american and iranian officials trying to see that cooler heads prevail in this latest round of escalating tensions in the region all right we'll leave it there for now same thanks for that at least 27 children have been killed in a fire in liberia the fire started late on tuesday at a school in the suburbs of the capital monrovia police spokesman says the blaze was started by an electrical problem. plenty more still ahead on the news hour including the briggs it battle continues it's day 2 of the u.k. supreme court hearing on whether the prime minister broke the law we'll bring you the latest and malaysia takes emergency measures to try and make it rain as a toxic haze bread's from indonesia. and its ports will tell you about the mouthwatering class set up in the asian champions league. with.

south africa is holding an extraordinary session of its parliament on how to tackle gender based violence presidents are around opposer has admitted there's a crisis after growing protests over rape and murder figures show sexual offenses in general murder rates have been rising significantly in south africa over the last decade in 2018 police recorded an average of 58 murders every day while sexual offenses including rape have risen almost 5 percent this year and according to w.h.o. estimates the famine side rate in south africa is almost 5 times the global average one woman is murdered every 3 hours. for me the middle joins us now live from cape town understand that session is still ongoing in parliament how's it shaping up for me for. the semi president

began the session by addressing parliament in acknowledging what he says is a serious crisis of violence and intolerance in south africa used his address to give south africans an idea of just how bad the situation is with regard to gender based violence saying that in 20181000 women in 1000 children and 2700 women were killed and that 100 rapes were reported every day he's now said that they will implement an emergency action plan over the next 6 months and he's outlined a number of steps with regard to that and ultimately dealing with how to prevent gender based violence also how to strengthen the criminal justice system and i think this is very important for south africans especially when only one in 96 will assaults or rapes are actually reported to police

a lot of women in this country don't feel confident about how police handle these crimes the response they get and they say there's also a lack of support and understanding and empathy with regard to the difficulties and challenges that they've faced the president has also said that they should be adequate care and support for victims of gender based violence as well as wanting to improve the economic power of women now so far there's been a positive response to the president's speech including that about $70000000.00 will be contributed to a fund to deal with come back to gender based violence and number of organizations to help women who are faced assaults or sexual crimes have said that the response so far they consider it to be adequate they say the president has responded positively to the demands of they've put forward in that the government and business in south africa has to deal with what they consider to be a national crisis. right now is any of that going to meet the demands of some of

the protesters who've been awesome do something about the problem or so far we do understand from some of these organizations who have led these protests especially bringing in women who have been victims who have survived gender based violence and sexual assault that one of the key problems has been implementation and prison has said that this is what they're going to focus on this implementation going forward in dealing with the scourge of violence across south africa but it also has to deal with he says a certain culture of violence and this is even extended to instances of xenophobia that we've seen in south africa in that there's been violent responses from south africans around challenges that they face but also one that is very domestic we've spoken to women who've said they've gone to police stations and police are

reluctant to deal with issues like 6 shoeless old saying that it's a domestic issue and it's one they don't equipped to deal with president drum up process is that police services organizations health workers should be better equipped and trained to implement some of the policies and laws that he wants to see put in place including that the state shouldn't oppose should oppose rather beo by the alleged perpetrator of sexual assault and also that there should be harsher minimum sentences so so far there has been quite a positive response but key from what we understand is that people say that implementation is very important and they're waiting to see what happens over the next 6 months when this emergency action plan is put into place. for me the miller from cape town there well as palma discusses the sharp rise in the murder and sexual assaults of women one woman in johannesburg who told told us story.

your family us assizes you cite your sizes. because i think gang raped with a cut of my nipples at 16. my the man that. that rope me from 6 to 9 he was driving my parents home and he broke my nose and my mom was a rock and the setting hit me you know in my nose which has been continuous when my mom was murdered in 2009 assman pleaded to get a spleen was structured she bled to death you know and that's my fight you've been abusing you've been raped and they've taken away interesting rocking of you they're not taking away. your body they take no hind so that i mean so much pain but i have kids and i need to keep them strong

and this is my story in this my please you know this for those kids for how kids 1st african kids you know we've been. i've been in the and it's worse if oh man this is the director of rise up against gender based violence she says a real commitment from the government is needed to properly tackle the issue. well i think that generally as a country we haven't healed from atrocities of the past and there isn't adequate psychosocial support services to actually address issues so people are traumatized and they basically acting out in the most violent ways humanly possible and that's where we find ourselves in this position we're also talking about the way that we raise our children and the socialization and we basically are a very violent society and not being discouraged even at the home level even at the

societal level even at the church level if we're basically not given the tools on how to address the harrowing little the violence in our society we have such a huge scourge it hasn't been addressed the proper resources haven't been allocated there are programs that can actually do something about this such a social be a real change programs but you need to start doing a proper implementation plan from government there is a national strategic can process that currently underway there is traffic policy but again there's no funds that have been educated towards this work so one of the startling real commitment from government one of starting actual implementation and we definitely want to see an overall of the criminal justice system in the country to actually respond to the scourge. a suicide bomber and gunman of attacks a government building in afghanistan a day after nearly 50 people were killed in 2 bombings there at least 9 people were wounded the attack in jalalabad the target was a distribution center for national identity cards which people need to vote in

afghanistan's presidential election it's not known who planned the attacks the taliban says it's was behind tuesday's bombings though. pakistan's prime minister man card says he'll urge the u.s. president to resume peace talks with the taliban the leaders will meet next week at the un general assembly carne made the comments as he extended the opening of a key border crossing between afghanistan and pakistan from a 12 to a 24 hour operation canal hi there has more from the crossing in toward home. the budgets on a prime minister had promised that he would be working on improvement of trade with the neighboring countries i wonder if don is a land locked country that depends on budget on for its logistical supply line richard also a lifeline for the u.s. led coalition force in there doubt enough runneth on any peace deal between the dollar bond and the united states were all still fits in their day and the movement

of trucks and ammunition and white beard and military cargo through the type of and through foggiest on but also riyadh being tortured by the local head that this is a major step which would likely lead to improved trade between the 2 countries because truck good on both sides do not have to wait overnight in order to get clearance to be able to move it released congestion and it really shows how didn't go well done welcome to plug it on a daily basis to seek medical attention and what's produced in august on. a hawk you want to dismiss save us a lot of time early it would take us 15 days on the afghan side of a corridor but with this decision it will take 2 days before they can also help on the pakistani side and we won't be staying overnight you know more for the custom clearance. before if we had to carry a patient from afghanistan to pakistan the patient had to suffer and sometimes died

due to long waits until the border reopened in the morning indeed a major step by the lord will also depend on what happened inside of one it's done if that it be thinned out country this could become a white delgado for pakistan and for the tendril asian states also all true of honest on. now more than a 1000 schools are closed across malaysia as smoke from forest fires in neighboring indonesia continue to rise malaysia is using emergency cloud seeding to try and produce rain then clear the skies. albany to texas and mexico on the path of tropical side rob what's the risk let's start with the biggest which is actually going to be the least it's real funny enough this satellite picture this one hurrican inverter we've been following for a while it's skirted luckily mr bahamas is now as a category 3 going to skirt past but muta very quickly to be there i think in the

next 18 hours and probably lost overnight giving yes hurricane force winds and of course the additional normal risk of pounding away the storm surge not a very deep one large rainfall risk the only saving grace is going past very quickly in hurrican to so we hopefully just see a glancing blow this thing now in texas is not even really by definition a tropical anything just to pass a depression if briefly a tropical cycle cause a bit of damage with the gale force winds but now it's risk is more 850 when it is so far this is just south of houston that's enough to give you unpleasant driving conditions but you can easily double that and then gathers a lot remember this is the areas hit by harvey aurukun harvey 32 years ago this shouldn't be the same sort of depth of water but it's low lying and easily saturated ground one more to look at off the coast of mexico it's hard to see it in this bass of clap there it is it's tropical storm laura and it's still developing

going up towards probably manzanita it will briefly be hurrican force as it goes past man city itself and then it will veer off this is going to happen in the next 18 hours or so and then after that as a hurricane we're probably hit behind california so just grazing mesko on the way something. thanks so much from mall still ahead an al-jazeera threat to the border biodiversity warnings over the environmental impact of trump's sprawling wall the children's home that became a mass grave now survivors threaten legal action to uncover the truth and it's all the tennis players who put on the brakes on have a losing streak will be there with that story in just a few moments. then

say to really know someone you must walk a mile in their shoes. follow in their footsteps as they forge their way in the world. al-jazeera shares these personal journeys. inspiring stories of people persevering on their chosen path. with news documentaries on al-jazeera. peace between ethiopia and eritrea has meant to park area's future for the iraqi people. that we have to create farmland for ourselves for iraq it's a matter of survival. how many veterans shows us how the iraq coping with life on the edge of the border. my ethiopia on al jazeera.

welcome back you're watching al-jazeera time to recap the headlines israel's 2nd election in under 6 months has ended with even less clarity than the last one votes are still being counted. shows the 2 main parties likud and blue and white all time. iran's president says houthi pfizer's launched the attack on the oil refineries in saudi arabia as a warning it should withdrawal from the war in the house and rowhani again denied iran was involved. at least 27 children have been killed in a fire in liberia stanford late on tuesday of the spall in the suburbs of the

capital monrovia police spokesman says an electrical problem and. more now on our top story the israeli elections brian toolis is a senior fellow at the center for american progress joins us now from washington d.c. good to have you with us so some of the israeli papers today are saying that it was donald trump who cost netanyahu the elections by doing things like reaching out to iran while they were campaigning in israel by not delivering that defense pact which netanyahu sort of cetera are they right. it could be a factor but there are so many factors that shape israeli elections today especially domestic factors it seems like many in israel were tired of the religious right actually trying to dominate the agenda at home in defining what israel is so you have this wave of people who are interested in more of a secular approach so these foreign policy issues may be one factor and certainly

donald trump tried to put his finger on the scale earlier this year in the 1st election but israel's got a complicated political system and it looks like we may be seeing the slow motion sort of demise of benjamin netanyahu. who other forms the next government will the current trump netanyahu dynamic is that also facing a demise. i doubt it because president trump has tried to make. us support for israel a partisan white issue just a few weeks ago he said that democrats. are bad for israel and i think israeli politicians writ large especially on the center right and this looks like whatever government is formed here is likely to be a center right government. they're not likely i think to try to turn away from trump's blank check and unending support their trump does this i think for his own

domestic political reasons he's got even jellicoe voters he's got a hard right wing pro israel base that voted for him it would be interesting to see if it's benny gantz whether he adopts a different approach than bibi netanyahu i certainly hope so because i think netanyahu has been very bad in his efforts for trying to make. the support for israel a partisan wage issue in our politics. where does all of this where is the election results leave the deal of the century as it's called. well nobody really thinks that that is the real deal especially the palestinians and they're the key party because they're the ones who have been suffering from the occupation for decades and their voice needs to be part of this process and for the last year or so the question or team have. essentially cut them out of the process

and not respected them implemented a maximum pressure campaign of its own on the palestinians so it just seems especially with jason green blatt actually announcing his stepping down who is on the question or team nobody really thinks that this was like a real deal like many things for the trump middle east foreign policy there's a lot of smoke and mirrors a lot of incendiary statements but there's not much really to show in terms of results except for increased tensions across the region with with iran. all right thank you very much for your analysis on that brian truly. now after a 3 hour debate members of the european parliament who voted overwhelmingly in favor of another briggs if requests want certain conditions are met meanwhile the u.k. supreme court is holding its 2nd day of hearings to decide whether prime minister boris johnson broke the law by suspending parliament for 5 weeks john angela has

more from london. this case is about whether the prime minister abused his and asking for such a lengthy suspension of parliament at such a critical time and the power of this supremes over a parliamentary issue right now those 11 supreme court judges hearing from the lawyers representing the prime minister who argues that they have no jurisdiction on this case and it should be thrown out one judge just made the point that. suspension of parliament could potentially undermine parliament's hold government to account that question is if there is no written rules surrounding suspension of parliament how can they rule on it and this is the problem. is largely that the prime minister is bound by convention lawyers to get the prime minister say he has broken that convention and that his true motive was not to set out new legislation and tassel domestic issues but really to run down the clock on the brakes and

debate earlier we heard from his uncle who said he is open to any alternative to the backstop that's the insurance policy to prevent. but yet to see any plans tabled by the u.k. we also heard from michelle use chief negotiator on direct who said that the consequences of a no deal breck's it would not theoretical but considerable a very stark warning that there seems to be a brussels very aware that time is running out on a great deal. in haiti petrol shortages widespread corruption and the high cost of living are all major concerns for protesters they blame president jovan and ways for the chaos and he's under increasing pressure to resign she have returned to reports. the protests escalated throughout the year since haiti's subsidized supply of fuel from venezuela was cut that was supplied through the program begun by

travelers in 2005 to help the development of caribbean nations the program ended last year as u.s. sanctions isolated from the international financial system so maybe that's your it's a protest over which is in the country the high cost of living in the lack of security . now the country must rely on the u.s. market for energy and supply is demanding about $100000000.00 an unpaid fees before move fuel is delivered prices are rocket electricity blackouts are becoming common yellow this morning i bought a gallon of petrol for 9 u.s. dollars in the car full area with this $9.00 i usually can get a full tank for my motorcycle and still have change lift there is particular anger at president over no mores who government order to say personally profited from the old system of subsidized venezuelan fuel siphoning off millions of dollars of aid meant for development this illusion we are demonstrating and we are rebelling against the president job anomalies in the system because this system does not

bring any change to our haitian people we will keep protesting if the president refuses to resign because we are tired of the system not only that earlier this year there were street protests after morey's administration voted not to recognize the legitimacy of the venezuelan government at the organization of american states an unprecedented moment for a country that received billions of dollars of help from caracas it was a gesture that gratified washington but there are signs that the white house so long a power broker in this country may not be able to shield its ally if the street protests continue and the fractured political opposition to the more you can unite. argentina is waiting for the international monetary fund's decision alone to boost its economy austerity measures are hurting president popularity illustrates a bow explains one thing that plays a crucial role in argentina's economic and political life is the u.s.

dollar. it's 10 o'clock in the morning in argentina and the question everyone has is how much is the dawn today. in the middle of an economic crisis and if the u.s. dollar that's in the spotlight once again their friends. program whenever crises in argentina are cyclical and things happen again argentina is look at the dollar and people want to save themselves and sort of the country in general in the past year recession is everywhere even though the national monies that they saw if the u.s. currency what runs the economy the main reason is inflation because a raise in the value of the u.s. dollar immediately translates to a race in the price of almost everything in the early 20th century argentina was one of the richest countries in the world thanks to the export of beef wheat and other farm goods but things changed in the 1930 s. because of the great depression the united states and political instability and since then argentina has defaulted on its sovereign debt several times and

inflation has almost always been in the double digit this museums and shows how the arjun time currency has depreciated over the years and in a way it explains why arjun tines preferred to save in u.s. dollars the word crisis and devaluation appears repeatedly in the coin museum of when a site is over the years argentina has not been able to solve its main problem the kaname needs dollars to grow but the country spends more than it produces so it needs to borrow abroad that's what precedent machree did since taking office in 2015 market restoration work to go over the expectation was to generate capital inflows and generate growth through investment and what have you had a lot of pork for your inflows but not as much investment maggie was a bit too optimistic it took too long to adjust to fiscal issues they had to keep interest rates too high for too long and people already know mistrusts the value of

the pieces and that's why people have been going to the banks to either buy dollars or get their money out and a lot of comments about that the u.s. dollar is not only used by the elite in argentina but by all sectors that run to buy dollars as soon as they have some cash it's how people tried. to preserve their cash cost to dollar rise the economy are common in argentina but people like might say it will not work out well and i mean in 19012001 there was an attempt to tie the past so to the dollar it was a convertibility at that time it was not a dollar a zation but the states did not have a monetary policy it controlled inflation but it devastated the economy to. be tended in the massive crisis in 2001. next few months will be difficult once for argentina but he's unable to amend an economic pattern that repeats itself over and over again that is how will one of.

us present on trams plan to build a wall on the border with mexico has been criticized for its expensive price tag but it's the cost to the environment is now being questioned with those living in the area walling is live a devastating impact on biodiversity either jocasta reports from macallan texas. in this crook of the rio grande river where mexico lies on one bank the united states on the other florida is biodiversity we have over 240 species of butterflies documented on the property with the possibility of about $350.00 species that can be seen in north america and mexico found here the national butterfly center is a private charity that owns and conserves this land but now it's fighting the trumpet ministrations plans to build an 11 meter high wall through the properties middle the center's director says that will begin

a chain of damaging ecological changes that we will have nothing to produce we will be here nothing to filter our groundwater nothing to mitigate radiant brow temperatures and all of that will be eliminated so what they're creating in effect is a dead zone where we now have a thriving vibrant away cis for species to build the wall in this county the federal government has waived the national environmental policy act the endangered species act the clean water act and $25.00 other protective laws president donald trump says he's doing so in the name of national security trump says the wall will keep out drugs and criminals but the vast majority of migrants arriving at the border have been families and children nevertheless building the wall could help trump's chances of winning reelection and we think by the end of next year which

will be sometime right after the election actually but we think we're going to have close to 500 miles of wall which will be complete construction materials have already arrived rows of steel fencing are destined to be erected on a national wildlife refuge the butterfly center is nearby and after a judge dismissed its lawsuit against the wall it. expects to be next as everyone else begins to feel the pain and the loss related to this bogus project maybe things will turn around maybe they'll be a way to stop it for now the u.s. supreme court is allowing trump to build the wall using military money made available by his emergency declaration but the people who live here say the only emergency they see is of nature under attack. castro al-jazeera mccallan texas. india has banned the production and import of electronic cigarettes

because of health concerns follows 2 u.s. states banning flavored versions of the products federal health investigators are concerned via a rise in severe breathing illnesses linked to vapor factories are accused of targeting children turning millions into nicotine addicts in ireland survivors of an torrijos home for children are accusing government leaders of covering up a long running scandal involving the catholic church threatening legal action over the government's failure to examine the bodies of hundreds of children who died in the care of nuns and some remains of being found in a burial pit 5 years ago of newborn babies warns the reports it is impossible to overstate the mental scarring of the survivors of the bodies of the writers of a little. peter lived in the home until the age of 4 when the nuns sold him on to a violent family by that time he lost his sister she like nearly 800 others had her

name recorded in the death register to walk on this plot is to walk over the bones of infant children. for a catholic organization to put bodies in here there were baptized ties yet about their enter on consecrated ground and left them here like animals no respect no records you know nothing savages for them like all the others patro of his grandmother had to give her sons up to the nuns as punishment for becoming pregnant outside marriage both of them betrayed his 2 uncles died john francis only made a week apparently they didn't feed him and your uncle's name is on this list yeah he's right here john francis malone 7 days. and the death certificate says that he died of malnutrition well it says more as must but starvation essentially so so so

starved to death you hit us in the care of the nuns. like many others patroller believes the whole place is a crime scene there's still an awful lot of unanswered questions and what that does questions being answered then how do we know it's not it's 5 years since a local historian uncovered the scale of what happened here and the government has promised to excavate the site a preliminary investigation discovered skeletons lined up in rows since the entrance is very narrow it's led to the suspicion that the nuns got the children to carry the bodies of dead babies down the pit after these photos were taken the whole site was covered over again the government minister responsible for all this declined an interview but the government's own interim reports suggest that they don't trust the testimonies of surviving nuns and they think that local people might know more than they've been prepared to admit in the meantime though the detective work is being done not by the police but by the survivors of choom and

their families. the campaigners think the government is so frightened of the damage to the church that a full excavation would do that it is resisting it so they're threatening court action i think the only way in which this will be resolved is through an order of the supreme courts of this country i can't see any other way because there is no will there's no wish there is no appetite church and state in this country are still wedded in a poisonous pact. through thought to be dozens and dozens of other places like this around ireland a full investigation into the scale of what happened across all the countries mother and baby homes would be explosive and could destroy the reputation of the church hardly a surprise then the survivors think the government would rather bury the truth than dig up the past lawrence lee al-jazeera chim in ireland.

had an al-jazeera in spalls the double grand slam champion aiming to make a winning start a guy home town for the month thanks. thanks . thanks.