so how it's upholding human rights and this is saudi's turn but given the the jamal khashoggi murder then the questioning is going to be very tough indeed a couple of documents that are relied upon first of all saudi puts its case a national report are really just some of the items that they're putting forward for consideration they say well we've passed a protection against abuse act a child protection act to prevent abuse to protect protect the rights of the child various royal orders for example giving women more involvement in government but there are other reports which are submitted to the council from committees of the u.n. and from n.g.o.s as well which paint a very different picture and the u.n. can committees of chipped in with various concerns about persistent discriminator real laws a big increase in the number of executions that take place amputations and stonings against under eighteen year olds in saudi arabia and continuing concerns about the lack of female involvement in the governing process there have been some advance questions submitted u.s. u.k.

i'll give you one it gives you a good flavor of it it's the united kingdom's question given the recent violent death of journalist georgie can the government of saudi arabia elaborate on their claim that the laws of saudi arabia guarantee freedom of opinion and expression you can see it's very elegantly phrased but there's no mistaking the bike behind it and we'll be following all events there in geneva with the appall throughout the day here on al-jazeera thank you very much for the moment. and the u.s. president has said a saudi m. erotic coalition as strike on a school bus in yemen resulted from human error and an interview with the news website donald trump said the bombers didn't know how to use the weapon properly in august a u.s. bomb was used in the attack that killed fifty one people including forty children the incident drew attention to the use of american weaponry by the saudi an iraqi coalition in yemen. still ahead on al-jazeera why china's president is talking tough against u.s. economic policies as he pushes for more open markets brass rejecting independence

a new caledonia but not everyone is happy to remain a french territory. binny's pink skies by the time my heart. or is the sun sets in the city of angels. hello it's not quite start raining it's early yet it's still raining actually in the heel of italy but the majority of the clouds go across the adriatic so it's now ready more likely in croatia and sleeving here in the violence of italy but the lows still station to the west the potential for shows still exists and that's how it looks for today east of it's always had most bit of a warm breeze for days now still above where it should be temperature wise from remaining a right up to denmark berlin's at seventeen for example if you run from yesterday we're talking about this incoming frontal system through portions by that

eventually end up in the west a network there it is today so wet and windy for spain that about fifty or so millimeters in portugal overnight the rain keeps moving into western med plenty of stormy stuff i think for southern france and switzerland and then that's where we set for tuesday temporarily you're all right in italy the sun should be out for the most part though not in the west twenty one in rome still the to use to the eastern side you'll notice still sixteen in london all this has had an effect in north west africa and still will although the cloud today is not particularly obvious what is happening is it's coming in to morocco sustains for crosses rain in morocco as for tomorrow but further east. the weather sponsored by cats on everybody's. walk makes this moment is if we're living for the city and we haven't seen the president this unpredictable freedom of speech is

a valid motley plans and that is a perfect formula for authoritarianism in tyranny or near the light so long. there is nowhere to hide let me ask you straight up here is the two state solution no up front or italians on al-jazeera. you're watching al-jazeera a reminder of our top stories this hour a wide sweeping us economic sanctions targeting iran's oil and financial sectors have come into force iran's president hassan rouhani says his country will quote proudly bypassed the missions these are the second round of sanctions that president tom's administration has reinstated since he pulled out of the iran

nuclear deal in may despite objections from european leaders it's the sons of murdered saudi journalist jamaat has shoji say their family is unable to grieve properly without knowing where his body is shoji was killed by what turkish officials say was a hit squad who waited for him at the saudi consulate in istanbul turkey is vice president says take is now seeking those who committed the murder on its soil. a group of thirteen soldiers and police officers has been killed in an attack on a checkpoint it happened in the eastern province of guy's knee a spokesman for the governor says taliban fighters are responsible for of the attackers were also killed in the confrontation now france has welcomed the results of new caledonia is referendum which have rejected independence and remained a friend decided to remain a french territory but the margin of victory was much closer than expected and

there's been some unrest on the south pacific territory andrew thomas reports from sydney. but. their victory was clear even if it did fall short of expectations in the end concerned about how an independent new caledonia would survive economically and whether it would become a target for an assertive china tryout astakhov us we know we'll wake up tomorrow and still be french we fought for months to remain free which it alls. when you caledonia is still a divided territory france sent hundreds of placement to new caledonia for sunday's vote and on monday there was some unrest indigenous cannick people who lag behind new caledonians of european descent by every socio economic measure and are keenest on independence blocked a main road out of the capital the mere. for the separatists defeat was narrower than expected fifty six percent of voters new caledonia voted for their territory

to stay part of france that was more than half but well short of the two thirds to three quarters pro france a landslide some opinion polls had predicted did not exhaust tonight is their victory forty three percent voted yes. it might yet be a step towards an actual victory thirty years ago cannot people felt the process behind another referendum held then was weighted against them they boycotted it and after they inevitably lost there was violence dozens died so this time france under president emmanuel macro was determined both sides should see the process as fair only people with a long history in new caledonia could vote and if as has happened separatists lost the first vote for independence the b two further votes over the next five years if any one of them is successful new caledonia will become independent given the

narrow margin of the first vote even in victory some french loyalists are worried so now we're going to win this and i don't know what the point is and separatists asking the question a second time and third time since in two or four years the result will be the same so instead of one defeat it will be two or three defeat. officially the french government was neutral in the referendum process but on monday president welcome the result is that it. will vote then. we're allowed to make a sovereign choice and full knowledge of the facts on the relationship between new caledonia and france today a majority of them expressed themselves for new caledonia to remain french i have to tell you how proud i am that we have finally passed this historic step together the president knows that as do you killer tony and that this is just the first stage of the process independent supporters will have a second and third chance to break from france having got much closer than expected

with their first under thomas al-jazeera city china's president has promised to open a bank says to markets and make business easier for foreign companies she's in pain made the play jesse opened a trade fair in shanghai aimed at helping the country's image as an importer he said china will lower tariffs streamline customs checks and crack down on intellectual property theft she also criticised the those pushing protectionist trades policies who are serving in. china's economic growth over the past forty years has been achieved with a commitment to opening up developments of china's economy in the future can only be guaranteed with more openness i've made it clear before and now again that china's top will never be closed it will only open wider china will not stop its commitment to opening up and pursuing an open global economy. there is adrian brown

has more now from shanghai. well not for the first time this is an event that's all about chinese symbolism this was president xi jinping rededicating himself to free trade once more his audience which included a number of world leaders but no leaders from any major western economy was a century this china is open for business as it has been for the past four decades he said china was committed to allowing more foreign investment in its economy especially in areas like health as well as the financial sector but some of the business executives in the audience listening to the president's words are saying they've heard all of that before and that barriers still remain to doing business here in china they say there's still no level playing field they complain that in order to do business here in china they have to enter into joint ventures and that often means handing over sensitive know how also in the background of course the

sanctions that the united states is now imposing against iran iran and china are both important trading partners china buys more oil from iran than any other country and it does not want to be seen to be abandoning iran especially at this time now china has not commented publicly so far about the united states decision but it does seem that china may have been given a waiver to allow it to continue purchasing oil from iran so publicly china does not want to express its gratitude especially at a time of a deepening trade dispute between washington and beijing. the family of a pakistani christian woman acquitted in a blasphemy case is pleading for the international community to help them leave the country protesters have been calling for us yet bibi's death since the supreme court ruled to free her last week bibi's husband says the government to release her has left the mother of five in legal limbo. was convicted in two thousand and ten

of insulting islam during a dispute with her neighbors she spent eight years on death row. hundreds of people have rallied in ukraine's capital demanding punishment for those behind the death of an anti-corruption campaign that arena hands died on sunday as a result of severe burns from an acid attack in july police in kiev have arrested five people investigators blame separatists for ordering the time. now the u.s. midterm elections on tuesday are being seen as a critical test of president donald trump's presidency jon benet's predecessor barack obama on the campaign trail rallying voters in crucial states on sunday the former president addressed an event in gary indiana where the democratic senator is in a tight race with the republican candidate. we're going to win john gristle over. because the democrats will be doing. the democrats are going to be raising your

taxes or not cutting you. know you have to put a little jab. we got away in congress got to win the house i think we're doing great in the house i think we're doing great in the senate but who knows right who knows you got to get out to vote. a record number of women are running in these midterm elections many are galvanized by the president's comments about women his administration's attempt to curb abortion rights and the appointment of a supreme court judge accused of sexual assault but others still back the president and his party as our white house correspondent kimberly hocket reports. do so at least one day after donald trump was sworn in as president hundreds of thousands of women gathered in cities across the united states to protest. almost two years have passed but the u.s. president has given them little reason to change their original judgment of a man many regard with revulsion his behavior and language at times has hardened

their views. after his aide omarosa manigault newman was ousted from the white house called her a crazed crying lowlife and a dog after congresswoman maxine waters encouraged her supporters to harass trump administration officials they're not going to be able to go to a restaurant they're not going to be able to stop at a gas station called waters an extraordinarily low i.q. person. but nothing has polarized the country more along gender lines than the hearings for supreme court justice brett kavanaugh christine blas a forward accused trumps nominee of sexual assault when they were in high school truck cast doubt about her testimony mocking her recollection of the decades old event how did you get home i don't remember how did you get there i don't remember where is the place i don't remember how many years ago was it i don't know. toss attacks on women are nothing new and have been dismissed by his supporters ever

since the release of a video in two thousand and sixteen threatened to derail his campaign. from shrugged off the controversy and won the white house even today well a majority of us women still disapprove of trump at least a third still solidly approve of trump's presidency when everybody makes mistakes and they're like nobody's perfect but god. he's made his mistakes that everybody else who's human hands i think he's a bully i do but i think you need someone like that in the office conservative women point to donald trump's historically low unemployment numbers that are rising wages well in office they say his appointment of a female press secretary and a significant number of female filled cabinet posts proves he's supportive of women in the workplace still the battle for the female vote isn't. hence a finding republicans have released the sixty second advert aimed at winning over suburban college educated women voters only shows this demographic more than most

is where conservative support is waning but notably truck never appears in the advert it's a signal even republicans realize the president remains toxic to many voters and in the fight to hang on for control of congress conservatives can't afford to lose a single female vote can really help get al-jazeera the white house since u.s. economic sanctions on sudan were negative last year the government has been trying to rebuild neglected regions one area of investment is a historic port built in the sixteenth century which used to be the country's main trading hub. but morgan has more from so a kenyan eastern sudan crumbled buildings the remains of an area where the ottomans ruled sudan and when crete flourished on the country's second largest ports including slave trade but pushing to it brahim this is the only home he's ever known. i was born here and grew up here this place has an amazing history it was one of sudan's first ports for trade and for people people used to travel around

the world for centuries so working was built by the ottomans in the sixteenth century it's along with several other ports along sudan's eastern coast served as a major gateway to the gulf and the east. but since sanctions were imposed on sudan in one thousand nine hundred haven't most of the country supports load in function as straight decelerated. is one of the traders who felt the impact. because you know a lot of goods used to come via the sea but then it's loaded down with the sanctions there were less ships coming in and now we have to go to the capital to bring stocks instead of relying on nearby port. sanctions were lifted last year but says he's yet to feel any positive effect sudan's government with help from foreign countries like turkey have been working to restore still working for tourism and trade reviving the historic and economic significance of so i can well take years but it's not just the ports tourism and investment potential that are attracting foreign investors regional park dynamics also seem to have

a role just across the red sea is a regional gulf crisis and a worry in yemen involving a saudi led coalition some countries such as egypt and saudi arabia fear that so working will become what is once was a military base local authorities disagree but we are well that what we're trying to do is rebuild the structure for trade and tourism so walking is less than twenty square kilometers how could you build a military base here a base could be built further north imports are done and that's been discussed but not here it's working there i want to see a revival of the port he and his ancestors grew up on so trade can resume instead of the old structures crumbling and becoming merry symbols of the past he will morgan al-jazeera so work in east and sudan. much more news as always on our web site we've got a special page on the iran a sanctions the new sanctions imposed by the u.s. because i'll just zero dot com.

close again i'm fully back to go with the headlines on al-jazeera wide sweeping u.s. economic sanctions targeting iran's oil and financial sectors have come into force iran's president says the islamic republic will quote proudly bypass the measures these have a second round of sanctions at the trumpet ministration has reinstated since the us pulled out of the nuclear deal in may despite objections from european leaders. the sons of murdered saudi journalists say their family is unable to grieve properly without knowing where his body is shoji was killed by what turkish officials say was a hit squad who waited for him at the saudi consulate in istanbul turkey as vice president says it's now seeking the person who committed the murder on its soil. in afghanistan a group of thirteen soldiers and police officers has been killed in an attack on a checkpoint the attack took place in eastern guys need province a spokesman for gaza's governesses the taliban is responsible for the attackers

were also killed in the confrontation china's president has promised to open up access to markets and make business easier for foreign companies sheeting been made the pledge as he opened a trade fair in shanghai aimed at improving china's image as an importer he said china will lower tariffs streamline customs checks and crack down on intellectual property theft who are three of. china's economic growth over the past forty years has been achieved with a commitment to opening up developments of china's economy in the future can only be guaranteed with more openness i've made it clear before and now again that china's top will never be closed it will only open wider china will not stop its commitment to opening up a pursuing an open global economy and people in new caledonia have voted to remain part of france they were celebrations in the capital new mayor after final results

from the referendum showed that fifty six percent of voters chose to remain a french territory but there is concern the result could reaganite tension between europeans and cannot people who are the original inhabitants of the island in the south pacific those are the headlines on al-jazeera up front is up next stay with us. on counting the cost the u.s. a white still the largest on regulated gun market in the developed world who pays it brags it goes wrong plus the seychelles leads the way in eco finance with the world's first blue ball. counting the cost just the euro. after more than seven years of a never ending conflict in syria does one of the world's most famous war crimes prosecutors believe they'll ever be justice for the victims and also on the show is girls on the brink of war.

more than two hundred dead in gaza this year alone three palestinian kids killed in an israeli air strike earlier this week rockets fired into israel from gaza and we on the verge of another all out war that's our discussion but first the world continues to fail syria with the international community unable to prevent crimes against humanity war criminals were prosecuted both in rwanda and the former yugoslavia but what chance of that happening in syria and couldn't leader of the united states or the u.k. ever be brought in front of an international tribunal last this week's headlines for war crimes chief prosecutor of. thanks for joining me up front more than a year ago you resigned in protest from the independent international commission of

inquiry on the syrian arab republic a special investigative committee set up by the u.n. you said that you were frustrated that you gave up that there is no justice for syria you said why is that and who do you think is to blame. first of all i confirm what you are saying yes i resigned in protest to be because the security council. is guilty on this situation because the security council did not take a decision to put in place its regular doc or to be fair to the. money to criminal court. so. after six years in the commission. trying to obtain justice for the victims and it was not possible nobody's listening to us to the commission and then see the. total impunity when you said that the un commission was not backed by any political will for example which

countries on the security council were you referring to which countries specifically lacked the political will that you were looking for or it's well known it is russia first of all to russia and china and russia uses a victorian right so they stopped each resolution that want to put in place in international tribunal it was not possible it is still not possible because russia is still putting an obstacle to each. decision to justice for the victims isn't there a bit of a contradiction there when we hear you talk about russia because right now you're saying russia is to blame but in twenty sixteen when the russians were intervening in syria bombing in syria tilting the war in favor of bashar al assad you praised that you said it was a good thing that russia should intervene because quote someone is attacking these terrorist groups what is your position on russia in the syrian war because you seem to be all over the place. you know you must make it be fed into between the

military as it is the justice justice bowing to the media to the point of political point so if you see it russia now russian probably trying to obtain a peace accord in syria as we as we know from the place but. military military aid was. not allow when the. russian a was helping the regime of assad and it was there fighting against terrorism you have other reports of this commission that you can read is that the ration is the responsible for civilians death and sadness and as a result our understand the point to make you think separate about they can intervene to fight terrorism and kill civilians at the same time i'm saying but you are someone who sitting on a u.n. commission at that time do you regret making those comments because the at the

moment you made those comments in february twenty sixth at that time amnesty was criticized for bombing civilian targets how could you investigate all crows while praising a party that's accused of war you know i disagree with you totally i disagree with you. because it is a war it always is going on seven years now and in this a very year or so you have a different event even in that he today from the parties who are fighting these this war end but he clearly the commission of crimes crimes against humanity and war crimes so even i remember speaking as former prosecutor i must telling you will total impunity in syria and that east and acceptable and the security council is guilty. of that. if i am speaking about a member of the commission because a commission is about relation of human rights and didn't not teach violation of

human rights is a crime so you can you can describe in this city ports that we present the council of human rights we describe what happened in reality ok and that then you had a little time that russia has intervention was justified because finally someone is attacking these terrorist groups but as you know the acid government has labeled just about everyone who is on the side of the regime or terrorists were you worried about kind of language from you member of the commission would give a green light to syria and to russia to escalate their bombardment. no no no no no no nobody of rahm's a commission and not to me is even going to the ration to bombard absolutely not russian intervene intervene we set aside the regime against terror is go by tikrit that that and that for me was absolutely positive on may sixth two thousand and thirteen following

a chemical attack in syria outside of aleppo two months earlier you said we have no indication at all that the syrian government has used chemical weapons and that according to what we have established so far it is at the moment opponents of the regime who are using sarin gas ever since you said that supporters of the assad government of used your quote to suggest it's the rebels who are carrying out all the chemical attacks not the assad government does that bother you and do you still stand by that statement. i absolutely stay on that statement because that also you see it was at the beginning at the beginning of the use of chemical weapons so in one interview i said the first elements of evidence is that we have ethan's that they have dealt have used chemical weapons since then the commission established that the regime used chemical weapons but we were not able to investigate and we were not allowed to investigate unfortunately because until today you don't know

exactly who all you always want to of chemical weapons so you sort of the time you said we have no indication of my government you told them you said we have it is them by the rapper moment opponents of the regime who are using storing their us time but then i will tell you when this is not common at the time of the very day the un said at the time we wish to clarify the commission has not reached any conclusive findings on the use of chemical weapons did you speak too soon because your own u.n. colleagues disowned your remark at the time it's true that the my colleagues were not happy about that but i think that if you tell the truth is the best the best attitude that you can have and i asked former prosecutor i know that so. at the beginning of the use of chemical weapons the only elements we had a evolve very dense aware that their belts use it since then we have many others that episode and two we could establish a commission could establish that the regime used chemical weapons in their belts

use chemical weapons. more and more a piece of them that they have belts but but what i want to tell you is that. that the international community it in but in but security council and the u.n. don't do nothing to establish exactly who are responsible for the use of chemical weapons before serious. you were called the world's most powerful criminal lawyer you working as a prosecutor for the international tribunals on war crimes in the former yugoslavia rwanda slobodan milosevic famously attacked you with the new gas stop i think he called you you said some of the worst criminals of the twentieth century to prison why was justice possible in rwanda and in the balkans but not in syria because the security council didn't want that because the security council. don't want to just. see the avoid to be teams because of former yugoslavia and there was

a security council. meeting and decided to go constituted of nations that would be on or linked to that to deal with the crimes that way they committed war crimes and crimes again your money and genocide but unfortunately it is a political decision from the security council while out an entire nation an institution a tribe you all know a dog to obtain just deployed to beat teams. the weak point that it is a political decision you will but the but those decisions are made not just by governments are made by prosecutors you once expressed a willingness to press charges against nato personnel for alleged war crimes in one nine hundred ninety nine in december ninety nine when you told the guardian you were up for that nato had broken the geneva conventions then six months later you change your mind you did one hundred percent you turned and said major didn't do anything wrong you're not going to investigate him why did you do that. we open an investigation when we have concrete element of evidence this and we had one

element i remember very well it was a bombardment from an american pilot on civilians convoy and did the pilot say i see you have c.b.d. and and even see the order to bombard and. one hundred twenty civilians killed we all pay and then the investigation. but it was not possible to conduct this investigation in this investigation to the end that the leads and why . not this is what you said in june two thousand there is no basis for opening an investigation into any of the allegations although some mistakes were made by nato i'm very satisfied that there was no deliberate targeting obviously was about you said although some mistakes were made by nato i'm very satisfied that it was not deliberate targeting of civilians no human rights groups don't agree with. i don't know which. you were referring to the war in general you said during

a not i'm quoting i am color i'm quoting you you said all let me know no one in general i am not speaking about the war in general you are reasonable really nine thousand you said i'm very satisfied that there was no deliberate targeting of civilians by no two during the bombing campaign but human rights groups disagree with you you disagreed with you six months earlier these agree what to you are saying you are not correct in what you are the fairing that i am speaking about ok let me ask you now that since you disagree with your quote do you believe that nato only made mistakes during its bombing campaign of kosovo and there were no potential war crimes worth investigating what is your position you told me i have one on one investigation i open just one investigation about the responsibility of nato committing crimes but i could not i could not enter this investigation and issuing any dire warning because it was not possible to collect. all this they've been using to cooperate with the tribunal. because india is not the only

although in in cases we did not ended our investigation because.