they've not denied that eisel may have been behind it as well but what they have done is lay blame on who they see as supporting different groups acting against iran acting inside iran and they've laid blame squarely on the shoulders of the united states of israel and their gulf allies including saudi arabia and the united arab emirates confusing further who exactly they think they were targeting on one of the missiles we've seen reports that painted on the side of it were slogans of death to america israel and the house of saud so certainly what iranian leaders are trying to do is use this attack as an opportunity to blame any number of of people they think are responsible but in the reporting we've seen about the strike we have heard that they were targeting firies the word that they use for eisel in operating inside syria now one of the former commanders we've spoken to who is a political influence on the current government he's pointed to the fact that there is a war room where all different types of groups are working against iran and the government

here often points to a conspiracy of outside actors trying to destabilize the country and acting against it both politically and in a military fashion with this type of terrorist attack and in the in the past that was easily dismissed as government paranoia but if you look at it from the iranian context you know forty years ago in the iraq war any number of their neighboring countries as well as those countries backed up by the united states were against them to support saddam hussein fighting iran in the one nine hundred eighty s. and so that's the sort of framework within which iran sees a lot of these incursions into its country and how it sees a lot of the ambitions ongoing invasions of its neighbors and so that paranoia has some place in a historical context but in terms of what happened this morning at around two am approximately six missiles were fired from iran over iraqi airspace hitting targets five hundred seventy kilometers away inside syria that was followed by a seven unmanned area. drones that carried out

a bombardment campaign on that same target a very strong signal by iran that we can protect ourselves we can reach out and attack people we see as threats to our country and a signal to anyone operating inside syria that we are going to operate openly in syria we have the cover we need from damascus to do so and no doubt a signal to the united states that has assets on the ground in the northeast of the country a lot of messages to be unpacked than about time so i use them both solving. still ahead on al-jazeera u.s. senators accuse the white house of micromanaging an investigation into the president's supreme court pick. from the clear blue sky of the doha moony. to the french shooting breeze in the city of sanaa. how i was still got some rather lively showers affecting gray sand

pushing across into the solar system still swirling away this is the one that brought a violent storms recently clear skies to come back a bit of low pressure so very much evident some lively showers longer spells of rain even a couple of tornadoes reported on that behind we have this vial of plow which has been diving its way down into that western side of the mediterranean sea mistral way look at that northerly winds all the way down from the north sea across a good parts of the u.k. thirty eight celsius for london. i'll be thirty celsius in zurich as well and notice we could well see some significant snowfall coming in across the alps a least for a time things dry up a little more as we go on into choose day at least around the alpine regions brisk winds still there across the south and nineteen cells in london by phil that will be that wind blasting through twenty one celsius for rime live the storms coming through into that western side of the mediterranean some choppy seas and some very very strong winds and so some pretty nasty conditions for the western med over the

next day or so should the fact the north of africa should be laci trifle little on the breezy side temperature changes at twenty three degrees with a high of twenty eight say we want to shasta l.t. is the weather sponsored by qatar and nice. what makes this moment you. so unique. we haven't seen a president this unpredictable. freedom of speech is a valid watley plans and that is a perfect formula for authoritarianism and tyranny here me into the light so long as there's nowhere to hide let me ask you straight up here is the two state solution no from retellings on al-jazeera. the arab.

welcome back you're watching out there zero time to recap our headlines now the official death toll from the earthquake and tsunami in indonesia has risen to eight hundred forty four but that figure is expected to go into the thousands mass graves of being dug in the news u.s. president says he's ready to welcome international help. iran's military says its hit positions in syria are linked to a group that suspects was behind last week's attack on a military parade in a vase several missiles struck the i will come out region of eastern syria last week twenty five people were killed when a gunman opened fire on the military parade. calendar the u.s. and mexico have reached a new trade deal to replace the north american free trade agreement the us

president had this missed that one as a disaster donald trump blamed the twenty four year old nafta for the loss of american manufacturing jobs than your lack reports from toronto. a good day for his country says canadian prime minister justin trudeau in the absence of detailed analysis his officials insist canada didn't have to give up as much as it feared to an overtly protectionist us president it took more than a year of often acrimonious talks to get here candidate u.s. relations once closer than almost any other bilateral ties in the world sunk to new lows mexico made its own deal with the u.s. in august and it took canadian and u.s. negotiators another month to reach agreement just two hours before a deadline that could have excluded canada a key sticking point was canada's protected dairy industry under the new deal canadian farmers will face competition from u.s.

milk imports they're a powerful lobby group and can be. expected to pushback canada's automakers will be relieved that the deal means they're not facing the tariffs on car exports that president trump threatened as recently as last week cross border u.s. duties on steel and aluminum also looks set to be lifted which will relieve canadian indeed mexican industries this is a pact covering more than a trillion dollars in trade every year more than half of it between the u.s. and canada it still needs to be ratified by legislators in all three countries and there could still be some resistance the ratification is likely by early two thousand and nineteen daniel ak al jazeera. a bid to buy the former yugoslav republic of macedonia to change its name has failed sunday's referendum had strong support but the turnout didn't reach the fifty percent threshold needed to make it valid just over a third of his cast ballots with ninety percent of them supporting the new name the

republic of north macedonia government wanted the name changed to help end the decades long dispute with greece. has the latest from the capital skopje. the outcome is showing that macedonia is very deeply divided society and that the discretion about the name means should about about the name of the republic of macedonia is very emotional. question especially about that ethnic muster going on in the country even the prime minister resort towns i've said that these day was successful and that he is satisfied with the outcome and they did boycott was organized by main political party from the opposition in the country though position actually said that the people defeated agreement with the greece so s. in the campaign now the situation is very similar the people are here strongly divided

in the. position for and against agreement with greece chill the end of this year macedonia shrewed who feel its own obligation on its own part of that dream and three degrees but what is happening now can postpone plans for implementation of these agreement a prime minister as i have said that he expects the. opposition we will support the constitutional change in the country if not there will be early eric election in the country that means that you dare is the election terms for him plenty. this agreement will be postponed macedonia will not finish is part of the job till till the end of this year so reese cannot ratify these documents next in the beginning of next year. votes are still being

counted after parliamentary elections in the kurdish region of northern iraq a member of one of the main groups there the p u k said these are the will reject the results it's the first time kurds have gone to the polls since last year's failed bid for a session that referendum was rejected by the central government in baghdad plunging the region into economic turmoil and losing its leaders deeply divided charles strafford has more from the appeal. but we understand that this statement was made by a p.t. you k. spokes person was the saudi pira who said that the p u k was going to reject these election results subsequent to that statement being made the leader of the p u k list qubad talabani has rejected this claim and said that it is far too early to come out with statements like that. rejecting results as they are still being counted meanwhile the k d p the k.t. p.t.

the ship in the towns of sunni and how large or which a p u k strongholds of come out and make claims about election violations there also i mean i think these incidents obviously just show just how these parliamentary elections are indeed how the a for the build up to them has been we have seen these increasing divisions between the two main political players in this region the k d p and the p u k there's always been a if you like in on an easy. leadership agreement if you like in this region that is formed a part of subsequent to that referendum the failed referendum that we saw last year and also the fact that the katie the blame the p u k as being complicit with the baghdad government the baghdad army when the peshmerga the kurdish forces were forced to withdraw from kirkuk last year it has really forces avoided

palestinians in the model to destroy their own village and leave by midnight on monday they say if the deadline is not met go in and do it themselves last month the israeli supreme court approved the demolition to make way for more settlements tests are expected across the west bank later on monday. well the white house is deny that it's trying to restrict the f.b.i. investigation into the president's supreme court nominee the agency is looking into two allegations of sexual misconduct against cavanagh but accusations from a third woman are not being considered as part of the probe white house correspondent kimberly howard could now. on sunday one day before the opening term of the u.s. supreme court justices and government officials like attorney general jeff sessions were spotted heading into a mass designed to invoke god's blessing on those responsible for the administration of justice in the united states. but outside the cathedral

protesters gathered showing the divisions that exist around the white house nomination to fill the vacancy on the bench of america's highest court u.s. president donald trump has ordered the f.b.i. investigate the charges against his supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh following a ruckus hearing this past week the failed to advance his nomination of a probe will look at just current credible allegations bret's assaults on meijer i trust sickly altered my life that means the f.b.i. will investigate dr christine blazin ford's claim kavanaugh sexually assaulted her well the two were teenagers and investigators will speak to witnesses at a yell university party in the one nine hundred eighty s. where cavanagh allegedly exposed himself in front of deborah ramirez but the f.b.i. probe won't include the allegations of a third woman julie sweat nick who says she was gang raped at a party cavanagh attended the allegation that she makes outrageous not one democrat

mentioned it but. as being part of a gang rape drug. last week cavanagh denied the allegations at a senate judiciary committee hearing but i have never done this but given the serious allegations and cavanagh's combative defense that he's the victim of a political smear campaign democrats are questioning kavanagh's temperament for the role of supreme court justice it was clearly a college aren't aggressive angry and he revealed himself as a partisan i. i think that if i were a democrat going before him i'd ask him to recuse himself president donald trump says he has no backup plan when it comes to the confirmation of judge cavanagh the f.b.i. is currently investigating its report is expected sometime after friday it will be delivered to the white house and then will go on to the senate or senators will

then vote whether to confirm the controversy or judge can really help at al-jazeera the white house has been rallies in the brazilian city of san paolo in support of foreign presidential candidate so narrow opinion polls have him as the front runner in next week's election demonstration comes a day after thousands protested across the country against. his controversial views on gay rights women and minority groups. thousands of people in spain's catalonia region of protested as they mark one year since a failed bid for secession they rallied in front of a prison where some of the leaders of last october's referendum are held in spain central government called the vote illegal prime minister peres sanchez has proposed a referendum for more autonomy but ruled out another poll on full independence. hundreds of swimmers have been taking part in a race between the senegalese capital dhaka ireland but it's no ordinary

competition to involve swimming to a former slave port where africans were once sold and shipped off to the americas nicholas high as the story. minutes away from the start one final stretch. allows a bit of advice. and a few words of wisdom. you need training devotion and peace of mind is not easy but it's possible if you give your heart to it first the professional swimmers with. then three hundred amateurs young and old jump into the atlantic ocean for the annual five kilometer open water race to the historic island of gori. as the hours go by the gaps between swimmers widens faced with strong currents pain sets in. the swimmers battle cramps and exhaustion. he says my lungs

are hurting. for many it's just about trying to complete it and get to goree island so i'm on a long time and. it's like a marathon on water the goal is to get to go really which for us is a symbol of our history it's an important event. this stretch of atlantic ocean that separates deckard to grey is over historical importance the island was a major hub for the slave trade where african men women and children were captured boarded on ships to america some in chains tried to escape they were trying to swim to the mainland in what was then shark infested waters. this isn't just a swim race it's a tribute to those who remain defiant refusing their fate as slaves instead of swimming for freedom and so this is also a celebration of freedom resistance and the human spirit ability to overcome adversity. here comes the winner.

enjoy are a soldier for senegal the navy. no need only no no no it's a victory not just for the may but for all all people here in senegal and throughout the world. then slowly when by one others come out of the water each pushing beyond their limits to make it to the other side breathless but happy and proud nicholas hawk al-jazeera the car. i'm sam is a dan with a look at the headlines here now to syria now the official death toll from the earthquake and tsunami in indonesia has risen to eight hundred forty four but that figure is expected to go into the thousands mass graves are being dug in indonesia's president says he's ready to welcome international help most of the confirmed dead are in the city of palo only eleven from the region of which is

still largely cut off hundred thomas is impossible on his way to. this city two hundred kilometers to the southeast of palo was as close as we could fly there are aid flights going into palo but so far no commercial passenger planes being allowed in for opiates reasons they're not the priority so we flew the nearest place that you could fly and then we thought we'd be able to drive the six hours to palo but here the real new shortage means that there are few and use of cars trying to get petrol from petrol station. iran's military says it's hit positions in syria linked to a group it suspects is behind last week's attack on a military parade in the city of ours several missiles struck the will come out region of eastern syria last week twenty five people were killed when gunmen opened fire on the military parade. canada the u.s. and mexico have reached

a new trade deal to replace the north america free trade agreement or now after the us president had dismissed that as a disaster deal was agreed after canada's prime minister held a late night cabinet meeting ahead of the u.s. imposed deadline and bit by the former yugoslav republic of macedonia to change its name has failed sunday's referendum had strong support of the turnout didn't reach the fifty percent threshold to make it valid just over a third of voters cast ballots with ninety percent supporting the new name the republic of north macedonia the government wanted the name changed to help end the decades old dispute with greece and votes are still being counted after parliamentary elections in the kurdish region of northern iraq a member of one of the main groups there the p u k is said his party will reject the results it's the first time kurds have gone to the polls since last year's failed bid for the session that was rejected by the central government in baghdad

it's up front now stay with us here on al-jazeera. it's jealousy but. it's part of our culture. our very. special and. everything that was. going to be longevity the goal after kong. hundreds killed thousands fleeing the country so it's nicorette us president daniel ortega facing a legitimate revolution or a violent. i've

made the house and with allegations of ads so it isn't surrounding the labor party and its leader jeremy corbyn will debate whether the british left has a problem with anti jewish hatred and how much these accusations have to do with criticism of israel but first since april of this year nick regulars faced a political crisis with both supporters and opponents of president daniel ortega clashing in the streets hundreds have been killed and thousands wounded many of them at the hands of pro-government militias according to human rights groups as many are calling for take it to resign he insists it's all part of an attempted coup but does his government take any responsibility for the violence and the chaos of this week's headliner nicaragua's vice minister of foreign affairs. vice minister of foreign affairs thanks for joining me up front. this year has been in crisis since april you have hundreds of people reported killed thousands wounded

armed groups attacking civilians on the streets thousands of nicaraguans fleeing to neighboring costa rican do you does your government the gulf. daniel ortega take any responsibility for any of that the government of nicaragua fees to a violent criminal. the reason we call it a coup is because it's fundamentally a minimum was to overthrow the constitutionally elected government because our election that happened just recently in two thousand and sixteen and that was recognized by many international organization the clued in the us. express in the will of the people that violent operating that violent here was perpetrated by a group of politically motivated. fringes of political parties in n.g.o.s who then mobilize through manipulation terror and fear the population of nicaragua so a lot of governments a lot of human rights activists a lot of journalists have objected to your description of it as

a coup they say you haven't brought forward evidence you say it is a coup isn't the easiest way to solve this to allow u.n. observers who you invited into the country earlier this year to finish their job rather than kicking them out as your government did in only because now when they asked for greater access to prisons and to other areas with problematic the u.n. human rights commission we invited u.n. monitors to accompany the government and the dialogue especially the council of bishops in organizing what we called the verification commission that was supposed to go on the streets and try to verify what was happening that is what we invited them to do that reason was not any longer. needed because merely because you're telling the world there was a coup you're saying that all the a protest of the ones doing the killing the u.n. are saying hold on we've got evidence otherwise and you say so by addition to the u.n. hundred and ninety eight two hundred deaths that are the result. that i read they

are all nations one of the it is result of the coup or everything but also your every network point. it's somebody else's i mean i'm thinking you know they should see a pretty credible group of people it's not the cia coming to check on the ground but i'm saying you know when they're saying that we've seen human rights abuses we want to go into prisons we're not let into prisons we're getting reports of killing of civilians just release the number of prisoners and the conditions what the prisoners are doing what we are saying is that we did nathan did not invade the united nations for that specific activity at that point you know so therefore we are of why not let the investigators also got to deceive us all what countries do they go into literature to say there's a coup against we are clear you have provided no evidence and you chucked out the u.n. we're claiming if you are suspicious that the evidence is very simple the mobilization on the street was that all were true or violently the government if that is not the reason and that is that the definition of a call then what is the finishing of a court the un high commissioner for human rights has said you're sliding into

a dangerous spiral of violence and impunity in the city says nicaragua is turning into a pressure cooker about to explode because of serious human rights violations permitted by your government the inter merican commission on human rights says use it seriously investigate the killings human rights watch says the say are all these groups in making it up they are one of you is what i wanted the american humans rate commission to help us understand what happened at the beginning of the instead because of their methodology using information coming from n.g. or local organisations with all that a verification began to define these activities we see that what happened on the streets was perpetrated by a group of very radical and very violent. military activist you have the names i can show you the photos so you are out of the you will have a resident and we are in the process of arresting them and that we don't have political prisoners the reason why against human rights disagree with the death

there is that they disagree with your political interests one single political human rights prisoner a hundred people who are saying we have since april we have captured and that is what the human rights organised in the international interim erik and human rights commission asked us to do ok i asked the told is that i look these we cannot look at non-state violence you are the vice foreign minister of the story you are traveling the world speaking on behalf of your government i'm asking a very simple question when the u.n. high commissioner for human rights and amnesty international and human rights watch and the entire commission on human rights are all saying that you are killing civilians that you are holding political prisoners why are they saying that they because they are. feeding from a number of organizations so all i have got a favor where you are you little well it is not a regular government is telling the truth while i understand the concept of hama as in the homogenization of the discourse this is what we are saying the information that is coming out of the world is money purely did and it is based on the father's

premise of the problem that when i look at it as an outsider the human rights groups are admitting what you're saying they're saying policemen have been killed by protests literally cement ok but but they're going to size the point is they're criticizing protestors aren't done sixty percent gets killed our government sympathy goes around so long to work let me let me just ask you is the human rights groups criticizing both sides you're saying you've killed no one who are more emotional than you in saying that the police has responded to all armed attacks that's what we're saying is the case when pro-government militias kill sixteen protesters in what was basically a massacre of. mother's day we don't have militia who are the people in the past these people on the march are police and police. voluntary police we have a lot of volunteer police the law nine hundred ninety two one thousand nine hundred ninety two the police the ninety six and the police left two thousand and two or two thousand and six recognizes that the police use is a voluntary police which is

a group is a set of. citizens who support the police let me ask you about the examples that are given by some of the reports a woman told the united nations that a group of hooded men detain my husband at our house beat him took him away make it is she lying the pregnant woman who told the associated press that she was hit in the face slapped by a group of police and volunteers police they question my fingers hit me in the ribs and stomach when i was on the ground they kicked me is she lying to all these protestors line because i would police has been record made publicly in the world as of whom i write a police that respects human rights false that is that's flat false eyelashes and it will be read to you quote every time say human rights laws of the american association or of the united nations leads the police has been recognized in the past a lot of this and you look at how little thought of. a basic concept is you new finance minister just calmly of male statement human rights group just don't really go is

the nicaraguan police this year as respect human rights that is a flat out one point statement does not violate human rights and that's really because i want you but honestly rich you would rather lose respect saying is there are there are the there is human rights organizations are feeding off of that's why i say. government not so i ask a question to the women in the main said they also requesting that you not the women who say a pregnant woman fellow nicaraguan citizen who you represent your got your the government elected government when she says the volunteer police beat me kicked me in the stomach that doesn't worry you doesn't bother you or really unless you go rehabilitation it worries me and we are carrying out every single investigation that's necessary to understand what happened that is the origin of the invitation of the interim eric and human rights commission to the people we brought you to in your volunteer police or militias as well we are carrying out the investigation we are right now in the process of in carrying to the courts every single one of those

who are in the roadblocks you must remember that we have a little we click a little bit confused with the people you're prosecuting you're saying you're prosecuting people or both sides of the devil are saying we are we are beginning to prosecute people who have committed crimes and that is a process that is ongoing the police. i was asked of the streets of nicaragua for fifty one days by request of the bishops and the most heinous crimes were committed in those fifty one days between the end of april and the middle of june since july fifth the police were of the c.b.s. but the volunteer police were not daniel ortega who is now seventy has spent more time in power twenty one years over two stints than the late brutal dictator he helped overthrow in one nine hundred seventy nine and some others are president take it hasn't just abolished term limits he's also seems to have brought back family rule to nicaragua the vice president and his wife and his children have been appointed to key advisory positions in government is it any wonder then that his

critics are saying he's the new some others are the new dinar stick leader that is that is bringing back the whole idea of polarization number one and number two i don't see anyone in the children's and the government that is i do i don't see that either the generic two of his daughters or advisors they're not one of these are mentally ill and we're not going to get the discussion because you know you're going to have peyser go their government but they are now at that but they have the power but more power now let's go back to our the example of. the vice president of the country for many reasons constitutional reasons she has a right to run. for political reason she has been a cadre in the senate is the movement historically and we have a large the what we call a fifty fifty law you have to hear how of the candidate for president the vice president has to be is one is a man the other one has no meaning but what you're telling me is that because of the gender balance is the reason she's the vice president suleiman any of the women

in the. good but what i'm saying is you have a card that has been historically a part of this and in this to move yes there may be other people of course there are struck about the son and a mentor let's talk about the sundanese to move with the president's own brother who was in charge of the armed forces for many years he says quote this is not a dictatorship but it's very authoritarian family dominated style of governing is he part of a coup a conspiracy against his brother them saying is he has his own position and of his right and how it is on his hands and he has his own position and he has a right to these or was it i didn't ask but i got a lot of same position i am not saying i was a part of the conspiracy but i don't see is by the only comparison is all right erin that's his opinion of the government of his own brother so when i look at so many high profile figures who were supporters of yours in the one nine hundred eighty s. supported the sandinista struggle who are now shocked at what your government are doing the philosopher noam chomsky says there's been a lot of corruption a lot of repression your government is autocratic the celebrity activists bianca jagger says daniel ortega may be worse than some others say he's a walker.