thank you the u.s. is calling the latest sanctions against iran targeting the oil and financial sectors the toughest so far but iran's president hassan rouhani says it will be business as usual for. the trumpet ministration is re imposing sanctions that were originally lifted as part of the twenty fifth the nuclear agreement the move ahead hundreds of businesses including those from countries linked with iran. is joining us from there how concerned are iranians at the reimposition of these sanctions. well if if you listen to officials you know the first bit of official reaction we got this morning was from president hassan rouhani himself speaking to his economic team which is recently been shaken up the minister of the economic ministry the federal minister was replaced the president has gone out of his way to illustrate to his people that he's taking the economic chaos in the country seriously and

addressing his relatively new team he put out his sort of forward thinking iran's policy going forward and that would be to continue to sell oil and to break these u.s. sanctions he also said that no white house ever in his estimation has been as opposed to fulfilling its international obligations and its international commitments and he said that no white house has been as racist as this one is taking a shot at his american counterpart president donald trump so very very defiant words coming from president hassan rouhani now we have to say that while the civilian government was doing what they were doing there were large scale military exercises going on as well one of the things that the american government that this white house pointed to was the reason behind pulling out of the nuclear deal in re imposing sanctions was iran's ballistic missiles program that iran says is for defensive purposes as well as iran's growing military influence in the middle east

and so it did not feel like a coincidence that iran scheduled one of its largest aerial military exercises on the same day that sanctions were kicked back in these exercises involve multiple aerial defense units from iran's regular military as well as the iranian revolutionary guard corps and spanned half a million kilometers across the country so no doubt a message to the united states iranians we spoke to say that they've learned in their time of dealing with the u.s. government that the only language they understand is the language of strength and so it's probably no coincidence that these exercises were scheduled. to go out in the same day as this deadline arrived thank you while you're a person come up with a way to facilitate payments for a rainy an x. for or send offset the impact of the u.s. sanctions but some experts warn it may not be enough to persuade large companies to continue operating in iran but also butler reports from paris since president trump's announcement in may that the u.s.

would reimpose sanctions on iran european leaders have been scrambling for ways to bypass them and keep the twenty fifteen nuclear deal alive in september the e.u. finally came up with a plan a new payment mechanism allowing european companies to trade with tehran and avoid to u.s. penalties the but disappearance welcomed practical proposals to month tain and develop payment channels not i believe the initiative to establish a special third of a call to facilitate payments related to a dance exports including oil and imports companies violating sanctions could be cut from the powerful u.s. financial system it's a risk that most european multinationals don't want to take french companies to town and france and citron have begun shutting their brain operations german car make a daimler is also pulling out along with british airways it's not yet clear how the

e.u.'s new payment mechanism would work it could be about a system or it could be a new e.u. backed financial body set up to deal with transactions between europe and tehran either way some analysts say it may not be enough to make big multinational flights hotels reconsider doing business with iran companies like to order companies are fruit of your essential stock i don't think they're going to take the risk of brain or from iraq so it doesn't sort of i would say ninety percent of the problems due to the recession. the plan may be flawed but it sends a political signal to washington and tehran europe is determined to maintain the accord even though relations between some european countries and iran have deteriorated in october danish officials said they prevented a planned iranian attack on opponents in denmark a few weeks earlier france's government said that they had filed a similar plot their efforts to preserve this accord but it's more about

maintaining cordial diplomatic ties the problem is that relations are not good right now there is no french ambassador in iran or a reigning in bastogne france and then we have the ledger in prague on any opponents invalid count and the one in denmark trump hopes u.s. sanctions will force take brawn into a new deal but so far iran says it won't renegotiate with e.u. leaders openly defying washington over the issue if the accord collapses it would be a crushing blow to europe's credibility with sasha butler al-jazeera paris let's make a francois is a former french ambassador to iran his joining us from paris and also to thanks very much for speaking to us give us the european point of view how long do you think european countries will be able to hold out for when it comes to the iranian sanctions in the face of u.s. pressure and as our reporter was mentioning deteriorating relations with iran. well you know i'm in concern

a europe of course it would be difficult there of it it knows. all the system all the device which is being put together will not hurt the big company of the because the big european companies have it international exposure that means exposed to the to the american market exposed to the american low but of course of a kind is a good help the medium size of the smaller size company to keep it kind of cut on trade and of course on the reunion side or so there would be an effort to to to evade the sanctions on the last last time when sanctions were in force between two thousand and ten and two thousand and fifteen sixteen very rainy and have developed a whole network of you know climb to stein or parishioners in order to be able to settle there or to to exchange products or sensitive products so that will put this

together. it's impossible to say what will be the the result of doing part of the sanctions we have to wait probably by mid nineteenth to be able to to to to to evaluate where you're already on asserts or where on and knowing the government there is there any indication to you that the government is willing to come to the negotiating table at any point as trump is aiming for them to do it to renegotiate that nuclear deal. unfortunately the line is not very good so i did not cut your question my question is do you think that a government will come to the table and renegotiate the deal as trump is pushing them to do. you mean the base you mean the friends governing iranian government the friends government. the what the iranian government the

government of iran i'm sorry. the government of iran and iraq will be. up to non in you know that it's there's no question of the negotiations through the trump. left and the. nuclear agreement but at the same time a recently said guess of it i'm ready to negotiate with the way they run and they ring and haven't said that i mean that they're not closed the door to a negotiation but i said first americans have to come back to the agreement they have to abide by the by dispositions of the agreement to to show that the trustworthy to nol there's no there's no there's no possibility of the of of negotiation you know you iran is not north korea it's a different story and the regime. fortunately or

unfortunately it is quite resilient. it has a brain which is not only the supreme leader but the important part of the clergy it has even more important very strong backbone backbone but these are the past that run you know does lead to me which. they're very strong imprint to our rights but it takes in the military affairs of course but also in economics ok this is the given this is the the root of the game for the moment ambassador we thank you very much for speaking to us from paris and apologies once again for the problems with the audio. well two buildings have collapsed in the french city of mass a but it's yet it's as yet forgive me it's unknown if there have been any casualties emergency services are on the scene and

crews are urging people to avoid the area while they comb through the rubble. for the news hour on al-jazeera there's plenty more ahead including my china's president is talking tough against u.s. economic policies as he pushes for more free markets rejecting independence in new caledonia but not everyone is happy to remain a french territory sport joe will be here with the best of the semifinal action from the major league soccer playoffs. but first parliamentary speaker says he will not accept mahinda rajapaksa as the new prime minister until he sees proof he commands a majority in parliament this development as president ordered m.p.'s to reconvene on november fourteenth last week he fired the prime minister go and replaced him

with the former president rajapaksa bernard smith is joining us from the capital and you were at a rally for those who support rajapaksa how much support does he actually have on the ground bernard. well example to come out in quite a large crowd down here maybe of as many as ten. people might have been more than writing so heavily on the stage at the moment with the president speaking to his supporters but while rajapaksa may have support on the ground he doesn't support politic not enough support yet. because in the eyes of the speaker many people are trying to get a point about the president's. constitutional constitutional because politicians didn't appoint him however the speaker of the parliament enormously frustrated over the last week or so. with a very strongly worded statement he is accused the president of consistently

misleading and promising to recall. parliament today and then a couple of days and i'm not going ahead with that promise and so part of it will not be recalled until the fourteenth and the fear is that in that period the president has bought time. to get perhaps now just three more and p's in parliament he needs that one parliament recalled that will give him the majority and he will find section eight centuries have gone away with this way of issuing the prime minister probably. because the stalemates having inside the country. well i mean it's going to end up causing a considerable degree of polarize age and certainly politically because even if. gets away with this there is a general view that it is not within the spirit of the change of the constitution that was made a couple of years ago which said that the parliament should be the one who decides

who he wants to be the prime minister the president appointed because of a fall out of personalities of the top of the government the president just going to have fired run away from a single who's staying in the prime minister's official residence until this is sorted out on a board to rajapaksa you know for the country risk dividing into the camps to support rajapaksa those that support wickramasinghe there's also. growing civil society movement normal political and says this is not healthy for for long because i'm overseas as well and europeans the americans the japanese saying no they're going to get hold of my projects unless they can be proved to be a democratic progress. that's more sank you. china's president has promised to open up access to markets and make business easier for foreign companies xi jinping made the play just he opened a trade fair in shanghai aimed at helping the country's image as an importer he said china will lower terrorists streamline customs checks and crack down on

intellectual property theft. see also criticize those pushing protectionist trade policies. 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 a global economy. is a political analyst on china he's joining us from beijing thanks for speaking to us so what we heard the president say is china will be open for business international openness as well as cooperation that's what he was pushing for yet china is known to be one of the most protectionist nations so are we likely to see real change or is this just rhetoric. well you've already seen

a change in the last year there's been three thousand items where the tariffs i've actually been slashed they've been done in three tranche is one just went into effect in november that takes fifteen fifteen hundred items down so i mean it's very clear that it's not only about rhetoric remember everything that she has been saying has been said before the only difference is that he announced a much harsher terms on intellectual property theft if it's detected but what does that from what he said that is actually going to convince a foreign company to come and do business in china. well it's called the markets right now if you start looking at the united states real rise and personal income is going to be about one percent and by that i mean the two point eight percent increase in wages but inflation bites into that very very

heavily so what you're going to have in china though is you have a six point six percent rise in disposable income over in two thousand and seventeen so this is the issue where do you want to be where is the growth where can you actually start selling things over the long term china seems like it's a better bet and you know the government is going out of its way to create these economic development zones where it's much easier to start a company where you can get access to financing there even incentives that are available to you and i said you can't beat the market how do you think this is all going down in washington because the u.s. administration has been critical of what it says or the lack of steps that china has taken and also do you think that there have been any signs of improvement or there will be any signs of improvements of trade ties between trump and paying go ahead of their meeting at the end of the month well it's a very interesting story in essence where china seems to be going as they realize

that there is a long term conflict with d.c. whether it's donald trump or a democrat a lot of the same pressures and issues are going to be there so they seem to be concentrating more on this bilateral treaty treaty with the e.u. and a trilateral lateral ones with japan and south korea in addition to their efforts and south america and africa so when you start adding it up it's china is very clearly looking for other markets in which to grow and it makes a lot of sense given the reality is that trump whether or not it's going to be a long long road with the united states all right so entertaining and we thank you for speaking to us on al-jazeera. in a few moments we'll have the weather with rob but still ahead right here on al-jazeera. i'm from in madagascar where this week's presidential election could be the most expensive ever yet to more than three quarters of the population lives in

poverty. coming up in sport keeping it casual there's an embarrassing moment for manchester city's manager at a football awards dinner. from cool brisk knows in few months. to the warm tranquil two years of southeast asia. hell i was just about stopped raining now in sicily the most recent significant rain was down the top of its being calabria the eighty millimeters and it's also been raining in the north just north of the pope valley it's really still stuck in it but that was the system that was most active about twenty four hours ago there's something new happening is that the west looked at this yesterday it's actually coming across spain and portugal this is what it did overnight swat units of pretty familiar cloud erupt around the center of an area of low pressure which is up in

the northwest of spain so ready is evidence in that because the seas of churned up this is stuck govern you see already pretty high seas battery against the wall now this will go on to be a development area so how we see is the moment is that's a cold front is the last of the valor and this is the rather rather more spread out version of what's cause so much trouble in italy's bag of the showers in croatia slovenia and still won so on the western side of italy so running things forward this will become from today just a series of showers and the rather more active stuff will than sorry overnight into the western part of the mediterranean it's an active frontal system the i behind it's quite cold the water of the western med he's contacted serve ensure that readings spread across not necessarily on tuesday but what time we get to wednesday once more it to be sits just in it. the weather sponsored by cat time race. hate violence

revenge an increasingly alienated generation is finding new outlets to vent it's anger. in a new series al-jazeera takes an unflinching new at the allure of radicalized organizations to young people revealing their inner workings and the often brutal consequences for those drawn into their extreme ideology radicalized youth coming soon on al-jazeera i'm his story say for the people every week news cycle brings a series of breaking stories told through the eyes of the world's journalists these two reuters journalists were one of the few journalists in that were actually doing investigative work join the listening post as we turn the cameras on the media and focus on how they report on the stories that matter demand sixty buys the rights to those stories but then he never publishes those stories they're listening post on al-jazeera.

following on the top stories on the al-jazeera news hour the u.n. human rights council is reviewing the actions of saudi arabia and its record on rights violations a saudi delegation is in geneva to face questions over the murder of the among other issues addressing the council the delegation restated the kingdom's position that it's investigating the case and will prosecute those responsible for the killing turkey's vice president of tell you has called for an investigation into newspaper reports that his body was disposed of by dissolving yet and asked speaking to an adorable news agency journalist. as investigators are also focusing

on who gave people order of the assassination wide sweeping u.s. economic sanctions targeting iran's oil and financial sectors have come into force iran's president hassan rouhani says his country will quote how the bypass the measures. let's now get more on our top story not the u.n. human rights council examining saudi arabia's record will speak to them why yes he's a saudi human rights activist he's joining us from dublin by a skype thanks for speaking to us so besides this being an exercise in grilling this saudi delegation in geneva will this lead to change in saudi arabia's human rights record. i can't look at this situation as i look to the performance of the saudi government and collaboration with the turkish government in this investigation. the saudi government sent after ten days of the day. of the murder two team members with the.

team who are one is a chemist and the other is politicians specialists and they were there to clean up after what happened so i can i can assure you that i saw the delegation will be playing the role which is not about telling the truth it's a different role but really it's like something just for the sake of this interview i'd like to focus our attention on what's happening today in geneva and that is that the u.n. human rights council is reviewing the actions of saudi arabia and its records on human rights violations out of this meeting what happens today in geneva do you expect to see a concrete change in saudi arabia's human rights violations essentially. just to be clear all of the members of this con so know the black record of saudi arabia so if you go to the u.s. department. of parks you will find very disgusting reports about the saudi

behavior so i think there is a change because countries are looking now into the saudi arabian routine in a different way because it's obvious that this routine have no shame on law fly they lie and they do it if they can cover up for a think they will do so i don't think there is that benefit from the soul of the delegation personally i don't i don't think this people are looking into john blood as much as they care about muhammad staying in his position but yeah that's a national situation iran chainsaw is now in chains ok so has the tide now changed for saudi arabia and especially in the wake of the the murder where countries that previously turned a blind eye to what was happening inside the kingdom are now simply unable to. i think. the blood of message i'm out of to have saved

a lot of blood inside of saudi arabia just a couple of weeks before demand murder there was a lot of. the government was asking for the head think of a lot of some of the activists so now doesn't the government doesn't care about the saudi people but they care about densher national relations they get their weapons from there they get the support from there so now what's happening is affecting the scene inside of saudi arabia where the government is a bit weaker and lists and vicious against activist. and side and outside all right on denies these and why and we thank you very much for speaking to us from dublin. now civil rights groups fear millions of americans are being denied their right to vote in the midterm elections they say states under republican control are unfairly purging voter rolls affecting minorities and the trend is apparent in georgia that's where the incumbent governor a white republican faces strong competition from a black democrat john hendren reports from atlanta. daniel known go was puzzled by

the government letter the civil servant had voted in georgia for a decade but this time the state told him he'd done it wrong so he phoned the secretary of state's office. the woman on the phone told him he filled out his ballot correctly and signed it but he failed to sign the on velo the ballot came in we get we just can't they. don't have the only information we need and the option to. doesn't up doesn't work and landry don't really have that option right oh yeah i hear. this voting rights advocates say is voter suppression in action the man they accuse of leading a campaign to prevent minorities from voting is georgia's secretary of state brian kemp he oversees voting in the state and just happens to be running as a republican for governor he's in a dead heat against democrat stacy abrams who hopes to become georgia's first female black governor. camp has purged one point four million

voters from state electoral rolls critics say disproportionately blacks and minorities who tend to vote for democrats georgia is one of several states who knows the state of. the civil war has never ended has a campaign with many too many ways to continue to try to suppress the vote a lawsuit by the new georgia project and other civil rights groups says three hundred forty thousand in georgia were wrongfully purged most of them minorities it is a conflict of interests on its face. on the scale and impact of the video camp is strictly enforcing voter id laws in an registering those who have not voted for two elections or have moved this is someone who has to be held accountable to do his basic jobs we have made it easier to vote and hard to cheat and just because miss abrams files

a flossy balts lawsuit or the new georgia project it doesn't mean it's right the lawsuit by civil rights groups says similar voter purges are happening in twenty six republican controlled states across the u.s. . at many polling stations like this one in atlanta you can vote early but for some voters by the time they found out there was a problem with their registration it was already too late nineteen year old linnea gordon was looking forward to voting in her first election for stacy abrams. a letter where i. know same that i'm even more information but i gave all the information that i needed they sent the letter before me after that day seen. more information in daniel case the state has the discretion to allow his mail in ballot it's just decided not to as the phone kemp's department he got one other bit of bad news so and that's the case with mine and my

wife's that is correct. with a few days left election day his wife will also be notified that her ballot has also been rejected by the state of georgia john hendren al-jazeera at lamda. madagascar hours during up for what could be the most expensive presidential election in its history more than three quarters of the population live in poverty but politicians are spending more than ever on their bid for the top office miller has more from the capital. deep within one town and are evil thousands of people eek out a living in the mountains of rubbish at the rally truck dump one of africa's largest dams it's a mess of a waste flies and stomach turning smells from beneath the dirt these people hunt for what others may consider to be waste but for them potential treasure potential at all i've been working here for twenty years he and his children are looking for

any valuable metals all bones which are used to make a local medicine they earn four dollars for every bag of scrap collected. does not pay very much and the most difficult part of doing it is digging deep into the dirt is so much dust by the time i'm sure you mention what i'm covered in sweat and sand nearly eighty percent of the population lives on less than two dollars a day according to a world bank report one political crisis after another has significantly contributed to madagascar's high level of poverty and the country's done very little to improve the wellbeing of its population now is the madagascar heads to the polls critics say fraud too much money is being spent on electioneering rather than helping the poor. father pedro picker has for decades been working to help the poor in the suburb of a commercial he says while the election is

a chance for democracy politicians serve their own interests he needs many of the people he's helped with food housing and education in the sunday mass. this. to this poverty of been a medic gets to fifty years i've seen this country descend into hell and here we've shown that with education discipline and respect we can fight poverty this week's presidential elections expected to cost even more than it did five years ago the candidates running and there are no laws limiting campaign spending what we know is that probably looks in two thousand so the teen was you know one of the most expensive elections in the history of what i guess can also when you compare my guess got to other countries there was a study for instance by the european union that came out in two thousand and sixteen and it basically claimed that the budget to complain budget of jihad to not in the last present the outgoing president one in two thousand and thirteen was

forty three million u.s. dollars that actually means that he has spent you know by voter then present donald trump in the united states as campaigning draws to a close those we spoke to at the rally say they will vote they say if it's voting that saves them from life in the dump then it will be worth it i mean al jazeera antananarivo u.k. media reports suggest britain is close to striking a deal to leave the european union sunday times says britain could remain in the e.u.'s customs union for a limited time and this would avoid a hard border between the republic of ireland and northern ireland one of the main sticking points in the go see a sense a spokesman for prime minister to resign may has dismissed the reports as speculation meanwhile business leaders have joined campaigners in calling for another referendum hundreds of people have rallied in ukraine's capital demanding punishment for those behind the death of an anti corruption campaigner katz arena

hands looked 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 attack. well france has welcomed the results of new caledonia as a referendum to reject independence and 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 and for thomas reports. their victory was clear even if it did short of expectations in the end concerned about how an independent caledonia would survive economically and whether it would become a target for and. try out. we know.