president trump appears to back away from further military confrontation with iraq . probably the worst briefing i've seen at least on the military issue and members of congress criticize the trumpet ministration for carrying out the attack that killed iranian come on mani. wrote about this and this is all just here on live from doha also coming up turkey and russia pushing for a cease fire in libya as the e.u. warns of a 2nd syria if the conflict is not resolved. evacuation notices in parts of a strain more hot and windy weather is forecast threatening to found bushfires burning

out of control. and we sit down with venezuela's opposition leader aung quite oh he's determined to keep up the fight against a president he accuses of clinging to life force. the us president donald trump appears to be backing away from further military confrontation with iran washington has written to the un stating it will act against iran again if necessary but it's also said it's ready for serious negotiations without preconditions iran carried out air strikes on iraqi military bases hosting u.s. troops on the web and stay in the tally ation for the assassination of military come on the haass and so the money we have correspondents live from both washington d.c. and 1st white house correspondent kimberly hauck it has a report. 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 running 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 take an 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 can really help at al-jazeera the white house. his own those joining us live from washington d.c. it seems as though gabriel the focus now seems to be shifting towards the evidence to support the killing of many what's been happening there.

yes house speaker nancy pelosi was furious that president trump launched this strike against solo money killing him without informing congress in advance and she and many democrats said that that fell outside of the normal protocols of washington how it should work here and how it normally has worked when informing congress of such an act like this now she is going to do something about it on thursday palosi said that she's going to be calling to the floor of the house of representatives a war powers resolution and she said they were will actually call a vote on it as well that would limit trump on what he can do militarily against iran in the future it would essentially say that if trump wanted to do any other military action against iran he would 1st need to consult. the house of representatives and congress now it is important to point out that this is a little bit symbolic because this assuming it will pass then would have to go to

the senate for ratification and given that the senate is dominated by the republican party most of whom if not all have rallied behind president trump it's unlikely that this would be signed in any any sort of formal law but this is really polo sees way of registering her dissatisfaction with the fact trump did not inform her and her colleagues before this happened trying to limit what he can do in the future now clearly. trump administration officials briefed both chambers of congress on wednesday on this so-called evidence that they had that so the money was planning an imminent attack on u.s. interests and that's why it was so important to assassinate him according to trump and officials around him after giving this closed door briefing to lawmakers many of them including some republicans came out and said they were dissatisfied with what they were hearing from trump aides about this listen to what this republican

lawmaker mike lee had to say. 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 it 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. when 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'll be emboldening iran. and i understand that the us ambassador to the united nations kelly kroft has sent a letter to the security council giving at least some odd line of the background to the killing of the money what's in that letter. well it's

quite a long letter more than a page and a half long and we got it late this evening local time here and it's basically a formal notification to the security council on a why the united states took this action now they have to do it in accordance to article $51.00 of the u.n. security council the u.n. united nations charter any country that acts militarily in quote unquote self-defense has to inform the security council on justification why they did it immediately so that's what this letter essentially is doing in the letter it says that they are the u.s. reserves that right it's right to take further action should it be necessary in the region but then there are 2 other lines that were very interesting one was it says over the past several months the united states has been the target of a series of escalating threats and armed attacks by the islamic republic of iran that's one sentence that's interesting because nowhere in the letter is there any

mention of any imminent threat that soleimani posed to the united states there's also another line in here at the very end saying the united states wishes to note as it has done repeatedly over the past years that we remain committed to a diplomatic resolution that also is interesting coming from the top american diplomat to the united nations because well and one side they're saying we want to pursue a diplomatic avenue with iran on the other side they the u.s. just a blocked the visa for the rains or iran's foreign minister mohammad javad zarif who applied for a visa to come to new york to attend a u.n. meeting on thursday the united nations the u.s. said no now is not the time for him to come to the u.s. and block his be separate banning him from attending that meeting carol thanks very much indeed ok let's go live to us a very who's joining us now from iran that's where the ceremony to celebrate the

life of general salim ahmed has just begun give us an indication outside of what's going to be happening today. well iran is still in a period of religious mourning and these ceremonies take case usually 3 days after somebody dies another one after 7 days another one after 40 days that currently the ceremony is in the run not far from the affairs of the supreme leader many where hearing you the g.'s of the money where hearing poetry being sung and just remembering his life but it's important to note who's in attendance so we have the president rouhani we've had the foreign minister divides raef we have the heads of the revolutionary guard we have representatives from lebanon's hizbullah and also representatives from iraq's political factions now this goes to show the individual general carson for the money and he's influenced and where he operated

remember he was a general of the of goods force which is an arm of the revolutionary guard the other could force deals with operations outside of the country and he was credited with uniting different factions in the region he operated in iraq in lebanon and yemen and syria also but also he was credited with fighting off isis and essentially preventing them from reaching the borders of iran he was the 2nd most popular figurehead and 2nd most influential figure here many spoke yesterday and praised him as a brave and wise man and said that he was also. influential in politics because he was none part and we can see that in terms of the number of people that came back onto the streets to join his funeral procession but also have the different political factions here in iran from the conservatives the reformists and the hardliners have been united in condemnation of his assassination and calling for

revenge but what's also interesting is we haven't really had a reaction force of donald trump speech that took place last night we've had strong words come out of the us iran is concerned they have responded with those missile strikes and that's the end of the matter as long as the united states doesn't respond thanks very much in the. the leaders of turkey and russia have called for a cease fire in libya to start on sunday the 2 support opposing sides in the country's conflict moscow bags libyan war locally for huffed up its forces have been trying to seize tripoli since april turkey has begun deploying troops to support the u.n. recognize government based in the capital the event has warned libya faces becoming a 2nd syria if a cease fire is not reach soon and a joint statement the 2 leaders called on libyans to immediately come together around a negotiating table with a view to putting an end to the sufferings of the libyan people and bring back

peace and prosperity to the country and went on to say they were confident that the libyans can independently decide on the future of their homeland in the framework of a nationwide dialogue the u.n. envoy to libya has welcomed the statement. well that's what came shortly after president vladimir putin. the one you know rated a pipeline in istanbul step towards. the leaders of turkey and russia use the opening of a major gas pipeline to highlight improve through elations between the 2 countries but destroyed turks stream project that offers an alternative route for russian gas to be delivered to europe via turkey was overshadowed by events elsewhere the s.s. a nation of an iranian military commander by the u.s. and a missile attack on u.s. bases by iran both strikes taking place in iraq have raised tensions in the region . no one is the strength to pay the further price is the right to

put the whole region especially iraq into a new circle of fire for the sake of their own interests turkey will do all possible not to load the region to redraw in blood and tears flooding may put and sat by overcoming their differences turkey and russia are given a good example. solution we are living in a very difficult time in our region we are facing it it's a situation that can fuel tensions but russia and turkey are showing a very different example. but their body language at a meeting earlier in the day made it clear not all is good between the 2 leaders. behind the smiles and handshakes they are saying differences between the 2 nations young russia on opposing sides of the war in syria and now turkey has had insisted francis is a reasonable and those nations confronting face to face of. turkey has

accused russian mercenaries of fighting alongside khalifa haftar who has launched an offensive on the libyan capital tripoli after a meeting in istanbul put an end to one urged all parties involved in the war in libya to commit to a cease fire starting on january the 12th so a peace process can take place but for the syrian city of it lip there was no such call hundreds of thousands of syrians have been displaced in the past 2 weeks alone after russian and syrian troops increase their operations in the last rebel held province while the turkish president has raised concerns about the influx of refugees he did not get a commitment from put in to stop the fighting there step fasten al-jazeera istanbul . still ahead on al-jazeera a look at what's made 2019 the worst year on record for retailers in the u.k. .

hello again welcome back to international weather forecast for for the next few days as can be quite messy here for northwestern parts of europe as you can see on the satellite image a lot of clouds are coming through the region not only clouds we're seeing some rain and some snow in some higher elevations we're talking about northern in england parts of southern scotland as well now the rain will continue we're going to break across england by the time we get towards thursday night and we're going to be seeing some better weather here in london maybe some clouds in the forecast with the temperature there of about 8 but notice the system that is coming in from the atlantic 1st will be seeing some rain through parts of ireland as well as northern ireland by the time we get towards friday well down here across much of athens it is going to be much better we do expect to see attempts are there of about 13 degrees well for the northern coast of africa over the next few days we are expecting to see a mixed bag of weather a lot of rain a lot of clouds across much of the area now we're still watching the system in the

eastern part of the mediterranean that is still bring some winds and some clouds for parts of egypt over the next few days but over here towards tunis we are going to be seeing increase of rain for you that will also extend over here towards the west for algiers it is going to be a rainy day where the temperature there of about 12 degrees and then very quickly down here across parts of southern africa notice the very heavy rain that's pushing across south africa right now for johannesburg it is going to be some rain in the forecast with a temperature of about 26 degrees. frank assessments the one good thing about these bushfires is it's really what's going on the. climate change informed opinion economy i think is actually what's keeping donald trump afloat right now. critical debate sequel on those 2 schools even know what the law is all 'd about this argument is astonishingly patronize a in-depth analysis of the day's headlines this is the beginning of the new iraq of the new conscious and aware of the use of that struggle against an ethnic sectarian

kota inside story on al-jazeera. they want to know it is here a reminder of our top stories this u.s. president donald trump says iran appears to be standing down after airstrikes on iraqi military bases hosting u.s. troops washington has now written to the u.n. saying it's ready for serious negotiations without preconditions. for those strikes by iran but in response to the killing of a rainy and general hossam son in money in a u.s. drone strike a settlement and to celebrate his life is underway into iran it was a close confidant of the supreme leader ayatollah ali al from and. turkey and

russia have called for an urgent ceasefire in libya to be implemented by sunday each supports why of all sides in the country's conflict the e.u. is warning libya could become a 2nd syria if there is no truce. firefighters and residents in southeast astray are preparing for the return of dangerous weather conditions new warnings and evacuation notices have been issued urging people living in high risk areas to leave 27 people have been killed since the fires started in september more than 2000 homes have been lost the fires have burned through an area the size of south korea jessica washington's insignia and says the fire season is far from over. conditions are expected to worsen tomorrow which we friday here in australia already had some evacuations in the state of south australia we know that it's likely to heat up along the east coast region. the states of victoria and new south

wales we've heard from the prime minister just a short while ago warning that even though it seems that things have been so terrible in these affected areas particularly in new south wales and victoria that things are likely to be worse in the days to come and the crisis is far from over. with using creasing in the south and east and it will spark along the east coast more of the $1600.00 defense reservists are currently assigned to operations around the country in the new south wales and. the focus is on restore power to black communities although this bushfire crisis has really gripped the nation and terrified many of the country it is unlikely that this season will be a turning point we have heard from the prime minister recently saying that his government has always made the connection between this bushfire season and the climate change but of course that hasn't always been the case early on in this in

this crisis the government was quick to distance this season from climate change we haven't heard from the government any change in policy any indication that it will move back from its dependence on fossil fuels. ukraine has declared a national day of mourning after a ukraine airlines plane crashed in iran killing all $176.00 on board. after takeoff. reports. 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 princess fortunately it didn't question the reason area but the wreckage has scattered around the gardens of villas within a large radius nobody has survived. across bill airport in kiev the arrivals board bears the grim news. this mother and father had been waiting for their son to arrive may seem to someone throwing 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 overran the country's embassy in tehran initially blamed engine failure for the crash later removed the statement doors useful while the approaching we made our

decision to suspend all the activities of all ukrainian of the asian companies in iranian airspace until the course 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. 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 aircraft following 2 fatal and crashes within 5 months. the boeing

737 is one of the most popular aircraft in the sky with a good safety record investigators are us now to turn in how and why so many lives ended here. al-jazeera. venezuela's main opposition leader says the country is not ready for quantum entry elections. accuses president nicolas maduro of using force. to stay in spoke to a latin america editor this year newman in the capital caracas. first there's a dictatorship in venezuela and yes i underestimated the malice the ability to inflict damage of maintaining power through force control assassinations co-option blackmail all at the expense of peace in venezuela. the government has a very obvious strategy it's recognising a former opposition deputy as. speaker of the house and they will very soon

recognise that assembly and. appoint we are. electoral council and then call for parliamentary elections what is going to be your strategy. i want to clarify that in venezuela there are no 2 parliaments there is one parliament one that confronting a dictatorship that uses the military to take control of the legislature on tuesday we were able to overcome the obstacles and the dictatorship will do what it always does whether you like it or not they will say there will be parliamentary elections this year it's in the constitution so what would you do but. you know this pressure demand take to the streets because the solution is not to hand over the parliament to them elections have to be a real solution not a placebo a small selection as a placebo not a realistic approximation to a solution or an alternative but rather we could validate a dictatorship that would be very grave for venezuelans an election requires

conditions minimum conditions like in chile in the referendum against pinochet there were minimum conditions today we have not a single condition in fact it's worse than may have 2018 years talk about a group of deputies that have been paid off bought off by the government what evidence do you have that that's happened. in the next few days we will present some of the evidence that evidence includes testimony of some deputies that were approached with bribes like jose hernandez who was offered $700000.00 to vote against me many others it testified for example yesterday julio cesar rares a deputy from brewarrina state was threatened that if he voted for me they would invade his family's land in that agricultural region and that's exactly what happened yesterday. and you have said that the most that the key element here is that the support of the venezuelan people you've asked again for them to come out on to the streets to fight to struggle but how are you going to convince them to do

that. to believe that this time it will be any different than it was a year ago because there is clearly. disappointment in your leadership in the us. i don't have to convince them all venezuelans want change i didn't convince them in 2007 in 281417 or 19 it is venezuelans who are fighting for their freedom and yes i will lead this process responsibly to find a solution over and again we have shown firmness on the streets strength and determination to change and confront to dictatorship. and he's 29 gerri and soldiers have been killed in an attack in the north east of the country military sources say members of an armed group stormed the time of mungo room on tuesday evening some residents fled into the bush for safety that are fears of more casualties. $2900.00 was the worst year on record for the u.k.'s retail industry

according to new figures from the british retail consortium uncertainty over brags that online shopping and high street closures all had an impact johnny reports. the post christmas sales a time when shops slashed their prices and consumers traditionally give the sector a boost. but spirits are the usually resilient retail sector has suffered its worst year since records began with total sales for $29000.00 down by point one percent compared with 1.2 percent growth in 2018 the reason a perfect storm of factors. political turmoil brics it uncertainty and a winter election which always brings about a dip in spending add to that the number of people choosing to shop online over the high street and the birth of more conscientious shopping with ethics sustainability and cautious consumption coming into play together they have squeezed the retail

sector in the last 12 months tino and big retailers are beating the law still going into the ministry $1663.00 high street shops and 85000 people work in retail jobs while the number of people out shopping it here dropped by one percent. shifting consumer habits are inevitable but what is manageable within this decline is brics it analysts say that boosting confidence in britain's future trade negotiations will have a big impact on spending in 2020 the new government the treaty to maintain the current trade agreements a lot of our retail partners do trade internationally i want to make sure that's maintained i think the british public they're expecting more hoping that the brics it will be there won't be in every new cycle hopefully they'll have a positive impact. on their purchasing decisions however that still remains to be seen. but with prime minister boris johnson insisting on

a hard deadline for concluding talks with the. dark shadow of brics it will continue to overhang economic performance and prospects for at least another 12 months charlie and to al-jazeera. matheson and with the headlines on al-jazeera u.s. president donald trump appears to be backing away from further military confrontation with iran but washington has written to the u.n. stating it will act against iran again if necessary all this comes a day after iran launched airstrikes on an iraqi military base hosting u.s. troops those strikes were in response to the killing of a rainy and general hossam so the money you know the u.s. drone strike a ceremony to celebrate his life is under way in tehran it was a close confidant of the supreme leader ayatollah khamenei tromp out

a classified briefing for senators on weapons to about the assassination of sony money but some of those in his own party have criticized the meeting when 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'll be emboldening iran the implication being that we would somehow be making america less safe by having a debate or a discussion of turkey and russia have called for an urgent cease fire in libya to be implemented by sunday each supports rival sides in the country's conflict the e.u. is warning libya could become a 2nd syria if there's no truce. firefighters and residents in southeast astronomy are preparing for the return of dangerous weather conditions new warnings and evacuation notices have been issued urging people living in high risk areas to

leave the ukrainian president has declared a national day of mourning after ukraine airlines plane crash in iran killed all 176 passengers on board the boeing 737 went down after takeoff from attack iran on wednesday and as prime ministers vowed to get answers into the incident that claimed the lives of 63 canadian citizens. at least 20 nigerian soldiers have been killed in an attack in the north east of the country military sources say members of an armed group strong the town of longo know and borno state on tuesday evening some residents fled into the bush for safety and those are the headlines coming next it's inside story life not. taiwan's president seeks a 2nd time facing. advocates restoring noosa ties with china will the selection of the island closer to the mainland will continue to resist beijing's push the unification taiwan's trying to trying to get in. on al-jazeera.

u.s. targets in iran's side of the russian missile. iraq image of bases hosting u.s. troops it's to iran's retaliation against the assassination of us insulin money but will this revenge operation stop that and might washington strike that this is inside story. hello welcome to the program. there's been much speculation about the scale and target of iran's retaliation to the assassination of its top minister command custom so the.