this is al jazeera. hello i'm adrian finighan this is the news live from doha coming up in the next 60 minutes the burial of the iranian general custom salomone is postponed after a stampede kills. the. iran's parliament's designates us forces terrorists and approved a massive budget boost to the puts force. as well as opposition beat up on going to

do is allowed into parliament after a standoff with security who tried to block. women's activists slammed the cypriot justice system after a british teenager is given a suspended sentence for making false accusations of rape. and incest for african gets ready to celebrate its best footballers and all 3 nominees for the continent's footballer of the year award star in the english premier league. it's been another day of dramatic developments in iran where the burial of the top iranian commander assassinated in the u.s. airstrike on friday has been postponed for at least 50 people were killed in a stamp a stampede during his funeral procession huge crowds that packed custom salaam on

his hometown of command and the congestion in the streets led to a crush of people it's not clear when the burial will happen now in the capital tehran the parliament passed. a bill designating the u.s. army and the pentagon as terrorist organizations it's also boosted the budget for the elite could force that sort of money commanded foreign minister java serif has told al-jazeera that the days of the us in the region are numbers. iran would respond because it was an act of war. act it will combine with an act of terrorism against a senior official. and a citizen we don't want to protect our citizens. but united states. defeating so many people so you don't so you know that will have consequences for the united states and i believe the most important culture question is at the days of the united states in this region i'm not. the foreign ministers of britain

france germany and italy a meeting in brussels to discuss the fallout from saudis killing they're calling for restraint at the escalation. let's go live to 0. for a store so talk us through what happened come on today. well really a body of the late general was being taken through the streets of his hometown to be buried and around midday there was apparently a large volume of crowd there was a stampede and over 50 people have been killed the new over 200 injured we've heard from the head of the country's emergency forces who said that they are still trying to deal with the crowds and to clear out the streets and deal with the number of casualties and injured in the care mon which is in central iran this is a small city in cameron province that is home to about 820000 people they were

really not equipped with the number of mourners that turned out to attend the burial service of the lake awesome seller money we know that the burial itself has been delayed until the crowds have been cleared out of the city so they can bury the general in some less. volume of crowds and sit situation we also know that the victims have come. from across the country the president hassan rouhani has expressed his condolences to the families of those that have been killed and we know that a number of them have come from this southern city. as well so the mourners that gathered today in caravan were not just from that city and province alone but from all over the country really there in tehran part of it as we said designate to the u.s. army the pentagon terrorist organizations. has been speaking it looks like he

has been denied a visa to enter the united states to go to the united nations later this week. but we're going to take you live to the state department in washington where secretary of state peo is giving a media briefing let's listen in a family and express my condolences to him his service to america was noble as a member of congress should work together on pro-life issues during my time in congress. so you lots of you have questions about the middle east and iraq i'll certainly take some questions today but 1st to i want to offer my condolences to the people of australia. for the tragic loss of life and property caused by the devastating wildfires across that region america's thoughts and prayers are with the victims their families and emergency service personnel putting themselves in harm's way and same goes to for the dozens of us far fighting personnel who are standing side by side with our strong and friends fighting the flames together as i said when i was in sydney just this past summer we have a truly unbreakable alliance they're great friends and we're happy to be able to

help aussies in this time of need. staying in asia. we go to the appointment. as the new head of the hong kong chinese central government liaison office he's expressed hopes that hong kong will return to the quote right path and of quote. the right path as i've said before just for the chinese communist party to honor its commitments made to hong kong in the center of british joint declaration. well that the united nations commitment that guarantees the territories independent rule of law and freedoms that the chinese living on the mainland unfortunately do not enjoy. that states will continue to work with hong kong and the chinese communist party officials to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in hong kong and to promote hong kong's high degree of autonomy. in afghanistan. there's an aspect of that conflict that deserves more attention and that is the islamic republic iran's involvement there. iran has refused to join the regional and

international consensus for peace and is in fact today actively working to undermine the peace process by continuing its long global efforts to support militant groups there. most people know about iran's proxy networks in the arab world but the regime also has a relationship with the taleban and related groups such as the commies the tora bora and the. group the taliban's entanglement in iran's dirty work will only harm the afghanistan peace process. a couple items here in the hemisphere and as well i want to thank and congratulate one goto on israel action as the president as well and that's a legitimate reelection by a quorum of 100 deputies of your regimes campaign of arrests and limitation bribery could not derail venezuelan democracy nor could it use of military forces to physically bar the national assembly from accessing the parliament building i

applaud how venezuela's political parties came together to support those reelection the united states will continue to support for the guy though in the venezuelan people and we will continue to rally all other freedom loving nations across the globe to do that same thing we support the bad as well in people because we believe the western hemisphere should be a hemisphere with freedom everywhere else want to highlight the work of the oas which has been instrumental tool in moving the region in that direction it's an example of truly outstanding effective multilateralism the secretary general. is the leader we need for the oas to continue proactively addressing the central challenges facing the region modern democracy upholding human rights advancing security and fostering economic development throughout it have more to say about the oas in the multi a lot of reform in the coming weeks. on the theme of basic freedoms i want to commend members of bahrain's council of representatives for their january 2nd statement in which they expressed deep concern over the inhumane and painful

conditions to which we are muslims in china are subjected to. bahrain is recognizing what i've been saying for months the chinese communist party is committing mass human rights violations and abuses against weekers ethnic cossacks care gays and other muslims held in detention. were happy with the brain did and we ask all countries particularly those belonging to the organization of islamic cooperation and the arab league to denounce the chinese communist party's brutal treatment of leaders which is part of the party's broader war on faith. moving to europe. as many of you know prime minister mr talkies is in town this week i'm looking forward to welcoming in peril be with him today at the white house alongside president. i also want an ounce that our undersecretary for political affairs david hale will be traveling to brussels later this week we'll have conversations with 28 european counterparts this is a recurring meeting that happens about every 6 months at this particular gathering

is important because it immediately proceeds an e.u. foreign ministerial on iran that has just been scheduled and it shows to once again our close cooperation with our european partners on issues of mutual concern i'm sure volved davids there the issue of iran and iraq will feature probably in their conversations and they'll have an opportunity also to discuss parties such as syria north korea and china as well finally one more person no matter i want to think about that or john bass who i've come to know in my time in service both as the director of the central intelligence agent now as secretary of state his 2 year tour of service in kabul was remarkable that's one of our most important missions ambassador bass is a respected strategic thinker a man of incredible integrity he's helped that country move forward to a brighter more peaceful and more secure future for all the afghan people and i too want to welcome our new 11 ambassadors into about at large who were confirmed since the end of november including about your soul and hope be heading off to russia

before too long glad they're finally getting out to the field we hope to have more follow them up there with that i'm happy to pay. if you question. thank you happy new year mr certain job at you know honor of the new year i have exactly 2020 questions ask you but i'll pay them down for the sake of brevity thank resident one is there continue to be questions about the nature of the intelligence that led to the strike on the killed. can you be at all more specific if you know how imminent this was what exactly it was secondly why not allow foreign minister zarif to come to the un to speak at the security council and then lastly did the situation in iran have anything contributed all to your decision not to run for the senate in kansas thank you last words easy. i said the same thing yesterday that i said for months no no real news there said i'm going to stay serving secretary of state so

long as president trump shall happen so. i have to fight you can accuse me of being inconsistent that's wise but not on that one. second. you know we don't comment on visa matters those traveling here to the united states and bases so i can't add much more to this issue of foreign minister zarif travel to the united states i'll say only this we will always comply with our obligations under the u.n. requirements and the headquarters agreement and we will do so in this particular instance and more broadly every day and finally i think there's been much made about this question of intelligence and evidence i answered it potable times on sunday i'm happy to walk through it again any time a president makes a decision of this magnitude there are multiple pieces of information that come before us we presented that to him in all its broad detail we gave him all the best information that came not only from the intelligence community but for those of us who have teams in the field. we evaluated the relevant risks and the opportunity

that we thought might present itself at some point and we could see clearly that not only had so many done all of the things that we have recounted right now hundreds of thousands of massacre in syria enormous destruction of countries like lebanon and iraq where they've denied them sovereignty in the rains have really denied people in those 2 countries what it is they want right sovereignty independence and freedom is what this is all these and you work and then would watch as he was continuing the terror campaign in the region we know what happened at the end of last year in december or to move into the death of an american so if you're looking for evidence you need look no further than the days that led up to the strike that was taken against. and then you and dishing to that have what we could clearly see were continuing efforts on behalf of this terrorist to build out a network of campaign activities that were going to lead potentially to the death of many more americans the right decision we got it right the department instead

excellent work and the president had a entirely legal appropriate and a basis as well as a decision that fit perfectly within our strategy and how to counter the threat of malign activity from iran more broadly here. yes ma'am. 2 questions if you don't mind iran's foreign affairs minister zarif granted an interview saying that somani was on a diplomatic visit to iraq that the u.s. strike to take him out was state terrorism that president trump is prepared to commit more crimes and that iranians are enraged 1st that's the 1st question i'd like your reaction to that 2nd question president trump has indicated that iran's cultural sites could be targeted is that true are they on the target list and if so do you consider that a war. so let's see. if statement. his

1st statement that is still the money was traveling to baghdad on a diplomatic mission anybody here believe that. is there any history that would indicate that it was remotely possible that this kind gentleman this diplomat of great order because i'm still the mahdi had traveled to baghdad for the idea of conducting a peace mission i think maybe reporters like this morning that's fantastic. we know that wasn't true we not only know the history we know in that moment that was not true serif is a propagandist of the 1st order and most of what you suggested in his text message or email or message that you laid out there was indeed a rainy and propaganda it's not new we've heard the same lies before it's fundamentally false he was not there on a diplomatic mission trying to resolve a problem i know there's been some story that he was there representing the saudi peace deal i've spoken to my saudi counterparts at great length i'll leave to them what they contents of their messages may be but i can assure you that they will

share my view that he was not there representing some kind of agreement that was going to reduce risk or reduce the risk to the lives of americans when he was on that trip. your last piece was about cultural sites. i said on sunday i will reiterate again every target that's being reviewed every effort that's being made will always be conducted inside the international laws have seen it i've worked on these this project and i'm very confident of that if you think. this is. it's an election year and we're now facing 2 nuclear related crises. with the with that with iran and north korea are you optimistic about resolving either of those without. blowing up and so to speak to you know pitching moment and only around iran's breakout time when you came into office was considered to be about a year. is it now long or short

a leap to the intelligence team to talk about the details of iran's breakout time for the moment but present could not be more clear on our watch iran will not get a nuclear weapon and as we came into office iran was on a pathway that in provided by the nuclear deal which clearly gave them the opportunity to have those nuclear weapons we won't let that happen. as for the 1st question which was more broadly what president trump laid out his national security strategy with respect to both north korea and iran is the plan that we have executed the strategy that we have executed for this past 3 years we have put iran in a place that it has never been before where they've had to make some very difficult choices choices about how to pay for and underwrite their proxy militias around the region whether and how to build out their missile program this is a flip from where we were 8 years before it's not political proves to ministration made a different choice they chose to underwrite a piece we have chosen to confront and contain those are those are different

strategies we believe ours is successful and we ultimately believe it will be successful making iran behave like a normal nation would deny them the capacity to build out their nuclear program and threaten not only americans and our allies to keep americans safe which is our mission set but also to create and stability throughout the middle east we're confident that that's the case and north korea which you asked about. we still are hopeful that we will be able to head down and path i was here with you all in december some time when there was lots of talk about what might happen at the end of the year but not seen that yet we still remain engaged and hopeful that we can have a conversation about how to get the denuclearization the chairman kim promised to president trump back in 2008. secretary chu quick things here on the sort of money strike since the trump administration withdrew the united states from the iran nuclear deal about 2 years ago. so.

the trump administration has said repeatedly that it is pursuing against iran a maximum pressure campaign 1st question the sort of money operation was that part of the maximum pressure campaign. yeah look this will conduct if you just ask about the attack on to your knowledge was any legal counsel in the executive branch consulted for his or her input surrounding the legal aspects of the strike prior to its. execution leave to others to comment on that but i can say as a pattern in practice i have never seen this administration gaijin an activity of this nature without a thorough and complete legal review of what the bases would be if the president were to make a series of decisions often the lawyers review all of the options that are being presented to the president of states in advance of them being presented such that every option that is presented to him has been fully vetted through the legal process i i'm confident that that was the case here although i don't have specific

knowledge of that i'm i'm confident that that was that was the case 2nd you asked about the scope of the can't the strategy and the maximum pressure campaign that we've had in place and has a diplomatic component it has had an economic component and it has had a military component and what you have seen over the course of these past may 2018 when we withdrew from the iran nuclear deal. you've seen us execute that with enormous vigor and energy you've seen it diplomatically we've built coalitions around the region with the israelis with the gulf states on certain files on the missile file and on the terrified with our european partners as well not just the e 3 go back and look from may of last year go look at the statement that was made in warsaw a united statement centering the instability in the middle east on the islamic republic of iran and a coalition now in the straits of hormuz we've diplomatically isolated the arraign

regime 2nd economically we've all seen the sanctions put in place it's now over some 1000 sanctions we've watched the regime struggle to figure out how it was they were going to make it through 2020 and they've got a budget that will fall short by a significant amount in 2020 as a direct result of the pressure that we've put on the regime and then you saw over not just this past week but over the last year you've seen our security component to this you've seen us reinforce allies in the region by ensuring that the emirates and the saudis all of the others were prepared for what might happen if iran decided to make choices that were bad for the iranian people and then you saw more tactically just these last few days the president's response when the iranians made a bad decision to kill an american we hope they won't make another bad decision just like that one clear. the solo money strike was part of the administration's maximum pressure campaign and going forward the iranians should understand as they develop their calculus that similar actions such as the sort of money strike could

well continue to be a feature of this maximum pressure camp i think the president unambiguous in his both the remarks he made down in florida as well as the tweets that he's put out about the seriousness with which we take this the risk attendant that we are deeply aware of and the preparations we've made to prevent those risks as well as our determination that in the event the iranians make another bad choice that president will respond in a way that he did last week. which was decisive serious and message to iran about the constraints that we're going to place on that regime so that it doesn't continue to put american lives at risk in the end our own policies about protecting and defending the homeland and securing american lives i know that the efforts that we have taken not only last week with the strike against the body but the strategy that we've employed has saved american lives i'm highly confident i think if you want to get more you have andrea's manpower you know very much. a question about the issue of cultural sites because the president said on air force one coming that

after you had been on the sunday talk shows that they are allowed to kill our people they are allowed to torture and maim our people they are not to use roadside bombs and blow up our people and we're not allowed to touch their cultural sites it doesn't work that way defense secretary esper has made it clear that he would not follow in order to hit a cultural site which would be a war crime i'm wondering. whether you would also push back and. when you were in your role you don't really want to get into that really wondering that it was not but i would say i was unambiguous on sunday it is completely consistent with what the president has said we will we will take we will take every action we take will be consistent with the international rule of law and the american people can rest assured that that's a good notes or let me tell you who's done damage to the persian culture it's not the united states of america it's the ayatollah if you want to look at who has

denied religious freedom if you want to know who has denied the persian culture is rich and steeped in history and intellect and they've denied the capacity for that culture to continue if you go back and look at the holidays around cyrus and their roots they are not permitted people to celebrate they've not allowed people that they've killed that qassam somali killed. they've not allowed them to go mourn their family members the real risk to persian culture does not come from united states of america certain that there is something there is no mistake i think you are going to have a good day. your secretary of state mike pompei of the state department giving a media briefing he said that his administration's policy is to confront and constrain iran to force it to behave like a normal state we hope iranians will not make a bad decision to kill an american again he said iran will not get a nuclear bomb and he said that everyone knows it's true that

a rainy and general sort of money was traveling was not traveling to iraq on a diplomatic mission he said let's go live now to the white house for some analysis of what we just heard a white house correspondent kelly holcomb is that for us can we what do you make of it. well i think that the statements from mike pump aoe right off the top there answer of some of the biggest questions whether that answer was sufficient for the members of congress and the broader public that are wondering about the timing of the attack on general solomonic remains unclear i suspect not because really was a half answer there was a question about the intelligence why this time and why now because the argument here in the united states has been that perhaps the president is doing this to distract from the inconvenience of the domestic headlines namely that a senate trial was is set to begin a in the u.s. congress on the president's impeachment instead what we're talking about is confrontation with iran so we know that the u.s.

president is very capable when it comes to manipulating headlines and so that's why you hear some of those questions coming from reporters about the intelligence can we hear the specifics obviously the state department there and the state department spokesperson the secretary not giving that intelligence just only saying that it was solid that it came from teams in the field that there has been concern for a long time from the united states about sort of the proxy conflicts that are occurring in syria in lebanon pointing to general solo money saying this is all of his handiwork and that there was the fear that the death of more americans was imminent and that's why the president took this action he made the point of saying it was legal and it was appropriate due to iran's malign activity but not very big in terms of the explanation and that's why we know members of congress seem to be not satisfied with the explanation so far that there will be a briefing of some members of congress by not just might pump aoe but also the defense secretary the chair of the joint chiefs of staff mark milley as well as the

cia director gina haskell that will take place on wednesday afternoon because again there is some concern that the president is using this conflict that has been going on for a number of years you heard there from the secretary of state. but the timing of this now perhaps to manipulate and distract from some of the more problematic headlines domestically a couple of other things the secretary of state addressed the iran's foreign minister not being given a visa to enter the united states this week to go to the the u.n. and this threat by the president to attack iran's cultural sites. yeah let's start with the issue of the visa that has been a topic of hot conversation not just here but in iran as well we heard from the iranian minister that there were official explanation was that there have been delays in processing what we know that's really not

a sufficient answer for any one of us looking for a visa because the state department can accelerate anything they want and you heard there the secretary of state defending what they say is still compliance with the headquarters agreement the fact that the united nations is located in new york saying that even though they're not granting this visa for the iranian foreign minister to come in for the meeting of the u.n. security council on thursday that they are still complying with that agreement i think some people would debate that given the fact that the united states did allow the iranian foreign minister to come to the united states back in september for the u.n. general assembly so some concerns there and then also you heard some of the broader concerns not just in the united states from some of the american reporters asking questions but also this has been a concern around the world and that is about preserving persian culture the fact that the u.s. president has said very clearly he is willing to target potentially cultural sites that he feels that this is justified as he said in

a tweet over the weekend given the fact that americans have been targeted by iranians but the point being brought up that this is a violation of international law you hear right pompei of there saying that the united states would comply with the international law but then pivoting and pointing the finger to the ayatollah saying the real problem in the real threat to persian culture is not the united states so a bit of redirection there as well as the effort to make the legal argument that the actions the killing of the strike on general silvani was justified but again these are certainly not going to be the answers that will satisfy members of congress that's why not only do we know there's going to be that wednesday briefing but we're seeing in the. house of representatives later this week an effort to limit the president's ability to strike back militarily in iran with a vote in the house of representatives but at the same time we're seeing a resolution circulating in the u.s. senate controlled by republicans in support of the president's action so dueling

bits of legislation being worked on there it just adds another layer of confusion to this story here in washington and around the world. a white house correspondent kimberly live from washington many thanks q.b. let's go back to. the. u.s. secretary of state michael says that iran is actively working to undermine the peace process in afghanistan that everyone knows that the assassinated general sort of mahdi was not in iraq on a diplomatic mission what do you make. well i think we're having what i would call a difference of opinion here of what how the events unfolded it is a different narrative being portrayed by the american government certainly than that of the rainy and we even heard from the iraqi prime minister caretaker prime minister. who said that he was due to me toss in

a cellar money on friday when he arrived in baghdad before he was killed so we do know that there was a political meeting set up between the caretaker prime minister and the major general so that is the 1st thing the 2nd thing is that the secretary of state mark pompei was comments about the fact that they are trying to prevent iran from spreading its malign activities is something the iranians just cannot accept the foreign minister mohammad javad zarif i spoke to him this morning at an event here he said that the americans are the cause of the bloodshed and instability. in this region and that the cack that they carried out has what he said was a path that they cannot turn back from basically the death of the assassination of money is being seen here as an event that has changed the course of history in the middle east not only in iran the supreme leader himself has said that this act will

be and certain silence will not be accepted here because it will be seen as a sign of weakness we have heard from. various levels high levels of government who are decision makers in this country who operate within the realms underneath the supreme leader's authority and they have all said that silence is not an option they have decided what they will do but that they will do it at the right time they will decide when and where to attack and how to structure revenge that is something the ordinary iranians are demanding from their government following the assassination. the other thing i want to point out is secretary of state pompei was idea that the ayatollahs are preventing iranians from celebrating nauru's that is certainly not the case here every year in march starting the 1st day of spring is allowed to be celebrated by the entire 86000000 people population of this country it is something that has gone on since the revolution of 1979 that has never

changed no rules it is a celebration that doesn't have anything to do with people's religion it is a cultural event that takes place every year and is what the reigning calendar is based on so that is a version of events that the secretary of state certainly has no knowledge of clearly and this was the point that mohammed was making today he said that the american government this administration clearly has no idea how iran works the system the government foreign minister zarif himself is now under u.s. sanctions since the beginning of august but this is the 1st time that his visa request has been denied to go to the united states and the meeting at the u.n. so there's a lot of anger and frustration and demands of revenge from the iranians so we'll see how the relationship moves forward but really tensions continue to increase for the time being. just 30 minutes ago you and i were talking about what

happened today in. the few. recession. so with money and its home city a stampede led to the deaths of dozens of people what's the situation now with the perry of itself has been disputed when will it happen do we know. what we're hearing now that the burial will be taking place shortly because you have to remember the body was flown in from baghdad on saturday into the southern city of office and there's been a perception with this casket throughout various cities it went from was to the holy city of mashhad then it came to teheran where the supreme leader performed a prayer service over the coffin at tehran university on monday and then it was taken to palm and finally to his hometown of care mon this morning now the stampede that occurred delayed the burial service and we're hearing now that it will be

taking place shortly because really under the proper. procedure is it should be buried as quickly as possible but this state like procession of this funeral service that has gone on for 3 or 4 days now is and must really come to an end people want to be able to mourn him and move on for the next 40 days that will be more marking his death so we're hearing now that the funeral of the burial will be taking place shortly in care mon. somebody takes the dosage of their lives in. iraq. held a funeral procession for the paramilitary leader. behind this who was killed alongside so the body of friday's strike had this was the deputy commander of the iranian backed popular mobilization forces whose fighters were involved in the siege of the u.s. embassy in baghdad last week let's go live to iraq's capital and job that is the of course the world's media focusing on the death of sort of mahdi in that attack who

. had this tied alongside him a funeral for him taking place of an hour. his death being viewed in iraq. where it was a significant blow to the popular mobilisation forces he was seen as somebody very close to. being be seen as the driving force behind the cohesion of this group of militias which is known as popular mobilization forces these groups have come together under the leadership of fighting for the money in the in the fight against iceland were made into a coherent force and never made the enemy hundreds was his confidante he was somebody who was seen with him on the ground in the battle of the woods in mosul or to create whether it was in the or. so it is going to be a major blow but the he has already been replaced by how the another key commander of the by the militia who also was very close to possibly money and we saw by the

militia leader who is now the 2nd in command of the popular mobilization forces hard with the coffins as they made their way towards niger from caterpillar he was chanting villages. tones and saying pledging to cross into the money and everywhere the in the hundreds that their blood will not go and brain he's going to avenge them and their fight is going to continue now that his body has again gone from religious religious shrines from iraq to iran is now back in but it is going to move slowly from buster to niger fear he will be buried there have been a number of funerals and. events held to mourn him and people have been coming out in various parts of that we're also hearing some reports of some protesters in basra coming out against this because as

you've been hearing earlier this is not an issue that the whole of iraq stands behind. it is a divisive issue here in iraq of the killing of course and the money and. influence that iran wheels here in iraq not everyone agrees that foreign troops should leave and not everyone. sees that iran as the driving force as has been portrayed by the parliament and other members of militias in the in the lead up after. this will be buried in jeff and it was interesting to hear from the u.s. secretary of state saying that it was an intel operation by some silly money did not come to iraq on a diplomatic mission something that the iraqi prime minister had insisted was the case and last until in mind he was going to meet him on friday morning to discuss developments between iran and saudi arabia and some of before we let you go what's being made of this withdrawal that the words by u.s. forces this one which was. what it was

a few hours of confused jubilation adrian we heard from various iraqi officials including the military as well as people in the government who were very happy about this letter confirming this letter to the contents of this letter and then this statement came from mike. so there was moments of confusion but there was a lot of air traffic in back that indicating that there was something happening since this. was again redacted from from the. combined joint task force of operation in hand inherent resolve we haven't heard much from the iraqi government but we've heard from various commanders on the ground saying that the united states is continuing to contradict itself it shows respect towards iran by sending me juries in different asking different countries to mediate between them it shows no regard for iraq it carried out

a unilateral operation inside iraq continues to violate or off sovereignty and refuses to listen to iraq's parliament. demands that u.s. forces and all foreign troops must leave immediately so many thanks indeed down to 0 sum a good job of reporting live from baghdad. to venezuelan politicians is said to face off for the 1st parliamentary session since both claim the time from the national assembly speaker for a brief brief standoff with security forces the opposition leader. excess to the national assembly on sunday he was prevented access to parliament in his absence distant deputy. was elected national assembly members backing held a vote outside the chamber reelected him as speaker let's go live now to caracas a latin american the c.n.n.

human is there this is interesting to see here what happens next. it is another dramatic twist in the. such a brief standoff with security forces we left with the deputies the opposition deputies nearly $100.00 of them 2 hours ago from the op an uptown area and they had to push and shove their own all the way from uptown into the congress building about one point and there were at least 4 deputies injured several journalists as well but they were able to break down the aisle barrick it and. break into the. chamber at that point to splatter out who had been elected by the minority pro-government. faction as you just explained had actually left and we saw him a short while ago running out of the congress building and that's the situation right now the electricity has been cut in the building why though it's holding a section of the. but this is

a very very fluid situation right now. i'm certain they say we're having problems hearing your story about the the quality of the audio they will try to reestablish the connection come back to syria a little later on in the maids and let's move on to some of the rest of the day's news at least 30 people have been killed in a bomb attack in northeastern nigeria it happened on a bridge in borno state near the border with cameroon many people were injured there's been no claim of responsibility but the armed group boko haram has been active in the area for more than 10 years. spain's parliament has narrowly approved a coalition government today ends months of political deadlock which was triggered by 2 inconclusive elections last year. were made an alliance between his socialist party and the left wing unit esprit de vos the votes were supported by catalan separatists who agreed to abstain. a british woman convicted of lying about being

raped by a group of israeli teenagers in cyprus has been given a suspended prison sentence she plans to appeal against the 4 months in july the woman told police the 12 teenagers had gang raped while she was on holiday she later retracted her story she says she was forced to do so by the police and didn't have a lawyer the sentencing evoked protests by women activists outside the court the case led to calls in the u.k. the tourists to boycott the island al-jazeera story schilens explains what's next for the british woman. i was in the courtroom as this was being read out. over the shouts of her supporters down on the streets it was quite hard to hear what was going on the judge reading quite loudly and in greek she was having this translated to already english at the bit where the judge was saying that the 12 israelis had had their rights taken away from them and their liberty deprived she

she looked very upset about that shook her head slowly in the courtroom but her fight goes on she is although she is now free to go. she is going to pursue this in the supremum court of cyprus still saying that she is a victim not a criminal and if that doesn't work she's going to go to human rights school to europe it has political undertones as well there are people really asserted that the way that this court case was handled was to do with cyprus trying to safeguard its it's go time with with israel there are a whole host of things bubbling around and different accusations and defenses being given but yes the did the legal team here her legal team asserted that while she was being questioned she wasn't given a lawyer while she wasn't even given a translator that this was. a kind of a whole host of violations of the the way that this should go through the the

courts and that she had been turned from someone who should be given support and being listened to into someone who was then made a criminal. japan is demanding more cooperation from lebanon over the formalism boss colace gone japan's ambassador has expressed great concern in a meeting with lebanon's president bashar on there's an interpol warrant for guns arrest in place since he fled japan last week where he was awaiting trial on multiple financial misconduct charges in one japanese prosecutors of this you don't arrest warrant for the wife of kahless goan karo gone is wanted for giving false testimony in court last april she's currently in lebanon with her husband. let's return now to our top story the funeral of the iranian military commander kasem sum of money and the fallout of his killing by u.s.

forces mostafa question is editor in chief of the finest hughes agency he joins us now live from tehran good to have you with us sir the last u.s. secretary of state. has been speaking he said that his administration's policy to confront and constrain iran of force it to may have like a normal state we hope iranians won't make a bad decision to kill an american again he said and he insisted that general sort of money was not in baghdad on a diplomatic mission what do you make of it. hello and thanks for having me well disciplined always not a complicated man you know a couple of years ago when he had at the cia he sent a letter to me in syria and. never opened the letter and returned it. that despite the insistence of the person who brought this letter. to leak to the media and. was really beaten by that i mean. he has personal

issues and he had personal issues with. me and he was no shy of revealing that whenever he speaks of. me if you just take a look at what he says in his facial expression you with a come up with a reality but that is what donald trump and is that ministration have been saying all about the eminent threat to americans life it's no secret. money for the past 20 years but in the last round since that letter was returned to pay when he had. an affiliate it sources have been revealing to the western media outlets that the. money. and they want to hunt him down and if you just take note and. remember. the united states enlisted i.r.g.c.

as a terrorist entity last year then you will come away with the realities some soleimani was on a mission official mission diplomatic mission according to iraqi premier. he had brought them you know all the iranian reply to the escalation with the saudis unfortunately that opportunity is now gone and that's why he was on a passenger plane and not on a clandestine or secretive mission or you know all fly he was on a passenger flight that very normally like other people and went from syria to he was not difficult to trace him as his name was on the list. was. something out of state that the secretary of state said in his video briefing was that. iran is actively working to thwart efforts to bring peace to afghanistan

what did you make of that accusation. will the united states is seeking to you know all pressure to iran and to 80 in a tehran may. well they've done a lot like last night nato secretary general claimed that they would not allow your on to find access to nuclear weapons the same was repeated by mr pompeo today apparently but. this comes as they really do not care about iran's nuclear capability you know because if they really cared about iran's nuclear capability they would have stuck to the nuclear deal as it provided them and still provides them with a harsher regime of. factions ever imposed that in their nation on the contrary it seems that after these inspections around the clock surveillance

cameras inspections on call them inspections to all the rain in nuclear facilities it's been have been on the way they have come to realize that iran does not have any suspicious military nuclear capability or any plan to go after that now the rest assured about iran's nuclear capability they know it civilly and so they go to the next station to pressure to iran to force to iran get back you know and and to we can terrorize power components in missile industry as well as iran's regional clout that's the plan. that their 1st goal and objective is containing iran's power components weakening iran and then toppling the islamic republic without even firing the bullet because they will not remove the sanctions and we can nation on their tough sanctions after several years it would be composed

mean the he would collapse and the government would be overthrown very easily. but he thanks. for being with us once again the start of the editor in chief. now russia's president vladimir putin has arrived in syria on. visit to meet president bashar al assad according to the kremlin both leaders are discussing military strategy within the country moscow has been a key supporter of the syrian government during the country's civil war the visit comes during heightened regional tensions following the killing of the iranian general. a judge in india has set the execution date for 4 men convicted of the rape torture and murder of a university student on a bus in new delhi ok state's back to 2012 the woman later died from her injuries and the case triggered mass protests that ultimately led to tough new anti rape moves 6 men were involved in the attack but one hanged himself in prison another

was a minor at the time of the crime a state of emergency has been declared in puerto rico after a series of strong earthquakes damaged buildings and left the island without power tonight it's huge 6.5 quake knocked down telic tricity across the u.s. territory of the damaging its main power plant a magnitude 6 quake struck just 3 hours later it's the strongest in a series of earthquakes to hit the island over the past 2 weeks. just ahead here all the news out of sports there's some basketball magic from this washington wizards story it's the.

the pool.

player that type of sport this far adrian thank you so much will the african footballer of the year will be announced in egypt a later this tuesday they've a president with tino is in cairo ahead of that event getting involved in a kick about with some of the games former grades all 3 nominees for the men's ward star in the english premier league liverpool duo mohamed salah and saudia mani are in contention alongside manchester city's. cristiana rinaldo has hit yet another career landmark scoring his 1st hat trick in italy's top division or know the score 3 goals for you than this and therefore nail home win over tell you their 34 year old has now scored and his fast 5 league games is the 1st player since chilean striker alexey sanchez to score a hattrick in the english premier league spanish led league and syria how with $56.00 overall. there is

a big game in the english league cup later on in the holders manchester city take on serious local rivals manchester united in the semifinals it's played over 2 legs and the 1st one is at old trafford united won away at city in the league in december it's their 10th game in a month but only gunnar soldier believes his players will find the strength to perform big games give you energy gives you. the urge to go. to the next level. above and beyond what you might be capable of. in your head but sometimes you can if you surprise yourself. england's cricketers have levelled their series against south africa one all by winning the 2nd test in cape town ben stokes was the star on day 5 the all rounder took 3 allayed wickets to clean up the home side's tail to seal a $189.00 run when it's england's 1st women newland since 1957 the 3rd test begins

on january 16th in port elizabeth organizers of the australian open say they're not expecting a delay to the start of the 1st time as grand slam of the year and that's despite the ongoing bushfires impacting air quality in melbourne where the manger all starts on january 20th but contingencies are in place of conditions become hazardous for the players and spectators action will be moved to 3 stadiums with retractable roof and 8 indoor courts if the air quality is deemed on the healthy. now there is so far been no smoke really that interruptions at the a.t.p. cup which is taking place in sydney perth and brous been that was where canada beat germany the win gives qualifying for the quarter finals of the tournaments. now there was a rare defeat for the league leading milwaukee bucks in the n.b.a. they were aiming for their 6th straight victory up against the san antonio spurs boks are xian assented to showing what he can do but it was the spurs who have the

edge especially to marja rosen who rocked up 25 points as teammate paddy mills also chipped in with 21 is the spurs have ran away with it over the boks still have the best overall record of 32 wins and 6 losses. one of the n.b.a. title contenders the boston celtics also suffered a shock defeat against the washington wizards and that was largely down to one standout player. the spirit dancing around cross your borders character. put to. work through that period sure it's a cherished year. old wizards are one of the worst performing teams this year but if smith came off the bench to the $27.00 points leading his team to victory 5. and that is all your sport now entering back to you thought about it thanks dude but the end of the news hour but of course the news continues i'll be back with

more of the day's news in just a few blocks so you. frank assessments the one thing about these bush bars is it really wiped them out the whole climate sure an informed opinion the economy i think is actually what's keeping donald trump afloat right now critical debate sequel on both through school lawyers on a boat beside him and his astonishingly patronize an in-depth analysis of the day's headlines this is the beginning of a new iraq of the new conscious and aware youth about struggle against an ethnic sectarian kota inside story on al-jazeera. the latest news

as it breaks this bushfire season is far from also but it's coldest so much devastation across a strain. with detailed coverage campaigners say for the 100 soaps children and teenagers the 3 think on the streets of tyrus and feel as generalism senators are preparing for a briefing on the u.s. military strike and whatever response it may bring. the story of a british italian man experiencing life close up in a palestinian refugee camp and beirut's. coming feast to feast with the daily lives of its residents some of whom have lived there for 70 years but there has been a refugio most of his life it's not but no more life to show 7 days in beirut but . on al-jazeera. there are some of the media stories

a critical look at the global news media spread across the pond how does iraqi government shut off access to social media. a stampede kills dawsons and forces a delay in the burial of the terrain in general customs on a market. that's part of a dozen mates u.s. forces as terrorists approves a massive budget boost to the croods force. hello i'm adrian for the get this is ounces here on live from doha also coming out that as well as opposition leader one glide though and as part of

a tougher standoff with security who tried to block him.