more than doubled in size since nine hundred seventy nine and that revolution when this i call this behind me which was a celebration of two thousand five hundred years all imperial rule of the show had it built for that purpose has turned into a difference and will warn of islamic revolution war on that will in july according to the leadership of this country anderson is live in tehran all right now let's go to another of our correspondents in iran for this momentous moment. and zain you're in mashad which is one of the who list cities in iran isn't it it's got a great deal of significance in terms of the supremely differences tell us more about where you are. well here in my show one of the religious heartlands of iran along with the seminary city of qom this is really where a lot of the conservative and root religious and political conservative leaders and

people have their base we've got a shrine just behind me where. one of the descendants of the prophet who died here is buried and that is a very significant landmark here in the city and this is really is a stronghold for people with religious and political conservative belief systems it's a little early for many of the current supreme leader was born here and this is very much his home and the people here despite the economic trouble the country has faced this fight the sort of gray areas within which people in tehran for instance might start to feel disillusioned about the clerical system of government the people that we met here at the rally today were really unflinching unwavering in their support of the religious system of government that came into place after the one nine hundred seventy nine revolution and i think one of the most potent examples that we had today we met a woman with her. and as they were both standing there in front of him she told us

that she loved the supreme leader more than she loves her own husband at which point he did laugh so perhaps that is a testament so it's a little mini charisma but more likely an example of how much people here support the idea of a supreme islam leader overseeing all institutions of the country often at the disadvantage of elected officials in iran so in places like this in a form and much in other parts of the country where people are more religious or more fervent in their belief in the islamic system of government the economic troubles that the country have spares seen is definitely something that is a concern to them but it's not something that is at all so upsetting that it's disrupting their belief or faith in the clerical system of government that's been in place for now for decades they must live in mashad way here in doha with me on set is correspondent. and you've lived and worked in

iran you are in a radian give us an idea of how young people feel much is made of this demographic change that forty years is seen in iran greater number of young people many of whom are on the employed i think that's one of the key issues at the moment and that's one of the things the president also referred to in his speech he said that our government is not without its share of problems he acknowledged that even the supreme leader on saturday in a speech he delivered he said the spite everything we've been jord in iran over the past forty years nothing is perfect we realize that and i think that's something that they are addressing now more than ever before because they realize this generation the main thing that they're asking for is job security jobs to begin with that has been one of the main issues which under the. government began with the sanctions that was imposed on iran and that really young people felt then and.

never really recovered from that since so the government is now trying to address the issue and do young people blame the current leadership of the leadership in place when this problem first became majorly identified like in their job or do they blame the imposition of sanctions from outside most of the people i've spoken to over the past few years they blame the outside world they blame the west for bullying iran they believe that their country's security apparatus its defense program should not be determined by the west they believe they have the right to develop their own programs regardless of outside influence it is a matter of national pride and national interest so they see the west as being the bully and they think iran has a right to work on its own programs despite the pressure from the outside so despite the hardships the economic hardships the prospects the lack of prospects i should say in iran does that has that shaken the fundamental saith if you like of

many young people in this cleric who system of government. i think if the certain general groups are raised in a very religious environment in the country and it you know you have to remember iran has always been quite a religious country even during the shah that was one of the issues and one of the . reasons that led to this revolution the religious factor has always been present in the culture and to ignore that i think is will be an issue so it depends really which sector you speak to but that will always be present i think in this culture girls thank you. we've got a lot more to come on this hour including where is jamal khashoggi his body saudi arabia says it still doesn't know and. we look at the challenges facing nigeria as the country prepares for general elections on saturday and in sport fresh concerns are also racing in britain as more cases of acquiring flu are detected you will

have the details shortly. now a top u.s. official is in afghanistan in the latest step towards trying to end the seventeen year war actually in defense secretary patrick shanahan is making the unannounced visit to the capital kabul he's meeting u.s. military officials as well as the afghan president himself ashraf ghani to talk about national security shanahan says it's crucial the government is part of peace talks with the taliban it's so far been sidelined because the taliban doesn't regard the afghan government as being the gypsum it tony berkeley has the latest from the capital kabul. pat shanahan will want to reassure the afghan government that it has not been sidelined from these peace negotiations even though the taliban has said in the past they will not directly negotiate with them mr shanahan

has said that the peace ultimately lies with the afghan people and he said that the afghan government should be part of that peace negotiation process the taliban has been talking directly to the u.s. there is concern about what speed is going for this peace process mr. has said that he's hopeful that the some kind of deal on the table by july that's worrying some people because after eighteen years of conflict they're wondering worrying that how can you have a solution after just a few months mr shanahan has said that there was no instructions for the u.s. to withdraw any troops yet the taliban had said there was an agreement that seven thousand of the fourteen thousand force would be withdrawn by april he said that's not true but this concern also about does the taliban represent all factions opposed to the government and the answer is we don't know that there are many factions that have a county network for example they've been operating they've carried out some brutal and barbaric killings and suicide bombings and we don't know if the taliban

negotiators are talking for all of them we also have the eisel factor their establishment in eastern afghanistan and there is concern that if isis pushed out of syria those fighters will end up here in eastern afghanistan and that could be a big problem because as we know eisel and is not prepared to negotiate is prepared to fight. well that was tony berkeley our correspondent in kabul now we can speak to michael semple who's a research professor at queen's university belfast and was deputy you special representative for afghanistan and michael's actually negotiated with the taliban he's joining us now from the irish capital dublin michael thank you for joining us is it really is it realistic at this stage to be talking about a peace process now that the u.s. is applying its attention to the situation in afghanistan. there is a very serious initiative underway up the moment to try and achieve peace and i've

been following this for we're well nigh twenty years now and this is the most conservative effort that i have seen. their fall when we see the u.s. acting defense secretary go to kabul presumably with a message to try to comfort if you like the the government of us afghani and try to get him involved with these talks that have been going on so far between the u.s. and the taliban and and excluding the government i mean if you get a managed to persuade them to get on board. well of fish you know the acting secretary he said that he wants to have your fourteen report for president trump but obviously he's going to be facing a lot of tough questions in kabul and those questions will be about both the peace and about ongoing security concerns and inevitably he's going to be asked about you know is there a timetable for the the withdrawal of the u.s. troops how serious is the u.s. about calling its troops out but he will also be asked about the you know they're

all going security commitments so i have concluded that the only way we're going to see peace in afghanistan is if it is possible to secure the existing political system in kabul and i know that president danny and the people there will be asking him how strong is the enduring commitment to the u.s. to making sure that he we don't just get a collapse of the regime and a return to civil war and in the meantime afghanis government have to be making fairly sort of conciliatory overtures towards the taliban haven't they most recently suggesting that they can open up offices anywhere they like in the country . yes i mean i think that there are shivani is as well aware that in making that kind of gesture i mean he's putting out a positive signal but he probably knows that the taliban have no particular interest in having an office there and in kabul and that's a long way down the road we see you know lots of evidence of compromise from the

afghan government side on the sort of the you know other political figures in kabul now we have to see some movement from the taliban to compromise because although they were interesting you know to enter the discussions in culture a couple of weeks ago about you know possible that possible security cooperation security agreements or at least they you want to allow the the withdrawal of u.s. troops and there's no news of the taliban compromising on talking with the afghan government compromising on entering a here and you're entering the administration there or even offering a cease fire so that you know that right the grim reality is the taliban are preparing to resume the conflict with their spring offensive and i'm like a final question is is it conceivable that a peace can be achieved without that direct negotiations between the taliban and the afghan government absolutely inconceivable that there's going to have to be

a participation of problems in peace talks and that is impossible without the participation holds the afghan government michael semple live from the irish cathal dublin thank you thank you. nicolas maduro has vowed to defend venezuela against any attacks the president says his soldiers are ready to fight the u.s. and the rest of his enemies president may do it as a paired on television with his vice president and his defense minister it was at military exercises in the northern state of midland. today the most important military exercises that are republican history recalls have been successfully initiated throughout the national territory the most important because of the situation we are living in of real threat from the imperialist government of donald trump against the peace of venezuela the head of the empire has threatened us and that is generated indignation rejection by all the

people of venezuela and of the world's public opinion i'm a mom the opposition leader says efforts to stop a getting into venezuela are quote a crime against humanity tons of food or medicine sent from the us have been stuck on the colombian border since there's a venezuela's military is refused to let it in under orders from the president president maduro says the aid is part of a u.s. plot to remove him from power why does says you'll use volunteers to open up new ways of getting aid into the country. i understand that they want to block the aid because that's what the victimizer does it makes them seem almost genocidal by their actions they're killing venezuelans killing children who are protesting killing fernando abandon opposition lawmaker i understand that they would want to deny this and not allowing the humanitarian aid the regime should

know if this is a crime against humanity gentlemen of the armed forces. or venezuela's economic culture of his hurting its most vulnerable people latin america editor lucio newman has been to a care home to see how residents are coping there. this is hill of hope in western venezuela in old age home where destitute or abandon senior citizens are meant to live out their last years with dignity. but as always in times of acute economic hardship it's the youngest and the oldest who suffer most in the absence of full time staff seventy nine year old. keeps the gate locked and helps those who can't walk because he still can. we help each other out amongst ourselves michael most everyone he suffers from hypertension but there's no medicine here. and solace could walk and see when he came here three years ago now he's blind from untreated cataracts can't walk and his tormented by

a hernia i think. last night i was in terrible pain. i cry from the pain. i am very sad. only god knows how long i'll remain. sometimes there's nothing to eat we have no help from the government there is no one to help us. the home is a foundation that runs on donations but they've dried up so there are no nurses or doctors and very very little food. the cook says it wasn't always that way. they used to throw away to food once there was abandoned. until the crisis came the crisis began six years ago she says most of the donors

have left the country hyperinflation has led to widespread poverty and scarcity of almost everything. it's time for dinner and so on you have a c.e.o. who's confined to a wheelchair helps guide for the beneath this who's blind to the dining room and this is the dinner for the i will eat also grandfathers as they're called it's corn flour boiled in water because we're told it's been more than a year since they received any donations of milk and this will be the last thing they're going to eat until tomorrow. the cook and the cleaner will be leaving soon and they'll be left alone to put themselves to bed no later than six so they won't feel so hungry until breakfast. they are resigned they say to being forgotten in a country with so many other desperate needs. to see in human. in this way. in just a couple of moments one of the weather with rob also coming up here on the

al-jazeera news hour egypt's president takes over as chairman of the african union will have a report from the ethiopian capital addis ababa flying into extinction scientists warn insects could vanish within the next hundred years and why that's catastrophic for the world and in sport the formula one car made entirely of lego joe will tell you how much it's sold for at auction in paris. hello summer is synonymous with fire season wildfire season and new zealand's involved this summer that is at its worst and such that you're looking at pictures from around the town of nelson which is the north of scientology now it's not contained yet but he's much better than it was the scale is different now you might

find in california which i suppose is lucky but was still talking about the best part of three thousand hectares curtain destroyed and the fire hasn't gone out and circulating low he suggests is still a fair old breeze the things i think are on the improve is no particular rain coming in this direction but the winds are slowly lightning now if you remember back about a month before we had very high temperatures and far as it australian tasmania in victoria and in new south wales where the fire season still with us here but the temperatures are rather different matter karen and this is rather more reminiscent of what you might find in spring or autumn that is something this is a cold front coming into the coast of victoria and south australia is a big difference on the temperature is the highest temperatures now are a long way further inland that four in brisbane thirty five in cantu in diamond low twenty's at best to sas per stick a bit better but maybe the telling thing is a difference from where it should be in adelaide it's only ten degrees colder than

xin norm surprisingly and in the tropics it's four degrees above average. the weather sponsored time anyway. when the news breaks a few minutes ago we were able to hear a huge explosion fifty people are still missing when people need to be heard and the story needs to be told we need to invest in development meter and best making sure the people on the left behind al-jazeera has teams on the ground join us for this historic shift in american politics to bring you more room to move we need documentaries and life moves on and online take the worst possible material you radio grounded into dust comparable to flour and make up. and put it into place where people live there is a cause. as well and so many people are thinking this is the silent heat. but does it make you feel like you feel like

a murderer we have created an enormous amount of mental disaster. and investigation south africa toxic city on al-jazeera. ok time for a single of the top stories here on the out jazeera news out iran's president hassan rouhani says the country little continue to expand its ballistic missile program he's been addressing tens of thousands of people to mark the fortieth anniversary of the islamic revolution. the united states acting defense secretary is in afghanistan for peace talks with president ashraf colony patrick shanahan

wants to encourage the government to involve the taliban in its negotiations to end the seventeen year war. venezuela's president says his military is ready to fight the u.s. and other enemies but opposition leader and self declared interim president while the why don't warms nicolas maduro blocking aid saying it's almost genocidal to do it. that was the final day of the african union summit in ethiopian capital addis ababa egypt's new president abdel fattah el-sisi has now taken over as chairman of the group he's taken over from the rwandan president paul kagame e it marks the end of program is reformist tenure at the helm of the organization this year's focus is to be refugees and internally displaced people back home web has more from the summit in sunday's closed session they talked entirely about peace and security in the peace and security council presented their report on all

member states to african heads of state who had gathered included sections that were critical of the actions of the governments of the room the unka morris in their respective political crises both of those countries requested those sections to be removed from the report but they failed to get that done that ultimately it is just a report that is no action expected to come out of it now in the coming hours heads of state are due to arrive in on today's agenda this climate change migration also president mohamed hari of nigeria is due to report on the african union of fighting corruption that was last seen now according to the african union's own figures about one hundred forty billion dollars is lost every year in africa corruption that's about a quarter of the continent g.d.p. and the didn't result in any binding agreements nothing that could ultimately lead towards the prosecution of anyone in any of the member states in observers pretty

much agreed that that amounted to nothing much more than a talking point. all right let's hear about mount to our top story that of course of the fortieth anniversary of the rainier revolution we can now speak to him he'd raise a harlem's a day who is a political analysts and journalists and he's joining us live from the capital tehran thank you for talking to us i'm just wondering what has been the impact upon president rouhani and his supporters who are widely considered to be the reformist angle in terms of the leadership of iran what kind of impact has the tearing up of that nuclear deal of twenty fifteen had upon him and his cause. actually when we're talking about an event like today the diversity of the revolution is not something partisan issue it's something for both sides on both counts either conservatives or reformist was very calm that saw what we saw today

in under streets of iran not only in tehran and across the country millions of people attending the rallies it was actually a demonstration assuring of their support for the islamic revolution as a whole but you have loans both said they leave this earth forgive me for jumping in but the leadership of iran has to deal with what are the the toughest sanctions ever imposed by the united states on a country that is something that has real manifestations for all of you in iran. that's actually what i wanted to mention that. as now i have understood i have realized by heart that the sanctions are the problems are not going to be so on the by. a or by any further negotiations we do not is the specially when we have those instruments administration at the white house so what we have here in your one is

that people are dissatisfied with the economy situation with the situation that we have been in you want but it doesn't mean that they aren't looking outside you are for the solution to that they are understanding and they have actually realised that this solution is inside the door and can be solved and resolved by efficiency of the government and that's why it's not only the opponents of pros and the army but also the provenance of and supporters offers and warnie are demanding the government to turn up today is support to show dad they are supporting the drug allusion but yet they demand the government to act more efficient the to solve the situation whether it is under the sanctions or not because of course iran today is a very different country to that of forty years ago there are many people young people who have never lived in a country without the islamic revolution and they're demanding jobs they're

demanding more freedoms greater freedoms that it seems the clerical regime in iran is prepared to give at the moment. that's the point this same generation including myself with a nurse for example over the hatami who was successful in improving economy having a positive economic growth and fixing many things we have seen various presidents in the war and we have seen different types of history and what the are capable of doing if they do it effectively so that's the point they have been know that there are good jobs possible to be made there are economic growth possible to be made by the that doesn't necessarily need a foreign intervention and the real we actually know that is inside the

country and that's what they demand they need jobs of course they do need jobs but it is just it doesn't come from out of the war and it doesn't come from let's say for example other countries in the region or for are there on the other side of the war in not this stage to have a regime change or something like that to fix such problems right it's a problems need and governments thank you i have to jump in there were other time had to raise a harlem's our day thank you very much indeed for taking the time to talk to us thank you very much that saudi arabia says it doesn't know where the body of the murdered journalist jamal khashoggi is in an interview on u.s. t.v. the minister of state for foreign affairs says the kingdom is still investigating and allowed to bear accuses turkey of not sharing intelligence jamal khashoggi was killed in october in the saudi consulate in istanbul. where is jamal khashoggi we don't know what do you mean you don't know we don't know they said that the public

prosecutor is working to try to establish this fact we have asked for evidence from turkey he asked them several times formally through formal legal channels to provide evidence we're still waiting to receive any of. that africa's most populous nation its biggest economy is juda vote in presidential and parliamentary elections on saturday night gere is muhammadu buhari is running again for a second term and the election commission office there has been burned down but that hasn't dampened the fervor ahead of the big day digits reports from my degree in northeastern nigeria where preparations are under way. nigeria's president. in the final push for votes ahead of the country's presidential election. it's been a long tough campaign season. his main challenger is businessman and former vice president. who vows to deny him a second term. as a complete grows to

a close attention shifts to the election commission which has come under close scrutiny and attacks. will go to the left the party accuses us of pandering to the opposition party where we go to the right do position party activists also pandering to the weeds like up with this of the of the of the of the ruling party because their commissions we have sworn to do what is right to look at the justice of the case and also to make sure that our primary constitutes remains the nigerian people and the voting public. voting machines have been delivered across the country ballot papers will follow. last minute tests are underway the election commission has registered one to one political party some one to three of these of wine for the post of president election officials say they are ready despite the logistical challenges now waters on the other hand face some difficulties of well

they have to go through a list of nine hundred tickle parties on the ballot to choose their candidate. some three hundred thousand policemen will provide security during the vote along with thousands of other security personnel. the army is also ready to help but it's warning it's all just to stick clear of politics. of conduct. the provisions the biggest task goes to the voters more than eighty four million people are registered their job is to elect the president one hundred nine senators and three hundred sixty members of house of representatives two weeks later voters will be asked to come out again to choose governors and members of state bar but. other

trees are just way too greedy northeast nigeria. after three decades north of macedonia and greece of four say the name greece's neighbor would adopt and his claim to alexander the great has its national here and now that political issues seem to have been laid to rest in two countries are discovering a close economic relationship could be the basis for a feature of friendship reports from sculpey. she has traveled two hundred sixty kilometers from her hometown in central greece to fix her teeth over the border in north macedonia she can no longer afford greek dentists who charge two to three times the prices here and the bus that brought her is free operated by the clinic. i'm very satisfied the surgery is amazing much better than what we have in greece they do x. rays and cat scans on one really increase they send you left and right and the infrastructure is not the same order in fact every client is greek victims of the

economic crisis that has claimed a third of their living standards many come here to shop by cheaper petrol for their cars according to one study greek consumers spend half a billion dollars a year in north macedonia it's their business if this clinic alone provides work for a staff of fifty after taking a quick thinking is separating them this clinic started ten years ago with the idea that it would serve as patients from greece we started small with four people and we see more than thirty five thousand patients during that time some worry about this capital flight hundreds of greek companies have fled a corporate tax rate of twenty nine percent in favor of north macedonia's ten percent tax and they employ north macedonians for an average of four hundred fifty dollars a month two thirds of the greek minimum wage greek companies own the largest supermarket chain here the largest network of petrol stations and sole refinery and one of the largest high street banks greece was consistently the top foreign investor in

northwest since the fall of communism and even after it fell to third place during its prolonged economic crisis it still manages to sink more than half a billion dollars a year into this economy accounting for ten percent of foreign investment there are currently some four hundred great companies here representing investments of two billion dollars this vision was impossible two decades ago when greece imposed a trade embargo on this country the economic and political war over the. tree's name is now over leaving only cultural issues to be settled the first time in europe. this kind of problem which requires a war sounds what we know we managed to do it on the table even not to start the war that may be because people remember the last war who is himself greek the son of communists forced to flee behind the iron curtain into what was then yugoslavia after the law.