this escalation of fighting for assad taking the rebel stronghold of down especially important after all this is where the uprisings against his rule began seven years ago. that's ahead on al-jazeera we'll tell you why economy is in crisis despite government efforts to boost exports and contain rising inflation plus. mexico's presidential front runner is promising he rescued the country's impoverished population but it might not be that simple i'm john home and i'll tell you bill. hello and welcome to international weather forecast we're still dealing with some pretty severe storms across central and southeastern parts of europe at the moment

across eastern parts we've got some fine conditions there for russia twenty eight degrees in moscow and across western areas also looking drawing fine the warm weather continues across the u.k. iberian peninsula still looking pretty hot but some isolated big storms are likely now as we advance a forecast through into saturday we can see some rain pushing into the iberian peninsula and across the eastern areas is where the rain is going to intensify up through ukraine into moldova western parts of russia with moscow seeing some showers later in the day but still some pretty hot weather across southeastern areas and still the risk of some really heavy storms for rumania in particular into north africa so looking fine the winds coming as the south attempt at thirty seven degrees fortunatus meanwhile over across in cairo weather conditions are looking fine thirty six. in central africa we've got showers across the central belt mushy space but pretty wet at the moment across parts of west africa through lagos nigeria and ghana and that continues through saturday much of southern africa is

draw and fine plenty of sunshine temperature those struggling in cape town a high here of just fourteen degrees.

can you watching out is there a mind of our top stories in you leaders have reached a deal aimed at controlling the influx of refugees into europe after myerson overnight talks the bloc will increase funding to address the issue while italy and greece will have the option of setting up large holding centers to process migrants . police have detained a man who shot and killed five people inside a news paper office in the us state of maryland they say he specifically targeted journalists in the city of annapolis. the syrian government offensive in southwestern province of is on hold after a deal was reached but opposition fighters russian led talks in jordan resulted in a temporary truce at least eighty people were killed in their own on thursday. isis control of the iraqi city of mosul and the battle by iraqi forces to recapture it left the city in ruins thousands of people are killed there takes

a look at life in the city now and how conditions are still unbearable his mohammed . morsel may be clear of ice. but reminders of the group's reign are everywhere. not just of the group's atrocities but also the brutal fighting it took to topple them. here streets are still in. and buildings are destroyed. for the former residents who were lucky enough to escape ices web of violence and inhumanity things remain difficult. thought his homecoming would be a happy one he and his family fled in two thousand and fourteen they were overjoyed when at out the forces declared they'd retaken mosul then he saw what remains of their house still a yet not saddam but a shout out to him wherever you go there's awful destruction if you go outside

you'll see entire neighborhoods destroyed and in some parts you can still smell dead bodies lying under the rubble it's impossible to bring our families to such a place where the smell of death is still lingering. strewn about are symbols of suffering. of youth stopped dead in its tracks of a displacement crisis that is nowhere near over the deer whose family can't afford to rebuild struggles to come to terms with all that has happened. neither one official nor n.g.o.s visited us in order to help no one has come forward and asked us if we have we have not begged still and we only want to write some help from good people so we can get back on track while the situation remains dire there are signs of hope some philanthropists and contractors are promising to restore this city. as bulldozers roll through bringing a sense of anticipation to these alleyways but. we have taken the initiative to

rebuild destroyed houses and most old because we have seen the high level of destruction so we decided to hold hands together with the people of mosul and start this reconstruction campaign. still no one expects this will be easy attempting restoration and renewal amid so much despair. that some of donald trump's assistants had closer ties to the united arab emirates than previously thought according to a new report the middle east i says it has e-mails revealing aides who are willing to exchange inside information within iraq ambassador to the u.s. the twenty sixteen campaign ellen fisher has not donald trump. the key figure in all of this according to the e-mails the website middle east i says it the pain is tom brock a prominent and influential businessman he's an old friend of donald trump's and raised huge sums of money for his election campaign he was allegedly exchanging

e-mails with us of the united arab emirates ambassador to washington. it's claimed the ambassador managed to change the republican party platform at its cleveland convention the first draft had a call to release twenty eight pages of classified documents from the nine eleven inquiry which were potentially embarrassing to saudi arabia a close ally that was removed. after don't trump surprise election victory in november twenty sixth in its alleged ambassador a tie but pushed for insights on who would be moved into key diplomatic intelligence and defense positions in the new administration it was his intention to brief his bosses including the m. rattie chrome prince mohammed bin zayed but then he also apparently offered his own suggestions middle east i says in one e-mail he wrote to tom barac about george w. bush's former homeland security adviser fran townsend i saw her last night and

immediately thought she would be huge asset to you she would make a perfect director of national intelligence or d.h.h.s. secretary she would hit the ground running on every issue tense and in fact made the shortlist for a key intelligence position. he was considered as a possible f.b.i. director when james komi was fired up middle east i suggest the e-mail exchange may be of interest to the ongoing militant quality into potential russian interference into the twenty sixteen presidential election and links to the trump campaign he's looking for not just contact but for flows of money because what he's basically investigating is whether any foreign power and he started with russia but he's now continuing with you know emirates and saudi arabia whether any foreign government actively contributed financially to trump selection campaign and that would be illegal under u.s. law it's claimed crown prince been desired canceled a planned trip to washington last month because he was caught up in the quiet the

crown prince did meet donald trump at the white house in may last year to morrow at eleven thirty was interviewed by the miller investigation in december he actually recommended paul manifold as trump's campaign manager one of four no faces several charges arising out of that miller investigation. alan fischer al-jazeera washington. thailand's prime minister has visited the site of a flooded cave complex where a young football team went missing last saturday perth told family members to keep faith as the international search and rescue mission entered its sixth day there's been some progress in efforts to drain water from the cave where the twelve boys and the coach went missing the group disappeared after they decided to explore the cave despite warnings of potential flooding bodies international airport is closed and hundreds of flights cancelled after a volcano erupted on the indonesian island ash and smoke shot more than two kilometers into the air from mt

a gang at least four hundred fifty flights were canceled affecting around seventy five thousand people. strange governors won a major trade dispute it's plain packaging laws for tobacco products the world trade organization has ruled the law has helped improve public health the rules require cigarette manufacturers to remove all ogres and branding from their products if he or his economy grew at a faster rate than any other african country in the past ten years but foreign investors and local businesses complain that a shortage of foreign currencies like the u.s. dollar stifling the private sector other reports from at is of this is the great if you have been remade on the blue nile nearing completion the project has been fully funded by the government and the people of ethiopia it's a fact that many here are proud of yet the infrastructure projects like the dam have put pressure on the country's foreign reserves which are already short supply

foreign currency shortages the worst that i've witnessed in my entire life in its all time lows that we have heard of and seen and this is because look at the economy look at the construction sector you look at the manufacturing sector look at the import everything and the government projects all those that have been planned and viciously have slowed down. another cause for the crisis is that ethiopia sells far less than what it buys the international monetary fund says that its european for the reserves at the end of the two thousand and sixteen two thousand and seventeen fiscally stood at three point two billion less than what it spends on imports in two months. in recent years it has encouraged the must of chinese investment in industrial parks to create employment and increase exports the government directed one small piece of foreign currency to import as one malt insect must consider the priority such as pharmaceuticals and manufacturing and

with no means of paying their supplies many of them for down. at that is just market monocultural traders complain of how businesses in our fight is clearly imports textiles from china and to buy themselves a muddy idealogue getting supplies every challenge for us increasing prices are also keeping customers away. last year the government devalued the local currency by fifteen per cent in an effort to boost exports and contain rising inflation but prices kept rising under it and we don't fix the prices that is beyond us there from us in rural areas do depending on the a production costs even ethiopia's new prime minister but the knowledge is that there is no quick fix to the pub for now he's calling for more cooperation with a private sector. it's your p.r. one time ally of the soviet union is now enduring some of the pains of capitalism

but they're growing pains the i.m.f. is focusing a growth rate of eight point five percent. above the global average for now it seems ethiopia is still an african economy force to reckon with mohamed atta well just how does somebody here. mexicans head to the polls this sunday to choose their next president frontrunner and this manual lopez obrador has vowed to reverse decades of decline in poverty in rural areas but as john holeman reports from the state of michigan that will be a tough campaign pledge to fulfill. the mix can countryside decimated by poverty and empty but migration over decades. is one of the aging population of small scale phone is struggling to compete with industrial scale operations in the world the mexico and the us for all that i know i produce grains but not money he says. in many communities the young have either left or

turned to more lucrative ventures. they sell drugs they kidnap they live well for a few days and then they get killed just next to my house or there was kind of a kidnapping. this man promises to change that presidential front runner andres manuel lopez obrador has made the neglected mix can country side a campaign priority. he said he were focused government support from large industrial producers to smaller farms to help them get quality seeds technological know how better access to loans and the guaranteed minimum price for their crops it's all part of an ambitious plan for mexico to produce its own food. you're buying everything a bra that we could grow in mexico me that's going to start.

in the past there were incredibly strong ties between mexicans and the land this is the birthplace of corn itself but it's a different country now daming with a booming urban population and the global market the question is if it's really possible or even worth the cost of resuscitating this sector so that. even lopez obrador team says the wholesale change he promises will be impossible one of been a straight. and agricultural economists who in general support the plan of question dave price guarantees for individual farmers and in particular in forcing home grown food and carry a steep cost for authorities and consumers is from consequences if you are that in consequence it's going to be very expensive for the government and mexican taxpayer that. promise them so seems split between those two banking on the ruling party which has given them just enough to survive and those like

a year or more voting in the hope of change john home and how does it make to account. for them james out of the headlines on al-jazeera is have reached a deal and controlling the influx of refugees into europe after overnight talks the bloc will increase funding to address the issue while it's an increase will have the option of setting up large holding centers to process migrants more now from al-jazeera lawrence lee is in brussels. if it's being framed as a solution to the migration crisis i think is the biggest exaggeration you could possibly imagine what what he sees in terms is a source of political fix to stop the block from falling apart and take the pressure in particular of the german chancellor angela merkel whose political career was in the balance because of this a lot of what they've agreed in this communique is exactly what to expect to them

it's all about keeping people it's more support for the libyan coast guard for example strengthening the borders with turkey these sorts of things police are investigating whether a rescue ship in the mediterranean was helping people smugglers the lifeline docked in malta on wednesday after being refused entry by italy and spain it had been just being at sea for six days with more than two hundred refugees on board. police have detained the man is shot and killed five people inside a newspaper office in the u.s. state of maryland they say he specifically targeted journalists in the city of annapolis the syrian government offensive in southwestern province of there are is on hold after a deal was reached with opposition fighters russian it talks in jordan resulted in a temporary truce at least eighty people killed in there are on thursday. thailand's prime minister has visited the site of a flooded cave complex where

a young football team went missing on saturday produce chen archer told family members to keep faith as the international search and rescue mission enters its sixth day they've been some progress in efforts to drain water from the cave where the twelve boys and a coach went missing the group disappeared after they decided to explore the cave despite warnings of potential flooding those are the headlines the news will continue here on al-jazeera but first it is inside story. the i.m.f. said riyadh's a breakeven oil price for twenty eighteen is likely to be around eighty eight dollars a barrel why is argentina again turning to the i.m.f. for help now we bring you the stories that are shaping the economic world we live in counting the cost on al-jazeera. make time for europe the german chancellor angela merkel on the migrant crisis which is

polarizing the ease some countries are threatening to seal the borders so could that sealed the fate of the european union itself this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program i'm peter it is an issue that has split the european union and as the german chancellor angela merkel is warning it's make or break time for the future of the twenty eight nation bloc e.u. leaders are in brussels to discuss the migration crisis with deep divisions over how to man.