the head of iraq's intelligence says a regrouping and recruiting may leave the rural areas of western iraq they want controlled u.s. military intelligence believes the territorial battle against eisel across syria and iraq has been won but the fights in small groups of sympathizers across this vast region will go on. mosul but more ahead on the news irene clued in donald trump's former advisors in court for a controversial instagram post plus. poking fun at politicians but will voters in senegal have the last laugh when they elect a new leader. and in sports the west indies cricketer who's just it himself the books.

the u.s. and china trying to reach a deal that could end seven month trade war high level talks are continuing in washington to end a standoff that seen washington and beijing imposed tit for tat tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of goods negotiators are drawing up six memorandums of understanding on issues including cyber theft agriculture and currency zone is joining us now live from washington d.c. first of all earlier on in the day we were getting the impression that things were actually going pretty well and it was quite positive how the talks going. yeah we are getting the impression that things were going pretty well early in their day but now getting some impressions that there still are some sticking points between both sides without a doubt listen these are closed door meetings the people negotiating aren't saying much other than photo opportunities or just kind of having to glean what we can gather from the impression that we're getting from what's being leaked from these

meetings the good news is as it appears that there has been some headway made on these six memor memorandums of understanding that they're talking about we're hearing about as much as thirty billion dollars commitment by the chinese to buy more american agricultural products hearing about possible commitments by the chinese of up to two hundred billion dollars dollars to buy semiconductors over the course of eight years from the u.s. but for the chinese there's still some key sticking points the americans want to the chinese to stop for example their their subsidies on their high tech service sector american say this needs to stop the chinese are saying no this is all part of our sovereign economic policy that's not to be negotiated is what we're hearing so there are some key sticking points there but clearly still a lot of negotiation to go on but it does appear that they are making some sort of headway just a matter how much in all of this has to be sort of resolved ahead of

a deadline on march the first how fixed is that deadline. well listen they've said president trump is said by march first if there's not a deal done another two hundred billion dollars worth of tariffs will kick in and the and the percentage on those tariffs will jump from ten percent what they are now to twenty five percent that's a huge number that would dramatically escalate this trade war between the two countries however we are hearing that the sides might do a sixty day extension if they see that they're making some headway because quite frankly both sides need this deal to get done on donald trump's side i mean soit farmers particularly in middle america are really being hurt by this trade war really being hurt badly and that's a very much trump country she on the other other hand president she he also needs to show to his country that he can get this trade deal done as well because there's an economic downturn in china as well so motivation by both sides to get this done

there is a chance that the talks could be extended given thanks very much indeed the leader of the roman catholic church says concrete measures that needed to fight sexual abuse of children by priests pope francis has opened a historic meeting by say it's time to heal the wounds coldest by paedophilia challenge reports. the vatican now acknowledges that catholicism has an existential crisis it's described this sexual abuse meeting as an attempt to restore the very credibility of the church are opening the unprecedented events on thursday pope francis said action was necessary. basing the plague of sexual abuse by the churches men against minors i thought to consult you because all together to hear the holy spirit and listen to the cry of the young justice the way to pastor an ecclesiastic responsibility which forces us to discuss

this together is a burden on our meeting about how to face this evil which afflicts the church and the whole of humanity the holy people of god are watching us and wait not just for simple and expected conviction but concrete and effective measures. senior clergy have been summoned to the vatican from all over the world francis wants bishops and cardinals to understand that sexual abuse by priests is a scandal that they all have a responsibility to stop for a lot of years the first the problem was to call them to avoid the scandal of the good name of the church now. is not going to happen and something is changing it is a process that needs time and i told about victims of abuse like canadian leona hawkins who was abused by a priest from the age of twelve reassured by what they've heard from the meeting so far as survivors were on the outside i'm concerned some of the things that i'm

hearing coming out the bishop said this morning that we're looking for mercy for both the survivor and the perpetrator this focus should be on the survivors only on the crime of clergy abuse you know what you say may be on the outside but survivor groups like ending clergy abuse and still trying to keep up the pressure hoping that their message. is getting three the phrase they keep using here is the iran has already happened i don't know why they want sex of him then you do threaten and i know the priests are going to say even for those who make up a name that it needs and if gayness fraud or anything at the vatican wrong has not produced violence and people here won't be satisfied that the catholic church is really facing up to its responsibility to protect i don't always read it more challenging the fact is there a. father james press has a roman catholic jesuit priest and he's also associate professor of theology at marquette university he's joining me now by skype from milwaukee we appreciate your

time so thank you very much indeed for joining us and there's seem to be repeated demands for a zero tolerance policy for clergy found guilty of abuse and for those who have been accused of covering up for them why is the vatican not prepared to follow that line when i think actually the very it is prepared to line but what they do and that's the point of this meeting is to make sure that everyone around the world not just the united states understands the problem and the seriousness of it so that they they are the ones are going to have to implement whatever is decided and i think they're trying to get everyone on board and that's the purpose of this meeting there have been some suggestions by the some of those attending this meeting that there's actually nothing new in what's being put forward are you seeing anything that is different in this meeting from previously adroit ways of addressing this subject. well yes i think there's

a lot of differences on both practical levels the hope is outlined twenty one different steps are policy ideas that should be implemented and more importantly i think he's trying to once again chip away at this culture of clerical as it looks at protecting the church as a high its value and that has led to a lot of the cover up and the abuse the lack of transparency and the speakers today all three of them kind of tightly from the philippines kind of salazar and archbishop all approach this from different angles and they're all saying we've got to stop this culture of clericalism that leads to this kind of review this is the church's policy of medicine for those who have sinned incompatible with the need for those who claim to have been abused to find some sort of justice for what's happened to them i don't think it's incompatible certainly there is

a tension when you talk about zero tolerance it's hard to say well can we rehabilitate the sinner but i think the recognition that he's now in the united states is that this person who does this sort of a few is very hard to cure with absolute certainty that they won't offend again and so it's to protect all the people who would be at risk we have to remove this person from active ministry in the church and so i think that that is what the rest of the church is hopefully going to come to see as you said pope francis had put forward to the twenty one points a roadmap if you like for for for dealing with this kind of situation in the church but what guarantees are that he you think that the church in many various forms is actually going to follow these these recommendations. well there isn't an absolute guarantee i mean the pope it's the pope is not god in the sense that we you know

some sort of a lot to make everything happen but i think he called the one hundred fourteen heads of the bishops conferences around the world to rome he's making this is serious i think as you can as you can. imagine and i think i think more and more people are signing on to this or recognizing that this is an individual but corrupt file in a computer but rather we have a reboot of the whole computer a significant upgrade and i think that that's what he's trying to do for the best that we appreciate your joining us and i'll just you know thank you very much indeed my pleasure thank you bangladesh has called off the rescue mission in the capital dhaka after a fire tore through several buildings in the old town at least seventy people have died and forty others are seriously injured barbara angophora reports. then tat chemical cylinders some of what's left at the watch had mansion in dock hazel's

setit mohammed the lamb run a store close by the fire has changed his life and i tell him out of that my son died he was with me in the store just before the incident i told him to go home and have his dinner in ten minutes of day he left i heard some big noise thing i came out and saw a large fire going off to seeing the fire i went back inside my stall and but i couldn't stay inside the store because there was an intense heat generated from the fire and. the area was known for its chemical warehouses and perfume factories but people there say that's not where the fire started. because there were several loud noises so i came out to see what was going on witnesses told me that a gas cylinder in a car in a wedding procession exploded then the fire spread towards the why did mention second floor where perfume chemicals was stored which then ignited fire fighters have launched an inquiry to establish exactly what happened our. division

and the third investigation find a lot of clothes just those clothes and. getting them four to five there are an estimated one thousand factories in the old part of dhaka more than eight hundred fifty of them are illegal a fire in the same area killed one hundred twenty people. since then the government has carried out raids to shut down illegal operations as recently as last month under the landowner so if i am not letting them to stop there was things here for the search for dozens of people who were trapped in the building as it burnt for twelve hours is on going to wait for this wanting needs of friends and relatives who are inside it is an anxious one. out to syria. a judge in the us has tightened the gag order against president trump's former political advisor

roger stone and threatened jail time if he violates it stone was in court after posting a picture on social media which appeared to show the judge in this case and the crosshairs of a gun stone that was previously ordered not to speak publicly about the case which is related to the investigation into possible russian interference in the twenty sixteen us presidential election article hain has more from washington d.c. . longtime associate close confident visor to u.s. president donald trump roger stone was back before a federal judge here in washington the reason why is he seven ballot he's facing seven very serious charges he was told he could still talk about the case we're just not in front of this courthouse but then a few days ago he posted to instagram it was a picture of the judge overseeing his case it said she was an obama appointee said it was a sham court sham trial but the controversial part was it seemed that there was a gun crosshair from the gun site right above her head well the judge said ok come

back let's talk about whether or not you could stay out on bail and he's someone who usually took the stand in his story seemed to really change quite a bit of first it seemed he was saying someone else posted it and he said he posted it and even really looked at it and he said and looked at it a couple of options to choose from and that he continued to talk about make those allegations and several media interviews after that so the judge not abused she came back and said basically you changed your story on the stand so here's the deal from now on you can't talk about the case not to anyone in the public not to radio not to print that's newspapers not to anyone she said i'm not going to send you to jail she could have but she said if you violate the terms of this you likely will still ahead and al jazeera minding the bad language we meet people in mexico are trying to save their native tongue. i'm getting their kicks we look at how active young voters are getting about nigeria's election. and in sports we'll tell you if a return of osnos german superstar could bring them back to life in the europe.

and there will be things and wintery weather across parts of the u.s. recently we've also seen a fair amount of snow in vegas it's not that common to see rain here let alone snow that was all thanks to one system that's been making its way in from the pacific but we will say be more seeing this system here that will does a lot of icy conditions lots of snow freezing rain and a fair amount of what weather to so that area of rain is still dragging its feet over the southern states as we head through the day on friday so the still the risk of seeing a bit of flooding here and if the temperatures rise any snow that we did see is quickly melting so that will add to the problems with flooding so lots more in the way of town of rain then as we head through the day on saturday and we'll say see another area of cloud and snow make its way across the northern plains so generally

speaking still very mobile across north america at the moment plenty more wet weather to come there from the towards the south a lot of dry where they hear back from the uk a temp an inch there down through nicaragua there's a chance of seeing a fair few showers on friday but it's like there will be less of them though as we head into saturday before this was the south and here there's been some very lively shasta to kill a over parts of brazil some of these very very heavy we're also watching more rain work its way north woods across the world as ari's it'll be cooler behind that system. going green bacteria in a bar. in this is really the hearts are. in the for.

democracy. parliament and governance. and economic. politics remain widespread. coverage of the candidates.

you're watching al-jazeera a reminder of our top stories this hour venezuela is closing its border with brazil as president nicolas maduro escalates his attempts to stop u.s. aid from coming in a brigade of opposition led volunteers is trying to get the first delivery in by saturday. there have been two bombings in syria in separate locations a suspect and car bomb killed at least twenty people in dead as or in an area held by the u.s. backed city and democratic forces at least four people died in a blast in a free. that of the roman catholic church says it's time to heal the wounds caused by sexual abuse of children by priests at the start of a landmark four day summit in fact you can city pope francis says concrete measures are needed to fight pitifully. him or not when president maduro is order to close venezuela's border with brazil mog vice brought says the co-director of the center

for economic and policy research is joining us now from washington d.c. thanks very much indeed for being with us what do you think is going to happen if the aid gets across the border into venezuela. well the aid itself won't make a difference it's not that much aid anyway especially compared to the damage that's being done by the economic sanctions that the united states has had on the country for years now in fact the sanctions since august of two thousand and seventeen created a financial and bargo and that is cost the economy i am for size the economy because it's often portrayed as though the same sions really hit the government but they really hit the people many many billions of dollars have been lost along with the imports of medicine and food and spare parts and everything else so the aid is really a symbolic thing that the trumpet ministration and the. president

the self declared president i should say. though have been saying from the outset they're using it as part of the regime change operation that is they're trying to use it in a way that would get armed forces of venezuela to disobeyed orders of the president it's all about public relations and i should say that's why the united nations and the international red cross and the groups that are actually concerned with humanitarian aid they want no part of this and they've very harshly criticized the whole thing how much does this open up the playing field as it were for want of a better phrase to other actors around the world for example russia i mean nicolas maduro has said that there is no problem there is no humanitarian crisis within his country and yet if i understand it correctly he has brought in some aid from russia

are we going to see a pivot off some sort of we're going to see an increase in russian influence in venezuela for example. well i don't think it's really above that i mean the main influence right now is the united states as i said this financial embargoed the one that they already had before the one that they announced in january this was already having a devastating effect on the economy and knocked about well some hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil out of production and this is a country that the pens on oil for almost all of its foreign exchange so again you know this narrative that you get from the trumpet administration that they're just attacking the government this is really attacking the people because it deprives the economy of the dollars that they need now that i don't i don't think that you know whatever russia is going to do isn't going to make that much difference if

they provided more foreign exchange or some aid that could help they've already been getting you know food aid in the past they've gotten some from china and if anybody any of the countries that are allied with the united states in this regime change effort if they wanted to actually help venezuelans there would be no problem delivering aid through the united nations or through a third party a neutral party but again the u.s. and its allies really see this as just one part of their effort to topple the government and that's what they're actually trying to do as as they've said so if the sanctions are at the core of all of this what is the way out of the situation that venezuela finds itself in the moment if as you say the backstop to all of this is the financial pressure that the u.s. is putting on the venezuelan economy. and the venezuelan people i think that's part

of their goal is to make it inside you know intolerable the suffering there so that people and the army will overthrow the government i think the way out is through a mediated and negotiated solution that's really the only way out because you still have a very polarized country and you have millions of people who still support the government and not only that they would fight some of them and they also have a legitimate fear of persecution if the opposition were to seize power violently which seems to be a strategy that. trumpet himself and his advisors bolton and rubio and abrams would. considering so i think this really that's why you have the pope who is offer to mediate and also mexico and or guy who are neutral in this and they have offered to mediate and that's the kind of negotiated solution

mediation could help but again that's where the trumpet ministration i think plays their most destructive role in addition to the same sions is that they're trying to prevent a negotiated solution because they want one in which they can maintain control over the in tire outcome of what what ends up really good to get your views on this mark weisbrot thank you very much indeed for your time thank you thousands of proconsul on independence protesters have been protesting in barcelona the demonstrations and a general strike were called by a pro independence labor union in support of twelve jailed catalan separatist leaders they're accused of rebellion sedition and misuse of public funds relating to the failed twenty seventeen independence but they deny the charges. politicians in france who proposed a bill that would make anti desire nism a criminal offense in the same way that anti-semitism is illegal critics argue that

opposition to the israeli government is not the same as anti semitism president emanuel mark wrong with says legislation to fight hate speech on the internet or be introduced in may thousands of people have rallied in france against hostility towards jews the two main challengers to israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu have joined forces for a prose election the centrist candidates benny gantz and yeah the lockheed will run together and their new alliance is expected to shake up the ruling party's campaign brown and smith as more from west jerusalem israel's general election in april looked like being a foregone conclusion with another victory for benjamin netanyahu slick could party the whole lot change on thursday morning when two centrist parties one of them led by any council former israeli military chief of staff these two parties joined forces to present a bloc against netanyahu is party and this bloc according to the latest polls will

get around thirty four seats at most in the hundred twenty seat knesset netanyahu is party will get most thirty seats so in response to this too far right wing parties have merged and of said they will serve in a netanyahu government after the elections and they will be given as a reward the education and housing ministries and two seats in the cabinet and this matters because what is already widely seen as a one of the most right wing governments israel has ever had could become even more right wing one of these parties that has merged of the inheritors of a mere kahana he was bound thirty years ago from standing for election because of his anti arab racism and these two parties are also a strong settler bloc. american actor has appeared in court on charges that he falsely reported a racist and homophobic at cibc just a small it sparked a social media firestorm when he told police he was beaten by two men who put

a noose around his neck and poured bleach over them chicago police say he staged a hoax attack because he was dissatisfied with his salary small it's widely known for his role in the popular us t.v. show empire. nigeria's president mohamed who bahati and his closest rival. have made their final appeal for votes on the last day of campaigning the two men in their seventy's contest the presidential election on saturday in which half the registered voters are below the age of thirty five and it interests reports. nigeria's young new voters say they are the change their country needs they want to see more young nigerians in politics but admit that it's not easy in a country why running for office is expensive. but they know what they want from those they would be voting for and want

a couple of representing the people they know that is trustworthy that the one that will help in the by nope in the education think tribal concept time and that's why in this country. being able to vote for the first time in their lives is proving popular this time around a little and very excited i was very amused when i just do i really suffer. younger generous make up the biggest vote to block the selection. of stores in key battleground states that politicians are concentrating on in the final days of campaigning with almost five and a half million registered voters most of whom are under the age of thirty five years on a stage is second only to lagos in the number of nigerians eligible to cast their ballots wherever winston states would probably be in a better position to take the presidency that's why the leading candidates are focusing their energies and resources here. since the last elections in twenty

fifteen a bill has been introduced lower the age restriction for a candidate who wanted to run for public office from thirty to twenty five sally satel barak is taking up the opportunity but admits it's tough fighting established parties and candidates those the end voters court the old order it's very difficult for a young person like me to contest what is very important for the ship because i know how about i believe god does the right temple meters and then does very particular order. to put people like sally some on the ballot say the number of young people standing in this election is disappointing when it comes to women michelle quest we have dropped in the long battle of personal and today lives as i mentioned you had to cut it can't afford the financial expenses of our protest in. so. we

have. i because there is nothing number no it's exactly what we asked that the majority of young nigerians are social media enthusiastic and many are well aware how the politicians target them with messages on various platforms social media and you. probably know since reagan was maybe small movements you know my style is he so what i do really lends us. how big that influence is may become clearer after saturday's vote on the decrease. nigeria. voters in senegal are turning to soft side to find out more about the candidates for the presidency the nation goes to the polls on sunday and other african nations comedians making fun of politicians often find themselves in jail but that's not the case in senegal reports from the capital dhaka.

there may be no televised presidential debate but there is special election coverage. is impersonating all five candidates including president mikey sal on the campaign trail. follows cells every move poking fun at the president who for now seems to be the favorite in the race. you know the problem is he got so fat that it's not easy to run a race when you put on so much weight if he wants another five years he's going to explode and so for his own well being he needs to pull out of the race thanks laughing at a sitting president is no joke in many african countries and beyond it could land a comedian in jail but not in senegal political satire has a longer tradition than democracy itself none of the five candidates have complained about the skits because humor is part of the campaign. to get on with

the daily news in iraq a political satire show on the election the aim is to hold to account each promise made by candidates a reminder that people not politicians are in charge ahead of the polls you can live people just achieve your goals in the stand what do you. want to but we're not we're not. we're not running for governor we're not running for mayor will run for the wind for the people. as each candidate tries to stand out comedians bring them down to an even footing where they're powerful president or a candidate running for office in the seems to say out loud what many politicians perhaps think but wouldn't say in public nicholas hawk al-jazeera the car. we're going to tell you about one of the most bizarre ball injuries of the season is going to be here with the details in the sports.