well the head of the i.m.f. the international monetary fund is the latest big name to pull out of the saudi conferences known as davos in the desert christine legarde is perspire owning a trip to the middle east which was due to include the meeting of major investors in riyadh later this month she has said she's horrified by the disappearance of jamal khashoggi. on his visit to riyadh my palm peo said saudi leaders told him a quote transparent and timely investigation will be carried out into the show g.'s disappearance but u.s. senators are skeptical about whether that will be allowed to happen mike hanna reports now from washington. mike pompei you held meetings throughout the day speaking to the king the crown prince as well as the foreign minister he came away with saudi denials and the pledge that a credible investigation is already underway they made a commitment to to hold anyone connected to any wrongdoing that may be found accountable for that whether they are

a senior officer official they promised accountability for each of those persons whom they determine as a result of their investigation as did deserves accountability including members who they made no exceptions to who they would hold accountable they were they were just for they were very clear they are they understand the importance of this issue they're determined to get to the bottom of it and that they will conduct the report more war get a chance to see it be they each promised that they would achieve that force president tramples i spoke to the crown prince on the phone who he says totally denied any knowledge of what took place in an extraordinary statement to associated press president trump says that allegations of saudi complicity ah and i quote another case of guilty until proven innocent this in reference to his nomination as supreme court judge read capital who was accused of sexual assault but together with the statements by mike pung peo it would also appear to be part of a concerted strategy by the trump administration to insist that there is no

complicity among saudi leaders but the shop here dogs with views expressed by congressional leaders senator rand paul treated saudi arabia is not our friend they fund radicalism around the world we don't need to be arming them they are the worst actor out there promoting terrorism. and strong criticism from another republican senator of the crown prince referring to him by his initials m b s this guy has got to go sorry arabia if you listening there are a lot of good people you can choose but n.b.s. has tainted your country and tainted himself by congressional anger supported by a former director of the cia i do hope that they're going to draw the line at this and hold not just the saudis and mohamed some onto account but also the top ministration and not let the saudis get away with what appears to be the killing of a u.s. person a permanent resident of the united states and

a journalist for the washington post they cannot get away with this i think that this is basically the downfall of mohamed so much and in the new york times a picture of a man allegedly identified as a suspect by turkish authorities he's described in the report as a frequent companion of the crown prince in a blow to muhammad bin sad months insistence of innocence three other suspects are said to be part of his security detail mike and al-jazeera washington. ok let's get more on the latest development on our top story the rumor the supposition the speculation the criminality the diplomatic impact the political impact the economic impact of what happened when jamal khashoggi walked in to that consulate building in the turkish city of istanbul and never walked out of it again evan resnick the u.s. foreign policy and security coordinator at the young technology university he joins

us live from singapore we're getting these developments just as we went on air with this program evan talking about a coordinator talking about what some calls talking about rooming phone calls talking about four calls going through to the crown prince's private secretary allegedly for you if that's all true and we believe it to be true where does that leave the investigation. well it leaves the investigation in limbo unless the saudis cooperate so we may have fairly damning circumstantial evidence but ultimately that doesn't do very much in terms of the cheating the final outcome the saudis basically have to do and are responsible for enforcing the law on their terrorists aren't territory so this would be only something that's up to the government. and where are we with the the diplomatic domino effect because we've seen mike pump a zero yesterday in riyadh he is we still we think still in turkey today

well it looks like the trump administration is going to stand behind the saudi regime behind mohammed and some on and is going to refrain from questioning the saudis on this and hopefully so trying to sweep it under the carpet at least that's what the indications seem to be to this point but so many people surely from the world of big business to people like christine legarde the i.m.f. bushies now not going to davos in the desert she said she would she said i will speak my mind she's not going now to people like jeremy haun the u.k. foreign secretary those people will not accept this being swept under the carpet. no but ultimately the most important player in despair happens to be washington d.c. happens to be the united states so other countries u.s. allies and international organizations may protest business corporations may

protest but ultimately the saudis are most concerned about what's going on inside the white house in washington d.c. so as long as the trumpet ministrations stays mom then the saudis and n.b.s. may get a free pass on this when you mention the white house there clearly we're talking about donald trump all of the crown prince donald trump said basically i trust him i hear what he's saying and i'm ok with me and putin he said i trust him we get on of kim jong il in pyongyang he said i trust him we get on what does that tell us in in the prism of what's happening in turkey about the current u.s. president. we don't really know it may be that trump has a special affinity towards authoritarian leaders that might explain part of it in the case of saudi arabia and russia he may be indebted to the regime in moscow for getting elected or bailing out his his company back in the one nine hundred ninety

s. he may be indebted to the saudis for continuing to. contribute towards his. his properties is his various companies so. we don't know whether this is just personal idiosyncrasy of trumps or whether he feels some sort of personal. indebtedness towards these unsavory. regimes committing various human rights atrocities around the world at the center of our conversations we've got the death of a highly respected. educated intelligent thoughtful man he went into that building he never walked back again we've got three things coming together there's a confluence here of diplomacy politics criminality big big money we're talking about multi-billion dollar financial arrangements between people like the united states and saudi arabia but in amongst all those bricks that should come together is there a void through which the reality is going to slip and it is this

a man met his end in a horrible horrible way allegedly and nobody perhaps ultimately is going to be held accountable for that this is nothing new to the united states has maintained a relatively friendly relationship with the house of science since the end of world war two a regime that has committed innumerable human rights atrocities over time this is just the latest in a long series we should also keep in mind that the saudis are probably responsible for a number of atrocities against tens of thousands of innocent civilians in yemen so this is nothing new and when geopolitics and human rights conflict with one another usually geopolitics wins out unfortunately even in the case of the exceptional united states that professes a special devotion to words liberal liberal values and promoting them are out of an resnick in singapore thank you very much for you. palestinians being killed and

three others were injured after israeli forces launched airstrikes on gaza the israeli military says it was targeting a group for who fired rockets into southern israel from gaza israel's defense minister ordered the closure of areas and cut them up to salaam crossings following the attacks are a force that has more now from west jerusalem the israeli response to this strike on bush is underway as strikes have been taking place through the night and into the morning on wednesday no comment yet on the number or the nature of the targets israel just saying that it is attacking what it calls terror targets in the gaza strip one person so far reported killed israel saying that that was during the course of another attempt to fire a rocket from the northern gaza strip there's no question that israel sees this strike on the shaver which is some forty kilometers away from the gaza strip as a major escalation is only the second time that a rocket from gaza has fallen in that area since the twenty fourteen war in august

the previous occasion it fell in fields during a round of major exchanges between israeli forces and hamas this strike hamas has denied responsibility for it in a statement which was also cosigned by islamic jihad and other palestinian fighting factions inside the gaza strip it said that it condemned any such irresponsible actions that would act to undermine egyptian efforts to negotiate a long term truce with the israelis the defense minister however before this rocket attack took place on tuesday he had just been meeting with senior army officials saying that now is the time to deal i'm age of blow to hamas and the only after such a blow which essentially reads like a call for a major military action war on gaza only after such an attack could there be a long term truce the question remains whether the israeli army is signed up for that whether the israeli prime minister is signed up for that setting there is a lot of reporting in the israeli media that that is not the case. several border

crossings between syria and neighboring countries have reopened in recent weeks it's easing years of political and economic isolation for the country on monday the nassib crossing with jordan open for the first time in three years for decades it was a vital trade routes across syria between lebanon and jordan much of that trade will be coming through the must knob or the crossing on the border between syria and lebanon as an author has more. the reopening of the nessie border crossing this vital artery for commercial traffic benefits many countries in the region jordan of course we know suffers from a weak economy the closure of that border was a crippling blow lebanon as well this is its only overland route to other countries this border was not closed during the seventy year war but trucks were not able to reach jordan and the gulf arab markets and so lebanon lost billions of dollars they had to export goods through the sea via the sea via air which cost really

a lot of money so the reopening of these borders of the nessie border crossing benefiting the countries in the region syria celebrating it really as a victory showing that the country is stable it's returning to its pre-war status as a transit hub now of course the resumption of trade means the restoration of ties at least for jordan and lebanon and we heard the jordanian government spokesman person say this is a vital trade route between two brotherly nations jordan and lebanon did not break off diplomatic relations during the seven year for but they did not engage officially with the damascus government so damascus slowly coming out of its isolation economically it is hoping to engage to reengage with the international community as well but that this is going to be a little bit more difficult because we know the west is no longer calling for us not stepping down as a condition for for political talks to happen but what they're asking for is a u.n. led credible political process that will lead to free elections and only if that happens then they will reengage with damascus and help with the reconstruction of

the country so it is still a long path ahead but this is the start of the beginning of damascus coming out really of its. economic isolation at least in the region. plenty more still to come here on the news for you including tight security in afghanistan before saturday's election but it isn't stopping threats from the taliban. going on all of the two teens yet again the tourist industry is back in business three years after gunman targeted beach resorts. and school the n.b.a. champions the new season in front of the. european union leaders are gathering in brussels for a decisive summit on bret's it talks have stalled over what should happen with the

irish border an open border was a key part of the good friday peace agreement in the one nine hundred ninety s. if the u.k. doesn't get an agreement in the next few weeks it will leave the e.u. in march without a deal which could cause political and economic on rest some e.u. nations are already preparing for a new deal breaks it lawrence lee reports from the largest ports in europe rotterdam in the netherlands. the dutch love to grow tomatoes the netherlands is the world's biggest exporter of the fruits in the summer the u.k. gets really hard of all its tomatoes from here or at least it has done the assumption is that a new deal bricks it will mean a note some are also britain are you talking on about empty shelves in the u.k. side for the price in fact. probably but there at the same time is. a product that is not going to. find all the other new markets. the

british relying just as much on rotterdam europe's biggest ports to service the demands of consumers it is a model of efficiency. freedom of movement of goods services money people is the most treasured achievements of the european union in its purest form brics it says no it's all of those things but because the british government still can't decide what sort of breaks it wants the dutch it had no choice but to get into worst case scenario planning. no trade deal with the european union would mean fruits vegetables and meat having to be checked this new border to ensure it all meets hygiene standards it means the dutch employing nearly a thousand more customs officers it means queues backlogs turning away from the u.k. in seeking new markets and it isn't only about dutch tomatoes it's about goods produced across the e.u. that british people want to buy so all the production from germany twenty five percent of the spirit is coming from or is going to germany deaf to prepare as well

and that is where the real challenges are doing repairing as well as water adama's for the poverty bret's because if they are not prepared then it still stops here across western european capitals the same conversations are being had how to get a deal done when the british government is riven by dissenting views and still we don't know where we're lending our lending with a chaotic back set aren't ending within that customs union without a customs union and do we have two or three years of transition period or not sell off in a year and a basic mistake was made before the notification of the article fifty letter so you still see that british politicians are negotiating among themselves. what works it should look like and that question should have been settled by now. the british government has warned the brics it could lead to food shortages though such talk is dismissed by purest breakfasters as scaremongering gradually though the e.u. is coming to the view that the u.k.

may have to put up with the consequences of its lack of direction. and lawrence joins us live from that summit venue in brussels lawrence what are the chances of a breakthrough. pretty much nil peter to be honest that's been made clear already by the highest level of the european union and european commission they have demanded a breakthrough. because the british still can't get a agreed position then they now talk about pushing the whole thing back even to december the summit in two months time which they said they would never do but the problem is that once reason may comes and speaks to the e.u. twenty seven far off an hour before they have dinner without tonight's shot she's not going to be able to answer the fundamental question that the little the british really have created them for themselves over bricks which is how you leave the european union as i was saying in that report and basically create new borders

while keeping the north not on board with the republican open which is demanded not only by the european union under the terms of the good friday peace agreement but by the british government themselves and they simply can't square that circle off and if it's the case i think that. nothing's going to change not just now but before december given the european union says you've got to keep the border open and the british say well we don't know how to effectively then we could be in the situation that we are in today with only three months left until breakfast in december it's honestly seeming to me pizza but by this stage that unless there's a major concession from other side which i don't think is very likely that the thing that might actually break the end pass is when the british pull them and ends up having the votes on what would look like a no deal which wouldn't get through parliament and that could potentially then collapse of the british government and they'd probably have to start all over all over again and the reason the ultimately why this matters is is if you speak to

people like that dutch politician who was in that reports people like him are saying look this is this is a crisis for the british politically and diplomatically in terms of their status and direction on the scale of things like the suez crisis of the fifty's when they had to bring in the international monetary fund. in the seventy's when when when the economy was going down and for all the things that reason why the british prime minister says about bret's a big opportunity for the glorious britain soon to emerge into the future really politicians not just in the european union but in other parts of the world are saying it's the opposite it is demonstrating that the u.k. is in the almost historic position where it's really lost its way so it's becoming very serious now i think for the u.k.'s credibility is what it sees itself to be which is a world power. we have to leave it there many thanks. in a moment we'll have the weather for you and also still to come here on al-jazeera swimming out of football's shadows other sports are trying to steal the limelight

at the youth olympics in argentina. and in sport germany's national football team is experiencing this worst every year and he's here with that story when we come back. by the skyline of invasion harbor or off the coast of the italian riviera. well we've had plenty of rain across parts of the so the united states and there is a state of emergency right now declared in the state of texas i want to show you some video that has come out of that because of the very heavy rain just yesterday alone we have seen three hundred millimeters of rain falling in parts of central texas one person is dead and we have about eleven million people that are under at least flash flood watches or flash flood warnings across that region this bus right here one through one of those low water crossings and get swept away by the floodwaters there this particular person is under arrest because of that but we are

going to be watching very heavy rain over the next few days take a look at the humiliation we're expecting to see in this area just in the next forty eight hours because this area is already flooded we're expecting to see about another hundred to one hundred fifty millimeters of rain across that region so that means this particular scenario is going to go on through the weekend as well i want to show you the forecast map as we go for the next couple days colder temperatures in this area as well we're only talking about lower teens for this region as a cold front has pushed through and it is because of that cold front we are seeing so much of that activity also very heavy rain expected over the next couple days up to the north though single digits for many of those northeastern cities. the winter sponsored by the time riis. we're. i have dedicated almost my entire professional life to the

bench and fight against corruption and what i have learned is that we need champions we need also to shine the light on those shampoos and this award bridges that gap that existed in this you. know meet your own version here on shine the light on what they do and do it not shine a light on your hero with your nomination for the international pacer war two thousand and eighteen for more information go to a so what dot com. you're

watching me on syria news on peace a double here in doha these are the headlines to you sources have told al-jazeera a bodyguard working for mohammed bin salma led the operation against the saudi journalist jamal khashoggi he's pictured here with a red box around him on the right hand and not the left on site of a shop there he rented a private jet set to carry a group of men to the turkish authorities suspect killed the journalist he also made a number of phone calls to the saudi crown prince his private secretary on the day that he disappeared he was last seen fifteen days ago. one palestinian has been killed and three others were injured after israeli forces launched airstrikes on gaza the israeli military says it was targeting a group who fired rockets into southern israel from gaza israel's defense minister

ordered the closure of. salaam crossings following the attacks. leaders are gathering in brussels for a decisive summit on talks of stalled over what should happen with the irish border if the u.k. doesn't get an agreement in the next few weeks it will leave the e.u. in march without a deal which could cause political and economic on the rest. well as the world's attention focuses on what actions the saudi leadership may have ordered in istanbul local more questions being raised about the impact of decisions made in riyadh across the world despite thousands of civilian deaths in yemen the saudi led coalition's war in the country has received little international attention now it seems the case has changed all that is our diplomatic editor james bays. it has the worst humanitarian situation on earth with the u.n. warning that yemen could soon face a full scale fan. since it led a military intervention in its southern neighbor three and

a half years ago saudi arabia and its allies who breached the basic rules of war civilians have been repeatedly targeted with some attacks on schools and hospitals a un panel recently accused the coalition of war crimes so many people talk about yemen as the forgotten war but here at the u.n. it's not a forgotten war we have sometimes monthly debates and meetings on the what's going on in yemen it's an ignored war and it's ignored because so many at the security council table are directly or indirectly involved and shielding fouled eurabia from any criticism and they all have blood on their hands those countries include the us france and the u.k. friends of saudi arabia with huge investments and trade deals all three. we supply the saudis with weapons the u.n. secretary general has also been muted in his criticism perhaps because of the country's regional influence and its cash here deputy crown prince mohammed bin

sultan the present secretary-general antonio good terrorists with a check worth almost a billion dollars from saudi arabia and the united arab emirates for humanitarian assistance in yemen some of the time muttered this was blood money but of course no diplomats would say that in public seclude what happened to jamal khashoggi in the saudi consulate in turkey be a turning point in yemen in the past the saudis have held a number of key cards that have protected them from criticism that economic dominance their regional influence and the fact that they control humanitarian access by sea and land into yemen. but by far its most important card has been its alliance with the u.s. for more than seventy years an alliance has been strengthened since president trump took office with the president's son in law jared kush now building an extremely close bond with the saudi crown prince that's why the saudis need to be very

worried about what happens next in the u.s. congress where the fate of mr cash oggi has led to anger and revulsion if members of congress keep up the pressure other parts of the international community are likely to follow suit and saudi arabia's disastrous campaign in yemen is likely to face much tougher scrutiny james bays out jazeera at the united nations. chinese state media has released video of internment camps for weaker muslims in the western province of xinjiang the spite international condemnation the government has defended its treatment of these minority group in claims its reeducating people so they can be part of a modern civilized world up to a million we could have been reportedly been detained in those camps willy loman is a professor of history in chinese politics of the chinese university of hong kong he joins us live from there now with education kemp's sons pretty and a dine or so they really like well i don't think there's any

doubt that the chinese government is perhaps printing some. trancing in. what the op that these two const fong weakness into chinese culture are leaving particularly and other aspects so us through how them merge with chinese society and also to us than the rootstock so-called terrorism. or what the authorities who are talking to you know. have not explained to the fact that these readers as many as one near the end internment in those. transient camps are being brainwashed yeah not being allowed to practice in and not aspects of their cultural and english they have. to do some comments being part of these. at the. last international human rights

organizations there are. actions in this so called education. given that this is brainwashing given that people are talking about these people having to be force fed a belief system that they don't necessarily believe in of course otherwise they wouldn't be there what happens to them if they come out of the other end of this process while. the chinese have to be quite happy with the experiments. because it reveals. some of which at best they're mocking stock terrorism against its national government those. activities. however i think the chinese government has picked the right time to. broadcast this kind of

propaganda information because they are back. in the u.s. . russia members of congress are urging the trauma but interaction between rocks the i mean the ski did the drug or at least to get rights act. to sanction. military all this if that's what responsible for these watching it with these yeah willem thank you very much. a bomb attack in afghanistan has killed another candidate uncensored a's election the blast was in the southern province of helmand at least ten candidates have been killed during the campaign the taliban threaten to target polling stations and security forces guarding them salah bella's has more now from kabul. it was cold inside his electoral office and lashkar gah home and province this morning

a bomb was planted on to his chair people were wounded in the attack three people died later of the injuries the taliban took responsibility for this attack they had warned they would do this ahead of the elections and on election day the parliamentary elections here on saturday he died in the blast he was a very well know one politician here in afghanistan a former military general who had been a politician here ever since the fall of the taliban in two thousand and one he had worked in helmand for the last three years he was determined that they just it wouldn't be a fight a military fight between the government of the taliban he wanted to speak to them he wanted to negotiate and people called him a dream and yet he continues this morning people who had a lot of supporters a lot of people would have voted for him on on saturday but as soon i mean and watching diary means champion o'hare and for a lot of people here this morning his surname. jin is here is enjoying

a tourism revival the industry had gone into decline following a series of attacks by armed groups on the twenty fifteen mom and well as the story . tunisia's tourism industry is taken off the sandy beaches of the north east are again sophia the general manager of siebel who tell all four hundred eighty beds are fully booked even though the hot season has ended a little come to. twenty seventeen we started to feel like european tourists coming back and in twenty eighteen there was a remarkable increase in european tourism especially western european tourist traffic markets like belgian english luxembourg has and also french. it seems like these have not been seen since early two thousand and eleven for the uprising that toppled former president putin but i did the. triggered a series of popular revolt in the region known as the arab spring. as you know

arab spring lation is tunisia paid a hefty price for the southern political upheaval groups linked to al qaeda isom stage the tox across the country the bloodiest wars on the museum in the capital tunis in march two thousand and fifteen that killed twenty two people twenty of them your peon tourists the attacks led to a severe drop in visitor numbers hitting the country's economy this is the deal killer britain said the hot season has ended but urgent season is excellent as well and there are still lots of her tales which will be full for an early november it was positive and statistics are here to confirm that. but that situation began to change early two thousand and seventeen with a marked improvement this year. nearly five point five million tourists have arrived since january and major european operators including the.