from sunrise to sunset across asia. the pacific explore untold and fascinating stories one on one east. this is zero. hello i'm a star and this is the news hour live from doha coming up in the next sixty minutes . we will have. one hundred percent of the caliphate u.s. president donald trump says the total defeat of i still is in the numbers. the united nations has desperately needed aid is being used as a political pawn in venezuela. special place.

in the cold those who promoted that seat. from the european council president as the british prime minister prepares to visit brussels. or why the reopening of a religious school could help end this a dispute between greece and turkey. and in sports the refugee football of fighting extradition to bahrain is told he faces at least six more months in jail. while donald trump is predicting victory over eisel as early as next week the u.s. president says he expects a formal announcement to be made soon declaring all territory belonging to the recapture he was speaking at a summit of the global coalition set up to fight in iraq and syria says there's

only a tiny percentage of ground left to take back the united states military or coalition partners and the syrian democratic forces. have liberated virtually all of the territory previously held by isis in syria and iraq it should be formally announced some time probably next week that we will have one hundred percent of the caliphate and u.s. secretary of state mike pompei or says the planned withdrawal of u.s. forces from syria won't be the end of america's fight that the drawdown of troops is essentially a tactical change it is not a change in the mission it does not change the structure design or authorities on which the campaign has been based it simply represents a new stage in an old fight the drawdown will be well coordinated and our policy

approaches syria have remain unchanged and joining us now live from washington d.c. is our correspondent mike hanna mike what kind of reaction if we've been seeing to trump's comments today. well we heard from the iraqi foreign minister during that meeting that far from the struggle against eisel being over iraq needed international help to continue to fight against eisel the foreign minister pointing out that there was still sleeper cells spread across iraq and indeed syria the general feeling among the delegates at the global delegation meeting today was deep concern about the death of commitment of the united states to that war against eisel hence the attempts by the secretary of state to reassure them but they've also taken note for example of the findings of the u.s. says intelligence chiefs they made very clear to the senate intelligence committee last month that they believe that i saw remained a major threat and would for

a period of time and that it was able still to attack the united states or its allies should that wish to this very much at odds with the opinion of president trump this no doubt noticed by those at the global forum in the course of the day and mike where are we now with the u.s. troop withdrawal from syria president trying to initially wanted it done in fact he day is then well well beyond that. well years since that initial unilateral statement was yes let's give it thirty days since then he's tempted to down to a reasonable period of time this is something that's also been said by his secretary of state and his military leaders now quite clearly at the time that president trump made that announcement it came as a complete surprise to his military chiefs and in fact is secretary of defense resigned immediately because of that decision the reason for the military concern about this was that it's a very complicated and complex situation but it goes beyond that the political

considerations as well the u.s. forces have been fighting alongside kurdish groups for example within syria to just pull out within thirty days as president trump initially wanted would be to leave allies in the battlefield as it were so there are lots of issues here that president perhaps did not address when he made that sudden decision surprise decision perhaps the military perhaps as secretary of state perhaps as an intelligence community have caused him to draw out the process longer rather than shorter al-jazeera as mike hanna in washington d.c. thank you mike well chris garcia was deputy director at the u.s. department of commerce under president tran and he joins us live now from washington d.c. chris various defense experts have pointed out that victory over territory doesn't necessarily mean victory i feel president trumps comments premature.

well you know the president was very clear today i think secretary pompei was also quite clear in the statements in which he said that this is a tactical change the president has long believed that national security is his number one priority as our commander in chief and so i think the results of having that ninety nine percent of the caliphate taken over by u.s. and coalition forces and taking that territory back from the isis terrorist group has been a very successful milestone to reach i think we're looking at a couple of weeks perhaps the announcement of one hundred percent of that caliphate being returned into hands of coalition forces and i think that one of the things that is important to note also is that the president believes strongly that there needs to be a coalition of the willing in the middle east secretary pompei o has a sort of nato for the middle east proposal where he believes that the long term and lasting peace can only be achieved by those in the region but also this troop withdrawal does not necessarily put the united states in a backseat we still carry

a big stick as we have significant military presence in and around the region which we can of course read source of at a moment's notice so this is not necessarily a complete strategy change it's more of a tactical changes secretary pompei of said chris let me ask you about that should withdraw because many many ex-pats have expressed concerns that this leaves room for a resurgent device that so they may well that the coalition may lose tara che after the u.s. leaves. well that's not necessarily the case again this is something that the president has been very very strong about this discussion he's had with his military advisors and his foreign policy advisers has yielded really the opinion that this is this is something that has had to happen for some time now we've been you know in syria certainly we've been in afghanistan for such a long time we believe that after the united states led coalition has gotten the football down the field you know ninety percent of the way it's now time for

coalition forces to take over and find some type of a diplomatic solution to make sure that we maintain peace there if this does resurgent if there is some type of a resurgence of isis forces they're certainly not going to be able to capture the territory as they did at their peak they certainly do not have a commanding control capability they're going to be very hard pressed to recruit as there is going to be a coalition that leads with alongside the united nations and the government of iraq today to deal with the humanitarian cleanup and just getting these victims of the terrorist action you know back on their feet and up and running again so that isis cannot withdraw or recruit their their new recruits so there's going to be a complete package if you will that the united states will support to stamp out any kind of resurgence of isis but it does not necessarily have to involve boots on the ground from the united states and that is something the president's been adamant

about chris you say it's about handing the fight back to the coalition but what kind of reaction have we seen from those coalition partners say for so far that the u.s. troop withdrawal surely creates space for a power struggle between those coalition allies as well. sure of course we're going to look at several you know types of influence campaigns some of the surrounding countries there we're going to see of course iran and turkey try to reassert influence russia's going to want to maintain the assad regime and ensure that the assad regime stays in power but one of the things that's going to be important regardless of who's trying to make a power play is that we make sure that there are no ungoverned territories in syria that is what that is really where the evil will fester and so i think one of the one of the things we'll have to ensure that we provide coalition forces with his intelligence again it does not have to be directly with boots on the ground where we're supporting the coalition force but the intelligence doesn't go away the united states will still maintain support we can still equip we can still provide

other assistance that the president trump is campaigned on but this is really the i would say coalition forces are so used to be divided states leading and you know at times meddling when we ought not to meddle and that is what's made president trump's approach to foreign policy so unconventional that he believes it's not the united states' responsibility to always be meddling in affairs that we have no business meddling and this is really what i believe the american people have long felt that they needed to see in a in a commander in chief choosing wisely which conflicts to engage in which conflicts to not engage and i think the this is a great example of that foreign policy inaction chris. where the president trying to put the u.s. department of commerce thank you very much. well syria was just one of the topics donald trump discussed in his state of the union address on tuesday the overall message was a call for unity in a divided u.s. congress but some democrats denounce the speech as one filled with fear and

falsehoods as congress continues to refuse to fund a border war with mexico trump insists he will get it built while trump spoke of a dangerous southern border and called illegal immigration an urgent national crisis rob reynolds sent us this report from the us mexico border in california. this is calexico it's a small town of about forty thousand people it's not very much different from the other towns in imperial county which has a stubbornly high unemployment rate of sixteen percent but what sets this town apart is this a four point five meter tall metal wall that runs parallel to the main shopping street right on the other side that is mexico cali a city of one million people now people in calexico civic leaders and merchants will tell you that they're almost entirely dependent upon the visitors from mexico

for their economy people come here to shop to work to go to school and to work in the farms and fields of imperial county so when president trump talks about declaring a state of emergency shutting down the order entirely that really strikes fear into the hearts of many people in this community now what will the president do next it's really unknown he called for compromise in his state of the union speech he seems determined to build the wall but the democratic party seems equally determined to prevent him from doing so by not allocating any money could he declare a state of emergency could he even initiate another government shutdown all of these are good questions but the president has proved himself to be unpredictable in the past and there are at the moment no good answers well iran has accused the u.s. of supporting dictators but says an extremist proves brought ribbon to the middle

east its foreign minister made the comments often don't try to criticized iran during his state of the union speech and again called it the wild needing state sponsor of terror i know my administration has acted decisively to confront the world's leading state sponsor of terror the radical regime in iran. it is a radical regime they do big bad things to ensure this corrupt dictatorship never acquires nuclear weapons i would screw the united states from the disastrous iran's nuclear deal. or we put in place the toughest sanctions ever imposed by us on a country we will not overt our eyes for marusia that

chance death to america and threatens genocide against the jewish people the united nations has warned against using aid as a political poor and invent his way into u.s. officials say trucks carrying supplies have arrived in colombia for delivery to venezuela it's that there were at the request of one who last month declared himself interim president venezuela's opposition is accusing the minute train which backs president nicolas maduro of blocking a bridge on the border with colombia has appealed to venezuela's armed forces to allow deliveries of much needed food medicine and other essentials the u.s. says it's considering lifting sanctions on venezuelan military officers who back our correspondent allison jerome p.s.e. reports now from kuta on the colombia venezuela border. the promised a doesn't even reach the venezuelan border but the government of nicolas maduro is already taking steps to stop it entering the country fences huge shipping

containers and armed soldiers are blocking crossings into venice where. the united states and neighboring colombia are leading an effort to move tens of millions of dollars worth of aid into linux well it includes desperately needed medicines and food. president has long denied this country faces any such crisis and regards the aid offer as the first step towards any invasion of the country in the eyes of venus well as opposition it's no more don't act of compassion. humanitarian aid is humanitarian aid is to take care of the emergency it doesn't resolve the problem of food it's important to say that it's to attend to the most vulnerable that today are about to lose their lives. on wednesday the u.s. secretary of state in colombia's foreign ministers call them president maduro to change his mind in. being as well and people are calling for this

humanitarian aid to arrive and what it needs to do is not impede our being as well and brothers from getting the humanitarian aid they need this is the entrance to the bridge the main entry point for the aid arriving from the capital but we're still days away from being ready to operate as a humanitarian corridor the building there you see behind me is being adapted to properly store food and medicine that will arrive for the first trucks are still on their way from of overtime they are expected here at some point on thursday and local authorities are telling us that even once all this will be ready they still don't have a clear plan and how to move this into venezuela. on the venezuela side of the border hungry families were anxiously waiting for news of the shipments. and even

here in colombia when this will ensue fled their home country or hoping to receive some help i don't know no better they get here we were told we could receive some food and help here but know their thing it needs to go into venezuela and the doable not let it in let's hope he will put a hand on his heart and yield something that at least for now seems out of the question i listen to him. beatrice wranglers a former venezuelan presidential chief of staff and she joins us now on skype from miami beatrice what's your take on this latest move by president. but i think there are there is a chicken game going on between the college and that's worth reading but as lenna has become life long white dog has been that if you make president mr morrow all is clinging to power without anything that you deem a few. mr morrow is suspecting their coalition to blink first

but he i think he's playing a very dangerous gamble because he's for shipment that is coming of aid if earmarked for three hundred fifty thousand people who are suffering from terminal or chronic diseases and they desperately need these medicines so he might face a situation whereby timid events of the military at the end of the day decide to lead their aid in in a spite of its instructions to block it should this happen then he could he could face berry from popular revolt inside of an attack well i'm. sure he didn't decide not to lead. the aid come in there he's running other kinds of risk because d.c.

is considered to be a genocidal public policy he could be liable but in international court as a genocide and a head of state because he's imposed by taking desist on he is the cream the death sentence on very many even a silence which is their concern about fattah escalation here various different groups having all that military action. there is there is concern about further escalation. because two things could happen one that. many in the lower ranks of the military decide that they don't want to see their families suffer anymore and that they want to get the aid in. and then the upper ranks of the military could react

and you could have a fight between the venice inside the venice and i mean it's very efficient and if i turn there could be included exchange of fire i do not think that they are with their two. to exchange fire with the aid workers that are bringing the aid because most of the venison a military knew that they would be liable to turn national conventions that protect human rights it says that other countries doing enough to try to resolve all this. there are there i would say that there are like two groups of countries and the countries that believe that there is the only way to. treat the n.f.l. and people from these tyranny is to put a lot of pressure and there is another group of countries like mexico. and also the vatican who won to push for an older white or someone to post look for work

in dialogue and negotiation that brings the two sides together my take on these is that. the caller a fish has gone too far that it is going to be very difficult to really jumpstart a negotiation because there has been a lot of people. on the streets because of hunger or or because of this you've heard of them or their last three weeks there has been or what reparation. islams where the poorest people of venezuela live in order to prevent them from revolting because these are people who are dying of hunger beatrice rangle there a form of venezuelan presidential chief of staff thank you for your insights beatrice. you so much well there's plenty more ahead on this news al including

mexico's government tries new tactics in search for those missing but has all hope disappeared. how a group of doctors in syria is trying to make up for the shortfall in desperately needed medical care. and in sport the event that takes competitors to the top of the wild and then expects them to jump off. democrats say they won't be intimidated by the u.s. president's warning against ridiculous parties and investigations they voted to provide special counsel robert mueller with confidential testimonies related to his investigation into possible russian collusion during the twenty sixteen election has he called again has more. by the close of wednesday special counsel robert muller had a lot more information for his investigation into potential collusion between russia and the trump campaign fifty transcripts of people who testified in front of

a house committee some of those closest to the us president his son son in law and his most trusted advisers with the democrats in charge now they voted to send all of the transcripts to muller and now if any of those people lied under oath they can be charged with a crime. president donald trump's close friend roger stone has already been charged with lying to congress and his former lawyer is going to prison for doing that this comes on the heels of a warning from the president during his state of the union speech tuesday and economic miracle is taking place in the united states and the only thing that can stop it. are foolish wars politics or ridiculous partisan investigations. if there is going to be peace and legislation there cannot be war and

investigation it just doesn't work that way. the democratic response it actually does that's a nonstarter in fact the committee says they will look into more than what mohler is casting a broad net looking into the possibility that the president or those close to him are compromised the american people have a right to know indeed have a need to know that their president is acting on their behalf and not for some peculiar area or other reason that pertains to and the credible allegations of leverage by the russians or the saudis or anyone else the u.s. president was not happy i know what basis would he do that he has no basis to do that he actually does he's in charge now and he has the power to make people show up before his committee thank you very much thank the president and his closest advisors are about to find out what that looks like. al-jazeera washington

firefighters in the u.s. state of california have spent more than two alice attacking a major blaze following a gas explosion in san francisco a large fire and huge chremes of smoke prompted the evacuation of nearby buildings it's believed the fire was caused by workers who cut through a gas line while installing fiber optic why is no one was injured but five buildings were badly damaged. violence between rival criminal groups and security forces in mexico have been blamed for some forty thousand missing people over a thousand clandestine graves have already been discovered the new government has launched a plan to try to find the disappeared but as john holeman reports from mexico city families of the victims have been searching for years. mario had a bar and a comfortable life once now he's heading romex crew city selling misc to fund the desperate quest his brothers one of the country's more than forty thousand

disappeared for the last four years money has been looking for him across hills and forests he still remembers the day his search began when the. care we started digging and it was the worst day of our lives because we weren't prepared for what we'd find me knew we were looking for dead people but the moment we saw the bones many families broke down crying and destroyed thinking that our relatives could be there. years of fighting between organized crime and the government has left the country poked by clan the stirring graves many believe the thirties have shown little interest in finding them nice to just bully cause the detectives went to look for our relatives in an office they just want to file away their cases but our relatives didn't disappear in their offices in response people have organized themselves in groups to spread the word pressure officials and dig its course mario dearly he's apart from his wife and two year old daughter most of the time they had

to move from his village to a rented room in mexico city for their sakes the. criminal groups have threatened me because i've gone to places where they're operating if there was a cave when i went to look for people and the guy said to me the boss says to you don't stir things up don't go in there we'll kill you but it's not just organized crime the police and armed forces have also disappeared people actually think almost mirror will be able i'm more scared of the government than the gangs when i'm digging in to find it disappeared person that's a problem for them and i worry that they'll get rid of me. he writes official one hundred seamers was promised a fresh start the new government is pumping twenty million dollars into a. to find the missing. i thought maybe this would be the start of a change but it's going to take many years of history and seen as with withers that he dug into a mass grave we made him do it to see what it's like digging to find our relatives

maybe for him that was a big lesson with. whatever happens mario's plan remain simple and he must be a man or. we keep looking for my brother because he's my brother a lot of people say get over it he's dead but we want the truth if you find him dead at least we'll know they killed him least our family will have peace with you john hoeven how does either. the european council president has condemned british politicians who pushed for the u.k. to leave the e.u. without working out how to do it first donald tusk has been speaking in brussels where he also pledged to do his best to find a solution to the brics it crisis our reporter paul brennan listened in to those comments from belfast where prime minister to resign may have been meeting war than islands political leaders will hear from him in a minute but first let's listen to what tosk had to say that the second i have

spoken about the necessary actions in case of no deal. i know that you will also be discussing this shortly with the european commission. by the way and i've been wondering what that special place. in her looks like for those who promoted it without even a sketch of a plan how to carry its safely now those in century comments have quite predictably caused a reaction certainly from breakfast supporting employees and journalists in london but let's just have a little look at a video clip as they stood up to leave you can just about hear an exchange between me over again and donald tusk where they almost anticipate the reaction that's coming let's have a look at this. right now. now

let's bring it back to where i'm standing in belfast which is where the prime minister has been she's going to brussels on thursday but the purpose of her visit here is to try to work out exactly what the parties will accept and it seems a very confused picture is emerging shin fein the republican party which has seven seats in the westminster parliament but doesn't actually sit and votes in london refuses to do so it has accused theresa may have bad faith for trying to reopen the withdrawal agreement and change the backstop arrangement however the d u p which does sit in london and upon which to resubmit relies for her parliamentary majority has insisted that to tinker or try to reform the backstop but leave it in place is not enough they want the backstop totally replaced they're not happy with it being in the ritual agreement at all. still ahead on al-jazeera a danish mind has just been sentenced to six years in a russian prison his crime being a jew he was witness on the retellings and most are watching to find out more on

the crackdown on a religious organization that in russia is classed as extremist. and news of a valedictory activist who broke into a london airport to prevent deportations and found themselves charged on the anti terror no it's. possible here from the reigning toward a front champion he's been defending the anti doping record of his sport and his team. once again we've got some dry weather contending for southern parts of china the litany of course continuing with plenty of celebrations going on thick a time out towards the eastern side of the country started to push its way in shanghai around twelve degrees celsius still getting up into the mid to upper

twenty's around hong kong around tied by make the most of it by friday it's going to cool off a little so we'll see those temperatures started to fall back to shanghai just six degrees by this stage and still some bits and pieces of right it's that eastern sort of china but for the most part it did stay dry and find it dry and find see across a good part of the philippines a few showers well as a possibility in c.s.l. and areas of the country. down into indonesia more big downpours in the heat of the day plenty of sunshine in between it's not a complete right to further north bangkok gets up to thirty four degrees pleasant sunshine continuing here and a lot of sunshine see into south asia still a few showers just rolling their way towards trying to slip further north into northern parts of india has seen some or all the wet weather raced more that as we go. some heavy downpours snow over the hard ground nineteen celsus full name. some of the temperature the friday. the weather sponsored by catalona is.

desperate for more weird news about newton speeders person you want to take a week or two off he said i need to work i need the money part of it i think it's humiliating because i thought i'd be somewhere else in my life in america risking it old fifty dollars an hour. or two longer a moment. for a better future i always saying yes to the house do you want to sleep on things. on al-jazeera. and monday put it world on. u.s. and british companies have announced the biggest discovery of natural gas in west africa but what to do with these untapped natural resources is already a source of heated debate nothing much has changed they still spend most of the days looking forward to full dry river beds like this one five years on the syrians still feel battered or even those who managed to escape their country have been truly unable to escape the you're.

welcome back i missed on. a reminder about top stories this hour the u.s. president is predicting victory i have a high self as early as next week donald trump says the coalition is close to reclaiming all the territory previously held by the group in syria. on tuesday a trunk gave his second state of the union address calling for more unity while one . democrats against investigating his administration. the united nations has warned against using aid as a political pawn in venezuela u.s. officials say trucks carrying goods have arrived in colombia for delivery to

venezuela but the opposition is accusing the military which backs president nicolas maduro of blocking a bridge on the border with colombia. amnesty international has accused the united arab emirates of supplying weapons to armed groups in yemen it says the u.a.e. diverts billions of dollars worth of arms to buying them from the west many of the groups they supply have been accused of war crimes the amnesty report follows calls in the u.s. for an investigation into weaponry entering yemen the u.s. military has expressed concern over the allegations american munitions have fallen into the hands of yemeni armed groups while the u.n. says its efforts to forge an agreement between yemen's government and the rebels is beginning to pay off while diplomats sound optimistic hundreds of thousands of yemeni civilians remain course up in the fighting mohammed reports. with his arrival of yemen

a renewed sense of cautious optimism michael lawless guard the newly appointed head of the united nations mission to monitor the temporary ceasefire in the data landed in the capital sanaa as the u.n. says its push for a permanent peace agreement between the warring sides is beginning to pay off. no matter what ultimately happens in her data which is vitally important for humanitarian aid imports the suffering being experienced by yemenis nationwide is not expected to abate anytime soon. take yemen second largest city of tire is for example besieged by hooty rebels for more than four years around two hundred thousand civilians are caught up in the fighting. for what is one of them after fleeing fighting in her village made her way to tire is with nowhere to live she and her husband took up residence on the side of a road and while this abandoned truck provides them a small semblance of shelter they feel far from safe. that ben and i am i was

sleeping when a bullet came from this direction and hit me low on food they struggle to get by the u.n. says yemen is home to the world's worst humanitarian crisis which is no surprise to fuck a year like all yemenis she hopes for a better future that had a real image and am then added i want the wall to stop and the situation to attend back to normal as it used to be we want peace and we do not want wool we want the situation to calm down an old people to attend to the towns and villages. for now however like so many other yemenis worries that won't happen any time soon. as. well hospitals and rebel held areas of northern syria struggling lack of funds international help has slowed because donors are wary of the presence of

fighters linked to al qaeda osama bin. near the syrian border. with. emergency responders follow similar protocols everywhere. 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 is in the city the new home to millions of syrians displaced by the war it's run by the ip help directorate a real example of an operational institution in the 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. cover all of the employees have homes and children they cannot volunteer for more than two or three months. many international organizations are rare you have hair or each of the largest group which controls most of the city it's linked to either and used to be known as a loss for front. health director it says it's been able to fight off h.g.'s interference. and we said if you don't feel one more time we will close it. and within a span of two hours this is a fine fine of backing off because if we suspend the people turn against them we want to give medicine box nation we want to treat patients who are prisons and we

want to do it from politics the director also runs a pharmaceutical control department to detect fake 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 out essential and not just for syrians under member disease crosses borders diseases do not understand checkpoints if. case isn't. 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 would not just abandon us because of lack of funding people in the 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 it there are hoping for a political settlement to aid agencies can resume humanitarian aid for them some of the job or the other there doesn't it. the u.s.

says it's cutting some military aid to cameroon because of allegations of human rights violations and comes after videos secularized on line that appear to show security forces shooting and killing civilians cameron has cooperated closely with the united states in the fight against the armed group boko haram in neighboring nigeria. a russian court has sentenced a danish jehovah's witness to six years in jail the christian group was banned in twenty seventeen and is classified as an extremist organization many others are in pretrial detention the cases are raising concern among human rights groups about religious freedom in russia but we chalons has more from moscow. denis christensen had arrived in good spirits to hear the verdict on wednesday. but do you. believe. that it was but after cameras and supporters were told to leave the court the judge in the town of oriel sentenced

the dane to six years for extremism it's a conviction he intends to appeal to. the state i thank you everybody for coming i'm very happy that you're here thank you. dennis christensen may be the first jehovah's witness to be given jail time in russia but he's certainly not the only one in trouble we filmed worship at their main moscow meeting hall in two thousand and seventeen just before russia's supreme court outlawed to jehovah witnesses as an extremist organization before we were banned this building was used very intensively but as you can see. since then the doors have been shot to them we have about twenty two people in prison. hundred rates in. many under whole areas many under investigation why russians or thirty c. the country's one hundred seventy five thousand jobs as witnesses as

a threat is something of a mystery it's been suggested that they're under suspicion because perhaps the scene is a western influence maybe that they're too independent from the russian government and the russian orthodox church and these are the age and was asked in december why the state was cracking down on them although he said classifying jehovah's witness . as extremist it was completely absurd the arrests have continued this human rights advocate doesn't want history to repeat itself he says soviets and nazis both trials religious persecution with attacks on the jehovah's witnesses. have the authorities started with them it's likely to be a test case to see how society will react i don't have any illusions about the future of other religious confessions i think it's only beginning and it will depend on how much sense people actually have. under russia's constitution the freedom of religion is guaranteed by the countries who as witnesses discovered that

guarantee means little will reach alan's how does era. rescue teams in taki are searching for survivors of a building collapse in istanbul at least two people were killed and several others are believed to be trapped beneath the rubble of the eight story apartment block. the greek prime minister has boosted a long running campaign to reopen a christian theological school in mainly muslim checky alexis to press avail visited healthy seminary in istanbul and used to be the main school of theology for the eastern orthodox church in the country until the turkish government shutdown in one nine hundred seventy one sin and cos the early reports from istanbul. is an orthodox community it celebrates the peace day of stand for the patent saint of the seminary. founded in one thousand nine hundred to four on how to build another island it served as the main school of theology of the eastern orthodox church ecumenical patriarch eight until one thousand nine hundred seventy one. the greek

orthodox church which has many worshippers and turkey's neighbor is part of the world's third largest christian church the seminary was closed when the turkish parliament enough to do no banning primates higher education patrick barth the limo is the spiritual leader for the estimated three hundred million orthodox church worshippers worldwide. when the school reopens it will be a big and happy day not only for the patriarch it's all the orthodox christian world but also for the civilisation culture and our country. there are many alexis she presents the first greek prime minister to formally visit the school since nine hundred thirty three it's seen to be a potential step to persuading to rethink on its closure he hopes his next visit will be with turkey's president do you believe in love with the women the message we want to show today here from this historic place is that the reopening of the

how can school not constitute an object of disk. or division but a message of friendship understanding and brotherhood between our peoples yes. a possible solution is the trick is the gesture to link the school with one of the national universities that with every amending the constitution but the church doesn't agree. since hawkie orthodox christian theological school was shut down by the turkish government forty eight years ago there has been an international campaign to reopen it during his visit to turkey in two thousand and nineteen former u.s. president barack obama made a call for the school to reopen to ensure religious freedom to just leaders including president john were positive then what the school for means closed some tricks a turkey's leaders should allow more religious freedom it is late and i come here often with my kid we live in a secular country i believe it would be right to have such a seminary in a country where religion is free but that's opposed by turkish nationalists who

have leverage on the ruling government they are against the idea of reopening whether degree contributes leadership can find common ground remains open to question see now because although al-jazeera has bailout island istanbul. a group of british anti deportation campaign as her change themselves to a plane to stop it taking off have escaped prison sentences the judge decided not to imprison the so-called stanstead fifteen saying they were motivated by genuine reasons now in three reports from the court and chelmsford in england. emerging from court the relief on their faces was obvious the case had time going over them for two years and they've been charged with offenses technically carrying a life term in prison but there was still an outrage that it's better to come to this fight isn't one you know a lot more for us to continue fighting for and until there's been a for acquiring and so there was an environment and to put

a shins and detention centers than the people fired the whole flight was it was a small window into a much this big a systemic problem we need to sign up for all of the asylum claims the home office refuses overhaul for the day is a right for ten dollars pail and what the government does at the time that we stopped the fight there was a policy of first appeal later. to fifteen activists to plant themselves through a plane at stansted airport near london in the knowledge that some of the people on board would face death threats if they were deported some of those people have since been granted the right to stay in britain this woman had already told us they saved her life why do you want to put me i came to this contre because i was really abused you need. if i wasn't in this country i probably wouldn't be here sitting history recalled the actions of people who put themselves in harm's way for human rights as heroes think of emily davison who threw herself to her death under the

king's horse women's rights or the lone protester in tiananmen square facing down the chinese tanks but trying to stop illegal deportations in the u.k. nowadays is not viewed in the same way. we are very familiar with this kind of access. human rights. so all i want to do. it isn't only the u.k. criminalizing deportation activists this woman is currently being prosecuted in sweden for refusing to take a seat on the plane to stop an afghan on board from being deported but the u.k.'s much broader so-called hostile environment shows no sign of ending the deportation fight still go on with all the questions about human rights abuses there's a certain sort of victory here which is peculiar since all that's happened is that

a group of people have escaped going to prison for trying to stop the illegal deportations of asylum seekers but they still have that's heroism conviction to their names and this is one of the now say that it's to try to have. a chance for the crown calls still ahead on al-jazeera in force and find out all time greats can enjoy is occurring.

the body. times of course his family thank you very much much assistance they have gone top

of the english premier league the defending champions beat everton to move ahead of liverpool in the table and they clap and this is where the score is and the two know when at goodison park city are tall pole on goal difference above have played a game more than their title rivals liverpool and three meant barcelona forward mrs started on the subs a bench for the first leg of the spanish cup semifinal with real madrid messi did join the action and the second hoffa finished one one at camp in the german a couple. into the last eighteen for the first time in the history they beat forsberg one nail thanks to an early goal of a brazilian forward my two years from now. a tie official has warned that her a new football a hack email or a b. faces at least six more months in prison as he fights extradition to his home

country r.e.b. was arrested in november while on holiday at the request of behind who want him to serve a ten year prison sentence of events and isn't he twenty five year old is a refugee who lives in australia says he fled behind because of political oppression all australians on the twenty three football team has counseled a trip to thailand in protest what i've also stressed is that he's drawn in people in the top people have a wonderful people to people relationship and i've stressed just how strongly as dragons' feel about this and i would i would be very disappointed. if you as a result of how these matters handle that relationship between the time of the strike and people were affected i'd be very disappointed about that some of the people to 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 disagree with that up to. all supporters of other

a.b. have criticized president john infant you know for not taken a more active role in backing the football this case in france you know is set for a second time at the top of all football's governing body it's been confirmed he's the only condor that before the june election so to put him in charge of fisa until at least twenty twenty three the former head of guatemalan football has been fined three on fifty thousand dollars for his spot in a few corruption scandal. was one of more than thirty top football officials swept up in the twenty fifteen investigation into the sale of media rights for fifa games across the americas i mean this was also giving a life from football this is. difficult the school of life fundamental change for everybody i think it's something very important to send

a healthy message for the whole institution of fifo everybody must contribute as humans we make mistakes i think i'm not part of it anymore and i hope that with these examples that we have now that there's a correction within soccer for everybody in general. to the france champion greinke thomas a says his sport is asking as it's ever been believes that he wouldn't have been able to win the race if riders were still doping thomas is part of britain's team sky parliamentary report excused it of crossing the ethical line by using permitted medication to boost the performance of previous two and a bradley wiggins will form a team dr richard freeman is now facing a medical tribunals off to being charged with ordering at banned substance for an unnamed and twenty eleven we are going to like stand up and sing a song and dance about you know our you know squeaky wheel and that's not you know

i do everything the right way and i just. you know that's a train hard work hard and you know i have a lot of support around me and. that's what i do and you know obviously if people. do stuff that you know about or i think about that i'm sure that. that sort of mindset of how it's honest said he shifted a lot since the dark ages it is only if as has won his first ever title at skins a world championships and he twenty nine year old took gold in the super g. event in sweden has had the previously won the silver medal at the twenty fifth championships. it was one of my great biggest dreams due to winning a medal and a gold medal that's what's. the most important medal so. i didn't expect but for me means

a lot for my career. to be champion x.l. and stand finished outside the medals in the penalty meant to grace of history a event criticized comments made by the head of world skiing frankel kasper has said it's easier to do with dictators that rather than environmentalist when choosing venues for major events. sometimes people say something that is so stupid that you don't need to comment on it because everyone would oppose this bill misunderstands what it's complete just so it's so it's almost too good because when people go to duck extent oh well it's your business. you know no one misses anything. and the free ride world who made this latest stop or in kind of those walking mountains as best as have a one shot at descending the face of the route through the natural obstacles is chosen by the individual rider with a panel of judges deciding who the winner is. that's always full for me we'll have

more later on well that's it for me in a study a tape that hasn't thicker will be here in just a minute and. i soon killed ten from many members and one hundred seventy. the war has passed and the people in power i mean it's the women heading an eighteen man militia. and dispensing justice with an unforgiving hand and an eye for an army in iraq on al-jazeera. if you want to learn what the world might look like very soon regards hundred and hungry is in the extreme example of the predicament the whole world is going through. since mass immigration story we had paunch question

is within the cultures and the problems that the culture of that is. harsh so it's immigrating to us. is not comfortable with european culture this is not by a good fascist. triumphal march. dreams of conquest and of global tried. this is very very uneventful collide towards the precipice without resistance we are past the danger has already happened. it was then just ten years ago. now this is it. take the worst possible material eurabia ground into dust comparable to flower and make a whole lot of it and put it into a place where people live there is a cause and provide. value for many. thank you. but

does it make you feel like a movie we have created an enormous. disaster. an investigation south africa toxic city on al-jazeera. we will have. one hundred percent of the caliph a us president says the total defeat of i saw is. a lot of this is a live coming up united nations says desperately needed aid is being used as a political pawn in venezuela. scientists sound the alarm on.