and undermining the international consensus against the use of some of the world's most hideous weapons james pays out of the united nations well as we heard

a moment ago aid agencies say displaced syrians are at risk of being forced to return home despite the fighting and the report says gains by the syrian government are giving a false impression that many areas a stable enough to go back to xena harder has more for lebanon's bekaa valley. a special reef's says some of his family members were killed in the war in neighboring syria he has also lost contact with others who have been displaced lebanon has been his home for six years he is from the opposition held province of idlib and for him going back is not an option. we want to save zone to return to otherwise where do they want us to go back to do they want us to die if we go back will be able bodied there's nowhere safe there's only death. it live is a deescalation zone there is supposed to be a ceasefire here instead civilians are being killed in almost daily airstrikes by syrian and russian planes humanitarian agencies say the violence in some parts of

syria means it's still not safe for refugees to return they are warning governments in europe the united states and the region not to force them back we the humanitarian organizations that are on the ground in syria and in the neighboring countries we call this report dangerous grounds for the simple reason that these women children and men have to be informed of the conditions and we have to assure that it is done and teary when they go back and then we have to assist and protect the return. the u.n. doesn't have exact numbers but the figures available show some seventy thousand refugees returned on their own from neighboring countries last year but aid agencies say for every returning there were three more uli displaced because of the violence since mid december more than two hundred thousand people had to leave their homes because of fighting in the southern edges of province. government

forces control the main cities they've recaptured a lot of territory from the opposition has been pushed out of many areas and there are local cease fire agreements in place but the picture is misleading there are many areas where fighting continues it's not just safety there is widespread destruction there are few civilian facilities left of hospitals have been hit mass returns can't be sustainable if these people can't find jobs and if there is no health care or schools. there are no proper living conditions imagine if i need to take my children to a doctor there are no health centers there is no life there i'm afraid of the day when they kick us out of here lebanon's government says there will be no forced returns and any returns will be coordinated with the united nations but refugees here are still worried so are aid agencies that is why they are warning no one should be forced back to syria without a plan that takes into account their safety and well being. because of valley

lebannon ok let's talk about the u.s. economy now and stock markets in new york have suffered big losses on monday with concerns over a possible interest rate rise seen as the main cause the dow jones index has crashed back through the twenty five thousand mark meaning it wiped off all the gains it's made over the last month there were also losses across the main european indices as market volatility wasn't just confined to the united states or others on those following the story. it was a very volatile day on the u.s. stock market the dow had its biggest point drop ever in history at one point in the last hour of trading the dow had dropped over six percent that's a huge drop it gained some in the closing minutes and it closed a little over four percent drop this is really unheard of we haven't seen these kind of daily drops in the stock market in many years now president trump did not

address address the stock market directly and his speech in cincinnati on monday but he did say that the fundamentals of the economy are good saying that the country has added two point six million jobs since he's been president and the unemployment to sit a forty five year low so clearly there are a lot of good fundamentals of the u.s. economy they're doing very well but the stock market now has seen a huge huge drop this again is very important because a lot of the global markets look to new york look to the united states to get a better read on how the u.s. economy is doing this is certainly going to send trepidations or at least raise a lot of eyebrows in markets around the world ok let's take a look at how the does been playing out recently over the last five trading days the drop in the dow jones industrial average has being steep but when you compare that to the does performance over the past three months the losses of the past few days have only wiped out the market's gains since december when we look back

further across a six month period we can see the dow's overall trend is still increasing making these most recent losses arguably just a normalized sation well peter costello's a chief market economist with four standard financial company he's joining us now live from new york thank you very much for being with us the important thing in all financial markets stories is obviously context what's your interpretation of what's been going on. well look the market of what had was headed for trouble we continued to rise nearly on a daily basis setting records after records and for the right reasons the economy is doing well earnings are very strong and so there's a there was a lot of enthusiasm in the market but then suddenly and buses last week began to realize that there was trouble what was that trouble rising interest rates we saw the ten year note spike up to about two eighty five actually

a little bit above two eighty's by the levels that we haven't seen in years and as a result of that we had a sell off on friday which was pretty steep and of course today just. an historic decline i say is stark because the dow never lost over eleven hundred points and at one point we were down fifteen hundred points what actually happened well we really can't blame it on rising interest rates today because. the fact that actually was lowered today but what really happened when the market opened up low they tried to rally it thing it began to descent even further around mid afternoon we saw the market really plunge and at that point it began when the dow was not able to hold a psychological level of twenty five thousand so it basically fed on itself and

that caused the plunge and of course at the end of the day we were minus a little over four percent for people like me who don't really follow the financial markets and don't understand the intricacies of how they work obviously we're going to be thinking about two thousand and eight we're going to be talking thinking about one thousand nine hundred ninety seven again just to put it into context how does this compare to what was happening on those occasions you're referring to the one nine hundred eighty seven forgive me one nine hundred eighty seven one thousand nine hundred eighty seven. ok yeah well you have to remember it certainly looks that way but in reality it's not because percentage wise obviously the indices were nowhere near where they are now. we lost twenty two percent when the market crash today we had an even greater effect when

only four percent so in reality it feels that way but it's not really to the point where we can say it's a repeat of one thousand nine hundred eighty seven now i think investors need to be calm i think they have to look at the. the whole picture. and the economic picture remains quite strong so i think what we're now entering into is a period of uncertainties and lots of volatility something that was missing from the market for a very very long time in fact if you look at today's steep rise another historic rise in the vix which measures the volatility and it measures the sad fact of the market we sort really spike up i think over eighty percent something that's never happened again coming from low levels but what does this all

mean i think in the short term it means further volatility ahead do i think we're. we have ended the bull market no because the fundamentals are still positive can i see do i see further tanisha in the stock market perhaps but i would suspect that over the next day or two will probably begin to see the indices stabilize and of course then we'll just have to follow the pattern of rising interest rates because delegates get your thoughts on this thank you very much indeed for your time. an already tense political crisis appears to be deepening in the maldives security forces have reportedly broken into the country's supreme court just a few hours after president abdullah young marine declared a fifteen day state of emergency shouted ballasts has the latest. opposition

politicians film outside malays criminal court waiting to hear the face of their colleagues ill have made and have to listen and they were arrested and charged with bribery upon arriving in the country on sunday a judge dropped the charges and release them they are two of nearly twenty politicians affected by a supreme court ruling that has created a political crisis in the island nation. in celebration don't thursday when their top court called for the retrial of nine opposition politicians including exiled former president mohammed machine and the judges reinstated twelve employees who had lost their seats the siding with the opposition but one day of celebration soon turned into four nights of protests when president abdullah you mean refused to comply with the rule. aliment was scheduled to reconvene after recess on monday but the president said it would be closed

indefinitely and imposed a state of emergency for fifteen days the mall devean parliament is now under military control opposition politicians want to get inside parliament to file impeachment motions against four top officials in the president's administration for not freeing colleagues. by me. i don't know an argument and the supreme. police targeted the administrative head of the supreme court on sunday writing his house the court issued a statement rolling police didn't have enough evidence to arrest a judicial executive president in maine has asked the court to reconsider the arrest warrant ruling he said he's told the court his prosecuting attorney needs more legal direction before he can release any political prisoners the president

says his people need to be patient critics have less faith i don't need. them. not me any of. the opposition thinks they can turn their domestic support into international pressure they want foreign intervention but the president and the supreme court are unified against it shallop alice al-jazeera you know him course saying she harbors a spokesman for the model of him president he says that normal life will continue despite political unrest. currently we are in a state of emergency but. will go on as usual schools will remain on businesses will. travel within the country who are from the country will be unimpeded and. google orleans usual but.

because of the supreme court ruling or on brewery. in the constitutional implications. because they did we are still. in in terms of. how local politics in interacting with the suppresion of powers plenty more ahead on the news including a surprise court rulings he's the vice chairman of samsung electronics released from jail. as the u.s. gymnastics abuse scandal grows disturbing questions about how much the nasser's employers knew about his actions. and in sports the philadelphia eagles quarterback has been named to the super bowl as most valuable player after guiding his team to a dramatic victory.

south africa's ruling party has called an urgent meeting to discuss the president's future as pressure grows and jacob zuma to step down rival factions faced off during demonstrations outside the headquarters of the african national congress in johannesburg talks so far have failed to secure his departure he's become increasingly unpopular over a series of corruption scandals miller has more from johannesburg. the african national congress is continuing to grapple with what he calls a transitional period after still remark was that was named president of the party . while jacob zuma remains president of south africa and that's amid intensifying holes for zuma to step down this of course relates back to allegations of corruption and his relationship with a prominent family in south africa who are accused of influencing president zuma as well as a government policy and appointments now that silly remark was

a is president of the a.n.c. would appear that zuma has position has weakened to some extent and they all hold from within the party and also from outside for the president to step down now unconfirmed reports indicate that zuma has said he won't resign that he's done nothing wrong and that he will indeed make the state of the nation address later this week opposition parties have requested the speaker of parliament to perspire own the address and if they don't have an answer any time soon they say they will approach the courts to have this address perspired until often a motion of no confidence in parliament scheduled for the twenty second of february zuma appears to be facing increased pressure to step down to leave office but he appears to be standing phone that's despite what appears to be an increasing rift

within the net and within the ruling party. two of the three kenyan television stations shut down by the government six days ago are now back on air they got into trouble after broadcasting a mock inauguration of opposition leader raul a dingo police in nairobi fired tear gas at protesters against the government's decision to forcibly called live coverage of the mock swearing in n.t.v. and katie and news have both resumed broadcasting but citizen television is still off air. in a surprise court ruling the vice chairman of samsung electronics has been released from jail jay wiley was convicted last year on on and. of corruption charges and sentenced to five years in prison and reports from seoul. jay wiley was smiling as he walked out of a sore courtroom out of jail and back to his life as vice chairman of samsung electronics after a year in prison an appeals court freed him and dismissed most of the corruption

charges against him. i think if you can get out. for economic reasons overall i think it was a good decision. lisa as he's used his time in jail to reflect. almost again i feel very sorry to everyone for not showing my best side and it has been a really precious time for a year reflecting on myself. the first thing he did after being released was visit his father in hospital he's been incapacitated for three years prosecutors say it was least strategy to succeed his father as chairman of samsung electronics that got him in trouble. he's one character of many in south korea's largest corruption scandal in recent memory. it led to millions of koreans protesting and the impeachment of president park geun hey last year prosecutors say lee paid or

promised to pay forty million dollars to approve a merger of two samsung units he considered that important to a succession. of many people who got angry about these political economic ties and you know the political power of the president to use it to a personal. and the economy powar always homes and used to kind the opportunity to take the personal or at the cost of. many hoped please conviction last year would usher in a new era of accountability for big corporations and politicians now some are wondering if once again it's simply business as usual the good to come is a. decision by the lower court and the epic court are so different i'm not sure

what is good or bad but yeah i'm suspicious about how the decision can be so different leas lawyers say they'll launch an appeal to dismiss the remaining charges against their client now people are looking at the developments in lease case and wondering how it will impact former president ha she's in jail and in the midst of a corruption trial of her own a verdict is expected in the coming months this washington ayman al jazeera sole. a conservative evangelical singer and a leftwing fiction writer are set to face off in costa rica's presidential election runoff in april issue of same sex marriage dominated the campaign leading up to sunday's first round vote for. who got the most votes is fiercely opposed to the idea his rival alvarado casada supports giving the civil marriage rights to same sex couples. the venezuelan president has hit back at warnings of u.s. sanctions against his country saying they won't harm its oil industry nicolas

maduro was responding to comments by u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson who is in peru as part of a tour of latin america it's partly aimed at putting pressure on venezuela which is gripped by an economic and political crisis madieu though says he's wasting his time with the trip. former u.s. gymnastics team dr labia nasir has been sentenced to forty to one hundred twenty five years in prison and a third conviction of the sexual abuse of children he's already been given more than two hundred years after pleading guilty to abusing female team members and as john hendren reports the focus is now turning to the organizations who employ them society must be protected from larry nasser as the final sentence in the largest sex abuse scandal in sports history came down leeriness are hardly moved you took an oath to do no harm and you have over two hundred fifty six women and that is the

end. in a stance or. you also are forty to one hundred and twenty five years in the michigan department of corrections that sentence is added to those from other criminal cases in means the once famed sports doctor now faces up to three hundred sixty years behind bars and emotionally charged impact statements his victims had spoken of their collective pain for his part nasser said he was sorry experimental words. by everyone that has spoken including the parents have impacted me too to my innermost for. that being said i understand that it pales in comparison to the paper. and emotions that you are feeling larry nasser had molested us olympic gymnastic gold medalists and other athletes under the guise of an intimate treatment in the end two hundred sixty five girls and women came forward and many spoke in court because of your decision to molest me

you have caused me so much pain in my life for the rest of my life i'm going to have to heal from what you did last friday the father of three girls nasser had molested made an unusual request to grant me five minutes in a locked room of those demons one father's rage ended a man whose fate is sealed for us sport there is the fall out and with that question for the victims in this case it is not over many of them are upset at the usa a limpet committee they're upset at usa gymnastics and they're upset at michigan state university all places where larry nasser work they say dozens of them were abused after the f.b.i. first learned of this case in two thousand and fifteen i can't even begin to explain how my parents i mean i've been their new knowing things. my mom blames herself my dad can set four foot in the clear room. we're nowhere near the end of dealing with this the u.s.

olympic committee has shut down the karoly ranch where victims such as olympic gold medalist simone biles were abused dealing with the rest of the aftermath of the case of larry nasser won't be so simple legally or for his victims emotionally john hendren al jazeera. still had an al-jazeera the u.s. is really focusing its efforts in conflict zones out to defeat in iraq will tell you where the troops are being deployed deployed. the use brags that negotiator once the u.k. needs to clarify the kind of relationship it wants with the european bloc in the future. on pole race and the netherlands the home of speed skating with the dutch another history making performance at the winter olympics.

hello there heavy rain is now clearing away from north america but we've got another system that's beginning to pull itself together so here's that first system that's moving away from the east coast it is dry and now for many of us here and that's the way it will stay as we head through tuesday not warm though look at that new york maximum temperature just three degrees and force in ottawa minus six the next system is waiting in the wings it's this here it's all beginning to pull itself together so some snow that's making its way across the plains there joins forces with what's going on over texas by wednesday we've got this streak of rain and snow that's galloping its way east once more and that will give us some more very heavy downpours but fortunately it's moving quite fast so it shouldn't cause too many problems with flooding there further towards the south and generally there's a lot of fine a settled weather to be found here and that's what we're going to see over the next few days as well i do think for some of us in nicaragua and costa rica there will be some showers but elsewhere those more or less dry for the south there and it

certainly hasn't been dry for some of us here having said that the showers over bolivia have eased that certainly good news we've had a lot of flooding here the wet weather well what's going to be a bit further towards the east this is where we're seeing the heaviest rains on choose day and it's likely to city state very wet for wednesday to. a young somali refugee. thrilled to gain us residency in twenty sixteen. was to those of lucky too good to. see the good and said my prayers but with anti immigrant sentiment under the trump presidency al-jazeera world asks ali was samik when they use american dream is still alive and so molly in america at this time on al-jazeera. one of the really special things about working for al-jazeera is that even as a camera woman i get to have so much input in contribution to

a story i feel we cover this region better than anyone else would be pushes you know it's very challenging but in this particular because you have a lot of people that are divided on political issues. the people believe that tell the real story i'll just mended. journalism we don't feel inferior to the audience across the globe. you're watching all just a reminder of our top stories this hour the u.s. is accusing russia of blocking a u.n. security council statement condemning the use of chemical weapons by the syrian government u.s. ambassador nikki haley's says there's obvious evidence president assad's forces

recently used chlorine gas in rebel held areas syria's always denied using chemical weapons. stock markets suffered serious losses on monday with concerns over a possible interest rate rise in the u.s. it's seen as the main calls the dow jones index crashed back through the twenty five thousand mark wiping out all the gains that it made over the past month. the better standoff between the maldives president and it supreme court is deepening security forces broke into the court hours after president abdullah i mean it declared a fifteen day state of emergency. the u.s. house intelligence committee has voted to release a memo prepared by the committee's democrats as a rebuttal to a controversial republican document that was made public on friday the republican memo was declassified by president donald trump and it contained al again. f.b.i. bias and abuse of power in the way it spied on the aide the f.b.i.

question the accuracy of the republican memo saying it contained omissions of fact the committee's top democrat adam schiff says the rival memo will go to the president to declassify on monday i think it's going to be very hard for the white house like it was hard for the republicans on the committee to block release of this i am more concerned that they make political redactions not with actions to protect sources and methods and that's why we're going to insist that the department of justice and the f.b.i. report to us on what reactions they think are necessary so that we can segregate any political interference from the white house ok more now on our top story the latest controversy over the use of chemical weapons in syria militant liking by chemical and biological weapons specialist he's also a senior research associate with the center for international and security studies at the university of maryland he's joining us now via skype from gaithersburg in the u.s. state of maryland thank you very much indeed for taking the time to be with us. the

u.s. has said that something has to be done about the use of chemical weapons in syria what can be done. her difficult question nothing can be done in advance. syrian government doing what it's not supposed to do syria's sawney and economical weapon convention they're not to ninety to twenty thirteen so it is not supposed to use chemical weapons article one of the chemical weapons convention says that you're not under any circumstances to use chemical weapons so the problem with chlorine is a specific one the the article two of the chemical weapons convention has a general purpose crakes here it says that you can and. you

are not allowed not allowed to use items which can be used for peaceful purposes for industrial agricultural research medical or pharmaceutical or other purposes but you must not use them as a weapon so even if it's something like glory which is not one of the most serious chemical weapons and has peaceful civil uses you were not allowed to use it just as your tears in their forgive me i'm sorry and i'm sorry to interrupt you but you raise an interesting point i'm actually just reading the two articles that you're talking about you very kindly sent to us before the interview that seems fairly clear cut and yet when we have pictures coming out of syria all of these attacks allegedly using gas again that seems to add to the body of evidence against the regime and yet the rest of the world seems to be standing to one side and just

watching what can actually be done is anybody in the outside government you think ever going to be held accountable for this. that's you very unlikely. there is no mechanism for anything to go any. u.n. security council can and has particularly after the use of the nerve agents. authorized special investigative groups under u.n. security council resolutions so they go there they investigate and they make a report and they did incriminate the syrian government in both of the uses of sarin nerve gas and also in several uses of chlorine but that's all they can do if anyone wanted to sanction syria.

even economic sanctions russian veto that resolution and russia vetoes even less serious resolutions so it would never authorize it would never be a u.n. security council resolution authorizing under chapter seven the use of economics the use of that canonical war military means against syria i want to ask you about the role of russia in this and for the reasons that you've just outlined it's perhaps not unrealistic to expect that russia would vote in favor of any sanctions or any statements against the assad regime for reasons that you have explained given that do you think that there that russia is likely to be putting pressure on the government in the background. for lisa sharon yes nevertheless in twenty seventeen in common she could

syria again did you sorry but much much less than it used. in twenty seven or gets twenty thirteen. if it comes to sat in on you soon but i don't know and i don't think anybody knows what the russian government says to president assad for chlorine i don't see. a lot of there is the russian bother the syrian government nobody knows what is said between russia between institute and president assad. nothing like him but thank you very much indeed for your time. your eyes forces have started withdrawing their numbers in iraq an iraqi government spokesman says the move began after declared victory over i said last year iraq says some soldiers

will stay for logistical and training purposes u.s. troops have assisted in the battle against titles and twenty fourteen company hawk it has more from washington d.c. . well the pentagon has not yet officially confirmed that this drawdown that is taking place of u.s. troops inside iraq it certainly is not denying it either we know that there were roughly five thousand u.s. soldiers that were supporting particularly in the effort to defeat eisel but of course donald trump in his state of the union address has has claimed that there is largely a victory that has occurred in terms of reducing the territory controlled by eisel in both iraq and syria but at the same time there is concern about what is happening in afghanistan and the string of deadly attacks that have taken place there as a result you see this repositioning of u.s. forces and resources to afghanistan from iraq now this is something that has been

taking place quietly for some time certainly we have seen signals in terms of the announcement of policy by the united states albeit rather subtly not only have we had the surprise visit of the vice president mike pence to air force base a couple of months ago where in fact he said he was concerned about the uptick in violence pointing the finger at pockets for assisting that something pakistan denies but as well we've seen since donald trump has taken office the doubling of u.s. troops inside afghanistan as they continue to assist with the effort to defeat not only the taliban but also eisel and of course the string of deadly attacks not just the attack on the luxury hotel but also a military academy and even the bombing of a hospital have certainly put this in the forefront of the united states that feels that this is where the resources need to be now as opposed to in iraq. pictures obtained by media in the philippines appear to show further chinese development on

some of the disputed spritely islands in the south china sea photos released by the philippine inquirer show beijing has built naval docks one weighs wind turbines and several multi-story buildings china has previously said the construction is intended to improve peace and maritime security the philippines says it will maintain close ties with beijing despite more evidence of chinese activity on the disputed islands smeller island organ reports from manila. these are aerial photographs of detained by the philippine daily inquirer newspaper it shows that china will soon finish its military zation of seven reefs in the south china sea an international tribunal in the hague in two thousand and sixteen rejected china's argument that it enjoys historic rights over most of the south china sea but the pictures clearly show that china has built a massive runway on mischief reef which the tribe you know ruled was in philippine

waters including control towers and radio meters often used in milot she communication small the reefs now have wind turbines halla pads and observation towers transport ships designed to carry are more details and up to eight hundred troops have also been spotted according to security experts three of these reefs now have three kilometer long runways making them as effective as aircraft carriers china has also built a harbor facilities extending the reach of its maritime assets not only in the south china sea but also the central pacific i don't think the philippines can do anything about it from the military point of view we believe that the government should do is to us. the government will tell you what.

the philippine government this misses this and blames the previous administration so what they want us to see all that we could do is to extract a promise from china not to declaim any new ideas which i learned but what you feature in your people today are all directly islands that were there even before the duty of the administration came but these photos are believed to have been taken between june and december last year under president rodrigo due to his watch and it also betrays the fact that the government itself has no coherent policy of incomes to the west for the pins. and that can only be the advantage of the chinese who will then use this situation president there to insists china should still be the country's strongest ally he calls it an independent foreign policy veering away from the united states while trying to build closer relations with china and russia

security experts say there appears to be little that the philippines or any other country can do to stop china from its military station and that the philippine government silence on the issue is enabling china's expansionist ambitions in the south china sea in danger of not only its own sovereignty but also the security of its allies in the pacific. dogon al jazeera. the european union's chief brags it negotiator has warned the u.k. urgently needs to clarify what relationship it wants with europe after leaving the e.u. shabani is making his first official visit to the united kingdom since negotiations began bonnie's been speaking to the u.k. brags that secretary david davis and prime minister to do so may downing street is one the time has come for the u.k. to make a choice over the nature of its future trade. the customs union. for the. home side to see good market but is to trade on goods and

services are another. barrier to us coming to choice new bach has been following events in london. we're entering the critical next stage of bricks in negotiations focusing on the to be a transition period when britain formally leaves the european union on the twenty ninth of march two thousand and nineteen it is a two year period of adjustment as proposed by the british prime minister reason may in her government to allow companies businesses and investors to get used to the new reality of life outside the e.u. but the truth is nobody really knows what that reality looks like there are some key sticking points regarding how this two year period will play out hardline break cities within theresa may own party and government are worried that it will simply just mean a continuation of the status quo michel barnier the east chief negotiator has hinted that the e.u. will indeed continue to run the show jury that two year period. also demanded that

any e.u. nationals arriving in the u.k. during that two year period be given the same rights as each citizens or that of arrived in the u.k. before breaks it that's something to reason may refuse to let happen one of a number of sticking points that need to be hammered out before there's any chance of moving on to the next key station talks about trade crucial to britain's future economy outside the e.u. the berlin wall the barrier that divided the german city during the cold war era is now being done for as long as it was up the wall was built by communist east germany and completely encircled the western parts of berlin from there paul brennan reports. these days the famous checkpoint charlie is a magnet for tourists the colville called supple vividly remembers the cold war yes he was just seventeen when the war was built and he devoted the next twenty eight years of his life to campaigning and demonstrating against it when. i was

seventeen years old and i just cried i couldn't believe it when they told us after the war and nine hundred forty five us that in just. this was meant to be over that people would never again be violently imprisoned at all and be the victim of political powers and then they put a wall into a world city mine in my hometown that an island. from the thirteenth of august one thousand nine hundred sixty one berlin was a city divided russian and american troops faced each other in a militarized standoff desperate civilians who tried to cross the so-called death strip risked being shot as traitors by east german border guards. when the war finally fell on nov ninth one thousand nine hundred nine it stood for ten thousand three hundred sixteen days monday marks the point that it has now been down for ten thousand three hundred sixteen days. for twenty eight years

two months and twenty seven days the berlin wall stood for division now twenty eight years two months and twenty seven days after it fell the remaining parts of it stand for something altogether more positive. the new exhibition to mark the date is a collection of private photographs previously unseen glimpses of life in the divided city there are snapshots taken in the east where such photographs really this one taken by a teenager plotting his escape route he succeeded a few weeks later the curator of the collection says the wall is as relevant today as it was then but what we can learn from one thousand nine hundred eighty nine the . urge for freedom by people in the end so strong that it made them wall fell and this is something you cannot solve problems was watt's today the

roots of the berlin wall is still visible in a line of couples marking its former location in the modern day tarmac and tourists come from all over the world to see the stretch of wall still standing as a reminder of those twenty eight years of division it has now been down for as long as it was up but the ultimate futility of the berlin wall will never be forgotten paul brennan al-jazeera belin. still ahead and the international olympic committee lines another blow for russia head of the upcoming winter games is going to have all the details on the sport.

for the sports here is far. thanks very much she went toe to toe against one the best quarterbacks in n.f.l. history but it was nick foles who guided the philadelphia eagles to their first super bowl title beating tom brady and the new england patriots the championship round eagles quarterback has since been named the super bowl m.v.p. the twenty nine year old nearly retired after an underwhelming twenty fifteen season while he was with the st louis rams and although there is still doubt about foles remaining a starting eagles quarterback is just savoring the moment right now it goes back to every last point i want to individual and force him to be then because game but as you've seen this year we've had so many m.v.p.'s throughout the course is two different guys stepping up and you know it's just a great honor to be up here to accept this and half and it's

a lot of us and we're and unfortunately a part of a great team you know what we're just going to enjoy this moment and say right now we're going to enjoy it we're going to get on this plane go back to philadelphia we're going to celebrate with their fans back in philly we've got a long off season now really a short offseason now. we're just going enjoy this moment you know i'm happy for nick i'm happy for the team it's not about one guy you know it's about the team and and you know i can say we're going to we're going to enjoy these next next few days . this was largely regarded as the highlight of sunday's game in minneapolis foles is trick play here ensured philadelphia would lead at half time and make him the first player ever to throw and catch a touchdown at super bowl. the patriots star quarterback tom brady tried to get his team back into the game but it wasn't to be another fairytale comeback for the forty year old who was going for his sixth championship title the eagles reclaim the lead and clinched a historic forty one to thirty three victory. it's

estimated around one hundred and eleven million people in the united states alone sat down to watch the super bowl on t.v. earlier we spoke to n.f.l. broadcaster michael carlson he says the game was one of the most exciting and recent history it's we've had a run of good super bowls lately and they used to be they were like a cup finals where the hype overpowers the event and the game turns out not to be very good but we've had a run of very good games and this was one of the greatest it wasn't perfect football if you're a purist you know and you my defense no but if you like scoring and if you like nonstop sort of back and forth this game had a lot of that philadelphia is a city with a big chip on his shoulder as we say it's it's could be called the rockies syndrome if you remember the movie and they like to see themselves as underdogs especially

to the big city new york which is you know just up the road from them hundred miles or so and they were they were underdogs in this game but they probably should have been as as big an underdog as they were because they were very good the difference was the quarterback new england have to has tom brady they had nick foles who started the season as their backup and only was playing because their starting quarterback got hurt in december but they only lost three games all year there are really strong defense. over in the english premier league defending champions chelsea lost four one at watford watford scored three of their goals within the space of ten minutes in the second have chelsea's loss means they stay fourth in the table just one point ahead of tottenham all the international olympic committee has formally rejected a request from thirteen more russian athletes to be allowed to compete at the upcoming winter games in pyongyang the astley's had their lifetime bans from olympic sport for doping overturned by the court of arbitration for sport last week

that decision was criticised by the i.o.c. president thomas bach one hundred and sixty nine russian athletes will be taking part at the olympics under a neutral flag we are going right this procedure. extremely disappointing because decisions up holding. for pete's the privilege to be invited requires more than just the absence of a censure. so we have not the right. now the white landscape of the netherlands makes it an unlikely place for excellence in winter sports but the twenty fourteen olympics in sochi saw the dutch finish near the top of the overall rankings thanks to their performances in speed skating and more successes being predicted for the dutch in south korea all research reports from here in vain. when

it comes to speed skating but it does it matter dutch the netherlands medal tally of the last winter olympics was the best point any nation in any single sport in the history of the games and put them fifth in the overall table despite not winning any medals outside of skating. it has left rivals norway the u.s. and canada desperately trying to catch up before pyong chang twenty eight chair you know if he or she. doesn't feel good for anybody but we're trying to. always keep step ahead of the rest of the world and sometimes previous goal because you know everybody learns from mistakes and it's. so deep into the culture and everybody grows up with speed skating specially when there's no surprise and frozen outside and everybody so getting crazy i think there's a. reason why we have success and. speed skaters are professional stars in the

netherlands the work that makes them champions is done here at the t.l. farina in the small town of head in vain famed as the fastest ice in the world it's home to pensioners and school children at the same time as world champions. but the success of the sport has its roots in the dutch landscape the dutch have been getting their skates on for centuries as the many canals over in winter this is the traditional finish of the state and talked a two hundred kilometer race across the frozen waterways of freestyle and it's not been cold enough to hold it for twenty years now making it something that holds some dutch dreams even more than olympic gold if you win that race you will be a legend you know. it's incredible how many people are words that have race and it's even bigger than the olympics i guess. the netherlands has dozens of professional skaters with this single team presentation including several potential

olympic champions a show of power united with tradition that could be impossible to resist in p.r. . paul reese al-jazeera here in vegas. and that's all your sport for now more later . and you can find much more sport on our website as well you'll also be able to find more photographs on background on all our stories the address is al-jazeera dot com that's it for me for this news are probably back in a moment with more on. the

final mission. conservation is helping kick the stove to recover its snow leopard population to see the results i traveled up to the remote nature reserve of saudi chat at a touch camera traps have identified a healthy population of up to twenty snow leopards as the technology improves we're finding all these ways in which our guesses are are getting corrected the latest evidence suggests there are more cats than previously acknowledged but the snow

leopard trust believes it's premature to downgrade the cats on the international list of threatened species. in his arms kid. didn't have in mind for what is right on the shores of padded ice progress for some can create a living hell for others challenging his government and big business one man risked his life to save the community he cherishes the news not to be that someone can do news then. that's what. the opposition a witness documentary at this time on al-jazeera. words at the u.n. as the u.s. accuses russia of blocking a resolution condemning the use of chemical weapons in syria.