health facilities ambulances civil defense headquarters all destroyed. just in the last few days ago clinics for schools that have received direct. civilian targets that is really unacceptable we have been told to look we're just going to go straight to the white house spoke to the press about the resignation of his labor secretary let's listen to her story of labor and alex goen me this morning and he wanted to see me and i he said well we have the press right out here so perhaps you just want to say it is the press. but i just want to let you know this was him not me resign with them he was a he's a tremendous talent he's a hispanic man he went to harvard a great student and so many ways i just hate what he's saying now because we're going to miss him but we've. thank you mr president over the last week i've

seen a lot of coverage of the department of labor and what i have not seen it can credibly stop creation now has been difficult to me more than 5000000 jobs i haven't seen that workplace injuries are down bucking it prepared for in 4th place the holidays are down but here we are friends that we've had this debate this year ever in mining the lowest ever fatality ever mining i have seen public of this pay that is over 12 years old that had input and bedding at multiple levels of the department of justice and if i look forward i do not think it is right and fair for this administration to labor department to have epstein as the focus rather than being credible it ought to be that we have today. and so i called the president this morning i told him that i thought the right thing to step aside no problem to put this to our temporary trust. it would be selfish for me to stay in this edition

and to him you talking about a case of walter's old rather than about the amazing ottoman we have right now and so i submitted my resignation to the president affected 7 days from today about one week from today earlier this morning. there is no need at all as far as i'm concerned i would have i watched alex you know that i thought i would say the great job but you know you could always 2nd guess people and you could say it's just a bit tougher they do it with me all the time i make a great deal with anybody and then they say like the democrats know it could have been better i got 1200000000 dollars settlement 5 from a company from the east and the next day and everybody couldn't believe it the next day the democrats said oh he got more so you could always the 2nd guess that's what

people do i just want to tell you. this is a person that i've gotten to know that hasn't been an ounce of controversy at the department of labor until this came up. and he's doing this not for himself he's doing this is that the administration and alex i think you know it really i said you don't have to do that he doesn't have to do that i don't have a record of them that i do and we have 3 outs as everybody we have had to sell write down how is a deputy had he'll be acting for period of time i think you know bad he's a good bad highly recommended by alex but pat is going to be active and we've already informed. my. yes and i did have a hauling out a long time ago. reason doesn't make any difference frankly but i haven't spoken to

him in probably 15 years or more. i wasn't a big fan of jeffrey up to that i could tell you and now if you look at the remnant church this band i hate to see it happen i will say this and i say it again and i say it loud and clear alex of cost was a great secretary of labor what he's done with plans and you see the plans coming $1.00 after another you're just about done with the poor one day and that happen things that nobody would even think of so it's very sad but at the same time he wants the focus to be on accomplishment not on what good god has right. or alex believe that i'm willing to live with that is that john i think you know me i've lived through that that you wouldn't believe. alex felt that way and he

also felt were so good we're doing so well the economy the stock market just hit the highest point yesterday in the history of our country our unemployment numbers are the best they've ever been if you look at specifically certain groups african-american asian hispanic the best unemployment numbers in the history of our country. you know there's so many good things that he didn't want to distract from that and i understand that 100 that i have had i hate for why he thank you. for that. at. the white house. so paul ryan was not a talent he was you know a leader. when these people in breda and great congressmen wanted to go after the dems for things that they did very badly he wouldn't give subpoenas whereas nancy pelosi hands them out like their cookies. paul ryan was

a lame duck for a long time as big as it was done able to raise money he lost control of the house the only success for ryan had was the time that he was with me because we got taxes cut i got regulate he got so i did that mostly without him. but for paul ryan to be complaining is pretty amazing i remember a day in wisconsin a state that i one where i stood up and made me just now you did this them and they voted mark the stage $10000.00 people so for him to be going out and opening his mouth is pretty incredible but maybe get paid for that who knows maybe get a. new watching president trump of course alongside alex acosta the acting labor secretary who has resigned over the jeffrey epstein case a case about a decade ago involving a financier accused and incarcerated for sexually abusing young girls in florida.

case some sort of writ its head again over the plea bargain that was see or seems to be have to lenient. alyssa costas decided to resign even though the president doesn't want him to we will have more analysis on that story and on the case in the hours ahead here on al-jazeera. moving on now to china's released figures showing its imports from the u.s. have plunged in the past year and its exports to america are down to about the country's trade war but china says its trade surplus with the u.s. continues to rise now that imbalance is at the heart of donald trump's assertions that china's engaged in unfair trade practices way pay as well from beijing. some fairly negative numbers released by the government here in beijing but no sign of panic of course from the customs it ministration they are saying that yes the trade dispute with the united states is having an effect but that it is manageable so

what we have is that for the month of june exports from china to war countries dropped by 1.3 percent compared with the same period a year ago concerning in that if we go back to the month of may they grew by 1 point one percent on the positive side most experts were forecasting that those numbers for june would be worse than what they are this all happening of course amid a truce in the trade war between china and the united states tariffs are not being placed on each other's goods as agreed between the 2 leaders after they met on the sidelines of the g 20 summit in japan last month but some numbers to one pick here for the u.s. president donald trump has long complained of unfair trade practices by the chinese and the fact that the united states has a large trade deficit with china even though exports from china to the united states are down the trade surplus that the chinese have with the united states grew

in the month of june to almost $30000000000.00 so no doubt that will be discussed if those negotiations face to face negotiations do restart as expected possibly in china within the next couple of weeks one of the most concerning numbers for the overall chinese economy to be released is that imports from all countries a down 7.3 percent and that is being blamed on weak domestic demand that's a dispute that threatens to hurt the global tech industry and production of devices many of us depend on japan that is restricting exports of materials to south korea which are used to make things like smartphones and t.v.'s pretty good gupta has more. a year ago japan and south korea came together their twin goals stopping north korea from getting nuclear weapons and boosting regional trade a year later the 2 sides meet again this time to for

a dispute over north korea japan says south korea cannot be trusted to implement u.n. sanctions against. its imposed restrictions on some exports south korea says japan's claims are untrue and wants an international investigation. if the investigation finds fault with our government then we will make an apology for that and make corrections immediately however if the investigation draws a conclusion that our government is not at fault in the japanese government should not only apologize to us but also retract the retaliatory export restrictions immediately. there is anger and so calls for a boycott of japanese goods are growing. the japanese restrictions are seen as a retaliation after the recent south korean culture relating to the 2nd world war japanese companies were ordered to compensate for most south korean forced laborers

japan insists it's not mixing politics with trade agreements were going to go from japan's perspective this measure is a necessary review of operations to appropriately execute japanese export control for national security concerns and not a momentary measure south korea is the world's biggest supplier of computer chips a small from displays with plants like apple and while way there are fears japan's restrictions quoted companies like samsung south korea's drooling party says the government will set aside more than $250000000.00 to protect its companies from japanese action. this move made by the japanese government could be interpreted as the 1st shot in a trade war if it is a prolonged embargo and if. if the japanese inforce it very strictly in a tough manner and if south korea cannot get these materials elsewhere then it

could it could have a serious impact on. south korea's technology production the tree dispute may be sudden but the timing is critical in just over a week japan we elect members to the upper house and election prime minister shinzo are being doesn't want to use them and south korea's leader seen as an important force in denuclearization talks on the korean peninsula is looking to maintain support for his party in parliamentary elections next year with neither side batten down the rift could widen even further priyanka gupta. west african leaders are in the ivory coast to plan the roll out of a single shared currency the move would mean 8 former french colonies will have to give up their use of a currency known as the c f a frank it was created by france in 1945 and is used by 14 african nations in 2 zones one in west africa including senegal very coast and

mali and becky the facet and 6 others in central africa including gabon and chad now the currency is pegged to the euro and has the financial backing of the french treasury in return france holds 50 percent of the foreign exchange reserves of those member countries supporters of the system say it provides economic stability and keeps inflation under control but critics say it turns a relic of french colonialism that holds their countries the past and restricts economic growth and with additional supports now from ivory coast's economic. capitol. roasted coffee beans are ready for processing at this plant on the ask it's of. the factory it's just one west african business looking to cash in on the region's effort to liberalize street. the blood donor having a single currency will be good for business.

there are different currencies in the region transactions among mean the countries is difficult right now but having a single currency makes trading a loss easier. regional leaders have been pushing to integrate they kind of ease they believe they are no closer to having a single currency than at any time but there are obstacles. to the level of economic development differs from one country to another for example the economies of nigeria ghana i can't give walk so smaller countries will simply drag the more advanced economies just like europe we all produce raw materials and import most of our needs there is little imports among member nations the c.f.a. is one of west africa's major choruses it's a legal tender in 8 of the 15 countries in the region and if regional leaders have their way it will be replaced by a new currency for the whole of west africa. negotiations for the single currency

modeled after the euro have been underway for 30 years but the implementation of the i call west africa single currency was delayed several times but a recent agreement of an african free trade area is seen by some as incentive enough for regional leaders to finally launch it after 3 failed attempts. while businesses say a common currency will ease regional trade not everyone agrees that all 50 but nations of the economic bloc of course have the political will to see through all next year. by degrees. mediators from the african union say a political transition agreement between sudan's military genter and a pro-democracy coalition is expected to be signed by saturday the agreement sets up a joint kills a little govern for about 3 years until elections are held. the u.n. security council is in colombia to oversee the implementation of the 26 peace

agreement between the government of the rebel groups fark the peace stealing land reforms and programs to bring fighters back to civilian life but they've always stalled. reports. heartbroken and helpless relatives of former fried gravel. cry over his coffin the 41 years old which july 9th as he went to work at his fledgling pineapple field. pieces causes our lives he believes in this process of serenity is hard to give him self to peace now closed took away his life his laughter his dream to see his children progress. is the 9 x. combatants from this demobilization camp in southwest colombia to be killed one of more than $140.00 nationwide since surrendering their weapons 2 years ago former combatants were promised security guarantees access to land and support for productive processes but most have only received

a monthly allowance which is set to expire in august. of the more than 200 former combatants and their families that built the mobilization camp only 27 remain the rest left in search of work opportunities or fleeing serious threats. some former fighters set up agricultural co-operatives with the help of international n.g.o.s and farmers associations catulus worked in this field planting pumpkins and beans among other crops if star of the fish farm and raise pigs but it's coworkers say they feel powerless and fearful. this is very difficult news for us our companion was coming with seeds the way the government is failing to fulfill the peace deal is desperate we have no financial or political stability. current colombian president a critic of the accord promised to help former fighters while insisting on changing

parts of the deal he announced new security measures for them. after receiving threats former local far commander cutlass and tanya costa was given a bodyguard in an armored car but still had to leave the village and one day i want us out of my life but there we feel there's a part of colombian society that still can't accept that the country's moving towards reconciliation and that we need to take advantage of this opportunity. bringing thousands of fighters out of the jungle has no doubt been a success by securing peace remains a work in progress 1500 former fighters have joined criminal gangs but most say they've laid down their weapons for a good plain thing seeds of hope that peace can hold allison that i'm just a region colombia. your child is there i'm still romney reminded of all top news stories the u.s.

labor secretary is stepping down over his role in striking a plea deal with a convicted sex offender jeffrey epstein president trump confirmed alex acosta will be leaving the post after growing calls for him to step down the cost of says his resignation will take effect in a week he made a deal that people asked me with and then years later they're not happy with it you'll have to figure all of that out but the fact is he has been a fantastic secretary of labor and alex told me this morning and he wanted to see me and i actually said well we have the press right out here so perhaps you just want to say it to the press. but i just want to let you know this was him not me because i'm with them. police in gibraltar have arrested 2 more officers from an iranian oil tanker seas last week and bringing the total to 4 the ship was detained on suspicion of taking off to syria in breach of e.u. sanctions none of the arrested men have been charged. turkey has received the 1st

shipment of the russian s 400 missile defense system the u.s. has previously warned turkey it could face sanctions over the purchase and that it won't be allowed to purchase f. 35 fighter jets more than $120.00 rebels and soldiers have been killed in syria in the past 48 hours that's according to the syrian observatory for human rights they were fighting for a village in hama province which is now under government control. china's trade to and from the u.s. has plunged in the last year amid an ongoing trade war between the 2 countries but beijing says its trade surplus which triggered the dispute continues to rise japan and south korea have held talks to resolve a worsening trade dispute tokyo has restricted the export of materials used in manufacturing smartphones and memory chips to seoul raising concerns for the south korean economy and the global tech supply chain japanese officials say the restrictions are because south korea is failing to control the export of sensitive materials to north korea seoul has denied that claim those were the headlines the

al-jazeera news i would dream up a gator is here in half an hour next on al-jazeera is the stream to stay with us. counting the cost $3.00 decades after the collapse of the soviet union russia gaging with africa to raise its political clout and we look at the economics behind some of his decision to buy the u.s. for an f. 35 still. counting the cost. could be in the stream ridicule threats of bodily harm and scorn this is what israeli actress and playwright weitzman endured for participating in art and activism focused on israeli palestinian politics today where we explore how actors and artists like her are using fear to as

a tool to break down barriers in israel and the palestinian territories have questions be sure to leave them in the chat and we will do our best to get them into the conversation. and the people in the room. we. do have. course we're going. to or you know with comments from the documentary. from today. that was a trailer for the documentary shame to point. at. it explore the difficulties of producing politically driven theater and the challenges they have faced because of their activism. share their narratives in individual monologues recounting the hurdles they have to overcome to advance their respective

careers and a contentious political climate in each performance the actors are periodically interrupted by news footage of israeli culture minister whose efforts to pull government funding from organizations are. bents diem disloyal to the state has been criticized as a form of censorship. us now via skype in tel aviv israel with us in studio mirage has some who co-wrote shame 2.0 and colin delaney who has been performing as i announced during the productions run here in washington d.c. welcome all of you to the stream it is really good to have you here i want to start with i'm a rat so this is going to be tricky having this double conversation together the idea of shame the original production what was it. you know one of the gun enough. yes i can begin though is another shame was about events that happened during 2014 during their israeli attack on gaza.

i can tell my story and then my dad can tell he is and afterwards i can tell how i expand the play so. the plane was a. belt of. a 12 matic event i went through in 2014 someone show the fault of mine wearing a t. shirts with palestinian flag on their. own facebook. during their gaza war and i was in there and that is well and people know me and i was like whoa facebook clinched and because people know me. they hate moved to districts and they couldn't really go safely on the street i was there it is event was such

a 2 hour mattick event for me and been pushed out of the public's fur. what i did is the opposite it's a put this whole experience on stage and this was my narrative in. shame. and maybe more but cannot share. and i love how i not always like directing as chatting to us. over to you. i 1st met and not when i was. assistant to a place she played and i was supposed to edition for the role in it but i was a bit too young. i mean comparing turn and have a good scene i say that i want you to be my assistant ok so the assistant on this is old but not that time i'll be done theater where i used the word got closed and

not just for me maybe we had the story of the story of the comments she get and we make. artists' experiences working it. made me dance theater my suggestion was. interview me as if she writes all the details documentary like all actions you want from here i said this and this brothers and sisters and how many better to play yourself than yourself yes exactly . my story everything is written the. happen except for that one name we had to change just for you know similarity in names that we don't really point and someone particularly and then we started rehearsing actually the original shame in television. more not because we were invited to international

it's called. festival it's like pieces of theater that not only relate to kind of a specific genre and theater experiment that one and then this is where we start performing. and culling of course then you join the production you are playing i not i want to bring up this week here. a reviewer of the play that's here and you see it mosaic theater. d.c. metro theatre arts rights shame to point out goes to the heart of what's dangerous about dissident art anyone who cares about art that matters most not miss this inspiring instance of what makes the work that's a hole in the idea of dissident art is that what you thought you were signing up for was that what you see yourself as doing. well i have to confess there was a bit of naivete when i took on the project. my path to the production was through some personal relationships they felt i was a match for the role so rather than the content pulling me to the piece it was the

relationships and the faith on their part that i would be a good match for the role and it is only as we were that i came to really only begin to get to know the stakes involved for rod and for a not and for all israeli artist i saw you all on the opening night in washington d.c. so shame is called shame 2.0 because this is a production that it's playing in washington have a look at my computer here colleen and i know that standing there together you can see the connection between the 2 of them this is this wasn't planned this one wasn't planned this one was them really embracing each other on the opening night i want to play you just a little scene we recorded this earlier in the stream studio that gives you a little insight into what is happening in this production have a look have a listen sometimes it's the little decisions that make all the difference

that sunny morning in 2006 i chose a t. shirt from my closet it was a political statement of course but it was also a rather naive one. what started out as a torrent of abuse from members of the internet public went on to push us to perform this little play shame which led to others what i didn't know then was that these voices of public abuse weren't merely fringe voices but would go on to become the voice of the mainstream that my plays would be heatedly debated in parliament that the government would push for laws to try and stop me as a friend to terrorists and so my personal transformation from t. shirt wearer to playwright is also the story of the radical dissent of my country

while despairing the worsening and critical situation in gaza and in all other parts of palestine for israeli artists for my country that i love there is also a little hope that art even if stumbled upon by hazard or chance can make a difference. that your facebook page in that quote is on your facebook page on the post here there's also a little hope that arts even if stumbled upon by has little chance can make a difference what difference is your art art making. i think the most. a good example for what they import and so far is there. is

a. loyalty law that the minister of culture was trying to pass in the israeli parliament. a law that. every artist should be loyal to the states. and if not funds will be taken from him so i think this law that the minute i gave was trying so hard to pass is that is like testifying to the importance of art because if. there is a need to or a whole government pass a new law in order to to fight against a playwright or or a palestinian institution that meets that power in it that out indeed has power and i think that the. struggle here is about narratives and

about perception and i think that art has its role to gather. history we need. this politics in your so. yes so i believe in art. and mary wreckage is the current minister of culture faith israel and has tried and succeeded in banning some of your productions in the past. you mentioned they're testifying to the power of art and it brings us to this comment we got live on you tube says when you asked if they believe that art can inspire influence and that maybe our it could bring about political and social change so that is a question someone's asking before you answer it what ads i want you to hear someone the perspective of someone who thinks that it can this is a professor who sent us a big comment his name is on john johansen out of london and he talks to us about

using art as a tool a political tool because it told us performers can be quite significant as political resistance especially if it's based on social engagement participation interaction so for instance the freedom theatre on the west bank in the palestinian territories they both build their scripts on interactive exercises with your audience and when they tour the also discuss the shows after performances with audiences so they keep alive an absolutely topical conversation about the state of military occupation and. it's an argument you know i think they will contribute with more participate with democracy in pursuit of political freedom. do you see your work as political resistance will i can't agree more with what the head of now because i think there is a very very powerful tool 1st of all it connects people together it's

a reason to come together it reminds us maybe of mosques churches or synagogues it's a very holy place if you might call it this week it's power is that it's its general it doesn't really specify one member of the audience and then the other it reaches to everyone so imagine that you as a group of people come to watch a play and then you see this play is similar to your home similar to your stories similar to your struggle for let's say and then you realise it's far away from my state but something is happening it's like the political theatre a bit of bread for example what he wanted to do either i mean i can't speak for him for him but what he wanted is that people lists emotionally involved. mentally and the. like more comparing what they're seeing on stage to life so when they go

out of fear that they will think about i'm not going to let this happen to me again or i'm not not going to just pass away as if it's normal i remember one of the pieces that affected me as an actor actually was a. project in jerusalem that empathy towards other people and you realise as a man that if you don't have something in return you don't give him pathy it's a kind of proven science the project was to deal with it and if you're allman it's a class thing to give him but various i know but then we come to our plate. theater can. change the answer is the family yes definitely yes does all of. one point or we've had many critics saying that what you are sending to the choir we are convinced convincing us we know what you're saying when we had a month you guys you know what we're going to keep saying it again and again to lou just completed something he was wrong we need to change it it changes even if you

know all that the terms on stage it will change something in your mind. theatre and all art i mean i love the way not in the plays conclusion talks about art and not just theater because. i see so many parallels in the play shame to the situations we face and struggle with in america obviously different situations different stakes different consequences but similar things what did you see from working on this production this is just like the states where. the notion that the screaming loud fringy voices have moved into the mainstream and that this is you know. there's no discussion it's just shrieking on either side you know or reacting to that or i think it didn't make it into the final cut of the play but certainly part of the situation is this mass

incarceration of palestinian men yeah which we used to mention in the play felt very reminiscent of our situation here and i think of like you know again drawing a parallel to our country and our struggles with race for example. how you know. black americans can't seem to protest they can't seem to take any they can't seem to demonstrate but childish gambino can make the video this is america which is like who can who can deny the deep and difficult messages in that and so that to me is like another example of resistance through art that the we're fans of this is america by the way back home we feel connected to everything that we see each frame of that clip. because they'll have for people who are not in the know is an artist and that video went viral around the world because other

people could connect with the sentiment of the being i think it's oppression like a feeling of oppression i want to just pause for a moment because my you recorded in our studio just a little bit earlier an excerpt from saying 2 point. have a look few days after the mess started with the i'll be done theater yousif comes to the bar a friend so it's their own and asks for white bushmills no i saw the plenty of peanuts and. he sits down with a smile and he tells me you wanted to be an actor there medan fear that right you always wanted to be right here is your new manager with an interview to the press it is me cell phone and i read it i came in order to stabilize the company i came to bring back the theater into a cultural. this shouldn't be. a political

one we are the citizens of israel we pay taxes and we're proud to be part of the system. i give him back his cell phone and he looks at me with a bigger smile now and he tells me are you proud to be part of the system why do you represent what does that does the country represent you your idea the next thing you're going to do is to present as little in the euro vision all this theater of yours only for the israelis to feel better with themselves to give your money just to win the freedom of speech flag but in order to do so you have to be a good arab the freedom you have is the choose whether you're an arab in the nablus method or in the nazareth method when i tell him listen we can make a change from within or the liberating movements use the colonizer suits to undermine him this is possible this is how you do it then he tells me show you show me what it succeeded show me where it succeeded why do you need this country for detach completely bring money from outside at least you have a total freedom because let me tell you something about israelis israelis you

cannot talk to them you can only talk about them only then they would listen when you said something about them outside but here inside they couldn't care less they are the winners you can try and talk to them about colonialism ok occupation cool but say it outside and see how 1st they will listen to the need told me. i will teach you and you look like a nice guy let's go to. this drink vodka now because of the holidays were some spice that i dish to make it stronger. no he wanted to play with said live it drink from me today so much step

then that one clip that seemed there are audiences reacting brad any on facebook says being censored is a badge of honor it means you are being effective keep it going and i do you see it as a badge of honor censorship. well. sometimes that like . one of my plays the prison i was a stocky patient that was banned. yes i thought it was on though to be censored by is well and also. so what happened was display that was banned this display was there about political prisoners and. whatever the result of it of bennett may play it was. programmed to have theatre festival and that band steering committee and the whole festival

collapsed and all the artists are left of the festival and a big media storm began and then people started to discuss the power far and discussed also what was so important to me about it to discuss the issue of political prisoners and for quite some time i thought as if i woke the walls of the theatre and the whole country was discussing a play that was so important to me. there's a tweet here speaking of censorship because of course you guys are getting it both ways so jonathan cook writes in here that i not weitzman broke israel's great cultural taboo last year with her play on palestinian political prisoners this is a separate play the government banned it from the aker festival and now she plans to revive it through a cat crowd funding campaign so that censorship from the government but here

someone else writes that israeli artists who speak out these are just examples that they've listed actors and not twice but has had people in her neighborhood shout and spit at her these of course are speaking of the circumstances that i not his face have you want a similar circumstances lately because of the incitement that is going on by the system by the government. against palestinians and as you see it if i have 2 dogs if i take the beach i need to be really careful that there will be no disturbed because it's going to be immediately racist i mean the comment is going to be immediately racist if i you be cast also play it's going to be on support because i mean everything. everything is there in this racism. when it comes to an artist a palestinian artist in israel you are acting against the system it's no surprise to anyone if you are straight and alone with the system that's your choice no

judging may be. made but the thing i mean if you're not certain of the name of the system don't expect the system to be like welcoming you but still what they're not certain is really important because if the government is investing so much to change a narrative. it's a great indication that she's afraid this government is really afraid of this narrative and if this narrative goes viral for example like. that it really got there is that it goes viral it might be dangerous to the state of israel for example maybe jewish now israeli jewish want to hate i want to know what happened with the palestinians in 48 and we know this for example when they see a plea but then comes the day give back up with all of the government of the right wing of. shut down the theater and there is nothing you can do about it because you don't have these we don't have infrastructure and that our struggle today is only

to paris that the month of a surviving strike that we're not even built to have in a critique in our. see the system just busy doing or not. getting shot and then we try again getting shot in the new program i mean the development. of the. rides and i not it's been such a pleasure having you here on the street we could talk for an hour we're going to rough it out right now i have to tell you about this if you're in the washington d.c. area in the next 5 days check out shame 2.0 it is on at the mosaic theater in washington d.c. thank you guests really appreciate your your company today now on to wednesday it will be the 1st of 2 special shows on nigeria's upcoming election a double live episode we will meet a young political candidates pushing for

a major change and one of the well to a youth or countries has an assignment for you take a look at this week here we want to hear from you what issues you're voting on or if you're voting at all send them to us in a video comment 30 seconds on your phone stream that al-jazeera dot com slash join until then we'll see you online.

in the year 127180 a gun attack has set out on an extraordinary journey having travelled the furthest reaches of the most high marco polo. radically altered beijing the city established by cooper the cop is still today china's strong economy now and china is again a superpower we reflect on how the relationship between east and west has changed. marco polo on al-jazeera.

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accepted the resignation of his labor secretary alex acosta after the jeffrey epstein sex scandal. i j you don't have to do that. the visit after the. police and her arrest another 2 crew members from the iranian oil tanker seized last week. turkey gets its 1st delivery of a russian made missile system despite concerns from its allies. and parts of new orleans are already under water as the city braces for another hurricane we'll have a live report in support of it reaches another wimbledon final are the details from his match as an epic wind already reduced with roger federer and rafael nadal meeting in the stands. hello the u.s. president donald trump has lost another member of his cabinet laborous. secretary

alex accost up is resigning while he's faced fierce criticism over a secret plea deal he negotiated a decade ago with jeffrey epstein the billionaire accused of sexually abusing underage girls i do not think it is right and fair for just that minute great labor department to have epstein as the focus rather than the credible economy that we have today. and like all the president this morning i told him that i thought the right day let's just step aside you know cabinet position are temporary. it would be selfish for me to stay in this position and get to new talking about a case of bloggers all rather than about the basic economy we have right now he made a deal that people happy with and then 12 years later they're not happy with it you'll have to figure all of that out but the fact is he has been

a fantastic secretary of labor and alex told me this morning and he wanted to say me and i actually said well we have the press right out here so perhaps you just want to say it to the press about i just want to let you know this was him not me because i'm with them let's bring in particle angel joining us from washington d.c. so was this resignation expected at all pardi. no it did really wasn't and it does appear that the president isn't pushing out this cabinet secretary you know he's tends to fire them by twitter but this was the president coming before the cameras with a cost giving him his full support what was remarkable was how much both men went out of their way to sort of downplay what this is all about let's go back this is about jeffrey epstein he's a we believe multimillionaire he was accused in miami of basically running an under age child sex ring and there was a really lengthy indictment that was facing him

a cost so was the u.s. attorney in florida he made this deal with epstein he basically said fine plead guilty to 2 state charges of underage prostitution and then he'll go to jail for 13 months but in that jail you'll have your own suite and you can leave 12 hours a day so you can go to work and think about this this is a man who was credibly accused of sexually assaulting raping children young girls some as young as 14 years old and he was given this deal so now we see the president saying it's distraction i'd rather not get rid of him it's no big deal what he did but he's going to leave for the benefit of the administration so that i think that was the most remarkable thing to come out of that 30 plus minute conference press conference impromptu press conference on the south lawn yeah and in that press conference trump also said that pot could sello would become the acting labor secretary what do we know about him. well we know that he says deputy at a cost to recommended him the bigger picture here is this is unlike any modern administration

in that there are so many acting cabinet secretaries we're looking at acting defense secretary now acting labor acting homeland security plus if you go down the list of the under-secretaries these are people who have very important jobs like the director of the you mentioned there's a hurricane that could come ashore there's no permanent director of fema there's no one at the u.n. so if you look up and down his administration there are a ton of vacancies and it's pretty remarkable i went through his original cabinet and more than half of the people who he started in office with have been replaced or basically just fired now acting does pose some challenges it's believed that if you're acting in the job you don't feel is free to speak truth to power to speak up to the president because he could just simply pull your nomination it's a much bigger thing usually to fire a cabinet secretary and the president has pointed out he likes acting he says it gives him more flexibility and there are some laws here acting can only stay acting

for so long but it does show that the turmoil of the trump administration continues all right patti cohen thank you for that update from washington let's speak to bill schneider he's a political analyst and public policy professor at george mason university his joining us from washington as well thanks for being with us once again bill snyder are you surprised by costas resignation no i think the hammering was on the wall when the charges came out that he got away with a very light sentence just 13 months and he was out of jail most 6 days a week 12 hours a day that was really offensive to a lot of americans so i think his days in office were really numbered all right so you're not surprised by the resignation and then let me ask if you're surprised by what trump had to say because he came out defending acosta in a way saying that he was praising him as a great labor secretary not a good one and and said that he did a very good job. where trump was saying is this isn't me this is him he's

made the decision to resign it's ok with me but trump isn't pushing him out donald trump wants his fingerprints off this entire case he's known to have met jeffrey epstein he claims he knew very little about him but he has ties to epstein as this president former president bill clinton but donald trump does not want his fingerprints on this at all and he wants this case disposed of as quickly as possible without involving the president does this play into the democrats' hands at all because they have been calling for across those resignations or presumably they'll be pouncing on this yes they will the bluegill be claiming this in a ministration that staffed by people of poor reputation people who've committed crimes people who are protecting each other it's all it all sounds like handspring shaked among the one percent of americans who know and protect each other the democrats will use this image of an administration that protects people we really

don't deserve protection some of whom have committed horrible crimes like mr epstein particle hane was just outlining how many resignations there have been and how many acting positions there currently are in the trump administration will all these resignations have an impact on the upcoming campaign in the u.s. the presidential campaign and on trump himself. well what the his critics and opponents will say is there's this it is ministration of chaos and disruption there's nothing orderly about it so many people have left so many people have been overthrown so many people have gotten into trouble legally and politically this is this is chaos that's one reason why a man like joe biden is the front runner on the democratic side joe biden represents normalcy he doesn't represent any thrills he doesn't represent excitement to democrats but he represents normal seas and normal politician in a traditional mold and many americans are sick to death of all the turmoil in

disruption of the trump administration they just like to return to normalcy and that's what the democrats hope to offer our rights bill snyder we thank you for speaking to us on the news hour now police and her have a rest that's who more officers from an iranian oil tanker seized last week bringing the total number to for the ship was detained by british forces on suspicion of taking or oil to syria in breach of e.u. sanctions none of the arrested individuals have been charged let's bring in richard allen says joining us now from london what do we know about these additional 2 arrests story. well despite his being an iranian supertanker that was detained by authorities and british forces say the 4 men who have been arrested so far all indian nationals and they are the captain and the chief officer they were detained on thursday the 2 men who were

arrested today are the 2 2nd mates of the vessel now they according to the gibraltar north are aziz being given the proper legal and consular attention that they have the right to and they are assisting gibraltar police with their inquiries now this is an active investigation so the job roles in this and it's ongoing when they performed all this is top to bottom of this vessel samples of the oil that was on board away for analysis that sort of thing they seized a number of documents and they seized on it devices so clearly. they are trying to build a case it is a case that the gibraltar and government says they undertook independently they are trying to refute any suggestion the they might have been told to do this perhaps by

the united states so in a statement to the gibraltar palm and from the chief minister of gibraltar the chief minister says there has been no political requested any time from any government that should act or not act on one basis or another the decisions of her majesty's government of gibraltar were taken totally independently based on breaches of existing law and also it's all based on extraneous political considerations rights were talents thank you. now russian cargo planes have begun delivering a controversial missile system to turkey but its our allies aren't happy about it the 1st shipment of the s 400 air defense system has been flown into a military airfield in ankara and turkey is expecting delivery of more parts over the next few days the launch vehicles can each carry for long range missiles the u.s. has warned it would cancel an f. $35.00 fighter jet if turkey so delivery the missiles so the s 400 will give turkey

a significant advantage over its neighbors in terms of air cover the systems missiles can simultaneously track and destroy incoming targets of up to 400 kilometers away and the u.s. is concerned that turkey's s 400 purchase will compromise the security of its f. 35 jets these stealth fighter is the backbone of the u.s. and nato future air power turkey's already bought for and once another 116 but the u.s. believes russia may use the s 400 system to collect sense of the about the f. 357 kosovo glue is following developments from istanbul for us as we're saying real concern on the part of the united states when it comes to the s. $400.00 but this is just the 1st batch that has been delivered to turkey what do we know about. the final deployments well there in turkey actually the purchased 2 sets. of defense.