will be here with more on that. but first the battle for one of the last eisel controlled pockets in northern syria has displaced tens of thousands of people u.s. back kurdish forces have been fighting the armed group in data stored at the u.n. refugee agency is calling for a transit site for civilians fleeing to a whole town accounts population has tripled in the past two months assad ben jarvus reports from gaziantep on turkey's border with syria. for the last eight weeks goodish fight is the be nice and one of the group's last pockets in syria you're confident that most areas are now under the control in beautiful problem. activists say more than two hundred people have been killed in the fighting shelling and strikes by u.s. led coalition forces. to resettle.

all. tourists big. international humanitarian. spirit in. many families had to leave on 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 keep arriving to nearby camps but we were besieged in 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 targets 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. and elsewhere in a remote part of syria nearly fifty thousand. people are trapped at the camp they're calling on the u.n. to provide a safe passage to rebel controlled areas in the north the campus essentially in a no man's land where the borders of syria jordan and iraq meets jordan has called for it to be dismantled xenophobes out reports from beirut's. almost fifty thousand syrians among them some rebel fighters have been trapped in this makeshift camp for years. there is nothing to sustain normal life in this remote desert area where the syrian iraqi and jordanian borders meet they're also besieged by syrian government forces but now they have another worry they fear for their safety. the u.s.

decision to pull out of syria is causing concern because there are no safe roads for us to leave to the north where the opposition is in control there if you will don't want to return to government controlled territory because they fear a rest and fourscore scription in the army. the campus within an area that's nominally under some u.s. control american troops are in the nearby town if base they are there to block a land bridge connecting to her on through iraq into syria and lebanon it's not clear if washington will give up the base once it would draws its troops from northeast syria. but jordan's call for the camps closure and the return of the displaced syrians to their villages is causing concern. we ask whoever can help us to open safe routes for people to leave either to government controlled territories or rebel held areas in northern syria or let people go wherever they truly are we need to get out of here. conditions in the camp make it unlivable at least

eight children have died in december because of a lack of food and medicine the united nations says this is a manmade tragedy. that. the last time relief aid reached us was two months ago and the u.n. promised that they would return in less than a month but they haven't come yet. it was in the member when aid reached for the first time in almost a year the united nations says it has verbal approval from damascus and moscow for a new aid convoy they are hoping to reach those in need in the next few days. camp lies within us russian agreed the escalation zone all sides accusing each other of hindering the delivery of aid the syrian government siege of rock band is a tactic that has used in the past and rebel controlled areas to bring about a surrender this time however the united states is accusing damascus and its russian and iranian allies of using aid to pressure washington to leave. there are

reports the trumpet ministration plans to keep troops in pace to counter iranian activity despite its planned withdrawal from the north east regardless the syrians and rock band will remain pawns as rival powers vie for spears of control that is why they say they want to un guaranteed safe passage to the opposition controlled nourse finished. beirut the taliban says president donald trump appears to be serious about pulling u.s. troops out of afghanistan a spokesman for the armed groups such a withdrawal as the first goal towards ending the seventeen year conflicts he added that they'd like to establish an islamic system made up of all afghans earlier this week the u.s. envoy said there had been agreements in principle towards a framework peace deal but it was drawn up without input from the afghan government which the taliban regards as illegitimate so let's remind ourselves of the taliban's history in afghanistan it emerged after the soviet afghan war before its

fighters took over the country in one thousand nine hundred six imposing their own harsh interpretation of islamic law the two thousand and one us invasion of afghanistan toppled the taliban but it launched a years long campaign against foreign troops and the u.s. backed government the taliban has since regained strength some analysts believe it controls as much as forty percent of the country and the u.s. mint. believes it has about forty thousand active fighters the talks started between taliban leaders and u.s. diplomats in qatar last summer and are due to resume at the end of this month let's make thought of some mimi he's the deputy spokesman for the office of afghanistan's president is joining us from kabul thanks for speaking to us on the news hour if we look at the issue of u.s. withdrawal first it's always been a sticking point for the taliban not of me something your president has resisted can you clarify the official afghan position on whether it supports and would endorse a u.s.

troop withdrawal and under which timeline. thank you very much as far as the used to rule nothing has been agreed on this year one thing that i want to clarify that you still use the troops presence in the other in a presence in afghanistan are based on by that probably right that people from that region with the government of afghanistan. to present so you know or based on the situation on the ground in these agreements or also. as i say bilaterally trilateral in multilateral agreements or based on mutual interest and share there is nothing. points and it seems that this is one of the points that's been discussed seriously between the united states and the taliban but let's look at these talks for a moment and saying that the afghan government doesn't have

a seat at the table as off now does this put the government in a weakened position when it comes to any sort of figurine meant. as they could in the year your question properly but i think you asked about the outgoing government. the afghan government currently not having a seat at the table at the. that had been taking place in qatar so this must put the afghan president and the government in a weakened position. and here it was yeah as i said the president of the troops in afghanistan are based on the situation on the ground in even the afghan government in the afghan people are committed to see reducing the number of troops and eventually to zero but it also depends on the situation on the ground as they say. and the afghan government. has insisted on being included in any talks when it comes to the future of the

taliban in afghanistan can you tell us what position what role the afghan government actually sees for the taliban going for words. yes the afghan government's position on the peace process is that eventually if their peace has to come in afghanistan through the afghan government if the all of the taliban has to come to the negotiating table with the afghan government if we want to see a peace deal because previous experiences in afghanistan unfortunately has shown that excluding the afghan government from the process has had bad repercussions and consequences we have seen in the one nine hundred ninety s. when the afghan government and people were excluded from the peace process we saw the ceasefire broken within hours in what ensued were massive conflicts so yeah the position of the afghan government is that any peace deal has to come

through the afghan government taliban has to come sit face to face with the afghan government to cut or in a negotiated deal and what role does the afghan government see for the taliban going forwards. so as laid out in the road map to peace. funny. rule we want to participate in our democratic process. the roadmap to peace that's that's that's made by the afghan government is brimstone constitutional framework inclusive e.t. justice for all democracy in basic rights so obviously we want to give up on violence come to the negotiating table in eventually got to deal with the afghan government in parts of it in our democratic process in our political process through democracy. all right we'll leave it there we thank you very much our first

week into us from kabul. now the next day or so is critical for an australian city awash with flooding tellings ville has already been inundated with rain for five days but there are warnings that could get even worse kevin calvert reports. it's a dog's life saved candy cattle to safety from the floodwaters surrounding the owner's home but for them this could be just the tip of the troubles when we use the woods and prey sidenote and uncharted we use these for razan we have not been in this scenario before we know we've been having this monsoonal trough in the north of our state however over the townsville catchment the monsoon has settled in the next twenty four to forty eight hours are crucial let me say that again the next twenty four to forty eight hours are crucial to

a message that's being reinforced by make your religious the trough is slow moving and that's why wakey getting such a big accumulations of of rainfall. so the risk is high for the next couple of days people in the city of townsville in northern queensland with a population of one hundred eighty five thousand have already been battling the deluge for days sometimes almost up to the puts it more place here come up to bases. and that was on the way to die and we had another crushing or o'clock yesterday morning and that came up about one. emergency workers are going door to door urging people to move to higher ground especially in the cities western suburbs and northern beaches one thing that looks susan they'll be marking up for some time to come kevin calvert zero. qatar has stunned the footballing world by winning the asian cup for the first time they beat japan three

one in the final in abu dhabi a remarkable tournaments. reports this was the moment a nation's dream became a reality. tars national football team played their seventh and final match in the tournament beating the four time asian cup champions japan three to one. and they did it without a single qatari fan in the stadiums because all the matches were played in abu dhabi. since june of two thousand and seventeen saudi arabia egypt bahrain and the u.a.e. have imposed a land air and sea blockade on qatar accusing of sponsoring terrorist groups a charge qatar has denied. since then travel to those countries has also been restricted. the spike the politics surrounding this asian cup qatari fans are simply proud. it's a great feeling thank goodness we got here after

a lot of hard work and perseverance. i can't describe my feeling today i feel as happy as any arab especially when my country achieved something like this it was a great game too and to beat such a great team like japan makes it an even bigger achievement it's a win for the amir the amir father and everyone who lives in qatar and every era every one without discriminating between them. it was a great game a very exciting game and thank god that the qatari team won i want to thank our boys what they've achieved from the start of the tournaments to the end. once the trophies were handed out in abu dhabi the real celebrations began in. the new champions are expected to return home on saturday where they will receive a royal welcome. guitar's national football team has proved that they are ready for the biggest football tournament there is the world cup in two thousand and twenty

two which will be held in qatar as the final whistle was blown qatar became the champions of the seventeen asian cup games fans poured onto the streets to celebrate their country's was no or when this might be the underdogs in the tournament dosage of bari al-jazeera. well kevin is here shortly with the weather and then on the news hour we're on the front line of the battle against the romania we'll look at how it's spreading through europe less for palestinians rights for israelis the highways some are calling apartheid roads. injury and career but she'll have one last goodbye at the world championships paul will be here with more on the story.

just a few moments ago you saw the video coming out of queensland of all the flooding going on across the area that is the monsoon trough that they're talking about that area spitting that you see over parts of queens and the problem is that has not moved for several days and unfortunately we don't expect it to move very far over the next several days as well take a look at the rain totals that we have say you see here in walsh said we have seen steamy hundred sixty nine millimeters of rain just the last twenty four hours in townsville it was one forty two and of course townsville has been heavily affected by all the rain there in four days townsville has seen six hundred and twenty millimeters of rain one of the big factors and one of the concerns is a dam just upstream from townsville that is rapidly filling and they're concerned that that dam is going to cause more flooding because they have to release water out of the area take over what we expect to see over the next few days in terms of the forecast the heavy rain is going to continue with an air of low pressure that

continues to spin across much of that area as we go from monday and tuesday as well notice not much of a change on where that low is of course more rain is can be falling across the region this is what we do expect to see in terms of rain across the region about two hundred more millimeters of rain just in townsville and heavier rain john towards the southwest. the weather sponsored by catalona. faced with growing financial burdens separate money for student loan pay this chase credit card leads me to twenty nine dollars and twenty one cents. i don't have a husband left me a pension my future scares me because i don't want to struggle as the dream of retirement fades away and we're clear you gotta do something you know try to keep it above water hold. on al-jazeera. the world's largest oil company fails to become public tappan. all the

kingdom of the company inseparable here the world's largest oil producer and don't list in the world's largest stock exchange that definitely felt something al-jazeera investigates the politics of oil the middle east's most potent economic weapon. saudi arab code the company and the state on al-jazeera. hello again the top stories on the al-jazeera news our russian leader vladimir putin has told us foreign and defense ministers that he will withdraw from a decade's old nuclear missile pact a u.s.

decision to do the same couldn't says they'll no longer initiate disarmament talks with washington and will start working on new missiles there are warnings of a humanitarian crisis in northeastern syria activists say more than two hundred civilians have been killed and tens of thousands displaced by the battle for parts of data. venezuela's opposition leader one point zero has told al-jazeera he has no interest in a proposal from mexico and over a glide to mediate between him and president nicolas maduro quite those declared himself interim president as backed by several countries. while our interview with quite oh that's a place shortly after the us vice president mike pence made a strong anti migiro speech at a gathering of venezuelan exiles in florida see how tense he takes a look at how american domestic politics are shaping washington's policy on venezuela. to rally on friday republican florida senator marco rubio who was in

flattered my little 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 chilly rubio has helped treat the trump administration is 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 house full surely low bid for regime change the ferocious. it displaced with 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 her via 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 hoped come back around join 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 however his focus was how finally to bring down the government in cuba by making it financially difficult for caracas to supply have on a with eight and that remains the ultimate goal the white house is transparent it seeks the overthrow of the cuban venezuelan and nicaraguan 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 the emergence of one guy do it was decided the time and come for regime change one why does a popular well 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 mistake it opposition to president much duros 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 to. will recommend if it has miscalculated a team that now includes elliott abrams who in the one nine hundred eighty s. oversaw the us its support for regimes that employed death squads in central america she had al-jazeera. february second marks four months since the washington post columnist was murdered in the saudi consulates in istanbul his body still hasn't been found

a united nations special reports her husband in turkey for the past week leading an independent investigation. was last seen entering the consulate on october the second he never left the building prosecutors in saudi arabia have charged a number of saudi man with his murder but turkish authorities want whoever ordered the killing also held so accounts stephanie decker 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 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 has 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 no 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 the it has grave consequences if she really wants to put it back on the map because in her words neither united nations nor any of the member states are pushing hard enough for independent investigation i think it's worth remembering that four months on regardless of saudi arabia saying that it has indicted eleven men five of those

facing the death penalty we do not know who they are we don't know who ordered the killing and most importantly still the body of jamal khashoggi has not been found. at least four fighters loyal to the libyan warlord have been killed fighting broke out with another armed group during battles in a town in the south have to libyan national army is seeking to expand its control in the south its main stronghold is in benghazi in the east of the country the world health organization says the campaign which began two weeks ago has left fourteen dead and wounded many more. at least thirty two palestinians have been injured after israeli forces opened fire on protesters hundreds gathered for the weekly demonstrations near the border fence of the gaza strip on friday the rallies began almost a year ago demanding that palestinians be allowed to return to their lands and homes that now sit inside israel the un envoy to the middle east and an egyptian delegation are meeting representatives in gaza to find ways to stop the protests

from us and you are it's unprecedented that a meeting brings the united nations egypt and the movement leadership here to gaza this indicates two things the first one is the palestinian national project in its integrity and the palestinian question in its political dimension as well as the situation in gaza and the march of return to break the blockade the general national scene in gaza the west bank and jerusalem and all of this is now eighty junction at a very critical and precise stage. it's been dubbed israel's apartheid road a stretch of highway north east of jerusalem inside the occupied west bank that split in two by an eight meter high wall on one side the drivers are is really on the other palestinian harry fawcett 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. bridge ready settlers it will hours for a 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 mohammed 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 will encircled the city and split the west bank into it heads the connect north and south but of course they made it in the way to enable the connection between east and west for the israeli people to always out there thing that we are blocking the middle of

a few to think that. 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 that al-jazeera in the occupied west bank. elections are fast approaching for the european parliament an e.u. leaders are worried about shadowy groups peddling misinformation to skew the results so called fake news is an especially big problem in romania which holds the us presidency its government is also in the spotlight for attacks on journalists lawrence lee reports from. the manipulation of public opinion is one of the battles of our times and it is spreading through the european union remain here is one of the new front lines at this independent media monitoring organization they troll through hours of t.v. footage from privately run news networks owned by oligarchy with links to major

political parties fake news they say is spreading like a virus. very wise. and sometimes i got the feeling there are opting. personal communicators for the politicians billion media has been trying to move the oil mass protests against new laws protecting corrupt politicians are met with media claims that the demonstrators have been paid to turn up by the billionaire george soros already a hate figure in the illiberal countries european elections are fast approaching national elections in romania later in the year a perfect opportunity it is feared the media owning all of guards and politicians to come together to try to silence independents critical voices. this radio presenter is one of remain year's most respected broadcasters with half a million twitter followers and three hundred thousand on facebook yet he admits to

a sort of self-censorship on social media in fear that hidden forces might have his account suspended more than that he predicts a far bigger clampdown on critical media after this year's elections just as happened in hungary i think in the very next day after mr autobahn win the election the last opposition radio station simply says they exist so. i look to hungary and see guys want to do the same to us a lot of the real investigative journalists like paul who helped expose global corruption to the so-called panama papers the day after his website run an exposé on a high ranking politician he received a visit from the tax police based on a fake complaint from a nonexistent accountant his view is that the european union should be doing a whole lot more than it is to support people like him that this goes across

borders countries themselves cannot deal with this these type of problems you know so there is a need for. kind of the law enforcement agency in order to deal with very high level cases you know. absolutely absolutely yeah yeah while the european commission certainly knows about all this it spends most of its time and efforts on fake news originating from russia but decent journalists in bucharest romania as current high profile much focus minds on the democratic deficit much closer to home largely al-jazeera in bucharest. sports is coming up next and can this baby gorilla predict the outcome of the super bowl it probably houses my chances paul who is joining us in just a moment right after the break stay with us.