i mean if you are shedding light on the pressing for change. unconventional methods to eliminate corruption. people on. this is al jazeera and live from studio. headquarters in doha. welcome to the news great venezuela crisis on multiple fronts. and calling for more protests. try to force one another to back venezuela still reeling from the wide scale cuts which caused chaos on thursday and friday and we're looking at the ongoing protests in algeria too as well as the thousands in the streets political cartoonists are playing

a role in getting the protests had online. the hash tag. also on the grid but the syrian town now at the center of the battle against civilians have been told to get out before the fighting resumes something which of course will only just by small people be hearing about them as well with an update on the syrian refugees and then al-jazeera interview throws up a potentially surprising twist for them our investigation the founder of the private security firm blackwater has admitted he did attend a meeting with trump campaign officials in twenty sixteen problem is the transcripts from his testimony to congress they say. with the new streaming online through you tube facebook line that al jazeera dot com venezuelans back on the streets for both pro and government running. saturday

president nicolas maduro and the opposition leader why don't have both called for marches in caracas and in other cities we've got people gathering at those rally point as he plans to lead a nationwide march to keep up the pressure on president maduro heavy government security has been deployed along the route. as much as of course come as millions of venezuelans are still reeling under the longest electricity blackouts in recent memory schools had to be shut down our work spending as millions of residents were plunged into darkness power has been restored in some cities but over damages may be already been done to this crumbling healthcare system let's get more on that in caracas there right in the thick of things tell us about stay how it is there. well come over here in victoria venue and as you can see right behind me people have started gathering here to protest against the government of any other with an

extremely tense situation because the bolivarian national guard and the police are just about half a block away from where we are right now when people creaming on their faces telling them to join in in their fight against the government initially one white on the opposition leader had asked people to gather in. an area. that most of the people that. are coming here. people are trying to come to the national guard. the government on the other hand people to gather not far away from the presidential palace they face a question for the government and against imperialism and this is happening in the middle of what many refer to as the largest power outage in venezuela history even

though the power has started to be recorded in some parts of the key where we are right now and have not come back yet and it has generated a crisis in many countries that are trying to cope with the young going situation. seventeen years old and for the last few months she's been. involved in a battle with bone cancer. she's already had part of one leg removed because of a few more. there and when and the went to the hole they made. her scheduled treatment on friday she was told it had been postponed the recent and electricity blackout affecting much of the country to another but. i spent three months waiting to begin my chemotherapy because the equipment was in working now because of the blackout again quitman it is not working so get my chemo. the source of the blackout has been traced to the electric dam in the state of. almost every

corner of the country has been impacted by the power cut but it is in hospitals like this one where the situation becomes critical this is one of the most effective but nobody got electricity having gone already for fifteen hours and initially the hospitals power plants failed and that's why the government was forced to bring in. our ban but we're told that they're only able to supply some rooms within the hospital. is twelve years old and suffers from hydrocephalus she has been in the hospital for a week away in the name of little or not anymore there's no electricity and because of that there's no water there are no syringes. we were told the power plant failed last night so i'm not sure how the situation here will continue. without electricity most of the capital remain closed on friday the metro railway systems have shut down so have schools and businesses. the political opposition blames the

massive power cut on corruption and mismanagement. in two thousand and nine they declared an electrical emergency ten years ago they paid one hundred billion dollars into the electrical system yet we find ourselves in this disaster today the president. has blamed the outage on sabotage by the united states government has not provided evidence to support his claim but his backers including captain hong kong either are convinced he's right. there are people who are planning to destroy the revolution we're talking about international opposition and donald trump and his puppets we're trying to guarantee people get that gas mostly for hospitals and other sectors. a few minutes later electricity came back in some parts of caracas. government supporters celebrated and chanted that the socialist revolution started by or chavis won't be defeated any time soon. but outside the hall they made

a hospital there was silence as mothers waited for any update on their children's condition their primary concern is not who's to blame for the blackout it's the whole third child gets the treatment they desperately need. while as i said before thought here yet how many people are going to be able to take the fifth day mostly because the railway the metro are not working there's also no gas most gas stations i have been completely shut down and that's why it's been difficult for people to start mobilizing around the but you're not heard that before opposition leader conway got out people to meet in three different parts of that but now we're being told that most of the. the protests against the government. and what they're basically telling i think that they're tired of fire and. sort of get the benefit of the struggle that there may think every day now that i work at it

have been to the country for almost twenty four hours for over twenty four hours and that's why what they're telling us that meet change needs to happen in this country right now and that they have help leaving that at this point that got a many people to provide any type of solution. for us on the newsgroup thank you i would also recommend reading theresa a reporter's notebook which went. around fourteen hours ago so she referenced it in her report that harsh reality of the crisis in venezuela which is really reflected in that headline with the electricity out i can't get my chemo also further down you will find a link there it is to our latest updates page so you can keep across the latest developments reporter's notebooks you find them in the more menu and al-jazeera dot com we're moving to the border now here. in colombia close to the border with venezuela how things developing there as far as people and across that border.

a local mall yes we would say that things are very calm here at the border but we say that knowing that there is a increased military presence both on the colombian side as well as the venezuelan side of the border everything that happens and get back as all those tensions that flare up especially on this weekend that tends to be reflected here on the border. the actual official crossing into business well remains blocked diplomatic ties between colombia and venezuela remain severed which means that not only is international aid six hundred plus tons of international aid continuing to sit in warehouses unable to cross over into the venezuelan side of the border commerce is at a standstill people are unable to move freely across the border so they're having to find alternative ways to do so we know that there's thousands of children school children in venezuela that are that are crossing illicit routes sometimes perilous routes just to be able to attend school in colombia there is at least five thousand people that are attending

a food bank run by the world food program here in colombia five thousand people every day that are crossing these illicit routes looking to just find a meal so this is this is more than just a border dispute this is more than just some time something that's that's affecting diplomatic relations between the two countries thousands of thousands of people's lives are affected and thousands and thousands of people are continuing to cross every day into colombia looking for an opportunity looking for food looking for a chance for formal education and do they hold out much hope of ever being able to go home i wonder why you know we're going to be talking about refugees and displaced people later in this program i mean that's essentially what you've got there are people who don't know what is going to happen to their lives next. kimo many of them are refugees many of them are living here in colombia but not all of them this is a border town the metropolitan area extends into parts of venezuela so when i talk

about these alyssa routes that people are taking it's not only people coming into colombia people are still at the end of the day having to find ways of getting back into venezuela having to go through through checkpoints and through these illicit routes having to cross areas that are controlled by paramilitary forces these are extremely perilous routes these these are people that would otherwise be able to move freely back and forth across the border to do their commerce the are unable to do so now so it is a very tense situation and we know that it's even tenser now given the fact that there are planned protests in caracas both from the opposition and protests called by nicolas maduro and that's created an even more militarized presence on both sides of the border from all and well. thank you for that. skinny the electricity has been off as we talked about in caracas internet probably as well regular but what if you managed to get from people who are still connected people very vocal about this especially to the event is it a man at the center of it all which have which have both remain connected despite

the altitude is the hash tag national blackout and also without lines being used on twitter and many are outraged over the news of the deaths of children and there could be caused by the lack of power al-jazeera has not been able to independently verify the total number of casualties but online figures and videos spreading quite quickly well the opposition says that seventy nine people died due to electricity failure is a president less mature or claims the blackout was the fault of the united states and said the u.s. had declared an electric wall well did respond to this he said the outage is being called an outside act of sabotage but the sabotage is the corruption faced by the venezuelan people but a large number of people could not access the internet this crime. here shows the drop in online usage in venezuela and that blocks has been tracking destructions an internet shut down for some time it notes that connectivity is now at twenty percent from a low of two percent previously but as soon as the power was restored images like

these began to emerge this one asking garrido to call for military intervention is said to show a hospital affected by the outage in which dozens of mothers a seen trying to give their children some cool air and the tweet says that without food electricity and medicines venezuela was closer to the nineteenth century than twenty nineteen and if you are currently in venezuela we do want to hear from you to tweet us your stories use the hash tag aging is great thank you we're here already getting some thoughts there actually on the facebook live stream content details for you on screen here. comments on facebook from villain who said the removal of international sanctions on the return of venezuela money would definitely help it's interesting you talk about that we discussed that ourselves in our meeting today actually we will think we have thought about talking about this later in the wake the actual effect of sanctions and if that were to change how would it change the reality on the ground so i think we're going to look at that later on in the week thank you for that suggestion that number plus one seven four

five zero one triple one four nine say that a new model that will work on whatsapp and on telegram if you want to miss it just to read all the facebook live stream facebook dot com slash al-jazeera now it looks like trying to contain algeria is just anti-government protests in nearly thirty years is not going to be an easy task hundreds of thousands of people have been out on the streets calling for the president to go and now the government is trying to ensure that their anger doesn't get any worse their dictator ministry for example has ordered colleges and universities to close their campuses two weeks ahead of a scheduled spring break in an attempt to diffuse student protests this is happening after weeks of demonstrations against president of the disease but. since he announced he would seek a fifth term in office. beyond jiri is borders there have been more rallies for changes well this is a show of solidarity in france crowds united in paris not only against president with a flick about actually algeria's entire political system france says it is monitoring the developments but its foreign minister says it's for algerians to decide on

their country's future and this is switzerland actually algerians gathering in front of the hospital where the president's being treated under his government has been to figure arrived in geneva for medical checks late last month and will be discharged soon. she confesses think your mom again and it because it's a nonsense it's a man did which shouldn't happen this mandate is a mandate of cheating and corruption the are going president called run for president because he's health doesn't allow him but the algerian constitutional council has accepted his application and this is very telling of what is happening in algeria. here with us in studio fourteen he has covered the region extensively so he knows the stuff on this one wants to see. i think it was a good point when i was reading about france actually where they said they weren't just protesting against the man but the whole system this goes beyond one man despite the fact he's been in power for so long indeed although initially started

as a rebuke to the bid by president abbas it was a very hard to seek a fifth term when everyone knows that the man is sick and interested in switzerland and has been suffering for the aftermath of the stroke that he says two thousand and thirteen but then evolved into a bigger anti establishment protest calling for the need to clamp down on corruption mismanagement of public funds and also to install of vibrant democracy in algeria and the momentum has been building up ever since is it sustainable do you think because every time i look at these pictures i i'm very wary of making the comparisons with two thousand and eleven and the arab spring but the questions we were asking them were is this the same level and in many cases it was there does algeria have the same feel to it. it looks like this is going to continue to build momentum i mean at least you're right in two thousand and eleven it was confined to a few places in algeria and then eve faded away when the problem are some of it was

a gulf it was of the arab world but now a few weeks ago people have the same feeling this is just going to go for quite some time and there's going to fade away what we're seeing now is people from all walks of life decided to continue to take to the streets until their demands are met and one of the prerequisites for them is far as with the to step aside and for someone else to take over you know the thing i noticed as we look at these pictures is how. i don't have peaceful as the word but it's good natured isn't it yes that's right police right there yes with their helmets on they're taking their precautions but it's not a violent movement really is it indeed and for a reason because this is a country that has been grappling with the wounds of the civil war of the ninety's for many years or civil war because the level of hundreds of thousands of people across the country particularly in the army decided to cancel the elections in one thousand and ninety one people now prime minister. just before the process he

warned saying that because for because in syria it started with flowers and then it ended up in bloodshed quiet people said to him we're not like syria this is a different story it's a project ocracy movement and they were careful to maintain it a speech full as they can because they know if it does generate into instability that could pave the way for the army for example to step in and where does the army's loyalty lie because that's always important in any country where we've seen these sorts of protests how much they stay on the sideline and who they are traditionally aligned with i think the facing the same day limit or political that all armies faced in the past which is trying to strike a delicate balance the maître statements the army chief in the past warning of the people against any things that could lead to instability you back five people told him this is an act of intimidation you should side with the people not with someone who is sick and has been suffering from a stroke since two thousand and thirteen and ever since we haven't heard from the

army chief in the more it could be an indication that the army got the message from the people and they are trying to gauge how things will further move forward in the near future before they can come up with a final decision hessian always love you see thank you coming in. so yes protests on the streets we see that in largely peaceful protests and protests online to reveal or it looks like a well cartoons. imagery these are all playing a role in the protests as rome was seeing plenty that come all these hundreds of thousands of protesters from the streets of all jarius capital many of say consumed pencil and paper to express themselves cartoonists are documenting events as they unfold and this from from a lay hc which is shows algerians waiting for the return of the eighty two year old abilities pacifica who has been in ill health since twenty thirteen and not from morocco created this one reflecting the sitting president holding on to power

and then set to run for a fifth term these are quite interesting ali dilemma a well known algerian cartoonist has been keeping his followers up to date almost instantly on twitter his drawings offer a witty take on the social and economic challenges facing algeria from the protests to the president's age and poking fun at the political system one refers to several lawmakers of the ruling f l n party resigning and joining the protests he says it's like rats thing but if it is sinking ship and these are fed to share which means salami or sausage on the jury and flag now this is significant because the chair was handed out by one hundred two algerians by the f.l.n. ruling party jury the last presidential campaign in twenty fourteen to help attract large crowds it's now become a symbol of the revolt as well jerry and sue have taken to the streets in the past week or using it as a tool to protest against what they call corruption and also make fun of the president and it's not just cartoons some are showing pictures of placards in the

streets where darby here says wife is a metaphor filed syria is the people are connected but there is jeem is disconnected and others are sharing their thoughts with personal videos. so michael. i can express my joy this is the biggest moment in my life i salute you all you make us proud to hear that. word of course a lot of kids will we need to figure out a new leadership that we can get to power so we can represent us in what we want rid of corruption what get in touch with us if you are protesting in algeria what you like to see happen next is the hash tag eighteen is great thank you reveal a great explainer piece here as well that al-jazeera dot com on the algeria approaches an in-depth unusually long clip actually a seven minute social video from our online team but it not only puts the protests of the past month into context but everything that gave rise to them during with the flick his time in power have a search for algeria's protests explained at al-jazeera dot com now to

al-jazeera interview which is making headlines all over the world but particularly in the united states eric prince you will remember him as the founder of the private american security company blackwater has admitted to meeting with members of donald trump's campaign back in august twenty sixth seen something he did not seem to disclose to a house intelligence committee in november of twenty seventeen prince in fact told congress he played quote no official or really unofficial role in the trump campaign but in his head to head interview on al-jazeera the program's host met the house on challenge that with some well extraordinary let's have a watch what you didn't tell congress is on august third twenty sixteen you were at a meeting during the campaign at trump tower with don junior trump son which stephen miller then a campaign advisor to trump with george nader a former blackwater colleague of yours who acts as a back channel to the saudis the emirates you're supposed to be a convicted paedophile and also joel's imo an israeli expert on social media

manipulation how come you didn't mention that meeting to congress given it so relevant to their investigation. i did as part of the part of the investigations i certainly disclosed in the any meetings the very new i don't in the congressional testimony you gave to the house we went through you didn't mention anything about august twenty sixth meeting in trump tower they specifically asked you what context you have and you didn't answer that. i don't believe i was asked that question. asked whether any community for communications or contact with the campaign you said apart from writing papers putting up yard signs no what you said of the transcript of the conversation here. i might have been i think it was at trump headquarters or the campaign headquarters. twenty sixteen usable and israeli do a back channel to the emirates on the saudis down in judea and even millen there to talk about iran policy hulet about iran policy i think that's something important to disclose to the house intelligence committee while you're under oath he did you didn't we just went through the testimony there's no mention of the trump tower me

to twenty sixteen why not i don't know if they got the transcript wrong. or they got the transcript wrong so we could i don't know i remember i remember certainly does dismiss it we didn't hear you because we know that robert muller he hasn't been able to establish collusion it but he has got a lot of guys for lying to the authorities and not telling the whole truth is that a problem now even if you accidentally didn't tell them that could come back and haunt you fully cooperated i haven't heard anybody i haven't heard from anybody in more than nine months i mean i mean members of congress after they discover this media have talked about certain witnesses not telling the truth but you believe you told congress about this meeting even if no in the transcript just to be clear i believe so. let's talk to the in washington about it's excruciating to watch and listen to in some points isn't it so yeah but it makes me wonder if it's really one of these the coverup rather than the crime things you know like the way michael cohen eventually went down because he lied to congress. right i mean that is

the implication this is been bubbling away since last may when the new york times broke the story about this meeting which was then confirmed by donald trump jr's own lawyer that eric prince himself organized this meeting with the is ready social media specialist and that lebanese that lebanese american business person who acts as a conduit for the u.a.e. and saudi and saudi arabia according to new york times their actual and morality or saudi officials were actually at that meeting i think i might have said that the last hour was a reasonable question wiser than they were there in spirit according to the according to the new york times. it was confirmed by don't try to junior's. lawyer up and it appears according to transcript as mehdi was saying he. prince didn't mention it in his own testimony to congress which would be perjury so why did we have a better answer seemed it seemed like he was rather short he was even realistic about that which is a bit odd but the other fascinating thing about that exchange is in the new york

times it said that at the meeting there were two main kind of issues that there was discussion of some kind of social media campaign to help the trump campaign and george nader was suggesting that the u.a.e. and saudi arabia were rather keen to help the trump campaign but what prince said there was iran was being discussed now we know that george later on also the integration was touting a plan to use private security contractors to economically sabotage iran would be like several hundred million dollars and we don't know whether that got anywhere and then later on he was talking about perhaps using some kind of proxy force of mercenaries in yemen to try and fight against these are always described as iranian backed but that's another interesting bit of this plot and so what they are actually talking about iran when they talk about social media campaigns we're talking in general about support for the campaign the plot is thickening do you think this interview is the kind of thing that could gain a bit of traction in the united states i know politics moves at breakneck speed

there and it admittedly is the weekend at the moment but i mean this was all over my social media feeds and i wake up this morning. i would imagine i would imagine it would be it is the weekend but we know already in congress now that now that the democrats are in control of the house they're already look they're really really looking at all the old us congressional testimony they've already asked for more papers from eric prince. in order to run very few one of those other people and they're directly connected all connected to donald trump erik prince is already on that list we already knew the members of the house said look we want to get more information from erik prince because we were not satisfied with his testimony you know this is this is this could be trouble for prince really interesting stuff and all from an al jazeera interview there thank you shepard tansey in washington d.c. the full interview with erik prince is of course online and al-jazeera dot com if you had to the shows menu select head to head that set running there it also has it's next on iran on the channel oh one hundred hours g.m.t. sunday it's the run ten hours from now and as you saw just from that short clip it

is well worth a watch the just a quick comment before we hit the break and as unfortunately i only got this comment after hashim had left talking about algeria lot of you asking well if there are so many people against president bush a flicker then why don't they just allow him to run and then vote against and vote him out of office at hashim a whole i think h a h e l on twitter if you want to put that question directly to him and have a chat to him as well after the show and see if we can get his thoughts on that as well in the meantime any of your comments or questions to send them through hash tag ha it's great this is the news good if you with us on facebook live about a story for you know about why an abortion law in el salvador cost three women ten years of their lives and then later the ongoing battle against sex trafficking worldwide we're focusing on mali the nigerian government's fight to free twenty thousand young girls and to bring them.

hello again welcome back to international weather forecast what we've seen one particular storm here across parts of iraq moving towards iran and now it is making its way towards the east so over the next day it is going to be pakistan afghanistan that sees the combination of rain and snow in your forecast on sunday really not looking too bad for baghdad at about twenty three degrees there but we are going to be seeing quite city maybe those winds starting to die down with a temperature a few of about twenty three degrees as well here across the gulf it was a windy day on saturday things are getting better on sunday temperatures are still into the mid twenty's winds coming out of the north it still could be dust at times and some bloke ations but over here towards miss god we do expect to see a temperature there of about twenty two degrees maybe on monday getting up to about twenty three degrees there and then very quickly i do want to take you down here across parts of southern africa we have been dealing with some very heavy flooding across parts of mozambique as well as malawi take

a look at the storm system right there in the mozambique channel it is now going to be intensifying and bring some very heavy rain over the next few days towards madagascar but as we go towards monday that system we do think is going to start to make its way a little bit more towards the south and possibly had more back towards parts of mozambique where we could see additional flooding there down towards durban it is going to be a rainy day for you with a temperature of twenty eight. you'll men killed a mother and son on their way to an appointment sadly the insurgents don't wear uniforms or so it is seen long with the was of the american occupation of iraq matthew has an old american prince to account from tower twenty sixteen how come you didn't mention that meeting to congress and i did i don't know if they got the transcript wrong. i don't think you're that sharp that you can tell the difference between a polish guy a french guy holding a yard shot at the head on a zero. the

. headline from al-jazeera dot com and what's trending is. absolutely no surprise there as i said this was all over social media. today you can watch the full interview. of course and a really interesting story number two to do with cricket the caps at the indian team. caps and far is going to have more on that one life because that is provided you know all lot of reaction have a look for yourself that is what's trending this saturday night on to see what dot com. we have been hearing for well wakes if not months really that time in syria is close to an end but they've been some complications the u.s.

backed five is hoping to resume their assault on eisel last pocket of territory are actually having to hold all because civilians are still coming out of that town trying to flee the impending fight. this is the syrian democratic forces of course the s.d.f. which are given a deadline of late saturday for anymore civilians to leave the area they say the sheer amount of people there actually caught them by surprise according to the u.n. sixty thousand people have fled back close since december and then are crammed into a nearby camp now we hope to hear by now from the un's refugee agency chief who's in a camp in beirut today while we're waiting to hear from or do want to give you an indication more of a reminder actually i should hope of how big the syrian refugees.