u.s. president donald trump dismisses claims of russian election meddling as he holds face to face talks with latham if hooten. hello again i'm seated us and this is al jazeera live from london also coming off a heroic welcome hundreds of thousands gather in paris to welcome home world cup winning football team. another step towards paints off to twenty years of conflict eritrea reopens its embassy in ethiopia. and the death toll climbs to eight as anti-government protests continue across southern iraq.

u.s. president donald trump has defended russia against allegations it interfered in the election that brought him to power trump and his russian counterpart vladimir putin met in the finnish capital helsinki just three days off the twelfth russian hackers were indicted in the official probe into the twenty sixteen presidential election. correspondent james pace has more. we face to face ahead of a solo meeting a meeting that lasted over two and a half hours but if you were hoping they would solve any of the world's problems you'll be sorely disappointed instead when they spoke to reporters their comments were dominated by their views on the most toxic political issue in the u.s. an issue that just got more controversial as they seemed mainly to agree on it

during today's meeting i addressed directly with president putin the issue of russian interference in our elections i felt this was a message best delivered in person spend a great deal of time talking about it. and president putin may very well want to address it. and very strongly because he feels very strongly about it and here's an interesting idea putin then explained that idea he'd get russian authorities to interview the twelve hackers even though the allegation is they were working on behalf of those same or thoughts is or he said they could set up a joint us russian investigation team with one condition north of the witness which we will this kind of reference should be a mutual one and then we would expect that the americans would reciprocate and dave barry would question the shoals including the officers of law enforcement and

intelligence services of the united states whom we believe who have something to do with illegal actions on the territory of russia trump called that an incredible offer he was then asked a straight question every u.s. intelligence agency has concluded that russia did. what hu my first question for you sir is who do you believe remarkably he answered by switching to a completely different subject which is not part of the investigation hillary clinton's e-mails what happened to hillary clinton's e-mails thirty three thousand e-mails gone just gone i think in russia they wouldn't be gone so easily twenty two months after the election he still seems determined to reaffirm the legitimacy of his win i beat hillary clinton easily the electoral college is much more advantageous for democrats as you know than it is to republicans we won the electoral college by

a lot one last question was simple yes important. president putin did you want president trump to win the election yes i totally yes i did because he talked about bringing the right us relationship back to normal i've lost count of the number of times over the last eighteen months that i've described comments by president trump as extraordinary but this what was supposed to be a summit between the two most powerful leaders in the world was taking things to a new level the president may have been trying to robustly make his case about the twenty sixteen election but there seems little doubt that he's only made matters worse for himself james al-jazeera helsinki. back home there is outrage from both ends of the political spectrum at trauma's failure to hold russia to account can really help us as a law from washington d.c. . for a president who loves to talk about his ratings and reviews there was nearly

universal criticism members of the u.s. congress over his performance in helsinki and his apparent acceptance of russian president vladimir putin's denial that russia interfered in the twenty sixteen u.s. election is president putin he just said it's not russian but more than a dozen u.s. law enforcement and intelligence agencies have concluded just the opposite leading some members of the president's own political party to rebuke his actions republican senator john mccain called the putin trust press conference disgraceful in a statement he said the damage inflicted by president trumps night even take egotism false equivalence and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate how many republicans are concerned the truck blamed both countries for the deteriorating u.s. russia relationship jacked into giving what they call moral equivalence to a traditional u.s. adversary what many label a propaganda win for putin this was the primary objective of

a lot of the putin was to sow permanent instability in american society and political culture so that we're so busy fighting each other we don't have time to take him on as a threat opposition democrats not surprisingly were equally outraged at what the president did. side with our number one enemy who is attacking the united states daily in a variety of ways and be little and kneecapping our allies is just appalling and demands some kind of explanation the senate intelligence committee has also concluded russia meddled in the us elections and fears it will happen again in twenty eighteen there are times in the senate when people have to stand up and see which side you're right those are one of those times this is one of those times there may now be in the u.s. congress a renewed push for bipartisan legislation known as the deter act that would snap and severe sanctions against russia as oil and banking sectors should it be found

to interfere in any future u.s. election can really help al-jazeera washington. well mark as a nonresident senior fellow at the atlantic council's eurasia center in washington he says the summit has damaged trends credibility. you know this summit was an opportunity for president trump to bridge the distance between those that accuse him of being too close to president putin to ignoring the facts of meddling in elections and a set a new tone for a strong american president that can stand up to our adversaries he failed on all counts in many ways he actually widen the gap between those that don't feel the u.s. president has the capability and the credibility to implement u.s. foreign policy and the fact that you're seeing republican pundits and congress members and even supporters of the president come out with criticism i think

showcases that in many ways the historical aspect of this summit is that this could be actually a spring moment for further opposition to president trump as well as further ammunition for special prosecutor mauler and his investigation of president campaigns di's to russia. france is well cup winning football as have returned from russia to raucous celebrations in paris maybe croatia full to in sunday's final to become world champions for the second time at such a post from the capital. the colors of france's flag were etched into the sky above paris as she was busy afternoon for the players it was the homecoming they had dreamed of for the fans a joyful moment they would never forget. what's happening it's

a party we are united we are twenty years ago and now again we are world champions that was very traditional we had some difficulties in france with the attacks so this is a moment of pure happiness. the team or one of the youngest in the tournament they use this touch people here and so has their diversity. that we are happy because it shows you can be from the suburbs and sixteen. percent they represent us because they young like us and pays only one year older than us persons and things like this since ninety ninety eight when fault was won the world cup back then to the same table of multi-culturalism the many fans there that sense of unity but the squad is actually really similar to the world from one thousand and eight because as you said a lot of of players from the suburbs whether they're from big cities and or the from the countryside from small villages the players on the pitch show that you can

come from several different backgrounds and still have good time together after the parade the french president welcome to play is to the lease a palace for a garden party attended by hundreds of teenagers from all over france the hope is that this young team can inspire the next generation to. al-jazeera paris. and croatia is losing finalists have also arrived home to a joyful welcome for the scenes on route from the airport to the capitals i grabbed as hundreds of thousands of people greeted the players become national heroes over the past month away sure playing in just the six world cup and have the third smallest population of the thirty two teams in the tournaments. every trial has reopened its embassy in ethiopia a further sign of improving relations between the long time rivals and russia's president is in the capital addis ababa for the ceremony the neighbors declare that

state of war and mohamed are reports from other. embassy in addis ababa closed for the past twenty years is now open an army of workers have been giving it a facelift for most of the past week and it was operated by president files are full of it a trade together with the prime minister of ethiopia at the moment as a phone is a visit was considered almost inconceivable just two weeks ago because he was the month blamed for the stalemate between the two countries for most of the past two decades but when he came he was warmly welcomed treated thousands of ethiopians lining the streets where he went chanting his name and all these proximity and all your relationship between the two countries is definitely going to benefit the people of the two countries in eritrea there's been the force construction and military a law something that the truth i hope will now ease in ethiopia a lot of rock country at least the two horse the trail house which have been its

traditional horse and also the first flights from ethiopia. eritrea is planned for today so a lot of benefits for both sides of the border. still to come on the program here paying council president warns global powers and not to get sucked into a trade war and it was set up to help bring international criminals to justice and twenty years on is there still a place in the world for the icy saying. hello as a cold and frosty nights continue in new south wales southern queensland but a cloud crossing over makes little difference it's the hot of winter the so by day

the sun briggs attempts up to fourteen or fifteen adelaide runs through melbourne knots or a.c.t we're up to twenty one in sydney of course we should be about the same in person getting there slowly but a forgot to see by a look of it in the forecast and it's going to drift on the shore every now and again quiet but cold with a gentle story which is also true largely of news in the story was going through there was some flooding around or clint but the clouds disappeared and so should be sunshine by day again you have cold nights of coals for crosswise fifteen round runabout after okra atrocities represents any major connotation of which there are only a few in new zealand the closing tracy going to north island come wednesday and it's friday caught all the western side of the pacific at the moment the action being really overland and here is the ice for you can august some of the monsoon fronts to summer rain front is a long way north not through hole card or through a lot of us talk if you're lucky in beijing keeping charges run about the thirty mark and cleaning the air otherwise the sunshine for most of japan and all of the

korean peninsula. building a new life on a need to leave beach living off the sea and. a dream shared why so many but so few make it a reality. of family business led by a remarkable woman with a flair for cooking and desist. yeah i didn't catch it on al-jazeera.

welcome back reminder of the top story on al-jazeera donald trump passed in the one colluding with the russian president vladimir putin to win the twenty sixteen presidential election former cia director john brennan has called trump's actions treasonous while u.s. lawmakers say they missed an opportunity to hold russia accountable france's world cup winning football squad her arrived home to a hero's welcome huge crowds gathered in paris to greet the players who were crowned champions sunday's fourteen win of the croatia and i retrain has reopened its embassy in in the latest sign of improving relations which are in the form of east african funds. at least eight people have died in protests in southern iraq where i'm go is growing over the lack of basic services and high unemployment the government is promising billions of dollars to address their

concerns but many all skeptical of some a binge of it reports. i wish that they want to lick tricity clean water and jobs was the protesters have continued to congregate in southern iraq for a second week these people say police stopped them from setting up a protest camp at the bus for governor office that was not guarded the government that we were sitting peacefully and along convoy from the army and golden division stormed our tent we said we are peaceful protesters and not terrorists they said you have to remove your tent or you will be arrested and i want to move off we are strong we are acting on our own free will we're not beating from a buddy we are simply raising own demands. on sunday the protest spread to many southern provinces including with an as similar city. at least two people were killed and dozens injured including security personnel watching and it's adequate security forces response was excessive it was

disproportionate to the peaceful protest angry protests as many a bad was but live ammunition was fired at protesters. some of been attacking offices of major political parties but bus rides main port and the airport and niger have reopened a novelty or have done a lot if we disrupt oil production everyone will run to us including the us and respond to our demands do not push just of the limits so far we are peacefully demonstrating in these protests are merely a warning some of the audience. we have the residents of pastor and not infiltrators was simply raising our demands which are clean water electricity basic services and jobs are peaceful protests are met with bullets the iraq senior cleric has supported the demonstrators grand ayatollah sistani says people facing extreme lack of services. are the leading contender to form the new government after a contested election earlier this year has sent a delegation to basra he asked people to protect public property. prime minister

head the lead body has tried to offer ten thousand jobs in basra and pledged three billion dollars for education health water and other public areas. but so far it's failed to convince people who say they don't trust any of the politicians some of the job it does their. syrian forces backed by russian jets are making sweeping up balances on rebel held territories in the south for nearly a months now the allies have been bombarding launching ground attacks on the provinces of daraa and as a closer to the sensitive frontier with israeli occupied golan heights a few u.s. and russian leaders have promised a way together to protect israel security. has the latest. troops loyal to syrian president bashar assad are targeting rebel positions in the countryside as the bombs fall on the town of tell how to in the western part of the province and government forces try to recapture

a strategic killed and push into neighboring. rebel fighters and their family members meanwhile have been leaving southern city on buses bound for opposition held areas in northern syria syrian state television has been broadcasting video of these buses which it says are carrying the fighters and their relatives well many are being evacuated from others are being displaced thousands of families have fled to nearby when a threat and humanitarian concerns are growing aid workers have set up tents and are distributing food but they say much more is needed. we cannot afford to cover the needs of the influx of i.d.p.'s who arrive in huge numbers we're coordinating with all the relief agencies operating in the country to join forces and lend a helping hand in connection to the highest possible numbers of i.d.p.'s having now captured most of that i province the syrian government backed by the russian military finds itself at a turning point that our city was the birthplace of the syrian uprising which means

these gains are both strategic and symbolic and with a victory here it means syria's government is much closer to gaining full control of the country once again mohammed gentleman does either. israel says it's going to impose even stricter border measures on any cargo destined for gaza the kerem shalom crossing israeli authorities will ban all fuel imports until sunday or food and medicine those will require explicit permission to pass through the southern crossing last week israel said it would halt exports of projects from gaza and this funds to what it described as continue to gresham's from hamas. six children and two adult migrants have suffocated inside a shipping container in northwestern libya ninety others were found in a critical condition in the same truck libyan authorities say the migrants have been locked inside the shipping container for a long time and investigations into the tests has begun. mexico's president

elect has honored an election promise by cutting his own salary and those of other politicians andres manuel lopez obrador cruised to a landslide victory two weeks ago very to take on corruption and the country's so-called political elite john homa reports. the bling on showing congress another reminder for mexicans of the yawning gap between themselves the highly paid scandal rocked the political class that's what was music to the years of many with the incoming president and the raise money well lopez obrador announced this year will you know i'm going to receive one hundred eighty thousand pesos per month in other words i'm going to receive only forty percent of what president pena nieto commonly receives. as well as cutting the president to wage by more than huff he promises to restrict the salaries of other high earning public servants. definitely satisfy his base lopez obrador switch to power on the

promise to patent what he calls the power mafia but it could also cause problems there are two thousand years on the one can't losing good public servants on the other hand if you go very low then you can open the door for corruption precisely what you are trying to fight so i mean there is not that there is a guarantee that with good salaries there is not going to be corruption and we have seen that in nowadays with the current administration but if you go very low that dollar for corruption is why there the salary cuts that the headlines but in total up as a riddle rolled out fifty anticorruption an old stereotype promises he says that public servants will lose their protection from prosecution and that they will have no new cars and a limit on pay devises trips abroad and juicy bonuses government contracts will be observed by the united nations. also said that the country's attorney general's

office long considered a tool for whether zim power will have absolute autonomy but some civil society groups complain that he showed little enthusiasm for their plan to change the law to guarantee the independence they say could be a may just sticking point without an impartial referee to enforce them the ambitious anticorruption policies could count for little john homan. mexico city. china the united states and russia are being warned by european leaders not to start a trade war european council president donald tusk made the comments during talks in beijing which i donate in the agenda in the wake of a number of u.s. towers and jim brown reports from the city. just ten days after the start of a trade war between china and the united states a timely summit in beijing china's leaders are hosting the european union's top

officials one of whom had an urgent plea directed at china as well as the united states and russia it is a common duty. of europe and china. america and russia. not to destroy his old. butts to improve it. not to start through a divorce. which turned into a hot conflict so often in our history china's leadership wants a united front against u.s. president donald trump's trade policies and is hoping for an ally in the e.u. which is also quarrelling with trump over trade as well as defense to the u.s. trade friction is the problem between us china doesn't want to trade well with the u.s. we think there is no winner from a trade war any actions of violate the world trade organization rule serve the interests of no one. even though e.u.

officials disagree with president trump very main wary about being part of a coalition against him that's because many european business executives here also share trump's concerns about doing business in china china's leaders have promised to further open their economy to foreign investors the message from the e.u. officials on monday we hope you mean it this time china has made strong pleas to keep markets open and fight protectionism this is reassuring to the e.u. and its business community however we would like to see these encouraging words translated into more concrete action from china to further open up investment even before the trade war began ten days ago china's economy was starting to slow a monday figures showed the growth fell slightly from six point eight to six point seven percent in the last quarter factory output was at its lowest in two years most of what these factories produce are for export which for now underpins china's

economy but a protracted trade war could slow growth by much more adrian brown al jazeera beijing. international criminal court the twentieth anniversary of its founding treaty on tuesday it was designed to be the first to global tribunals capable of bringing justice for war crimes genocide and crimes against humanity but in this era of conflict and growing cynicism many are asking if it will survive another twenty years gena how it pours from the hague. a billion dollars is a lot of money to pay for just four convictions out of ten investigations so say critics of the international criminal court as it turns twenty this week but it has truly global reach and acts as a deterrent to perpetrators of some of the world's worst atrocities so say its defenders the truth is somewhere in between the court was set up basically with so

many goals at the same time not only rendering justice and meeting up punishments but also bringing truth bringing reconciliation bringing solace through many victims and i think it set out also to do many things at the same time well apparently you cannot do that they only have twenty years africa has been a particular focus of the court's work with critics complaining of biased see even though cases have been referred to the i.c.c. by individual governments but africa has also highlighted some of the court's weaknesses no international police force means it relies on the cooperation of its one hundred twenty three member states over darfur for instance despite years of investigation and multiple indictments including of sudanese president omar al bashir not one arrest has yet been made if the past of this relative legal infant then is one of teething trouble in finding its feet then what of its future in

a world in which conflict is increasingly multi-lateral in which the superpowers aren't even members and in which vetoes at the u.n. security council are a barrier to justice in some of the world's most blighted places. the i.c.c. was founded as a permanent court from which no leader rebel group or army could hide now if permanence is not in question but there are significant gaps in global commitment to the court russia is blocking efforts to send syria to the international criminal court even though. the assad government really with putin's backing has deliberately targeted civilians as a way of waging this war china seems to be standing in the way of sending myanmar to international criminal court even though it ethnically cleansed seven hundred thousand wrote him to muslims in the course of a month you know the united states is continuing to try to protect israel to protect saudi arabia so there is a very unprincipled approach to international justice all of that puts alleged war

crimes in syria and gaza beyond its reach but the i.c.c. is tackling other challenges you investigations in venezuela the philippines and afghanistan may build support under sway just suspicion across the african continent but the rise of nationalism and disdain for global institutions elsewhere are all men assigns for the strengthening of international justice jonah al-jazeera the hague. former u.s. president barack obama has a kenya's leaders to calm ethnic tensions during his first visit to his father's birth country since leaving office he's helping his half sister launch a sports and training center in their ancestral village of congo earlier a bomber met kenya's president kenyatta is heading to south africa next to mark the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of nelson mandela.

it is the top stories out as u.s. president donald trump has defended russia against claims of collusion and the twenty sixteen presidential elections speaking after holding face to face talks with russian president vladimir putin and helsinki from said there had been no reason for russia to meddle in the vote and the leaders would now be can begin a new era of engagement former cia director john brennan has described chunks comments as treasonous while lawmakers say he missed an opportunity to hold russia accountable there was no collusion with the campaign and every time you hear all of these twelve fourteen it's stuff that has nothing to do and frankly they admit these are not people involved in the campaign but to the average reader out there they're saying well maybe that does it doesn't and even the people involved some

perhaps told mysteries or told one case the f.b.i. said there was no lie there was no somebody else said there was. we ran a brilliant campaign and that's why i'm president france's winning footballers are back home from the well cup in russia hundreds of thousands of supporters gallatin the show as an easy way to celebrate their success from speaker away shuffle to in sunday's final to become world champions for the second time. i reach a house reopened its embassy in ethiopia in the latest sign of improving relations between the former east african fires president cyrus of wacky travel to addis ababa for the ceremony which came just a week after twenty state of war was officially ended the country's fourth a border war between one thousand nine hundred eight and two thousand and which tens of thousands of people were killed at least eight protesters have died in

protests in southern iraq where anger is growing over the lack of basic services and thai unemployment about two hundred protesters have rallied outside the main entrance to the subaru natural gas field on sunday hundreds of people were dispersed after they tried to storm the main government building in basra six children and two adult migrants have suffocated after being trapped inside a shipping container in northwestern libya others were found in a critical condition in the same chalk it's unclear how long they were stuck inside an investigation has been launched there is a headbands set for maybe a stay with us my chin is there is the next. they are worth millions of dollars to the nepalese. one used to best against the fight to reclaim the poles stolen idols not a zero. zero

zero zero to keep. the. missed. us. and this minute it's one of them. and it is just wondering and. come on i didn't need to call him out as part of. the. by the cookie cutter have been published.