al-jazeera. where ever you are. steve bannon donald trump's former right hand man is questioned by investigators over alleged russian meddling in u.s. politics. no i'm fully back to boyer watching al-jazeera live from doha also coming up

a community grieves in florida after the seventeen victims of the latest u.s. school shooting renewing the divisive debate over gun control. we'll try to work very hard not to disappoint the people of sold off because i think you very much south africa's new president disorder in helping to move on from an iran modified political scandal and celebrations begin a cost china and southeast asia for the lunar new year. thank you for joining us the u.s. president's former chief strategist has been questioned by investigators examining links between donald trump's election campaign and russia see van and has also been quiz for a second time by congressional intelligence panel but was tight lipped citing white house privilege mike hanna has more from washington. well it's understood that steve benen was questioned for

a long period of time by members of special counsel robert miller's team on at least two occasions the questioning lasting some twenty hours the nature of the questions not yet known however we do understand that steve bannon did give our answers to all the questions that were put to him this is unlike his appearance before the house intelligence committee where he appeared for the second time this week there he refused to answer a large number of questions a quoting white house privilege he would only questions that had in fact been vetted by the white house now this caused a great deal of anger on the house committee members now discussing whether or not they should try him for contempt for not giving answers to the questions that they put to him. saying the u.s. thousands of people have gathered in florida at a candlelight vigil for the seventeen victims of the latest school shooting if the measure be i had previously been warned about nineteen year old nicholas cruz is

appeared in court charged with the seventeen met is andy gallagher reports on the vigil in pocket and north of miami. this is a community in mourning but a people determined to come together the grieving process will be long and painful the wounds may never heal many here still in shock but determined that this should never happen again i mean the bullets were in my daughter's classroom yesterday. her friends are a lot of her friends died and this is an offering and i don't know what it's going to take but we have to do something we have to that we can't just be idle and forget about us. robot video from inside the school shows the horror that children have to enjoy or. have students saw because they're forced to run past bodies of fallen classmates or you nicholas jacob cruz. is here the

suspected shooter nineteen year old nicholas cruz appeared in court charged with seventeen counts of premeditated murder he's now confessed to the killings is lawyer describes cruz as a broken human being the sadness because community is feeling i mean my children are there they go to school in this community i feel horrible for these families and. mr cruz feels that pain. it's also known that the f.b.i. investigated a comment left on you tube by someone using the screen name nicholas cruz it simply said i'm going to be a professional school shooter no other information was included with that comment which would indicate time location or the true identity of the person who made the comment. yes you know i conducted database reviews checked but was it wasn't me able to further identify the person who actually made the motive for this attack

is still unknown but among the dead of the schools assistant football coach he threw himself in front of his students to protect them from a hail of bullets his team simply tweeted he died a hero sacrifice will soon be forgotten to go after all his era parkland florida. holly dexter is co-chair of the women against gun violence activist group she's not expecting presidential action on gun reform the n.r.a. paid thirty million dollars to get donald trump elected and donald trump stood up and publicly proclaim to the n.r.a. i will not let you down so for expecting to see any kind of leadership from the white house on gun reform it's not going to happen there are some politicians in congress that have been standing up to the gun lobby for years but guess what there are at least twenty politicians that are in office in america right now that are receiving millions of dollars from the n.r.a. and i don't want anyone out there to think that this is

a hopeless situation because what america needs to do is show up to vote in our midterms in november and throw these guys out and these women out who are beholden to the n.r.a. one of the things that we're calling for immediately is to reinstate a ban on assault weapons nobody needs to have assault weapons on the streets of america they are not for self-protection unless you're expecting one hundred intruders per minute they are not for hunting and less you're hunting people. cyril ramaphosa has become south africa's new president advocating a message of clean government and inclusiveness the former trade union leader turned multimillionaire replaces jacob zuma his presidency was marked by scandal and division rob matheson has our report from johannesburg president. it's taken more than nine years but several ram oppose a final is what he wants the leadership of south africa and his nomination members

of his party the ruling a.n.c. had been dancing and cheering i do believe that when one is elected in this type of position you basically become a servant of the people of south africa and now seek to execute that task with humility with faithfulness. and with dignity as well but within minutes hence the one big hurdle the new president must face we don't have a jacob zuma problem we have an n.c. problem. mr tom of course i wish you strength but you know we will hold you accountable and i will see you in twenty nineteen on the ballot box some of the opposition is refusing to recognize his presidency we just want to put it on the record speaker that we cannot be part of an illegitimate illegal process.

and i'm oppose also has to hold together a ruling party which has seen support plummet during the last election voters have high expectations of their new leader i am be. even sure. he. can be something great you just. tell she was there because he must admit you are not helping much and rom a poser is facing a struggling economy high unemployment and allegations of widespread corruption the pressure is on for south africa's new president to try to deliver what is controversial pretty assessor could not rock madison al-jazeera johannesburg south africa. staying in africa infighting is threatening zimbabwe's main opposition movement after the death of its founder morgan chang he died in neighboring south africa where he'd been receiving cancer treatment how remote us are reports somehow

i. could invest and instinct many opposition supporters are broken hearted. they say they are struggling to accept the man who led them for nearly twenty years morgan tsvangirai is did. i was definitely shocked. that you would notice things ok so we had. christmas eve just in this hour the indices national council has appointed nelson chamisa as acting president for twelve months which is likely means he will be the party's presidential candidate when elections take place later the cea chamisa is forty years old and popular with the youth we are just four months away from an election and we have lost a commander but i can tell you is that we do not have

a crisis. for the generals on the field of those who are going to be left in is to make sure that the battle in the war again is the incumbent and the win this election was but two senior party officials took us on equipping investment sooty did not attend thursday's party meeting there is speculation they may split the biggest opposition party because they don't want chamisa to be their boss. i want. to follow leaders in the opposition have to campaign in the transition if they want to keep the night. he was the face of zimbabwe's opposition to longstanding leader robert mugabe for decades that i live long enough to see his rival resign. and facing its first election in nearly two decades without either.

if you fundament is planning to meet on friday after the sudden resignation of the prime minister haile mariam dissonance announcement follows ongoing protests and violence wanted out of reports. in a televised address and say he said his ignition was my top for choosing the changes necessary for sustainable peace and democracy in ethiopia in other words an attempt to ease rising tensions in the country pleasingly from which in my circle of unrest and political crisis have led to the loss of lives and the displacement of many i see my stepping down as vital in the effort to carry out reforms that lead to sustainable peace lud list seen as a placeholder on a consensus figure hyla money and us alone has led if he appears since two thousand and twelve following the death of former prime minister and the architect of with hubris a recent economic boom melissa. he rolls from relative obscurity as an a can they make to president of the solvent region before being. appointed foreign minister

who's and deputy prime minister his departure follows the current wave of unrest unemotional state of emergency doubt and the last. ethiopia's lodges regions only on i'm hot i have witnessed must of the most russians in recent months with protest as mainly made up of youths calling for political and economic reform and an end to state corruption and listen to weeks the government doesn't list thousands of oppose you'll support us from jail but a protest of continued years of unaccountability and ethnocide session of the country's politics a push if you appear to tipping point injustice repression on luck of minute full democracy some say have instilled a sense of despondency particularly among if your peers use driving many to view pull tests as the only viable means of bringing about medical change their own going to also lead to dip divisions within the governing coalition with some of

ethiopia's powerful and it's coming to see the prime minister as weak and locking in focus hyla money i'm surprised his ignition minot's outs with all of ethiopia's protesters but for some it's us but behind it all just. see ahead on al-jazeera and israel is crisis continues to spin over its borders we'll tell you how neighboring cannot be a is feeling the impact and a former australian prime minister who's government left refugees languishing in offshore prison camps backtracks on his own online office. welcome back we've got some quite disturbed weather around the levant at the moment we've got an area of rain moving across iraq and into iran but also this area of

low pressure and across the eastern side of the mediterranean is going to be pushing in across this area during the course of saturday so wet weather across much of syria so high elevations they'll be some snow some very strong winds unpleasant conditions really and that extends across a good part of lebanon to bypass the upper twenty three the winds basically coming from the south so certainly quite warm kuwait at twenty five but it will cloud over here later on indeed to be cloud feeding its way down through the arabian peninsula during the course of the weekend but then they should be through friday it should be fine in riyadh twenty seven similar temperatures here in doha there could well still be some poor visibility because of dust or rather fluctuation more proper sun coming up from the south but temperatures into how likely to reach twenty eight degrees in software before eventually just starts to cloud over a little bit process sunshine turning slightly hazy into southern portions of africa we've still got some heavy showers affecting the east coast of madagascar and some heavy rain at times for parts of way and through toward sambir so wet one possibly into soccer coming southward through much of botswana should be fine and

fine in cape town highs twenty two. airborne vehicles harvesting every pic you take every click you make click to everything all the waves. but this time to walk the walk. with blanket on the deep sleep was the first civilian. creators. of the engineers at this time jazeera.

welcome back our top stories on al-jazeera the u.s. president's former chief strategist has been questioned by investigators examining links between donald trump's election campaign and russia as understood steve bannon was plays for twenty hours this week by the team led by special counsel robert muller mourners have gathered in florida in the to remember seventeen students who were killed in a school shooting on wednesday is now emerged that the f.b.i. how to apply a warning about the suspects nicholas cruz is appeared in court challenge with seventeen medals and still run up also has become south africa's new president pushing a message of clean government and inclusiveness a trade union leader turned multimillionaire replaces jacob zuma was years in power tainted by multiple corruption scandals. the u.s. secretary of state says he has had open and productive talks with turkey's

president rochette typewrite on rex tillerson is on the fifth and final leg of his middle east tour relations between the two countries have been strained in recent months over u.s. support for kurdish fighters in syria and jordan more about why the u.s. and turkey haven't been seeing eye to eye. there's a saying you dance with the ones who brought you in mandate syria the u.s. military is supporting the syrian defense forces local fighters who helped liberate the city for meusel just one problem the s.d.f. is led by kurds whom turkey considers a mortal enemy. once again is demanding washington abandon the s.d.f. and pull its own forces out of syria he can you. now that you can why are you standing around go ahead and leave who did you bring their. p.k. if you take them there and you are still telling us not to come the moment we will

come to my mage to deliver the land to its true owners. the us response not happening we need to stay here until the that political environment is stable and our security here our presence here provides that level stabilization and bring security for it's just the latest in a number of issues that have driven all korea and washington apart going back to the start of the syrian civil war in two thousand and eleven turkey became increasingly frustrated that the united states wasn't helping it achieve its goal of bringing down assad and the united states became increasingly frustrated by turkey support for radical groups what's more the u.s. is still refusing to extradite the cleric that. accused of plotting the failed two thousand and sixteen coup against burdwan all this has the turkish. jockeying for closer ties with russia and attacking the u.s. as a pro enemy everywhere he goes the anti american message is resonating

a recent poll found that seventy nine percent of turks hold an unfavorable view of the u.s. government just eighteen percent have a favorable view even people to people ties are affected sixty seven percent of turks have an unfavorable view of americans rosalyn jordan al-jazeera washington. earlier to listen was in lebanon way he said that hezbollah's influence in regional conflicts is threatening the country's security the secretary of state made the comments after meeting lebanese president michel aoun and prime minister saad hariri. them to uphold lebanon's commitment to insure calm on the southern border with israel. to colombia where the president says his country needs international help to cope with and humanitarian crisis after the arrival of hundreds of thousands of venezuelans the influx has been caused by a deepening economic crisis in venezuela alice on the ramp visited the colombian

government's first temporary shelter. near the border with venezuela. and his wife mark to talk their luck had turned for the better with the economic situation at home deteriorating a friend offered him a well paying job. in venezuela i had a good job at a business making five times the minimum wage but the value of my salary kept falling i couldn't meet our needs anymore and those of our children i stopped eating i lost forty kilos or used to be over one hundred then i saw that my children were also losing weight so they sold almost all their own to pay for the trip to star a new life but in any swelling bordertown case which was robbed the only items of value they were left with were their passports. we left the children and their grandmother in critical conditions we had calculated we'd be in peru in a week start working and send money but it all fell apart after days sleeping on

the streets of call only a border town and they found a roof and a bed here the first temporary shelter for venezuelan migrants set up by the colombian government with the support of the red cross and the international organization for migration. we found these brotherly colombians that gave us so much it's been incredible housing food and a good samaritan is paying for our tickets. yes the shelter is open to only a few of the hundreds who are sleeping on the streets of kuta only those with a passport and a bus ticket to get assistance here and you're supposed to remain for just forty eight hours and this day we found only five migrants despite more than two hundred vailable beds those dentists whelan's without official documents or ticket struggle they search for menial jobs hoping to earn enough to continue their journey the red cross is here to help them but it meets still assessing the best way to provide

assistance. we're designing other more effective mechanisms which surely will allow us to achieve a higher occupancy rate in the coming weeks to be a little on my way out of the question for its part colombia has increased its police presence along the border apparently sending a signal to when it's well instinct you look across to go over and those already in . the compassion of neighbors is being tested as colombia copes with an unprecedented influx of venezuelans desperate to escape a country in economic freefall listen to them. the u.s. ambassador to kosovo says the semi-autonomous region must allow a new war crimes court investigate alleged atrocities by the cost of our liberation army has been speaking to al-jazeera as kosovo prepares to mark ten years since declaring independence andrew symonds reports from the kosovo serb.

silvano marinko the church has vivid memories of her husband god and there's no end to her grief he's been missing for nearly twenty years silvana says it was tough bringing up their two daughters alone but at sea put out of all the difficulties i faced the hardest thing is when my daughters ask where their father is. silvana is convinced that kosovo albanian fighters abducted her husband along with hundreds of other people she's put much of her energy campaigning for a non-government organization that's demanding justice for relatives of those who've gone missing gorin disappeared in june one thousand nine hundred nine according to n.g.o.s he's among an estimated five hundred cause of all serbs still missing and according to the government the figure of kosovar albanians stands at twelve hundred naturally the word missing still has a project resonance right across calls over and still after all this time as

a clamoring for some form of justice or closure because of the liberation army stands accused of abductions and atrocities a special court was set up to investigate casillas leadership many of them kalay veterans have spent the past six months trying to get rid of it although now they've agreed to it again not in the pound everything how do you feel personally about. a possible indictment i'm very confident i am very proud on that what we did on our freedom fighting i don't know who's going to be prosecuted most of the pressure on kosovo's leaders has come from the united states what i do know is the special corps important because of future both in domestic rule of law terms but also to demonstrate to the international community the cause of our can keep its word none of this diplomacy about a special court impresses silvana magic of each. if they really wanted to do

something they could have done it a long time ago the u.n. in place had testimony that was still fresh but they wanted to hide the truth. and silvana as distrust is shared by many of those still waiting for any word on the fate of their loved ones andrew symonds al-jazeera gretchen. in kosovo. australia's former prime minister kevin rudd has softened his stance on a tough immigration policy he introduced in twenty thirteen is told al-jazeera he never intended for refugees to be kept in offshore detention camps for as long as it's been under thomas or for some camera. most refugees held on man a silent in papua new guinea were sent in twenty thirteen so this year most will mark five years in what they call australia's remote island prison that particular word isn't used in a report by a regional protection officer for the united nations high commissioner for refugees

but after a visit to man as his language is just as strong he found a pervasive and worsening sense of despair among refugees and asylum seekers a sense of desolation people would be walking around their faces will be downcast and looking at the ground not many people are going out of rico's cell sado says the need for medical care mental health support and trauma counseling is critical and unmet but really the refugees shouldn't be on man as a tool it's up to the country which sent them to papua new guinea to find them safe long term homes elsewhere australia ultimately has responsibility for the welfare and for dissolutions for people outside of. some refugees have flowed into the united states under a resettlement deal australia reached while barack obama was in office but most have not and their future is uncertain as ever the hardline policy to send refugees

who arrived by boat to man a silence was first introduced in july twenty third seen by the then prime minister kevin rudd people who come by boat now have no prospect of being resettled in australia the rules have changed if you come by boat you'll never permanently live in australia rant last election shortly after that on the conservative government has been in power since toughened his policies further earlier this week kevin rudd reflected on the tenth anniversary of his national apology to indigenous aboriginal people mistreated for decades by various australian governments i interviewed him about that and then i asked him whether he thought that i would be a need for a future australian prime minister is. another apology this one to refugee sent by his government and subsequent ones to mount a silent on the roof rods wouldn't answer that but did say he'd never meant refugees to be on malice this long it's been inhumane in the extreme for the conservative government of australia to regard those who are on menace as asylum

seekers come to this country as purely domestic political pawns in a wider political game despite what he said publicly in twenty thirteen kevin rudd now says refugees on mannus should be found a home in australia under thomas al-jazeera congress chinese people around the world are celebrating the lunar new year with millions in china charging home for the holiday adrian brown reports from beijing on what the year of the dog could mean for china and for us present on our top. it staff time of year when china becomes a nation in motion few places busier than beijing's railway station during the last lunar new year holiday around four hundred million travel by train that's more than the population of the united states some are migrant workers i'm sure if they'll return a campaign of demolitions has made life here impossible for them my child is in

school here we lived in beijing for many years but now they're trying to kick us out of course what about that much of the world's second largest economy is coming to a halt throughout the country people are on the move in what is the walls largest annual human migration people heading home for celebrations that will last for two weeks as the chinese are sure in the year of the dog fortuneteller one how sees more bad than good for anyone who shares the same zodiac sign and that includes president donald trump. are you by me and if i was present trial was boy in dog we chinese people coyer year about lot of us and i believe it will be a very bad year for him in the heart including his health and decision making. trump has boxed a lot of china in return a bit of marketing mockery

a giant statue that supposed to bear a likeness to the president sits outside a shopping mall in northeast china it certainly gets plenty of attention sporting golden hair a stern expression and an index finger pointing straight out do you think it looks like a dog. now really and they've just been here oh yeah the hair is made it was like yeah but is it all fake news at least one passer by seems to think so adrian brown al-jazeera beijing. hello again i'm fully back to bill with the headlines on al-jazeera the u.s. president former president xi for staff she sighed just as you say has been questioned by investigators examining links between donald trump's election campaign and russia steve bannon has also been quizzed again by congressional

intelligence panel but was tight lipped mike hanna has more from washington. well it's understood that steve benen was questioned for a long period of time by members of special counsel robert miller's team on at least two occasions the questioning lasting some twenty hours the nature of the questions not yet known however we do understand that steve benen did give our answers to all the questions that were put to him this is unlike his appearance before the house intelligence committee where he appeared for the second time this week there he refused to answer a large number of questions a quoting white house privilege mourners have gathered in parkland in the u.s. state of florida to remember seventeen victims of a school shooting on wednesday is now emerged that the f.b.i. had previously been warned about the shooting suspects nicholas cool's serial ramaphosa has become south africa's new president advocating

a message of clean government and inclusiveness the trade union leader turned multimillionaire replaces jacob zuma whose years in power were tainted by multiple corruption scandals if you o.p.'s monument is planning to meet on friday as it looks to replace the prime minister after his surprise resignation haile mariam to silence announcement follows often violent on race which has threatened the ruling party's hold on power he says he's trying to solve the crisis and his resigning to be part of the solution the u.s. secretary of state says he's had open and productive talks with turkey's president russia typewrite on relations between the two countries have been strained in recent months over u.s. support for kurdish fighters in syria australia's former prime minister kevin rudd has softened his stance on a tough immigration policy he introduced in twenty thirteen if sent refugees who try to reach australia by boat offshore detention camps on minus sign and ride toll down to zero he never intended for refugees to be detained for as long as and when

those are the headlines revel geeks is next. on different sides of the civil war they never wanted to fight him i joined the party just because it was the closest one to my house you might even have dogs for without understanding the fish but united now on the roads of levanon seem to offer you on a motorcycle we see things without the freight the world is open. i love it love it love it so much fighters two bikers on al-jazeera worlds at this time. digital technology is a mess in tennessee and easement and even longer not. in the ability to billions of calculations in our pockets it seems interest coverage and he didn't mention. in which everything in our lives can be increased and tracked and intent is to money.