process is sensitive so during an electoral process you have tensions the most important thing is to have the necessary police force that's well equipped in order to give that a try and given point in time we did not have that capacity but we've been building that capacity there are a hopes the election will change not just the leader but the whole system that's for her brother rossi for for pretty even if change comes he'll never see it. malcolm webb al-jazeera kinshasa in the democratic republic of congo the us president says major progress has been made towards ending is government's trade war with china donald trump and china's xi jinping confirmed they've spoken over the phone about resolving their differences washington in beijing began imposing a series of tit for tat tariffs earlier this year after trying to complain china had failed to address a trade imbalance between the two nations sheraton c.

has more from washington d.c. . very optimistic and positive indications from both donald trump and chinese media first that was donald trump's tweet which said just had a long and very good call with president xi of china a deal is moving along very well if made it will be very comprehensive covering all subject areas and points of dispute big progress being made exclamation mark and chinese media confirming about phone call took place chinese media said president xi said he hopes to push forward a sign a u.s. relationship that is coordinated cooperative and stable and he said that he hopes that the teams presumably the trade negotiating teams could meet each beat each other halfway and reach an agreement that is mutually beneficial as soon as possible and we have had indications in the last few days that a u.s. trade delegation will be traveling to beijing in january after what were described as intensive discussions over the phone over the christmas period and try to

husband relenting somewhat since the truce was declared between china and the u.s. over trade talks at the beginning of december lowering tower of publishing draft laws which suggest greater intellectual property property rights and protection for foreign companies so perhaps there is movement underway the u.s. president meanwhile is blaming the democratic party for the deaths of two watermelon children in u.s. custody this month a two year old filly to gomer's alonzo and seven year old jacqueline both died after being detained by border authorities donald trump criticized for the labeled the pathetic immigration policies of the democrats saying the flow of asylum seekers north from central america would stop if he's proposed border wall was approved. a two year old yemeni boy whose mother fought for a visa to visit him at his deathbed in the u.s. has been laid to rest after he passed away on saturday mourners farewelled. service

in california the boy suffered from a rare brain disease his mother took legal action after being denied entry to the united states on the trumpet ministrations travel ban on citizens from several most a majority countries she was eventually granted permission to enter the country just days before her son's death we are here today because my government beloved family i am a u.s. citizen. must only the u.s. citizen. the muslim down. from coming to the u.s. for over a year but force me to choose between muslims and keeping our family together we are. going north now and i think we hope problemo struggle and then. the people who are affected by the muslim then from yemen. libya iran somalia and syria.

that we cope with life policy will be changed and families will be united. heavy rain in northern syria is causing major flooding forcing thousands of internally displaced families from their makeshift homes one of the about d.c. reports. thousands of families displaced by years of war in syria are being displaced again. two days of torrential rainfall in the country's northern region caused major flooding in refugee camps in it live and aleppo family stared helplessly as their flimsy tents and makeshift shelters were washed away by. the floods didn't just hit a ten or to half the camp or almost all of the camp has been washed away it's cause more damage than we could have imagined it was going to the children and the elderly took to higher ground as residents struggled to drain the rising waters and

i was going to going to meet that may god help us after all these heavy rains we haven't been able to sleep for the past three nights and during the daytime we're not able to move around we've been doing all that we can to drain water out but unfortunately towns have been flooded were helpless against total damage may god help us all. the flooding also cause closure of some major roads inside and outside the camps roads they're used to transport urgently needed aid. syrian civil defense also known as the white helmets say numerous refugee camps have made an urgent appeal for emergency assistance a woman with the most of them thought the water levels were up to some areas we have deployed forces in the region with heavy equipment to try and get the water out of the camps. the syrian observatory for human rights says the severe weather cause catastrophic conditions leaving tens and thousands of people to face the winter without shelter they're calling on the international community to help avert

a major crisis for people who have already suffered enough i'm in the d.c. al-jazeera. rescue efforts have been stepped up in india to find fifteen mine is trapped for over two weeks navy divers have now joined the search but absent fading for the teenage workers in the flooded coal mine in the northeast state of my. reports. a leap of faith underground rescue crews are on a race against time hoping for a miracle fifteen miners have been trapped inside an illegal coal mine since december thirteenth a few helmets have been recovered but so far no signs of life. until we have checked every corner would not assured that the trapped miners had died nearly one fourth of the ninety meter deep mine in the east hills got filled with water when flash was from a nearby river rushed through

a lack of proper draining tools delayed earlier rescue plans leading to heavy criticism against the government specialized indian navy divers have since been called in and more equipment is now available police a fire an emergency services the rescuers of odisha fire emergency services have brought ten high pressure pumps we've already started the instalment process because. environmental concerns let's well mining ban in two thousand and fourteen in the state of meghalaya. it's illegal but still common known as rat holes illegal coal mines operate under dangerous conditions with no emergency plans the workers are often children and teenagers accidents are frequent with little or no losses in food or water for the miners chances of survival are slim the indian navy divers personally inspected the area with my divers they assess the situation from the water surface level and i think they will be able to map out

a good plan they are staying positive and so are we. a challenging rescue mission with time and arms against it but families and rescue teams are clinging on to hope cards yellow piss of the young al-jazeera russian president vladimir putin is undertaking his latest action man stunt playing ice hockey in freezing temperatures in moscow the game was staged to ring conrad square just outside the kremlin rules but only it was in traditionally place at least one ice hockey match every year. take you through some of the headlines here in al-jazeera now the rebels in yemen have handed over control of vital border who dated to the government's navy and coast guard the transfer was carried out under the supervision of the united nations it's part of a peace deal reached in sweden earlier this month. we are delighted today because

of this decision and we want these kind of that official. but god willing the ceasefire will haul and the situation with. god willing the ceasefire and the data continues people need security and safety in this country. now polls have opened in parliamentary elections in bangladesh security is tight after weeks of violence and arrests of opposition supporters during the campaign prime minister sheikh hasina is expected to return for a fourth term. opposition candidates in the democratic republic of congo have refused to sign a peace pact as the country prepares to vote in sunday's divisive and long delayed presidential election a pledge was aimed at averting post-election violence after weeks of political unrest. trump is blaming the opposition democrats for the deaths of two guatemalan children in u.s. custody this month the u.s. president criticized what he called the pathetic immigration policies of the

democrats. on donald trump has also been tweeting about what he says is major progress towards ending his government's trade war with china the president and china's xi jinping confirmed they've spoken over the phone about resolving their differences washington and beijing began imposing a series of tit for tat terrorists earlier this year a two year old yemeni boy whose mother fought for a visa to visit him at his deathbed in the u.s. has been laid to rest he died on saturday mourners farewelled the house and at a service in california it's kind of a cost now. more with more diversity. of the u.s. congress what it needs for the first time on january third will what it means for the democrat and for president donald trump joined us for coverage of this historic shift in american politics the new hold on al jazeera.

hello i'm sam is a than a welcome to counting the cost an al-jazeera your weekly look at the world of business and economics this week things to watch in two thousand and nineteen financial storms could be forming in the global economy kind out why and where what's in store for economies and people living here in the old dependent middle east. plus a look at what economic collapse means for venezuelans in the new year. when america's sneezes the world catches a cold so the saying goes when there's a perceived weakness in the world's biggest economy the ripple effect elsewhere now as we're headed into the new year global financial markets felt a chill all on concerns over the health of the u.s. economy the dow jones industrial average saw its worst christmas eve trading day in

history even though economic fundamentals like g.d.p. are still pointing to the upside there's a cocktail of factors flashing a pessimistic message the u.s. government partial shutdown higher u.s. interest rates donald trump's tweets criticizing the central bank ban the rumbling trade tensions with china which threaten to derail growth. and that's where i started when i caught up with russell jones from llewellyn consulting is the year wrapped up i don't expect that to be any major retreat from the sort of protectionism war mccance alist policies that the u.s. president is pursuing so any truce i think is likely to be only short lived and it really is a concern that over the next year or two we see the protectionist rhetoric and the protectionist substance really be ratcheted up to

a higher level it's one of the bigger risks for the global economy looking into the next twelve months or so regardless of what happens on that the u.s. economy does still have its weak spots and that is giving some worry is the u.s. do you think heading towards a recession i think the u.s. is i'm what i call that unsustainable boom at the moment. we've had this very late cycle fiscal stimulus and that if you like is hothouse economic activity during the course of the last twelve months or so but that stimulus is going to start to fade and the legacy of that stimulus is two very large deficits a very large budget deficit and a very large external deficit the tariffs that mr trump is imposing on imports will not change that fact the u.s. is consuming far more than it's producing and at the moment that means that the trade deficit will expand and in many ways the u.s.

economy right now is looking similar to the way it did in the mid one nine hundred eighty s. during the period of reaganomics it was another era of twin deficits and it was another area that ended rather badly it was a period of extreme volatility in financial markets and also in policymaking so my concern is that the u.s. looks good for now but that the city. rationed over the course of the next year or so is going to deteriorate quite rapidly and potentially traumatically so the us is heading for a fall it may not be imminent but it's coming at some stage what about china's debt and growth challenges where you think those are heading in two thousand and nineteen well china is in a very very difficult situation at the moment the economy is slowing down at an underlying level and at the same time we have a corporate sector which is still hugely indebted and we have issues of

transparency around the economy this is generating a lot of uncertainty where foreign investors are concerned and of course on top of that we have the growing protectionist issues which it faces as a result of of u.s. trade policy so china is in a tough place. also in addition we have a number of underlying tensions in the chinese economy which have been around for a long time tensions between a capitalist economy and a communist government tensions between the economies economic growth and the underlying environmental problems it has tensions between the rural areas and the urban areas tensions between the rich and the poor and at some stage my sense is that all of these issues are going to result in a crisis of some kind unfortunately i don't feel smart enough to tell you precisely when that's going to happen but when you have this number of issues coming together

at the same time it is pretty clear that some juncture in the future the economy is going to get into trouble it's going to suffer some kind of traumatic experience policymakers also we're finding it much harder in china to navigate their way through this series of issues that they're confronting sort of slamming their foot on the accelerator and then slamming their. on the break is an approach which has worked thus far but there is a sense that it's generating. did share rating returns it's just not as efficient approach in managing the economy as it has been in the past and that's another reason why i fear that some states they're going to get into trouble let's turn our attention to europe then from bragg's it to the protests facing the french president to i'm a cols departure from germany a lot of political uncertainty how do you think that's going to impact the

continent's economy in twenty nineteen well we're already seeing indicators of business confidence soften and soften quite significantly in the eurozone and there's no doubt that trade and politics are probably the two primary drivers of that suffering of confidence and i think the outlook is a little bit worrying the economy in europe is losing momentum and there's no sign that the sort of upsurge in populist politics is going to go away any time soon brics it is another issue it's probably going to be a lot more damaging for the united kingdom that is for europe but nevertheless it is just one more consideration one more concern and i think beneath the surface as well with europe the fact is that the eurozone remains what i call a raw the hof by tensity a lot of its institutions are incomplete and my real concern is that when the or next recession does come round europe could once again see itself facing

a sort of existential crisis very much along the lines that we saw between two thousand and ten and two thousand and thirteen is there any upside to all that we could perhaps take hope from for twenty nine t. well the good news is that the world economy is still expanding at the moment there's no doubt about that but you know underneath the surface all these issues will have to be addressed at some stage the risks are many. and various and i certainly take the view that markets at the moment haven't quite taken on board all of those downside threats has been some adjustment since september also but the result i think the potential for markets everywhere to fall further and i come back to this point that we are facing the great politicize ation ben bernanke a the former federal reserve chair called the period in the one nine hundred ninety s. and early two thousand is the great moderation this is the great politicize ation and

it makes it extremely difficult to know what is going to happen in the world economy but what we do know from history it sounds like you approve this in the next financial crisis if so when's it going to hit let us be ready for it then shall we but. i'm not smart enough to tell you when the next financial crisis is going to come but what i am i think clever enough or cognizant enough of history to know is that populism doesn't tend to end well what i know from my experience is that bad policy leads to a bad outcome and in the context of populism we are going to be confronted i believe.