you. sense that the more we close down the more they push back we knew it was coming the pressure was too recent wait or do we surprise them with your. tongue. on just. this is zero and live from studio fourteen here at headquarters in doha has come to the news grid a sign of yet more disunity in spain and it could bring down the government there the prime minister failing to convince parties to back his budget and he may be forced to call the third election in four years we're live in madrid to see where things stand also on the grid the war conference which iranian leaders are

denouncing is dead on arrival iran bashing the u.s. secretary of state representatives from more than sixty nations to talk about peace and security in the middle east but some of america's most important european allies are staying away. from poland. is the media in the philippines being silenced a leading journalist is arrested and faces twelve years in prison maria ressa accused of breaking the libel laws there but critics of president reagan deter tacey her arrest as just one more attempt to keep his opponents quiet and speak live in manila to hear what her colleagues think. chinese state media provides proof of life for a weaker muslim poet who was presumed to be dead but now we girls around the world are demanding information on their relatives who are believed to be held in chinese reeducation camps amanda schapelle connect with us throughout the show using the hash tag its in its current.

year with the newsgroup live on air and streaming online through you tube facebook live and al-jazeera dot com good to have you with us on this wednesday now spain could soon be getting ready for its third general election in less than four years prime minister pedro sanchez has had his budget plan rejected in a parliamentary vote sanchez was hoping for support from two cattle and separatist parties but they ended up joining right wing parties to block the plan the budget was defeated by one hundred ninety one to one hundred fifty eight it means sanchez may be forced to call a snap election to be held in april or may let's speak now to david chaytor who joins us live now from madrid so david a big blow this for the government where do things stand now.

asm it was an emphatic defeat as you said one hundred ninety one m.p.'s out of three hundred fifty to sit in the parliament rejected the budget this was dear to the socialist prime minister's heart he wanted to increase pensions he wanted to increase the minimum wage he wanted to even increase spending and investment in catalonia but he was deserted by the two catalonia severed his parties and that in short his defeat they were saying essentially that they got nothing out of the alliance and support they had in parliament for the socialists and therefore they decided to to vote against the budget which will ultimately of course bring down the government so they haven't decided exactly when that announcement be made we suspect it will be on friday during the course of the ordinary cabinet meeting but i did speak to one of the socialist government ministers to find out what she

feared was looming as a result of this possible early election that's what she said that was me and said about the that we are seeing the right the far right parties in the rest of the european union and then if a big racist sexist homophobic parties which did believe in the values of freedom and which are gaining ground in europe so this should be a warning and i trust in the common sense of the citizens of this country. and the leaders of the morganatic you know the risk if there are elections is that it could be an increase in right wing parties in particular vox but now we have to go to religions and we have to go out and win those elections to try and keep a progressive majority in parliament. so the most m.p. there was referring to vox this is a new party a new voice and it's been making gains in the south now this is an extremist group

they have gained twelve seats in the regional elections and with syria which is the most populous region of spain ending thirty six years of sosa's rule down that and they have some remarkable policies they are anti immigrant they called illegal immigrants and the leader of the party of vox wanted them expelled he's withdrawn on that but he's still very strong on the on wanting to attack what he calls in the the the militant feminists and and he also wants to protect men in in cases of domestic abuse if thinks they're being unfairly treated and he wants to rebalance that you can imagine what the women's groups here in spain think about that but those are the things that are coming into the political dialogue here in spain at the moment it's seeing a drift towards the the right wing with those very extreme views and this must also be one of the nightmares for brussels they're saying this all over europe and the

european union at the moment and it's even happening here in spain so it's a warning sign to brussels and to the rest of europe that the right wing and the extreme right wing beginning to gain ground and traction even in spain all right david thanks for that david to live for us in madrid. well let's talk more about all this now with ruth ferraro she is a professor of comparative politics in european studies at qom pretense a university in madrid and she joins us via skype from the spanish capital thanks very much for being with us so what do you make then of this seeming rise of fox in spain and the prospect of there their chance of making gains in in the next spanish elections which could come as early as april may now are books gaining gaining access plan is it are now are now on the political science political sphere

however at i believe that they have really show are still in scenes there were fires before and liked several months ago. so the main problem that we have here is that there is a coalition of this three. a right wing during those who had to decide we will be his position in the in the next in the next government because there is a balance between know it right when i left we are is right now the owners can be like the existing which they can and make the division and win one way or another i mean if they doing the same qualities in other they had been doing it in and i will send a regional government in another. then we probably will have

a right wing government in the state of course it depends also on how much the left electorate is going to be mobilized by dispersal is very ample them or however they must and is now in a very deep crisis political crisis inside a party so probably this also is very real hard we will go for elections at the end of a bring in or a two egg gain more states at the at the parliament. detrimental to their lives and how fractured it is spanish politics right now because if these elections happened as expected this year there will be the third general election in spain in less than four years. yeah i mean this is the most polarized scenery since the end of the dictatorship in spain however i would say that that there is a normal and i mean we are entering into the normal station of policy because

spamhaus always in an exception on the european politics we have like a strong center or left aryan strong center right party and small. radical left by but we've never had seemed right political party now we are and of and we neither. party so now are going to you're into that your can your malady with these five main political car is getting into the congress and the parliament . box as a stream right pull them out of the stream left such as the liberals and then we will have the popular and socialist party and we also get into any other another scenario inwards for the first time in our it democratic history we will might have a coalition government at the level of state but he never happened before in in this country so we had

a coalition government in the regions but never and never had any and his message there was never needed. a politician in the state government. i want to go back for a moment to this budget vote and the decision to to to vote down the government's national budget the prime minister had it looked like had been banking on the prospect of an early. and an early election that a possible win for right wing parties that are opposed to catalan succession would make the two big cattle and pro independence party swing behind the budget but that obviously didn't happen just just help us make sense of that. or get they did the main thing is that. the nationalist bar is too many in a representative understands parliament one is a conservative one another wants to use one so socialist barry was relaying on the

on the on the celebrities a nationalist party however it is nationalist very was just referring to go back to the ideological of the national instead of the ideological one so the national issue is the can and if they didn't then maule seem poor than way of acting by the nationalists in catalonia right so that that explains why these political parties were agreed on on the on the bacon did. the central government in july last june but now are not going to support for the budget which is by the way very social budget and very leftist budget. because they wanted to link it to the to the to the court to their open court after another is going on and starting just that they saw there is a coincidence between the dates in which does a procedure is your usual procedure

a started the voting for the. on the other hand we have to take into account that the enough elementary system where we have is that this is the president and the prime minister was in charge of the solving the parliament so it all depends on how. we'll analyze with our with our by cers all the convenience of having the elections and april may or even in a for it goes there is a good challenge. that did a national spuriously may not support the budget but they might support all their. concrete measures that happen have to be approved by the parliament could to get your thoughts on the roof for speaking to us there frankly woodridge thanks for being with us. now we want you to get in touch with us on this and the other stories we're covering here we want to hear from you on this you can

send us your comments to any of our online platforms we're on twitter tissues the hash tag a.j. news grid our handle is a.j. english we're also on facebook facebook dot com slash zero or send us a message on whatsapp or telegram plus nine hundred four five or one trip or one four nine is the number on screen now in just a few hours the united states will host a conference in poland on the security situation in the middle east and the threat posed by iran representatives from more than sixty nations will be on hand and earlier dozens of anti iran protesters rallied in warsaw for a change in leadership there they are calling for peace and freedom in iran despite the presence of the u.s. secretary of state and vice president told the meeting is being snubbed by some key players russia isn't attending and the european union has only sent low level delegates iran's leaders say nothing good can come out of talking to the u.s.

even calling the summit dead on arrival as somehow by the reports from morsel. american hopes of uniting the world against iran won't be an easy task for the u.s. secretary of state mike pompei o. crucially important countries are either pulling out or sending low level delegations to the warsaw summit aimed at curbing iran's growing influence in the middle east will have sixty countries over thirty foreign ministers there from every continent safer antartica this is a global coalition that has got to deliver on the important mission as reducing the rest of the disseminator from the middle east before. the iranian leaders who are not invited are denouncing the summit as a u.s. and iran circus. the trump administration reimposed sanctions last year

after pulling out of a two thousand and fifteen nuclear deal between iran and world powers the e.u. though decided to stay responding to international concerns about the conference and its motives polish government ministers say it will cover syria i still yemen terrorism trade and security. based on the e.u. alone does not in my opinion kiri sufficient political weight to try to really influence the situation in the middle east only working together with the united states and broadly speaking to the community of democratic countries can we have a positive influence and achieve peace in stable as ation of the situation in the middle east. seventy countries are invited many are worried about a u.s. backlash if this mup the summit analysis though dart the gathering would ever be able to achieve its goals if you don't have russia you have indication by europe

that they're not going to send high level people. and lower level people i think that's a sign and a single concern but also the limitations of working so not only regarding. what can go. for it but the u.s. has staunch supporters in the middle east such as saudi arabia the u.a.e. and. which have repeatedly called for a tougher stance against what they say is iran's destabilizing role in the region or has been joins us live now from warsaw so hessian what's been happening today but basically we're expecting world leaders and delegates arrive to the building to see behind me the bad szell royal castle for the opening ceremony of the conference for the promotion of peace and security in the middle east the americans are saying

this is going to be a brainstorming sessions where delegation is good be able to sit together and talk about ways to objects was defeat i still in the middle east however seem to be facing some problems particularly with the absence of some of the key players in the region that russia is not attending the iranians were not invited to seems to be. it remains to be seen how the this coalition would be able to solve the problems in the region when some of the key players are not there if you don't have the iranians on board this us in a way you can tackle issues in syria or in the yemen but from an american perspective this could be a great opportunity to source some of those problems one of the other divisive issues is the middle east where the prime minister of israel benjamin netanyahu is going to deliver a speech tomorrow the policy of polity is not attending saying this conference in

is targeting the national interests of the palestinians and hashim what else is on the agenda there for this conference with basically the this the americans although they have not been named in iran over the last few weeks but they want this gathering to show that they have the potential and the levers should bring about a global coalition to enforce sanctions against the iranians and they say this could be the only way to. put the brakes on iran's growing and earlier today there was there was a volley that was organized by the and c r i which is the national council for the revolution of iran an umbrella organization of. iranian opposition it was attended by the former mayor of new york rudy giuliani who said it's about time to force

change in iran and he said that there is an international movement to which is building up against the political establishment in iran the only problem here is that the e.u. for examples of russia also don't think this is the best way to engage with the iraqi yes they are concerned that the americans are trying to move ahead with a unilateral approach that could just further create more problems in the future they believe though that. the nuclear agree with those science in two thousand and fifteen could be the only chance that could engage the iranians to solve all the problems that have beset the region for decades so we're talking about. the huge challenges ahead or we talk of the same time about divisions even among those who are attending this conference out of there they just attending because they're concerned the absence could be notified by the americas that's good they could face a backlash in the future hashem thanks very much hashem had in warsaw for us now

this week iran marked the fortieth anniversary of its islamic revolution but unemployment and economic hardship were among the issues that drove the revolution in one thousand nine hundred eighty nine when millions of people brought down a corrupt monarchy now many iranians see set say rather that they are yet to see the prosperity that they were promised samus ravi reports from tehran the power of protest and armed rebellion ayatollah ruhollah khomeini was able to call upon helped him take control of iran in eleven days but consolidating the gains of the one nine hundred seventy nine islamic revolution would take years. the new government struggle to suppress insurrections of its own and the economy all but collapsed revolutionaries have been jockeying for political position ever since and iranian people say their leaders have forgotten khomeini's revolution was actually about them. at

a museum dedicated to iran's first national bank there is more wealth in a single display than many iranians may see in a lifetime. a literal treasure trove filled with the precious things of past kings . within these stately halls there is great optimism about iran's future. they don't want to miss their homes always problems or being imposed sanctions or war but the islamic republic with its rich resources and suitable geography and well i predict the economic future of the country will be. one of the reasons iranian supported khomeini was because the majority of the country's wealth was in the hands of the few something that seems to be happening again the revolution played out on streets all over the country and once monuments to the strength of empire buildings city square statues have since come to symbolize the power of the religious movement that saw them torn down but as the years have gone by many iranians say the promises of prosperity that same movement made have not been kept

. as often happens when there is economic decline many say things were better in the past in the time of kings. the problems we have had in the last two or three months are unprecedented we're at war with iraq for eight years and we didn't have this level of inflation and poverty president rouhani promised a lot but he lived the people who handled the war why did they do nothing for the people. be with them once i was a religious person i hated the shah but we tried to logan's to say silencing muslims was betraying the koran we believed in the koran but now i'm sixty five years old i don't believe in the koran or mosques i believe nothing he could. have been betrayed they broke my heart government leaders say they're doing their best and blame american sanctions as well as pointing to macro economic indicators that seem to show iran is on track to be classified a highly developed country it's

a sign they say that things aren't as bad as they may seem but the high cost of living means problems that are playing out inside people's homes is where ronnie and leaders seem to be losing votes. all right well andrew chappelle is here he's our social media for use of the trumpet ministration putting pressure on iran and through social media as well and some iranians are pushing back on the u.s. house and they are as iran was celebrating forty years since the revolution president trumps twitter account posted a message you may have seen forty years of corruption forty years of repression uses the hash tag forty years of failure now the long suffering iranian people he says deserve a brighter a much brighter future so this is pretty consistent messaging that's been coming out of the administration over the past few weeks but what struck a nerve about this post with one iranian in particular is that this image was used also in a persian language version of the tweets now this image was adapted from this

original photograph of a protester near tehran university in december twenty seventh teen that's before trump withdrew from the nuclear deal before u.s. sanctions were reapplied and this is yelled. at thirty seven year old photojournalist from iran who sold that photograph to the news agency a.f.p. after seeing the way that her photograph was used she posted a message to mr trump on instagram saying it would be a great honor for me if this image would be a symbol of freedom everywhere in the world but having president trump use it without my permission in a tweet in persian even is a great shame for me and causes me deep sorrow because of his policies i my family and my friends are forced to live under sanctions that are devastating our lives our currency lost seventy percent of its value we all became poor even if i could go to america financially i cannot to visit my dad i wouldn't be able to go as he

has imposed a travel ban on the iranians he says he cares so deeply for they all to finishes that post by saying that this image shows her people and is for her people and shouldn't be abused by these men in washington if she says the term men. because this isn't the first time that one of her photographs has been used by the administration secretary pompei a state department also used it last july ahead of a meeting with iranian opposition members living in california and it's a pretty well known image she submitted it last year to the iranian photojournalist association and won first prize and no in case you're wondering she didn't get did not get into any sort of trouble with the authorities so let us know what you think about this story in that photograph you can get in touch with us on twitter to see the hash tag it's in its grid thanks andrew and we want you to get in touch with us we want to hear from you on these stories send us your comments to any of our online platforms twitter just use the hash tag a.j. newsgroup day our handle is a.j.

english and we're also on facebook facebook dot com slash is it up or as always you can send us a message on whatsapp or telegram plus nine seven four zero one trip one four nine all right for those of you watching us on facebook lie we've got a bonus story for you about a woman who spends her time looking off to the children of prisoners in a poll that's from our friends at a.j. plus and then later as nigeria's decide who will take charge of africa's biggest economy we report from a remote corner of the set by poverty and conflict. we're seeing quite a bit of wet weather across the middle east at the moment here's the latest area of cloud working its way over parts of iran working its way into afghanistan as well

and that will give us a fair amount of rain and snow in afghanistan which is very welcome because we are in quite an extreme drought at the moment the snow also extends further north all the way up into our marty behind it it's a lot quieter and till the next system that's already making its way in so over parts of turkey and down through parts of syria and into lebanon lots of what weather here and then that system gradually edges its way eastwards as we head into friday so another system bringing us yet more rain and some rather strong winds as well that system will be affecting us for the south to say a bit of cloud forest on thursday that is making its way across parts of saudi arabia but as that sinks its way southwards it could also bring a few showers even for bahrain or maybe here in doha as well and that cloud will be affecting us over the u.a.e. to through film the risk of seeing a few showers here as well down towards the southern parts of africa here there's plenty more in the way of clouds lots of wet weather here all centered over the central belt here but when it does bend background towards the eastern parts of

south africa and this is the region again we're expecting the wettest of the weather as we head through the day on thursday. every dude is being am it's being late and it's being measured to support intelligence agencies are. to do things in secret that are unlawful or politically embarrassing all of the colleagues that i knew chose to retire from the n.s.a. big could not stand by and see all the work that they had done being used for mass surveillance digital dissidents on al-jazeera. when the news breaks a few minutes ago we were able to hear a huge explosion fifty people still missing when people need to be heard and the story needs to be told we need to invest in development and move to the best making sure the people on the left behind al jazeera has teams on the ground join us for

this historic sift in american politics to bring you more room moods we need documentaries and life moves on and online.

taking a quick look at the stories that are trending on our website c.n.n. dot com these are the most popular stories that you're looking at right now number one was middle east summit a bid to isolate iran we were telling you about that a little bit earlier we're talking more about that as well venezuela's why don't you say as he's working to restore ties with israel will be live from venezuela in a moment and interesting stories there on the philippine the measles outbreak and again on the u.s. poland summit there log on to a web site there any time magazine to dot com. now as you're saying venezuelan opposition leader one why don't is demanding the armed forces allow the delivery of aid sent by the united states within the next ten days president nicolas maduro who still has military backing says threats of invasion must stop

a both pro and anti government protesters have held mass marches in the capital today sub zero reports from caracas. he wants to keep up with the pressure on the government of and. that's why the self declared interim president called his followers to take to the streets once again. i'm sure we are nonstate february twenty third is the day for humanitarian aid to enter venezuela we stand by all sectors delivery drivers nurses medics to get ourselves organized dixie on silas came all the way from berlin sia her son was killed during the protests two years ago. he said i'm demanding justice i am demanding freedom i am honoring all the children that have died i'm here for everything that is happening in this country people are dying of hunger and a lack of medicines. food and medical supplies mostly coming from the u.s. have arrived at the border between venezuela and colombia why though says more is

on its way there are thousands and thousands of people in this part of the city that it's difficult to move the specific demand in this demonstration is that they want to force the government to allow aid into the country the other demand is that they would like for free and fair elections to take place in venezuela because they believe that last year's election process was filled with irregularities. towards the center of the capital government supporters were also on the streets to voice their opposition to any type of foreign intervention for the last four months. has been part of the government's militia he says he's ready to defend his country from foreign aggression. i cannot trust in humanitarian aid that has not been requested in venezuela we didn't have an earthquake or a war that justifies them forcing aid into the country we want to solve our problems if they want to help us they should give us back the money they are withholding that's in the banks in europe in the u.s.

. but support for the president does not appear to be as high as it once was the economic crisis has left millions of people struggling to buy basics and a medicines and that's why many in traditional neighborhoods have joined the protests one one of the heat a look we are protesting for the old people because their name madison's because we want a free country freedom to do and what we will and the opposition is calling on the military to rise against people. and now the following donated supplies in the senate are seriously the. military and civilian employees that of the border will aggressively allow the humanitarian aid without drama without confrontation and fulfill that meant to have you need to allow the aid in to save the lives of. either the problems of the solution and life. but the military leadership remains loyal to the widow and they played

a role in his administration. the opposition says they will continue pushing to break that relationship. that is have all deceit echoed across. latin america editor lucien newman joins us live now from caracas los is it so to see how how does the opposition plan on even getting this aid into the country. hello has some i met the opposition controlled national assembly where you are probably going to see a lot of deputies behind me they're about to have a general session which has been called on one of the things to approve the opposition leader's call for this aid to be brought into the kitchen to into the country from the borders of colombia and brazil on the twenty third of february that's in ten days time how are they going to do that in defiance of president nicolas maduro and the military which until now continues to support him and which

will help him block the entrance of that aid is the big question ten days is a long time or no time in politics and there's a lot of negotiations behind the scenes but the one thing that's interesting is that if this doesn't work the opposition is going to have to do something they're talking about humanitarian corridors bringing in that aid people blocking it but if it is blocked physically they really don't have much other another choice although some members of the opposition not here in the in the general in the in the legislature but other people who support them are actually calling for some kind of humanitarian intervention foreign intervention because they would say it would be a crime against humanity if that aid wasn't allowed in but that has not been approved yet by the the opposition controlled national assembly house and yes it looks like a real standoff there to see what about the possibility of negotiations to. try to prevent a confrontation. i think it's fair to say

has that at this point there seems to be no room for compromise on either side both sides have dug in their heels president mother says that under no circumstances will he hold free and internationally supervised elections and the opposition for the first time seems absolutely united in saying that they don't want to talk to my good any more about anything except when he is going to leave which is a subject of course he will not entertain what they're really counting on is the army turning on him and that is certainly something they don't control or at least in the human life force there in caracas thanks from here now to a story that has outraged many journalists around the world maria ressa the head of a news website in the philippines has been arrested on libel charges wrestler's rappler online news site has been critical of president rodriguez two territories government in particular its anti drug crackdown rearrest as colleagues have called

the arrest a shameless act of persecution by a bully government or shay of elaina is an editor with rappler and she joins us now from manila via skype thanks very much for being with us so i want to ask you what what exactly is maria ressa. charged with that justifies them arresting her in according to the government this is a cyber libel crime a cyber libel case that there's been filed against her and this is supposed to be a bailable offense so what message does this send to other media outlets in the philippines. obviously if this this is this is part of continuing attempts to imitate and silence the be the sort of filing of libel and other legal cases it's really

a very brazen use of state power to muzzle critical media like rappler. so what do you plan to do what do you and your colleagues plan to do from here and have you been able to to speak to maria ressa atoll. in the time before she was arrested or after that maria was actually in the office when when she was arrested we were in a meeting together and prior to that before that arresting agents came she was in another meeting and we were totally caught by surprise by by their presence they had an arrest warrant with them and we asked them if they could wait a bit they could wait for a while for a lawyer to con so that he he. could accompany maria to the national bureau of investigation so they seem to be a way to and they left the office together with

a lawyer at the about six pm thereabouts and we were hoping that because this is a supposed to be available offense we were hoping that she would be able to file bail to post bail this evening but unfortunately that that didn't happen so she maria will be spending the night over at the end be either national bureau of investigation and we should remind our viewers as well of course that maria ressa was one of the people named by time magazine as one of their persons of the year and twenty eighteen they were she was among several journalists who were mentioned there are so that's how she may she came to a lot of international attention but what's what's been the reaction in the philippines there to all of this. there have been there have been groups of who said they would be going over to the n b i to keep this in chill with with maria. the rest of the media have not have not really react that they have been

some statements of support coming from different groups as well as even members of government politicians expressing support for maria but you will see whether because i think they are really waiting how this will play out we hope that she would be able to post bail by tomorrow morning and and the free could to speak with you chafey hopefully now talking to us there. talking to us there from manila appreciate your time thank you to more now on that meeting in poland where the united states is pulling together delegates from all over the world to discuss the middle east and iran's influence ahead of the talks iranian president hassan rouhani hits out of the u.s. vowing never to surrender. is a two moonbat oh yes we will stand up once again for

a dignity independence and reputation we are not ready to surrender to the enemy because surrendering is endless if in the first step on nation surrenders to america it will have to keep surrendering until the end which means giving up our country our dignity our independence and our identity or ellie ellie edge iran may is a policy fellow for the middle east and north african program at the european council on foreign relations she joins us now from london by so much for being with us so what do you make of this conference is this an iran bashing summit. well certainly poland and the united states over the last couple of weeks have done their best in terms of public messaging to say that this isn't about iran but we know from the announcement that originally secretary of state pompei were made in cairo about this conference that there is going to be a major focus on iran and we had the prime minister of israel yesterday on his way

to warsaw saying that a big focus for him from this conference is going to be about iran and certainly the united states since its withdrawal from the nuclear deal has been pushing hard to get an international coalition to isolate iran both politically and economically so they'll be looking out for different ways to do that and more so. i want to share with you a question from one of our viewers on facebook who is asking as probably a lot of people would be asking is why is it being held in in warsaw deponent. ever participate in any agreements or contact concrete steps taken in the middle east i mean what is it what what is in it for the poles here. well certainly this question also left many people in european capitals puzzled as well poland we know has been trying to make an outreach with president and the u.s. administration on security and defense issues and so this measure would have been

possibly a measure of goodwill on the parts of poland to hold this sort of a summit especially at a time where the united states feels quite isolated on middle east policy but for i think a lot of other european capitals this is seen as an attempt by the united states to actually divide and conquer european countries particularly on the issue of iran which there's been unprecedented unity amongst member states in the european union for the last year so we'll have to see what comes out of her but we know that the german foreign minister and the french foreign minister have basically stopped the meeting and book be showing up there what do you make of that the fact that many of these other prominent european nations like you say france and germany of have only sent low level delegations this is is that a message that they're sending that they're not they don't better buying into this . well i think that we mustn't forget that the ether the the european

countries that are party to this nuclear deal that's germany france and the u.k. or very angered by the u.s. decision to withdraw from the nuclear deal not just that but also wider middle east policy for example the u.s. move its embassy to jerusalem the stance of the u.s. president personally on the qatar saudi crisis and a number of other instances in the middle east including the announced withdrawal from syria that has left a lot of european capitals a feeling angry and frustrated that the u.s. doesn't really have a strategy or a middle east peace plan and so there's a lot of questions about what europeans would actually gain from showing up at this event and it's not just the europeans but apparently the turks some we know also the russians have also said no to attending this meeting at ministerial level so it's really i think a failure on the part of the united states to get this coalition international

coalition against iran in a formidable way good to speak with you thanks very much for being with us now in central nigeria violence has left thousands of people displaced the conflict is fueled by competition for land as well as religious and ethnic divisions underlines the security challenges that will be faced by whoever wins the presidency ahmed idris reports from the city of justice. after a hard day's work benjamin moses and robot a colleague work the narrow streets of their batek neighborhood in jaws in central idea. fifteen years of conflict between muslims and christians here a change there for use of many communities as people move to areas they feel safe in this is my but benjamin says he refused to leave his house at this predominantly muslim area of the city is the only christian here he said his church and friends

all wanted him to be i don't i don't to god please i was two dogs if i die just it's a little because all my life i feel lived in this part of a bottle of benjamin a school teacher and. a taxi driver are inseparable if anything is about to open we are here protecting. and anything that is helpful like i wanted to help we would also i also went on with it working towards is very easy if you're. in central large area two thousand and eighteen was the many here say they will never forget the competition for land between farmers and cattle herders in addition to decades of struggle. and ethnicity led to nearly three thousand deaths. thousands of people were forced from their homes because of violence and are still living in camps. a lot of it was. because i said that we hope is for them having us all the things that the people raise as a source of the conflict we'll address is

a damned we'll talk about forgiveness is double talk about the conciliation. healing the wounds of conflict is a slow process this road marks the divide between the mainly christian and predominantly muslim neighborhoods of just a city why nigerians north itself thousands have been killed and homes and businesses destroyed trust among people here as their order and communities are trying to rebuild that brick by brick. so three years ago participate began efforts to reconsider unity is to have been at war with each other for fifteen years it is a tough environment on the one hand but we are very excited about the prospects and the potential that these job holds for peace and security in the state because of how much our people are embracing these ideas of peace for now the region is calm but with elections approaching there is tension and mutual suspicion and people

here know from previous experience that it may only take a street fight once again through the entire region into another cycle of violence . just nigeria. all right now for a story that is off the grid and in china millions of we get muslims being held in so cold vocational training camps and their families attending to social media to find out if they're ok and back with more on that and what china's treatment of weaker muslims has sparked an international outcry this week turkey's ministry of foreign affairs released a statement that accuses china of torturing weekers in these camps and subjecting them to what turkey calls political brainwashing now the government also stated it had information that we are full of poets and musician abdur-rahim high yachts who's been detained for over two years had died under china's custody but state

radio the china radio international turkish edition released this video to show that the poet is still in fact a lot of. my name is up to redeem today's february tenth two thousand and nineteen i'm in the process of being investigated for allegedly violating the national laws i'm now in good health and have never been abused so after his proof of life video was released other relatives said hey wait a second what about my relatives you can see some of the posts here that have popped up over the past few days along with the hash tag need to weaker these families also want china to release video proof that their relatives are alive and well and many say they haven't spoken to their relatives after they disappeared into these so-called vocational camps now last year a un panel of experts said that it had received credible reports that over a million weekers are being held in these re-education camps to essentially renounce islam but china has deny that we are being held against their will saying

that these vocational training centers are voluntary and designed to provide job training as well as to avoid so-called extremist tendencies so we'd love to hear your thoughts on this story especially if you're impacted by it give us this a shot you can tweet us using the hash tag eighteen news grid. all right we want you to get in touch with us so we can hear from you on any of these stories you can send us your comments to our online platforms were on twitter just use the hash tag a.j. new handle is a.j. english and we're also on facebook facebook dot com slash sent us a message on whatsapp or telegram at nine seven five zero zero zero one triple one four. and again for all of us on facebook lie we've got another bonus clip coming up for you on a woman who's been helping the nigerian army capture a book a whole. and later in sport meet the young afghans dreaming of cricketing glory as the national team prepares for another world cup look at the

root of afghanistan success.

no i was fine that were people talking about in the world of sport today is for them thank you so much now can you even imagine the n.b.a. playoffs without the bron james while his side the l.a. lakers are dangerously close to missing a playoff spot they lost again on choose day this time to host the atlanta hawks james put in an impressive afeard scoring twenty eight points eleven rebounds and sixteen assists for his fifth triple double of the season but once again he couldn't save the lakers john collins and trade young each scored twenty two points

to help lead to two one hundred and seventeen to one hundred thirteen when the lakers have now lost four of their last five games and sit in the western conference well as well as losing that game the broad was brutally trolled by hawks fans in atlanta champs of kobe's that are also got until braun as he missed this free throw now you'll remember kobe bryant who retired in two thousand and sixteen after a twenty year career won five and be a titles with the lakers hawks fans letting the libro know exactly where he stands in the lakers hierarchy this video being viewed tens of thousands of times on social media. so le bron james trying on twitter today with a lot of people asking whether le bron going to l.a. was good was a good new for the lakers headline from the from a column in the l.a. times this morning all the le bron james hype hasn't lived up to reality for the

lakers especially since they are so close now to missing a playoff spot high expectations though from lakers fans here's one who says anything less than a playoff appearance even endear one of le bron would be a failed season for me now the afghanistan cricket team are preparing to take part in their second world cup it shows a remarkable achievement for the players many young afghans learned how to play in refugee camps and as tony burnley reports from jalalabad cricket is also helping afghans cope with the trauma of war no matter whether it's a cold winter or when i'm barely hot summer in afghanistan is always the season for cricket even with no more than a piece of wood for a bat a rocky piece of ground for a pitch and a stone for the wickets most young boys and many men have been hooked by the phenomenon of cricket which has swept the country. but these boys shout out the

names of their cricketing heroes. years ago they would have been of pakistani players today they're all afghan it's a remarkable story that has taken afghanistan from the rocky outcrops to the best cricket grounds in the world in less than twenty years afghanistan has gone from nothing to being the latest member of the international cricket council the i.c.c. and the elite group of twelve top cricketing nations but will that work for some country in twenty eighteen would be bangladesh and sri lanka we drew with india and we got a full membership of the i.c.c. these are amazing achievements for the afghan nation we are playing now on grounds where they had never heard of afghanistan before. the afghan cricket board now has five stadia in the country and a flourishing youth policy minus cricket we are nothing. because when we were young we played on the cricket. we don't had any good opportunity for the education for those kind of thing but the cricket was free for us so. i think

a lot helped us then but now we are here. afghans started playing cricket in the refugee camps of pakistan and since then it's become more than just a sport it transcends political cultural and religious divides and if anything it's become the one unifying factor in forty years of conflict could support cricket is the ambassador of peace the afghan cricket team has always given the message of unity and brotherhood to the entire nation and brought us together the afghan cricket team as the source of unity among afghans we started cricket in parliament and they love cricket and they also. good support for cricket all of us in their time so that's why we are here cricket has its own followers and its own language and it doesn't involve wall cricket is it. true meaning for us for other people who are as far as one is it is immune to happiness if. it's happening.

and in a country where so many of been traumatized by years of conflict cricket is providing therapeutic qualities that are helping relieve stress. if afghans didn't have cricket they would take drugs or take part in war other miserable things psychologically cricket takes their mind away from bad things people will participate in elections but they will in cricket has become essential to the afghan people. afghanistan content attain foreign teams on home soil because of the war that's another goal but for these boys the hope is one day they can emulate their heroes and play for the national team and in some of the biggest cricket leads in the world for one of those few afghan success stories how's that tony berkeley how does era jalalabad. as always we'd love to hear your thoughts you can tweet me directly at f. and to score a smile we'll be back with more at eight hundred g.m.t. but for now back to. thanks very much for look forward to that that will do it for

news good remember you can touch with us on social media these are all the ways that you can do it will see you back here studio fourteen fifteen hundred g.m.t. on thursday. africa's largest democracy goes to the polls to elect a president parliament and governors corruption insecurity and economic uncertainty that dominate nigeria politics remain widespread al-jazeera brings you coverage of the issues the candidates and voters nigeria. recruited to win a war exploited to on the battlefield the call the new regime faced and different

from the right and. then abandoned for a lifetime we should be ashamed. for the same for for all country all the big over three people in power investigates the plight of imperial britons african troops begin the forgotten heroes of empire. a team of chinese scientists embark on

a daring deep sea mission searching for rare resources and new species. reveals china's underwater hunt. zero. spain's governments on the brink of the castle and separatist pool less support during a crucial budget vote. ballot outline for the state bar and this is al jazeera live from london insight coming up the toil position parties left fighting for its survival of the nominating the king sr to be its candidates for prime minister. a president deters a critic who was one of several journalists named time magazine's person of the

year is arrested in the philippines.