the secretary general of the international federation of the red cross and red crescent societies joining us there from johannesburg thank you for your time. there's growing condemnation of the u.s. president's plan to recognize the occupied golan heights spot of israeli territory russia says any change in its status is a violation of united nations agreements iran and syria have also criticized donald trump suite in which he said it's time the u.s. recognize israel's sovereignty over the golan heights the territory was captured from syria more than fifty years ago it's estimated twenty thousand israelis live there as well as twenty thousand syrians stephanie decker has more from the occupied golan heights. well all the international attention now here are the israeli occupied golan heights it is all in the language the international community recognize that this is occupied syrian territory while u.s. president donald trump now indicating that the united states will be officially and

this is what we expect next week when the israeli prime minister will be traveling to the united states also meeting with president trump will be officially recognizing this area as israeli territory so you've had a lot of reaction throughout the day from the european union from the french from the germans from turkey saying that this is going to bring the region to a new break from iran from russia and also of course from syria saying that they are going to use all means necessary to take it back but really the bigger picture is this this is a very public dorfman from the u.s. president of the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu at a time a crucial time a very much hotly contested election coming up in early april serif throwing his weight behind netanyahu when it comes to the internal israeli politics here some people actually said it will almost amount to election meddling by the united states whatever happens it is certainly seen as a huge political victory for benjamin netanyahu he's been fighting for this for

years and it seems that now his wish of having the americans recognize this area as israeli is coming true and here's our engineers game really founder now in washington with more on the timing of the u.s. president's decision. trump gave an interview to the fox business channel which aired early on friday and the interview was mostly about economic policy in the economy but he was asked about his tweet about golan heights and he said that it was a decision that he had been thinking about for a very long time and that it was a hard decision he also said that he quitted it his decision to move the u.s. embassy to jerusalem he said when he was contemplating that decision he was getting calls he said from world leaders saying don't do it don't do it don't do it trump said that he did it and it turned out fine the golan heights is the same thing for years trump said other presidents have campaigned on it they said they would do it

they didn't i did it's an issue of sovereignty trump was also asked if he made this decision now to help bolster netanyahu ahead of the elections just a couple weeks away trump said no i wouldn't even know anything about that i have no idea about that i hear he's doing ok so trump brushing aside any suggestion that the time ian relates to any sort of help in the netanyahu in his election a couple weeks from now or the elections in israel sort of inexplicable to think that trump would say knows nothing about that presumably he's talking about the elections but clearly you would think that he would know about those of course we could hear an official announcement about this is early is this weekend starting on sunday that a package be the biggest lobby of israel supporters and activists in the u.s. is beginning their three day conference here in washington vice president mike

pence is scheduled to speak at the conference as well as netanyahu himself we expect that we could hear more on this when that conference begins this weekend i said i had on the program as he visits beirut's u.s. secretary of state michael pale warns that an easy does of what he calls has bought a lot of these activities we'll have reaction from the lebanese. hello once again we've got some more wet weather into central parts of china and southern areas to this thickening cloud sinking its way a little further south so hong kong will see some wet weather as we go through saturday some heavy burst of rain a possibility actually across much of southern china dries up a little as we go on into sunday hong kong at least in the clear twenty one celsius and bright skies coming through but i would also southwest central areas it does

stay a little just fun and dry there for shanghai in the sunshine temperatures at around thirty degrees celsius father try to across the good parts of in the air we have got a few showers rolling into sri lanka more so across pakistan and this thicker cloud will bring a few cherry outbreaks as we go on through sas day fall north of india could see a little bit of wet weather for many it stays warm dry and sunny and temps just edging up to around thirty seven thirty eight degrees pakistan seeing increasing cloud once again for a sunday still a few showers around there looks like a rather great day and that gray weather stretches across the gulf see if there but a wet weather here just around the eastern side of the arabian peninsula might even catch a spot so to rain here in qatar prions up as we go on through sunday with a high of twenty seven.

fly qatar airways experience economy class like never before. when it's going places together. you're watching al-jazeera live from doha a recap of our top stories this hour in algeria protesters are out in force again for a fifth friday calling for president acted as these would defeat an entire establishment

just step down there running in the capital as well as in smaller cities across the country. aid agencies say hundreds of thousands of people in mozambique will require humanitarian assistance in the coming days hundreds have died from the floodwaters caused by psycho and died but officials warn the numbers are likely to rise and various international condemnation of the u.s. president's plan to recognize the occupied golan heights as part of israel it's estimated twenty thousand israelis live there as well as twenty thousand syrians. and the u.s. secretary of state has warned lebanese leaders of what he calls has fallen as destabilizing activities in lebanon and the region michael impale is in beirut where he's been meeting officials including some who are allied with the iranian backed group has a law the visit is a last leg pales middle east war which has also taken him to cooperate and israel. for thirty four years hezbollah as put the lebanese people at risk with unilateral

unaccountable decisions on war and peace and life and death. whether through political promises or outright intimidation of voters hezbollah sits inside the national assembly or other state institutions and pretends to support the state meanwhile has blood defies the state and the people of lebanon through a terrorist wing committed to spreading destruction as big as shiloh in beirut for us so how has been paris message been received by lebanese leaders. well know very well at least for those who continue to view her husband as a nintendo all parts of the states be it's a representative of one of the main factions or sectarian elements within lebanese society overseas important so no that was a complaint was making those statements standing alongside him was the lebanese foreign minister who is part of

a bloc an electoral bloc which the larger member of that block is has been in terms of members of parliament and obviously cabinet positions as well so in times of his message trying to tell lebanese society and lebanese politicians to shun the hezbollah and essentially not engage with it that's will probably fall on deaf ears because as far as they're concerned obviously they are a significant parts and it's and that's one of the statements that were made not only by the foreign minister but also by president bashar own who said that he rejected any of calls to essentially disengage. with hezbollah but what's also important here is the fact that this hugely controversial tweets by president donald trump with regard to the illegally occupied golan heights that was not mentioned in that press conference and why it's significant is because just a couple of days ago pale when he kicked off his tour he was in kuwait he was specifically asked will there be a shift in the u.s.

his policy views of the the golan heights and that was after benjamin netanyahu his comments saying that he was hoping that countries would start recognizing gets as part of israel and. categorically deny that saying there will be no shift now whether he was lying or whether more probable he just wasn't told this is the case a lot of people find out what the u.s. is policy years without some of the countries viro those characters that are typed in on donald trump's twitter account but the fact that it wasn't mentioned here considering that lebanon itself still suffers a partial bit under illegal. surly occupation is telling obviously what's on play or fail to mention aside from the destabilizing force as you described it's possible law on the destruction caused by the civil war he was talking about some of the sights you saw coming from the airports they felt so mention about airports from so itself that survived and was essentially almost obliterated by israel during the two thousand and six war as well as obviously several parts of the

country so as far as a lot of a big part of lebanese society is concerned forty there will see that pair was extremely selective in his comments it was obviously a very one dimensional speech that was targeting your run but fail to see all the other security threats that's been on his face and thank you for that jamal as shy ally forests in beirut. prime minister theresa may is back in the u.k. after persuading european leaders in brussels to extend the deadline for the exit from the e.u. beyond march twenty ninth british politicians now can extend the departure to may twenty second but only if they approve may steer if they don't they'll have a shorter time until april the twelfth to get the deal through or quote indicate a way forward the battle now shifts back to britain's parliament which is split down the middle between supporters and opponents south breaks it john hall joins us live from london so they're expected to vote on mazed next week for a third time wanted chances this time round.

not good probably there is no evidence that opinion has shifted in favor of this deal that has suffered to the ments defeats already. there's no evidence that the democratic unionists of northern ireland have decided to overcome their objections to the irish backstop there was no evidence of m.p.'s in tourism a zone party rallying to support a many of them it now seems favor no deal over what they consider a bad deal those in other parties who she would have had to rely on to make up the numbers where they may have been some sympathy a week or so ago there probably now is a great deal less off to the assault she launched on m.p.'s on wednesday not blaming them for the entire mess and so it looks all but certain a good deal will go down at that point there will be a scramble to meet the next deadline which is april the twelfth at which point britain has got to turn up back in brussels with a viable plan b.

and agreement to take part in european parliamentary elections both of those huge question marks that have to be a series of votes in parliament so-called indicative votes looking at the sort of menu range of options from the existing deal to a softer deal to cancelling breaks it all together or having a second referendum and there is no viable majority at this point or even evidence of one for any of those and consider that in three years there hasn't been a single positive majority on a on a way forward since the referendum and the idea that suddenly this consensus can be magic to out of thin air in just a matter of weeks is too many i think at this point quite fanciful john hall in london thank you south american leaders are meeting in chile as they know to form a new regional bloc called the process or more than half the members of the previous school yunus or next last year as it became divided over how to respond to the crisis in venezuela but israel is not a member of the new home but its opposition leader why don't has been invited to

attend the talks and latin america on its innocent human report some sontag. beyond that venezuela a lot of people who. are critical of my would also say that this is this organization rather than favoring and defending multilateralism seems to be playing into this new right wing populist wave in the region being led by president donald trump in the united states and also not all from brazil remember these are the largest and most powerful countries in the americas and so they believe that this is very dangerous because it's moving away from the independence of the region and also that it should not be ideological if it was criticized for being too much to the left clearly this new version or would be version of a regional bloc is being criticized for being too much of the right they say that it must be pluralistic because governments change but institution should not have people all over new zealand mourned and prayed together on friday and nationwide memorial service was held to remember those killed

a week ago in the attacks on two mosques in christchurch andrew thomas reports they came in their thousands muslims and others to the park opposite the al-noor mosque a week ago a gunman killed fifty people here at the nearby mosque in lynnwood neither of which was ready to host friday prayers this week so a virtual mosque was created in the park instead for prayers and a sermon broadcast nationwide and attended by new zealand's prime minister. we need the heart of the body south as the home for a few time. you see him and mourns with you. we are one. at one thirty two exactly a week after the shooting began the park fell silent. for two minutes they stood. and then the prayers begin. they were followed

by a servant. of el norte thanked the people of new zealand for their tears for their flowers and for their love and compassion too he thanked the prime minister for her response to the slaughter and then he can text allies to what happened here the attack he said did not come overnight you know where it was the result of anti islamic and anti muslim rhetoric used by some politicians some media agencies and others we call our governments around the wards including new zealand. and the neighboring countries to bring in. two hate speech and the politics of fear will his sane came from australia for the event last friday two of his relatives were killed for touched by what the man was saying and i think he was saying the right words. given but not everyone in the park had

a personal connection to a victim or even share their faith for many hearts most of those who came here this would have been the first friday prayers they've ever attended became not because they're muslim but to show solidarity with the victims of last friday's attacks and islamic community of new zealand will generally many muslim women were a headscarf as an added mark of respect i just want to express myself this terrible time just how terrible made clear by the mass burial held on friday funerals for twenty six people in a single afternoon after thomas al jazeera cross church. by some breaking news out of the united states where the white house in washington says i saw has been quote one hundred percent in emanated from its territory in syria beigels the us acting

defense secretary briefed on the tramp as he was traveling on air force one about the big update in syria the u.s. led coalition has been fighting the armed groups in syria and iraq in since twenty fourteen and now the u.s. announcing that i saw has been completely eliminated from its last stronghold in syria alan fisher is in washington for us allan we were expecting this official announcement from the white house. exactly right you remember this just two days ago donald trump on the south lawn of the white house before he traveled to ohio he told reporters that i saw would lose the entire tree by the end of the day you may remember he held up a map showing i saw in the territory controlled when he came to power in twenty sixteen and the position that they were and no at one point i saw spread across syria and iraq controlled territory roughly the size of mainland britain slowly because of efforts by various fighters including the united states i saw as

territory got smaller and smaller and no the united states are saying that they nor longer hold any territory in syria and in iraq here's the difficulty though i saw hasn't gone away and everyone knows that donald trump will undoubtedly get the victory he wanted he wants to be able to see he was the president that defeated eisel but it hasn't gone away and he will be aware of that part of the reason he's keeping four hundred troops in saudi or having earlier announced that he was pulling all americans out of the country and this is why because because there's been concern about what happened in those areas that were controlled by i thought after the u.s. forces. well you remember the donald trump very critical indeed of the idea of bringing american troops out of iraq he said that it was a terrible decision by barack obama and that led to the growth of eisel at one point he even said that to barack obama phone did i still know that's probably

a bit of a stretch but certainly americans believe that because of the chaos in iraq that is where i saw managed to start gaining territory gaining power gaining money getting weapons getting fighters and so they're very keen that that doesn't happen again and that was certainly the point that turkey and other allies including israel made to the united states when donald try. announce that he was pulling all troops out of syria such a shocking decision you remember that james mattis who was the defense secretary at the time resigned because he completely disagreed with it so yes that is why the united states is still keeping four hundred troops inside syria for the time being at least to calm but any regrowth of eisel thank you very much for that alan fischer live for us in washington we'll have more on this breaking news story out of the u.s. with the white house announcing that the final offensive against i saw in syria in the village of beigels is over do stay with us on al-jazeera coming up next here

it's a thrice. the way they'll see in antarctica the size of an extraordinary bids to create the

largest protected area on a. for this special episode of a prize we're going on board the greenpeace icebreaker optic sunrise following one of the biggest campaigns in the environmental movement is ations history witnessing the spectacular biodiversity and the many threats to life from climate change to add to fishing as a team of scientists photographers and ocean experts sets out to prove these vos remote waters must become an antarctic ocean sanctuary. before i set off down south i'm going to find out a little about the journey i'm about to embark on tucked away in this maze of old london streets something quite extraordinary. ever since i was

a boy i've been mesmer. by tales of the golden age of antarctic exploration of the early twentieth century names of polar explorers like roald amundsen and captain scott. well this is where some of those expeditions came to get them aps it was really because of the low good to see this is a kind of treasure trove of past exploration to come out of that. turns out mankind has forever been hooked on the concept of a mysterious continent at the end of the world this met from the fifteen eighties is the last of the classical worldview this is the world as it would be an understood the ancient greeks and romans still got this great terrell called me to the unknown something lent spin forward three centuries to the time of men like captain scott who died on his return from the south pole philip shows me sledging

from that expedition is true. this is what actually used to place the food is for the attempt on the pole. incredible here we have him reaching the south pole and then of course the terrible trick back tacked in scott tied him just demonstrates how hot it was then just how challenging it was that a far cry from today it was this period is known as the heroic age they were truly great heroes up until the one nine hundred twenty days there were probably less than i should think fifty or sixty people had actually ever stepped on to the cold up. of course no thousands are going every year. like many of the old explorers i first had footprint to our anus in southern chile but unlike i'll be flying into antarctica to king george island at the

northern tip here all join the greenpeace ship the arctic sunrise and head into the weddell sea with luck will reach out target the sixty fourth parallel which marks the northern edge of the proposed asian century an internationally supported marine reserve covering one point eight million square kilometers that would be protected from direct human impacts like fishing oil drilling and deep sea mining. how times have changed immediately it's clear how connected the outer reaches of the antarctic continent to become the plane is full of tourists. what was once a grueling journey of months maybe is now can be done in an hour and a half with lunch and if you. want to. be an elf like that for fun. it's a cold murky arrival surprised at how many people there are around dozens of coming

and going here with no king george island and tells him we made it something that's not something that you don't. look so remote as warm and transport you can see lots of tears gathered taking ribs out to inflatable boats out to meet cruise ships for the holidays and also ahead a lot of research stations. with the weather closing in we need to get a move on. in. the next two weeks. thank you. right take. her. well we're on the way immediately heading for the proposed ocean

sanctuary is not a time to lose not just for the arctic sunrise winter is not far away and the ice will soon close in but it's also a race against time to protect areas like the way we'll see before it's too late we'll maccallum it's a greenpeace campaign leda we campaign for it will be the levels largest takes an area. to question sanction an area of the battle say to be about five times the size of germany the proposal is already on the table it's already got the backing of the. scientists are saying we need to protect a third of the world's oceans at least every one to let fish stocks recover if you want to mitigate against a less invasive change and nantucket is a great place to start in just nine months time and it's australia the decision will be made by the antarctic ocean commission the international body responsible for the conservation of these waters and whether to accept the sentry proposal the aim of the expedition is to build the case that it needs to happen. yeah go by and

the temperature drops significantly. on the bridge they're on high alert we're heading into dangerous waters tense times with skipper pull ruzicka you have what they call bertie bits growlers and icebergs depending on the size but they can all damage a ship when you're steaming at night key thing about ice is avoiding it but now we're going to look for the ice and we will intentionally go into some of the ice and there is room down here now i think to push our way through a bit of our. right . to pull climbs into the crow's nest to try and spot leads through the ice. come through the ontology sound which advice. next you can talk to prince that were not in the wedding see but not yet at the border which they would have protected but to get there we go to get through all this ice there's

a lot of it around there we're finding these clear passages trying to we've always through the eyes. everyone on board is just willing the ship to make it into the proposed sanctuary the big problem is getting people to realize why they should care about the i'm talking to you know this is lot like that most people have never come across will never come across and so being able to tell that story relies on us getting there are lots of us getting the footage back and tell talking about the importance of marine sanctuaries so the fact that they start to put out a recovery and we put these areas of them it's the fact that climate change will be not as bad if we manage to put large areas of the ocean up in the. dogma's falls but there is no rest on the bridge for the captain and the night crew there is an illusion there are. no. floodlights on the boughs showed the ship now milledge dumped quietly against the

ice and intentional maneuver for the remainder of the night but everyone is keyed up flying off. the next day at last the arctic sunrise has arrived surrounded by some of the coldest most diverse waters there are the most all on board who may yet be the largest protected area on the planet we will want a good day's good news very good news made it made it to this is for sitting there now. as someone of the ship and this entire space and you just go over this side and we suddenly saw getting sort of tens of of ships both cruise line as cargo ships fishing vessels the moment you get through this sound as another ship about that and that's it and i'll. whole area that's slightly scary yet terrifying. but very exciting as well but exciting kind of just makes the case that this is

pristine this area is not developed his not caught in the streets never had industry is an area that's kind of the most i'm touchy even within and thought. oh no are you. going to. make friends i think it kind of a migraine or. what we're looking at here it's felt yes see i said great icebergs to be the classiest sweeping up james ross island that the weddell sea spent way to with this proposed area already about just touched by human activity always scientific research is taking place it is an incredible sight but deeply troubling two classes have always collapsed and carved into the antarctic ocean however with global warming they're

doing so with increasing speed and as the ice sheets retreat sea levels rise. this right here is humanity's problem for decades perhaps sentries ahead. it is laundry day or not sunrise and here's the thing we all think of being good citizens by wearing fleeces which is made out of recycled plastic also bottles that sort of thing but when you watch the. hundreds of thousands of micro fibers end up in the world's oceans so here import it wouldn't and not for girls. and. course plastic pollution in our seas is one of the biggest environmental challenges of our time and the team makes the most of

a rare opportunity for research. uses some of our americans would have on the planet there would be appalling to do they could be blasting seriously greenpeace to conduct this experiment taking samples of the water to see if any marker plastics have infiltrated this environment. just simply into the sea surface like west point was that maybe first so they're both taking such a feeling just little bit more to. the. extent. they. find that the this is very cool just the way the seas are very close try a system and there's very few local sources of micro plastic fibers should be coming from however evidence is growing around the world from studies that like the plastic before the spike stream a prisoner releases and they all be found the right remote location. you know it's a bizarre thing be afraid to.