from around the world. doing what they can that's not the point the government's decision to. this is al-jazeera. unwelcome to the al-jazeera news our life or my headquarters in doha with a problem coming up in the next sixty minutes what the military by his side when is when this president accuses the us of trying to stage a code. challenging role will look at the rapid rise of the former student who has declared himself the interim president. i think. a lot of. federal workers struggling to feed their families while u.s.

political viable failed to end the funding crisis and. the changing of the guard the afghan taliban tries to strengthen the hand of peace talks with the u.s. . around and himself a powerful allies as he accuses the u.s. of trying to stage a coup against his leadership venezuela's president has the backing of his military and the supreme court as well as russia and china he's rallied support after the u.s. and most nations across the americas recognized opposition leader one guy though as interim president. he begins our coverage from on right as well as border with colombia. one of to be out there venezuelan regional military commanders took to the airwaves today clearly guilty to president nicolas maduro saying that the opposition efforts. to replace him with that transitional government where an

attempted coup was a position reiterated by the country's defense minister bloody me by but. i learned the people of venezuela that a coup is being carried out against our institutions against our democracy against our constitution against our president nicolas maduro the legitimate president of the bully varian republic of venezuela it was a show of unity and strength for the embattled government of nicole last month. and it came the day after the largest anti-government demonstrations in the country since two thousand and seventeen and after the younger opposition leader why don't proclaim themselves diligent to me interim president. in this well a number of countries including the united states have backed way those claim to legitimacy and on terror is the us secretary mike. was up for the time for debate is. the regime of former president nicolas maduro just

illegitimate. his regime is morally bankrupt. it's economically incompetent but it is profoundly corrupt the president answered ordering all venezuelan diplomats home from the united states in giving us diplomats in venezuela seventy two hours to leave other world powers like russia and china came to my rescue warning the us external intervention in the country. is the traditional revolution it is another flagrant interference into internal affairs of a sovereign state as you know that has been several attempts to oust the duma from power including attempts on his life just as it was here on the border city of the thousands of venezuelans keep crossing into colombia on a daily basis in search of food medicine and basic health services they can't access back home they say they receive the latest news from venezuela with a mix of hope and wariness i look at we needed this to happen to bring about change

and fortunately it will take more dead and injured the country. is not an option. local n.g.o.s say twenty six people have been killed since the latest wave of protests against my doodle began four days ago the president called for dialogue with the opposition but few see any alternatives to more turmoil in coming days alison and. now the u.s. has called for the un security council to hold a special session on that his way on saturday and as more and more nations side with one why the all out reporter and explains the difficulties facing the red. over the decades the united nations has tackled some of the world's biggest humanitarian crises and many say the situation in venezuela is no different millions of fled into neighboring countries as venezuela's economy continues to

crumble colombia alone is taken in over a million refugees placing a strain on its economy speaking at the united nations colombia's foreign minister made it clear his nation is no friend of venezuelan president nicolas maduro we've done several government of nicolas maduro and we give full support to the national assembly and to the decision of the you know with the competency that they have based of the venezuelan. declaration that he's now going as well as interim president has gained support across the world but for the united nations this remains a sovereign matter and so far it's not taking sides at this critical time what the secretary general emphasized and he emphasized it again in davos is that he urged all actors to lower tensions and pursue every effort to prevent violence and avoid any escalation that remains our priority but as tensions in venezuela grow and its people become more desperate analysts say the united nations should take a stand on this you know and they have been important of them becoming

a stain impartial but i also you know this is the kind of crisis can either make the u.n. relevant or make it irrelevant and that would be my my i guess my my my my my argument or it some sort of more proactive role in this crisis venezuela may now have two presidents but it's unlikely the united nations will follow the us canada and the u.k. in backing. the un's priority is to prevent violence and as long as china and russia permanent members of the security council continue to back venezuela that position is unlikely to change at a gallacher al-jazeera united nations headquarters the heart of why those says he'll consider ground to an amnesty to mother and his allies if they return venezuela to democracy. ramchandra looks at how reson for. just a few weeks. as soon as he was sworn in to lead venezuela's opposition controlled congress earlier this month one of why dole made his intentions clear promising to

take up the battle against president nicolas maduro who is increasingly viewed both inside and outside the country as a dictator that beat him up the lane he needed we proposed to reaffirm the illegitimacy of nicolas maduro for not holding elections on may twentieth starting january tenth he would be usurping the presidency from the republic as a result this national assembly is the only legitimate power elected by the venezuelan people should assume the representation of the people if you've been as wayland had even heard of an industrial engineer and former student leader before he was named president of the largely powerless national assembly and as a member of congress why go serve as the head of a commission that investigates government corruption and earned a reputation as a consensus builder duros government has already detained and put on trial dozens of political opponents and accused them of plotting against him in mid january why

do it was briefly detained after being released he told supporters at a rally he would not be deterred by wednesday as large anti-government protests were taking place in venezuela's capital caracas why don't you clear himself the country's interim president. why do was quick to receive support from u.s. president donald trump canada and numerous latin american countries but with a defiant maduro saying he's still the legitimate president and the economic crisis only deepening it's not clear why those next move will be my mage and doom and does either. let's take a closer look now at the economic crisis for a country with the world's largest oil reserves an estimated twenty percent of the global total that paid for a boom and public spending program under venezuela's previous president hugo chavez but the economy became almost totally oil based accounting for ninety five percent of exports and that's left it vulnerable to fluctuating prices and u.s. sanctions venezuela now has the world's fastest growing inflation rate which the

international monetary fund says could reach ten million percent of the seer that sent the price of basic goods filing out of control a chicken now costs fourteen point six million dollars that's almost three times the minimum monthly wage well let's get more on this now we're joined by danny barr he's a david rubenstein fellow in the global economy and development program for the brookings institution and he's joining us by skype from washington d.c. very good to have you with us on al-jazeera how would you assess the situation in venezuela now opposition to the government is of course not new but now we have two presidents. right we have two presidents one of them is their legitimate press you know which is one where you go under one of the expressly and who still thinks he's the president he's actually sitting in the presidential our hands and actually hauling. in the control so this equation is very tense

and very sensitive that it seems that it's the first time in many years the idea opposition in minutes well has really a plan that it's a local plan we need to concede to listen to restore democracy and also come with the support of most of the international community right and hopefully the staff for that and rebuild the country and we will talk about you know the support from mention national community a little bit later but first they don't have the support of the opposition does not have the support of the military and until they do can they really challenge nicolas motherhood or. well this seems to be who is going to be more sort of a chess game to say no way i mean i think we're going to be seeing small moves from side to side and you're right i mean it's very very unclear hour to hour but we're going to talk more with they're not on mission but yet is to say something that also to do not hurry that there are some problematic consequences of what

happened yesterday. for reasons that you actually. phrases read it when i says one way goes to the president that we have one way though and he's government they often do manage their assets that belong to them as well and republic u.s. soil or negotiate with one point there so there are some people that can actually put pressure on my would go beyond just words and symbolism but how can. you know his allies manage the country's assets when there is another government that's employés that supported by the military and that's also supported by key countries like russia and china russia which has been investing heavily in venezuela's oil sector. but you know you're absolutely right i mean these are these going to be a very. deep question so i'm just talking about the new assets that are u.s. soil for instance seattle is a big city the belongs to they're probably going to swell that and if it's true

that the u.s. recognizes one way to go as the legitimate government of venezuela it would make sense illegally they would have access to manage the assets that are in u.s. soil but you're absolutely right that on the ground in venezuela that the opposition has no big control of what's happening i mean the control is still held by mother you know because precisely where you also said they need it are you are the ones that are giving him an hour and mr behind our united would you say that the military is at the moment because we do of course have you know whether it has rewarded senior military leaders there in key positions but they have also been reports that you know ordinary soldiers. as loyal to motherwell and his government as he'd like because they're struggling like the rest of the country. right well you know that maybe there is a black box so it's really hard to understand what's happening on that you say but

but it is fair to assume as you say you know we don't know and definitely lower ranks in the military are really struggling i mean bennett was going through a deep humanitarian crisis that has not been seen any severe bigio given to our field by fifty percent in the past three or four years there's are secure food medicines people are losing weight voluntarily there's a refugee crisis more than three million people that have left the country so you are right. i think that the assumption though that a lot of there's a lot of these convent also limited dari is there but at the same time. i can see that it's very hard for me very likely to take their role would you still defend the constitution and bring back i'm still how are there because they've been you know there has been a twenty year long indoctrination and you like to go in that region of the military that have made these a body that is loyal to a person and what party and loyal to their country so that's why all the eyes of

the international community and the venezuelans more and more importantly are only really part it is a crucial time in venezuela mr bott thank you very much for your time and breaking this all down for us that is danny live in washington d.c. we are going to move on to other news now the u.n. specialist on executions is headed to turkey to launch an international investigation into the murder of solving journalist jamal khashoggi that's coming up. and tension in tech as in the great capital ahead of a vote on a contentious main change and. rescue was quite off the search for missing footballer and reality star and has on it three days after the plane went missing over the english channel. attempts to end of. government shutdown have failed and the us senate both republicans and democrats tried to posit different bills the republican bill aimed

to end paul's fi fund the war on the us mexico border democrats wanted to reopen agencies without on the wall neither got the votes required to advance in the one hundred member chamber but i would be happy were that i wouldn't be happy but we have a lot of alternatives honestly have everybody look for the most part people agree when i say everybody i would say almost everybody agree we have to have border security we have to have a wall of border that border security you cannot have border security without a wall and we can play games that we can talk about technology we can talk about drones flying around while eight hundred thousand federal workers are about to miss their second paycheck because of the shutdown many have been turning to charities and donations to survive more now from heidi and washington. more than a month into the partial government shutdown and the costs of daily life have become a struggle mysie we haul is

a federal probation officer she's among the eight hundred thousand government workers not receiving pay kids so. i can't break down in front of them so you just have to. keep pushing it in washington just wants from the capitol building where competing plans to reopen the government were both voted down on thursday federal workers have been lining up for food to feed their families the charity that runs this says in one day alone they gave away eleven thousand meals inside workers who are furloughed or temporarily laid off are also receiving free groceries and diapers they should not be held hostage. they should not be said we're not going to pay you unless we get our way on the wall across the country the shutdown has also impacted the greater public the government is not paying airport security screeners air marshals or air traffic controllers prompting

aviation workers' unions to warn in our risk averse industry we cannot even calculate the level of risk currently at play nor predict the point at which the entire system will break it is unprecedented federal courts are slowing the wheels of justice the f.b.i. can't pay sources to maintain counterterrorism operations low income americans maybe even did without the government subsidizing their rent and poor school children who receive free government paid lunches will soon have to go without me while president trumps commerce secretary wilbur ross a billionaire says unpaid government workers should resolve their financial problems by taking out a loan through the people might have to give interest but the idea of it's or zero is not a really valid. there's no reason why the institution wouldn't be willing to loan. to get into more debt you know it's i think it's very insensitive

a lot of the things that they're saying recent polling shows six in ten americans blame the president for the shutdown trump hunkered down in a white house protected by unpaid secret service agents is seeing his approval rating plummet. castro al-jazeera washington the us president's former lawyer michael cohen has agreed to testify to a senate committee investigating russian interference of the twenty sixteen election is due to appear on friday of the twelve and what's expected to be a closed door interview last month donald trump called a rep for cooperation with prosecutors cohen will begin the three year prison sentence in march on fraud charges. the afghan taliban has claimed one of its co-founders the leader of its political office in covered. but others appointment comes as talks with the u.s. to end the seventeen year war gain momentum. for two days they've now lasted for

the group has announced reshuffle in its team and put senior leaders in key positions us special piece on the boys on may have been meeting taliban representatives for the past four days in doha well let's get more on this we're joined by david said me he was the deputy u.s. assistant secretary of defense for and pakistan under president barack obama and he's joining us live from washington d.c. mr said the always good to have you with us on al-jazeera as we've been reporting these talks with two days they've gone on for four they might continue on friday. senior taliban officials are being brought in to the process do you see reason to be optimistic even if cautiously about what's happening in the wire. i would in fact be more than cautiously optimistic the appointment of most of the raider is a startling change. ten years ago in two thousand and nine boulevard rater led

a dissident faction of the taliban that wanted peace talks with the government of then president hamid karzai the government of pakistan was opposed to those talks they arrested more of a raider held him in prison until last fall during which time he was allegedly treated very toughly and perhaps even tortured last fall at the request of the us the pakistanis released mobile operator many people thought he would fade into the distance but instead he's taken advantage of a fractured taliban leadership and the desire of many taliban for peace to reassert his authority so this is a major major change for the taliban and one that bodes very well for peace or has been on the side of peace for over a decade and this is a sign that there is great hope many things could go wrong but there has been no such hope for peace in afghanistan for the last twenty years almost all that is incredibly positive they are reported to be talking about things like the

withdrawal of foreign forces guarantee that the country won't be used to hostile acts against the u.s. mechanism for a cease fire of ways to enter into an intra afghan dialogue these are all issues that haven't been dissolved in those twenty years what is different now do you think. i think one of the biggest things is the desire for peace on the part of all afghan people including taliban fighters and their families last year in june there was a three day cease fire that was greeted really with ecstasy across the border in afghanistan taliban fighters went into the cities sat down had tea put flowers in their guns families who had not been reunited for over a decade were able to get together the afghans saw what pieces like then the taliban went back on the offensive and started killing a lot of civilians a people's peace movement group in afghanistan chastising the taliban for their extensive killing of civilians many taliban fighters became disenchanted with

a number of civilians they were killing so that was in afghanistan in pakistan the u.s. put strong pressure on pakistan starting eighteen months ago when president trump announced a stuff new policy of putting pressure on pakistan cutting off hundreds of millions of dollars in aid. putting economic pressure on pakistan's financial system pressuring the world bank to try and that to hold off on support for pakistan and appointing him as a envoy ambassador zalmay hollows and someone who many people in pakistan regarded as an enemy of pakistan he had a long record of criticizing pakistan blaming pakistan directly for the war in afghanistan many pakistanis thought that they could not deal with him but all that pressure has actually worked today pakistan's foreign ministry issued a press statement saying that they were stab side by side in the talks in doha that and they made it clear they want the taliban to sit down with other afghans in

a cross afghan dialogue. which is of course the only way to peace so this which by pakistan and the emergence of mullah baradar and the distant enchantment of taliban fighters with continued continued war of all come together for this really spectacular i think opportunity that really should be seized by everybody that's the said made is great to get your expertise on this we thank you very much for your time that is david said live in washington d.c. thank you. now the un special rapporteur. travel to turkey next week to head an independent international inquiry into the murder of solving journalist jamal khashoggi agnes callum mob will evaluate the circumstances of the crime and to what extent states and individuals are responsible for the killing should report our findings and recommendations to the un human rights council in june this is a visit by a special aperture a day work independently of us and they can follow their own guidelines in terms of

dealing with topics such as in this case the topic of extrajudicial executions you're aware of the position of the secretary general about the need for a full and transparent investigation and he continues to stand by that. medical research and brains explains how this investigation as different. let's put this into context has been for many months a call from human rights groups for a panel of inquiry or a commission of inquiry set up by one of the main bodies of the un the general assembly the security council or the human rights council that is not what this is this is an initiative of dr agnes keller mamma she holds an important un position as the special rapporteur on judicial executions arbitrary killings and summary killings now under that existing remit she can visit anywhere she wants and that's what she's doing she's going to turkey she is independent she is international

because she's a u.n. experts so this in those terms is an independent international inquiry it's also worth noting that any special rapporteurs when they go on a trip anywhere around the world at the end of it right support to the human rights council she so she will be representing a report but this is not a formal commission of inquiry having said that saudi arabia should be worried about this because she has already said in fact in an interview with me in november that given the senior figures that were involved in the killing she believes on the information that's publicly available that saudi arabia is culpable for the death. so grace now where protesters have fought with police in the capital had a vote on a landmark agreement with macedonia officers fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse and work outside parliament inside politicians debate on whether to ratify last year's u.n. vocal deal that would allow voices neighbor to change its name to north macedonia

a vote for friday and polls show that at least two thirds of greeks oppose the deal . no survivors. in thirty years of the park received this truce and must be tired of the reserves of hatred and division that were sown by nationalism on both sides must expire colleagues i believe that with this agreement greece gains back the most important thing what belongs to it its history its symbols its traditions the heritage of ancient greek macedonia for their our neighbors north macedonia a country that we have turned our backs on and have kept pushing away to seek others becomes a country that is a friend and ally a supporter of greece for cooperation peace and security in the region also ruffles has more from athens. a few thousand protesters gathered outside parliament on thursday evening to tell the government that they do not want the precipice agreements the macedonian name change deal to be decided in parliament they wanted

to go to referendum two thirds of greeks agree with them in a new poll out today they also tried to keep this protest peaceful however they were not ultimately successful hundreds of young hooded coated youth were gathered outside parliament alongside them they were evidently looking to make trouble or at least some of them were eventually they succeeded firing flares and fireworks at the police who were guarding the parliament compound and those police responded with tear gas and there ensued a small pitched battle on the avenue outside the parliament compound eventually that peaceful protest and a violent protest were. ended by the police action the police have now taken control of the area in front of parliament again around the same time as that happened the debate inside the chamber ended with the leader of the opposition and

the prime minister they have been locked in mutual recrimination about whether cities has respected greek red lines and foreign policy tradition on the macedonian issue the opposition conservatives have said the government has crossed red lines by recognizing macedonian ethnicity and language of nationality and this they say will create problems in the future rather than solve this problem the government says it's kept absolutely to those red lines that the former yugoslav macedonian side has made far more concessions than the greek side and that in fact the agreement. will definitively defend those greek red lines. still ahead on the news our climate change campaign is appeal to business leaders at the world economic forum in davos jay i'm trying to stay out of the spot lines the former governor of jakarta convicted of blasphemy and it's

a close encounter at the age of time japan and be a child and have that match and still. beneath pink skies by the time my heart. or is the sun sets in the city of angels. once again the weather's set fire across a good parts of china now largely clear skies somewhat cloudy over towards the western side of the country but you can see for the southeast there was some sunshine in hong kong twenty three celsius is so but a temperature two for taipei twelve degrees there for shanghai and then up into the teens as we go on through friday but those temperatures to fall away slightly as we go on into saturday for the south we hang on to the twenty two twenty three celsius the four hong kong want to make their way towards the philippines maybe want to see

showers too into central areas of vietnam but they're all shabby rain for southeast asia is continuing across indonesia that's where you got the thickest cloud is where we're seeing the the recent flooding into the y.c. for example and those showers very much in place as we go on through friday and on into saturday hopefully less wet but you can see so quite a crop of showers in evidence as we go on through the weekend so further flooding problems certainly a possibility there's a problems in sioux south asia we got to logically skies across a good part of india i wanted to show was recently into northern and eastern parts of india could still see a little bit of wet weather here as we go on through friday tending to break up the saturday. the weather sponsored by qatar and race. as it takes a tougher line on migrants organized crime is making fast profits from their misery . people and power investigates the state funded reception centers where the

helpless are reduced to commodities ripe for exploitation. and the migrants on. short films of hope. and inspiration. a series of short personal stories that highlight the human triumph against the odds. over forty four hundred people what you know here if we want to save your bed up call give it up because everybody wants al-jazeera selects.

it's good to have you with us on the al-jazeera new sound these are our top stories venezuela's president nicolas maduro has ordered the closure of its embassy in the u.s. and asked diplomats to return is accused the u.s. of trying to stage a coup to washington recognized opposition leader why the as an interim president. protesters have forth with police in greece's capital ahead of a vote on a landmark agreement with macedonia politicians decide on friday whether to ratify last year's u.n. broken allowing greece's maybe to change its name to north macedonia and the u.s. senate has failed in its latest attempt to end the possible government shutdown which is now in its thirty fourth day to break the funding deadlock were put forward by republicans and democrats got enough votes. well let's get more

on this now and look at both sides of the stalemate in washington d.c. we've got republican strategist charles moran and democratic strategist doug lists slow and very good to have you both with us on al-jazeera has to slow it all start with you where to now for the democrats what else do you think that they can offer the republicans that they haven't already. it's my understanding that the dems are going to introduce a bill that includes five point seven billion dollars for funding for security along the border not a wall but for advanced security measures including immigration judges drones and the like in an effort to try to move the ball forward regarding all of this government deadlock so that something that we're discussing but of course none of this is going to happen until the government is reopened there is absolutely no reason why the government operations daily operations and over eight

hundred thousand government workers being paid should be high to the border wall so this is a concession democrats want to would make but only after the government has been reopened mr moran is that a concession that republicans will accept five point seven billion dollars or thereabouts in security measures along the us mexico border not necessarily a wall and reopen those government agencies in the meantime. well republicans are glad the democrats are actually coming to the negotiation table with with an offer instead of the republicans just continually making offers to sweeten the pot so it's nice that we're seeing this reciprocity president trump indicated in a tweet later today that he would be open to reopening the government if there was in some part a down payment on the wall so we don't necessarily know yet whether or not what the

democrats are coming to the table how much of that actually provides for beyond just the border security actual funding for a physical barrier along the border so if there may be an area here where we can reopen the government where the two sides can meet is as pro president trump indicated tonight even if there was a down payment towards the wall in progress he would be opening to that he would be open to reopening the government to continue the negotiations or house leader nancy pelosi has already said that the sort of down payment is not acceptable what do you really think mr moran that the democrats have not been coming to the table they have introduced a number of bills to end the shutdown. they've introduced a number of bills to reopen the government but they haven't done anything that actually addresses the root core of the problem here which is the immigration system the failed immigration system nancy pelosi and chuck schumer voted in two thousand and thirteen for forty six billion dollars worth of border wall funding

you know they voted for border wall funding in the past this is clearly you know the tool for the democratic party and their their left wing agents to not really take the immigration problem seriously and address the concerns that president trump has brought forward that they have introduced bills but they've not been bills that have dealt with the immigration problem this is the first time in the last month the government's been close with the democrats are actually ready to negotiate with something instead of just folding their arms and saying no let's just run what do you make of that you think that the democrats are serious about immigration and border security. of course democrats are serious about immigration and border security one of the main issues is that president trump hasn't spent the money that they authorized for border security form in twenty eighteen there's one point six billion dollars or thereabouts there's lying on the table and i understand the trump is only use about six percent of that for border

security so of course the democrats are serious about border security and again i must reiterate my point none of this has anything to do with the government being open even the republican senate eighty sever passed a similar bill to keep the government open and operating last year was in the till and culture and rush limbaugh jumped up and made a fuss and said no no this can happen not border security the child jumped in and said no i'm not going to sign any bill that doesn't have money for his wall which by the way mexico's supposed to be paid for i mean this is really ludicrous that we're talking about a complete stop of eight hundred thousand government workers some very important agencies not working like t.s.a. like air traffic controllers homeland security not getting paid because truck couldn't come through with the problem is to get mexico to pay for the wall i mean this is the sum total of false campaign promises coming home to roost and it's

insane let me put that to mr moran because it is the republicans. the posse and power how much pressure they on the of of the shutdown as you know various polls n.p.r. p.b.s. not a survey showed sixty percent of americans blame for the shutdown sanjay see seven hundred sixty percent think that it's causing serious problems and there's only twenty eight percent who actually believe that the border wall is what the shutdown . well i think it's entertaining that you know the hypocrisy from the left because just a year ago chuck schumer and nancy pelosi actually shut down the government for the first time for a period of time over an immigration issue in that case that with dhaka in the reform of the immigration system for deferred access for that classification of undocumented immigrants so this is not the first time we've actually seen a government shutdown over immigration issues and the democrats quite honestly did it first so they went there with the blame of the you know the shutdown who's

getting you know who's going to take the blame for this president clumped trump made it very clear going into this shutdown that he assumed that he would take the responsibility and the blame for you know the government shutdown he's not skirted from that he stayed here in washington d.c. at the negotiating table when the democratic leadership was in puerto rico hyping it up at parties watching the movie here the show hamilton you know he's been here trying to find a solution to this problem while democrats have been cruising out on the beach in puerto rico. i'm sure a lot of democrats would have said is just right take issue with that i take issue with that they were down there for disaster relief fund raising not partying on the beach. just show up it's day well we have a minute in there if we would go there are doing you know that they were enjoying their time already. enjoying what i'm already below which is on the rise in united

they waited with a little tourist by president and the democrat is not a big player is that we don't see the phrasing member. democrat is out of the government and the reason he sitting on the base certainly remember that sitting on the beach two weeks ago it's was it you know the beach two weeks ago when i don't have it in mexico and here is what i have to mexico pay for this wall medicine go we. got going i got shut down time and i can say ok i'll just send you suddenly for your time on this i'm afraid. we have run out of time but perhaps you can continue this conversation. between yourselves after the show charles brehm and. in washington d.c. thank you very much very much. we're going to move on now to brazil where a prominent gay congressman has stepped down and fled the country because of own death threats shown whirls has been an outspoken critic of president

a job boards an hour who has a history of making homophobic comments wells' told media that he left brazil and has no plans to return he said to be replaced by another openly gay politician serving on the rio de janeiro city council. a leading figure in scotland some dependents movement has been charged with sex offenses including two counts of attempted rape former scottish first minister alex salmond denies the charges he was released on bail after appearing in court salman led the scottish government for seven years until twenty fourteen you spearheaded a failed attempt to gain independence from the u k. now felix has a caddy has been sworn in as the new president of the democratic republic of congo it takes office after last month's battle a disputed election found in the reports from kinshasa. was arriving at the palace of the nation to be sworn into office felix to secure the city to become the democratic republic of congo's fifth president since independence from belgium

in the one nine hundred sixty s. but for many congolese the ceremony matters deeply in a country having dealt with decades of conflict and violence it's the first peaceful handover of power since independence and a symbol of change after eighteen years of rule under joseph kabila. last month's election was bitterly fought the country's new president came with a message of reconciliation national and. we want to build a strong congo in its cultural diversity we will promote its development in peace and security a conduit for each and every one everybody will have his or her own place. the formal ceremony soon turned into a celebration there were loud cheers from the thousands of people would gathered on the lawns of the palace of the nation throughout the proceedings and continued people here excited about the message coming from the new president felix just

a katy one of unity for my remark i am very happy to hear myself the former and the new president calling for unity this will help us to live in a very good society without discrimination. that we are here to welcome our new president and we ask him to please address our problems from the street all the way up to help children get off the streets and find jobs is to. demand as good as a feeling of joy because it's the first time for me to see a peaceful transition in my country and a significant first to see this example which will help in our future but not everything went according to plan it was confusion and panic as the president fell ill during his address we were told to stop filming. i soon after the president resumed his speech no official explanation was given but the people we spoke to here said the president was simply overcome by the occasion just one african head of state was seen at the ceremony kenya's president of. the

african and european union's had expressed concern about the way the election was conducted but did recognize the outcome. however little can take away from the optimism many feel with the new president now sworn in that mood will be tested in the months to come as felix to security deals with the challenges facing the democratic republic of congo for me to mina al-jazeera kinshasa. activists in sudan say at least two more protesters have been killed in anti-government demonstrations that have been rallies across several cities including the capital of khartoum those day calling for the resignation of president omar al bashir the government says twenty nine people have been killed in the unrest which began last month but rights groups say the death toll is much higher well despite its own political problems and rival leaders from central african republic for peace talks the country's been in crisis since rebel fighters took over the capital bangui in two

thousand and fourteen they were pushed back after french and u.n. intervention but ca are has remained on the brink of civil war since government representatives and fourteen armed groups are at the conference in full. now former jakarta governor. also known as a hawk has been released after serving two years in prison on blasphemy charges it was the first person of christian and ethnic chinese a background to hold the post or comments he made about the koran and twenty sixteen lead to massive protests stepped lawson has this report. handful of supporters celebrating the former governor's release in the latter. had asked people not to come to the prison to greet him instead to quietly laugh together with his son who posted this on this account. i have no words to describe how happy i am two years he was here in prison two

years for something you strongly believe he was falsely accused. to noma better known as a hawk was a popular governor because of his efforts to clean up after screw up bureaucracy and improve infrastructure but after a video went viral in which he questioned the use of a qur'anic verse all went rapidly downhill for him. mass rallies by conservative groups left on his arrest and he lost his reelection bid his case was widely seen as a sign of increasing intolerance against minorities in indonesia supporters of former governor. urged to tone down celebrations for his release just three months to go to the election is the campaign team rather than job three dodo is concerned that remarks by outspoken former governor could endanger the president reaction. so instead of attending welcome parties will go on vacation and accept speaking

engagements abroad there are reports he wants to start his own television show that's likely to worry the government because opponents are watching while. also he got a lenient prison sentence. we respect the fact that he went through the legal process but if he starts doing the same thing again if he becomes noisy again i will leave it up to the people. who are now my has sat he doesn't want to be called by his chinese nickname a hawk any longer a sign you wants to make a clean start in the latter he also said he's thankful for his time in prison because otherwise he would have become more arrogant the main question now is when the controversial former governor break his silence and return to politics stop fast and al-jazeera jack after. the u.n. secretary general has warned that the world as you know is in the race against climate change he was speaking at the world economic forum in davos antonio terrorists is the political will to change course it's fading well correspondent

john holl visited a climate science camp a lot and his for the people there remain optimistic. high on the world economic forum agenda this year is climate change recognised by many decision makers here is both a threat to the planet and in the business of mitigating its effects an opportunity so high above davos climate scientists have made camp to explain how fast melting arctic ice affects weather patterns and rising sea levels so we think about these extreme weather events that we're starting to see more happening more frequent and more persistent around the globe a lot of this is tied to what's happening in the arctic today sixteen year old gretta therm burke has joined the young swedish activist spent a day a week throughout two thousand and eighteen protesting for government action against climate change we are facing the biggest crisis humanity has faced and what

we do now what we do or don't do right now we reflect my entire life and the lives of my children and grandchildren the point about an event like this isn't just to show off a bunch of scientists and activists braving subzero temperatures they do that sort of thing all the time it's a way of bringing home to the davos elite the reality and urgency of climate change among them of course the sort of people who can make real change happen leading climate change negotiator christiana figueres was a key figure in bringing about the recent paris agreement she believes big business is finally listening i were beginning to understand that climate change is the biggest threat that humanity faces. at the same time wrestling climate change harmonizing investing into public infrastructure. putting in into renewable energy . and if they are listening it's despite the trumpet ministration pulling out of the paris accord. speired i think it gave an opportunity for businesses to

go faster i think cities are also going faster we have to act and business can act much faster than government reason perhaps for optimism that out of crisis comes opportunity and opportunity there is hope john i'll just here at davos switzerland august fourth well his job thanks very much the search for missing footballer million a solid has been called off by rescuers the twenty eight year old cardiff city player and his pilot were on board a single engine aircraft that disappeared from radar on monday as they flew from france to wales after three days rescuers abandon the search saying the chances of surviving in the freezing waters of the english channel were extremely remote players at solace for we were in tears at their first training session since the tragedy the french club held a minute's silence to remember him sal had lunch with them on monday before

catching the flight to his new club the near zero on the. army's last day before leaving he came here and we had a long discussion he came to thank me he told me many things i have never heard anyone talking bad about him what a great boy. two thousand and six world cup winning coach marcello lippi has left his job as boss of china after a three nil loss to iran in the asian cup quarter finals the iranians were unstoppable in abu dhabi as they stormed into the sameas in emphatic fashion goals from terry me solders moon and kareem and sorry fired wrapped up a three no win over the chinese to bring to an end live peace two year reign iran will play japan in the last for. japan's win over vietnam in dubai was dominated by the video system referee first featured at a major tournament during last year's world cup in russia in the first half japan thought they'd taken the lead but the v.a.

are showed a clear handball so the goal did not stand then in the second half the t.v. replay system favor the japanese their appeals for a penalty were only successful after the referee had taken a second look through the t.v. monitors to do and made no mistake with the penalty one nil to japan qatar's world cup in twenty twenty two is throwing the spotlight on the welfare of those who are building the venues for football showpiece human rights watch said last week that progress had been made but there's still a long way to go to protect workers from exploitation in an interview that welling's cattle twenty twenty two head of work as well for mahmoud could tube said that attitudes are changing in the new rules put in place by world cup organizers already building a legacy outside of cattle. the criticism we often hear is you're doing a good job but you can do better or you know you're not going fast enough you know these in order for this to be sustainable and or for to be long term and exist beyond twenty twenty two it you know it has to be done in

a gradual way you can't rush these things qatar is a small country it's a new country it's effectively you know people often forget that we haven't had hundreds of years of trying to really combat this issue of human rights and so on and so if you look at what has been achieved in the past you know ten to fifteen years you can see there's a tremendous commitment not just by organization but also the leadership of the country as well have you experienced some resistance to what you're trying to do you're always going to have resistance change is not easy and there is a cultural change it's happening in qatar today with our contractors with the water population no doubt we've had an amazing breakthrough in two thousand and eighteen one of the more complex issues in human rights is the issue of recruitment fees there's over twenty five million people worldwide that are effectively been in debt bondage amount of money just to find a better home for their families better opportunities. and of course the other is no exception we have this issue as well we are thrilled you know at the end of two thousand and eighteen we were able to effectively convince over one hundred twenty

of our contractors to reimburse a total of about twenty two or twenty two us million dollars to have up to about thirty one thousand workers and we're seeing the spillover effect that we've actually seen it for the past few years in fact obviously this particular breakthrough has received tremendous attention both within qatar as well as globally. in fact we are we came to london yesterday to actually sit and present to a group of multinationals as well as human rights activists and other stakeholders on how we were able to achieve this breakthrough in recruitment fees is the reality for work coming in to cats all from a country nepal or bangladesh in the year twenty is a very different reality to the coming in five years ago or more than five years. i do you still feel that there is a lot more to do to make it the life that it needs to be for one of those workers the situation leads not perfect the one thing that we as far as we as

a supreme committee in relation to our work as we can only guarantee that there will always be continuous improvement everything we have done to date is really to try to address the issues that we have seen working with colleagues and partner such as b.w.i. an impact on others but the situation is not perfect it's certainly a lot better today than it was yesterday and will continue to improve that's the commitment that we have made we continue to make so for us in terms of our standards in terms of what we've been able to apply we can certainly say yes the situation for our workers is absolutely better today than it was yesterday seventeen time grand slam champion rafael nadal has powered his way into a fifth grade final at the australian open in melbourne on thursday is up against greece's rising star stefano says about us the fourteenth seeded greek upset roger federer in the tournament but in his first grand slam semifinal appearance he was simply overwhelmed by new doubt is finally winning six two six four six love the aussie open is the any grand slam title adel has no one at least twice he says his game is all about adapting to a new challenge. that's what i did learn from like area just that i had to adapt my

game about. with the circumstances that i went through that's the reason why at this moment i still hear beating that high level because i know doing that. fifteen sixteen years so in the years of things professional discovery i'm going to going to lose things on my way so i need to what new things and that's what i've tried to do with my career to improve the things that they can improve japan's various soccer has reached her second grand slam final in a row after beating carolina pliska a soccer's the first japanese woman to win a grand slam after the u.s. open victory last year and she was in championship for when she took the first set six two over the czech number seven seed began to threaten an upset though because of a taking the second set with a kind of snap city that beat serena williams in the previous round the start this proved too much for her in the decided though a fifteenth ace from the japanese on match point was called out and went to refute

the way it was worth it for the twenty one year old reaching the final with a six two four six six four victory. patrick reached her first grand slam final since two thousand and fourteen by ending the dream run of danielle collins the unseated american knocked out some big names in melbourne but fits of avoided another giant slaying as she want to first set tie break the two time wimbledon champion showed her pedigree in the second set with a drop shot and smashed combo it's over simply blowing collins away in the second set six love for a straight sets win the czech going through to a date with osaka in saturday's final the winner will also become world number one . and that's all you support for now more later thank you very much john r. finally this bulletin extreme temperatures have turned the niagara falls into a winter wonderland a landmark on canada's border with the us has been covered in ice and snow creating some rare sides is attracting thousands of travelers from around the world many of

the visitors say they've been stunned by its beauty and that does it for this al-jazeera news hour but do stay with us sammy's a downbeat get in a moment with more of the day's fiends. in afghanistan billions of dollars of international aid have been donated to girls' education but where has the money gone when east meets girls desperate to learn and asks why is the system failing them on al-jazeera right out of a hamas script examining the headline we begin with the fractious issue of palestine and israel and the us news of the setting the discussions what makes them different as far as you're concerned sharing personal stories with a global audience nobody feel safe explore an abundance of world class programming designed to inform motivate and inspire. the world is watching

on al-jazeera and the next episode of techno the team travels to the heart of the amazon. where we are now should be reinforced to investigate illegal gold mining mercury has a very unique characteristic of binding the goal for a minor it's almost like magic and the technology being used to expose its devastating impact and so what we end up doing is imaging the worst in a very high fidelity stream. techno on all just zero. this is a really fabulous news for one of the best i've ever worked in there is a unique sense of bonding where everybody teams in but something i feel every time i get on the chair every time i interview someone we're often working around the clock to make sure that we bring events as i currently as possible to the viewer

that's what people expect of us and that's what i think we really do well. nicolas maduro orders the closure of the venezuelan embassy the u.s. made a growing diplomatic and political crisis the u.s. to recall some of its diplomats from qatar because. i'm sam is a dime this is al jazeera live from dollhouse so coming up the afghan taliban appoints one of its founders to join the goshi ations with the us when the conflict gained momentum. un specialist on exit q sions is headed to turkey.