fire broke within hours. what ensued were massive conflicts so as laid out in the road map to peace by president obama that from funny. we want to participate in our democratic process. the roadmap to peace that's that's that's made by the afghan government. constitutional framework inclusive justice for all democracy in basic rights so obviously we want to give up on violence come to the negotiating table in eventually cut a deal with the afghan government in parts of it in our democratic process in our political process through democracy. the next few days are critical for an astray and city awash with flooding townsville has already been inundated with rain for five days and there are warnings it could get even worse kevin cal that report. it's

a dog's life saved candy cast 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 words on president and on chatted we use these for razan we have not been in this scenario before we know we've been having this monsoonal trough on the north of. tel ever over the townsville catchment the monsoon has settled in the next twenty four to forty eight hours act crucial let me say that again the next twenty four to forty eight hours crucial. missile that's being reinforced by me it's the trough is slow moving and that's why wakey getting such 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 a mage's. and that was on the way to die and we had another crushing or o'clock yesterday morning and that came up about one maters image and see work as a 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 that we must bring up for some time to come kevin calvert zero. still ahead here on al-jazeera that's left the palestinians right for israelis the highway some are calling upon. and cats are bringing home from both. to beijing to pass through one.

hello again welcome back to your international weather forecast we're here across japan we're looking at a nice day but that is going to change because we do have once weather system that is coming out of china you can see it right here the air of low pressure and that is going to bring a lot of rain as well as snow over the next few days so as we start to forecast here on sunday you can see here across the korean peninsula that is where the system is going to be with some snow as well as some rain down here towards the south for tokyo though it is not going to be a bad day here on sunday at thirteen degrees as we go towards monday actually the temperatures increase we're going to be seen as a very heavy snow though up here towards the north sapporo is going to go maybe to about three degrees there but heavy snow across much of the region we're also going to be seen some better weather across much of china over the next few days but for taipei unfortunately that weather system that tail end of the weather system is going to bring some rain into your forecast at the end of the week and the beginning of the week so here on sunday taipei twenty nine degrees for you there

but as we go towards monday the front slips through the temperatures dropped and we do expect to see rain in your forecast at twenty degrees and here across the philippines will not looking too bad to the north but more clouds and rain down here towards the south manila we're going to start to see a time to a few of thirty degrees and partly cloudy conditions and rain at thirty degrees for you. faced with growing financial burdens separate money from a student loan a chase credit card leaves me twenty nine dollars thirty 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. hold. on just a. reminder

of our top stories this hour. told as foreign and defense that he will withdraw from a decades. after u.s. decision to do the same. they will start working on new. interests and a proposal for mexico and mediate between him and president nicolas maduro. declares himself interim president is backed by several countries. and like to a full man islamic system made up of afghans now that the u.s.

appears to be serious about pulling troops out of afghanistan the afghan president says no agreement can happen without the government's involvement. in the battle of one of the controlled pockets of northern syria tens of thousands of people back forces have been fighting the armed groups and saw the u.n. refugee agency is calling for transit to civilians fleeing to hold. tripled in the past two months. reports from. his border with syria. i. for the last eight weeks kurdish fighters have been battling mice and from one of the armed groups last pockets in syria we're confident that most areas are now under the control in the original problem. 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. writing to respect their obligation and there are international humanitarian. so really in. many families had to leave and fought 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 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 that 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 isis no longer controls 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. i have to have been killed fighting broke out with another armed group during battles in a town in the south after the libyan national army is seeking to expand its control in the south its main stronghold is benghazi in the east the world health organization says the campaign which began two weeks ago has left fourteen dead and wounded many more. as being dubbed israel's apostate right a stretch of highway north east of jerusalem inside the occupied west bank that's put into play and the high wall on one side the drivers are 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 this thing that we are a block in the middle of the future of the palestine. for the 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 equal. in the occupied west bank before ivory coast president lauren bond but has been freed from detention by the international criminal court but by and one of his former ministers were acquitted of atrocities last month had been accused of initiating a wave of violence following to speak to the lections in twenty ten has agreed to host by prosecutors prepare an appeal. supporters dance and chanted outside the court they say about those innocent and hope that one day he will return to ivory coast has been in custody at the course since two thousand and eleven. cyprus has been warned by the e.u.

to stop selling passports and visas to wealthy applicants the block refers to the practice as giving golden passes to europe especially for rich and influential russians david choi chaytor reports from malema seoul the hills above limits all are filled not with the sound of music. but the sound of construction the building boom is being fueled by russians and the sea front of cyprus is second biggest city is being transformed with luxury high rise flats. it's not just the sunshine that's drawing them here the government has earned more than five billion dollars from selling cypriot passports so far and with them comes entry into the european union. the russian community is now estimated as eighty thousand strong and even has its own radio station the russian wave it was formed by a businessman from the urals but he's not impressed with the new wave of ali gox.

about seventy percent of these people who get the gold in fast boards don't live in cyprus. community here a single day can change everything. another russian businessman set up this computer wargaming company it has millions of users worldwide the russians already have their own super markets here now he's about to lead their own political party so most people just buy. real estate for two million euro some solutions are queens of prosper so. i do not support. the marina in limits so is filling fast with the luxury yachts of the oligarchs but there will always be room for more definitely yes i would say that a national guard is always welcome to cyprus. for some time what is that have to be

jurisdiction for our passports but if. i believe. that i can see the cyprus once again. the e.u. commission is warning that such golden passports will allow organized crime gangs to infiltrate the block and that could cause problems with tax evasion money laundering and corruption and russian businessmen already well established in cyprus see it as a threat to their own interests you know mostly people living in these flutes it's going to be a week ago stone awards the sun may be coming down though on the days of the golden passport because of pressure from both the e.u. commission and the united states that threatened catastrophic sanctions on any bank involved in money laundering david chaytor al-jazeera the missile. stung the footballing world by winning the asian cup for the first time three one in the final in. a remarkable tournament this is their bar reports. this was the

moment the nation's dream became a reality i. i 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 doha. the new champions are expected to return home on saturday where they will receive a royal welcome. guitars nash. well football team has proved that they are ready for the biggest football tournament there is the world cup in twenty twenty two which will be held in qatar as the final whistle was blown qatar we hade the

champions of the seventeen asian cup games fans put onto the streets of celebrating their countries was there or when they might be underdogs in the tournament dosage of mari al-jazeera doha. and american football fans and gearing up for super bowl sunday and this group of friends has a pact to attend the tournament every year the last surviving members of a group called never miss a super bowl club one member says the ticket price in one thousand and sixty seven was twelve dollars this is tickets it costs him a whopping two thousand dollars a game will be held in atlanta where the los angeles rams face the new england patriots. are watching al-jazeera these are top stories and russia's president has pulled out of a decade's old nuclear missile pact following the u.s.

is decision to do the same putin says moscow will no longer initiate disarmament talks with washington and will start working on new missiles. best solution. we will do it this way our response will be symmetrical our american partners stated they will stop their participation in the treaty so we will also stop they stated that they will do research and development of arms so we will also do the same russia won't deploy new land based short range and intermediate range weapons neither in europe nor in other regions of the world unless similar american made weapons appear in those regions all our proposals in this sphere remain on the table as before doors for talks are open at the same time i am asking the foreign ministry and defense ministry not to initiate any talks on this issue let's wait until our partners open a dialogue with us but why is opposition leader has told around is there he has no

interest in a proposal from mexico to mediate between him and present. day whose declared himself interim president is backed by several countries has called on russia and china to side with him. the taliban says it would like to form an islamic system made up of all afghans u.s. appears to be serious about pulling troops out of afghanistan but the afghan president says no agreement can happen without the government's involvement. in the battle for one of the last eisel controlled pockets of northern syria has displaced tens of thousands of people u.s. backed kurdish forces have been fighting armed groups and saw the u.n. refugee agency is calling for a transit site for civilians fleeing to. the camps a population has tripled in the past two months. people in this trade and city of towns will have been urged to move to higher ground as monsoon rains at record levels queensland's prime minister says floodwaters have destroyed dozens of homes

and every unprecedented territory a city is on flash floods and has been declared a disaster. now with all the headlines more news here on al-jazeera inside story. the old expert measures in venezuela as president maduro sells off his country's gold reserves the latest buyer is reportedly the united arab emirates is the u.a.e. now at risk of u.s. sanctions this is inside story you get

hello and welcome to the program i'm martin dennis now the economic crisis in venezuela has will 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 roses 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 neurons 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 while missouri's 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 stealing in venezuelan gold and in a tweet 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 u.s. imposed sanctions last november to disrupt a venezuela's 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. right let's introduce 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 represent one thing a big chaos and now you are trying to go around the current sanctions imposed in order to find a solution to provide some liquidity in the market because the current sanctions have brought venezuela to its knees because they can't really export oil which is

what the commodity for the country and they have no other solution but to goo starts 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 same miller 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 is widely disputed. being able to go to the central bank open up the vaults with his key and take out the gold bars. 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 my mean are 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 space 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 dollar term strategy to really make the toughest sanctions ever against iran. and so i don't think that it would pay 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 that with dobby 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 turkey is 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 will 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 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 so the money 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 oil 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 or only in your rose and the reason that they are going after euro's is because they completely wanted 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 us system getting involved into that. for for venezuela if you look at the countries balance sheet it as you said it's 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 in 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 modo that was put over the elected national assembly but that's essentially a rubber stamp body i do think that there is 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 the crude in order to keep its oil industry producing right ok so the pressure is really mounting isn't it night very quickly betty as i just want to ask you about this issue of transparency i mean it seems very a paycheck 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. a transparency exchange if you like by which in three which gold is traded. when we are talking about earth as like gold there is no transparency and that's just the reality of it and especially when you're trying to award a certain situation and under this particular situation we're 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 acid 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.