works journalists on al-jazeera. the right decision we got it right that the u.s. secretary of states defends the killing of top the ready a military commander cutscene so the money. the funeral of sort of money resumes in his hometown up for a stampede kills dozens of course is delayed. a moment republican this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up that is when an opposition leader up on is allowed into parliament after a standoff with security who tried to block him. the women's activists slammed the cypriot justice system after a british teenager is given

a suspended sentence for making false accusations of rape. the u.s. secretary of state has defended the assassination of the iranian military commander cassim saw the mahdi mike pompei a says that washington acted because of an imminent threat and that they got it right on pay insists the u.s. will follow international law if it targets iran in the future and he says iran's culture and heritage is under threat from its leader has not the u.s. 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 an intellect and they've denied the capacity for that culture to continue if you go back and look at the holidays around cyrus the neuros they've 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 that there is no there is no mistake about it i know. it was at that briefing at the state department washington he's with us now live what else did the secretary of state have to say alan. well it was a very packed briefing many people want to hear what my palm peers saying in the state department for the 1st time since he did a run to the sunday talk shows here in the united states he was asked again about the intelligence and the fact that the united states has been saying there was an imminent threat to americans he said that there was end quote from all the intelligence agencies but also from teams on the growing that he would have been speaking to people that knew what would happen in the likes of iran and iraq and he was feeding that to the information process you've got to remember though that this is a president who in the past has criticized his own intelligence agencies might compare

himself a former head of the cia before he was promoted to secretary of state he was asked to about the legality of the action and he said he couldn't speak about this specific instance but he says before an american administration takes actions of this kind normally it's run through the legal channels and again he said he couldn't specifically say that it happened here but he thought the united states had acted within international law what was important as well was he said that the united states will continue to. operate and maximum pressure on the united states on iran that this would be done through economic diplomatic and also military channels laying open the opportunity the chance that this might happen again. 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

a man he had traveled to baghdad for the idea of conducting a peace mission 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. this was my pompei we're talking about the allegation made by the iranians that general silly money was actually on a mission of diplomacy that he was carrying with them news of a perhaps a peace process that would involve the saudi arabians and might prompt said well people should go and speak to the saudis to see if this was actually the case convinced with the information that they had that that simply was not the case in this instance might also as you had criticised the iranian regime and were no

waiting to see what will happen when he wasn't asked whether or not he believes that there will be retaliation from the iranians but across the american government it's something that they're preparing for. as alan fischer reporting live from the state department in many thanks indeed a see now from i was there as how did your castro who's live on capitol hill for us where u.s. politicians will soon be given classified briefings on iran and iraq heidi who's briefing who. that's right these will be senior members of the administration including us sensibly excuse me the secretary of state my pompei oh and they will be briefing what's referred to as the gang of 8 on capitol hill today these are the senior most leaders of congress from both parties and then tomorrow that's when the full senate and the full house of representatives. is expected to be briefed and they have many questions members of congress sharing with us that democrats

particularly are concerned about exactly what this intelligence was that the president and that his aides have been citing in recent days to justify taking this action to kill general sulaimani now we've heard many times it's just as allen will say secretary of state mike on pale saying that this was an imminent threat however and that everything you heard he was pointing to the days leading up to the drone attack that killed sulaimani as justification saying that those events that have preceded the drone attack also justify taking the attack but not really saying what was being planned what silly money is accused of having planted those eminent attacks that the ministrations says was putting americans in the region at immediate harm so those are still big questions that are outstanding for members of congress of course this morning in the senate there they're debating a resolution put out by democrats that would seek congressional authority that

would require it in order for the president to continue with military hostilities regarding iran of course the u.s. constitution says that the power to make war is one that is shared between the executive and legislative branches and democrats are accusing the trump of ministration of having taken this measure illegally without consulting congress and those democratic leaders are fearful that doing so may prove to have been erratic and may have been a miscalculation on part of a u.s. foreign policy toward iran observers how did your castro live on capitol hill many thanks to. the funeral for seedings for custom so the money has resumed being halted following a stampede in which at least 50 people died half of this huge crowds gathered in the city of come on to bid a final farewell to the general who was killed in a u.s. drone strike on friday in iraq let's go live now to tell us thorsten. is that

what's the latest awsome. well we are seeing images from the city of kerman where there will be a burial service shortly to lay to rest finally the remains of the late general awesome celeb money in his hometown where he wanted to be buried in the marsh or cemetery. the delay was due to the fact that there was a incident because of the number of people that were attending this funeral procession there was a stampede that took place and over 50 people were killed so the authorities tried to delay the burial as much as they could that is what's been happening in kerman on but also in the capital there's been a lot of diplomatic movements around this assassination and the political implications that continue to come from it and we've been hearing that the

president hassan rouhani has been you speaking to his french counterpart to manual mccraw they had a phone conversation for just over an hour where they discussed all the ramifications of the assassination of the money the reigning president hassan rouhani said that the united states has to be held accountable for their crimes and he reiterated that the u.s. is now responsible for the security that this is created in the region if my speak with iran's foreign minister as they would have to say. yes ma'am as of odds are it was an event secretary on dialogue a forum where he addressed the latest issue of him not getting a visa to attend the united nations security council meeting which he was invited weeks ago he said that the united states has refused to give him a visa to go to the u.n. in new york later this week let's hear what he had to say. iran would respond

because that was an act of war. an act of will combined with an act of terrorism against a senior official of the stomach republic of iran and its citizens we don't and we are bound to protect our citizens. but united states had other admits it's embraced of creating so many people outside iran and so you know that will have consequences for the united states and i believe the most important consequence is that the days of the united states in this region. the foreign minister has said that this secretary of state mark pump aoe is a clown masquerading as a diplomat in the past and this is another example of how the united states government and this administration administration doesn't really understand how the system works within iran we've also heard that the british ambassador in tehran has been summoned to the foreign ministry because of the comments that have been made about the assassination of us insulin money so there are various moving parts at

the moment in the capital this evening and there is a sense that this situation is just getting more and more tense and complicated as we move further and further away from the events that took place in baghdad on friday so there is really no end in sight for the political fallout that continues from the assassination of awesome celeb money of his there is still such a very life that in teheran many thanks to also iraqis in the port city of basra have held a funeral procession for the paramilitary leader abu mahdi al behind this who was killed alongside some of money in friday's airstrike how this was the deputy commander of the iranian backed popular mobilization forces whose faces were involved in the siege on the u.s. embassy in baghdad last week so a big job it is in baghdad for us he says that there was a funeral procession and public viewing from behind this. after some d.n.a. tests and his body being blessed at the religious ritual religious science in iran

his body has arrived in basra where there was a funeral and the body will now travel to nudge of for its final resting place i would imagine wonders has now been replaced by. a commander who's also been quite efficient in the fight against somebody who's very close to iran as well and how the lumbee used to lead the budget of militia we've also seen the impact of this from his blood because there was a lot of influence of that particular group and the united states going after that group signaled that there was some sort of intelligence that the u.s. had about that group blamed the group for attack and. carried out strikes against that group on the iraq syrian border and this is a group that was headed by a more on this who was taken out with confidence in the money so he was a significant figure he was seen as somebody who was bringing together the various factions because within the popular mobilization forces there is

a number of smaller groups with various interests and ideologies some extreme some not that much and then he was the kind of figure who could rally them all together under the umbrella russia's president vladimir putin has arrived in syria on a mama visits to meet president bashar 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 course of samadhi. there as well as opposition leader. who has been sworn in as national assembly speak up before he was allowed to enter parliament though there was a brief standoff with security forces on sunday he was blocked from entering in his absence dissident deputy luis was elected as house speaker he's a loyalist of president nicolas maduro fled from parliament after a lot of again the access to the building. a weather update next here on al-jazeera

and then a big decision made on an 8 year old gang rape case in india will tell you more of the state of emergency declared in puerto rico ultra series of strong earthquakes. hello more winter rain has fallen throughout the gulf you can see the back edge of this scouting out here there are also some fairly big showers in yemen particular of the masses but the flooding in santa in the forecast the wind directions change the gulf is southerly now so start to feel warmer again but the rain is a long way north as iraq and iran and once more the eastern mediterranean is more coming in here but you'll see the blues develop 2 of these these mountains society in yemen that will produce again the potential for flash flooding and again the

city of santa is at risk but it looks more likely djibouti will get something from the red sea develop and then the briefly bit of blue and orange that showed up all the way down the coast of yemen it's potentially sherry but just move yourselves further in and apart from the hamas and when that season when that comes through and chad which has weakened does nothing much going on in this part of africa no would you expect there to be this is the time the year where you get the heavy rains for the south now don't be particularly useful just recently in tanzania or in malawi for example but there are clearly some big what top class reflects in the forecast here is showers all the way from the central part of south africa right up towards the rift valley but not to the east. but. frank assessments the one good thing about these bushfires is that really what

the. climate change informed opinion is economy i think is actually what's keeping donald trump afloat right now critical debate sequel on those days i don't even know what the noise all about this argument is astonishingly patronize an in-depth analysis of the day's headlines this is the beginning of the iraq of the new conscious and aware use of that struggle against an ethnic sectarian kotor inside story on al-jazeera. again this is out is there are let's remind you of the main news this hour the u.s. secretary of state has refuted claims made by iraq that. he was on a diplomatic mission when he was killed in a u.s. airstrike by composers that washington strategy is to confront and contain iran's

actions funeral proceedings for sort of body have resumed after more than 50 people were killed in a stampede huge crowds of packed cassim saw him on his hometown of command and the congress congestion in the streets led to a crush of people. with venezuelan opposition leader one of why those been sworn in as national assembly speaker after being blocked briefly by security forces dissident deputy luis posada who claimed the title song late fled the building after why the ok anxious. forces loyal to the libyan general have frege the center of such a coastal city east of the capital tripoli they've also seized the nearby al qaida be a air base one of the largest military installations in the country so it is strategically important to have to months long offensive to seize tripoli where libya's u.n. recognized government is based correspondent mark would of the what it explains why

it is so important in generals general have to come pain. it's very close to the oil fields and oil terminals and the central coast of libya now it's also the birth town or the hometown of moammar gadhafi and he was killed by the 17th of february evolutionary and that city into an 11 it was also taken controlled by ice in 2015 until it was liberated from eisel by the government forces in december 2016 now the government forces in the city of misrata say that they are cindy in green enforcement of a grey area west of city of the city to recapture the city a british woman convicted of lying about being raped by a group of israeli teenagers in cyprus has received a suspended prison sentence she plans to appeal against the 4 month term in july the woman told police the 12 teenagers and gang raped her while she was on holiday

she later retracted her story but says she was forced to do so by the police and didn't have a lawyer sentencing a book processed by women activists outside the court case led to calls in the u.k. for tourists to boycott the island of serious war a challenge 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 chief she looked very upset about that shook her head slowly in the courtroom but her fight goes on she is although she's now free to go she's 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 worried asserted that the way that this court case was handled was to do with cyprus trying to safeguard its time eyes 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 was in even given to a translator that this was. a kind of a whole host of violations of the of the way that this should go through the the courts and she had been turned from someone who should be given supports and being listened to into someone who was then made a criminal japan is demanding more cooperation from lebanon of a former miss on boss cosco japan's ambassador expressed great concern in the

meeting with lebanon's president michel on. an interpol warrant for guns arrest in place since he fled japan last week where he was awaiting trial on multiple financial misconduct charges meanwhile japanese prosecutors have issued an arrest warrant for colace cohen's wife karl go on is wanted for giving false testimony in court last april she's currently in lebanon with her husband. a judge in india has set the execution date for 4 men who were convicted of rape torture murder of a university student on a bus in new delhi the case dates back to 2012 the victim later died of her injuries and the case triggered mass protests that also but the lead tough new and he raped more was 6 men were involved in the attack of $100.00 self in prison and another was a minor at the time students of one of india's top universities say that they've been targeted voicing concern about

a new controversial citizenship law the group says that rival students linked to the ruling b.j. peer behind the attacks of zeros and reports i have read or i'm very sad that very very much i she called the girl seen covered in blood in this video after she says she was beaten by a mob gator university in new delhi is the one now under investigation. the police have registered a legal complaint against her and 26 others accusing them of vandalism on the university campus the day before the attack. but only one complaint on a crowd of 50 seemed hitting the students with. this student says he was also beaten up but doesn't want to bury his parents by revealing his identity. when i called the police they asked me what is. your

new birth rate is that they didn't help us. instead they did the exit of the government. some people including lawyer among law now suspect police let the attack happen and allow the street lights to be switched off outside the campus so those responsible could not be identified the lights in the adjoining states were all on. so the lights were definitely off and then we were there by around 12 o'clock on so it's not definitely going to be a hit. the system or something. mangler says activists and journalists were assaulted and taunted outside the campus as the police watched. the students who were beaten up see many of their attackers were from the. students union affiliated with the governing hindu nationalist b.g.p. . but the a.b.

repeated denies it was behind the attack and instead says its members were the ones beaten up earlier that day the police say they have launched an investigation or do investigation senior officers the crime branch and local police visited the attack site and we found vital clues so we are working on that and hopefully we will crack this case. since the government passed a new citizenship law police have opened fire on protesters and. smash motorbikes in an eager and beaten up students from john young millionaire slummy university in new delhi now many students at this university in the capital say it's clear the police are working against them after war i was here on new delhi. korea's president says that as a desperate need for better relations with north korea in his new year speech called for new talks with kim jong un he wants came to visit seoul talks to restore

diplomatic relations between these countries which is technically still. stuart in recent months well in that same speech president byrne promised to create more jobs to boost workers' pay and help the poor and that's a time he pledged given a study that has revealed that young people are feeling increasingly pessimistic about their future bride reports from so they are known as dirt spoons young people from low income families who despite gaining high school and college qualifications often end up in jobs they don't want for little money and with little chance to better themselves they're seen as living in the shadow of so-called gold spoons those with a privileged upbringing you son ho is a writer and social commentator who's long studied the experiences of young koreans caught in the lowest social class. the biggest issue is work housing is next even if you have a good place to live housing costs have gone up

a lot the cost of living feels higher because young people don't earn a lot of very few people i know are able to save and there's a sense of dejection. the plight of the dirt spoons has been highlighted by the release of the movie parasite a dark comedy about 2 families of haves and have nots that won the prestigious palme d'or at the cannes film festival. the belief that working hard in your studies and then in your job will inevitably lead to success has been a driving force for generations of south koreans it's why many schoolchildren will do extra classes until late at night and young workers will put up with poor pay and conditions but increasingly that belief is being challenged. a recent study of people in their twenty's shows 3 quarters of respondents no longer believe hard work alone is a guarantee of success and that

a person's future is determined more by the social group they're born into. due to the social class they already belong to even if young people make an effort the possibility of upward social mobility is very limited that the growing wealth gap is unwelcome news for the liberal government of president moon j n who is supposed to be narrowing it the faltering economy is making things worse. if you ask young people of faith have hope most will answer now the gap between rich and poor is getting wider bleak economic prospects mean that for the dirt spoons the year ahead is likely to be another that reinforces that life's getting tougher at the bottom rob mcbride al-jazeera soul. a state of emergency has been declared in puerto rico off for a series of strong earthquakes damaged buildings and left the island without power this magnitude 6.5 quake knocked out electricity across the u.s.

territory to damaging its main power plant a magnitude 6 quake struck then 3 hours later 0 is gabriel is on those in washington and says the island is bracing for a photo op the shocks. the epicenter at least where the hardest hit area that we're seeing where most of the damage is it's along the southern coast of puerto rico we've seen pictures on social media and a little bit of video that people have been posting on social media showing that in one town the main churches collapsed in other towns along the southern coast we've seen some roads that have collapsed and washed out as well as some buildings and homes that have collapsed as well in the city of potence the city of about 150000 people on the southern coast we've seen some damage there as well the main hospital there while not collapsed has been completely evacuated because there's fear that

the hospital infrastructure or the foundation could be compromised soon after these earthquakes hit there was a tsunami warning that was issued but it does not appear that there is a tsunami threat at this time the people were very nervous in puerto rico because they've been hit by seismic activity that has been going on recently it was just on monday that the island was hit by a 5.8 earthquake so and these are latest earthquakes it there are reports that people ran out of their homes into the streets and gathered in parks and other public areas just to be together in fear of more aftershocks that could be coming coming soon. communities in a study in states where bush fires are still burning it's been experiencing cooler temperatures but also weather is expected to return later in the week thousands of homes have been destroyed by the files at least 25 people have died since september

. in sydney the funerals taking place of a volunteer firefighter who was killed last month when a tree fell on his truck and drove a twat died along with a level of it jeff keep. it's good to have you with us hello adrian finnegan here in doha the headlines on al-jazeera the u.s. secretary of state has refuted claims made by iraq that custom solomon was on a diplomatic mission when he was killed in the u.s. and strike pump a.o. says that washington strategy is to confront and contain iran's actions and he says iran's culture and heritage is under threat from its leaders son not the u.s. 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 were not permitted people to celebrate they've not allowed people that they've killed that qassam somali killed. they're not allowed to go mourn their family members the real risk to persian culture does not come from united states of america that there is there is no mistaking. funeral proceedings for some of money have now resumed off more than $50.00 people were killed in the stampede huge crowds of packed custom so the money's hometown of come on in the can gesture in the streets led to a crush of people. iraqis in bastrop have held a funeral procession for paramilitary lida my d.l. 100 s. who was killed alongside sort of money in friday's strike russia's president vladimir putin has arrived in syria out of unannounced visit to meet president bashar al assad according to the kremlin both leaders are discussing military strategy within the country but as when an opposition leader one guy do as been

sworn in as national assembly speak up after being blocked briefly by security forces this isn't deputy luis posada who claim the title on sunday fled the building after gained access a british woman convicted of lying about being raped by a group of israeli teenagers in cyprus has received a suspended prison sentence she plans to appeal against the 4 months sentencing of both protests by women activists outside the court the case led to calls in the u.k. the tourists to boycott the island those are the headlines the news continues here on al-jazeera inside story next.

the civil war in libya is a global affair many countries are involved on both sides as the battle for tripoli intensifies turkey is the latest to deploy troops making neighboring countries increasingly anxious so how are outside forces shaping libya's future this is inside story. hello welcome to the program. pushing on with his 1st took up the capital tripoli it's in the west where the u.n. recognize government of prime minister. is based white house has the support of a rival government in the.