al-jazeera selects. venezuela's o. position leader meets the national assembly he wants to bypass the president and bring in humanitarian aid. oh i'm maryam namazie in london you're with al jazeera also coming up on the program c c to stay on and it gyptian parliamentary committee approves a proposal to extend the presidential term to six years. prime minister may tries to reassure old business leaders in belfast that there will be no hard forder

across the island off to breaks it and a once in a century rainfall causes catastrophic flooding across the australian state of queensland. we begin this hour in venezuela where the self declared intermedia. meeting national assembly members in the capital caracas is been calling for the safe passage of humanitarian aid into the country u.s. trucks carrying food and medical supplies have left bogota bound for the colombia venezuela but it's unclear how the aid will arrive without the cooperation of the military which has remained loyal to embattled president nicolas maduro. joins us live now from caracas and tell us stories of what is hoping to achieve in his meeting today. as you said we're here at the

national assembly where members of the opposition is meeting and they're discussing how to proceed on the few monita. renay that's supposed to be arriving here to win a spoiler from countries like the united states and other parts of the world and how it is going to be brought here also the assembly is discussing how and when to call for national and general elections in the country what we know right now is that so far right at the border between venezuela and colombia humanitarian aid has started to arrive and congressmen have told us that if they have started to gather different types of bed the sins of food among other items and they're going to be waiting there and till they put an operation in place where they can bring that type of humanitarian aid into the country it's not clear yet what and how and what's going to happen because that has already said that he won't allow that aid to come into the country and that's why in a way why there has been appealing to the soldiers and troops in general saying that that aid is not wholly for the population in general but also for them and for

their families because that they opposition has been saying that appealing to the military in general is that the hold all of venezuela sort of suffering for the enormous economic crisis that exists in this country hyperinflation shortages of food and medicines among other things so political tensions around the possibility of aid being let into the country to raise what about the possibility of dialogue between the opposition and the. well that's what we're hearing from countries like mexico or like hugh white russia among others and that's what's in the last mother who has been asking for a while also we know that meeting is going to be happening in the u. y. and capital of montevideo it's being sponsored by your ally in mexico in order to promote some type of dialogue between the opposition and the government but it's unlikely that something like this will happen what the opposition is basically saying is that back in two thousand and seventeen there were already emplaced right

after the massive demonstrations that violent demonstrations that happened. here in venezuela and the government use them to tell their advantage to gain time so what they're saying that they're right now they're not ready to sit down and discuss anything unless the government decides to call for general elections and today he said that general elections are not an option right now and you know way he also threatens right now he said that the reelections that could happen in this country right now would be legislative election which basically would be to replace the current national assembly that's controlled by the opposition so that it will certainly in a way spark more tension in this already divided country well thank you very much to raise above bring us all the latest developments there in caracas where opposition to. the national assembly will of course the political turmoil in venezuela has divided the international community turkey's president has been

speaking out on his criticize the united states in the european union for endorsing . situation. what's happening in venezuela right now is venezuela your state. how can you say leave it and go to somebody who is doing that job was the result of the election how could you deliver the presidency over a nation to someone who hasn't even been through an election whereas the democracy the. egypt's parliament is advancing plans to let abdul fatah sisi stay on as president well beyond the end of his term the move is raising fears that the country is slipping back into authoritarianism eight years after the overthrow of hosni mubarak an initial proposal to extend cc's presidency by another six years after twenty twenty two has been approved by a committee of m.p.'s the proposal will need to pass

a final vote in parliament as well as a national referendum before the constitution can change sisi led the military overthrow of the muslim brotherhood government in two thousand and thirteen he since presided over an unprecedented crackdown on dissent and was re-elected last year after all potential challenges were jailed pressured to leave the race ultimately called us as a nonresident fellow at the to her institute for middle east policy he says that international criticism surrounding the move will be largely subdued. you know it's one that we've expected points of time but it's it's one formal step that we presidents you see in power until twenty thirty four opposition groups largely already were dealing with the government with the expectation that this was coming it was really more a question of when rather than if. certainly it's. there are opposition groups are going to be on the a lot of pressure regarding whether or not they they publicly campaigned against the move to amend the constitution although

already said that a number of them have been voicing their opposition to doing so quite frankly this is more about the longevity of c.c.s. rule that no specific leaks are meeting the opposition reality is unfortunately that there's already a number of measures in place to repress opposition in egypt and a number of leading opposition figure it's have either been imprisoned forced into exile had their assets frozen or been banned from travel there's already extraordinary pressure on anybody critical of the government publicly. this amendment process isn't really primarily focused on that i don't think although as a byproduct of the broadest process it is likely that more question will come in an effort to suppress any campaign to oppose extending cc's time in office i think that it's likely that there will be some spoken criticism that when president i knew about problems and that i was in out of cairo this recently he did raise concerns about the human rights situation and argue. that repression actually

damages rather than answer stability one of the key government points is that it justifies its repression as for preserving stability. that said it did not appear to affect any of the material elements of the relationship whether it be the sale of arms or large trade deals and i don't anticipate frankly that many governments if any are going to take a material stand against expanding his power and pursuing as much as two decades in office. doctors teachers and lawyers have joined anti-government protests in sudan off to two men were killed in custody the sudanese professional association called the demonstrations off to teach ahmed out there who was arrested in eastern state of it was pronounced dead on sunday is relatives say his body showed signs of torture the unrest in sudan began in december with protesters demanding president tomorrow bashir step down and end his thirty year rule. meanwhile bashir has been hosting

a ceremony marking the end of peace talks between rival factions from the central african republic the deal between the government and fourteen on groups is reached on sunday and hard to loft a two weeks of un led negotiations formal agreement will be signed in bogey on wednesday represents red hope for one of the world's poorest nations thousands of been killed a million displaced since fighting began in two thousand and thirteen mama vall has more now from khartoum. the government of the central african republic and fourteen 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 when is the 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 her to her face to face negotiations between the rebel leaders and the government of the central african republic it is labeled an agreement of peace and reconciliation and it is going to open the door for a unity government in the country and or so for an ominous t. to that have been leaders that are manisty to that of the leaders has been a sticking point in the negotiations soul or 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 well u.k.'s prime minister says she has an unshakable commitment to prevent a hard border between northern ireland and the republic of ireland to resume is visiting northern ireland where she's been trying to reassure residents there about how bracks it plan but she says the controversial backstop mechanism which was meant to achieve a seamless order won't be accepted by the u.k. parliament i can only deliver on the commitments we have made if i can get

a deal through the u.k. parliament and meetings with m.p.'s across the house show that i can only get a deal through parliament if legal changes are made to the backstop and that is why the u.k. government to deliberate m.p.'s from across the house of commons supported the amendment from sue graham brady last week it reaffirms our desire to leave with a deal and our commitment to no hard border between northern ireland and our land. and as the graham himself set out it would mean replacing the backstop with another arrangement which avoids a hard border or making legally binding changes to the back stall to introduce the timing of it or create an exit mechanism paul brennan has more now from belfast anyone expecting substantially of details of what teresa mayes going to take to brussels later this week have been disappointed from the speech that she gave here in belfast on choose day it was big on reassurance but little specific was put

forward in relation to the northern ireland backstop this crucial sticking point which has proved such a thorn in the agreement between the u.k. and the european union this is made expressed her determination her unshakable in her words determination to uphold the good friday agreement but the reality is that the european union remains oblivious to what the u.k. actually wants so being way on the deputy chief negotiator for the european union has said that the negotiators during the past two years looked at every single border on earth every border of the european union and found no better solution than the one that has been put forward in the backstop but the d u p this party from northern ireland upon which north three so made to put a majority in parliament depends is absolutely adamant that the backstop is toxic in their words and so the prime minister if she's to get her deal or a deal through parliament needs to find some sort of solution she's got two days

here in northern ireland to speak to business leaders to speak to community leaders to speak to political leaders before the she then takes her quest for a solution to brussels and the european commission president junko chunka. still ahead for you on the program the temperatures plunging into iraq there are calls to protect the children living in displacement camps also. yes and. rainy here in the bank chinese communities around the world celebrate the last important holiday of that calendar. 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 seen an 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 for you baghdad clouds will start to roll in as well here on thursday evening in kuwait city a high temps a few of twenty degrees well here across much of the gulf not that he 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 your head as we're up here

towards madagascar it is going to be rain if you temperatures across the area are going to be in the high twenty's the next day. take a possible material you radio grounded into dust to flower and make a loud and put it into place where people live there is a cause. for many people are thinking this is the silent heat the are those who make you feel nice you feel like a movie we have created an enormous and little mental disaster. and investigation south africa toxic city on al-jazeera.

welcome back just look at the top stories now venezuela's self declared intermedia one why go as called for the safe passage of humanitarian aid during a meeting with national assembly members in the capital caracas u.s. trucks carrying food and medical supplies have left bogota bound for the colombia venezuela or death egypt's parliament is advancing plans to let abdul fatah sisi stay on as president at well beyond the end of his term the move is raising fears of increasing authoritarianism eight years after the overthrow of hosni mubarak. and a ceremony has been held in sudan to mark a peace deal between the government of the central african republic and fourteen groups. military says it has killed one hundred forty six fighters in three operations near the border with mali the army's operation was in response to

monday's attack on kind when armed men stormed the village killing fourteen people and is following the story from senegal's capital. general movies when you go on national television late on monday night that this operation took place across hundreds of kilometers of border area the brick so shares with mali not only were there troops on the ground but it also involved planes and helicopters and the support of the french special forces that have a base in one. it was in the region of cane in the province in. region and in in the khasi province this all happened on monday and this is a region where there is no physical front chair it's a region used by nomadic herders that come across mali into breaking a fast so in search of food and water no one has been able to independently verify

the circumstances of the death that occurred during this operation but it's certainly a small victory for the bikini army that have come under attack they say it's in response to an attack on villagers late on sunday night where armed men went house to house killing villagers and it comes just days before the start of the u.s. training operation flintlock that will take place. now what's clear is that this conflict that started in a region of mali is spilling outside of its border across the region into neighboring countries and brick has suffered the most loss but this comes as a victory for the forces. who are facing what it seems an unending conflict. a taliban attack in northern afghanistan has killed at least twenty six members of the security forces the pre-dawn raid targeted an army base in kunduz

province hours later in a separate attack two journalists were killed when a gunman entered a radio station in the northern province of the car no group has claimed responsibility these latest incidents come as representatives from the taliban holding talks in moscow with the former president hamad karzai an opposition leader as the head of the taliban's delegation says recent peace talks with the u.s. was successful. the united nations children's agency says iraq's future could be at risk if more isn't done to protect its children unicef says freezing winter weather can be fatal for some of the hundred fifty thousand children in displacement camps it's also calling for more money to be spent on education while matheson reports now from baghdad. some of these children may not live through the plunging temperatures of iraq's winter. the un's children's agency is warning that those already weakened by hypothermia and disease after severe flooding in november

might not survive the horse called down here. we need a lot to be done health is the lifeline of our society but we're not seeing much happening people organize rallies but our calls are falling on deaf ears unicef says iraq spends just under six percent of its annual budget on education even though many young children are determined to go to school. open across the city of mosul our school is one of several which have more than six hundred students we can barely cope unicef says the hard figure hoovers for it comes to health care of the children it says that less than one percent of children die in childbirth and that's because eighty five percent of births now in hospitals it also says that ninety two friends of the rocky children like these children at this kindergarten in baghdad are likely to go into primary school but he says that number drops

significantly when they get to secondary school very particularly in areas which would be badly affected by called. according to unicef in areas such as the northern province of nineveh province to the south only one child in every four goes to secondary school instead many have to work to help support their families there must've challenges i mean the if the situation continues as it is today. in iraq the children of the future will have very little future how are you going to play today so they have a future with them or how you going to invest in them so they can aspire for a future a future that they are part of the government has set up a three hundred million dollars fund to help the poorest people in areas hardest hit by conflict but unicef insists more needs to be done to stop children like these becoming iraq's last generation wrote matheson al-jazeera baghdad.

well the turkish president has been holding talks with the greek prime minister in ankara it's alexis tsipras his second visit to turkey in four years the talks are aimed at improving relations between the two countries with the lead is expected to discuss the long running division of cyprus as well as the refugee crisis and turkey's refusal to acknowledge the name change of north macedonia. tromps to deliver his second and delayed states of the union address the us president was forced to postpone the event last month because of the longest government shutdown in american history a bit of political battle over his five billion dollar demand for a order war with mexico has pushed his approval ratings to a new low our white house correspondent kelly holcomb our reports. 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 for 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 of 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 trump's goal is to bring the country together but after two years in office the country remains divided angry and opposed to many of trump's policies most polls show the president goes into his state of the union speech with just a forty percent approval rating can really help at al-jazeera washington. the bodies of two people have been pulled from a storm drain during catastrophic flooding in the australian state of queensland days of survey of rainfall described by four costs as as a once in a century event as forced thousands of people to flee their homes andrew thomas reports now from the city of townsville. from a safe distance song see the gates of the ross river down been fully open since sunday the river downstream can only take some of the overflow away much of the

rest he's surrounding and submerging people's homes tens of thousands of them emergency services on the military of rescued hundreds here but not too could be saved the bodies of two men were found inside a store bought to dry by was suspected of looting a shop nearby the prime minister visited townsville on tuesday to offer comfort and selection as the waters recede were so you'd hear. and we start to move from the response phase to the recovery five's there will be big shops for the community as we saw in this morning as they return to their homes not the whole city is flooded in places the waits life is normal and those whose home so the state of the water coming to see its power in march. is the biggest. kind of freaky actually. with the dam dates of the reservoir upstream fully open to

revenge any risk of the dam bursting boil saying is well over a million liters of water a second pouring down right here the river banks are high enough to cope with that but that's not the case further downstream in the suburbs of the heart of townsville. well over a year's worth of rain fell in townsville in less than a week and the forecast is for more downpours although not with the intensity of the last forty eight hours so the worst should be over andrew thomas al-jazeera towns millions of people around the world have been ringing in the new new year many hoping for fortune and prosperity in the year of the peg and as a last a stay a trade dispute between china and the us and its consequences for ordinary people adrian brown has more from beijing. well this is a park or earth park in the heart of beijing and

a very popular place to come on the first day of chinese new year now traditionally the year of the pig is a year in which you make friends and make money so that possibly bodes well for the current talks between china and the united states to try to diffuse their trade differences the outgoing year the year of the dog was not such a good one for chinese people the economy here continued to slow and many people lost their jobs so what do ordinary people want in the year ahead. i wish all my family members were have good health and a much better life in the new year. i have one big mission to accomplish in my life for the new year i'm getting married i hope all my family will happily stay together for china's president meanwhile she jinping has been touring a neighborhood here in beijing extending new year's greetings and also trying a bit of dumpling making eating dumplings at this time of year is of course very

popular indeed even amongst chinese leaders. and on monday night some eight hundred million people tuned in to watch the annual chinese new year television goller this is the most watched television program in the world even more people watch this than the super bowl which of course was shown in the united states less than twelve hours earlier many of the people you see here in the town park are domestic tourists they've come from other parts of china to feast and to celebrate and it's a celebration that for many people will last until the weekend. well now scientists researching leopard seals in new zealand of made an unusual discovery they found a working u.s.b. stick in a stool sample from a seal they were analyzing a sample had been stored in a freezer for over a year only u.s.p. was this video of an unidentified person kayaking and

a sea lion playing in the water researchers say they are concerned about how the animal swallowed the u.s.p. and they are trying to find the sticks. or there is more in everything we're covering right here al jazeera dot com for the latest on our top stories but also plenty of features stories and analysis. just a quick recap of the top stories this hour now venezuela's self declared interim leader has been meeting national assembly members in the capital caracas is calling for the safe passage of humanitarian aid into the country u.s. trucks carrying food and medical supplies have left all the time are bound for the colombia venezuela border but it's not clear how the aid will arrive without the cooperation of the military which has remained loyal to the embattled president

nicolas maduro tori's a bow has more from caracas. it's not clear yet what and how and what's going to happen because of me has already said that he won't allow that aid to come into the country and that's why in a way why there has been appealing to the soldiers and troops in general saying that that aid is not wholly for the population in general but also for them and for their families because as they opposition has been saying that appealing to the military in general is that the hold all of venice will have of suffering for been enormous economic crisis that exists in this country hyperinflation shortages of food and medicine among other things. egypt's parliament is advancing plans to. stay on as president well beyond the end of his term the move is raising fears that the country is slipping back into authoritarianism a is after the overthrow of hosni mubarak an initial proposal to extend presidency by another six years after twenty twenty two has been approved by a committee of m.p.'s the proposal needs

a final vote in parliament as well as a national referendum before it becomes a constitutional amendment doctors teachers and lawyers have joined anti-government protesters in the sudan off to two men were killed in custody the sudanese professional association called the demonstrations off to teach ahmed al fair who was arrested in the eastern state of was pronounced dead on sunday as relatives say his body showed signs of torture and the will to sudanese president omar bashir is hosting a ceremony marking the end of peace talks between rival factions from the central african republic and deal between the government and fourteen armed groups as reached on sunday in hard to off to two weeks of un that negotiations formal agreement will be signed on wednesday up to date with all of our top stories this hour now it's time for inside story.

the wells. melting scientists warn at least a third of them will begun by the end of the century even if climate change is stopped now how badly will bad disappear as billions of asians depend on them to so blind this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program. the highest mountains in the world of a source of life for more than

a billion people spread across asia the himalayas and the hindu kush beaks contain vast amounts of ice loss in glaciers but scientists are warning that precious.