using platforms such as telegram and one of the longest known shutdowns more than fourteen weeks and twenty seven thousand and eighteen took place in cameroon as a protest movement gained strength in the country's english speaking regions according to facebook's twenty eighteen transparency report and turning to asia china has long been known for its tight internet security freedom house says beijing was the worst abuse of internet freedom in twenty eight team and the chinese model of censorship and surveillance seems to be expanding to other parts of the world meanwhile every shutdown has an economic implication that blocks out or created this tool that estimates the impact of internet disruption mobile data blackouts and also restrictions and those can be huge for example zimbabwe a country already plagued by a weak economy and political uncertainty would lose one point four million dollars in one day compare that to the united states where

a single day without the internet could have an impact of over one point five billion dollars and then this cuba it has virtually no board but internet access and only a limited mobile network so the impact there is zero. plenty more ahead on the news hour including. a mexican fuel pipeline explodes killing more than sixty people being ruptured by suspect. i don't agree with many of. our american accusations of anti-semitism with women on the march. and fit for many ways in for his latest we'll hear from him with peter. all right this weekend marks the midpoint of donald trump's four year presidential term the last two years have seen the u.s.

president pull out of the global climate accord wants a trade war with china cracking down on undocumented immigrants and trigger the longest government shutdown in america's history and as our diplomatic editor james bass explains there are concerns over what trump's next move will be. was on his very first day in office president trump made his international agenda very clear his actions abroad would be guided by his view of the interests of the people at home in the u.s. from this day forward it's going to be only america first america first. this policy made him the disrupter in chief on the world stage freaking out the u.s. is closest friends are pending international treaties like the paris climate deal which the u.s. had signed and threatening to completely change the international rules based

multilateral order that had existed for seventy years now and. after two years of trump u.s. allies are worried about what could come next there are nerved by his attitude to russia since world war two nato has been the u.s. is most important defense alliance but each year when trump has attended the annual summit he's questioned not only how much others a spending on defense but also the basic premise of the organization a mutual defense pact alliance leaders are so nervous they haven't even set a date for this year's summit. they're walking on eggshells right i mean it is. a bit like a borderline personality the central right like you're always you're guarding yourself what is the thing that i might say or do that could set this person off that's not it you don't know how to manage a relationship like that and some of that he can't help himself and some of that is

actual strategy it is actually who he is it's how he thinks he gets is successful the u.n. is also deeply worried trump pulled out of the cultural body unesco cut funding to the part of the u.n. that helps palestinians annorah and in a move that may have been bold in the world's dictators gave up the u.s. is seat on the un human rights council now the white house is turning its attention to the un's budget as the u.s. funds twenty two percent of the regular budget and almost a third of the cost of peacekeeping such cuts could be devastating in other parts of the world they fear a u.s. pullout to the government in afghanistan has been propped up by u.s. troops and cash for nearly eighteen years and there's confusion over the u.s. involvement in the middle east trump all aluminum egypt pullout of u.s. troops from syria but other senior officials have suggested the u.s. will make sure i sall is defeated first there are many questions for the next two

years will this administration take further steps to confront iran will dialogue with north korea continue all or be a return to threats of nuclear conflict with this most unscripted of presidents there is only one certainty and that is that things will remain unpredictable james al-jazeera at the united nations. well the day off the trumps inauguration in two thousand and seventeen hundreds of thousands of women flooded into washington to march against the new president is now and i new live events for some of pulling out of this weekend's march but reynolds explains why. two years ago the first women's march spilled out across the heart of washington d.c. we came to protest sexism racism environmental degradation and president donald trump's behavior toward women similar women's marches were held in hundreds of cities around the us the ones marching twenty seventeen was a huge deal as the largest protests in u.s.

history it turned out people not just in washington d.c. in the streets of washington d.c. i think the estimation was around seven hundred fifty thousand people participated but in cities and towns across the united states and actually around the world this year the washington march has been caught up in controversy one of the organizers to make a mallory attended a rally with reverend louis farrakhan of the nation of islam who has a long history of making anti semitic remarks mallory tweeted praise of farrakhan prompting intense criticism in washington media malory then awkwardly tried some damage control on a popular t.v. talk show i don't agree with many of minister farrakhan statement says simply about jewish people as i said i don't agree with many of minister farrakhan statement i condemn not me i don't agree with the statement at the end of the day kind of the now to be very clear it's not my language it's not the way that i speak some

organizations and individuals have dropped out of the march as a result of the controversy the twenty seventeen march was a catalyst for political activism among women on the left last november a democratic party wave of diverse female candidates won seats in congress flipping it from republican control and establishing a powerful check on trump sociologist dana fisher has correlated participation in the march with political activism one of the things i found this really interesting is the degree to which people marched in the streets or what i call them as they resisted. streets last initially and then they started resisting in their congressional districts i found that people. who participated in the resistance were very involved in the midterm elections. attendance has full and since the original women's march this year only ten to fifteen thousand people are expected

to gather in washington the weather forecast of sleet and snow no doubt play a part in that book the ne will of it is now it seems a feature of the american political landscape rob reynolds al-jazeera washington. well government is on today's march and sent us this update. thousands of women here in central washington d.c. all of them with a very big big message that they want to move forward with a new agenda for america i want to step out so you get a sense of the thousands of people that are here on this women's day march here in washington d.c. but we've marching towards donald trump's hotel here as well to make a statement towards the president but i want to bring in one person it's here right now it's katie wood and bert katie thanks for joining us how are you i'm great thank you came all the way from new hampshire why did you come here today i came to resent representing all women and the deep feeling we need to protect our democracy

why is that so important right now right now we're seeing our congress fail where our employees are working our environments failing there's a big agenda here it's talking about moving forward towards twenty twenty or talk about immigrant rights violence against women climate justice civil rights big big agenda you're taking on here it's hard to decide which is most important in every day changes and we need to really look at all of these were in danger why this is so important though right now it's two years into the trunk presidency i see a lot of signs. antitrust science year what is it about his presidency that's really galvanized so many women. well he's anti women we're now instead of two years from the last election for two years in front of the next one and we really need to get motivated and mobilize and the midterm elections that just

passed a record number of women and people of color. were elected to congress to the house of representatives is that a big victory for you guys it feels like a victory but we have to see what they can accomplish with a divided government it's going to be hard very divided right now let me ask you a couple years ago with the first prince march there were millions of people here as a record turnout you were one of them what a lot of people here today but not nearly what we saw a couple years ago what do you make it out why well i think the weather plays a big part of it we know lots of people from new england couldn't get here i think there's many many system marches and i'm afraid some people may be fatigued of getting out and protesting all the time one of the big challenges is getting people still engaged in everything. be back for another march you think oh i plan on it thank you very much appreciate you joining us so there's a view there of one person it's here again thousands of people here this is just

one of several marches happening all over the country on this cold saturday people here definitely wanting to get their voices heard. well the u.s. president is set to make a major speech on immigration is the longest government shutdown in u.s. history drawing zome trump is demanding five point seven billion dollars for border wall he says it's needed to stop the flow of illegal migration drugs how did you travel to berks county in texas and just a warning you might find some of the images in her report distressing. brooks county texas a collection of branches hugging a highway leading north from the border is a corridor of drug smuggling from mexico. this is where sheriff benny martinez tries to hold back the tide this is small so it varies of on apartments in the i'm sure there's a lot of our going to be going through this corridor this lot is full of vehicles

confiscated by the brooks county sheriff's office more than three hundred of them all caught trying to smuggle drugs or people deeper into the united states they all try to pass through this border patrol checkpoint one of the busiest for drug seizures in the country the government acknowledges more than eighty percent of narcotics found near the border entered through legal ports of entry the marijuana was within the walls of this love triangle or by one hundred twenty pounds but the bundles were created to be small to fit the national cavity of the wall here critics of trans border wall say it's unclear how that would curtail drug smuggling through the ports but what is clear is that for migrants a wall makes an already perilous journey more deadly fifty bodies were found in brooks county last year extending a wall in certain areas is going to force people to a more dangerous area and more people are going to the humanitarian say this is the real crisis at the border the people who die in are eaten by animals in an attempt

to reach a better life well we can speak to heidi right now live from a column in texas right on the u.s. mexican border at which the little bit south of bruce county where she filed that report from heidi this major announcement that donald trump is talking about is what are we thinking. well the big question that everyone has is whether or not the president will to clear a national emergency to get the funding he would need to extend this border wall and although we're not certain exactly what hill announced the reports indicate he is not going to take that drastic of a step at least not yet rather what we're hearing is that the plan would be trump is trying to negotiate a deal or offer a deal to democrats that in exchange for that five point seven billion dollars that he's demanding for this wall he would relented offer protection for young

undocumented immigrants who were brought to this country illegally as children and for immigrants covered by the temporary protective status program that in all come a compass is about one million people both of those programs were started by previous presidents and trump in his anti immigration hard line campaign for presidency had pledged to end them which he mediately moved to do so however the courts have intervened in the status quo and those programs for those one million people is that they are still kind of in a status of limbo they're in the country trump wants to deport them democrats want their protection and now trump is trying to use that as leverage to end the shover government shutdown while still getting his wall nic right and right there on the border you see how the shotgun has impacted lifer. i certainly have you know this region really has so many border patrol agents that are members of families and communities that go back for generations here along the border in

fact fifty thousand or so border patrol agents are among those government employees who are not receiving a paycheck and while the border patrol union's president has publicly stood behind president trump's demand for this wall when you talk to agents on the ground you get a very different picture they say that this is very troublesome for their families they're ready many of them working living off paycheck to paycheck and you know the local food lines here at the charities have been overwhelmed with more people looking for those services and certainly on this twenty ninth day of the longest government shutdown in u.s. history that pain is getting more and more acute heidi thanks very much to your character right there on the border thanks will. so i hear an al-jazeera yell of us protesters back on the streets of paris for the tenth weekend despite the french president jeffords to bring them into a national dialogue also. i'm andrew thomas in the pacific god and country of van i

want to see what trials on the way to deliver life saving vaccines. by drug. store coming up to you toying with the world number one djokovic his opponent chase off some tricks of his own but this friday night. there should be a significant amount of snow in afghanistan next day or so all this same assistance wrapped around a low that's just west of turkmenistan is producing a fair amount of snow as it drags on a bit of warmth from the relatively speaking mild the caspian sea was all going east was fairly quickly messy a picture for sunday worthwhile dying for time poor i think after all it's been drug conditions in afghanistan for the whole year there's

a big gap all the way to the west before that system throws least clout across the levant across iraq to be there all monday daoud probably would be nothing more than picking up what dust there is around doesn't do much in the way of rain or snow upon that system sas equally things of cotton dam but it's still on the cold side compared with the average for bahrain eastern side in qatar on the u.a.e. that doesn't change very much slower warming i suppose during monday and the dry picture everywhere the rain she's course correct for the season has showed itself quite substantially in madagascar recently and that massive cloud was thinking about develop into a side time it won't do that but it will increase the rain again in southern madagascar trust a challenge to us in southern mozambique as well though the wind quite strong.

portrays one of the. city's seen through the eyes of those who know it best they see. al-jazeera world goes on the road with palestinian taxi drivers living and working at the heart of one of the most hockey contested locations. jerusalem's palestinian cabbies on the whole jazeera if you were looking at this from the outside you would really wonder what was going on what do you see writes is it 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 pay for the world smaller and smaller we don't want to be set realistic in the world we would rather have a fantasy growing pains on al-jazeera.

but again you're watching al-jazeera and of our top stories this hour the leading u.s. senator says america's relationship with saudi arabia cannot move forward until the murder of journalist. is dealt with on a two day visit to turkey republican senator lindsey graham also says he hopes donald trump will slow the withdrawal of u.s. troops from syria until i saw news it destroyed. more protests are being held in sudan the latest in a month of growing demands for the president of villages in the northern region of chanted for the end of. thirty years.

tens of thousands of people if converged on the streets of washington d.c. and other cities around the world for the third annual march this year's event has been marred by was saying anti semitic comments made by one of the night. let's bring you some breaking news now and details a scant but we are hearing that the u.s. military says that fifty two fighters have been killed in an airstrike in somalia near the port city of other reports are saying that several dozen more people may have been killed in fighting on the ground but we have no confirmation of that at this moment in time so we will bring you more news on that as we get it u.s. military saying that they're striking miners killed fifty two extremists there may be more dead. now at least sixty six people have been confirmed dead after a pipeline fire broke out in central mexico local residents had been siphoning off

fuel from a leak when the explosion happened dozens of people are being treated in hospital for severe burns john heilemann reports now from mexico city and a warning you may find some of the images distressing. it looked like a village celebration dozens gathered under a fountain of gasoline it had erupted from what next crew state oil company said it was an illegally tapped pipeline. they took their fill the soldiers sent to guard the pipeline looks on seemingly powerless then this happened. dozens of people were taken to hospital with burns many less food were burnt to death the tragedy comes just as the government is trying to crack down a rope that i. might. we want to offer our deepest condolences to the victims' families and to tell the victims' families that the entire government is with them and that we are sincerely

by what has happened i would also like to tell the family members of those who were injured that we're keeping special attention at the hospitals and that we are trying to save lives. gangs and corrupt officials have been siphoning off petrol from the country's pipelines few years in two thousand and eighteen the army found more than six thousand illegal taps vulnerable pipelines have been shut down while the secured it's left many communities with shortages. the government's trying to make up those shortfalls by delivering petrol in heavily guarded tankers in the capital the system is beginning to work but elsewhere emits curry second city. and several states there are still queues operations costing serious money not just the tankers but the full thousand troops deployed to guard them pipelines and fuel death pose experts say it can't go on indefinitely the president's essentially made

this a game of chicken let's see who gets tied first he said those stealing the country's oil for his government with its mounting cost of pipeline security and distribution . polls have shown the majority of mit's can support the president stand. by that but if it's to fire people who are stealing the fuel it's good we just have to put up with it for a bit if it's to make the country better that's fine friday ended with another pipeline explosion in create this time with no casualties but the clocks running for the president to come up with a long term solution to fuel there and all that comes with it john home and now does it or mexico city. yellow vest demonstrators marching for the tenth straight weekend in france to protest against president of government. it is the first mass rally since micron published an open letter and called for

a grand debate in response to protesters angry with his economic policies the demonstrations broke out in november after a rise in fuel taxes the decision the government later scrapped david change to has more. the big debate will see hundreds of meetings like this one right across from its president emmanuel micron's attempt to break out of the metropolitan bubble of paris and listen to the real opinions of the people to dispel the arrogant image that he may have this one is taking place in the town of so which is about eighteen kilometers south so it's a good above average income and most people commute into paris for their jobs but i was asking a few of the members here before the debate began exactly what their opinions were both about president magnus attempts to dispel his image of arrogance and also what the yellow vests have been doing. stuff because. i hope the demands discussed in

these meetings will be listened to by the government the yellow vests deserve the credit to have put on the table some topics that were in need to be discussed since long ago. both say that this would have been a great debate taking place before the crisis now i'm not sure. that the yellow best protests are of course still going on this is the tenth consecutive saturday which they are launching their protests not only here in paris but right across the country they have many shades of opinion but support for them still remains very high that the number of people are putting on the ground is beginning to reduce and there are many complaints about the police tactics the violent police tactics being used against them. thousands are back on the streets of hungary's capital to denounce labor forms that many have dubbed

a slave law that allows employers to ask workers to do up to four hundred hours of overtime a year for delayed payment policy has sparked weeks of demonstrations and united rival opposition parties against the prime minister viktor orban robert forster walker reports now from budapest. it's more than a month now since opposition protesters have a new political awakening for those who oppose. the u.s. government it is not just one political party it's many parties from the left and the right civil society treats you and students. the big issue that has brought everyone together it seems is a labor law that was passed last month in hungary which the opposition is calling this slave law because it requires gallion workers to do in addition to four hundred hours potentially a year their victory here is

a teacher and so you want yourself represent a trade union yeah yeah why are people so worked up about this well as the very core of a public sector i feel that more and more people are very in the public sector are very dead by this new law because they have to very poor and where extra hours and they have a very bad that salary to have a very low salary and they are overloaded as well and i think today it's very important that we can show that a lot of trade unions are together here fighting against this will secure asia and it's very important because they did not have them so many people together with so many trade unions as it's kind of the first step to to to be together to fight against this whole situation so this is something that we're also seeing these kinds of demonstrations now let me take you over here we've got a political party sitting up stalls like a kind of trade fair to my rights suitably your pick this is or was traditionally a farmer. party politics is now moving more towards the center as viktor orban.

takes the far right space and over to my left the green party of hungary now they're hoping people are going to sign up get actively involved and what they want to do is challenge this victory governments in the european parliamentary elections and then later local elections this year this is a process that is taking place in hungary right now. the elderly indonesian cleric who was the ideological leader of the bali bombers is being granted early release from prison for what to describe as humanitarian reasons i would bakar bashir was sentenced to fifteen years for his links to the two thousand and two nightclub bombings in which more than two hundred people were killed last year brian has this . for many of those and bali on that night seventeen years ago a kind of a she is a promoter of terrorism but for his lawyers and now the indonesian government he's

an old man who suffered enough. of us here. release was based on humanitarian reasons and based on acceptable reasons according to war among others i will become for sure was too old you're the oldest prisoner in indonesia you also suffer from illness. the bombs were planted and not clubs will than two hundred people mostly tourists were killed and more became the most deadly attack of its kind on indonesian soil. the icy year old has so far served nine of a fifteen year jail sentence for his links to camps where the bombers were trained he had been an eligible for parole because it refused to renounce his beliefs president. into those lobbying on bashir has behalf and agreed to release him but. one of the conditions for obtaining parole is being loyal to the philosophy of the state if inmates don't want to sign the document they cannot get released in this case the president used his authority to release bashir but some in indonesia

suspect the president has one eye on elections and i and is concerned about accusations he criminalizes clerics the shia who set up an islamic boarding school known for producing feiss has repeatedly denied involvement in the bali attacks and says he's not hostile to the state. to have this country protected by god's rule so everyone is safe that's the meaning of defending the state i want to defend the country so that everyone is safe even muslim or infidels. of the two hundred victims were astray ians and one survivor who lost his friends in the attack is disappointed that. radical groups. the bombing spurge akasha to beef up cooperation on security masses with the us and australia always express the views of reservations and we will continue to work

closely with them on this issue with the partners when it comes to chaffering terrorism and religious extremism but despite those reservations but she is expected to walk free as early as next week. on al-jazeera. protesters in thailand a demanding the government to push ahead with its original plan to hold a general election next month for the fifth time in less than five years the government has delayed the vote scott heide reports now from bangkok. a few hundred protesters have gathered here at thomas a university in central bangkok they're part of a growing movement a growing backlash against the government's repeated delays in general elections there have been five delays over the last five years since the military took over the government here in thailand also nearby there was another small protest movement calling for the direct ouster of the prime minister the current prime minister prelude to know just now why there has been an increase in this backlash against the government because of these repeated delays in the election at the

beginning of the year there were indications coming from the government that they would take place on february twenty fourth then just a few weeks ago the deputy prime minister said that probably would happen they'd have to push back the election date because the nation needed to prepare for the upcoming coronation of the king and that the nation wasn't ready for elections that's when we saw these protests start to ramp up but also interestingly on saturday there was a counter protest a very nearby thomas a university here now this is something we really hadn't seen before they were saying that pushing for elections causes chaos and they said there can't be elections until there is unity not something we really haven't seen as a small group of these in sync very close here already with this protest movement that is going on right now now we look forward there are indications that in this upcoming week there could be a royal decree about the election date now the elections cannot be held until there's a while official royal decree comes out saying what the election day will be that's and to say that all of this upcoming week for march twenty fourth now that's

something the organizers here say will bring these protests to a stop if there's a royal decree saying that these elections will take place in march there is concern because there's a legal deadline that they have to take place by may not. israeli forces of five bullets and tear gas a palestinian protest as a. ambulances on the gaza border at least thirty palestinians including three medics were injured on friday it was the forty third consecutive friday protest as part of the great march of return movements protesters demand the right of return for refugees worldwide and the end of israel in egypt's decade long walk out of gaza. lifesaving vaccines could see me delivered by drones tests underway on a remote pacific island which could revolutionize health care for some of the world's poorest nations after thomas reports now from vanuatu said of mangere island. delivering vaccines to people on air a mango on.