saudi arabia the government appears to be calculating that it can't fall much further so having said that do you anticipate any more backlash but it seems like you're saying they are they've already been through the consequences and they're dealing with them well i think if the government does too many victory laps on this and turns it into too much of a political football which they're already doing i think that could be that could further inflame the saudis i mean our foreign minister shows up at the airport. the missile condemned as i cared a hoodie on and our foreign ministers got our armor under they're turning this into a major political photo op and that could certainly your take the saudis and further would inflame relations they could for instance cancel the the arms deal with canada which is currently employing thousands and thousands of canadians while stephen chase we appreciate your voice on this thank you very much joining us from ottawa the u.s. government shutdown has become the longest in the country's history after reaching its twenty second day more than eight hundred thousand federal employees have

wrists haven't rather received their latest paychecks some are using food banks taking on other jobs or have been forced to sell their possessions shut down was ordered by president onil trump after he was denied money to build a wall along the mexican border castro has the latest now from washington d.c. so heidi is there any movement towards ending this shutdown. none whatsoever richelle as you know congress is not in session right now it's the weekend and both chambers adjourned until monday and president trump this morning was in the white house tweeting of tweets saying that he was alone in the white house now waiting for a bill to sign to reopen the government he went on to tweet i do have a plan on the shutdown but to understand that plan you would have to understand the fact that i won the election and i promised safety and security for the american people part of that promise was a wall at the southern border elections have consequences now so there he's trying

to connect the will of the american people because they elected him to president and to fulfill his central campaign promise which was to build this border wall but two points that he fails to acknowledge here is that he actually lost the popular vote to the presidency and just two months ago there was yet another national election in the u.s. where voters delivered the opposition party into power to take over the majority in the house of representatives and of course democrats now controlling that chamber are feeling that they have the authority of the people and the moral authority to dig in and resist funding for the border wall so given that these two parties are such there's such a wide distance separating them with really no real reason to find common ground it's likely that this partial shutdown will continue well past the fourth week with

which we've just entered richelle so it's the last thing federal workers would like to hear how are they coping. that's right and they are the unfortunate victims who are caught in the middle of this standoff as you said more than eight hundred thousand people are going without a paycheck and it's really fallen on some dire times yesterday was the first paycheck that they would have received and they're missing it and if you spoke specifically look at the transportation security agency officers the people who do baggage screening at airports and passenger screening they have very low salaries to begin with and they're forced to continue doing their job because that national security interest is deemed essential despite them not getting a pay check and so what we're seeing are more of those agents calling in sick why perhaps as a form of protest but also because they may be looking for second jobs now because their expenses certainly do not go away also labor unions have been falling

lawsuits demanding these wages be paid say it is unconstitutional to obligate someone to work without pay any sort of remedy in that from from the legal arena will take months if not years to come to fruition and meanwhile these people are not getting paid for show all right castro live for us in washington thank you. plenty more ahead of the news hour including we'll tell you how south africa's president is trying to reverse the ruling a falling popularity. aside protesters and leaderless lebannon say their caretaker government is failing to take care of the country. and support the iraqi teenager who's inspired his team to a place in the knockout rounds of the asian. president

donald trump has blasted a new york times report that the f.b.i. opened an investigation to find out as trump was secretly working on behalf of russia against u.s. interests according to the paper the investigation began in may two thousand and seventeen after trump fired then f.b.i. director james comey counterintelligence investigators were assigned to evaluate whether trump was a potential threat to national security the f.b.i. also sought to determine whether the president was deliberately working for russia or had unintentionally been influenced by moscow so trump's response of course came in the form of a tweet this is what he tweeted while just learned in the failing new york times that the corrupt former leaders of the f.b.i. almost all fired or forced to leave the agency for some very bad reasons opened up an investigation on me for no reason and with no proof after i fired lion james komi a total sleaze bruce fein is a former u.s. associate deputy attorney general and

a constitutional lawyer he says this revelation could lead to more investigations. no other president has ever done anything that skates close to the line of acting on behalf of foreign intelligence service or a foreign country it would necessarily constitute treason which under the united states constitution requires a leveling of war but certainly the evidence that was accumulated suggesting that there was some kind of collaboration between president trump and russia because the house democrats you know now control the house of representatives they can undertake an investigation issue subpoenas to those at the f.b.i. and even though this wasn't you know a crime necessarily it certainly bears on the fitness of the president for office and which means impeachment covers actions that are short of criminal activity but where does this go next i can guarantee you that the house government affairs and

oversight committee will probably issue subpoenas on monday to get the bottom of this why did the f.b.i. think the evidence was credible enough to suggest that mr trump was actually spying on behalf of the country of russia there's been scuffles in france during a ninth saturday of yellow vest protests police fought with demonstrators in central paris tear gas and water cannons were used to push back those who threw rocks and other objects that riot police demonstrations began in november over plans to increase taxes on fuel which were later shelved and tossed about laura's following the story for us and paris. thousands of protesters marched across paris and they've congregated here the altar trail just behind me which has become something of a symbol of this yellow face movement and police are at the moment firing tear gas they're trying to move people away from this area dispersed the crowd so if you look behind me you can see the police that they're all eighty thousand police

deployed across the country security has been boosted as the government tries to crack down on what they say some of the most violent elements in the protests so far they have been peaceful most of the protesters are of course peaceful and that's why the police saying it to try and control and manage the situation but it has been very difficult for them over the past few months to see these protests have been very unpredictable now the government's response has been politically to try and offer protesters more concessions more financial concessions they don't think big national citizens paid to get people move of course and pull that takes next week but people here say that's not enough what they want a move taxes to be scrapped they say they want to move to be done for poor people they say the president only cares about the rich and just three days before the british parliament votes on the government's practice until the country remains deeply divided over the imminent break with the european union protesters marched through one day and demanding a general election and in northern england

a separate event urged the government to hold another referendum on the issue paul brennan reports well it started. with just days to go until teresa mayes breck's a deal is voted on the volume and the tension is cranking. this demonstration in london attracted a wide array of left wing protesters with a wide range of political grievances this was anti austerity not a brics it rally at all but it certainly has brought matters to a head. on trying years of office starting. they want to push us over the age into our present or in ontario writes retro signage our economy savard up public services so the solution is very straightforward on shoestring we want to treat my days. labor is not secure to overturn bret's it's unfair to try

to deliver a different rex's i what is clear effort size by all the different events taking place across the u.k. this weekend that there is still no single coherent principle everybody can unite behind. in the northern city of sheffield campaign as for another referendum have been pressing their case you have the right to be heard and they must listen to the voice of the people as people now look at rex's understand what it means and realize that this great country in truth has made a terrible mistake and at the same time government minister chris grayling warned that the biggest mistake would be not to go through with grex it we risk a break with the british tradition of moderate mainstream politics that goes back to the restoration in six hundred sixty he told the daily mail newspaper it will open the door to extremist populist political forces in this country of the kind we see in other countries in europe opposition figures quickly denounce trainings

comments as gutter politics but the route illustrates the bitter divisiveness of the current political climate and the uncertainty of how this will be resolved. brennan al-jazeera central london dozens of people are fair and then southeast nigeria after petrol tanker exploded in a crowded skipping up fuel from the overturned vehicle and cross river state when it blew up away say the number of dead could be as high as sixty similar accidents have killed hundreds of people and recent years. south africa's ruling african national congress has launched its manifesto for elections in may at the launch and urban presidents early in the post are promised to create more jobs and address racial inequality about in may is seen as a test of whether i am opposed to has reversed the client and the a.n.c. popularity i mean a miller reports from tarpon the south africa's president and leaders of the african national congress aim to shore up support. at the climax of

a week of unofficial election campaigning. at the launch of the party's manifesto cyril ramaphosa continued to play out the idea of a new dawn for south africa today as the african national congress we knowing our twenty ninth. election manifesto we do so at a crush of the old man in the history of our nation. after a period of died out in uncertainty we never minded a moment of oath and the promise of a new beginning for a party mogs not only by corruption scandals but infighting between rival factions aligned to either roma or former president jacob zuma the a.n.c. has used this event to highlight some of its achievements as the last election and its future plans for south africa but for many here it's much of the same from

a new party president competing with the formal eda he's popular in this province there were concerns about how reports i would be received was in a tall is the home of former president zuma who resigned last year trying various corruption scandals involving him in the a.n.c. thunderous applause greeted zuma as he entered the stage with distinctly few a cheers for the president from our forces presidency however appears to have regained some support nationwide one survey shows sixty one percent support for the ruling party its closest competitor the democratic alliance trails with fourteen percent the manifesto appears to continue previous government policies including free university education for students from poor and working class backgrounds and promising a more inclusive economy pick lowing libin the big one how their village the bible was the raw data bieber was how their father be given access to health and

education but the emphasis on what has gone wrong to deal with the quality of those services is what is wanted. from a force or acknowledge that corruption has weakened south africa's public institutions and went on to say it could not be tolerated as the a.n.c. winds up its one hundred seventh birthday celebrations and the launch of its plans ahead of the general election in may delivering results such as improve. when the economy and creating jobs remains a priority so does the united front with factionalism remains a major threat to the election success. still ahead on al-jazeera. staging night protests to shine a light on the cheek prosecutors alleged links to a corruption scandal. it's coming home ahead unusable hamilton opens and little rico where its hero was won. and support liverpool and to stay in control of the

race for the premier league title on a has that story. hell are apparently fifty million people are about to be affected by this lump of cloud here which is producing snow on his nor nature rain further size but the temps result of extreme settle be wet soggy horrible snow on its way through snow overnight feature so the time we get to door normal sunday that's the picture left behind was over cost gray skies temps might be hovering around zero but they should be well below freezing by now when he pegs not as cold you might expect are the new york is above freezing freezing cold down towards really florida on the pacific seaboard the rains come back again and it snow level right so it's not up in the mountains to talk about rain disappointing you if you live in san francisco or

possibly even a not useful stuff just annoying stuff. it's quiet there through much essential america little bits of grey cloud the prevailing breeze means it's going to be the coasts of nicaragua honduras and belize where frequent showers shown sounds occasional bigger ones in cuba or jamaica if you're lucky and in south america are big shots they recent long way west in both peru and chilling but i think we're going to see the heavy rains once again shows that was not until more flooding. russian filmmaker andre neck result travels across his homeland to discover what life is like under putin the russian economy is in crisis sanctions unstable oil prices fluctuating cards half of the country struggles to make ends meet in soviet times doctors were in charge now economists calculate everything we don't want to

think what will happen when the bank takes away our flats. in search of putin's russia on al-jazeera. the. al-jazeera. where ever you are.

watching al-jazeera let's recap the top stories right now a runner up in a democratic republic of congo's presidential election is challenging the official result. appeal to the constitutional court describing the vote as fraudulent. a saudi teenager who fled her family over fears for her life has arrived in her new home country prophet mohammad known flew in from thailand to canada after a degree to transfer asylum the us government shutdown has become the longest in the country's history after reaching its twenty second day more than eight hundred thousand federal employees haven't received their latest paychecks. the u.s. and kurdish forces are attacking eisold last stronghold in syria or strikes have been stepped up on the town of jane where fighters are holed up in hama joe reports . heavy fighting in this town says. the

last sleeve over long remaining within isis control of. the cut his lips city and democratic forces as d.f. in a final push to fight us from the last remaining stronghold in this town city. as difficult as save him some pokus back by u.s. strikes which up is the old amal's the withdrawal of american troops from city problem of this storage is full of weapons and ammunition we took from i so fighters after days of fighting here. is the final conflict that began more than four years ago when the group seized parts of iraq on city on the cliff one hundred . it up the government forces declared victory will i still in december two thousand and seventeen. despite analysts say the ideology is also very much alive in the region he truly it was pushed back each year largely

they're the sinequan place they have been totally run over and everybody getting that. that's usually should be still really gotten and therefore radicalism over the i s i don't really ever. has eat roots and. that's why it has been totally illegal. fighting between the as d.f. and i still is centered around the town of hygiene on the banks of the euphrates river close to the syrian border with iraq the hygiene area was once home to sixty thousand people most fled to live in mexico becomes for the displaced as renewed fighting intensifies more people are joining them here dozens of the newly displaced wait for tents and blankets in the bitter cold some say they fled on foot

because they hope the u.s. coalition warplanes what bumping vehicles. back on the front lines as their fighters are preparing for a long slog they estimate the fighting had in the last two to three months but may seem like a surprisingly who wants time given the size of but any of them came in with ice and how cities with populations three times greater fell within days the difference is that in both bottles i saw fighters threaten to kill every three to choose and from one of their positions in order to cause for the daytime of this time the trick is to knock them off one hundred on the wall just doesn't. police in ecuador are seeking to arrest the owners of a drug rehab clinic that caught fire killing eighteen people they say patients set mattresses alight to try to escape the treatment center and walk which lack the necessary permits to operate victims all died except ca sion. their secretary of

state has lashed out at venezuelan president nicolas maduro describing his government as illegitimate might compare says washington will work with other countries in the region to restore what he called real democracy to the country and his wales opposition is also challenging the legitimacy of that or a second term as stories about reports on caracas thank god it's been a day since day one that mother wouldn't was sworn in for his second term in office and already members of the the system controlled national assembly took to the streets to denounce song as a super of the executive office for seen it 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 apart as soon we don't have our folly trail right there is the pole the guy in them because we don't have any medication so our food. we don't have secret in the streets the demonstration was small compared to the massive ones

that happened in two thousand and seventeen one thousand still to the streets to protest against muddled us attempts to disregard the national assembly for most of the people here and this is the first step towards opposing what they call it the dictatorship of precedent nicolai model 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 was the precedent of a national assembly is one why you 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 to hand them the guy uniforms or the strength of the people is crucial in this process we have people that were forced to leave the country others to teams murdered and even tortured nothing to stop us it has not been easy for us we are survivors and we are in resistance he was at the end of this week off. position has

called for a demonstration on january twenty third and promises the national assembly who is considered 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 the most assume politico coolant 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. 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. but 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. i will back us. thousands of people have demonstrated across colombia demanding the resignation of the chief prosecutor now starr umberto martinez is accused of covering up bribery lying to south america's biggest ever corruption scandal from the. reports. holding flashlights housings of colombians gathered in various cities demanding their country's attorney general steps down. is accused of covering up the regularities in bribes paid in colombia by the brazilian construction giant target rich at the center of the biggest corruption scandal in the region we colombians are tired of seeing the powerful steal money and nothing happening our institutions our justice system kept captive and we want them back i took you to forces were

unable to prevent protesters in front of the attorney general's headquarters taking down the offices flag and burning it. in two thousand and fifteen martinez was the legal advisor of colombia's biggest financial group owned by. the country's richest man. partner with the british winning a one point six billion dollar contract to build a major modern way but in a series of documents. then the auditor of discovered more than thirty million dollars in legal payments and informed my team is about them yet in a dramatic twist the sound noise son in a third witness have since died and what are said to be suspicious circumstances while martin is became the man in charge of investigating the crimes other branches admitted in a plea bargain with the united states the partment of justice being eleven million

u.s. dollars in bribes to colombian politicians but that's just a fraction of the total amount of rights he has allegedly hate hearing and yet turney general denies any prior knowledge of the payments and continues to reject calls for his arrest. prosecutors have pressed charges against high ranking officials in a number of countries including former presidents while in colombia only mid-level officials have been charged martinez has recused himself from two related cases but many fear a complete and impartial investigation will not happen in colombia as long as he remains in office but. the issue is that practice financed the presidential campaigns of the two most important political parties in colombia they paid x. ministers congressman if you turn general falls the entire structure of holes with him. just days ago peru's attorney general resigned under increasing public pressure after he dismissed two leads prosecutors in the

scandal this powerful political backers continue supporting him but it's unclear if you'll be able to withstand the growing calls for his removal. asked. to sign a deal to end a decades long dispute over its name on friday macedonia's parliament approved an agreement to change its name to the republican north macedonia but it still needs backing from the greek parliament athens has consistently blocks copius entering into nato and the promise to lift macedonia changed its name. it's growing anger and lebanon over the worsening economy or testers are calling for reforms but the country hasn't had a working government and eight months and how to reports from a road. all marsh borrow is struggling to pay the bills for his mother's cancer treatment the twenty seven year old is not receiving help from the state that is

why he joined this protest against the caretaker government which is not making important decisions access to free and proper health care is just one of the many problems lebanese face. to come out afford to hospitalized my mother every month they didn't admit her in the hospital also she needs four different by dissonance and the ministry offered to only provides three i have to choose whether to eat or pay for her treatment but protesters have rallied outside government ministries demanding what they call their basic rights we need because. nobody cares about it and. then we move it to the ministry of. because. the fault of hospitals it is hard to attract crowds in a country controlled by sick tarion political parties many lebanese rely on them for jobs and financial support and it seems intimidation tactics are being used to

keep people silent we were distributing the shores about us today. to us and try to. stop us from from at syria. first the world bank says seventy percent of the population of six million people earn less than ten thousand dollars a year many find it hard to make ends meet because of the high cost of living public anger is growing as economic conditions worsen fiscal reforms are needed but not has been without a functioning government says elections politicians are fighting overseas. but many here believe even if those politicians agree on the government's formation little change the same political elite remain in charge nonsectarian civil society groups are trying to make a difference to the system has been there for decades that's true that's correct they are very powerful they know how to play within the system they know how to

turn things into their advantage by thing on sectarianism we will never accept defeat we will always make things the same pressure we will always work on next and next and next elections we will get somewhere for now the balance of power is not in their favor they can only hope their appeals for change are heard. beirut for israeli settlers are under house arrest in connection with the killing of a palestinian woman three months ago died after rocks were thrown through the windscreen of her car at fifteen nature as them police custody and violent crimes are settlers against palestinians have risen steeply in the past year as harry fawcett reports from the occupied west bank. yes robbie is finding comfort where he can mainly it comes from his family he and his wife i raised eight children together he says they always planned once the kids had finished their schooling to devote more time to each other to travel together about future was shattered in october last year when driving home past an illegal settlement outposts in the

occupied west bank their car came under a hail of rocks and stones enough said. there was a huge explosion in the car the glass fell n. my wife and i had been talking in the rocket on the side of her had she fell on me blood came out from her ears and nose my daughter was screaming i didn't know what to do the car was swerving right and left it was the longest three seconds of my life three months on the israeli security services have arrested five students from a religious school at the outpost in connection with a shower robbie's death saying that they collected evidence of extremist and anti zionist religious ideology consistent with what's referred to in the israeli media as jewish tara the suspects are reported to be from the illegal settlement of youths are near the palestinian city of nablus for all the attention is raised this attack is not an isolated one it's part of a patent a surge according to recently published figures of attacks by settlers on palestinians in the occupied west bank in july twenty fifteen a husband wife and their toddler son were killed in the fire bombing of

a palestinian home in the west bank village of duma a crackdown by israel security services saw a reduction in settler violence last year the numbers rose sharply again it's reported there were four hundred eighty two and palestinian crimes a three fold increase on the previous year the incidents include assaults vandalism of vehicles and property as well as threatening graffiti israeli human rights group ph d. and recorded twenty five such incidents in just one day last month after two israeli soldiers and one baby were killed in palestinian attacks it says too many settler crimes against palestinians go unpunished we've had about over twelve hundred investigation falsely documented and want to turd since two thousand. five in eight percent of those indictments were served and in a mere three percent were any convictions served we also noted that eighty two percent of investigation files are closed in circumstances that suggest police investigated phillip.