pretoria the support for the aids you certainly is falling they're sitting at about fifty seven percent now and i think you for the a.n.c. is that sixty percent mark which would allow it's a parliamentary majority and that's been the aim for the party for many years now but fifteen years ago the a.n.c. hits about seventy percent in the that's dropped significantly far behind though are the opposition parties the the democratic alliance is that about twenty one percent while the most recently formed economic freedom fighters and and and members and leadership of their party coming from the a.n.c. you once upon a time have now gained about ten percent of the vote which is significant for that opposition party in particular but this really is concerning for the a.n.c. is the party stays in power but this is a party that's had a new president in place for about sixteen months now after jacob zuma resigned and so the showing for the a.n.c.

would be very important for still remop was of the president at the moment who would want a solid mandate from south africans for his party but also form with in his party that has been riddled by factionalism he would certainly want to have the party's full backing we do expect. to visit this election center during the next couple of hours away he's expected to have a look at some of the final results coming in still ahead on al jazeera illegal israeli settlements for a scrutiny of the un security council plus opposition politicians are not as well or seek sanctuary after the arrest of a key figure in the movement to oust president nicolas maduro. hello the weather's lousy set fire across much of north asia lots of sunshine

coming through a little area claps making its way away from japan brighter skies coming back in weather systems out into the open water temperatures responding quite nicely twenty five celsius there for similar temperatures to work across the korean peninsula go on into sunday and this is similar picture twenty three for beijing by this stage a little more cloud just coming into northern parts of china we have fair bit of cloud into central and southern parts of china recently the southeast do quite nicely saturday twenty nine celsius for hong kong in a similar temperature as we go on through sunday some of the central areas could still see some spells of wetter weather just coming through from time to time that spells a wet weather too with from time to time across southeast asia lots of sunshine but want to see. some showers just pushing their way into the philippines easing across india china some of the wet weather for a time to into thailand bangkok humid thirty five degrees celsius here on sunday

afternoon for the south lost the showers across malaysia some wet weather into northern parts of indonesia are starting to improve to one of two showers for jakarta with a top temperature here of thirty three degrees. in a two part series. zero observes the lives of two children. over twenty years. where insights into circumstances that shape lives. in a rapidly changing. twenty years of me starts with plants and land to build a story on and to see around. again

the top stories on al-jazeera president donald trump says the u.s. is in no rush to finalize a trade agreement with china his comments come after he more than doubled tariffs on two hundred billion dollars worth of chinese goods china's commerce ministry says it regrets washington's decision and val's to respond with similar countermeasures. japan is accusing north korea of violating un resolutions with its latest missile tests the second weapons test within a week north korean state media showed at least one on thursday tension has risen following the failed denuclearization summit in february and friends of murdered journalists have been warned by the cia that they are potential targets of saudi arabia the report by time magazine says three activists have been given security

briefings by the u.s. intelligence agency. protest leaders in sudan are threatening civil disobedience as they grow increasingly frustrated with the military's delays in handing over power protests began last year touched off by the rising cost of bread and fuel they soon escalated to nationwide demonstrations demanding longtime president. bashir who ruled for thirty years was overthrown by the military on april eleventh a military council then took power promising to hand over power to a civilian government as soon as possible and to sit in outside army headquarters in khartoum has now continued for more than a month the demonstrators have vowed to stay until until a civilian government is installed morgan is following developments from khartoum and as a risk. it's friday and we do expect more demonstrations what are the protesters behind you telling you about why they've come out and what they're hoping to achieve. well there in this book and to protest against think that they're not due

to go and see an independent civilian government of course we know that the talks between the military council and the opposition coalition has reached a stalemate there is no transitional government looking to be formed any time soon now they're saying that they've come from various states they've come from various parts of sudan to join decision which is now in its second month waiting to see their demand of a civilian government an independent government be formed but these things that the military council is not keen on that and that if that doesn't happen then they will escalate the protest this is the first friday of the holy muslim month of ramadan but they're saying that it doesn't matter whether it's ramadan or not and the temperature here is forty five degrees celsius but that doesn't stop them from continuing with their stick to him until they see their demand over steve billion independent transitional government installed all right morgan giving us an update from part to her about thank you let's speak to. the founder and president of sudan

policy for his joining us here on set you heard what about with saying she's on the ground going to protesters we're going to continue to come out and continue their sit ins. are they risk at all the momentum. i think now there is some sort of. intellectual clarity about the whole situation although the whole that is there is a different disruptive more. men each and controlled by the t.m.c. transition and military council and some members of the political parties that are part of the negotiation i think the public now to the extend it is frustrated it is it is very it has some sort of clarity about what it once and what the situation is like but then the confusion comes still how what what means do they have to come out of this quagmire they realize that this t.m.c.

the military council is very keen about consolidating power they have no interest in giving up the power and now they are drafting some sort of a constitution that brings a prime minister who is no executive power. some branches no legislative authority and they are doing all of that because of three things the they have conflict of interest they are already involved in the gulf war in yemen so they want to drag their feet and the second issue they don't want to operate in the fight for and to bring because it's going to bring out a violation against. mean women in violation of human rights and i think the fear the most important part is that both the politicians and their military offices they realize they have no interest in influencing a transition to democracy that will bring out the votes of our population who are

just i mean greater percent the are used i mean seventy percent are used who are politicized anti. any military rule and they don't want. to go back over to the additional policy let me ask you this though for clarity because this is a point that you made earlier and i think it's quite important the military council t.m.c. is different than the military itself so is there a conflict of interest going on right now between what the army wants what the military wants and what this. one oh absolutely and i think this is what's going to make it or break it because. the t.m.c. is going to is running out of time the more the they drag their feet the more the military officers the core the core of military the core of the military organization is going to be a force to stand beside the stand next to the people protect the people they

realize the officers are nothing but a group of officers who are trying to protect their own interests remember these are not officers who are. part of the military organization these are officers who are assigned biomet or bashir. as part of military security military council that were supposed to provide protection for his own self and also have powerful friends friends abroad don't they so to what extent do outside powers right now have a hand directly or indirectly to the unwilling to loosen its grip the external i mean the external influence is not only exercise again it's the need to see that military officers but it has also been used to some of the of the

people of the free forces of freedom and. some of them have they have already made visits and they have been treated at some of the. g.c.c. countries it's known to everybody. so obviously the people who are in the city in order the started losing confidence if not totally disagree spitting some members of the very song we are going to realize that there are fractions in the f f c the forces of freedom and. military concert that is going to be serious a very serious fraction between the army corps of the army and if you are right to leave it there we thank you very much for joining us right here on al-jazeera now the u.n. security council has held an informal meeting on the continuing growth of illegal is really settlements member states say that building arms house thingy on land as

unlawful and violates un resolutions and foreign minister riad maliki says the current u.s. policies aren't helping the stalled peace process our diplomatic editor james bass has more from the united nations it's the meeting was organized by indonesia the current president of the security council but because it was a controversial subject israeli settlements in the west this wasn't a formal meeting of the council instead an informal meeting to which all security council members were invited surprising then that the u.s. special representative jason green one of the architects of the trump peace plan due to be presented soon came here in person to the meeting he presented a case that was very supportive of israel. we hope to prevent our visions soon and in the meantime we will continue to speak the truth even when it is not welcome the truth is that israel just days ago came under

a vicious cynical unprovoked attack that was intended to terrify kill and maim israelis the truth is that there has been no effort in the halls of the united nations to hold the terrorists who perpetrated that attack accountable also the meeting the palestinian foreign minister riyadh. he said the forthcoming plan looked to him more like a surrender plan for the palestinians at the end of the meeting i asked him whether he was any more upbeat about the forthcoming proposals having heard him again speak today mr foreign minister does it give you any hope for this quote absolutely not i'm really disappointed with that to be know it does you what to expect if at any time in the in the future there will they would release. a plan but you know it's very clear that you know it's. his thinking you know his his mind is will set to be exclusively and the palestinian peace and the logic as he left the

meeting special representative green blatt was taking no questions from reporters he would give no more details about the timing of the release of the peace plan something that president trump has called the deal of the century other than to say it would come soon hundreds of protesters have tried to stop the transfer of french weapons to saudi arabia the demonstrations were organized by rights groups following an investigation that says french weapons have been used by saudis against civilians in yemen president of money one of my ha's under increasing pressure to review arms sales to the can we human says is that you can get a war in yemen is a difficult war we are turned into supporters of saudi arabia and if we the french citizens do. not trying to stop arms sales will be accessories to this business we don't want we don't want to be in this situation the french president shouldn't be allowed to decide on his own whether france should sell weapons this decision

should belong to european democracies and only parliament. the family of a close aide of an as well as off as a solicitor are increasingly concerned for his safety after his arrest by intelligence agents zambrano is vice president of the opposition controlled national assembly following the failed overthrow president nicolas maduro last week the u.s. has warned of consequences if he isn't released terrorism reports from caracas. so. he's going to every public office he got access to try to locate her father ever got a somewhat i know the vice president of the opposition controlled national assembly at the time. we don't know where he is he was kidnapped by this government and taken illegally he is innocent they talk about treason he has been defending democracy in venezuela because the national assembly is the only democratic institution left in venezuela. somebody i know was taken on wednesday night he did

not want to leave his vehicle so intelligence officers used a told truck to take him at this point nobody really knows where it ever got to some but i know he's being held his lawyers that he's been detained in this prison it's known as. it's where political opponents and students for example that participated in protests are being detained for one rights groups say that prisoners here are tortured and abused by. the government controlled constituent assembly voted to strip of immunity to several opposition lawmakers somebody i know is one of them to arteries had to seek refuge at the italian embassy and another one is hiding at the argentine embassy. the government is accusing them of treason and rebellion. but has provided no proof here. but it's not just lawmakers the government is going after this is a video from april thirtieth and involved members of the volley varian national

guard that the government believes sided with opposition leader attempted insurrection. can be seen in the video he doesn't know where his son niece. i don't even know what he was doing there i was told he was detained i know there is an investigation going on but i don't know where they have him or where he is. is demanding the government releases those detained he says the government is the one who is not respecting the rule of law in venezuela. the government wants to talk about a coup but the real coup is here to dismantle of the rule of law with the constant attacks against the only legitimate body in burns' weyler the national assembly that is why there is a crisis and they can show the people results that will improve their lives. human rights groups say that with the current situation in the country it is difficult any of those detained will stand

a fair trial i mean. we know there are reports of planned or stein detention centers they are not in regular prisons and prosecutors are not demanding that those imprisoned charge within forty eight hours of being detained people are being abandoned with nowhere to turn. in zero say they are almost eight hundred political prisoners in venezuela today prisoners whose future is uncertain so long as the institutions are controlled by the government they settle. this is al jazeera these are the top stories the u.s. president says there is no rush to finalize a trade agreement with china donald trump's comments come after he more than double tariffs on two hundred billion dollars worth of chinese goods china's commerce ministry has vowed to respond with similar countermeasures or. i've come here in

good faith given the current particular circumstances i want to reasonably and frankly exchange opinions with the u.s. side but china believes given the current circumstances adding further tariffs is not a good way to solve any problems it's not favorable for china nor is it favorable for the us nor is it favorable for the world so our way out of this whole thing is a principled solution to realistic problems which finally points in the direction of the only result of cooperation. the chinese former president of interpol has been formally charged and will face trial for corruption in chinese prosecutors accused of abuse of power and taking. men who became interpol's chief in twenty sixteen disappeared in september while on a visit to china beijing leader confirmed he had been detained on suspicion of corruption. the french president has paid to rebuke to two special forces soldiers that were killed during an operation to rescue hostages in. the elysee palace says four hostages were rescued are now safe in american south korean and two french

citizens japan is accusing north korea of violating un resolutions following thursday's missile tests the u.s. says multiple ballistic rockets were also fired it's the second missile test in under a week the deputy head of iran's revolutionary guard has said to her and will not hold talks with the u.s. and dismissed threats of military action by the u.s. it comes as a group of b. fifty two bombers sent by america to counter what it calls a credible threat from iran have now landed at an american air base in qatar its aircraft carrier the u.s.s. abraham lincoln is also heading towards the gulf. with nearly all votes counted south africa's governing a and c. party is once again on course to win the general election but with the lowest share of vote since the end of apartheid twenty five years ago the main opposition democratic alliance has almost a quarter of the vote official results are expected on saturday those overhead

lights inside story is coming up next on al-jazeera stay with us. could trade talks between the u.s. and china collapse donald trump says beijing is breaking the deal block china and says it won't be pressured into making more concessions so who's winning the trade war this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program i'm imran khan attempts to end the u.s.

china trade disputes that appeared to be making progress but just what a deal was looking more likely a rift has opened up between the world's two biggest economies the u.s. says china is backtracking on promises such as protecting intellectual property and stopping unfair trade practices president donald trump is raising the tariff on two hundred billion dollars worth of chinese goods from friday beijing is promising to retaliate and says it won't bow to pressure to make any more concessions both sides are taking an aggressive stance as china's vice prime mia heads to washington for the latest round of negotiations that broke the day. they can do that so they'll be paying. we don't make the deal nothing wrong with take it in over one hundred billion dollars a year. trying to figure we never did that before and we won't back down until china stops cheating our workers and stealing our jobs and that's what's going to

happen otherwise we don't have to do business with them we don't have to do business we can make the product right here if we have to like we used to number like we used to. let's hear from all correspondent a german brown in beijing. well this was supposed to be the week of popping champagne corks after ten months of often torturous negotiations eleven rounds of talks the united states and china were apparently going to finally sign a deal that would end those differences but on sunday night president donald trump detonated an art of the deal grenade just as he did over north korea he seemed to be saying that the chinese side had now begun to drag their feet they were playing for time the talks he said were going to slowly his trade representative robert light hisor went a step further a few days later he said the chinese side had now essentially written aid gone back

on just about everything they had agreed to in those previous negotiations with the united states now the question is if china has started to backtrack and to backtrack in such a significant way then why well analysts say this is almost certainly down to intervention by president xi jinping who may well feel that his negotiators have been conceding too much giving too much away and this is a year remember when china's president china's leader has to look strong stronger than usual because on october the first china will mark the seventieth anniversary of the founding of the people's republic of china not a year then when a chinese leader kind of fall to appear weak so president xi jinping once a deal but he doesn't want to deal at any cost so what happens now i think here in beijing among you know most experts analysts you talk to there is a

a grim realisation i think that these terrorists these new tariffs are going to happen and that chinese negotiators have precious little time to avoid that happening these negotiations after all and on for. now it is of course possible that there will be a surprise breakthrough but most you know analysts i've spoken to say they feel that you know there possibly is going to be a deal eventual e. not just now. the question is the key thing is will the two sides continue negotiating if they do i think that'll be enough to stabilize stock markets here in china which have suffered their biggest full incidentally in more than three years big falls as well of course in hong kong but if there is a rupture then of course you know we're going to see market volatility for days if

not weeks to have to car in the meantime china is saying that it's promising countermeasures against any new sanctions without specifying what they are but it's fair to assume that china has anough in its arsenal to made life very difficult for us corporations here in china if it wants to adrian brown for inside story while campaigning for president donald trump accused china of stealing u.s. jobs he ordered a review of the u.s. trade deficit and its main causes once he entered the white house in march last year trump imposed the first round of tariffs directly targeting chinese products china soon retaliated by july both countries were imposing more than three hundred sixty billion dollars of levies on each other in december the chinese and the us president agreed to hold new tariffs and begin talks but before any agreement could be reached trump renewed his accusations and threats of new tariffs.

joining us are our guests in beijing dan one analyst at the economist intelligence units access china service on skype from taipei russ feingold and asia political risk analyst attorney. and republican political consultant and also in beijing i know it's going in a china political risk analysts who is advise the chinese government on economic and development issues i'd like to begin in beijing with. china and the us have had a fruitful relationship for the last thirty years ever since china shall we say pivoted away from communism and became a global economy the deal seems to have worked however soon as donald trump takes power they seems to be an issue can you just explain to us what's at the heart of all of this. i think it is a combined result of a shift in power and the interpretation of it because in the past forty years china

is probably the largest the largest beneficiary from the current trading system has benefited more than a us with a double digit economic growth almost every year or so now and live to the millions out of poverty and it's becoming the second largest economy in the world but always look at it on the u.s. economy is doing ok not nearly as impressive as china does and again quality has become a major issue in the u.s. and the politics is very divided so facing the especially after president xi jinping has took office the relationship between u.s. and china has really changed we saw that the u.s. labeled china as a revisionist and then as a competitor so from their original follower of the u.s. china started to arise as this major producer a manufacturer in the world and now it seems that a within ten years it's probably going to become the largest economy in the world all competing with the u.s.

even the most advanced technology and this is something that i don't think the us are are ready to accept yet let's bring in russ feingold in taipei. telling is about to become the biggest economy in the world that's just fact competition isn't it as well that it's not china's fault that the u.s. has an issue with that so why pick a fight well you've mentioned to keep words and that's fair competition so what's changed recently or in the time that president has been in office since the beginning of two thousand and seventeen is a consensus in the united states across industry and frankly across both republicans and democrats in in government that china is government and its companies don't always follow the rules of the global trading system and that's where there is actually a lot of support in the united states for some of the policies that president trump has implemented president trump is been very clear that he wants a trading relationship and he wants u.s. companies to export to china he wants u.s. companies to do business in china but there has to be some observance of reasonable

rules and laws and we see a pattern of chinese companies involved in intellectual property subsidies from the chinese government which really results in an unfair playing field and that's what president trump's policies are seeking to address let's bring in. in beijing also the u.s. seems to be suggesting that china is cheating that it's not playing fairly. well those are nice talk points but you'll notice that our my colleague hasn't brought forth any particular evidence to that fact the issue is that since donald trump came forward and became president he has been largely involved in a what he does best which is trying to shade the reality of what is happening china has been rising for quite some time if you look at what the u.s.

has been able to win at the w t o we're talking in excess of three quarters of the time if there are real cases out there where where are they and where have they been lost where has china been stealing there's this narrative that goes on constantly and that seems to be on challenge that china has been doing all these nefarious things yet there isn't a scintilla of proof the instances where you had intellectual theft have been very simple to explain individuals have been stealing things in order to make profits for themselves i know that's a stark revelation but you know it happens everywhere. reality is or not all seem to vidual actors these are often people acting at the urging of the companies that they work for or in some cases government agencies and the number of prosecutions that have occurred in the united states not just recently but this is an ongoing problem going back before the trip administration even if the trial be ministration

news is more aggressive about bringing prosecutions but to say that there is no evidence of intellectual property theft or being the facts show otherwise and similarly an important issue for us companies in the u.s. government in huge trade talks is what's often called forced technology transfer now the reality is is that american companies in the technology space to do business in china are often have no choice but to work with the chinese partner and again this is something that the u.s. government is trying to address but to say that there's no evidence that the playing field is in level or that there isn't cheating going on by the chinese corporate world or the government and the factions don't show that they show otherwise can you give us an example ross of what you're talking about a concrete example well that if there are besides the number of prosecutions which are well documented it is an ongoing problem but there are rules in china that require a foreign partner to have a chinese partner or the american company or european companies or other

nationalities they cannot do certain types of business on their own with china in china they're required to have a chinese company as a partner so their option is take on a partner or they're unable to enter the market and certainly from an american or european perspective this is not a level playing field and it is really meant to ensure the chinese companies have the upper hand and that they can acquire technology from foreign companies done. in beijing i want to bring you in the head like a lot of pain if i may. let me let me also corset let me bring in dan i was just going to add a small point. let me bring dan in here from beijing done you've heard what the other two guests have had to say a lot of this seems to be about technology technology transfer and what the americans are calling technology theft china is about to move up in sectors it's about to move into.