about the constitutional problems and the leadership question facing syria that of course is key to resolving the conflict in the long run this i think is an opening salvo a chance for these men to get to know each other and present hopes that he is able to reboot this process and make progress perhaps in a way that is pretty decisive mistura wasn't able to do very pleased to have samuel romani with us in studio now an academic at oxford university visiting doha at the moment specializing in russian middle east relations nice to have you with us in the great to be on the show ok so let's start with russia then we just heard from our correspondent who's explaining russia's position isn't this all just great news for vladimir putin and russia that america is basically making way for them they are the ones shooting down israeli missiles they're the ones having talks with the new u.n. envoy it's russia's an incredibly strong position i think that russia has benefited a lot from trump's announcement of the u.s. withdrawal but there's also a lot of vagaries and uncertainties associated with the to be killed with regards

to the prospect of a turkish offensive and also as the correspondent previously noted there was no discussion about the constitutional committee that they want to create and the problem is the constitutional committee is likely to be created by the special group on syria which consists of the end of kingdom germany saudi arabia and jordan and most of those countries are not in favor of the russian position and russia cannot pick the constitution the way it likes in the representatives that it wants . so russia then just uses its relationship with syria its strength on the ground the fact that it's been backing syria for this long to sort of hold its position as long as it's as long as it can so russia wants to hold the current position because it gives us that a formidable leverage over bargaining but also it wants to find some other objectives and wants to make sure that they can push for the last h.t.s. and rebel a little isn't it lib which is an outstanding city and also wants to make sure that a safe zone could be created for the kurds or the kurds at least can be reunited under syrian government control and do not fall under turkish control those two

areas appear to be say a state mading as is the overall peace process and even the us has position is more secure now that has been any point since the start of the war that's what not a bit further because i mean in the past twenty four hours we've been talking about israel as well in syria we've been talking about iran israel israel trying to hit iranian targets there. you are actually asked me earlier in the day are we looking now at almost an israel iran conflict within syria is a very high likelihood of an escalated israeli ran conflict in syria partially because the u.s. and russia are both just engaged from that that particular conflict russia is unlikely to retaliate that directly against israel in the way that materially weaken their capability as well as the u.s. is likely to just also turn a blind eye so both sides also have powerful domestic rationales for continuing this conflict and yahoo is being challenged with corruption at home but is also being challenged by right wing forces within israel too and showing strength against iran is a good way to move away from his right wing opponents and distinguish himself as a leader iran too is facing isolation and now even feeling cornered with the

allegations of terrorism in europe so it has more incentives for aggression it's you know it's interesting i've been sort of thinking of syria's war as not being but it is certainly finished that phase of the government against the rebels but now from the way you describe it it's like we've got a second. conflict or so many other smaller conflicts that this will keep going for some time i think of war will continue for some time primarily because the opposition refuses to surrender to us that the gulf countries are moving slowly towards recognizing us saudi arabia and qatar and moving and also turkey in northern syria remains a flashpoint for conflict israel and iran remains a long term flashpoint for conflict and those two unlikely to be resolved given the domestic interests of. all favor continued confrontation like in this ok thank you for joining us do appreciate you so much was great to be on you. now a taliban suicide bomb and gum attack in afghanistan has killed at least forty three security force personnel some reports say that total could actually be more

than one hundred a humvee truck packed with explosives was driven into a military training base and police training center this is in maidan shah which is the capital of wardak province after the explosion more taliban fighters who were dressed in police uniforms stormed the base of the border judge who is a security analyst and says the taliban attack is in response to afghan government breaches of trust leading up to the talks. what we had today in my down shot was a tit for tat photo i.d. united states in the african government is doing to the taliban so the taliban i think they're coming out of that hibernation they're trying to carry on the same policy where do going to inflict damage to the african government and its international counterparts on the other side carry on with the peace process to have fun and games and leverage four of them on the negotiating table i think this is the overall policy and i think taliban are are sort of respond to those

statements that came from president donnie and his team yesterday when they were just running for reelection i think the peace process is having its own problems the international community the afghan government aswell as the taliban do they all want to go into the peace talks but are the same time they want to inflict damage to each other to sort of have more leverage and more points on the on the negotiating table this statement that we have heard from the u.s. special representative for the african and regional peace was a such that the united states would want to engage taliban if not devoted to fight them and i think taliban out of responding back to those statements and we saw the results today here is what's coming up for you on this skews our doing whatever it takes to make ends meet we're talking to people out of work because of the u.s. government shutdown also a new airport is opening up an israel but palestinians spotless still grounded and

small find out why this tennis player. lost his home straight. still. for that one life and now with time running out for a deal on brags that the british prime minister says she's going to to try. think more concessions from the european union the deal which theresa may agreed with the e.u. last november was of course and that it be rejected by the u.k. parliament last week but instead of a but instead of unveiling a plan b. for break that the prime minister told m.p.'s she will keep her plan a alive more from paul brennan. this was a prime minister in apparently conciliator remote i'm listening she said i will keep you informed she told m.p.'s but there is no plan b. for bracks it's only more talks about salvaging her plan a we will be more flexible

open and inclusive in the future in how we engage parliament in our approach to negotiating our future partnership with the european union second we will invent the strongest possible protections on workers' rights and the environment and third we were tried and if i how we can ensure that our commitment to no hard border in north managed and island can be delivered in a way that commands the support of this house and the european union the opposition labor party leader was unimpressed the prime minister's invitation to talks have been exposed as a p.r. sham every opposition party politician after every opposition party politician came out of those meetings with the same response contrary to what the prime minister has just said there was no flexibility there were no negotiations nothing has changed. in brussels there's been a frosty reaction to the idea revisiting negotiations and is it too late for the

system i don't know i don't really know change with the old they would see more to it to cool because no willingness to open the door of books again and a polish suggestion about a five year time limit on the northern ireland backstop the insurance policy to avoid a hardboard on the island of ireland has been rejected by dublin i made it very clear of us putting a time limits on insurance mechanisms. mechanism which is what the backstop is effectively means that it's not a backstop at all at westminster several different groups of m.p.'s are now devising ways of using a variety of parliamentary amendments to force the prime minister to change course if we don't find a way forward the u.k.'s leading the the twenty ninth of march announce a basis of new deal so let's legislate to stop that let's take that or we take that risk and we. hold a gun to the head of parliament which is in effect to the ease of use trying to do as march the twenty ninth looms the prime minister's strategy appears to be to go

back to brussels and test to the e.u. his willingness to risk a no deal bret's it but he is also testing the patience of this parliament and it's not to talk clear which side will flinch first paul brennan al-jazeera westminster . we will be back in london in a moment with lawrence they but we're going to start with david chaytor for some reaction from brussels is there any reaction and has anything really changed with what terry summate said today. where you look at what the statement from the prime minister was in the house of commons and you'll see that she hasn't rubbed out any of her red lines now this is exactly what the e.u. negotiators and the e.u. leaders want to see they want to see something like a coherent policy a change in the policy before they possibly open up any more negotiations they don't want to come back to brussels here in brussels with very much the same plan a

but it seems that's exactly what she's doing but there was a lot of speculation in the papers over the weekend in the newspapers saying that essentially there is some sort of deal that she's trying to make on the on the on the hard border to make sure they remain soft with the so-called backstop and she was hoping to open bilateral negotiations with dublin that spin. severely rejected by the irish deputy prime minister as you saw and there was also talk from the the polish foreign minister that perhaps in some way they could put a five year time limit on that on that whole issue search so that the united kingdom wouldn't be stuck in the limbo of all that deal on the on the on the hard border keeping it soft and would be able to say to the skeptics in the house of commons that she she would she have an exit from that limbo but not on this

appears to be working she hasn't actually responded apart from saying she's interested in that polish foreign minister's idea it's one that did service before in december when the polish foreign minister came to downing street so it's it appears that as far as the european union is concerned nothing has changed the same deal is on the table the same guarantees are on the table and they really do want something fresh from to reason may and the british a coherent cogent policy before they can really open up negotiations again and and on the important points that are the sticking points in the house of commons it doesn't seem they'll be any real change if she comes to what she just said in the house of commons ok thank you david chaytor in brussels let's put some of that to lawrence lay outside the houses of parliament in london david says there you're looking for something coherent coming out of london and basing it on what we've

heard tonight and what you've been telling us earlier it's no sign of that. what no it seems unarguable now i think everybody seems to agree the trees my strategy is is to keep saying to him please look you know that there can't be no deal because that could involve not leaving the european union it's all in the common second referendum because it's not the will of the people and effectively it's like putting a gun to m.p.'s heads you know about running the clock down and saying to them you're going to have to support my deal and if you don't then there's no deal in the u.k. crushes out with all the contingency economic and social damage that would cause it'll be your fault so you know put up with it needless to say many opposition m.p.'s are deeply deeply unhappy with that as a state of affairs don't break and peace peace a little democrats on thank you very much for fia time. you happy with this that if this is what she has to say to you you're going to have to back a deal in the end or is your fault if the u.k.

crashes out of course i'm not happy with that deal is a very bad deal and if we end up in a no deal scenario on the u.k. crashing out of the e.u. that will be because our prime minister has chosen to do that but in the end steve think it could come to that if it if it gets to the middle if ever the starts of march and m.p.'s across the piece can't find any consensus on the second referendum or something what would you then say ok it's terrible but it's better than better than the alternative well the prime minister has options she has an option to extend article fifty offenses to enable a people's vote to happen she has the option now to rule out no deal because companies in the u.k. and indeed in other e.u. countries are making huge investments on the basis of something that nobody wants to happen but it's costing them money which it means which means it's costing us as consumers money as well. but just just to go back to the question if push comes to shove and you'll faced with a choice because no with

a majority of anything else on the backing deal as much as you loathe this or no deal a tool would you then back her deal do you think well we're not going to be in that position because parliament is not going to allow that to happen her deal was defeated by two hundred thirty votes that is clearly unacceptable to parliament allaman two weeks ago voted against no deal as well holman will will activate itself will get to grips with this and say prime minister you have failed we are taking control we will make sure the u.k. does not suffer a catastrophic no deal even if you're not willing to stop it but how they because there's treason a point that's a self in the commons just now there's not a majority across the commons for example for a second referendum at the moment well we don't know that because it's never been tested and of course what we haven't tested is whether for instance if we run out of options and the parliament is staring down the barrel of no deal whether in those circumstances people who perhaps you wouldn't expects like boris johnson who

i think has is on the record saying the prime minister's deal is worse than staying in the e.u. whether at that point he might decide to stay in european union so if we get into a position where really no deal is the only the only the only possibility then parliaments including perhaps some rather strange alliances i hope what's to stop that ok somebody thank you very much indeed for first thing i did in the in the cold with the so that the bottom line come out is we are not getting anywhere we still don't know but maybe something will have to budge in the next few weeks but it may be all right lauren flame in london thank you now you've heard a lot about our london about backstop so we're going to talk about that now with danica back on who is the associate professor at dublin city university also wrote a book on briggs it called from partition to brag that the irish government and northern ireland now don't have first of all thank you for your time and bearing in mind we've obviously got an. international audience who doesn't live and breathe brags that as people in the u.k.

and ireland the backstop is it's the single biggest stumbling block as far as trying to get a deal goes if basically if that can be solved can something get over the line. well that's why they're just parliamentarians who are you might see on the briggs's here wing of the conservative party today who said that for example johnson said you know we move the box office and we can but that is deal so yes it is to answer your question did the basic division right now between those replicating trees masefield and the british house of parliament under oath so if we do get into this scenario and obviously it's the one which people are trying to avoid and this is the no deal breaker that the u.k. crashing out of the people like to say explain to us again for our international audience what that means far and as far as a border goes and how significant that could be. well we don't even have to imagine we only have to be old enough like myself to go back twenty thirty years and there

was a hard quarter as a result of conflict in north america which in itself was this waged by joint membership and there were about twenty zero fishel of border crossings between north and south now there are almost three hundred open border crossings between north and south and it seems it's friction we don't know what you're talking between north and south not us facilitated a whole range of cultural political economic interaction between the communities north and south who it might be stressed are not in favor of the kind of current situation they they want to backstop they didn't want. people living in the republican party it's also the majority of people ignored in our interests somewhat obscured by the fact that's trees amazingly distant to one side of the argument in or around us to keep because it's all monetary arithmetic in the house of commons and is this mostly if not all the on. tourism

a herself or how much how much does the government in the republic of ireland have to come to the party and did do they have to make some movement as well if there is to be some sort of deal of the backstop. well there's very little the irish government can do you know lots really i mean there was talk for example over the weekend an influential newspapers in britain that there might be a bilateral deal struck between britain and ireland that sort of could somehow come to a deal on the backstop and then alleviate the whole process and that you know it showed itself to be competed at odds with common sense with reality i mean it's just for example the european union isn't going to have any interest in you know northern ireland the u.k. staying in the customs union single market i mean this isn't an issue between are important it's an issue between the united kingdom and the european union which it seeks to lead and there's no question that if if you have a situation where you know you have a hard excess it will have a very damaging effects if you've been or not and you have to remember for example

that the people of northern ireland because of the good friday agreement have a right to be higher citizens and therefore right to the e.u. citizens so october needs the european union you're going to have this large amount of his it's going nowhere that aren't who need to be protected and the irish government sees itself in that sense as a custodian for those citizens in northern ireland who are citizens of not only from the beginning try extra to. engage in exercise and jobs debilitation breaks it was always going to be harder salt so what the argument is trying to do is to limit the damage it can to convent damage but you can try to limit what's your gut telling you about where this is going as we approach what we must remind people is a very very short timeline. my god is is on me about it all day and well largely because of the parliamentary refuted in the united kingdom the arguments approach and he was opposed all along has been true

essentially assume that united kingdom parliament is a rational actor and that it won't you know jump over the cliff in terms of a no deal brick set but it seems that you know we're no closer with sixty seven days to go we're no closer to a deal as your reporters have suggested trees a maze plan b. is remarkably the same as plan a the time is ticking down you know the symmetry power remains the same the e.u. needs a deal but it doesn't need as much as another kingdom of that's not here it seems the majority of people the house of commons on the pleasure talking to are really interesting thank you you thank. still ahead for you on this news are open for business one of the older streets in baghdad gets a new lease of life and sport rams fans are heading back to the n.f.l. biggest game for the first time since two thousand and two.

and they're all storm is now clearing away from the middle east for look at the satellite picture we can see old this cloud here edging its way eastwards away from many parts of afghanistan and taking its mixture of rain and snow with it so forcing a couple let it should be draw as we had to choose day a maximum temperature of two degrees and further north it should also be trought draw a force in tashkent with a maximum of four further west we all seeing a few showers around the coast of turkey bull durham certainly had a lot of rain in the last day or so and it looks like we'll see a fair few more showers just in the west in case there for wednesday further south there and here it should be dry say things has settled a bit further towards the south and here in doha it's been pretty chilly over the past few days and particularly over the past couple of nights things will improve though as we head through the next few days i turn to three degrees will be our maximum during the day and at night will see the temperatures drop not quite so as

well a bit further towards the south of the southern parts of africa his all store miss it desmond and it's gradually tracking its way northward it's moving very slowly but it's working its way towards the coast of mozambique so that's where we're expecting the heaviest of the downpours as we head through the next few days and if that system gradually works in that it will bring its heavy rain with us some places could see around two hundred fifty millimeters. saturday has never been a real easy sell for investment how much are the reserves up are they understated or is that. they own those shares in your company or the people but. i didn't know that corruption has reached a level like nothing ever before in our country. rank outsider.

to president of the united states. the power was in the data we will moderate the american people with the truth and nothing else discovered. for winning the white house unfair game on al jazeera. the news here at al-jazeera and these are our top stories i saw has claimed

responsibility for an attack on u.s. and coalition forces in northern syria the kodesh why p.g. said a suicide car bomb exploded near the entrance to the city of the blast went off just as a u.s. patrol passed by but there were no u.s. casualties a taliban suicide bomb attack meanwhile in afghanistan has killed at least forty three security forces at a military base near kabul some reports say the death toll could be more than one hundred. and the british prime minister theresa may says she wants members of parliament to have more of a say on the u.k.'s withdrawal deal and its future relationship with the european union she has dismissed calls however for a second vote on the u.k. leaving. now the number of asylum seekers from saudi arabia has tripled according to the united nations high commissioner for refugees the un agency says there were more than eight hundred cases reported in twenty seventeen compared with less than two hundred back in two thousand and twelve a number of saudi men and women of reportedly fled the kingdom due to fear of

persecution or political activism there's also the recent case of the saudi teenager who was granted refuge in canada which has drawn international attention talking to base my money about this now professor at the university of waterloo in canada senior fellow at the center for international government governance nice to have you with us again but i think the important thing first of all to look at is the timeframe here twenty twelve to twenty seventeen. usually when we think about saudi arabia these days we immediately think about the impact of crown prince mohammed bin someone but this started well before he came into power. it did and i think it coincides with generally the arab spring writ large and really many people feeling as though the frankly you know political commentary free thought is frankly no longer welcomed in the post arab spring entire middle east in many ways it's not just saudi arabia but certainly i think there is something to be

worried about here because of course saudi arabia is indeed increasingly rounding up many people activists many women's rights activists of course predominantly but there's also everything from poets to intellectuals to writers so there is a great feeling that there is a clamping down on let's say political thought at the same time and at some point to point this out there's a lot of social reforms and economic reforms that may in fact be welcomed by the vast majority of many saudis it's hard to see that changing though is there because obviously we know it's such a closed society in saudi arabia and international pressure. on most things to do with saudi arabia doesn't really make a lot of difference. yeah and you know i think that you're seeing is to sort of you know push and full fact factors in many ways and you know yes there will be i think increasing number of saudis who are just not willing to

sort of take the grand bargain that's being offered to them by the regime which is you know enjoy life as a consumer you will have more freedom social freedom yes more theater more music concerts but the same time there can't speak your mind remember this is a society that is hyper connected there are more people of per capita on twitter in saudi arabia than any other country in the world so you know clearly the idea of you know it's in gauging and political issues are something that many saudis have been increasingly doing and that's just not welcome in the new saudi arabia so it's a tension for for many saudis to choose which one to sort of accept and i think that you know there is probably more recognition i think particularly post but also one hopes case that many countries do see saudi arabia as indeed you know clamping down on its own dissidents and so they may be more welcoming to to refugees and that may in fact sort of increase the asylum cases as well ok that's what i want to

ask about the number because we're saying eight hundred here that's the number that the u.n.h.c.r. has given us but you know taking that step of seeking asylum is actually a big step and it's not something you can go back from i wonder if you think they could even be higher numbers there those who don't want to to to to step up and step forward. yeah i mean i think the numbers will continue to go up you know certainly there is no relaxation of political thought in the country it seems to be getting more and more i think consolidated in terms of what people are expected to do basically rah rah the current you know regime and that's the only sort of discourse allowed so i think there's going to be more of that and there also may be many saudis outside the country i mean you think of someone. who was you know not seeking asylum but pretty much in self exile of people who indeed fear going back and may indeed sort of take that route where there is an

international climate of being favorable towards asylum seekers from saudi arabia to and indeed apply while the iron is hot so to speak and see that their chances are probably higher now than say in four or five years when when you know saudi arabia is off the radar of the international media. always a pleasure talking to you thank you for your time today now with no end in sight to the longest government shutdown in u.s. history federal employees being forced to find new jobs to make ends meet. has been meeting a government lawyer at a jobs fair in maryland who's applying to be a bus driver. jamie rinehart seemingly has it all in life a wife three young daughters a home and a car and a 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 been 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 benefits to those of us who are furloughed and are looking at our you know looking to earn a little bit of money we're offering buildings service position is clerical position and so forth transportation last striker's these are the faces of the victims of the government shutdown and accountant applying to be a high school math teacher a lawyer applying to be a school bus driver people that unexpectedly find themselves out of a job for no fault of their own like darrell burton an investigator at the postal service now applying to be a school security officer

a mensch thing with the cure in their position among them accounting schools because my background over the last ten years nearly it's been an investigations this is the second day they've held this job fair on the first day there are more than two hundred people that were here looking for work today when the doors opened at ten am there were already a hundred people waiting in line to get in with no end in sight to the government shutdown a number of people looking for work as high several school districts are holding similar job fairs for federal employees schools normally providing education for. may now also supply jobs for their parents our goal is really to say. if there is a temporary gap that people had we have opportunities as for jamie rinehart his interview is over he waits for a call back in the meantime he's become a driver for a ride share app to make some extra money to support his family. but he's hoping

that the shutdown will end so he soon can drive back to work gabriel's onto al-jazeera rockville maryland ellen passengers have begun flying in and out of israel's second major international airports prime minister benjamin netanyahu was at the opening ceremony in on the red sea board of jordan however the jordanian government unhappy with the five hundred million dollar project from an international airport violates international law so the jordanians as well as their and space but as israeli celebrate their airport opening the bombed out ruins of a building in gaza are a symbol of what might have been for palestinians child strafford reports from what was gaza's international airport gaza's airport was a symbol of hope for a few chip 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 has all not was a manager in the airport's administration it saddens him to be here now. but it was great work in 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.