unities mike ryan is the assistant director general for emergencies at the world health organization he's joining us from geneva for your assessment mike ryan thanks for being with us so the w.h.o. is saying that the risk remains very high at the national and regional levels and global risk remains low how have your rates this is sustenance. yes indeed we have still very active transmission in north kivu in the touring the specifically around the city of cattle the disease remains not fully contained and cutter with the diseases coming under control in other areas but the fact that the disease is still there it still represents risk to other parts of the country to other countries in the region and that's where the risk is highest at the moment and that's our current determination so how difficult is it going to be to contain specifically that you say it poses a risk to not only that area of the d r c but surrounding countries.

we are tracking every every covert at the moment over seven thousand contacts on a daily basis we've vaccinated. sixty six thousand people with targeted ring vaccination a new a new vaccine in the field for the for the first time in a situation like this and we have literally hundreds and hundreds of staff in the field doing this work so we believe that we've managed to contain the disease in the areas concerned we've also worked very closely with the fork in the surrounding countries to congo and specifically the four countries that share the common border today to the east and those countries have ramped up there for paired innocent preparing a solution units in facts and i think health workers in creating community alert systems etc so we believe that surrounding countries are really engaged in active preparedness we are very engaged in containing the disease in situ and ending in breaking the chains transmission so at the moment there's a huge global team on the ground supporting our congolese colleagues in and doing

that and we are quietly optimistic that we're beginning to turn a corner but there is no room here for complacency we must be vigilant and we must act very intensively specifically in areas like qatar where the battle is not yet won and you mentioned the vaccines a moment ago we know that a major drug maker has said that will set approximately one hundred twenty thousand doses of an experimental ebola vaccine to the congo by the end of february how effective are these experiments on. the vaccines are able to have this particular vaccine. has been proven in west africa to be effective in trials so we are seeing that that same process unfold in congo where using a strategy of vaccinating along social networks contacts of cases contacts of those contacts so we're tracking the virus along the routes which is spread. in the community and using that targeted approach and using intense community engagement

over ninety eight percent of people who are eligible for the vaccine are willing to accept it that's a very very high vaccine coverage in the most high risk people so we're beginning to see the fruits of that endeavor and certainly we believe that effects in asia strategy is is why we are seeing cases of course we believe that that vaccination strategy is helping us to avoid many many more cases that would have occurred of to know had we not had the vaccine in place all right we'll leave it there we thank you very much for joining us on al-jazeera from geneva indian farmers have been protesting outside parliament demanding loan waivers and better prices for their produce about six hundred million indians depend on agriculture for their livelihoods and many have huge debts the government has allocated almost eleven billion dollars for rural funding in tax cuts in its twenty one thousand budgets. now thousands of iranians have gathered at an important shrine into ron to mark

forty years since i returned from exile in the one nine hundred seventy nine revolution in the weeks that followed khomeini's followers took on loyalists of the shah including police and soldiers the shah had fled at the height of violent protests against his reign our correspondent same bus ravi has this update from to one. we're here at the shrine of ayatollah ruhollah khomeini the founding father of the islamic republic of iran if and here there are thousands of iranians coming together to commemorate forty years to the day since he returned from exile and rocked the slum make revolution with now forty years later decades later the ideals of the revolution that he brought continue to you'll always see here in iran and it continues to be a sort of living thing for which iranian leaders across trying to for example rally support for foreign wars that iran is involved but they simultaneously speak of

this revolution the something fragile and precious that needs to be protected from external threats and while that may be the case that the revolution is also coming under criticism internally domestically the country's economy forty years later is suffering president hassan rouhani vice president visited this shrine just days ago and he said that iran's economy was one of the worst days that it's ever been and people fall squarely on the show of the american soul i can still write off even as supporters of the clerical system of government that khamenei established after the revolution come together to celebrate the anniversary this year there are you waddles all cross the country who say that they feel the left behind many people that we've spoken to told us that they helped protest against the persian king their khamenei unseated as he took control of the country and at the time they were

protesting and rallying in support of the role of from a need for change and for prosperity but forty years later many of them say that the caretakers of the revolution like am after the founding father of the sabah public all they feel is caretakers have let them down they're suffering financially . forty years on and many of the promises of the revolution the fuel no have been broken. in less than an hour qatar will face four time asian cup football champions japan in the final qatar was cleared to play after the asian football confederation rejected a protest from the united arab emirates about possible knowledgeable players this is the first time the gulf nation has made it to the asian cup final on tuesday qatar beat the u.a.e. for no in the semifinal dubbed the blockade darby let's go to our use that a fan zone here in doha forty five minutes until kick off how are the fans preparing for this match. well the reason they are preparing by celebrating

before this game has even begun they think that just the fact that qatar has made it this far is a celebration in itself and regardless of the outcome of today's game they are very very proud of their national team some of the locals we spoke to here said that they can't believe qatar has made it to the finals and that despite all the obstacles they face referring to of course the blockade that's imposed on qatar by four nations in the neighborhood that is saudi arabia u.a.e. and egypt since june of two thousand and seventeen many of the qataris here couldn't go to the games to support their team in abu dhabi but they say this might all these obstacles they are very proud of their team the fact that they've managed to compose themselves with such poise the fact that they've made it this far is enough for the fans to celebrate so a few moments ago the music started here the crowds are gathering there celebrating before even the game starts course many predict that qatar will go on to win and

beat the four time champions of the asian games japan one person we spoke to said they believe qatar will win three nelf that remains to be seen but of course this team has proven itself over and over again they have a man managed to maintain a clean nets that means no other team has able to school. or against heart in the six matches that they've played so far in this tournament the qatar national team has scored sixteen goals so far this is the seventh and final match for them but regardless of the outcome they will certainly be returning home heroes all right we'll cross to you when that match begins thank you for the time being let's cross over to tokyo speak to fight the salami so for japan the they're looking for a fifth when. exactly that him actually they're looking to win this. tournament because they didn't they didn't

give a very good performance in the last world cup and actually that was one of the reasons why they changed their national teams so many times until they have chosen more yes it was very known for his aggressive play so they're looking to win this tournament because first as i mentioned they want to prove that they are the champions of asia and secondly because they're now facing a new team which is got its national team who didn't reach this stage until now so if they lose in front of them it would be very embarrassing for the germany's beyers who are very known with their qualifications and very known. one of the champions of asia so many fans know are they heading to the other sports cafes out on this area this is gold. in the central tokyo where most of the fans. here and other sports. we would see. end of the match if this race

would be flooded with the fans they do usually when their team wins matches. as important as this continent and what it meant all right for the time being found this out i mean thank you for that update from tokyo. time for a check on the weather with stuff going somewhere very cold now and we're going off to the snow we found plenty of snow in parts of europe over the last couple of days these pictures are from the u.k. this is bristol we've also got plenty of snow that we've been seeing in london and we have seen a fair covering as well so lots of wintery weather around that system has also been affecting us elsewhere in europe too so here it is swirling its way eastward we've also seen a lot of snow over parts of germany as well some places here have seen very thick snow coming down and that has caused disruption to flight and a lot of disruption to traffic as well so lots of wintery conditions over many parts of europe at the moment and plenty more still to come is what we're expecting

to happen to that snow is going to be marching its way northward towards scandinavia there as we head through saturday a more wet weather edging its way north was behind it too with this hoax wording mass over many parts of europe currently that snow will still be giving us some heavy falls i will also be seeing some heavy rain in the south so for some of the outs they could be up to a meter more snow as we head through the next twenty four hours or so and as that snow works its way into scandinavia here we're expecting around thirty centimeters of snow in parts of sweden so plenty more wintery weather still to come for the u.k. though here fortunately it looks like the temperatures will be on the rise and things will thaw diary stuff thank you well romania has taken the rotating presidency of the european union for the first time but it's already proving controversial the government is being accused of corruption and mismanagement environmental activists have also told al jazeera that romania has been complicit in the destruction of some of europe's most important forests lawrence lee reports from

a similar national forests. these high hills have proved rich pickings for people who show scant regard for the importance of ancient forests supposedly immune from exploitation they don't even try to hide their business it's all piled up on the roadside despite commercial logging in the national park being illegal nor did it take long to find the law because we'd been warned they might be armed so we kept our camera at a distance they insisted they had won a government auction which allowed them to do this fairly the environmental activists trying to stop it's say none of this could happen without the government knowing if you slogging conservations are most of the times approved by the state but when we write letters and make complaints the minister herself is answering to us said there should be no logging in national parks so there is a little contradiction here they approve it and they say it's not legal at the same time but you can see it i mean we just drove up the track and it's here you can't

you can't miss it all over in any nation are parked in the town which sits below the national park a huge steel works used to provide employment for nearly everyone but not any more nothing was found to replace the jobs so it's easy to see why logging became such a large industry romania's forests are vast which is partly why the locals get away with it some of this woodland is among the oldest in europe but large areas have been cut out of it the government keeps secrets any records of what's legal and what isn't so global companies which buy romanian timber furniture cannot know the origin of the wood. alina worked for the forestry agency for fourteen years when she complained about all of this she says she was intimidated and isolated ultimately forced to resign from fox kmart a large part of the bad luck i was questioned by my directors as a biologist i was prevented from doing field work that didn't from going to logging

areas in the park they kept me on minimum wage they did everything they could to stop me from being able to speak out they cut me off remain you're currently enjoys the privilege of holding the presidency of the council of the european union which means it has the opportunity to set policy objectives for the whole of the e.u. including on the environment and yet despite all the evidence to the contrary the remaining government still insists that nothing illegal has been happening inside its own protected forests their own ministers have been saying as much to the european parliament even though it has been presented with evidence suggesting the very opposite we are talking about illegal logging in private forests where there were no proper services for guarding these forests thirty years ago the remaining people rose up against their dictatorial leader nicholai ceausescu and embarked on a journey to democracy which for the first time has put their country into a leadership position across europe for all of that remain yet maintains

a reputation as having a thick covering of corruption it seems unable to shake off largely al-jazeera in western remedial. still ahead on the al-jazeera news hour event as well low self declared leader has a tense brush with the various security forces he's trying to get on this side and in sport as you've been hearing japan prepare to take on qatar for asian football's biggest prize hitter will be here in a little bit with all the build up to the asian cup final. i mean every week a new cycle going to see you yes of breaking stories and then of course there's donald trump told through the eyes of the world's jannah least that's right out of a hamas group that calls for the annihilation of israel that is not what that phrase means joined the listening post as we turn the cameras on the media and focus on how they recruit on the stories that matter the most in better use

a free palestine a listening post on al-jazeera. in recent years the sawhill of north africa as witness the so-called war on terror. but is this official narrative. masking a larger battle. a battle for the earth's natural resources. shadow war in the sahara.

hello again the top stories on the al-jazeera news hour the secretary of state my pump aoe is expected to speak any moment now about the u.s. has plans to withdraw from a decades old. after accusing russia of violating its but the kremlin says the trumpet ministration has made up the allegations to get out of the pact and develop . senior figures in turkey is really our party have met the un human rights investigator who's looking into the murder of saudi journalists. they say agnes shares their frustrations and fears that there will be full justice for everyone suspected of involvement qatar will be facing four time asian football champions japan in the final in less than half an hour this is the first time to go from nation has made it to the final moments. the u.n. refugee agency says syrian democratic forces have not responded to a request to designate a site where people fleeing fighting can access aid it says it asked the group two

weeks ago at least twenty nine children died mostly from hypothermia after arriving in northeastern syria many families have made the journey in freezing conditions to escape violence as the forces are fighting iceland jordan are control of the transit zones there. we have approached the authorities who are effectively in control of the area where we need to work. we have as i said before we have also appealed to. those fighting and those with influence over those involved in the fighting to do their utmost to grant safety for the civilians fleeing. and to obviously allow the humanitarian access in the areas where we need there's just one month until u.s. tariffs on chinese goods will be increased to twenty five percent if the world's two largest economies can't reach a trade deal both sides say progress was made during two days of negotiations in washington president donald trump insists nothing will be finalized until he meets

the chinese leader xi jinping ellen fisher has more from washington we have a tremendous progress they both want to deal but there's still a lot of ground to cover u.s. president donald trump has been meeting china's vice premier in the oval office he delivered a letter from his boss chinese president xi jinping the topic the ongoing trade war between the two hanging over both the corner meets the hold that would make if you have been sitting around the table in washington this week trying to thrash out an agreement that after days of talks donald trump is uncertain there's a deal to be done this is small deal with this is going to be a very big deal or it's going to be a deal that will just postpone for a little while but we've been dealing with china we've had a great relationship i have a great relationship with president cheney. the u.s. wants china to buy more american goods and to change the rules of doing business in china where american companies have to peer with local companies and hand over the treats secrets and intellectual property and good at

a growing trade deficit the trumpet ministration introduced ten percent targets on billions of dollars of chinese goods coming into the u.s. that will kick up to twenty five percent if there's no deal by march but the chinese have retaliated with kind of serve their own. the president says any final agreement will be home a date with him and his chinese counterpart it's a lot of work because this is a very comprehensive deal this is it what we're talking about you know they're going to buy some corn and that's going to be it no they're going to buy corn hopefully they've got a lot to corn and lots of wheat and lots of everything else that we have but they're also talking heavy technology heavy manufacturing financial services and everything in the united states and china of the world's two biggest economies there's pressure on both to reach a deal. because of the impact it's having on their own countries and the international monetary fund says an extended trade war will be bad for global economies alan fischer i'll just you know washington chinese traders have been

hoping of a breakthrough as they go into the lunar new year but as our china correspondent adrian brown reports the year of the pig is looking tough regardless of whether an agreement is reached. it's the world's biggest annual exodus when china becomes a nation in motion. some of these travelers leaving beijing railway station face journeys of more than thirty hours but as people prepare for their biggest celebration of the year there's apprehension over the slowing economy and rick criticism about who people blame don't tell by the common say it's good but they're not doing it well she reports he seems to manage the high ranks well but he doesn't seem to know how the people are actually doing. the rhythm of chinese new year is not for everyone he. manages

a popular cuban dance studio in beijing she's decided not to travel to her family's home in northeast china this holiday partly it's because of the cost and partly because of the endless parental questions about why she still single. the second or people. in their seventy's like me some call the left the over spring festival probably means burden of pressure for them parents pester me to find a husband all year round not just adoring ten or so and rather used to it or even see. zoo is also used to smaller class sizes now as more people cut down on luxuries and that includes salsa classes. official figures show that consumer spending is remaining static while manufacturing output dropped for a second straight month in january the slowdown wasn't caused by china's trade war

with the united states but it's making things worse. analysts say this is why president xi jinping is under pressure to make a trade deal with president donald trump as a problem dispute creates another risk he doesn't need right now. she is so worried that a few weeks ago he convened a seminar of high ranking party officials to discuss how to reduce the risks to china's economy the gathering lasted for days a measure perhaps of the seriousness of his concerns on monday chinese people here under around the world will begin celebrating the give of the pagan traditions we break out of that report to take you live to the u.s. secretary of state mike pompei let's listen in if countries must be held accountable when they break the rules for years russia has violated the terms of the intermediate range nuclear forces treaty without remorse to this day russia remains in material breach of its treaty obligations not to produce because possess

or flight test a ground launched it immediate range cruise missile system with a range between five hundred and fifty five hundred kilometers. in spite of this violation for almost six years the united states is going to tremendous links to preserve this agreement and it says ensure security for our people our allies and our partners we avoid raise russia's noncompliance with russian officials including at the highest levels of government more than thirty times hit russia continues to deny that its missile system is non-compliant and violates the treaty. russia's violation puts millions of europeans and americans a greater risk it aims to put the united states at a military disadvantage and it undercuts the chances of moving our bilateral relationship in a better direction it's our duty to respond appropriately when an agreement is so brazenly disregarded and our security only is so openly threatened we must respond

. we did that last december when the united states with strong support from all of our nato allies formally declared russia in material breach of the treaty. i also then provided notice that unless russia return to full and verifiable compliance within sixty days we would suspend our obligation under that treaty we provided russian ample window of time to mend its ways and for russia to honor its commitment to morrow that time runs out russia has refused to take any steps to return real and verifiable compliance over these sixty days the united states will therefore suspend its obligations under the i have treaty effective february second we will provide russia and the other treaty parties with formal notice that the united states is withdrawing from the un after eighty effective in six months pursuant to article fifteen of the tree russia has jeopardized the united states' security interest and we can no longer be restricted

by the treaty while russia shamelessly violates it if russia does not return to full and verifiable compliance with the treaty within the six month period by verifiably destroying its i n f violating missiles there launchers and associated equipment the treaty will terminate before cause i want to give a special thanks to our nato allies who stood with us in our mission to uphold the rule of law and protect our people their solidarity reflects the historical strength and unity of the nato alliance their support is good for our shared security it's good for transatlantic unity and it's good for international peace and security president trump is grateful for all that you have done the united states is hopeful that we can put our relationship with russia back on a better footing but the onus is on russia to change course from a pattern of destabilizing activity not just on this issue but on many others as

well. the united states stands ready to engage with russia on arms control negotiations that advance u.s. and allied and partner security and are verifiable and enforceable must also include all the partners they must all responsibly comply with their obligations as we remain hopeful of a fundamental shift in russia's posture the united states will continue to do what is best for our people and those of our allies i'm happy to take a couple of questions this morning rob. that was the u.s. secretary of state announcing that the united states is suspending its obligations effective february second on the i.n.f. treaty which will eventually lead to the u.s. is withdraw from the treaty in six months time so they are announcing the withdrawal from the i.n.f. treaty with russia can really help listening in joining us from washington so clearly pump a zero accusing russia can really of violating the nuclear missile pact and that is

why the u.s. is withdrawing. yes and this is going to have some broad implications on a number of fronts let's start first of all with the concerns of u.s. allies particularly in europe the main concern there has been that this could lead to sort of a proliferation of the development of arms and lead to potentially an even new arms race so that is certainly a concern there and we heard mike pump aoe trying to reassure u.s. allies thanking them for their commitment and support the other concern that we have heard in all of there which was not directly touched on but which we know the united states is also worried about is that this treaty does not in any way include china and that there has been a concern about the gaining military advantage of china not bound by this treaty perhaps another reason that the u.s. is now being aggressive in terms of its notification to russia that it will suspend

its obligations the united states that is under the treaty because there is this feeling that the united states needs to begin to flex its military might as china it has alleged is doing the same and then i think the other broad and key point that we have to acknowledge in all of this which kind of came at the end of my pump a.a.'s announcement there was that this is in the eyes of the united states just another facet of what the u.s. believes is russia's own. overall de stabilizing activity that's the phrase that my pump used centrally touching in two or delving into what has been a long running concern here in the united states dating back to even before the twenty sixteen presidential election where all the intelligence agencies here in the us conclude that russia has been not only influencing the electoral process in the united states but is continuing to actively try and influence for the twenty twenty presidential election as well so the feeling of the united states at least

from that announcement is that millions are risk the united states feels that it needs to respond and it has done so now by putting in place this notification the clock ticking for six months when there will be the complete withdrawal unless this agreement can be salvaged ok you can really thank you. it was supposed to be the biggest stock market offering off all time but the saudi oil giants iran co failed to hit the two trillion dollar value set by crown prince mohammed bin so last year the kingdom cancelled around costar thing al-jazeera investigates the reasons behind the failure of that business offering. home to the muslim worlds holiest sites saudi arabia's real source of power comes from oil and saudi aramco turns that black gold into dollars and rio a company which is never to be noted independently was the crown jewel of the so-called vision twenty thirty there is no doubt that iran is one of the key

pillars to this vision to the growth of our economy and to the progress of the entire kingdom of saudi arabia. but the company which funds saudi arabia's budget never appeared on any stock market and the kingdom's economy has tanks its then al-jazeera has investigated the ideas behind vision twenty thirty the politics of the kingdom which revolve around oil money and the reasons why the proposed law did not work the secretive company has never had to declare its financial reports as a massive transformation had gone public one of the major objections by people in the kingdom was their fear of the money would go into the pockets of. the other issue is the nearly constant oil build saudi arabia has claimed since it took over from american big oil firms which founded around call looking at their reserves figures makes if you look too closely at it you start. scratching your head you

wonder how it can stay roughly constant from year to year when they're producing an export and so much oil every year five hundred thirty three million dollars five hundred twenty five million dollars but. the crown prince. millions of dollars to build an image of change and progress but the public relations drive abroad as well as any improvements at home have not proceeded as planned i see that as a much bigger backlash than even the religious or concern of people is really unemployment and saudis not taking jobs the biggest setbacks to shake investor confidence came after the confinement of top saudi businessmen the imprisonment of rights activists and economists and find the key the fallout from the killing of saudi journalist the shock and the force of skin for democracy and asking people to be allowed to speak i'm asking for the minimum killing of the saudi journalist that

has put them in the spotlight and if they come forward and tell the whole truth of what happened if not. they may be faced with harsh. economic sanctions. and if that's the case the market. seems to be saying well saudi arabia's economy is going to fall off a cliff. a somma binge of aid reporting there and you can watch that full al-jazeera news special aramco the company on the states on friday at twenty hundred hours g.m.t. right here on al-jazeera our u.s. senator cory booker has put his heart in the ring for the democratic presidential nomination the forty nine year old african-american is the youngest senator to join the twenty twenty race to the white house and the new jersey senator has been one of the most vocal critics of donald trump booker joins a crowded growing democratic field of candidates all vying for the party's

nomination. north korea has agreed to dismantle two if its military sites and open them for outside inspections that's ahead of an expected summit between donald trump and kim jong un the u.s. special envoy will meet north korean officials next week to discuss the next steps washington has a list of demands for pyongyang including the destruction of all of its uranium enrichment facilities trump is expected to announce details of the next leaders' summit on tuesday. thailand's government is struggling to deal with air pollution that's shrouding the capital schools across bangkok were closed for two days this week because of the hazardous air quality environmental activists say the government isn't taking the issue seriously when hey more. face masks have become a fashion accessory in bangkok the thai capital and its people a choking and a heavy air pollution. this makes me go.