yes and by the enemy we're fighting you make people who are trying to help wonder about us and as they get older the people we're trying to help are going to going to get more uncertain saw this in iraq. i'm now seeing it in syria he urged the president to reconsider but that seems unlikely because just after the attack the vice president made this claim we're bringing our troops home the caliphate has crumbled and isis has been defeated. one of the leaders who most clearly does not want to see the u.s. president change course the president of turkey who weighed in. has claimed the responsibility for the attack and this may be seen to affect the decision that mr trump has taken but as i know mr trump's determination about this issue i do not think he will step back against this kind of a terrorist attack. donald trump has been criticized by both parties for his

decision to withdraw u.s. troops his secretary of defense quit in protest now his claim that i still has been defeated will be openly questioned after this attack but he's still not showing any signs he will reconsider political hay al-jazeera washington there's plenty more ahead for you this news hour to resume a wasn't the only european prime minister facing a confidence vote we'll tell you how alexis tsipras goes on in greece. and roger federer is given as tough a test than expected at the australian open media will have that story corps. the international criminal court has halted the release of former ivory coast president laurent gbagbo after a new appeal by prosecutor says the course in the netherlands said bye bye was free to go a day off to his acquittal on charges of crimes against humanity he was trying to

have a post-election violence eighty years ago in which three thousand people were killed by a still faces a twenty year jail term back home for financial crimes natasha has more from the hague. the judge is saying that the prosecutor's case was extremely weak in a way is a blow to the international criminal court you know it's been around for more than twenty years and so many convicted three individuals quite low level individuals never a government leader in fact it was just year twenty eighteen zaps or the former vice president of congo shop here pember a well his case was thrown out and so some say that it means it calls into question if you like the credibility of this court it's abilities but we spoke to the spokesperson for the prosecutor here who said in fact it's just evidence that the court is doing its job correctly the i.c.c. is a court of law and a court of course credibility is measured by its respect of its rules of its legal

rules its efficient and effective respect of the rights of the defense of the films of the proceedings and maybe you have heard or not the defense yesterday they were explaining that. exactly this point the legitimacy and the credibility of the court is measured by the full respect that is given to the rights of the difference to the rights of the victims and in general to the fairness of the proceedings and i think that one important thing that the decision there will straight is the independence of the judges and their impartiality well at this stage if bag though and they do walk free in the coming days the question is where will they go these days and lawyers have said that he would like to go straight back to ivory coast back bow it's less clear the united nations security council has voted unanimously to deploy up to seventy five observers to yemen support city of her data the monitors will be sent for six months just supervise a cease fire and the withdrawal of rival forces following

a truce deal signed in sweden last month most of yemen's food and medicine passes through her dead as port james bay is reports from the united nations. a unanimous vote by the security council to extend and expand its monitoring mission in her data they've now authorized up to seventy five unarmed u.n. monitors for a period of six months the big worry on the ground is that the ceasefire won't hold for anything like that long it came into force last month but is extremely fragile and shaky with numerous violations reported u.n. secretary general antonio good terrorist says keeping and extending the peace is one of his key priorities for the year ahead last month stockholm agreement on yemen helped to avoid the catastrophic military confrontation in the data it would have greatly increases the risk of femen. but much more needs to be done to ensure

that the parties live up to their commitments and that the drew political process finally leads to peace beyond the date in amman jordan talks about an exchange of prisoners something that was originally supposed to happen before last month's stockholm agreement have finally got underway the prisoner exchange is one of the confidence building measures that the special envoy has negotiated so it's a very important part because it shows good faith and it was part of the agreements reached in stock and confidence building is good in its own same areas there's still not enough confidence though to name a date for the next stage of political talks they've now slipped to february kuwait was talked about as a venue but the who things are on easy about going there and now germany is being mentioned james zero at the united nations in libya five people have been killed

in fighting between rival on the groups on the outskirts of tripoli the violence fractures a four month old u.n. brokered cease fire vehicles could be seen in the south of the city factional conflicts have plagued libya since the twenty eleven uprising that toppled one like a toughie the un backed government in tripoli has been working on a new security plan that has achieved little without a national police force or. well zimbabwe's main cities have been tense on the last day of a national strike and was called to protest a government imposed rise in fuel prices a leading activist has also been arrested in harare and faces charges of inciting violence bennett smith reports. and activists pastor has been using social media to encourage people to observe a three day national stay at home protest triggered by a steep rise in fuel prices in zimbabwe that's how to arrested and facing allegations of inciting violence. how often for people to stay

away. incitement to violence but of course this isn't the case and thank you. there's been an uneasy calm and zimbabwe's main cities on wednesday the third day of the national strike businesses and schools remained closed mobile phone internet networks are still off on government orders the government blames the main opposition for the protests. this. is. three people including a police officer died during violent demonstrations in the capital harare on monday and in the second city below way oh shops were looted and cars set on fire so we are hoping for the bitter weeping that maybe if we do these them to government will take us into call call gracie was just doing it all just going to wake us you mean

if you think he's normal is not the city's. slow to you. if you pray to the zimbabwe's president has been in russia during the demonstrations. is accused by protesters a failing to live up to pre-election promises to kick start the economy instead shortages of hard currency are affecting the import of fuel and drugs rocketing inflation is eating into people's savings smith al-jazeera. greek prime minister alexis to press has survived a confidence motion by just one vote called the voters off to his government lost its parliamentary majority on sunday when his main coalition partner walked out it's all the result of a controversial deal to rename greece's neighbors and macedonia northern macedonia and an attempt to resolve the twenty seven year dispute between the two nations the narrow victory should pave the way for greece to ratify the name change john

seraphina's has more from athens. the government has survived this post of confidence by rebuilding its majority in parliament by attracting six and p's that it needed to get fifty percent plus one vote so it's a razor thin majority but it is a constitutional majority the opposition accuses it of creating a majority of convenience in order to remain in power rather than one based on conviction the government says that it wants to remain in power for the last few months in office until october in order to pass a series of legislative reforms but of course the main reason it wants to remain in power is to pass its signature legislation the ratification of a name change agreements with the neighboring former yugoslav macedonia which through this agreement would be called north macedonia and if the government gets this passed it will be a binding agreement between the two countries that will open the door for nato and the european union to greece's neighbor the opposition conservative say if you vote

for the government you're also voting in effect for this agreement and that hub is dangerous for greece because a country next to greece is region of macedonia which also contains the term macedonia may one day harbor territorial designs on northern greece but the ruling cities oppose he says that's all been taken care of there are safeguards that separate the identities and cultures and histories and traditions of the greeks versus. of macedonians of the former yugoslavia and that histories are no longer being fictionalized and intertwines the way they have been in the last ten years of conservative rule in the former yugoslav masses this new socialist government. was elected last year and that country and which has negotiated the deal with greece is much more compromising much more reasonable the greek side has and we are confident

that this agreement will hold in mutual respect however it is by no means certain that syriza will even though it will remain in power finally passed this agreement because some of the six opposition m.p.'s that defected to join it and support it tonight have expressed reservations they've said that they won't vote for the agreement they are simply voting for the government to remain in office so a new round of coalition building remains in the next few days the presidents of brazil and argentina have stepped up pressure on venezuelan leader nicolas maduro calling him a dictator j. able sonar and his argentinean count of out here murray made the comments during a meeting in the brazilian capital met create queues majority of prolonging his presidency through fictitious elections it comes a week after my dear i began a second term in office which many countries in the region have condemned as in adjustments. and as the possible u.s.

government shutdown continues for a fourth week the situation for businesses in the washington area is getting wess as federal workers wait to learn when they'll get back to west and their next paycheck elizondo takes a look at how the shutdown has created a need for a special program. in downtown washington d.c. the sounds of a rhythm and blues classic but in a sign of the times in america the lyrics take on a new twist. as you. said and for some people who work for the u.s. government this is what it's come down to standing in line waiting for a free meal four hundred twenty thousand federal employees deemed essential are working but without pay another three hundred eighty thousand have been sent home also without pay like drin a home in a cashier at the smithsonian museum struggling to make ins meet financially having not worked in weeks how about trying to go to

a gas station and. dollars toppings the paychecks stopped but the bills did not she had to make choices car payment or groceries and i didn't think this would happen i didn't think it was going to go throughout all we up until the person when they said ok budget is over your for you laid off until this is over and saying that this is not going to happen this is not happening there the accountants bookkeepers security officers you name it they do it the civil servants who quietly behind the scenes do the jobs of keeping government running the used to before it all ended with the government shutdown just here in washington d.c. there are about two hundred thousand people that are federal employees of those tens of thousands are now not receiving a paycheck and they have no idea what their future holds. don white has worked for

the government for thirty seven years and now this campaign more gets my car note i've got two daughters in college. if you will be. inside volunteers from world central kitchen hunger and poverty organization handout food this is the first day they've done this after most journalists had got their stories and left those in need had not the line still extended around the block while nearby the man with the guitar still played now all too familiar lyrics. gabriels rondo al-jazeera washington. still ahead on al-jazeera refugees and migrants setting off from hundred euro's tell us why they're prepared to risk the long journey to the us mexican border. a lie said touch how digital activists in the occupied west bank are using humor to promote the palestinian cause. and in

sports and other russian is done for typing lia we'll have those details. hello there was a lot of rain and snow ahead its way into parts of north america once more for a look at the satellite picture we can see most of it is over the western parts at the moment and that's a problem because we've had wildfire in the not too distant past and that has given us a problem with some scar areas that are likely to give us a problem with some land slips as well so more rain is expected and snow as we head through the next few days or if that gradually edging eastwards all of a system is in the east is not too intense but it could bring a little bit of disruption if it runs its way towards the northeast bringing some of us some or all that wintry weather here now for the central america is plenty. sunshine head lots of sunshine just one or two showers perhaps if you're unlucky

particularly the parts of honduras and into nikki ragu i think that's where we most likely of seeing a few showers over the south and there's been some very violent showers here particularly over the northern parts of argentina and into a year ago i here's the system that brought us all that what weather it is still with us at the moment still some very heavy showers on thursday and on friday as well on friday looks like the worst of those downpours will be slipping a bit further towards the south once more towards year of life for the know of also some showers across the amazonian base them but nothing out of the ordinary for this time of year it is looking mostly dry. it could be the biggest line grab in history. as powerful nations laid claim to territories under the ocean twenty one geologists are secretly plotting you board.

as the struggle for resources intensifies some of the world's most powerful scientists speak out. oceans manakin on a zero. if you were looking at this from the outside you would really wonder what was going old what do you see gross is a religion that they have an in-depth exploration of global capitalism and our obsession with economic growth this is still the center of capitalism there is no limits i view myself as a capital artist we are trying to break through the world smaller and smaller we don't want to be realistic in the world we would rather have a fantasy growing coming soon.

welcome back. a reminder about top stories this hour presents prime minister has a politician's to put self interest aside and work together on a deal for the country's withdrawal from the european union to resume a made the plea offer to head government survived a motion of no confidence. the dream behind tuesday's attack in kenya says it was in retaliation for the u.s. president's decision to recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel at least twenty one people died in the. fight is on a nairobi hotel complex the red cross says fifty people are still unaccounted for. two u.s. soldiers are among at least nineteen people killed by a bomb in northern syria a department of defense civilian and a supporting contract that were also killed i saw has claimed responsibility for the blast in. the lives of refugees who've escaped syria under threat

again from a second severe winter storm the u.n. says tens of thousands in northern lebanon including many children battling the freezing temperatures in makeshift shelters fifteen have died in camps inside syria in the past month then a hot us spoke with people and are still close to the border with syria. is very ill. the two year old is suffering from respiratory problems temperatures regularly drop below zero during the winter months in this corner of lebanon but this year is particularly harsh and these children refugees from syria are the most vulnerable they live in tents made of flimsy plastic sheeting it is a struggle to keep warm and it is hard to stay dry. most of the united nation gave us money to buy gasoline for the whole winter but their mark you can

purchase is not enough what a month and a half we need ten dollars a day i have three kids. it's hard for fathers like up to when they can't buy medicine and meet the needs of their children these desperate families have survived one severe storm already this year and now they're bracing for another storm the second in less than a week the united nations says twenty two thousand syrians were affected in the first storm flooding heavy rain and snow whipped by strong winds destroyed their tents last week many fear the worst is yet to come. i am scared of the upcoming storm because i suffered and the last one my tenth was flooded and we couldn't stay inside my family and i had to live with others in another tent and i'm sure this would happen again imagine how much harder it is for the elderly ninety four year old has and his daughters are up are trapped as they

should be. when weather conditions are bad we can't do anything but stay inside and i wrap my father with a lot of blankets like a child to keep me warm and i have no choice but to wait for the storm to end before going outside there are no shelters to accommodate these refugees in times like this the united nations says seventy thousand people are at risk because of harsh weather conditions forty thousand of them are children they live in shelters and sites that are prone to flooding and are in danger of collapse because of heavy snowfall levanon refuses to set up proper camps to prevent the long term resettlement of refugees the u.n. says one hundred seventy thousand of the one million refugees registered in lebanon live like this for them in particular it is proving to be a tough winter senate. are still northeastern lebannon well hold on lang is vice president for programs and policy at the n.g.a.

refugees international he joins us live now from washington d.c. how didn't tell us a little more about the conditions facing these refugees and what can possibly be done to help. sure good to be with you the refugees that we're talking about eleven on here are some of the most vulnerable that you're going to see in the region unlike jordan or turkey very few formal camps have been set up eleven on so many of the facilities in which the aged the elderly the children are being housed are informal camps that simply aren't prepared for these kind of temperatures and this is been a problem in previous years it's just particularly acute this year and this week with these storm systems so at the end of the day there's a longer term question about what can be done to provide facilities there will be more up to international standards and this is something where pressure has been put on the government level on the past been successfully going forward right now i think this really is

a question of trying to get cash into the hands of units the are from international donors and then also to international and most importantly local in geos who are on the ground in these communities that can provide some stopgap measures for the seventy thousand who we expect to be particularly vulnerable over the next couple of days and stretching into next week and how did these families are living in tents because they're not being allowed to build more right boss kinds of stretches . yeah precisely so if you're in turkey or you're in jordan and you're in staying in some of the camps that have been set up for syrian refugees there they're much more robust facilities because they've been established with the understanding that the syrian refugees were going to be there for years lebannon for a series of reasons partially political partially because the government has been functioning for a number of years and also just the general approach this crisis has been to avoid anything that would give a semblance of permanence to the syrian refugee camp refugee population i mean this

is a bit of a hangover the goes back to the time of the palestinians the lebanese are very concerned that the syrian refugee population may stay for a long period of time and they indeed have been there for a while now the real question is they refused to allow the kind of more permanent structures that would provide a baseline of humanitarian protection for these very vulnerable populations houghton is that response from the lebanese government a question of political well or just a lack of resources. it's probably a bit of both but i think the issue that we really need to tackle is the one of political will over the course of the last year we've heard from the lebanese government an increasing push for the syrian refugees to go home and this has very little to do with the nature of the conditions in syria where it is particularly right across the border where the situation hasn't particular stabilized and more a matter of it's just politically quite difficult for the lebanese government to

tolerate these populations for long periods of time so i think at the end of the day just a lot more needs to be done in terms of providing incentives to the lebanese government and then a bit of pressure as well to provide the kind of. inputs that will allow this population to be sort of sustainable and protected over the next couple of years as the situation in syria begins to stabilize this is a problem they've been living with now for seven eight years but when they've been treating as sort of a new humanitarian crisis every year and it really is quite important events like this week really how it why it's so essential that we recognize that these populations are going to be there for some time to come and that they will need the facilities the required to do that hard in lying from refugees international thank you for your time. afghan peace talks have hit a stumbling block with the taliban threatening to walk away from negotiations the group has accused the u.s. of deflecting from the issue of withdrawing forces from afghanistan amusing between

the u.s. special envoy on afghan reconciliation zalmay khalilzad and taliban that we just last week with canceled and now has postponed a planned trip to his on the bad for talks with pakistani leaders meanwhile the taliban has accused as i'm about of cracking down on its leaders and members in order to pressure the group to open talks with the afghan government has more. confusion still persisting over the. taliban all over the whole place in abu dhabi and. now the u.s. special representative for peace and reconciliation four of one is done ambassador . was due to come to islamabad for dogs with the bugs on the government on how to bring the of one taliban to the negotiating table august on saying that it had little control over the of. the of one taliban also issuing

a statement saying that any air dam to outmaneuver they would be unacceptable and that the us would now being conditionalities which were unacceptable to the avalon taliban according to diplomats are still sticking to their guns saying that they were not told to the puppet regime in kabul and warn nothing short of a foreign drawing from of honest on their four day gaited issue at hand and it is going to be difficult to see how the of one taliban will come to the negotiating table of the united states of insincerity. khan is an adjunct start scholar of defense and foreign policy at the cato institute she joins us by skype from virginia so what can be done to try to get these talks actually leaving again . thank you for having me on your show and i think with pakistan now plays a vital role in actually moving these talks forward and it is very telling that the special envoy. fused to go to some about and response box that has been sort of

cracking down on balance safe havens and safe houses in going after certain leaders so i think what can be done to move these talks along there are two things basically one is that box time can show that it is serious about trying to use the leverage that it has on the taliban to get them to the negotiating table and to get them to compromise on some of their demands and the second issue would be also i'm being in a more compromising position where he is willing to meet with the taleban and box on officials together. even when certain things have not been set in stone just it . has previously been criticized for backing the taliban and as you say there appears to have been a crackdown more recently has pakistan's position changed on this issue. i don't think it has and i think it's been very clear is that out of all the stakeholders involved in the u.s. war in afghanistan pakistan is probably one of the only countries that has had

a longstanding relationship but that by now this relationship that accent has a taliban is very complicated and it has certainly experienced its own ups and downs which can be indicated just by recent activities as well in which you know going after certain taliban leaders one example of course houses used to be the religious affairs minister back when he was in power in you know understand so i think back some sense has not changed back sun is always maintained that that have been is a part of the. political fabric and they're sort of bet it on the ballot by maintaining its important role and it seems as if oksana may have been on the right side when it comes to backing now whether or not the sun can use its relationship as leverage to improve not only the relationship it has with the u.s. but also to help end the war in afghanistan is yet to be seen and various other

gulf states have also been applying pressure how is that played out. well i think the gulf states are sort of they're also interested in the war ending but i think they're more interested in how a plan is than it is to be stable basically within central asia atlanta sun being as unstable as it is it's simply bad for business. not only has a huge refugee crisis but it also has a huge economic crisis it still needs a great deal of foreign aid for its economy to function it some government still needs a great deal of. foreign troops and security contractors to lend it security and i think this is something that is now really concerning the gulf states as well because a lot of stuff is close to them and it's essentially bad business of the economy cannot function on its own and so the taliban has previously said from from their side that they are only begin talks with afghan government officials once the u.s. sets a phone date for the withdrawal of their troops is that still their position. yes i

believe it's still their position in fact they're kind of melding their two separate positions into one over the past you know eighteen years we've seen the meet to demands the first is that foreign troops each of the draw from the plan a sign of the second is that the current government which which they view as a puppet regime that was established at the bond agreement in two thousand and two that this needs to be dismantled now they are sort of melding two together saying that we need foreign troops to withdraw and we need this government to dismantle as well so i think what they're doing is that this is the first time that bond is actually has a lot of territory they're actually coming from a position of strength and they're trying to use this to their advantage by making two of their demands into into. con from the case so institute thanks so much for your insights. thank you thank you fred. human rights watch has criticised the palestinian authority as approach to freedom of speech online accusing us of running a regime the comments came during

a forum on palestinian digital activism looking for new ways to advocate the palestinian cause through social media how the forces reports from ramallah in the occupied west bank. armors dedicated a soul to the business of storytelling today at a forum on online activism it's the story of how and why she set up her own digital publishing site and attempt to share but also reshape the palestinian story so often seen through the lens of conflict and occupation bere how care or the will of stories is weighted towards optimism ambition humor she says it's a different way to fight the palestinian cause and exploit the opportunities presented by social media and most of us like they waste time on checkpoints but we have an article that was called at the checkpoints so. you can do your homework you can use the time on the checkpoint in a very productive way so here we're talking about the plans to new york city but we're presenting it in a different way thirteen years since the last national elections palestinians are

just living under occupation but also with a democratic deficit the online world where more than two million people in the occupied west bank and gaza use facebook is therefore a vital space for activism and debate but the organizers of this forum say it's far from a safe space israel has detained hundreds of people over their social media use and they have been power of crackdowns by hamas in gaza and the palestinian authority here in the west bank it has detained journalists and activists and blocked websites under a recently adopted cybercrime law on stage the israel palestine director of human rights watch cited what he called intimidatory detentions in both gaza and the west bank quoting one recent detainee despairing of the fact that a regime had emerged before a palestinian state it was a direct challenge to a leading prosecutor from the palestinian authority who had himself been condemning israel for abusing online freedoms i mean he denied there was any organized campaign against free speech saying the authority did its utmost to protect human

rights for those who. believe it is. the things which.