more on this now with lawrence korb who's a former u.s. assistant secretary of defense thank you very much for speaking to us on the news out can i start by getting your assessment of how the assault on baghdad is unfolding just hearing from our correspondent there in gaziantep suggesting that i sills manipulation of the civilian evacuations from the area has certainly played a part in slowing the operation down well there's no doubt about the fact that they've slowed the operation down because obviously the syrian democratic forces don't want to create more terrorists by killing a lot of innocent civilians and they know that it's also allowed isis to regroup so they can put up a more formidable defense but the key thing is they're going to lose this and basically they're going to be driven underground because they'll have no more territory control we remember

a couple of years ago they had one third of the territory in syria and iraq they'll be down to nothing after this. right but you do say that they will probably be driven underground i'm just wondering is it your sense that policymakers there in washington on making plans are perhaps trying to get ahead of what could be the next incarnation of this group or a possible new group in its place. well they should be but right now president trump is trying to fulfill his campaign promise to get out of syria and if they have no more territory this gives him a reason to say that he's accomplished his mission fortunately he's not going to take all two thousand out he's going to leave several hundred plus airpower and i think that's going to be the key thing that you'll be able to use your air power to

deal with the terrorists if they should try and come back or they cause problems but this is a different type of type of battle when they go underground than it is when they held territory like at rocca and co bonnie and it was basically a conventional bottle. you mention the president trying his campaign promise to withdraw from syria a lot of people are quite lost on on what u.s. policy is at the moment because of a sea trump as a side that is designed to withdraw troops and that big announcement has been followed up by a series of other a mox by his officials not least john bolton who've kind of laid out a series of conditions that would delay a withdrawal you know there's no doubt about it john bolton was so-so stay as long as a rant as their own iran's not going anyplace i mean the arranging and and the russians are there to make sure assad stays in power he controls about seventy percent of

the country right now there's no doubt about the fact that trump would like to do it the real question is how met much will he do but there's no doubt about the fact that within a couple of months you're not going to have the two thousand troops that we had there when he came in well thank you very much good to get your thoughts on this story lawrence korb joining us there for me isis isn't secretary of defense. now the chair of the u.s. house intelligence committee adam schiff has accused the founder of blackwater ethanol telling a twenty seventeen congressional hearing the full truth about a meeting at trying tally in twenty sixteen now this comes off to erik prince admitting to the meeting in an interview on al-jazeera he asked whether any communique from communications or contact with a company and you said apart from writing papers putting up yard signs no what you said of the transcript of the conversation here. i mean i might have been i think

it was at trump headquarters or the campaign headquarters twenty sixteen usable an israeli dude a back channel to the emirates in the saudis don't junior leaving millon there to talk about iran policy do that about iran policy to us something important to disclose to the house intelligence committee while you're under oath you did you didn't we just went through the testimony there's no mention of the trump tell me to do was twenty sixteen when. i don't know if they got the transcript wrong well adam schiff rejected that claim while telling n.b.c. that they had questioned prince because of persistent questions about whether the u.a.e. was playing a back channel role to the russians joining the campaign well he's certainly not telling the truth in that interview there's nothing wrong with our transcript there was nothing wrong with the reporter who transcribed his testimony he did not disclose that meeting to our committee and in fact as you can see from the published transcript of his interview he was asked what kind of role he played if any in the campaign and he said he had no role. let's discuss this now with melanie

sloan is an attorney with expertise in government ethics and a former federal prosecutor thank you very much for speaking to us so erik prince confirmed that that was a meeting at trump tower in twenty sixteen and he did this in an interview with matt he has done on al-jazeera but in the interview itself you first claimed that he wasn't asked about it then he said he told them about it this is congress then he said that there was a mistake in the transcripts can i get your thoughts and impressions on the contradictory way this was disclosed well it's clear that erik prince will lie as easily as he greets he will keep coming up with a new version of events that he hopes will work and then when he's caught he comes up with yet another one but because he was in fact testifying before congress at the time he may well have committed a federal crime lying to congress whether under oath or not is in fact

a crime and so it wouldn't be surprising to see the special counsel come up with a potential indictment eric prince right so as you say it is a crime to lie under oath give us a bit more context on the legal implications and and significance of erik prince misleading congress about meetings with trump associates. well the problem is not only was he misleading congress about his own and his own role but he was clearly trying to keep them off of a path he didn't want to admit to this meeting happening in august of two thousand and sixteen at trump tower at all he's also been very cagey and not very truthful about the meeting in the seychelles so i think there's a lot to unpack after the special counsel with what erik prince his role was after all we know there may well have been other meetings and other events other conversations he may have had he only admits to them when he's caught flat out so i think that the special counsel is likely to have looked at eric prince and it's

also possible that adam schiff in the house intelligence committee could refer this matter to d.o.j. for prosecution themselves when somebody lies to congress that is frequently something that congress itself looks askance on and asks the department of justice for a mixture of her and her prosecution. you mention that prince has already been questioned by special counsel robert lerner as part of the ongoing investigation into alleged collusion with russia now that we have well more information from prince himself about meetings which took place what questions could put could possibly arise for what what else might possibly pursues a result of this. well i imagine the special counsel's office is going to have looked at that tape of the interview on al-jazeera and looking for disparities between what erik prince told the special counsel and what he said on al-jazeera

and also what he said now before the house intelligence committee obviously it's not a a lot of crime to lie to a reporter but to lie to the house intelligence committee or to the special counsel him self that that also would be a criminal act so the real question are what are the disparities between prince's testimony and because we are so don't have access to his testimony before the grand jury but i'm sure that the special counsel is a looking quite closely at it and erik prince who said that he was you know confident that he wouldn't find himself indicted i think there's that confidence is misplaced i don't think that the special counsel is scared of erik prince although prince tries to portray himself as a man who is basically untouchable all right thank you very much for sharing your insight with us on this melanie sloan attorney with expertise in government ethics and a former federal prosecutor joining us that from washington thanks well in all the

developments there are also reports that u.s. president donald trump is set to ask congress for an additional eight point six billion dollars to help pay for the war he promised to build along the border with mexico trouble may request when he delivers his first budget road map on monday the demand is three billion more than he previously asked for and more than six times what congress allocated for border projects in each of the past two fiscal years it comes on the heels of a battle with congress over wall funding which resulted in a five week partial government shutdown. still ahead for you on the news hour venezuela suspends school and business activities on monday as a nationwide blackout drags on into a fourth day. we speak to one of the female protesters just been released from prison in sudan on the president's order and then in sports the rally driver facing an unexpected obstacle a race in mexico. the

algerian president's office saying that abdelaziz bouteflika has returned home from switzerland been receiving medical treatment local t.v. reported that his plane landed at a military base south of the capital is this demonstrates his will by house analogy is where shops closed and transport workers went on strike in protest at his plans to run for a fifth term son a gay guy. after a two week stay at a swiss hospital abilities buttafuoco was apparently back in algeria according to a statement from his office pictures an algerian t.v. showing what is reportedly the president's motorcade driving from the airport this is perhaps the most challenging episode in beautifully his twenty year rule a seismic moment in the country's recent history with little sign of diminishing if algeria's authorities still close to the university's early would stop the protests that appear to have been a miscalculation we are protesting against

a fifth president a president who took the biko enough is enough in a country desperate for jobs anger at the unemployment rates and corruption has been row it especially since protests began three weeks ago students are debating. throughout universities to talk about the solution and to talk about they are they are more concerned students are aware and fortunately aware of the situation and they are taking the rights the rights and measures juju to avoid the weakening of the moment but it's not just the students while voicing their anger a partial strike across the country is also under way at expected to last for five days at the center of it all this man president abdelaziz bouteflika who has rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke in two thousand and thirteen but this decision to stand for a fifth time an upcoming elections has galvanized opposition in the country and

while he's offered to limit his to have an office after the election promised to change how algeria is run it's not probably on breast cancer so pumped questions of whether bouteflika is being used as a puppet candidate by a faction of civilian and military because in a country that largely managed to sidestep the arab spring protests their rallies. a reminder that it's not immune to the discontent that sparked the sort of a year ago al jazeera let's look now at what might be next for the country with algerian journalist jamila dean joins me in the studio now and so we're looking at the images there of protests in algeria really remarkable scenes we've been seeing of the biggest demonstrations in the country for decades now that president bush to flee is reportedly back in the country and according to the announcement he's in good health how much could this inflame protests even further what you think the

response might be yeah definitely people are really angry they want to go under who regime to do they need a piece food to change the thinking is they're trying to impose an impotent president who has a record of we stink trillion dollars. leaving the country in a dire state dodgin him our yearly for a change for many years they felt humiliated by imposing this president on them for the fifth their. they said you know enough to get flicker and you know to this vision the funny thing today they said his bark one of the media outlets the t.v. channel closed to do so because of the president big claim that he's in good perth is like superman he's sitting there claim that he was sitting in the front seat

chatting to the driver and these are good health and they're trying to sell to the algerian that he wants to make change just give him a chance of one year he will held elections and then he will not enjoy his pledging so he's saying that if he well that those around him is saying that if he stands again he will call for fresh elections and eventually stand down that the timeline is supposed to be within a year but there's been nothing specific on the precise timeframe for beautifully to step down but this is really the kiss he spent twenty years he did not make him change now in one year he can make all this change this is an algerian built by this but wasn't there an anticipation that he wouldn't necessarily stand for another term and the fact that he is being pursued again indicates that the the regime the governing elite have been unable to agree on

a successor they're trying they're trying to to find the way outs the good the the the message from the algerians the feel of they don't want him and they don't want the who regime now they're trying to get way with this a cigar of just give us a chance one year one year just that's what we're asking just one year and then beautifully come do but they don't buy this they want they want do church they want is a huge change seeing these these protests have been peaceful and the fear is that them might be some sort of violence if the protests continue. on the scale of what we see from the security forces no. insisting on the peaceful demonstrations on the peaceful change if anything can happen the regime will be held responsible today there is a significant maybe changing the tone of the army of the head of the army general gates and gates or is saying today that the people and the army they share the same

spirit sions it seems that there is a slight change in the tone of the hourly and the algerian they know who has the real power the real prove why as they say it is the army since the independence of algeria and they think it's an orderly peace food change of the regime despite the feel the regime they're trying to. even the chief of staff of the army at some point us they were threatening the algerian with the with the dark decade as they call it in the ninety's and we do see is the prime minister was saying that even in syria it started with the roses telling. done anything today to these little says but thank you thank you very much testers as you can see them clearly you are not an algerian this is algeria

colorful this food beautiful. area they would peace they want regime change algeria is not is not. a farm to any one of those people in the regime algeria is to be for their story it's riches and everything is is for algeria to truly for the algerians that the year in to live in this in this century trying to first very much thank you very much for sharing your your passionate thoughts and views of us to my latine taleb. welcome thank you well there is more to come for you on the program. was russians protest against government efforts to take control of the internet which some have branded an online i am kirsan. north koreans election and members of parliament but there's just one party to vote for. and support a defeat that may have confounded an early end clip on changes things that are

educated. have a bit of a culture shock on its way through europe we have been used to the weather coming in from the west pushed him by quite strong winds this next winter cloud you look at the directions coming from it's from the northwest so very cool down to some degree and this this area of cold will produce rain and then rapidly snow it runs overnight that snow even be in though a ground as you can see an austrian germany it's for the cold all the way east to ukraine or south that has been quite warm recently in it will be on monday still eighteen degrees in bucharest and a robot you already see the hint of what's to come that spain and portugal sitting pretty no difference here however you watch this and for monday night on what's the snow moves sas was throughout the balkans even down towards northern greece this is

a bit of a cold shock you wake up in bucharest a nine degrees having been eighteen degrees on monday not much difference in the tension vienna but you'll notice the middle of europe now is quiet and sunny settle for different wet and windy weather though returns once again to the british isles eleven degrees in london under nice letten skies right now all this means that the northwest of africa she's turned quite nice and warm robust if anything warming up in the next two days twenty four by the time to get to tuesday can't say the same of libya or indeed north egypt. a sinister only god who secretly controls moldova's parliament on nearly a tycoon misjudged by his enemies is the most hated me a country i made my key allegations of blackmail hitman and a billion dollars for. people in power investigates moldova and the puppet

master on al-jazeera. examining the headlines setting the discussions a warning from the air boss over the risks of a no deal breaks in sharing personal stories with a global audience you have your own intelligence network on the globe to tell you where to go and we'll go explore an abundance of world class programming designed to inform motivate and inspire brilliant people are really afraid the world is watching on al-jazeera.

you with the news hour live from london a look at the top stories now and if european airlines jet has crashed minutes after takeoff from addis ababa killing all a hundred fifty seven people on board it's the second boeing seven three seven max jet to crash in just five months the syrian democratic forces have launched a all out assault against eisel on the village of. yes yes has been poised to advance into the enclave for weeks now but it's repeatedly held off to allow civilians to leave. and algeria is ailing president has returned to the capital algiers as anti-government demonstrations continue into a third week abdelaziz bouteflika had been in switzerland receiving medical treatment. the unrest over beautifully because rule is also making waves in france which is home to around one point seven million people of algerian origin as russia potter reports now from paris. united in calling for political change in

algeria thousands of people demonstrated in paris to demand abdulaziz beautifully could withdraw his candidacy for a fifth presidential term many people do use social media to lifestream the gathering to show solidarity in front of the protests in algeria. all these people are my family we are together because the government wants to destroy us but today i am for the truth because everybody wants the truth luxury in algeria seventy percent of us are young less than thirty years old so we must build the future with their intelligence and ability of the young we want liberty and justice there was similar scenes in the southern city of math and france is home to the biggest algerian origin population abroad estimated at more than four million people sing abdellatif yarrow fi was born in algeria but has lifted from fifty years his music draws on the sound. the so hard region where he grew up. despite decades in france

after lottie's passionate about his closely following and supporting the protests it's amazing because a curious have seen what happened in the arab world the yellow best to france what's happening in venezuela personally i've been emotional transport of paris now gere's have to close but difficult relationship one way down by history algeria was colonized by the french for more than a hundred thirty years it gained independence in one thousand six to two after an eighty rule to tell you france is one of algeria is main trading partners this little doubt that whatever happens in algeria it resonates deeply here in france but so far the french government has been very cautious with its approach to events the french foreign minister says only the policy is monitoring the situation very closely but he says that the future of our carry on is not house of its people. did it is up to the our jury and people to define their respirations which implies

transparency and the freedom of the process some say the french government is quietly concerned over further instability in north africa algeria borders libya a major route for people and arms smuggling to europe algeria is turbulent past me many protesters here a wary of political chaos what they want they say is a peaceful transition to a fairer future natasha butler al-jazeera tyrus to sit on our the deputy head of the opposition party mariam sadik on matter has been sentenced to a week in prison over the ongoing demonstrations there but around forty female protesters have now been released on the president's orders have been morgan spoke to one of them in a heart. just days ago finds him a good a member of an opposition party in sudan was in hunger strike in a woman's prison in the country's second largest city on the man she's been held in detention for six weeks. accused of taking part in anti-government protests and.

i was driving from our party's h.q. when cars came up behind me and in front of me and told me to get out of my car and to get into their i was taken to detention and then questioned and put in jail no charges were brought against me and the other women in jail with me. fazer and at least thirty nine other woman arrested because of the protests have now been released from prison following orders signed by president obama and bashir demonstrations in sudan began in december over the rising costs of basic goods including bread and fuel the quickly turned into demands for the president and his own security forces used tear gas and live bullets on the protesters the government says fifty two people have been killed rights groups say the figure is higher. last month the president declared a year long state of emergency but the protests continue this year is refusing to step down and has called for dialogue. but the dough is cool and. god willing we

will get over all the problems and overcome the obstacles because we have decided to have a technocratic government without any regard to political affiliation or tribe we picked the military men to be governors because the whole country loves them. some political analysts say security forces appear to target women protesters more than men i want to know what mission because it was surprising to see men arresting women they were touching the women inappropriately and beating them that's why there are female security agents and police the fact that they let men and not women deal with female protesters is a clear sign of a violation. the state of emergency hasn't stopped the demonstrations and despite the threat of arrest many protesters say they'll settle for nothing less than bashir is resignation people morgan al-jazeera. and as well as government has suspended school and business activities on monday and at the ongoing blackout which began on thursday power has been intermittent in caracas and many other parts

the country have now been without power for some seventy two hours at least sixteen patients have died from complications relating to the power outage in reports of some stores being looted during the blackout and frustration is growing this government has already fallen for me it's fall and if they can't supply services no type of government exists i've been without power for seventy six hours well i see that in other places they have power i don't understand why some places have another's don't. we don't have water we don't have power to make purchases you need to have dollars you are boulevards because the machines don't work that's what we have done what so serious. it's the uncertainty we don't know if we're going to eat or not i have an electric stove i can't use i don't have gas so i can't cook after i ask one of my neighbors who has a gas stove to let me use it. well at a press conference earlier on the opposition to condemn president nicolas maduro

his handling of the blackout we like about it again we denounce this catastrophe in two thousand and seventeen yet today he lonnie's puts an affront to the people of venezuela on friday said that they would solve the blackout in three hours but they still haven't given a precise technical reason they hijacked the system they can't even show their face and speak clearly to the people sixteen states in venezuela continue to be completely cut off those partial tricity eight which comes and goes and al jazeera has to raise a bow has more now from a neighborhood in caracas. for almost three days that most benefit would have been without power i made you're out. all the country there was until a few minutes ago our markets right here. started losing in a freefall hard taking whatever they can fraction of all. i need to make them find first lots of tension here in the middle of the city because if you come here just

a few minutes ago there were some students who are setting up a roadblock right on the street but you can see right here pro-government gangs came and they forced them to remove there was lots of tension then the police came they were backing gobert they can know what are known as people's which are basically pro-government gangs that have already come here to in some i take them there's a lot of tension in venice where that is day fifty people are struggling for food from medicines i'm on other things and there deterioration of the current situation with a lack of ethics for a city makes the situation even worse. of thousands have been venting their anger in russia plans to introduce tighter restrictions on the internet the government says it will improve cyber security but campaign is a saying it's an attempt to increase censorship and stifle dissent step vassal reports now from moscow. another attempt to isolate russia from the outside world this is how these protesters see the latest

bill to control the internet with most of russia's media under tight government control the internet and social media are considered the last remaining sources for independent information i don't want to leave all i can churn in the use of fire wall i want internet to be free and. i want to think three years ago it was a joke about that day we'll law prohibiting internet and art today we. see that actually it's not a job to suffer an internet bill proposes to reroute all russian internet traffic through a central point controlled by the state internet providers will have to install specialized equipment the government says it's needed because the country has become more vulnerable to cyber attacks from other countries. u.s. media recently reported that the american cyber command apparently managed to cut

off the so-called st petersburg troll factory from the internet during last year's u.s. midterm elections staff at the building in russia second largest city had allegedly tried to influence the two thousand and sixteen campaign which was run by donald trump a charge rejected by moscow. i won't comment on that particular episode as it was a report by western mass media but to free assume that such an event took place this is in fact why we are trying to protect our internet from the possibility of switching off internet from an outside american source but internet experts say it will take years and billions of dollars to gain full control of the internet china's. something north of twenty billion dollars and. that big one million people work project. yes china internet is way bigger it's ten times bigger than russia. but even there's bigger we don't have couple because

of the rules for these or something quite comparable thousand engineers the bill which is on its way through the russian parliament is the latest effort by the government to control the internet since two thousand and twelve the government has imposed many restrictions including blocking more than one hundred fifty thousand websites arresting people for political center to online polls and officially banning the popular messaging service telegram while many agree death threats of cyber attacks are real experts say that this bill could actually in danger internet traffic in russia even more recent bills to control the internet have been called clumsy and rushed but this latest bill is seen as a series attempt to control what is considered one of the last sources for independent information in russia dozens of people were detained during sunday's protest which was officially sanctioned by the government the reasons for the arrest have yet to be given the controversial bill will most likely be approved and

become law later this year step fasten al-jazeera moscow. north koreans have been voting to let the country's parliament it's the second such election since ken jeong and took our eight years ago is a member of the supreme people's assembly as well as having complete control over the ruling party the government and the military voting is compulsory for everyone over the age of seventeen but there is only one party to vote for india's election commission has announced that parliamentary elections will take place in seven phases over six weeks in april and may is the world's biggest ever democratic exercise with nine hundred million people eligible to vote as jamil has more from new delhi. for first.