including a hotel no group claimed responsibility for the attack but the man accused of leading an al-shabaab unit was sentenced to death in february a firing squad carried out that sentence on the first anniversary for some it's little comfort shop attendant. says it's like the explosion happened just yesterday . the shop owner i was working for died next to me i lost a lot of blood i struggled for some time no one came to my rescue then outside the shop i saw the whole area in flames dead bodies burning bodies and buildings on fire it's one year now i survived and i'm now back at work other survivors such as abdulla ali still have to be treated in hospital he was selling sweets at the intersection when the blast happened his wife was there too but he will never see her again because. they told me she's fine but that she sustained injuries and she's being treated in hospital after

a while i found that she could not be found even her body was never found many somalis who were there that day have a similar story to ali and while reconstruction of the area has begun building still lie in ruins much like the lives of those affected by the disaster so here's a guy for al-jazeera. of post talks on a bracks it till wednesday summit in brussels chief negotiator michel barnier says that despite intense efforts some key issues remain in sealing a deal with the u.k. want to draw from the block this includes the issue of the irish backstop which will guarantee that a physical border does not reappear on the island of ireland earlier expectations of a breakthrough were raised when the u.k. breaks it secretary dominic robb arrived in brussels on schedule talks and e.u. ambassadors were summoned to a meeting. now at least twenty two people including a number of children have been killed when a truck carrying migrants overturned in the turkish province of izmir the lorry

crashed through a barrier and landed in a canal twenty meters below the nationalities of those killed is not yet known turkey is a main route for migrants trying to reach europe. u.s. president donald trump has pointed to a soaring stock market and record low unemployment is evidence that his leadership has been good for the country he says he's delivering on promises made during the presidential election those promises now really won the state of pennsylvania in two thousand and sixteen the first republican candidate to do so in almost thirty years and pennsylvania is set to be a key battleground again in the fight for control of congress as kristen salumi explains from pittsburgh. business is booming at h. and k. equipment in the last year they've hired fifty five new employees a twenty percent increase to make sell rent and refurbish industrial equipment we are on pace to have our best year ever general manager patrick koch gives president

donald trump in his tax cuts a lot of the credit and consumer confidence at least after the election we noticed an uptick right away a lot of people were waiting in twenty sixteen to spend money until after november and it seems like it was an opening of the floodgates right after that h. and k. is located just outside pittsburgh pennsylvania otherwise known as steel city the steel industry has benefited from new tariffs imposed by the president but some manufacturers in the area are seeing their costs go up as a result democrats have traditionally held sway in pennsylvania thanks in large part to the power of trade unions as unions have weakened and manufacturing moved overseas it's not surprising that the president's make america great again message has resonated with voters still democrats think they can make gains here in the midterms because many people are still struggling to make ends meet good morning

one of their viable democrat conor lam is challenging the notion that the republicans economic policies are good for pennsylvania calling tax cuts a boon for the rich and wall street but he says the political debate should stick to talking about policy rather than personalities were given voters a reason to believe that they actually are represented not just by some one sided it is duly clash of national ideologies but by people who live here just like him he's running for congress against a two time incumbent who warns lamb will help democrats obstruct the trump agenda economic future change for better or worse. everything is going up but paychecks canvassers with the political action group working. erica have been going door to door trying to show voters a link between republican policies and rising costs the chaos of the current administration is sort of. open our eyes out more to what's going on as for patrick koch he won't say who he's voting for there are many business friendly democrats

here they're business friendly republicans you know one of the good about my business i think about how are they going to vote for the small guys i got into proving the old adage that all politics is local and that democrats may have reason to be optimistic even in a state that helped elect a controversial republican president christine salumi al-jazeera pittsburgh pennsylvania. why should as of the orthodox church in ukraine of celebrated mass to mark the split from the russian orthodox church ukraine secured approval to establish an independent church on thursday that's being described as the biggest space in christianity for over five hundred he is russia's foreign minister is calling the break a provocation tensions have increased between kiev and moscow following russia's annexation of crimea in two thousand and fourteen. now pope francis has conferred say ted on mud at salvadorian archbishop oscar ramiro to ceremony in the vatican an

advocate for peace during el salvador's civil war america was shot dead while celebrating mass in one nine hundred eighty until recently roman catholic leaders were accused of blocking his canonization because of his deceived left wing views john homan looks back at the life of the priest who stood up for the poor while challenging the right wing minute tree to take a shit. romero had just finished his sermon when a gun shot rang out an assassin's bullet struck the sixty two year old but the murder failed to extinguish his message of peace and social justice. now thirty eight years later the catholic church is declaring him a saint extensively it's for a medical miracle curing cecilia florrie's of a life threatening illness but for her and many other salvadorans he's much more he's a person who fought for all salvador and continues fighting and continues to intercede for the country a brave man who defended life defended the family defended the most needy that's

what he means to me many in the working class loved role model for speaking out for equality and defending them against for pressure from the military led government conservative sectors on the other hand saw him as a light with leftist groups as the country lurch toward civil war he remains a divisive figure even now he knew that would put him in danger. i will not abandon my people but along with them i will run all the risks that my ministry demands in the end of right wing death squads ordered his murder a day off the hip to see the army to stop killing civilians tens of thousands turned up to the funeral. even that was disrupted by explosions and gunfire. south of those civil war ended thirty six years ago but the country still suffers from the causes that romero spoke against widespread inequality and boylan's now at the hands of war. the hope is that decades on his message will still resonate even

among those too young to remember his life john homan zita. a strain government has announced a billion dollars aid package for drought stricken fun as economists are questioning whether it's worth the money trying to grow crops and raise animals is getting more and want difficult in an increasingly harsh climate andrew thomas reports from parks in the south wales. in a good year farmers like wayne dunford wouldn't need to buy hay a toll they'd grow crops. and the sheep and cows would eat them straight out of the ground but drought has hit australia's east and states they say has been trucked in from a thousand kilometers away with transport it costs about two hundred fifty dollars a bale. one hay bale will feed sixty cows for a day dunford has three hundred eighty so feeding them is costing him more than ten

thousand dollars a week the ground of a drought gets to you know like you get a fifty k. or wayne blaring if i sold i was a really big throat and they still are afraid to stock and what wind does but it gets everyone a bit cranky for some reason and you tend to get that but it's just the factors are at every die and. things go backwards not forwards. dunford is mixing some hay with wheat grain and compact it with grass decided to keep costs down but making that mix is harder work even if it is slightly cheaper across eastern australia the drought me the farmers the putting in a lot more effort and paying out a lot more money now the government part help with the what but it can and helping with the money australia's national and state governments are subsidizing transport costs offering low interest loans and giving cash payments to farmers worth nine

thousand dollars only having assets of more than three point seven five million dollars disqualifies farming families from the handouts it's the sort of help people in no other industry get this is a way of life and that is important to australia's future and as a result of that i think that means there's a special responsibility here but some economists think farms need to deal with drought as any business deal. with risk in he is economically viable farmers make lots of money which should carry them through the tough ones few australians though see it that way most live in cities but they have a deep cultural affinity with rural communities it dates back to stories of colonial settlers timing a rugged land today the media adds to the emotional mix drought makes great television and in australia visually add drought so really. confronting so people in the city who don't necessarily understand the economics of agriculture

who have this deep cultural sympathy for farmers want their governments to act so it's good politics but not necessarily good economics added thomas al-jazeera near parks in eastern australia was much more in everything we're covering right he can stay up to date on all our top stories and breaking news as it happens al-jazeera dot com. a look at the headlines this hour saudi arabia's want to get threats to punish it over the disappearance of veteran journalist. but the kingdom has also been careful to avoid alienating washington thanking the united states for not jumping to conclusions u.s. president donald trump has said the kingdom faces severe punishment if it's found to have mud at the journalist as turkish authorities believe and the u.k. france and germany of jointly called for a credible investigation. well despite an offer by crown prince mohammed bin

soundman the saudis still have not allowed to investigate is into that compound. has more on that from istanbul this consulate was essentially be a crime scene now for several days since the disappearance of. however there hasn't been any turkish police and people have been going in this door here have been those who come on diplomatic vehicles registered to the mission in our other top stories british in a unit goetia ages of paul's talks on a breaks it deal till wednesday summit in brussels the e.u.'s chief negotiator michel bonnie i says that despite intense efforts some key issues remain in sealing a deal with the u.k. on its withdrawal from the bloc earlier expectations of a breakthrough were praised when u.k. breck's it secretary dominic robb arrived in brussels on schedule talks and e.u. ambassadors were summoned to a meeting police have broken up anti-government protests in the nicaraguan capital

managua the protest is a part of an alliance of forty opposition groups calling for an end to president or take this rule since the demonstrations started in april three hundred fifty people have been killed and thousands more injured. a taliban attack in western afghanistan has left at least seventeen members of the security forces dead gunmen are reported to have attacked seven security checkpoints in a province on saturday night at least eleven others have been abducted. i'm pope francis has conferred saint hood on salvadorian archbishop oscar a metro at a ceremony in the vatican an advocate for peace during el salvador's civil war romero was shot dead while celebrating mass in one thousand nine hundred eighty we'll have more on that story and everything else a bit later on now it's talk to sarah.

you. see. october last year u.s. president donald trump signs an executive order lifting some trade and economic sanctions against sudan it followed a state department report that said cut tomb but improved its fight against armed groups but the u.s. still designate saddam as a state sponsor of terrorism along with iran north korea and syria regionally it's mediating a peace deal between the warring parties in south sudan which gained its independence in twenty eleven sudan is also taking part in the saudi military operations in

yemen with troops on the ground in several fighter jets president omar al bashir has been in power since one thousand nine hundred nine he's the first head of state to be indicted by the international criminal court for suspected war crimes he does old his government last month amid a widespread economic crisis put off to almost thirty years this president will bashir seek another term in twenty twenty or will he pave the way for the next generation sudan's foreign minister did divvy mohamed ahmed talks to al-jazeera. elderberry mohamed ahmed foreign minister of saddam thank you for talking to al-jazeera may i stop by asking you whether the changes in the air in sudan one senior diplomat said to me saddam used to be seen as a troublemaker now it's trying to be a peacemaker. well thank you very much for i think what's happening in iran right

now of course. might be considered by some to be new but in fact it's an indication of what when it started very early in the country since that time when we decided to give the right of self-determination to south sudan it was part of our effort to really it is one problems in the country and we have been pursuing this this past for quite a time one of the big things that's changed in the last year is the way you are perceived particularly by the united states because they've lifted some of the sanctions against you let's just go back to the one nine hundred ninety s. when bill clinton first put those sanctions in place you were seen as a pariah state one point asama bin laden was living in khartoum they fired missiles bombs at khartoum at one point they blamed you for the u.s. embassy bombings in africa they blamed you for the attack on the u.s.s. cole you really were in the u.s.

is bad books well but but what the reason for that did not find at all any answer here in the united states nobody can tell me exactly why for then wasn't the first place included in that list it is for those that would lead in short stay into the sunlight and had stayed for quiet longer piedras in other parts of a part of the world in other countries the u.s. itself included this is day into was before he stablished. any links with international terrorism even before the time he went to afghanistan so why sudan in particular has to be included because of this deal was nobody knows there are still some sanctions in place and most importantly there's the static nation that you are state sponsor of terror tell us what that designation means how bad is that for sudan why. having two phases of engagement with it at least is the first phase where wish you had ended some time ago. had led to the

lifting of today from particular sanctions particularly now we look forward to the new phase of engagement which is basically intended to see if we had an image dropped on the list of these days is sponsored into it is my understanding is the us a pushing for two things in the second phase an end to state sponsored violence and improvement in the human rights record let's deal with the first one of those state sponsored violence in particular in the so-called two areas and in darfur where the un is winding down that joint mission it has with the african union do you accept that in the past your government has been involved in repression in that areas in those areas and is that something that's ending. you know what was taking place in south kordofan and blue nile was very much connected to what takes place in south sudan the movement that took up we were punched in

those two areas was for the time being part of the governing party in south sudan it was religion between them was obvious. because of what is happening right now in south sudan we believe that it is now very much timely to either raise the issue of the willian in south kordofan and blue nile. which is really really in the eye perspective and to see to it that also level of violence in those areas subsites but clearly there are people on the ground in those areas who have grievances how do you meet those grievances we address that matter before we respect the south sudan. formula for peace and equally asian for social healing and we feel that the same would also apply to those two areas because the other issue is human rights and there are still human

rights abuses according to human rights organizations this is a recent letter that was written by thirty one human rights organizations international ones like amnesty international human rights watch plus african human rights organizations and once that deal specifically with sudan they say this is suppression of peaceful protests they say this excessive force attacks on the media arbitrary detention trumped up criminal proceedings ill treatment torture and ongoing violence in darfur south could have on blue nile well i thought that all through following your arsenal of documents and it was. that important that was issued by the human rights council you and him alaskans really need the progress that was made by sudan or was a pretty. yes here this is the first and the most important. report that we've got since twenty five years and what i seem to done is improving and more situation is

improving and we believe that the prob is that we have just made and recorded at the home of us currency is a progress as it would be sustainable and our progress which will fit though of course in the past there have been all sorts of allegations against your government and your president particularly with regard to doff or you remember former secretary of state colin powell accused your government of committing genocide genocide there are two international arrest warrants out for your president from the international criminal courts those are still there well the fact that african union said that it is not having confidence in the international criminal court nor is the united states. also so many said was joining. this unanimity mading you know any miti against the i.c.c. tells us that whatever accuse agents or indictments issued by the i.c.c.

are in fact meaning very little in that the national community it was your predecessor abraham gun dog who did the negotiations with the united states to get the first group of sanctions lifted he before he left his job complained that sudan's diplomats were not being paid he won't be able to pay the rent on various of your embassies around the world doesn't the show one big problem area even though some of the sanctions have been lifted your economy remains in a dire state and it is facing a lot of a lot of problems because of the sanctions that were imposed on us by the united states of america you know a lot really and also some of the michelangelo's action that we imposed on us because of the issue of. for we look forward now to lifting the sanctions and definitely this will give us an opportunity to be integrated more and more in the

international economy and so all the economy problem for that we are facing one of the things that has happened in recent months surprised me which is saddam took on the role as the negotiator with regard to south sudan that surprised me because you were involved in the longest civil war in africa with the people who now are south sudan how did that come about that you got this role to negotiate why did saddam put itself forward and why did the regional countries decide you should try and solve this sudan if the most connected to south sudan for so many reasons that are very obvious secondly to then it also do most influenced by by what is taking place currently in south sudan in terms of receiving more if you use for themselves for the intention of also being affected by the insecurity in his house with the receiving a lot of small weapons smuggled from south sudan because of course also we have

lost a lot of fortunatus for working together with south sudan to alleviate poverty and to assist our economy this is the reason why everybody in the region feels that sudan is better placed and better position to deal with the matter and to take up the contribution if otoh south to. defend them in the past south sudan that issue has seen some rivalry between uganda and sudar have you done some sort of deal with uganda because some analysts suggesting maybe you decided to share the the oil revenues of south sudan the in return for doing this the peace deal there is no deal between sudan you intend. of sharing anything you wanted not having anything to do with annoying south sudan oil is bullying which sudan was going to happen in this matter is that we will be restoring the

south sudan oil fields to the informal levels of production there's going to help the economy flourish without of course basically because as a country to which the order of the news will go it will also help us in that italy because we are going to grow also. do use and royalties of transporting for transporting the oil through our pipeline to port sudan uganda of course is a neighboring country that will benefit from peace and stability and child so that there we were going to benefit and the way the european in kenya would benefit also maybe then you would think that has changed the fact that uganda and for that i started working together in the past we were not working together we set we discussed the matter we found that if south sudan is going to continue as is and the situation is so that is going to deteriorate it will be having a black hole in the another so malia and eager even if it only has an outhouse right now this is it dated from what had happened but of course south sudan could

also be another problem today region in general and it's you know in particular to uganda and sudan ugandans without right now receiving more a few years. for themselves with them than any other country and this is a reason why the two countries really decided to work together and to see to it south sudan establishes and that peace prevails in south sudan because in south sudan we have a new country that's only existed for seventy years and we've had much of that time with conflict a new report from the london school of hygiene and tropical medicine didn't analysis they believe the death toll is much greater than people thought before maybe as many as four hundred thousand tell me how this new deal is going to work my understanding is the same two men at the sent. ribbit president salva kiir and shar is going to be the vice president have who have we not tried this before and it failed aren't you putting your trust in the soup to say man who failed before

it's not about to man it's about some would say it is it's a personal feud is there not an element of that when i think we have to look deeper and find out that in fact the problem that we face in south sudan is that this will say it in its entirety is very ticklish divided between two communities that is then we're under dinka the two main out of presenting those two communities if we're going to remove that woman and then we will find out that the conflict is still continuing and we are not addressing them in return for the real conflict the dichotomy between the two communities then will not be resolving them either now it is now the killing that is being forced out of there is themselves is to really see to it that once again they create confidence among themselves and the first place between their country and the international community at large and i think there is no reason for them not to live up to this telling it's a detailed agreement perhaps you could explain to us what happens next my

understanding is there is a ceasefire in place and then we have the strange term cunto meant you are going to get the forces from both sides to go back to their military bases and try and turn them into one army is that right exactly but speaking about the activities of self taper left within the party transition that's that's a period of eight months in which we should see to it that all of the forces and troops will be assembled separately. and. my measure of disengagement is based hoot and then we follow through to see to it that the right people from different camps are selected and trained jointly to create what we are now if you're it. if you're going to the nucleus army. this is an army should be a lawyer or little selves to that not any tripe or ethnic group it shall be

a de tribal and the. army and it's really be illegal for peace and stability to prevail in south sudan in the future this is one of the major activities. that should now take place within the returns on what happens while this is going on the un special representative nicholas hasten has talked about security gap how do you fill that while we agree that some measures need to now to be boosted while this is happening you missed for instance which is a piece of the un force saddam. should right now be boosted the. protection force should also be boosted we believe that you're going then to then in particular should be included in this in this for how many more troops about four thousand troops we believe that this is very much required to free energy committee that might appear now of course we dealing with south sudan we're dealing

with saddam there's one bits left over which is abbe i know it's a place you you know well you're from that part of sudan in the first place what happens with happy that's the bit that's on the international agreements no one's decided which country should be. you know currently having the unifil force now the u.n. is discussing the matter and trying to find out with the uni's for force needs to be configuring it if it is our conviction that for the time being we should better continue with this force us is we have voiced this concern to the u.n. security and i'm. to do and secretary general of the same country and while boys i would also to them by the face. vice president of south of there we believe there is no time now for king troops that are present in. we

have started talking about i.b.a. may be up to now informally the state of the two countries the two communities as well and we believe that in due course they will be an agreement on what should be the next step in our view you live in an interesting maybe hood in fact one could argue you live in two neighborhoods because you're a member of the african union and also a member of the arab league and as you know there's all sorts of divisions and shifting alliances going on for example the disputes over the noise but we need an egypt or in the middle east there seems to be lines being drawn between saudi arabia u.a.e. and egypt and perhaps turkey and qatar on the other side and yet you seem to be steering a middle path in these divisions well this is in fact what we are trying to do sometimes we succeed but sometimes those who find it very difficult to convince the

different parties we bit opposed to this middle ground and it's did instead of trying to take sight of course we always think that it's for the best interest of or of content parties to do have a nice. is a country that is having its own problems that require us. peace within itself requires them to other is on issues first and foremost because you have substantial saudi involvement in the gyptian investments in in sudan and yet it's reported that you have done a deal with turkey for a naval base and qatar for a port how are you managing to pull off this trick of keeping everyone happy it seems for now well we did not agree for any naval base it's just sort of development project two to the city of of so i can. we haven't agreed to all

look at any part of sudan to to any country but nonetheless we're working with is all of the players in the region to see to it that the new unit a stable turkey included and got included and we hope that. this will not mean that saddam is taking sides at all in any dispute we hope for the best of all of the region and we are doing our best to see to it that all the problems that are now being faced by the states in the region will be resolved peacefully and i mean there is one dispute where you're taking a site that's yemen you are part of the coalition led by saudi arabia and the u.a.e. are you happy with your role in that coalition that according to the human rights office of the united nations there have been seventeen thousand civilian deaths between march twenty fifteen and august twenty eighth scene and they say that the

majority of these casualties were carried out by the saudi led coalition and its bombing does that concern you also allegations that the u.a.e. troops have been involved in all sorts of torture at their camps but of course was happening in any war is that definitely some measures that. well intended measures my goal our e and might affect civilians but nonetheless it's my opinion and believe that nobody is really targeting civilians paid say or thinking of civilians should be the target of any pleydell said he would in this war for the time being it's obvious that we are part and parcel of that call even but this does not mean that we have his top study in the situation so it's still under review definitely to the situation and find what are the most appropriate things for us to do and of course

the thing that all of the humanitarian community are concerned about with regard to the war in yemen concerns the coalition's next move and what they do with regard to data which is a city but most importantly a port that provides so much food for yemen should there be an all out onslaught in the data in your view because mark low cock the humanitarian cause.