revolution in our democracy tennessee i was the focal point of the pro-democracy protests in two thousand and eleven that galvanized the weald and start of the revolution known as the arab spring lawyers and human rights activists in tunisia a mounting a legal challenge to stop the visit but that's unlikely to happen to cash strapped the government is desperate for financial aid to tackle poverty instability and unemployment here government leaders are concerned protests might alienate some of the leaders at a critical moment for the government is getting a great deal of pushback there has been. number of statements for example from the syndicate journalists a very strong syndicate there since their own rep uprising in two thousand and eleven saying that he is using this trip to whitewash his

violations against human rights and to make them more human more palatable and they're using tunisia after the crown prince is due to visit. before attending the g. twenty summit next week in argentina it tore widely seen as an attempt by this apartment to repair his image during the international outcry over his suspected role in the killing of. a. the u.s. president donald trump has repeatedly accused iran of being a state sponsor of terror he points the old slogan death to america as a clear example of intentions but some iranians say americans should not take that chance literally zambia's ravi reports from to her on i. it's a phrase that has come to define decades of hostility between two countries. death

to america is a rallying call for iranian leaders to bring demonstrators to the streets it's a polarizing statement but many defend it as a minimum response for decades of harmful american policies in the middle east with their hands tied politically and economically for years some say the least they can do is raise their voice i think this foreign policy would be the same that that segment of iran and publics chance that are not i think if. there was a decree by the iranian government that no one is allowed to say that i don't think you'll see any change in u.s. foreign policy but the slogans critics say in an era of trouble it's a problem of messaging giving his administration political ammunition to use against iran. in some corners of american political society iran supporters say trump is the problem during a visit to tehran nation of islam leader louis farrakhan said trump's policies in

the middle east could trigger a global conflict. to bring about yet. but he's sure. you won't be. so young the world you. not hearing any of you bring up that jack great nation it's been on this earth in the last. year when pressed by a local reporter to say the phrase seemingly a political stunt this season civil rights activist responded angrily i know that she came from the people of iran and. the deeds of iran they have a right to change it but i am not sure i will let. farrakhan has been an unrelenting critic of successive american governments but even for

a controversial figure like him uttering a phrase so incendiary in the united states was going too far. for decades the language of protest in iran has been dominated by the three words death to america but opinions have been split and in the wake of more sanctions iranians are again asking if that slogan accurately defines public opinion here for many iranians it's time to abandon the politics of the past. the slogan death to america is wrong we shouldn't want any country when we want someone. for us. our officials say death to america but some of their children now live and study there. the slogan is not a good thing because it explicitly calls the other side hostility thank you i never said it i never will not all people in iran say it's not anti-american demonstrations are often fueled by anger even hate speech and despite varying

viewpoints it's difficult enough u.s. actions have done more damage than any iranian namecalling ever could say. shipping anything to nigeria as. difficult cargo at nigerian ports can be delayed or affected by corrupt practices and bureaucracy and now reforms are being made to the way ports are run and stopping multi-billion dollar losses. reports from lagos . to service boats making their way with ease into and out of a nigerian port. a few years ago this process was murdered in red tape and corruption that may be changing but you challenges remain there active sought to have a single interface for the clarins and inspection of cargo so that has stopped at so yes either be in business has fascinated

a bomb or not to the quantum leap that we want would want to have cameras whereby you can just can occur when they just move and you you knew you knew would now have a significant. improvement i'm glad of the. improvements in ports infrastructure and new technology has eased operations bess's alluded faster but not all port uses such as flight is service are more efficient. if you get efficient service is now but besides that the do things without due cause there is something for the other stakeholders in the industry. just. unpredictable every vessel entering or leaving nigerian waters is closely monitored here at the command and control center allowing for prompt response in times of distress or security breach up what is the busiest of nigeria sixty ports fifty ships berthier

every day on average changes in the ports about the last few years something creates revenue where the potential for further increases because of automation and other upgrades. despite presidential directives to ease the conduct of business in the ports some agency is accused of circumventing reforms and that is diverting traffic to other countries but officials say with or without reforms such cargoes will still not come to the nigerian ports that meet at the center of the. russian actually. all have. to the market and i've talked up to the neighboring countries. nigeria seaports account for eighty percent of the country's international cargo traffic over the last ten months the government generated nearly three billion dollars in duty but it also lost just much revenue in the same period to regional competition and smugglers nigerian ports are operated under concession agreement

with the private sector or the ports authority supervising operations while ports around the world use advance technology sudden cargo inspections are still carried out manually in some nigerian ports hardly encouraging enough to businesses looking for a quick turnaround i met you greece al-jazeera lagos. hello again the headlines on al-jazeera e.u. leaders have approved the final agreement for the u.k.'s exerts despite approval of the deal by the e.u. prime minister to resign may still has a major battle ahead persuading british m.p.'s to back the agreement rejection next month could derail the entire process so no hope has more from brussels. it's been interesting to see the sort of diverging narratives at play here on the british

side the british prime minister to resign may sounding increasingly desperate about her chances of getting this deal through her own parliament issue we're going to open letter on sunday to the british people talking about a new chapter a moment of renewal and reconciliation will contrast that with the mood here and comments of e.u. leaders arriving here talking about the sadness over the tragedy as britain this this huge influence in the e.u. a model of parliamentary democracy formally a leading light in the expansion of the e.u. becomes the first nation ever to attempt to leave the bloc a search operation is underway in uganda after a party boat capsized on the victoria thirty bodies have been recovered so far but it's thought that more than one hundred people were on board at the time twenty seven have survived. two people were shouting the music was so loud and we thought that they were just having fun with the theory capsize that's when we realised they want to help some of the fishermen who went to save them or side died

because many people jumped into this small boats russia says syrian opposition fighters are responsible for a chemical attack on the government controlled city of aleppo there are no international observer organizations in aleppo to verify the attack but syrian state television is reporting one hundred seven people are being treated for a suffocation in a suspected chlorine strike rebel groups deny they are responsible a new round of peace talks that will take place and astana kazakhstan on wednesday the u.n. special envoy for yemen is due in saudi arabia on monday for talks with the yemeni government leaders in exile martin griffiths trip to riyadh follows a meeting with her with the rebel leaders in yemen he's trying to get all sides to attend talks in sweden early next month millions of yemenis are facing famine after three and a half years of war in the country. those are the headlines on al-jazeera inside story is coming up next to stay with us.

it's a local election being closely watched in china taiwan. independence . so how will the results affect on going with this story. and welcome to the program. millions of taiwanese voted in mid-term elections on

saturday the ruling democratic progressive party was dealt a severe blow to the vote is being closely watched by government leaders in beijing which regards taiwan as a breakaway territory reports from taipei. well behind me one of the one hundred fifty thousand places where votes are being counted in these local elections as well as the ten referendums that are happening alongside it as always in an election in taiwan china has been the dominant overriding issue that's because for the past few years relations between beijing and taipei have gone from bad to worse they started to get bad when president zine when was elected in january two thousand and sixteen relations with the previous government here in taiwan had been good some say too good which is why resign when was voted into office her crime in china's eyes is this she refuses to accept the taiwan is part of china the

so-called one china policy as a result china has been squeezing taiwan both economically as well as diplomatically there are now far fewer tourists from the mainland visiting taiwan and tourism is an important source of income for the island republic also who china has peeled away five of taiwan's diplomatic allies during the last two years and that's caused a lot of embarrassment and humiliation here now this is a place really that doesn't take democracy for granted voter turnout in the last elections was more than seventy percent and it's been very high again on saturday and of course it's worth reminding that this is the only place in greater china by greater china i include hong kong and macau where you see true democracy as we've seen on saturday adrian brown for inside story in taipei. well let's take

a close look at this island which sits around one hundred eighty kilometers from mainland china portuguese sailors named it for most beautiful island when they first spotted it in the fifteen hundreds it was renamed taiwan following the chinese civil war nationalists moved their government to the island in one thousand nine hundred nine after defeat by the communists and by mao to dong that formed what's known as to china's the people's republic of china led by government leaders in beijing and the republic of china that is capital in taipei china regards taiwan as a breakaway province and refuses to recognize its sovereignty the taiwanese have full diplomatic ties with only a few countries because beijing makes it impossible to have official relations with both taiwan is one of the world's leading producers of computer technology and has one of the wealthiest economies in asia. with. ok let's introduce our guest now and joining us from taipei via skype

a legislator for the ruling democratic progressive policy the d.p.p. from beijing china tangan a china political analyst and also from taipei fabrizio member of the taiwan strategy research association taiwan center for international strategic studies a very warm welcome to all of you teaching as we record this program the results are only just starting to come in but what are they indicating so far i think it's zero defeat for my party and we realize that people are not happy about our performance for the past two years so we countries are that we need to do more to make the people and voters believed we are doing the right rushing here and there are more in our time where you are right trick why do you think it is why do you think voters are not happy with your performance. first of all we have launch a brake company has a reform especially the pay sure you fall and we realize that the pension reform

has. alienated a lot of voters and but on the other hand some of our traditional supporters are not happy about the scope and speed of our reform meaning we are not doing quick enough and big enough so we are taking a very difficult approach trying to balancing different you know voters in taiwan we had to get a very difficult balancing act and i've used to we had to reconsider approach and try to find out what the problems are the defeat has lost a key merril seat hasn't it in the count's young cissie to nationalise they came to the common done policy that's all to holding on to it for twenty years why is well i think they came to their opposition party has say to the voters that our party has been in power for too long so it's time for change according to opinion surveys the majority poll and go show that the city was just lost did believe that our

party were in power for so long a time for change so we realized that probably we need to do bow and to do better to middle popo to believes that to keep us in power is good for the city ok agreed so what's your take on these results so far is that coming in first full of a surprising and second of all of a and a response to things like the reform to the pension system. well well yes they are indeed surprising for some analyst the woman down the chinese nationals party had big events bore left for dead described as a spent force as a porch in disarray and actually the woman dying is being capitalizing baf on the organizational beer tosses tea and the. political because a show solve its core base. that made a difference and also being able to. put forward when

a candidate's you mention gulshan. and while you was able to in. things that you've got a wing a beautiful victory as being able to rally support in a traditional defeat the stronghold the precipice a party of strong goals and. is the name attached to that wind of victories in this local election all four major cities and how one newt of a city type a city gal shong tides all are going to have woman down may just nationalist and his party may just this is. triumph for that woman down a big comeback this ideally marks the beginning of the two thousand and twenty presidential campaign. different from this and all we can say that the outcome of those presidential elections is highly can be highly contested absolutely ok

let's just stick to these elections for the moment was still getting these results coming in and i know that of course the chinese communist party was watching these midterms very closely indeed what's its response going to me. well i was actually quite surprised by the comments of my fellow commentators in that they did not mention china and the economic situation i don't know that it's all about pension for reform and i think there's going to be a lot of recalibration both in beijing and also in washington as they review what seems to be a rout for the d.p.p. this is just like donald trump and the midterm elections as a real indication of how the voters field and it's quite clear that they do not have confidence in the current government teach and we're just getting was in the taiwanese president fly in when has just resigned from her post as the d.p.p. party leader i mean that's an extraordinary move. well cut into

a party chapter when all parties the ring party the central government then the president will be the chairperson of the party so it's mandatory but if the chair decided to create the party dinner then there would be a process of choosing a chair person doesn't it so we have to wait to see who is going to be the. next chairperson of the party but any case the president's to the president and she's the most powerful person in the party and i think old responsibility for the defeat of the election and it was that move necessary i miss going to leave the d.p.p. in complete disarray as it tries to rule taiwan but definitely we need to elect osa elect a new chairperson and we have the cooperating with the president because the president will be seeking reelection so it will be a coordination and cooperation between the new chairperson and the president ok if a piece is this something that the taiwanese people would welcome that this is

pretty drastic move that was saying from the taiwanese president. yes but if necessary move the natural outcome of this to fit. well. with the big nation i would say cleared away to current premier or taiwan. light in there and i wouldn't discount the possibility that in two thousand and twenty one won't be running president but if the thigh will with a lie with it or a lot of people in taiwan are going to be looking at these results and point the finger at china for meddling in these elections what does beijing's response to that been have we seen any evidence of beijing meddling well i mean it depends on who you talk to i mean beijing has categorically denied it there are people on the other side who are saying it i do expect that donald trump will come out quite

strongly and claim that this election was stolen but if you look at the the depth and the amount of change that has been created here you know supposedly previously safe seats that were held for long periods of time by the d.p.p. it's quite clear that this is not something where you know of a few percentage points of some sort of meddling or fake news cause everybody to change change their votes and remember taiwan is not some backwater this is a sophisticated internet users are used to getting all sorts of information that they will discount if they don't believe it this is not like the us where you know there's claims of fake news going on all the time it's a very robust intellectual community and i think any kind of statement that says that they have somehow been duped into voting for the k m t is is going to be a bit farfetched at chichen do you accept that. well first of all china has been

meddling in towns election there for the past two take years but in different elections they used a different approach years and this time obviously having. not tried to take on as the voters in taiwan so you know they are doing in the most subtle way that is to be used to cyberspace or to influence a party opinion in taiwan and i mean for instance when one of the singers. stomp. a candidate and her facebook was raised and bullied by a lot follows many followers are far outside taiwan so i believe that many of the enough on china but obviously china is not the only sector that influence to realize that reaction ok it's one of the most important factors that you said to the beginning of the say that the d.p.p. has losses today have been largely based on response to reforms that the policy is trying to make in the pension system do you accept that perhaps reforms in the

cross states relations all the push to be more pro independence is also having an impact on voters views i don't think that our party and our government has pushed for i'm already going to spend as of taiwan for the past two years but the other hand the cooldown of the relations between taiwan and china has also some impacts on the economy of taiwan and i do believe that that has some impacts on the results election and have been so would you agree with that is this the taiwanese people saying we don't want this tougher economic situation we need to have some trade with china we need to open up a little bit. certainly so. companies are very pragmatic people and we should. keep in mind that there are one million taiwanese leaving china taiwan a substantial economic interest in the mainland and well certainly. some worry us all for off the coast of relations is

a luxury that taiwan cannot afford first of all the economically the last a politically diplomatically. i did just explain to us how beijing has squeezed taiwan sense presence i took. nearly three years ago now well it's been on a two track basis on in public china has been very supportive of business between china and taiwan but in other ways it's been a very kind of cooling off period there are smaller businesses who believe that they have been pushed out or that things are not as friendly as they were they were not getting contracts and there was some pullback in terms of their you know what they could do here so it's there but there's also the international front when typing away was came in as president taiwan had twenty two diplomatic relationships it's now down to eighteen and looks to that it will fall even further now these are mostly small countries it's not

a matter of huge international consequence but it does show that taiwan's international presence is starting to go down this is in line with what china wants to see and why is china's give it a bit of context why is the type of commerce policy feel that taiwan feels so strongly that taiwan should be part of it is part of its territory well it's always been part of the territory separate brief period when it was ruled by the japanese the fact is that they see this territorial integrity is absolute red line when you start getting into hong kong taiwan jiang or tibet you're going to get a very very vocal very very strong response and if they are pushed it does it would come to an armed military conflict and on the other side chichen why many people in taiwan so keen to hang on to their independence or at least that de facto independence. well first of all obviously people realize that there are two

different ways of lives but you need to set a time was change so people in time i want to keep the current status of being a free democratic society so they don't want to be part of china but they realize that it's very difficult first time want to go to korea to to independence they want because china has to say many many times that they will use force if necessary so people in taiwan abrade realistic and raipur magic we want to maintain a kosovo. detract a status quo of the independence of time of have we say this because a number of referendums also taking place today and one of them is going to be equally as interesting as these results as in this is the vote for the name change from chinese taipei to taiwan an international sporting event starting with twenty twenty lympics how do you think that it's going to go. well i think that. the yes are going to prevail when bigley to die when he's you know. we've been

talking about the dependence but i believe that the key word here is really identity. toni's nobody well they're already the fact independent what they want is to see their identity affirmed domestically and internationally and international knowledge so. they can see their houma nation participating international sporting events and the olympics under a name of convenience chinese taipei. so really that's that referendum is another. aspect of the biggest bigger issue of identity here in the dubious been described as an independent body actually is a force holding taiwanese identity and this is something which is why you know when you're in taiwan. so. a lot you give you a figure they like your side the center of national chains a university in taiwan found out that fifty five point three of the taiwanese the people of relations described the south only

a sunny. to seven point three describing the south as boss taiwanese and chinese. i know what you think beijing's reaction to a name change would be would his allowance. well it's not a question of allowing it i mean it's you know taiwan can do as it wants and accept it would fail and how to enter. from chinese from beijing absolutely well it's under it's under a lot of pressure now to remember these are two nations that are at war i mean taiwan still insists that it is the rightful ruler of all of china and they maintain territorial claims on that basis even in the south china seas so it mean this is this is a situation that goes back many many years involves territorial disputes about sovereignty and this is something that beijing feels very strongly about is an internal matter and they resent this idea that foreign powers are sailing ships

between taiwan in the taiwan straits and trying to interfere so it continues to be a red line and i don't know how to express this but i hate to think that we are once again repeating world war one where you had great powers great britain trying to contain a rising germany and they saw literally slept walk into a war and this should be a divided anybody who's watching this should understand that beijing is not bluffing they will resort to arms because this is an ongoing war a chichen when you head language like that that beijing will resort to arms that it could be of a piece of world war one i mean what does that make you feel and what does it mean for the d.p.p. stunts have. well first of all the town wants a democracy so we're friendly and it's a tool people can show to the world probably well the general way of the people so are we respect the result whatever the result maybe of the people to referendum and

we are hoping that the international community can also recognize the fact that taiwan to referendum will show the voice of people. in general but i think the people in taiwan also very realistic and dramatic they know the result of the implication the result of a friend could be for close relations so i think the people in taiwan are smart enough to make their own choices as have received when we talk about china using weapons we've seen them running military drills just in the last few days how real is threats when you get some people saying oh they would never start a war it's not in their interest they've got other things on their plate but of course you just heard from i know that it is a very real trust indeed i believe that china would go for the mayor would go for military option all the efface with for the creation of independence but people familiar with china such as

a culture know very well that china prefers exterminator to measure their indirect approach i think china using economics and diplomacy rather the weapon of military force in other words is to be. assertive aggressively demonstrated but . use only the last resort what. the mail what beijing want. from taipei is a political face. certainly referendum upholding taiwan international sporting event would be a loss of face or be just sort of. they will reconsider if any written by them but . with. should be very careful before overhyping war. yes military buildup several wrestling demonstration military force all this is going to happen

but. i don't see the big powers in a persisting sleepwalking to war one is. still considered for three to six in the flashpoint but. here in the photo was people leaders know very well that war could work could be disastrous even for china the mess to clear and internationally to change you expect president sides to perhaps soften her stance towards beijing i mean she's made overtures she said i'm willing to speak to president xi jinping if where equals and there's no political preconditions of the beijing has not accepted that offer of talks if you're going to keep pursuing it well first of all i think it's too early now for us to think what costs three feet of our party so i think we are our party now think carefully about the result of election and that was a conscious of quality street and then that we can find out the reasons and then

try to fix the problems ok and i think contrary conservation is one of the reasons for me and i b d only reason for our defeat yes absolutely we understand that in this program we are focusing a lot on prostrates relations relations. how do you see our china affect china should be the one we have to take into account very seriously ok all right it's a very fast it's very likely that we may. modify our approach you say in dealing with china and so i think given that taipei might be willing to modify its approach is it going to be open to any form of discussion that the d.p.p. . well i think so i mean obviously if there is an acceptance of the eighty two can the consensus that there will be a quick warming up of relationships and expression really if this results in the u.s. kind of backing off there's been a number of pieces of legislation encouraging military to military and government to government contacts there's been an expansion of the de facto embassy in

taipei and there's been these ships sailing up and down the straits if that happens then i think there's a return to normalcy i think there's a way in which these countries can figure out what their future is but if it's seen as hostile i would agree that this is going to not be a good ultimate outcome it's going to some very interesting times ahead that for taiwan under the custody its relations very thanks.