goes as i say the they are maintaining a steady. progressive workflow as to when we'll hear anything in terms of results that still isn't clear will they coincide with any possible announcement from the saudis on their investigation that's unclear the audiotape which is being leaked in parts to the media there is still those solid wood of how that came about and if it does make a proven case that is also it would appear from the transcripts that have been leaked out it is a solid case but an overdub of all of that there seems to be a lot of intelligence a lot of surveillance the turks have successfully processed which is building a very solid case and as far as the the number of saudis who came up with the second to actually commit whatever they did then there are four key players in

these four prime suspects all of them connected to the royal household one of them in particular muhammad sorry i got the wrong there abdel aziz machu but trib now he is an individual who's got a history of intelligence work for the saudis he was first secretary in the london embassy for the saudis ten years ago and he's been seen in several capitals as a bodyguard all of the crown prince and he was seen on a number of phases of the day particularly the early part of the day when he walked into the building behind me he was clearly shown on the c.c.t.v. and there are still pictures which have been published by one of the government supporting newspapers in that picture which is that there's a time imprint on it it's clearly ahead of the arrival of joe male kushal. gee

that is key then you see him later on with a suitcase checking into a hotel you also see him leaving the airport it's clearly seen on the security cameras they're going to a private jet now there are other figures as well as i say connected with the rule household all the all that is the actually l. of evidence to suggest that there all is a direct connection with the crown prince unclear is it circumstantial evidence not clear either it remains to be seen exactly how strong the evidence is book all the points and saw suggesting that there will be clear evidence for a big case against the saudis from turkey ok andrew symonds live for us in istanbul enter thank you now aside from the u.s. treasury secretary many other big names have pulled out of saudi arabia's major investment conference next week the so-called davos and the desert among them top a new politicians include the french and dutch finance ministers and the british

trade secretary the international monetary fund's christine legarde is also out as are the c.e.o.'s of j.p. morgan chase and the blackstone group which is a u.s. based financial services company and media partners have also withdrawn including c.n.n. c. and b. c. the financial times the new york times and the los angeles times and france has suspended political visits to saudi arabia other e.u. leaders have also voiced concerns john hall has the latest from brussels. if there's been concern about a slow response by european nations at a political level to the alleged murder of jamal khashoggi well that may be changing britain france and the netherlands of all announced that they're withdrawing their ministerial level delegations to that financial investment summit or davos in the desert as it's been dubbed citing that now is simply not the time for that level of engagement this was what french president emmanuel macron had to say. leafy. the facts we know today are mr g.

string the serious and worrying we expect to throw light on this matter we have had exchanges with saudi authorities to clarify all this but in the current circumstances we have sides a postponement political visits including that of our economy minister european countries of course faced something of a quandary in their response to saudi arabia do they go in hard on riyadh demanding answers threatening action risking the possibility of wrecking lucrative trade and investment ties particularly in the sale of arms and also very valuable intelligence contacts that have been credited with water going number of attacks on european soil or do they stand behind that much from put to value of the european union the global rules based system casting all else to one side well it seems they are making their minds up now even though the call continues to go out for a thorough into in independent investigation this was donald tusk the president of

the e.u. council earlier. we need an open transparent and to further investigation it's in all the best interests of the forethought we are there and outside the european union but nevertheless watching closely the russian president vladimir putin where he also of a rush to judgment. first of all we should wait for the results of the investigations how can we russia is start to spoiling our relationship with saudi arabia without knowing what in fact happen there. what may happen in future will nobody is quite waiting over for the investigation to calm clue one clue though comes from a close ally of angela merkel speaking in berlin on wednesday he said europe may have to adjust its relations with saudi arabia. earlier we staked out is there a senior political analyst maher on bashar he says saudi arabia is

a reckless ally of the u.s. it's a huge development basically that's the end of the road for the so-called davos in the desert once the europeans pulled out it was clear that the united states is going to follow suit and once the united states does it's clearly putting the saudi leaders on the spot this is no longer simply asking them to investigate themselves now they're saying we cannot be seen with you in riyadh while the investigation is going on in turkey and i think all others banks corporation and so on so forth will eventually follow because if you are a minutia or you are a liam fox in the u.k. you don't want to be seen in riyadh when the investigation result is being voiced out of the car or istanbul and you are sitting with those who are accused of murder i think there are two things that we have to distinguish between and there this is very important one is american soldiers relations the second is american relations

with saudi arabia through mohammed bin solomon you see america likes reliable allies trump likes reliable autocrats he likes she likes putin he likes all kinds of autocrats. but he doesn't like under liable autocrats he'd like to know what to do what to do you know you want to silence isn't you silence them you don't make it into an international scandal you want to launch a war in your neighbor yemen you launch a war but you end it you finish it you win it you don't kill countless of people and says continue your way of debris might become our city is not to hold the prime minister of lebanon hostage or country you are way over resulting in a dispute with your neighbor qatar is not to blockade it and to threaten to invade it your idea of opening it is not to rest women who want to drive your economic reform shouldn't be marching businessmen into the rich and give them a good beating this does not make for a reliable ally this makes for

a fretless reckless. let's remind you who the men were at the center of this mysterious jamal khashoggi criticize saudi arabia's monarchy after mohamed fence on monday came the center of power and the kingdom last chair it is a thirty three old crown prince of introducing a new era of fear intimidation arrests and public shaming very for his safety he fled to the u.s. in september of last year where he wrote a regular column for the washington post but before his career as a journalist was close to the saudi royal family and served as an advisor to senior saudi officials and what he has told several accounts that were apparently pushing a pro saudi government agenda following the disappearance of jamal khashoggi the accounts are being taken down for violating spam rules u.s. broadcast network and over a list of accounts to twitter is a associate professor of middle east politics at the university of oklahoma he joins us via skype from norman oklahoma thank you so much for your time so to be

clear what we're talking about are or bots which are basically fake accounts was this tactic to be expected. unfortunately i think it was to be expected now this is a standard practice by some states in international politics of course the best known case is the russian case in terms of their attempted influence on american public opinion including the elections but this is also quite common in the gulf in the arab world as you know the g.c.c. cuts are a crisis of a year and a half ago or so also had many pots a trying to sew this information and misinformation with regard to public opinion about that as well so yes it is unfortunately to be expected how effective is this tactic well we don't know that accurately we do

know that it is somewhat effective i mean it can do a number of things one it can frame a conversation or it can actually get certain topics to be in the public discussion as opposed to other topics and to it can so some doubt in this case among public opinion about the veracity of the allegation and that enough i don't think there's a big debate in the now about the effectiveness of the russian meddling and part of it is the box not all of it so we don't accurately know how effective but it is effective enough to be worried about and to be concerned about and for twitter to take these accounts down is this about. saudi arabia trying to. change thought outside of saudi arabia also inside a saudi. well it's both but you're right to question that it's

i think primarily about domestic opinion inside saudi arabia for a number of reasons of course the tweets were both in arabic and in english but this crisis has not only affected how people outside of saudi arabia look at how but then some months there is a great fear i think inside saudi arabia that this will negatively affect his popularity in standing inside the kingdom especially if there are negative economic consequences associated with this gruesome act and we've seen them already and so it's over these then hold him responsible for negative economic consequences to their country that's quite concerning so i think these these tweets are primarily directed at saudis to try to sow doubt in their mind that mohamed bin some on the sort of the government are responsible for this and therefore not to blame them for this crisis my shahadah joining us from oklahoma thank you you're welcome.

himself the other by a curse on whose name has often been mentioned in connection with this case has been that of the saudi crown prince muhammad and salma his rapid rise to the international community by surprise the last eighteen months he has consolidated power and attempted to project himself as a reformer a modernizer the case may change that perception that many have of him versus bari has more. since is debut on the world stage it's been a rapid rise for saudi crown prince mohammed bin some on in two thousand and fifteen seemingly out of nowhere the twenty nine year old favorite son of saudi arabia's king solomon been up to lizzie's was appointed defense minister he became chief architect of saudi arabia's military intervention in yemen a campaign of aerial bombardment that has helped create what the un calls the worst humanitarian crisis in the world human rights organizations accuse the saudi led

coalition of bombing civilian targets such as hospitals and schools in saudi arabia where most of the population is under thirty been so man has been heralded as a man who would bring much needed economic and social reforms but that's changed in recent months however no help to send men with with the with jamal khashoggi it's come about at a time when reforms have been slowing down he gave women the right to drive but imprison women activists there are still many reforms that have been take been very slow in implementing in saudi arabia and people quite frankly have run out of patience. in june last year mohammed been some on that the blockade against qatar creating the worst crisis in the g.c.c. since its inception in november saudi security forces arrested several hundred business leaders and senior royals many had to pay billions of dollars to secure

their release. the saudi government called it an anti-corruption purge but analysts said that this was mohamed bin solomon's way of removing people who could potentially pose a threat to his power and also a way to raise much needed funds for a struggling economy. later that same month saudi forces detained lebanese prime minister saad hariri on a visit to the kingdom it took weeks before he was released in march of this year mohammed bin solomon visited the united states the whirlwind tour and charm offensive led to largely favorable coverage in the international media helping the crown prince sell his image as a reformer who would open saudi arabia up to innovation and investment since then a range of other civil society activists and clerics have been jailed observers say saudi arabia strategic relationship with western powers is a delicate one to balance i think the problem that the white house has and indeed

what a lot of european allies have is that there are a lot of cases going on in the region a lot of crises in which saudi arabia is a major player and is required to be a major ally this includes issues regarding iran this includes issues in yemen this includes issues regarding palestine and israel now with the jamal khashoggi suspected murder inside the saudi consulate in istanbul causing more international outrage critics wonder if the saudi crown prince can survive the scrutiny. for such a party al jazeera. amount of money is a saudi activists are new to the u.s. together with her family for a better future she believes the global outcry. will force saudi arabia to change. i think a lot of activists especially abroad feel this sense of urgency and responsibility too for voice their opinions about what's going on back home. as you know many of

the activists who are speaking out were arrested and detained and their voices have been silent so it's up to us living abroad to actually bring their voices back to the stage and use this platform to voice our concerns for their safety and the safety of others as well the majority is you know actively speaking. you know you're not we're not hearing about it because they're being silence which is why it's very refreshing that we're seeing other foreign countries taking a stance and that helps you know having foreign allies that say hey this needs to change internally so when this changes are being forced and are being heard by the country i think that's when we'll start seeing real change i mean as much as i would like to think that the people can leave the change within unfortunately they don't so that's why it's every voice every activists everyone that can help in any way is going to help in the long run i'm

hopeful of this by president trumps remarks and all of that i am very hopeful that you know at least the outrage the outcry the global outcry will make a difference over all and the status of human rights in saudi arabia if not for anything just the fact that these voices are heard and the world is now watching i think it makes a huge difference so ahead on al-jazeera one of the world's youngest democracies picks a new government we have a special report from the mountain. i want to get a stance shia minority saturday's election as an opportunity to get a bigger say in politics. from dusky sunset if it springs event. to sunrise atop an asian metropolis a lot you know welcome back to your international weather forecasts we're here

across central asia not looking too bad for most areas we do have a front right here in the south china sea where you see those thunderstorms and to the north things are relatively dry now where we are seeing some precept is here along the coast of vietnam over the next few days though we do expect more rain here in vietnam as the flow starts to shift a little bit more from the southeast for hong kong though really not looking too bad at twenty seven more closer shanghai where the temperature you have twenty two degrees or across malaysia indonesia we are seeing some very heavy rain showers that has been the trend of the last several days it has been fairly dry to the south but that's not going to stay really the trend as we make our way towards the weekend we do expect to see more clouds more rain for jakarta up towards the philippines manila rain for you as well we do expect to see attempts to there about thirty two and then here across india it's going to be dry to the north it is going to be rainy to the south the satellite right there showing all the rain anywhere from parts of bengal or over towards chennai thirty one degrees there sri lanka is going to be a rainy day for you and that is really going to continue the trend as we go towards

the beginning of the weekend but up towards the north it is going to be quite warm with new delhi seeing about thirty three degrees crotchet thirty six and katmandu we're going to sing about twenty five for you. the weather sponsored by cat time and place. on behalf of her majesty's government i apologize reservedly a historic apology for one of british intelligence his darkest episodes was a growing agreement that the libyans could be quite useful to the west seven years after the death of gadhafi al-jazeera world investigates western collusion with the libyan security services. get daffy rendition on the west on al-jazeera. challenge your perception. powerful documentaries. that makes up the. debate

some discussions you've been out there with the protesters on the streets what are they been telling you. discover a wealth of award winning programming from around the. see the world from a different perspective. on al-jazeera. the be. watching al-jazeera let's recap the top stories for you this hour u.s. president donald trump passed for the first time publicly acknowledge that saudi journalist is likely to be dead he has warned saudi arabia of severe consequences if it is responsible secretary of state mike pompei always asked him to give riyadh more time for investigations before deciding on what to do next. and top

politicians from the e.u. have pulled out of a major saudi investment conference next week they include the french and dutch finance ministers and the british trade secretary more than forty u.s. politicians have called for sanctions against saudi arabia and a letter addressed to president trump. and saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman has denied any knowledge of what happened but al jazeera has learned that one of his bodyguards was allegedly in charge of the operation which involves fifteen men . a shooting in afghanistan's southern province of kandahar has left three government officials dead the local intelligence chief the police chief and the governor were all killed three americans were also injured in the attack on the governor's compound the taliban have claimed responsibility among the dead was also a top afghan security commander general abdul had previously survived numerous

attempts on his life attacks have encreased in the run up to saturday's parliamentary election the taliban have repeatedly threatened to disrupt the vote and stance president has encouraged voters to participate in saturday's election despite the recent violence. as my own my wish for the people of afghanistan especially for those who are over eighteen and nominated for the election is to go and participate in the election holding this election is going to be a victory for the brave afghan security forces. it will be a victory for the people of afghanistan and for democracy. has more from kabul this is a major setback for the afghan government because in one single attack they lost three senior local government officials in. general for example the top police command was on top of the hit list for the taliban for quite some time here he survived many suicide bombing attacks and his father was killed in an

attack by the taliban who is known for his staunch anti taliban stand saying that there is no way that can play in a future role in afghanistan and the attack also highlights of the challenges that the americans the afghan government and nature will face in the near future also comes against the backdrop of the upcoming elections many people how to hope that those if the saturday elections could pave the way for more stability and you parliament that could tackle the problems the afghan government faces particularly inefficient governance corruption and the need to find job opportunities for millions of people i think after this attack people would have questions about whether it's safe or not to go and cast their votes on saturday michael samples a professor at queen's university belfast he served as the u.s. deputy special representative in afghanistan and says the killings of the country's

top security team has made an even more challenging for people who want to take part in the election. well it's like a tug of war over the afghan countryside and people with we've heard that the president of afghanistan calling on people to turn out and vote so he can demonstrate that despite the taliban's best efforts afghans are able and willing to participate in the political process while the taliban are trying to show exactly the opposite in their statement on the elections they said that elections in which people do not participate count for nothing and they are trying to show that they have sufficient control over the country and the people to prevent those elections going ahead i think that the the voter turnout is going to be perhaps the main indicator that unless you look us to evaluate whether the elections have succeeded or failed certainly in kandahar already

today people simply didn't come out of their houses again after the news of the. killing of general russet i think people there will be even more concerned about security he was a linchpin without security who is going to come out and vote so really they. are the struggle to hold or prevent these elections is really a struggle over turnout as one of the youngest i'm ocracy in the world and now the town has chosen a new government the d.m.t. part of a narrow victory over its main rival and the national assembly as only the third democratic election held by the himalayan. barker has more from paro democracy in action high in the himalayas it is a colorful occasion national dress must be warned. ten years ago the former king of bhutan ordered the country to embrace democracy is the nation's third election like

three times ancient traditions democracy is now also a fiercely guarded part of booting the society jobs the a bar mint and economic growth are all at the forefront of voters' concerns. the main issues facing us farmers are safe drinking water supply irrigation water and agriculture it's also important to look after youth many of whom are unemployed . the most important thing in this election is voting for a party or a candidate that would make my nation economically srong and would best look after the welfare of the people of bhutan for sharing zambo it's a time to be old friends she remembers the days before democracy before time opened up to the outside world. things were really great under the monarchy and happiness and the country enjoyed great progress which have

a party which is there must be no hatred or division among our people. the voters chose between two political parties the d.t.p. which formed the first government in two thousand and eight and the d n t political newcomers there's little separating the politically at the center of every party's political manifesto is the pursuit of happiness is the only country in the world to measure success through economic output but through gross national happiness which translates as good governance a balance between work and pleasure economic growth and nature it's a pursuit that has its roots of buddhism widely practiced bhutan. the country is steeped in tradition and belief in the past ten years he's had to contend with a new ideology democracy return has seen the type of confrontational sometimes divisive politics that exists in neighboring india the world's largest democracy

and elsewhere in the world and is worried about it coming here there are also concerns over social media's impact on politics and traditions election candidates have even complained about fake news appearing online many batata still waiting to see where their pursuit of happiness and the road of democracy meet leave barca zero power over. south korea's president and has given the head of the roman catholic church a special message from north korea's leader they met pope francis and the vatican and he relayed that kim jong un had invited the pontiff to visit young yang as president donald trump has threatened to close america's southern border with mexico to stop what he says is an onslaught of migrants that includes about three thousand hondurans who are continuing to make their way through guatemala towards the u.s. border trumpets threaten to cut aid to guatemala honduras and el salvador authorities there fail to stop them even mercer reports. some people here are calling it an

exodus more than a thousand migrants fleeing hundred on foot arrived at a migrant sheltering guatemala city on wednesday a group of migrants set off from honduras last week and the caravan has since grown rapidly people hope that traveling as a group will help protect them from robberies assaults and kidnappings on route to mexico in the united states a voyage many say they've been forced to make let's kick it out more than anybody but we don't want to go and invade that country but hunger and the needs of our children oblige us to do this we don't want to abandon our nation i didn't want to come here but we've been killed little by little i hope people can understand the. staff at the privately run shelter say they've already provided food shelter and medical assistance to around two thousand migrants and they expect thousands more to arrive at the shelter in the coming days neither tropical heat and seasonal

downpours nor threats of detention from security forces have deterred the migrants are going to come out of. it was a really hard decision to come i have two small children one and two years old but we're doing this to avoid more suffering president donald trump has threatened to cut off hundreds of millions of dollars of aid to honduras guatemala and el salvador if the migrant caravan isn't stopped and turned around but for the people who are escaping a region beset by gang violence poverty and corruption such threats have little meaning. that it's a troubling action because the poor have never benefited from this aid not from the alliance for prosperity more from free trade agreements basically those who are rich benefits while the poor are excluded and so they continue to migrate. more hundred margarines are arriving here by the minute both say that they're going to stay in the shelters for the night to rest up before heading towards the mexican

border that's a journey that's more than two hundred fifty kilometers long and with a lot of rain in the forecast it's going to be a difficult journey with little to lose these migrants say they're determined to push north regardless what stands in their way but with the trumpet ministration intent on stopping the caravan before it reaches the u.s. border their dreams of a better life could be cut short david mercer al jazeera in guatemala city hamas has distanced itself from a rocket attack that hit southern israel on wednesday house was damaged in the city there shava the group says the rocket fire was an irresponsible attempt to undermine egyptian efforts to broker a new long term truce with israel israeli military responded by hitting twenty sites and gaza killing at least one palestinian at least five people are dead and two are missing after flash flooding in tunisia residents are cleaning up after heavy rain caused flooding in a number of cities in the country's north damaging homes and shops locals have

criticised authorities for failing to maintain drainage systems was by frequent rental rains in the autumn. a landslide in tibet has forced six thousand people to leave their homes all and debris blocked one of the region's key rivers causing water levels to rise forty meters it could endanger downstream areas and india and china and europe have reportedly joined a bit by mexico and canada to challenge donald trump's metal tariffs they're asking the world trade organization to investigate the legality of u.s. steel and aluminum tariffs imposed earlier this year america is also asking need to b.t.o. that is to decide on the legality of retaliatory tariffs from china the e.u. canada and mexico. california's considering the eventual release of thousands of men mates serving life sentences for nonviolent crimes the inmates were sentenced under the three strikes you're out law passed in the early one nine hundred ninety s. to keep repeat offenders behind bars a strike sentences were triggered by one serious crime conviction in two other

convictions and admit four years ago it's a law by redefining some felony crimes and making them not count as a strike a second ballot measure approved two years ago will allow inmates convicted of nonviolent crimes to be eligible for parole in also has the latest from los angeles three strikes and you're out is a term taken from the american sport of baseball but in this context what it means is any person who committed two felonies and then was found guilty of a third no matter what that might be would be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole now many people caught up in this were nonviolent offenders people who stole or shoplifted some goods from a store or were caught with a very small amount of narcotics nevertheless they were put in life without the pot put in life behind bars without the possibility of parole well now that's changing

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