capitals in eight days. well the first time i came here in his role as secretary of state which was april he toured the region he visited three countries of it is saudi arabia israel and jordan so certainly it is a country that's important to them also just geo strategic borders israel it borders iraq it borders syria it borders saudi arabia it borders the west bank and it is an ally when it comes to security it's been very much involved in the fight against isolates been involved together with the united states in training syrian fighters that are on the ground inside syria so the two countries have had a longstanding relationship at the end of the day there are however somewhat of a tension i think because of what the trumpet ministrations policy now of cutting funds to that is the u.n. agency that deals with palestinian refugees it's something jordan has been hugely reliant on because it has two million palestinians living here you're talking about schools you're talking about health system so these are also issues that will be

addressed i think we're going to hear from both men that said the foreign foreign jordan's foreign minister and secretary of state soon let's see what they're going to say i don't think usually these press conferences know ground breaking news but i think it'll be interesting if it makes any remarks as to what's happening in turkey because obviously things are not going very well there with john bolton absolutely ok stephanie for the moment and stephanie was just mentioning we are waiting for the mike state press conference with the foreign minister of jordan that we know that he's in the foreign ministry building and we are expecting that press conference under way in just a few moments we'll be taking it live when it happens. now a snow storm is adding to the misery of more than three million refugees who fled the conflict in syria snow and the ice blanket many of the tents at this camp in southern lebanon speckle valley for many it's their fourth winter living in makeshift camps with just plastic sheeting for warmth lebanese government doesn't

allow permanent refugee settlements in this area. it's all the news now and north korean leader kim jong un is in china for his fourth visit within a year trip came at the intention of the chinese president xi jinping south korea hopes the meeting will help efforts for pieces to pick up pollen reports from hong kong. kim jong un his wife and senior officials boarding his customary armored train to beijing this video was released by the north korean state news agency in beijing news outlets were announcing the visit of the north korean leader an unusual move for both sides which usually keep their meeting shrouded in secrecy. this time though beijing wants to show washington its leverage with north korea as china and the u.s. tussle in a trade war recent years spent with this drug administration the relationship with china has really got very sour and moreover as the as the trouble of

a stray ship got a ramped up its north korea contacts they did so without any effort really to bring china and china as a fairly substantial country with one point four billion people and i think they really don't want to be ignored so i think this is china's effort to try to be a part of this process and the key question of course is what is their message to the north koreans and for north korea having its biggest ally in benefactor by its side as can john and prepares for another summit with the u.s. president donald trump is expected to put young man in a stronger negotiating position kim jong un's previous three trips all occurred before are off to holding meetings with the u.s. or south korean presidents many see this trip as an opportunity to engage china as north korea sets out its diplomatic strategy for the coming year twenty eighteen was a momentous year for north korean diplomacy in june for the first time in its history its leader met with the u.s. president following that trump kim summit in singapore north and south korean

relations improved with the two sides of the peninsula working to improve communication sent to sell it. he says so has welcomed the latest meeting in beijing in germany and we hope that conjunctions visit to china contributes to complete the nuclear isolation and you stop lost in peace on the korean peninsula there has been little progress since the us north korea summit in june pyongyang says it has made concessions with regards to its nuclear program but washington says it needs to see more concrete action many are now watching closely to see whether china will have any influence and pushing the diplomatic process forward to be gopalan auxerre hong kong. and asian why process is underway in nigeria to demand a better minimum wage the federal government had agreed to an amount but some states so they could not afford to pay is a union say all states must agree to pay a minimum wage of eighty three u.s.

dollars a month a minute just as this update from the. hundreds of workers across nigeria or across the federal capital gathered here. protested demanded be immediate implementation of the minimum wage. for the nigerian walka which of course did not which the government promised but up to now it hasn't happened yet so basically what they are demanding is that the nigerian government should keep its promise of increasing the minimum wage from a slightly over fifty two dollars to less than one hundred dollars and that has been the demand for the past four years or so the post approval was given in two thousand and six to the trust agreement was reached to increase the minimum wage from the local currency which was. ninety eight two thousand to thirty thousand and even now the labor union is talking about. minimum wage they are fighting for

right now is not enough the states are saying that they are not in a position to pay the salary unless of course the federal government gives them additional. two for three walkers salaries and the workers are saying that if the budget or the budget of state governments can be cut down to size of western spending in government after state government can afford to create. the basic minimum wage which we disapprove. of any more still ahead here on this news hour including the former chairman of making his first court appearance since his arrest for financial misconduct. and you're preparing for more freezing cold after heavy snow kills seven in the alps. class when the going gets tough the best is face a stern mental and physical test in this year's dakar rally concerts planes and sports.

timmy's president omar al bashir is expected to address a military parade in the city where protests over rising prices and government corruption began three weeks ago and rallies have spread across the country calling for bashir to step down after any thirty years and power authority say at least nineteen people have been killed in the protests but national has put the death toll at thirty seven well hundreds of people have been arrested since the protests began and journalists covering the unrest say they've suffered intimidation and violence as have a morgan reports when she was told to cover anti-government protests for her newspaper rob i knew it would not be an easy assignment she'd heard of arrest in previous protests but didn't expect it to be her turn and just for carrying out her work. i went to cover the protests when a pickup truck came and fired tear gas a protest people fled in different directions i ran into a hospital tear gas was fired into the building most men came in and started

threatening people and when they found out i was a journalist they arrested me along with the others they were beating people they arrested with batons as they took us to the station. protests in sudan started in december over bread price rises and high inflation within two days they turned into anti-government demonstrations with people demanding the president on and bashir stepped down after twenty nine years in power the protests spread nationwide and some social media platforms are blocked workers from various sectors went on strike many were arrested for saying they wanted a change in government. we were holding our posters and had barely come out of the university compound when men in pickup trucks came and started beating us and told us to get in the pickup they took us to the station and started humiliating us and calling us names the protests are now in their third week with more to come in the days ahead sudan's government says eight hundred fifteen people have been arrested since the protests began but opposition groups

and activists say that number is well over a thousand the opposition also says security forces are intimidating people and journalists to stop the news of the demonstrations from spreading the government says nineteen people were killed in the protests but amnesty international says the number was nearly forty in the first week alone the head of the police says his forces did nothing wrong that's out or hardly that does work as long as you walk the walk the incidents in violence are caused by those who want to destroy and loot and those who have alternative agendas for used weapons and burnt institutions and instigated people to protest against the nation the place of handled the protesters with the highest level of professionalism and self restraint. demonstrators say they will continue to protest against president rule the government says it will remain in power with more lives are expected to be lost and even more are expected to be arrested as the two sides remain defiant people morgan al-jazeera hot on.

first prime minister to resign may's been holding another cabinet meeting as speculation grows about her government's next move on breaks it all decisions are due to vote on the deal to leave the bloc next week secretary has denied reports that the u.k. and the e.u. officials are talking about the name brix it if m.p.'s reject may's withdrawal agreement says the u.k. remains committed to leaving the block on march twenty ninth speak now he's in london for us so just been busy few days ahead but it will be a busy few days ahead rather for polish thembi is preparing to vote in this brics it deal but all the talk at the moment seems to be about a no deal. yes that's right well no deal ab come is of course the default outcome in the absence of a deal agreed with the european union or of some other agreement or mechanism in its place at the moment to reserve a deal agreed with the you is in deep doubt and therefore talk of

a no deal exit gets louder and louder and we know that there's a lot of opposition to it in parliament there's a campaign that is likely to kick off now among opposition groups or those opposed to a no deal breaks it to try and throw as many senators into the parliamentary works as they can to try and make it as hard as possible for the government to allow this country to sort of through for blindly into a default no deal and the beginning of that campaign comes later this afternoon a vote on an amendment to the finance bill making its way through parliament is tabled this amendment by the labor party's yvette cooper it will make it hard for the government to use taxpayer funding to fund no breaks or any preparations for a no bragg's if it's got wide across party support this bill it's likely to be one even some conservative m.p.'s supporting it and what it will do of course is show the extent of opposition in parliament to a no deal breaks it but for the avoidance of doubt i think there is some misunderstanding about this no amendment of this kind can cancel or make

a no deal breakers it's impossible the only thing that could do that is the government by getting its deal through or by coming up with some sort of plan b. at the moment there's little sign of either and how are the numbers looking at the moment for prime institutions and aid to get head deals freed. still pretty dire on the basis of anecdotal evidence and these came back yesterday from their christmas break showing very little sign of a change of heart in the huge opposition that existed prior to to reserve a deal that voting next tuesday we think possibly wednesday you'll recall that that meaningful vote was pulled in dramatic fashion in december after the government felt it would suffer a huge defeat what a huge defeat still looks very possible there was a cabinet meeting earlier today as you said they're out of that as a government spokesman says the reason may again reiterate she is expecting some kind of assurance from the e.u. over the northern ireland backstop that's the contentious part of the deal but the

e.u. doesn't intend to trap britain in a customs union but that backstop if used would only be strictly temporary and there are signs that some sort of written agreement might come but it won't have any legal weight which means that while it may convince some doubting employees it won't by any means convince all of them making a defeat likely and of course as the prime minister herself said over the weekend if deal is voted down and if there is no plan b. which there is no sign of now well in this country is deeply into uncharted territory and it's going to be another interesting week in westminster for the moments jaina thanks very much now far right politician in germany has been left seriously injured following what police are calling a politically motivated attack frank magnets in leeds the local branch of the alternative for germany tasse says upon as he left the office of a local newspaper the f.t. released a graphic face to magnets as injuries on social media dominic cain has moved from ballen. the political reaction to the incident that took place on monday evening

has been swift and condemnation politicians from many of the mainstream parties have also said that notwithstanding a person's political perspective there is no justification for such acts of violence the fact that these that at twenty past five local time as the magnets was leaving the office of a newspaper in blame and he was set upon by three masked men he was left for dead and was discovered by two people who called emergency services who took him to hospital sources from his party then put an image of mr magnets on social media showing the starkness of his injuries with son saying that they believed him from his party saying they believed he was half dead well he has been speaking he is conscious now and has been speaking to the d.p.a. news agency here in germany saying that he doesn't recall much of what happened could not identify his attackers his party leader says that the sort of media

coverage of his party might have created circumstances in which a person might feel that it was right to attack the f.t. from the official perspective police say they are investigating what took place and twenty year old german man has been arrested in connection to a massive data breach that saw the private information of hundreds of german politicians including chancellor angela merkel published online joan media reporting the man has confessed that he acted out of annoyance at public statements made by the figures. and now him take you straight to amman in jordan well we've got the u.s. secretary of state that might pompei is giving a briefing with his today and counterpart iman. of sentiment just pleasure to welcome on my dear friend the city here in jordan finally are speaking obvious and there's going to be translations i would do with. the rally was your

charger to deliver. on the color of the secretary but i don't think it was that big a thing on my own part because general was limited to a man and there's the president when it comes out very good i think. we have had a. discussion on a number of. regional issues. on our common shares efforts to establish peace and order in the middle east we have had fruitful discussions on deepening our strategic partnership. cannot make trade security and defense cooperation. which are at the highest level and we are keen on reinforcing their scope aeration the united states is a friend and ally state we highly appreciate their support of that kingdom which namely that the assistant program which extends of our five years which was the first to be endorsed by the administration this had enabled us to.

face the economic challenges namely hosting one point eight billion a million syrian refugees the us the palestinian israeli. that conflict has had a great deal of our discussion peace is our common and shared goal efforts are genuine however political horizons must be open and that's why the kingdom will continue to work hand in hand with the united states in the international community to have long lasting comprehensive peace established that guarantee the creation. of the independent palestinian state with easter is a limit it's a capital to live side by side. in peace and security with the state of israel.

and that is the only. resilience and we also discusses it means a political solution to the crisis in syria and also the future coordination in the wake of the u.s. resolution to pull out of syria will continue through the. small size committee and our discussion order to have peace established on the basis of the. solution that is acceptable to all the syrian people and whereby security and stability is restored and the total of all the foreign. combat in the wake of this decision also we also discussed the future of area whereby the security of our border lines are secured and our stand of the kingdom of jordan is that the solution lies in the return of residents to their homes and we believe that trilateral russian american jordanian. talks

must defeat a fire sale is all are said don't come on gold and we have had great success jim bowden has been side will side with the united states in combat again is there and will continue our effort in this regard the monarch of golden has it says that let you collective when it community effort started to defeat and annihilate the dentist groups which have nothing zero relevance to do with the tenets of is that just a mirage we look forward to continuing of our shared efforts as flawed and as a law. and order to achieve our goal which is that this peace old and secured in the middle east to be arrived at it with the opportunities on the principle of noninterference in the domestic affairs of countries all violation of international role rooms and they get now i give you the floor

thank you for mr safadi is an honor to be with you today i'm looking forward to meeting with his majesty king abdullah in just a little bit i'm very pleased to be back your jordan especially is our country celebrate our seventy anniversary this year of diplomatic relations and i was here i was here in this room on my very first trip as secretary of state i came here before i went to my office in washington that. it's an indication to us my first stop on a multi country trip of the importance of the relationship between our two countries jordan is one of those it's enduring strategic partners in the region it's one of the many reasons we're proud to help support you through the five year for december you of which you spoke it's worth over six billion dollars and it will be important for strengthening our relationship for the years ahead. your nation plays a critical role in regional security stability clued in through its efforts to peaceably peacefully resolve the syrian conflict fight this radical islamic

terrorism and carry the rating regimes mine activities in the region in the world and we had a good conversation today i reaffirmed our commitment under president trump to all to working with king abdullah his government on many of our shared priorities united states remains firmly committed to jordan's domestic civilian security and we will undertake that work in a true spirit of partnership. and just last year our nations unveiled a new counterterrorism training center less than fifty miles south of where we stand even as i speak as state department two was proud to funding construct that facility through our any terrorism is systems program it is sharpening are terrifying tools and helping jordan build its already strong capacity to fight terrorism we also look forward to working continually to counter terrans malign influence in the region jordan made a powerful statement by recalling its ambassador to iran last year protest of the iranian regime flagrant transgressions of security and sovereignty i also want to

thank the governor jordan for its upping help to combat arad's attempt to evade sanctions and finally. i also expressed today my deep gratitude for king abdullah as leadership he has continued to establish jordan as a durable partner and leader in the region. we're pleased to see your prime minister recently visited iraq as well as iraqi present solid visit to jordan in november we welcome this kind of engagement between nations of the reason region and we hope to see it replicated elsewhere. his majesty the king is also undertaking important domestic initiatives including economic reforms and protection of religious rights and we know jordan is also hosting over six hundred fifty thousand syrian refugees and we thank you and your people for their generosity. behalf of president trump we look forward to maintaining our joint efforts here in the middle east and i want to thank you again for hosting me here today it's great to be back well it's a pleasure to have you we have

a very short time as the secretary and i are heading for a meeting with his much so we'll take two questions the first question is a model on him from jordan t.v. m r. i'm going to. say yes human as in a scenario that he doesn't plan. wants it doesn't matter what. measures to be taken on the ground to have these goals are achieved come up with. as i stated earlier of the solution of the present syria as a strategic goal which was shared within a state a political solution is a must and order to achieve this we must work collectively we together as i also spoke that. the international community must be engaged namely russia.

a positive role must be played by arab countries in order that solution is achieved syria is back on its feet and its role within the system is restored and with respect to iraq ban i had extensive discussion with. his. secretary of state we agreed that the security of both at rivendell tennis areas must and the residents of these areas must be. must return home and in order to arrange for future and suitable arrangements on the border lines we are also in coordination with russia and we hope that trilateral discussions will be held in the future. yes hi thank you. you both have spoken to here about syria and so i'd like to ask a little bit about how we see that crisis that situation continuing in the weeks and months to come mr secretary. how do you intend

think you can or intend to maintain the anti iran coalition with your allies here in the region even as these same allies are welcoming syria back into the fold back into the arab league and such and at the same time you are receiving pretty significant pushback from turkey which is another key player in this and mr minister. you spoke a little bit about the role of jordan that you see and hear as the americans leave how do you see that are you worried about their departure is it premature do you see jordanian troops having a role in this and then separately you spoke about the palestinian peace process you mentioned the you know east jerusalem as a capital and two state solution neither of which this administration has very hardly embraced so now the the all eyes turn to the golan heights where bibi netanyahu is asking for u.s. recognition of their sovereignty over that what do you think should happen with the

golan heights thanks. so let me try and take your first question first if that's ok . the counter revolution is as. coalition as effective today as it was yesterday and i'm very hopeful it will continue to be effective and even more effective tomorrow. this is this is not just about a particular tactic that we take amongst the coalition this is about a combined understanding that the most significant threat to the region is dosh and the islamist revolution and their revolutionary efforts in the region. there is i won't speak for foreign ministers fadi but there is enormous agreement on the risk that that poses to jordan and to other countries in the neighborhood and that battle continues our presence decision to withdraw our folks from syria in no way impacts our capacity to deliver on that and you'll see the coming days and weeks we

are redoubling not only our diplomatic but our commercial efforts to put real pressure on iran to achieve what it is we set out for them back in may and these are simple asks we ask of the islamic republic of iran to behave like a normal nation and the coalition is just as committed to it today as it was yesterday. i think. you've been good let me just say something in iran we don't have problems with iran's expansionist policies and the region we want to make sure that whatever threat there is mitigated at all our countries and i think the united states too would want healthy relations based on the principle of not intervention in the internal affairs of the other and respecting the sovereignty of other countries if that is achieved if everybody abides by international norms of behavior then build be no problem so for as long as they are police use that are counter to these principles then we will continue to to have issues with up on a c and that would draw what i just have to say that the united

states and jordan up always been strong allies with always going to need to and we trust that we continue to coordinate and our security is something that has always been taken into account by life in washington and we trust. we continue to have this kind of relationship this is a solid partnership particularly when it comes to defense of security against isis with food food side by side by side we continue to do that and we're fully confident that our allies and us will be able to. address whatever new developments in a way that is mutually beneficial for both of us on the peace process look i mean jordan has been consistent or through his majesty has been more than clear that the but it's an israeli conflict is the key conflict in the region and its resolution is the only path to competence of peace which we only want all our states jordan included have said we wanted a comprehensive and lasting peace with israel but we also said in order for that to

happen that egypt i'm a trice of the palestinians but particularly if their right to states would then freedom on june fourth one nine hundred sixty seven with you to assume it's got that is is a must so we're going to continue to do that and again as friends as allies we might have agreements and disagreements but you can count on us old was having a frank and open and full discussion to us to see how weak. overcome differences and move could effectively an effective manner to us all come and go to peace and stability the golan heights is a good bye to your territory international security dot it has to be treated as such and therefore our position is that israel needs to withdraw from that territory again within the framework of a peace agreement that will deliver a comprehensive peace that we once they had a peace initiative has been on the table since two thousand and two as an offer as an invitation for israel to come and sit on the table with a view to reaching the contents of peace that will also address israel's rights to security and acceptance and all my ties with the arab world this is our position i

would continue to stand by because we believe this the new way to achieve the comprehensive peace that we all wants i want to thank you so much we've got to we've got to run now we have a meeting with mice and i also thank you all and the secretary and it's always a pleasure. that we've been listening to a press conference given by the jordanian foreign minister iman and the u.s. active state mike on paying in amman at the start of on pay is eight our capital troll of the region missing in with me to that was bashar senior political analyst and joins us here in the city good to have you with us. the two men there said that they have a conversation that they had committed to that has committed to working with the jordanian government on countering terrorism and iranian influence in the regions one of his key themes is an end of this whole tool of the region countering iranian

influence absolutely it seems that secretary pompei was something the tone for his seven day visit to the region here in jordan and something to be honest is not a surprise it's expected to themes are apparently guiding this trip one is that we might be withdrawing militarily from the likes of syria but that doesn't mean we are analysts in gauged in fact if we withdraw any soldiers we're going to become even more engaged in order to defeat dive create coalitions and be involved in two solution of issues in the region and the second is that while the arch is being defeated the main challenge the main enemy not just the united states but apparently to jordan and everyone else in the region is iran iran is the number one enemy and hence if you have any part of the region needs to come together i think what we haven't heard today but apparently is a maybe a third. a third guideline if you will that results from the trumpeter previous to

is the united states attempt to create what so called the arab nato a number of other countries with israel and maybe others it to confront iran that that does two things at the same time does the first thing which says we might withdraw our own troops but we will remain engaged with others to prove. by their troops and second iran is the number one enemy and that least bump a you on the top administration to this idea of creating an out of nato with in this case israel plus out of control how difficult is it going to be that if a pompei to sell this message i mean how believing are these countries going to behave its message when we've already had you on this morning coming out saying we're still hearing mixed messages from the trumpet ministration well you know just if we can broaden it a bit we're not only receiving mixed messages from the top administration arabs in the region have been receiving mixed messages from washington because being in the shoes of those in jordan it took the obama administration's forty years to convince

them that iran is not an imminent but one that we can engage with iran that we will deano could nuclearize any weapon programs and then we will try to engage with them about the future of the region let's think diplomatically and so on so for then we get from for the last two three years in fact been saying no no no no forget everything obama told you the number one enemy is you want and it's not just number one enemy is vicious it's malicious it's destabilizing it's state sponsored terror and hence we can have to go after it that's our number one priority everything else has to go the other is confusing to those who just forty years ago where being convinced one way or other way of course there are the likes of saudi arabia the o.e. that always thought it should be you're on and we don't know if it was trying to convince them of this or it was nothing you know and and b. and b z what m.p.'s who convinced the trump an assertion of doing so but yes as you said there are mixed messages from on the question of syria as well that trump after a phone conversation with the with the turkish president says oh yes yes are we

going to do with that or after all it was my. promise during the campaign i need to fulfill my promises we have to get the soldiers out we've got to.