free and fair this time but i also don't think that. an interim government led by the opposition is going to bring fever it's quite a complex situation because venezuela as we know has huge oil reserves but has recently found itself in a dire economic situation so many people are saying whoa this maybe had to happen because of the economic situation it was devastating it was unsustainable we just saw luciana from who taught talking to the refugees that have had to flee the country so did it have to get to this point well no it didn't have to get to this point but this is a very common. case to happen in a country that has successful exports of of basic resources like oil it's called the resource curse and it can happen in at least three different ways sometimes it happens before the oil even starts flowing money starts flowing into your currency investing in oil that increases the value of your currency and it devastates all of your other exports and

a lot of businesses go out of business or it can happen and when the money starts flowing you have all of this money coming in but it brings it brings corruption from outside and it fosters corruption in the country as these outside money and interests look for somebody with only one interest of who's going to sell the oil to them and they they help crony dictators get to power in some elements i think happened in this with chavez and module. moving away from democratic practices the to the extent that they were in place in venezuela before that then you have problems when the when the prices of the exports go down or when the amount of the amount of resources go up then you find that even if there was some prosperity while the resource money was flowing in when that starts to dissipate either because price or quantity of your exports then you can get a very sudden and harsh crisis now alaska is going through that

a very minor way now but venezuela is going through this in extreme way but it's certainly not unprecedented munge resource exporting countries all right chris we thank you very much for coming in and speaking to us thank you. so last year we had the kicking challenge in this week the ten year trial and you might remember it went viral but it's trending now in venezuela is the who i do challenge is here to tell us more about that trial and sir well actually it's all related to the let's venezuelan political crisis because on friday the government published a video it claims exposes opposition needs or. elia communications minister rodrigo says the c.c.t.v. video taken at a hotel in caracas shows him secretly meeting with socialist party leader just data bello now the meeting is said to have taken place on the eve of protests where he declared himself as the interior president and rodriguez says told cabello he was under pressure from the u.s.

and powerful opposition leaders. has since denied the meeting ever took place and now the video has prompted a new online campaign called the greater challenge makes fun of the governments and ledge proof that he met a couple in the first place who by the way is one of the jurors most trusted allies and people are reenacting the video of themselves wearing a hoodie t. and a greater support to say the government's attempt to discredit him or laughable and it's now been turned in fact into a joke because plenty of people have been posting their pictures wearing their hoodies they can see there's quite a lot of them there's plenty of those and they're also using the hash tag. joe tom van sawyer which means i'd say i'm great and they're also calling on others to join that challenge been this way you know one of the men as well and brothers around the world joined the quite a challenge thank you jorge rodriguez for making one why do interim president of

venezuela even more famous where you were on this you look at they can say whatever they want and do whatever they want but i won't let anyone take away my hope what about you. some people are even posting pictures of their pets you can see here this is these two dogs and they're saying that they too are great and others but aren't posting pictures of themselves all their pets and sharing ones of celebrities but this seems to be an online favorites from the one nine hundred eighty two film that the government says it's ready to provide more proof of the meeting and quite a continues to deny it but we want to know if you've taken part in the challenge and the hash taxis and getting in touch with us is a.j. new scripts sara thank you and you can head to al-jazeera dot com to see what all of this means for event as well as deep economic and political crisis a laura carl and her guest debate this very issue on the latest episode of inside story which is now available for you to watch on line you can also get in touch

with us here at the news good we'd like to hear from you from these stories you can send your comments to any one of her online platforms on twitter use the hash tag a.j. news grid our handle is aging lists we're also on facebook at facebook dot com slash al-jazeera you can send us a message on whatsapp or telegram a plus nine seven four five zero triple one one four nine. now the taliban taliban sources in fact have told al jazeera bed they and u.s. negotiators have finalized details of a draft agreement to end the seventeen year long afghan war talks have been ongoing in qatar between taliban and american representatives the u.s. envoy. is heading to kabul to brief the afghan president following six days of talks in doha let's bring in house or head about he's covered the afghan conflict extensively for al-jazeera to break down this draft agreement tashan men and one point in the agreement calls for the withdrawal of foreign forces from afghanistan

in eighteen months this in particular had always been a sticking point for the taliban indeed a major concession away the taliban because in the past they were saying that there would be no talks. until fall into a spoiler for afghanistan now they're saying that they're willing to because of that and give them a timeline of eighteen months now it means to be seen whether the leadership within the taliban itself is willing to move ahead with this particular notion of a team bus but this is quite a significant it could be conducive to a comprehensive political settlement and also the draft agreement points out that it includes assurances that afghanistan will not be used as a quote unquote terrorism baseball are trying to and the islamic state how significant is that well i think from an american perspective the it is reminiscent in a way or another of the. nine eleven. there were orchestrated planned from afghanistan during the time of the summer but the americans are

willing to give to get assurances from the taliban in particular that they will ensure that these let me state and. will have no say because it's still been tamed some presence in the eastern and southern parts of we're going to say that they will have no they wouldn't what they won't be able to use of that as a platform any way the future. this draft agreements agreed upon here right here in doha where the talks were taking place and it seems to be led by the u.s. as well as pakistan and the taliban of course where does the kabul government fit into this this is to be completely sidelined in this particular issue now where if you look at the situation on the ground the taliban control something like fifty percent of the territory in afghanistan the building momentum they are they're running more people behind them and the americans are realizing that the only way out of this crisis so this complex in afghanistan is to engage the afghan taliban politically now this explains why the taliban themselves appointed to take over the

negotiating team here in doha the government is concerned that the political framework could sideline them that there would be give more central to the taliban in the near future the of the ones who have more fights on the ground and they could be the ones to save the future of the country of the deal succeeds because the question is what role will the taliban accu play in any future of gonna stand but is this all a good step forwards some hope for peace in the country it's been. going on for almost seventeen years this is the. this is a huge problem for the this is a he has been committing weapons and cash and troops in afghanistan for seventeen years with no. way out of the crisis in afghanistan and they're hoping that by this particular deal they would be able to engage the taliban politically the taliban have been saying that they consider the government base in kabul as an american puppet which is another way of saying that the moment we finalize

a deal with their workers were the ones who will have the final say now is ultimately it will boil down to an agreement where many key players will have to be involved particularly the pakistanis who have been accused by the americans providing safe havens for the taliban in the past and i think if the taliban along with the pakistani government with the afghan government and the united states of america could move forward towards a journal truce across a nationwide in afghanistan and then a national unity government there would be take over and pave the way for a new constitution new election this explains why the presidential elections were delayed to july that could be a turning point in afghanistan and just important to note that this is a draft agreement right now what are the next steps in the next several basically within the taliban itself first it will have to go through the how can you guess work which is to powerful the shura council of the taliban based in pakistan and to the son of one of the arm other former leader of the taliban and to. the who is the

leader of the taliban if they are we will have to see what will be the reaction of the government i think the government is definitely going to ask for more guarantees it will play a crucial role as far as pakistan is concerned they have made it quite clear that they don't want to see india play any role in the future of any political settlement if the americans can narrow those differences have everyone on board it would pave the way for general elections presidential elections and we will see and to water a country that has been beset by by violence for more than fifty years right there hasn't had better thank you. now rescue workers in brazil are digging through mud and debris hoping to find survivors after a dam burst at a mine in southeastern brazil at least nine bodies have been recovered so far but hundreds of people remain missing feared dead. and mine is near the. j.d.s. state it was in the process of being decommissioned when the dam collapsed on friday

it sent a torrent of sludge through the mine as well as nearby farms and. daniel brings us the latest update from belo horizonte and many us states. so the day after the bank spewing millions of liters of sludge tailings is then known from the iron ore mine into the environment a rescue operation in full swing the president of brazil a job also nado jew here in belo horizonte way he has said he is going to oversee the operation he's bringing members of his cabinet into the region to try to initially to find out the extent of the damage to try to rescue survivors and then to try to limit what will inevitably be a huge environmental disaster to try to stop the contaminated water is heading down into a nearby hydroelectric plant to try to then start a massive cleanup operation in the meantime questions are being asked about exactly how this has happened less than four years after the last catastrophe in. the

in the same states of minister lies the same company valley involved in the operation as well they have expressed their concern they have said they're very sorry but environmentalist saying that is simply not enough they should have learned lessons from that previous disaster in which nineteen people were killed three hundred seventy five families lost their homes many of those people have still not being really housed nobody was ever prosecuted for that disaster and we're now looking at another similar situation the extent the true extent of the catastrophe still not known but as i say the rescue operation in full swing so as you've heard this is not the only down disaster in brazil in this film the people in power team investigate events leading up to the fund our winding down four years ago described as the country's worst ever environmental disaster and you can watch this film on dot com by searching for river of. well if you're watching us on

facebook live we have a story for you coming up from our colleagues at a.j. plus and it looks at how a net flix about organizing may affect people with boarding conditions and also for the heads on the newsgroup increasing tension between iran and israel sparks fear of a violent confrontation. hello there we've got another batch of rain that's developing over parts of the middle east we take a look at the chance for sunday you can see the clouds here originate save parts of saudi arabia really gives us some heavy downpours there on the coast of the red sea and then that works its way northward save a part of iraq giving some of us some or all the heavy rain here this istomin edges its way eastward still giving a lot of wet weather and fair amount of snow in the north as well following that we are going to see a few showers just along the eastern coastline of the mediterranean but here i

don't think they'll be too heavy so just one or two outbreaks of rain to see rather than any flooding to deal with that area of rain though is edging its way down the arabian peninsula as well so we're likely to see eventually here in doha for the time being on sunday just lots of cloud over policy saudi arabia with a heavy rain. we're taking you back to the united nations security council where a debate now is under way on venezuela that's the russian ambassador speaking let's listen in six as part of the iran contra affair at the time the united states tried to find this nicaraguan rebels the cubans remember well remember the bay of pigs the chileans will never forget the role of the united states in overthrowing salvador and. in front of our very eyes the attempts by the united states to impose their will on other nations is being complimented with another chapter. and this is just some of what washington has done just in latin america the nations of africa

asia middle east the. pacific region in europe have quite a bit to add to this list so against his background the inventing out of thin air of so of so-called evidence of interference in the united states elections as well as the accusation of other countries in the line policy. piers not only absurd but practically funny. on the twentieth of may have twenty teams driven as well and people once again supported the can nicolas maduro as president of the state by giving him almost sixty eight percent of the vote sort of an hour in to submitting this situation washington did everything possible from the very start to discredit the vote and cast a shadow on the reelected executive of the country in particular there's enough evidence at the fact that on a number of opposition candidates the strongest pressure was exerted so that they

would withdraw their candidates. and not compete in the elections alternately using the pretext of a boycott by part of the opposition the united states and their allies started implementing a plan to overthrow the legitimate authorities of the country and as we know from the american press and active. actively participated prominent members of the congress and the united states congress and his brosius prominent members. now hot on the heels of the election an attempt to overthrow the government was unsuccessful and so washington tried to destabilize the situation including through the organization of american states and a number of. neighbors of venezuela but as is well known it was not possible to adopt an anti venezuela resolution at the permanent council of the oh i guess they were not able to push that through you know what you're going to zation and there's

not enough support in the organization for these plans which is quite indicative today we are witnessing the culmination of these efforts time to coincide with the inauguration of the legitimately elected president extremely extremist opponents of the legitimate government having failed to defeat maduro. including by its physically removing him not to because he would have chosen he is . the scenario of maximum confrontation on the twenty third of january the president of the national assembly proclaimed himself as the interim president of venezuela united states and a number of other countries immediately recognized them thus confirming that they either vetted or were directly involved in this artificial creation of a parallel government. which now threatens with series the civil destabilization within the country. national security advisor john bolton made

a bolshevik style statement about the expropriation of all venezuela and a property on the territory of the united states while on the other hand the allies from the opposition have been promised financial support we strongly condemn those who are pushing the venezuelan society. to the edge of a bloody. bloodbath the united states are painting a picture. of a confrontation between the majority and the people of venezuela and this picture is far from reality when you know in spite of everything the leader of venezuela obviously has broad support among the people and by the way according to sociological surveys conducted in october of twenty teen by one of the structure one an organization close to the opposition the national assembly the leader which is currently being positioned in washington as almost

a president is not supported by almost seventy percent of the people of venezuela and once again about the elections and about. being informed the distinguished representative of the united kingdom spoke about stuff ballot boxes in venezuela suggesting that the elections were rigged. well just for information there are no ballot boxes menace where they use an electronic system of voting. well you have no supporting venezuela we first and foremost are against the violation of international law in particular provisions of the un which clearly condemn any interference and in the internal affairs of into independent states with furthermore from the american leaders are making suggestions that they might be ready even willing to use force talking about all options being on the table using the presence of the secretary of state mr pitt we want to ask him

directly does that mean that the united states is ready to use military force against a sovereign state under a. bogus pretext because it is here in this room that we need to hear a clear answer whether that washington in the end intends to once again violate the u.n. charter. secretary of state palmdale who claims that only china russia cuba syria and iran are supporting the duro used to be able to get well if a sector of state would find the time to stay here in this room a little bit longer he would hear directly how how. how many states how many states condemn the policy of internal and interference in to the internal affairs and regime change. these countries are not there to support the regime what they're here for is to support international law and i think sector the sector of state has already had

a chance to hear this possibly in the context of. the notion of rules based order which was been promoted by our western colleagues and such actions. overthrowing rogue regimes are not are welcome by them as well but international law classifies such actions quite clearly as a violation of the un charter and in particular as chapter two point four we consider this be. unacceptable it undermines the principles of the u.n. charter and the basic norms of international behavior and relations we would also like to address our latin american partners we might do you understand in case. often i mean. in case you continue with your actions tomorrow instead of venezuela or any other latin american country can find itself in its place the illegality of what is trying to do what is taking place in many as well is flagrant and the

leadership of the organization of american states salutes this and following washington rubber stamp threats against an independent state. we are convinced that to resolve the venezuelan crisis a number of obvious and simple steps need to be taken with first of all all external interference needs to stop. and. there needs to be there needs to be an end to propping up the leaders of the opposition secondly all efforts should be made to launch in a don't mess and into an interventionist walen dialogue and. and attempts to find a solution through negotiation. determining role you can and should be played by the neighbors of when israel we know that similar initiatives are already being put forward lastly thirdly we should refrain from discriminatory economic measures

against this country it's no secret that the current economic crisis is to say to a large extent provoked by those countries who are there are the first to cry about the suffering of the venezuelan people. and i would like to make just to correct something that was secretary of state bump ala said we did not block the presidential statement proposed by the united states we made certain constructive amendments which weird. sure were wholeheartedly supported by a majority of the members of the security council some will be supported many of whom are have already done that. some of them and some of them have already had support of them so the ball now is in this side of the american delegation it's up to them we wouldn't but we're not sure that this kind of statement is based on carefully weighed the assessment of the secretary general which confirms the sovereignty of venezuela and the fact that interference in dude's internal affairs

is unacceptable and a death of its constitution should be respected something that the. we believe that it's important to you to lower the rhetoric and to refrain from threats and ultimatums. and it's important to contribute to having a dialogue in normal dialogue and negotiation begin in venezuela for the situation to be stabilized where we are ready to contribute to this if it is why because we call everyone to says thank you very much. so that was the russian ambassador to the united nations speaking at that emergency security council meeting taking place right now on the power struggle in venezuela mike hanna let's bring him in his joining us from the united nations headquarters in new york and russia clearly throwing its support mike behind president nicolas maduro

yes well as the russian ambassador stated that it's not necessary so porting the president of venezuela although it does it's more he claims maintaining international law international role which he argues insists that member. let's just let's just listen to the german ambassador for a moment and then i'll come back to you mike. question if this is a threat for international peace and security you heard probably the statement also by our ambassador from kuwait who is far from the region who clearly said that preventive diplomacy is something that we have to put on the agenda of the security council and this was also said by our colleague from through this was said by our colleague from france who are we said there is a threat for potential threat for international peace and security and it's right

with regard to conflict prevention that the security council deals with this issue and in your statement i didn't hear anything about the south american countries that are suffering right now we have heard the figures and i would like to sink twenty carlow for her briefing we have heard the figures about the impact of the crisis on the region there are more than three million been so ill and who have fled their country there are seven hundred thousand refugees that puru is taking care of we have colombia here and the foreign minister of colombia will later on say what this means for their country and the same holds true for brazil and i think we should really commend these countries for what they are doing for hosting these countries who have fled their country because the living circumstances are as they are in these countries so germany stands in solidarity

with venezuela's neighbors they beare the burden of receiving the displaced population in dire need of shelter and humanitarian assistance. and we would commend your tireless efforts and commitment to providing a safe haven for those who so dry fud from the catastrophe come from the catastrophic humanitarian conditions lack of food and health service in venezuela. let me recall of what led to this massive movement of refugees and this is also by a severe violation of international law the violation of humanitarian law of human rights laws and the democratic principle human rights fundamental freedoms are continued to be to be violated this is a situation again where in particular women and children most effective and russian colleague mentioned rosa let me come back to the two roles or let me

come back to it you know roosevelt she was she inspired the universal declaration of human rights and on paragraph twenty article twenty five it's ruined the once proud nation as i said earlier work we stand with the venezuelan people to restore democracy which are in the country to its rightful condition. that whole nation starving massive malnutrition refugees fleeing this is an international crisis to be sure. and nations like cuban russian child move more than two months salary but protesting against such an impossible situation can land you in jail and we have heard again the reports also of the office of the high commissioner for human rights about detentions that have taken place during the last days and the death of more than twenty people so let me repeat what the high commissioner of what the performer president said yesterday she urged even

a civilian authorities to exercise restraint respect everyone's fundamental right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression. or will it take you away from the u.n. security council for just a moment we're listening to the german ambassador and take you to the u.s. secretary of state michael peo who's speaking at the same time let's listen in a couple of questions first of all in there the russian ambassador had a very direct question for you about the u.s. taking military action if you'd like to add to that here feel free what economic measures does the u.s. plan to impose some venezuela and do you think the venezuelan opposition should shame the u.n. see here and does the u.s. plan to draft a general assembly resolution to make that happen. let me show me take two of those three questions. first this is the first step of what we hope will be real progress here at the united nations we think every member of the united nations ought to

join in support of the venezuelan people so we will continue to work to get. more and more support we're already a great deal on the way and we do think that there will be appropriate resolutions when the time is right and we'll certainly support those they won't come just from us they'll come from other nations who care deeply about the venezuelan people as well that the two questions of all what the united states will do next i'm not going to speculate or hypothesize i know only this word we're determined to support the venezuelan people so that they can ultimately have the democratic institutions they deserve and they can return this once vibrant wealthy wonderful nation to its rightful place. or from our wife's america. thank you thank you secretary and so what exactly are you prepared to do for the venezuelan people you had announced the twenty million dollars in humanitarian aid and also today you said something in your speech it is time for every nation to pick its site will the

u.s. consider of secondary sanctions against countries who recognize the mother of three james like washington did in iran. so the ice is already done a great deal for the venezuelan people we will continue to do that you mention the . initial monies twenty million dollars to ensure that food and medicine and. we can get some level of order to begin to be restored to be much more to do we'll call upon other nations we will join with them to create development humanitarian assistance projects that actually deliver for the venezuelan people those are all part of what will come when we get the democratic changes that we're working towards achieving it a second question to get their essentials out again i'm not going to i'm not going to speculate on what other processes the united states might undertake but know that we think now that the national symbol is the rightful governing body that chosin and present one without to represent them and so we think that the resources

that belong to the venezuelan people ought to go to the leaders that they have under their constitution duly elected functioning anybody they will get business with them i'm not going to i could speculate on what we're going to do next so as you proceed. for me very i'm ok right you're. quite right you've got your secretary mr secretary it's pamela falk from c.b.s. how concerned are you about the military to military contact between russia and the deliveries of equipment last month to venezuela and have you had any contact with the military of that as well thank you so i spoke this morning about cuban security and russian influence russian interference. we want the venezuelan people to have their say and so. the russians have chosen to support the material regime i hope

they'll change their way i hope they will come to see that the rightful. people to run this country are those that the venezuelan people chose and so we'll have conversations with every country including the russians we talk with the chinese will talk with everyone we think the whole world ought to get behind what it is that the venezuelan people have demanded for their country. thank you all. right. so that was the u.s. secretary of state mike pompei was speaking at the united nations while at the same time inside the security council an emergency meeting there it is taking place right now addressing the crisis in venezuela my pompei i did address the council a little earlier on as well mike hanna is following events joining us from the united nations so second time we hear michael peo speak is speaking is really laying out the u.s. its case as to why they support why do and trying to get the international community to back them. yes very much so and one must note

as well that we are still expecting to hear from the venezuelan foreign minister in that u.n. security council proceeding not sure whether the u.s. secretary of state is going to go back inside having made that public statement outside the security council chamber but we've just heard from him there as well at the stakeout similar to what he said within the chamber itself in his speech arguing very strongly that the international community needs to support for hydro as the new legitimate leader often as well are looking for that support among all the u.n. member nations to back the u.s. in this particular position well there was as well a procedural vote called by russia we heard from russia being very strongly opposed to these proceedings nine members of voted to continue the u.n. security council meeting but for all voted against and two abstained very clearly

the division within the security council is not just coming from russia and china so the u.s. has got its task cut out to get to its stated ends it does have the support of its traditional allies france and the united kingdom but as we heard from the secretary of state there he's not going to speculate about what the u.s. is going to do next unilaterally and mike we also heard from the german ambassador to the united nations he was speaking right after the russian and he was highlighting the situation for a refugee that have had to flee event as well because of the economic crisis that's been going on. very much so there are some three million venezuelans that have fled the country since twenty fifteen because of the economic and political situation we heard from the german ambassador earlier we heard speaking outside the belgian ambassador highlighting this particular point that what is that stake here is not just the country itself but also all the nations

that surrounded and the massive humanitarian crisis that is starting because of what is happening in venezuela and they are arguing very strongly that this alone justifies u.n. interference or un mediation in what is happening in invent as well and this is a very important point because they are contradicting the russian argument in their eyes by arguing that the is a crisis that is a humanitarian crisis right it also is a crisis to world peace so the u.n. is justified in intervening we'll go back to the u.n. security council for a moment and listen to the chinese ambassador thank you michael the time being. they in mind the fundamental interests of the country and its people to seek a political solution to the issues through peaceful dialogue within the framework of the venezuelan constitution. to china supports the efforts made by the

venezuelan government to a national sovereignty independence and stability. the wrong china maintains that all countries should abide by the purposes and principles that person supposed of the un charter especially the norms governing international relations and the principles of international law such as no interference in each other's internal affairs mutual respect for authority and territory integrity and refrain from threatening to use force. china always opposed the principle of noninterference in other countries in turn or they are silent and opposes foreign interference in venezuela's affairs with. the situation human israel belongs to the domestic affairs of about country it does not constitute a threat to international peace and security and it is not on the agenda of the security council china is against adding the situation in venezuela to

the agenda of the security council when the larger the affairs must be and can only be chosen and decided by and by the venezuelan people themselves we call upon all relevant parties to inspect the choice of the venezuelan people within our body when maintaining stability and development in israel serves the interests of all relevant parties we hope all parties can contribute more to when its realizes the billet you want what you feel we hope that the international community can jointly create fear about conditions where that. just now without the us delegate. made reasonable accusations against the position of china in his statement china firmly opposed to such accusations. as is known to all china has always been committed to the purposes some principles of the un charter

and respect to the sovereignty independence unity. and terry terry integrity of all countries china does not interfere you know the country's internal affairs we hope the country that kills this others can do it like by itself thank you mr president . my thanks to the representatives of china was about i'm going to give the floor to the representative of indonesia. thank you mr president are all more way from the live event at the u.n. security council for just a moment to bring in mike hanna who been listening in and will break it all down for us because we were just hearing from the chinese ambassador mike. trying his position more in line with the russian position very much so that virtually identical to the russian position arguing that it is an abuse of

sovereignty that it is internal interference in a state of member of the affairs of the member state so russia and china are providing a very solid front against the u.s. attempts and against the u.s. and its allies attempts that is the hard call point of dissent within the security council chamber that is why they will not be any unified motion coming out of the security council on this particular day daryn so what is it that we are likely to see mike if there are norm when no formal votes that are taking place is this anything but a symbolic measure in the wire. very much a symbolic measure but at the same time it is attempting to gain the weight of international opinion for the us position for the position of the us and its allies there will not be a vote the us had at one stage hoped that it would get a the security council to recommend

a presidential statement by the un secretary general however that was made clear by the secretary of state in his speech to the council that discussions with russia and china this morning had ended in no agreement whatsoever but what the u.s. is attempting to do by calling this meeting in the first place is to create international pressure is to create a wave among international nations to bring pressure to bear on venezuela to cold new elections and to recognize one cargo as the new legitimate leader of that particular country obviously this does not look like an immediate end we are hearing repeatedly russia and china's support for nicolas maduro so this is an ongoing situation here we have heard from the allies of the u.s. as well and emphasizing the humanitarian crisis that is happening around venezuela pointing to this as justification for direct u.n.

involvement ok my cannot thank you and just a reminder that we are waiting for the venezuelan representative to speak at the u.n. security council so once the representative representative begins we will bring it to you live right here on out zero with winds. but we will move away from the u.n. for a moment and take a look at some of the other stories making news right around the world an israeli airstrikes targeting iranian forces in syria are provoking fear as a full scale war is really attacks earlier this week in damascus killed dozens of people reported to be iranian and pro syrian government fighters well experts in iran say the killings are a dangerous escalation in tensions. as the view from to her run. in one of the first military exercises of the year iranian soldiers let loose the weapons of war the same young men playing war games now may someday be fighting on frontlines far from home and experts worry israel might be hostility between the

two countries is no secret since the early days of the syrian war eight years ago israeli forces have targeted iranian allies of the government a mask. but continuing israeli strikes on iranian targets in syria means what started out as a sidebar to the war runs the risk of becoming a parallel conflict. we have been fighting israel in different ways to forty years now there is a direct contact because our bases are close to their borders we are monitoring their activities and we are capable of retaliation so far we have not decided to enter a direct war with israel because we believe the syrian government should make this decision they haven't yet but it may happen and if it does we should expect a direct and very wide war on the ground. with no immediate borders between them open conflict with israel would probably look like proxy battles of the past likely playing out on lebanese and syrian soil experts say strikes on each other cities is also a possibility but the most dangerous escalation would come from the involvement of

israel. and iran staunchest enemy the united states if that were to happen many experts warn the conflict could become global there is perhaps no clearer sign of the distrust between iran and israel than this monument to their mutual animosity in a speech a few years ago iran's supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei predicted the end of israel giving the country twenty five years until it destroyed itself. his supporters did the math and put a clock in palestine square in downtown tehran for those who take the word of the supreme leader as literal and divine this countdown clock is more than just a publicity stunt for many iranians it is a real time countdown to the end of israel as we know it. but iranians still bear the scars of the eight year war with neighboring iraq in the one nine hundred eighty s. and even with israel a rush to war seems unwanted. first of all war is not a good thing because all countries involved take a loss if there isn't we won't stop it but we will fight until. to defend our

country and. iran won't go. iran is just defending itself we don't say war will never happen every moment weak speak to it but we will defend ourselves and we will surely when you talk. about and better to avoid war as much as possible is better things can be solved by talks but talks without any perception about it. while low level skirmishes with israel inside syria may worsen in iran there still seems to be as much talk of peace as there is for war despite open hostility towards israel for now most people don't appear to want another large scale conflict zain basra the old a zero to hero or yellow vests demonstrators are gathering for the eleventh straight weekend in france to protest against president of my new on my calls government unlike in previous weeks this protest in paris turned violent the demonstrations began in november over

a proposal to raise fuel taxes the government scrapped the plan but protests have since grown into anti government rallies and calls for mccall to resign thanks for watching the news great you can keep in touch with us on social media use the hashtag a.j. news great we will see you back here soon you're fourteen fifteen g.m.t. on sunday thanks for watching but by. russian filmmaker andrina christoph explores how putin's russia impacts the very values of the nation the russians are famous for their cultural legacy but can traditional and conservative be the source of stagnation and authoritarian rule why

does a super heated by the police to seize ukraine six homosexuality the second the. booting to the russian elite is that she was like a fake you who controls the cobra in such a putin's russia on al-jazeera. you leave this place children in this refugee camp the latest victims of the unending sectarian violence in central african republic among them are survivors of unspeakable violence ten year olds to the book his mother is dead her father is gone killed because they were christian by their own muslim neighbors this is the least you home an overcrowded refugee camp of twenty three thousand people surrounded by armed militia groups celine wants answers she says she wants to be asking the questions and so we traded places inch took the microphone will we find peace how can we make the violence stop when will i be able to return home the battle over the minimum wage heated up across the country today

thousands of fast food workers walked off the job desperate for a better wage use if you kid your average worker a little more money they're probably going to be able to pay bills maybe to spend a little bit more i'm a two fifty right now so fifty k. pain will be to survive in twenty first century america i'm nervous we cannot afford for one of us alone a job. on al jazeera. if you stand with the forces of freedom or you're in league with material and his may i'm. the u.s. lobbies the u.n. security council to recognize opposition leader one by edo as venezuela's president .

hello i'm barbara sarah this is al jazeera live from london also coming up on the program brazil takes action against a mining company whose dam collapsed burying as many as three hundred people under a torrent of mt the taliban says it's prepared a draft agreement with the u.s. special envoy to end the conflict in afghanistan and why people cashing in on china's decision to stop recycling the world's plastic is creating big environmental problems for malaysia. hello thank you for joining us the u.s. secretary of state mike pump aoe has called on the international community to end all financial dealings with venezuela's leader. from jail made the comment said the u.n. security council meeting where world leaders are discussing the power struggle between mother widow and venezuela's off was issue leader who on the us is lobbying the

council to support worry though who swore himself in as interim president on wednesday meanwhile spain france germany and the u.k. have united to ramp up the pressure of venezuelan leader nicolas maduro delivering the same ultimatum what are they going to do you know we're going to spend you know the government of spain gives nicolas maduro eight days to call free transparent democratic elections that doesn't happen spain will recognize what joe was interim president in charge of calling these elections. well the u.s. canada brazil colombia argentina and a host of other latin american countries have already endorsed the opposition leader but macdougall can still rely on the financial and political support of heavyweights china and russia they and turkey syria and iran have all warned the u.s. not to intervene but the us traditional left wing allies in the region that's cuba mexico nicaragua and bolivia are also staying loyal to him well in a moment we're going to talk to the c.n.n. human columbia's border within israel

a first though let's go to mike hanna who is at the united nations for a semi tell us a little bit more about what's going on at the u.n. well once again it's been a divided security council meeting early in the day before the meeting began there were some talks between the u.s. and the russians in terms of trying to get some kind of unified action at the end of the security council session but it became very clear that that was not to be the case might pump aoe the u.s. secretary of state here at the united nations to put his country's case arguing very strongly that they needed to be change in venezuela arguing that he was working for the venezuelan people and saying that one god must be recognized as the legitimate leader often as well and this is what my pump aoe had to say either you stand with the forces of freedom or you're in league with material and has made them some countries have publicly taken former president assad china

russia syria and iran are just four of them it's not a surprise that those who rule without democracy in their own countries are trying to prop up madeira while he is in dire straits. well russia was so opposed to these proceedings that it asked for a procedural vote before they began nine nations nine of the members of the security council voted to continue the discussion but it was a sign of the division that four members voted against continuing and there were two abstentions but russia continuing to argue strongly that the u.s. calling the meeting or any u.n. action against venezuela would constitute illegal interference in that country's internal affairs this is what the russian ambassador had to say begonia good little message at the meeting. which we are being forced to present is another element of

the strategy of the united states to effect regime change in venezuela and we regret that in this an ethical deploy in its unethical ploys the united states is involved in the security council well clearly there's going to be no united voice at the end of the security council session the u.s. and its allies hoping that it will help mount international pressure we heard before there we heard during the session from the u.k. in particular giving an eight day ultimatum to venezuela saying that if one god you know is not recognized as the legitimate leader then they will be calling for they are calling for elections unless one guardo is recognized as of the judgment leader within eight days so there's that ultimatum out there but u.n. action unified you in action not likely to come out of this particular meeting and where of course waiting to hear from the representative of venezuela to address a security council will bring that here live on al-jazeera for the moment mike

hanna thank you and al jazeera as latin america editor to see a new man is live for us in cuckoo town the venezuelan colombian border surveyed as well or at the center of a lot of international diplomacy going on right now. in c.s. but tell us what's going on and what reaction is to that where you are. hello barbara i'm inside a soup kitchen run by the catholic church this is inside a parish incredible as it may sound if they serve four thousand lunches which is what's happening place right now every single day and earlier in the morning breakfast to three thousand five hundred of the hundreds of thousands of venezuelan economic refugees that are living here in critical time in other parts of venice of colombia just across the border from venezuela and this is the only meal for most of these people we are seeing women about to give birth women who've just had children old people young people of all ages and.

different economic strata at least they used to have all of these people some of them move just arrived in colombia saying that they cannot survive across the border in their country in venezuela and so they are many of the money even aware of what's happening not only at the united nations but inside their own country right now and some only learned just yesterday that the door had been proclaimed by the national assembly which is controlled by the opposition as an interim president and so there's a lot of confusion here but others do have a strong opinion they say that whatever happens they wanted to bring about change they know that there may be some questions about respect for national sovereignty about international intervention in the affairs of their country but they say at this point they really don't care what they want is a country that they can go back to and survive barbara and obviously the troubles in venezuela been going on for a while and people live had to have economic and financial assistance for

a while many of them as you say have left venezuela i mean the fact that now we're seeing brazil colombia argentina and a host of other last name merican countries indorse the opposition leader you know we're seeing a particular interest on behalf of the regional neighbors. well obviously it's been a long time now since many of the south american countries the largest south american countries have been pushing up the organization of american states they formed a group called the group when they leave the lima group to try to pressure president . before the elections were held during the elections and after the elections but none of this had worked and this group has been growing it's been receiving more support especially since countries like brazil have changed governments now there is no law they there has been a tendency to more conservative governments in the region particularly in south america and so they have now aligned themselves with the position of the united

states and we have seen even more interesting now interestingly now in the last twenty four hours the e.u. which had basically refused to endorse one waythe all as the interim president giving the government of nicolas maduro eight days to change his mind to hold or to at least set up independently and transparent independently supervised elections or they too will endorse this interim government so he is losing a lot of support but he still as mike hanna just pointed out has the support of porton countries like russia and china there is right now let me just add this across the border in business in different parts of the country including in fact that which isn't far from here they're starting to hold open air meetings called the to discuss an offer by one wide dog to give amnesty to members of the military who turned who flip basically on and join the opposition movement for

a transition government so that is a significant development right now as well barbara. on the venezuela colombia border saying. brazil's national mining agency has ordered vale a say mining company to suspend operations while state prosecutors are also seeking to freeze one point three billion dollars of ales accounts for damages this comes as rescuers continue to search for more than two hundred missing people after a dam burst that an iron mine in the state of maine s.k.u. on friday authorities say that at least seven bodies have been recovered from the town of when this is the second major down disaster involving the vail estate company in over three years. and most of that not all of our songs are hold our

brother in law known as thomas nothing three hundred people and no one to telling us nothing. on the off part where our parents the fathers the mothers all went to work today no one tells us anything where's my dad when my dad was with has the latest now from belo horizonte in brazil's state. so the day after the bank spewing millions of liters of sludge tailings is then known from the iron ore mine into the environment a rescue operation in full swing the president of brazil a job also nado jew here in belo horizonte way he has said he is going to oversee the operation he's bringing members of his cabinet into the region to try to initially to find out the extent of the damage to try to rescue survivors and then to try to limit what will inevitably be a huge environmental disaster to try to stop the contaminated water is heading down into a nearby hydroelectric plant to try to then start

a massive cleanup operation in the meantime questions are being asked about exactly how this has happened less than four years after the last catastrophe in. the in the same state of minister lies the same company valley involved in that operation as well they have expressed their concern they have said they're very sorry but environmentalist saying that is simply not enough they should have learned lessons from that previous disaster in which nineteen people were killed three hundred seventy five families lost their homes many of those people have still not being really housed nobody was ever prosecuted for that disaster and we're now looking at another similar situation the extent the true extent of the catastrophe still not known but as i say the rescue operation in full swing at least sixty eight people have been killed by floods and landslides in indonesia will six others remain missing dozens of communities were inundated as rivers overflowed and burst their banks.