u.s. president donald trump calls illegal immigration a humanitarian crisis the democrats accuse him of staking fair. and i mean this is out zero life and also coming up the taliban calls up talks with the u.s. is afghan and pakistani officials meet to discuss what to do next. supporters of sudan's president omar al bashir rally in culture for the first time since protest against him began last month. and from flexible t.v. screens to intelligent household devices we check out what's on offer at the

consumer electronics show in las vegas. president donald trump has put his case for a border war with mexico directly to the american people and the televised address democrats in congress to approve funding for the project and then the standoff which has shut down parts of the government for almost three weeks my kind has more now from washington. 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 the 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 mike hanna al-jazeera washington. the north korean leader kim jong un has rocked opposite to china to china a day earlier than expected was the talks with chinese president xi jinping could lay the groundwork for another meeting with donald trump but was little detail on his schedule provided by either side but south korean media is reporting that kim for broader no contribute has this update now from. kim jong un's train was seen leaving beijing this afternoon and ever since the leader arrived in beijing on monday evening this trip has been shrouded in secrecy there have been reports that the leader visited some traditional chinese medicine factory on the outskirts of beijing earlier this morning before we're heading to beijing to have some lunch with some top beijing officials possibly even president xi jinping himself but we have received nor details about the visit from either the north korean all the

chinese government we do know that president xi jinping met with them to win yesterday for about an hour and they were expected to have discussed a possible future summit between u.s. president donald trump and kim jong un over the next few months now it's unclear whether condolence train will return straight to pyongyang or whether he'll be stopping by another chinese city but what is clear is that this trip has been very positive optics for both north korea and china for north korea they've been able to show the world that they have a very powerful friend in china and kim jong il has been able to demonstrate himself as a more confident statesman than he was last year and for china well they've been able to show the world that they have very strong influence when it comes to pyongyang this is kim to wounds fourth trip to china in just under a year and this relationship is very important especially when you consider china's relationship with the u.s. china is currently embroiled in some very tense trade negotiations with washington

and they're wanting to do what ever they can to improve their position in those talks and certainly leveraging this relationship with pyongyang is one of those ways. more than a dozen diplomatic missions in the australian cities of melbourne and camera have been evacuated after a suspicious packages were delivered to the samples are being tested for hazardous materials but they have been no reports of harm to stuff some of the packages are said to have contained us festus material used in buildings that can cause cancer missions affected include the united states egypt thailand and italy. the latest round of talks between the afghan taliban and the united states have been called off this follows disagreements over the agenda for the two day meeting which was meant to start in qatar on wednesday. as. taliban leaders canceled a meeting with the u.s. officials only a few hours after telling the media they were willing to hold face to face talks in qatar in the coming days and the reason is differences over inviting the afghan

government delegation to join the talks a few days ago the taliban rejected an offer to meet afghan government representatives in saudi arabia preferring instead to hold talks with the u.s. special envoy zalmay khalilzad the united states in taleban both have some cards taliban also try to play chess board in politics they don't want to open up all they want to give little intake a lot. the afghan government says it's ready to me the taliban any time anywhere but for the talks to succeed afghanistan needs help from neighboring pakistan the u.s. has repeatedly accused islamabad of providing safe haven for taliban leaders accusations dismissed by the pakistani government pakistan being the immediate neighbor on

a star is interested that any development in afghanistan leads to peace and stability of the region got to be efforts under way towards a political settlement in a fantasy and the draw all of us troops should be part of a peace process we did to ensure that it is nor bar vacuum in afghanistan. despite huge international aid and a military campaign led by the us war is far from over and the taliban. and is far from defeated reports the trump administration might be withdrawing troops in the coming months triggered panic among afghan officials but the u.s. isn't the sole player in the region the russians invited the taliban and members of the kabul based afghan peace council for talks last year saudi arabia and the u.a.e. took part in the last round of talks in december. iran has also been active over

the last two years building bridges with the taliban and the government iran says its goal is to ensure an afghan led peace deal. the talks gained momentum last year but it's unclear if all the parties are willing to make concessions and they agree on a unity government has made about al-jazeera well there are more talks underway this time between representatives of the afghan and pakistani governments in islamabad they're focusing on getting the taliban to the negotiating table with pakistan to help them or more. one delegation. tried. to convince the afghan taliban to accept the government and face to face negotiations however both the united states and the afghan government have been asking pakistan to do that that dollar bond not listening to anybody saying

that their regime and. regime and stored by the united states and that david. to the us last time after their dogs and dog be on december the seventeenth and which they. were also present the government delegation was sitting in abu dhabi however the taliban refused to meet them so it is going to be a different going to toss august on also saying that the stakeholders in the region should also share that it sponsibility for trying to find a reconciliation and of honest on august on it already the prime minister. saying that it is a key priority for pakistan and the regional countries do establish the war torn country the u.s. envoy working to resolve the blockade of qatar has resigned general anthony zinni was determined ministrations point man on the g.c.c. crisis also in jordan has more now on his resignation and the stakes of us to put

him 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 help us stablish a nato like organization called the middle east strategic initiative army said no more zinni has submitted his resignation to anyways just challenged. he did not waste his time because the situation in the middle east can always get more unstable unfortunately it is 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 anytime soon such an alliance has no chance of being stood up even though he was 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 isn't 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 mike pompei 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 his work could end up being neglected for the foreseeable future rosalyn jordan al-jazeera washington to don's president tomorrow bashir is set to address a pro-government rally in the capital khartoum trying to count a mass protests against his presidency at the demonstrations have spread across sudan since mid december here we are these are live pictures now from quality. of a princess spread over the rising cost of food and fuel and government corruption

president bashir is refusing to resign and has praised the military's response to the protests more on that as a day goes on. still ahead here on al-jazeera observer is told the delayed results from the democratic republic of congo's elections will be released within forty eight ounces frustration with. us you suggest that my home page makes a previously previously announced unannounced stop on his middle east i will tell you. and i bet there's plenty of following drawing weather to be found across the southeast in parts of asia at the moment for the philippines it's following here there's barely a cloud in the sky across parts of borneo a little bit more cloud at times here we're seeing one or two showers but then

gradually run that way to well it's the west so force in singapore in k.l. we all catching want to two showers and this is the general set out there was still we with us as we head through the day on thursday the majority of those showers start to go overboard and then checking their way towards the west but elsewhere it's largely fine and dry just perhaps the old shower for the southern parts of the philippines atlanta was australia we've had a weather system in the southeast that's caused not only a little bit of rain but also some rather violent dust storms this red picture is only read it because of all that dust that system is working its way away from us but we've got this area of cloud over queensland that's the remains of an old storm called petit and it's cool some of us some very welcome rain this is the best rain we've seen in some lawrence for over two years so definitely a good thing here now plenty more showers as we head through the day on thursday particularly for the northern parts of queensland elsewhere what you'll notice over the next few days is it getting very hot in at night.

in the next episode of science in a golden age i'll be exploring the contributions made by scholars during the medieval islamic period in the field of mathematics. the term algebra can be traced back to the arabic word i'll jump over we're going to the limits of modern technology forty percent faster than the speed of sound they gave us the final building block find they discovered it met ableton it's astonishing science in a golden age with jim alkalinity on al-jazeera.

but when you watch al-jazeera a reminder of our top stories this hour and u.s. president donald trump has spread his case for a border war with mexico directly to the american people he said it's necessary to resolve security drug trafficking and a humanitarian crisis the democrats have accused him of stoking fear. north korean leader kim jong un has wrapped up his visit to beijing earlier than expected the little details have been released about his trip south korean media is reporting that kim met chinese president xi jinping about. the latest round of talks between the afghan taliban and the united states have been called off the differences over including members of the afghan government separate discussions are underway in islam about to erupt just people on the pakistani. al-jazeera has been told the results of the presidential election in the democratic republic of congo could be announced within the next forty eight hours the largest opposition party has already declared its leader feelings to be at the presumed winner of last

month's vote the party says it's had a transition meeting with outgoing president joseph kabila about an advice. the two could be denied that such a meeting took place one of the main observances reporting irregularities in more than half of the county centers it monitored. the latest from the capital kinshasa . shopkeeper blank knows the democratic republic of congo has had a difficult history could several civil wars and contested elections he wants election results released as soon as possible to ease tensions so the country can move on little. people never the political situation right now is affecting business very few people are spending money. in the case 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 this could be the first democratic transfer of power in the us since independence from belgium and nine hundred sixty that's what everybody here except the un many people hoping to help in decades are probably i mean honestly. opposition leaders say they fear the vote will be manipulated to favor president joseph kabila as preferred successor emanuel should dari there is told me. there is a very good result that what they decide. is not negotiable and then we are calling to you. to be vigilant. all the rules. porters from the ruling party have already started celebrating and not allegations of fraud they insist only the electoral commission known here as 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. conciousness. protests have been taking place across nigeria with workers demanding a higher minimum wage the government had agreed to increase the amount to eighty three dollars a month but some states said they couldn't afford to pay for it already dresses more. after waiting for two and

a half years nigerian workers say they've had enough oh they held a protest trying to shut down the government if it doesn't implement and you minimum wage agreed with labor unions. they prevent its entire the minimum wage was a woman and two hundred i'm going to introduce. these members of the protests empower general workers have been battered twenty yards and that's why this is what becomes very very important because it affects the lives of eleven million dollars go because you know that obama dependence. the delay in bringing in the new wages may be part of the reason for the protests but workers might also be taking advantage of next month's general election to force through a deal nigeria's central government may have agreed with labor unions on a new minimum wage but its biggest obstacle for implementation is the state government many had already workers' salaries for months until the central

government in to be. nigeria has the largest economy in africa and it's also the continent's biggest oil producer but not much of its wealth gets treats workers and citizens for now parliamentarians who get paid more than politicians in developed economies like the united states say they are on the side of the workers. no reason that we cannot afford to pay one hundred less than hundred dollars for a minimum wage the president. schill do didn't need for what the president should do is to immediately send the request to the national assembly and i can assure you as far as the parliament is cause we are in sync with the demands of the nigerian workers. as the workers await government response they're looking to see what traders and service providers will do. in the past any wage

increase was greeted by higher prices of goods and services what to say they hope that will not be the case this time. but increase al-jazeera. nigeria. the u.n. envoy to yemen is due to update the security council on his latest efforts to end the nearly four year war martin gryphus has been holding talks with both sides miti the yemeni president of the rebel a man so heidi in the saudi capital on tuesday and the house heathy rebels in santa cruz wants them to stick to the fragile truce agreed last month in sweden he's hoping to bring them together for a new round of talks later this month the u.s. senate has blocked legislation that seeks to counter the boycott divestment and sanctions movement against israel democrats are divided over an act that penalizes supporters of b.d.s. which works to condemn israel's treatment of palestinians and its illegal settlements in the territory the package of bills originally had bipartisan support

but many voted no in protest over the partial government shutdown just now and it's eighteenth day. you're secretary of state. iraq the latest stop on his middle east tour he's reassuring washington's allies about trump's plan to withdraw troops from syria stuff. from the jordanian capital of amman. so the message from the u.s. secretary of state might pump aoe is clear that the withdrawal of u.s. troops from syria will not hinder its fight against eisel and it will also not affect its fight to. contain iran's influence in the region there was a press conference between the sec's your state mr damion counterpart touching on the issue of syria that both sides want to see a political solution to it also touching on the issue of iran and also briefly mentioning the israel palestinian conflict and certainly the jordanians saying that they saw this as a key issue that needed to be resolved when it came to conflict in the middle east

now where the sect of state will be heading on to egypt where he's expected to give a keynote speech interestingly that will come ten years to the time when the former president barack obama gave his middle eastern speech but the message from the americans is that despite this pullout in syria they remain steadfast ally and they will remain very much present in the region turkey's foreign minister has rejected a condition that his country missed not told kurdish groups when the u.s. put out its troops from syria. addressed the parliament today after u.s. national security advisor john bolton visited bolton's comments under the turkish president to rushed out of what he calls mixed messages from the trumpet ministration. says that turkey will not compromise on codifies as it regards as terrorists. a snowstorm is adding to the misery of thousands of syrian refugees living in camps in southern lebanon many are enduring that winter the with only

plastic sheets so holder has more now from the back of. 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 sheep walk and 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 for the well. still 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 refugees 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 has would kill it 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 here do you think i 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

eastern lebanon. perris attorney general has resigned david claims of meddling in the corruption investigation into the construction giant. presidential body says his decision was aimed at protecting the independence of the prosecutor's office his tenure has been mauled by accusations of offering political favors in exchange for bribes. the annual consumer electronics show is under way in the united states usually it's a place for innovations in new technologies but this year there is anxiety over tumbling stock prices and a trade war with china reynolds has more now from las vegas. four thousand companies from dozens of countries rolled out new products at the consumer electronics show l.g.'s new flexible t.v. screen made a big splash l.g. has an all ad t.v. sixty five inches that rolls down and disappears from view into

a box that is the first roll both flexible screen that we've seen produced from a major television manufacture the price tag around three thousand dollars this year there's an air of anxiety in these corridors tech stocks have been tumbling on wall street apple made a surprise announcement it would miss sales targets blaming weak demand in china chinese telecommunications giant weiwei is here even though its chief financial officer is under house arrest in canada fighting american efforts to put her on trial for fraud you know major chinese tech executives are attending c.e.o.'s giant tech companies are displaying smart home devices face recognition systems and more big picture products and then there are guys like golly rows of who got tired of folding all this kid's laundry but we have piles of laundry always waiting to be folded and who doesn't rows of the appliance called fold of eights will go on the

market later this year price that about a thousand dollars on the corky side c e s twenty nine hundred features wearables for pets smart phone controlled doggie doors and a baffling proliferation of internet connected intelligent toilets there are plenty of items here that are fascinating and some will prove to be big hits with consumers others frankly nobody really needs but there's no truly revolutionary technology on display here it's and yes in fact many analysts would argue that the last really big innovation was the smartphone introduced. i apple nearly a dozen years ago the next big wave might be household devices with advanced artificial intelligence or a high this is one example l a q billed as a digital companion for elderly people living alone i try to be a fairly intelligent presence in your day to day life companies are charging ahead

with ai that will become deeply embedded in people's lives all with little regulation or public debate the impact of this technological evolution will change human relationships and society in the coming decades for better or for worse robb reynolds al-jazeera los vegas. and others is out there these are the top stories that u.s. president donald trump has put his case for border war with mexico directly to the american people he said it's necessary to resolve security drug trafficking and a humanitarian crisis but the democrats who accused him of can fear 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 are demanding that donald trump reopen the government without funding for the war the fact is that women and children at the border i'm not a security threat they are humanitarian challenge a challenge the president found on core and counterproductive policies have only to keep and and the fact is president trump must stop holding nathen people hostage might stop manufacturing a crisis and must reopen the government. north korean leader kim jong un has wrapped up his visit to beijing earlier than expected few details have been released about his trip but south korean media is reporting that kim met the chinese president xi jinping for about an hour and it's likely they discussed a possible second summit with donald trump. the latest round of talks between the afghan taliban and the united states have been called off the differences over

including members of the afghan government so discussions are underway in islamabad tween representatives from kabul and the pakistani government the u.s. secretary of state might pompei it has made an unannounced visit to iraq the latest stop on his middle east or he's reassuring washington's allies about trump's plans withdraw troops from syria. sudan's president omar al bashir is set to address a pro-government rally in the capital khartoum trying to counter mass protests against his presidency the demonstrations have spread across sudan since mid december it began over the rising cost of food and fuel and government corruption president bashir is refusing to resign though the headlines got more news here in algeria right after science in the golden age. the week began with views of ninety day truce in the tip for tap the u.s. china trade all the world's largest supplier of liquefied natural gas is leaving

the biggest oil cartel we bring you the stories that are shaping the economic world we live in counting the cost on al-jazeera. they've been so many great advances in science over the past hundred years everything from relativity and quantum mechanics to electronics computing and space travel but none of this progress would have been possible without the mathematics of songs and the development of algebra the term algebra can be traced back to the arabic word algebra which has its roots in the title of a manuscript written around eight twenty during the time i refer to as the golden age of science this was the period between.