as a points. here twitter and you could be on the street join the conversation on mt is iraq new yorkers are very receptive. because it is such an international city they are very interested in that global perspective. victory is not winning for our party. victory is winning for our country. america for coming from gives you second stage of the union address the core unity . will come on peter you're watching live from our headquarters here and also coming up round two from confirms a second summit with north korea's kim jong il in vietnam later this month.

doctors in venezuela plead with the government allow the delivery of medicine and humanitarian aid. and australia steps up the pressure to release football hockey team by the tylenol warns the refugee from bahrain could still face months in prison. u.s. president donald trump has delivered a call for unity in a divided u.s. congress but some democrats denounced his state of the union address as one of division fear and full suits the president was due to make a major speech last month but was delayed by the longest u.s. government shutdown in history as congress continues to refuse to fund a border war with mexico mr trump insisted he will get it built. from washington.

madam stated. that the president of the united states. much has changed in the stranger since president trump last spoke here sitting next to the vice president a new speaker nancy pelosi has been locked in a power struggle with the president since the democratic party took over the house and acknowledging this the president called for political. together we can break decades of political stalemate we can bridge all divisions heal old wounds build new coalitions but on the issue that led to the partial shutdown no sign of any compromise the president adamant that his demand for a barrier remains unchanged congress has ten days left to pass a bill that will fund our government protect our homeland and secure our very dangerous southern border if you can understand your pain calling on

victims of crime by what he called an illegal alien to back his argument. simply put walls work and walls save lives so let's work together compromise and reach a deal that will truly make america safe. a standing ovation from the republican side while democrats wearing white in honor of women's rights stayed in this seats it is time to give our brave warriors in syria a warm welcome home on foreign policy a defense of his unilateral decisions to pull troops out of syria the claim that he's averted a major war with north korea announcing another summit with the north korean leader will take place in vietnam at the end of this month. and despite calling for unity from picking on an issue that is highly divisive to defend the dignity of every

person i am asking congress to pass legislation to prohibit the late term abortion. was a thank you ily an example of issues that democrats contend are seized upon by the president with the intent of division the supporting brought up in the opposition response given by the democratic party's rising star stacey abrahams the shutdown was a stunt engineered by the president of the united states one that defied every tenet of fairness and abandon not just our people but our values the one moment of real unity came when president trump left his prepared script we also have more women serving in congress then at any time to do with republicans and democrats alike burst into applause but the vast majority of women

are on the democratic side in terms of gender and race it's the most diverse democratic party caucus in congress tional history and despite a writ of bipartisan moment it would appear this side of the house were a main intent on fighting the president every step of the way my kind of i'll just hear a washington. well south korea and japan both welcoming the news of dung from second summit with the north korean leader kim jong un but they want the meeting at the end of this month in vietnam to be in their words more meaningful specific and practical rob mcbride has more now from the south korean capital. after their first historic meeting in singapore last june all now looks set for round two in vietnam . it's a neutral choice acceptable to both sides it's also symbolically important as a former enemy of the us that now enjoys normalized relations and economic

prosperity a possible path for north korea to follow since singapore negotiations have stalled but both leaders seem determined to meet again march work remains to be done but my relationship with kim jong un is a good one chairman kim and i will meet again on february twenty seventh and twenty eighth in vietnam. negotiators from both sides have been meeting knowing the next summit will have to produce something of substance following criticism that singapore was little more than a photo opportunity it probably won't be anything big maybe the decommissioning of some nuclear facilities under international monitoring in return for the security guarantees that north korea craves and just possibly some relief from sanctions

after the stalemate of the past half year anything that moves the process forward will counter success even partial being equal or freezing its apparent then or to having nothing just waiting for ever for north korea to agree on completely which is almost impossible for a totalitarian regime whether this process is moving towards full denuclearization the more immediate need for trump and kim seems to be maintaining the narrative that it is bright al-jazeera soul. the taliban have reportedly said the u.s. to pull out half its troops from afghanistan by april that's according to russian media this apparently happened during talks between taliban representatives and u.s. officials in qatar last month members of the taliban and the afghan opposition and reaching for talks in russia at the moment to any berkley in the eastern afghan

city of jalalabad tony this is a big claim if it proves to be true what else do we know. well the taliban are saying that this was put on the table in doha arguing the toss of the americans it's strange that this is the first time it has been mentioned as first time we've heard this date of april but this is not totally new because this came in a leaked document from the pentagon in december that's before the talks happened when the americans were talking about withdrawing seven thousand of its personnel which represents half of its force now that sounds quite significant and it could be a a brokering tactic by the taliban it could be a carrot that's being offered by the americans to get these talks further along but it's causing a little bit of concern here here and there but it doesn't do anything to the overall capability of the americans if the seven thousand personnel left because that capability is coming from the air the americans are fighting from the air the new incoming general general miller has said he's now adopting a current campaign of violence more bombs being dropped and forty more collateral

damage that is so billion casualties but they believe this is the reason why the taliban have come to the table you may get some concern behind the scenes here because these are unilateral talks they've been going on between the u.s. and the taliban there's no one else involved don't know the allies not nato not the afghan government was completely sideline so there is some concern about the speed of these talks what's being agreed and who can actually make it work and as i've been finding out in kabul there's a mixture of fear and hope about the developments of these peace negotiations. a year ago president trump didn't mince his words when he talked about the taliban there's no talking to the taliban we don't want to talk to the taliban we're going to finish what we have to finish what nobody else has been able to finish we're going to be able to do it this is what he said a few days ago after the u.s. did just that and talked with the taliban and for the first time they're talking about settling they're talking about making an agreement and we bring our people

back home if that happens despite spending fifty billion dollars a year and dropping thousands of tons of bombs the u.s. is not winning this war and cannot finish militarily what others fail to do the taliban is gaining ground inflicting yet more casualties and showing no signs of capitulating some of the say even for the u.s. to sit down and talk with the taliban smacks of surrender and the idea of a sustainable achievable peace is mere wishful thinking and that the departure of u.s. forces will neither guarantee a stable power sharing government nor the prevention of so-called terrorist groups from operating on afghan soil the speed of the talks in qatar has led some afghans to believe the president trumps america first policy is ignoring the interests of afghanistan. for some people it's like a friend because now and they're going to have two options whether they have to flee and leave afghanistan or whether they have to make

a type of deal taliban would like to hop in it's not a very successful case in that really people in afghanistan. the afghan president ashraf ghani is understandably worried the taliban refused to negotiate with his government and he is all too well aware of what the taliban did to the former president. when they seized power in one nine hundred ninety six they hanged him from a lamp post it's going to be the afghan people who are going to be implementing the peace agreement so in my opinion sidelining the afghan people and government is no solution for this on the streets of kabul there's a mixture of hope and fear. i am very optimistic because all these parties the us taliban and afghan government have enough experience here even with their personal interests in the end they will agree on a peace deal. they've killed a lot of innocent people and have taken part in talks before but with no result they will not accept a peace deal we don't trust them at all many women fear that if the taliban hasn't

changed it will seek to impose the old doctrines that subjugated women and close girls' schools both the u.s. and the afghans stress that no peace deal has yet been signed the war is not over but for the u.s. at least the end may be in sight tony berkely al jazeera kabul. venezuela's opposition is accusing the military of blocking a bridge on the border with colombia the self declared president. has appealed to venezuela's armed forces to allow deliveries of much required food medicine and other essentials risible has more now from the capital city caracas. employee said this maternity hospital in the capital caracas say they are in desperate need of aid they say their hospital urgently needs basic medicines and medical equipment they say the venezuelan government shouldn't get in the way of international aid entering the country. only. this hospital had the best doctors the best nurses the

best of everything and now we're seeing a complete deterioration with shortages of medicine food for patients and cleaning products. the self declared interim president why though says the president. is illegitimate he's pushing for legislation in the opposition controlled national assembly to be passed to remove the roadblocks on humanitarian aid members of the national assembly say that they would like to create a humanitarian corridor composed of n.g.o.s religious groups and doctors that will allow the aid to reach those who need it the most but it won't be easy because the government says that the humanitarian aid is a political show by the opposition that will allow the united states to intervene in the country where. he's in charge of coordinating the push for aid in the national assembly he says is wrong. though it is not only the united states that is a revolved it is the labor group that meeting canada nobody can cite justin trudeau

is the extreme right or pedro cinches and spain i want to see the message to the world venus why this constitutional order is broken we won legislative elections and i took our wife from us we asked for a referendum and they did not want it they did not want to get out of power what we are offering is not a liberation army just the ability to choose their future and a new election in the same building but in another room met the rival constituent assembly a legislative body created by the government two years ago to redraft the constitution now it is proposing to call for legislative elections to replace the opposition controlled by argument whose mandate expires next year your name is that you are going to go to the opposition wants elections so we could call for a legislative elections because parliament is controlled by the extreme right at that stage in a coup by the only power that has not been revalidated recently. and that sentiment

was shared by supporters of nicola who surrounded the national assembly building during the session. if one way the wants a chair then he can buy it at the store because he it no one would allow him to sit on the presidential seat at political crises nobody really knows how or when it is going to end. and a cast. plenty more grand still to cover for you here on this half hour of world news from al-jazeera including more rain in the forecast that flooded homeowners in australia are hopeful the worst is over. also ahead we'll tell you why the philippines bemis the majority we're just getting a chance to expand. hello again it's good to have you back well here cross north asia we are seeing some

clouds pushing through japan right now you can see this area of associate with the storm system that's making its way towards the pacific so for the resident today and into tomorrow it is going to be cloudy by the time we get towards thursday things are going to be improving temperature really not too bad we're talking tokyo at about sixteen degrees we are seeing some cooler air up here towards the north this is the funnel boundary the next one that's going to coming through you can see where that snow line is right there making its way all the way towards the korean peninsula so for seoul six degrees from pyongyang minus forty degrees there on thursday as we go towards friday most of the area is going to be seeing a lot of that precept move away but the clouds are still going to be in the forecast as a bigger way down here across parts of china the heat had been a big problem across parts of the southeast temperatures or rising into the high twenty's in some locations for joe it is still going to be a warm day for you at twenty eight degrees here on thursday taipei also rain and a bit warmer a few at twenty eight as well but as we go towards friday we are going to see

a big change there rain starts to come in from the north for julia temperatures drop drastically to about fifteen degrees there taipei no rain few at twenty one degrees before hong kong it is going to be a mostly cloudy day few with a temperature of twenty four. the world's largest oil company fails to become public tap and. other kingdom in the company inseparable where the world's largest oil producer and don't list in the world's largest stock exchange that definitely felt something al-jazeera investigates the politics of oil the middle east's most potent economic weapon. saudi arab coke the company and the states on al-jazeera.

welcome back you're watching al-jazeera my name's piece of these are your headlines so far the u.s. president donald trump has called for political unity in his state of the union address to congress in what was a wide ranging speech he told republicans and democrats they must join forces to confront what he called a security crisis on the mexican border. post from paul also confirms he will hold a second summit with the north korean leader kim jong un at the end of this month but today meeting in vietnam will begin on february the twenty seventh the president has been seeking another summit to firm up north korea's commitment to deep into isolation one of the story venezuela's opposition accusing the military the blocking a bridge on the border with colombia shipment of aid was meant to be delivered after self declared president. called for help as the country faces severe food and

medicine shortages. let's go back to our top story the state of the union address in washington donald trump also spoke about trade with china the world's two biggest economies are at odds over trade imposing tariffs on billions of dollars worth of each other's products. to build on our incredible economic success one priority is paramount reversing decades of calamitous trade policies so bad we are now make it it clear to china. that after years of targeting our industries and stealing our intellectual property that theft of american jobs and wealth. has come to an end. let's get more on adrian brown from beijing so once more president donald trump has taken aim at china but these are comments accusations that china's leaders have heard before

particularly donald trump's claim that china is stealing u.s. jobs and that u.s. tough negotiating is making it harder for china to continue to do that president donald trump also spoke about his renewed call for china to make structural reforms to its industrial policy there president front is referring to the system whereby the chinese state continues to give huge subsidies to state owned companies that are involved in technologies of the future things like artificial intelligence robotics and five g. the united states is saying that those heavy subsidies make it very hard for u.s. companies to compete that there's no level playing field this is all happening as the united states has confirmed that robert light hisor the chief u.s. trade representative and steve minucci and the u.s. trade secretary are returning to beijing next week to resume trade negotiations

because according to an administration official china has agreed to start talking about things that intil now have been off the agenda that could mean that china is now prepared to discuss possible reforms to its industrial policy iraq's prime minister said back at one of the u.s. president's comments about using a military base to keep an eye on neighboring iran adel dogmatics says there's no such american base. none of that if. we disagree with what the american said there are no american military bases in iraq we have said that several times their military trainers within the framework of an international coalition whose main task is to train the iraqi forces and fight against. all spittles in rebel held areas of northern syria are struggling because of a lack of funds international help because donors are wary of control both fighters linked well osama bin has more now from the turkey syria border. oh

the. emergency responders follow similar protocols everywhere. do you. hear a little girl with a head injury needs to be transported to a hospital she needs an m.r.i. scan the setting only begins to look out of the ordinary when you notice the makeshift blast proof examination room medics say they never know when an airstrike or artillery shell could target them this hospital isn't it the city the new home to millions of syrians displaced by the war it's run by the it live health directorate a rare example of an operational institution in a rebel held area its director says they were ridiculed for even attempting to oversee the help needs of a whole province. what makes the directorate special is that it's observing two hundred medical centers and thirty three facilities directly if it wasn't for us essential projects will collapse like vaccination centers for four hundred seventy

two thousand children but the war in its eighth year money from international donors is running out. without funding we cannot continue we need diesel expenses covered all of the employees have homes and children and they cannot volunteer for more than two or three months. many international organizations are rare you have hair or e.t.s. the largest group which controls most of the city it's linked to either and used to be known as a loss for front to help directorate says it's been able to fight off h.t.s. as interference. and we said if you would feel one more time we will close it. within a span of two hours ago if you find find a backing off because if we suspend the people who have done against them we want to give medicine box nation we want to treat patients. and we want to do with politics. the directorate also runs a pharmaceutical control department to detect drugs and says ten million doses of

medicines have been checked in the last two years to follow european and american drugs standards doctors say the checks are essential and not just for syrians under member disease crosses borders cesar's do not understand checkpoints for your case isn't. this a threat for everyone in the world we are the frontline fighting all these diseases diseases and we are ready to continue doing that and we believe that our donors will not just abandon us because of lack of funding people in that they are being asked to pay for health services many of them are refugees in their own country and can't even afford to pay for two meals a day people in need there are hoping for a political settlement so aid agencies can resume humanitarian aid for them some of the job aid others here a dozen to. homeowners in the flooded city of tonnes will in australia open the worst is over weather forecasters say more monsoon rain could be on its way to

queensland but nothing like the record breaking deluge a few days ago queenslanders returning to their ruined homes have been speaking to our reporter andrew thomas. this is what you see in front of houses all over townsville now the floodwaters have largely gone down but anything that people weren't able to get out of their house in time things like fridge phrases well they're ruins they're there waiting to be picked up as rubbish well this house belongs to kevin martin. you've been clearing up your place all day kevin help it so i can see everything on the ground was ruined how high was the water and here probably are from right around now for now you know i came up pretty quick and it didn't come up without things in it that there was. spiders you know i really came with it you saw i did in fact i was eight o'clock and i was factor at a small loss and a different relation when it disappeared so as you're clearing out fewer. watching which companies you are feeling left out and. i don't know whether it's always

a man or a python and i know you were able to get sentimental items and electronics you know it was very nice rifle it's just finely anything to it was only grain yeah probably trade and a whole idea is just going to get you from. everything swelling up gaming and i think the clearing bedrooms that you have to carry mattresses you ripping up the carpets i guess you need to dry out everything before you can even start thinking about replacing but you aren't sure yes or yeah good luck good luck with the cleanup this is a situation being repeated all over townsville on the wednesday the worst of the rain. has moved south but still waits and there's a lot of cleaning up today. a new autonomous region in the southern philippines could be expanded further and indigenous tribes on whether to join it however they want to make sure the rulers of the muslim majority territory return their ancestral lands to them. as the story. get the money bush can. call them

and invoking the spirits of their ancestors the tedder i say they are grateful the hope peace has come to their land to us more than a hundred thousand of them voted to accept and autonomy discover meant designed to provide greater powers for muslims in mindanao. christian and indigenous communities like the to dry are also included in the new self rule region after decades of fighting leaders of the separatist rebel group the more islamic liberation front negotiated for almost twenty years with several administrations in the capital manila yet. more than a hundred thousand filipinos have been killed and millions more displaced since the rebellion for mushroom rule began in the one nine hundred sixty s. it's very important that the it relates to be sistering that when the law our people especially those who are most affected by what is going to be the chains of

us from our people we feel that yes this is the right paul said this is the right. of what we have fought for and that this is the ground from which to begin a new future some of the to the rise and says she lands are occupied by the more islamic liberation front and the philippine military they say they are prepared to fight for their rights despite being one of the most in battle tribes in the country. we have a saying just like a crab it is being pursued inside its hold we may feel powerless sometimes but the crab has claws you see and even with small claws we can fight back. like so many indigenous tribes in mindanao that said to rice have been fighting for their ancestral land for decades this is why they say they are always been supportive of this peace process and. their expectations are high that under this new political

autonomy they will finally be properly represented some referred to the to darius as a minority of minorities. they are counting on the government's promise that under this new autonomy the land of their ancestors will be returned to their. dog and al-jazeera mugging down the province southern philippines. football team is being warned he faces six months longer in a prison in bangkok while he fights extradition to bahrain the trainees requested his arrest whilst on honeymoon in thailand the twenty five year old says he'll be tortured to be sent back to serve a ten year prison sentence for vandalism he says he fled bahrain to become a refugee in australia because of political repression what i've also stressed is that it's drawn in people in the thai people have a wonderful people the people relationship and i've stressed just how strongly as

dragons' feel about this and i would i would be very disappointed. if it as a result of how this matter is handled that that relationship between the time mr people were affected i'd be very disappointed about that some other pilled of the prime minister to take that into account i do have the authority to use those executive controls for him to come out and so we're going to continue to work patiently and respectfully to secure that after. he said i'll be here in doha with your top stories from al-jazeera the u.s. president all trump has called for political unity in his state of the union address to congress and what was a wide ranging speech he told republicans and democrats they must join forces to confront what he called a security crisis on the border with mexico. also confirmed he will hold a second summit with the north korean leader kim jong un at the end of this month

the two day meeting in vietnam will begin on february twenty seventh the president has been seeking another summit to firm up north korea's commitment to denuclearize asian. also spoke about trade with china the world's two biggest economies are at loggerheads over trade imposing tariffs on billions of dollars worth of each other's products. billionaire incredible economic success one priority is paramount reversing decades of calamitous trade policies so bad we are now make it it clear to china. that after years of targeting our industries and stealing our intellectual property the theft of american jobs and wealth. has come to an end. the taliban have reportedly said the u.s. has to pull out half its troops from afghanistan by april that's according to

russian media as apparently happened during talks between taliban representatives and u.s. officials in qatar last month venezuela's opposition is accusing the military of blocking a bridge on the border with colombia a shipment of aid is meant to be delivered after the self declared president one goh i to call for help as the country faces severe food and medicine shortages. is being warned he faces six months longer in a prison in bangkok while he fights extradition to bahrain. requested his arrest whilst on honeymoon in thailand the twenty five year old who tortured to be sent back to serve a ten year prison sentence for vandalism. says he fled bahrain to become a refugee in australia because of political repression ok you are right up to speed with all the top stories up next it's inside story our season.

the wells. melting scientists warn at least a third of them will be gone by the end of the century even if climate change is stopped now how badly with bad disappear as billions of asians depend on them to survive this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program. the highest mountains in the weld of us.