causing fuel shortages and power cuts no casualties reported the u.s. president has backed away from his threat to declare a national emergency to fund his controversial border wall during a meeting on border security donald trump told reporters that he wants congress to do its job and to approve more than five billion dollars for the wall he called on democrats many of whom have left washington for the weekend to come back and vote a standoff over funding for the wall is led to a partial government shutdown which will become the longest in u.s. history on saturday heidi jocasta reports from washington. reports indicate that some of jonell trump's closest advisers including his son in law jared questioner have been cautioning him against declaring a national emergency to get funding for the border wall it is seen as possibly setting a bad precedent and critics say a step toward authoritarianism if he were to issue that declaration also if he does

it there's still no real understanding of where the money would come from trump wants five point seven billion dollars to construct the border wall between the u.s. and mexico and right now reporting indicates that that money may come from money set aside for disaster relief in the future which may be an idea that the american public is not so wild about trump himself has indicated that if he were to move forward with a declaration he'll likely immediately face court challenges that he says he would likely lose in the lower and appellate levels but all of that said this president who has wavered so much on whether or not to call a national emergency to build the border wall mais yet change his mind his latest indication to reporters at the white house was that if congress does not come together to fund the border wall and he indeed will still pull the trigger and declare a national emergency republicans are still squarely in the president's corner

because of his popularity with the republican voting base and democrats don't have reason to relent on not giving trump the border wall citing polls that show the majority of americans oppose the border wall construction so where that leaves everyone is there's very little incentive to meet in the middle even as this government shutdown drags into its third week. we're going to weather update next here on our syria then we'll tell you why iraq's highly fortified green zone is turning blue. and paying to pray should muslims in germany join jews and catholics in paying the so-called worship tax. beneath pink skies by the time my heart. or is the sun sets in the city of angels. hello again it's good to have you back well here across the western part of the

band over the next few days we're going to stay dry but we do have another storm system that's going to be coming into play bringing some more heavy rain across parts of the areas that have seen extreme flooding just last week i want to show you the forecast map here because it's in the mediterranean that we have our next storm system so here on saturday fairly dry here across eastern med but then as we go toward sunday you notice those clouds and rain showers pushing in anywhere from syria down towards lebanon as well into parts of jordan we are going to be seeing some very heavy flooding rains across many areas over here towards baghdad a system will push through you get a combination of mixed snow in the evening but as we go towards the daytime it will turn to rain and then we expect to clear out by sunday evening or cross much of the arabian peninsula to the north it is going to be cloudy for many locations doha we do expect to see quite a bit of clouds here on saturday with attempt a few of about twenty two degrees not much of a change across much of the area on sunday but over towards misguide a little bit cooler than what we've seen with attempt

a few about twenty four and then across parts of southern africa now tibet across the southern coast we're going to see a few clouds for cape down durban may see a shower or two but it's going to continue to be met a guest of the seas very heavy flooding rain over the next few days there with sponsored by qatar and nice. how much more are we going to invest in the elusive notion that militaries guarantee on national security and poverty destitution and the sense of on sand this have actually been at the heart of virtually every civil conflict in the last twenty years of him steiner head of the u.n. development program talks to al jazeera.

well again a reminder of the main news this hour the runner up in the democratic republic of congo's presidential election has vowed to challenge the results of course citing catholic church election observers laws and failed to says that he won with more than sixty percent of the vote. u.s. secretary of state mike pompei was in the united arab emirates on the latest leg of his tour of the middle east he says the u.s. will continue to support its allies in the fight against eisel despite its military withdrawal from syria. as u.s. president donald trump has backed away from his threats declare national emergency to pay for his controversial border wall he told reporters that congress must do its job and votes to approve more than five billion dollars in funding for the war . in venezuela opponents of president nicolas maduro have been protesting as he

begins a second term in office the head of the opposition ron congress's challenge to the duros right to lead the country saying that he is ready to assume self and called new elections strong as a bull reports from caracas. it's been a day seems equally was sworn in for his second term in office and already members of the opposition controlled national assembly took to the streets to denounce him as a super of the executive office. that his daughter is one of the millions that have left been swimming in the past year she says families shouldn't be forced to leave apartheid and so we don't have a poly trail fly there is people die in them because we don't have that made it easier for. we don't have secret to industry the demonstration was small compared to the massive ones that happened in two thousand and seventeen when thousands took to the. it's to protest against muddled us attempts to disregard the national

assembly for most of the people here this is the first step towards opposing what they call the dictatorship of precedent model but they're also calling on the armed forces to rebel against the government even though the military has played a crucial role in a war child the socialist revolution. the president of the national assembly is one why though he was elected last week and now says he's ready to become the interim president and called for new elections he told al-jazeera he first needs the support of the armed forces and the venezuelan people for. the strength of the people is crucial in this process we have people that were forced to leave the country others detained murdered and even tortured nothing is stopped us it has not been easy for us we are survivors and we are in resistance was it. your position has called for a demonstration on january twenty third and promises the national assembly please

consider to be in contempt by the administration will be in charge of defending democracy in this country international pressure may also help but analysts say it is not enough then they also assume. the need to force the government to negotiate the international community plays an important role but it's not enough there has to be a true leader that can connect to the masses to force majeure to negotiate you need a population ready to defend their rights. he says this is another attempt orchestrated by the united states to generate chaos if. this is a show to try to destabilize the country they are a group of kids who control the opposition and want to play to create chaos it's the same group that carried out the street protests and every day they will have a new show that's what many of those opposing the government are desperately looking for someone that would show them a way out of the. crisis that has forced millions of venezuelans to emigrate in

search of a better life. he said will. a saudi teenager who fled saying that saying that she feared the fate of the family would kill her is on her way to canada roughly hammad all clune was granted asylum after gaining global attention when she barricaded herself in an airport hotel room and called in order to avoid being sent back john had reports in a desperate plea from a barricaded hotel room. urged the world to come to her rescue i'm still and. i have no choice. they said i have to go to model and. no one can help man right now on friday she got her wish 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 stand up for women's rights around the world the canadian prime minister's announcement ended a weeklong drama that drew worldwide attention the eighteen year old fled saudi arabia accusing her family of physical and psychological abuse but was detained by the authorities in bangkok who at one point threatened to send her back she launched a social media campaign from her hotel room appealing to the united nations high commission on refugees saying she would be killed if she returned i'm not leaving my own until i see it. i want. the un agreed in turn to canada saudi arabia already faces international scrutiny over the killing of journalist jamal khashoggi in the saudi consulate in istanbul in october that prompted canada to review its arms sales to saudi arabia and.

the case has drawn global attention district guardianship laws that require saudi women to get a male guardians permission to travel or escape is said to have inspired other saudi women rajoub how mad. mock my god is going to start a revolution in saudi arabia go on social media now and watch the accounts off so many young saudis. you have shown us that we can do this noone refused to see her father and brother who traveled to bangkok to seek or return in the end it might have been noon savvy use of social media that led her to a new life in canada. as saudi official reportedly told the thai authorities who seized her passport i wish they'd taken her phone instead john hendren al-jazeera. getting around baghdad is a little easier for everyone these days the heavily fortified green zone has been a symbol of insecurity for years now though security forces are effectively

declaring the iraqi capital safe and have removed checkpoints and barriers iran com reports. 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 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 u.s. 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 the police is in a transition phase from more paramilitary. force to a superior. 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 were deprived from these roads we are so happy to. the green zone is open for the public families and employees can drive through now usually before the city of meant the days of roads being shut down with concrete walls 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. 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 are being repeated across iraq al

jazeera baghdad macedonia's parliament has approved a change the country's name a new name north aims to end a decades long this fuse but the country's neighbor greece which has consistently blocked macedonia's entry into nato and the european union arguing that the country's name implied that it had rights over greek territory and the appropriate creek culture. germans officially registered as jews catholics or protestants have for decades been required to pay what's called a church or worship tax money is then given to the relevant faiths now one leading christian democratic politician says the muslims should be brought into this arrangement to free them of the influence of foreign states came 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 zakk 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 levy or tax the person a dental pfizer as a christian and once their income tax bill has been worked out a further proportion is deducted and given to their chosen faith to disperse as it sees fit in the political sphere the idea of a mosque tax appeals to many christian democrats for two reasons sealant in talk or didn't on the one hand it's so the growing muslim community in germany gets a stronger domestic connection aligns itself with german society i makes a contribution to integration and on the other hand it's so the influence of foreign donors can be resisted. mosques funded by foreign states or individuals have been growing in number in recent years many conservative politicians here have

raised concerns over the role of the turkish government and of some of the gulf states. the idea of a mosque tax has been raised here in germany before but nothing substantial has really come of it the question now is how much the port amongst muslims there would be for such a plan and what would wider society make of it dominick cain al-jazeera at girton mosque in berlin. the man also a remote town in canada has called for help after more than forty harp seals became stranded on the town's streets the marine animals came ashore robertson in newfoundland during the high tide of january third local officials say that many of the seals appeared to be in distress of being unable to find their way back to the war so. it is good to have you with us hello adrian for going to hear

a doha the headlines on al-jazeera the runner up in the democratic republic of congo's presidential election has vowed to challenge the results in course citing catholic church election observers mohsin fail to assess that he won with more than sixty percent of the votes he claims that the declared winner rival opposition candidate phillips felix keda just eighteen percent syrian state media says that israel has fired several missiles towards its capital damascus unconfirmed reports suggest that they struck near the city's airport syria says that most of them were shot down by syrian air defenses but that one of the missiles damaged a warehouse at the airport. u.s. secretary of state mike peo is on his eight day tour of the middle east and says the u.s. will continue to support its allies in the fight against deisel despite its military withdrawal from syria. one of yemen's main oil refineries is under investigation the government believes that it was started deliberately it happened in the

southern port city of aden an explosion at the refinery led to a fire and one of its oil tanks the fighting has been targeted in the past in clashes between government forces and who thief isis causing fuel shortages and power cuts. the u.s. president has backed away from his threat to declare a national emergency to fund his controversial border wall during a meeting on border security donald trump told reporters that he wants congress to do its job and approved more than five billion dollars for the wall the standoff over funding for the war has led to a partial government shutdown opponents of nicolas maduro have protested as he begins a second term as venezuela's president will position rally was held outside the local office of the organization of american states the head of the opposition run congress is challenged with duros rights to the presidency saying that he is ready to assume power himself and call new elections. a saudi teenager who fled saying that she feared her family would kill her is on her way to canada where half the

hobbit was granted asylum after gaining global attention when she barricaded herself in an airport hotel room in bangkok in order to avoid being sent back others the headlines the news continues all to talk to al-jazeera next. i mean to every weekly news cycle brings a series of breaking stories and then of course there's donald trump told through the eyes of the welts generally that's right out of a hamas script that calls for the an aisle asian of israel that is not what that phrase means at all. as we turn the cameras on the media focus on how they recruit on the stories that matter the most him better use a free palestine are they listening post on al-jazeera. established in one thousand nine hundred sixty five the united nations development

program works alongside u.n. member states to create solutions. according to the u.n. conflict is the main driver of humanitarian needs followed by natural disasters overall more than one hundred thirty five million people worldwide are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection. and at least twenty five billion dollars is required to meet those challenges. but given the various crises faced by many countries is development even possible we will find out more from. the head of the u.n. development program talks al-jazeera. results from sign up thank you very much for talking to. a large part by asking about the un report published by the un d p which measures development in each country around the world according to your findings published for two thousand and eighteen the bottom five countries all burundi child south sudan central african republic. or of those on africa why

is the. well again it might be tending to say there is an african syndrome here but i would not advocate that i think each one of these countries is facing challenges central african republic essentially strife conflict and the falling apart of many of the structures that actually would sustain development in a country such as chad we have first of all the challenge that it is a vast country to this day central government services in education in health don't even reach a significant part of the population so we are essentially dealing with countries that either are still a very early stage or putting the basic infrastructure human but also into the services access to electricity health education in place and then you have countries that are really falling apart again over civil strife conflict or wars and unfortunately. a significant number of those countries still are falling on the

african continent joseph is going to be playing a part in it because there are those countries that were have similarities in the sense that they were former colonies or that they were maybe not so rich in the beginning or had their wealth maybe taken away like india for example which is doing a lot better in terms of development is why is it that in africa you're still finding that very slow development of not zero development is there a lack of interest is it because certain governments aren't paying attention is it more difficult to generate what's the reasons for the well let me can say i don't think there is a generic judgement on developing in africa we have countries such as nigeria ghana kenya south africa botswana. mozambique in the last ten years i mean these are success stories another one being run the governance reform investment in education development of infrastructure functioning markets and regulatory frameworks

accountability of government functioning parliaments those are the ingredients of success of develop. and you find them across africa as you would in other continents and let me also remind you that you know when we look at some disastrous development implosions there not only in africa the situation that we find in some countries in the middle east parts of central america. and even in parts of asia so there are countries with extreme poverty and i would simply say africa is a vast continent and one often forgets that if you take a map and compared to other parts of the world it is bigger than most people imagine and it is more than fifty countries so i would still say look at each african country in terms of its own reality and history and you will discover that there are different drivers that explain whether their success stories in development or perhaps failure is when it comes to trying just of success is not obvious he simply limits the true issue of resources corruption or bad governance

a key reason for lack of development is war and conflict in the three countries that have witnessed the steepest decline in development as you mentioned are actually in the middle east you're talking about syria libya and yemen all three are countries in all three witness protests calling for greater freedom and democracy in two thousand and eleven as what was then or later builders the arab spring i want to start by yemen with yemen and it's been described as the worst humanitarian disaster of our time who is responsible for this. well let us begin with the fact that in every war there are at least two sides each one will blame the other it's not different in yemen i think from the perspective of a development program the united nations we go back to the root causes and much of what you just alluded to also in terms of the arab spring was in fact something that the united nations development program human development reports began to

anticipate already at the time of the arab spring in the years before there was a very often cited human development report that actually began to recognize the ingredients of what happens in societies in countries if political consensus is lost conflict becomes part of dividing communities where then i think the religious lines yes there are two sides but there's always maybe a more powerful site or more responsible side or something and by their side not necessarily one country or government but it could be even institutions and so forth if you're to maybe identify one of the main reasons or the drivers who is preventing maybe work to be done or which. kind of mechanisms need to exist in order for that crises to to end and for the development to begin again what would that be well first of all let us recognize that yemen has been a country a nation and has been challenged by geographical realities already for many decades

by different also tribal affiliations so there is within yemen. always a potential there for competition and conflict to also dominate national politics now into that kind of combustion situation come also regional perspectives i mean you know we are all very familiar with the kind of tensions that are now dominating the middle east and i think you have seen parties from different sides becoming engaged in yemen now the argument being that we are invited. we are asked to assist we are requested to provide support but at the end of the day let me go back to the root causes and most of the time when we end up in a conflict situation there are two drivers one there are development failures that lead to people losing either confidence in their government or confidence in the ability to trust other interest groups in the country and into that void or into

that tension come then geographical geopolitical interests from outside and this is the classic story of yemen and when you say it is the largest humanitarian disaster yes that is what the united nations is saying to the world week after week because what we are witnessing there is a catastrophe first and above all for the people of yemen but it is also a catastrophe in developmental terms this country is losing decades of the advancements that it had made on top of which we have the humanitarian emergencies so this is also why the secretary just non-stock home my colleague martin griffith having putting so much pressure on all parties to come back to the table this conflict will never be solved by arms it can be solved by compromise and above all by reinvesting in what were the original causes for the conflicts that have driven the tensions within the country and beyond that in the region ok let's move on to

libya it's an oil rich country it has a very small population on paper it should be thriving really why is it not libya posed got off easy essentially was a political vacuum into that vacuum the forces that differentiate interests in the country began to organize themselves so today we have the remnants of a nation state with a central bank and an oil industry for example but we have no political consensus the governance system of libya essentially has imploded in that vacuum what we're witnessing right now is a. a continuous set of conflicts being used to establish an assert power control over certain parts of the country unfortunately some people are making a lot of money in this vacuum and therefore have little interest in allowing a national government structure and a democratic process to be restarted so this is the question i mean libya out of all the arab spring countries had

a un resolution which allowed for international intervention if the united nations is capable of passing these resolutions for intervention when there is this political vacuum as you say surely it should be the united nations stepping up to ensure that any roadmap or political consensus strategy is implemented rather than it saying well this isn't our responsibility leave it to unfold however it is and when it unfolds badly as it has in libyan terms of armed conflict then the cost and burden on you is even greater because not only are you trying to fill a void but you're also trying to clean up the mess and the damage and destruction and kind of regression that has occurred as a result which is precisely why secretary antonio terra's continuously and repeatedly is advocating for the united nations to be recognized as a major force for prevention and not simply as a kind of global ambulance or fire service which you offer not but let me also say my staff in the united nations development program but also of our sister agencies

are in libya today some of them at great risk to themselves working precisely to try and reestablish the conditions and which libya can become a nation state that is governed through a democratic process where its governance situations function again but our the limit has always been we cannot force a nation or its conflicting parties at gunpoint to exercise good governance and the rule of law now yes member states passed a resolution a whole series of political events took place what we're left with right now is a situation that i think all of us consider to. the fed the disastrous and into that void or into this chaotic situation very often the united nations is then asked to step in and perform miracles and it cannot do these miracles it needs the international community and it needs to domestic parties to be willing to come to the table now it sometimes takes painfully long to get to that point but more often

than not it does eventually happen i cite syria the third country there that war is going on now for what seven more than seven years now and painfully is an essential with all the massacres and the destruction the entire infrastructure of the country is basically nonexistent anymore. and still people haven't come to the realization that they need to find a political solution even though they've met and not for want of trying at least from the un's perspective what kind of work are you doing in syria right now or are you able even to do. well our ability to being gauged in syria is premised first of all on being able to operate across the country this already poses challenges right now because different forces obviously exercised different degrees of control our ability has been also partly constrained by many of the political tensions with the international community having said that you n.d.p. has been present in damascus throughout this period we are engaged in the

collaboration with the humanitarian agencies and in particular to try to help communities with emergency programs reestablishing basic services so that first of all those affected by the conflict have an ability to return or stay in the towns and villages and secondly for what is likely to be a growing number of people returning to the country to have something to return to now as of now there clearly is a challenge for any international agency because on the one hand those who are being asked to finance this are saying until a political settlement is found we do not wish to engage in reconstruction activities on the other hand everybody realizes that there are masses of people who could benefit from basic community rehabilitation schemes and ultimately have to help tens of thousands hundreds of thousand people to also wrist oversell livelihood so in a sense we are in a whole position we were trying to help with the humanitarian emergency support we

are looking at where we can already do some stabilization in a particular with communities with very simple measures on the ground but until we have a political settlement in the country the work that you n.d.p. would do with syria is essentially very constrained you mentioned earlier. efforts by the surgeon general to transform the united nations in terms of making it more about prevention as well so not simply just fine. fighting don't you think that the countries that are doing the fighting in these conflicts syria yemen libya others around the world. that are responsible for the killing that are responsible for the destruction shouldn't they be made to pay for the development of those countries after the i mean obviously there's a political element of paying politically for what they've done but also paying financially and here are not only limiting it to those who are physically doing the fighting countries that use the regional countries that essentially allow for this

to happen will give political cover for it's happened surely maybe that is a way of at least first ensuring that the the development happens but also ensuring that maybe countries think twice before allowing for the destruction of whole societies. nothing and not in one simple response to your question because if you look at the last few years we've actually seen. a significant group of countries coming together rehabilitation of iraq for example. the kind of support that is being played at conferences for lebanon what we see there is also countries in the region beginning to step up with half a billion a billion dollars in financial contributions so first of all i want to recognize these countries for what they have done because it is not only europe or the united states or japan in fact we have seen quite a number of countries coming to the table but that is it's a taking responsibility as an international community. payments based on

accountability or responsibility will always be very difficult to invoke the united nations is not a world government it does not have the authority except when it is exercise for the security council to actually enforce a decision with its member states so we build first of all on what is international law we build on the good offices of the sector it general and we build also in the international community to actually respect the kinds of decisions that it passes in the security council or in the general assembly this very often is the soft law of international law but at the end of the day what we're trying to do is to make sure that even when some countries do not accept their responsibility or step up to the table when they could assist that we do not punish the country by saying well then the others will not step up to the table either this is a moral dilemma that is not very helpful one of the world's longest standing conflicts the. illegal compressional palestine and i want to ask you specifically about gaza which has been under siege now for

a decade it's been subjected several weeks also of strikes and bombardments in two thousand and eight two thousand and twelve and fourteen according to your findings gaza's economy has been virtually stagnant for the past ten years right where the average annual g.d.p. rate is and she barely exceeding one percent gaza's population meanwhile has grown by thirty eight percent over the same period and according to the report that you published. there's a lot more g.d.p. that's required in order to reduce the economic burden from about forty percent unemployment there and so forth. it's very clear that the main issue of suffering in gaza is the siege on gaza if there was free trade there would be jobs there would be money coming in and so forth why has the united nations or the u.n. d.p. not come out and hold for an immediate lifting of the siege. well first of all let me acknowledge that the situation inside gaza is desperate and it

is perhaps one of the most painful visits i have on the take in my word and my work around the world to see that situation and it is one that is also getting worse you mentioned some of the factors not only are there more people there are also challenges about the lack of employment access to clean water for instance the collapse of the aquifer there are factors here that are going to make things far worse in the years to come but as we all know i mean the reality of gaza is embedded in a larger conflict that seems to be you know eluding or efforts to resolve them the united nations has repeatedly as you know passed resolutions that has not only drawn attention to this it has condemned. aspects of that reality and i will say it in those terms because at the end of the day the resolutions of the problem it's the consequence of actually act but even to figure out the condemnation here no not

it's not about putting blame i what i want to know is you're seeking solutions in order to make development so let's not even you can have something that's very simply worded the sieges century is making life impossible development impossible unemployment's increase as the united nations we would like the speech to be lifted even if that means borders that are governed by blue helmets even if it means that there are trade agreements that's will be stipulated by international law and you know agreed on by third party it doesn't have to get into the bog down into the whole issue of palestine conflict at all the even have to mention anything about peace talks or final status and nothing simply there are two million people living in the walled what's been described as the world's largest open air prison they have barely four hours of electricity a day there's no way development is going to happen there well first of all let us both agree that the u.n. has written many reports that actually not only. he described the situation but also presented in stark terms so i think whether it is the high commissioner for

human rights whether it is the general assembly so i think the united nations is not found wanting in actually being able to tell the world that this situation is one that requires urgent attention in terms of the humanitarian needs but also in terms of the longer term stability of the region as a whole secondly we are invested there in fact there is a sister organization as you know that for decades now has been providing services to palestinians in the region as a whole that is currently being defended and struggling to get the funding to keep the services going providing schooling to tens of thousands of palestinian children medical facilities. we in the united nations development program are working in gaza and are trying to in a sense make an anon bearable situation just slightly less than bearable but at the end of the day for all of us the challenge is that this is

a political conflict into which we cannot simply step in and believe that we can write reports that will make it go away there is a need for a political solution the political solution is not forthcoming on the back of which millions of people are suffering and i think the best thing that we are constantly trying to do as united nations first of all to provide humanitarian support to provide development support where we can but at the end of the day it is in the political process that you know many presidents of many countries have also tried to move forward that the solution will lie for this finally i just want to look ahead to the future and it's estimated that currently a quarter of the world's population lives in poverty around one point three billion people. hearts of those are eighteen years or younger when you look at those numbers it doesn't really look promising but there are projects that you're doing and other ideas that are being worked on in order to increase development and not

only simply from the kind of one dimensional aspect of material income but also quality of living in freedom of expression into you know education and so forth how do you see the future in terms of challenges and opportunities. without in any way being too optimistic i think with hope because first of all what we must not forget on the back of these numbers which are in individual terms still dramatic numbers that affect individual lives but the story of development over the last one hundred years is a story of phenomenal progress and success the u.n. d.p. human development report that you cited earlier on has documented this progress over the last twenty five thirty years but let me just give you one example one hundred fifty years ago or two hundred years ago. a billion people lived on this planet at that time nine out of ten people alive lives in extreme poverty today vs

seven billion people and only one out of ten lives in extreme poverty we have gone through an extraordinary period of development people live longer more people read and write we have better nutrition life expectancy our possibilities today are phenomenal compared even to those three four generations ago so the first message that i have to those who always say oh development never works the sustainable development goals are just abstract goals take a look at history and ask it so how has progress been made possible people had a vision they set themselves goals we invested in the future we are today a generation that is actually in a position to eliminate extreme poverty it's the first time we can say that in history now will it happen a lot depends on what a lot of people will do but our role as the united nations as the united nations development program is to do everything possible to focus that in development no

one is left behind we can use modern data artificial intelligence allow governments to understand where other people living who are not having access to services how do we deal with for instance service provision for peoples with disabilities often overlooked in the development process gender equity. education of girls we can find ways in which we can make development far more targeted today and that is the power of technology that is coming to it but it is also a matter of political priorities of governments willing to invest their budgets and perhaps of asking ourselves how much more money are we going to invest in the elusive notion that militaries guarantee on national security when poverty and destitution and the sense of unfairness of actually be at the heart of virtually every civil strife conflict in the last twenty years we need to invest in development we need to invest in making sure that people are not left behind look at the societies who are succeeding today they are the ones who have taken that

paradigm on board and that shapes the development journey of this country's. head of the united nations development program thank you very much for talking to obviously or thank if you're. in the next episode of science in a golden age i'll be exploring the contributions made by scholars during the medieval static period in the field of mathematics. the term algebra can be traced back to the arabic word. 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 is astonishing science in a golden age with jim alkalinity on al-jazeera. this part of south london is home to people from all over the world you might assume this multicultural pockets

of the capital is entirely against a brick say it's often portrayed as a defense of white's britain but it's not so this nigerian restaurant there is a quiet satisfaction of the prospects of the u.k. cutting its ties with europe i'll rage. africa like. african british was gladly albrechtsen not because i've been a finn against the roof and whites will give was this leveraging time so treatment opportunity i walk. in the fabric and the bridges and visit i've been out of drives to leave and you know i can look after us well adjusted when naturalized but when people come from europe to come to the country to visit and assist them in then it's a good and honest i'm out. a feel shit i feel jealous about. it could be the biggest line in history. as powerful nations lay claim to territories

under the oceans twenty one geologists are secretly plotting borders. as the struggle for resources intensifies some of the world's most powerful scientists speak out. oceans manakin on a zero. zero where ever you. live on a rock in the democratic republic of congo's presidential election will challenge the results in court.

hello i'm adrian from again this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up president trump rules out to try to get national emergency to his border wall but his shop down standoff with democrats continues. as venezuela's nicolas maduro starts a new term in office his opponents step up protests against his rule. and a saudi teenager who used social media to gain freedom for a family is granted asylum by canada. in the democratic republic of congo the one erupt in the presidential election has vowed to challenge the results in court citing catholic church election observers says that he won with a landslide sixty one percent of the votes he claims the declared winner rival

opposition candidate felix shisha qaeda got just eighteen percent the congolese catholic church and french government both dispute the result saying that it doesn't match what was seen on the ground well united nations secretary general antonio has called for calm in the seat diplomatic editor james bays reports. the security council finds itself in a most difficult position its members have long been keen to see the back of the can be led government but now it's been defeated they face an electoral dispute between rival opposition candidates they will for now rally around the message of the head of the un peacekeeping force in congo minister a call to avoid further conflict i deplore or such acts of violence and up to the congolese people and security forces alike to exist size and restraint in these critical period the security council tried to discover if the

provisional election result was an accurate reflection of the will of the people the head of the electoral commission briefing the council from can charge admitted the election was not perfect and had been conducted in an atmosphere of mistrust but he stood by the result he's announced. the african union and the regional body the south african development community which had observer teams on the ground both broadly back that assessment but then came the testimony of archbishop who temby his catholic church organization sinko had fielded by far the largest number of observers nearly forty thousand net correspondent the results is published do not match the data collected by our own observation mission we have a recommendation to publish it quickly as possible all the records and minutes from the counting and polling stations to allow candidates to compare but the head of the electoral commission said he would only hand over that data to the

constitutional court for now the security council is focusing on the stability of the democratic republic of the congo but as the electoral dispute continues maintaining calm and avoiding violence will become harder and harder james out of the united nations security forces in sudan of use tear gas to disperse hundreds of anti-government protesters demonstrations taking place in the capital khartoum of the second biggest city on demand where a hospital is even come under fire the protesters are calling for the resignation of longtime president omar al bashir zero seven morgan reports from khartoum. friday prayers in sudan and at least possible more protests demanding the resignation of president obama in the spirit and the cards are recorded in several theaters security forces again fired tear gas at some protestors even hospitals have been in the firing line in what amnesty international is describing as an

outrageous violation of international law security forces time to hospital on wednesday they were looking for protesters injured during anti-government demonstrations in a man sudan second largest city bullets and tear gas were fired at patients and doctors have walked out on strike in protest the sudanese government says it's invest. getting what happened. to forces actually follows a protest inside the hospital. used as a life of a mission. horrible situation and i think even in conflict situation a died in hospital that's considered a war crime when this protest in demand will be the largest in three weeks of demonstrations against the twenty nine year rule of president obama and the police and security forces have responded with forced at least three people were killed on wednesday right think the number killed since protests began at least fourteen the government says the total is twenty two presidents are going to be defined as his

party threatens to use force against those protesting his room. give us a week let's see who would dare challenge just one week we don't want people without permits protesting those protesting and especially those who are cut off their heads. the protesters accused president bashir of mismanaging pecan and me ignoring corruption and causing the world's second highest inflation rate because of anti-government protests regarded as the biggest challenge to president bashir since he came to power in one thousand eighty nine some opposition groups have lend their support to those the bending his that down calls for his resignation continue with more protests planned into the week all triggered by the country's economic crisis queues for bread are common the price of a loaf tripled recently the ruling party says it wants bashir who remains wanted by the international criminal court for work crimes to be reelected next year protesters seem determined to prevent that with the strongest challenge to his

leadership people morgan are just they are hot on syrian state media says that israel has fired several missiles towards its capital damascus unconfirmed reports suggest that they struck near the city's airport syria says most of them were shot down by syrian air defenses but one of the missiles damaged a warehouse at the airport meanwhile the u.s. says that it would withdraw its forces until high school is cleared out of syria our correspondent reports stuff in turkey. the u.s. forces are marked they wilding any information about specific timeline smoove minutes and locations for where their troops are pulling out from for what they say is a professional security but the fact that they are started withdrawing from syria will come as a relief to turkey and last week john bolton the national security adviser had said that the u.s. forces would not leave until i still is cleared out of syria and also until

taki give a guarantee that it will not attack the kurdish y p d fighters that its recognizes as a terrorist organization of course the y.p. de there are many conspiracy for them to be allies therefore in themselves the biggest fermenter in the fight against eisel but seche is having none of that and president. and on have said that that was a very hard to swallow message and they will continue with their preparations for an offensive against the city of mum beach to remove whole terrorist elements like the y p d p p k of course turkey is also very eager to feel what the boy that is left by the withdrawal of u.s. troops there have called for assistance from the u.s. including logistical and air support which might spell some continued wrong for the

united states even after their forces withdraw from syria for us secretary of state my pump is continuing his tour of america's middle east allies his public remarks of focused on iran which washington sees as the main threat to the region but as ross and jordan reports now from paris found that a big part of his trip involves reassuring u.s. allies ahead of the planned syria withdrawal. 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 us say 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. the u.s. president has backed away from his threat to declare a national emergency to fund his controversial border wall during a meeting on border security donald trump told reporters that he wants congress to do its job and approved more than five billion dollars for the war he called on democrats many of whom have left washington for the weekend to come back and vote how does joe castro reports from washington. reports indicate that some of jonell trump's closest advisers including his son in law jared questioner have been cautioning him against declaring a national emergency to get funding for the border wall it is seen as possibly

setting a bad precedent and critics say a step toward authoritarianism if he were to issue that declaration also if he does it there's still no real understanding of where the money would come from trump wants five point seven billion dollars to construct the border wall between the u.s. and mexico and right now reporting indicates that that money may come from money set aside for disaster relief in the future which may be an idea that the american public is not so wild about trump himself has indicated that if he were to move forward with a declaration he'll likely immediately face court challenges that he says he would likely lose in the lower and appellate levels but all of that said this president who has wavered so much on whether or not to call a national emergency to build the border wall mais yet change his mind his latest indication to reporters at the white house was that if congress does not come together to.