was hot from all corners of the cup it'll mogadishu toppan during the morning rush hour in the middle of a ruled the pos is in between the newest and biggest mall in mogadishu on the city's administration headquarters and. the rescue workers are saying that the blast caused destruction of some buildings and that now looking at the wreckage to see whether they're any. bodies or even survivors we're seeing an uptick in violence being waged by al shabaab with the group targeting both civilian and security targets all such that they they cut about a couple mottaki against ethiopian peacekeepers in the town of bonded insolvent somalia but they've also been on the receiving end of u.s. strikes been cut it out by u.s. forces in somalia with dozens of them think killed in the past few weeks and

mohamed the other story we're covering out of somalia it's not confirmed that gunmen have son killed the head of a port operations company that happened in puntland or the circumstances that led to that. well yes and thirty four more so is the name of the official who was killed he works for dubai ports world which took over the management of course also port under some really controversial circumstances last year the government of somalia say that i'm not been consulted in the taking over and had even expelled d.p. world from somalia but the group still east all putting the fourth of. to the government of buddy legion use of one hundred thirty five also was going to walk in the morning when he was targeted by two gunmen who disguised themselves as fishermen now it is been very easy for fighters to carry out attacks like these

tech getting but only government officials but businessmen who refuse to part with tux they imposed on business as an individual something that sees them continue with this they are not base their base both far away from the portal was also and have put a hideout in the mountains on the outskirts of the city so it's been very difficult in the past years for u.s. trained forces in puntland to remove them from their hideouts all right some hunted and frank if. once more ahead on the al-jazeera news hour including the fear of afghan women worry about their future if the u.s. settles with the taliban and withdraw its troops a political outsider claims victory in el salvador's presidential vote. no freedom in sight for the bahraini footballer who is fighting extradition from thailand we'll have all the news from his latest court appearance coming up.

but first turkey's president saudi arabia's crown prince and the kingdom's former foreign minister have lied about the murder of jon. and also reiterated his the spare us inaction over the killing of the saudi journalist in istanbul four months ago stephanie tucker has an update. to the state. and i suppose about how there's been no real movement also referred to the united states disappointment in how they are talking and this is what he had to say. i cannot understand america's silence been such a horrific attack took place and even after members of the cia listened to the

recordings we provided. but he had harsher words going back to when it all began. the saudi foreign minister of course he was saying that there was a collaboration there was a collaborator to dispose of the body of this is the saudi version of course the body of mr hersh has still not been found who said well if there is a collaborator who is he where is he what is his name if you know that he also mentioned the saudi crown prince mohammed of inside man saying that initially his version was that he had left the consulate he said now we know that those two things were laws so he also called for those fifteen men the fifteen saudi nationals that flew in to is on the day of the murder he said these are the perpetrators we need to know who they are and of course turkey has already requested their extradition but the saudis are conducting their own investigation nobody knows who the men are that they have indicted eleven men have been indicted five of those facing the death penalty but it is

a very opaque process now all of this comes just as. the u.n. special. has wrapped up a visit here in turkey is really the first independent person looking at this because of course it is such a politically loaded story all the countries yes they want to put pressure on saudi arabia but the same time no one really seems to be willing to go that extra mile to break relationships with the kingdom so for months still nobody and certainly a big question as well as to who ordered the killing of a high profile journalist in the saudi diplomatic mission here in istanbul that's very true of everybody saw him he's a professor of history at i.b.m. how do you university is joining us from istanbul thanks for being with us how significant or comments on the united states when he calls out the u.s. for effectively being silent on the murder. well actually this is the one of the questions talk you always raise and last night on the live television on the state

television as you said i also watched as a former rather frustration actually the head of cia visited ancona. and did the recordings shushi listened totally and then she went back and presented her case in the congress several times this became an issue there i mean this is a hard profile no doubt a member of the we still don't have the body and saudi arabia claim that there are like a local person or persons who are also involved in this vicious crime but we don't know who they are and i actually turkey still not raising although it was also during the interview you know this is in this kind of on the line in turkey is a sovereign state in soil in istanbul cultural capital this which is crime took place the murder me still don't have answers but i do acknowledge that a lot of climbing has cards close to his chest because seemingly there is no

appetite from the trumpet ministre said to do much or to call saudi arabia out what are turkey's that steps. well actually it took what turkey can do in international law and all the best trying to do keep it up all this you know the crime always highlight it always bring it up to people you remember that the a group of u.n. reps came and they wanted to enter the saudi embassy but they were not allowed so i should turkey trying all means to find an answer for this crime but yet more importantly i mean it's just we don't go nowhere with it and for agnes kind of model the un special rapporteur who is just in turkish press else has said that it's down to the willingness of governments to take the issues forward so do you are you optimistic that the report that she comes out with will actually go anywhere and anything will be done about it. what i want to keep is as

a person as an individual as a human being i really you know as a citizen of the world and really would like to see the answer of what happened to this gentleman all we know all we know you know despite all the speculation anything put aside that this gentleman and to the soul the embers and never came out so you know it's a big puzzle what happened there is anyone's guess but we know that there are some toppings except or so we we want to keep our hope on but what can this u.n. do and how much they pressure solid government to come up with the answers is don't know i mean i think probably we need maybe transpose some involvement to us in this case as a ally both for saudi arabia and for turkey because this is the issue always remain between the two countries in a really delicate time. middle east needs of

a syria need some corporation for to sort out their problems except to solve the un took a corporation but this issue remains always a delicate dance or the one so i don't know when what goes how much un can pressure it can go to u.n. general assembly maybe security council more than no guarantee if the u.s. wouldn't really veto it so but i mean overall this is a murder case and we need to find answers all right abbi base and we thank you for joining us from istanbul. now a group of cross party british m.p.'s have accused saudi arabia of torturing female activists in detention the panel's conclusion indicates a growing uneasiness among western allies of alleged rights abuses under the crown prince mohammed bin said a month last month amnesty international released a report documenting ten cases of women who say they were tortured and abused while they were held at an undisclosed location. a former mayor has claimed victory in

the el salvador's presidential election. they campaigned as an anti establishment outsider promising to stamp out corruption his two major rivals have conceded defeat kevin is the former vice president of costa rica he says the next president will have to find a way to engage with el salvador's gangs the back of the matter is that you. get to a. territory of that country. particularly in the in some of the main cities and in some ways you know where or who wants to run for office has to line accommodation. with the gangs because they they have become a political actor in their own direct if that's not unique tools of her though i mean do you in in a similar way you find this kind of the nominal in the but way less in rio in

brazil you find it in the townships in kingston jamaica and for a long time you you know you could find the same kind of thing in the in southern italy with the mafia so you know it has become not simply a security issue but also political the u.s. president donald trump has again pressed for the withdrawal of fest troops from afghanistan in what's become america's longest war a little over a week ago representatives for the u.s. and the taliban agreed on a framework for peace but while afghans are encouraged by talk of the war ending many fear and deal with the taliban could once again see women's rights crest victoria gate and the reports. need a reason owns a coffee shop in the afghan capital kabul she's one of millions of women whose lives have been transformed since the u.s.

led coalition removed the taliban from power that was i think freedom for women post taliban is a big achievement and if we once again go backwards that will be a big step back and a very heavy price for us many afghan women are worried about a peace deal between the united states and the taliban they don't want to go back to a time when their rights were limited. goes i won't accept a pace that asks me to go back and sit at home i will raise my voice and never be ready to accept a peace that costs me my freedom restricts me and makes me wear a burka and puts me in a cage. it's been nearly two decades since the taliban was toppled from power since then of the eight million schoolchildren in afghanistan more than two point five million are girls in two thousand and four women were able to vote for the first time in decades more than a quarter of the seats in parliament are reserved for women and they make up nearly a fifth of the workforce but rights campaigners say all that progress is at risk.

obviously we all want peace afghan women afghan people want peace we have had a bit to our but i think when it happens this trashed and we are not included and we are not being talked to we are not being consulted in terms of whining about what we want from this group that's going to come back and join join the government then we have learned that we are going to lose the taliban say they've moderated their approach to women's rights but there are no women involved in the peace negotiations and many say they have too much to lose to take the taliban at its word victoria. troops are being sent in to help deal with catastrophic flooding in northeast australia thousands of homes are submerged in queensland's evacuation centers are open in the city of townsville and floodgates have been opened to the pressure on overflowing reservoirs following record breaking rain game levels have stabilized but the potential for the rank

cane china which last night was rough but everyone together well in a few moments we'll have the weather with every turn but still ahead on the al-jazeera news hour forty years of memories we look at how iran has been impacted by two major events that transformed the country. also stronger together north and south koreans hope to revive projects as their countries get closer. the wreckage of the plane carrying footballer. has been found in the shadow of war and that's coming up a little later with joe. the

heaviest of the rainfall is now making its way away from towns but don't get me wrong it's still raining hey i just don't think it's quite as intense the flood risk does remain and that's because we have this area of low pressure in the southern hemisphere travel in a clockwise direction so it dragging in more moisture once again from the open water and pulling in across that similar region then so there we go with townsville you can see that circulation really quite clearly on the satellite picture six days to be talking about a year's worth of rain here maybe a meter of rainfall has come down in the last six days over a meter in the past week or so but look at the last ten hours seventeen millimeters so that really is something of an improvement i may be clutching at straws but it is an improvement believe me you can see the accumulation totals that we're looking at the heaviest downpours at shading on a running across towards mci pulling further inland just easing away from

townsville so we are looking at some very strong winds as we go on through the next couple of days in some parts of this region of central and northern queensland could see another three hundred millimeters of rain but as we go through the next couple of days this is you can see the heaviest downpours just not a little further south. sponsored by countdown. the world's largest oil company fails to become public water tap and. all the kingdoms of the company inseparable here the world's largest oil producer and you don't list in the world's largest stock and that definitely felt something al-jazeera investigates the politics of oil in the middle east's most potent economic weapon. saudi arab. the company on the state on al-jazeera. take the worst possible material you radio grounded into dust. make up. and put it into place where people think is the cause.

for many people thinking this is the file and. we're going to make you feel like a movie we have created an enormous. disaster. and investigation south africa toxic city on al-jazeera. hello again the top stories on the al-jazeera news hour spain's prime minister. and european allies the u.k. france and sweden have all just announced that they recognize venezuelan opposition leader. as the country's interim president russia legitimising fido amounts to

foreign meddling a bomb blast outside a busy shopping mall in the capital mogadishu has killed at least eleven people and gunmen have shot and killed the head of a port operations company in the semi autonomous region of puntland al-shabaab has claimed responsibility for the attack let's discuss some mohammed to bring him bobo he's a journalist he's joining us via skype from mogadishu thanks for speaking to us what are you hearing about the attack that took place in mogadishu and whether there has been a claim of responsibility as of now. thank you a massive car bomb explosion house the bay rock scene of additional somali capital. get this a couple of restaurant at a mogadishu shopping may be a ridge that would do an administration hit at least or with plain people have been killed. including ed journalists have been wounded in the attack and

militant islam disposability quickly at times saying that they have a moment or three shows. has there been a claim of responsibility for the attack in mogadishu however. proprietors regularly claim they were going to cut it out and didn't attack it is an explosion is. this attack they clemence. or the mother and they claim that there were that much the mind of the explosion which. most discipline was shows can you describe the area for us and give us a sense of what it's like there. the area this execution is that it coolest to be ben editor or would you not or at risk or should it what it is very close to i mean it's a pretty basic place how many districts so presumably it would have been carried out there to wreak maximum damage for one adam to

stand let me ask you about why then we've recently seen an increase off violence and blasts by and shabaab in somalia. and this find in a secluded we're going to show how i couldn't. get. out at least in mogadishu regularly calley our assassination is killing his game in mogadishu or with an ex who she was gobbling up that is this is what we do show it's happening every day and looked at. what does that tell us then about how strong. remain in somalia. we have been pushed out the immigrant issue and we'll be a day at the back is that is to. get out of this that that is a right we thank you for how much for giving us the update from a condition that will. now the iraqi president but

says donald trump does not ask permission to have u.s. troops stationed there to watch iran so he's referring to comments the american president made in an interview on sunday we spent a fortune on building this incredible base we might as well keep it and one of the reasons i want to keep it is because i want to be looking a little bit at a wind because a rand is a real problem so that's what trump out to say let's cross over to rob matheson he's joining us from baghdad what are the iraqi president say in response. well president bottom sana said in one of the parts of his statement he said the iraqi constitution is clear on such matters it prevents using iraq as a base to threaten the interests of its neighboring countries in many ways this is not really much of a surprise this reaction for two reasons first of all there isn't a leader of a country in the world who's going to want to be seen to simply accept what appears

to be an arbitrary statement about his or her country made by the leader of another country particularly if it's one that he or she does not agree with secondly and perhaps more significantly is the fact that in the iraqi parliament there is a very significant shia oriented bloc much of which has its loyalty to iran now iran does not want to see foreign troops on the ground in iraq right on its doorstep it wants to see those troops out as quickly as possible and those rainy and linked groups within the parliament are planning to put forward a bill at the moment which would limit the amount of time that foreign troops would be able to be in iraq at the moment once the bill is agreed on they would then have roughly about twelve months for which the u.s. and the other troops to get out of iraq this situation is however slightly difficult for the government in that it clearly does not want to upset iran its biggest neighbor on its eastern border but at the same time those five thousand two

hundred u.s. troops that are in iraq or the moment that number was given by the prime minister who gave a press conference a couple of weeks ago those troops are here for two specific reasons they're here to combat the remnants of ice or donald trump may have said that the war against islam was over and that i still has been defeated but here in iraq there is still a perception that there are groups of fighters still in the country does still pose a threat and iraq needs the expertise and the equipment supplied by the us in order to be able to make of those areas and those threats secure the other thing is that those fine. five thousand two hundred u.s. troops are also training iraqi military both in the air and on the ground there like most other countries in the world iraq is very conscious so what happened in afghanistan when american troops were pulled out of afghanistan under the obama regime there was enormous immediate resulting upsurge in violence from the taliban but also from iraq does not want that to happen its country it wants its own troops

to be trained well enough to be able to secure the country and only at that point in practical terms is it one the foreign troops to leave in terms of this bill that's being put forward by the shia bloc in parliament that can only happen once parliament comes back into session pollens not going to be back in session until the start of march the president has deferred the decision to the prime minister the lucky who is also commander of the military so no decision on this is likely to be taken if i told until the parliament resumes back at the start of march all right rob matheson with an update from baghdad rob thank you iran is marking the fortieth anniversary of the one nine hundred seventy nine islamic revolution yet within a year and a half of the revolt neighboring iraq declared war and invaded by western and arab allies so decades later iranians speak of the revolution and the war in the same

breath two major upheaval that transformed the country and remain in extra could linked in the minds of iranians at the time post revolution iran was still finding its feet and was militarily unprepared for its first conflicts and the eight year war ended in a stalemate with the deaths of an estimated one million iranians along with hundreds of thousands of iraqis the same bus ravi has more from to her on. a meets a lay he was just a teenager when iraq declared war on iran in one nine hundred eighty he joined the army at just fourteen years old and spent five years as a frontline soldier injured multiple times. he would recover and head once more into the fray. but his war ended when a gas attack destroyed seventy percent of his lungs and impaired his vision. immediately after the revolution when our army wasn't well prepared we came under attack from iraq the islamic revolutionary guard corps was too busy with internal

conflicts so as it happens in any other country people volunteered to defend their nation against the aggressors. it was a conflict that shattered the lives of millions of iranians iran and iraq are now the closest of allies but the war taught iranian leaders important lessons in national security that have influenced policy decisions ever since the post revolution government was shaky and caught off guard. forty years later military leaders want everyone to know it won't happen again. the anniversary of the islamic revolution kicked off with another display of military strength unveiled at an arms expo at the hands made mosque to have a z. is reported to be iran's latest surface to surface cruise missile iranian commander see it has a range of more than thirteen hundred kilometers and is named after the city famous for resisting iraqi forces during the war that dog days and a unicorn named we live in a time when certain rulers who have no regard for the rights of nations ignore their commitment to treaties and international laws and walk all over them in such

a world it is wise that we defend our national security by every means possible despite all sanctions. iranians appear keen to boost public confidence in the military civilians here get a rare peek at iran's arsenal and enemies a warning to keep their distance. in the forty years since revolution iran has faced ongoing tensions with the united states israel and several arab neighbors as well as taking on illegal drug cartels and armed groups on its eastern borders eisel and iranian dissidents have also carried out attacks on your iranian soil and the ballistic missiles program better iran says is for self-defense has been widely condemned even by its european allies have on it therefore usually a strong you know the level of iran's defense capability has become a stabilizing factor in the region in many sectors we rank in the top five ten in the world and what is important is that all these programs create stability and security in the region. iranian military might help drive eisel out of

iraq. keep allies in power in syria and support the fighters against the saudi the coalition in yemen key military victories that appear to have taught iran's leaders the best way to deal with friends and enemies is from a position of strength. and outbreak of swine flu is the latest emergency in yemen and the virus follows the world's worst cholera outbreak and as millions of yemenis are weakened by starvation priyanka gupta reports. another arrival in this hospital in the capital sanaa another victim of the consequences of the war in yemen fatima is suffering from each one n one influenza also known as swine flu it's known to break down the immune system and cause lung problems among other complaints but a saudi u.a.e. coolish is repeated targeting of hospitals means the flu which is best treated of

detected early has been diagnosed late or. she suffered from coughing for about twenty days we have seen several doctors in several hospitals but it is here where she has finally been properly diagnosed the virus has spread to grap italy mostly in the hooty controlled areas of sanaa souther and abe. the hundreds of cases reported so far there's only one type of medicine available most hospitals are running out and pharmacies that do stock the medicine are charging forty dollars for it the lifesaving drugs are simply out of reach for the families of the patients they get to live out of who are now looking for the medicine that deals with such a virus we were shocked to know that the hospital only gave us some of the needed tablets and not all of them because of the medicine shortage. that we and other patients need more medicine us so we urge the united nations and the ministry of

health to do whatever it takes to make this medicine available. that's a tall order where more than fifty percent of the people don't have access to regular health care less than half a hospital are working and the risk of an epidemic is increased in crowded cities and towns teeming with yemenis displaced by war when. we are talking about a massive spread of disease the ministry of health has registered in its latest statistics four hundred one thousand cases of swine flu this is the number we've managed to register but there are dozens of patients that have not been registered because of the inability of those patients to access. to the war and the siege the death toll has so far reached. the u.n. is trying to rescue their. december to stuff fighting in the city of. renewed fighting around the port is making it almost impossible for critical a to

reach patients needing medicine but the edge one n one flu virus priyanka gupta al-jazeera thailand is taking another big step towards long delayed elections with parliamentary hopefuls registering their names the vote is there to happen late next month and will be the first since the military took power nearly five years ago when hey isn't bangkok. this is a fictive lead the start of the election campaign with prospective members of parliament from the thirty constituencies in the capital bangkok coming here to register for the vote and this is a scene that is being replicated right around thailand on monday there's a lot of excitement a lot of anticipation that the democratic process is beginning this is the first election of course since the military coup almost five years ago. looked on today is the start of the change from military dictatorship to democracy i am delighted to see our country get back to the democratic process we are not quite sure if democracy will be entirely restored due to many changes of laws under the regime

but we still need to do our best. if people decide to chance to government and enable the political parties to form a government then we have a chance to not only to form and democratic government india future will be able to amend if i see dushan and being a tree back to a democracy one also this week the political parties have to register with the election commission the candidates to become prime minister now this is potentially a very controversial part of this election because the senate which is and fixed by the military government has the power to appoint an unelected prime minister someone outside parliament someone outside the political parties now that person could be the current prime minister. the man who led the coup in two thousand and fourteen he's also been nominated by one of the political parties to be the

candidate and we'll find out this week whether he's accepted that nomination the u.s. special envoy for north korea stephen begun is in seoul where he's expected to finalize arrangements for donald trump and kim jong un's next summits many south korean business leaders hope the meeting will revive joint project between the north and the south armagh bribe reports from seoul. as south korean business leaders anticipate what a second summit between kim jong un and donald trump might mean for the economies of both korea's they only have to look to the case old industrial complex to appreciate both the opportunities and the risks. it was shut down three years ago when relations were near their lowest point. and many factory owners believe after the past year of reconciliation led by south korean president moon j. and it's time to restart it. are. usually.