one million percent by the end of this year the government is desperate to find ways to increase revenue and stop a billion dollar market in oil contraband. miniport some caucus. in an oil rich countries like venezuela it's one thing to subsidize feel quite another is to give it away we were going i don't know probably you know it's a gift without pay is not even enough. thanks to hyperinflation today you can theoretically buy one million liters of petrol into one u.s. dollar and imagine this if you can a one thousand. point zero zero one of a cent which is why the government took them out of last week except at petrol stations and there's incredible is that i can still use it here to buy a hundred and sixty six liters of the highest. at the venezuela colombia border where small and large scale smugglers operate in broad daylight the

price distortion feeds a lucrative black market with billions of dollars but now in an attempt to rescue venezuela's drowning a condom me president. has announced a plan to stop the leak. one more leader of four pets will know more. than this whalen's have until the end of the month to register their cars for an unspecified amount of subsidized petrol before prices go up dramatically for everyone else. this would put the lucrative black market out of business but there's a problem. you can stop the government controls the members of the national guard stationed on the border patrol and allow tankers to cross the border . venezuela could certainly benefit from cracking down on corruption on its side of

the border and selling the petrol it's been losing at international prices just as necessary finally seem serious about raising prices at the pump. we don't know how much it's going to cost. that generates confusion uncertainty and. historically raising the price of petrol has been a controversial and explosive issue. oh in venezuela. yes even the most skeptical admit the giving away petrol it's nice of the gift than the symbol of an economy in freefall see in human al-jazeera got access to head on al-jazeera across your present parts of nepal as anger over a police investigation brings mass protests and a heated political climate in france as the environmentalists are quits saying his government is failing to do and now.

hello there we've seen yet more heavy outbreaks of rain over the northern parts of asia recently in fact force in south korea we've now seen so much wet weather that we've got flooding in places many places are reporting over two hundred millimeters of rain from the latest system that's been working its way across the us and here it is on the satellite picture then you can see the cloud trailing its way over both north and south korea and then making its way towards japan and this whole region has seen incredibly heavy rain and that's on top of the wet weather we've seen over the past few weeks in the ground here is already waterlogged so this region again seeing plenty more rain as we head through thursday could give us more problems with flooding and in fact even stays wet as we head into friday meanwhile towards the west we've got some areas of rain that are making their way towards beijing but i think on friday for the majority of the day at least beijing should be drawing a bit further towards the south is also be rather wait for some of us here you see

the winds feeding up from the south bringing up plenty of moisture lots of cloud and lots of rain over the southern parts of china and across into taiwan we're also seeing another circulation here over the southern parts of china that's just edging west over parts of vietnam as well this one should clear towards the west as we head through friday so it's more of a to getting away with a dry day but the rains just edging west. for thousands of years families and shepherds lived off this land. but such a traditional way of life is on the increase in fact. al-jazeera won't travels to the jordan valley where illegal settlements are expanding and the israeli military cordons off more of them now. what will become of the palestinian families and the palestinian authority at any power town shepherds of the jordan valley on

al-jazeera. is are the top stories right now on al-jazeera the un estimates around four million refugee children did not go to school last year and it says a role that is failing to keep up with the growing number of displaced people it wants governments and aid agencies to make education a critical element of the international response to refugees. un run schools for palestinian refugees have reopened despite huge cuts in u.s. aid body responsible for palestinian refugees says it only has enough money to run until september the us to stop two hundred million dollars and there are reports it

will soon in all funding. international pressure is growing to prosecute me and mars military leaders for the genocide of one hundred muslims the un security council hasn't discussed the mass killing and gang rape detailed by investigators and maher says the allegations are false. protests over the handling of rape and murder investigation into paul has spread to the capital katmandu and indefinite curfews already in force in the southwest aimed at preventing more protests the police commander has been suspended. her accusations of a cover up spanish crush the reports. the monsoon rains didn't stop the latest protest against the police artist john the protesters in solidarity following the rape and suspected murder thirteen year old schoolgirl up on a month ago. we had the government does not compel us to stand again and again other protests have been held elsewhere in the park demanding change at least three

rapes are reported to police every day around fifteen hundred last year activists say many more are supported more than half of all the parties attacked iraq to sixty the police are being criticised for their handling of the schoolgirls murder investigation. a sixteen year old boy was shot and killed while others were injured and armed police confronted protesters and punch a group district where the girl was killed a curfew was imposed there four days ago. police are accused of arresting a mentally unstable man and framing him for the girl's killing while the true culprit remains free will is. we are an institution that believes in giving justice to women and children nepal police suspended the commanding officer in country on poor and our initial investigation shows the police were a bit reluctant in the initial response the communication with the victim's family would also lacking these individual cases of carelessness have tarnished the reputation of the entire force. protesters see both the police and the government

have to do more to restore faith in them the people who are coming to report versus the pro will shun all people who have registered an f i r vers says the proportion of people who have really been can convict it is is very different the action of people who have been convicted in this country is a very little compared to the people who have been reaped we have lost faith in the system as protests continue against alleged police mishandling of the case government leaders are under pressure to offer more than what demonstrators say approached you so. that meant. all ronny and government lawyers are at the international court of justice for a third day of hearings to challenge u.s. sanctions u.s. government says the court in the netherlands has no jurisdiction to hear the case ron argues it's the victim of economic strangulation and the reimposition of sanctions violating a sixty year old friendship treaty. lawyers are making their closing arguments in

the crimes against humanity trial of a former kong a laser warlord known as the terminator but it could be months before judges at the international criminal court deliver their verdict. to ground zero was a rebel militia commander in the democratic republic of congo fifteen years ago he denies supplying drugs and alcohol to child soldiers before sending them to kill and rape his enemies but google and facebook are both being accused of political bias more than one hundred facebook employees are reported to have joined an online group to challenge what's described as an intolerant liberal culture at all trumps accusing google of hiding conservative news and promoting negative stories about him white house correspondent kimberly how could report. you know i think google is really taking advantage of a lot of people in a allegations from u.s. president donald trump that tech giants like google and facebook are silencing conservative opinions we have literally thousands and thousands of complaints

coming in and you just can't do that so i think that google twitter and facebook they're really treading on very very troubled territory and they have to be careful it's not fair to large portions of the population trumps comments follow a tuesday morning tweet we're trying to claim to google the search term trump news with negative results he says online searches are rigged by liberal owned media groups to shadow ban or silence conservative viewpoints that's why trump economic advisor larry kudlow says the administration isn't ruling out action even regulation you know we're taking a look at it in a statement google denies it searches are selective it says that when a user types a query into the google search bar its goal is to make sure they receive the most relevant alzheimer's in a matter of seconds search is not used to set a political agenda we don't bias our results toward any political ideology is not

accurate this tech industry analyst says trump's allegation that tech giants are systematically biased against conservatives is nothing new if trump is google searching himself in finding that a lot of people don't like him that's because a lot of people don't like him to be clear that would also been true if brock obama had googled himself but conservatives in the us are pushing back it's basically an intergalactic invasion. people they point to the recent removal of controversy all right wing radio host alex jones from facebook you tube and spotify private tech companies say they're legally within their rights to ban offensive content critics say. they're silencing dissent some republican members of congress are even arguing today's big tech companies are monopolies in the marketplace and should be regulated to foster political debate from all sides

a move the white house now appears to be considering kimberly how could al-jazeera washington. the u.s. military drills look set to resume on the korean peninsula they've been suspended since that landmark summit between donald trump and north korean leader kim jong un in june korea committed to ending its nuclear weapons development program that the u.s. says there's been a lack of progress towards to nuclearization as senator veil that the number of puerto ricans killed by hurricane maria is almost fifty times higher than originally admitted working for their criticism of the u.s. government the most powerful storm to hit that u.s. territory in that ninety years was reported to have killed sixty four people in september the white house said the relatively low deaths was a good news story now the caribbean islands governor admits mistakes were made and the estimated number of dead is almost three thousand. so it is time to show. the family and friends it is also time to reflect on what you've done and

what we did but we need to find it hard to correct what we did so that we can respond in future. most workers tell their boss when they're quitting their job but not the french environment a star nicholas shocked radio listeners by resigning live on air he says the government isn't doing enough to stop climate change from paris or has for. it was on french radio that nicholas who law announced his sudden resignation as france's environment minister the pre-mortal the first time i'm going to take the hardest decision of my life i don't want to lie to myself any more i don't want my presence in this government to be taken to mean that we are doing enough to tackle this challenge you know who had spent fifteen months in government under president emmanuel michael during which it helped stop controversial plans to build an airport on farmland but he said too little progress had been made in other areas such as rolling back nuclear power before entering politics is a popular t.v.

presenter of environmental programs and campaign. this makes it clear that the government isn't interested in the on the violent considering project as a gesture to the low but on every other important issue concerning our future such as pushing for an environment tax nothing has changed in this macro was almost state visit to denmark when he learnt to the resignation who had not told him the forehand to the two i hope still to be able to count on him in one way or another i think that in fifteen months this government has done more than any other in the same time on the same subject. lose departure is a blow for mycroft who's positioned himself as a leader on the environment last year he criticised donald trump's decision to pull out of the paris climate accord make planets great again micro also hosted an international conference on climate change right here in paris it was attended by dozens of world leaders environmental experts and campaigners michael

likes to present himself internationally as a leader from the mental issues on climate change and here you know says i did really what i could i did my very best one year and three months i did not succeed because this president obviously does not consider in front of the issues as primary issues so that's a real tough tough blow for michael the resignation adds to a turbulent few months for the president opinion polls suggest his popularity has fallen some people say he focuses too much on economic growth and not enough on social issues now his commitment to the environment is also being called into question. paris with human brain force in africa are now as endangered as some of its best known animals the group cultivating a manmade forest in south africa is trying to give visitors a taste of what's being lost catherine soy reports from in the first of our forests under threat series. one of south africa's botanical gardens is on the edge of the

kruger national park the statue action is undoubtedly the tropical african rain forest is thriving in a continent where natural forests are being wiped out by equal poachers and climate change through its caretakers he worry that they'll all be gone from africa in a few decades thirteen thousand square kilometers that are being wiped out. that's a massive amount of rainforest disappearing we might even be wiping out species before. even know they exist thousands of students tourists and researchers who might not be able to go to the congo basin in central africa home to the world's second largest tropical rainforest or to the coastal rain forest in west africa that has almost all been felled visit this site i fix be against it years ago when . people at the area they are ripped out forests left right and center to plant

sugarcane and it seriously worries me because they don't replace the trees the botanical garden is not just a showcase of the ecosystem it's also home to some of south africa's rarest trees highly prized by poachers one of the things that stands out in this botanical garden is a psycho tree it's critically endangered slow to grow but also very lucrative in the black market so researchers say that in terms of endangered species the sikat isn't as much danger as the rhino. a most must call has put texted and grew in the prehistoric cycle yes and proud you have a seize the biggest collection in south africa. of federal. i have to take three mins before we open to start to tool to pull in to school

in the forest students learn about the different plants and animals how the eco system works and just how critical it is to conserve and protect what remains of a peak is tropical rain forest catching song al-jazeera. south africa our series on forests under threat continues later on wednesday will take you to malaysia where. biofuels is posing a major threat to the region's rain forests for its lee we'll have that story in the news hour thirteen. and richelle carey let's recap the headlines for you right now the u.n. refugee agency estimates around four million refugee children did not go to school last year at says a role that is failing to keep up with the growing number of displaced people and once governments and aid agencies to make education a critical element of the international response to refugees and un run schools for

palestinian refugees have reopened despite huge cuts in u.s. aid in body responsible for palestinian refugees says it only has enough money to run until september the u.s. has already stopped two hundred million dollars and there are reports it will soon end all financial assistance. just to open the school today was a very strong message that would rob believes in the services that we will not abandon our mandate our mandate is not for sale it's something that we believe in very strongly and today we could see it here we are very determined to keep these schools open and i told the students they should focus and concentrate on their studies we will concentrate on getting the money to ensure they can continue their studies international pressure is growing to prosecute me and mars military leaders for the genocide of a hench of muslims in security council has discussed the mass killings and gang rapes the details by investigators man maher says the allegations are false more

than fifty thousand people are being evacuated from their homes and million more after a dam breach at least one hundred villages have been flooded this is all along the country's biggest highway this is in central me and mar and the boggo region the government says the swara chong dam spillways structure broke due to heavy monsoon rains and an army chief says a spillway cannot be controlled in the water will not stop. lawyers are making their closing arguments in the crimes against humanity trial of a former kong allays warlord known as the terminator but it could be months before there is a verdict basco was a rebel militia commander and named him a chronic republic of congo fifteen years ago he denies supplying drugs and alcohol to child soldiers before sending them to rape and murder his enemies colombia and peru have agreed to set up a joint database of venezuelan migrants of countries are struggling to manage the rapidly growing number of them is wayland's crossing the borders keep it here much

more to come on al-jazeera inside story is next. how wide is the rest between europe and the united states the french president of white house is on the mining transatlantic relations and europe may have to defend itself can europe live without the us this is the inside story.

i don't welcome to the program as a peron with friends like donald trump who needs enemies that was the reaction from european council chief. when the us president with a juror from the iran nuclear deal and we impose sanctions well i want to save the nuclear deal and multi billion dollar business contracts but european companies to us demands by pulling out of iran and ways and air from the ground and flights to that's despite revised legislation called blocking statute it's aimed at nullifying us legal action against european firms which define u.s. sanctions on iran and agree to twenty one million dollars in aid to iran to help offset the impact of sanctions. germany's foreign minister has called for independent payment channels to be created which would avoid u.s. sanctions and a newspaper article i ma said it's indispensable that we strengthen european autonomy by creating payment channels that are independent of the united states

also creating a european monetary fund and dependence swift firsts us sanctions are back in force and the situation itself strategic importance that we clearly tell washington we want to work together but we will not let you act over our heads and the french president has criticised donald trump emanuel said europe's historical partner seems to turn his back on this common history you know minuscule. the first threat which is a burden on our shared wellbeing is a crisis of multilateralism. multi-layers one is in fact is going through a major crisis which is striking all of our diplomatic relationships above all because of the new american policy levy but on this of what the real question is not so much if you don't run by the arm during the next summit but how we will collectively get to grips with this moment of great transformation we're going

through and to which all of our societies are confronted with. well let's bring in our panel now joining us from berlin as the last and bennett the director of the global public policy institute and harvard katherine cleaver ashboro executive director of future of diplomacy project at harvard kennedy school and in brussels via skype is daniel grosse he's the director of the center for european policy studies a very warm welcome to all of you mr bennett let me start with you and berlin and your foreign minister is all paid away here vote making plans for a new world order i europe and the u.s. on a collision course here. not necessarily but in the course of readjustment we find ourselves in a fundamentally new situation with the us germany used to have the best deal of all us would take care of our security we can compete economically and to disagree politically now the trump administration has served us our vulnerability is on

a silver platter the security guarantees are no longer secure and the u.s. is going against the very institutions it helped to create that are dear to germany and the atlantic alliance and they're also going against one of the biggest achievements of european diplomacy the iran deal and here europe is saying we need to invest in our own strategic autonomy financial autonomy that's what mr moss was talking about in this particular piece is one part of the puzzle i want to talk more about the financial autonomy because the iran nuclear deal as you said is so important to us diplomatically mr cross let me bring you in now this alternative payment system so the dominant swift we have heard from others not just high claim os that the european commission has been developing a parallel system to swift which would allow iran to interact with the european

financial systems how viable is this. i don't think we can build up as special moments of them just for one country. which after all is of very limited economic and financial importance actually when we talk about him and says you should look at that the dominant global payments system is lift which is europe so european company that is under the jurisdiction of the european commission therefore so in this sense it's wrong to say that we need a new european imminent oh no global payments is derived rather the united states donna what we need is different and national markets so that we would need our european companies to live in the united states or to have lots of theories this u.s. financial markets that's the real problem not so much the pure payment system mysql

of ashbrook let's me let me bring you and now the financials that of markets in arrangements that mr cross is talking about wouldn't that be even more difficult to establish than an alternative payment system to swift i mean what do you make of these alternatives that are being proposed to counteract u.s. sanctions. i think a critical component here is timing you can have many thoughts and sketch out many plans on your sketchbook whether it's in brussels or in any of the national capitals the problem here the main problem both on the defense side which my colleague tolson bennett mentioned implicitly in terms of putting up a robust defense if you will a robust response to american actions in the world that is going to be as difficult to do quickly as it is to build essentially a new financial transaction system or a financial transaction system that would undercut the predominance of the dollar

in the financial markets and to figure out how long that would take i think we're talking clearly about decades from now for that to be as impactful as the system we have now so that would be a system that in some respects would long outlive this administration and then european governments would have to decide how tactical and how strategic that kind of investment would really be to them or whether it's worse investing in critical negotiations with partners and trying to work with the practical realities that exist on the ground right now mr bennett do you think this is thinking actually more long to him or long to than just counteract and the u.s. sanctions. yeah the iran sanctions are just a trigger and europe is well aware that they won't likely won't pull this off until november when it would need to be in place to salvage the iran deal for salvaging the iran diaz thing we very much have to rely on china providing

a lifeline to iran by increasing our securing the oil oil exports and also using an independent payment systems that the chinese have but clearly this is triggered a rethink in europe actually a rethink that was predicted by u.s. secretary of treasury secretary jack lew during the obama administration he said like he warned of sanctions overreach i do think that this weaponize ing of interdependency and choke points and swift is one swift maybe a european institution but it's at the mercy of of american pressure and we've seen that many times with regard to iran that's why it is indeed important for europe to develop these alternative payment channels the u.s. will certainly try to prevent this by playing divide and rule mr moss himself as the devil is in a thousand details this is something you announce once and then you quietly go

about trying to pull this off this will be very hard to pull this off but to it's worth trying well in the meantime we do have something that is in place which is the blocking statute to nullify us the legal action against european fans doing business with iran must across. is the statute affective and how many european businesses you know will into risk to continue doing business with iran and still face u.s. sanctions we've had the french oil giant total pullout as was mentioned russia ways and also if france will stop flying soon iran soon and these just a few examples. it is quite clear that no large no important you are in company who are risky us i'm trans just for a number of small deals in iran iran is so marginal for european exporters and when they may actually calculate in that maybe they gave us sanctions per haps

offset to some extent by the euro in blocking stat europe but that is never one hundred percent certain so i think this european blocking statute very limited effectiveness for large companies it might have some as and is in europe who have no or little business is not to states and then might continue to a business but that is fairly not the important point of this is a lot of. what my colleagues say that you're a peer should be thinking long term and should develop its own autonomous capacity thomas capacities mr maher says point in that direction i think we have heard that before i do not really expect to see a lot of actually following these these promises and these ideas because the real the problems of europe lay elsewhere and the political capital is just not there to develop these capacities so let's then foreign out of this discussion because

europe and the u.s. have differences on a number of other major issues the trumpet administration impose tariffs on steel an atom many m m ports from a range of countries in march that responded with countermeasures donald trump criticize europe's more open immigration measures and contrast to his zero tolerance policies the u.s. withdrew from the twenty fifteen paris climate in the agreement last year what share the head of the e.u. council donald tusk described as a mistake and trampas criticize nato members for not contradicting enough to fund the transatlantic military alliance. misc live ashbrook let me come to use of with all those differences you know now out in the open have donald trump's isolationist policies i think mr mack hong kong aggressive isolationism finally taken their toll on european leaders and now leading to. policymaking. well i

wouldn't say taking their toll we see this i see this is a continuation of outside forces really pushing the european union pushing individual member states to rethink their priorities we have a situation where the last piece falls into place of speeches that were made along the lines of the european union really having to focus its energies on defense policies on critical policies that underpin the european value system not least the points that you've already mentioned around the paris climate accord and the validity of international institutions like the w.t. oh so you mention president my call he gave a speech number of months ago that was immediately where he stressed the importance of european defense independence and that was immediately followed and buffeted by the german.