actually talking about one place to make it was old as in this is a country where the election it's a one route and lection still every single vote counts but as you mention the opposition goal post speaking in a very good body did voice this and say that the openness showed up and it did so kind of the thing if you click the links to the cabbie and his quote lucian phillips ticket is another main contender in this election and they have said they're going to carry on. regardless all right katherine sawyer then kinshasa catherine thank you and i just a quick apologies to our viewers there for the quality of that skype connection from the d r c let's bring in a teetotaller got him over he's president of the congolese exile government he joins us via skype from brussels ok so what's your response first of all to reports of troops have been firing over the heads of and to government protesters is this likely to up the ante in the standoff between the government and the opposition. thank you very much assad a very trusting day for me especially here what is happening in our country again

just weeks ago we predicted this that a government is not willing to organize the election is permanently using a delay tactic just to west the whole scenario for the feature phone nation now what is happening is a complete or unacceptable and a government how to lend a value inclusive it when it come into the country devalue the election in our country killing all deanery citizen when they are calling them to recognize them to be elected to elect a leader of the choice is completely unacceptable where they come in to try and to use another form of delay tactic just to west people time let me a cyst on the valley of people of congo mystical bella and the regime haven't been in a power sense to two thousand and one we had to view and we've been witnessing different forms of abuse and it decides included a different of the breach of the law and the use of force in an ordinary citizen asking them to respect develop constitution advocates and know where to come out ok or as the as you say protesters are angry at yet more delays to the vote when some

areas not being allowed to carr said ballots that so given that some of these areas are in opposition strongholds are people right to say that the vote is being rigged . deflator that's another way we kind of said period out of court has been arranged because the government is not willing to organize free and fair election ok i don't know how to government to going to the end of this over one million people in a going to vote and it coming or going to have a final vote in his system for the people with election system has been set up for the patient in a one election when no one votes is to want to be. president that's it i'm not aware that a position i have to work very hard in to be calling congolese people used to write time ok for us to use article sixty four of our constitution we have a criminal as the head of the state we have a group of people have taken apart by fools and in not really willing to sit in fellow democrat syrup it was picked in our country so we clearly all congolese people around the globe especially those in the congo to come around and to work

for the respect of our constitution the use of article sixty four we have to ask the current regime to go ok snuffy we're going to waste time any more mystical bella must resign and must step down without a warning ok cool today i'm going to let me just jump in there because time is limited apart from protests what can the opposition do about all of this i mean the opposition is not exactly united is it. but we are opposition and united we have a one a vision see the change of regime there has been some division away people called it division but i could see it as another way to hold the power because opposition has used two different strategy to take it apart from mr could be a lock box opposition leader two people kind of work to get a look at kind of mission one in four different single position have to use on their number one we calling police people to be united it's not one single seat of will be as pretty good it is a critical time where people have to express themselves those elections of their impulse for a country the very important for the generation we want to see stability and we

want to see the quick change offered him a nickel position or the government is using the delay tactic ok to make sure we don't have a credibility and call a teetotaller going to thank you very much indeed for talking to al jazeera thank you so. fresh it. all right lots more still to come here on the news hour including sudan's president facing growing calls for justice after the killing of dozens of anti-government protesters. one bottom out in lakeside town is using asked to draw more tourists to the region and his supporters happy return home for the former manchester united player who's now in charge of the team. that donald trump is back in the u.s. after a surprise visit to american troops in iraq and germany the u.s. president stopped at ramstein air base in germany for his growing criticism of his failure to visit troops deployed overseas trump stayed for just three hours in iraq thanking soldiers and defending his decision to withdraw troops from syria rob

reynolds reports from washington d.c. . resident donald trump got a warm welcome from u.s. troops during his brief visit to iraq. we came to this year our eternal gratitude for everything you do to keep america safe strong and free. account. tony by first lady maloney a trump the president shook hands with service members at an air base one hundred sixty kilometers from baghdad he posed for selfies and signed autographs including one on a make america great again campaign cap he bragged about the defeat of eisel on his watch two years ago when i became president there were a very dominant group they were very dominant today they're not so dominant anymore the visit came amid continuing fallout from trump's abrupt

decision to pull out all u.s. forces from syria our presence in syria was not open ended and was never intended to be permanent trump said the withdrawal from syria would be strong deliberate and orderly he also met with military commanders i think it's an opportunity for him to explain to his generals on the ground and the troops on the ground what the syria withdraw all means and most importantly hear from those generals how they plan to execute that withdrawal trump said the u.s. has no plans at all to pull out of iraq. a day earlier during a phone call with the commander of the air base in qatar trump asked about the ongoing blockade of qatar by saudi arabia and the u.a.e. together with egypt and bahrain so how are they doing it cutter how are they doing getting together with saudi arabia and u.a.e. you know we don't track in

a certainly the political followings of saudi arabian u.a.e. with regards to cutter but i will tell you they're fantastic comics this is trump's first visit to u.s. troops in a conflict zone during his twenty three months in office the visit is likely to quell critics who say he should have followed the example of his predecessors presidents bush and obama who visited troops in harm's way earlier in their terms rob reynolds al jazeera washington well we'll have more from washington with ralston jordan in just a few minutes but first let's go to imran khan he's in the iraqi capital baghdad him and so a very short trip by the u.s. president but he's left many iraqi officials there unsure about what exactly is u.s. foreign policy in the region. that's absolutely right just speaking to people throughout the day here in baghdad everybody is very confused as to what the president meant by the fact that he said he wasn't going to pull out the five thousand two hundred

troops here in iraq the iraqis are actually debating right now and have been for a while whether to oss the u.s. to stay on or whether to ask them to leave as a result of eisel being defeated now there are still pockets of fighters on the border with syria and in syria itself and the fact that the u.s. has withdrawn from syria or is in the process of withdrawing from syria is of real concern because they fear in iraq that those fighters may well be able to regroup also the president seems to be not taking into account his coalition partners in the fight against iceland seems to be going it alone so there's a lot of frustration hey the president there's a lot of confusion as to what the president's actual strategy might be and he was supposed to have a phone call or a meeting with prime minister. the but that didn't happen because they couldn't agree on the parameters what we are hearing is that syria was one of those

parameters that was supposed to be discussed as was the u.s. role but you saw in my colleague reports he went out and he said that the u.s. troops would stay in iraq he made a commitment to the u.s. troops however he hasn't actually discussed that with the iraqis and president trump says the u.s. could use iraq as a forward base if you like if you want to do something in syria how significant is that in iran and how is that going to work. well they've actually been doing that already they have a commanding control center in baghdad they have these advisers the supply lines that go into from iraq into syria so the bit they've been doing that already but because there's no clear strategy coming from the u.s. to the iraqis will need the support of the iraqis to be able to build a big forward operating base for any potential operation into syria they need the agreement of the iraqis and they simply don't have that yet because president of the trump isn't talking to them on that level. in baghdad him and thank let's cross

over now to roseman jordan she joins us live from washington d.c. also how is president thomas visit to iraq being seen there in washington do you think it's likely to help him politically or not well there hasn't been much in the way of a reaction because congress is technically on a holiday week break but the few members of congress who have commented have essentially said better late than never the president had been criticized for saying that he supported u.s. forces particularly those who have been deployed but up until wednesday the president had not been seen visiting any of these troops in a combat situation so there's a little bit of well better late than never but it's really not going to what change the fact that the president and congress cannot agree on how to resolve the partial government shutdown which some eight hundred thousand u.s.

federal workers are not getting paid right now aren't even being allowed to do any work because there's no funding to pay them or to operate the buildings where they work and come to school so he's talked about pulling troops out of syria and afghanistan so in the same vein rosa why isn't talking about putting troops out of iraq. well he isn't doing it because as imran khan just correctly pointed out the u.s. needs to have some place where it can actually deploy the land troops in the middle east yes there is the ten thousand or so u.s. forces who are at. air base in qatar but in terms of having army and marine forces available for any sort of a contingency across the greater middle east it's not really possible to do it and . frankly too small and saudi arabia after the first gulf war poet

told the united states it could no longer be deployed inside its territory because it was causing political instability there so this is really about maintaining a footprint even though the president keeps saying that it's not up to the united states to respond to global crises but in this case he is very much following the lead of what military planners at the pentagon would want which is an ability to deploy from anywhere and not just have to send troops from the continental united states to crisis points or around the world are also in jordan there in washington d.c. ross thank you for that. one of the parties forming sudan's ruling coalition 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 by security forces but amnesty international says at least thirty seven protesters died at the no reports of protests so far on thursday

well abdel psaki about his from sudan's ruling national congress party he says protesters calling for the president's resignation must follow the legal process put out a core part of our yes a very limited demands by the opposition for bashir to step down or for the regime to be top of. reason now that the head of a national reconciliation government that has included tens and tens of partners a small part is and these parties are all was with the bashir al bashir has been told to by the sudanese people to him today and the ones who want to stay down have to go through the right way which is elections in twenty twenty in april two and determined to be having elections and everyone has the right to be nominated and we will accept that now the no go zone

near an erupting volcano in indonesia has been widened and the alert level raised experts fear another massive eruption of course a seconds and at least four hundred thirty people were killed when a five metre high wave flooded coastal communities on saturday from a bride reports. the new exclusion zone around the volcano means no one is allowed to approach within five kilometers but the greater concern is for the people living along the coast on either side of the sunda strait. they've again being warned to stay back between five hundred meters and one kilometer from the shoreline while commercial planes have been ordered to avoid the area all kind of cash is a mix euro and gas and it's classic rock programs and minerals and volcanic glass and it's very very scratchy or in et so the dangers about going up into. the plains if there is a large rips in the ash hina planes flying back now must be

a hazard well airlines the increased warning level comes as a blow to the thousands of people displaced by the tsunami of wanting to return home many seeking shelter on higher ground where even a few metres above sea level office a greater sense of security. schools and community centers in the town of level one have been turned into makeshift homes giving a feeling of semi permanence. most of these people rely upon the sea for their livelihoods by that i mean. they are mostly fishermen they can go to sea because their boats are gone so they can make a living. and many don't know if the houses they fled from are still standing we haven't been back to see the condition of our homes because we are still a freight. truck a towers latest eruptions will do nothing to ease those fears

rob mcbride al-jazeera north west java indonesia are tough to check on the weather his staff big winter storm in the states let's take a look at all that snow it's all we have had this huge weather system hey you can see the huge area of cloud that stretching from canada all the way down to the gulf this is what it looked like in the north all of that snow and for some of us there could be around forty five centimeters of snow by the time the day is out so a lot of this storm and all working its way eastwards of course it's only in the north where we've got the snow further south it's fourteen miles and that's not to say we've got. fine weather here this bright white area of cloud has been giving us some very severe weather we've even seen the or tornado out of that there's been some hail and some very strong winds as well that haven't been associated with a tornado but still have been causing damage this whole system is sweeping its way eastwards and will affect millions of us as it does so we've got very strong winds as well as that snow blizzard conditions white house conditions here as that system

sweeps its way off into the eastern parts of canada but is still dangles its feet further south and still giving some of us some very very heavy downpours for atlanta they could be around one hundred fifty millimeters of rain from the system so they could easily be some say flooding towards the south so the east impose them where it's been for some of us the west system here or record there's yet more rain still to come there so thank you very much indeed lots more still to come here on al-jazeera the u.s. city of baltimore is offering cash for guns but will it solve the problem of gun violence and the health care meltdown how a shortage of staff and medical equipment is crippling greece's health system. and it's one of savings toughest races a set for its closest finish in years and is if that story more that stay with us. in the first episode of science in a golden age i'll be exploring the contributions made by scholars doing the

medieval islamiya period in the field on. professor jim alkalinity brings the brilliance of a pasta line. last point credible always doesn't look real all we've done is block out the light from the room and then allow it to come through the school told. to one of science in a golden age on al-jazeera. welcome

back a quick reminder the top stories here this hour saudi arabia's king solomon has announced a major cabinet reshuffle the foreign minister has been demoted a new political and security council has been for. the democratic republic of congo have moved against protesters angry yet more delays to the presidential election that disperse crowds in beni and but tembo to opposition strongholds there are demonstrations in goma. donald trump has defended his decision to withdraw all forces from syria during his surprise visit to iraq the u.s. president and first lady melania trump met with troops at base that's just west of baghdad the trip follows criticism of the trumps failure to visit troops in

overseas combat zones. all right let's get more now on our breaking news story the saudi cabinet reshuffle the replaced saudi foreign minister odd allowed to bear was facing growing pressure over germany she's murda in the saudi embassy in istanbul some concept joins us live now from there so how is the news of the job is demotion lot to democracy there in just remind our viewers that that the saudi journalism was murdered by the saudi hit squad at the saudi embassy in istanbul. well until now there is no official statement by any of the turkish officials but according to my contacts to my sources in onkar ankara has welcomed this new cabinet reshuffle especially regarding the change in the foreign ministry that. it is now removed from his post it took you well especially welcomed the baby's removal because during damascus ship jews investigation. for uncle for the turkish

capital all of the critics against turkey actually came from the ledge of beta when you speak to the turkish politicians during. during the very peak times of jamal has should gain rest a geisha and i was hearing it on that especially in the back door diplomacy talks it was. a who who actually filled it on to turkish discourse among to saudi politicians that this is the first reason why the turkish officials are happy about this. about his removal also turkish officials have always blamed on the edge of baby for not being collaborative for not for not being actually in a peacemaking position this is another reason and he was inclusive resul lucian he wasn't actually willing to come up with a solution process this is what the what the turks say and one thing is very

important actually when the saudi prosecutor came to stumble to to have talks with this turkish counterpart i've been hearing from the turkish turkish politicians that all the debate it was always on the phone with the saudi prosecutor and at that time it created that it created an impression that it was the foreign minister who was actually guiding and manipulating the saudi prosecutor where actually he hasn't he doesn't have to be in the in the process as well that's why turks were kind of actually. the uncomfortable loge of various attitude towards turkey and now they they welcome this and there was a general cool for jimmy had to be sent after he was killed because the embassy was his responsibility and it was his department that issued the passports of the saudis it scored or course this is actually a this is actually the most important thing because the consul general who was

a member of the foreign ministry employee is named to be the prime suspect of murder and all this in i'm in the cell the some of the discourse was this is a role corporation inside it within the state itself everything happened happened inside the state inside the saudi consulate which means the foreign ministry and its officers were able to control anything that is ongoing in the saudi conflict ever speaking from their perspective again it gives the responsibility to the foreign ministry and the minister or the and we know that the consul general had did nothing actually to stop this murder when you look at the look at the transcriptions of we're hearing about the transcriptions of those tape recorders inside the consulate planted by turks and everything was all to leak to the media we hit we finally witnessed that there is nothing that the consul general did to

stop this marriage or so of course this is a very positive development very positive incident for church and i'm sure that the turkish officers are now expecting hoping to be in more collaborative relation and dialogue process with the saudis hoping that the new minister will be just. so then we have to leave it there thank you very much. now united nations ceasefire monitors a host of the first face to face talks in yemen between huth the rebels and pro-government forces both sides accuse each other of breaking the nine day old cease fire in the main port of the data and reports. patiently hoping for peace the people of the yemeni city of her data are putting their faith in a fragile truce as nearby a meeting is held between forces loyal to president abdurrahman so hardy and who feel. the conflict is now in its fourth year more than sixty thousand people have been killed in the fighting. in two thousand and one thousand

we want to see peace love and brotherhood among all yemenis we also hope for perspire ity we are counting on god and on our politicians we don't want more war. the united nations is coordinating the talks it's armored vehicles carrying members of the yemeni government have only been able to get through after rebel fighters cleared mines from the road leading to where the meeting was to be held. the whole fees in the yemeni government which is backed by a coalition led by saudi arabia and the u.a.e. blame each other for repeatedly breaking a cease fire which has been in place in her data since december the eighteenth the city is a key port and the route for yemen's much needed supplies of medicines food and fuel millions are said to be close to starvation it's estimated as many as eighty five thousand children have died from malnutrition but the.

next year we hope the city will enjoy peace and security we also hope that services such as transportation an oil will be available. delegates of wednesday's meeting are said to have agreed on a process for withdrawing pro-government troops from her data and handing control to a local committee they're also reported to have agreed to stop fighting in and around the city the u.n. representative for monitoring the cease fire retired dutch general patrick come out says the meeting on wednesday has made progress but until the gun battles and the bombings and peace in her data still hangs in the balance rob matheson. i was ready fruit vegetables and poultry will no longer be available in palestinian shops the palestinian authority stopping all israeli imports that's after israel's agriculture minister ordered a similar ban on imports in the occupied west bank and despite israeli warnings the palace you know kami wouldn't be able to withstand the blow when the start of

barghouti sekret general of the palestinian national initiative and former palestinian information minister joins us now from ramallah stuff about duty what do you think is behind this decision by the p.l.o. and why they're doing this now do you think. i think the p.a. decision is do a little and too late as a matter of fact just response to an israeli measure the israelis have decided to prevent palestinian products digitals foods chicken and other things from entering israel and so the palestinian authority responded in the same manner but in reality the vast majority of palestinian products from reaching israel while israel is selling no less than five point two billion dollars of products in the palestinian territories so in my opinion the palestinian authority should have responded more civilly and more strongly by declaring total boycott because

it is not acceptable that israel prohibits palestinian products while palestinians are importing other israeli products all right so there's a standoff now then with the p.a. try this with a ban on some israeli dairy products back in twenty sixteen that didn't last long and those products were still on the shelves so is this ban likely to fail as well do you think i don't know about the public is the decisive part decisive party here because actually there is a huge boycott divestment sanctions campeon all over the occupied territories to boycott israeli products and by the way it did a product in particular very successful in terms of. palestinian production so boycott is perceived here in palestine as one form of popular nonviolent resistance against occupation and against the system of discrimination and apartheid and since israel is the one that has started the boycott system i think they should not be allowed to keep making profits from palestinians while they are

boycotting our products. let me get a final thought from you i mean the palestinian cabinet has told the merchants and citizens to cooperate for this to succeed and protect the economy but do you think people are likely to abide by this. i think the decisive decision again is in the hands of the people for two reasons first of all it is the people who decides eventually work to buy and not to buy and i think the boycott campaign is succeeding here but on the other hand the pier unfortunately is incapable of controlling all the borders since it is also under military occupation and the palestinian territory is fragmented in two hundred twenty four islands but the decision of the government is a correct one it should be respected and the citizens in my opinion are the ones who are going to implement the stuff about duty thank you for talking to others or . police in the u.s.

city of baltimore have launched a guns for cash campaign aimed at getting weapons off the streets it's. gun violence and the city will hold the street hundred people have been killed every year for the past four years but with gun ownership so widespread in america it's augie that such campaigns are nothing more than a p.r. stunt is john hendren if you know if they start to get a job in one of america's deadliest cities police are trying to even beyond. to reduce the number of weapons they face on the streets of baltimore they're buying them one hundred dollars for revolver and five hundred for a fully automated firearm no questions asked. couple pieces i think i need to get rid of i think just great idea gets some guns off the street the problem. there is little appetite on capitol hill to change gun laws the national rifle association has opposed any effort to curb gun rights and remains the most powerful lobbying group in america so police here are taking weapons off the street one of

the few ways they can. one donor dropped off this rocket launcher with more than three hundred murders this year baltimore is one of the most violent cities in the united states and police say they hope with each weapon they take in just a little bit safer so the gun buyback program is about getting guns off the streets of baltimore today is day number three of the program on the first day we took in five hundred seventy eight guns the second day five hundred eleven and we're only about an hour into the day and there's already a pretty long line inside with people turning in god's brazil managed to take more than a million guns off the street with gun buybacks from two thousand and three to two thousand and nine but with four hundred million guns in the u.s. more than one for every person the effect here is at best limited typically a very small number of gaza turned in fifty one hundred two hundred. you might have cities like los angeles when you get

a lot like two thousand but they're still small relative to the number of guns in the united states but at the end of the day i think most research suggests that it's actually simply p.r. for some bad p.r. like. damn. well can we. trust them. with about one hundred thousand shootings each year nearly a third of them fatal in more than three hundred mass shootings across the u.s. in two thousand and eighteen in little chance of new gun restrictions police here say they are doing what they can john hendren zero baltimore share prices in the united states that made a remarkable recovery two days after suffering their worst of the losses on christmas eve the dow jones the main index on wall street enjoyed its biggest of a single day gain rising almost five percent on wednesday the markets are expected to remain volatile investors are worried about a recession in the world's biggest economy. surgical supplies running out to

operations perspire and an unknown survey of staff shortages doctors in greece admission of dire warning about the chaos in some public hospitals john psaropoulos reports in the town of patra. it takes several pieces of equipment to install an intravenous line in a patient needles taps catheters and rubber gloves must be sterile and discarded after use these are the cheapest of materials for one of the simplest of procedures there are no apparent shortages here at the outpatient clinics of st and brass hospital in particular but staff say appearances are misleading. to start to we had a budget a sixty to sixty five million euro crisis today out what is fifteen to eighteen million of this creates enormous problems back up at the bottom the hospital is also short staffed this doctor says there are just two nurses for the outpatient clinics serving the city of two hundred thousand seater c. medicine and most days this room is full of stretchers with

a queue of more outside shouting and pushing to get in and they come from towns all .