the series of amendments one of them had the backing of parliament calling for her to come back here to try and find alternative arrangements to the so-called backstop just to remind you that's the insurance policy to avoid the return of a hard border between northern ireland and the republic of ireland that's a backstop would at the end of a two year transition period if no alternative arrangement is in place mean that the u.k. remains are lined in a trade sense with the european union that's very unpopular among hard line break cities who want to make a clean break from e.u. membership there's also no time limits on the backstop and there's no way of the u.k. being able to leave you there laterally despite hopes of being able to send a clear message to the e.u. here in brussels that a battle for britain is to reason may put it the e.u. have been very firm and very clear they will not open the withdrawal agreement they will not renegotiate the backstop but they have given the slimmest of possible

lifelines the possibility of restoring all reiterating the political commitment to making sure that the aims of having a backstop a tool only temporary only an insurance policy to break cities imprison what more than promises from the e.u. they want things to be legally binding. the committee to protect journalists is calling for accountability for the murder of saudi journalist jamal khashoggi in the past hour or so the group held a news conference in front of the white house wanting the trumpet ministration to send a stronger message than it already has to the saudi government one of the speakers there earlier today was courtney ridge the advocacy director at the c.p. jane she's with us now on skype from washington d.c. i noticed when we listened to you earlier and we took that speech live on the newsgroup is that you were critical of obviously saudi arabia but perhaps more

critical right now of the white house and its inaction i don't think there are more critical than saudi arabia i mean you know it's the officials are the ones you merchant all show me are critical of the white house and we are really hoping that they will comply with their deadlines morrow to respond to the magnitsky act and respond to the senate who are asking for answers about what the white house believes is responsible for assassination of john marsh and she and whether sanctions are not. yet met maybe i should have rephrased us i guess looking for actual action from the white house because that is i guess who you've. got the ear of more you're right outside the white house there your expectations. because you know it's it's hard to say what president trump will do but we know that he has protected the relationship with saudi arabia a lot. unfortunately we have seen

a calculation from the white house and president trying to put some sort of special relationship that arms sales in a way out of the murder and assassination of this journalist in cold blood however one of the reasons that went to the white house the justice for them all campaign with hundreds of signs that people from around the united states have filled out saying that they want justice for jim all talking about who they are and why journalism matters to them is so that the white house here is loud and clear that people are demanding justice people want an answer and they expect that the white house well i'm to the senate on whether or not they agree with their own cia intelligence agencies i'm doing that i'm home in islam on the crown prince of saudi arabia was with high probability responsible for order and she lost that she's

never do you think the white house would have almost preferred by now that this had gone away open swept under the carpet i mean i remember back in november i think it was certainly around thanksgiving that donald trump put out a statement saying well it may or may not have happened but we're still going to support saudi arabia regardless. without a doubt i'm sure the white house would like to disappear and that's why he took that press conference and took the signs to the white house and actually right is he responded not a motor motorcade passed by and we believe that man been president truck because we have been prevented from getting closer to the white house because they said there was a yankee on their way so who knows maybe he saw that i think that he would very much like to have this issue go away but the fact is it cannot go away this murder has had it incredible repercussions on journalists around the world it's sending and and message that if no one is held responsible that you can murder journalists but impunity not only in your own borders but around the world and that has

a chilling effect on journalists working in saudi arabia on journalists working around the world and let's not forget that not only has out of it yet not been held accountable for the murder but they also have sixteen journalists in prison including twelve who've been in prison. on our corner about a trump the committee to protect journalists in washington talking to you thank you . just as we've been speaking to courtney have seen some lines dropping on the news wires here you remember there is a un led inquiry into jamal khashoggi. murder we are now getting some word from them they say that the evidence shows he was a quote victim of a brutal premeditated killing planned and perpetrated by officials of the state of saudi arabia so a un led inquiry is pinning this directly on officials of the state of saudi arabia they say that saudi arabia seriously undermined turkey's efforts to investigate the

murder at its stan bull consulate so this is the first we're hearing from this u.n. led inquiry the special rapporteur was in turkey last week i think it was for a week a fact finding found it difficult to get corporations from the saudis at least at the consulate but now saying that saudi arabia seriously undermined turkey's efforts to investigate it and that jamal khashoggi is killing was planned and perpetrated by officials of the state of saudi arabia very interesting developments coming there we will might wait to hear more. still ahead for you on al-jazeera though in step with everything in iran we're looking at the powerful role played by its revolutionary guards.

hello there is pretty wet for some of us in the middle east at the moment if we take a look at the satellite picture we can see the clouds snaking its way towards the north but then bending background over the western parts of turkey we're seeing a lot of rather active thunderstorms here at the moment the whole system gradually works its way eastwards as we head through the next few days of heavy rain across parts of saudi arabia on friday that slips southwards breaks up a little bit as we head through saturday but then the northern parts of it well we'll still see some rain and snow out of that say for iraq and iran but also wintery weather here as you will see parts of ticky to them for the towards the south and there's that system as it makes its way across parts of saudi arabia on friday it does break up as i said on saturday and as it does say we'll see a lot of dust begin to be kicked up as well so a fair amount of dust on the leading edge of this system too here in doha the winds will change again so we'll see the winds feeding up more from the south so the temperatures will be rising and then also be a little bit more distin the atmosphere is well before the towards the south you can see plenty of cloud here over the northern possible and

a very distinctive swell just to the northeast of madagascar that is a tropical cycle own but is expected to track away towards the east as it does say they're tracking a lot of cloud and rain with it so plenty of wet weather for the northern parts of madagascar for friday. morning.

top stories for you this hour on al-jazeera talks aimed at ending venezuela's crisis are happening right now european leaders and latin american ministers meeting in the capital montevideo president nicolas maduro is backing dialogue the opposition leader. skeptical u.s. president is accusing the democrats of presidential harris spent just a day after the house intelligence committee voted to provide special counsel robert muller with confidential testimonies are of course looking into alleged russian meddling in the twenty sixteen u.s. presidential election. and britain's prime minister tourism is once again been told the breaks that deal negotiated between her government and the e.u. will not be renegotiated may was in brussels urging the leaders to accept changes

to the agreements. one of the largest aid convoy since the start of syria's war has reached a remote refugee camp on the border with jordan more than one hundred trucks brought food and medical supplies to thousands of syrians stranded in the camp aid workers will also provide an emergency vaccination campaign for ten thousand children the camp is home to more than forty thousand people who previously received aid in november such as the u.n.h.c.r. representative to syria based in damascus and says the people in the camp need a more permanent solution than this. it is an extremely remote area right at the border with jordan and syria is in the middle of a desert for the last two years this population has been stranded there it's actually a tragedy that these people have no access to food there is teenage mothers in their children who cannot go to school there are people who would like to leave and

return to their areas cannot do that and be the last time we were there to bring assistance it was in november so it took us weeks of negotiation with all concerned to be able to bring this convoy is again it is. a small makeshift arrangement that we're trying to put in place for this camp but then we need to find more permanent solution and we cannot be left in this dire state as they are now everything is needed in that camp we are bringing in for example. not just the food but also there are students who are stuck in there we are bringing educational material for them their children who have not had vaccinations last time we did vaccination for five thousand children this time we're going to do x. and nation for ten thousand children now we're bringing basic things like the dignity kits we call it even sanitary napkins for memory and there are not there we're trying to bring in truckloads of winter clothes regular clothes we're also going to talk to people to find out their intention to relocate to their places

back home because most of them would like to move out of this dreadful situation that they're stranded in right now. iran's revolutionary guards were stablished in the wake of the islamic revolution which was forty years ago to protect its ideals since then its rolls expand making it a powerful institution the u.s. designates it a terrorist organization and the reports from tehran its influence extends beyond the country's borders. they call them the guardians of iran what began as a voluntary force is now an organized military institution with influence in the corridors of power the revolutionary guard was founded to protect the islamic revolution. fourteen years later it is not just a more than one hundred thousand strong land sea and air force this commander acknowledges a role in politics and the economy but says it is not driven by interests.

that those who joined the revolutionary guard did so to provide security they should be politically but that doesn't mean they should join any party they are also involved in the economy not to make profit in times of peace they should help the poor who are facing tough conditions. others see their role differently they say the guards empowered by the supreme leader have interfered in iranian politics the besiege voluntary unit was used to crush protests in two thousand and nine former guards have entered political life fielding candidates in elections as well as occupying top positions like the presidency guard commanders have also spoken out against president hassan rouhani for negotiating the two thousand and fifty nuclear deal with world powers including the united states the guards is also an economic player it was heavily involved in reconstruction at the end of the war with iraq decades ago now it runs construction companies and other businesses the

revolutionary guards is not just a powerful institution in iran. it exported the revolution and expanded iran's influence beyond its borders states mainly armed actors in lebanon syria iraq and gaza received arms and training it was one of the reasons why the us doesn't need the guards a terrorist organization. could force is the branch that operates abroad its commander isom so many is portrayed as a national hero here his forces helped ensure syrian president bashar assad survival and hezbollah's dominance in lebanon's parliament has given iran's influence through legitimate channels. it's no longer a secret that has creation and limit on was on that of the auspices and support of the revolutionary guard training camps were established in syria and then lebanon hezbollah was one of their greatest accomplishment back home the guards often

display their military might it oversees the controversial ballistic missile weapons program which the west wants curbed iran's position has been one of defiance a position echoed by guard commanders who have made their political stance clear there will be no negotiations they say in a message that could be directed not just to their enemies abroad. rescue teams in turkey thirteen survivors from the rubble of a building that collapsed in istanbul the apartment block came down on wednesday evening at least ten people are now confirmed dead it's believed others are still trapped more from stephanie decker and it's. rescue workers have been working meticulously sifting through the rubble for this heavy machinery here that is if you've been lifting pieces of war we've seen pieces lifted out of there with one thing that we saw seemed to be

a kitchen sink attempts to it needs to be around fourteen apartments in this building they did manage to pull out a four year. old girl from the rubble line right here on thursday but there are people still missing there are relatives here waiting for news of their loved ones and this is what one gentleman had to tell my uncle's dollars you know we are even seeing family so she is still in the second floor on the building we are feeling well we're close to some this is the kitchen section there's with his child one boy and one daughter we're still waiting if she will be ok this is an eight story building in officials are saying that three of those stories were built illegally the moment of this building coming down on wednesday afternoon it was actually caught on c.c.t.v. footage and you can see the building imploding and you can see the part just fine here scuttling away one officials are saying that there is now an investigation

into what exactly went wrong here this is a densely populated area of this town ball and it highlights the concern about the health and safety and the structural soundness of these buildings. and the berlin film festival is beginning four hundred films will be shown seventeen competing for the top prize alone so it will be the last festival on to the leadership at a cost that has been in charge for the past eighteen years well we can go there now his name baba roll rug up in front of the big screens there things the day. will come out things are getting on the way it's the glamour night if you like the opening night showing the kindness of strangers by lerner scare fiction he's one of seven women director out of seventeen who have a film vying in competition for the golden bear for best film but something that the organizers are very proud of but over the next ten days there will be films

from all over the world there are three chinese films in competition including the latest from the legendary jang we've got mr jones. political thriller set in style in era featuring james norton and you've got showing out of competition a brazilian film which is making a lot of buzz right now called mara again or about an opponent of the military dictatorship in the nineteen sixty's now as he said deja kosik is stepping down he's really made a stand here at the burn ali of featuring political films and the she is no different there is a documentary showing our true competition called watergate or how we learned to stop an out of out of control president indeed to closely at the press conference said that's the film you need to watch if you want to understand what's going on in the u.s. right now so he's very outspoken he's not just about the politics there are there are films from all over the world as i was saying there are new filmmakers there

are virtual reality films on show here and it's probably the biggest festival in terms of the public hundreds and hundreds of people are queuing up all the time trying to get their hands on tickets for showings all around this city coparent that is not in barber at the berlin film festival. let's just take you to the headlines and in fact the breaking news this hour the un special rapporteur who is investigating the murder of jamal khashoggi has said the evidence shows that he was a victim of a brutal and premeditated killing kalamata said the murder was the grave violation of the most fundamental of all right the right to life should travel to ankara and istanbul with a team of experts to investigate the murder and the other headlines talks aimed at ending venezuela's crisis have begun european leaders and latin american ministers

are meeting in the euro capital montevideo president nicolas maduro is backing dialogue but the opposition leader is more skeptical. britain's prime minister tourism is once again been told that the brags that deal negotiated between her government and the e.u. will not change may was in brussels urging e.u. leaders to accept changes to that agreement we've had robust discussions but they've been constructive what i've said hodges are clear position that we must secure legally binding changes to the withdrawal agreement to deal with the concerns that parliament has over the backstop and taking that changes to the backstop together with the other work that we're doing on workers' rights and other issues will deliver a stable majority in parliament and that's what i will continue to push for now it's not going to be easy but crucially president and i have agreed that talks will now start to find a way for through this to find a way to get this over the line in the u.s. president's accusing the democrats of presidential heris months just

a day after the house intelligence committee voted to provide special counsel robert muller with confidential testimonies we are back with the news hour and twenty five minutes right now on al-jazeera inside story. coming together against one man rule egypt's opposition leaders reject a move in parliament to extend presidential terms nearly six years after the military coup that put into power will abdel fattah el-sisi ever leave office this is inside story.

hello and welcome to the program i'm peter dobie there is a law in egypt today over proposed changes to the constitution they could allow the president abdel fattah el-sisi to stay in office until twenty thirty for another as well after the official end of his second term in twenty twenty two opposition leaders are rallying against the changes to stop what some are calling an arab spring in reverse. sets up our discussion. its supporters say it's a crucial step to ensure stability opponents of. their country is moving to a talk or see egypt seems divided over a package of amendments introduced and approved by a pro-government bloc in parliament the changes extend presidential term limits to

six years instead of four specifically mentioning the current leader of the fatah has sisi but they have to be approved by parliament and put to a referendum if the amendments get a yes vote it could pave the way for president sisi to stay in power until twenty thirty four. almost in one thousand nine hundred ninety six and president mohamed and what i'll say that amended the one nine hundred seventy one constitution to the war we're going through a war that is more intense the warning sign i on the wars we are facing by other countries that i would like not to name. but the opposition is trying to rally support to block the changes president sisi who came to power in a military coup is serving his second and last a spur of the two thousand and fourteen constitution which clearly states that he cannot run for office after his term and in two thousand and twenty two.

o'clock in the transfer of power is a moral principle which was created by the revolutions of the twenty fifth of january and the thirtieth of june it's not allowed to tamper with this moral principle or else will be in a position that will cause people to remain with no morals or preservation of the principles. sissy's supporters have also introduced new changes creating the post of vice president reintroducing a second chamber of parliament and giving minorities a bigger say the changes are likely to be approved by the. element where c.z. supporters have an absolute majority but it's the referendum that will be a test of the president's popularity human rights groups though are concerned about whether they say is a widespread crackdown on dissent and arbitrary mass trials or presidencies these opponents. for insights laurie. we're a lot to get through with our guest in just

a moment but first the outcry on social media many egyptians are criticizing the proposed changes to the constitution among them mohamed el baradei the former interim vice president who was awarded the nobel peace prize back in two thousand and five now he's on twitter today and i quote projects to amend hash tag egypt constitution unfolding and in full throttle main features extending presidential term limit diminishing judicial independence and annoying ting military as the guardian of the state arab spring in reverse. ok let's bring in our guests joining us from cairo on skype today is timothy cal darcy nonresident fellow at the institute for middle east policy here in doha is mohammed el masri associate professor and chair of the journalism program of the doha institute for graduate studies and in brussels james moran associate senior research fellow at the center for european policy studies and

a former ambassador to egypt jordan and yemen thank you to you all for joining us here on inside story timothy called us in cairo first these proposed changes what do they mean well they're an effort to build expand and consolidate and as you. which is a project that's been underway since he came onto the scene and became president when ford. seen that it legislative efforts to expand its control over judicial appointments now they're trying to embody those efforts in the constitution. were seeing the addition of another upper house of parliament of which a third of the members will be appointed by the president again increasing his power over that body you also have more control over the choosing of the selection of the public prosecutor so there's a variety of mechanisms here to extend his control of various state institutions while simultaneously extending his role potentially until twenty thirty four mohamed el masry here in doha the opposition how much real politic they have i think we have to be really careful when we talk about egyptian opposition i don't

personally like that term all serious opposition to military rule in egypt was effectively eliminated during a campaign of elimination isn't in two thousand and thirteen and two thousand and fourteen we saw the elimination of political parties mass killings mass arrests of political leaders mass death sentences draconian legislation and terrorism does ignition so there is no serious substantive political opposition in egypt we have watered down opposition if you will. they are very weak that is by design they will it's very unlikely that their movement inside of parliament will generate any steam report suggests that there's already a super majority in support of these proposed amendments and ultimately this will go to a referendum which will be controlled by the state as all other elections and referenda

have been during the c.c. period or the c.c. era and we'll see the yes vote win out in a in a landslide election which will be decried as a sham by analysts and scholars and human rights groups james moran to listen to mohamed el masry there it looks like we're on the road to more l.c.c. as far as the european union is concerned is that a good thing or about thing. well let me just say when this constitution of two thousand and fourteen was promulgated i was the ambassador there in cairo i remember well it was welcomed in the international community pretty widely as being just about the most positive thing to come out of all the turmoil between two thousand and eleven and two thousand and fourteen and there were high hopes for this constitution why because for the first time i think in modern times it looked

on paper that it was going to provide proper checks and balances against. authoritarian presidential rule it also took to a much greater extent than previous constitutions of individual rights and freedoms it wasn't perfect but it was pretty good outcome now with the changes coming i would be a little bit worried about the medium term because egypt has been down this path before of presidential rule in the era notably of hosni mubarak and look what happened if it's about stability you have to ask the question is this really in the best interest of the country to make these sorts of changes because they will certainly erode in a pretty fundamental way all those checks and balances that the two thousand and fourteen constitution is trying to introduce timothy held us from where you are in cairo we're talking here about a grouping of what ten or eleven political parties what are the chances they get support across the country i don't think the focus should be on the political

parties. mom is correct in the sense that the in the opposition with in parliament itself is quite limited. and they don't have the votes really to do much in terms of stopping the referendum of stopping the members to move to referendum there are a number of civil society human rights groups that have called on egyptians to go no and what is somewhat unique about this i don't disagree that ultimately the government almost certainly get the result it wants regardless of public opinion but it is an interesting moment a sense that. unlike past elections where the president could imprison or drive out of the race. through intimidation any of the candidates the word no is not something he can lock up and so egyptians actually will get to vote against presidency she's continuation for the first time with actively. and whether or not that vote gets recorded and publicized if people actually go out and do it people within the regime will know that that happened and that could affect his position

internally but i think it's almost inevitable that the that the the of the amendments will will eventually come into force unfortunately mohamed el masry what's your reaction to the logic here that says well we've got to push through with these changes because what he wants to do with the economy what he wants to do to turn the country around he's hampered by the constitution as it stands today this is none of this is surprising right this is this is a continuation of what we've seen post two thousand and thirteen i was on al-jazeera and writing on the edges here in two thousand and fourteen about this inevitability that this was going to come there were whispers back in two thousand and fourteen that ccs you would need to have a prolonged extended stay in power this is what egypt's deep state wants they want they want to strongman they believe that this will help preserve their interests allies in the region like this because they believe that it brings

creates an sustains stability which is what which is what they want. so all of this you know all of these justifications as far as i'm concerned as somebody who supports democracy are absurd what sees what egypt needs is a legitimate democratic transformation it needs sharing of power it needs balance of power checks and balances the kinds of things that the other guests have been that have been talking about i also want to note that in. my estimation and again a lot of people wrote about this back in two thousand and fourteen but the two thousand and fourteen constitution was was not really a way forward the two thousand and twelve constitution was also flawed but the two thousand and fourteen constitution represented actually a step backwards a step closer toward authoritarianism james moran in brussels that is the opposition here was that betting essentially floored with a betting that after the last election ninety seven percent in his favor on

a very low turnout just over forty percent that was the opposition then betting that once he'd won or they would say once he cooked the books if you will he would then soften his stance but he hasn't softened his stance so then rising up with this opposition amendment plan is actually a reaction to that. well that's possible it's difficult difficult and. on the opposition i think it's not just about parties in parliament there are a very small part is of course the conservatives to grandma and a couple of the others but between them they must have only about twenty odd m.p.'s but there is also in civil society a couple of movements that have been announced one of them took my attention the other day the union for the protection of the constitution which i think has signed up with a number of prominent personalities in the country including a mom and i'm also that and some other politicians so civil society i think is

going to be working. to do what it can an opposition although i must say i kind of agree with the other guests the prospects for success have got to be considered fairly fairly dim one other thing the president did say on more than one occasion i think most recently even last year that he had no intention of changing the constitution or serving. term out beyond what was actually in the two thousand and fourteen constitution i can't by the way agree with your previous guest when he compares it to the two thousand and twelve document but let's put that on one side . but the president does say that now i wonder with that in mind of course this all has to go to the president at some stage in the parliamentary process. it'll be interesting to see how he reacts to the report that will come from the parliament proposing these amendments when he has to sign off before the referendum is taking place it'll be very interesting to see how he explains that because he has been

very clear since he came into power that he was going not to change the constitution that he was going to stick to the two terms as laid down in two thousand and fourteen timothy kaldis give us a sense of how people perceive him there in egypt some of his critics say he's actually worse than mubarak the military and the people that have run egypt have come from the military on so many different occasions if you put him in the the gamut the range of past presidents where would you play would you see him. i mean he's undeniably the most impressive. person to lead egypt and it's my spirit it's not even i mean it's not really debatable the but to be fair on best around point he also promised in white thirteen not to run for president at all so i mean him breaking his words terms of extending his rule and control over the country is hardly surprising. and on the constitutional debate i mean they're they're both pretty bad documents that have poor checks and balances built into them. i think

that fundamentally the population's approval of c.c. has been in decline for a number of years due to the deteriorating economic situation don't push it for most of their purchasing power is collapsing is the currency collapse inflation has been at record levels it's starting to come down now but for quite some time we were well into we were getting thirty plus percent. so people have been struggling for quite a long time and he said that promising that there will be some sort of respite from this but they haven't really been feeling it and with the in just a bit further reduction of fuel subsidies that should be coming it's a strike this year it will continue to give momentum to the inflationary challenges that the country already faces mohamed el masry why is the outside world been relatively quiet about him being in the top job and how he does it when he occupies that office because you know about it was there for a long time he was kind of normalized there was a distinct sense with him latterly before the arab spring there was a sense that yes we can work within one thinking about the relationship with the

united states peace in the middle east the palestinian territories etc but with l.c.c. the sense the feeling is something different. you know well when you say the outside world i mean it really depends on who you're talking about i mean if you're talking about saudi arabia and the united arab emirates and other allies in the arab region it's pretty clear why they want the egyptian military establishment to remain strong and to remain powerful they're opposed to any sort of democratic movement or momentum in the area because they're scared about their own holds over over power in terms of the west i think that western governments have made some strategic miscalculations you know the obama administration had a brief window of opportunity in two thousand and thirteen to simply declare what happened in egypt a military coup d'etat which would have been forced the united states out of its funding relationship with the egyptian military the u.s. would have been forced by american law to stop funding the egyptian military. there

obama administration opted to continue its relationship and it's been more or less business business as usual and i think the reason i don't agree with it but i think the reason why is they perceive sisi and other authoritarian leaders to be capable of bringing about the kind of long term stability in the region that they that they desire and being able to more broadly help achieve american and other western strategic interests i think that's a miscalculation for many reasons but if you look at the last five years and i think timothy was speaking to this there have been there's been more instability in egypt over the last five years post-coup than at any other time in egypt's modern history there been more terrorist attacks more violence by vigilante groups and also by the state than in other than any other point in time so sisi has failed on that front he's failed on the economic front as timothy was also speaking to and on and in other areas as well james in brussels clearly he's

a clever guy but does he know that his popularity is waning the there's the issue of the two islands that he has in effect gifted to saudi arabia the austerity message is not popular toll across the country and the economy is not flat lining but it's going down the way. well yes a certain popularity had to come down from the stratospheric heights that he enjoyed two or three years ago but on the economy. here i'm going to have to disagree with the previous speaker i think that's an area where there have been developments i'm not saying that's necessarily because of the type of governance that egypt's had over the last two or three years is to do with many other. things but a point to have been lucky there of a major gas discoveries in the eastern mediterranean which will make a big difference to the country in the next ten twenty years they have had a fairly successful i.m.f. program in place for the last two or three years i know it's plain to some extent of the inflation of a couple of years ago and people continue to look upon it critically but it has

made some difference on the fuel subsidy and frankly speaking that's good riddance to it most of the people that benefited from the fuel subsidy it were the rich the elite diplomats like i was i mean we used to pay a pittance for petrol it was quite scandalous of this was the case and the fuel subsidy frankly speaking was really doing nothing for the poor and the unemployed in the country now the country does have an opportunity ahead of it in the next few years to actually develop reasonably well forecasts are showing five percent plus growth it's not brilliant but it's not bad on employment has come down just a tick in the last twelve months there is a possibility of going forward here but i wonder whether these are members in the constitution will really help that i don't think so they talk about stability was the ability fine but if you're going to have a situation where you don't have a good dialogue between the different sectors of society you're not nice the business elites and the government and the governance and if you're going to have

difficulties with military involvement in the economy which of course is another issue which has come to the horn the last couple of years you're going to have difficulty at the end of the day in raising the egyptian economies competitiveness and sustainability in the longer term ok and just let me interrupt you because we'll get on solution in the program. and i do want to hit a couple of final points first point you mohamed el masry here in doha fast forward twenty thirty four and we've had in power for all those he is would you would you recognize egypt then compared to what it is today egypt's been more or less the same authoritarian state for the better part of sixty years so i guess i guess yes . i would expect also if if he's still alive in two thousand and thirty four that there would be another amendment to give him a lifetime you know lifetime rule very briefly if i may this idea that ccs popularity was at stratospheric heights back a few years ago is is not really accurate the only opinion polling data that we

have a scientific opinion polling dating that data that we have from two thousand and thirteen at his height is from zogby and pew and they both put his popularity his approval rating at about fifty percent which was about the same as the president that he ousted mohamed morsi. and on the economy quickly it's true that some of the macro level measures show that egypt has improved but at the micro level which is what timothy was speaking about for the average egyptian things have become almost unbearable timothy held us in cairo are we also saying that his true ability to carry on as president of egypt really comes down to three things i guess trumps patronage because you already talked about the u.s. administration and also the american and the israeli belief that he can keep a lid on the country because that's got to be a mirroring function of their strategic interests in the region i don't think i

would limit his longevity to external support and is a lot of internal variables within the government the different centers of power within the regime and how everything gets negotiated he has been very effective at consolidating that power and putting loyalists and very powerful positions such as minister of defense head of the intelligence service center. that said i would i would also expand the pool of external support to europe europe has basically concluded that if c.c. is he is useful to them or supportive to their agenda preventing migration from egypt then. his other crimes can be overlooked. while they might make comments about them in press conferences it doesn't affect them it's your relationship whether it be related to arms sales or. or other trade deals the reality is that. the presidency she is seen as the devil they know and one that they can do business with and they have james moron in brussels is there also a chance here that he might react in the worst possible way if he thinks his his

potential problems are mounting and increasing exponentially. i'm not quite sure what you mean by that react against whom react against the people react against other politicians he is known as being very very authoritarian ism i don't think that is going to happen anytime soon. my feeling having returned to egypt number of times since being the president is that there's a certain fatalism in the country about what is to come in the years ahead. there is also still a worry i think in the general population about the return of instability in the streets and whilst his popularity certainly whatever we. have of figures we take his popularity is nowhere near what it used to be when he first came in there was a lack of for the time being of a credible alternative leadership that is partly explained of course by the policies of the regime itself in terms of oppression and so on but i think for the next few years. he is relatively secure and i don't think we're going to see any

great civil unrest from either side in the years to come what i what i really worry about here is that this constitutional amendment process is basically throwing what's left of the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to the more positive changes that came after the revolution of two thousand the ok that is a great pity and a great shame i just want to put the last point of the program to timothy called us in cairo you were there timothy ground zero have we been asking the wrong question on the program today should the question really have been when is the next revolution coming in egypt and i'm asking that quite seriously because it occurs to me that you know mohammed was saying basically we've had a military dictatorship or something they're all for close to the past what fifty five sixty years but timothy should the question be it's all going to change but we just can't anticipate when i don't think that we have a realistic way of predicting that. and it gets asked a lot i think every time there's a little bit of unrest there's a little bit of activity people jump to conclusions grounded largely in wishful

thinking about what in. i mean i mean when they were reshuffles of the security apparatus. a year ago and c.c. was replacing the defense minister and his intelligence people thought that oh there's turmoil in the regime and we can in reality he consolidated are very effectively without any consequences measure put his loyalists in these extremely powerful positions and lock up the former head of the armed forces so that in the seventy two hours so i mean the end he's clearly sticking around but is it possible that people reach a breaking points given all the economic pressure they're under short is there any sense of inevitability on that front i don't think so i mean also keep in mind that from the perspective of most egyptians they've overthrown two governments in the last several years and their lives have more or less gotten economically worse after each instance of that so there's also limited faith in the ability of an uprising to deliver positive change and convincing them otherwise is going to be part of the challenge going forward should they seek to try to bring an end to this authoritarian rule gentlemen we must leave it there thanks to all our guests

timothy held us mohamed el masry and james moran and thank you to you too for watching you can see the show again any time to the website al-jazeera dot com and for more discussion go to our facebook page facebook dot com forward slash inside story you can also join the conversation on twitter at a.j. inside story or at the top don't be one for me to don't be on the team here in doha thanks for watching all of it all again this time tomorrow. afghanistan has the geology both mentally resources are under her why are they so

poor emotional you guys when finally form a government. the toxic land essentially now and the more we let close down the more they push back we knew it was coming the question was do we sit back and wait or do we surprise them with a preemptive strike talking. on just. what. i'm. hearing. this is al jazeera. hello from doha everyone i'm come all sons of maria and this is the news hour from

al-jazeera the un special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions has jamal khashoggi died in a brutal premeditated killing carried out by saudi arabia's state officials. also looking for a resolution in venezuela or a dozen countries from europe and latin america mates to decide how to deal with the crisis. raised with the president chose the language that he used yesterday which was not helpful and cools widespread dismay in the united kingdom and mind your language history so major the european council president on the toast and brussels. he says there's been little progress from her visit but the bags of talks will continue. and in school the newly reelected head of european football sends out a warning to face the boss johnny in front say no alexander says he won't be a yes man as in fancy nine pushes his plan to create new competitions.

so the un special rapporteur investigating the murder of jamal khashoggi says evidence shows the journalist was the victim of a brutal premeditated killing by saudi arabian officials agnes has released part of a report saying the murder was the grave violation of the most fundamental of all rights the right to life the special rapporteur to travel to ankara and istanbul with a team of experts to investigate the murder well her preliminary findings conclude that saudi arabia seriously undermined turkey's efforts to investigate because the murder at its consulate in istanbul she asked for an official visit to saudi arabia over what she calls major concerns about the fairness in the trial of eleven suspects so we've got cynical. correspondent in istanbul what each take us through a little more detail of what's come out from the special report. oh

well it is very important that agnes color mars reports actually reports the first initial report is actually. complementing what turkey has been saying since the beginning of this investigation she has appreciated turkey's efforts in terms of crime investigation evidence collecting being impartial independent and transparent and being in line with international law of course and this is something that turkish officials are going to be very happy about the details of the report actually will it will come out soon when the main report is going to be published in june but. this caller mark has very important points the first one is that she has defined that the market should she was brutally murdered by officers of the state of saudi arabia actually she hasn't mentioned whether these are senior officers are or they are very close to the royal family may need the crown prince

mohammed bin sandman but she has defined that it was premeditated planned by the saudi state and so this is something very important to be said from from the top international community who are old wide and she actually makes a call to all international institutions and international community that there is a big violation in terms of international law and diplomacy and she defines irresponsible behavior attitude of the saudi officials and diplomats in turkey as immunity for impunity so actually she's trying to she means that everything the what happened in the saudi consulate which is right behind me right now was done under the cover of a diplomatic mission so this is very important also she has mentioned that she is waiting for some more evidence to receive it from the turkish officials because as

far as i have spoken to turkish officials during her. visit on correct she has asked for crime scene investigation reports as well as the older recordings that tell that show. she was murdered by the saudi officials inside the cone slate and just one day before her departure from turkey turkish intelligence made her listen to that audio recordings this is what we have confirmed from the turkish side but of course she wasn't given that she wasn't given that material because since it is an intelligence gathered material according to turkish laws and international laws these kinds of evidence cannot be considered as a primary evidence in an investigation file but turkish officials say that since the investigation is still under way in turkey the indictment hasn't been out yet because it just but it is still not found hasn't been found that's why turkish officials are not able to give all the information old evidence actually old

evidence to agnes column art but it seems that her trip was satisfying from turkey and she will be chasing after jamal his murder investigation simcoe silly with that update from outside the saudi consulate in istanbul thank you let's talk now to new bol who is a nonresident fellow at the gulf international forum he's in washington d.c. so tell us about the weights that this adds because what the special rapporteur are saying isn't exactly new it is what has been presented by a number of sides already but does this add real weight to the argument. well to add to this special reparatory visit to istanbul today and the wall street journal just reported here in the united states this saudi authorities had conducted their own investigation which was based on the text

messages between prince mohammad of saudi arabia and his chief in force or. tani who has been widely considered here in the united states to be the person orchestrating the murder and the operation leading up to the murder of her show. the wall street journal today said that that the internal saudi probe had determined that there was no link between prince mom and and and and subtle qahtani on this issue why is this significant because it coincides precisely with this special ruppert tore who is now in turkey and trying to you know to bring a very sensitive diplomatic process between saudi arabia and turkey and intuitive the united nations while on that point what can the united nations actually do or any particular of the united nations do it strikes me that there's often calls for

independent investigations all of this from the u.n. but they can be selectively listened to will selectively adhered to. yes i think i think that as your correspondent just reported and a segment before i came on was that to turkish authorities decided not to share all the evidence as of yet with the repertory. beyond what is already known publicly the question is this is that will they wrap or tourists report potentially to the united nations secretary general will that be released or will the turkish authorities seek to. bring back report before the united nations security council and if so then do then how will the united states respond to this issue saudi arabia so this is an extraordinary company complex diplomatic game that is unfolding does it need

pressure from one country in particular and by that i mean the united states i mean i know there is a there is a movement there at the moment with the magnitsky act which has been invoked and there waiting for response from donald trump there doesn't need some real whites from there and is there any chance of that coming. i think that that's exactly why the turkish authorities are not pushing this issue. far as they could at this moment because we know that the democrats who control the house of representatives here in the united states are launching their own investigations into this matter and whether or not there will be some sort of a bit of an understanding between democrats and a trumpet in the straight on how to proceed on this issue and how to deal with saudi arabia on the show jim murder that that of course remains to be seen and in the meantime i think that the turkish authorities are are they were escalating some of the pressures through corporation with the repertory but they're not they're not that taking it as far as they could because their political conditions in the

united states are not ripe at this moment so joining us from washington to talk through this latest developments in the case of jamal khashoggi thank you there's another organization seeking action as well for killing that's the committee to protect journalists c p j it's called for accountability at a news conference in front of the white house earlier on thursday once the trumpet ministration to send a stronger message to the saudi government the most chilling message sent by the murder of jamal her show she is that no one is safe from saudi arabia's brutal reach. but this need not be true a strong response from the u.s. government and from president obama himself and other governments would send a message to the saudi authorities that acts such as the murder of jamal his show she will not be tolerated or moving to other news and talks aimed at ending

venezuela's crisis have begun european leaders in latin american ministers meeting in europe capital montevideo president nicolas maduro is backing the dialogue the opposition is more skeptical. iraq if you could. i ratify the support of a full staged plan of the montevideo is mechanism integrated by the government of mexico fourteen countries of the caribbean and i believe we are proposing we are ready to participate in a process of sovereign prosecution dialogue look for a national agenda up agreements and understanding. or of his down in montevideo with the talks are taking place. any word yet there they've been meeting for what three hours or so no. coming up for four hours now i mean we're in the press center now awaiting the arrival of some of the delegates should be here any minute now there's going to keen sense of expectation here i

mean these thirteen representatives thirteen delegations represent very disparate views seven of the eight european union countries supporting the interim president on white all countries in latin america and specifically bolivia still giving their support to legalism a dawdle while europe y. and mexico are very neutral on this hoping they can bring these disparate disparate views together to come to some kind of agreement about the way forward what will be much much harder will will be whether that agreement which will put to the united nations will then be acceptable to the two very polarized views in venezuela itself as you mentioned because my daughter has said he does support the talks. right though has said that that is merely a delaying tactic by the president to try and manipulate the situation so that he can stay in power so you're far more skeptical that this is what is happening this is the big international push to try and find some kind of solution to this is what this poll.