a relative newcomer in d.c. politics and he has his work cut out for him because he's facing long time when a president joseph kabila is nominated successor in the december twenty third vote katherine sawyer how small. after his father eighty and she said katie died in february last year felix she said cady to go over the reins of the largest opposition party the union for democracy and social progress. his father had come second in the twenty eleven presidential election and the young like to see katie hopes to capitalize on that legacy and popularity styled himself and his father than favoring the same flack street cop. but unlike the old that she said katie who had decades of experience both in government and the opposition his son was until recently not in the thick of congress politics he lived in belgium for many as as a political newcomer some have criticized his lack of experience there twenty one

presidential candidates for the past and to bits is a man diary president joseph kabila successor it will be a single round contest opposition leaders and civil society groups have raised concern about an electronic voting system to be used for the first time in the country and the inclusion of some ten thousand voters who they say should be struck out because of irregularities they're worried that the election will not be free and fair. forty six million congolese i expected to go to the paul's supporters of the opposition believe this is a chance for their leaders to show a united front after years of divisions and that it makes just a caddy is a man to lead them to victory catherine sawi al-jazeera. solaire for you on the program accused of war crimes in the central african republic a man known as a brando appears before the international criminal court. and will explain why this delicate and extremely valuable spice could be one iranian industry strong enough

to survive u.s. sanctions. it was still got some rather brisk winds affecting eastern parts of australia we had some travel disruption into sydney and melbourne over the last twenty four to thirty six hours can see this area of low pressure is swirling away it's moving out into the tasman now so quiet as guys do come back in behind sixteen celsius the top temperatures there for melbourne brisk winds there for adelaide still but around twenty celsius twenty two celsius to sydney but the winds generally in the process of dying out one of the hive around ninety in perth going to stays largely dry here over the next couple of days a few showers just around the top end on sunday and by sunday we will see it

largely settled down towards the southeastern corner the wetter weather the windy weather is making its way into new zealand so make the most about the dry weather that you may have at the moment it looks like a blustery weekend shop showers rattling across the country not just on saturday more disturbed weather in place there as well as we go on into sunday at least be warm rain for o'loghlin in the sunshine temperatures getting up to around twenty one degrees celsius a little bit of disturbed weather making its way across north asia to chiefly affecting the korean peninsula japan doesn't look too bad over the next couple of days but the rain never really too far away by sunday. on counting the cost breaking the rules italy wants to spend its way out of an economic slump but it's up to its eyes in debt big cryptocurrency sell off and a rock star c.e.o. buys himself behind bars counting the cost on

a. quick recap the top stories now turkish investigators analyzing the phone calls and movements of the suspects in the case of murdered saudi journalist marcus shoji so the operation to kill him was planned twelve days in advance in the recordings a third voice is heard which security sources say might be that of crown prince mohammed. the incoming head of the u.s.

house intelligence panel is saying democrats will investigate president trump's response to the murder as part of a deep dive next year in two u.s. saudi times and our other top story suicide attackers have tried to storm the chinese consulate in the pakistani city of karachi killing two policeman except as a group the baluchistan liberation army has claimed responsibility for the attack. well in all the stories we're following climate change will cost the u.s. economy hundreds of billions of dollars by the end of the century this is according to a new congressionally mandated report written with more than a dozen u.s. government agencies it says global warming will disrupt fortunately hurt the pool undermine human health and damage agricultural production the findings clashed with president on trump's policies which of rollback environmental and climate protections while boosting domestic production of fossil fuels alan fischer as male . this is a pull together of information from thirteen federal agencies and it's been pushed

not in december when it was planned but wait on a friday afternoon after the thanksgiving holiday here in the united states perhaps the administration hoping that many people won't pete too much attention to it but simply because of what's in the report it is lighting up social media people are deeply concerned but what the scientists are seeing this see that climate change is no progressing at a faster rate in the united states than any point in modern history that it's going to be inevitable that people will have to move away from coastal areas in the united states because of rising sea water they're not just talking about the likes of florida and south carolina where we have seen extensive flooding in the last couple of years after hurricanes they're talking about the entire eastern seaboard a large chunks of the western seaboard as well they're talking about the likes of new hampshire upstate new york even new jersey they say that climate change continues to have a big impact economically on the infrastructure and also on social issues here in

the united states and they will be exacerbated if people start moving away from the course then farther inland as well and they say that the current measures that are under way simply aren't enough to reverse the impacts of global warming the sea this isn't a problem some we don't the line this is happening right here right no so is that likely to change what donald trump and his administration have dismissed as a hoax well highly unlikely just in the last twenty four hours donald trump talked about the cold weather in november at the beginning of winter here in the united states and said i thought we were going to suffer from global warming many people on his twitter feed pointing out that weather isn't the same as climate and just a week ago when he was in california looking at the devastation caused by the wildfires there he was asked if his view that climate change was a hoax had been changed by what he seen is simply answered. no and so it's unlikely

that we'll see the trumpet ministration changing its approach and continuing to push ahead with. the promotion of fossil fuels continue to drill for oil in areas that have been considered off limits by other administrations but there will be those in the house who will be desperate to bring this to the attention of the white house and demand greater action not just from the president but across the united states a central african republic militia leader and politician has told the international criminal court that he was tortured after his arrest last month alfred yeah khatami also known as rambo has appeared at the hague for war crimes he was a senior leader of the mostly christian and movement is fighters attacked muslim celica rebels in two thousand and thirteen more a challenge as more from the netherlands when al jazeera encountered alfred your khatam in central african republic it was two thousand and fourteen the country's ethnic and religious conflicts was in its fiercest stages and yet its own was in

charge of a christian militia group fighting predominantly muslim seleka rebels seem filmdom outside the capital bangui on the roads and baking. now he's in very different circumstances appearing for the first time before judges from the international criminal court in the netherlands a preliminary hearing for his forthcoming war crimes and crimes against humanity trial this is the first time that the central african republic has extradited someone to the international criminal court to face charges for their involvement in the recent conflicts and as such it represents a significant step for the country in dealing with the violence but how he got here is something of an accident late october the militia leader turned m.p. was detained in bangui after firing a gun inside see a palm and only after this on november eleventh did the i.c.c. publish its arrest warrants and he was hastily extradited a week later all this has reaffirmed for some the suspicion that there's

a degree of opportunism in how the i.c.c. works i think what we've learned to about the r.c.c. in the last sixteen years is that it's a much less impressive institution than many people hard and it lacks resources it also lacks knowledge of complex conflict zones in africa and as a result of that it can't go off to the big fish it can go off to presidents of countries instead it's having to go off to often middle ranking actors and you could tom very much fits that category still groups such as the international federation for human rights are hailing the prosecution bot hope there are more yes we absolutely call on the prosecutor and her office to proceed with for their arrest warrants against all those or sponsible in the various armed groups involved in the commission of crimes in this conflict and it has to be an inclusive justice inside courts yet that's almost lawyer said his client had been arbitrarily detained and abused in custody in benghazi before being extradited. he hated dr

julie so last year according to his clear he was tortured and he was beaten with the butt of a kalashnikov he still carries the visual mark on his right foot and he told me that the doctor of the detention center had noticed as. the judge said the court would consider these claims if officially submitted in writing and that the next hearing would be on april the thirtieth two thousand and nineteen helen's al-jazeera the hague want to syria's most prominent activists write far as has been assassinated in the rebel held province of idlib witnesses say far as and another activist hamad alginate were killed when mosque dunc gunmen fired on their car has been no claim of responsibility for the killings but far as had been a fierce critic of both the syrian government and on the groups far is founded the independent radio station radio fresh in two thousand and thirteen to iraq now a flash floods of killed at least seven people including four children in the north

of the country the mayor of share cut says the floods caused by unusually heavy and early rains have left three thousand people homeless people use boats to flee their partially submerged houses more rain is expected in the region in the coming days now earlier this month the united states really impose sanctions on iran's oil industry lifted as part of the twenty fifteen nuclear deal in the wake of president donald trump decision to pull out of that agreement iranians have been bracing themselves for more economic instability but one industry in particular believes it's virtually sanction proof the growers and traders of saffron same bus ride the reports from talk about daria. the men and women in this room take saffron very seriously at a conference hosted by the university of experts are discussing risks and challenges to the industry rising market demand climate change and of course the one thing every iranian business worries about american sanctions. and i know

they're the main producer and exporter in the world there's no alternative sanctions have no impact on this industry. so they need to buy our products by legal or illegal means was so to our products it will be exported saffron doesn't need much water to grow so traders are encouraging farmers dealing with nearly a decade of drought to swap crops the farm to table process can be labor intensive delicate work but in the end it's a lucrative. ninety percent of iran saffron is exported and a kilogram can sell for around fifteen hundred dollars the spices a key ingredient in cosmetics perfume food and medicine the international demand is high and people who wanted will usually find a way to get it. seller say that makes u.s. sanctions a buyers problem and. that it will know this year fortunately even sanctions have had an impact it's actually better because the price has gone up. packed into

these little boxes is the culmination of hours of manual labor by dozens of people and that's why this sought after spice is so expensive so can safra save a ron's economy technically it is possible but there is a problem of scale iran does not make enough saffron accounts for less than one percent of iran's overall revenue from exports. still its big business in small town iran and profits are up i don't know quite what is though for some it can be backbreaking thankless work i want to point out. the harvest season lasts only a month and pickers are out from dawn to dusk they say the minimum wage is not enough and they want a bigger share of growing profits but the key to them was not long was for me and we live in poverty we come here early in the morning and sometimes when i come home

my child complains saying i don't see you we're not even off on fridays in the middle of winter when everyone sits next to a heater in this freezing cold with force to do this otherwise we wouldn't do it help. while the government has poured money into helping the saffron sector thrive the benefits have yet to trickle all the way down the same bus ravi old a zero power but the head the rear. the cane elsewhere in europe and demonstrating outside distribution sites have a working conditions u.k. union is described them as frankly inhuman a protest for time to coincide with black friday which is one of the biggest shopping days of the year and i will report from central england. it is a twenty four hour operation which only pauses when the ship changes packing and preparing parcels boarded with a simple click and on black friday with discounted prices at the online retailer

staff at amazon a busier than ever with a. wedding or a child. was outside this distribution center not far from london a defiant cry from members of the g.m.b. union they claim conditions inside are inhuman and the stock are treated like robots and don't even have time to go to the toilet when you go and work in a warehouse you do expect the monotony you expect to be a bit like a coal miner to be in the dark for twelve hours you don't expect to be treated like you don't expect to be just driven and driven and driven and expected to perform. feasibly height august all the time. the general manager at this amazon site told us his staff were treated fairly well we're actually warehousing operations for twenty years and i believe that what we ask people to do is absolutely. the union also alleges that amazon's workplaces are unsafe claiming ambulances have been

called out six hundred times to fourteen warehouses during the last three financial years amazon told us the sites were safe and had fewer injuries on average compared to other similar companies there were protests about conditions in other parts of europe too with most stop at one site in spain walking out. the company certainly has changed the way many people around the world shop here in the u.k. well amazon's star has risen during the past two decades traditional shopping areas have been struggling to compete on black friday the retailer was even opening a pop up shop in the trendy area of london. has long been seen as a symbol by some of corporate greed paying as little tax in the u.k. as legally possible. can buy a boat swooping its profits continue to rise there's no getting away from the fact

that amazon is a huge machine this fight and i employ thousand people with hundreds during the busiest times of the. calls its distribution sites fulfillment centers exactly how fulfilling they are to work in is a matter of opinion emma haywood al-jazeera the milton keynes. now italy's famous leaning tower of pisa isn't leaning so much anymore the fifty seven metre tower sony straightening thanks to engineering works carried out more than twenty years ago tower began tilting during its construction in the twelfth century mainly because of soft ground and inadequate foundations was more in everything we're covering right here the address al jazeera dot com.

just a quick recap of the top stories this hour now turkish investigators analyzing the phone calls and movements of the suspects in the case of mudded saudi journalist jamal khashoggi say the operation to kill him was planned twelve days in advance and the recordings a third voice is heard which security sources say might be that of saudi crown prince mohammed bin so money meanwhile the incoming head of the u.s. house intelligence panel says democrats will investigate president trump's response to the death as part of a deep dive next year in two u.s. saudi ties. minister accused president trump of turning a blind eye. there are a number of questions that have not been answered the whole world wants answers to these questions the explanations given by mr trump saying i will turn a blind or you whatever happens is only acceptable before everything else we have to remember that there was a life lost here. and all the headlines suicide attackers have tried to storm the chinese consulate in the pakistani city of karachi three gunmen and at least two

policemen were killed the separatist group evolution liberation army has claimed responsibility an explosion at a mosque in eastern afghanistan has killed at least twenty six soldiers a suicide bomber detonated his device inside an army base in hosp province just as friday prayers were drawing to a close at least fifty seven others were wounded in the explosion yemen's who the rebels have agreed to talks which could result in the united nations running the port of her data the u.n. special envoy martin griffiths made the announcement after speaking to the iran backed rebels of course is a vital lifeline for yemenis of many of whom a starving jews before yes civil war saudi led coalition forces have been battling to take the data for months. a central african republic militia leader and politician has told the international criminal court that he was beaten and tortured after his arrest last month alfredo also known as rambo as appeared at the

hague for war crimes he was a senior leader of the mostly christian anti polycom movement fighters attacked muslim seleka rebels in two thousand and thirteen while you're up to date with all of our top stories this hour that set for myself and the team here in london that will be more news at the top of the next hour but that's after counting the cost which starts now. getting to the heart of the matter how can you be a refugee after a while it borders between five safe countries facing new realities the pain starts from the very beginning of the school by the providing context housing is not just about four walls and a roof here their story on talk to how does iraq. alarm hasn't seeker this is counting the cost on al-jazeera your weekly look at the world of business and economics italy wants to spend its way out of an economic slump but

it's breaking european rules by doing it. also this week tales from the crypt oh why prices of digital currencies like. f. area and report are collapsing. plus a dramatic fall from grace for rockstar c.e.o. shifts here alliances in the auto industry into reverse. by economic drama is playing out between italy and the european union italy has broken each budget rules and now the message from the european commission is clear euro zone's third biggest economy won't be getting away with it largely has more from brussels. rome may be the eternal city but it's looking like someone needs to give it some attention the social as well as physical fabric of italy has been unraveling for years with high unemployment and a persistently stagnant economy. rather than pointing to the endemic corruption in

italy has always suffered the populist coalition government has squarely blames austerity imposed by the european union on its problems but their vows to break hardline spending rules from brussels has led inevitably to an all out confrontation with the european commission which has said it will impose sanctions and fines honestly if it doesn't change its budgets strace the situation in italy is of common concern euro area countries are in the same team and should be playing by the same rules the response to all that from opponents of austerity would be look what happened to greece which eventually agreed to european demands and suffered years of economic hardship from which is still barely recovering the most important politician in italy the hard rights interior minister matteo salvini said he was ready for a fight. the letter from brussels has arrived i was expecting one from santa clause

as well we will respond politely as we always did but i will not back down the obvious political risk for the european commission in trying to beat italy into submission is it is a political tool for people like salvini who will say it only proves how undemocratic european institutions are asserting solving rights will be a key thing for populists not just in italy but across the continent before european elections next may if the european commission doesn't get its way by then the european parliament could look very different if he looks determined to change the direction of europe's economic strategy the consequences could be destabilizing . we're joining me now from london is simon french chief economist with gordon thanks very much for being with us so what are the scenarios here if italy doesn't budge on its budget has the european commission going to respond well we're already seeing indications from the european commission that they're not prepared to

tolerate what's are some fairly ambitious growth targets from the timing government and a budget deficit the at this point in the cycle is not consistent with getting their debt burden which is about one hundred thirty percent of g.d.p. under control and this all stems back to the stability and growth pact which underpins the euro zone it is the sort of the fiscal discipline and to your question what i think the commission against do is look to get the italian government come in with more realistic expectations of or can be done over the near term in terms of fiscal stimulus but also balancing the long term sustainability of their finances and what about the fear that this could escalate into a wider debt crisis that could hurt the rest of the block out how real is that fear i don't think it's so real in terms of the near term or is the contagion risk around the or is own is is fairly limited particularly with the european central

bank still in buyer bond buying for a spawn buying program i think the issue is much more idiosyncratic to italy rather than presenting a a structural risk of the type that we saw in twenty eleven twelve so are we seeing kind of a slow burning crisis here then in terms of the markets up to this to this point haven't reacted too much to this but is that something that could change further down the line i think that is the question a slow burning crisis of what i would describe as democratic legitimacy of the euro zone project in italy. and the being a member of the euro remains very popular amongst the italian electorate about two thirds of them still support ongoing membership but what they are uncomfortable with is the obligations that come with the let's call it the privilege of being in the euro zone the obligations are to be relatively all stare in terms of their

fiscal outlook and something that successive italian governments have been fairly poor doing they've run an average deficit of about three percent of g.d.p. of the last twenty years so to be asked to pare back at this time towards two percent at the same point is they've elected a coalition government to want to be much more expansionary comes with its democratic challenges rather than its financial challenges just picking up on that idea of being expansionary italian government are obviously convinced that this is the right thing to do for their economy to spend their way out of it what's what's your view on that well the problem is that having gone down the road of the last twenty years of euro zone membership with the economic policy prescription we've had italian growth has been less than one percent year on year over a twenty year period now that simply isn't sustainable and of course there is madness in trying the same policy prescription over and over again expecting

a different result i think what you need to see to break this impasse is the italian government saying look we want to be more expansionary on the fiscal side but we're also going to do a lot more on the structural reforms side to raise the trend rates of growth in italy because ultimately that is what all sides of this one of the discussion but the europeans and the italians want to see a higher rate of trend growth but there are some painful decisions that come with that that might be to trade that they have to do to get through this level of deficit spending would you say europe is more worried about what's happening with it to lead then then brags it right now. i think brics it is the the the near term risk so it depends on your time horizon in terms of what is going to impact euro zone growth the outlook confidence over the next couple of quarters i think bracks it sits front and center is the most important risk for the european union in the

euro zone to manage having said that beyond a withdrawal of our transition a new economic arrangement the longer term question is whether countries like italy but there are others on the periphery who are happy with years a membership but are not happy with the implications in terms of control over fiscal policy how we come to a position of agreement on that we've seen comments from john claude younker the commission president and also from mario draghi on the fact that requires more europe and yet this is a time when popularist claiming electoral victories on the mandate of less europe that is the circle that needs to be closed all right good to speak with you simon french thanks for being with us my pleasure now as of this month u.s. sanctions on iran have slapped back into place and they're aimed right at the heart of the islamic republic's economy and oil but one business in particular believes

it is virtually sanction proof the growers and traders of saffron samus ravi reports from top but it has in north eastern iran. saffron doesn't need much water to grow so traders are encouraging farmers dealing with nearly a decade of drought to swap crops the farm to table process can be labor intensive delicate work but in the end it's a lucrative. ninety percent of iran saffron is exported and a kilogram can sell her around fifteen hundred dollars the spices a key ingredient in cosmetics perf human food and medicine the international demand is high and people who wanted will usually find a way to get it. seller say that makes u.s. sanctions a buyers problem. and fortunately not even sanctions have had an impact it's actually better because the prices going up. packed into these little boxes is the

culmination of hours of manual labor by dozens of people and that's why this sought after spice is so expensive so can safir on save or runs economy technically it is possible but there is a problem of scale iran does not make enough saffron accounts for less than one percent of iran's overall revenue from exports. still it's big business in small town iran and profits are up. though for some it can be backbreaking thankless work. the harvest season lasts only a month and pickers are out from dawn to dusk they say the minimum wage is not enough. we live in poverty we come here early in the morning and sometimes when i come home my child complains saying i don't see you we're not even off on fridays while the government has poured money into helping the saffron sector thrive the benefits have yet to trickle all the way down. now still to come on

counting the cost i'm katherine sawyer in a warehouse and thousand times anea i'll be telling you about last night crisis that has forced the government to step in and deploy the military to take charge. first he was so famous in japan he even had his own comic book series a color scones arrest and firing this week from this and motors has been splashing across the world's financial pages is charged with underreporting his income and misuse of company funds gun was also the driving force behind the red mitsubishi alive and there's now a leadership vacuum in the operation which sold ten point six million cars last year that's actually going him has more carlos gono was an auto industry leader respected by many in japan now he's in jail and fired as chairman of nissan

gone to whole. it is not desirable that the foundations of the company are shaken by the arrest of gone but we are going to work hard so that it works in favor of the alliance. prosecutors say a whistleblower alerted them that goes on conspired to under-report his salary by about forty five million dollars at use nissan's money to finance homes from brazil to beirut. i'm very surprised that this happened to the leader of the company that makes the car i drive i really hope this is some kind of mistake. goan has been credited with reviving nissan and forging a formidable alliance with mitsubishi and reno there are a lot of people on the board of all these companies that know how to run a car company but the problem is his job was to knit together all these different interests and try and you know forge ahead with this kind of integrated global carmaker and without him there is hard to see that happening news of his around.