it's worsening by the day. because of been telling us that it is not just the fight against the that they're concerned about it's old so what happens next so twenty four thousand people displaced the fear that more people are coming to these cards which are already stretched to the limit and they've been calling on not just the bashar al assad government but also u.s. backed it's your forces to allow unhindered access to provide help to these people have been reporting from. february second marks four months since washington post columnist jamal khashoggi was murdered and the saudi consulate in istanbul his body still has not been found a nice nations special rapporteur. the past week meeting and independent investigation she was last seen entering the concerts on october second and he never left the building prosecutors in saudi arabia have charged

a number of saudi men with his murder but turkish authorities want him ever ordered the killing also to be held to account seventy second joins us now live from. the un's agnes wrapping up her week long visit in the next couple of days what's she achieved so far. which is been trying to do is piece together get an indication of what exactly happened in that building behind me she's met to various people she's met turkey's chief prosecutor who is of course the man in charge of turkey's investigation into the murder of. she's met with the foreign minister she's met with friends of jamal khashoggi she's also met with his fiance she's trying to piece together to get a sense of what evidence turkey has she's wanted to listen to the older recordings out's not clear whether that is something she got access to yesterday because as of the day before she hadn't listened to those as of yet she's met with intelligence services so all in all now we expect her to issue in the next couple of days some

kind of preliminary statement as to her findings here she does of course come in her own capacity as the un special rapporteur for extra judicial killings she's really the only independent person laura looking at this because all the countries of course have bested interests to get the most political gade out of it so we're expecting her to leave here today it's been a weeklong visit it's been quite confidential in the sense of her her impressions because of course she is independent but there are very important investigations that think highlighting still point as you mentioned there it's four months on today and we still have no answers as to where the body of democracy is and also who ordered the murder looking at the broader picture what can we expect to happen now. well she's going to go back to the united states and she's also made it clear that she wants to talk to the americans remember the cia really is the only one who's come out categorically saying that

they believe it is the saudi crown prince mohammed bin sideman that ordered the merger the killing of course the jamal khashoggi the most horrendous and unbelievable story of being dismembered in that consulate. so she's trying to really push and highlight and see what kind of accountability there can be sore expecting her to give that reports of the human rights commission at the u.n. in june i think also this week it's interesting just to highlight that it's the deadline of the magnitsky report so donald trump the u.s. president is going to have to issue his ruling findings really as to whether mohamed bin sideman is responsible this is something that congress started hundred twenty days ago so this week is something that's putting this this issue the murder of jamal back on the map but at a time when i think it's almost business as usual if you look at the reach recent a world economic forum in davos laura you had a senior saudi delegation meeting with senior officials of different countries major organizations of course

a lot of money is involved strategic ally allegiances so there's a reluctance i think to really hold saudi arabia to account and get the answers because of all those political sensitivities surrounding it so what i mean this is doing is highlighting again the brutal and horrific and unacceptable murder of this journalist a very well connected man and trying to see whether she can push it for some form of an international investigation because she says not the united nations is a body and not any individual member states are pushing hard enough for real independent investigation absolutely ok for months on stuffing to thanks very much . the taliban says president will trump appears to be serious about pulling u.s. troops out of afghanistan a spokesman for the armed groups says a foreign withdrawal is the first goal towards resolving the seventeen year conflict trumpets that american forces will leave if talks with the taliban lead to a peace deal and it is sweet and u.s. envoy said that bin agreement in principle

a framework agreement but it was drawn up without the impact that the input from the afghan government taliban regards as a legitimate. still ahead head on out to sara what's behind the rise of the economic freedom fighters in south africa is the populist posse the best to launch its manifesto for the coming elections. and new footage and matches of the terrifying moments down in blasts in brazil. hello again a welcome back to the national weather forecast we have seen plenty of messy weather here across much of europe we have a storm out here in the atlantic causing a lot of snow across parts of the u.k. but we're also seeing a lot of snow here in germany i want to take you specifically to cologne show the

snow that has come across the city there not only in the city but also at the airport almost white out conditions at some points when the wind was strong enough and we did see a lot of kids solutions as well as delay unfortunately are over the next few days we expect to see more snow across much of germany take a look at your forecast map right here saturday more snow across the area from berlin all the way over here towards paris we could be seeing some snow the good news is for the u.k. the snow has ended by the time we get to saturday and things are going to be much better by the time we go through the rest of the weekend i'm fortunate to be seeing a lot more snow across much of the alps with that same system vienna you're going to see a mix as well down towards rome it is going to be a chilly day if you would some rain in your forecast here towards the northwestern part of africa we could be seeing rain along most of the coastal areas algeria tunisia that is going to be the forecast through the weekend we think with some windy conditions as well as we go towards sunday we are going to be seeing that windy conditions and rainy conditions make its way towards the east in tunis it is going to be

a rainy day for you at eleven degrees. again

you want challenges there as reminder of lots of stories this hour as well as why don't has rejected a mexican and you're gone closer to mediate between him and president because madore this leader who's declared himself interim president is backed by several western countries. there are warnings of a humanitarian crisis in north east and syria activists say more than two hundred civilians being killed and tens of thousands displaced by the battle for parts of. all months in saudi done the same out there so do was murdered and the saudi consulate in istanbul in a station special in the past week leading an independent investigation expects to issue a statement on her visit in the coming days. u.s. is withdrawing from a decade's old nuclear missile pact with russia sparking fears of a new arms race trouble instructions accuse moscow of violating the intermediate

range nuclear forces and treaty russia rejects those are accusations can be helped at reports from washington d.c. the. suspension of the historic treaty that has been a cornerstone of european security for decades for years russia has violated the terms of the intermediate range nuclear forces treaty without remorse the united states will therefore suspend its obligations under the n f treaty effective february second. the white house maintains the u.s. has adhere to the intermediate range nuclear forces treaty well russia has not in that time it accuses russia of covertly developing and fielding a prohibited missile system that poses a threat to european allies u.s. forces stationed there the u.s. did not give specific examples of violations russia has consistently denied it's breaking the agreement but u.s. secretary of state says that russia is in violation what's your response we're not

going to approach this many times but they don't want to lose the agreement was signed during the cold war by u.s. president ronald reagan and russia's mikhail gorbachev one thousand nine hundred eighty seven when most agree it's not perfect it did halted ask leading arms race between the two superpowers u.s. president donald trump has long been a critic of the treaty. on friday he suggested it might be time to negotiate a new one lasting good order here we should be the only one i hope that we're able to get everybody in a very big and beautiful room and do a new treaty that would be much better still there's concern the u.s. did not exhaust its diplomatic options and is trump pressures north korea to give up its nuclear are. many question why he would relax any missile restrictions on russia it actually opens the door for russia to deploy more of these missiles and opens the door for

a new european missile race some analysts have speculated the trumpet ministration isn't just worried about russia. china is not bound by the treaty there's criticism it's been gaining military advantage deploying large numbers of missiles with ranges beyond the current limits there are now just six months for the agreement to be saved the united states is russian must destroy equipment in violation of the agreement or will move ahead with a response designed to deny what the united states perceives to be russia's military advantage can really help at al-jazeera the white house. has been dubbed israel's a pothead a stretch of highway north east of jerusalem inside the occupied west bank that split into. a high wall running along its length and the one side of the drivers or israeli on the other palestinian high force that reports.

the israeli occupied west bank is hardly devoid of barriers but few tell the story of division here in quite such a dramatic way this is road for three seventy northeast of jerusalem the left side is for those with palestinian papers the right for those bearing israeli documents side by side but each part of an entirely different road network some of labeled it the apartheid road last month palestinian and israeli activists blocked the highway calling it discriminatory part of plans to annex the west bank opening the road in january the israeli public security minister said it would help create mutual life for palestinians and israelis ensure security and strengthen israeli sovereignty. for israeli settlers it allows for fast direct access to jerusalem without having to queue at checkpoints and while the palestinians half of the road is cut off from jerusalem it has sped up traffic going north and south mohamad has brought his vegetables here from hebron in the southern west bank. job it was then hard yes we

palestinians are restricted and limited israelis can use any entrance and any road they like but this road does make it easier for us provided there are no other obstacle and. palestinian leaders say any such benefits will be overwhelmed by the future cost as stark and as concrete an expression this is of the current situation in the occupied west bank in terms of separation between israelis and palestinians in terms of continued israeli control here there is for many palestinians also a fear that this is a precursor to a wider separation further down the road. this stretch of highway is part of a plan to connect the palestinian cities of ramallah and bethlehem. but the other part of that plan involves extending illegal settlement building east of jerusalem in a way that palestinians say encircled the city and split the west bank into it helps the connect north and south but of course they made it in a way to enable the connection between east and west for the israeli people to

without the thing that we block in the middle of the future but this time. for the moment road for three seventy is two things the timesaving link for israelis and palestinians both as they travel between separated zones and a monument to the unresolved conflict between them are a force that al-jazeera in the occupied west bank. before i retire as president laurent gbagbo has been freed from detention by the international criminal court process ally and former youth salzberg out acquitted last month i have been accused of crimes against humanity including initiating a wave of violence following the species elections in two thousand and ten. as an african opposition passing the economic freedom fighters is launching its manifesto ahead of elections later this year as polls show that support for the populist group and its land redistribution agenda is growing way to miller reports from johannesburg the release of africans may argue about the strength of opposition

party the economic freedom fighters the party won six percent of the vote in the last general election in twenty fourteen having been formed just a year earlier perhaps in significant when compared to the sixty two percent majority support of the ruling party the african national congress but surveys suggest the e.f. if as it's known here has grown by up to thirteen percent since then we are the only growing political organization in south africa quantity. in terms of quality will be in the majority in parliament we have been leading in terms of key to begin to issues on land or. on the discourse on corruption on jobs and the like basically ever think all major political events have got to happen in south africa have been that a mind by the food was since it establishment it's become arguably the most vocal party in south africa's political landscape can you please look organize our.

journalists are they still be you repeatedly disrupting parliamentary proceedings much of its anger directed against former president jacob zuma who's accused of corruption and leading numerous protests against unemployment we're not going to be intimidated inequality racism and other social issues. while the. if it certainly has its appeal specially amongst young south africans the party's had a tumultuous relationship with the media its leader julius malema has on several occasions threatened to deal with journalists who leases serve the interest of so-called white monopoly capital is accused the media of protecting senior politicians including presidents of the ramapo some. while the e f f s promised to tackle corruption it's based its own scandals malema was charged with fraud and racketeering in twenty fourteen related to government contracts and recently the

party was linked to the alleged looting of the v.p. s bank when millions of dollars were reportedly transferred to the brother of the deputy president of the fifth party and both men have denied any involvement to justify the growing what do they have to offer and stop the what are they promising i believe that the bible is the role in south african politics that you don't really have to invent anything you don't have to come up with. innovative ideas of what we're talking to do in government in order for people to look your direction and forward sometimes just taking an interest in position it's enough in a country that has an unemployment rate of more than twenty six percent mostly made up of the young the e f f as promised to create jobs and provide free education for all but it's been criticised for a lack of detail on how it will do this or al-jazeera johannesburg south africa. dramatic video has emerged showing the moment of

a deadly dam collapse at the mine and brazil last week one hundred fifteen people are confirmed dead and almost two hundred fifty a still missing and disaster unleashed a wave of sludge and mud in the southeastern states of minister race security camera footage says vehicles scrambling to escape the torrent of mining wastes. casseroles a national football team will return to a royal welcome on sas day off to winning the asian cup in abu dhabi the team has been crowned the content all champions after beating four time winners japan three goals to one thousands of supporters have been celebrating the victory and has all played with almost no fans in the stadium because of the blockade imposed by the u.a.e. and with saudi arabia bahrain and egypt. you're

watching out of there these are top stories about as well as one of has rejected a mexican proposal to mediate between him and president nicolas maduro the opposition leader who has declared himself as interim president is backed by several western countries but of. there not to conflict insights at all we have he said entire country to the wants changes and a very tiny group that sustains itself with weapons stolen from the republic and with constant threats against the same army to sustain and a citizenship that east massacre i understand a very good intentions of mexico and europe and i understand the ultimatum the european union has given me the opposition has been willing to negotiate we tried everything we have voted we have abstained we gonna hunger strikes we have protested and they have killed in the battle of one of the last eisel controlled pockets of northern syria has its place tens of thousands of people u.s.

backed kurdish forces have been fighting the armed groups and saw u.n. refugee agency is calling for a transit site for civilians fleeing to alcohol can't account for the triple to nearly thirty three thousand in the past two months. february second marks four months since washington journalists post journalist jamal khashoggi was murdered in the saudi consulate in istanbul a united nations special wrapper turns been in turkey for the past week leading an independent investigation the taliban says president donald trump appears to be serious about pulling u.s. troops out of afghanistan a spokesman for the armed groups says a foreign withdrawal is the first goal towards resolving the seventeen year conflict trumper said american forces will leave if talks with the taliban the two a peace deal this week the u.s. envoy said bin agreements in principle towards a framework deal dramatic video has emerged showing the moment of a deadly dam collapse at a mine in brazil last week one hundred fifteen people are confirmed dead with

almost two hundred fifty still missing exhaust unleashed a wave of sludge and mud in the southeastern state of minister a. state now with all the headlines more news on al-jazeera of the inside story. we understand the differences. and similarities of cultures across the world so no matter how you take it al-jazeera will bring you the news and current affairs of the matter to al-jazeera. desperate measures in venezuela as president maduro sells off his country's gold reserves the latest buyer is reportedly the united arab emirates so is the u.a.e. now at risk of u.s. sanctions this is inside story to egypt

. it. hello and welcome to the program i'm martin dennis now the economic crisis in venezuela has false millions of people to leave the country they can't afford basic goods like food or medicine president nicolas maduro has responded by using the country's gold reserves in an attempt to pay for these imports now the reuters news agency says he's planning to sell twenty nine tons of gold this month from the central bank vaults to the united arab emirates in return for cash in euro as a former central bank governor believes two russian chartered planes which landed in caracas on monday had been hired to take the gold out of the country well mature is government hasn't commented on these reports but the united states is watching all of this rather closely the republican senator marco rubio he's warned against

dealing in venezuelan gold and in a tweets to the u.s. embassy in washington he wrote we have reports that a french national working for nor capital is in caracas today to arrange. for the fest of more gold from venezuela i hope you have advised them that they and any air charter service that does this will be subject to treasury sanctions nor capital is a financial services firm that's based in abu dhabi well the us imposed sanctions last november to disrupt a venezuela sale of gold between january and september last year venezuela or exported nine hundred million dollars worth of refined gold to turkey nicholas my daughter's government wants to bring back five hundred fifty million dollars worth of gold that's currently held in the bank of england but the bank of england has so far refused that request venezuela's gold reserves fell from one

hundred fifty tons last january to one hundred thirty two tons in november thank you it was. right let's introduce our guests now joining us from london is middle east analyst bill law who writes for the website golf masses name aslam is also in london he's the chief market analyst at the online brokerage firm think markets thank you both for joining us and one can i start with you what does it indicate about the state of a government the state of a country when the leader is going to the country's gold reserves and flogging them off. it only represented one thing a big chaos and now you are trying to go around the current sanctions imposed in the nordic to find a solution to provide some liquidity in the market because the current sanctions have brought venezuela to its knees right because they can't really export oil

which is the commodity for the country and they have no other solution but to goo and start selling the gold reserves it's not the first time just for the for the record it's not the first time that we have seen such. actions taking place by by any man because we have seen that many other governments following the similar strategy when they need that liquidity when they need currency when they need other co currencies a bit naive is it actually legal i mean are there certain permissions certain requirements that need to be in place before this case a president who's widely disputed. being able to go to the central bank open up the vaults with his key and take out the gold bars. lake i'm in no position to make a comment whether it is legal or rather it isn't but what i can certainly say is that the governments it's

a normal practice for central banks to sell assets such as precious metal gold to do that but whether he has the right permissions whether he can do that might mean i cannot comment yes that supply is going to come on the market right all right bill now we understand from this reuters report that the u.a.e. is perhaps the latest customer we think even within this base of twenty four hours that there is likely to be a shipment of venezuelan gold to the is you is the u.a.e. in any danger do you think then of being imposed or being slapped with sanctions as threatened by marco rubio the republican senator. well martin that was what marco rubio threatened but i think the reality is is something else really because he is is a key element in the donald trump strategy to really make the toughest sanctions ever against iran. and so i don't think that it would pave the

us any good to slap any sanctions i really look upon this as a kind of a shot across the bow perhaps it's a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing we have this new order capital in abu dhabi apparently allegedly being part of this major shipment of gold from from venezuela but but equally you have a situation where the united arab emirates and if you go back in history has been very active in in gold issues involving sanctions and involving iran and indeed to turkey it was it was part of that that deal as well and turkey is as we know venezuela has been selling cold turkey but that's your question i don't expect that the united states would come down too hard on the emirates right now we're being joined by tom long he's at the university of warwick he's associate

professor of politics and international studies there and we can hear from him thank you very much tom for joining us what do you make of the the state of play in this at the moment and we've been talking about the state of health of the economy clearly is in a darkened dition but the fact that the head of state because that is what he still is at this point is able to go and take the countries. and sell them on the open market is that apparently what he's doing clearly the state of the economy in venezuela is beyond dire it was already dire before the united states imposed sanctions and those oil sanctions will. will unfold gradually but could potentially have have quite a lot of bite. despite the conflict between the united states and venice well over a decade or more the united states as of a few days ago was still buying about forty percent of venice well as oil and was

overwhelmingly the customer that was paying for that oil in cash so with those payments coming to a quick end i think this is a response from the mother would a government to try to get its hands on some liquid assets by selling this gold on the market as quickly as it can and let's go tonight in london name we talk about the sale of this gold injecting a certain amount of liquidity in practical terms in the economy what is the sale of this gold allowing the government to do what are they using the money to to buy. well i think that the first question is that why they are really dealing with europe because right now what the intentions are that they only wanted to sell the gold whatever the quantity that they want to offload only in your rose and the reason that they are going after euro's is because they completely want to award

anything to do with the u.s. dollar i think it's a huge threat to the u.s. dollar as a benchmark currency and then i've said i've said this many times before that europe is going to become another major benchmark currency and that is the reason that they are going after euro's because everything is denominated in you when everything is denominated in euro's you can easily make transactions with on the u.s. system getting involved into that so for for venezuela if you look at the countries balance sheet it as you said is absolutely dire the have literally no money to pay anything for them to get access to yours and then to get involved in the euro of banking system is the key requirement right now in order to award all the sanctions which are imposed on them by the united states now tom coming back to you earlier rather unfairly i put the question tonight which is not really his area but i put

it to you because i think you'll be able to help us what are the sort of permissions the sort of consensus that are needed for the head of state to go to what are state assets these gold reserves that are kept in the central bank in caracas what normally needs to happen. well at this point there are really no normal procedures about what needs to happen this is something that is happening largely at the discretion of nicholas modo and his inner circle there is a legislative body created by moto that was put over the elected national assembly but that's essentially a rubber stamp body i do think that there's something quite important here about the gold oil nexus and i agree with the comments about avoiding avoiding the u.s. dollar and focusing on on euro's but these sanctions from the united states have

another really important aspect to them and that's that that that's that they prohibit the export of us oil to venezuela and that sounds a little bit odd when we think about venezuela as of course a large oil exporter but it needs to import u.s. light crude to mix with venezuelan heavy crude to be able to produce an export and ship its oil so now it has a crunch to be able to acquire that like crude from elsewhere and it needs funds to pay for that like crude in order to keep its oil industry producing right ok so the pressure is really mounting isn't it nice very quickly but yes i just want to ask you about this issue of transparency i mean it seems very a paper the whole dealing of of gold and there are childhood planes that have taken a rather securitas route to caracas at some small out of town efi old is

then also a transparency exchange if you like by which and three which gold is traded. make when we are talking about asses like gold there is no transparency and that's just the reality of it and especially when you are trying to avoid a certain situation and under this particular situation we are speaking of sanctions we have to deal with something what you called discount in liquidity discount premium because there is not enough there are not enough buyers you are trying to avoid the system you're trying to attract buyers which are not part of the financial system how do you attract them you give them a massive discount anywhere between three percent to ten percent and then when the asset itself is gold and in the if the physical presence in gold bars if you melt that who knows where the gold a little over there where the asset is coming from so there is absolutely no

transparency and that brings we need lee back to bill because what do we know about this capital this financial services organization and apparently according to marco rubio has a french national it's been brokering this deal. yes it's all very murky isn't it which are which as you're the contributor noted is very much part of the sanctions game and gold plays a very important role in that the united arab emirate authorities say that they have a crackdown on money laundering and the lack of transparency in their banking sector the fact of the matter is that though they have said it out actually haven't done much about it transparency international for example says that dubai is a magnet for for money laundering from a variety of sources including criminal gangs and this is done through real estate purchases again what facilitates the getting

a round of sanctions is first of all that gold is a very useful metal to have and secondly the lack of transparency within the united arab emirates and other jurisdictions as well i would think that the the emirates may be reconsidering they certainly have got themselves into this situation the americans are not best pleased like i can hear john bolton throwing himself around in in deep irritation because a lot of thing he wants to see is undercutting of sanctions in venezuela because that then weakens potentially what can happen with sanctions moving forward against iran but this is the situation still has as a way is to play out and one of the challenges that i think everyone faces is this or possibly this lock of transparency that makes it very difficult to find out who exactly the players are what we do know is that this is these transactions in gold

it means that money is made by the intermediaries all along the way wherever it ends up there's a lot of dirty money that that that people are pulling out of these transactions and tome when reading them i'm sorry name please. please come in our sorry i just wanted to add something to that i think is i agree that there are into meter is involved at every single stage right thing at the same time we shouldn't discount a factor there how u.a.e. is bringing transparency to the system by using block chain technology right because a by wants to become a paperless economy altogether so they are applying all the technologies to which brings a transparency and it would be unfair just to you to point all the guns to us. and then saying that look you know this is this is the harbor for doing all this sort of. shady businesses i don't think there is that

a fair comment by just putting and all the blame on the u.a.e. and of course the government is very vulgar very often the government is going to huard off every single. and anything which is coming to us them and then they're not going to allow them. i take it i take your point because of course in many ways the sanctions that were imposed in november last year were in direct response from the united states to the gold sales that were made with turkey over the over the space of twenty eighteen. tom i was just going to ask you whether. it seems very much is that the u.a.e. in this particular instance is offering some sort of rescue plan to nicolas maduro does this mean that the government the state of of the united arab emirates if siding with nicolas maduro because of course the world is divided between the the self declared interim president and indeed this to mature.

well i think it's pretty hard to tell exactly what the longer term diplomatic interest in this might be but you could certainly imagine that they would be hesitant to recognize a. sort of a claimant to the throne so to speak that there are lots of reasons why they would be standing up for international principles of sovereignty and nonintervention and why they might see that system in principle as being in their interests that said i'm not sure that this is a long term lifeline for mother would oh i think he is looking to get a little bit of breathing room from this purchase again to have some assets that allow him to reconfigure. oil production in oil exports in venice well in

a way that might allow him to survive the u.s. sanctions regime right. name coming back to you so it must make sort of economic sense then for somebody who is drowning at the moment like nicolas maduro to but what about the ethics the ethics of selling off what are essentially the is that the family silver isn't that the country's wealth is being sold off in order to buy toilet paper for instance. luke in terms of fixed verano ethics when you start dipping into your rizzo's gold reserves right just simple is that because you do not want to sell like if you look at central banks they're buying of gold as an asset over the in two thousand and eighteen it's the number stands at seventy percent increase in gold at the physical buying of gold so central banks are trying to buy gold off the market right because they

know there's a huge debt crisis is just on the horizon so if a country like venezuela is trying to sell those assets of course there was the question of i think is just out of the window yeah definitely that is completely wrong what if as i agree with the comments but if these to be are just trying to reconfigure the economy and just trying to buy some breathing room then they do not have any other option just to go and then sell some of those assets that they consider as a reserve assets and bill you mentioned earlier that this is clearly going to irritate john bolton might and the rest of them at the very least how would you characterize the state of relations between washington and abu dhabi at the moment given that they have been very close allies haven't they since the u.s. was formed in ninety seven one. and particularly

given. very strong support for sanctions against iran and that's part of. a whole attitude that sees iran as the next actual threat that the saudis very much share that view as well i think that this is something of a potentially it's a if it's a one off it's a minor irritant i suppose if the immoralities decided to keep doing is sending a ditto because of his difficult situation decided to keep selling to them then the americans could become a little more annoyed but i think at this stage there will be some behind the scenes questioning of what exactly the m.r. adi's are up to i think with marco rubio hinting at sanctions in his email but or his tweet rather that didn't come from white pompei or from bolton or indeed from the the the master himself don't trump so i think it is very much just part of a hey hang on here what do you guys actually think you're up to and i think you

need to be looking a little more seriously at newark hopital for example and saying you know maybe you don't want to be buying any more of venezuela's gold because the americans want to force regime change using sanctions in venezuela and of course what did the americans want to do with scientists get their own certainly john bolton wants to force regime change these situations are completely different there is no straw lo there are concerns in iran about the level of incompetence of the government and high unemployment is nothing near to the situation that then as well is and it's much more likely that the americans can force regime change in venezuela but i think they would see this as you know meddling in an area that they for the united arab emirates just bites out of so stay away from purchasing goal of venezuela thank you very much right and tone we all seeing only what is. repeated of the hay. story can interfere interference by the united states into what it

considers to be its own backyard i'm just wondering whether what stage you think we might be at how long committed hang on do you think he will retain the loyalty of the military. right i mean that is the crucial question one quick note that i would add a bad about reserve assets and been a swell is that this is not necessarily a new practice we've seen venezuela centrally leveraging all sorts of overseas assets prior to the previous round of financial sanctions and that's part of what those sanctions were were aimed at that is leverage in u.s. oil assets venezuelan oil assets in the united states such as such as citgo in terms of moto and how long he can hang on you're right the crucial element here is the loyalty of the military and the military is not

a homogenous block in venezuela and there is a high command that is very closely connected to my woulda and is likely to remain supportive of this government as long as it can because it is united in with it is united with modo in sort of in an unholy triad of things many of these high ranking officials are also indicted for drug trafficking violations by the united states and i and others or suspected of involvement in drug trafficking suspected of involvement or complicit in human rights violations and have been closely wed to the government's economic policy however below the high command there are certainly some signs that there are divisions in the officer corps and that lower levels of the venezuelan military are less willing to respond to

commands from from on high from particularly if it comes to repress seen protests repressing their fellow venezuelans well there are those tensions there but they are within the venezuelan military a different level. thank you all very much indeed we've run out of time bill lower in london tom low in warrick and. also in london thank you all very much indeed for a really interesting conversation hopefully set some light on the murky world of gold trading thank you very much for watching the program you can see it again any time a lot are going to the website there dot com should you want more discussion you can either go to our facebook page at facebook dot com. story and there's always a toy there as well our handle is at a.j. inside story i'm latina that is for me and the whole team here is by phone now.

february on al-jazeera we investigate the toxic legacy of south africa's mining industry and examine exactly what is hiding beneath all this toxic waste africa's largest democracy heads to the polls join us for live coverage as nigeria but al-jazeera well it showcases the best of the networks documentaries with powerful untold stories from the middle east and north africa as cubans are set to vote on the possible changes to the constitution what impact will be outcome have on the country the world sunny day witness visits ghana and sweden where community polarized by mining questions the heritage february on al-jazeera. every attack in europe creates fear and division amongst its citizens west henri's of loss go on told. a sweeping association of islam with violence leaves

european muslims facing the stock reality of being ostracized by the very communities in which they live love and moon the tragic loss of life twice a victim and on al-jazeera. short films of hope. and inspiration a series of short stories that highlight the human triumph against the odds. al-jazeera selects. whether online. to the audience or for them not to do this or if you join us on sat all of us have been

colonized in some form or some fashion this is a dialogue we are talking about a legal front you have seen what it can do to somebody just people using multiple drugs including a funnel and some people are secular well everyone has a voice from the zero zero twitter and you could be on the street and join the global conversation on mt is iraq i mean this was different not just whether someone's going for something that's very red but that's true i think it's how you approach an individual and that's what it is a certain way of doing it to congress and inject a story and fly out. venezuela's self declared leader tells al-jazeera he wouldn't rule out u.s. military intervention.

i don't recall this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up for months on we look at how far the investigations gone into the murder of saudi journalist jamal khashoggi. left for palestinians right for israelis will take you down a highway some according apostate road plus. claim the first major football title beating full time champions japan three one in the asian cup final. venezuela's opposition leader is showing no signs of backing down from a political standoff with president nicolas maduro. who's declared himself interim president as told al jazeera has rejected an offer from mexico to mediate talks with manure is backed by several us american and western countries including the

united states iran pick up the pressure on maduro to step down as venezuela enjoys a long running economic crisis that's forced millions to leave the country last america hasn't seen human sat down with one day shell said about the possibility of u.s. military intervention so you see on the missile that any. president. overseeing military exercises intended to let opponents know that he has the means with which to crush when israel is internal enemies clearly not intimidate them and will. says that he's venezuela's legitimate leader looked all the part of an interim president as he called on the news wayland's to return to the streets on saturday to further pressure president maduro to resign. in an interview with al-jazeera self-proclaimed president quoting white all declined offers from mexico russia and the e.u. to print both sides to the negotiating table but. here they are not to conflict

inside but all we have is an entire country to the wants change and a very tiny group that sustains itself with weapons stolen from the republic and with constant threats against the same army that sustains them and a citizenship that is massacre in their stand the very good intentions of mexico and europe and i understand the ultimatum the european union has given me the opposition has been willing to negotiate we tried everything about it we have abstain we gone hunger strikes we have protested and they have killed us washington says that all options are on the table would you support u.s. military intervention if all else fails we will do everything possible so that in the shortest time possible with the least social cost we can generous to belittle ungovernability in the contrary to attend the humanitarian emergency to reactivate production in the country and to achieve freedom venezuela but when pressed he

refused to rule it out. earlier u.s. national security chief janet bolton issued another ultimatum to my little advising him to resign quickly or he could end up in guantanamo where the u.s. has a military base for suspected terrorists. despite close coordination and support from the u.s. why dollar dismissed accusations that the white house is dictating the terms of regime change. meanwhile spain's foreign minister just separate it says the u.s. is pressure. the e.u. to cease dialogue efforts. this as model and his opponents each prepared to take to the streets to test their strength it's taken at least forty lives in less than two weeks you see in human al-jazeera. well our interview with quite a took place shortly after u.s. vice president mike pence made a strong anti madeira speech at

a gathering of venezuelan exiles in florida champ attending takes a look at how american domestic politics a shaping washington's policy on venezuela. at a rally on friday republican florida senator marco rubio was emphatic mother still has time to leave where it's up to him but that window will close that time will pass and then it will be too late rubio has helped shape the trump administration's venezuelan policy reportedly speaking to the president at least once a month on the issue since shortly after his inauguration florida's venezuelan emigre community has forcefully lobbied for regime change the ferocity it displays for the overthrow of nicolas maduro has seemingly replaced that once shown by florida's cuban american population for u.s. intervention in its homeland younger cuban floridians are against confrontation with iran or the venezuelan community is key to the republican party's hopes of retaining power in florida and in the white house as changing demographics soften

its grip on the state one cuban by rubio has received twenty thousand dollars from an anti cuban government group co-founded by maurice your cover carone rubio has since hope club by carone joined the national security council at the trump white house he's pushed for the escalation against the venezuelan government not the donald trump needed much encouragement he asked for a venezuela briefing on his second day in office over his focus was how finally to bring down the government in cuba by making it financially difficult for caracas to supply have an hour with eight and that remains the ultimate goal the white house is transparent it seeks the overthrow of the cuban venezuelan ambika rugland governments and u.s. control over the world's largest oil reserves it will make a big difference to the united states. economically if we could have american oil companies really invest in and produce the oil capabilities in venezuela with the

election of right wing governments in the region and have one guy do it was decided the time and come for regime change one why does the popular will party has a strange itself from even large sectors of venezuela's opposition that favor dialogue and don't want war however he has a strong constituency in washington it was washington after all that groomed him for this moment but there are concerns in washington that the administration has mistaken open the president. for support for u.s. intervention or for a candidate asking for military intervention and there are fears about what such a hardline foreign policy team will recommend if it has miscalculated a team that now includes elliott abrams who in the one nine hundred eighty s. oversaw the us his support for regimes that employed death squads in central america she had her town see al-jazeera renee. the battle for one of the last eisel controlled pockets of northern syria has its base tens of thousands of people u.s.

backed kurdish forces have been fighting the armed groups and u.n. refugee agency is calling for a transit site for civilians fleeing to can't account for elation has tripled in the past two months as i'm going to have a report on the attack a syrian border. for the last eight weeks kurdish fighters have been battling myself one of the groups last pockets north of syria you're confident that most areas are now under the control individual problems. activists say more than two hundred people have been killed in the fighting shelling and airstrikes by u.s. led coalition forces we are. all. parties to respect their obligations and. international humanitarian. so really in. many

families had to leave and foot the syrian red crescent says more than twenty four thousand people have been displaced in a matter of weeks. it's a lot riskier at night but more people arriving to nearby camps but we were besieged and because we're so hungry and tired for two days we had no sleep and no food for fifteen days all that was available was grass leaves and bark from trees there was a humanitarian crisis brewing in the remote desert areas under rice and a lack of food made worse by a shortage of medicines and doctors in the last few days dozens of isis fighters have surrendered some civilian say they had stopped them from leaving and the mostly kurdish forces are concerned but i still fighters and their families may have fled among the civilians. seventy five percent of them were working with seventy five percent iraqis twenty percent syrians and five percent foreign those from central asia europe america germany and other parts of the world in addition to isis atrocities in the area coalition attacks have also

reportedly killed civilians the u.s. led coalition always said that their air strike targeting positions yes in some cases the surely but these positions were in heavily populated residential areas this is why dozens of innocent civilians were being killed. unicef says that these thirty two children have been killed because of violence displacement and harsh conditions in northern and eastern syria the world health organization says it's extremely concerned about the deteriorating humanitarian situation as more families arrive in already crowded camps aid agencies are demanding unhindered access to people in need it's clear that ice is no longer controlled territory but what comes next is also a cause for concern for rights groups and aid workers tens of thousands of people in their rehabilitation and they say lasting peace will only come if the marginalized people are given hope and opportunity.

february second ranks four months since washington post columnist jamal khashoggi was murdered in the saudi consulate in istanbul his body still hasn't been found a united nations special operators been in turkey for the past week leading an independent investigation shows he was last seen entering the concert on october the second but he never left the building prosecutors in saudi arabia have charged a number of saudi men with his murder but turkish authorities want him ever ordered the killing also to be held to account. has more from istanbul agnes is wrapping up a weeklong visit here in turkey she's met with the foreign minister she's met with intelligence officials she's met with the chief prosecutor of course the man in charge of turkey's investigation into what happened exactly in that building behind

me she's met with friends of jamal khashoggi and she's also met with his fiance she's trying to get a picture of what exactly happened on that day exactly four months ago now it's not clear at the moment where the she's been given access to those recordings that turkey has of the murder also she was wanting access to forensic and scientific evidence so we do understand that she will be issuing a statement to the media in the next couple of days or so with her preliminary findings what now well now we're expecting a full report from the un special rapporteur in june to the human rights council i think it's significant because it comes at a time when it seems that all countries are normalizing relations again with saudi arabia this is of course a political minefield if you will all countries very much invested in getting the most political mileage out of this but also afraid to really damage their relationships with the kingdom so she's doing this in her own capacity i think it's an important time and certainly in her words the gruesome killing it has grave

consequences if she really wants to put it back on the map because in her words.