resistance we are hostile to this already. it was then just 10 years ago. now this is it. this is al jazeera. hello and welcome i'm peter w. watching the news hour live from our headquarters here in coming up in the next 60 minutes if iran does anything that they shouldn't be doing they're going to be suffering the consequences and very strongly the u.s. president donald trump defends the killing appeal iranian military chief and is using a new warning over and with. more than 50 mourners die in a stampede at the funeral of custom for the money in iraq. after another battle to

get into congress the venezuelan opposition leader one was sworn in as head of the opposition controlled national assembly. and a state of emergency was declared on the island of puerto rico after a powerful earthquake. we begin with the escalating tensions between the u.s. and iran on the day of the barely of the top iranian commander the u.s. has been defending its actions to kill him and the u.s. defense secretary says he expects iran to retaliate over the assassination of custom mark esposa says it could come directly through iranian forces or iran backed groups outside the country despite the u.s. military bracing for attacks president trump says the killing of cinnamon he quotes

saved a lot of lives and many countries have thanked him he said he also says it was planning imminent attacks but hasn't offered any evidence mr trump has walked back his threat to bomb iranian cultural sites he says the u.s. will pay international law regarding those strikes if it strikes iran early and concepts of them on his home time huge crowds have gathered for the funeral procession causing a stampede that killed at least $50.00 people we'll have more on that a bit later here on the news hour 1st let's go to john hendren who is live for us in washington john just walk us through what the defense secretary mr esp as been saying well the defense secretary was part of a coordinated message one that my campaign with the secretary of state was part of then esper spoke in the president himself spoke and they all pretty much reiterated the same message one that cilla money was posing an immediate and dire threat within days according to esper to the lives of americans either in iraq or

somewhere in the world and that they were justified in killing him the 2nd part of that message was that the united states is not seeking a broader conflict this is a little of what esper had to say let me reiterate that the united states is not seeking a war with iran but we are prepared to finish one. we are seeking a diplomatic solution but 1st this we're require iran to deescalate it will require the regime to come to the table with a go a preventing further bloodshed and it were quire them to cease their malign activities throughout the region as i've said we're open to having this discussion with them but we're just as prepared to deliver a forceful response to defend our interests and donald trump as well rowing back on this idea of tossing cultural sites and installations saying he likes the law he wants to stay legal that's right a few days ago the president tweeted

a warning to iran saying that if iran were to retaliate the united states had a list of 52 targets and among those targets were cultural sites and when he was asked about that one on his plane when he came back from our log on sunday he doubled down on that saying that it wasn't ok for iranians to kill americans in iraq and then not to have to face the devastation of cultural sites however that is the law under the 1954 hague convention for the protection of cultural property and in clearly been made clear to the president the defense secretary said on yesterday that said yesterday on monday that he would be abiding by international law in any conflict with iran and today the president went on to say according to various laws we're supposed to be very careful with their cultural heritage and you know what if that's what the law is i like to obey the law but he went on to complain about it saying but think of it they kill our people they blow up our people and then we

have to be very gentle with their cultural institutions so the president was making it clear he didn't like the law but in the end he backed off violating tomorrow we'll get the evidence alleged evidence in congress take us through what will happen. that's right so what's happened so far is that a very limited number of senior members of congress with clearance to hear classified information they were given a little bit of information one of them congresswoman jackie speier said that that information was very vague and today when we heard. the secretary of state talk about what that evidence was one of the things he pointed to were rocket attacks on american bases that had recently killed a contractor well that's not new information and it's not it's not secret information so what we're hoping to get what members of congress are hoping to get is specific information that explains why it was necessary to kill salue money right away and from who those american lives were that were at stake and what he

was planning to do none of that has even leaked out so far so right now we don't have a lot of information on that congress is open to get that and the administration is promising to deliver that tomorrow john thanks very much let's talk now to michael o'hanlon he's a senior fellow and director of research in foreign policy at the brookings institution he joins us from washington on skype michael good to talk to you again how does the u.s. preserve a meaningful relationship with iraq now. well i think we're going to have to 1st of all stop the public insults and even though i'm not opposed to president trump's decision to target general sewer money i think the world where it's with iraq is foolish and the idea of you know debating who should know who money if the relationship and says is just not the way to ratchet this thing back because i think in the end iraq he's especially sunis and kurds but even many shia know they don't really want to be on their own dealing with isis on one side and iran on the

other and no other counterweight or friends to speak of so they're interested some kind of compromise i believe and if we can just cool the whole thing down and have the conversation discreetly and diplomatically and perhaps figure out how we're not going to have to have a repeat of all the events of recent weeks partly by the iraqis protecting us bases on their own sartori better than they have so far i believe we should be able to find a compromise but it's going to take old fashioned diplomacy and statesmanship of a type that seems pretty lacking in both countries at the moment hasn't the horse bolted in one regard mr trump news conference inside the white house won't 3 hours ago now saying he doesn't want to leave iraq because that would give iran a foothold in iraq with the death of cinema any that soul ready happened. well iran has been influential in iraq for a long time but as you know iran and iraq also were bitter enemies 30 some years

ago and they also come from very distinct cultural and ethnic traditions even if many of the shia in iraq share a faith with many iranians so i don't think you have to worry that somehow. iranian influence in iraq is either brand new or that somehow iraqis are incapable of resisting it categorically but there are different degrees of iranian influence and the weaker iraq becomes and the less it has other friends i think the greater iran's opportunities so a u.s. departure i think would be a net negative that's certainly my reading situation what's going on with this administration we saw and we heard from mr pompei of the u.s. secretary of state 2nd time in 2 days directly contradicting his president. well i think that secretary pompei o usually finds a way to say things that don't sound like contradictions you're smart enough to

figure out that there is one there but usually the way you figure it out when you're dealing with president trump is not to attack him directly not challenge him not to embarrass him publicly but to find a different formulation that then perhaps he himself can adopt later and i think that's exactly what happened by changing the conversation from would we or would we not attack cultural sites too we will comply with the rules of war and the laws of war and then once that comment was out there it imply that we would not attack cultural sites but it did not require a direct debate between pompei and trump which pompei always which surely lose because he works for truck so i think the way you deal with a president who's this impulsive and this careless at times with his own words and also i think frankly this proud in terms of his own image is to find more indirect ways to suggest a different wording or a different approach when that's needed and so i would much prefer this sort of

thing to somehow peo agreeing with trump and i'm glad he found a formulation that trump himself could later come around to accept ok when it comes to the practicalities i don't know if you heard the conversation i was having with john hendren washington correspondent about the comments today from the the defense secretary mr s. but one of the things he also said today was this we don't want to start a war but we will be able to finish a war from memory going back to 1991 when iraq invaded kuwait kind of difficult to remember when the u.s. cleanly ended a war in the middle east. a fair point and you know that was secretary espers way i think of trying to sound strong and without being overly political rhetoric provocative but it does invite the very debate that you just raised you could say that we were generally successful in a finite sense in a finite time period dealing with the isis threat inside of iraq and syria in the

last few years it took a while but actually ironically with some iranian cooperation it ultimately was successfully addressed so you could say certain operations have been completed but i take your point that the ongoing operations that continue in iraq afghanistan and syria have not reached any conclusions so it's sort of tough to win these things when they turn into counterinsurgency or counterterrorism fights on the other hand iran has a functioning government that has a functioning economy and has a target set for advanced military forces that's a little bit harder to defend from the iranian perspective so i think esther was referring more to the american ability. to win in a conventional military engagement should be ok i'm very very briefly what's the evidence you need to hear tomorrow from me the mr esper almost a pump a 0 to convince you that what we've seen in the last 256 days is actually evidence

based and it's not what some critics of the u.s. administration is saying it's ideology based. well i think the circumstantial evidence is very strong based on recent behavior by k.h. and vice self as well as his whole career but i would like to see as you suggest a little bit more specificity about do we have any specific number of facilities we think were in the crosshairs do we think there were certain kinds of coordinated attacks or a larger ordinance being marshal to attack those bases i don't expect to classify details that would reveal sources and methods but i'd like to see some numbers some locations some types of weaponry just a little bit more clarity even though it's not going to be conclusive because people can always choose to disbelieve the numbers at least that will suggest a real documented set of threats ok we have to leave it there michael o'hanlon as always a pleasure good to talk to us thank you sir meanwhile mohammad javad zarif has criticized the u.s. for refusing his visa to attend a u.n.

security council meeting in new york and says america's days in the middle east are numb but my comment has more from the u.n. . the iranian foreign minister was invited weeks ago to attend a security council session on the u.n. charter however the iranian mission to the u.n. says no visa has yet been received the spokesman for the secretary general declined to comment on the specifics of the situation we do take note of what secretary pompei with interest said at a press briefing not long ago at the state department in which he said the u.s. would comply with its obligations under the host country agreement. as you know for many months the secretary general and or legal counsel have repeatedly conveyed their concerns and the legal position of the u.n. to senior representatives of the host country we will continue to engage closely. on that regard the movement of

a rainy and diplomats has been severely restricted under the trump administration generally they are restricted only to operating out of the arabian mission and the u.n. headquarters however a 947 headquarters agreement of the united nations insists that the host country mascara access to all nationalities who wish to attend u.n. proceedings. well as we mentioned earlier more than 50 people died in the mass funeral procession for customs a said reports now from tehran on the day's events there. i'm standing on top of that district of news of family and friends people queue outside the hospital in the city of kut a man inside the injured filling hospital beds and being treated in its characters what had begun as a day with large numbers of people turning out to pay their respects to an assassinated commander ending with more death in the streets of his hometown several hours after the funeral of customs and the money began on tuesday morning

there was a stampede among the crowds the procession turning into a crush and desperate efforts to save the lives of people where they felt. the small city unable to deal with the vast numbers that have converged on it rains from across the country had made their way to come on for what was supposed to be so the money's final procession. i come here because i love gen so the money i'm going to be undone mom who i am assuming from bandon a bass and we want to show that we are also here for him chick he had a very good management this is something small i can do for gendered celeb money just to come here and even though he's not with us his philosophy continues so the money had requested to be buried in his home city alongside those that had died fighting in the iran iraq war during the 1980 s. he was killed in a u.s. airstrike in iraq last friday and people are still calling for revenge. the head of iran's revolutionary guard made this promise more jam i'm saying the final word 1st

we will avenge harshly be certain be calm we are telling the enemy we will avenge if you respond we will burn that place you love and they themselves know where it is. the politicians gathered in parliament declaring death to america no compromise no surrender and revenge. and voting to designate the pentagon and u.s. forces terrorist organizations only here. all those who ordered as well as the perpetrators of this crime who are with the pentagon and their military accounted as terrorists for 4 days crowds have taken to the streets to honor and pay their respects to cost and so the money and the tragic events of choosing kind of man have i did even more grief before iran decided to take its next move i said big al jazeera to her. well a funeral procession for the iraqi paramilitary. more 100 was held in basra he was killed alongside salaam army and friday as

a strike $100.00 was the deputy commander of the iranian backed popular mobilization forces his fighters were involved in the siege on the u.s. embassy in baghdad last week. iraq's outgoing prime minister says the u.s. has no alternative and must pull its troops out of the country. once the american soldiers to go home to avoid a further escalation of tensions some of injuries in baghdad he says comments by u.s. officials are contradicting what was discussed in the iraqi leader's cabinet meetings every time a u.s. official comes to the podium it kind of raises more questions than. we have been hearing from u.s. department of defense in the u.s. about the state directly contradicting what the iraqi prime minister has been telling his cabinet and the people by large he has been saying that this letter was the official communication that he received there was a discrepancy in the english and arabic texts he sent it back and they amended that

text and a few hours later they said it was a mistake but they haven't said it officially he's only heard it on the media so here is an american ally and partner in the fight against terrorism and i still who finds themselves at odds and i'm quite sure that the iraqi prime minister's office is going to be scratching their heads and how to reply to these officials who are directly contradicting their leader but today he made his point again as he met cabinet ministers and said that only a way out is for foreign troops to leave and that is something that he has been making clear to world leaders as well as the u.s. ambassador. had he put them up. we have suggested to the parliament that the foreign forces should leave the country we don't have many other options all the assassinations have made people angry and people are saying we don't want these forces to stay in our country there was no reason no option to quieten the people and the show safety except for this particular position i.e. get the phone forces to leave the country and there's also

a neat little development that has just come in now that some protesters in bastrop . rather have been injured as pro iran and anti iran protesters clashing it goes to show the divisions that exist. plenty more ahead here on the news hour for you including another deadly attack in kenya this time it's school children who are the target. christians who push this teenager who said she was raped by up to 12 israelis gets a 4 month suspended sentence for public mischief. and in sports africa celebrates its best football of the year details coming up in about 30 minutes. back to washington the democrats have been dealt a blow by the leading republican in the u.s. senate who says he has enough support from his party to set the rules for the

president's impeachment trial mitch mcconnell is resisting the democrats' efforts to bring new witnesses to testify in order to speed up the process heidegger castro has more from washington. democrats have been outmaneuvered in this opening salvo to determine the rules of the impeachment trial of president trump over the last few days senate democrats have been trying to convince enough republican colleagues to join them in an effort to get the senate to commit to calling on fresh witnesses as part of the impeachment trial but the chambers top republican mitch mcconnell now says that that will not happen here is how he weighs out exactly what he hopes to see unfold when this trial begins we have the votes. once the impeachment trial has begun. to pass a resolution essentially the same very similar to the 100 to nothing

vote in the clinton trial which sets up as you may recall what could best be described as it may be a phase one which would include obviously the arguments from the prosecution arguments from the defense and then period of written questions. and then at phase 2 what he goes on to say if there is one would be this question of whether or not to call new witnesses to the stand and this follows yesterday's surprise announcement from john bolton who is a former national security advisor to president trump who has not been heard from yet in this impeachment investigation and who democrats said may have key information on president's motives for withholding security aid to ukraine and motive bolton said yesterday that he would be willing to testify in the senate no

one really knows what he may say and democrats as well as some republicans have said that they would like to hear from him eventually and it looks like that that question of whether or not they will will be determined later on after the trial progresses this of course would only happen after house speaker nancy pelosi the top democrat in the lower chamber transmits the articles of impeachment to the senate she has not done so yet but she may do so this week she hasn't really said we're all congress is waiting to see exactly what her next move is because once she transmits those articles then power shifts completely out of democrats' hands and goes on to the upper chamber the senate which of course is controlled by republicans the president's own party now a state of emergency is in place in puerto rico after a powerful earthquake that killed at least one person and damaged thousands of properties the island the 6.4 magnitude quake struck the early on tuesday morning

and was followed by more than a dozen of the shocks and they got a small. the earthquake struck in the early hours of tuesday collapsing homes causing power and causing landslides along the southern coast of the island officials from the united states geological survey seeing around $400000.00 people felt strong to very strong shaking a tsunami alert was canceled as residents scrambled to escape their homes in the end they understand it is exhibit a couple i gotta i was sleeping when the house began forming bit by bit i grabbed my bag ran outside and jumped off the balcony money it was terrible i don't wish that on anybody several powerful aftershocks followed as emergency services say communicating with the affected communities remains a challenge inquire near the historic immaculate conception church building 841 suffered extensive damage a rock formation known as window point a major tourist attraction now lays in ruins the initial earthquake and intense

aftershocks were felt in the island's capital san juan to the northeast of the epicenter aftershocks are expected to continue in the coming days officials say power should be restored in the next few hours but the island has been rattled by hundreds of small quakes since the end of december the island's fragile infrastructure battered by hurricane maria 2 years ago may hamper recovery efforts and people here remain fearful nobody. my 1st reaction was to run and find my sisters my niece my mother my father they were the ones i was most worried about and it was strong and unforgettable day in the past few years puerto rico has been hit by hurricanes economic woes and a political crisis that saw the island's governor ousted from office many residents are now dealing with yet another catastrophe the full extent of which may not be known for days and gallacher al-jazeera. ok let's turn now to kenneth mcclintock he served as a lieutenant governor of puerto rico from 2009 to 2013 he's currently

a senior public policy advisor for politic he joins us on skype from san juan in puerto rico kenneth mcclintock welcome back to the news of what's the main priority now for the local authorities there. well i think we have to try to get back to at least a certain degree of normalcy right now. for 90 percent of the power of the recall need to have. some of the generating plants that were turned on the have been turned off because of faulty problems so we're in the dark as you can see around me . and we need we need to get on through to the fabric not only sort of a hole in the normal life of all the. 'd industries that operate the old barrels that we'll have to spend on the generating capacity so the shop involves the open. traffic lights they 'd operate again and we use

a number of factors that we're having because we don't have tribes. how much outside help do you need what feel as a territory the area states. the monitor the federal emergency management the main 'd station as restriction over a record and as soon as the governor foots the official request for federal. notice of the emergency and the present the proof that money will come to school with the court records and. 'd the federal oversight board that has colonial filings over for recall i now also rise to use the $130000000.00 of our rainy day fund the state's different funds so we can start the government start off rising payments people have dollars in our things start fixing some of the infrastructure that has been a fact that during the past 2 days because of the quakes but this give an example

that we have this morning at 4 30 in the morning by 430 is a lot of hours later we had 36 aftershocks of 3.0 on the richter scale or highly so you know peripheral still shake. i remember you and i having conversations back in 2017 in the aftermath of hurricane omma one wants to say yes but those communities those lying communities not the communities quite close to san juan the capital they're going to have to dig deep and get an awful lot of resilience going here now to be hit by an earthquake yeah and there's way you get away from the san juan metro area but the earthquake in some of the tremors has been so strong that we have felt you know i woke up for 25 or 24 the morning in shock and i was sitting out that my dad when this for the 2nd of waking up it is a building which will really shake did you know what it was was it one of those

situations you think yourself yeah this is a bigger quake. it was evident that well because i was being you know by friends that except for the waves yesterday i had not feel any of the other tremors which many people felt years and was and this one i feel that you know almost immediately and i've also well you heard that they saw 6 of the $3063.00 plus. tremors that. killed off ok mr mcclintock good to talk to you good luck there in the dark i suspect we'll talk to you again too soon many thanks. thank you very much. venezuela's opposition leader has again been sworn in as head of the opposition controlled national assembly it was amid a showdown for control of the parliament after his former opposition ally luis parra was sworn in as the rifle congressional chief now after

a tense standoff with the security forces on tuesday quite oh enter the congress and began the 1st legislative session of the year mr mo duros accuses mr goh i don't know of trying or attempting a coup with the help of the united states you know what is going on here in the name of venezuela i swear to full field by duties of president in charge to look for a solution to the crises to be able to live with dignity prosperity and bring back humanity to venezuela if i were to do so may god reward me. in america at its alyse in human explains exactly what happened from the capital caracas. it is but another dramatic and confusing day in the battle for the control of venezuela's parliament the day started with luis posada the man of the deputy rather who had been declared the speaker on sunday by the pro-government minority

calling the calling the session to order even though he did not have a quorum but in the meantime why the all who was also been elected by the majority of the opposition as the legitimate speaker of the house was making his way downtown to the chamber you see behind me he was blocked and as were his deputies by various police barricades but eventually they were able to push their way through make it into the chamber just as we spotted. ran out the door i think that which is not quite clear whether he actually closed the session 1st but in any case why they all took the seat again as speaker of the house while the electricity was cut out a very chaotic situation the only thing that is very clear is that the government somehow or other decided to allow this to happen because it did not use the same amount of force there weren't as many soldiers trying to protect the building and prevent choir boy and his deputies from going in as we used on sunday. still to come here on the news out of the damage from australia's wildfires most there are

fears that $500000000.00 animals may have dollars. and sport hosts australia sweep aside greens to reach the number of stages of the a.t.p. . hello again welcome back to international weather forecast here along the border areas of north america we're going to be seeing a lot of cold air in place temperatures well below freezing and many locations take a look to wednesday map here we are talking winnipeg at minus 15 minneapolis at minus 9 extending all the way over here towards come back so well below average for this time of year and the wind chill is making it feel even colder than that as we go from wednesday and into thursday we get a little bit better across the northern part of the united states but still quite cold across much of southern canada ottawa it is going to be about minus 13 as your

forecast high and here in chicago well the temperatures are on the way up we're going to start on wednesday as a high only seeing about minus 2 degrees there by the time we go towards thursday and friday a little bit better but we do expect to see more rain in your forecast and then across parts of central america as well as the caribbean light showers across much of the region temper wise fairly average for this time of year we could be seeing nesa here on wednesday at $25.00 degrees and down towards jamaica a nice day for you at about $31.00 degrees there and then very quickly we're going to take a look what's happening one is august the temperatures are going to start quite high as we go towards wednesday 34 as expected high but we do expect to see some rain showers in the forecast with a temperature of about $28.00 as we go towards thursday.

when the news breaks today the current government has lost the trust of people by god to anything because the protesters are against it when people are to be heard by so i work you represent the law of shorts for a home of the grex it's troika of the conservatives al-jazeera has teams on the ground and now hopes the meeting in paris will push politicians to create a competent and credible government to bring the room use one documentaries and live in the us on air and online.

you're watching the al-jazeera news hour live from our headquarters here in doha and it's a double good to have you with us our top stories the u.s. defense secretary says he expects iran to retaliate for the assassination of customs the money despite the u.s. military bracing for attacks president from the killing of cinnamon and cords saved a lot of lives. more than 50 mourners have been killed in a stampede at the final funeral procession for customs on 200 people were injured in the crush in his hometown of come on. the leading republican in the u.s. senate says he has the votes to decide comes trial will work but mitch mcconnell says democrats are causing a hold on by not delivering the charges. we're getting some

breaking news coming to us out of iran and iraq according to the a.p. wire service iran's state television is being quoted as saying that tehran has launched quotes tens of surface to surface missiles at iraq's i'm assad's air base that's home to several u.s. forces divisions of u.s. troops i should say rockets have been fired according to the reuters news agency at that base a host u.s. forces that's a u.s. official being quoted as well by the reuters news agency no immediate information on any damage or casualties from the attack as of course tensions continue to mount following on from the assassination on friday of custom so the money the same story being quoted on various sources no information yet on any damage or casualties from the rockets attack i think we can talk to osama bin correspondent on the line in

baghdad osama do we know any more. peter in the last few minutes we've heard from the trees from one to. 3 the popular mobilization of forces in. iraq. to the conflagration would be heard we. can see that it. carried out a withering attack of the other. hand. it is a resume used to getting confirmation of the services that it looks like at this particular day. we have not had any reports of casualties or damage to the base on the. bases which houses. so it's. been the 'd time. they would do things which is used to carry out

a growing like. a logistical support or organization other than. the. coalition. in iraq so it is routine location which was established by the united states in the mid to . late to get through replenished and then it was constructed in a way that it could take all sorts of like. so it seems that now that it could. be had and tensions in the mountains. ready and other messy a lot now that 2 of the ovals over there the final burial ready did not take me to. see the beginning that it has begun with and.

bold talk how many people embrace all not base. it is good the listener did see the coalition who is make sure that it does not specify any particular number but it would be safe to review that there are at least a dozen persons present at that place and given the time. particular numbers for security and with the gluten the us military tries to bully to give us a vulnerable time. because of the retention of the soldiers and send them out. because of number of personnel there but it is definitely one of the locations 'd where this us 'd but other coalition members are expected to be in the media today in the last 24 hours we've heard from the german deserve

a defense minister that there 'd. we go through heard from the media content when they're moving their soldiers from iraq to group. it is not clear whether they 'd have already been who they are they are in the 1st. and it goes to sure that this group is alert that. the coalition forces are really because that and meeting not just from iran but iran back to in iraq and outside of iraq a lot of these bases some of that are not in or near baghdad i mean house says they to react militarily to something like this surface to surface missiles. it is big capability by the look on the surface. a visiting them seem to be quite capable ready of defensive defending against

a ground attack because. for. 'd any surface to surface missile defense capability. bases. 'd hardware from helicopters. it is it is quite clear that. this will be bit. defensive but it would be difficult to. predict. against any. discipline. is that. 1313 osama ok thank you so much tonight kyra t.

keep us posted i'm sure if you're just joining us here on the news so just to get you right up to speed rockets are being fired. based in iraq it does host u.s. forces in some of injuries they're making the point of the base was basically put together constructed built on location for the kickoff of the fight against islamic state eisel in iraq something that mr trump today the u.s. president in white house briefing was taking the credit for having destroyed he said we have completely eradicated iraq of eisel forces so we've got one report from our correspondents were about 13 rockets we have another report talking about 6 rockets another report as well as he talking about 9 rockets we'll get you right across all the developments on that breaking story just as soon as we can here on the news out. the russian president vladimir putin has made a surprise visit to syria to meet president bashar al assad the kremlin says the leaders discussed military strategy in syria moscow has been

a key support during the civil war the visit comes to heighten regional tensions following the assassination of qassam so the money for the remount leverage is a former u.s. diplomat and now she's the c.e.o. of stratagem a political risk consultancy consultancy she says as america's relationship with the middle east we couldn't china and russia taking the opportunity to strengthen toys in that area the united states has been the great power in the middle of the great external power in the middle east now for decades today we have president putin showing russia's strength really in a sense showing off his victory in syria his victory not just on the battlefield in syria but he went to he went to christian churches and shrines on what is the eastern today is the day of the eastern christmas to show that he is that he is the defender of christians not president trump not the united states so it's are pretty dramatic illustration of the contrast of the rise of russia versus the united

states we also interestingly had i think was just yesterday in baghdad the chinese ambassador met with with acting prime minister of denmark and there were photos of that of that encounter that included a whole i think 4 or 5 chinese military officials there offering iraq chinese military assistance in what will become a much more destabilizing time so we have both russia and china showing that they are they are right they're able to take over a role as an important as important regional power as important powers in the region as the united states sees its its fortunes fall. 4 students are being killed by suspected fighters from the armed group but school in northern kenya it comes as the united states has increased its military presence in the country as to floyd additional soldiers to the inland bay air base soften the time by al-shabaab on

sunday welcomed web reports from nairobi. they'd just arrived at boarding school they didn't live to attend their 1st class of the. suspected attackers from the armed group al-shabaab burst into the teenage boys dormitory and they were sleeping here in curious the county northern kenya we had. bullets from outside. it will not go anywhere. i was just in my house. the other way he had them shelter along with. the village police fled it took more than an hour for special forces to arrive. with communications mast with the site of a firefight 2 of the attackers were killed here others fled office us are getting towards us why board. the white able to have to walk them. into. the still

pursuing. below politicians say they've known the attackers were in the area for days beforehand but nothing was done i'm wondering why the government which had that intelligence the id act in no way not previous because they ought to have reinforced this equality forces which were there. it's the latest in a series of attacks by the somali armed group in recent weeks as it continues its fight against the united states and kenyan military's and their allies. the kenyan army has been in neighboring somalia for nearly 10 years. on sunday fighters attacked a military air base in kenya the u.s. says 3 american defense personnel were killed and it's since deployed more soldiers there al-shabaab released these images saying it destroyed kenyan and american

aircraft. just a week before more than 80 people were killed in somalia's capital mogadishu most of them students by a truck bomb al-shabaab claimed responsibility the u.s. and its partners have responded to the attacks with airstrikes fighting al shabaab in somalia for nearly a decade but the armed group has shown its still capable of devastating attacks and its civilians who keep bearing the brunt of the violence malcolm web al-jazeera nairobi kenya. it's these foreign ministers in turkey for talks on the escalating violence in libya luigi denial that is turkish counterpart in istanbul ankara is deploying troops to support the internationally recognized government in tripoli in their fight against the warlord holy father have to live discussions for a meeting of e.u. foreign ministers in brussels they rejected turkey's military assistance warning it will only lengthen the conflict. on monday have to us forces reach the center of

the strategic coastal city of sirte have been trying to seize libya's capital tripoli since april our correspondent mark went up to what holds in tripoli explains why service was an important gain in hard times campaign. 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 home town of mahmoudiya gadhafi and he was killed by the 17th of february evolutionary is in that city and to an 11 it was also taken controlled by ice in 2015 until it was liberated from isel by the government forces in december 2016 now the government forces in the city of misrata say that the are cindy in green for cement to a grey area west of city of the city to recapture the city. at least 11 yemeni soldiers have been killed in

a missile strike carried out by who's the rebels the iran bank group targeted a military campaign. as a government there more than 20 soldiers were injured as the hoofy 2nd attack on the province in just over a week a similar attack killed 5 soldiers. a british teenager convicted of lying about being raped by a group of israeli teenagers in cyprus has received a suspended prison sentence it's a vote protest by women activists outside the court the case led to calls in the u.k. for tourists to boycott the island or a chalons is there in cyprus. arriving at court in paralympic the british teenager was met by a crowd of supporters. most of these women came from israel eager to make their views clear on cyprus's criminal justice system i can see with my eyes so many failures that happen here also as an israeli i think about these youngsters who

came back to my country. and they came with. no with no phone and apply inside the courts the 19 year old was told by the judge she was giving her a 2nd chance a suspended sentence for public mischief that in effect mean she could go for the 1st time in 6 months a mother then came out to speak. oh thank god everyone i meet that standing up to date having been named having thanked for making sure that we get justice thank you all of you for flying up. to. her daughter had been staying at this hotel while on a working holiday in the resort of ai and when she went to the police alleging she'd been gang raped 12 his ratings were quickly arrested and then released after the woman retracted iraqis ations she says the police forced her to do this the courts decided she was lying what happens or didn't happen in this building 6 months ago has helped expose a range of different issues how women

a listen see when they say they've been rapes the behavior of young so wrists in quality resorts like. the relationship between cyprus and the u.k. and israel and whether the justice system here is working as it should be the teenager's legal team point to a list of potential police violations questioning her with no lawyer or translator present and not recording what was said so the police officers word against the victim. and of course there's no recourse for the victim so we are hoping that if this key is does go to the european court of human rights that the problem can be redress and that perhaps cyprus can fall into line with other modern jurisdictions cypriot lawyer thinks the countries. i was too little to help women i believe we have a culture that these 2 start changing when it comes to violence against women. and it is this culture that creates the systemic problems that we are facing the case

has disturbed relations between london and nicosia to my 1st concern be how wealthy we will be following up on some issues in relation to the case i spoke to the cypriot foreign minister about that but there was also a warning from the u.k. foreign minister in the summer season resort such as thronging with youngsters drinking and partying hard dominic rob says brits abroad should look after themselves well reach alan's al-jazeera and paralympic. still to come here on the news the new year has officially begun in the world of sumo will be here with a story coming up. fast.

it's time for sport is far thanks very much senegal forward saudi amman a has been named african footballer of the year the 27 year old received the honor at the caf awards in egypt he beat out algeria as riyadh marez and liverpool teammates mohamed salah to claim the prize mana had a huge 2019 he won the european champions league at the club world cup with liverpool scored $34.00 goals and 12 assists in 61 appearances i would love to thank all the senegalese people who've been for me or do. you mean. by my village really come very very far. better small bit. unsure do what you need to be. manchester city have taken

a huge step towards the final of the english league cup they'd be then manchester united 3 want to weigh in the 1st leg of the semifinals city are also in contention to win the f.a. cup and champions league but their way off the pace in the premier league trailing late there is liverpool by 14 points. brazil international neymar admits 2019 had been a struggle for him but the 27 year old says he's ready to put it all behind him following a triumphant debut season with p.s. she neymar 2nd season has been riddled with injuries and marred by controversies he lost brazil's national team captaincy after hitting a fan in the stands following p.s.g. is lost in the french cup and then he failed to get a transfer out of the french league after telling p.s.g. he wanted to leeds well nourished you professionally and personally 2019 of a tough year for me it was full of learnings and turnarounds injured myself and had

to come back the night injured myself again. my biggest expectation for 2020 is to win everything i can with the brazilian team. new challenges i want to be in the champions league final and i want to win the copa america and once again 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 late wickets to clean up the home side's tail to seal $189.00 run when it's england's 1st win that deulin since 1957 the 3rd test begins on january 16th and port elizabeth is. key be ready when their chances came in in the field pretty much everything that came away. and i think recognises key moments which we probably got right in the 1st test match so for us as a young group of. young squad of players to. really pleasing

to see that unfold and see happen this time round. there's a lot of small margins in this test match. but for me extremely proud of how we fought you know you never want to lose of course you don't want to but the challenge that we had to our group last night and this morning was that we will fight with everything that we've got within us to try and miking and do anything and everything to to beat us and they have. the kitchen sink at us and just towards the end of the down fortunate to be a loser which is fantastic 5 days of just a good organizers of the australian open say they're not expecting a delay to the start of the 1st time his grand slam of the year that's despite the ongoing bush fires impacting air quality in melbourne where the manger all starts on january 20th there so far been no smoke related interruptions at the a.t.p. cup which is taking place in sydney perth and gris been and that's where host

australia because race to reach the quarter finals helping his side to victory in the world number 29 nick curious he kept his 100 percent record against world number 6 but suppose australia face a great britain just. like out of the germany earlier the winning gives canada a shot at qualifying for the quarterfinals of the tournament all 6 group winners the 2 best 2nd place teams were dance to the final 8. at the new year has officially begun in the world of sumo their traditional foot stomping performance led by japan's best sumo wrestlers has taken place in tokyo this ceremony taking place just around the corner from the country's new national stadium i will host the olympics later this year. and that is all your support for now one day. when we come back later from washington donald trump we understand is being briefed on

the scene reports of attacks on the u.s. base in iraq. taiwan's president seeks a 2nd time facing concrete you who advocates restoring closer ties with china will this election move the island closer to the mainland who continue to resist beijing's push for unification taiwan's 20 trying to presidential elections on al-jazeera. it is murder when you throw a firebomb into someone's home and mishits me off trashing you know. that's not

insignificant in the numbers that insignificant ideologically that insignificant even as a crime gag down very significant by dictating the government and the fucked up policy to douse shalt not kill the radicalized series on al-jazeera more than 7 decades ago a country was split into a bit but did anything and now the time comes to be myopic all it took was a pan a map of the collapsing empire when the british had to draw a line they pulled his servant who had never been to india before al-jazeera examines the violent birth of india and pakistan and asks what the future holds for these nuclear neighbors partition borders of blood.

al-jazeera. with every. iran says as long as dozens of missiles at an iraqi air base which hosts u.s. forces. alone welcome on pizza w watching al-jazeera live from also in this half hour if iran does anything that they shouldn't be doing they're going to be suffering the consequences and very strongly the u.s. president donald trump defends the killing of the iranian military chief and is using new warning over and if possible retaliation. it comes with more than 50

mourners died in a stampede at a funeral for them sort of money in iraq.