pushing boundaries and questioning government policies in two thousand and three khashoggi became a media advisor to prince turki been fired so the prince headed saudi arabia's intelligence service and later served as ambassador to the u.s. but last year went into self-imposed exile in the u.s. after becoming concerned about the actions of crown prince mohammed bin solomon he told our visitor in march that he left the kingdom because he didn't want to be arrested. below is a middle east analyst and a friend of jamal khashoggi he joins me now thanks very much indeed for planning to talk to us in these circumstances so one of these i want to ask you about is this this link that turkey is making between one of the bodyguards who appears to be close to me i haven't been solomon they they seem to be says he's one of the key suspects in the disappearance of. how does that reflect on the crown prince what would you think the damage potentially is for him well it's not just the turks the new york times courteau some very good work in terms of analyzing photographs and videos and they've discovered the fact that this chap is very very close and

appears in lots of photographs with mom have been saw a man and his various tours this makes it much more difficult for this rogue elements the narrative to stand up because the attempt of the saudis and i dare say don't trump is to float the idea of this was an unauthorized investigation that got out of control and sadly she. died accidentally the fact of the matter is that mom been some on is that the center of this of this terrible terrible crime and it's going to be increasingly difficult i think for donald trump to hold the line on the road narrative that's what pompei or mike pompei a sector of state is trying to do right now is in is an anchor trying to see if you can get prison early one on side with the with this narrative this world narrative who i think actually holds holds the main couriered the trump card if you will in

this whole situation and he's been playing it very carefully kind of cat and mouse game since this story first broke i mean not all not that front i mean do you think we've seen more leaks again to the turkish media today of some of the gruesome details emerging of what may have happened and that appears to be coming from the edge of one camp is that it's on their hardening their position because they don't like the tone of what's coming out of the trunk of mr issue. no i think if you look at this whole situation this is consistent with what they've been doing virtually since. disappeared and you'll recall that very close adviser and very close friend of the show miles was the first to make the statement that he had been killed in the consulate turkestan road back and what mr one has done is he's used what is effectively a tame press because he's jailed over a thousand journalists to to do to release this information out at various to teacher points so just when it would appear that perhaps the narrative of the rogue

agencies could could float what happens is we get this these really awful dreadful details. of. the attack and brutal murder of regime i mean should we had today trump saying that he's asked for the old you in the video intelligence for turkey on the missing journalist and he said if it exists i mean if there were such intelligence surely he would have seen it by now it was not there to me is that indeed the u.s. intelligence people have seen this they may have had may either be unaware of that or he has chosen to ignore that reality as you know he's been very very dismissive of u.s. intelligence. almost from the moment he became president so i think i think it's there i think trump saying i have to see it is a sign that he is he's getting twitches getting nervous because it is damaging for him and if this narrative can't float then he is going to actually look pretty bad

at some point he's going to have to look at. mine and say well you know what maybe i can't save this guy he may be a good buddy of my son in law a judge questioner but i don't think he's salvageable bill thank you very much indeed to you and thank you. coming up in this news hour border crossings reopened between syria and its neighbors promising a boost for trade after years of war but doesn't reflect the political reality. and afghan politician is killed by a targeted bomb blast as the taliban ratchets up attacks to disrupt this weekend's election. and the french footballer book plenty of joy to the paris suburb where he grew up or details in sport. a reason may is addressed the other twenty seven european union leaders in brussels

at the start of a two day e.u. summit that we dominated by brics it earlier in may had private meetings with the european commission president. european council president donald tusk and irish prime minister leo varadkar the u.k. is due to leave the e.u. in march and negotiations over a deal stalled once again over the weekend. so what we've seen is that we've solved most of the issues in which strong agreements there are still very strong the question is the northern irish backstop but i believe everybody around the table wants to get a deal done by working intensively and closely we can achieve i believe a deal physically now is the time to make it happen. to her as falling events for us in brussels or the e.u. leaders have now finished their meal without to resume a how do they respond to what she had to say. well i mean there were a number of ways in which they might have responded to her this perhaps isn't the

worst but it certainly piles of pressure on the u.k. what essentially they did was they said look they planned summit meeting that we had in place that emergency brigs that summit in november is not going to happen simply not enough progress has taken place so far in the talks to have any expectation that a deal is in the offing and can be concluded then they praised the work of the negotiator michel barnier and said that he should continue in talks with the u.k. and that as and when they're notified by their negotiating team that something is in the works they will reconvene the message has gone out to to resume a in the british government that look we'll give you as much time as we can possibly let's talk about the end of december or something that just about gives time for national parliament to vote on whatever dealers agreed but we're not going to meet between now and when there is actually a deal to be discussed and if there's no deal then then there will be no deal that prospect but sees long border checks british passport holders requiring visas and

work permits on the continent tariffs on trade and so on the so-called hard it breaks it's an hour or so to resume a came here she addressed them she stuck to her guns she's bound of course by factions in her cabinet and in parliament at home she had to reject their idea use idea for a back stop solution to the northern route to. the irish border problem she proposed her own which they don't like there's very little room at the moment foreseeable any way in which these talks can progress and so does this i mean it sounds very much as the means to reason may is leaving empty handed. and yes i mean more or less there is one small boat in being kicked around here for to resume a under british government should they choose to accept it more and more you leaders have said they are willing the e.u.'s of twenty seven to offer the british side an extra year in the so-called transition period that would apply if

a deal is struck for which trade talks would take place two years is currently on the offing twenty one months it would be three years that would be before any sort of a backstop would apply so if they were to accept that it might soften the terms of the backstop but they'd still have to agree a backstop and she'd have a lot of pushback from her progress at factions in her government to the idea of britain staying in new structures put three whole years it's hardly imaginative thinking but it may be all they've got for now high in brussels thank you very much . and he's nineteen people have died after an explosion and shooting at a school in crimea russian investigators say an eighteen year old student went on a shooting spree before taking his own life step for us and has more from moscow. panic in crimea as the bomb exploded in a school in the most eastern city of here. ambulances and military trucks rushed to the scene among the dad many teenagers dozens of students in the

vocational training school suffered injuries they were taken to hospitals in both crimea and russia the two story school is happily damaged a gas explosion was initially thought to have caused the blast but it soon became clear it wasn't an accident investigators say the bomb exploded in the canteen and the gunmen walked around the school with a rifle shooting everyone he saw then police found the body of an eighteen year old student in the school library they say he shot himself and consider him to be the only attacker your future religious symbolism that is already clear that this is a crime motives and versions of this tragedy of being carefully investigated russian president putin held a minute of silence for the victims after his meeting with egyptian president sisi in sochi but in recently opened a new bridge which connects russia with crimea the peninsula was annexed from

ukraine by russian troops four years ago and the violence in crimea has the potential to escalate simmering tensions between the russians and ukrainians there's been an outpouring of sympathy for the victims of the school attack here in moscow russians are laying flowers at a memorial near the kremlin mourners are asking what brought a young student to commit such a bloody attack step fasten al-jazeera moscow i want to apologize for something that appeared on our screen earlier we mistakenly identified the shooter as an eighteen year old. off assegais xorn off is of course the head of the republic of crimea he is not the shooter and we apologize. a bomb attack in afghanistan has killed another candidate in saturday's election the blast was in the southern province of helmand the taliban have claimed

responsibility and of threatening to target polling stations and security forces guarding them at least ten candidates have already been killed during campaigning charlotte better says more from kabul. and was killed inside his a literal office and lashkar gah helmand province this morning a bomb was planted under his cheer people who 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 if you die in that blast it was a very well known 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 would just it wouldn't be a fight a military fight between the government in 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 saturday but a tsunami and karama in which in diary means champion or here and for a lot of people here this morning his surname. the afghan army is making final preparations ahead of saturday's parliamentary elections trying to secure polling stations despite taliban threats to bomb them graduation ceremonies for new recruits have even been pushed forward to try to increase numbers on the ground reports from the capital kabul. celebrating their graduation. their excitement may soon give way to anxiety as the new soldiers are likely to be sent to the front line but this is my country and i must defend what i have no fears i have taken an oath to serve and defend. this graduation ceremony in kabul was held earlier than planned the army stretched and

more soldiers are needed to secure polling stations nationwide through all the years the u.s. and other countries have spent billions of dollars training afghan security forces to lead operations when all foreign troops pull out of the country a goal that has eluded afghan military commanders now they are faced with the harsh reality that taliban is gaining ground and launching more attacks across the country. this is the moment when taliban fighters ambush an army convoy soldiers respond with a coordinated assault to kill that anime's it's only in mock training drill the reality on the ground is tougher and predictable taliban commanders have intensified attacks during election campaigning to target candidates and security forces read yes asking people the war polling station in our national security to

portis is ready to protect you and protect the process. since the fall of the taliban government in kabul seventeen years ago u.s. and nato troops have played a crucial role in training and equipping the afghan army the goal is to eventually see afghan security forces taking over military operations nationwide and when the ice of mission end it there were almost one hundred forty thousand nato troops in this country we're now down to some sixteen thousand. all the work from the remaining more than one hundred thousand has been taken over by the afghans so we are very confident that they can fulfill their tasks president donald trump has repeatedly said he won't commit to any plan to expand or prolong the u.s. military operation in afghanistan that leaves the afghan army to bear the brunt of

defeating the taliban and restoring stability has about a. couple. still to come on the news hour. tom that one of the world's youngest democracies where they're hoping the latest election will open the way to a brighter future. speaking of his ordeal as cameroonian man explains why he was targeted by english speaking separatists. and in sport the n.b.a. champion start the new season in familiar style is here with that story. how the weather is fine and dry across many parts of central and eastern europe

last week clear skies as you can see there with the rain in hungary having said that the river danube at record low levels for this time of the year further west we have some more fun beheads rumbling away across that western side of the mediterranean we are going to see further showers coming back into malta easing up towards the corsica and eric's really heavy rain coming in across the the costers pushing into the eastern side of spain it is a loss of wet weather there for thursday going into friday fabulous spain seeing some rather wet weather at this stage further north there we go with fabulous sunshine twenty celsius in paris not too bad sixteen in london is not too bad actually down towards the southeast we could touch twenty three in bucharest some assumptions there for athens a little bit of cloud here lots of dry weather meanwhile across northern parts of africa until we get to the far north of tunisia easing across the but it's right near coastal fringes of algeria and back across into northern parts of morocco very

heavy downpours here over the next couple of days flooding is certainly likely for a time dry weather does come back in behind by friday about where the top temperature of eighteen. 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 captives and this award bridges a gap that existed in this. nominate your own version of your own child 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 isa war dot com. from out of the top stories here now to syria turkey's team of investigators a funny end to the saudi council's residence in istanbul a day after they were denied access officials are told al-jazeera samples found inside the residence are identical to those on comet in the consulate. turkish

sources have told out a bodyguard working for the saudi crown prince led the operation against jamal khashoggi. apparently made nineteen phone calls with saudi officials on october the second the day the veteran journalist went missing. the u.n. special envoy for syria has told the security council he will step down from the role next month stuff under mr a has spent years mediating between the syrian government and rebel groups seventy one year old told the council he's moving on for personal reasons he says he'll be making every effort to get an agreement on a new draft constitution for syria before he steps down several border crossings between syria and neighboring countries have reopened in the past week easing years of political and economic isolation for the country on monday than a crossing with jordan opened for the first time in three years it's a vital trade routes across syria for lebanon and jordan so how to reports. syria

had only one land crossing during the war and that was to lebanon things are now changing for both countries. for the first time in hears lebanese produce will be able to reach far off markets in the gulf thanks to the reopening of the border crossing between syria and jordan syria is trying to reestablish its role as a regional transit hub. syria wants to end the siege imposed on it what we are seeing is the beginning of the end of its isolation in the arab world there is recognition that bashar al assad is staying in power the resumption of trade between jordan and syria doesn't just improve the economies of both countries it is a step towards normalizing relations after years of tension u.n. peacekeepers have also returned to patrol the demilitarized zone with israeli occupied syrian golan heights and syria and iraq are planning to reopen their borders following the defeat of eisel in the region government leaders in baghdad

who didn't break ties with damascus say syria shouldn't be marginalized and it must return to the arab fold. of the syria is not an intruder in the arab league syria should not be marginalized and nobody can marginalize it. but many arab states remain hostile to president bashar assad and the government leaders may have withdrawn much of their support to the rebellion but are weary of iran's influence i think for the out of. the conflict it's now not of whether bashar assad will stay approach or not but about how much him to think and how did any future syria the syrian leadership are celebrating the reopening of borders as a sign of victory in the war as well as stability but that narrative doesn't reflect the whole reality russia says the international community is no longer focusing on making syrian president bashar assad leave power but the west is

demanding what it calls a credible u.n. led peace process that will lead to free elections and until that happens it is withholding much needed money for reconstruction. the united states is even threatening what it calls a strategy of isolation if syria doesn't cooperate on a settlement of the war the reopening of borders is a step towards ending syria's economic isolation but a longer road lies ahead to regaining international legitimacy. eastern lebanon. protests in haiti have turned violent as anger grows over billions of dollars of missing funds demonstrations are demanding an investigation into how money from a venezuelan sponsored oil assistance program was used it was supposed to provide social care and improve public services but many haitians say they're still living in poverty how does your castro has will. police important point inspired live ammunition at unarmed protesters wednesday as thousands spilled onto

the streets in the capital and across the country the demonstrators accuse the ruling party of corruption and ignoring the needs of its people you know pay day we're living in a country where there's no health care there's no good schools for our children and the farmers are bad and then with no support from the government and in the same country you have a couple of people who stole over three billion dollars. haitians are demanding an investigation into what happened to some three point eight billion dollars from the venezuelan oil agreement the money from the petro caribbean fund was supposed to be for social development and public works yet either levin years after the fund was started forty thousand haitians still live in displacement camps and millions of people have no running water or. water is life for us and without it we cannot live we don't even have enough water for toilets protesters accuse politicians and

administrators of embezzling the money the protests campaign started on twitter two months ago with the hash tags petrol karim a challenge and where is the petrol caribbean money and you've seen banners and sort of people coming together and sort of again from very different walks of life from different political backgrounds from different socioeconomic backgrounds haiti's president juvenal moyse is himself implicated in the corruption scandal as he commemorated the death of haiti's founding father wednesday the sound of per. tester's could be heard throughout the event under mounting public pressure when he says he supports an independent investigation it's not going to go as the we have a big protest all over the country a big protest a request of the government a job no more it's gives us an explanation as to how the money from petro creevy was spent. with business is shuttered and schools closed around the country haitians say this protest is unlike those that have gripped the country in the past

they say this time the people are more united they say this time the government will be held accountable heidi joe castro al jazeera. israeli airstrikes have targeted twenty sites in gaza killing at least one palestinian israeli military says the strikes were in response to earlier rocket fire which struck a house and shaver in southern israel but hamas which controls gaza distance itself from the attack it says the rockets were an irresponsible attempt to undermine egyptian efforts to broker a truce. it's been ten days since presidential elections in cameroon and there's still no official declaration on who's one of the opposition is demanding a rerun amid allegations of fraud a top priority for a new leader will be dealing with a long running violence between english and french speaking speak french because in southwestern cameroon hiper morgan traveled to the town of breyer at the heart of the conflict. last three combat came face to face with men who said they were

english speaking separatist fighters they accused him of supporting and spying for the french dominated government and he was to be punished he said there's two options and with two for one now. one on our board my shit from you guys have my shit and give down so our side may. then i don't my friends know is that enough is just here to. term i made my house beside me i fighting in cameroon southwest and northwest parted in twenty sixteen when english speakers in the two regions accused the french dominated government of marginalisation the angle for its make up about twenty percent of cameron's twenty four million population a group of small fighters took up arms against the government demanding independence. it's not clear how many fighters the specialist groups have some

estimate the number to be about a thousand and as they continue to battle the government if the civilian four caught up in the middle. more than two hundred thousand people have been displaced because of the fighting many say they fled their homes out of fear of being attacks in a conflict they want no part in. there that they were shooting once in a while they were shooting and even when i went they were shooting and i had to relocate to another village but not all those who are living in this conflict region were able to escape for the past a year it's intensified hard scores of people coming in after us after. some time to do all the best we can but at the end of the day every constable save them however some of them are brought already dead and in that instance that taken directly to the mortuary aid groups see at least four hundred people have been killed both sides of the conflict have been accused of atrocities but boy as government says it's working to keep civilians safe it's not a conventional war which can easily be contained. your neighbor may get top

in the morning under decide to settle scores with you in the name of a separate we. measures to reduce the rate of kidnapping this your family says he'll still stay in because he has nowhere else to go but in a conflict revolving around languages he doesn't know who to speak to or want to see to keep his family safe here morgan are to the era where cameroon. britain is one of the youngest democracies in the world and it's voting to choose its government on thursday remote himalayan nation only held its first election ten years ago this time around the main issues facing voters are the environment and economy new barker's in the capital him food and sent this report it is a rustic landscape of peaks and paddy fields a country seemingly at odds with the modern world. less than two generations ago

bhutan had a subsistence economy now it's open to graduate from the un's list of least developed countries to a developing one things are a little slower year war manageable than other places but. there's globalization is the explosion of media there's forces beyond our control and we're being in that pried open prised open. became a democracy in two thousand and eight under the orders of the previous king it's a change the country still getting used to thoroughly stations have been set up even the remotest corners of the country voters will choose for one of two parties there's very little politically that separates them including their maims the d.p.t. pretends first ever ruling party and the d n t political newcomers it's really at the crossroads because we are a new party what we're offering people is that the must strengthen democracy and

when i see. they must strengthen democracy we must strengthen the bridge between the people and the government they are looking at firstly bridging the development gap then they're looking at income gap then it's gender gap then his generation get and then we're also we also have a strong social agenda we believe in doing what is right not what is popular both parties also want to protect the driving force of p. towns economy hydro power and accounts for a quarter of the country's national income most of which is sold as electricity to neighboring india i could only grow both lead to better health care and education if improved roads created more business opportunities in industry but there's also a fierce political debate on how best to balance this economic growth with protecting the environment and group hands unique cultural heritage nature is the backbone of the economy but hydropower is also responsible for half of all external

loans making time the second most indebted nation in asia after japan in proportion to population since it emerged from international isolation in the one nine hundred sixty s. bitter. man's gone through seismic change markets in the capital are now flooded with food from india growth is everywhere to be seen but it could be many more years before this one secretive nation stands on its own two feet. neve barker al-jazeera to return. canada has just become the second nation in the world to legalize the recreational drug cannabis the following in the footsteps of year of wine just over a year ago it's be celebrated with parties nationwide and long queues outside marijuana shops and a stunning lack reports from toronto there are public health concerns.

illegal no more at midnight in the easternmost time zone the first non-medicinal cannabis is sold without breaking canadian law. would be super happy to if you're a first person in line legalization is being celebrated countrywide and not just by smokers canadian cannabis companies have seen their share prices soar in recent months as the big day approached there is not one client yet that has not been touched by the introduction of cannabis in canada life sciences technology the banking industry retailers but in addition the food and beverage companies you're going to start seeing a lot of activity as they touch the cannabis market how comedians buy their cannabis depends on where they live there will be different distribution rules in each of the ten provinces and three territories some will have government run online in real stores others private retail prices will also differ some critics

say that puts too many restrictions on an activity most canadians have long wanted to be legal we can't really stop it with prohibition we better call it legalized. unfortunately the government has tried to maintain all of the details of prohibition and just call it legalized. legalizing cannabis fulfills a campaign promise made in two thousand and fifteen by prime minister justin trudeau who himself admitted several years ago that he was an occasional user in the past the government is also offering pardons to people convicted of possession now that the drug is legal. because cannabis has been outlawed for so long its effects on mind and body are being studied in detail at this toronto medical lab they're using a simulator to see how drivers who've smoked a joint react to virtual traffic conditions police and road safety advisers are also part of the research.