it's a well it's generally that's right out of the script that calls for the and i allays . that is not what that phrase means. as we turn the cameras on the media focus on how they were on the stories that matter the most in bad news a free palestine. on al-jazeera. the trial of those who spearheaded an independence movement in catalonia is set to start in madrid. you're watching al-jazeera life from a headquarters and. also ahead. just so you know what building the already promises from donald trump but a deal to avert another u.s.

government shutdown won't provide all the border funding he wants. airstrikes cause more casualties in the besieged syrian from the village of more than a dozen people are killed as they try to escape the venezuelan government hands out to citizens on the border and announces plans to audit the assets of opposition leader by doe. hello a movement that has divided spain and brought millions out into the streets is about to enter a new chapter in a mad red courts twelve leaders of the catalan separate us movement are due to go on trial in the spanish capital in a few minutes some face up to twenty five years in prison in prison for what the spanish national government calls a rebellion david chaytor is following us from madrid and this is a highly significant trial david.

yes it's the biggest trial that we've seen like this in spain for decades frankly it's a very controversial affair it's very divisive now the twelve of catalan separatists leaders have arrived in the cold building there were a taken in a convoy with police from the prison outside madrid proceedings will start shortly now according to the countdown separatists themselves this is nothing but a show trial and the real trial is of the institutions judicial and democratic institutions of spain itself it's a shameful mirror as kim tore of the catalan president put it not just been speaking to the vice president as well he repeated that this is a political problem and it can only be solved politically but to course it is creating great political tone mall here and a lot of divisions that see what's been happening. the

message was clear a united spain and elections now. forty five thousand demonstrators from the center and far right gathered in madrid called on square this weekend on the eve of the trial they accuse the socialists that minority government of treason for offering to hold roundtable talks with separatists to diffuse the cattle and crisis amid the growing tensions lawyers defending the catalan leaders who face charges of rebellion and a maximum prison sentence of twenty five years condemned the whole process better for them and then in the book is this the trial is taking place in madrid spain capital a supposedly democratic country a member of the european union but for us this is a trial against the ballot box a trial against democracy. why are they being accused of rebellion in order to mung other things to suspend their political rights which is the only way to stop them

standing in elections. the key issue in the trial will be the final and sobre cow during the catalan referendum in twenty seventeen to make the charge of rebellion stick the court will have to prove it was deliberately provoked by the defendants their lawyers will argue it was provoked by the police. or lies in spain will be on this building the supreme court in madrid for the start of the trial or eyes that is apart from the socialist prime minister pedro sanchez he's more worried about trying to get his budget through the building just around the corner from here the parliament. to do that he'll need to support of catalan separatist m.p.'s the state news agency has already put out reports that he'll call a snap election for april if he doesn't get that backing. this trial is set to last for three months we won't get

a verdict probably until august and it's creating huge divisions here not least of course because of the demands by the center and the right wing for elections now and that is a problem for petro sanchez the prime minister who leads a minority government here he relies on the support of cat cattle and separatists and peas in parliament and he fails to get his budget through tomorrow that could mean he will call early elections and that is a way he hopes of bringing the catalan separatists m.p.'s on to his side so he can try and start talks once again with the a catalan separatists which is so in raging the right wing so a lot of turmoil here a lot of deep divisions and this will just continue during the three months of this trial david taylor with an update from madrid david thank you. now republicans and democrats in the us have reached a tentative funding deal to avoid another government shutdown it includes funding

for president donald trump's border wall with mexico it's still unclear how much money has been allocated for the project but congressional aides have been quoted as saying it's as much as one point seven five billion dollars but that falls well short of the white house's demand for five point seven billion and there's still no guarantee the deal will go through as it still has them to pass the house and the senate's president trump will also have to agree to sign it rob reynolds has more from the border city of el paso where trump has been campaigning for the wall. president donald trump came to the west texas town of el paso calling again for a border wall and railing against migrants he claimed bringing in crime and drug use when you have thousands and thousands of people coming from guatemala from honduras and el salvador and they march up through mexico and by the way if we didn't have walls in those areas in some cases that we put up in many cases where

we reinforce in many cases where our great military helped us with barbed wire. you would have people pouring in trunk is not popular in el paso he won only about twenty five percent of the vote here in twenty sixteen while the president was being cheered by his supporters inside the el paso county coliseum a protest of his visit was underway outside led by former el paso congressman and potential democratic presidential contender in two thousand and twenty or rourke o'rourke pushed back against trump's message of fear let's make sure that we refer be some fellow human beings with kindness with respects with the. unity let's not be afraid of our own shadow or who we are let's own this moment in the future and

show the country there's nothing to be afraid of when it comes to the us mexico border. many people here are upset with trump's false claims that el paso was a cesspool of crime and violence before a border barrier was built here in two thousand and eight and last time he said a couple of lines so i don't. i don't know if you care to like how my lines as lived here all my life i will say the mayor of el paso and other officials have pointed out the city was among the safest in the u.s. even before the border barrier was built but trump scoffed at the local officials and their facts i don't care whether a mare's a republican or a democrat they're full of crap when they say it hasn't been i think. in a remarkable coincidence of timing as trump visited el paso we're broke in washington

of a budget breakthrough to prevent another looming government shutdown. we can reach an agreement in principle. between. homeland security and the other six bills. we our stance will be working feverishly to put all the particulars together people familiar with the talks reportedly say the deal would give trump only enough money to erect just eighty eight kilometers of border barrier still a long way from the large scale project trump says he won't give up on rob reynolds al jazeera el paso the acting u.s. defense secretary has arrived in the iraqi capital on a surprise visit patrick shanahan is expected to get an update on the country's progress in its fight against eisel while in baghdad he'll also discuss the future of american troops in iraq and syria shanahan spent the past two days in

afghanistan where he met with president. pentagon she says the afghan government should be included in talks with the taliban to end the seventeen year war he says he's had no orders to withdraw u.s. troops at least sixteen people fleeing coalition airstrikes in eastern syria have reportedly been killed including seven children the kurdish led syrian democratic forces are facing tough resistance from eisel fighters as the group clings on to its last remaining enclave on the border with iraq hundreds of civilians are trapped in the besieged area on monday the u.s. said the coalition may soon declare victory over eisel in the region. and has the latest. the airstrikes took place monday into tuesday morning and now the air strikes are designed to try and keep eisel fighters within the village of itself but civilians were killed in those airstrikes according to reports that we've heard at least seventeen people were killed including six children now but has been

a lull in the fighting as allegedly forces nice will fight is on the go sheeting a humanitarian corridor to be able to allow civilians out of the area now clearly is in the interests of fighters to keep civilians within the area in effect human shields allowing some protection for those isis fighters within that village itself however there's also been another development two women married to isis fighters have managed to escape from the village of other bridges they built the services of a smuggler to be able to get them out so clearly if you do have money there is a way out of that is not available to the civilians that are trapped there but these two women who were married to isis fighters have my eyes right one of them has been speaking to the a.f.p. news agency in the morning we have nothing to eat only iraqis are allowed to have food they're allowed to go outside while they're locked inside i just have to keep my children alive because my husband died in an airstrike the house next door was

hit the roof collapsed over us of course we regret it we lost everything by coming here what are we supposed to do we got stuck because trapped by the propaganda now like i say although there has been a low in the fighting still that village is completely surrounded by fighters and the airstrikes are managing to keep those fighters within the village itself but this will be a very tough fight for the forces. have had a very long time to be able to prepare for this battle seventeen people have died in a hotel fire india's capital new delhi a large group of wedding guests were staying at the hotel in a district known for budget accommodation thirty five people were rescued. most of the deaths were due to suffocation besta gaiters are trying to find out what. m.p.'s in india's upper house are expected to vote on a controversial bill that would grant citizenship to non muslim minorities the bill has already made it through the lower house where prime minister narendra modi's.

has a majority getting it through the upper house is likely to be more difficult the government is making one final attempt before parliamentary elections the legislation would give citizenship to six minority groups from pakistan afghanistan and bangladesh it's triggered protests and northeastern states where people fear the law will open the door bangladeshi migrants. right here on al-jazeera home sweet home australia while comes back a refugee footballer after rain drops to extradite him we follow the story of three filmmakers trying to shine a light on. history. hello once again the heaviest the shadows down around sort of way see bali java and some

degree in the south of borneo but as you see this vast parts of the sky which are virtually clear of clouds they're passing showers in the forecast for the philippines and for parts of malaysia but the concentration is for the south i want to get in southern sulawesi and it is eastern side of java and bali and this line that takes you up towards k.l. and maybe singapore where the showers seem like to be most frequent but to be honest there aren't that many of them for the most part and even thailand now looks almost reliably dry which of course it should have been released a month anyway unfortunately the news is this sort of news being dry is not good for the last truly aware as the wet season go on the consequences are fairly obviously this kill that he definitely has a cold front so the temperatures in southern australia right down below where they should be but in the north central queensland where it should be right about thirty that he wants thirty five now a variation in the tropics of four or five degrees is quite significant so that's remarkably hot mist because the sunshine and lack of clouds you can see

unfortunately i can't promise you very much warmest for the south in melbourne in particular but if you're in perth where up to thirty two for a day or so very nice. on the streets of greece anti immigrant violence is on the rise you have to go over. this and this is a system and increasingly migrant farm workers of victims of vicious beatings. is helping the pakistani community to find a voice the stories we don't often hear told by the people who live them undocumented and under attack this is zero on al-jazeera.

hello again the top stories on al-jazeera twelve had a lot of separatist leaders are about to stand trial in the spanish capital madrid some face up to twenty five years in prison for what the spanish national government calls rebellion republicans and democrats in the u.s. have reached a tentative funding deal to avoid another government shutdown it includes funding for president donald trump's border wall with mexico but the money allocated appears to be far short of his demands at least sixteen people fleeing coalition airstrikes have reportedly been killed in eastern syria including seven children kurdish led forces backed by the u.s. are trying to push fighters from their last remaining clave. hundreds of venezuelans living near the border with colombia have received food and medicine from the government as it faces growing pressure to allow foreign aid into the country bags containing basic items including rice oil and sugar were handed to

residents from its out of run out for a small charge president nicolas maduro has blocked aid sent from the us saying it's being used as a political tool the countries in the grip of a long running economic crisis. well more aid is on its way to venezuela's borders brazil has agreed to set up a store and center on its side tons of food and medicine already stockpiled in neighboring colombia the opposition leader high dose who is the cleric himself interim president is calling the government's blockade a crime against humanity and the government is trying to seize the opposition leader's assets saying he accepted money illegally the general auditor is accusing white of receiving illegal funding from overseas we will be nato but we begin he has received money from both international and national sources without any justification on the constitutional and legal powers that have been established as

the general of the bull evolving republic of venezuela i have started. one tonio. president maduro is turning to fall fellow oil producing nations for hell the reuters news agency says he wrote to opec asking for its support against u.s. sanctions shortly after they were imposed two weeks ago as well as the world's largest known oil reserves but filling up a car with fuel is far from easy as the sea a new man reports from the border city of san cristo. one of dozens that goes on and on more than two hundred cars until we lose count all waiting and praying that they'll be able to fill up before the pump runs dry. people sleep in their vehicles like. who's been in the queue for three days it made it look here we are suffering we have

a need we smell like monkeys and all these people jumping the queue how do they expect this country to function we need support. in the country with the walls largest oil reserves scarcity of petrol isn't you especially here in which shares a border with neighboring colombia. this has been happening for at least three years but every day it's worse. the list of reasons is long with hyperinflation surpassing one million percent petrol is practically free with . this bill it's worthless and if people don't have change they don't have to pay at all. and this has been feeding a widespread smuggling racket vehicles like this one have not one but two fuel tanks that can hold more than two hundred meters of the world's cheapest petrol much of which makes its way across the border into colombia it is a black market a lucrative business that's controlled by colombian paramilitary and leftwing

guerrilla groups but it's an open secret that it would be impossible without the participation of venezuela's armed forces and police who are supposed to patrol the border. the government has appointed as the defacto state governor concedes that a parallel economy has been created along the border. because the prize the. two large. twenty leaders. of the border and that seem container costs one million the profit is extraordinary unimaginable for these mafias. he says authorities are cracking down on corrupt officials although locals insisted hasn't made a dent six months ago president nicolas maduro had promised to raise prices to make smuggling less attractive but still hasn't done so and there's another problem in

israel a state oil company is producing only a fraction of what it used to and must import petrol that's now even harder because of new u.s. economic sanctions. in the meantime ever resourceful residents of patchi to have introduced a new service to those who can afford it paying for someone to take your place to spend the night in the queue. you see in humans venezuela in eastern libya forces loyal to warlord twenty five have to have taken over the country's biggest oil fields the libyan national army says it seized peacefully after it was overrun by a group of state guards and tribesman demanding payments the un backed government in tripoli previously failed to secure that field last month l n a fighters launched an offensive in the south so the feet several armed groups mahmud is joining us from tripoli so now that coming from have to us forces have taken over this oil field what does that exactly mean. will do you

cannot separate that from have to reserve plans to gain more to a tour is and thus can put more pressure on the true believer and government of national accord now what happened is exactly a peaceful handover of the oil field will have to force as we understand that there were six military brigades responsible for protecting the our oil fields in the south of libya three of them were affiliated with you and back to government of national accord and the other three were affiliated with have to now what happened is that hand over all of their show are all field happened to have those forces men now. have those forces and out of that they have taken control of the oil fields now this. remember in september two thousand and sixteen have the us forces took control of the. area which has four major oil ports. and

until today they have not left the oil crescent area despite the fact that they have now said that they have handed over at the oil cross into their national oil corporation that has the state oil firm we understand that have those forces the launch of the military campaign in the south in mid january under the banner of fighting terrorism and criminal gangs but in reality many people including government officials say that have is raising this banner as a pretext to gain more to turris in the south especially oil fields and oil installations so that he can put more pressure on the national accord the government to understand that the situation in the south of libya is very complicated along it's very complicated along ethnic and political divisions and the. mood thank you for that update from tripoli in libya. america's top diplomat

has denied his country is attempting a cover up in the case of murdered saudi journalist. secretary of state my pump aoa speaking and hungry at the start of his european tour she's days ago the white house missed the deadline to report to congress on whether its police saudi crown prince mohammed bin seven ordered the killing americans are covering up for america's taken more action in response to the tragic murder of jamal khashoggi i will continue to take more actually continue our investigation we're working diligently and that we will present as many very clear couldn't have been more clear as we get additional information will continue to hold all of those responsible accountable and the gallagher has more from washington d.c. well that response from mike pompeo the secretary of state came after some heavy criticism from senior democrats accusing the trumpet ministration of turning a blind eye and in essence trying to cover up the murder of jamal khashoggi the democrats were saying that because this past friday

a deadline under human rights law has passed in which trump ministration was supposed to answer the simple question did mohammed bin some on the crown prince of saudi arabia or to of jamal khashoggi that deadline has passed which is led to this kind of criticism from the democrats who are trying to seek the truth. who was murdered in october of last year in the saudi consulate in istanbul here's what tom malinowski from the house foreign affairs committee had to say we are actually affirming their life. and allowing him the screw was almost certainly the author of this crime to conclude that in fact he can get away with such things because of his importance because of his position then there are thousands of other jamal khashoggi s. in the united states in europe who are at risk if we allow that message to be sent so where does that leave the investigation into jamal khashoggi is death well there

is still a lot of pressure in us politics to get to the truth especially from the democratic side but there is also a lot of global pressure remember the un special rapporteur started her investigation just a few weeks ago the results of which should be available in the summer so the pressure still remains interestingly enough a saudi official appeared on the american news networks this past weekend and said look we don't need the u.n. we can deal with this ourselves although the trials will not be public eleven people have been indicted five of them face the death penalty but interesting in that same saudi official said that they do not know where the remains or the body of jamal khashoggi is a trainee footballer hacky menard a.b. is back in his adopted home of australia after spending two months in a bank of jail footballer was arrested in november while our honeymoon in thailand he fled his country of origin in twenty fourteen and received refugee status in australia about rand wanted him to return to serve a ten year prison sentence for arson he denies the charges. just i would defend the

oyster already on business imaging to see all the people here that all you'd be boiled to media is about to me and i just know what they think they really don't mean to have people i would think this and then it might too much but might if you think i'm too much and i think the media player would write i thank you and there would be more i don't want to scan today while decades ago a group of young idealistic sudanese filmmakers launched their careers but the industry has all but disappeared their story is told in one of two new documentaries at the berlin film festival now the in baba reports say less than three picking up relics of a bygone era three sudanese filmmakers started out in the one nine hundred sixty s. and seventy's now they're determined to revive interest in the country's neglected

cinema industry. is. easier said than done as the film talking about trees makes clear. it follows their efforts to screen forgotten classics and call to something that riles plenty of curiosity. this very old women with. and they would look and see us regular cinema in the real comedy stand and say. gays maisons they're doing on the moon to reel in the cinema again. and when we see when they're in winter's you know that of the daily question as well as bringing best story to palin said he has helped them restore some of the groundbreaking films made decades ago and they're also showing in the festival. the question of hope hope you can regenerate. like this and a limit on them the value of friendship real friendship and the value of sometimes

taking that you choose. to take the difficult things for my as you so i do my syllabi having this here it might be ok. if i did take out the other might be a different generation a different struggle in how to morph side by mar was a rather mysterious and i think it follows a group of women who find solidarity through playing football and it despite skepticism from some quarters of them rather. than the latter at least. the difficulties they face from family traditions to politics to religion are echoed in the way the director had to operate. the law if you would go on to the streets with a hand-held camera completely by himself no crew not to be seen as conspicuous for quite a small camera and was just filming and observing society observing football games and so you see that in the documentary you know it's very shaky scenes and hand-held scene but it's a roof that is just

a sense of being that. audiences here have been treated to films from across the middle east and africa for many years now but these sudanese filmmakers hope that soon people will be talking about their country for more than just political unrest and conflicts that involve al-jazeera. well you can find much more news by heading online head to al-jazeera dot com for all the day's top stories. hello again the headlines on al-jazeera twelve catalan separatist leaders are standing trial in the spanish capital madrid some face up to twenty five years in prison for what the spanish national government calls rebellion so that movement has divided spain and brought millions out into the streets and you're looking at live pictures from inside that courtroom in madrid right now republicans and

democrats in the u.s. have reached a tentative funding deal to avoid another government shutdown it includes funding for president donald trump's border wall with mexico but the money allocated appears to be far short of his demands he's been campaigning for the wall in the border city of el paso so maybe progressives maybe not but i had a choice i could have stayed out there listen or i could have come out to the people show. i want people to come in to our country but they have to come in illegally and they have to come in now. at least sixteen people fleeing coalition airstrikes have reportedly been killed in eastern syria including seven children kurdish led forces backed by the u.s. are trying to push myself fighters from their last remaining on clave the acting u.s. defense secretary has arrived in the iraqi capital on a surprise visit patrick shanahan is expected to get an update on the country's progress in its fight against eisel while in baghdad he'll also discuss the future

of american troops in iraq and syria it follows a two day visit to afghanistan. hundreds of venezuelans living near the border with colombia have received food and medicine from the government as it faces growing pressure to allow foreign aid into the country president nicolas maduro has blocked from the u.s. saying it's being used as a political tool america's top diplomat has denied his country is attempting a cover up in the case of murdered saudi journalist. the secretary of state my pump aoa speaking in hungary at the start of his european tour. footballers back in his adopted home of australia after spending two months in a bangkok jail the footballer was arrested in november while on honeymoon in thailand he fled his country of origin and twenty fourteen. had him to return to serve a ten year prison sentence for arson those are the headlines there's more news coming

up after this. the week began with use of a ninety day truce in the tip the u.s. china trade. the biggest. we bring you the story is the economic world we live in counting the cost. just look at the who would put it in the image just maybe how might it. be going to do it when getting a. good job the doc. who didn't look at the go ahead not welcome sort of.