for the international criminal justice system he's via skype from toronto canada could be on al-jazeera long by board now the third african head of state to be released to a long period of time in custody at the i.c.c. what does this tell us about the state of the international criminal court and its ability to operate globally instrument for international justice. thanks for having me well i think it depends on where you are and who you ask this is clearly a bad end of the week for the i.c.c. prosecutor and a very. good start to the weekend or more on bible and its supporters and how we look at the i.c.c. depends on depends on where we stand and so for supporters and learning about bill and his defense team this is this is the criminal justice system that the international criminal court working appropriately when working effectively for those people who have the expectation that the international criminal court is able to secure convictions of high profile alleged perpetrators this is obviously to be

a failure so i think it really really depends on who you ask of course there are also some plots so to speak the i.c.c. gets pilloried very often for having it. biased against african states or and against african leaders it's very hard to sustain not just of argument when you have the equivalent of a former head of state like a lawyer on a bicycle and of course the other the i think the other really big issue and one that has been covered needs to be covered is that as you mentioned the international criminal court has now failed to successfully convict a number of state actors who can you not that the president of kenya john here ben but the former vice president of democratic republic of congo now lower on by both the former president of the ivory coast and i think brings into question whether the i.c.c. able to prosecute successfully that state actors and the equator of babel and

blackwood ai is a huge disappointment no doubt for the victims nivea cults three thousand people killed impulse natural vine in state in two thousand and ten and twenty leavened. and there's no one not to be have responsible for those crimes would to aa the implications and think of the sorting out this acquittal for peace and justice and i have a healthy. i think it really depends on what happens next the acquittal itself may not have that significant of an effect what would have a very significant effect is of course if you are on bipolar terms to ivory coast and in particular if you re enters the politico or not that it is quite likely but it's actually unclear it's quite likely that he would enter the political arena if he returned but it's unclear whether he would actually return to the ivory coast at this at this point one thing of note is that despite the fact that the i.c.c. acquitted. there is still an arrest warrant that was issued in ivory coast an

international arrest warrant issued for him for the misappropriation of funds and should he be convicted for charges that arrest warrant speaks to he could face up to twenty years in prison there is also an amnesty that was apparently granted for sure those involved in the post-election violence but whether their own bible will be able to receive one from the current government is unclear so the impact on peace justice accountability on the ground in ivory coast i think will really depend on whether he whether he is returned but whether he does return but again i think what you pointed out is really the key and the really unfortunate. issue which is that right now with this with this acquittal there will have been no one held to account for the mass atrocities committed in two thousand and one after the election not one single person very good to talk to thank you so much for joining us mock airstone joining us now from toronto in canada thank you for your time. fred to morehead on this al-jazeera news hour including venezuela's opposition

leader insists president nicolas maduro must quits rejecting mediation offers by some of its neighbors who have the latest on the political crisis plus why indian samas say a government assistance package worth billions is not enough to improve their condition and imprison football team will be in prison at least sixty more days as he waits on an extradition request more in sports coming up with pete. and some football news to start in qatar has stunned the footballing world winning the asian cup for the first time maybe japan three one in the final in abu dhabi to cap a remarkable tournaments dosage of barry has reaction from the found zone here and . certainly a historic day for fans in qatar and for the qatar national football team as they went on to win the championship but the asian cup held in the u.a.e.

of course many of the founders i spoke to here said they wished they could have supported their national team in the u.a.e. but given the current political situation they felt it was best for them not to attend and of course tickets were also very hard to come by for qatari france now one of the highlights of the final game was a penalty shot one of the qatari team member sports in the eighty second minute in the second half the fans in the sona were still quiet nobody made a sound as the penalty shot was taken but also one of the other most important things that the players mean to man is that she was player number nineteen twenty two year old qatari who broke all kinds o. records during this entire championship as well as they gave he managed to score nine goals in the tournaments eating record releasing held by iranian football legends. with eight goals he had. received the most valuable player on

the asian cup this year so qatar in general when you know as a whole will be coming back on saturday home as champions and the fans could not be happier. to venezuela where one guy do the opposition leader has rejected a mexican and you're going proposal to mediate between him and president nicolas maduro wider who's declared himself as interim president and his branch by several western countries says they won't be neutral in an interview he called on russia and china to side with him meanwhile the european union doesn't want to be seen to be taking sides as a political crisis in venezuela continues several leaders including germany's i'm going to merkel are calling on a new election in venezuela to the tunisian does this sort of fun he wants to contribute to make sure there is no escalation but also for the venezuelan people to be able to promote their own interests and in our view that can only happen through new elections. but meanwhile the u.s.

vice president mike pence is heading to miami florida today to meet with venezuelans living there let's bring in andy gallagher in miami what is mike pence hoping to achieve on this visit. while i had to go in to say first of all of the role where we are now is the biggest venezuelan community in the united states many of the people who live in this community consider themselves exiles of nicholas might do it goes for evidence see so this is a listening session for the vice president and he's been listening for a very long time this morning we've watched as mothers tell him how they've had to leave their children behind and to try and get themselves a better life he's been shown pictures of what the humanitarian crisis in venezuela is doing to ordinary people and we are expecting to hear mike pence speak in the next few minutes what he's doing here is. reassuring the exile community here in the united states that they are one hundred percent behind point why don't they support this new self-appointed president of venezuela in his speech we expect him

to reiterate that once again because within almost hours of flying by though declaring himself the interim president donald trump showed his immediate support they are no friend of nick with my daughter they want to see my daughter gone and many other countries many of the democracies have followed suit so this in essence is a research trip for the vice president but also where the vice president telling the venezuelan community here we are one hundred percent with you as he saying they're not a venezuelans where you are right now what are they telling you about the crisis back home how do they feel about him. i mean they've been watching this for a very long time i spent a lot of time in caracas a few years ago the situation was no medicine on the shelves no food in the supermarkets things have got progressively much was since the last time i was there and people here are watching that from the relative comfort of places like this so they are overwhelmingly they want to cynical they want to see free and fair

elections and this. appointing himself as the interim president has given them for the first time in a long time i hope and hope that it's now being backed up by the trumpet ministration obviously what will happen next will be very complex it's a tricky situation on both sides but overwhelmingly venezuelans in this community want to see change thank you for that and began again reporting live from miami florida. senior figures in turkey. have met the u.n. special. into the matter of. they say agnus their frustrations and fears that they won't be for justice for everyone suspected of involvement. had no knowledge of the killing inside its consulate in istanbul.

the united nations delegation has shown that their objective is to convey the facts and deliver true evidence in case to the whole world they have listened to my testimony as a friend of jamal khashoggi we have no hope of reaching justice as long as the first suspect the saudi crown prince mohammed bin is in full control of all aspects of governance including the judiciary the united nations investigation team has the same suspicions and are trying to reach the truth objective later and therefore they are seeking help from turkey correspondent stephanie deca is outside the saudi consulate in istanbul with more. it was amusing that last around an hour and a half un special rapporteur for extrajudicial killings meeting with his a senior party advisor is also the first official that the fiance of cold when she was outstanding outside here after he failed to reemerge almost four months ago now we understand from mr x.i.i.

that he conveyed. that he believed that the saudi crown prince mohammed bin saw a man who was responsible for ordering this killing we know from the un special rapporteur that she's been talking to also the chief prosecutor the man in charge of turkey's investigation trying to figure out what exactly it is turkey has discovered through the foreign minister friends of also his fiance trying to piece together get a sense really of what happened here key that she really wants at this point in time before she leaves is to listen to the order according to all the recordings that turkey has from that murder inside that consulate she's currently meeting with intelligence officials in ankara whether she will be played a copy of that will have to wait and see certainly mr act i believe that she will be hearing it before she needs to this is an investigation that. has taken upon herself to investigate in her remote as her role at the united nations because she says that neither the united nations nor any of the member states are pushing for

an independent investigation this is of course a hugely loaded political story it's a political minefield if you will and almost four months on there really seems to be no justice certainly the body of mr jamal khashoggi has not been found and still nobody knows who exactly ordered the murder. israeli forces have opened fire on palestinian protesters in gaza injuring at least five of them hundreds gathered for the weekly demonstrations near the border fence east of the gaza strip the rallies which began almost a year ago are calling for palestinian refugees to be allowed to return to their former homes now inside israel meanwhile the u.n. envoy to the middle east and an egyptian delegation are holding meetings with hamas trying to find ways to stop the violence. is rarely is moving forward with plans to build a cable car over parts of occupied east jerusalem the government says it will reduce congestion but palestinian say it's part of israeli efforts to take more control of the city's eastern sector harry fossett has

a report. so this is the area where the cable car is due to terminate just outside jerusalem's old city walls very close to the western wall very close to the locks a mosque compound known as the temple mount to jews it's being promoted by the israeli tourism minister and the marriott jerusalem as a traffic easing tourist attracting measure it's also being promoted by the city of david foundation which is due to build the visitor center cum cable car stop that's also the organization which is behind a lot of the archaeological digging that takes place in this area and it's behind attempts to try to increase the jewish presence in the palestinian neighborhood which abuts this area the neighborhood of siwon which is in this valley just below us here now that's one reason why palestinians are opposed to all this the very funding for this project was announced on jerusalem day in may last year part of a two billion dollars slew of projects of the israeli government announced including trying to increase the uptake of the israeli education system in

palestinian schools increase business infrastructure increase the amount of archeological digging in areas such as this one so many palestinians see this as part of a wider attempt to cement and solidify israeli control in occupied east jerusalem there's also been opposition from israeli architects and n.g.o.s who say this will be a blight on a beautiful landscape that the fifteen pylons that will be used will be much bigger much more obtrusive than are been argued by the proponents and they also are attacking the argument that this will reduce congestion in the area they say that will merely move that congestion to other parts of jerusalem nonetheless the plans are now published there are sixty days during which members of the public can either support suggest or oppose them before they're put for final submission. february first smog six months insists of the latest ebola outbreak in the democratic republic of congo the world health organization says they have been seven hundred forty three confirmed cases with more than four hundred deaths as

a result of the disease is the worst outbreak in the country's history and the response has been hampered by violence and resistance from some communities. ahead on this. since the revolution that forever changed a nation and did the middle east. the face of a long time sexual slavery. campaign and again demand an apology from japan and lindsey vonn announces the event where she will ski for the last time before retiring i have the details and spoke. to the at. hello there it really has been quite wet for some of us in the middle east recently

here's the latest system as it's made its way in through parts of turkey and across into the northern parts of iraq and iran and it's the northern parts of iraq where we've had some of the worst conditions here's some pictures of the flooding and that should be the bridge but you can see it's collapsed thanks to the raging floodwaters that we've seen that now this region is only going to see a few more showers as we head through the next few days nothing to heavy some outbreaks of snow there which will be drifting their way southward into parts of iraq and as we head through into sunday i think there will be a few outbreaks of heaviest snow here but for the most part there will be like to snow a bit further towards the south and here in doha we've got an area of cloud that's developing just to the north of us here in doha itself twenty five degrees will be fairly pleasant on saturday by sunday there may be more cloud around and there's a chance of seeing quite a few outbreaks of rain behind that it will turn cooler than it has been so a maximum temperature on sunday just of twenty one degrees the heaviest downpours there will be the other side of the gulf they do expect it to be over parts of iran for some of us here it could be really quite heavy as we head down towards the

southern parts of africa plenty of showers in the northern parts of our mark as usual but there's also quite a few showers in the eastern parts of south africa to. on counting the cost this week we're focusing on venezuela where people are scavenging for food as a political crisis unfolds how the game of oil is influencing events on the ground plus how creditors are playing a role and why there are reports of rampant money laundering. counting the cost on al-jazeera. the plundering of armenia's natural riches has uprooted residents and desecrated the habitat of some of europe's most endangered species. but

a remarkable campaign by local residents is challenging the miked of the country's investors and pinning high hopes on its newly elected prime minister people in power investigates armenia mining out the left. on a. welcome back you're watching the news hour on al-jazeera with me for the bathtub or a reminder of our top stories the u.s. is suspending its involvement in a decades old nokia back saying russia is violating its u.s. secretary of state mike compare with says is now a six month window to try to solve a situation. the international criminal court has ordered the conditional release

of ivory coast says former president gone back bow and his right hand man child labor day they were acquitted of all charges of crimes against humanity last month relating to the post-election violence of twenty ten twenty seven and qatar have won football's asian cup for the first time in their history they defeated four time champion three one in the final in the united arab emirates. celebrations have begun in iran to mock the fortieth anniversary of the nine hundred seventy nine islamic revolution a ceremony has been held at the mausoleum of iran's first supreme leader ayatollah ruhollah khomeini to mark the day he returned from exile. or some tehran. when the man who led iranian revolution toppled a king and ended centuries of empire was buried his final resting place was a humble empty plot next to a graveyard now. iran's first supreme leader serves as

a symbol of the islamic republic its grand halls a reminder to visitors perhaps of the reverence for years old as men and women civilians and soldiers packed into khomeini shrine to commemorate forty years since his return from exile iran is going through one of its most challenging economic decline the government remains clear about who is to blame. america it does. ever it can to break the power of islam like the many sanctions they've been hosed they're waging psychological war they want to make people pessimistic about islam they haven't achieved it so far and they never will. iranian leaders often speak of the one nine hundred seventy nine revolution as a living thing its mission and islamic ideals as perpetual usually for a political purpose forty years later the revolution that khomeini brought to iran

continues to be a source of strength for iranian leaders who invoke its ideals to rally support for things like the foreign wars in which iran is currently engaged but leaders here also speak of it simultaneously as something fragile and precious that need to be protected against external threats but years of economic struggle has led many iranians to have more practical perspectives not haiti and a little skittish over the revolution has been beneficial i would try to change those of shows that don't think about the people and not one of the people those who live in luxury houses and off expensive cars though officials don't understand the difficulties of liverwurst opinion without a full nice the economic situation is not good today we are under sanctions if the sanctions did not exist it could have been better iranian leaders who came to power at the time of revolution still wield enormous power but what is happening inside the country stands to change the status quo more than any outside influence as the

old guard continues to promote decades old ideas as part of modern day politics iran's ailing economy chips away at government popularity same old a zero to one they have been protests against the supreme court's decision to uphold the acquittal of a christian woman who had been sentenced to death for blasphemy hider has more from islamabad. it crossed. their religion. i don't really. want to go now and. your daughter did they have already taken precautions and i have deployed police and paramilitary forces i had made. that taking precautionary measure than i did fifty some of the really. big. by the however the government

had already had their leadership. creating the protests against relief. they were going to do that in america. in india the government has promised billions of dollars to help support from a spot on the streets of new delhi many say it doesn't go far enough to address. these farmers protesting outside the indian parliament want the government to help their demanding loan waivers and better prices for their produce the government has pledged almost eleven billion dollars to help them india's interim finance minister is optimistic the economy will improve they are poised to become i was to become a five trillion dollars economy in the next five years i. would be aspired to become

a ten trillion dollars economy and that makes you. but the farmers feel they are not sharing in india's economic growth these are no good farming has become a loss making proposition for the farmers because seeds and fertilizers have become very expensive it is also expensive to hire farm labor for irrigation sowing and harvesting the fields. prime minister narendra modi has been facing. widespread discontent from farmers about six hundred million indians depend on agriculture for their livelihoods and many have huge debt debt they say that won't be lowered by what the government is now offering them this is was then a lollipop. six thousand five hundred it comes to fifteen rupees per day a cup of tea costs that much per day in india i think that this is a total sellout total betrayal of the farmers by the government in today's budget. among the crowd on friday many simply didn't believe the government's latest promises would come to pass especially with elections expected in the coming months

a shotgun loaded with these governments will end soon and be in their graves by the month of may so whatever they are now says now who will implement their schemes if a new government is elected later why should they agree to these budget proposals. and want analysts say the direct cash support being offered to farmers in this interim budget is a clear attempt by modi to shore up crucial political support in the countryside protesters say the plan doesn't go nearly far enough. and. the u.s. president says progress has been made during trade negotiations with china officials have been meeting in washington to try to end a trade war but donald trump says no deal will be fun lies until he meets china's president xi jinping while chinese traders have been hoping for a breakthrough as they go into the lunar new year but as china correspondent aging brown reports a 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 government say it's good but they're not doing it well she reports he seems to manage the higher 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. it's because of the cost and partly because of the endless parental questions about why she's still single.

second or people. who are remaining in their thirties like me some call the left the over of aiming spring festival probably means burden of pressure for them parents of pester me to find a husband all year round not just adoring tennis new year so i'm rather used to it or even simpler to 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 prolonged 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 and around the world will begin celebrating the year of the pig traditionally the pig year is a lucky one the last time it was marked was twelve years ago when china was preparing to host the summer olympics and economic growth was a robust thirteen percent today it is less than half that. as china glides into the new lunar year there are predictions the economy will continue to cool in what's supposed to be a year that brings fortune to all adrian brown al-jazeera beijing. north korea has agreed to dismantle two of its military sites and open them for our site inspections ahead of an expected summit between donald trump and kim jong un

u.s. special envoy stephen begun world needs north korean officials next week to discuss the next steps washington has a list of demands for piano including the destruction of all of its uranium enrichment facilities the hundreds of people have attended the funeral of a woman who campaigned for survivors of sexual slavery during the second world war ninety three year old kim bach dung was among thousands who were forced to work in brothels run by japan's military robert bright has a story from seoul. it was a highly charged event walking alongside the coffin of a woman who's come to symbolize a cause that touches nearly everyone in south korea forced to work in a brothel from the age of fourteen kim bach dong devoted the latter part of her life to making sure others wouldn't suffer like. she traveled widely to speak on

the issue and supported groups helping the young victims of violence in conflict zones. and as the japanese empire was waging war and order was issued to collect young korean girls they said we would work in a factory to make uniforms for soldiers they just forcibly took us. as evidence of her influence president moon j. and lead senior government figures to pay their respects ahead of the funeral. japan's military brothels and slaves thousands of women and girls from neighboring asian countries many from korea. the funeral procession led to the front of the japanese embassy where campaigners hold a permanent vigil. rather than saying it has taken legal measures japan should offer a sincere apology that comes from the hat. kim taught us the universal value of humanity and that women should no longer unfairly fall victim to war. often frosty

relations between japan and south korea are especially chilly right now. tokyo and seoul is still disputing a close encounter at sea between a japanese military aircraft and a south korean warship in december and the incident came soon after south korea's supreme court ruled in favor of laborous forced to work during world war two by japanese companies with those firms now ordered to pay compensation japan called the decision totally unacceptable claiming the question of compensation had been settled by an agreement back in one thousand nine hundred sixty five as for the comfort women it says an agreement reached with the previous south korean administration in twenty fifteen was meant to have resolved the matter once and for all accusing the current administration of reneging on the deal many south koreans believe the fight for justice is far from over for campaigners kim was a symbol of that struggle in death she symbolizes it still rather mcbride al

jazeera so. super bowl is just two days away. one of the biggest days on the sporting callan. thanks.

to a. welcome back. being accused of not taking. them seriously as the city chokes on a worsening haze. for two days just this week officials are experimenting with unusual solutions wayne hale reports.