hustles who was killed in a toll inside the kingdom's consulate in istanbul the findings of a saudi prosecutor were dismissed by the turkish government and world leaders as insufficient on sunday pompei a was in qatar where he called on gulf countries to and their dispute the worst political crisis in decades for the gulf cooperation council president trump and i both believe the ongoing dispute the region has dragged on too long and the dispute benefits adversaries and harms our mutual interests. pump ale held talks with the emir of qatar settle being been hammered attorney and foreign minister hamad an elderly man earth any both the u.s. and qatar say they want to consolidate trade and military cooperation that includes expanding the largest u.s. military base in the middle east a low date near the capital doha is home to the forward operating base of u.s.

central command. and then we have discussed all the issues of interest for our country's regional issues starting with the gulf cooperation council and the peace process in the middle east and america's top diplomat also visited jordan behind the u.a.e. egypt oh man will be his last destination after canceling a visit to kuwait to attend a family funeral coates' emir has played a crucial role in trying to mediate and to the blockade of qatar in june two thousand and seventeen saudi arabia u.a.e. barrin and egypt cut off relations with doha accusing it of supporting armed groups a charge carter has strongly denied. mattson is live from muscat now where pump air has been meeting with the omani officials so rob will pompei and be taking the same messages to him on. i think we can be pretty

certain that he will be has from the first message of course that the u.s. is still in the fight against extremism and the fight against eisold alongside its arab allies the second one is hashem was just mentioning there in his report this needs to have cohesion within the gulf cooperation council despite the fact of course that qatar is currently under all located by some members of the g.c.c. but it's the third element iran that is going to attract the most attention here in as we know the u.s. regards iran as a destabilizing force in the middle east that's a view that's held by several other countries in the middle east on the western side of the gulf for ticket only of course particularly saudi arabia the reason why that's going to be so important here in oman is actually geographical a few kilometers over to the left is the straits of hormuz and right in the middle of the straits of hormuz oman shares a maritime border with iran for about

a thousand kilometers know to the west of the country it shares its western borders with the u.a.e. and saudi arabia and with yemen to this side of that has meant that oman for decades has retained a very delicate balancing act between particularly the to keep ours on either side of the gulf iran and saudi arabia and the u.a.e. it's got himself into a very significant and almost unique position in that it has been one of the key mediators when it has come to gulf conflicts and finding solutions for those conflicts in much in the same way as a way to does and it's also providing a back channel if you like for opposing governments who don't really want to be seen talking to each other in public to at least have some sort of negotiation. the tone of the message that might compare you is going to be bringing to amman is really going to be key because his language has been very strong particularly

against iran as we've seen over the last few days when he gets to amman it's a very different situation oman relies heavily on trade and good relations with iran as well as as i said good relations with the countries on the western side of the gulf so it's going to be very interesting to see what if any statements come out of this and what the tone of those statements are rob thank you rob matheson live for us in muscat let's me now to educate a senior political analyst a model under shot and he joins me on sat now so much the whole purpose of this this trip by the u.s. secretary of state which is now winding down was to kind of clarify u.s. policy in the region particularly after that sudden decision by president trump on troops in syria yet now his boss in washington is once again tweeting threats to turkey this time and it's seems if we would come back to square one again well look i mean there is a strategic decision that's for sure so i mean let's leave it with the rhetoric the

style aside there is a switch is a decision to draw down slash would drove venture early the troops from syria and i think that's a bit of a trump commitment during the campaign it's trump's commitment to his base and in fact this drops mindset nuts withdrawal even today he said something about let's end all wars and so on and so forth so this is his mindset now when you talk about style and specially the way he addressed the turks and the way the turks now responding to him i mean. i mean allow me a bit of leeway here this is a man who feels boxed in he feels more and more pressured by the public opinion the media the international community he feels more or more pressured by crises of his own making he hasn't gulf for a little bit of the shutdown and the investigate yes that you know mentally hasn't go for a long time and he says that they're all advocation except me i'm stuck here and he

even says i'm alone in the white house would be surprised his i haven't left for months even though he was in iraq just a couple weeks ago but for him leaving means he hasn't been golfing he has been doing vacationing on so forth so i think he's been. sort of getting out his anger on whatever comes out next the fact that he would be asked if he is a russian agent and all those you how much pressure he's under so as soon as something like that comes up like the question of syria turkey or whatever he says things that are so overblown exaggerated in style that i think everyone including the turks over there said that he probably more speaking his base and speaking his spirit than he's actually being diplomatic so on the on the on the foreign policy issues then they'd he met with the with the saudi crown prince and the king air no doubt they'd they must have discussed the g. . but in certainly in public they they are they're sticking by the saudis need

there's clearly a public discourse in a private discourse and you know if the private discourse as anything similar to the public discourse they would have probably had the press conference in riyadh they did not have a press conference and why. because whatever it is they're not discussing it in the open whether they are totally and utterly complicit including in the killing of and including in the war in yemen whatever they're not going to come out and sit in the open and if they are you know having a showdown over the question of yemen and they also wouldn't be doing a press conference so i think now we know for more or less for a fact that publicly the united states supports saudi arabia unconditionally privately secretary pump you keep saying and he just tweeted that in fact he is questioning putting pressure on the saudis to come out clean on the question of whether or not how clean they will go because it's how medicine and the sponsible on both cases which is

a contradiction in terms and the question of yemen trying to end the war in yemen so you can see that all in all has them this trip that started on a bit of a low note low points in the speech in cairo and ended up with you know sort of a better atmosphere in the house and perhaps a little more diplomatic pressure in riyadh it shows if anything that the united states aside from the confusion on the contradiction of the statements and of the various positions within washington it has lost influence it has lost leverage and it has lost to a large degree so i think credibility in the middle east that started with obama and it's continuing with trump and i think visit although if you look at his twitter feed it's all wonderful pictures almost like a family album of his visits in eighty nine countries but in fact. the leverage and influence is nothing like what it used to be twenty thirty years ago one of the

main things he wanted to do as well was to present a united front against iran but it's obviously difficult for him to do that with this ongoing blockade by a number of arab countries against qatar which again he talked about when when he was here in doha yesterday absolutely and you know here it's a bit missed but i was in for me i mean either as i just said there's really no credibility no leverage no influence or there is some leverage because in the end of the day this is the united states of america that just claim you don't buy its president that it's that saudi arabia or other gulf countries cannot survive to two weeks without it so it certainly i think you could have resolved or prison time for sure could have resolved this issue from a phone call from the white house so the fact that he comes here so there are results either there's no leverage whatsoever or they're not very serious about ending this gulf crisis i that way i think doha and washington have turned the page

they've turned a corner it doesn't matter what i think anymore or cairo for that matter because the strategic relations economic relations commercial relations between doha and washington have never been stronger than they are today all right good to speak with you as always. all right plenty more ahead on news out of the french president setting the tone for a national debate over his policies following the yellow vest protests and concerns over the lack of desire to training for school children in indonesia. plus later in sports it was a night to forget for the los angeles lakers who continue to struggle in the absence of their star player. so less still ahead but first police in zimbabwe have fired tear gas to break up protesters angry about high fuel prices there the cost of petrol and diesel more

than doubled on sunday president emerson one guy was government is battling fuel shortages that have led to motorists queuing up for days frustrated demonstrators barricaded roads and set tires on fire a privilege. and is following the story for us so privileged these protests have been going on now in several cities and that's what we here we have. been happening spreading. second largest city in the now the parts where the same protests have been happening because there's about where congress of trade unions yesterday rallied people to stay away to day and. make least our national shot down what they are calling. calling this

a big round of the increase in fuel prices and the increase of the cost of living in zimbabwe we know police have been using tear gas and water cannons is there a sign that did the protests will continue. according to this it city you have they had called the national strike to happen today monday tuesday and wednesday we don't really know whether they will proceed but as of now from one of the city where i witnessed protesters clashing with police. when. there were clashes and now i think they have slowed down and police have cleared the central business district shops are closed and a lot of people ever left you could see some people walking long distances to make

their way home because public transport is not operating privilege thank you privileged most run here joining us there in. well there's been a lot of reaction online to the anger in zimbabwe our social media presented right here mohammed is looking at that that's right has him well it looks like many in zimbabwe have heeded the coals by trade unions and protesters for a three day strike some online are using the hash tag then shut down and they're sharing their videos from two of the main cities the capital harare and the whale this is second a road leading into harare is the central business district it has some of the city's largest townships and as you can see hardly a car in sight even commuter on the buses also known as companies have been parked refusing to carry passengers and others have been protesting on the streets there saying no to the massive fuel price hikes no to the failed bomb note no to the two

percent tax and no to corruption in some cases the protests have turned violent police have used to gas and also water cannon to disperse the demonstrations. now according to the phil provide at re data the price hike is because of what it calls a massive tax increase on feel and this comes in the wake of a huge tax increase caused by the two percent tariff on electronic transfers and that's what's making zimbabweans angry in fact zimbabweans have been nodding out for feel for weeks some queues are as long as two kilometers and some have lost patience fights a program out at some of these cattle stations and they also accusing the president emma someone gaga of not focusing on domestic issues as he travels to moscow and then switzerland for the world economic forum next week people in zimbabwe have also been sharing their concerns with us here's what some had to say it is dishonest in that the president maintains that the motives one is to one against the u.s. this despite giving us two different prices a us dollar price and

a price the other dishonesties that he is saying they're going to offer a rebate to manufacture is so that prices don't go up by they don't say what kind of freebie that is and then the last thing is that they have increased the price of fuel by two hundred fifty percent but they only offering a salary incremental civil servants of ten percent this is extremely and feet the burden has just been increased and just a lot of despair a lot of frustration and there's a lot of frustration on the faces of men and women in the streets there's a lot of frustration that i'm seeing on the faces of men who are in the in these fuel queues and everyone is just disgruntled and disappointed by the lack of clear policy structures and the lack of clear money terry policy. and we'll continue to monitor the story back to you now has a great deal of thanks for that now the united states senator lindsey graham says he is our president trying to temporarily reopen parts of the u.s.

government as the partial shutdown there enters its twenty fourth day the longest in american history graham says it would allow talks to resume between republicans and democrats over funding from mexico. tried to see if we could open up the government for a limited pitter period of time to negotiate a deal and the president says let's make a deal then open up the government nancy pelosi says even if you open up the government fund a wall so that's why i'm depressed. let's get a look at the weather now his staff thanks have him gallo's a snow still over europe but things are changing these are the pictures that we've kind of got used to over europe in recent days a lot of roads closed a lot of snow there if we can just about make it down that road but it's actually a road to to a village that had to be evacuated just because there's so much snow the danger of avalanches is so great and these things huge amounts of slow that have been seen across many northern parts the outs and through southern germany as well here's the

latest system as it's made its way south was across us bringing yet more wintery weather but now things are changing and the temperatures are beginning to rise and these are the pictures we're now getting out of southern germany that is a river that burst its banks not only because it had too much rain water in it but also because some of the snow is beginning to melt as well so this is what it's currently looking like in the southern parts of germany and i've been told it's also turning a little bit slushy over some of the outs as well so i think definitely on the change and the reason for that is because the air is now coming in from the west and dragging in that milder air so for some of us of course it will be a welcome change because it means it won't be as cold as it has been but it also means that things could get quite dangerous because all of that water it's got to go somewhere and we're likely to see a fair amount of flooding also some of this is likely to bring some freezing rain and that comes with its own problems as well thanks there still ahead on al-jazeera . one as well as opposition leader remains

defiant despite attempts by the nicolas maduro government to silence him. and we'll tell you how kenya is tackling the threat from al shabaab along its border with somalia. plus later a sport just four teams are left in contention for the n.f.l. super bowl championship and you see it with that. i want. a sovereign island state. or a renegade province of china that must soon return to mainland control. as the battle for taiwanese hearts and minds intensifies. people in power investigates the tactics of those to whom reunification is only a matter of time. taiwan spies lawyers and prostrate. on. the latest news as it breaks in

a poll just sixty five percent of people said that they think it will do a great or a good job with details coverage is the second time this year doctors walked out on strike the government is funded by issuing suspensions. from around the world increased warning level calms us a blow to the thousands of people displaced by the tsunami of wanting to return home. again you're watching al-jazeera reminder of our top stories this hour turkey has hit back at the u.s.

after president trump's tweet threatening to devastate turkey's economy if its forces attacked kurdish fighters in syria as foreign minister said such threats won't solve anything. u.s. secretary of state mark pompei was in amman for the last leg of his middle east tour he met the saudi king and crown prince in riyadh where they discussed the war in yemen and the importance of sticking to the ceasefire. the u.k. prime minister has made a last ditch plea to m.p.'s to back her brags it before a key vote in parliament on tuesday to recent days warning in effect plan to leave the e.u. is rejected reg's it may not happen at all. french president emmanuel mccraw has launched a nationwide debate aimed at tackling the yellow vests protests in an open letter published in french newspapers macross said he was open to ideas but warned he'll not back down from his twenty seven thousand election promises france has been hit

by more than two months of yellow vest demonstrations which began over a fuel price hike letter touched on several issues including taxation citizenship and democracy our correspondent tasha butler has been gauging reaction in paris. what the french president is hoping for with his letters to try and quell the protests that we've seen across france for more than two months now by responding to one of the main demands of the yellow dress protesters and that is that they don't have they say enough of a say in the way that france is run they feel that their government simply part of this metropolitan elite that is out of touch with their concerns so emanuel my core strategy is to launch what he calls a grand national citizens debate and his letter details how that's going to work with debates up and down the country various themes like tax all social services and what he hopes is that people get together online and in person and transform

what he calls the anger on the streets into real working solutions now the question is will it's work and some protesters are saying ok fine it's give this a go let's join in but of course there are many other protesters who say look this is nothing more than a p.r. exercise because they say that the letter doesn't detail how this information is going to be collated now how it's going to be used is the government going to keep some of the concerns and actually act upon them or are they just going to gather this information and then basically throw it out so a lot of people are wondering exactly what is the point and also emanuel mark on his letter he talks about the fact that he doesn't want to go back on some of his old reforms and those are things he's already passed things like changing the speed limits or scrapping a wealth tax those a very controversial and unpopular reforms with many of the yellow vest protesters so for them they are saying that this debate is already off to a bad start. a leader of venezuela's opposition who was briefly detained on sunday

has renewed calls for a change of government the arrest of one comes just days after he directly challenge the legitimacy of president nicolas maduro traceable reports from caracas . one way though arrived at the regional capital of vertica state surrounded by his supporters the president of the almost powerless national assembly was supposed to lead an open forum denouncing the mother was the dictator when he was briefly detained by intelligence officers along the way. here of the symbols of oppression but here today in the water of the symbols of courage of resistance of strength and if they want to send a message that we should hide here is the answer of the people here we are there are fears that his arrest provoked an outcry from the u.s. state department and countries in the region that denounce the arbitrary detention

why those brief detention is likely to increase tensions between the government of my daughter and the opposition that insists that it won't recognize my little as one as well as president why there has already said that he's ready to take over as interim president and call for new elections. but the national assembly is considered to be in contempt by the administration that has already threatened to shut it down they claim a coup is underway to remove motherhood or from our face. a group of public servants acted unilaterally and carried out in a regular procedure against a congressman why do this procedure which is already completely over and done with was put on as a show for the media by the us government has already detained them put on trial dozens of political opponents accused of plotting against him. a sense brother has been imprisoned for five months he's also a congressman accused by the government of being part of a conspiracy to kill the president. that the government says we are planning occur

but they are the ones with the guns with the military they want to blame us for the enormous crisis been as well and are going through but if anything that is happening is because of what they did and the policies they implemented venezuela's opposition is divided and has lost power since the protests that shook this country in two thousand and seventeen as the economic and political crisis deepens many in venezuela have lost hope that change is possible while those detention may help the opposition game the visibility it had last. practice. a left wing italian activist convicted of murder who's been on the run for nearly forty years landed in iran but is there was arrested in bolivia on saturday his extradition is a result of a cooperation between right wing political leaders in brazil and italy kenya's

army has been heavily monitoring its border with somalia in recent years after continued attacks by al shabaab the effort has reduced the armed groups ability to operate in kenya but it remains a threat elsewhere in east africa zain was ravi reports from nairobi. president who can yet i began the new year by thanking kenya soldiers for their service and telling civilians they too have a role to play in the country's security. every kenyan and twenty nine. to continue to remain vigilant let the authorities know if you see a suspicious person in your village or neighborhood be aware of the around you and do not allow terrorists or criminals to hide amongst us attacks by the armed groups at a shopping mall and a university in kenya in two thousand and thirteen and twenty fifteen killed more

than two hundred people and change the way the government deploys its security forces the army took over from the police to launch a multi agency operation around boney forest on the somali border once a safe haven for al shabaab kenyan security forces have taken back territory destroyed temporary training camps and stop the free movement of armed fighters coming over the border from somalia people who had moved from their farms to. temporarily in time of the spring because comps i.d.p.'s up to their friends and neighbors buck to normal. kenyans living near the front line are grateful for the heightened security but those displaced by the fighting say they still can't sleep at night your money or coalition with you we have issues with water we use water from boreholes and a hospital a small we need more facilities to check our health to treat even basic health needs. pushing back into somalia has also given way to unforeseen threats closer to

home the farmers who fled the fighting and are still living in camps say while the police and army were focused on external threats armed kenyan herders took their fields to graze animals and now that's the reason they're too afraid to go home. we left off. we had security now the security has really improved but we can't go back because the security operations are still ongoing. though the border with somalia is secure for now experts say the fight is far from over at this point in time it. it is the terrorists who have these cities because they are now able to pick the place the time type of target that they will go for preventing al shabaab from operating and recruiting in kenya has made it a blueprint for east africa but with security operations likely to continue for the foreseeable future people displaced by years of fighting wanting to go home may have to wait a little longer zain bus ravi old zero nairobi at least fifteen people have been

killed after a military plane crashed in iran it happened near five airport just west of the capital tehran iranian state television says severe weather may have played a role it had been trying to make an emergency landing. a second black box has been recovered from a lion air plane which crashed in indonesia in october the boeing seven three seven max plunged into the java sea shortly after takeoff from jakarta killing all one hundred eighty nine people on board divers found the cockpit voice recorder not far from the crash site investigators hope this will help piece together the final moments of the flight our children support groups in indonesia urging the government to include disaster education in the school curriculum many children died during an earthquake last year because they didn't know how to protect themselves steverson has the story from palo. i a disaster drill at this school in jack after earthquakes happen all over him but

of the six thousand schools and only one hundred sixty five have been taught how to respond in case of an emergency for many children into law a.z. disaster drills are too late. so five us are studying intense after their schools collapsed during the seven point five earthquake on september twenty eighth teachers and children say there was panic when the quake struck. that. my mom disappeared into the mud that suddenly appeared around us and then me and my brother to my uncle came in we screamed for help he rescued us and brought us to a safe place it's important to be taught about disasters so we're not confused about what to do and where to go. the earthquake struck at six in the evening this is what the teacher avoid. the next morning. but i have to be honest when the earthquake struck i was not prepared at all we were all confused we

panicked as a teacher even if we face a disaster we need to know how to act i should be better prepared. more than eighteen million children and one million teachers in indonesia are at the high risk that their schools will be damaged during an earthquake most schools have yet to be built using earthquake proof materials luckily classes here had already finished when this school started to collapse in just a few moments this is a structure and here is a powerful reminder that this can happen anywhere at any time in indonesia but even after a long history of this most indonesians still don't know how to protect themselves when it happens again. that's why volunteers and now teach. and discuss escape routes with victims who have lived through previous disasters or recent survey done by the national disaster agency shows that seventy seven. percent of indonesians say they don't feel that they're well prepared for

a natural disaster and ninety percent says disaster education is important still the government has yet to include this in the national curriculum when both of. them by until now it is optional for schools to teach about disasters especially in high risk areas so far we've not thought any further than this but yes we get a lot of pressure from many organizations to make this part of the formal curriculum. the ministers as children have to learn so much already that he does not want to burden them even more. of a jackass that it is a master drill and swiss song teaching children what to do in case an earthquake or tsunami happens simple reminders that can make the difference between life or death stuff last one hundred euro solo e.c. or china's trade dispute with the united states is taking it toll on its economy exports of fall into their lowest point in two years while imports are also down

two countries are midway through a ninety day truce to find a solution to their trade war katrina you reports from beijing the world's largest trading country has been trading a little less. according to china's customs administration exports fell by four point four percent in december while imports were at their lowest level since twenty sixteen concerns for the year ahead underlined at a news conference in beijing early in two thousand and nine the biggest here the worry for china's foreign trade is to the complex and grim external environment uncertain and stable factors a stew numerous protectionism and unilateralism from certain countries are rare in their heads. a slowdown in global demand and the continuing trade dispute with the united states are being blamed for the current predicament china finds itself in china.