damascus has another oil rich ally russia but politics seem to be play. rather at the moment and i will sure is not assisting the syrian government with fuel oil i think russia is using this to put pressure on the syrian government and it's. russia wants the writings and so the political military and security decisions in syria come from the kremlin. syria has just granted russia control of the main strategic commercial port in the mediterranean for the next forty nine years it appears russia is replacing iran as syria's main oil supplier but it's not just losing leverage in the energy sector iran's financial difficulties makes it harder for it to remain serious economic lifeline the sanctions are affecting its ability to expand its economic influence u.s. thanks sions on iran have worked in russia's favor it no longer has to compete with her on over the economic benefits in post-war syria also the sanctions contain

iran's influence and weakens its footprint making it easier for moscow to convince gulf arab countries and the west to reintegrate the syrian government in neighboring lebanon iran's allies are in power but sanctions are preventing them from maneuvering. legally you cannot send a fuel to syria because the lebanese government is not allowing permits for export because it's considers that there are sanctions. syria has another friendly neighbor iraq which is rich in oil but authorities there haven't we opened the land trade route through the crossing the u.s. is believed to be playing a role to prevent a land corridor from iran through iraq and syria to lebanon. iran wants to open the door to send good story then to see and then to the ports along the mediterranean the americans are doing their best to close these crossings they are still in control. along the border attempts to block iran's regional goals

are not new. and the recent sanctions may help contain iran and its allies for now but it's not clear what impact will have in the long term. beirut. at least two people have been killed and four injured in a shooting at the university of north carolina in the u.s. the twenty two year old suspect who is said to be a student at the university is now in custody with charges pending police say officers arrived within minutes and quickly disarmed the gunman. at the u.s. special counsel robert muller has expressed concern over how his report on russian meddling in elections has been portrayed according to a justice department official mulla sent a letter to attorney general william barr complaining about his interpretation of a report summary during a news conference by said he found no evidence to support that president donald trump committed abstraction of justice buys you to testify on the report before the

senate judiciary committee on wednesday israel's new parliament has been sworn in three weeks after the general election the knesset is made up of one hundred twenty members a third of whom will be holding their seats for the first time the minister benjamin that's now is now leading negotiations with coalition partners to form the next governments one hour from harry fossett in west. ceremonials began with the arrival of the israeli president reagan rivlin he inspected an honor guard outside the knesset building before coming into the hall to preside over the swearing in of one hundred twenty members of this twenty first israeli knesset now all of this serving as the backdrop to the real political business at hand which remains the finalizing of benjamin it knows new coalition government he and his likud party along with its coalition partners have a majority sixty five to fifty five within the knesset but one of his prospective

partners the israel that a new party which is a secularist right wing party led by the former defense minister avigdor lieberman it is concerned about too much being ceded to the ultra orthodox and religious nationalist parties which themselves are very important partners for benjamin netanyahu in any coalition he manages to build and they say that they will pull out if too many of their demands are exceeded to which would be a major stumbling block to having a functioning majority within the knesset of course this knesset also has to deal with any issues arising from the fact that a sitting prime minister is facing pending in da. there are hearings scheduled to take place in the next few weeks on three corruption cases there is talk about the potential giving the prime minister immunity from prosecution talks about potentially reviving a previous arrangement where encasement of the knesset had automatic immunity from prosecution unless there is a vote inside the parliament itself as well as that of course there is also the

issue of benjamin netanyahu own pledge given just before the election to start an exceeding illegal israeli settlements in the occupied west bank and all this coming just weeks ahead of what we're expecting to be the publication of the trump peace plan so a lot on the agenda as this new knesset gets underway and israel has reduced the distance that fisherman from gaza can operate off shore the military says a fishing zone will be cut to six not a coal mines down from fifteen in response so rocket fire from the palestinian territory and accuses islamic jihad of carrying out the attack on the denies the allegation israeli government increase officials and on april first as part of a deal with hamas. the u.k.'s opposition labor party says it may support another referendum on bracks said but only under certain circumstances it says it will first work to get changes to the prime minister's withdrawal agreement or secure a general election reports. they could be forgiven if they feel rather confused

about the state of british politics at the moment two deadlines to leave the e.u. have already passed and getting a deal through the u.k. parliament is proving extremely elusive after three failed attempts to reason may is looking beyond her own party for support because shay sions to woo opposition labor m.p.'s are ongoing to try to strike a deal with the new end of october deadline labor has agreed to support another referendum if it can't get the changes it wants to to resume a stale or general election the party is preparing to fail candidates in european elections of course it wouldn't be taking part we agree it's going to be. a. great six house divided question like nothing else in recent times after the word and people can respond with an exhausted song by one of britain's new with political parties made up of defectors from the conservatives and labor is pushing

for a fresh vote. i think thank you. everything i have increasingly people in the united kingdom are looking up with horror i know lots of people are absolutely fed up with it they want an end to the maps and the only way through that is to have that people's vote remain on the ballot paper and as a good campaign we will win it there is prostration among many in britain on both sides of the break to debate about the political impasse at the moment we're just not saying much happening in british politics in parliament so not much to ask cannot. russian backs it and that's basically because both leaders have by parties are really struggling to bring that and he's alone on their backs a position so there's no guarantee that any time soon there will be a breakthrough to stalemate. it is nearly three years since people in britain went to the polls to decide whether they should stay in all leave the e.u.

the result caused a political earthquake and the aftershocks still being felt and the heywood al-jazeera in london. now again i'm fully back to bill with the headlines on al-jazeera venezuela's opposition leader is calling for more protests on wednesday he says president maduro doesn't have the support of the armed forces and. prosecute those involved in what he described as an attempted coup and made the rising violence a u.s. airline regulator the f a a has ordered its affiliated airlines to withdraw from venezuela within forty eight hours this morning meeting on you no matter what this was truly a fake a minor scuffles a simulation and lie that's why eighty percent of the military and police who joined them in the beginning had left them by newt before noon actually only a little group of twenty people sit with the media and they've all been identified

they chose the path of the trail they wish to do with their careers and sold their souls to the far right they will soon place the consequences for what they did. sudan's ruling military council has asked protesters not to take the law into their own hands of the opposition is accusing the army of clinging to power and protesters indeed to call for a civilian government on the protesters every shoes to comply with the military's request to remove their roadblocks and barricades the white house says it's running to designate the muslim brotherhood as a foreign terrorist organization this could bring sanctions against the group as well as companies and individuals who interact with it in a statement the group said it will continue to work in line with its moderate and peaceful thinking egypt's president abdel fatah reportedly urged president trying to make the designation in a meeting last month egypt the muslim brotherhood after the military coup in twenty thirty the u.s. special counsel robert muller has expressed concern over how his report on russian

meddling in elections has been portrayed according to a justice department official mullah sent a letter to attorney general william barr complaining about his interpretation of a report summary jury news conference bar is due to testify on the miller report before the senate judiciary committee on wednesday and an hour he too has given his first address as the new emperor of japan he says he will rule in accordance with the constitution and work towards peace in japan and in the world formally became japan's one hundred twenty six emperor at midnight on to say those are the headlines coming up next on al-jazeera the street. you're just back from yemen what was the glimpse of the country to go listen to the children are deeply affected because of war we meet with global news makers and the stories that matter.

high for me ok japan's chrysanthemum throne sits empty for in the application of emperor akihito today we take a look at the impact of the imperial family on japanese society and share your thoughts tweet us at eight a stream if your comments and i live you to chat you to be in the stream. much. northeastern the storm will. stop. for the first time in more than two hundred years a japanese emperor has abdicated emperor akihito will be replaced by some crown prince not a hito in a ceremony on wednesday now he tows accession to the throne is raising questions

about the importance of the imperial family and what it means to be empress joining us to discuss this so cooler murakami she's a reporter with the japan times roland kelts is a journalist and author of japan america and we also have one of the she's an activist and former member of the organization sales also known as students emergency action for liberal democracy welcome everybody is there a greeting that i need to give you for the beginning of a brand new era what would you say to each other in japan. i'm just going to you're going to get exactly considered there's a letter consider that somebody said to yourself oh right so guess live let me show you this this picture so could i know you've been covering this end of an era beginning of a new era people standing outside of the imperial palace taking pictures i don't think they could see the ceremony from there but they were certainly out there infused astley marking this moment what is the atmosphere like in japan as one

emperor stands down and know about see a new emperor come into being. i think in general it's been very much about gratitude towards. emeritus he really carved out he developed a very close relationship with people so people are very grateful for his reign and also looking forward to the new era and what it would bring as well so in general it's a bit of. gratitude also i'm sentimental and looking forward to the new year as well as i know that your a cultural afficionado of japanese culture how would you describe what is happening right now what is this moment how will people write about it in the future. well i think in the short term it's just excuse for a celebration. you know this is golden we can ship and it's an unprecedented ten

day holiday and i think people were shooting fireworks in a rather remote region called gifu and i think it's it's just in some ways it's just a lot of fun and i think you know for people of my uncle's generation who are in their seventy's or eighty's. it's an emotional moment but it's also a moment socrates said of gratitude that japan has had you know thirty years of peace and really relatively speaking prosperity what kako and i'm thinking about the legacy of acca he who is standing down from a young person's point of view what is his legacy how would you sum it up. i think clearly bear remembered for his dedication for peace as like taking related trips

to rod. like paying the respect to other countries which no other emperors did before and so that was something we have never seen before but also he is the first emperor for you know for a young generation like me. who are as boring in haiti era. i'm going to show this picture here security this is a story that you wrote emperor akihito a unifying figure who carved out a row shapin symbol say i'm going to show that very simple air the former emperor and the empress they are needling talking to people seems like a very lot more natural everyday thing to do but there's something there which not a difference from that from previous ways that emperors empresses have behaved in japan can you share that with our audience who may not notice that there's anything unusual about this picture. well and it's interesting to point that out

because these are the emperor and empress and well and prayer and merit ascent and credit and that emeritus right now is kneeling on the floor in the cold hard wooden floor of an accusation sent out of the place that was struck by a disaster and i think this was back in the early ninety's but this is very rare you remember and perhaps you do this it was unheard of before. basically up until the end of world war two until i was well a day in front goes they were said to be descendents of odds and they were very secret beings and to think that they would merely on the floor with a common enemy and talk to them i love all that was unthinkable. akihito really took the role of being a symbol of as they into his own hands and created this. and we will force himself on his words of being much closer to the people. we need to come to connect and on

a closer level and i love all of that picture that i showed a little bit earlier that was ninety ninety one and that was just after of a kind of calvary option and there were so many other natural disasters where the former empress from the empress they were there and they showed their humanity right and i'm just looking at length here because from that i mean i think second it makes an excellent point which is that this particular rain a say emperor. did. in a way it was a sort of gradual and quite extraordinary shift because if you think about what happened at the end of world war two. you know archytas father hirohito was stripped of his divinity which is some ways it's a kind of tragedy that the godliness of the emperor was destroyed by the occupation of the americans in that our nine hundred forty s. and then this emperor gradually quite beautifully. after nine hundred eighty nine

takes his tower and he is prestigious directly to the people and it's a beautiful thing in japan and i think. the way change can happen here it can be very frustrating because japan you know is is can be slow to change but you know compared to the united states where people talk about change all the time and it rarely happens because you know debate takes over you know or or europe look at bragg's it right everybody is debating all the time and nothing actually happens in japan what i've seen is that people don't talk about change so much but when it happens it can happen quite quite intensely and quite beautiful a lot of really think it's a good ahead. and i think part of the reason that and rockier was able to create this new role from himself was because in the constitution and it just says that and grazer is a symbol of the state and that's about as it was just that one word being

a symbol and no. real guideline as to what's that but what about begun and that and you do it ambiguity really actually helps him sort of create that role for him so. i'm just looking at this page from saw a news twenty four and this sign here the people into power waiting what is this new era going to be caught and this here is what it was called he know now it's ray was open to interpretation but beautiful harmony was the one that the poem it was a no no this is what it means and means beautiful harmony so we are now in the era of pitiful harmony what does that mean what are your what do you.