al jazeera. iran appears to be standing down. tries to dial down tensions with iran and wants europe to take on a bigger role in the middle east. rons president says the real revenge for the assassination of a top general willing to push america out of the region. from doha everyone i'm come on santa maria with the world news from al-jazeera in the headlines questions still over what caused the crash of an airliner in the iran 176

people were killed and straightest bushfire crisis will be live in sydney as firefighters and residents brace themselves for the return of dangerous weather conditions. so u.s. president donald trump says iran appears to be standing down after a series of air strikes on iraqi military bases hosting u.s. troops strikes for of course in retaliation for the assassination of the top iranian come on the cost and so many trump said he will be imposing new sanctions on tehran until it changes its behavior we'll start with this report from our white house correspondent kelly home because. with the u.s. and iran edging dangerously close to war president donald trump proclaimed that tehran appears to be standing down truck gave no indication that the united states intends to strike back hours after riding in missile attacks on 2 bases used by the

u.s. military in iraq. we suffered ok will tease all of our soldiers are safe and orderly minimal damage was sustained at our military bases it was a stark contrast to the president's threats of retaliation without hesitation that have dominated his twitter feed in recent days instead flanked by top advisers and generals trump made a surprising suggestion that members of nato to become much more involved in the middle east process it was an astonishing claim from a president who once called nato obsolete he also encouraged u.s. partners and allies to abandon the j c p a way an agreement put in place in 2050 and by world powers to live it iran's nuclear program we must all work together toward making a deal with the rain that makes the world

a safer and more peaceful place however truck didn't ounce new sanctions would be coming without giving specifics he also left open the possibility of diplomacy speaking directly to iran's leaders he insisted the united states desires for iran a great future one that you deserve one of prosperity at home in harmony with the nations of the world the united states is ready to embrace peace. with all who seek it but missing from the president's speech evidence that the u.s. killing of iranian general qassam solomonic was justified and necessary to prevent an imminent attack on americans it's evidence opposition democrats are demanding from the trumpet ministration also absent a clear strategy something the administration has promised to provide in closed door briefings on wednesday to members of congress including top republicans iran

didn't just taken off ramp it took a u. turn because they know they have no capability to fight against america at least based on the presentation that was made. it does not meet what i consider to be a threat but if president trump chooses to respond by sending even more soldiers to the middle east he breaks a major campaign promise to pull the united states out of what he once called its for ever wars kimberly health at al-jazeera the white house john hendren with us from washington d.c. hi john we saw. in that report from kimberly house republicans and what else is being said by other senior members of the congress. well it was extraordinary that president trump got through that entire speech without talking about retaliation in that cause people here on capitol hill and throughout the u.s. to breathe a sigh of relief after 2 long term wars in the middle east and from 2001 in 2003

the appetite for we're fair here is definitely lower than it was so there was a sense of relief that the president was backing off extraordinary that after the u.s. was struck at 2 bases by a known adversary to iran the president essentially decided he would do nothing whatsoever and on capitol hill the administration went to brief people members of congress to talk to them about why the administration assassinated sula money and by and large republicans were satisfied with that response but democrats by and large said there was no information about any kind of imminent strike and a number of people got particularly upset that the administration's briefers seemed to be arguing that if anyone raised questions about this it would show divisions to iran and that would show weakness and that would harm american interests those kind

of arguments didn't just upset democrats they also upset republicans in the senate just take a listen to how angry senator mike lee was after this briefing. i had hoped and expected to receive more information outlining the legal factual and moral justification for the attack that was left somewhat unsatisfied on that front which i would add was probably the worst briefing i've seen at least on a military issue in the 9 years i've served in the united states senate. what i found so distressing about that briefing was that one of the messages we received from the briefers was do not debate do not discuss the issue of the appropriateness of further miller military intervention against iran and that if you do you will be emboldening iran so what happens next then john as far as capitol hill is concerned of been reading a statement from the house they did not see pelosi about the war powers resolution

that's right nancy pelosi said that briefing was not satisfactory and she said that democrats need to limit the president's military actions regarding iran if she wants to pass a new act that should be introduced on thursday just hours from now that would do exactly that and in the senate there is a parallel measure and among the 2 republicans who say they support that is mike leave gentlemen you just saw talking there so what would happen is there would be a vote on this and if both houses passed that they could limit the president's ability to act however. vijender of this is that the administration has been acting on 2 measures that authorize the use of military force by the united states one was in 20011 was in 2002 and it even rand paul a republican senator said it was bizarre that the u.s. was able to use

a resolution from 2002 that authorized the use of military force in iraq as an excuse to attack an iranian general in iraq this year so that argument will go on and it's not clear at all that this resolution will become law but democrats are upset on capitol hill and they have recruited some republicans thanks john hendren in washington d.c. earlier on wednesday iran's president hassan rouhani said the quote real revenge for the assassination of concepts of the money would be kicking u.s. forces completely out of the region. yes says soleimani as. they cast off the hand of our dia soleimani and you saw his revered hand in his body in videos and pictures the revenge for this is to force america out of this region the real revenge in the ultimate response by regional nations as we america is expelled from this region and its head of aggression is cast off for reeva more reaction now from teheran with us i beg. president rouhani has had some strong

words for the united states he said the united states should know if they commit another crime even if it is a threat that they would receive a decisive action from the armed forces also we've had. enough for many speaking in the rare live broadcast usually they're recorded and then put out on state t.v. but had a live broadcast are you speaking to followers he said that yesterday's missile attack was a slap in the face for the united states but military action alone wasn't enough and that the u.s. presence in the region needed to end but we've also had a response to what the nato secretary general secretary general who condemned iran's missile strikes against u.s. forces devolves raef the foreign minister said that those those attacks were an eagle and he said that nato had done nothing in the region except for destruction

and instability but also the foreign office spokesman has said that the nato had become a tool to justify u.s. u.s. crimes and terrorism so we're still having some very strong language come out from iran despite donald trump saying. that iran is standing down iran also released video footage showing them assembling the missiles and those missile strikes and again trying to appease public opinion here people have been out in the streets over the last few days asking for revenge over the assassination of qassam so the money and the reaction goes further afield as well john holl is in london for us and says don't actually used his speech to give nato powers a dressing down for what he considers their response to the killing of so their money. remember donald trump has a fairly checkered history with nato ones calling it obsolete now apparently supporting it but frequently railing against its members calling them to take on

a greater share of the burden a greater share of the cost for their own defense and the collective coffers of nato now i think he will see nato alongside european powers as having disappointed the administration my compo the secretary of state said as much in failing to full throated lee support the actions last week against person solomonic. an opportunity i think in this address to give everyone a sort of dressing down here a bit of naming and shaming and in nato as case presumably as i said to take up some of the burden in iraq opening the door for the u.s. possibly to draw down its forces there something we know donald trump is keen to do and something of course that we also know that the iraqi parliament at least is keen for him to do some analysis now from max blumenthal who's the author and editor of the gray zone dot com news web site and says it appears donald trump strategy on iran is to stick with the status quo. donald trump speech sounded to me

like an impersonation a very slurred in person asian of benjamin netanyahu it was rife with the kind of dissent from ation he's used to justify his maximum pressure policy and it was bookended with a promise to sort of deescalate this latest round because even elements in donald trump's domestic base are in open revolt against escalation towards actual conventional war with iran donald trump couldn't even pronounce the name of the man that he called the worst terrorist in the world but the most significant aspect of his speech today is a restatement of the maximum pressure policy of sanctions and even hardliners in washington agree that sanctions that were split in place in 2017 which almost every democrat in the senate voted for are responsible for this escalation with iran it's left iran with no choice but to begin to retaliate because the

demands that the u.s. has imposed on iran for lifting the sanctions would mean a complete dissolution and suicide of its revolutionary government so it's unclear when trump or any of his allies talk about a deal what they mean and it seems that they've completely shredded the j.c. a p.o. an alienated all of europe j.c. pos just now this hollow hawk of a dead mess that probably will never be revived now in addition to all of the slump lost have been heard in the iraqi capital baghdad through weapons day 93 rockets falling inside the heavily fortified green zone which houses government buildings and foreign missions causing a fire there no casualties were report it's. the other major story out of iran of course is the crash of a ukrainian passenger plane a boeing 737 went down shortly after takeoff from teheran killing all 176 passengers and crew among them $63.00 canadians the airline says the plane was service just 2 days ago the support from. the passengers and crew of

flight p s 752 didn't stand a chance. minutes after takeoff the ukrainian international airlines flight from tehran to kiev went down in a city suburb recovery teams pick through what's left of the plane from people's lives. most of the dead are rainy and more than 60 canadians were also killed many reportedly students returning from vacation. the boeing 737800 was less than 4 years old and had been recently serviced. video and social media shows a light hurtling to the ground and then a fireball. iranian officials say there was no distress call the news you can see muslims fortunately it didn't question the reason into area but the wreckage has scarce it around the gardens of villas within a large radius nobody has survived. the

arrivals board bears the grim news. this mother and father had been waiting for their son to arrive we seem to have some more for you my son is a senior flight attendant my daughter called at 615 this morning to say that in the u.s. they were reporting that a plane had crashed a ukrainian international airlines plane. ukraine's now canceled all flights over iran the country's embassy in tehran initially blamed engine failure for the crash to remove the statement doors useful widely approaching we made our decision to suspend all the activities of all ukrainian of the asian companies in iranian airspace until the causes of this tragedy become clear. the crash comes amid heightened tensions across the region following a u.s. drone strike that killed top iranian general has a money in a sign of worsening ties iran's civil aviation authority says it will not give the black box flight recorder to u.s.

plane make a boeing for analysis it's not clear which country iran will send the box to. the safety audit and it had no accidents whatsoever so there they really do there's a very very good airlines but i do believe it will be mechanical or possibly it might possibly be a terrorist act it's too hard to tell at this stage the crash is a major setback for boeing would struggle to regain trust after the grounding of its 737 max and craft following 2 fatal accuracies within 5 months. the boeing 737 is one of the most popular aircraft in the sky with a good safety record investigators must now to turn in how and why so many lives ended here. al-jazeera and a fiance got the canadian prime minister just in today gave a news conference about the crash and said canada expects to have a role in the investigation ukrainian airlines plane just landed in toronto from

kiev according to the airline there are $138.00 passengers who weren't on that flight because they died in the crash this song or day comes in the wake of deeply concerning events in iraq canada condemns the missile attacks launched by iran last night. i am relieved as are all canadians that all personnel deployed in iraq are safe well i bet the headlines in just a moment and then the desperate search for the disappeared mexico's missing people now numbering more than 60000. hello again welcome back to in a national weather forecast in the coming days here across the southern part of the united states we're going to be seeing some more rain that are going to turn to

thunderstorms across the southern areas bring some very heavy rain as well as some winds thursday not looking too bad but we see it started developing right here notice the clouds notice the rain from dallas up here towards chicago it's when we get towards friday we don't see a little bit more in terms of development across much of this area those darker blues indicating the heavier rain across much of that region here towards the west though we are watching a system just off the coast of canada as well as united states we're going to be seeing some very gusty winds for parts of washington state british columbia that means vancouver seattle heavy snow in the higher elevations as well but for northern canada it is going to be that very cold air it's extending all the way down to southern canada as well we're going to be seeing temperatures well below average for this time of year and for when a pig that means you as well we're recent temperatures diving as we go towards friday only getting to a high of minus 19 but overnight lows are going to be down into the minus twenty's minus 27 is expected here as we go into saturday morning and into sunday morning as well here across the caribbean though it is going to find

a dry across much of the area and for jamaica we do expect to see attempt a few of $31.00 and for nasa about $24.00 degrees for you. violence is. this is the political one. the count symmetry shapes world order the structure that is defended total cost. each with the support of the people fall through the crushing of their will. people in power exposes the use and abuse of power around the world. on i'll just see.

the top stories this hour on al-jazeera u.s. president donald trump says iran appears to be standing down but still promised to impose further economic sanctions on tehran he was speaking after iran launched more than a dozen missiles at their bases in iraq which host u.s. forces there have been more loud blasts heard in baghdad on wednesday night 3 rockets reportedly fell inside the heavily fortified green zone and started a fire there are no reports of casualties and ukrainian passenger plane has crashed moments after takeoff all 176 people on board were killed in that crash in iran are the cause now being investigated. while the targeted killing of iranian general qassam soloman a by u.s. forces will be debated for thursday's u.n. security council session iran's foreign minister has called the attack illegal was

not granted a visa though by the u.s. and so i won't be allowed to attend christian salumi spoke to legal scholars ahead of the break. the united nations came to existence after world war 2 with the stated goal of eliminating armed conflict and the suffering it brings under its charter assassinations on foreign soil are prohibited with narrow exceptions for self-defense when it comes to the killing of iranian general. international law experts say the argument that he was planning an imminent attack put forth by the united states falls short that self-defense exception is very narrow it's really aimed for emergency situations not situations where other kinds of steps could be taken to prevent a conflict from escalating but this isn't the 1st u.s. administration to use such logic. a lock is a major blow to al qaeda is most active operational affiliate president obama in

particular use the so-called war on terror to justify hundreds of drone strikes against individual suspected of association with al qaeda including an american born citizen anwar walkie the us circumvented its own prohibitions on assassinations by calling the attacks targeted killings aimed at non-state actors with few politicians willing to tie the president's hands on national security we suffered ok shelties some say tromp has now used the same vague legal justification on a government representative because the authorization for the use of military force provided no geographical or time limits on what could be done in the name of retaliation for the war on terror and we still live with it today here at the united nations member states will have the opportunity to debate the killing of general samani on thursday at a security council meeting which aims at upholding the u.n.

charter but iran's foreign minister won't be allowed to take part as the united states has yet to issue him. legal experts say that too is a violation of a longstanding u.n. agreement and the spirit of international cooperation the charter was meant to promote christian salumi al-jazeera the united nations $55.00 his own residence in southeast australia bracing for the return of dangerous weather conditions in both victoria and new south wales authorities have issued new warnings and evacuation notices urging people living in high risk areas to flee 27 people have been killed thousands left homeless by the bushfires which have been through an area the size of south korea now has jessica washington and sydney to take us through the latest it looks jessica uncharacteristically clear behind you but i wonder if that's a little bit deceptive about what's to come.

jessica interrupts you i think you can hear me but we can't hear you for some reason so we'll try to fix that in the meantime we'll actually have a little listen to the a strain in prime minister scott morrison who was speaking in a news conference about half an hour ago. with is being creasing in the south and east today and it will spike along the east coast tomorrow $1600.00 defense reservists are currently assigned to bush for operations around the country in the new south wales in i.t. the focus is on reestablishing power to blacked out communities and there have been literally thousands of homes and customers have been reconnected just in recent days but there are still many without power an apology we've not been able to reestablish with jessica in sydney so we try to come back to her in future bulletins now talking a prosecutor has have denied accusations by nissan's former chief of conspiring

with the khan company to oust him as leader this is carlos going of course he made the claims during a news conference in lebanon where he maintained his innocence on the charges of financial misconduct against him and a father about a report from beirut. it's his 1st public appearance since he jumped bail and escaped from japan the former nissan and renault chief carlos gone arrived in the lebanese capital beirut over a week ago his case has brought international attention many were waiting for the businessman to disclose details of how he reached his country of origin but gone who is facing trial in japan on financial misconduct charges used a news conference to reiterate his innocence it is important for me to emphasize that i'm not the above the law and i welcome the opportunity for the truth to come out and to have my name. and my reputation restored. not escape justice. justice. political

persecution gone who was detained a number of times in japan was under strict house arrest when he fled he says he did so because he didn't believe he would get a fair trial japan's judicial system has been criticized by human rights groups gone who holds lebanese brazilian and french passports says conditions during his detention were harsh and he was banned access to lawyers and his family he's believed to have arrived in beirut via istanbul on a private jet turkish media released video they say show him being transferred by vehicle to a 2nd jet turkish authorities have made arrests and international fugitive but carlos vaughn is not being treated as a criminal by lebanon's or sorties they say he entered the country illegally the caretaker justice minister albury sarhan for lebanon received the interpol red notice and would take the necessary steps but at the same time he stressed lebanon and japan don't have an extradition treaty gone has been summoned for questioning

by lebanon state prosecutor and japan's ambassador to lebanon asked for more cooperation but it seems tokyo officials have few options even if the extradition treaty exists the decision to hand over someone is in the hands of the lebanese authorities and they still need to question japan has also issued an arrest warrant for glistens lebanese wife for giving false testimony but gone is a man who has friends in high places and believed to enjoy political cover and. i am proud to be the bunnies. and lebanon is the only country in the world that stood by my side the businessman turned fugitive doesn't hide his confidence in his words he's ready to stay a long time in lebanon. paid a lot. mexico now says more than 61000 people have gone missing since the start of the country's extreme violence involving powerful drug cartels back in 2006 that is

50 percent more and the government had previously estimated on home and spend a day with families searching for their missing relatives and a lot more than mexico is the lump us the beginning of another day for isabel looking for her son you'll see mark garcia she's turned a home into the headquarters of the search for him and others in similar lower mexico this is all part of a. this is a father and son these ones are brothers that have disappeared this one is my song across the country there are many more disappeared 61000 by the government's new estimate victims of rival criminal groups and even authorities every weekend isabel and other women who have joined together and called themselves sub wessels get out as warriors sniffer dogs go out to look for them they have rudimentary tools to check for bodies under the soil now live mostly made up out there we sniff to see

if it's got any strange smell when you find a body and you smell it it burns itself into your mind you'll never confuse that smell with any other they say they've had to carry out the search by themselves let the mother say the last 2 years of my life have been passed stuff it for me my life just flipped 360 degrees since they took my son and it turned me into a search and human rights defender i've become a place woman lawyer friends of course others in different parts of the country have told us the same they've had to do it all alone. groups of volunteers like this one have sprung up all across mexico over the last decade and they exist they say not because they want to but because authorities themselves are interested in looking for their lost loved ones. the administration of president lopez obrador has changed the tone admitting mexico has got a huge problem and setting up a commission to help find the disappeared that many say on the ground little

changed meanwhile as the country suffers record levels of violence it's a sure bet that more are going missing and so the warrior sniffer dogs continue searching even as they break for lunch another terrible story emerges in the middle here they had him for 3 days tied up and tortured and they left him to die alone it's almost too much to say this is a little bit of much i can't go on but they do go on as anyone would if their son or daughter had vanished and they were the only hope of finding them john home and how does it or seen a lower. half past the hour on al-jazeera and these are the headlines u.s. president donald trump says iran appears to be standing down but he still promised to impose further punitive economic sanctions on tehran he was speaking several

hours after iran had launched more than a dozen missiles and air bases in iraq which host u.s. forces john hendren is in washington for us and says the trumpet ministration is relieved the situation is not escalated further. the president said that iran was standing down from this conflict but it also seems that the president and his administration were also gratefully stepping back from the brink of a confrontation that could have been very costly both sides in this confrontation said they did not want a war and it seems that after this attack by the iranians would you did not result in any casualties and there are reports that that deliberate that they deliberately did not target where individuals were after that this seems to have subsided for now but this conflict keeps re erupting loud blasts of also been heard in baghdad weapons the night 3 rockets are reported to a full on inside baghdad's heavily fortified green zone which houses government

buildings and foreign missions it caused a fire but there are no reports of casualties. investigators are looking into the cause of the crash of a ukrainian passenger plane in iran happened moments after takeoff and $176.00 people on board were killed. firefighters and residents in southeast australia bracing for the return of dangerous weather conditions well for his issued new warnings and evacuation notices already 27 people have died in the funds and former french president nicolas sarkozy will stand trial on corruption and abuse of power charges in october is accused of trying to bribe a magistrate in return for information on a criminal inquiry into his political policy he denies any wrongdoing got to do with the headlines and al-jazeera the bottom line starts now. tool to use their own we were told to get to the ministry of ration has this been addressed play to ok we

listen what is the proposal. for a couple on you we meet with glued to newsmakers and talk about the stories that matter to 0. hi i'm steve clemons and i have tons of questions that day how dangerous is the situation between the united states and iran and how did we get here let's get to the bottom line. it's hard to believe today but less than 4 years ago there was hope that major conflict with iran was off the table the major world powers had signed a deal constraining iran's nuclear program and a new chapter in u.s. iranian relations was being written or so that was the thinking well think again after a radical change of administrations in the united states the tearing up of the nuclear deal with iran and the assassination of one of iran's top generals are all bets off and does anyone know where we're heading fortunately we have 3 people in the room who have all the answers to these questions valli nasser is professor of middle

east studies at johns hopkins university and author of the shia revival which foresaw much of the tension in iraq that we're witnessing today michele dunne is the.