person who has responsibility for the murder of jamal khashoggi he needs to be held accountable. and the crown prince i spoke about this with king solomon as well. they both acknowledge that the accountability needed to take place hotshots who was killed in a toll inside the kingdom's consulate in istanbul are the findings of a saudi prosecutor what 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 that dispute the political crisis in decades for the gulf cooperation council america's top diplomat also visited jordan behind the u.a.e. egypt and our man 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. barren and egypt cut off relations with doha accusing it of supporting groups it chaunced has strongly denied the u.s. is due to host a conference in poland next month to discuss ways to curb iran's activities in the region you have arabian backed these iranian backed hezbollah are arabian backed shia militias in iraq iranian backed forces in syria each case the root of the challenge stems from the revolutionary nature of this law nic regime and their efforts abroad but many u.s. allies fear a us iran confrontation could lead to further instability in the region modify violence. things are getting worse and zimbabwe with police now firing live bullets at protesters who are angry about high fuel prices two people were

reportedly shot in the capital harare demonstrators barricaded roads and set tires on fire after the cost of petrol and diesel more than doubled on sunday the government is dealing with shortages that have seen motorists sleeping in fuel quetzal producer privileges' for nudity is in harare following the story for us this is a situation not getting any better. the country is not generating enough foreign currency because there is low production in the country our exports their exports are low so there isn't enough foreign currency in the country to import a commodity because we do not have. oil in zimbabwe so therefore. we we have to import their product so there isn't enough foreign currency in the country to import production now because of the drying coffers. the problem is today increased people are queuing for days in queues to get fuel

even up to now when the president announced a new price you find that long queues are still obtaining and if you are stations are dry people are just. anticipating that they could be delivering but they are not deliver is that are coming. at least four people have been killed nineteen injured in a truck bomb explosion in afghanistan it's near the green village compound east of kabul an area which houses for an ngo workers and expatriates nineteen people injured. coming up for you on al-jazeera we'll tell you how ten year is tackling the threat from al shabaab along the border with somalia and the french president sets the tone for a national debate over his policies following bigelow's best interests.

hello there we've got another storm system that's making its way towards turkey we look at the satellite picture we can see the cloud nudging its way in at the moment that's going to give some of us some rain and then we'll see that turn increasingly heavy as we head through the day on tuesday so some very strong winds as well as some heavy rain and they could well be some blizzards as round as well a system will gradually track its way a bit further south with as we head through tuesday and into wednesday making its way down towards eleven and two for the east we've got this whole area of cloud that's making its way up towards the northeast safe al-mahdi will see a fair amount of wintry weather that shouldn't stick around too long it looks like it should be dry up by wednesday before the day was the south them is what's of that cloud over the arabian peninsula stretching across many parts of saudi arabia and over into iran so in the north that we're seeing the wet weather that should eventually begin to break up as we head through the day on wednesday but still lots of cloud rates to cross off and that could just be the old fourth of rain perhaps

down towards the southern parts of africa the certainly been a lot of wet weather here particularly in the northeastern parts of madagascar this area of cloud here gave some of us over one hundred millimeters of rain more weather is expected here as we head through the day on tuesday the showers in the northeast they're breaking up instead we've got wetter weather stretching its way through parts of zimbabwe. taiwan. 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.

top stories for you on al-jazeera at this hour and british prime minister theresa may have. to take a second look at her deals or leave the european union she was born pushing it down could open the way for the breakup of the united kingdom this is her last ditch effort to sell the bags of deal to employees ahead of a key vote in parliament on tuesday. turkey's foreign minister says ankara will not shrink from threats by the u.s. president donald trump a tweeted he would devastate turkey's economy if its forces were to attack kurdish fighters in syria and the u.s. secretary of state on papers in amman after meeting saudi leaders in riyadh. saudi

arabia he met the crown prince mohammed bin solomon and agreed to continue the deescalation of the fight in yemen. a constitutional court in senegal as bad two main opposition candidates from contesting next month's presidential elections already approved five out of twenty seven candidates including the incumbent president who is seeking a second term has more now from abidjan. the announcement made by the constitutional court stunned many and came early it came in the form of an a four piece of paper plastered outside the courts listing those illegible to run for the upcoming presidential election missing on that list are the popular mayor of deckard khalifa saul and the opposition figure karim wadded from your wallet is currently in exile in qatar he served a prison sentence on corruption charges but then was pardoned by the president now the reason given for him being dismissed from this list by the constitutional court is that he is not

a registered voter and as such cannot be registered and someone wanting to run as well is courier. he is not a listed because he is serving time in prison on corruption charges now that paves the way for president monkey cell to run a second term with no real opposition figure except one sound go an outsider was popular in social media amnesty international has criticized this government in the ruling party clamping down on the opposition but certain with this list out now it sets the tone for this upcoming election that will take place in a month's time kenya's army has been heavily monitoring its border with somalia in recent years after attacks by al shabaab an effort which is greatly reduced the armed groups capacity to operate in kenya but it remains a threat elsewhere in east africa same to survey has that report from nairobi. president uhuru kenyatta 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 i further every kenyan in twenty nineteen and. to continue to remain vigilant let the authorities know if you see a suspicious person in your village or neighborhood. be aware is around you and do not allow terrorists or criminals to hide amongst us attacks by the armed groups 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 some of these principles comps i.b.p. 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. 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 have no 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 and that it is the terrorists who have and should leave because they are now able to pick. the place the time type of target of 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 but nairobi the venezuelan president nicolas maduro is expected to lay out his plans to turn around the oil rich nation struggling economy in a speech in caracas on thursday madeira was sworn in for a second six year term but under his leadership venezuela's economy has struggled with public infrastructure hospitals suffering from

a lack of funding and resources and so the lima group of latin america countries which includes brazil and argentina has urged maduro to step down the french president among your micron's launched a nationwide debate aimed at tackling the yellow vest protest movement in an open letter published in french newspapers across that he was open to ideas but warned he wouldn't be backing down from his twenty seven thousand election promises france has been rocked by more than two months of yellow votes to demonstrations which began over a fuel price hike a little touches on issues including taxation citizenship and democracy more than thirty two thousand teachers in america's second largest school district of walked out of class on strike weeks of heated negotiations over pay and the size of classes have gone nowhere leading to the city's first teachers protest in thirty years schools in the l.a. district have managed to stay open however with hundreds of substitutes brought in to look after the students go to los angeles and talk to rob reynolds about must be

getting pretty serious if you've got the first strike in thirty years. yes there is a very serious situation for the city of los angeles and parents and children there are six hundred thousand plus kids tending public school in the vast los angeles unified school district as you mentioned thirty one thousand teachers about nine hundred schools and teachers have been operating without a contract for two years and they reached this impasse the negotiations broke down last week there are no negotiations scheduled for today so the strike is going to go for at least two days now come all as you mentioned the schools are open there's a skeleton staff of supervisor personnel and volunteers and some.

substitute teachers watching the children this of course is creating havoc with the schedules of many working parents with young kids who need childcare now what's behind all of this well of course the teachers want a pay raise and the school district has agreed to give them that but the teachers also say they want more support personnel in schools such as counselors for children who are suffering from the traumatic stress in living in poor prime rib neighborhoods they want more librarians school nurses and other support staff and they want smaller class sizes i talked to some teachers here who said they've got forty five pupils in a classroom trying to teach them virtually impossible to give any individual attention to those students and the teachers say also that there is enough money in the schools coffers to pay for all of this but the school

district counters that that money will soon be depleted because of. the demands of the retiring teachers' pension and health care so it is a numbers game and it is at the moment not one that is looked at that it seems likely to reach a resolution anytime soon thank you rob reynolds in los angeles for that update. china's trade dispute with the united states is taking a toll on its economy exports of for them to the lowest in two years imports are also down the two countries are also midway through a ninety day truce to find a solution to their trade or katrina reports now 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 levels in twenty six. concerns for the year ahead underlined at

a news conference in beijing arlin each year in two thousand and nineteen one of the biggest here the worry for china's foreign trade is through the complex and grim external environment uncertain and stable factors a stew numerous protectionism and unilateralism from certain countries are raring their heads from. 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 and the us are midway through a ninety day truce in the tit for tat trade both which started last april a delegation from washington was in beijing last week to continue negotiations but very few details from the meeting have so far been released just over forty days left of the trade truce the seems to be still no solution incites analysts say china's shrinking trade figures could be used by washington to increase pressure on

beijing i think beijing clearly has the pressure there on the grocery store. the best of their leadership and it to restore bester confidence not just domestically but internationally so i think a.j. clearly does that and i think the u.s. . where here they will put pressure because despite the lower figures china posted a record surplus in its trade with the united states last year with more than three hundred twenty billion dollars the largest in more than a decade that's a sore point for the u.s. and according to the trumpet ministration a major justification for its trade with china but the apparent good news there's little to distract from china's cooling economy december's low trade figures follow a disappointing november when consumer spending also fell contributing to a gloomy economic start to twenty nineteen. al-jazeera. at

least fifteen people have been killed after a military plane crashed in iran it happened near far the airport just west of the capital tehran iranian state television says severe weather may have played a role the plane had been attempting to make an emergency landing. and police say no one's injured after a fire at the world's biggest gathering of people a blaze that swept through a number of tents in the northern states of the pradesh where millions of hindu pilgrims gathered for what is known as the. headlines for you once again on al-jazeera the british prime minister to resign may has urged the m.p.'s to take a second look at a deal to leave the european union debate is ongoing in parliament now where may has warned voting it down could open the way for the breakup of the united kingdom this is her last ditch effort to sell the brig's

a deal to parliamentarians ahead of a key vote in the house of commons on tuesday no it is not perfect and yes it is a compromise but when the history books are written people will look at the decision i think. people will look at the decision of this house tomorrow and oh yes did we deliver on the country's vote to leave the european union. we safeguard our economy our security and. i mean the british people down. turkey's foreign minister says ankara will not shrink from threats by the u.s. president turkey's foreign minister says. the us president donald trump had tweeted he would devastate turkey's economy if its forces attacked kurdish fighters in syria. u.s. secretary of state might pompei was in amman after meeting sounding leaders in

riyadh while in saudi arabia he met the crown prince mohammed bin salman and the two men agreed to deescalate the fighting in yemen. things are getting worse in zimbabwe with police firing live bullets at protesters angry over high fuel prices two people were reportedly shot in the capital harare demonstrators also barricaded roads and set tires on fire after the cost of petrol and diesel more than double on sunday at least four people have been killed and nineteen injured in a truck bomb explosion in afghanistan near the green village compound east of kabul the area houses foreign n.g.o.s workers and ex-pat treats nineteen people have been injured. and the french president emanuel necron has launched a nationwide debate aimed at tackling the yellow vest protests in an open letter published in french newspapers mccrone said he was open to ideas france has been rocked by more than two months of these yellow vest demonstrations which began over a proposed fuel price hike which was later. news hour and twenty five minutes time

for you next on al-jazeera the inside story with nic walk. confronting iran is donald trump's foreign policy obsession he sent his secretary of state to the middle east to drum up support but what action is the united states prepared to take and what will the regional implications but this is inside story. and i welcome to the program i'm nick clegg reassuring allies and talking tough on

enemies u.s. sector state might pump a has been touring the middle east to try and win support and put pressure on iran he's pushing for an arab military alliance to counter threats from tehran the aim would be to curb iran's influence in the region from yemen to syria lebanon and iraq impose visits included eight arab countries jordan iraq egypt bahrain u.a.e. qatar saudi arabia and mon and he had this warning the nations of the middle east will never enjoy security achieve economic stability or advance the dreams of their people of iran's revolutionary regime persists on its current course america's economic sanctions against the regime are the strongest in history and will keep getting tougher until iran starts behaving like a normal country well pump as said the arab coalition would include g.c.c. countries as well as egypt and jordan but he raise concerns that the rift between

four of the countries and kata would affect the alliance is effectiveness and he called for an end to the dispute. today in our conversations i stressed the importance of unity among the gulf cooperation council members president trump and i both believe the ongoing dispute in the region has dragged on too long and the dispute benefits adversaries and harms our mutual interests our nations do important work and we have important work continue to do together and the united states hopes the parties involved will see once again the benefits of cooperation and taking actions necessary to rebuild unity in their ranks and united g.c.c. is essential to the sense of the middle east a teaching alliance which we hope will include the g.c.c. egypt and jordan it was a rich short his hose that they withdrawal of u.s. troops from syria will not jeopardize america's efforts against their own battle continues our presence to signal to withdraw our folks from syria in no way impacts our capacity to deliver on that and you'll see in the coming days and weeks we are

redoubling not only our diplomatic but our commercial efforts to put real pressure on iran to achieve what it is we set out for them back in may and these are simple asks we ask of the islamic republic of iraq to behave like a normal nation and the coalition is just as committed to it today as it was yesterday. all right let's bring in our guests nala joining me here on set is maggie down through a professor of political science at kut a university from norman in oklahoma skype we have joshua landis director of the center for middle east studies at the university of oklahoma gentlemen thank you very much indeed for joining us george if i could start with you there in oklahoma and let's take a look at a u.s. perspective of this initially my pump has trip mostly about the trump administration's strategy towards iran tell us more about that strategy and then we'll dissect it and see just how realistic it is. well this trip comes on the

heels of the trump announcement that is that the united states be pulling out of syria and i think pump a wants to reassure allies and that the united states is very much in the middle east it's reinvigorating his talk was america force for good and reinvigorating its role in the middle east so in wanted to reassure saudi arabia in particular in the other gulf countries egypt that it's in the middle east that it's in in reinvigorating its role as it wants to counter iran and in many ways the speech in cairo was a love letter to saudi arabia and to allies both israel saudi arabia other gulf countries that america would work closely with them and hopes to build a military alliance to counter iran and it's easier iran is a maligned power that's the word that's always used these cancerous growth in the middle east that it wants to cut down to size and so also to bring our states into

close to strategic ties with israel is that right. yes indeed israel is a very important part of the scene as sectarianism and iran saudi arabia. has grown worse and worse the sunni states ever really closed ranks with israel in a communist front against iran's growing power in the northern part of the middle east much it here in the studio notwithstanding the gulf crisis which will come to in a minute is it even possible to transcend traditional arab israeli differences and come up with this military alliance that's been talked about i believe this is completely unrealistic i mean with all due respect to your guest from the us it's not the case that sunni states are closing rank behind or with israel is very clear that the only powers that are doing so are the blockade in countries of the. especially of course saudi arabia and the united arab emirates that what they want

is basically an approval stem from d.c. to go on with their project in the region and therefore they have offered to go a step further with with israel however other states like kuwait the main that their positions we know that the jordanians and the palestinians are against but the india of the senate working closely with its role i mean egypt has always been there working like this there's no i don't think there's a real change in egypt's relationship with israel the ideal change here good saudi arabian and iraqi positions that are now more vocal about being closer to to israel even the war saw some of that was announced where binyamin netanyahu and the arab leaders have been asked to to attend it's very clear they doesn't have the formula to. to to get to an end lines between these countries and they need and i mean how can you actually talk about the. middle east with egypt alliance when there are so many you know different positions and the agent today for example cut that announced that it will not be returning to syria with its embassy while the behind

me and the m.r.i. thieves are opening embassies in the. these have yet to announce their position when it comes to iran it's very clear that you had that in positions you had the ability them saudis who are falling within their company out there when it comes to iran you have the kuwaitis that they need and their money to have a completely different relationship with with iran it is being clear that pump is facing the same problem that his predecessor faced which is that whenever he comes to the region yes to put in his mind that the situation d.c. keeps changing of the decisions of the white house keep changing while he's trying to mend relations with the u.s. allies in the region and it's very clear what happened with turkey with president trump threatening to key with the economic war if it if in fact the kurds are the same time that pump aoe is talking about as they think you can lines with their just this concept of an arab nature how would that be perceived in iran i mean iran would not like that at all i don't think it's

a very likely to come about as your guest said because there is terrible disunity in the arab ranks and this fight between qatar and saudi arabia has really thrown things into chaos for the united states and that's why pump aoe went to doha he tried to council. to patch up their relations with saudi arabia but as we know general zinni just a special envoy to try to catch up to skulk crisis has just resigned it doesn't look good the countries are giving money to to our study ends. and they're close to turkey so. this situation just not look like it's falling in america's way for unity the united states is doing as much as it can to try to bring us together but the enmity is only growing between qatar and saudi arabia the longer this goes on the longer the blockade against doctor goes on and

qatar is developing new relationships new trading partners aren't. developing an understanding with turkey and iran so this is this is going to create some real problems for the united states in trying to develop spoke unity much as you want to come in the yeah i mean. again i'm sorry to disagree with your guest from the u.s. it's very clear that the saudi in the american position is not to come to the negotiation table with qatar and that has maintained from day one that it is open for negotiation with the saudis and the iraqis while there this does not come against seventy it is very clear even for pompei as a mark when they are said to a number of journalists during his visit that after his talks with the behaviors and the abilities it is very clear that there is no change in position doorstep and there is no change in position towards more unity in their age and i think it's very clear who's stalling here and who doesn't want for this crisis to end this is number one number two it's also very clear that the company position when it comes

to counterterrorism is closer than the united states and they're they're neighbors are basically said yesterday that they're a great strides have been made by the youth and in the u.s. relations when it comes to countering terrorism in the region and actually while your guest is talking about. giving money to the palestinians the u.s. administration just thank god for their support to a part of that as a people which is done actually in coordination with the united states so i think it's very clear that in the region here there is a very clear position by the saudis and the iraqis to stall and to maintain this located as long as possible in order to make some political gains and the u.s. is unable in my opinion to make any. into that because of the end decision in d.c. and the problems that are arising within that mistake in a cell that's making it more difficult for the u.s. diplomacy to function right no doubt about josh this blockade has created all sorts of problems in terms of the trunk administration's middle east policy. absolutely

you know look at the trump administration is facing a crisis and its its foreign policy apparatus we've seen in the noun of contradictions going on between trump and bolton pump aoe trying to clean up the mess but even so there are many different strands of pressure groups in washington all of which are fighting each other next and very confusing to the people in the middle east to try to figure out who's on first in the united states and who is really driving the foreign policy issue and we see that most clearly with turkey most recently because the united states the whole withdrawal from syria started with the president in a conversation on the fourteenth of december with with the air to one and which was very favorable he said we're going to pull out and turkey can go into syria and now he's tweeting that we're going to devastate character key economically if they go

into syria so it's very confusing i think for those for his lieutenants peo and bolton and others to try to figure out what message what the message is and as your company guest is saying here. mr han study this is you know this is very. it's very hard to figure out what's going on the united states and there's no doubt about that ok to try and find resolution in the gulf crisis what leverage the united states bring to bear on when saudi arabia and u.a.e. well you know saudi arabia needs the united states alliance and i think the united states is playing. when it's you know it's blowing kisses in saudi arabia it's protected saudi arabia from the pushup shia fair to a certain degree by the president saying that it's not clear that the king is involved in ness of course pompei of his message was the people who carried out the

murder have to be punished which would. plex a certain amount of pain on the crown prince because it's going to see inside the kingdom it's going to be seen as disloyalty and but on the other hand it is trying to get beyond this relationship there is talk about trying to clean up yemen situation all of these are monsters undertakings unlikely to be resolved anytime soon so the united states has a lot of heavy lifting to do to try to bring unity back to arab ranks because the arab unity is completely fallen apart over the last you know the last seven eight years. tell us about iran's relationship with qatar and how that plays into the into the strategic game play if you like i mean sense. since maybe the ninety seventy nine there was a clear position by the g.t.c. countries to combat iranian intervention and was what was called at the time exporting that evolution there on the end of illusion across the borders of the

iran and certainly there are different positions in the gulf according to how serious are these threats to various companies you have saudi arabia and bahrain and the way they see a hard line position of course the way to changing positions there in the last couple of years as you know their biggest trading partner of iran in the region was and still is actually the united arab emirates and specially if it were dubai or the saudi in the behind it positions completely different there was always been into my animosity between the saudis and any one side and the iranians on the other side but i think a position has always been that qatar will not. will not become. a proxy state for the saudi arabia or for any other power and their position towards iran has always been based on two main factors one that but i will not accept iranian intervention and then he can see this very clearly back up a position towards supporting the legitimate government in yemen but also supporting the rebels fighting iranian forces on the ground in syria and

maintaining that position by the way till today while the behaviors and the iraqis have made their position their position towards their saudi their saudi the syrian regime but that has still maintaining an anti iranian position in syria however the other pit of the relationship between father and iran is based on economic relations as we know there is a gas fields in the north the north field and the north field is shared between but on the iran meaning that there is a great threat took up by these economic stability if there would be conflict direct conflict between but only i don't think the iranians also understand their duality of the relationship here so at that time for example in the beginning of the crisis here and the gulf crisis said very clearly that it does not need support from iran it is content with support from turkey when the iranians offer to replace saudi arabia as a strategic. economic partner but it maintains that it needs there needs to be a dialogue with the iranians and the agents there on the ins i'm going anyway you know just like with the obama administration decided that the only way to deal with

iran is to get involved in the international economy and in the international world order in order for it to be. controlled in the region today of course the american position has changed and therefore the saudis and that if that's the position where the united states but i maintain that stable relationship with iran that is based on they the clear guidelines of the americans certainly has changed and just spill something out for us clarify something for us if you would why is the administration so determined to counter iran what threat does it perceive iran has you know. these are the hawks of comeback and bolton and we've got to remember that bolton national security council director is just you know he was advocating only us shortly before he took office for the overthrow of the iranian regime these are people who've been seeking the overthrow of the iranian regime for a long time and the undermining of the iranian regime certainly pinning back its

here and. that had gone out of style with obama who is looking to us in a sense offshore balance iran a little bit with saudi arabia in the gulf not pick a side in this fight and to keep this keep the regime on iran so that wouldn't develop nuclear weapons but to undo the sanctions now we're completely reversed that it's going to be difficult for the united states to develop this strategy this very you must strictly anti monster energy because. because not everybody shares this in the middle east we seem to turkey which is now has a base in in kuwait and is reaching down into the region has in a sense formed an alliance with iran and and is a new power in the region and that's increasingly putting it at loggerheads at the united states so the u.s.

is going to lead a lot of heavy were lifting in some ways it's good for the u.s. because its friends and involved saudi arabia are getting closer to israel and and this is you know this is developed a very pro israel lobby and groups in washington of course have been pushing that the more right wing groups have been pushing this policy for a long time in their big donors to the president in south and i think as he gears up. his campaign this is going to become an important part of it because because. the republican party more and more attached to this line. budget is pumping he points to iran's involvement in yemen in syria in the great deal of influence in iraq and in lebanon . what is the thinking behind iran's approach there why are they so involved in these nations why does that present a problem for the united states well obviously the exam vacuum in the arab world

now with the with the increased number of failed states and failing states with their disappearance of the arab central states you know egypt syria iraq all the stronger arab states have either disappeared from the map altogether or at least been them significantly weaker than they were and their abilities to inflict influence across the arab world have greatly decreased and therefore this is leading only saudi arabia to work as a regional one within the arab world itself and the vacuum that's created there simply will be filled by whoever has enough ambition we have seen iran with evolutionary ambitions you know coming through the middle east and wreaking havoc where now we've seen turkey that's understanding the effects of this iranian influence and the effect of the american withdrawal in the region and is trying to present itself as another regional power that can inflict the stability in the region through its partnerships with country. kuwait and somalia and other countries and of course we're seeing there the access that the iraqi saudi access

trying also to influence and like that kind of evidence all this together will certainly prevent a dilemma for the american the americans the current administration wants to have its cake and eat it too they want to have great influence in the region they want to be the global power but they don't want to pay for that they don't want to send troops and they don't want to even you know use their political power and their soft power in a way that will make sure that they're all that. are in a low what we are seeing now is that america's losing influence in the kitchen and other powers are gay. meaning influence we've seen the iranians in cohesion with the russians and in talks with the turks which means that the whole dynamic in the region is changing not for them not for american interests but for other power than the us we've seen even the chinese coming in now and having influence in the region i believe that if the united states doesn't collect itself in the age and that if united states foreign policy does not become coherent about the region all the

secretary about being influential in the arab world in the middle east will change very rapidly we've seen how companies question talks about iran but to be honest there is no coherent plan there's no coherent policy towards iran there's no coherent policy towards tokyo to a syria or any other place in the middle east or around the world for that matter and this leaves american allies in a position worse even than their enemies than american enemies of the enemies of america because it's very clear that nobody now can depend on the united states as an ally with a to be in the middle east or outside. the this is talk of american influence in the region surely not helped by this pullout of american troops from syria. you know i don't think there's a serious issue here is going to be a major problem for the united states are two thousand troops there trying to set up an independent or quasi independent kurdish state in the north of syria was going to be you know

a fool's errand it wasn't going to work all the neighbors were against it they were just going to stick shift in a side of america and stay there. you know finding a new order in the middle east is going to be difficult for the united states because as your you know your guest said that there are other powers that are very wealthy in the world now and you know russia has come back china is an emerging major power and all of that is taking on america as america becomes an independent oil company you know big the biggest exporter of oil or the biggest producer of oil i should say again many americans are wondering what are we spending why bring spending five trillion dollars and this is this is what's catching i think president trump in its head wins because he campaigned on the idea that the united states had to get out of these stupid wars that we shouldn't be spending five trillion dollars and we shouldn't i mean american people are horrified and this is going to put increasing pressure on every president it doesn't matter who right

left to wind down these wars and there are other regional powers that have a lot of money now that are major economic forces that want to roll and and that states have have collapsed i mean this started with the invasion of iraq of course and iran took you know took advantage of this because iran was able to assert itself in the northern middle east and it really has in many ways sewn up a new security architecture with its you with hizbollah the outside of government coming back and of course the rise of the of the shiites in iraq and this has helped iran become a major regional power and it needs yes. security structure if you will in order to counter a possible is really bombing attack against military sites so you are jumping missiles or much as you want to come in yet just on the syrian issue it's very important to understand what the americans were doing in syria i think one two

things should be put in our mind when we say that there will not be much of an effect of american withdrawal from syria first of all it's about a third of syria that's controlled by either the united states army or militias that are supported by the united states and that is very important because it's the major is called the island and syria which is between the if it is and. the second event of syria which means that area is well first of all all their natural resources are there their breadbasket of syria is there and then i think have been working elsewhere as a buffer between two key and russia the only reason why turkey and russia were able actually to establish a good relationship in syria and to stablish understanding in syria was because there was no direct conflict between the turks and the syrians we had lip. and we had. the kurds in east of the if anything it's now with the americans pulling

out this means that there is a there and then act conflict between that russians and the turks they're ok come to this measure we run out of time to appreciate your perspective and that of just as well thanks very much indeed gents saree and joshua landis and thank you for watching you can see the program again any time by visiting our website al-jazeera dot com of course and for further discussion just go to our facebook page that's facebook dot com forward slash a jedi inside story and you can also join the conversation on twitter or handle is at a.j. insights toward the main the clock and the whole team here by phone up. it

could be the biggest land grab in history. as powerful nations lay claim to territories under the oceans twenty one geologists are secret could block the borders. as the struggle for resources intensifies some of the world's most powerful scientists speak out. oceans manakin on a zero. in the next episode of science in a golden age i'll be exploring the contributions made by scholars during the medieval islamic period in the field of engineering. the heights of sophistication in mechanics at the time was the extravagant elephant clock. written around eight fifty a.d. the book contains

a range of ingenious inventions and contraptions science in a golden age with jim alkali on al-jazeera. al-jazeera where and for you. this is al-jazeera. this is the news hour from al-jazeera the british prime minister is making her case right now ahead of tuesday's key. president and the

u.s. president to discuss creating a security zone and road map in northern syria. and anger on the streets of zimbabwe after the government doubles the price of fuel for nights. in sport and the australian open in what could have been the final much of his career. and carry on playing. so britain's prime minister tourism a has asked campaigns to take a second look at the brig's that deal struck between her government and the european union parliament is set to vote on the agreement on tuesday but she has warned pays a rejection of her deal could pave the way for the breakup of the united kingdom many parliamentarians from her own conservative party have said they will vote against. so i say to members on all sides of this house whatever you may have

previously concluded over these next twenty four hours if this deal a second look no it is not perfect and yes it is a compromise but when the history books are written people will look at the decision i. think. people will look at the decision of this house tomorrow and it's did we deliver on the country's vote to leave the european union. we safeguard our economy our security and. the british people down i. say we should deliver for the british people and get on with building a brighter future. for our country. this day. live to westminster has lawrence they to talk us through it all that booing and jeering inside the house of commons lawrence does not bode well for the prime

minister. and frankly just listening to the rest of the debate. unbelievably boring because these m.p.'s haven't learned anything over the last however many months it is because all they're doing is asking her exactly the same questions and then. over again. can you give us reassurance that the u.k. will definitely leave on march twenty ninth and yes says may we can give that assurance then remain as say can you assure us there will be no deal that there won't be no deal. is moving their position at all and that's the problem that she's got one of the british broadcasters has done a poll of m.p.'s on the eve of the vote and projection is that one hundred ninety seven m.p.'s will vote for her and four hundred twenty two will vote against her

and if that's true she would lose by two hundred twenty five and in any in any normal rational. that surely would lead nation but even if he doesn't do that it would certainly be the end of the deal because there's no way she could ever go back to the european union and say give us a few tweaks you know and i'll see if i can bring it back for another go. and so if she loses by anything like that. then she's got to in short order what the plan is instead. one of the suggestions that is doing the rounds and i haven't mentioned this yet is what series of tickets to vote. m.p.'s across parliament to say ok if you don't like this how would you feel about no deal and they will vote on that so how do you feel about. the kind of eruption

and all these other things just to see if any of these things can. command a majority but i don't think frankly any of them will and if that's all falls down then she's got no choice i think at least to suspend article fifty that will draw agreement for the short term and say to the european union we need a bit more time that she does that use then that saves the your opinion as well and this is what we intend to do instead because the e.u. won't agree to an extension of article fifty unless there's some bigger plan behind it and that's still leading people to think well maybe there will have to be a general election or a second referendum or some other thing that at the moment being ruled out but you know she's if looking last for at the moment two hundred twenty five votes if that turns out to be anything like the last tomorrow night is catastrophic for the deal but any of those other sort of options that you out there and she can't publicly say them can she because all the reason is eggs are in this one basket and she has

to stick by it and can't sort of publicly say well if we don't manage it then i guess we'll do this. yeah and you see the problem is you know the labor party the official opposition which is under enormous pressure internally to support a second referendum excess what is membership wants is very likely if she loses the vote some more money is immediately call. into the governments with a view potentially holding a general election but it probably won't win either and so this is not really enough support for any of the alternatives either and this is you know it's a terrible mess this is this is the base about the identity of the u.k. morsels of country it wants to be you know it's about defining the country and whether it wants to stay inside the european union and carry on as it is or seek some other path entirely and they've just lost their way completely and you know

looking at this if you're watching this in the outside world you'd be forgiven for thinking you know what what what what a strange thing this must be the fifth richest country in the world but it's absolutely sixes and sevens with itself but there is no clear path for the moments short of something that's assuming she loses they say that they have currently ruled out completely but i think they the it is looking more and more likely they will have to. potentially scrap the deal and try something else entirely but this this is something probably for another another fortnight away ok lawrence lay outside balances of parliament in london thank you inside the debate goes on the numbers on the benches of thinned out a little bit from earlier winter reason i was speaking but she is still up there. as well a couple of hours later i guess maybe a little less than that taking questions from him he's the discussion happening this monday evening in london the big vote on tuesday when using language on to other news in the presidents of the united states and turkey have discussed the

situation in northern syria on the phone this is after turkey had responded to president donald trump's threat that the u.s. would devastate the turkish economy if its forces attacked the kurds in northern syria now turkey's foreign minister met cover so you says nothing would be achieved by threatening his country. we can see the difficult situation that mr trump is in now there are serious pressure on him and he took the decision of withdrawing however the security divisions are putting constant pressure to stop and we know that the latest tweet is a domestic policy message is. we have said several times that we are not going to be afraid of any threats and will not bow down to it nothing can be achieved by threatening turkey economically meanwhile ankara has deployed troops tanks and heavy military equipment in antakya along its southern border with syria

remember the government seized the kurdish why b.g. fight is there as an extension of the p.k. k. which it has outlawed and then on the other side of the turkish border this is man bridge where you've got syrian forces sent by the government there to support kurdish fighters more on this from mohammed is that he's in gaziantep near that turkish syrian border. the continued wrongdoing between washington and uncut of course is a huge boost for the fortunes of president bashar al assad whose forces are currently patrolling on the outskirts of mum but this gives him a full tool in a territory controlled by the cads which is estimated to be about a third of the city and territory that right now in talks that's the cards on the bashar assad regime and the need is in syria said to have appealed to egypt to mediate what they're calling men in full talks between them and the city an administration of course for now they seem top of bundled brimble the us with

getting tomas a region which they would govern in north and syria and settled for what they're calling for protection against the technician offensive turkey insists it will not be deterred by the noises coming from a washington on that it's just a matter of time before they embark on the offensive to what they're saying clear. the city off mum beach off s. kurdish why p.g. fighters who they say are an extension of p.k. k. which is recognized as a terrorist organization the most offensive gets under way turkey would not be differentiating between remnants of ice and fighters on the city and kurds who are fighting them something out of my three vos some of the gains made in the fight against eyesore. the top u.s. diplomat is now in oman final leg of his middle east tour earlier monday secretary

state might pompei or how talks with saudi leaders in riyadh where they agreed on the need to find a solution over the conflict in yemen and to stick to the cease fire more. u.s. secretary of state mike pompei with saudi leaders in riyadh a crucial stopover in his middle east toward. they have agreed on the need for a continued deescalation in yemen and the implementation of the recent agreements signed in sweden saudi arabia faces bounty and international pressure to and the nearly four year old war in yemen another important issue hanging over the visit is the murder of saudi journalist. or expectations have been clear from early on. every single person who has responsibility for the murder of jamal khashoggi needs to be held accountable. and the crown prince i spoke

about this with king salmon as well they both acknowledged that the accountability needed to take place he was killed in a toll inside the kingdom's consulate in istanbul the findings of the saudi prosecutor were dismissed by the turkish government and world leaders as insufficient on sunday pompei or was in qatar where he called on gulf countries to and that dispute the worst political crisis in decades for the gulf cooperation council america's top diplomat also visited jordan but the u.a.e. egypt and a man after canceling.