the. anger in iran over a 50 percent hike in fuel prices prompting inflation fears. and i missed all the attain this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up. i have the right to speak your freedom of speech just as other people do. donald trump slams accusations he tried to intimidate a witness as she testified at the impeachment inquiry. a ceasefire on the brink rockets and missiles are fired in the skies over gaza. and tight security in sri

lanka as the country votes in a tense presidential poll. iranians have protested in a number of cities after the government increased the cost of fuel by 50 percent the internet has now been limited in parts of the country since midnight local time the price hike prompted phase of rising inflation despite tehran promising that the revenue will go towards families in need in a moment we'll go live to the iranian capital but 1st charlotte dallas has this report on mobile phone video out of wisden iran shows people chanting fuel prices go higher the poor get poorer. the image repeats in the northern city of machine hours the words. go of our country. and near the border with iraq they repeat turn you carol. while blocking traffic. as since it fell

across iran protests grew against a rise in petrol prices and fuel rationing. the government introduced the hikes on friday saying it was to help pay for subsidies for 18000000 families in the. backside is that the 1st payments will be handled within the next week or 10 days and transferred to the families in model year a strong president believes that if there is going to be petrol price reform all of the new revenues will be paid back in full to the people but for many it was a shock motorists must now pay about $13.00 seems police or it's a 30 percent jump they're allowed 60 liters of fuel per month anything over that they pay double for. i hadn't heard the news i came here and filled 3 places and then i noticed the price was $90000.00 reelz then i asked and they said the price is now $30000.00 reales per liter mosher a sphere the consequences will be far reaching. in tehran and the rest of iran

everything is dependent on fuel prices if the price of fuel goes up in the night by day the price of rent will go up as well as other living expenses including fruit and vegetables it affects everything which is very bad i really believe that it will paralyze a classless society especially laboring class the fuel price hike in rationing stems from multiple issues iran has huge energy reserves but a limited refining capacity to get it to the pump the government is fighting fuel smuggling to its neighbors iran has some of the cheapest prices in the world using heavy subsidies and the fall of its currency the economy has been in freefall since us president donald trump would out of the iran nuclear deal last year. why did they make this decision because they don't have money left we are under sanctions they want to take the money out of the people's pockets they have a budget deficit they have to take it from my in your pockets to be able to run the

country. president obama did implemented fuel rationing in 2007 in an effort to curb consumption iranians resisted and this time it's no different charlotte ballasts 0. well for more on this let's go live now to dawson jabari who is in tehran for us those are we expecting more protests today and how has the government been responding. well we are expecting people to voice their discontent certainly in terms of protests it's hard to say but many are so shocked at this news the government chose to make this announcement at midnight friday morning that is the weekend here and today's the 1st day of the working week so people are really waking up to this news that they are going to be paying 300 percent more for gas to fill up their cars many fear that this will actually have further repercussions in terms of prices going up in other goods in the country and the government has said that they're doing this to actually help

the average iranian who is living really below poverty line they say that the money will go towards families in need about $60000000.00 europeans will get a subsidy of about $5.00 per month in the next few weeks this is all an attempt by this government trying to salvage what has been the abysmal economic record during their term their rouhani presidency has been plagued by financial issues in the country even his own brother has been convicted of bribery and corruption charges so there's a lot of concern that the government has about trying to calm the concern of the people who are living with double digit inflation and unemployment rates for the time being people are still very angry at the news in the government have absolutely no warning to the people so many here were not prepared for this so they're still reeling in shock dosage of are they without update from tehran thank you dosa.

now u.s. president donald trump has been accused of intimidation to hit talk to witnesses on twitter as she testified at the impeachment hearing maria bout of edge the former u.s. ambassador to ukraine was removed from her post earlier this year there is how does your caster has more from capitol hill. the president trump has said he too busy to watch the impeachment inquiry hearings threatening. end his presidency but he found time friday to catch some of the hearing unfolding on live t.v. and he tweeted about the witness on the stand his former ambassador to ukraine a woman he ousted from the post as we sit here testifying the president is attacking you or twitter. and i'd like to give you a chance to respond read part of one of his tweets everywhere marie of on a bitch when turned bad but would you like to respond to the president's attack that everywhere you went turned bad i mean i can't speak to what the president is

trying to do but i think the effect is to be intimidating you vonnegut is a career diplomat who served more than 30 years under presidents of both parties in a july phone call the basis for the current impeachment inquiry trump told the president of ukraine she was quote bad news and would go through some things it was it was a terrible moment a person who saw me actually reading the transcript said that the color drained from my face i think i even had a physical reaction it didn't sound good sounded like a threat democrats say trump's attacks on you vonna bitch amounts to witness intimidation and possibly an additional impeachment charge against the president trump defended his mid hearing tweet saying he had no intention to intimidate i have the right to speak i have freedom of speech just as other people do but they've taken away the republican's rights testified she was recalled from ukraine

without cause in may she'd been bronc fully accused of undermining trump she said and was the target of a smear campaign conspired between trump's private attorney rudy giuliani and corrupt ukrainian officials or continues to amaze me. is that they found americans willing to partner with them and working together they apparently succeeded in orchestrating the removal of a u.s. ambassador you gonna bitch says she still doesn't know why she was ordered home on the next plane she was gone by the time the white house cruised security aid to ukraine in trump pressed the ukrainian president to announce investigations into his political rivals republicans say democrats have been unable to directly tie trub to an impeachable offense the problem of trying to overthrow a president based on this type of evidence is obvious but that's what their whole case relies on they're getting with 2nd and 3rd hand information but now

complicating the president's defense is this new evidence of possible witness intimidation in the form of trump's tweet that materialize before the public's very odd ways democrats have tried to build up maria vonage as a sympathetic witness and now trump himself may have helped them make that case while putting his own presidency in greater jeopardy heidi joe castro al-jazeera washington well a u.s. embassy official in new crane has now confirmed to impeachment investigators that he overheard donald trump ask if you crane as president had agreed to conduct investigations into his political rivals david holmes was speaking to a closed door hearing on friday about a phone call he was present for the twin trunk on the u.s. ambassador to the e.u. gordon songs and that call took place a day off the truck personally pressed writing as a lenski to investigate former u.s.

vice president joe biden and his son. and a former advisor to trump has been found guilty of 7 offenses and tooting lying to congress and witness tampering roger stone was charged earlier this year during the investigation into russian interference in the 2016 election he's been found guilty of lying to congress about his contacts with wiki leaks juror in the election and his efforts to push one of his associates to back up his lies will be sentenced in february and faces up to 50 years in jail israel says it's conducted airstrikes targeting hamas in response to rockets fired from gaza 2 rockets struck the israeli city of beersheba in israel south overnight amass has kept some distance from recent deadly exchanges of fire between israel and the palestinian group islamic jihad 34 palestinians were killed in those exchanges the recent west cross border fighting in months from now let's speak to her before such who's in gaza for us how to tell us

a little more about who is being targeted in these latest round of attacks. well what's interesting is that israel has after days of explicitly targeting only islamic jihad in its strikes this time it says it was striking targets a mosque training bases and a mouse sort of police naval base in northern gaza now these rockets that were fired in the early hours of this morning from gaza toward specially when they were intercepted by the israeli anti missile iron dome system it seems pretty clear from israel's actions that they blame that rocket fire on hamas although hamas has not claimed responsibility in fact no one has said anything inside gaza about who fired these rockets certainly israel had been trying to separate out is i mean jihad from hamas in this latest round of fighting that as you say is a count of the 34 deaths inside gaza and it started it all of course with the

assassination of a senior islamic jihad commander whom it blames for being behind rocket attacks over recent months and there is a suggestion certainly in israeli analysis that hamas mightn't have been altogether upset by the removal of this person who they also might have seen as someone who is an obstacle towards a longer term truce of course hamas publicly here and said nothing of the sort they have been very supportive of islamic jihad's response saying that they stand with them in battle but up until this point they haven't actually fired any rockets themselves there has been some public anger about the situation about the cease fire and there were protests in the jabalya refugee camp last night calling for hamas to join in and to respond in terms of military action as well as with words so that is the background for what we've seen the cease fire has had a few starters since it came into force on thursday this is the latest where we

wait to see how it plays out from here in haifa live in gaza thank you. well still ahead on al-jazeera a warning to doctors who are on strike and zimbabwe go back to work or risk being fired and. by my. parents of course in the u.s. what is a retrial for a black man on death row for killing a white woman 20 years ago. had a there's still we have got this very wet on this very stormy weather generate much of europe is out towards the west we are seeing the worst of it continuing to say it really because it has just been system off the system we've had flooding rains again through thursday and friday across central regions of the u.k. over 140 flood still in place more of that rain now heading east was across the

navy and look at this another system working its way through the bay of biscay this will also produce heavy amounts of rain snow to the mountains and that is happening we have this system here lying through the central med so this does mean more rain across and so we could see more rain into venice for example to the east of here though it is fine and dry and it is still pretty warm particularly for this time of year temperatures and book arrest still about 8 to 9 degrees above the average but look on sunday that system working its way from the west of the med sitting again through the central region some pretty heavy accumulations of rain and also some snow to the mountain tops to the north it is mostly cloudy but there is still some showers working the way across much of the u.k. and again working their way into northern sections of a spy now as we head across into northern africa we will see some rain showers they could be heavy working the way through algeria on tools tunisia and then really staying in the same place as we head on into sunday.

the brutish iraqi journalist who's visualizing complex statistics in a simple. i think your office of some real starts to tease to break apart from most systems and to collect in a way that sort of represent different communities challenging mainstream misconceptions the point creates and control ministrations it doesn't unite people it doesn't make people who would like more instances done this truth is that anyway . and again i missed. a reminder of our top stories this hour protests have broken

out in iran after the government hiked the cost of fuel light least 50 percent the internet has been causing pots of the country following the protests iran has some of the world's cheapest fuel a heavy subsidies. u.s. president donald trump has been accused of intimidation after he attacked a witness on twitter as she testified at the impeachment hearing about a bitch was removed from her post as u.s. ambassador to ukraine in may. and israel's carried out as strikes targeting hamas and response to rockets fired from gaza 2 rockets were fired towards the southern israeli city of overnight defying a truce agreed on fast. gunman in sri lanka have fired on buses carrying muslim voters that no casualties have been reported it happened shortly after polls opened in the country's presidential election ethnic tensions have been high since the easter bombings former defense minister got in by rajapaksa and sajid premadasa

who's a minister in the current government the current leading contenders well let's get more now from bennett smith he's live for us in colombo bennett a violent start to polling day is a sly case to affect the poll. on the study this is the center for monitoring election voters where they are they're keeping an eye on those reports of the coming in basically a high of activity here were tables representing different provinces in sri lanka represented on the ground calling in here although it's all tallied up where they're having the reports coming in that major war was not attack on the bus no injuries reported and we understand that people were able to go and carry on and cast their vote the have been around 75 reports of intimidation from around the country and that is where these guys are keeping an eye on what's going on i'm joined by one jeweler. who's been here and i don't want to know as you can.

actually experience in free and fair elections this moment or we can be proud because we had very violent elections previously but. the election is free but not in due to some factors. there are many reasons that this election is fair about 3 but not fair not because why because actually experience that they have a few incidents that there will be for 3 or 4 days before postal warty. couple the general. mean opposition party. name of the silver he's the incumbent the army could. and. statement given in 2008 for the public at the advertised for. national newspapers but unfortunately actually did not turn out that night i mean they have not anything up to now regarding that

incident and all saw religious leaders in morning went there have never seen that much interventional factors like really just leaders coming forward to them or one particular political party ok so when we talk about 75 or so for reports of intimidation and religious leaders promoting a particular party are we talking about one group is it mainly warm one party can we nail it down to one group yes actually out of 75 incidents received during elections d.v.d. in the last 4 and 5 others actually that most of most of the incidents include down south and always thought in response to. this years of government members of. his rajapaksa ideas the ideas may not question parties because we have received means he didn't cut but again the area and. limb eery are

always full most of government members are transporting borders and all sorts right and some threatening borders in some areas for the moment thank you very much 35 candidates in all the winning candidates got to get a 50 percent plus warm share of the vote it's going to be a stretch to manage that with the 1st count of voters got a 2nd and 3rd preference so what happens is those votes will be counted 234 we will then know who is trying to present states and grant to be talking to bennett throughout the day thank you that bennett smith and calender. 2 people have been killed and more than a dozen wounded in a bomb blast in baghdad an explosive device placed beneath a car detonated on friday evening security forces say the blast happened near tahrir square a focal point for the protests that have gripped the iraqi capital for over a month and at least 2 people were killed and dozens injured as security forces

fired live rounds and during anti-government demonstrations on friday iraq's top shia leader grand ayatollah ali al sistani called for calm in his weekly sermon protesters are angry about widespread corruption unemployment and poor basic services or thousands of algerians have been back on the streets there to protest against the parallage for the 39th friday in a row demonstrators are rejecting show jules elections in december they say the vote could not to be free nor fair ally is a formal leader abdelaziz bouteflika are still in power protesters are calling for all political leaders to step down and security forces in bolivia have shot and killed 5 protesters there in the town of. it's the single most violent incident from the protests that have followed president evo morales as resignation and interim government has taken charge but rallies calling for a democratic transition of power have continued friday's killings bring the death

toll from bolivia's protests now to 15 to reason has more from the past. once again clashes in the center of mass. are supporters of libya's former president who will more or less try to make it to the presidential palace nobody is so good at this he's a member of the a mighty indigenous community he says he wants democracy back in the worst body that both we only have these chin straps and sticks we don't have weapons but we will defend ourselves but we have our hearts in the right place and we want to defend democracy. even though some protests are violence people want to gather peacefully to demand elections but the situation is so tense that even journalists have become a target i was just at only tear gas by the police on purpose this is what's happening in the middle of a plateau where people have been protesting peacefully a police officer just threw tear gas on my eyes many of those who protest are not happy with the interim president is anyone yes who they say does not represent them

a series of tweets posted by her and very fired by news organizations in the past have offended the indigenous majority here. she took office without consent it's not even the me what the military to come and call for elections the armed forces are also trying to quell the protests they're carrying the indigenous woodpile a flag which for many is more important than the national one bolivia's interim administration has made a foreign policy shift and ask venezuelan and cuban officials to leave the country they say they have been organizing unrest in the wake of the resignation of former president evo morales. these people were arrested for possessing firearms without a license they are foreigners they're venezuelans libyans are clearly concerned because there are these types of groups looking to destabilize a government that has been legally established which is headed by president jeanine . protesters from the city of cochabamba have been trying to reach the capital.

some social media show that several people have been killed in clashes with the military and the police the videos could not be independently verified by al jazeera and then from mexico it will more or less said new elections are the only way to calm the situation down. here for the sake of democracy if the interim government of bolivia doesn't want me to take i have no problem not taking person new elections i just wonder why there is so much fear of evil but i'm willing to see it priorities and willing to bring peace to. but there are questions over whether his party will be allowed to run because it's been accused of committing fraud bolivia desperately needs men in full negotiations that would allow elections to take place soon as many believe only an elected president will be able to take the country forward that he said will deceive us. all politicians in chile have agreed on a plan there that will pave the way for a referendum on

a new constitution the measure was announced earlier on friday the vote is aimed at pacifying anti-government protesters who have now been out on the streets for weeks . a u.s. court has blocked the execution of a black man just days before it was due to be carried out 51 year old rodney reed had been convicted of a murder of a white woman back in 1906 but the texas appeals court says new evidence of his innocence must be considered john hendren has more from austin texas. when rodney reed awoke on friday morning his days were numbered numbered to 5 he was scheduled to die by lethal injection at the hands of the state of texas on wednesday nov 20th that is for the rape and murder of stacy stites in 1996 but late on friday the texas court of criminal appeals issued a stay demanding that new evidence be considered among other things his lawyers got an affidavit from

a friend of the victim that seemed to corroborate his story that he was having a long term affair with stacy stites and that that would explain why his semen was found on the victim when she was found dead in another explosive piece of evidence an inmate in jail along with the fiance of stacy site says that that fiance confessed to her murder he has since through his lawyers denied that he has done so but that of another piece of explosive new evidence this happened just hours before the texas parole board recommended a 120 day stay of the execution so that they could consider new evidence or the courts consider consider new evidence that is a very rare thing 566 people have been executed in the state of texas since it reinstituted the death penalty in 1982 the parole board has only asked for a stay 5 times it's only been granted 3 times and now rodney reed hopes to beat the odds. zimbabwe's government says there could be more disciplinary hearings if

doctors don't return to whack they've been on strike of a poor pay and working conditions for nearly 3 months now and more than $200.00 junior and middle level talked as have already been fired so hang the tasa has more from harare principle. with hundreds of other genia doctors in the zimbabwe. the government dismissed him for going on strike to demand better pay and work conditions in public hospitals he says he wasn't paid in october and because he's now unemployed he won't get paid in november soon he will have to move out of this apartment. 2 weeks. and opinions. from. in terms of food the bar was once busy public health facilities on usually quiet the waiting areas and awards are deserted the strike has dragged on for more than 2 months most

doctors were fired after they failed to attend disciplinary hearings the reason was that they couldn't afford to pay for transport zimbabweans are struggling to deal with the worst economic crisis in a decade they are shortages of foreign currency fuel power and medicines this doctor strike is a nother hardship that many people here say they have no choice but to enjoy for mirror watching her daughter braxton suffer is painful the 3 year old's temperature is very high but neither nurses nor doctors are working at a local clinic. nice and. a lot of people are going to die if my child starts having fits in the middle of the night she could die if the hospitals were working doctors would tell me what medication and injections she needs i am scared i could lose her if she gets really sick but mary says she understands doctors want to better pay like millions of others in zimbabwe story inflation has eroded salaries and life is hard but they're worried

mother just wants her daughter's pain to end. like she thinks it's a tonsils but says right now there is no one willing to help her. prince andrew says he has no memory of an american woman who claims she was forced to have sex with him when she was under age almost 20 years ago the british prince gave his festa television interview about his ties to the disgraced u.s. financier jeffrey epstein the billionaire was in custody awaiting trial for a sex trafficking offenses when he reportedly committed suicide back in august the prince says he regrets staying at the home of the convicted sex offender problem was the fact that once he had been. convicted with my stable well that's that's that's the bit that. i kick myself for. because

it was not something that was becoming of me trying to uphold the. highest standards and practices. well you can find a much more on our website including updates about the sri lankan poll at al-jazeera dot com. on this is al jazeera and these are the headlines protests have broken out in iran after the government hike to the cost of fuel by at least 50 percent the internet has now been cut in parts of the country following those protests iran has some of the world's cheapest fuel to use the heavy subsidies u.s. president donald trump has been accused of intimidation after he attacked a witness on twitter as she testified at the impeachment hearing maria bout of edge was removed from her post as u.s. ambassador to ukraine back in may. well a u.s.

embassy official in ukraine has confirmed to impeachment investigators that he overheard donald trump ask if ukraine's president had agreed to conduct investigations into his put political rivals david holmes was speaking to a closed door hearing on friday about a phone call he was present for between trump and the u.s. ambassador to the e.u. gordon summed and a former advisor to trump has been found guilty of 7 offenses including lying to congress and witness tampering roger stone was charged earlier this year during the investigation into russian interference in the 2016 election he'll be sentenced in february and faces up to 50 years in jail israel says it's conducted airstrikes targeting hamas and responds to rockets fired from gaza 2 rockets struck the israeli city of beersheba in israel south overnight a mouse has kept some distance from the recent deadly exchanges of fire between israel and the palestinian group islamic jihad gunman in sri lanka have fired on

buses carrying muslim voters but no casualties have been reported it happened shortly after polls opened in the country's presidential election former defense minister got a buyer rajapaksa and a subject prime address so he's a minister in the current government of the leading contenders 2 people have been killed and more than a dozen wounded in a bomb blast in baghdad on friday security forces say the blast happened near tahrir square a focal point for recent protests. security forces in bolivia have shot and killed 5 protesters in the town of secada it's the single most violent incident from recent protests well those are the headlines the news continues here on al-jazeera to inside story do stay with us. the green doomsday cult hundreds of foley was to a tropical. one when a student mr gates the secretive sick accused of abuse and violence in fiji. on

al-jazeera. levanon could soon have a new prime minister doc's office or the main political players reportedly reached an agreement but on the streets people are still angry so is a new government the answer and what about the calls to overhaul the entire political system this is inside story. hello and welcome to inside story i'm dead you know it's almost a month since protests erupted right across lebanon yet a solution to the political crisis hasn't been reached there is some hope for a new government softer for parties nominated the former finance minister to be the next leader but that.