being downed so i think israelis will be much more careful careful when they work or strike in the areas where russian military personnel might be especially in looked archaea order to the new un envoy to syria is in russia where he's meeting with the foreign minister sergei lavrov last week paterson's visit to damascus this to damascus rather for the first time he's interested to hear the u.n. envoy position on the syrian constitutional committee that's meant to draft the country's new constitution so talk to rory chalons now is live for us in moscow so what's coming up in those talks. well look i don't think this is going to result in any massive steps forward for the peace process for syria this is primarily a meet and greet basically with give it a son who's been in his job for two weeks now coming to moscow for the first time

in his new role as the u.n. special envoy for syria of course he's taking over from stefan de mistura who was doing the job for four years in the. opening remarks at this meeting between lavrov and gave at assen lavrov was was keen to impress on the new u.n. envoy. what he believes are russia's key achievements key achievements he says in the areas that are being won from the terrorists in syria as he put it and also they key achievements in laying the groundwork for the return of refugees to their homes for the norwegian diplomats perspective what he wants to show is that he is active he's hitting the ground running he explained that he had already been to damascus to meet with the syrian government he had already been to riyadh to meet with the opposition and now for obvious reasons he said he's in moscow russia has

a huge role to play in syria and what he hopes for is some kind of rebooting of this whole process one thing i noticed though was how little there was in these opening strange is that was discussed about. the constitutional and leadership issues of syria this was about. refugee issues about meeting each other but the big burning questions of course of what happens next in syria particularly with that assad in particular the constitution those i think perhaps on the public front at least are not going to be hugely discussed in this meeting. all right rory challenge in moscow. plenty more still ahead in the news hour including voters in the southern philippines cast their ballots in a referendum aimed at ending a decades long conflict. u.k.'s prime minister gets ready to reveal her plan

before briggs it and its board find out why this tennis player lost his cool at the australian oh. it's been a day to remember for millions of votes in the southern philippines referendums been held on a new law aimed at granting greater autonomy to the island of mindanao the vote follows decades of war by muslim rebels against government rule from manila the result is expected in a week's time if the vote passes the b.-o. l. or bangsamoro organic law will create a new autonomous region the lore is the result of a comprehensive agreement when decades of fighting between muslim separatists and the philippine army the war identifies the bangsamoro people as native or the original inhabitants of mindanao it also paves the way for the creation of the

bangsamoro government led by a chief minister and the regional parliament general allen dougherty is following developments from in the now where tensions are high. when polls opened early this morning there was a sense of calm all across about the city we accompanied the leaders of the more islamic liberation front chairman rod chance to vote for the first time together with his supporters submitting themselves to the country's democratic process something great they said that they have never thought possible after decades of fighting the philippine government were closing at around three pm local time the situation be intense certainly when the military is trying to step through a growing crowd in one of the precincts here many of them were made to lead the presents before they were able to vote and they were upset and they are still outside the gate this is really demanding more clarity and transparency in this

electoral process and this is exactly what is needed to be proven today and in the coming days days as the government continues its canvassing of both that the process will be credible and acceptable to both sides both the philippine government the supporters and the more islamic liberation front at this point also what is critical is that expectations will be leveled specially for the supporters of the more islamic liberation front. african union representatives have canceled a visit to the democratic republic of congo which was aimed at resolving the dispute over last month's presidential election constitutional court judges declared felix just to get the the winner despite in the e.u. appealed to delay the announcement because of voter fraud allegations martin for you lou says hayes the legitimately there because last month's election was stolen from him to secure these two to be sworn in on tuesday. the names of the five candidates who want to be the next president of senegal have been announced missing

from the list are two main opposition leaders because they're banned critics accuse president macky sall of silence in this sense so he can win a second term because hark has more from the capital back our. the decisions taken by the constitutional court behind me are usually a formality and go unnoticed but this year missing on her list of candidates for this upcoming presidential elections are two heavyweights of the opposition the son of the former president of senegal karim wadded and the popular mayor of the car khalifa sol now they've both been sentenced to prison time for corruption charges one was freed and amnesty the other is still in prison but both were hoping to run in this election and this has paved the way for outsiders to take the limelight notably one song who was very popular on social media and among young people he's taken to the stage criticizing mike saying that he's using the courts to clamp down

on the opposition there's been a chorus of condemnation and reaction from not just politicians but also members of civil society questioning whether this can be a real free and fair election when two of the main opposition figures are not taking part in the race there is a lack of trust of opposition and even. much of citizens towards was elected on the national body but are so close a security force as to be. in general in shutting peace and taken to teach is one of the most stable democracies on the continent organizing free and fair elections for the last fifty nine years president says that this one will be no exception but with this decision from the constitutional court it certainly sets the tone for this election that will take place in just a month's time. economic growth in china has slumped to

a twenty eight year low as the trade war with the united states takes its toll the world's second largest economy expanded by only six point six percent last year that's the slowest pace since one thousand nine hundred ninety and this despite government measures to stimulate the economy vests are concerned beijing's problems could drive down growth worldwide and speak now to jonathan what seoul in shanghai via skype he's the director of mckinsey global institute the business and economics research arm of the american consulting firm good to have you with us so why has chinese growth reached this three decades low well so i mean thank you and i think what we're seeing is the maturing of the chinese economy. it has of course been a powerhouse of growth as china has urbanized over three hundred million people but now everything is more expensive and so those run in be don't go quite as far as they used to costs are up and as

a result growth tends to slow in those environments but that's still a lot of growth even at six percent china is a massive growth engine for the world still a lot of growth so this isn't the trade dispute with the u.s. taking its toll on the economy as you read oh i really don't think so i think of course the trade dispute is not a positive for the economy it's clearly resulting in some pressure particularly in specific areas in southern china and in some manufacturing sectors but overall the chinese economy is primarily driven by the chinese consumer and what the chinese consumers willing to pay is actually what that gonna mean will grow and so what does this mean for china's ambitions to grow the domestic market. well i think the domestic market will continue to be fueled first of all by urbanization as another three hundred million people come from the countryside to the cities and secondly by the world's largest middle class that we're seeing

growth of the income and consumers right now at the point where they're really getting to the disposable income segment so people who are able to buy obviously you know kitchen appliances but now of course cars and electric vehicles so it's really the confidence of that domestic consumer that is the government's primary concern right now how to maintain that confidence all right we'll leave it there thanks so much for your analysis that john from what so british prime minister to resign may is set to address polman to lay out a plan b. for the brigs that withdrawal agreement original deal for leaving with the bloc was heavily defeated in parliament last week she's already met rival party leaders in the hope of reaching a breakthrough the u.k. scheduled to leave the e.u. on march the twenty ninth let's cross over now to lawrence lee he's live for us in the british capital london so the big question now is can the prime minister is she

willing to unveil anything to get the country out of this deadlock. well it doesn't sound like it certainly having lost by an historic margin in the vote last week she. then said come back on that there today said to say what you're going to do in the meantime has been meeting other party leaders in this cross party talks still going on but all the signs are that is plan b. is pretty much exactly the same as plan a and frankly inside parliament it's chaos now with with with with with conflicting factions inside the two main passes conservative and labor fighting with each other and inside their own parties let alone against each other is because they can't find any sort of common position let's talk to him blackfoot who's the scottish national party leader here westminster who saw treason may last wednesday night didn't she when yes immediately after that vote that she lost she said she's going to be in listening

mode as what was she listening to you do you think you i mean you don't leave your opinion at all oh no we wish to stay and there's a very fundamental reason for that and we know from the u.k. government sort of analysis to any form of bret's is going to make the u.k. puter it's going to cuss jobs and the worst form of breaks it would be new deal it would cost hundreds of those new jobs over the long run period we know it would cost up to eighty thousand jobs in scotland as of a bubble she listening so you know you settle is to her you can see on this you can have a pleasant conversation and then i had an exchange of letters that said right let's talk on the basis of extending article fifty of removing the risk of no deal and having a meaningful discussion on a people's vote and want to get back for is that the u.k.'s leading the unit opinion at the end of march so she still won't rule out no deal leaving there should she doesn't want to do so but this is this is the i think the fundamental factor here and i have to say it's something i'm deeply worried about because we've passed legislation that means that as things stand that we're leaving the european union at the end of march so if we don't come up with

a workable plan then that's what's going to happen but i've said too that she tells me that she doesn't want a new deal jenny carbon doesn't what i don't if i don't want to know a deal. either the liberal democrats the greens and plate company the obvious thing to do is to put down the legislation that would stop what in effect is doing is holding a gun to the head of parliament and said if you don't agree to my deal and i'm not going to change because that's the message from it but isn't the only tentative a no deal that's an absolute outrage but is was going to happen now all these amendments that we had thought about over here about extending to the end of the year adding a second referendum or all of these things will indicative votes where it was there and up to see if if there's any majority of anything else isn't what was in parliament over about to override her apparent lack of a plan but i hope that's the case because i think sense has to prevail and i am pleaded with jenny corbett to come and join us and supporting a people's forte and i'll say to jenin if he doesn't do so then he's going to be

the midwife of delivering to these amaze breaks and that's the reality of the situation and lots of his voters are going to be looking at him and they'll demand the price and generally they would be voting for him again is going to damage the chances of not just himself the other labor m.p.'s by this we need to weaken up time a short one a few weeks away and if we have to pass the legislation to stop that new deal threat then we have to move quickly so there's an enormous sense of frustration and i think moreover what i see what's happened over the weekend the prime minister talking about opening up the good friday agreement among most loss for words the good friday agreement with they have said that's that that's not what they're in to instill in fairness that really well that's not quite right that's when we know that they have had discussions with the d.p. because the d.p. have confirmed that to me and we've got to make sure that this does not happen in buckley thank you very much for the time the other people apart from opposition parties here who are really frustrated about this are european leaders you know the message from the germans and the french just do something whatever it is just tell us what you're going to do when they just come by the mines at the moment lawrence

neither is the problem thanks for that from london. or it's time to get some weather and staffs here or to mozambique this time sammy where we've got a tropical cyclone not too far away didn't happen too often in mozambique so it's a big big talking point you can see this area of cloud here is it gradually has been working its way northward it's a bit of a raggedy old structure which shows you that it's not particularly intense but it does look like it's going to be quite a large rainmaker the storm is tracking slowly towards the north only at around seventeen kilometers per hour so very slowly and the gusts of winds are already up to eighty five kilometers per hour so as i say the winds shouldn't be too much of a problem is the amount of rain that will cause us our distress and that system as it works its way northward will give prolonged heavy rain for some of us in mozambique you can see the dark blue colors here just around beer and that's where we're expecting some of the worst of the weather force in mozambique and then as it works its way inland it will begin to disintegrate and then millau it will also see

some flooding and this isn't good news because this region has seen some flooding about a week ago so the ground still in some places is quite waterlogged and as we head through the day on wednesday the storm where this woman has disintegrated was this little area of low pressure developing here or this one could well be another tropical so i close certainly a very intense area of low pressure and it's going to increase the rains over madagascar so for monegasques we're going to see even more rain there we will in mozambique they could be up to three hundred millimeters of rain here and that will cause us some flooding. now still ahead i'll disappear on one of baghdad's oldest streets gets new lease of life after being out of commission for most twenty years . old rams fans are heading back to the n.f.l.'s biggest game to the first time since two thousand and two.

when the harvester. when the news breaks and the story it's when people who need to be heard and the story needs to be told. with exclusive interviews and in-depth reports. just iran has teams on the ground to bring you more award winning documentaries. and light needs on air and online.

you're watching out zero time now to recap our headlines i saw has claimed responsibility for an attack on u.s. and kurdish forces in northern syria kurdish y.p. g.'s of a suicide car bomb exploded near the entrance of the city of us should be the blast went off as a u.s. patrol passed by but there are no u.s. casualties. israeli prime minister binyamin netanyahu has warned iran it will face consequences for threatening to destroy his country remarks came just hours after israeli jets launched nighttime airstrikes against what he described as a rainy and weapons death pose in damascus economic growth in china has slumped to

a twenty eight year low the world's second largest economy expanded by only six point six percent last year that's the slowest pace since nine hundred ninety and this despite government measures to stimulate the economy. let's get more now on the latest violence in syria then a holder is live for us from neighboring beirut so. we've had this situation now escalating israeli strikes on syria as well as all the other developments in the civil war going on there is this being interpreted as a major shift in the nature of the conflict. well yes there were and are really many wars in serious war israel's war against iran is just one of those wars and israel has been targeting iranian targets in syria for years now it rarely admits doing so but as of late we are seeing a shift in policy the israeli military not only confirming the strikes but

providing information on what is being hit as they are being hit so this is a more vocal israel this is the israel which is trying to tell the world that this these airstrikes this campaign is going to continue until we make sure that iran leave syria this is what israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu repeatedly says iran needs to leave and iran remains just as defiance threatening retaliation it hasn't really carried out anything major but it is issuing threats in iran saying that we will not leave and we will stay in syria as required so the threat really of regional confrontation is real and at the same time russia is finding itself in the middle it has a good relationship with israel and has an understanding with israel allowing it to operate in syria but just as long as the russian military assets are not hit just as long as the israeli military gives the russian military prior notice and really

just as long as these air strikes doesn't weaken the syrian government its ally but the focus really of the israeli campaign as of late has been damascus international airport and that's where the problem lies this airport is important for iran the planes coming from tehran believed to be carrying weapons according to israeli and american officials land at this airport but at the same time russia wants those strikes to stop because it wants to open the airport to commercial flights and syria's isolation so there's going to be a difficult balancing act but no doubt the threat of regional confrontation is real . that everyone can agree on my things are in a hole in their thanks for that from beirut israel has officially opened its second international airport despite protests from neighboring jordan israel's prime minister that attended the grand opening of jordan says ramon international airports location violates international law as well as jordan's sovereignty over its airspace five hundred million dollar project is located in the israeli red sea

resort town of the lat right next to the jordanian border well as israel celebrates that opening in gaza a shell of a former structure office a symbol of what could have been many saw the nine hundred ninety eight you know gratian of guards around port is a milestone paving the way for the creation of an independent palestinian state but as charles stratford reports the site now stands as a reminder of how much more progress needs to be made gaza's port was a symbol of hope for a future peace between israel and palestine because eighty six million dollars to build was funding from the japanese the germans the spanish saudi arabia and egypt but it was opened in november nineteenth the opening ceremony was attended by yasser arafat and the u.s. president bill clinton. and this is all right. so here's all not was

a manager in the airports administration it saddens him to be here now. but it was great working here we all loved our jobs we had like one family from the manual workers to the high officials it was a beautiful symbol for palestine it showed the world that we palestinians could operate an international airport. the yasser arafat international airport as it was called could handle seven hundred thousand passengers they could fly to and from cyprus and various capitals around the middle east it was a symbol of hope after the nine hundred ninety three oslo accords the airport stopped operating during the second intifada or uprising against israel's occupation in two thousand israeli fighter jets bombed the control and radar station in two thousand and one shovelful seen palestinians feel both sad and angry

about this the airport would have helped our economy so much and it employed so many people now it lies in ruins. twenty five years after the failed peace initiative and three walls later zuhair walks through the rubble despite the destruction of a life he wants briefly knew he says he still won't give up on hope chance trafford al-jazeera gaza a new offensive is being planned against the armed groups as shabaab in somalia ethiopia and somalia are preparing their troops for battle in the next few days and the weekend the united states carried out a series of air strikes targeting the group after its five is attacked the somali army base ramadan has this for a fourth and we should warn you you may find some of the images to be being. the destruction caused by u.s. warplanes targeting al shabaab fighters near the port city of kiss my you in southern somalia bodies unbundled shells of vehicles lies through not only remind

us of the intensity of their strikes they killed what the command center for u.s. forces in africa describes as fifty two militants the somali army's sais that total is higher. we managed to kill at least seventy five ship bad militants after they attacked us and many more were injured we are telling people about that victory today the airstrikes came hours after al shabaab fighters stormed a somali i mean base three hundred seventy kilometers southwest of the capital mogadishu. somalia commanders say six soldiers were killed in the time and two others died when a booby trapped vehicle blew up as the army bottled for hours took up to the base u.s. military helicopters were sent to help the pentagon has increase the rate of strikes in somalia and recent tease partly because president donald trump has loosened restrictions on when the u.s. military can take action against what are described as terrorist targets the number

of u.s. forces in somalia asked to delete increased in the past two years us about fighters who are linked to al qaida retain a strong presence in parts of southern and central somalia they also regularly attack targets in neighboring kenya after it's and troops to somalia as part of an african union peacekeeping force al-shabaab says it was behind tuesday's hotel attack in nairobi where four gunmen on a suicide bomber killed twenty one people five suspects appeared in court on friday in connection with the heart attack police say all but one of the five gunmen who carried out the ups haka and something that is raising calls on about the threat of homegrown terrorism mohammad on the wall does it or nairobi. a stray shell fire in libya has killed the news cameraman who works for al-jazeera and other leading media organizations thirty five year old mohammed bin khalifa died on saturday while on assignment with a libyan militia fighting between rival militias in libya has killed and injured

hundreds. colombia's leftist rebels are claiming responsibility for a car bomb that killed twenty one people thousands took to the streets in bogota to condemn the attack presidency around ok joined the demonstrations and ruled out any restart of peace negotiations with the land thursday's attack at a police academy in bogota was the worst in fifteen years. the oldest streets in iraq's capital has finally been reopened after being blocked off for seventeen years. street was once the center of baghdad social and business life that was closed during the u.s. led invasion of iraq many of the buildings fell into disrepair now the government has opened it up trying to show baghdad is secure rob matheson explains this is our rashid street it's one of the most iconic streets in central baghdad there's been a street all in this route for the best part of

a hundred years it dates back to the early days of the ottoman empire in the sixteenth century but all rashid street came into being right about nine hundred sixteen that's when the british suffered a serious defeat at the hands of the ottomans to the south of baghdad to commemorate that victory the military governor of baghdad. said that this street should be built during the u.s. led invasion of iraq the street was closed and that's because it's a very strategic importance for baghdad it links we are off for a day in the central bank behind me to baghdad's main base business district which is just a few kilometers on the other side that was very important and it was very likely that it was going to be a significant targets of the street was closed but seventeen years later it's reopened for decades all over she'd street was the center of baghdad social life there were cinemas here with restaurants and cafes and hundreds of small businesses in its heyday was in the one nine hundred fifty s.

. when money from oil started to make its way into the iraqi economy and people had more money to spend but over the years the buildings have fallen into disrepair particularly during the years when the streets being closed the government is hoping that this by reopening the street will send two messages first of all that the project problems in the center of baghdad might get a little bit easier but perhaps more importantly that the city of baghdad is getting back to normal and it's safe for. hundreds of immigrants and australian detention centers or into the second week of a hunger strike to highlight their plight detainees in brisbane and melbourne joined others in western australia who've been protesting for eight days they accuse their guards of brutality and intimidation as well as separating families governments being urged to order an independent review of prison practices. hindu refugees in bangladesh say they're desperate to return home they were among the

hundreds of thousands of people who fled to bangladesh after being attacked by the million mom three two years ago the actual name reports from cox is bizarre. you can see it in their smiles and even in the way they walk the rohingya who endured atrocities in medium are now feel safe here in the world's largest refugee camp in bangladesh but there's a group of four hundred fifty people who live isolated and are guarded almost around the clock there are a hindu minority among the persecuted muslim minority population they say in twenty seventeen they fled out of fear of reprisals for refusing to join an armed group and amnesty international report says almost one hundred hindus were massacred hindus we spoke to say they believe it's now safe to return home to me and mar.

we don't have any peace of mind by living here our soul is crying aloud for our homeland and. for most of these refugees returning home is a terrifying thought last november there was widespread panic and protest after the bangladeshi government announced it would reach an agreement with me in march to repatriate about twenty two hundred refugees in the un war and forcing them to return would be a violation of international law when no one volunteered to go the repatriation plan was halted sixty five hindus were on the list according to the bangladesh refugee relief and repatriation commission how about it if they got it we have got we were already in packed up but no bus or anyone from administration showed up. the commissioner says that's because it couldn't meet a core demand of the hindus and doesn't want to differentiate between them and the

rest of the routing the refugees he says it would be easy to transport them all at once as they've demanded however all timidly this hinges on the me in mark government if that is the result and we're not going to get ourselves the readiness for all of them to go bare and. formalities and completed here. for now the hindus have no choice but to try to adapt to life within the protected confines of their camp i don't know whenever we want to have any fear once we're able to land our fate on the border will gain our strength back. until then they like the rest of the rohingya refugees here must wait for governments to decide their fate natasha going to name al-jazeera cox's bazaar bangladesh now with no end in sight to the government shutdown in the us many federal

employees have been forced to find new work jobs fair in maryland governor allen is on the phone the government lawyer applying to be a bus driver and the notion of holds a ph d. vine for a job as a substitute teacher. jamie rinehart seemingly has it all in life a wife three young daughters a home and a car and at ph d. in oceanography what's missing is his job after he was sent home without pay from his post as a federal government marine research scientists jamie is a victim of the government shutdown so he's now at this education job fair applying to be a substitute teacher i've interviewed with i think she must have been either an administrator or a teacher or they've asked me some questions regarding you know my experiences related to working with kids and and how i would respond in certain teaching situations and then obviously there's bad.