just. live from studio. president. and see.

for the people. on the. air. facebook dot com and it is looking like the title of president will belong to egypt. even longer than we thought in the past couple of. of the egyptian parliament has

approved an initial proposal to extend the president's term now the details are like this for it to take effect it would need to pass a vote in parliament within four months but if it does pass then c c's term would extend beyond its current limit of twenty twenty two so we're going to talk to me about this is an associate professor of political science at long island university she's on skype from new jersey with us now hi dahlia. one part of me sort of thinks well this is not a huge surprise that this sort of thing is well even in the works but the fact that it is it just cements. shows that egypt has actually not really gone far in the past eight years. you're right it's not a surprise at all remember this is a president came into power through a coup solving one of the bloodiest massacres in egypt's history he has systematically consolidating power around himself virtually decapitating the

judiciary the security services have really purchased most of the media outlets there is no independent journalism in egypt and we're seeing right now is that the parliament has become a rubber stamp on his authority and so it's not a surprise that he would be extending term limits or that there would be an extension of his term but that the only question was when it was going to happen and so now we have this proposal that was already approved by one fifth of the parliament which is all it needed and so we have this proposal that will go to some sort of though it in the coming months in the summer time probably and all it needs is two thirds approval and that they've already secured according to many parliamentarians and so this will pass and so the terms will go from four to six hears and virtually meaning that there will be some kind of special accommodation made for president sisi so that he remains president until twenty thirty four

ironically enough in twenty thirty four he will be eighty years old very similar to the age that mubarak was when he was removed from office the eighth anniversary which is just next week and so are having this display of a show of extreme executive power coming upon this moment when each years ago egyptians were actually celebrating change and yes what we're seeing today is not only has egypt regressed to pre-revolutionary moments but it's actually consolidating through this constitutional amendment if it indeed goes to a referendum and votes in a vote in in the summer that we are way worse than we were under mubarak so we're talking about the power of the man himself the power of the office the power of the parliament which as you say is essentially rubber stamping what he does tell me about the popularity because i don't want to just dismiss the fact that this is all happening at his behest he does have support doesn't he. well so there's two kinds

of sways the support as measured within the political establishment and also popular support and there are no polls to measure popularity of presidency like for example there is here in the united states measuring president trumps popularity or lack there up and so we don't really know the levels of popularity that he actually enjoys what we do know is that the egyptian economy has actually hurt the average egyptian that there is a shrinking middle class that because of a lot of the poor economic planning through his reforms the cost of goods has gone up so high that the extreme poverty that egypt used to face in the rule areas for example has not now touches upwards of sixty percent of the population so it's not clear that he's popular insofar as he's providing what there is a return to a fear nexus where people will prefer this stability so called stability of a heavy handed leader rather than and certainty of a next moment of change do we have accurate measures for this no we don't but

historically we do know that people become fearful of extreme elements of change so it's not clear that they don't that they dislike this what is clear is that they will accept this and this is what has been happening for the past two years in egyptian politics as a whole you have to remember last just this time last year when president sisi was running for office he was running virtually uncontested because he had eliminated all opposition and we didn't see protests in the street at that moment even during the revolutionary anniversary because there is no alternative at this moment tell me if i may well explained and we thank you for your thoughts and expertise on this topic thank you. so that news just developing in the last couple of hours here if you've got some thoughts on that and usually when we do stories you very much do so get in touch with us hashtag a.j. newsgroup on twitter at a.j. english remember as ever our producer on deck looking for your responses they or you can message me directly don't forget that we use that hash tag edge news grid

facebook dot com slash al-jazeera for the live stream if you have to be away from your television you can watch it on the go or you can message just directly plus one seven four five or one triple one four nine zero the telegram or whatsapp let's move to our other developing story that is of course venezuela where the self-proclaimed interim president is calling on the military to allow humanitarian aid into the country he has received more backing with several european countries recognizing him as the interim leader but russia is accusing them of interference and of course the military which he wants to let the aid through is in the court of president nicolas maduro madeira for his part has asked the head of the catholic church actually pope francis to help resolve the crisis so lots to talk about with theresa bo who is in caracas for us hi theresa so first of all the humanitarian side of things the aid coming through what is the latest on that because as we say so much of it is dependent on the military.

well we're right outside the hospital and several protests will be happening today in hospitals and doctors and nurses asking the government to allow much needed military humanitarian aid what people are saying that the desperate need of medications to fight for example cancer for among other illnesses and the latest we know there was just a speech to the national assembly where it was announced that already on this day there's going to start arriving many scenes mostly nutritional supplements among other things and that later on we will get information on how that aid is going to be delivered into the country the big question is how is it going to enter the country let's not forget that until now the government has said that the entering won't be allowed and that's why one way though has been appealing to the military to those soldiers and telling them that that aid is not only for the population in general but also only also for them and the big question is how those soldiers are going to respond ok so let's build on that then what you tell us and explain to us

to rates are exactly how loyal the military is to whether it's either the presidency or the man himself nicolas maduro. well in the past week we have seen several very small rebellions in different parts of caracas but the leadership remains loyal to the color of a play a crucial role within the venezuelan cabinet handling things like the economy and the military internal affairs among other things so it's not until now they remain very loyal to the president that what people are saying that would be a game changer here in venezuela is that bad leadership turns around and carries out a coup against the president but at this point that's not likely and that's why the opposition has changed their strategy they have been appealing to the middle ranks to the troops that are also suffering from an economic crisis and as i said before

and that's why why why there has been appealing to them and telling them to allow that made it that humanitarian aid that think that's going to be arriving to colombia to be allowed inside venezuela ok thank you for those updates. to risible on twitter in caracas so from there we want to look at the political side of things a little bit more especially in light of all the various statements and support that we've seen from not just south american countries canada's been involved the european countries the united nations all these talks we're going to talk to james sweeny about this he is a professor of international law at lancaster university in england sir thank you for your time let's think about a few elements here james the united nations says don't want to get involved european union hasn't explicitly said we support or we want to remove nicolas maduro but there are countries that do want to go further than that you've got the lima group the south american nations who are calling on him to step down where does hold of this actually leave us with regards to the idea of

a change in leadership or fresh election. well as you've served. everybody from the e.u. to the u.n. to the usa. has said something about the situation and it goes to this question of you know recognizing whether there is a new government now as a matter of law whether you recognize a government nor not is just a political statement it's largely symbolic it's not the same within that governments recognize a particular state such as for example when possible broke away from serbia in two thousand and eight so really these statements about who is the legitimate leader of them as well or at the moment are part of a political strategy to lend weight to one side or the other but they can't change the situation on the ground and the semantics are important here as well if i'm wrong but

a lot of these countries and bodies are saying we recognize you won. the interim president not as the president or the leader is that to say you're the interim president we'll support you but can you organize some elections as well please that's right because this dispute goes back to elections last year. elections in which some of the opposition parties were prevented from participating others outright boycott of them so there's a question about whether the presidency. is valid as a matter of venezuela law. and what happens in the absence of a properly constituted presidency the argument. is that. under the constitution the speaker of the house and that's him speak in the national assembly should i say. becomes the interim leader that's what they're

arguing. as to you the significance of that i think the real issue is that only the lawful government can be recognized as having the power to invite another state to intervene to help in the way for example that syria has invited russia to assist it it's possible that the speaker mr quadro could for example seek to in the usa having heard mr trump fail to rule out the the use of force and just a quick note on then sorry i don't do that exactly is the united states do you think a real quote unquote threat here because some of the stuff i've been reading is people have been saying look this is you know the u.s. promoting a coup essentially or a type of coup. any sort of interference

with the political stability or dependence of another country in that way would be unlawful without a shadow of a doubt the usa has got form on this if you will. there's a very famous case went to the international court of justice about the cia moments ago a secret operation in nicaragua to destabilize the left leaning government of that country back in the eighty's this was known at the time as the iran contra scandal because the cia was illegally selling weapons to iran to fund its equally illegal operations in the correct work and with his eventually taken over the usa is said was eventually taken to an international court of justice and that case clarifies that whether you disapprove or not of the government of another country you're not allowed to interfere with its sovereignty. when you from lancaster university

really interesting talking about the law to get into their thank you for your time . no twitter announced it had deleted thousands of what were described as malicious accounts from russia iran and venezuela last week saying they were linked to targeting the u.s. midterm elections in november there was a lot of chatter about this still online specifically for here in relation to minnesota that's right call well to it just said that it removes hundreds of accounts of originating from venezuela the first seven hundred sixty four accounts that distributed what was called spammy content focused on devices divisive political themes and that meant it that it was unable to link the suspicious activity to a government backed influence campaign the second batch is made up of almost one thousand two hundred accounts which to says appear to be part of a state backed influence campaign targeting venezuelans now that follows donald trump recognizing venezuela's opposition in the one guardo as interim president and

u.s. republican senators such as marco rubio welcome that well others accused of censorship by deleting the accounts well john mattes blumenthal questions the ties wayland's and right wing exiles dominate the media sphere tech companies are actively censoring pro-government accounts they say are working to influence people and ben know to accuse the company of catering to u.s. government interests adding this comes off to twitter suspended venezuelan government accounts one point five years ago and this is not the first it's time the former vice president said this screengrab last september saying that what i had actually blocked the presidential account without any explanation but it is notable though that nicolas maduro and one guardo are active on twitter anyway pushing their political agendas well how much influence do you think social media has to play when it comes to issues of public diplomacy to task is the hash tag aging is good for him a couple things just to quickly show you online there is of course the latest

updates page i know i show you these all the time but they really are just that one stop shop when you want to. on top of the moving stories of this is a good one here the latest they're talking about as we say in the united nations not being involved in anything except venezuela latest updates can i also recommend the most recent edition of the listening post covering a country gone wrong it's a pretty blunt title but well that is what venezuela is these days and one of these guests equally as blunt let me find the quote here what we're seeing here is a mainly u.s. engineered attempt at a coup what we were talking to james sweeney about before so that's the listening post on demand in the show's six children behind me a company called allstate its northern ireland's largest i.t. company employs just over two thousand people were that she has an unshakable commitment to the good friday agreement and to the peace process that that has that agenda it here in northern ireland and that will be welcome news to the business leaders gathered behind me because as we flew into belfast this morning and i'm

standing here you can see the i-t. buildings behind me there's another one in front of me from body a large company right next to the airport belfast and northern ireland has benefited enormously from the end of the troubles and nobody wants to see a return to those old days but the reality is that the race may just actually have anything specific yet to give these business leaders in the way of reassurance you can give she can give reassurance but in relation to a specific answer to the riddle of what is this alternative arrangements that she wants to the northern ireland backstop there will i suspect be no answer in her speech snyder this one that she's giving or the meetings that she has later on and paul what's her timeline now well britain's timeline really effectively other than probably not long enough lift. today is here in northern ireland appropriate because the northern ireland backstop is the big sticking point in this whole process she's meeting business leaders now she will

meet with community leaders later on the south and then she will meet with the political leaders tomorrow all the main five policies here in northern ireland on thursday she then goes to brussels to speak with the european commission president jean-claude juncker but the reality is that as i say she hasn't got anything specific to take to jump to get in the way of a solution to the problem and the european union position on all of this let's not forget that in the equation is we are unwilling to reopen a negotiation that as far as we're concerned has no solution there they've looked at all the borders on earth they said sabine way and the deputy chief negotiator said you have to every negotiates every border on earth and the backstop was the only way that we could square the circle of the situation that we have here in relation to bret's it so in the absence of a specific proposal from the u.k. i'm afraid the e.u. is going to find it very difficult to be sympathetic going nowhere fast as nepal britons live in belfast thank you so much for that this is handy brags that the

backstop you heard paul talking about a big i'm honest i'm not even sure a lot of us really completely understand how the backstop works but the online team has put together a nice simple explainer also. where was that he we go a link to briggs it jargon buster seventeen k. briggs it terms explain keep it handy because as paul was saying briggs it has a long way to run yet just search for break that backstop at al-jazeera dot com meanwhile the u.k. is departure from the e.u. is seeing record number of british citizens applying for irish passports and last year twenty percent of irish passport applications came from the u.k. people who have a grandparent who was born in ireland are entitled to one they've bought has more from london. traditional island in a london pub. of course anglo-irish ties go well beyond an affection for each other's cultural stereotypes people have moved across the irish sea for

centuries almost nine hundred thousand people born in ireland live and work in the u.k. now breaks it sounded a new dimension to the bond. richard whiston supplying for an irish passport anyone with at least one irish grandparents eligible for irish citizenship this is my grandfather's birth certificate this is my connection with ireland for richard it's a way of holding on to his european identity after. my identity stripped away. perhaps by a majority they didn't relate to. because i couldn't. really understand why people would want to out of. an inclusive europe a big part of me wants to stay connected to europe you know i want to feel like europe is my home. outside britain's parliament in london protesters opposed to a new favorite breaks it all he wanted daily basis this is identity politics in

action as many as six million people that's almost ten percent of the entire population could be eligible for irish citizenship and one of these an irish european union passport ever since the u.k. voted to leave the e.u. hundreds of thousands of british people have applied for them many see them as almost an insurance policy against all of the ups certainties of bricks it. unlike other e.u. citizens irish people can automatically work study access public services and vote in the u.k. rights the government's promise to protect after breaks it as more and more britons delve into their family history in search of irish connections i wish people in britain are considering the impact bricks it's having on them a lot of people are advocating the were a pains to sort of insist that irish people need to be affected by the same things but on a more sort of emotional and psychological level i think our people do feel slightly

less welcome and even know their pains to say oh you know you're like here to get immigrants these are taste i think. it's forcing people to question their sense of identity. and for a large number of british people encouraging them to seek out a new one. in the park or al-jazeera. for the greek prime minister is on a two day visit to turkey territorial disputes tussle over oil and gas off the coast of cyprus all expected to be on the agenda as is the issue of greece providing sanctuary to turkish army officers the ones who fled there after the failed coup is this report from johns are up less than athens. the last time the two leaders met in athens fourteen months ago their language was combative president. accusing the greek prime minister of sheltering turkish army officers suspected of plotting the failed coup against him three years ago alexis t.

plus reminded that the island of cyprus is divided between greek and turkish cypriots because of turkey's invasion forty five years ago the stage is now set for a repeat performance in ankara turkey's powerful national security council last week renewed extradition demands for the eight army officers seeking asylum in greece despite greek supreme court judges forbidding extradition on humanitarian grounds the soldiers had commandeered a helicopter to escape and land in greece decides he's treating the visit not doesn't opportunity point to. to reaffirm the state of relationship is such and the crease has nor to yield. to turkey's demands. if that's a correct assessment then the results would be. a trauma

if anything the stakes are now higher last october turkey sent a drilling ship to explore the seabed near cyprus for oil and gas in response to similar exploration by cypriots cyprus says it has the right to exploit undersea resources the turkish government disputes that in another spat greece's foreign minister announced that he was preparing to extend greek territorial waters turkey's response was to threaten war twenty years ago greece lifted its veto on turkish membership talks with the european union and the two countries started exploratory talks that came close to resolving their territorial differences in the aegean but greece then hesitated to commit to any deal and eighteen months ago turkey pulled out of the talks altogether the two sides now have no forum to discuss differences. setting up a bilateral forum would make the visit a success from the greek point of view but expectations are low jumps are open to

us al-jazeera athens that's the view from greece the meetings happening in ankara those same cos you were you has more from there. what we expect from today's visit actually when we speak to people from the turkish side and from the greek side the expectations are low because two leaders are running for elections mr chip press is running for a general election and aspired to syriza is being challenged by the opposition according to the analysts inside greece and when you look at turkey president our don is going to be running for local elections in at the end of march this year and his ruling got party who has been the main holder of the municipalities in turkey are challenged as well and they are allied with the nationalist party so the nationalist discourse actually defines our parties and present our dance political discourses that's why people expect that these two leaders today will be discussing

about the major problems but what they will do is to try to maintain this statical and avoid tensions because they both need no more tension especially getting ready for the elections in their own countries and they are expected to address their own domestic audiences rather than international audience. so we agree center concern there are a number of potential issues and i just want to look at it geographically really simple for you using the google map here's your area that you're talking about turkey and greece very much mediterranean neighbors there of course one major issue is here the island of cyprus divided between the two countries and a constant source of conflict between them but you know there's other things as well if we go a little further it looks i've gone too far north actually is greece and you'll see just a bit north of greece's macedonia that could be renamed northern macedonia which the greeks have allowed of the great parliament has allowed place but this area you see around thessaloniki is known as northern macedonia within greece and is

opposition to that name re changing then turkey says it wouldn't support it either so you've got all these regional issues in this agency area oil and gas as well which create friction shall we say between the two countries and yet the two men amazing and we are going to talk to the european affairs analyst yannis simitis who is joining us from athens nice to see a young is do you think progress can be made on this particular trip i know it's only a two day visit a lot of it will be ceremony but do you think some progress can be made on any of these bigger issues. well it's really hard to tell because last year when pres the murder one came to our fans it was a real almost a fight to a diplomatic fight with the greek prime minister and especially the greek president because the turkish president reaffirmed that his positions regarding the aegean and that didn't sound quite well here in athens this time i think it may be

different but we have to wait and see the positions are exactly the same the greeks are saying that turkish should not have any claims on the aegean islands and the daughter waters while turkey is disputing the possession of one cauldron and fifty small rockets and islets india jian also there is a very nasty dispute about the eight turkish army officers that have been granted asylum in greece and today. ministry gave a reward for the capture or the abduction of these eight offices so there are a lot of issues between the two leaders right now here and she let's talk about that a little more because i think anything to do with the failed coup attempt which was three years ago now i think in turkey that will always be very personal for president and something that he's not likely to relent on. yes exactly from

from the first moments no one axed for the extradition of this aide offices while miss that super us apparently already bought diddly promised to mr aired on that he's going to extradite this offices on the other hand this office is fired there are complaints they're there they're pretty gay sions to the greek supreme court and they were granted the sight of them and now mr super us cannot do anything because the greek justice system is still too early dependent and they could not be handed back to turkey final thought from you if you wouldn't mind on cyprus itself that's the historical argument you mean this goes back forty five years i think now. is that something do you think either country would look at realistically not necessarily all the way to reunification but awards at least. solving some of the issues but on that divided island or again is that just sort of

a pipe dream to think ahead. yes well there's a lot of room for progress on cyprus last year there was a high stakes summit in switzerland be to know all of the parties and there were hopes for an agreement but at the last we need all broke down what there's a dispute here is whether their key would be able to maintain certain army certain troops on the island after that or you would need to cation whether there will be guarantees by turkey and greece still on the union united ireland and last but not least the governmental system that will be run on the island so all these contentious issues are at stake and no two two days ago the u.n. envoy was on cyprus and discussed with the two community leaders on cyber about how

to break the same bias so on cyprus there recently hope that there can be some progress between the two leaders but we have to be very cautious and see any cuts i mean is joining us from athens great to talk to you thank you. plenty of questions and thoughts coming through on well pretty much all out stories i'm just going to go with one of them just for now and that is on venezuela has asked is it still possible to go back to the negotiating table i think the problems there with the negotiating table is who else sits at it you know russia had offered to mediate but the group associated with either would not have that sort of thing this is why the united nations wants to stay out of it because they know russia and china are allied with allied with venezuela and anything that went to the security council would of course be vetoed by them you've got the united states on the other side who wouldn't be trusted by russia and china so i think it's more to do with who could possibly broker it it would need to be someone neutral and i'm not sure there is anyone particularly neutral in this story so thank you for your question sir if

you've got so some thoughts or questions for our guest in correspondence do send them in the hash tag q. script this is the news grid and if you're with us on facebook live you're about to find out why new york subway stations are particularly dangerous for parents and people with disabilities that's a clip from our friends at i.j.a. bus and then later donald trump promises well he's calling it an exciting state of the union address he was scheduled of course for last month but nancy pelosi suspended that invitation more to come. hello again it's good to have you back this hour want to take you over here towards the mediterranean because we're watching one particular system that's actually out here across the west should notice a turning right there there is a funnel bounty not looking too bad here right now across the eastern mediterranean but as we go towards the next couple days we'll be watching that very carefully here's a cold front making its way towards the east and with that we could be seeing increase

of rain as well as some clouds in the forecast so jerusalem beirut you can be seeing the rain here on wednesday as we go towards thursday we are going to see that system slip even more inland and so for aleppo. in the higher elevations also of turkey that is going to be some messy weather few baghdad clouds will start to roll in as well here on thursday evening in kuwait city high temps a few of twenty degrees where across much of the gulf not looking too bad here across doha at twenty three we are going to be watching out here towards the northwest though that same weather system is going to bring some rain and clouds across much of northwestern saudi arabia over the next day and into medina we could be even see some clouds coming into play there and then very quickly across parts of south africa we are going to see a mix of clouds here across much of durban as well as johannesburg up here towards madagascar it is going to be rain if you temptress across the area are going to be in the high twenty's the next day.

the world's largest oil company fails to become public watch happen. all the kingdoms of the company inseparable here the world's largest oil producer and you don't left in the world like a stock exchange that definitely felt something al-jazeera investigates the politics of oil the middle east's most potent economic weapon. saudi arabic over the company and the state on al-jazeera. when the news breaks a few minutes ago we were able to hear a huge explosion fifty people are still missing when people need to be heard and the story needs to be told we need to invest in development make the best in making sure the people are not left behind al jazeera has teams on the ground join us for this historic shift in american politics to bring you moon mood we need documentaries underlying themes on air and online.

and what's trending as well it's chinese do year of the take i think it is and

there is a picture gallery which actually turned in the number one there must be something different up there along with the latest from syria saudi arabia and the backstop that was the one i told you about before it's trending as well people trying to figure out what it's all about that is what's trending. to deliver his second delayed state of the union address the u.s. president was forced to postpone the event last month because of the government shutdown which is of course the longest in u.s. history what is different with this address is that it will be delivered to a divided congress to democrats now in charge of the house for the first time during his presidency from washington d.c. here is complete alka with all. for weeks donald trump has hinted immigration will be a big part of his tuesday state of the union address the white house says trump will try to unify a country divided over the issue listen closely to the state. i think you'll find

it very. well which is wasteful and doesn't solve the problem the u.s. president has been in a political standoff with his democratic opposition over his request for five point seven billion from congress for a border wall he hopes to build along the u.s. border with mexico his speech was scheduled for last tuesday but was postponed by house speaker nancy pelosi during a congressional government funding battle that shut down parts of the government for thirty five days. the short term funding approved by congress to reopen the government will soon run out many will be watching to see if trump declares a national emergency to bypass congress and get the money he wants for his wall you'll hear the state in the union and then you'll see what happens right after. investing in infrastructure is another topic the white house says trump will cover

as he did last year and calling on congress to produce a bill that generates at least one point five trillion dollars for the new infrastructure investment but other trump controversies overshadowed that effort on tuesday trump's expected to try again he's also reportedly planning to promise and end to the hiv epidemic in america discussed the trade war with china. and the political turmoil in venezuela. overall the tone of trump speech is expected to be conventional sticking to the teleprompter as he did last year as long as we are proud of who we are. and what we are fighting for there is nothing. we cannot achieve in his last two speeches to congress trump appeared willing to reach out to his political opponents to achieve shared legislative goals but within days of each address trunk quickly returned to attacking democrats on his twitter

feed a sharp contrast to his appeal for unity still the white house says president trumps goal is to bring the country together but after two years in office the country remains divided angry and opposed to many of policies most polls show the president goes into his state of the union speech with just a forty percent approval rating can really help get al-jazeera washington off we go to capitol hill to talk to rosalynn jordan just watching some of the pictures in kimberly's reporter from last year and you saw paul ryan sitting behind the president smiling and clapping it's just going to be a really different feel this year isn't it nancy pelosi be sitting there and a lot more democrats in the room. well not just a lot more democrats in the room but you have a number of those democrats who have decided that they're running for president and so their president is going to be looking at number of potential challengers in the

two thousand and twenty presidential campaign he's also going to be looking at a lot of people who oppose his policies and i want to read just as one example a statement put on twitter by the senate minority leader chuck schumer in the last twenty minutes quoting president trump will report tonight on the state of our union but the state of the trump economy is failing america's middle class the state of the trump health care system is failing american families the state of the trumpet ministration is in chaos so already if there was any hope from the trump white house that there would be any efforts to try to agree on a unity or comedy use you pick your word certainly the senate minority leader is already sending the message that he's having none of the president's overtures that the president's record in policies simply do not merit that kind of cooperation the president is also a facing a bit of a rebellion from his fellow republicans when it comes to foreign policy they're

very concerned about the president's announcement that all twenty five hundred or so u.s. troops in syria would be pulled out because of the war against members of isis essentially is over they disagree with that assessment and so he's going to have to want to really try to sell his policies to a room that is much more skeptical than perhaps it has been in the last few years roselyn traditionally and i know there's nothing traditional about this presidency but traditionally is the state of the union a time to drop big announcements or major policy changes you know like a national emergency or something like that i thought it was more about laying out the year ahead. well that's usually what it is come all end but the president's senior adviser kellyanne conway told reporters at the white house earlier on tuesday that while the president is not going to make

a specific announcement he is going to lay out the argument for why a wall should be built on the us mexico border basically making an appeal not to the members of congress who will be sitting in the house chamber but making the appeal to the u.s. residents who are going to be watching this all across the country essentially using the power of the bully pulpit to try to build public support for the wall because the thinking is if you get more people who believe as you do they'll be more inclined to lobby their members of congress to appropriate the money to build the wall that is of course something which the president has said as something which is aides have said that they want to see done they want to see congress actually appropriate the money they don't want to have to take the step of declaring a national emergency because that creates all sorts of constitutional law problems and political problems particularly for republicans who still control the senate so

it's a they really immigration the wall these two things are really still the big issues waiting for the congress and for the u.s. as the president gets ready to deliver his remarks later on tuesday state of the union at over two hundred hours g.m.t. on al-jazeera thank you to rosalind jordan. actually run ten hours from now live coverage of course here and from the state of the union to the state of the world freedom house has released its annual freedom in the world report this is a u.s. based ngo it's been around since one thousand nine hundred one and it looks at issues of democracy and political freedom and human rights and it recorded unfortunately i thirteen consecutive year of decline in global freedom let's have a look at it here these are the worst of the worst as it says looking at countries like central african republic libya and somalia shattered by civil war as it says other countries which have family clip talk chrissy's oil clip talk receives embattled dictatorship hermetic police state so that gives you an idea of some of

the bad ones on the freedom list other countries in the spotlight think about sri lanka which is in the dismissal of a prime minister recently china to do with the way he gives cameroon where paul beer extended his role so a lot of the usual suspects coming up there but then there's an interesting one here the united states yes still obviously well they call it the land of the free don't they but just look at the decline this is a rating out of one hundred it's gone from ninety six. ten years ago to eighty four so there's a definite decline they feel as far as freedom of the will probably be freedom of expression maybe freedom of the press in the united states just a quick look before we go to rehear i want to show you quickly the map that's your basic snapshot blue countries of the not free countries lots in africa in the middle east most of the free countries you're looking at in green in the western nations and speaking of democracy the people in indonesia are taking action against a bill that is being proposed by the government reveal or take another example

indonesia's government is being criticized for proposed law that could ban what are called foreign influences on music in fact anyone seeking to make music with any kind of foreign influence could be punished with a fine or prison sentence and thousands are worried that the proposal could harm freedom of expression especially among artists. but this isn't the first time that music stocks controversy in indonesia there was a wave of protests in twenty twelve after recording artist lady gaga arrived in jakarta to perform for a sold out show which she canceled after being threatened by members of a religious political organization called the islamic defenders front. now many trades online they're sharing a petition with the hash tag reject the draft music law more than one hundred eighty thousand people have already signed up saying the law will be unconstitutional and this musician from bali says that he fears his rights too will

be destroyed and single reisa andriana adds freedom of expression is the essence of creativity the law is supposed to protect this and not do the opposite and here's what another artist had to say on twitter in this video they're going to go yeah i reject this proposed music law because it undermines our freedom of expression music is not only entertainment but it also reflects the cultural and social situation of our people and that's what makes it so beautiful but with these unclear articles in the law musicians risk being criminalized but some also criticizing indonesia's president calling him a hypocrite he's been known to be a fan of the rock brand metallica and actually spent over eight hundred dollars to reclaim one of their limited edition vinyl records which was given to him by denmark's prime minister back in twenty seventeen so that's your thoughts on the story tweet us use the hash tag aging is good we had to simply message directly and after him home and call metallica firm in your let's look at some other stories

from around the world now and the taliban has launched an attack on an army base in afghanistan it happened in northern province at least twenty six people killed most of them soldiers and policemen more from tony berkeley in kabul. we are told this was a pre-dawn attack on police checkpoints at an army base on the outskirts of condors which is the provincial capital that six hundred fifty kilometers north of kabul a group a large group of taliban fighters attacked three police checkpoints and the base we're told that twenty six personnel were killed eleven of them were police officers and the taliban have claimed responsibility for this the afghan authorities say that at least twenty two taliban fighters were killed and about twelve were wounded but this is not be confirmed by the taliban who i say confirmed the attack now it shows that even though the taliban had meaningful breakthrough so-called breakthrough talks with the u.s.

just a little over a week ago the peace talks may be one thing but when it comes to war it's business as usual i think they're underlining their strength they've been gaining territory in the last three months and they want to push this to the wire and show that they can strike when they want and inflict casualties rival factions from central african republic of signed an initial deal to end six years of fighting an agreement between the cia our government and fourteen rebel groups was reached on sunday after two weeks of un led negotiations in sudan a more detailed agreement is due to be signed in the capital bangui on wednesday ahmed al has more is reporting from qatar. the government of the central african republic and fourteen rebel leaders have signed a peace agreement that has been long in the making difficult negotiations for over a week here in the sudanese capital khartoum the heads of state of sudan and the central african republic have attended the signing with initials here today the

final signing will be on wednesday in the capital bangui the capital of the central african republic what distinguishes this agreement is that it is a it is the fruit of the first time had to have face to face negotiations between that of believers and the government of the central african republic eet ees labeled an agreement of peace and conservation and it's going to open the door for a unity government in the country and also for an ominous t two that i believe has that misty to that i believe as has been a sticking point in the negotiations so all the parties to the this conflict and the sponsors hope that this time around this agreement would hold and it will bring fine of peace to the people of the central african republic. is here to talk sport we're going to steal a line from the rich that here von more time it could be rome or the most successful well cups clear of all time has suffered

a setback at her final major event lindsey vonn that has crashed in the super g. at the world championships in sweden if it's four year old that was able to get up off to the full at the course and are her competitive mikaela shiffrin when tong to win gold last week the old time leader in women's world cup wins announced that she'll be retiring after racing at the super g. n. downhill at these championships well let's talk to our correspondent corey says that the championships in sweden up for us full first of all do we know yvonne will be able to take part in the downhill. i've got good news for you on kemal son it is one more time according to lindsey vonn she is going to write i'm sure as you probably did when we saw a crash earlier in the super g. it really looked like that was going to be a you know she can't trust her body anymore her confidence is shot i fully expected it to come into this press conference perhaps tearfully and say i'm bringing it

forward again the retirement i'm finishing i'm not going to race on sunday but she came in very bullish she said no i'm picking myself back up i'm going to race on sunday see either and i'm not ruling out winning it either so what sort of legacy will she leave behind. yes she's going to leave a huge legacy behind i mean it's not just those eighty two world cup wins which is just for behind even more stand mark he set a record thirty years ago this year it's also the intangibles i mean tell you a shifrin he won the super g. today said lindsey vonn has carved a path for women in the sport and she has you know people get excited when they see lindsey vonn even people who want to really ski funds interestingly are so low and spend all these sort of male equivalent he's also retiring after these championships huge star in norway but it just doesn't really translate internationally people don't go crazy over spend all like they go crazy over vonn

and it really remains to be seen if someone like shiffrin can step into those shoes and become someone that everyone in the world is excited about paul recently live from sweden thank you very much for that well before the crash the american said she wanted to create some lasting memories in her final races while the one fan are writing this a pretty brutal and for lindsey vonn as a woman who is build up by many to break that world record the american going out with a bang a but the worst kind on other disappointed fans saying it's just not fair not don't want this to end not this time not today come on all think it's not going to end yet others think vonn was pushing herself too hard in divonne literally cannot catch a break terrible if we lose her from the d.h. field as a result of this crash is the same power as a serene and we want it so much that the air is pretty pin well mightly one day see

the world ski championships held in pakistan where the country's went to sports federation and military are combining forces to help boost skins popularity in the country david stokes has. the mountains of northern pakistan. spectacular but traditionally considered a dangerous no go area military operations aren't out of the ordinary here but not like this one pakistan's air force flying in competitors from around the world to take part in an international ski tournament ten thousand five hundred feet above sea level the military opening its doors to its own personal ski resort and. determined to change perceptions. this is inspiration for five years stunning message. for the rest of nature. these are very. beautiful things. there is an enthusiasm for the

interest. and reach to this venue and enjoy these facilities in five years from these mountains have been plagued by tribal violence for centuries and remind is never far away but ski races from nearly forty countries still made the journey to get a feel for pakistan slopes and the feedback was positive. real like the snow condition mountains everything is perfect feel like people so much because there's all kind of lead to us very very happy to be. this kid does it do look more and. more racist even to give a slave world championship even. winter olympics here it wasn't all about the international visitors pakistan's top national skiers were there too with the perfect opportunity to showcase their talent and learn from some of the world's best. me and my teammates who.

were just looking forward. as well as skiing snowboarding ice skating and ice hockey competitions were held for the first time in the country pakistan's winter sports federation in collaboration with the air force is determined to inspire youngsters not only to get involved but maybe one day even bring home gold medals we have or have any incoming international competitions and specially. in weaving if. we should have done a year of getting the national flags and giving crowd image for five years from hosting the olympics may still be some way off but the more pakistan puts on events like this the show not only to boost sport and tourism but also project a more positive image of the country all around the world david stokes al-jazeera

of course will have more sports with the wailings that eight hundred g.m.t. of our financial back to come out thank you sun and we're all out of time in the group to see you back here again tomorrow. every armed attack in europe creates fear and division amongst its citizens where stories of loss go on told. a sweeping association of islam with violence leaves erupt in muslims facing the stark reality of being ostracized by the very communities in which they live learn and moon the tragic loss of life

twice evicts and on al-jazeera. one of the really special things about working for al-jazeera is that even as a camera woman i get to have so much and put in contribution to a story i feel we cover this region better than anyone else would be what it is you know it's very trying to be but it got to be because you have a lot of people that are deployed this political issue we are we the people we live to tell the real story so i'll just mend it used to do the work journalism we don't feel inferior to the audience across the globe. and from many members. on. the war it's possible. people in power i mean it's the women heading an eighteen minute show. and dispensing justice with an unforgiving hand. and eye for an hour.

in iraq on al-jazeera. a boost for egyptian president abdel fatah sisi as a parliamentary committee approves a proposal to extend the presidential term to sixty is. a low i maryam namazie in london you know with al jazeera also coming up on the program that is why the self-proclaimed interim president pleads with the military to let humanitarian aid in as the calls for president a classmate.