kinds of things and i've i've listened to speeches of the british parliament and heard lots of speeches there as well. minority parties can say all kinds of things but the fact is that the executive the prime ministers the last prime minister and the new prime minister has not done anything to change that now and have invited us troops to be there the legitimate authorities in iraq invited us troops. parliamentarians will be alone parliamentarian just small blocks will be small blocks but the united states troops are there at the invitation of the iraq you know does that worry you now that james madison is out and you have an ax and secretary of defense patrick shanahan i mean how is this transition periods going to affect. hot spots in the middle east where the us is involved in like iraq i don't think it really well there's an entire us command central command in tampa that is devoted to paying attention in the middle east there are literally thousands of people there working on middle east issues every day there's going to

be considerable continuity douglas ollivant we thank you for speaking to us on al-jazeera. thanks very much russell says there are strikes by israel in syria and danger to passenger planes moscow's syrian air defenses destroyed fourteen of the sixteen israeli missiles syrian state media reports several missiles were shot down your damascus before they could hit their targets and israeli security officials confirm the airstrikes the associated press saying they hit iranian storage on logistic targets being used to transfer weapons to hezbollah. and it will be highly emotionally we are not prepared to accept the iranian military entrenched but in syria which is directed against us we will act against it vigorously and continuously including during the current period i've said do not be deterred from doing what is necessary therefore we are called upon and we act president trump decision to withdraw the american soldiers from syria would not change our policy no standing steadfast in our red vans in syria and everywhere else stephanie decker

has been following developments from western to sell them russia's accused israel of a gross violation of syria's sovereignty it also says that israeli aircraft in danger to civilian aircraft one of them that was coming into land in beirut airport and the other one in damascus this is according to a foreign ministry statement what we understand is that israeli aircraft fired from lebanese airspace is according to syrian state television targeting a weapons warehouse west of damascus now israel will act has acted extensively throughout the war when it believes either has is going to be receiving weapons shipments or any sort of in hong sing weapons capabilities to go to hezbollah we haven't had any official reaction we've reached out to the foreign ministry and the prime minister's office but we've heard from the israeli prime minister talking at a graduating ceremony of air force cadets saying that the red lines on syria stand

of course that there is a complexity between the two actors russia and israel following the downing of a russian reconnaissance aircraft in. september by syrian anti-aircraft missiles that israel was accused of causing there is a de confliction line in place between israel and russia when it comes to syria it is not clear whether that was used but certainly it is clear that russia very unhappy about the latest airstrikes the u.n. says representatives of yemen's warring factions have achieved a breakthrough at a meeting in the key port city of where they retired general patrick cameron has been hosting talks of the first time in the city between the saudi and iraq he backed government on who the rebels a cease fire is in place there but the photos these are accusing coalition forces of violating the truce with ground attacks on at least twenty eight airstrikes during the last twenty four hours coalition commanders haven't responded to those allegations u.s. markets are still volatile after

a major run of losses in the weeks before christmas on wednesday the dow jones posted its biggest single day gain rising eleven hundred points that's almost five percent a partial rebound followed a pre-christian us losing streak fueled by slower global growth and political uncertainty in washington strong retail sales and surging tech and energy stocks helped to boost markets robert scott is a senior international economist at the economic policy institute he says there are fears of a recession despite the market rally what we're experiencing right now is that period of extreme what we call volatility or highs and lows you know markets seem so you know you go from very low one day to to bounce back the next i think what's more important is you keep our eyes on the trend. overall the market still is down several thousand points from just levels of just a month ago and to the year both the dow and the s. and p.

five hundred off about seven and a half points seven half percent rather so it's a substantial loss of value of course of the year. i think that reflects concerns about the risks of recession going forward we know that government spending is more than two thousand nineteen the trade deficit already rising and. is projected to over the next two or three years the u.s. deficit trade deficit could more than nearly double nearly double in the next two years and that those two factors together are going to greatly curtail growth in the united states could be enough to push us into recession economists seem to think that's increasingly likely to happen once more head on the al-jazeera news hour including face to face two former presidents both ousted from power in the court. a day in the life we take a closer look at what the u.s. president does with his time in sport ronaldo comes to the rescue for italian.

skater we'll have that story a little later. but first the long awaited presidential election in the democratic republic of congo has been postponed in three areas they electoral commission says the delays because of conflict and an ebola outbreak but it covers three known opposition strongholds and that sparked calls for anti-government protests malcolm lab reports from kinshasa. the democratic republic of congo's the election is already two years a vigil. and the electoral commission has announced the second postponement in a week in three areas this election will do that the elections the beni pretend to be initially planned for december thirtieth a new program from march twenty ninth and will be subject to a specific calender. the electoral commission said the three areas would have delayed parliamentary polls and provincial elections in march that means that we

can think excluded from the presidential poll that's meant to happen on sunday the electoral commission said the reason was conflicts and then a polar outbreak all three areas a key opposition strongholds. and this is one of the reasons why hundreds of civilians have been killed in a series of massacres around the town of benny in the last four years it's not clear who is behind them the government blames a rebel group called the a.t.f. . or outbreak started in august and spread to the area around benny more than three hundred people have died. campaign rallies were allowed to take place there. and its opposition candidates martin finally threw the biggest crowds i think just the people that need change in this country most because there. was was a war of choice it is a must feeling ceased to kids and also want the aborts convince

a lot in this country there was want to change. there are about one point two million voters in the regions that will be excluded many of them support fire leave . congress catholic church which has played a key role in campaigning for democracy also question the decision to do this is that. within this is a dangerous decision and also we don't see a clear motivation for it why did they not decide this during the campaign when people were more exposed why only now i think there was a hidden agenda behind it. the elections being repeatedly postponed opposition then millions of followers now question its credibility to even if it happens it's result may not be accepted. malcolm webb al-jazeera kinshasa in the democratic republic of congo alex vines is head of the africa program at chatham house he says it will be difficult for the opposition to react to the delay because it's so

divided well the timing is terrible i mean we're just got a few days before the elections this election has been constant perspire and as many of you viewers know since twenty sixteen and the two locations in the east of the country me and the authorities say have because of ebola and then you may be in the west because of violence but the problem is going to be that these are now perspired to march their opposition strongholds and we don't know how they're going to tally these votes with the final result especially since at the moment plan is to announce a president a new president in the democratic republic of congo on the eighteenth of january two thousand and ninety one of the opposition leaders is saying he'll probably still go ahead and contest the elections several of us are saying that they're thinking about what to do and a number of others are saying that they'll pull out i mean there are twenty one

candidates for the presidency in the democratic republic of congo so getting a unified platform is going to be pretty difficult if the couple of favorite favorite candidates so many out of the twenty one have no chance at all. not support think that the former interior minister mr dari who is the mr could be the incumbents choice may well still win but that the opposition has a strong following one of the problems the opposition is is split is divided attempts to get a unified platform have failed unless is this gives the incumbent see the incumbent party the biggest opportunity i think. one of saddam's ruling parties is calling for an investigation into the killing of protesters during a week of anti-government demonstrations members of the popular congress party say seventeen people were killed after security forces used live ammunition at the protests but rights group amnesty international says at least thirty seven protesters died some sudanese doctors have now started striking while medical

students have joined protests calling for government change ever morgan has the latest from parts. what we've seen so far is that people are not satisfied with just marching up to destry demanding that the president resign and that his he and his twenty nine year rule we're seeing people doing basically they were seeing people protesting in different ways. of today for example doctors issued a statement saying that they are on strike they're not going to go to work they don't want to work for a government that basically they see is oppressing them and is not giving them any benefits especially comic benefits now they were able to mobilize medical students also to go out and strike against the against the government they've also called on people of other professions not just in the state but around the country to join them on a nationwide strike it's not clear yet if people would actually follow through on that one but people are saying that they're not going to be satisfied with just walking out to the streets demanding that the government resign and that president bashir step down and his rule they're going to try to find every single way they

can to try to pass on their message to the government that they're not happy and that they want to see a new regime in place of the current regime president bashir is that he is not going to step down he's he basically said that the those people protesting are traitors and are being infiltrated by foreign agents so he has appeared to have dismissed those people who are protesting in the streets despite their huge number yesterday we've seen thousands of people protesting there saying that they were done with the government but obviously president bashir by saying that he is he thinks that there are foreign agents and that they are traitors he has completely dismissed their protest and now so there is a standstill between the protesters on one side saying that they want the government to go away and that they want to see a new government new faces new cabinets new reforms and new policies and president bashir saying he's not going to back down is going to try to put it together to provide new economic reforms and new policies but then people said that we've been there before we've heard that before we don't want that anymore we want to new government that would give us new ideas so right now sudan is at a standstill between the protesters and the government it's not clear how this will

play out over the coming days with both sides seeming to be very determined to get what they want. two former egyptian presidents who are both deposed have appeared in the same court hosni mubarak has testified in the retrial of egypt's first democratically elected leader mohamed morsy over a jailbreak during the revolution that toppled mubarak seven years ago so no hope more. egypt's revolution may seem like a long time ago but its consequences are still unfolding. the man who wanted the whole of the information i am requested to provide here is related to the trial and what happened before it such information was delivered to me because i was the president and supreme leader of the military forces in a car oh courtroom an extraordinary scene two former presidents adversaries in the events of early two thousand and eleven now appearing on opposite sides of the law

the long time ruler hosni mubarak many called him a military dictator was deposed by the revolutionaries he gave evidence against egypt's first democratically elected leader mohammed morsi morsi who faced a death sentence until it was revoked is being retried on other charges along with fellow muslim brotherhood defendants they're accused of conspiring with foreign groups including hamas and hezbollah to orchestrate a violent jailbreak in the early days of the revolution but it was some say a third president the current leader abdel fattah el-sisi attempting a show of strength here to wield more power you see that he's telling the former president mubarak you must come to court and so we're seeing this power play that sisi signaling to both mubarak and his people that i'm consolidating power and myself i am the eternal power in this state and the level of repression today's unprecedented and the economic situation is even worse the attacks on journalism

and freedom of speech and fast and civil society egypt is quickly becoming governable and sisi is a read of a counter-revolution in two thousand and sixteen egypt's highest appeal court overturned a life sentence handed down to president mohamed morsi ordering a retrial last year mubarak's own conviction on charges of negligence in office was overturned and he was released but it is president el-sisi who now faces the possible outpouring of public anger a stagnating a call. beyond the repression room for almost eighty years egypt appears to have come full circle turn all al-jazeera. still had on the news our human microchip implants we report on the benefits and the risks of the technology that could replace fees and access cards how one guatemalan lakeside town is using art to draw more tourists to the region. and sporting a nervous wait for l.a.

lakers fans are spare and it's a problem. just. by the springtime flowers of a mountain lake. to the first snowfall on a winter's day. hello again welcome back to international weather forecast well here across china we are looking at some fairly stable conditions across much of the area at least for the next day but as we go towards friday things can change particularly up here towards the north so thursday looks nice across much of the area a little bit cooler up here towards the north but get even cooler as we go towards friday and that's when the snow rain mix comes into play we're going to see that mostly up here towards the north down towards the south though quite nice for hong kong a temperature few of about twenty one degrees well across the philippines we are going to see an increase of rain that's all due to a tropical system out here in the pacific it is intensifying slowly we don't expect

it to get too intense we're only to probably two from tropical depression maybe to tropical storm strength as we go towards friday there it is right there we're going to see some really heavy rain make its way across central philippines maybe about three hundred millimeters of rain falling in about two to three day period there and then very quickly across parts of india looking quite nice up here towards the north maybe some small to the higher elevations also but down here towards the south we are looking at rain across sri lanka particular here on thursday that rain is going to continue down here across parts of china as well bigger lou it's going to be a mostly cloudy day for you with a temperature of twenty degrees. the weather sponsored by cats are always. stepping into the unknown with central america's first ever theatrical production by actors with down syndrome. a life journey illuminated on stage each performer transformed with the

raise of a kurds and. witness time to love a backstage tale. on a zero. hello

again the top stories on the al-jazeera means are president donald trump has used an unannounced visit to u.s. troops in iraq to defend his decision to withdraw forces from neighboring syria from face criticism for not visiting american soldiers abroad he insisted he has no plans to pull troops from iraq voting in sunday's presidential election in the democratic republic of congo has been postponed and three opposition strongholds until march the election commission says it delayed the votes in beni would be over fears of violence on the boat. two former egyptian presidents have appeared in the same court room in cairo. was testifying against jailed leader mohamed morsi the charges against morsi relate to prison breaks at the height of the twenty loving revolution but toppled mubarak. since coming to office almost two years ago donald trump has turned presidential convention on its head that extends to his schedule

which has been less hectic than many would expect our white house correspondent kimberly health that takes a closer look at what the us president does with his day. given his background as a businessman with no prior time in elected office donald trump's presidency has been dramatically different from his predecessors. that includes his public schedule it often appears a little light it's an accusation trump denies in less than two years my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country. still trump's daily schedule has been under the microscope for months on most days his first meeting usually a daily intelligence briefing doesn't begin until eleven am it follows three hours of what the white house refers to as executive time it's what many others like presidential historian martha kumar call tweeting he tweets and he tells people

what's what's on his mind. in the morning and then he can see some of those themes resonate on television the white house has defended this unscheduled work time saying the president uses this time to make phone calls and his former doctor reports he sleeps very little that's probably one of the reasons why he's been successful are no because you know me personally i need a lot more sleep than just one of the people i think that just does not require a lot of sleep indeed a study of trump's tweets shows he seems active at all hours of the day with no sign of a slackening pace who are says trump is among the most engaged when it comes to taking questions from reporters enough put down the mike describe the end of november trumpeted gaged in question and answer sessions with reporters three hundred and seven times that's in contrast to seventy times by president obama at the same point in his presidency and two hundred thirty four times for president

bush kumar says even though trump's public schedule is blank it doesn't mean it's a blank schedule trump also spend some of his work day in the white house residence instead of the west wing oval office so he can consult with his personal lawyers as the justice department probes into possible collusion between trump's presidential campaign and russia there is an office up there and so it's not as if he's not working he is simply doing what he wants to do without a lot of prying eyes seclusion as a private businessman is understandable but as a politician a public servant who. promised to reinvent u.s. politics and shine a light on washington so-called swap donald trump's then public schedule is far from transparent kimberly held at al-jazeera the white house bill schneider is a political analyst some professor of public policy at george mason university he

says president trump style of governance plays directly to his base. he didn't even give a public schedule while the government has been shutting down he spends a lot of time watching television he likes one particular network that has a lot of conservatives and that supports his policies he spends a lot of time tweeting which puzzles a lot of people because they don't think it's very presidential it's often very vituperative and sometimes nasty but he has his own way of doing business he's not deeply engaged in public policy he's not what american slang is called a public policy wonk someone who's deeply engaged in the details of public policy and how the government works he's known to insist on memoranda and briefings that are no more than one page long he reads them then he throws them away he doesn't really have a lot of depth on public policy issues but he has a strong sense of his own priorities what he wants to accomplish and that he is strongly committed to u.s.

border protection has ordered medical checks for every child in custody after a second guatemalan child died while in its care eight year old from the gomez alonzo died on christmas day hours after being discharged from hospital he was diagnosed with a cold and fever philippe and his father had been in u.s. border control custody since entering the country a week earlier a seven year old guatemalan girl died earlier this month after being detained she have a tendency as more from washington d.c. . from what we can piece together from both the u.s. and guatemalan authorities this boy crossed into the u.s. with his father on tuesday of last week he was taken into custody his symptoms were noticed on monday of this week he was taken to hospital and yet discharged even though you had a very high temperature one hundred three degrees fahrenheit thirty nine point four degrees centigrade nonetheless he was discharged with ibuprofen and antibiotics taken to a holding cell where his condition worsened he was then returned to hospital where

he died a few hours later so many questions are raised by this latest child death in c.b.p. custody why it was a child released into a holding facility these are notorious for being cold for not having the facilities to handle adults let alone sick children also why was the child and his father in custody for so long they should have been in custody for about seventy two hours according to guidelines we now have the assurance from the c.b.p. that children will be tested for any medical problems when they when they are admitted up to this point they don't get man to treat testing although that's still to be seen whether they will have the facilities to do that congress is asking for a view the white house well one spokesperson who is rich simply said it was all quote very sad so her eyes eases professor of law and director of the center on security race and civil rights at rutgers university in the us she explains how gang violence is driving refugees to the border. the estimate is that at least

ninety three thousand people have come in two thousand eight hundred as of september thirtieth that was reported by the government that have come seeking asylum from central america and the primary reason is the rampant gang violence and the lack of control by the government the government is unable to protect its citizens from the gang violence and the gang violence is actually a result of the one nine hundred ninety six law that the united states passed where it took thousands of gang members in the united states and deported them back to honduras el salvador guatemala where they created two major games the m.s. thirteen and the eighteenth street gang and these gangs have essentially destroyed those nations and resulted in this mass exodus of refugees any human being any parent across the world that is an unlivable and unacceptable circumstance so fleeing and taking these extraordinary risks of going twenty five hundred miles

if not more to the border of the united states to claim asylum is less dangerous than these gang members threats on their lives and the way in which they're being treated in their own country and the other problem is that the police is now either incapable of protecting the people or they are also corrupt and working with the gangs the u.n. is warning at least two million more venezuelans are likely to flee their country next year neighboring peru says two thousand people are crossing its border every day it's already hosting the second largest number of venezuelan refugees after columbia but as my ana sanchez reports from the ma new arrivals are facing stricter immigration controls. got me begging when our bank got me i mean it's going to buy you has been selling coffee on the streets of lima and she arrived from business willing november the thirty two year old is qualified in food quality control. all but she's afraid she'll get in trouble for trying to work in an industry she knows

well she missed the october deadline to apply for a work permit by just a few weeks i'm afraid we came here to work legally and to be in the country legally i don't want to do anything against the law to do so so-called foreign police along with immigration officials are conducting inspections across the capital to ensure venus williams half the required permits to work out of the muzzle by the immigration chief. said the briefly detained some than a swell and for security reasons. sadly some people have committed crimes and that makes us sad because it affects the way peruvians see them and it also makes peruvians afraid. of the immigration office and many are rushing to apply for work permits before yet another deadline december thirty first two says it won't issue any more after that there were truck i haven't waited for the last minute but it's

been very difficult because i still don't have a certificate from. immigration authorities say they've increased the number of personnel and office hours to help these venezuelans get their paperwork done fast but they also say eighty five thousand venezuelans have missed their appointments and twenty thousand have not picked up their approved permits. six hundred thirty five thousand in a swim and snow leaving according to official estimates you know he. says she feels lucky that she crossed the border in time to work legally. i pride in august they gave me a portal you just know i don't know what will happen to those who get here after the situation in venezuela is a tragedy and officials say those winter dr tobar can only apply for asylum now but i mean. this doesn't guarantee a job you get that we've got it but the better i applied for asylum they gave me a paper that allowed me to work but no in effect. doing it that's valid. on average

two thousand in this winds cross in to be two every day to be an official say they will not issue work permits after december but for now they will keep the border open to those fleeing the deep in the economic and political crisis back home again a sign just one just. another strong earthquake triggered by italy's mt etna volcano has struck the island of sicily injuring at least ten people the four point eight magnitude jolt was one of more than a thousand tremors linked to act as ongoing eruption a dam and buildings and forest about six hundred people into emergency shelters on monday mts ethno erupted from its side for the first time in more than a decade. the husband of a british iranian mother detained in iran is calling for her release richard ratcliffe made the plea on her fortieth birthday saying she's an urgent need of medical help reports. the british iranian mother turns forty on wednesday but her

birthday says amnesty international will be a day of anguish rather than a day of celebration nazneen zacari ratcliffe was arrested at tara airport in april two thousand and sixteen the charity worker was later sentenced to five years in jail accused of spying charges that she and her husband richard ratcliffe vehemently deny he used her birthday to appeal for her release she is innocent he says she's been wrongly detained for three years separated from her family in young daughter and she's broken no laws and he says she's now being denied urgent medical attention senescent probably about two weeks ago now found against lumps in the breast this time she went into prison doctors said yes you need an urgent referral and then she's not been able to have it so we've been battling with the brain of yours is flat to happen i know she was pushing again this week as far as i know she's still stuck in prison or able to get. an obviously today today's her birthday her fortieth birthday that's been looming as a landmark for

a very long time in that you know this is someone that as you say has been three years in prison and she's innocent on day one she said innocence and dana hundred ninety eight which is what today is amnesty international's birthday present for nazneen is a simple one a promise that we will campaign for her freedom for as long as her family needs us peter shop al-jazeera. a bosnian serb man demanding the truth about his son's death has been released without charge after being detained on tuesday devorah drug of interests alleges his twenty one year old son david was tortured and murdered in march or goods or votes led a demonstration in the main bosnian serb city hours after being released by police he was arrested over allegations he threatened the country's interior minister the case has become a rallying point for anti-government anger. once regarded as pure science fiction human microchip implants are slowly but steadily becoming part of the modern workplace some volunteers have already been fitted with technology and several

businesses in the united kingdom are now actively looking to provide them to willing employees but as the barker reports their concerns the risks they outweigh the benefits. the future is a wave of a the way in case you missed it here it is again. this is a whole new level of security the keys will access cards difficult to steal and copy but the technology because a certain level of commitment there is not for the fainthearted. so this is where the micro chip implant story begins for those who want them at least a clinical setting a sterile environment with some of the daunting bits of medical kids so talk us through what happens next so far as part of a seizure is why when a sceptic the points of interest you. and when you. just make

a small incision. and then fall in the role of a large need to out and that we first just stop you there.