treated with data hutu militias we cleared out god willing we'll then continue to fight beyond who data the who they say they are also inflicting heavy losses on saudi. this war which she spoke for years old began when. captured the capital sanaa a coalition led by saudi arabia then launched a major campaign to try to restore the government recognized by the international community since the country has descended into chaos and in a place where war has become a daily politeness appliable hunger has become the norm one child under five in yemen dies every ten minutes the diseases which are killing them are entirely preventable half a million people have fled the area around to data since june when government forces try to recapture the city but for many in the poor city there is no escape and little chance of outside help while the number of those remaining in a city is difficult to gauge you're not worried that people needing to flee for

safety are unable to do so or their traps by military operations which are increasingly confining populations and cutting off exit routes there are continue cool suppressed cease fire and political solution to be found for yemen these so particularly from the water with neither side willing to compromise ever haywood. is country director of the yemen for the norwegian refugee council he joins us now via skype from sana thank you very much for taking the time to speak to us there has been a flare up of fighting in the yemeni port city all the day doubt what a your fate is if this battle continues to intensify. thank you for having me on your program miriam this division hoarded us you know it is good to structure. hundreds of dollars and hundreds of thousands of sci fi civilians are trapped in this city of more data and as you know many more have flared close to

four hundred above four hundred fifty thousand civilians have fled says june twenty eighth our fear is that the conflict continues to see video as will be tried in the line of fire and their lives at stake as we speak in the last couple of days. of these have been reported i spoke to going to x. there in order yesterday and our storm a story you know a fun new york city's five children and their father being viewed many more civilians. a threesome or been caught in the line of fire the conflict continues we have already seen a terrible humanitarian disaster play out in yemen can you describe to us what life is like for the the half a million people the six hundred thousand million civilian population of the data

how they would be affected by an offensive. most of just told you many of them are over four hundred over four hundred fifty thousand have already been displaced and they're not no longer in hardy down there was the tough remit in order in need of food water and sanitation these city of decisional goods basically it's like food the prices of basic commodities have doubled. in hospitals million for structurally cost because and schools have closed because of the war. apart from disgusted your food is a militia vivian's will be caught in the line of fire and we fear for high casualties. and of course one of the main problems now is that peace talks that were due to take place have been and probably happen until the end of the year

in december. what is the worst case scenario in the absence of any meaningful dialogue to reach some sort of political settlement if not at least a stalemate and now the yemen is including the residents of. continued to suffered to suffer are. there consequences of the war. the postponement of peace your dogs are very unfortunate because human is will continue to suffer the brunt of the war the conflict continues and we fear that more civilians will be displaced and there will be more suffering for you is yemenis and deaths well thank you very much rounded up the joining us there from the yemeni capital from the norwegian refugee council. well there's more

still ahead for you on the program california town of paradise is lost to flames from a massive fast moving wildfire where many thousands of people have been evacuated as. the u.s. and china clash of the military activities in the south china sea as high level officials meet in washington. the weather remains fine and dry across many parts of central and eastern europe but out towards the west it is looking wet and windy as could be a cases as can be the case as we go on through the next couple days lots of clouds spilling in from the atlantic strong winds as well as remember and sunday of course this weekend we are going to see that wet windy weather moving right across the british isles it's a good pasta france into the low countries and gradually pushing over to ward says

scandinavia and western parts of germany that sunday yourself stay thirteen celsius in london fourteen degrees there for paris a wet one the winds not quite as strong but it will still be blustery the quite a rash of showers blasting away and you can see the stress away across into the near constant some heavy rain see it to portugal more parts of spain looking still rather disturbed but for central and eastern parts if you have ten we find a dry cold enough in moscow temperatures struggling to get anywhere near freezing in the heat of the day meanwhile across northern parts of africa it is generally dry still a chance of some showers there just around mull said just around and all things is maybe also stray skipping their way across northern areas of libya stays fun enjoy there for a good part of egypt as is the case too for much of algeria and also rocket. history has called it the great war in the second episode the declining also an

empire forges its alliance with germany and the central powers as the war gives birth to three nationalist movements the world determine the future world war one through our eyes on al-jazeera in the middle of. it. all. welcome back a quick recap of the top stories this hour president has dissolved parliament clearing the way for snap elections it follows a two week long power struggle after my trip policia cena fired the prime minister

and replace him with the former strongman mahinda rajapaksa. the u.n. refugee agency says the u.s. must ensure migrants fleeing violence will persecution a given protection promptly and without obstruction it comes after donald trump signed a proclamation to deny asylum to migrants crossing the border illegally and the u.n. and other aid agencies are warning fowles of civilians remain trapped by the fighting in the yemeni city of the data this as government forces backed by the saudi led coalition say they've launched a major offensive to retake the rebel held city of the data. on other stories we're following at least twenty one people have been killed in the somali capital mogadishu in a series of attacks in the heart of the city suicide attackers set off two car bombs at a hotel near the headquarters of somalia's criminal investigations department police say security forces opened fire after the blast third explosion then hit the streets around twenty minutes later the hotel is often visited by parliamentarians

and government officials witnesses have described the scene after the attack. pulled many dead bodies in the burning cars one of the cars exploded next to a boss and there were many people including women and children a number of casualties is unknown as bodies are still been pulled from the burning cars. there were three huge explosions up to now ambulances have carried thirteen wounded people and four dead bodies but we still don't know the exact number of dead. u.s. defense secretary says he wants to find ways to reduce tension with china in the south china sea james mattis made these comments after meeting a chinese delegation in. officials met to discuss military deescalation and a trade dispute that's led to terrorists from both sides let's get the latest from miles in jordan he's at the state department all this seems to be a shift in tone and rhetoric from the u.s. what is mattie's hoping to accomplish. certainly as the

u.s. defense secretary is very much hopeful that the u.s. and china are going to be able to continue working on critical national security issues perhaps most important working on the question of denuclearizing north korea once and for all however there is considerable distance between the two countries when it comes to the matter of the south china sea and of china's efforts to expand its military presence in that body of water in the pacific region the u.s. is not happy with that it has been critical of chinese for its to do so but one thing that we heard from both the counsellor and from the chinese general chief of staff is that china has an obligation to protect its citizens from foreign attacks that includes having a military presence in the south china sea and so it is not going to doll back its

efforts to have both a vigorous naval as where as well as air force presence over those waters. and liberals so been hearing some comments from both sides about the one china policy what is the u.s. position on that. well the u.s. . the one china policy which for viewers who don't know basically means that the united states recognizes beijing and the people's republic of china as the legitimate chinese government but also do continues to maintain some sort of relations with taiwan they say that the u.s. still recognizes it still holds that policy however china has been very unhappy with the u.s. decision to recently sell some weapons to taiwan because they consider that a security threat to chinese interests all right thank you very much at the state

department rosen in jordan with the latest. of police in the australian city of melbourne a treating a stabbing spree that killed one person as a terrorist attack a somali immigrant set fire to a pickup truck and stabbed three people in the city center before being shot in the chest by armed police andrew thomas reports from sydney. just up to four o'clock on a busy off the name in the center of melbourne shopping district a full whale drawing the settlement goes on the street watching in horror as a man who had already stepped hawses by turns his knife on police. officers tried to subdue him with anything to hand one man even pushes a shopping trolley to the extent. as he continues to attack. one officer up pulls out of. and shoots him once in the chest someone has driven a car that fits right on the phone my house is on it was an attack witnessed by

dozens of people. i was just trying to get my nails done and all of these police does cause started crowding around us and we couldn't really see anything until we saw a guy running across the tram tracks of backstory and the police running backwards and then we had a gunshot go off three men was stabbed one dying from his injuries and police have confirmed that the attacker later died in hospital two from what we know of that individual we are treating this as a terrorism incident. and he's not until a smiley in respect to relatives that he has that i certainly question is of interest to us. and a someone that accordingly is known to. be troy police and the federal intelligence authorities. police say the attacker came from somalia in the one nine hundred ninety s. and previously had only been charged with minor offenses traffic violations and

smoke in town of ice. vest gates's site a vehicle to drive down buck street was filled with all the q. style gas bottles before being sent home from a. place say they don't believe there's an ongoing price but more officers will be deployed at events around the city this weekend especially as christmas shopping begins we will not as a city and a stipend deformed by this act of evil. who simply refused to do that we will go a better business this weekend. and every weekend because we are bigger and stronger than this we will not be deformed by this but we're not a year into the challenges we face police say they had no information to suggest them things like this would happen in melbourne on friday but australia's government has been saying for some time that ideologically inspired violence here is likely so while this attack was a shock and a topic is not under thomas al jazeera says. five people have

died in northern california as firefighters continue to battle of fast moving blaze which quadrupled in size overnight it's engulfed an area around the town of paradise in the northeast several hours drive from san francisco more than one hundred fifty seven thousand people have been evacuated from their homes the blaze is ripping through the area so fast the fire services are struggling to contain it well rob reynolds is live for us now in westlake village and rob how would you describe the scene around you now. hellish hellish maryam it is absolutely awful i'm standing right on the very edge of the wildfire here over my shoulder here behind me obviously you can see a devastated area you can see flames that are maybe difficult to actually discern through the camera lens but certainly that area down there is burning

and an area further up the hill as well is burning there is a mobile home development park down in that valley there we don't know whether those people will keep their homes or not i want you also to look scuse me up this way as our cameraman ken subject very pans around shows you the scene scuse me the smoke is very thick just a few minutes ago we were talking briefly to a gentleman who was on the phone trying to find out if his house was on fire or not and then he said i see black smoke right where my house is and he took off running up the hill there let's go down this way if we can through through the smoke the fire has engulfed tens of thousands of hectares now the governor the acting governor of california gavin newsom has declared

a state of emergency there's fires burning both in northern and southern california i'm in southern california there again some of that really dry brush that is just tinder dry from a long hot summer very low humidity and even the bits of debris now coming down i think we better move away. the. latest we have heard from authorities is that five people have lost their lives in this fire more than one hundred thousand. one hundred fifty thousand have been evacuated and besides the loss of buildings and the unfortunate loss of life very hazardous conditions here as you can see especially for people who have any kind of respiratory problems so hopefully this fire will be contained but there are wildfires all over the state of california right now a real dire state of emergency under way thank you so much giving us

a sense of how the situation is playing out there as firefighters struggle to contain those ongoing blazes thank you very much rob well now china's state news agencies unveiled the newest member of his team a virtual. a low everyone in an english artificial intelligence this is my very first day and soon more news agency in a world first viewers were greeted by the presenter modeled on a real life chinese news reader the artificial intelligence based software can mimic mimic human facial expressions and mannerisms while reading out reports the digital anchors were on display at the world internet conference at rouge. perhaps better than the real thing thank you very well there's more on our website al-jazeera dot com.

let's just recap top stories for you this hour trying because president has dissolved parliament clearing the way for snap elections it follows a two week long power struggle. policy resign that fired the prime minister and replaced him with the form a strongman and a writer backs up. and as has more from colombia. two weeks ago it was the removal of the prime minister and the swearing in of the former president by him with rajapaksa tonight it's a fact that parliament has been dissolved by the president now of the nineteenth amendment of the constitution which is brought in a by prison by three policies in the end he's government expressly removed the ability of the president to dissolve parliament less than four and a half years into its term and this dissolution falls way short it's one year three months before that four and a half your time limit is completed and all the headlines the u.n. refugee agency warns the u.s. must ensure migrants fleeing violence will persecution are given protection

promptly and without obstruction and this comes after the us president signed a proclamation to deny asylum to migrants who cross the southern border illegally donald trump says they must arrive through an official course of entry but until now asylum seekers have been entitle to a hearing in the united states regardless of how they entered the country or now at least twenty one people have been killed in the somali capital mogadishu after a series of attacks in the heart of the city suicide attackers set off two car bombs at a hotel near the headquarters of somalia's criminal investigations department a third explosion then hit the street around twenty minutes later. turkish police say they're officially ending the search for jamal khashoggi body but the criminal investigation into the murder will continue sources have told al-jazeera traces of acid were found at the saudi consul general's residence in istanbul and yemeni government forces backed by the saudi led coalition say they've launched

a major offensive to retake the rebel held city of data nearly half a million people have fled the area since june although the u.n. has warned that thousands of others remain trapped by the fighting you're up to date with all of our top stories this hour coming up next on al-jazeera it's up front. he lost the house of representatives to the democrats in tuesday's midterm elections and on wednesday he fired his attorney general and stripped a white house reporter of his press policy is a trump presidency entering a new and dangerous phase in this up from the special us court of the us presidents are devices.

steven rogers thanks for joining me up front president trump said that these midterm elections would be quote a referendum on him given the democrats won back control of the house of representatives after eight years and they won the house popular vote by seven percentage points nationwide the american people seem to have rejected him. well i have to dispute that because the president's party one key gubernatorial races in battleground states that are going to be very important we're talking about florida iowa ohio very important the twenty twenty alexion that's number one number two when president obama was in office he lost sixty three seats in a midterm clinton forty something seats president trump only about twenty three so

the trend was always the president in power would lose seats but the key here and we can't miss this point was the united states senate that is what the republican party focused on because therein lies your control of bringing nominees in for the u.s. supreme. court to get he definitely held on to the senate what's interesting though is he campaigned for senate candidates in wisconsin montana ohio pennsylvania all states he won in twenty sixteen and yet those candidates lost in every single one of those states and senate races you mentioned governors' races kansas his close ally kris kobach a state he won by twenty points stephen he lost i'm from. kansas where you learn some in politics and you know you it's very difficult to transfer the popularity and the voting public for one candidate to another so i would reject the fact that this was a repudiation of the president got a record about himself. i didn't let me also get his response to these midterms was

to fire his attorney general jeff sessions on on wednesday an attorney general he's been publicly attacking for months now because sessions didn't stop a special counsel investigation into the trumped campaign's alleged ties with russia isn't firing the attorney general of the united states for nakedly political reasons at best an abuse of power obstruction of justice look i've been in law enforcement my whole life the attorney general sessions he didn't do his job very well he was not aggressive he didn't go after the d.n.c. he didn't go after hillary clinton would all that we know about her and by the way he should have that mean session should have been up. front with the president about his conversations or his involvement somehow with russia which caused him to a reclusive self he wasn't honest with the president sort of president was patient and that was the time to say the act as he did it's funny that in defending the second you're basically admitting it was political you're saying he didn't go off to the president's opponents he didn't go off to the democrats which is not the job of an attorney general to just go off to the president's opponents if barack obama's election campaign was being investigated by the justice department for its

ties to a foreign government and obama had then fired the attorney general the day after he lost crucial bit you know policy would have gone nuts wouldn't it how can you not see the hypocrisy hey stephen roach is he he did this wasn't a political move the attorney general just doesn't get it all he said he did go off to the democrats that's the definition of a liberal move well who who in who was involved think about this who was involved in that whole fiasco with the e-mails were clinton democrats or goodness sake now who was the republicans i would be telling you the same thing the attorney general did not do his job and that's why he is no longer attorney general this is a president who is also accused of running a quote racist nativist fear mongering midterm election campaign he ran a campaign video combining footage of an undocumented criminal who killed two cops with footage of central american migrants tearing down a fence rushing across the border as if they're all cop killers who the democrats want to let into the country and absolutely inflammatory so racist that even loyal

folks news decided to pull it from the airwaves absolute nonsense declaring that as racists everything look a picture and words are ok you can't change what's going on there now you said i work with military intelligence and law enforcement you would be surprised what's coming across the border you've got children that are not with their parents you've got drug traffickers you've got people perhaps bringing weapons across the border that they're trying to divert the fact that the president is trying to protect this country and the fact that they complain about his term invasion it is an invasion all right it isn't it of. asian of an army i wouldn't even want to look at it it's not an invasion people asking for asylum is not an invasion by any definition of the us is a good and you were in the nation so you should know that well i do know that and i've got to tell you it's an invasion of people who should not be coming here other than come here legally and they all got seven hundred miles away even if they were invading there not very close to doing it anytime soon one of the very well the why don't our of and thing was

a hoax to use donald trump there but he hasn't mentioned it since the election fox news channel you regularly appear to stop talking about the kind of funny that the caravan just disappeared from the headlines the morning off to the midterms how convenient i'll tell you how it disappeared from the headlines and by the way they could have got asylum in mexico and they turned it down it disappeared from the headlines because the mainstream media is making it disappear we find out that they're more interested in what just recently or running only think about the care of that's a child you are parents don't play the main street well who controls who controls folks who controls little your trouble rupert murdoch you tell me who controls the media you want to tell us about who you think control is going to get yeah the mainstream media are right the mainstream media is controlled by a lot of liberals and they are ready to control their nipples let me ask you this question to folks refused to run this ad you say it's not a racist at fox refused to run it the networks pulled it down do you know who praised the caravan and called it a must to piece look at fox news were for whatever reason why their editorial board

pulled it i don't know what as you know you this phrase the ad as a must a piece no don't do the film a grand wizard of the ku klux klan well called the adam muscle of i wonder what appealed to him about that non-racist ad david duke is a racist he has no place and no worry agree on ministration of the president we agree that raises so why is it i'm a much well look at there are people that will praise things that complete for their own political agenda we can't control what people think and what they say but you don't hear the president of the united states making racist remarks at. some people are trying to leave really others to believe his own soul but cool cohen who worked for trump for more than a decade has said that trump told him black people are too stupid to vote for me that's not a racist remark and you have the donald trump did you hear donald trump say that night. so we're going to believe a guy that wants to cooperate with law enforcement they get a so i got a good chance at it defines us and i i've i've i've had people work for me for many

years and you've got to be creeps and you don't think going on about george soros is rolled in a caravan that he had no role in at a time when george soros is being targeted by racists who support donald trump that's not racist anti-semitic in any way. at the end of the day when we were measuring the would a person is doing we have to we have to not listen so much to the media hype and just listen to the words coming out of their mouth and i think now listening to the president just one last question on the video it's not just racist in the eyes of many people it was completely false it was a lie the guy in the ad the cult killer was last allowed back into the country not on the democrats but on the george w. bush you know that don't you yes that's a fact that's a fact i want to point it was a light said the difficulty was again it was it wasn't because it was on their bush and it was on their obama on the other side clinton but that's not what the ad said said but as you know the i would say well but it doesn't make it until two cups that's not true. doesn't make it a lie doesn't make it a lie the things people thought so you have a lead laugh and then he said he wanted to kill caught more cops yes. yes let him

back into killed as cops know george w. bush let him back and you agree with me i'm not sure that's the facts on the obama administration because of very liberal rules and regulations regarding immigration this guy was allowed to run free so you know what. degree on this they are all you agree with me on a lot of comedy and video was false to say the democrats let him back into the country when it was bush all about oh my god i don't know how to let us take a poll and i'm confused what you mean not at all he was let in on the george w. bush not under the democrats a loss when i came in but he was a video is falls out of donald trump's video defending was false. but he was allowed to run free on there are very different algorithms one of us in the video said the democrats let him in they didn't say they let him run free they said they let him in it was george w. bush who let him in last which he killed two cops one in the video say that i'm not going to look at i'm not going to argue that point with you and we both ended up with all those parties are responsible that's

a different argument i'm asking about the full city of it and just on this idea of kind of safety and security you're a former naval man you talk about migrants invading the u.s. presumably you think donald trump wants to protect the us the attacks that we've seen in recent weeks in the u.s. an attempt to bomb attacks on twelve people that donald trump targeted a massacre in a synagogue. shoot these attacks were not carried out by anyone who came in on a caravan whether they will homegrown american terrorists. absolutely ok but you're not you're not hearing about and in some. instances you're hearing about the trial child traffickers the children who are here to be sold to others drug. cartel a little feeling that i was wondering why don't trump sends troops to a border for caravans seven hundred miles away for security purposes meanwhile in the u.s. domestic terrorists are killing jews in synagogues we don't hear so much outrage well protection from your polity on the i'll answer that question and it's the same

answer that we try to find regarding chicago with the toughest gun laws in the country liberal democrat socialist policies of the strong this country there's no more rule of law because whatever you got at liberty i mean i have no knowledge of anything of it they are now in charge of the house but for the past two years trumpets controlled every branch of government in those two years anti semitic attacks have gone up. because dogs have gone up anti muslim attacks have gone up on the number of white nationalist groups have gone up as you know as a former intelligence is that a coincidence that this all happened on donald trump look complete coincidence steven rogers and the number and the number of police officers have been. shops that have gone up so you can't blame president trump for all of the ills that are going on these are democrat socialist policies i know i know it socialist policies have led to an increase in me and i'll tell you what it is over the last two years . i'll tell you where. they have homes in the mail it was a trump it was a little oil develop trouble simple as you went to the rallies hot and he sent pipe

bombs to twelve people who trump targeted by name. these are nuts these are crazy enough to. work with and we look at we can't stop people from supporting the things we do we can't stop people who look at our t.v. stations that a lot of nuts watch us or you know how you can stop accepting violent hate filled things that are inciting these people if trump stop saying globalist stop blaming george soros for caravans stop talking about how he likes to reporters who a beaten up and stops talking about enemies of the people maybe some people wouldn't take those words and turn to violence as well maybe you have maxine waters eric holder and the rest of the democrat who is true would stop doing the same thing really ok if you want to me if you can you point to me a terrorist attack carried out by a supporter of maxine waters please well you know what the terrorist attack all right could be small or big i think going into a restaurant and you have your wife and kids there and the equivalent of a eleven if you wish what i think what happened down seriously i think no no no i

recall it if i'm not saying it's a quote sounds on raising it because because you're saying that what people are saying a little saying that maxine waters is never inspired in any way a terrorist attack i must you to clarify for me and you all you've got is rest. they've they've they've inspired violence what happened recently with tucker carlson's home a teacher went to his home and terrorized you want to use or terror terrorizes wife and kids an example you're telling me what hope is being sent in the mail to all of them is the worst not and stop raising if it's not the same thing let me also say this let's just let's circle back as we finish this interview about to the midterms are we going to see a change donald trump post these midterms post these losses in the house governor losses or is it impossible for donald trump to change given changing political circumstances well i think he already indicated and he has been consistent about this reaching across the aisle will he change he will not change with regard to his

determination to keep america first but saying that even though you had some olive branch. is thrown across the aisle to the republicans and to the president so maybe just maybe and maybe we could at least hope for this that they'll all come together and do what's right for the country the democrats want to be successful the president is a strong willed individual he's been successful so far hopefully everybody's going to come together and do what's right for the country under his leadership see even religious and not know we'll have to leave it that thanks for joining me on up front. it's a pleasure thank you very much. on tuesday american voters delivered a check on president donald trump's power with the opposition democrats retaking control of the house of representatives for the first time in eight years but the senate remained in the hands of the republicans who increased their majority so what could democrats actually now do to rein in this president who just fired his attorney general joining me to discuss this all a sabrina siddiqi political reporter for the guardian u.s. based in washington d.c.

the staff writer for the atlantic covering american politics and policy from florida republican political strategist trouble critic and author of the book everything touches dieties thank you all for joining me. sabrina to start with you the attorney general just session straight after these midterm results came in is the united states in the middle of a constitution of course on the verge of a constitutional crisis where we are where are we on the crisis spectrum well the president left little doubt that the reason he fired jeff sessions was because of his frustration with the rush hour probe he said that jeff sessions the decision he made to recuse himself because sessions had not disclosed his own contacts with the russians or in between sixteen campaign said that was his primary source of i or he obviously wants more control over the direction of this investigation i think it's the first step that he's laid out in the path toward potentially firing the special counsel that of course is what i think would trigger then that your constitutional

crisis and i don't think anyone is holding their breath about the prospect of republicans taking any action to rein this president in. a big piece for the atlantic about how jeff sessions is cracking down on civil rights eroding civil rights in this country which is what trump basically wanted him to do an issue that he had with jeff sessions a lot of people on the left are happy to see jeff sessions gone but they're not happy the way he's been got rid of the reasons he's got is that fair to say others it's fair to say. a lot of them seem to be tempering. optimism because it all depends who will be named as jeff sessions real successor it's very possible that we could have even more trump asst type who goes into that office who is a loyalist who is going to crack down more at the border and who is going to advocate more sort of open police brutality as sessions and trump have done really well so you made a name for yourself being a critic of your own party in this age of trump the democrats now control the house

of representatives do you have faith in your former opponents the democrats do you have faith that nancy pelosi the new speaker elect that this party is right for this moment is able to hold to account in the way that you clearly want him to be held to account. well i think we have to hope that they're confident in their gauging in serious and probing efforts to hold truck to account across the whole spectrum of issues not only the russia pro but the corruption this endeavor throughout this in ministration and look i would have preferred as a conservative i prefer conservator already did their job but the conservative majority declined to do their job they declined to act like a co-equal branch of government for two and a half years and instead they acted as if they work for donald trump and so they face the electoral consequences of that because they have right now the republicans are complicit in donald trump's behavior and his lawbreaking and explain to

a global audience watching the show how much of a obstacle the democrats faced in terms of the voting system in terms of the voter laws we saw a long lines at some polling stations in places like georgia how hard was it for the democrats to win this just win this majority in the house given the way that the election system is set up in this country while i think explaining all the difficulties in our lesson system we may not have enough time to do that but if you look at it from beginning to end say what it takes for a voter in georgia to get to the polls you have to register which is not a universal thing across different countries you have to have voter id has to be strict photo voter id in georgia you know they had lots of difficulties with people who were voting absentee who were mail in ballots there were polling places that have shifted. under secretary of state brian camp george is close something in order of ten percent of all the polling locations in the last five years so lots of people in really rural states have to travel longer now to go vote and that's

all before we get to the long lines before we get to now there is a there are thousands of provisional ballots that have just been placed in a box there are people who are saying listen i was running for governor in georgia it was right in the election we have multiple states now where secretaries of state who are administering their elect. and there are also running for governor just very interested as you cool us elections freedom no. i don't think the justice department will consider. the question i have is other democrats up to this moment nancy pelosi the speaker elect is now taking charge again of the house she said on election night we're going to react with bipartisanship is going to be a bipartisan marketplace of ideas a lot of democrats are thinking hold on you know these elections don't look so free and you've now fired the attorney general there could be is this really the moment to be trying to do business as usual trying to go about the good old days of bipartisanship when some would argue the american republic the american democracy is at stake well that pledge of bipartisanship will fall apart at the moment that

the president tweets something outrageous and then it takes democrats on a different track he's constantly talked up a big game about pursuing a bipartisan infrastructure deal we haven't seen a serious proposal from the white house in nearly two years now i think the challenge for democrats is really going to be staying on message and not going after every shiny object because as we know it is a president very limited what is the message while i think that one is going to be restoring a check and balance through their investigative powers that congress has which gives already to subpoena documents and witnesses the white house is preparing for an onslaught of investigations it's not just about the firing of james komi potentially jeff sessions and interfere with the mother probe it's also looking into his business dealings in moscow potentially subpoenaing his tax returns with supposedly has not seen misuse of taxpayer dollars by several cabinet officials in this administration looking at some of the ethics violations potentially in the

white house the way that the trump organization has potentially profited off the office that the family now holds and if anything what that does is it reinforces many of the avenues that republicans did not pursue because they did not want to pick a fight with the president that may now well change is there anything that came out of these midterms this week that you think will give republicans pause make them think you know what maybe we shouldn't souls to the trump wagon as closely as we have. well a lot of the folks to have had a pause already there were forty four retirements and now one to thirty five defeats those folks have all learned the. better where you fall on the spectrum donald trump is political poison unless you are in the deepest of red areas where we don't have many swing seat republicans left anymore and will hurt in texas one of the only ones who survived almost everybody else who either opposed trump that he was insulting from the podium like me a lower cost per bellow. or who strongly favor trump like kris kobach they got

their tails handed to them and the fact the matter is once you become somebody who is not defined by principles or policies or politics of the republican party or the conservative movement you become to find out what comes out of donald trump's twitter feed that day you become contingent upon donald trump's rise and fall given every mood and every impulse he has and so a lot of people learned that lesson in the party and they don't understand. why the power he has over the base so shrunken as it is has remained so strong no matter what happens the they can't understand that they are in a cult now not a party. indeed and really you mentioned a democrat shouldn't chase off the shiny objects people who have chased off the shiny objects or reporters i think it's fair to say how much is donald trump being able to play the media and how much is going to change before the next election in twenty twenty the challenge is that and the media has this argument that he's the

present united states and so his words matter now there's no question that that's true but you look at the way in which we've been talking now about his war with the media a day after he fired the attorney general which was the day after his party suffered significant losses in the midterms is a distraction from the distraction from the midterms so i think what the media is going to have to continue to try and refocus on some of the themes that have been that have prevailed during the course of the trumpet ministration one of them is of course this question. of the russia probe and the potential obstruction of justice at the white house but the other for it comes back down to this idea of the breakdown of norms and the threat that he has posed to the democratic process and to the institutions that are so vital to this country and i think that oftentimes we do get back to that conversation but i wouldn't hold any or i wouldn't hold my hopes in the media not still getting distracted by the tweets i think that's going to challenge and so democrats are going to have to kind of work within that construct and try and rise above that conversation and it's even worse than the destruction of from my perspective tommy from being

a quote unquote the liberal media in the u.s. doesn't know how to cover a president who basically is openly authoritarian openly nationalist openly violating the norms that sabrina mentions the media almost wants to go back to business is usually phony trump would behave a little bit normal they would play along and they just don't quite know how to cope with this guy will it seems to me the so much of liberal media mainstream media whatever you want to call it has been used to covering politics as if it were already reality t.v. as it were a grand game and they cover the palace intrigue. they frame everything as sort of a debate between equals and to consider everything that's not if not in good faith to be actually advanced in the purpose of winning the game. you have somebody like trump who has very sort of existence is predicated upon being in front of reality the cameras to wards rigging that game towards what he

wants to do and he knows that he can go and say something that's totally false and not be called on it last question i know you're a regular on cable news so sorry to put you in this difficult position but jeff zucker head of c.n.n. said recently when we stop covering trump our ratings go down surely that's trump's greatest weapon going into the twenty twenty reelection campaign trump is the center of america's political dialogue that you can't look away from it. i think the point is correct that the networks are have a lot of trouble confronting it they don't know how to cover a reality t.v. star they don't know how to cover someone who who really is an amoral liar most of the time he doesn't is no sense of shame and the and the degree to which he's willing to deceive the american people is unprecedented you know it makes nixon look like a piker and so we end up with a situation where the networks they can't look away there's always a train wreck and the end it is a legitimately newsworthy to watch a president drag the american people you know toward

a situation where they're not looking at this is republicans or democrats but they're looking at us as people who are worshipping an authoritarian want to be on one hand the people who are fighting against it on the other it's we we live in a remarkable moment in our history and it has to be covered rick sabrina thank you all for joining me on up front that's our show up front will be back next week. i think this is fun for me to think i'm having fun. even. if it were. just. thank.

you wishing to someone don't just thinking. out. hello i'm maryam namazie in london just a quick look at the top stories now has been another twist in trying because

political power struggle following two weeks of oil president might treat the syria saying as just dissolved parliament clearing the way for a snap election or began when syria's saying the sacked the prime minister and installed a former strongman into the role of an elephant and as explains. the dissolving of parliament by president by three policy restrain another board out of the blue two weeks after he started off this constitutional crisis by sacking his prime minister and of the commissioner and appointing the former president mind the rajapaksa as his successor now the many people had been saying there should be a floorboard parliament should be reconvened because the ousted prime minister claimed that he still held on the parliamentary majority he had the support in parliament and he challenge the appointment of mind rajapaksa which was which he said was against the constitution the president had seemed to bow down to pressure and brought the date forward as to when parliament would sit that being the

fourteenth of november next wednesday but in recent days we've heard problems and the government seeming to have problems making up that magic one hundred thirty number which would give them a majority in the two hundred twenty five seat assembly and tonight as a result possibly of not having those numbers we see presidency recently taking the desperate measure of dissolving parliament now the nineteenth amendment of this country's constitution brought in by the citizen a government expressly forbids the president from dissolving parliament less than four and a half years into its term this dissolution comes way ahead of that it's one year and three months before that number and critics are up in arms they've said this is against a constitution it's antidemocratic the ousted prime minister's party has already decried it and said they will meet the election commission of tomorrow morning and challenge that so we're bound to see this is not the end of this issue. well in our other top stories at least twenty one people have been killed in the somali capital

mogadishu after a series of attacks in the heart of the city suicide attackers set off two car bombs at a hotel in the head courses of somalia's criminal investigations department a third explosion then hit the streets around twenty minutes later. with an. i'd pulled many dead bodies in the burning cars one of the cars exploded next to a boss and there were many people in it including women and children the number of casualties is unknown as bodies are still been pulled from the burning cars. there were three huge explosions up to now ambulances have carried thirteen wounded people and four dead bodies but we still don't know the exact number of dead the u.n. refugee agency says the u.s. must ensure migrants flaying violence or persecution a given protection promptly and without substructure is comes after the u.s. president signed a proclamation to deny asylum to migrants who cross the southern border illegally

donald trump says they must arrive through an official force of entry until now asylum seekers have been entitled to a hearing in the united states regardless of how they enter the country in american civil liberties union says it will file a lawsuit to block trump's order. turkish police say they are officially ending the search for jamal khashoggi body but the criminal investigation into his murder will continue sources have told out as there are traces of acid were found at the saudi consul general's residence in istanbul yemeni government forces backed by the saudi led coalition say they have launched a major offensive to retake the rebel held city of her data only half a million people have fled the area since june although the u.n. has warned that thousands of others do remain trapped by the fighting there. five people have died in northern california as firefighters continue to battle a fast moving blaze which quadrupled in size overnight singleton area around the town of paradise in the northeast or the one hundred fifty seven thousand people

have been evacuated from their homes and fire services are struggling to contain the blazes forces have now asked residents to evacuate the entire beachside city of malibu owes the headlines world war one through arab eyes is our program coming up next hour see you a bit later on. world war one. four years of bitter conflict.

known as the great war. all the war to end all. its grim trains warfare. with europe the main feature of all. but this was a war fought on many fronts. so there's another story rarely told. of huge importance during the war. and of lost in the significance. of a story of troops who fault and died but who are often forgotten. tang's of an outcome that shaped the middle east of today.

this is gold more one through our local eye. malick to rekey the chin is ian wright one broadcaster is taking is on a personal journey across a dozen countries. his grandfather's generation falls in the war. so far he's explored how thousands of arabs were conscripted by the british and french colonial powers in north africa. and

how arabs were forced to fight on both sides for the european allies and the central powers setting muslim against muslim. and the vital role played by arab troops in the ottoman army again literally. in this episode he looks at the roots of why the ultimate has joined the war at home. how the european powers viewed the ultimate empire as right for division and exploitation. and the suffering when they also mean government of young turks cracked down on the arab provinces. and the little known story of a future zionist leader in the ultimate world. bullish jewish students walked along here nine hundred eleven his name david been gaurdian all would become the first prime minister of israel.

cannot live there how to go after half a year let the kid. we must say to him you mr benny him by the don't have a funny. horrible irony of the way oh well i'm full of a daughter. i'll be right there i'll be as he ought to be another one of the asylum . without her judgment and a business with their edges monarchial in so cal. because. i let the kind of that even when i do. have the ability one at the about how the hell beat out in a courage when he derek a spotted been nabbed as mike to saudi how dare. you have that whether you don.

how they are how to land at their own afi how are german name than a poor new mayor the color and if the how do you. a very good question and one with roots deep in autumn in history. before reading thirty the ottoman empire stretched from mesopotamia in the east to the red sea and most of the north african coast. but over the next eighty or so here's the ultimate last algeria tunisia egypt and in one thousand nine hundred twelve libya. then they lost territories much closer to home and the balkan wars of nine hundred twelve and nine hundred thirteen. so britain france and russia began plotting how to exploit the potential collapse of salt on our docket needs empire for their own individual benefit. turn up to have made the second will rule the empire from eight hundred

seventy six to nine thousand or eight or nine thousand or nine felt that western european powers were playing dirty games. in his mind and in the minds of the advisers around him and many arts of an observer in european powers were supporting nationalist independence movement within the ottoman empire he thought that the great powers were using religion especially christianity to mobilize those nationalist movement in an effort to undermine the ottoman empire . the sultan's view was not wrong. the european powers so on rest in the arab world after nearly four hundred years of ultimate rule as an opportunity. but there was a stumbling block provincial arab leaders and intellectuals were thinking about gaining independence from the ultimate. but for ordinary arabs the sultan is. well

was the kaleb of islam the leader of the muslim world. whichever side you were on there was a close bond with the calle of respect and loyalty for him across the arab world. and incident later in the war illustrated this clearly. the british captured seven hundred iraqi soldiers in one thousand nine hundred seventeen and sent them to egypt. the british offer to free the prisoners if they'd support an arab revolt against the ultimate led by saudi for saying of mecca but few iraqis accepted most were uneasy at the idea of challenging the kale of. books such as the one thousand nine hundred thirty eight work by george antonius the arab revolt exaggerated the support of hussein's one thousand nine hundred sixteen revolt against the ottomans and exaggerated and painted a very nice.