serving it's good to be good seafood by nature is hard. sometimes through music production drugs. that are not approved for use in the us the f.d.a. simply isn't testing on the imported market to really find all of these violent residue take no one else is in. the federal government remains shut down for one reason and one reason only because democrats will not. border security. president trump and his democratic opponents both give no ground in the standoff that's kept the u.s. government closed for nearly three weeks.

welcome to alan to zero in life for my headquarters in doha but me and it's ron i'm also ahead north korean leader kim jong un travels to beijing ahead of a possible second summit with president trump. turkey's president says the white house has made a serious mistake suggesting it will protect the kurds after a syria also by the u.s. on board toss with resolve in the blockade of qatar has resigned. u.s. president dollar trump has made his first oval office address to the nation it was a harsh leewood a speech criticizing democrats for failing to fund the war he wants to build along the us mexico border and painting illegal immigration as an almost existential threat to the united states let's go now to our correspondent mike hanna he's joining us live from washington d.c. there was a lot of attention on this mike being trans first oval office address to the nation

it was billed as a big deal did it live up to those expectations. well most observers believe that it did not leave president trump out of that within the last half hour he has been tweeting self-congratulatory tweets he says thank you so many nice comments regarding my oval office speech he goes on to say it was a very interesting experience well certainly democratic opposition did not see it as such they saw it has nothing more than fear mongering and there was a bit of surprise that president trump did not go ahead and declare that national emergency they had been much speculation in recent days that that is the route he would take to actually address this issue this speech came on the eighteenth day of the ongoing partial shutdown of government and certainly neither the speech nor the

reaction shows any indication that the shutdown is going to end. the deadlock between congress and the white house continues democrats refusing to provide funding for a wall on the southern border president trump adamant he will not accept any budget bill that doesn't this is a humanitarian crisis a crisis of the heart and a crisis of the soul the facts though do not support the contention of a spiraling crisis wrists at the southern border in two thousand and seventeen was the lowest in forty five years the number of would be migrants detained last year was list them half of the total arrested in two thousand and seven every week three hundred of our citizens are killed by heroin alone ninety percent of which floods across from our southern border more americans will die from drugs this year then were killed in the entire vietnam war but this is contradicted by the drug

enforcement administration which in a report last year said virtually all of the heroin sold in the united states comes through legal points of entry thank you and in a joint appearance the democrat leaders in the house and senate dismiss the address as nothing more than cynical korea mongering this president just used the backdrop of the oval office to manufacture a crisis stoke fear and divert attention from the turmoil in his administration the president's address and the democratic response has affected no change and at the weekend this will become the longest ever government shutdown in the nation's history. so where do things go from him like we heard from the president that this is something that could be resolved in a forty five minute meeting he's invited the democrats to meet with him any chance that will happen. well there being

a series of meetings between democrats and the trump administration and none of them has come to any approach of any solution whatsoever in the course of wednesday president trump is going to be meeting republican congressional leaders on the hill once again not quite sure where this is going but what has become increasingly apparent in recent days is a certain sense of disquiet among republicans particularly in the senate the house has passed funding bill that has not gone to the senate the senate leader the republican leader has insisted that he will not allow any vote on anything that president trump will not accept this is a position that might change and the only possibility of some kind of solution coming in in the coming days would be for republicans on the senate to adopt to the measure that has gone through the house that would then throw it back to president trump to. veto which in which case he would have to accept full responsibility for

this ongoing shutdown but certainly no end in sight to the partial shutdown and no indication whatsoever that the white house and congress are any closer to any form of compromise elizabeth mike thank you very much for that for now that's mike hanna live and washington d.c. let's move on to other news now and kim jong un and chinese president xi jinping are expected to discuss a second summit with the united states on day two of the north korean leader's visit to beijing km arrived in china on tuesday his fourth trip to the country in the past year south korean media reports the two leaders met for about an hour confirms that comes just days after warning he may take another path if the u.s. doesn't ease sanctions and pressure to denuclearize the korean peninsula from a bride has more on the reaction from seoul. this sequence of diplomatic events does seem to follow a pattern kim jong un meeting she possibly as

a show of deference to the more important neighbor possibly getting guidance on how to deal with the u.s. then to be followed soon after by a meeting between president trump of the united states and kim jong un everybody has been expecting a second summit between the two leaders and it's led to all sorts of speculation that we might be having an announcement imminently viet-nam has been mentioned as a possible location for a second summit it's been reported that u.s. officials have been in the country looking at possible locations for longer odds then people have also mentioned the possibility of bangkok and even hawaii as a possible locations it's also led to speculation in south korea about what all of this means for a possible fourth summit between the korean leaders of the two koreas it was widely anticipated that kim jong un would travel to south korea in the last month it seems

to have been delayed and that there is speculation that that is because both leaders of north and south korea know that after three previous summits where they have made progress they have had agreements a fourth summit really has to show something more concrete more tangible possible economic measures possible projects of economic cooperation between the two and for that to happen they need to have exemptions from these sanctions and for that to take place of course they need to have the u.s. on board to support that and for that we need to have then a successful summit between north korea and the u.s. . two top u.s. officials are in the middle east seeking to reassure washington's allies about the trumpet ministrations plan to withdraw troops from syria national security advisor john bolton says turkey mustn't target kurdish groups that the u.s. has been honoring and training after the americans leave and that the man has angered the circus president jamal child has more from. over two weeks ago u.s.

president donald trump announced on twitter the t.v. withdrawing american troops from syria on tuesday his national security adviser john bolton arrived in ankara for meetings with senior turkish officials about how and when that withdrawal will take place a day earlier bolton was in israel meeting prime minister benjamin netanyahu where he assured him that the withdrawal would not impact negatively on kurdish groups inside syria to that turkish president's had this to say he said bolton has made a serious mistake and whoever thinks like this is also made a mistake it is not possible for us to make compromises on this point those who are part of the terror corridor in syria will receive the necessary lesson there is no difference between the p k k the y p g the p.y.t. and i saw we are determined to take steps against these terrorist organizations we will mobilize to neutralize them in syria land very soon as far as turkey is concerned the y p g a kurdish militia inside syria is an extension of the p.k. k.

which ankara considers a terrorist group for its attacks inside turkey and the killing of its citizens the us however has armed and funded the y.p. jian recent years under the pretext of fighting ice all critics of the withdrawal saying washington would look bad if it were seen to be abandoned its partners but turkey points to the fact that it is a nato member and a u.s. ally and insists america must decide whether it wants to stand by its allies or side with a terrorist organization more than two years of turkish military intervention inside syria has resulted in huge setbacks for i saw which is lost territory to the turks and their syrian rebel allies. and other areas. but turkey says the fight against terrorism should not be exclusive to. include all groups regardless of their ethnicity or religion in. syria and then must be cleared of all terrorists

including the border area regardless of what kind of terrorist they are and the people who live in syria godless of the ethnic origins must be protected and made safe from terrorist persecution and attacks. john bolton's team described tuesday's meetings as constructive however the reality is that there is still a lot of work that needs to be done before a deal can be reached the fact that a plan joint press conference was cancelled in the eleventh hour is testament to the this agreements that remain but before a deal can be reached between the united states and turkey it would seem that the american government needs to agree amongst the self about what to do in syria. but tide us general anthony zinni has quit his job. ministrations on voice to resolve the dispute between qatar and its neighbors saudi arabia behind in egypt

land sea and air and twenty seventeen also in jordan has more on his resignation and the state of u.s. diplomacy in the region. for the last year and a half retired u.s. general anthony zinni has had two jobs negotiate an end to the g.c.c. crisis in which qatar has been isolated by its gulf neighbors since june twenty seventh team and helpless stablish a nato like organization called the middle east strategic initiative army said no more zinni has submitted his resignation. anyways just challenged. he did not waste his time because the situation in the middle east can always get more unstable unfortunately this extraordinary important trusted intermediary parties to ensure that the situation does not deteriorate further according to reports zinni said he's leaving because no country in the dispute is willing to negotiate in good faith what's more analysts eager neubauer says the murder of

jamal khashoggi the saudi journalist up and it plans for a u.s. brokered discussion in washington in october former secretary of state rex tillerson had hired zinni a former military commander in the middle east after his own efforts at shuttle diplomacy failed to end the blockade zinni insists he had full support from officials at the white house which had recently asked him to add the regional military alliance to his to do list analysts say that without an end to the qatar blockade and no sign of the white house hosting a g.c.c. summit any time soon such an alliance has no chance of being stood up even though he were tasked to help resolve the gulf crisis once that was no longer tenable at least in the current environment he sought to appear to rest through integrated military cooperation and what emerged of. became an

impossibility the state department thank them for his work saying that quote his mission was to help introduce the. concept of the middle east alliance and start a conversation with leaders in the region that is happening and well underway thanks to his efforts for now it falls to secretary of state my comp a.o. to discuss the blockade and a possible military alliance during his first major trip to the middle east however pompei is top priority and that of the white house is the isolation of iran at any cost that means anthony zinni is work could end up being neglected for the foreseeable future rosalyn jordan al-jazeera washington still ahead on the bulletin it is still not official and actually results in the democratic republic of congo the country's largest opposition party says its presidential candidate won.

had out of the rain the snow has stopped falling now in afghanistan and beyond you can see the cloud disappearing if so too is a tibetan plateau to get away for the next lot to come which is already developing may not get as far east as afghanistan is certainly culture you know in the caucasus and the levant one small now this is the picture for wednesday when most of those in eastern turkey and running down through the north of iraq on the iranian side as well it could well be still snowing in the high ground of iraq or certainly will be in iran and done touching kuwait as what we see is a funny familiar sight as we've seen it before time time again and this is the east with movement taking more right inside was afghanistan during says day but leaving a good part of you of iran dry briefly you might get a witness overnight and the picture by that time still read to me fine by the way

in the levant beirut as sixteen degrees in the rain is concentrating in turkey. south of all this temporarily it's a bit of a southerly breeze and things are warming up in bahrain doha you know it is twenty six degrees a little bit whoa not in the u.a.e. however that wind direction will not last and again i'll take your overnight you see the cloud tends to break up and tries to move south a northerly comes afterwards and is cooler. every weekly news cycle brings a series of breaking stories and then of course there's donald trump told through the eyes of the world's journalists that's right out of the script that calls for the annihilation of israel that is not what the phrase i'm. listening post as we turned the cameras on the media focused on how they were caught on the stories that matter the most him better use a free palestine they're listening post on al-jazeera.

to have you with us on al-jazeera these are our top stories u.s. president donald trump has made his strongest plea to date a billions of dollars in funding for a border war with mexico in a televised address said it was necessary because of what he called a humanitarian crisis at the border democrats responded by repeating that trump reopen the government without funding for the war the budget deficit has led to a partial government shutdown for almost three weeks. the north korean leader kim jong un is on the second day of a visit to china which could lay the groundwork for another meeting with u.s.

president donald trump this is comes for the trip to china and the past year it was invited by chinese president xi jinping. and turkish president out of the one says the u.s. tomorrow and for protection of its could live in syria is a grave mistake the comments come as u.s. national security adviser john bolton as an encore a holding talks about the withdrawal of u.s. troops from syria. the largest opposition party in the democratic republic of congo has declared its leader the presumed what of law. month's presidential election the union for democracy and social progress as its candidate candidate felix kerry has won its calling for a transition meeting with outgoing president joseph kabila the country's electoral commission is yet to release the results meanwhile one of the mayor election observers is reporting irregularities and more than half the counting centers monitored has more from the capital kinshasa shopkeeper blank. the

democratic republic of congo has had a difficult history several civil wars and contested elections he wants election results released as soon as possible to ease tensions so the country can move on. the political situation right now is affecting business very few people spending money. in things. election officials were supposed to release provisional results on january sixth but it's a logistical challenges are causing delays now they're expected to be announced later this week could be the first democratic transfer of power in the us since independence from belgium and nine hundred sixty that's it everybody here except. many people hoping to help in decades of everything on its head make. opposition leaders say they fear the vote will be manipulated to favor president joseph kabila as preferred successor emanuel should dari told.

the result. is not negotiable. we have. to be vigilant. all the. the porters from the ruling party have already started celebrating and deny allegations of fraud they insist only the electoral commission known here i see me know the outcome. we have to study the results of the. remake of the. how. i was in your position. how will. you know when.

the government has cut internet and islamist services to prevent speculation on social media about who has won some people fear they could be violence if the final results are rejected by the liz's. now zimbabwe is going through its worst economic crisis in a decade hundreds of doctors have been on strike for weeks and now teachers have stopped work very demanding the government do more to help ends meet priyanka gupta reports. a new year a new term but an actual start for the students of zimbabwe. i was there instead of notebooks inside classrooms some teachers are outside holding placards they say they can only hold classes for two days a week and a threatening to go on strike in the coming days they want their salaries to be paid and u.s. dollars to shield them from

a spiraling currency crisis this was at leeds was a negotiated and agreed into and it will be the standing up in the early i would say that the violated that night was like this one philip the practice for the second month in a row hundreds of doctors are staying at home they too want their salaries in dollars and a demanding better working conditions we wanted dad be mitigation offenders to be dangerous people too was a wonder that would diminish in terms of salaries good salaries in terms of the vehicles as we get something transported with working with the public hospitals are running out of medicines and pharmacies are turning away people unless they're paying in dollars. there's not enough resources in the hospitals we're statuses patients are even being told to buy out any syringes. but the government says it doesn't have enough foreign currency to meet the

protesters demands zimbabwe depends heavily on imports and uses bone notes and electronic currency that's picked to the dollar a shortage of dollars means those bones are losing their value but they should now with the immediately now or tomorrow go into negotiations where the government will offer in terms of a million or aiding the plight of the civil service in the areas that they demanded on the streets of the capital harare lines like these are all too common a price. so basic goods have more than tripled and there is a fuel shortage this crisis is one of the biggest challenges facing president emerson a dog who promised economic growth and for investments to bring some way out of two decades of financial disarray and risk robert mugabe oh with these teachers say the government needs to do more to help those who are struggling. on just. the

sudanese president has dismissed calls to step down and praise the army's response to anti-government protests omar al bashir had made the comments at a military parade and other but where the demonstrations began three weeks ago the rallies calling for the shia to step down have spread across the country authorities say at least nineteen people have been killed in the demonstrations and international has put the death toll at thirty seven or morgan has more from the. anti-government protests are now in its third week people have been demonstrating demanding that president obama and his twenty nine year rule and step down now would all start over the economy over the rise in bread prices and inflation of seventy percent one of the highest in the world and the protests spread nationwide schools and universities had to be shut down social media platforms such as twitter what's up and facebook were blocked by the government now today president obama traveled to river nile state and went with the military and spoke about the

situation that the country is going through but. unfortunately those who are conspiring against sudan have been able to plan some agents and some traitors in our midst unfortunately that meld inside those with weak souls those who vandalize and burn in the meantime our people have been building and developing every day there are new projects but on the other side they want to destroy and burn my greetings to the military forces which have guarded the nation and protected it and broke down all conspiracies by the colonizes disappearances and their agents now this is not the first time that the president has spoken he has spoken on the eve of the. trees sixty third independence i mean bursary and he said that he was going to increase the living wage and he was going to try to improve the economic situation but that did this did not stop the protests. going including today and more are planned in the coming days now the government has been criticized for using what has been termed as excessive brutal force they just haven't have been killed in the process according to human rights group amnesty international but the

government is saying that people have been killed and over eight hundred have been arrested the united nations envoy to yemen has met with the yemeni president operable mentioned harvey pitt spoke to had the on tuesday in the saudi capital after meeting with the rebels and sama griffiths is calling on both sides to follow the fragile truce they agreed to last month in sweden they have been reports of several violations especially in the port city of whole data where most of the country's food and medicine must pass through for distribution. a snow storm is adding to the misery of syrian refugees living in camps and southern lebanon many are enjoying their eight went to there with only plastic sheeting for warmth they are among the most vulnerable of the one million registered syrian refugees still living in lebanon saying aha the reports from the bekaa valley. the storm hit lebanon hard and it is not over syrian refugees are feeling the impact

their makeshift tents have been damaged because of the snow rain and strong winds plastic sheeting offers them a little protection. the wind blew away the sheets welcome i say just look around you can we get you sheets we feel helpless. winter conditions are already bad in this region close to syria's border but storms make them even harder it was a difficult night for these people pools of sewage are posing health risks oh well . look at the reality can you believe that sewage water is everywhere up to this where is the international community where is the united nations. the waste water even reached inside what these people call their homes for many of these syrians this is their eighth winter in exile did i did nation says at least one hundred seventy thousand of the almost one million registered refugees live in

makeshift shelters refugee cannot build better shelters no concrete construction is allowed in these informal camps the lebanese government does not permit the united nations or any other organization to set up permanent structures in these settlements. it's a policy here to discourage refugees to settle in lebanon permanently something hammoud kalisch doesn't want to do but for now he says he doesn't have an option. i lost my home in syria we're living miserable lives do you think we would stay here for an hour if we didn't have a choice. it's a sentiment shared by many who are bracing themselves for what is expected to be even harsher conditions as temperatures continue to drop. because. of far right politician in germany has suffered serious head injuries and what police described as

a politically motivated attack frank the local branch of the alternative germany party was attacked by a group of men as he was leaving the office of a local newspaper the f.t. post and. magnets injuries on social media dominic cain has more from berlin. 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 facts are 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 thing 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 and still 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. now again ahmed is a prominent diehard with the headlines on al-jazeera and u.s. president donald trump has made his strongest plea to date for billions of dollars in funding for a border war with mexico and a televised address he said it was necessary because of what he called a humanitarian crisis that the border the budget deadlock has led to

a partial government shutdown for almost three weeks. the only solution is for democrats to pass a spending bill that defends our borders and reopens the government. this situation could be solved in a forty five minute meeting i have invited congressional leadership to the white house tomorrow to get this done well democrats responded by repeating their demand that trump reopen the government without funding for the wall the fact is the women and children at the border are not a security threat they are humanitarian challenge a challenge the president comes on core and counterproductive policies have only deepened and the fact is president trump must stop holding the american people hostage but stop manufacturing a crisis a must leave open the government turkish president the one says the u.s.

demand for protection of its kurdish allies in syria is a grave mistake u.s. national security advisor john bolton as an holding talks about the withdrawal of american troops from syria. a top u.s. envoy working to resolve the dispute between cutler and its neighbors has quit according to reports retired general anthony zinni said he is leaving because no country was willing to negotiate in good faith the north korean leader kim jong un as on the second day of a visit to china which could lay the groundwork for another meeting with u.s. president donald trump this is comes fourth trip to china in the past year the largest opposition party in the democratic republic of congo has declared its leader the presumed what of last month's presidential election the union for democracy and social progress says candidate felix chess security won the vote the country's electoral commission is yet to release the results but those are the headlines on al-jazeera the listening post as coming up next thank you very much

for watching. in a four part series a russian filmmaker travels across his homeland to discover what life is like under putin many russians you push him into somebody with a difficult job rather than an authoritarian leader with imperial ambitions and many critics of putting a equally critical of the west meeting with russians from across the political spectrum under a neck assault discovers a complex attitude towards that country's leader and his policies in search of putin's russia and now jazeera. to let it out but caught up to. the fighting. but this was an attempt. at us as people to get us.

out of the.