even though there's a lot of that in this world there's also the good lord. it comes almost two weeks after another mass shooting eleven people killed at a synagogue in pittsburgh pennsylvania or i asked she watched the families. of the fall of the thousand dogs community now joining dozens of others who've come face to face with gun violence in the united states it's a horrific incident it's part of the horrors that are happening in in our country and everywhere and i think it's impossible to put any logic or any sense to the senseless with the midterm election bringing change on capitol hill gun control will again be on the political agenda brian al jazeera. well the president donald trump has a fire has fired attorney general jeff sessions so he will be replaced by his chief of staff matthew would occur who has been highly critical of the moeller investigation critics say would occur must immediately recuse himself from

overseeing the probe that looks sense of possible interference by russia and the twenty sixteen presidential election our white house correspondent kimberly halkett is joining us live from washington d.c. kimberly so presumably trump would have known that jeff sessions was fired right before he gave that very combative press conference that we saw what does this mean for the miller pro going forward. yeah that's the question that everybody is asking and essentially the white house official position is this is a resignation but as we saw from jeff sessions letter it was a forced resignation it is centrally a sacking we're all eyes are on the president this morning here in washington at fifteen g.m.t. he's heading up to the supreme court where he'll be swearing in his supreme court justice brett kavanaugh this of course is the highest court in the federal judiciary and of course the tiring of all of this is very curious given the fact

that there has been a major change at the department of justice with the departure of just sessions it of course is very controversial as you noted given the fact that sessions was a long time trump loyalist he was in charge of carrying out the president's agenda in many ways but at the same time caught the president's ire when he recused himself from that muller probe. worried i said nuff that's another reason it was supposed to be a news conference about the outcome of the midterm election sit down but it quickly turned into a testy exchange with reporters which included questions about the future of president donald trump's cabinet and the fate of his embattled attorney general jeff sessions and i'm very happy with most of my cabinet we're looking at different people for different positions shortly after the president tweeted that his attorney general was out sessions writing in a letter to the president at your request i am submitting my resignation trucker's

muse publicly about getting rid of sessions ever since the attorney general recused himself from the investigation into alleged ties between the truck campaign and the kremlin during the twenty sixteen presidential campaign sessions is replaced by matthew whitaker who will serve as acting attorney general whitaker is viewed as a trump loyalist and penned an op ed last year arguing the moeller pro was going too far he is now officially overseeing that same investigation or any attorney general whether this one or another one. should not be able to interfere with the mall or investigation in any way they should not be able to end it they should not be able to limit it right one of you know that i mean on monday trump said he wanted to take a softer tone but his post mid-term news conference was his longest and arguably most contentious his press duration at times boiled over as he railed yet again at

the media after he was asked repeatedly about the moeller probe. and should be ashamed of itself having you working for them you are a rude terrible person. at once well a white house aide tried to take a microphone from a reporter another reporter asked about concerns over the rise of white nationalism that such a racist question the sessions firing in the fall of from the u.s. midterms comes as donald trump prepares to head to paris where he'll attend an event along with russian president vladimir putin on wednesday trying once again declined to directly criticize putin for his twenty fourteen addicks ation of crimea instead blaming it on former president barack obama. so the future of that russia probe under the special counsel robert muller now in question now that there is a trump loyalist overseeing that probe here's how it could be effective it could be

sharply curtailed in terms of the lines of questioning the budget even in terms of who has authority in terms of the investigation so democrats are already pushing back on this we know as a result of the midterm elections they will have control of the house of representatives but not until january when that session opens they say already they're planning hearings to in look and investigate the forced resignation of the attorney general jeff sessions as well as whether or not the president attempted to obstruct justice by making this staff change can really help that thank you. more ahead on the al-jazeera news hour including a christian woman acquitted of blasphemy charges is freed from prison in pakistan. sparked widespread protests iraq's army strengthened its results to ensure i still remains completely wiped out along the country's northern border in sport lewis hamilton has won five world titles but how many is he aiming for we'll hear from

him ahead of the brazilian. so the pakistani christian woman acquitted of blasphemy has been freed from prison the netherlands is now offering her temporary asylum acquittal after eight years on death row sparked nationwide protests by hardliners local media say she's on the way out of the country despite a supreme court ruling that would bar her from leaving pakistan he was convicted in two thousand and ten on charges of insulting the prophet muhammad after a dispute with muslim fellow farm workers come on haidar has the latest from islamabad. after the court ordered really. baby was released from a prison and a studio on board on our special leg of that broader do the order been a good international airport in islamabad richard mourdock your government is saying that the media reports that are leaving the country are totally false and

based on fake news the information minister lashing out against the media is saying that this was in response to bill behavior given the fact that the country had come to a word done then violent protests broke out across pakistan and a government voice forced to make it be read the book that the protesters were now warned get indeed that i share bibi not leave the country a difficult predicament indeed for the government why did really be interesting to see where did the opposition party that once again going to try to gain momentum and come back on the street. and seize are calling the crisis in the central african republic one of the world's most neglected conflicts and lots of government is now in power however the violence between armed groups continues and it's forced more than twenty thousand people from their homes so far this year nicholas hot sent this report from a refugee camp. was. it just arrived you leave displaced children

in this refugee camp the latest victims of the and then dig sectarian violence in central african republic. some had their homes burnt to the ground others were chased from their villages by young men with machetes and guns among them are survivors of unspeakable violence. ten year olds his mother is dead her father is gone killed because they were christian by their own muslim neighbors. she hid in the bush with her uncle then tried to return to her village but the men kept coming back so she had again. there's no hiding from the violence we want the arms to go the violence to stop we just want peace this is silliness you home an overcrowded refugee camp of twenty three thousand people surrounded by armed militia groups under siege and unable to leave the camp is that they are held hostage protected by a few overstretched u.n.

troops celine wants answers she says she wants to be asking the questions and so we traded places and she took the microphone. will we find peace how can we make the violence stop when will i be able to return home. we put her questions to visiting secretary general of the norwegian refugee council young angle and i hope she will be able to go back soon house but the reality is that you know the big forces of the armed groups and their lack of intention from this national community is not going to hurt their action really in this situation for these people is really desperate outside of the camp and outside of where this small girl is there are three armed groups and they deny people returning to their homes among the people living in this refugee camp are armed men in hiding not only do they

target the humanitarian workers that bring them health they also attack the people that live in this camp it seems that there is no safe space for people to skate from the violence. we're searching for food when she was gang raped at gunpoint by a man she suspects are part of a christian armed group in the camp. they won't stop hurting girls here they think we're objects for them to take rape is just part of living here despite the trauma and the violence committed by adults where they're christian or muslim children in this refugee camp sure a brief moment of unity in a country torn and looking for peace nicholas hawk al jazeera. and earlier we did speak to yon agha lindsey's the secretary general of the norwegian refugee council you saw in nicholas hocks report and he says the call flicked on the central african republic has been forgotten. well i'm now in western central

african republic it's one of the poorest most violent most neglected places on earth really all of the people in this community where i stand now have been displaced by violence each and every time we have family members killed in the most gruesome fashion but then it's also as you may see a and i don't know hope because here we are really building houses for people where displaced and we do it for both communities to christians muslims and this and there is now an island of peace here these people want to rebuild their lives but it's very hard to get funding for these projects really the central african republic is forgotten i think we have to build peace brick by brick literally here if we get resources and if there is a more coherent effort for peace that includes neighboring countries like china and sudan and cameroon and the congo etc i'm optimistic for the future of

the central african republic if not. if it continues like now we may have another cat but let's make war around zones like this that could threaten the lives of millions. for a check on the weather and with everton and rain snow as well as a bit of warmth the north is that what's going on yeah this friday just about everything is going on it's a treat benign we got it absolutely chipping dam it up it's the snow and temperatures certainly on the mild side taking the satellite picture doesn't actually look too bad but it really is a case of everything but the kitchen sink clear skies there across japan next area clouds pushing across the yellow sea across the korean peninsula all tied up with this area of low pressure here's i wore them is seeing a southerly wind coming in across much of japan to the north of that another warm front coming through here bumping into some rather cold air cold enough to some snow across the far east of russia and extending down into the northeastern corner

of china really heavy rain there across parts of the northern areas of honshu and so making its way slowly but surely a switch so it does seem fruitless to go on through the next couple of days come saturday twenty one entire k. that's not too bad seventy degrees and no money at least warm it and it'll be dry it'll be bright and sunny troy and bright sue across the korean peninsula at this stage but some really heavy rain for a time in japan heavy right at the moment to affecting parts of thailand of the theists swell of cloud we may well see a developing tropical storm coming through here hundred seventeen millimeters of rain twenty four hours that system punches its way out towards the andaman sea the possibility of flooding some here. thank you for that's the head on the al-jazeera news our risky business how some sudanese traders risk violence along the border which to turn a profit and indians around the world to mark the festival of flying. the miami

heat break a four year on wanted record in the n.b.a. paula be here with all the details a little later in sports. i think this is kind of for me you think i'm having fun. is it worth reading. just. thank. you wishing for someone. just looking.

out on the top stories on the al jazeera news hour a gunman has opened fire in a bar and restaurant in california killing at least twelve people including a. police say hundreds of people were inside when that shooting occurred the attacker was found dead inside the building but there's no word yet on how he was

killed and there are new developments in the murder case of saudi journalist john so the scene sources have told al-jazeera that hydrofluoric acid has been found in the saudi consul general's residence in istanbul investigators believe his body may have been disposed off their. u.s. president donald trump has fired attorney general jeff sessions he will be replaced by his chief of staff matthew whitaker who's been highly critical of the mother investigation critics say would agree must immediately recuse himself from overseeing the probe looks into possible interference by russia in the twenty sixteen presidential election well in the wake of jeff sessions his departure there are questions over whether there could be more resignations on the way and to discuss this we're joined by scott lucas via skype he's the professor for american studies at the university of birmingham thanks for speaking to us on al jazeera before we talk about possible more resignations your thoughts on jeff sessions and matthew whitaker taking on what this means for the miller probe. well in part this

is that expected for months donald trump has been upset that jeff sessions recused himself and did not oversee the investigation of special counsel robert mueller but the timing caught us by surprise yesterday coming only one day after tuesday's congressional elections the reason let's be clear here donald trump is angry he's frightened he's worried because democrats have taken over the lower house of congress and he now wants to move to fire robert mueller it will not occur immediately but the reason why. matthew whitaker is the acting attorney general is he's a trump loyalist he's not that highly qualified legally but he's a political operative and what he can do is two things first in the near future he can contain more he can refuse funding for the investigation and importantly he can veto mower's attempt to subpoena donald trump for questioning but beyond that and here's the big question at what point does matthew would occur or if possible

a senior republican who comes in to take the post permanently at what point do they dismiss more and shut the investigation down i think because more will be ready to move against donald trump by the spring including very serious allegations about ties with russia two thousand and sixteen that trump needs to make his move within the next four months and as for the democrats what what will their next move will be. well the democrats have some increasing influence now because they control committees in the house of representatives so for example through the the judiciary committee in the intelligence committee they can carry out their own inquiries complementing those with more they can provide information to more republicans who control the committees have blocked that supply of information and democrats of course can raise their voices if there's an attempt to fire him over but at the end of the day if donald trump is dedicated to getting rid of checks and balances if he's not worried about

a constitutional crisis he will try to go around congress and dismiss smaller and we will be in a position that we have not been in in modern u.s. history not even during watergate when richard nixon fired the special prosecutor to try to escape even the surpasses that crisis is that a matter of donald trump now feeling emboldened because he has picked up a few seats in the senate even though the democrats have the house and he did get a few seats in the senate and also going back to my original question as well do you think that we will see more resignations or more forced resignations as this sessoms one is called. well you know if you watch donald trump of that very chaotic press conference yesterday what he said in almost complete victory you knew he was stonewalling the even though the republicans took a couple of seats in the senate they did very badly overall they trailed the democrats by about ten percent and importantly the democrats have that one house of congress so you have donald trump lashing out at the media lashing out at democrats

lashing out it is on agencies it's not going to resignations as can be firings so before robert mueller goes keep an eye on deputy attorney general rosenstein now rosenstein has supervised the investigation up until yesterday now that the acting attorney general comes in and takes charge of it rosenstein who has upset trumped because he would not a lot more because he would not slow things down he could go just before the special counsel goes on the chopping block all right so thank you for not set for speak to us on al-jazeera that you. now in a heated press conference on wednesday night as they were hearing president trump talks up his republican party's gains in the senate from tuesday's midterm elections so turnout was unusually high across the country and the night off for a good news for both of the main political parties the democrats claim two hundred twenty three seats so far in the u.s. house of representatives handing them control there but it was the republicans who

picked up seats in the senate their tally now stands at fifty one it could be several weeks before we know the final numbers for both houses of congress the results set the states for what promises to be a very different washington both politically and in terms of who serves in congress brunell's reports who is a big day yesterday white house spin zone despite the mid-term loss of the house to the democrats president donald trump declared victory citing republican gains in the senate they did focus on the senate and we had tremendous success with the senate democratic house leader nancy pelosi said the democrats victory was an opportunity to work together with will strive for bipartisanship we believe that we have a responsibility to seek common ground. well we can but we cannot we must stand on it for now control of the house gives democrats power to block much of the

republican legislative agenda and launch investigations into trump's russian business dealings taxes and other ethical issues dogging several senior officials we as democrats are here to strengthen the institution in which we serve and not to have it be a rubber stamp for president shop. many democratic voters believe the house should begin impeachment proceedings against trump but the senate republican leader had a warning for democrats drawn from republicans own experience i remember when we tried in the late ninety's. we impeach president clinton his numbers one often are going down and we underperform in the next election so the democrats on the house will have to decide just how much presidential harassments they think is good strategy i'm not so sure it will work for them. when it's sworn in early next year

the new congress will include more women than any in history among them will be the first female muslim representatives including russia to t.m. who is also the first palestinian american ever elected a black and latino women one including alexandria cortez who will be the youngest person in the house and the first ever native american women will take their seats in the senate some races are still too close to call and may be headed for recounts but republican control of that body is a certainty there's not very much common ground between the parties on major issues like immigration and health care so the forecast for the next two years is lots of talk but little action robert oulds al-jazeera washington while eisel is understood to have stepped up its movements across the iraq in syrian border in late october

and now iraq's government is reinforcing its border with syria and trying to reassure the people that live there mohammed some two reports. above it off its border with syria security forces are on high alert and ochs military is doing what it can to repel any attempts by eisel members to regroup at a briefing the commander of anbar operations command centers as pockets of ice will fighters are located in an area north of the euphrates river. at another part of the border a convoy is on patrol. on the horizon smoke rises the result of out of the forces shelling eisel fighters a little recently i salute tacked a stiff positions a move forced to retreat from their location but across the border area between iraq and syria there is no sign of terrorist elements even if they do work here then they'll be talkative by iraq to force. an optimistic assessment even as it of

the military commanders estimate that at least two thousand five hundred eisel fighters remain in data and other syrian towns close to the border. brigadier general you hear us who says that office positions have been fortified and the border is being secured disability with top wear and does a fine our intelligence gathering effort as well and we have installed he seeker and thermal surveillance cameras supported by drones were also conducting strikes and shelling and ice. where located on the highest hill overlooking the syrian border. the threat posed by ice along the border isn't just worrying it off the forces people living in the nearby town of a caught him are also concerned they've suffered in the past and are still suffering in two thousand and fourteen when a client was still under eisel control samee to have mood lost a leg in an explosion. the improvised device had been planted by isis to halt the advance of an alkie forces who were attempting to take back the town like it was

with that i started working as a fisherman but the job is difficult i need to feed a large family i call on the government to help us said these are no thems husband was killed by ice will fighters in two thousand and fifteen she tries to support her family by selling milk from her two cows one hand and my children are students and need heat and electricity at home. sadness and desperation seemingly deepening even as a borders defenses are bolstered. mohammed al jazeera a pro-government forces in yemen say they have advanced closer to the rebel held port city of call data more than one hundred fifty people have been killed in the last three days as a military offensive against the whole thing is intensifies the leader of the hold the rebels has vowed never to surrender. the reports. that pro-government forces laid

a ground offensive on his data which is being controlled by heathy rebels since twenty footie supported by a saudi amorality coalition which is the bombing positions in the pool city the collateral damage has did significant the age group save the children says one of the pharmacies providing lifesaving supplies was damaged by an as strike pro-government forces have taken control of a major road leading into the city but the leader of the rebels in yemen has vowed not to surrender though i gave a journey and i direct a call to all free men of our people to head for the fronts to defend the port city the battle is not a small one it stretches two thousand kilometers along the red sea coast it's been a year since the saudi amorality coalition imposed an assay and land blockade on yemen the post city of her data was until now a lifeline for the small amount of humanitarian aid the managed to get into the country but is the battle to control her data intensifies it's become almost

impossible to get food supplies into yemen about two thousand one hundred people have reportedly fled their homes in the area close to the fighting she got a chair and agencies have consistently warned their protracted fighting inside her data city or any incident that he drafted port operations could set off a humanitarian catastrophe. hundreds of thousands of people who live in her day to face being trapped as fighting places in around them the u.s. and un have called for a cease fire we've been urging all parties to come to the table. and to recognize that there is no military victory that can be achieved in yemen and we continue to call for a suspicion of hostilities but that cool seems to be fully known death is as both sides battle for control of her data the u.n. is warning yemen is just three months away from

a devastating famine putting thirty million people at risk big tour a gate and b. algis their vote counting has begun in madagascar as the decide who will be the next president the african island nation had thirty six candidates to choose from three of them former presidents but there are concerns about the low turnout with many people saying they were able to cast their ballots some of the other has the latest for us from madagascar as capital. results are trickling in here at the results into in the capital antananarivo there are about twenty five thousand voting stations around the country where results have to be collated and sent here so far we know that feeley a percentage of those results have come in and they show that two of the main contenders are neck and neck relooking add to marc ravalomanana former president who has about forty two percent of the vote at this stage and his opponent and you

are to leno has about forty three percent of the vote but of course very early days one of the main concerns for many of the people who have voted here in madagascar they are supposed to be about nine million voters it is what some of the main newspapers are leading with at this point one that there were a number many irregularities in this election and also a low voter turnout to the electoral commission says that about forty percent of the people who were supposed to have vote turned out at the polls and of course there will be a concern around the electoral mandate for ever wins this election. there are obviously irregularities out there on the electoral list there were twelve thousand double copies of the voting thirty six people and the age where you just did wrong names when the voting caused all those technical issues according to the rules starting from the fifteenth of may they literally cannot be changed anymore

so we have to wait until the first of december to really look at the list and all the issues this race is very close if neither of the if any of the contenders they don't get more than fifty percent of the vote to madagascar is looking at a runoff in december between the two contenders who get the most votes once these votes are counted that of course will take. anything between twelve days for the preliminary results and then up to three weeks for final results to come out to the country people here are very patient it is a very slow process one that millions of madagascar is. going to wait for its completion. border as a trading hub for merchants in sudan's darfur state but the border which has been a point of tension between the two countries in the past is also

a route for smuggling goods out of the country morgan has more from west star four on the border with chad. how much has been in the trade business in west are for for more than twenty years he says his business has expanded over the past few years as he no longer sells his goods to sydney's traders. you so. we take our sudanese products to sell some of the things to charity and traders who cross the border they bring them back to their country. hundreds of traders in sudan's west are for buy and sell goods across the sudan chad border for many it's a way to keep their business is alive but the border isn't always secure a book at home and remember the times when violence break the border affecting his business. sometimes clashes what happened along the border and as traders we had a fear that we had to close the shops. but there has been. border tension when the darfur conflict began in two thousand and three in two

thousand and six chad accused of backing a failed rebel attack on the chechen capital. khartoum return to accusation in two thousand and eight when darfur rebels attacked the sudanese capital and security isn't the only issue causing tension at the joint border the border has been shut down several times over the past decade due to the smuggling of weapons and other goods across the two countries. with a history of smuggling and movement of armed groups be. in the seven hundred fifty kilometer border between sudan and chad securing it is vital for both countries a special joint deployment force has been increased this here but while that has reduced the number of armed groups the smuggling continues that's because those joint forces established in two thousand and ten are not present along the whole border.