close relations but there may not be one coming because of the government shutdown but there's already been some thought that top perhaps among members of congress who have been acting in recent weeks to condemn the saudi government role in the murder of jamal khashoggi the exiled journalist that this may not be impressive to them at all because basically at the end of the day none of this affects the status of mohammed bin solomon the crown prince when the u.s. senate passed two resolutions one condemning the saudi military conduct in the civil war in yemen and then another condemning. himself for the murder of mr kushner back on october second there is a real bipartisan sense that he is more trouble than he is worth and that the u.s. ought to be very very careful about keeping close relations with saudi arabia both

in the wake of murder and because of what they see as been solid months of very rough. rough ways i should say of trying to exert his power he is considered the de facto leader of the country and there is real concern in the u.s. congress about his handling of civil and human rights about his willingness to use the military to carry out political aims a real sense that he may be prone to act before thinking and that is something that they find very very discomforting and rosalind that that that dissatisfaction with him i've been sound man by the u.s. congress is of course not an opinion that is shared by people in the white house namely the president himself and some of his senior advisers so how are they likely to be viewing this. well they may they have obviously made any comment the

president just returned to washington in the last four hours or so after that quick trip to see u.s. forces in western iraq but they will probably say that they are very much confident in know the way that the saudi government is comporting itself the president has said repeatedly that the united states has very close security and economic ties with saudi arabia and it would not be wise to sever or downgrade relations because of the murder of jamal khashoggi even though those in the administration have been careful to say that they found his murder to be horrid but it's not going to really change the white house's position and certainly it's not going to change any minds on capitol hill and because they are too co-equal branches of government well you've probably expect that in twenty nineteen you're

going to see a much more vigorous debate between the white house and capitol hill a valve the way forward in terms of u.s. saudi relations rosalind thanks very much rosalynn jordan in washington now we want you to get in touch with us we want to hear from you on this and all the other stories we're covering you can send us your comments to any of all online platforms we're on twitter use the hash tag a.j. news create a handle is a.j. english rule so on facebook facebook dot com slash zero or you can send us a message on whatsapp or telegram at plus nine hundred four five zero one triple one four nine. now more protests in the democratic republic of congo security forces they're firing tear gas and live bullets of demonstrators gathered to show their anger at delaying their chance to vote on wednesday the electoral commission said voting will be postponed until march in three areas fishel say it

is because of sporadic violence and an ebola outbreak but opposition groups are not buying it they say it is an attempt to suppress their vote our correspondent catherine soy is on the phone for us from the capital kinshasa so katherine just bring us up to speed then on what more we know about soldiers who have been firing over the heads of anti-government protesters. let me start with where the protests have been more sustained brings one of those areas where the election has been put on by the electoral commission and we're told it's quiet now but it's still very tense police and the military dimension have been deployed there and. they respond the protesters using gas fired live in the air as one discusses forces to. a group of protesters

a group of people attacked a transit an ebola transit. town now this is a center where people suspected of having held as they wait for that losses so we're told that this group of people attacked the barn part of it and some of the people who are already there who are suspected of having. have actually escaped so the situation there still very precarious independent of the areas where . action has been postponed people have all tried to stay home we're told it's a ghost town shops are open no one is transacting business people have yet to come to work some of them in protest others because they just fear coming out they did come out to the street to protest right after this announcement yesterday but they what you spotted by police now in goma the capital. in the congo

police also the spa sed protesters who took to the streets saying that they do not want they want the electoral commission career in this position and overnight protests in beni are saying that they are going there are regrouping their restructure jazzing they're going to continue to support us until their voices have and they've also other people in congress. indeed so as you said this decision to to delay the voting in these areas is not going down well with the opposition but they're not exactly united on. you know our earlier today about a few hours ago this coalition behind marching for you this is one of the main presidential candidates in these three areas we're talking about. they held a press conference and called for a general strike. on friday they say that this is ition is unfair and they need to

call they say that votes have one point two about one point two million of them are being disenfranchised they said that why why wasn't the election stops during the campaign period and another question that is being raised by battle position quality as well as voters in this area as if the election has been postponed to march but the presidential election the president the presidential results are going to be announced in january and the president is going to be sworn in. so what's the point but then again we're hearing other opposition opposition candidates and specifically the leaks you see katie who's another main opposition candidate a presidential candidate and they have said that they're going to go on with the election they're going to go to the election regardless of this announcement by the electoral commission but with all that all this position but

a lot of people here in the capital kinshasa husband of saying everything that is going wrong with this election the process they feel they really painted and the throughput serious question to the credibility of that poll on sunday katherine sawyer in kinshasa forced by scaffold. that's been a bad week for the u.s. president trouble back home over the government shutdown and of rao of a donald trump's border war and the continued fallout from his snap decision to pull troops out of syria so his unannounced visit to iraq to meet american troops came at just the right time or did it will be getting into that some of that in just a moment a first rob reynolds or force on trump's first visit to soldiers abroad two years into the job. president donald trump got a warm welcome from u.s. troops during his brief visit to iraq. we came to our list this year our eternal gratitude for everything you do to keep the america safe strong and free.

accompanied 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 camp 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 withdrawal 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 to certainly the political followings of saudi arabian u.a.e. with regards to cutter but i will tell you they're fantastic on this 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 richard weiss is director of the center for political military analysis at the house than institute he joins us now from washington thanks very much for being with us so politically is this is this something something positive for president you know it's kind of better late than never particularly with all of the problems that he's dealing with back in the u.s. yeah and i think that i mean i've only heard your positive comments from the forces are there and as your earlier your correspondent here plan now is the government on down basis. and that's very much focused on attention on president trump and so he's been there were it was

a good time for him to do this so in terms of his overall paula foreign policy we had him defending that decision to pull troops. out of syria but. did do his allies in iraq in the iraqi government all day any clearer on where he stands about the zero on the u.s. troop presence there. well as as well as we know the iraqi government was somewhat concerned or very concerned when the decision was announced since that i think we we understand that they are capable now the iraqi forces of deceiving isis within iraq or at least preventing us resurgence but if the if the terrorist group or some other group were able to establish a foothold in syria it would present a permanent challenge for them and for like just six reasons they president was not able to meet with the iraqi civilian leaders but apparently they had

a phone call and he did reaffirm that we keep u.s. forces in iraq for the definite future and that would provide a basis for operations at least with air strikes and special forces raids into syria needed and there's been discussions discussion of perhaps of iraqi forces you have all the have the option of entering syria if the challenge is so i think they u.s. officials are aware of this concern on iraqi art and trying to address. and if you look at president trump's overall view on foreign policy and troop president troop presence around the world a lot of people would agree with with the president on this on both the the right and the left that you know america is not the police policeman of the world and and all the rest of it and that the u.s. needs to pull pull back but i think the problem that a lot of people had with that decision to pull troops out of syria was the way in

which it was made without much consultation with his own advisers with u.s. allies and so on and that's what. got so many people concerned about this what do you make of that. right i think i mean the two statements you made i think i think that the second is accurate at least as far as general mattis was concerned he apparently has been expressed it was uncomfortable by the way the it which the white house has been making decisions with what he thought was an adequate consultation with the department defense or other agencies and with u.s. allies so that is our concern has been made in perhaps will be addressed in the new team amien if he has a new team of players maybe that he'll be more comfortable working with them president will be more comfortable working with the other question the first part

of your statement really interesting because what's going to happen with the new congress coming in is you've got groups on the right and groups on the left left the democratic party right there public and party who agree that the u.s. is is meant to interventionist and foreign policy they want to cut back on defense spending they want to focus more on internal problems including immigration and other issues but the majority in congress and the washington political stablish men and this includes myself is more of the traditional centrist internationalists view is that important for the u.s. to have a. global role in the world where as you can debate the particular aspects of where the u.s. should be deployed and how much defense spending it's important to keep that role and so it'll be interesting because the third equation is the american people and

as far as we can tell there was a lot of support for cutting back the u.s. role in syria and a stand so you've got a washington consensus which is that variance with what the view is outside the washington in the rest of the u.s. but is more in harmony with the international few in europe in the middle east and asia about a strong u.s. role so how this all plays out in the very interesting next year. good to speak with you richard whites in washington thanks for the news sort of like social media has full to a trump secret visit to iraq realize that. that's right room assata circulating on social media about the president's whereabouts he was unusually quiet on to its if a most of christmas day and another sign that something was up well there was no uniformed marine standing outside the west wing that's usually a sign that the president is currently in the oval office and there was also no word from white house officials but it didn't take long for amateur aircraft watches to track a plane that looks like a force one flying over the u.k.

some journalists were quick to point out the high level of privacy as those on board were reportedly instructed to pull down a window shades and surrender their cell phones well even wiki leaks started a poll asking uses online why the plane was flying over eastern europe towards turkey the middle east or even afghanistan and soon after pictures images of the president and first lady arriving in iraq this video was shared by white house staff showing trump meeting troops at the assad air base in an interview with reporters trump said this this secrecy off the chair made him feel wary given the blacked out windows inside the plane and also concerned for the first lady. and many on line have been talking about operations security paul rieckhoff the founder of the iraq and afghanistan veterans of america organization tweeted earlier trump's trip was better late than never but also a bit troubling that many folks are ready know about this if it hasn't already

happened and they have peach on a smoke bernie says twit's i had the lowdown on trump's trip hours before confirmation the answer to operation security in the tour to age is to not use and easy to id plain old previous administrations have also taken extreme measures to keep presidential trips to war zones secret for security reasons when barack obama made a surprise trip to afghanistan and twenty twelve the white house actually released a fake public schedule packed with west wing meeting so throw reporters off that trail but his visit was picked up by an afghan news station we would love to get your thoughts on the story this is us on twitter use the hash tag aging is good has a thanks for us i guess the lesson from that is this is the digital age and there's no way to hide anymore so if you're watching us on facebook live our social scene looks at how the african wild dogs are endangered at a risk of becoming extinct and then is called one of the most beautiful places in

the world we'll tell you why some residents in one with what a modern town are using the landscape for inspiration and it's attracting international attention. we've had a lot of heavy snow in parts of turkey recently this is what it looks like at the moment plenty of wintery weather around these pictures all from ankara showing a bit of a winter wonderland really that area of wet weather hasn't quite finished with this just yet it's still been bringing some heavy rain over the east coast of the mediterranean and is grantley edging its way eastward so a mixture of rain and snow here as we head through the day on friday and on saturday that will continue its journey eastwards behind it it will be a bit cooler than it has been so a maximum temperature in baghdad just a fifteen degrees enforcing we'll get to around nineteen now here in doha away to

the south of all of that so don't expect any wet weather but the winds will be picking up during friday not too bad on saturday so it's like it will be quite a breezy day so temperatures topping just around twenty three or twenty four but feeling cool thanks to that wind there's a good deal of cloud to the south of us that will be over the u.a.e. and oman there as we head through the next day i'll say i've been to the source the south and there's plenty of hope weather here in that hot weather is sparking of quite a few thunderstorms so particularly over the northern parts of south africa it could be pretty miserable here over the next few days very humid very hot with a few thunderstorms that will lead way east was jo'burg may casualty as we may in devon. banks not to mention learns to some friends because behind the suffering of millions of taxpayers because those tax payers never go away there's a new one born every single day and ninety it is an emerging national in this city

the previous officially request the education of the support mechanism we created together because i happen to live in greece somehow i'm a sinner i'm a bad person. that's machine on al-jazeera. the week began with views of ninety day truce in the to protect us china trade war the world's largest supplier of liquefied natural gas is leaving the biggest one called. we bring you the stories that are shaping the economic world we live in counting the cost on al-jazeera.

just take a look at the top stories that are trending on our website dot com they see the top story there were fighting the sea in the nation's seek shelter in the mountains this is one we're going to tell you about in just a moment the indonesian search and rescue workers raising the alert level over that fall came out u.s.

occupation is over iraq to lead a slam tom visit is more fallout from his surprise visit to iraq which we got into a little bit earlier it's all there for you top five stories trending on our web site does it feel. good just saying they're raising the. alert level in indonesia and widening the exclusion zone near that erupting volcano fears of another massive eruption causing a second tsunami more than four hundred thirty people have now died after a massive wave smashed through coastal communities on sat saturday rob mcbride has that. a 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 coasts on either side of the sunda strait. they've again been 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 can et so the dangers of that going up into the atmosphere so planes if there is a large rips in the ash goes i know the planes flying back now must be a hazard and lines the increased warning level comes as a blow to the thousands of people displaced by the tsunami or 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're 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. cracka taos latest eruptions will do nothing to ease those fears rob mcbride al-jazeera north west java indonesia. our right to our money you can get in touch with us so we want to hear from you on the stories you can send us your comments to any of our online platforms on twitter just use the hash tag a.j. news great to handle a.j. english and we're also on facebook facebook dot com slash i'll send a message on whatsapp or telegram at plus nine seven four five or one trip or one four nine. all right taking a look now at some of the other stories making news around the world in yemen the rebels and pro-government forces have been meeting face to face in the city of data

for the first time part of a u.n. effort to end four years of conflict and a cease fire in the city has been in place since december eighteenth but both sides have accused each other of breaching it rob matheson reports. patiently hoping for peace the people of the yemeni city of hadera are putting their faith in a fragile truce as nearby a meeting is held between forces loyal to president abdurrahman so heidi and who see. the conflict is now in its fourth year more than sixty thousand people have been killed in the fighting and the man the man. in two thousand and one thousand we want to see peace love and brotherhood among all yemenis we also hope for perspire a-t. we are counting on god and on our politicians we don't want more war and. 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. 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 on 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 odyssey israeli fruit vegetables and poultry will no longer be available in palestinian shops the palestinian authority stopping all imports from israel that's after israeli agriculture minister ordered a similar ban on imports in the occupied west bank and despite israeli warnings the palestinian economy would not be able to withstand the blow from stuff about who he is secretary general of the palestinian national initiative and for palestinian information minister he says the palestinian authorities ban is too little too late . just response to an israeli measure the israelis have decided to

prevent palestinian products visitable food stricken 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 are britain from reaching israel while israel is selling more 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 and several refugee camps in northern syria have been hit by heavy flooding rain storms causing the nearby african river to overflow high water levels last week cut off roads between several camps with water reaching around one point five meters refugees are also dealing

with freezing winter temperatures. another earthquake has struck on the italian island of sicily injuring at least ten people the four point eight magnitude jolt was one of more than a thousand tremors linked to the ongoing eruption of the nearby a volcano mount etna it damaged buildings and forced about six hundred people into emergency shelters this week mount etna erupted through its slopes the first flank eruption in more than a decade now an incredible forty thousand people were killed in gun related deaths in the united states in twenty seventeen the worst in twenty years cities across the country are trying to deal with the issue with some turning to cash for gun schemes aimed at getting weapons off the streets john henry reports from baltimore . you know what about if they stopped before you took over 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 and a couple pieces i think i need to get rid of i think just great idea gets some of the guns off the street the problem i don't know but we've got to start somewhere. 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 it makes it 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 talked in

five hundred seventy eight guns the second day five hundred eleven and we're only about an hour into the van to 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 buyback 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 guns might have cities like los angeles when you get a lot like two thousand but there's 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 anytown. bonnie. now. can we keep saying. the phone. 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 or the first ever edition of mr and mrs albinism east africa recently brought together contestants from across africa me in kenya's capital nairobi to crown young people with albinism religious. that's what has them while the charity albinism society of kenya held a mr and miss albinism beauty pageant in nairobi to support those with some form of albinism now thirty people took parts from kenya tanzania and uganda the pageant was titled accept me included me i can and that's because the contest is not just a beauty pageant but a way to raise awareness and inclusion for people who remain the target of sometimes deadly stigma in african countries well i act more as the chair of the

group and he explains why the event is so important. this is another also what. was the result of the cuban assault i really thought that there might be time to see the group called the war zones that really. wasn't going to see also have a hypocrite especially in the third division but with regard to the arts for example. the dumb talk about putin did not think of everything don't you have some of these some of them in here but well the albinism is a rare non-contagious genetically inherited condition that leads to a lack of pigmentation in this hair and skin and also in the eye is causing sensitivity to the sun and also bright light that prosecution is almost entirely based on myth and also superstition with many people believing that body parts possess magical powers while numbers vary it's estimated that one in twenty thousand people are all being no the condition is said to be more prevalent in

sub-saharan africa and in tanzania represents one in every fourteen hundred bess which is fourteen times the global average that's according to the un well for more on the story you can go to our website al jazeera dot com and you'll be able to find this article by lewis tato he's reporting from the events in nairobi telling you the story through lots of very interesting pictures there as you can see that he hasn't thanks very well now you can get in touch with us we want to hear from you on these stories send us your comments to any of our online platforms on twitter use the hash tag a j news create a handle there is a english and as always we're on facebook facebook dot com slash. sends a message on whatsapp or telegram as the number on the top of the screen nine seven four five zero one four one four nine. look at thailand's miss the and then sport as italian football faces up to get to

racism controversy.

all right so let's find out what people talking about in school today is for them thank you so much it's becoming an all too familiar scene an italian football players being targeted with racial abuse the latest incident took place at the famous san siro stadium on boxing day the player napoli's calla dooku bolli manager says the referee repeatedly ignored his request to suspend the syria game despite being subjected to racist taunts.

and chalabi says he made three appeals for the game against inter milan to be stopped the french born senegal defender was eventually sent off from the game that napoli lost the twenty seven year old has previously been the target of racial abuse in italy. shawn that's a lot of it is that informants who went to the referee to ask some information about what happened and i think that the collaborative red card was due to a very particular state of mind he was in he had been insulted during the whole match we asked the federation to do something about it but they just made some announcements and the match was not suspended like we had the minded i think it would have been the right thing to do. number five those kind of chance should not be done you have sixty five thousand people at the stadium at christmas this is what the top people like you know fans all over the world like this is

entertainment it is a show and it should be a beautiful experience for everybody who comes here. for the story getting a lot of attention on social media footballers and fans posting messages of support after the game call of bali tweeted in italian it translates to i'm sorry about the defeat by i'm proud of the color of my skin to be french senegalese neapolitan and a man orchestra rinaldo posted this picture to his one hundred and forty nine million followers on instagram it shows him playing alongside cola bally he said in the worlds and in football i always want education and respect no to racism and any offense and discrimination ones marybeth a solid post in an apology to cole about lee on his facebook page she wrote in translation those boos towards school about lee were shameful he went on to say whoa keep going to see enter but leave out the first sign of abuse he then apologised to call on behalf of milan that post receiving eight hundred thousand

likes including wine michael a bubbly. well it's hellion football has struggled to combat racism last year gone and player sally muntari was sent off after confronting fans who abused him during a game four pisk are he was booked for dissent after asking the referee to stop the syria match against calorie and was red carded when he protested against the decision telling its striker mario balotelli has been a repeated target earlier this year fans of the national team unfurled a banner saying my captain has a talent blood when it was suggested balotelli may be given the chance to captain italy and two years ago calliope was also abused by lots of fans on medication napoli fans show their solidarity with cole about by wearing masks depicting the defender at his next house game or earlier spoke to pavel commend the antidiscrimination body football against racism in europe he says this is a big test for those in charge of the italian game. they have to get back from

their holidays were really are and date these issues seriously we have seen kelly do coulibaly been racially abused at least three times in the past year only this month in december both total until o.t. and the whole not fully team head of clean up talent in december they've said it's racist abuse continues as it has been taking place in previous games against those who aren't and they will walk off the pitch and luckily didn't happen in the game is in atlanta but the next game we see the gay scene there it happens again so there has to be clear understanding that these issues have to be taken seriously legally have been abused this year by you venters fans earlier by last year and a lot of times in january this year this is happening to coulibaly. many times this year and this has to be taken seriously this is a test for italian a free for the new leadership of the italian iffy they have to get this right what

kind of reactions we have seen from the tele interface to racist incidents including gays we believe before they have been very very weak they have been giving suspended partial stadium closures or partial stadium closures that did not work obviously they are not strong enough on racism when we look at the. former president of the italian football association cut out of a q. who has been banned by the u.s. for six months for allowing himself racist comments towards the worst black an ethnic minority players and italy when we look at the politics in italy right now this scaremongering of grounds refugees and migrants when we look at the rise of the far right parties in italy and across europe when you look at interior minister salvini introducing regulations against migrants and ethnic minorities in the country this has an impact on the stadiums so i think we will see with this type of

political background we will see more of these incidents and in the next in the coming year i would love to hear your thoughts and see here you can tweet me directly at underscore s. why we'll be back with more in eight hundred g.m.t. but for now i'll hand you back to hats and. now the turquoise waters of guatemala's lake at it land draw tourists from around the globe but the people of one lakeside town hope that more colors will attract even more visitors they've been inspired by the dutch artists hassen hahn who transformed a slum in brazil by painting it as they've a master of course now from santa catarina polypill. what a militia like added land is renowned for its beauty now one lakeside town is drawing on these surroundings to transform itself into a giant work of art. it all starts with a fresh coat of paint families choose colors and designs inspired by the traditional hand woven clothing worn by local women then they help to paint their

own homes. because the house is going to end up looking really no less the result will be good but it makes a landscape here look it's a big change from before and i hope more neighbors paint their houses. local women have led the cut that since it launched two years ago they helped develop the color palettes and designs and administer the project. coordinator lydia coom is says women have another key skill that's allowed the program to thrive and. i think that when women make decisions they seek consensus with this breed he helped us during the start of the project and that helps us keep the support of the community the weaving tradition is strong incentive got that the patterns and colors of textiles are inspired by nature. she says women express their imagination through weaving and they are now able to share their talents on

a different scale but. to me it's special to see our designs on the walls of town and to receive vistas to say this beautiful and take photographs to remember it it makes me happy to see a traditional embroidery scene this. is attracting more tourists for visitors who've been here before the transformation is clear. not so many activities. like the city was. like. industries and everything. feels like much more respected. than those the first project was kind in guatemala organizers say that once they complete the painting of the eight hundred fifty buildings in this town they plan to. spanned the project to the other towns around like kathy recently the project won an international design award showing how art can combat poverty and empower

a community david mercer al-jazeera sent it at that he met by local law tamala all right so that'll do it for the news good remember you can keep in touch with us on social media the hash tag as ever a.j. news grid we'll see you back here studio fourteen fifteen hundred g.m.t. on friday. called the must which is saying is now being held in pretrial detention for two years what is his crime. why hasn't he been tried yet why hasn't justice

been applied in this case as he detained because he said charnel us as journalism become a crime have moles become a tool to silence wars is off drugs we will continue i news coverage with professionalism and impartiality our work will remain credible and accurate but journalism is not a crime in cost or writing journalists is not acceptable we demand the immediate release of our colleague mahmoud to say and all journalists detained in a gyptian jails free mahmoud's and all his colleagues we stand for press freedom. step into the unknown with central america's first ever trickle production by actors with down syndrome.

a life journey illuminated on stage each performer transformed with the raise of a curtain. witness time to love a back stage to. barry's demoted from the role of saudi foreign minister in a political shake up ordered by king solomon. and their intended this is our jazeera live from london also coming up anger in the

democratic republic of congo over the decision to exclude key off position areas from voting in sunday's presidential elections. indonesia's volcano alert level is boosted over affairs that and a crack of town could erupt again and trigger a second tsunami. and why donald trump is being criticized over that unannounced visit to u.s. troops in iraq. and we begin in saudi arabia where there's been a major government reshuffle as the kingdom struggles to contain the political fallout following the murder of jamal khashoggi in a series of royal decrees declared on state t.v. announced changes to key national. he posts including the demotion of high profile saudi foreign minister and a bear to minister of state of foreign affairs at in a job as effective demotion effective demotion i should say marks a low point in nearly thirty years of public service for saudi arabia unlike many

senior power holders in riyadh it was not a member of the royal household he was born into a modest family in a village in central saudi arabia before emigrating to germany and then america where he finished his studies in two thousand and seven after rising through the ranks at the saudi embassy in washington he was appointed to the role of ambassador going on to establish extensive ties within the global oil industry and with pro israel lobby groups in and secured high profile advisor rose including to form a crown prince abdullah before finally being appointed saudi foreign minister in twenty fifteen it took on the role just one month after the coalition and watched its offensive in yemen his replacement ibrahim assaf was one of hundreds of saudi royals detained in the ritz carlton last november as part of a crackdown spearheaded by crown prince mohammed bin sound man but he was released two months later reportedly without penalty and he's been allowed to return to his

roles as an arm co board member and as an advisor to king solomon to speak and she was there is a senior political analyst at marma shara he joins us from our doha studio so what's the net effect would you say of this reshuffle in saudi arabia. well in us far as the royal family is concerned clearly others should bear was not able to defend the indefensible which is the killing of. that certainly was a blunder created many fact church and persisted if you will in riyadh but someone had to take the blame and i think clearly bear could just couldn't get himself or did it doesn't have enough brilliance to make a crime like a crime committed in istanbul to look like you know a sweet christmas present so he was demoted for that. in a so far as assaf is concerned i think that's

a kind of an interesting signal coming from riyadh it's basically saying look we mean business literally we mean business we want to change we want to regain the confidence and. credibility in the international community especially among the international business community and since our stuff was a sort of a star if you will in davos the world economic summits in previous years and he certainly was the man in various in preparation for saudi arabia's role in the g. twenty i think they are regime of riyadh reckons that he is the man for the new challenge which is bring back the business and investment saudi arabia what about. is it in any way affect his power base or his his position.

well clearly. clearly saudi arabia is going to make all sorts of changes in order not to make the one needed essential change which is mohamed masel none and since someone just commented mr mann is the one who is making the changes since he is the de facto ruler apparently in saudi arabia not his father certainly he wasn't about to change himself so we're seeing all sorts of changes in the internal security scene in the international diplomacy scene so much so that i think how much an assignment is trying to tell the world look you know i got it you know that he was caught red handed if you will and now something needs to be nice to happen and it's not going to be him changing himself so all sorts of cosmetic and not so cosmetic changes will be under way in order to regain the trust of the international community especially as i said the international business

community the question is will it succeed is this enough just to put one of those old tried hands like braemar suff with certain business connections in order to wash the hands of those who committed the crime in istanbul or not of course it remains to be seen but clearly petro dollars have a huge role to play and this region the middle east region the arab world is in such deep trouble is in such blunder that it seems more and more of that you know what's happening in saudi arabia is relatively more of the same that we see in egypt in iraq in syria in sudan in other places so you know welcome to the club as it were and i want to share thank you very much indeed on wasn't me live from washington d.c. as i wasn't in the state i mean a lot of pressure on saudi arabia in particular from the senate how will this reshuffle be viewed than. well it's likely not to my have much of an

impression on u.s. members of congress either in the senate or in the house there is a widespread discussed still with the saudi crown prince mohammed bin solomon whom both republicans and democrats have said that they believe was responsible for the murder of jamal back on october second and in fact they are citing the cia's investigation and conclusions that this merger would not have happened without the direct involvement of the saudi crown prince and because this cabinet shuffle does not involve him directly the reaction we couldn't to supply a would be well really what difference does it make because it looks as if all of the chairs being moved around within the saudi government are a ploy to essentially strengthen mohammed bin solomon's grip on power he is

considered here in washington to be the defacto ruler of saudi arabia even though king solomon his father is still in charge but that does not mean that just because someone has left his foreign minister and that someone else who is well respected in financial circles is coming in as foreign minister and that other people are going to be moved out of one agency into other agencies none of that is really going to be a make a difference because they are not the people with the ultimate power in the saudi government it's mohammed bin solemn on who holds that power and it's that person that both democrats and republicans would like to see held accountable for the murder of. jordan thank you very much indeed. you know how dire of emirates has reopened its embassy in the syrian capital of damascus after being closed for nearly seventy is the iraqi flag was raised again during a ceremony attended by diplomats and journalists the u.a.e.

brick ties with syria in february twenty twelve and was one of several regional states which was backing groups fighting government forces. tensions are high in the democratic republic of congo ahead of presidential elections on sunday it follows the decision by the government to delay voting in some key opposition areas where hundreds of people spilled onto the streets of the northeastern city of beni where police responded with live ammunition and tear gas in many and in other opposition strongholds like the tempo and you may be voting has now been delayed until march the government says the delay in voting is because of concerns over the spread of ebola but the opposition says it's an attempt to swing the vote in favor of president joseph kabila has chosen successor emanuel dari dozens of patients fled an ebola isolation center in benioff came under attack

during the demonstrations twenty four patients were forced to leave the treatment center health officials say most of them had already tested negative for the virus but seven have not yet been checked. speaking earlier conley's opposition figures ketone go mo says the decision to delay voting in some areas shows a blatant disregard for democracy. what is happening is a complete or unacceptable at a government how to lend a value of inclusive it is when it come into the country the value of the election in our country killing old universities and 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 tried to use another form of the delay tactic just to west people time let me a cyst on the valley of people of congo mystical bill and the regime have a been in the power says the two thousand and one we had to do and we've been witnessing different forms of abuse and if this has included

a different form of the breach of the law and the use of force in an ordinary citizen asking them to respect develop constitution experts fear another massive eruption of an indonesian volcano will cause a second tsunami has prompted officials to raise the alert level and widen the no go zone which was set up after saturday's tsunami at least four hundred thirty people were killed when a five metre high waves flooded coastal communities from mcbride is on java island and status report. a 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 coasts on either side of the sunda strait. they've again been 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 it can et so the dangers of that going up into the atmosphere so planes if there is a large rips in the ash goes high into the planes of flying back not just to be a hazard for 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 officer greater sense of security. schools and community centers in the town of level one have been turned into makeshift homes giving a feeling of semipermanent. most of these people rely upon the sea for their livelihoods by god and. they're mostly fishermen they can go to sea because their boats are gone.