despite turkey's insistence the case won't and until the saudis say who gave the order to kill the journalist. or. to washington correspondent gabriel elizondo they're monitoring u.s. reaction has there been any reaction there yet gaev. not officially either from the white house or the state department no reaction yet on this saturday morning here in washington but i can tell you that there certainly is going to be a lot of lawmakers here and powerful people in this city that are looking at this very very closely because make no doubt about it now that we know that the u.s. government has been given these tapes that is going to dramatically ramp up the pressure here on lawmakers and primarily on the white house to reveal what was on those tapes and how high that goes to the saudi government those are the key key

questions because up until now the u.s. has been very very quiet in still now i should say very quiet about what they know let's remember that it was on october seventeenth that secretary of state's mike pompei o went to saudi arabia and then to turkey on a fact finding mission at that time he denied hearing or seeing these tapes a week later cia director gina haskell went to turkey to hear what evidence the turkish officials had she then briefed president donald trump on october twenty sixth on the evidence but nothing was ever revealed on what that was no information on what has both told trump no information from trump on what evidence he heard it was pure silence and that's why that timeline is important because now we know that the u.s. government has heard those tapes so now the pressure is going to be on who heard them what was on those tapes and was there any evidence coming from those tapes

leading to any high officials within the saudi government the political climate here in washington right now is very much. a climate of wanting answers answers from saudi arabia not to. we from the democrats but the republicans as well very few things are pulling these political sides to get together in washington right now because the country is so divided but one thing that seems like all parties agree on especially the two major parties is a warning answers on what happened to cause shoji and now that there is evidence that the us has these tapes or at least heard these tapes the evidence the pressure is only going to ramp up for answers gabriel thanks very much let's talk down to us once he is the research director at the anchor institute formerly an adviser to the former turkish prime minister mr he joins us now on skype from kanya in turkey just

to be clear in your mind this ordeal recording all recordings that we're discussing here today is that the death of jamal as recorded inside the consulate building. yes exactly because this was the most important that wouldn't be in the hands of the turkish authorities just after this you know horrendous killing happened in saudi consul eight in istanbul and he was just giving the leaking the evidences step by step how can they and i think this is the very important point to release this is the most important you know the golden shot if you want to describe it this is very clear and very firm evidence that this is a crime committed in this whole the council and this is the recordings which was shared with the americans and the europeans as well so when mr erdogan has a conversation with donald trump in paris on the sidelines of the armistice commemorative event that's taking place in the french capital that conversations

then puts donald trump in quite a difficult position because as one of our correspondents was just identifying there basically mr erdogan is saying look we know who the alleged perpetrators of this gruesome crime were we know where they are you've listened to the tape your cia director gina how sport listened to the tape we think during a seven hour conversation she had with her turkish opposite number what three three and a bit weeks ago now please mr trump you have got to do something you have got to talk to the highest level the people the occupier the royal palace in riyadh. of course turkey will put the pressure on the american administration but there is a very good atmosphere for turkish american relations to go further to go forward during this case because you know there was very tough times in the american turkish relations because of pastor brunson case two ministers vote sanctioned by the american administration but the parser branson was released and then the

sanctions against the turkish ministers were again they lifted and during the last twenty days the trampin president had one made two times telephone call color phone conversations and it's quite as we have heard the tone of the telephone conversation between two leaders both to positive they were making some gestures against each other and that is why regarding the turkish relations even this meeting is happening is too important and this is an important thing for the crusher to case it's an opportunity to go forward and we all know that both mr trump and mr add on their board pragmatic leader they can take some bold and some dramatic decisions and that's why it's important ok bold and dramatic decisions how bold can mr one be from here on in because there are questions over the admissibility slash the legality of these audiotapes i mean where do you think the tapes came from and how were they obtained. look what's happening is over there

it's so clear there is a bury her under scram over there and what is our priority to the public's priority should be to find out the. responsible who committed this crime and who ordered this crime. below is important. for this recording is important but too much what is this low shouldn't be and excuse to cover this crime over there and that's why yes it's a tough tough tough issue but it should be resolved first of all responsible for this crime should be found yes it is a tough top issue but this low question shouldn't be an excuse to cover their digital crime over there ok it was a gruesome crime i can't disagree with you on that point nobody of course could ever disagree with you on that point but the reality is for the prosecution of a criminal case either in saudi arabia or in turkey or in a country you need to bits of admissible evidence not to be indelicate about it you

don't have a body chances are you won't have a body and if those audio recordings that the americans the germans and the french have now got access to and they've been listening to it if they are deemed inadmissible in any jurisdiction of any legal system you don't have a case suppose that there's no there's no recording over there ok but what we have . to enter into the saudi consulates he's not there right now nobody knows where he is so do that the outside world just denying it when he's in the consulate and then he already confessed. mr kushner was killed inside and that's why even if suppose that there's no recording there's a crime over then and how these except that this what should be done right now is tookie shouldn't be left alone again the saudis the americans the europeans should be standby together and then try to push this.

mr sir i think we'll beginning to lose you but we did get a good sense of where you're coming from on this ongoing debate but thank you so much for talking to us here on al-jazeera. well just as the pressure builds on the u.s. over its links to saudi arabia washington is to end some of its support for the saudi led war in yemen u.s. tankers will soon hold their involvement in refueling fighter jets of the saudi u.a.e. led coalition the us defense secretary james mattis says he was consulted by riyadh who decided u.s. refueling was no longer required now it comes before a potentially divisive vote in the u.s. congress now that show jewels the next week my boss and members of congress are threatened to take action to end u.s. assistance because of outrage over saudi involvement in the killing of jamal khashoggi the saudi erotic coalition now says it has the capability to conduct in-flight refueling on its own by itself but there is increasing international pressure for a cease fire to end the four year war that's created the world's worst humanitarian

crisis holton u.s. refueling is likely to have any impact on the ground in real terms there's been a further escalation in fighting in recent days as the coalition tries to recapture the key port city of the data from who's the rebels one of the dough is following that aspect of the story from djibouti. there will be no more refueling all sodhi aircraft in the air by the united states this is not the main part of the support that the sowed in that correlation gets from the united states but it has been the most divisive because of the massive civilian casualties witnessed in yemen kind of out by the sooty in the whole nation now they are other aspects of the support that the united states is giving this led coalition including the sale of arms as well as. the sharing of intelligence including you'll see positions

in various parts of the country which they've been targeting and that is that to continue meanwhile in the city they the fighting is still going on outside the city and most of the residents of the city say they are confined to their homes because of the should. stray bullets and also aerial bombardments that have killed dozens of people in the past few days but this so would you equalisation have launched a three pronged hock all this city they want to take it from the fighters because they believe it has been the main armament point of the filthy fight is but the united nations of the night vision is operating in yemen are warning of a catastrophic humanitarian crisis if the fighting acts affects the operation of the port of or the that which is the entry point for more than eight the past and of yemen imports. is a lecturer in international relations at lancaster university he joins us on skype

from right now simon maybe on the face of it midair refueling doesn't seem like a particularly big deal from a technological point if you will from a military point of you i guess but does it chime with other potential changes to the choreography of the conflict in yemen. yeah i think so and i think that human rights going up the developments in washington next week we need to contextualize this within the context of what's happened with jamal khashoggi as you've just been covering and i think that rob that the this being a technological or strategic development it's perhaps more of a sim balik development suggesting that the climate in washington is quickly turning against saudi arabia and that there's a great deal of concern that what saudi is doing in yemen the saudi look coalition of course and i think that this this also builds on some of the comments that we've heard from from a number of prominent visuals calling for

a cease fire is calling for peace to books and i think when you start to put it all together there's a concern that that there is a big symbolic damage to the u.s. that continues to play such a visible role with the saudis in this conflict and is the trumpet ministration very clearly specifically here is donald trump being forced on to the i mean this totally in a totally accurate kind of a way the moral high ground when it comes to the war in yemen and also the u.s. pressure on saudi arabia over the death of jamal khashoggi because mr erdogan seems coming from wrong here he seems to be maneuvering donald trump into a position where trump has got to react to the real truth as opposed to a truth we can work with to paraphrase what his son in law gerald cousineau was saying three weeks ago. sure i think you you've done a pretty good job of their lives in but and i think it was really quite complex for the trump administration is that this goes against how trump it sets out his vision

for the middle east let's not forget that mohamed bin soundman was seen to be and i quote our mandate that mr trump had tweeted that we put our man on top there was a very close relationship between mr trump is the question and mahmoud been someone and so this maneuver in this very careful strategic wrangling that's been taking place from turkey has i think puts us in a very delicate position they don't necessarily want to break this very strong relationship with the u.s. that dates back many many decades but yet they're in a very delicate position because of the potential symbolic damage that a continued relationship with saudi may cause simon can you just predict specifics for us because as you're talking to us we were playing some video there of donald trump meeting mohamed bin saw a man in the white house that was six months ago now when the crown prince did his world tour it was that photo op where donald trump basically used the crown prince

as a human easel he was holding up that card of all the money itemizing the money that saudi arabia was going to spend with the u.s. defense sector specifically what concerted arabia do in yemen that would get the u.s. congress off donald trump's back and what can he do that would make mr erdogan feel yes there is progress at the same time in the prosecution of a case against the people who killed jamal khashoggi. well i think that's incredibly difficult to do both things on the on the saudi front they can certainly work towards peace talks they can hold strikes they could acknowledge the need for a peace deal in yemen and work towards that acknowledging the u.s. coals for a cease fire and working towards a peace deal now of course is incredibly complex and there are all types of issues that you yourselves have puppet with regard to the peace deal now as for for mr

trump and mr head though and i imagine that they are having quite serious discussions if not personally then between their audience about what the turkish goal is here what that they actually do want to push saudi arabia to the side to isolate them to push mr trump into breaking ties and breaking relations with saudi arabia now i'm not sure that's something mr trump wants to do but it's something that he's increasingly seen to sort of hidden tut he's made a number of suggestions that that would have that happen if it turns out that mom had been unhappy has given the order so to speak so i think it depends on how to keep plays this whether it does choose to continue to drip feed information continued to suggest that information is being given to. the influences the power makers in washington and around the world because if that continues and if it transpires that it comes out miss the mohamed bits dunn was the one who gave the

order then i think that nyoman impossible for mr trump to continue to work with a crown prince who gave the order for an assassination ok we'll leave it there simon may bomb in lancaster thank you very much. plenty more still to come for you on the news hour including more uncertainty and sri lanka as the president dissolves parliament and calls a snap election january the fifth. water in more than two thirds of homes tested in chicago is contaminated with a brain damaging metal. and in the sports news we see is rising tennis star gets mad but then gets even in the next gen semifinals. leaders from seventy countries are gathering in the french capital paris as we've been hearing for the armistice to mark the end of the first world war emmanuel

macron who's hosting the event as metz the u.s. president donald trump on landing mr trump spawns a little bit of controversy by criticizing the level of european funding for nato diplomatic editor james bays has more on that from paris it was time for damage limitation here at the palace after that tweet from president trump just before he arrived on air force one in which he criticized president michael's comments about a european saying it was very insulting and instead european nations should be paying their fair share at nato clearly i think both sides behind the scenes have been paraffine their positions and that was clear when the two leaders spoke to. the european security to be. being assured just by the united states and even that big of a jury that's why i do believe that we need more european get to see these more european defense we're getting along from the standpoint of fairness and we want it

to be fair we want to help europe but it has to be here with the british in the world's leading states is the president here is it. and this is that the united states can only do so much. if you're just a little bit says the elites a powerless doesn't want this weekend to be about politics instead they want to focus on the solemn commemoration of the one hundredth anniversary of the end of world war one but of course with president trump in town there's always control to see at least twelve people have been killed as heavy rains caused flash flooding across jordan tourists were forced to run for high ground in petra the kingdom's ancient city and one of its most popular tourist destinations almost four thousand visitors have to be evacuated from the area dozens of people were injured drenching rain began on friday afternoon. two big wildfires in the u.s. state of california have killed at least nine people and left thousands of others

homeless one of the fires in the northern half of the state has forced twenty seven thousand homes to be evacuated five of those who died were found in cars in the town of paradise which has been destroyed in the south all residents in the big city of malibu have been ordered to leave a state of emergency has been declared in the state as fourteen other wildfires are burning causing widespread destruction has this report from ventura county. fire is ripping through southern california with high winds driving columns of flame and smoke from the mountains to the sea. tens of thousands of homes are threatened many have already been destroyed my friend's house is totally bundt i don't know but my you're fearful that your house will burn yes. ok. very. residents of the wealthy seaside enclave of malibu are fleeing under

a mandatory evacuation order the fires sprang up thursday night the source is still not known but intense wind gusts rapidly spread the blaze through bone dry chaparral and brush into communities how we got the back and i said i'm not going to remember corners have done what you think you became a good parent a huge tower of smoke rose thousands of meters into the sky and the smoke made air quality hazardous for people with respiratory problems california's acting governor gavin newsom has declared a state of emergency and while authorities say most people heeded their warnings and evacuated when they were told to we are also told by authorities that there have been some deaths firefighters are working desperately to keep up with the fast moving widespread blazes when you have forty fifty sixty mile an hour winds blowing fire at your heels the importance is to get people out of harm's way and get them

to safety. in northern california the town of paradise turned to hell overnight these incredible pictures show a tornado a fire raging there the entire town is believed to have been destroyed twenty seven thousand people fled the area twenty year old colton person field shot this. cell phone video as he drove through hellish conditions outside paradise he somehow made it to safety severe fires have ravaged large areas of california since october of last year now the state is once more witnessing nature's fury at its worst robert oulds al-jazeera westlake village california. clearly the weather playing a big part in what's going on there in california yes nasa took this picture to show the point when the far as both north and size california about zero percent

contained so if you switch to this shot and i you should be able to see the northern fall looks the biggest at the time and the smoke drift right out into the pacific the sudden far as i'm sure i think the problem the movie is ones that moment are just starting but again you see where it is north of l.a. and this is where you get the santa ana winds that blow out of the higher ground and then a funnel down valleys unfortunately outside of l.a. and we've had this before the sun trying to wins which are sort of exaggerated usually on a day when pressure is high of the high ground are about to come to fruition again we don't say to me please on saturday it is just broken door and of course such on the west coast the winds are fine bout time you get to sunday though and this is a very coarse representation the winds are once again need to go for some trying to wince at the far as contained well today tomorrow is a bad looking day in the rest of the u.s. see the bigger picture the change of seasons when this cold winter at the moment

you don't see very much but video has been taken of the firsts snows in wisconsin and yes that was about ten centimeters of snow cause some close your roge hardly surprising just get used to the change of season this is down to brassicas about how far south it has got that close dissipate out of the way and we're ok for a couple days brought from the cold but there's more to come next week rob thanks very much at least thirty four people in unknowns have been killed when suicide bombers carried out attacks in the somali capital mogadishu gunmen were trying to take over a hotel in the city a warning some of the images in this report may be disturbing. the car bombs exploded simultaneously near a hotel and a police department headquarters in the capital mogadishu one of the three bombs ripped apart a minibus victims' bodies were scattered on. st. i pulled many dead bodies from the burning cars one of the cars exploded next to a public transportation vehicle and there were many people in it including women

and children but the number of casualties is unknown as bodies are still being pulled from the burning cars. witnesses say a gunman tried to storm the hotel by blowing up its security wall security forces reportedly killed the gunman before they managed to enter the hotel. it was three huge explosions up to now we had an ambulance carry thirteen wounded people and four dead bodies but we still don't know the exact number of dead it may be more than thirty times a day for that for the armed group al-shabaab is claiming responsibility for the attack it's been trying to oust the un backed government for over a decade al shabaab has carried out deadly attacks against high profile targets including hotels and checkpoints in the capital and other cities. on al jazeera. the iranian bank group hezbollah based in lebanon is shifting how it finances its operations as u.s. sanctions on iran come into force the trumpet ministrations decision to reimpose sanctions on tehran is aimed at curbing the country's influence in the middle east

however reports now from beirut hezbollah has been developing other sources of funding. it was another strategic win for iran when its allies met on the syrian iraqi border they created a land corridor connecting to her on to beirut iran's most valuable asset has been the lebanese armed group hezbollah its fighters helped keep the. syrian president bashar assad in power the trumpet ministration wants to counter the islamic republic spreading influence and part of its strategy is to reimpose sanctions the first time the americans impose sanctions on iran or hezbollah every now and then they impose a new batch of sanctions on. hezbollah those through. but it doesn't mean hezbollah is not facing financial pressure fundraising campaigns

have intensified in recent years particularly since hezbollah joined what has been a costly war in syria donations have long been a source of revenue for the group its supporters who are from the muslim community believe it is a religious jew to share part of their earnings. i won't say that the sanctions will not have an effect they will have an effect but we have the strength infrastructure and human resources to get through these difficulties because. hezbollah for some time now has reduced its expenses are not facing a financial crisis but taking precautionary measures they fear the targeting of ship businessmen and companies in lebanon and abroad but the u.s. has been targeting hezbollah's financial support networks in lebanon and globally sanctioning individuals and companies linked to the group serving as well as power will not be easy its military wing is stronger than the army it enjoys relative

autonomy and its strongholds it provides social welfare services to its supporters in many ways it acts like a state has belong has been the most powerful player in lebanese politics the group and its allies now control parliament and have the final say in the makeup of the next government is definitely using state. sources. years ago they used. to directly provide. the u.s. sanctions may be tougher than in the past but a more aggressive strategy may be needed to counter iran's influence that however with threaten lebanon stability senator beirut. a quick news or update for you coming to us at the french capital paris the reuters news agency this are reporting the president's trump and emanuel macro have agreed that the saudi authorities need to shut full light on the murder of the saudi journalist jamal khashoggi according

to a french presidential source the report says the two leaders also agreed that the g. affair should not be allowed to destabilize the broader region the middle east and as we were saying earlier here on the news hour the two leaders do feel that it could create an opportunity to find a political resolution to the war in yemen more on those developing angles to do with the war in yemen indeed and also the aftermath of the death of jamal khashoggi a little later i'm sure the u.s. defense secretary says he wants to find ways to reduce tensions with china in the south china sea james mattis made those comments after meeting a chinese delegation in washington officials met to discuss military deescalation and the trade dispute this led to tariffs being imposed by both sides on the other country turning our attention to lanka where the president today dissolved parliament and declared a snap election for january the fifth it comes just hours after his party admitted it did not have enough parliamentary support for its prime ministerial nominee in

the rajapaksa it is just the latest development in a political crisis triggered last month by the president sacking of the sitting prime minister in el fernandez now from colombo. also prime minister on a vicar missing her and party leaders of his coalition see that they will appeal the president's decision to dissolve parliament and essentially put this to the supreme court asking them to recognize the fact that his decision was in violation of the country's constitution now the constitution amended in the nineteenth amendment says that the parliament cannot be dissolved until it completes four and a half years of this decision for over a year short of that deadline but the president is defending his decision in fact newly appointed government ministers in a press conference a short while ago have said that the president's decision is in keeping with the constitution now there are mixed reactions among sri lanka's general public there

are those who feel that presidents are saying it took the right decision given the current kind of constitutional crisis that was brewing there are others who say this is a death knell for democracy obviously a lot of ground to be covered in the coming hours in the coming days before we see oh how and in what form this is a fiction because future australian police say the man behind what they're calling a terror incident in melbourne. he's been identified as shire ali. cylinders into the city center on friday before killing a man and wounding two others. spittle been shot by the police three million venezuelans of escape the country's economic and political crisis since twenty fifteen since the last count by the united nations in september another four hundred thousand people to join the exodus many walked for thousands of kilometers

through columbia to cross the n.d.s. mountain range in search of a better life is. wrapped in a blanket in four months pregnant. been walking for eight hours after. known as the ice box. this has been the hardest to have our companions passed out in the freezing air makes each step harder and this dangerous pass just one hundred kilometers from the border with. yet she says she needs to keep going. i'm doing this for my other children a five year old girl and a two and a half i'm a single mother and things in venezuela get worse every day no food no medicine no life left for three days ago hoping to reach her sister in the colombian city of out of mania seven hundred kilometers away along the route she joined other migrants all poorly equipped for this weather carrying the few belongings they have

in a. jacket her knee hurts but she keeps limping along. me i'm also here for my son he got me in china some venezuela and i didn't even have the money for the vaccine more than three million have fled poverty hunger and crime in their country since two thousand and fifteen in one of the biggest migrations in the world today hundreds of thousands are still walking through the continent it's a dangerous journey and its toll remains largely invisible. in office as registered. to migrants from the cold but it's unclear just how many might have died because nobody is really keeping track of the death or the missing along these routes. and there's a little formal help along the way. you can use these to cover your nose mouth and

neck the colombian red cross set up an assistance point at the start of the trick here migrants receive help and health services but the most important thing is information but of course. they don't know what they have to face or where to go and most have never crossed the border. by the end of the day and her group reached the top of the mountain there's nowhere to stay and temperatures are dropping by the minute. colombian soldiers help lidiane haiti get a lift to the closest city the rest decide to continue on foot that's a good thing you must have faith that will work on the boat. where deal sleep tonight they don't know but with no other option they can only press on i listened to them. are they willing still to come here on the news hour in the sports news the biggest title in ancient club football is set to be decided in the next few

hours and you see it with that story on the other side of the break we'll see you very soon.