they've attacked the main oil refinery in the government held city of aden syrian state media is reporting several explosions have been heard near the capital damascus unconfirmed reports suggest at least eight missiles were launched in the area it's not immediately clear if the attack was carried out by israeli warplanes which had been flying over lebanon on friday initial information suggests a warehouse in damascus airport was damaged the u.s. secretary of state might pompei o is in the united arab emirates as part of his six nation tour of the region the u.a.e. is one of four arab nations imposing a blockade on qatar both are america's close allies in its fight against armed groups and then there's iran the u.a.e. the along with saudi arabia considers terror on a regional rival curbing iran's influence in the region has been a top priority for donald trump's administration in yemen the u.s.

is backing several pro-government armed groups and is part of the saudi coalition fighting against the who says president trump is facing significant pressure from congress to end u.s. support for that coalition a correspondent roslan jordan is following this developing story from the u.s. capital. one thing is clear the u.s. military may be ending its direct mission in syria but it's not going to stop the fight against eisel on thursday the secretary of state mike pompei o said that u.s. aircraft would be prepared to target and to kill eisel fighters if they try to retake any territory either in syria or in iraq meantime the pentagon is confirming that some equipment that the u.s. military had been relying on while deployed in syria is now being moved out of the country but for security reasons they are not saying how quickly this some two

thousand u.s. troops in syria are going to be leaving where they will be based after they leave syria or how long the drawdown is going to take one thing is certain the u.s. is taking great pains right now to try to remind its allies that it's not abandoning them in terms of security cooperation there is also still the ongoing problem of the u.s. his departure and the status of kurdish fighters in syria there is a very real concern that turkey may go in not to go after a group such as eisel but to try to get rid of the kurdish fighters who belong to the wife p.g. because turkey considers them an affiliate of the p.k. k. which both turkey and the usa is a terrorist group the u.s. has said and both the national security adviser john bolton and mike on peo have made great pains to stress this point on friday that they do not want anything to

happen to the kurdish fighters negotiations with trying to protect kurdish fighters from what could be some sort of turkish military assault are still underway. we've got a lot more to come on this al-jazeera news hour including migration and the rights of british and the e.u. citizens after bricks it the british parliament continues the debate ahead of next week's crucial vote. canada says it's granting asylum to a saudi teenager who's fleeing her family. and a smashing effort from the socceroos peter will have the gold that's be seen the hopes of the reigning champions at the asian cup. though the us president has backed away from his threat to declare a national emergency to fund his controversial border wall during

a meeting on border security president trump told reporters he wants congress to do its job and approve more than five billion dollars for the war he called on democrats many of whom have now left washington for the weekend to come back and vote a standoff over funding for the war has led to a partial government shutdown which will become the longest in u.s. history on saturday let's go live now to our correspondent. who is in washington for us so it seems as though the president is in no rush then to trigger these emergency powers. apparently at this moment he is not martine because he has been advised by his closest advisers including his son in law jerry cushion or that such an action to declare a national emergency to build the border wall would be politically dangerous that's because critics are saying he would set a dangerous precedent for future presidents as well as be a step toward authoritarianism and trump himself acknowledged that if he were to

make this declaration he would likely be mediately sued and he said he would likely lose at least in the lower and appellate courts and if he were to make a declaration it's still uncertain exactly how that would work there's reports that perhaps the money would be diverted from future disaster relief funds which may not be something that americans want their president to do despite all of that trump has been wavering back and forth in the last few days about whether or not to make this declaration and though he says he will not make one now today at the white house speaking to reporters he also said if congress does not give him his border wall funding then he will make a declaration here's more of what he said i'd rather do it because this is something that congress should usually do this is something that the democrats should do i don't want to give an easy way out of something as simple as this not

only simple it's easy. it's going to europe you know we have a country that is under siege you could actually you know a lot of people don't like the word invasion we have a country that's being invaded by criminals and by drugs and we're going to stop so i want the democrats to come back to washington and vote. so the president to push the ball firmly back into the cooled over particularly the democrats in the house of representatives what are they saying will the need to do. well the president says the democrats have left town but the truth is so have the republicans both chambers of congress have adjourned for the weekend and there was really no progress in finding any middle ground made today the issue is of all these parties there's really no reason for either of them or none of the three

parties involved here to compromise for democrats they feel they have the moral upper hand and that the majority of americans do not want the border wall republicans are a few are afraid to cross their own president who is still very popular with the republican voting base and for trump himself the third party involved here he knows that this was his primary campaign promise and any has chances of reelection is dependent on delivering to his base so the issue is there is very little incentive for the three parties to compromise and find some middle ground they did make some progress in the sense of today passing legislation that would give these federal workers back pay once this government shutdown ends trump has said he will sign that into law but the biggest question hanging over all of this is when will it end and at this point nobody knows martina castro live in washington thank you well for most of the federal workers there who were affected by this shutdown friday was

especially significant that was their first missed paycheck to go to the ripples from baltimore many workers affected by the shutdown and now facing tough choices. this government building in the heart of downtown baltimore is normally a hive of activity its doors are now closed its workers furloughed and the impact on the streets close by is clear over the last few weeks mohammed although marie has seen his business declined sharply it's what's. he tells us who leave the area if things don't return to normal soon if you see no lifestyle. like nothing here you know it's like any is going to the business and there have. been you know. darryl burton's been a federal employee for decades this isn't the first government shutdown he's lived through but the longer it lasts the harder it gets for his family for a drop of gas in the car today or do our way to the weekend do i'd buy

groceries today or from away to nothing will be a long from things that i can get a little bit cheaper in all twenty three thousand federal employees across maryland are either working without pay or of been furloughed it's one of the worst affected states and the impact is widely felt when this partial government shutdown ends there's a good chance that the eight hundred thousand federal workers will get back pay for those contracted by the government to rely on federal resources to provide services that can mean the difference between life and death the future is less certain nevertheless we've met people here so committed to what they do that continuing to work not knowing where their next paycheck will come from native american life lines receives federal funding from a now closed government department staff to provide support for addiction mental health and vital medical services not that i can save everyone but at least being here they know that they have a home and

a safe place to be and we won't be able to pry that. and it worries me if there's no resolution by saturday this will be the longest government shutdown in u.s. history it's a prospect that many. here and across the u.s. can't afford to face gallacher al jazeera baltimore maryland. the british foreign secretary jeremy hunt things the nation may have to stay in the european union if parliament rejects prime minister to resume a's brecht's it deal friday marks the third day of formal brecht's that debate in london ahead of a vote should look for next tuesday the deal agreed with the e.u. has been criticised by m.p.'s across the political spectrum and looks unlikely to pass we can no longer assume that by rejecting this deal there will be a better shade of bricks it and what is more likely if this deal is rejected is that we have the risk of bricks at paralysis and. when that happens no one knows

what might happen and the big risk more people worry about is that we don't actually deliver what people voted for. well the european union commission president says a no deal breck's it would be a catastrophe and that he's in constant contact with the u.k. to to try to prevent that happening one of the biggest issues in the backseat debate has been immigration the government's already indicated it wants to reduce european immigration by eighty percent when it leaves the block lawrence lee reports from london. remember this it was one of the reasons leave one in the back seat referendum take back all the money the u.k. gives to the european union and spend it on the british health service instead it proved a very powerful message but how to square that with alice sandra's story by the time he'd left italy for london he had a master's degree and four years specialist experience in mental health. is starting salary in britain was around twenty five thousand dollars

a year under the government's proposals he would never have been allowed into the u.k. because that salary would be too low for him to get a work permit after brick says i know who is going to pay for the visa for working visa in the future for obviously a lot of people that. don't apply. meanwhile even in this period of the thirty nine on the net a few very early days they would sign up before for example in the u.k. rather than. ten thousand or. two years ago as it stands there are one hundred thousand unfilled roles in the british health service and dire warnings about the looming crisis as european nationals leave the country the royal college of nursing is so worried it has joined the campaign for a second referendum calling for a rethink about leaving the e.u. so there's something quite challenging about thinking that highly skilled always means highly and what we need to do is really think about in the public sector what

is the value that people bring in the eyes a minute. it's a. to me in terms of the skills that i have so i think we need to think differently what's happening in the health service reflects a bigger question is immigration really the problem is he's there are two entirely conflicting narratives at play in the u.k. at the moment the government's arguing that there is far too much european migrant labor and is taking away jobs from british people but at the same time the government congratulates itself on having read called low unemployment it does rather raise the question if the government does what it says it wants to and reduce european immigration by eighty percent and who exactly is going to do all the work there is an argument in cabinet between people who really care far more about restricting immigration than about and you care call me led by the prime minister and the rest of the cabinet and of course the business community who want

to make preserving the interest of the u.k. economy a priority and that hasn't been resolved like having argued that the u.k. was at breaking points because of uncontrolled immigration politicians are now presented with a chance of reducing your single sleeve if that happens the country will find out where the migrants such a problem to roll lawrence lee al-jazeera london. paying to pray should muslims in germany join jews in catholic. worship tax. in the northeastern brazilian state to say at our web drug gangs have been defying government efforts to bring them under control we speak to the stake at the heart of the battle. and the african team trying to challenge europe's grip on the glory when it comes to handle that stories coming up in school.

hello again a welcome back we're here across united states we are watching a developing system here across the central plains that's going to bring some rain across the gulf states but it's going to bring quite a bit of snow across much of the central areas take a look at your forecast map here on saturday notice all the snow extending from parts of oklahoma all the way up towards indianapolis and cincinnati so travel problems in some major hubs is also including national down towards the south to new orleans we are also seeing some rain that is going to linger but as we go towards sunday that system makes its way across parts of the middle and and washington d.c. it is going to be a snowy day for you with the rain all the way down the eastern seaboard well across parts of central america and the caribbean really not looking too bad over the next few days we are seeing a few clouds across most of the area but if you look at the forecast map not a lot of rain to talk about here on saturday down towards the south panama could be

seeing some rain with a temperature there on sunday of about thirty two degrees and then very quickly across much of southern brazil we are going to see some very heavy rain anywhere from rio down towards cell pollo as well as cincy and rain is in your forecast but down here towards one as odd as it has been nice at twenty seven degrees it is going to get crueller at about twenty five degrees but the flood threat across much of the area is going to continue to linger expression towards parts of the border areas. it could be the biggest land grab in history. as powerful nations lay claim to territories under the ocean twenty one geologists are secret the new border. is the struggle for resources intensifies some of the world's most powerful scientists speak out. oceans manakin on

a zero. al jazeera. every year. take

a look at the top stories here on the news hour the runner up in the democratic republic of congo a presidential election has failed to challenge the result in court citing catholic church election observers martin for you says he won with more than sixty percent of the vote. your sexual save my compares in the his eight day tour of the middle east he says the u.s. will continue to support its allies in the fight against deisel despite its military withdrawal from syria. president trump has backed away from his threat to declare a national emergency to pay for his controversial border wall he told reporters congress must do its job and vote to approve the more than five billion dollars in funding for the war. now a saudi woman who fled to thailand saying she feared her family would kill her is now on her way to canada after being granted asylum raf mohammed al canoed had barricaded herself in an airport hotel in bangkok the eighteen year old received

global attention after launching a social media campaign the canadian prime minister has confirmed her asylum request has been granted. the u.n. h.c.r. has made a request of canada that we accept. the noon as a refugee and we have accepted the un's request that we grant her asylum that is something that we are pleased to do because canada is a country that understands how important it is to stand up for human rights to stand up for women's rights around the world and i can confirm that we have accepted the un's request canada has been unequivocal that we will always stand up for human rights and women's rights around the world but this is part of a long tradition of canada engaging constructively in positively in the world and working with our partners allies and with the united nations and when the united nations made a request of us that we grant. asylum we we we

accept right now we can speak to alex need his secretary general of amnesty international canada and he's joining us now via skype from also and thanks for talking to us a pretty would be amnesty international is rather pleased by the decision from the prime minister to grant amnesty to this to grant asylum rather to this saudi young woman. absolutely i think like many human rights organizations but the general public right across canada and around the world when her case came to such quick attention through the incredible social media after she had launched we like many were very concerned about the risks that she would face if deported back to saudi arabia and knew that it was very important that measures be taken number one of course most immediately to forestall the possibility of a deportation from thailand back to saudi arabia but secondarily to find a permanent solution because thailand certainly wouldn't have been the place for

her to obtain the protection so it's news that she's going to be coming to canada right and say doing by granting. asylum for her how far is canada flouting its own immigration an asylum process is i mean are they making a special case of her. i know they're not i mean it's not that she's being given status that she's not eligible for there's no question that the kind of situation she has fled in saudi arabia and what she fears if she went back absolutely qualifies her for refugee status and there are many different options open to the canadian government to respond to the situation of a refugee and some do include taking very urgent action when someone is in a dire situation and i think this is absolutely a perfect example of that someone who was potentially an imminent risk of either

being deported to back to saudi arabia or there were concerns about what might be happening given that her family her father had come to thailand and what was he going to do so there was an absolute need for urgent action here and that is totally in keeping with canadian law and policy of course kind of there it's got skin in the game when it comes to angering saudi arabia has and i'm just wondering if you think that perhaps a special measures were taken in order for the prime minister to benefit if you like domestically at least by continuing to rub up against the saudi authorities because this is going to anger them still further isnt it. well i mean there may be some who would of course say that he he does benefit to a degree on the domestic scene and is seen as standing up to saudi arabia and standing up for women there will also be others though who are very critical of him certainly within the business community there are many who are concerned about the fraying nature of the relationship with saudi arabia so as much as he may take some

praise there will be others who will criticize him for this and so at the end of the day i really think that this is a decision that was taken not for political reasons but really because it was the principal thing to do it was this young woman was in a very difficult situation potentially even life threatening of sent back to saudi arabia she had expressed real interest obviously not only in canada but certainly canada was one of the countries she didn't decayed and she would really feel safe in and i think the canadian government prime minister trudeau simply did the right thing and that what now lies ahead full rafa's he becomes a refugee in canada. well of course canada has a well established record and institutions and processes and community groups that have a long record of working to help resettle and integrate refugees so there will be a lot in place that provides her with that kind of assistance she needs whether

it's things like language training or helping obviously to ensure that she finds a good place to live so the canadian government itself but community agencies will work with her on that front and really it's off to her as to the life she wants to make here is whether she wants to make canada her home for the forseeable future and and pursue education opportunities there is there's a lot that will now be open to her and she'll be able to do so with a sense of safety alex neve of amnesty international canada thank you very much. thanks for your interest that russia is dismissing reports that they may be considering a prisoner swap for paul wilson he's the former u.s. marine arrested on suspicion of spying two weeks ago their foreign ministry says there has been no talk about a swap for one of the russians currently being held in the united states on spying

charges whelan's family says he was in moscow to attend a wedding macedonia's parliament has approved a change of the country's name the new name is north of macedonia and it aims to end a decades long dispute with the country's neighbor greece's consistently blocked macedonia's entry into nato and the european union arguing that the country's name is intended to confer rights save a greek territory and appropriated greek culture. in brazil a state governor is refusing to back down on his prison reforms despite criminal gangs retaliating against them some inmates have been moved to other prisons and have had their phones call this skated in. the state government the state governor in the capital for a lesser has been explaining his crackdown to our correspondent. your thought is that the state security headquarters daily planned their next steps in the battle they know has only just begun. the monitoring for further violence from

drug gangs which launched a wave of attacks across sierra after moves to curtail the power of their leaders serving time in jail. president. sent national troops they were welcomed by the sarah state governor camille santana or the he's from the opposition workers' party . this is a moment of union in this country brazil should work together with the national government to tackle this problem there are painful consequences but we must work in that direction to win the fight against organized crime in brazil it was the governor's initiative to tackle the growing strength of the drug gangs starting in the prisons. as soon as we started reorganizing the prison system the tax took place on the streets gang members reacted by trying to intimidate the state government trying to make us back off but we are doing exactly the opposite we are tightening our actions removing any kind of communication from inside the prisons

isolating and transferring some of the prisoners to other states the two main drug gangs are the cell paolo based first capital p c c and the rio base read command their fight for supremacy often coordinated and fought within these walls. the irony is that these prisons were built to contain the captured drug members instead they've become recruiting and training grounds and even power bases the orthorexic said that that must end. that our initial priority is their fight in the jails however the state is also dealing with the gangs on the streets while implementing social programs to try to lure youngsters away from the lucrative but deadly trade so what's going to be sore criminal groups born inside the prisons so for decades we didn't have a proper policy to debate or improve depended to ensure a system that was never prioritized not only here but in the whole of brazil so when that stayed the site it to act against these gangs there reacted strongly by

the state is even stronger the violence affects many layers of brazilian society the attacks and frightening away investment especially in the vital tourist industry why do. i see a reduction of fifty percent of the about to shrimp i'm selling these days the beach is quite empty especially for this period of summer holidays in brazil. the focus now is back behind these walls but few expect to stay there for long than usual and there al-jazeera for to listen. no getting around baghdad is a bit easier for everyone these days the heavily fortified green zone had been a symbol of insecurity for years but now security forces are effectively declaring the iraqi capital safe and have removed checkpoints and barriers and. they call it the transition from green to blue where green army soldiers give up control to the blue berets of the iraqi police force traffic can now easily pass

through baghdad's international zone also known as the green zone without checks and special passes a situation unthinkable just a year ago. under the orders a prime minister i'd love to lead the officials across major cities in iraq and remove checkpoints and concrete barriers designed to protect against suicide in tall bombs the prime minister even took a very public walk around baghdad on monday and transitioning from green to blue for iraq something inevitable this came after the end of the military operations against isola cross iraq there's a pirtle ground for the iraqi police to handle security and leave other military forms outside the main cities the european union advisory mission to iraq is pushing into that direction in collaboration with the police force for several reasons on top of them getting rid from eisel threat in the green zone is home to iraqi political establishment and foreign embassies according to the american media the us has its concerns over the green zone opening up its embassy in iraq is the

largest of its diplomatic missions in the world the european union advisory mission to iraq is helping iraqi police deal with security but insists it's the iraqis who are leading the charge the mission is important because at the moment we are in the phase where in iraq after winning the war against there's the security forces police is in a transition phase from more paramilitary. force to a superior. the local police force the people in the city it's been i think to drive around the green zone an area denied to them for the last fifteen years. when i first crossed the bridge leading to the green zone i was in tears for fifteen years we rockies were deprived from these roads we are so happy that. the green zone is open now for the public families and employees can drive through now usually we are happy for this issue of mint down are the days of roads being shut

down with concrete walls gone our traffic jams this is a relief for iraqi people in the end. keeping baghdad safe requires a large and coordinated operation which begins at four am with iraqi police forces finding out across the city. and it's not just the green zone all over the city streets are opening up as you can see the removal of these concrete barriers is quite a major operation but it is a crucial one not only does it ease congestion on the roads of baghdad but it gives people a sense that things are safe in the city and these things are being repeated across iraq al jazeera baghdad. says it's followed a criminal complaint against its former chairman calls go japanese prosecutors have also added two new challenges of financial crimes including breach of trust he's already accused of underreporting his salary by millions of dollars and denies the

charges. china has expressed concern about the detention of a businessman in poland a polish national and a chinese manager of the tech giant huawei being accused of spying walsall says the chinese man's arrest is linked to his own behavior not his employer. the germans officially registered as jews catholics or protestants have for decades been required to pay what's called a church or a worship tax the money is and given to the relevant faith now one leading christian democrat politicians says muslims should be brought into this arrangement to free them from the influence of foreign states dominic cain explains. there. this is the rush to go to a mosque in berlin one of the newest and considered by some to be one of the most liberal in germany from the outset the emphasis here has been on inclusion driven by its founder syrian artist her decision to allow men and women to worship here

together polarizes opinion now she says she wants the muslim community to help itself by agreeing to pay to finance itself. the time for a kind of mosque tax is long overdue the most communities in germany and in europe must become independent from the so called countries of origin and thinking about it gave me the idea of saying communities should finance themselves and that can be done through a kind of mosque attacks and in this way it makes me think of one of the five pillars of islam lack at but that view is not universally shared among muslims here many believe the suggestion is counterproductive but in dutch and finance and in germany the mosques already finance themselves there are a few that used foreign money to build and finance the purchase but that's a handful ninety nine percent are funded by membership fees and donations so if you bring the model of the mosque tax then you once again take the tax from muslims

themselves. the idea of taxing religious worship is not new in germany for many years the jewish catholic and protestant faiths have accepted some form of living.