during range of stories from across the globe from the perspective of the networks journalists on 0. the. the. iran says it accidentally shot down a ukrainian passenger jet president hassan rouhani describes it as an unforgettable instate. hello again i missed us here today and this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up amman sultan qaboos inside outside dies at the age of 79 without public key naming his successor. the un security council when news the syrian aid operation but scale that to avoid a russian veto. and very thing begins for elections that are expected to keep

taiwan's pro independence leader in power months to the annoyance of china. now iran has admitted its military shot down a ukrainian passenger jet by accident killing all 176 people on board the plane crashed shortly after takeoff from tehran on wednesday after iran fired missiles targeting u.s. forces based in iraq western countries have been piling pressure on iran which it spent days denying that it was responsible for the crash while iran's foreign minister job and zarif tweeted this a sad day preliminary conclusions of internal investigation by armed forces human error at time of crisis caused by u.s. adventurism lead to disaster our profound regrets apologies and condolences to our people to the families of all victims and to other affected nations well we'll go

live to rob reynolds in washington d.c. for us in a moment but let's begin with a sad bag in tehran said that this admission as missing comes off the days of denial so why are we hearing this now. well we've had to know those for days now the iranian government said that it was false false the false they said that of the united states of spreading lies the government spokesman here said that the united states and its friends were rubbing salt in the rooms of families families of the victims but they had been governments around the world to states that said that they had intelligence that the airlines shut down by a missile we also had the new york times release of video that showed a projectile which we now know to be a missile go up into the air and strike the aircraft to craft and port fire crushed

to the ground we have several videos but we had denials appointed now the head of the aviation authority here said that it was scientifically impossible and it is logical that it was shot down by a missile decide everything was folds rumors the foreign ministry spokesperson accused western media of suspicious propaganda now there's going to be many questions that the government has to answer the general stuff of the military has said that the d.c. that's the revolutionary guard would have to go on state t.v. to explain to the iranian people what happened we've had a president of iran and rouhani say that this is unforgivable a mistake and there was continue to investigate so there's a lot of explaining to do by the authorities here but also why did they deny for so long even after the head of the gave ation authority said that there was coordination between the civil and military sectors why did they accuse rest and governments of lying why did they say that the western media was engaging in

propaganda but more importantly why did they not close down the airspace over iran over the heart of why did they not grant flights hours after iran had struck u.s. targets in iraq and they were expecting that the united states may retaliate as sad as they are saying lots of explanations still required but what kind of fallout could we be seeing from this but at home and abroad. well the reigning government has had unprecedented support recently after the assassination of gus and so the money they have seen a surge in support hundreds of thousands of people have been out on the streets for the funeral procession and we've seen the country very much united behind the political establishment and the government but now they will be shock people waking up this morning shocked at this news the government is actually admitting that they

shut down the pain for many iranians over 100 a ring and died in that crash and remember in 1988 you know u.s. navy shut down is really an airliner which is still fresh in the memory of iranians 290 people died president hassan rouhani actually quoted that number in the tweets to done from not long ago so i think the main fallout for iran will be domestically but also internationally it's deeply embarrassing for iran because they spent days did 9 that they had shut down. they had made public statements on all the evils of government the government spokesperson issued a statement the foreign ministry spokesman issued a statement the head of give aviation authority came on t.v. denying that that shut this down shut this down and is deeply embarrassing for the iranian government internationally a setback there for us live from tehran thank you as. well even before that announcement from iran canada's government had been pressing for its crash

investigators to be allowed in. we repeat our call for a full and thorough investigation we have a team of officials from global affairs canada and the transportation safety board in place in ankara in turkey to date the iranians have issued 2 visas and we expect the other visas will be granted soon so we can begin providing consular services help with the advent of fixation of the victims and obviously participate in the investigation let's go to rob reynolds who's in washington d.c. rob as we've just been hearing there the canadians have been very vocal especially given the number of u.s. citizens on board that plane does this admission mean that they're more likely to be given access that they've been pushing for. that's possible that it is of course

up to the authorities in iran and i mean one could imagine that if there are days that iran will be somewhat abashed now by this admission that after days of denials that their forces were responsible so that is certainly something that that may occur another interesting point regarding the u.s. and canada i think is one to watch for of course we just heard as you've just reported the iranian foreign minister zarif. sort of oh bleakly blaming the united states for the shooting down of the ukrainian airliner by by saying it was a result of a crisis set in motion by us adventurism i.e. the assassination of gen customs mani one could certainly argue that the u.s. action was at the root of the whole series of events that the benchley resulted in the downing of the aircraft perhaps an illustration of the law of intent unintended

consequences if you will but i'm sure that the american officials the u.s. . president and his senior officials will push back against any implication that the u.s. was to blame in any way for this but i think it's a subject that has come up in canada in a press conference by prime minister justin trudeau on thursday he was pressed by. canadian journalists about the degree to which the united states and its actions had played a role in this eventual tragedy that claimed the lives of 63 canadian citizens so i think that's something to watch for to see how this affects us canadian relations us a ring iranian relations on the other hand couldn't really be much worse short of all out war which thankfully seems to have been averted but nevertheless the u.s. has piled on. more sanctions today on the iranian government satiating 8 senior

leaders in the government in tehran as well as the iranian metals industry this is just the latest in a series of very heavy sanctions the united states has placed on iran. there for us in washington d.c. thank you rob well iranian president hassan rouhani has just tweeted saying the armed forces internal investigation has concluded that regrettably missiles fired use of human error caused the horrific crash of the ukrainian plane and deaths of 176 innocent people investigations continue to identify and prosecute this great tragedy and unforgivably in the steak well joining us now from albuquerque in the u.s. state of new mexico is alan diehl he's a former national transportation safety board and u.s. air force investigator alan let's start with this whole admission of human error human error bringing down a passenger jet of this size this was a this was

a missile talk us through the technicalities of this well. my specialty is human factors i'm an aviation psychologist and i happen to look that russian equipment at least in one of the racks that i'm of best to get in a fratricide that involves the u.s. air force so we do see human error it's not real common in these fletcher sides but it does and it does occur so what i've read and i don't know that the arabians have identified the type of missile battery but we certainly know that much of the ergonomics human factors of the equipment can be confusing we also don't know about the training of the operator so it may well be this high state of readiness and the fact that everybody is expecting some sort of retaliation from the u.s. that some low level operator sitting in a missile battery or ole miss month saw

a blip and launched a missile at it because they assumed it was some sort of possible vehicle or we know that in some case this equipment as us it's simply a lancia on the tech capability automated what will be so that there's a lot we can oh please the iranians will fill in blanks and i can tell you that in the past i've had to defend u.s. air force personnel who are involved with threats or sides because oftentimes it's a system really wittman or the command and control structure that really is at the root cause of it alan you say that it could have been a mistake potentially by someone for a hostile jet but this was a commercial jet the took off just minutes earlier from an iranian at point and its own as space presumably still on the iranian air traffic control so how does someone make an error like that how does that happen. well you're realizes these

operators these missile battery operators are looking at a radar scope they're probably not out there with binoculars they're probably not talking to the air traffic controllers so all they know is there is a blip that suddenly appears on their radar still and they have to make a decision what to do with that. which you. were the missiles had been launched a few hours earlier i'm sure those operators were expecting retaliation perhaps u.s. reconnaissance or earth craft perhaps a cruise missile but they don't they i'm sure though that this was an airliner we saw in the malaysia 17 shoot down over the replay in 2014 so this this is not uncommon we saw this in the u.s. navy 1988 when we us that we shut down the iranian air bus over the persian gulf so this is not uncommon now a lot of times these operators don't have all the information and they have to make

life or death decisions in what is basically a potentially a warzone so alan let me ask you then because you're saying that this does happen that terror on has spent days denying this are we seeing this admission now because they've been painted into a corner so to speak by the evidence mean we've seen this new york times video of this projectile and they've had to release these black boxes to the ukrainians on the iranians and missing this because they have had no choice. i think so clearly the us military detected the plumes of 2 missiles being fired now that's been and that's they said they saw one explosion we've all seen the picture of what appears to be it into a relatively intact it's a crash missile so maybe that the 2nd missile didn't explode it was supposedly in a garden and you can see the radar antenna and the missile itself largely intact so that that all fits with the evidence i have would have imagined the iranian of my

latest i think we're going to have to give it up they've got pictures of the shrapnel and a trace of metal on the fuselage cetera and so i think you're right you're right on the iranian government must have decided that they're going to have to release everything so we might as we'll best up now and try to blame the united states for causing the situation that led with a unfortunate. tragic though it is they i doubt if they will take full responsibility and they'll probably attempt to shift the blame united states out until that a u.s. air force and that's to thank you for joining us on the. now we have breaking developments on another major story the death of him on cell time cumbrous been side aside now just hours after his passing was announced a successor has been chosen sultan qaboos had no children and never publicly named

a successor the 79 year old was credited with modernizing i'm on and mediating between rivals in a volatile region while with me is my jobs where he is director of the gulf studies center here at cafe university imagine the seems like a very speedy succession process how do how this will play out and what do we know about his successor that's absolutely what was expected the process was a clear the procedure was a clear as we said you know the defense counsel has basically asked the family to meet the family met they've made the decision we mentioned in the previous. interview that there were 3 names now that the name the 3rd and then we mention them have been thought of it who used to be minister of national heritage and culture and he was also secretary general of the ministry of foreign affairs he and he was also he was made the chair of the committee to sponsible for development

or a man 24th that's the last position basically he helped how's he regarded and i'm on his there's a very very big shoes to fill you say he was in involved in a lot of infrastructure development and i mean that's the legacy that you are going to be looking to to avoid. judgments or fast judgment we have to look at you know the position he was holding he was holding a very important position about heritage which has to deal with the identity of a man as a country and maintaining the the unity and in the culture us with the very man i would imagine the context that's very important it's me is he was regarded i'm sure i'm sure this effect also a good network within the country as well. also being the secretary of foreign affairs ministry that's also important because he was the person who knows exactly what the files the country are dealing with so basically he is aware of what work

a man was doing when it comes to different files and also he's engaged internally with the country and that is maybe maybe the leader or man once or the moment because sultan can be as has his 2 big achievements one the development of and yes i recall when when he took over there were only 10 kilometers of paved roads now and on a completely different place and the other part of it was mediating between different palaces so you're saying that that his successor is an illegitimate success and potentially in both those regards yes yes he seems according to the position he will hold he's the person within the institution within the establishment within the government it seems obviously he was a close to the decision making the decision making circle he's a person outside that and that is that's important because i think a man of the time it's someone from within who knows exactly how stiff was function how could his role now going forward given the heightened tensions that we're seeing in the region how crucial is his role in continuing to try to mediate in the

conflict that anonymous trying to help with you know this is a very crucial moment in the region there is a lot on his a plate in the 1st minute he was going to the office but again that is something to build on that is something you know he was inherited from cell phone calls and this situation within a month i think he has a good introduction he has a good you know legacy he can build on and i think that could be helpful. for him to lead and continue. you know the the style of you know leadership of maybe also changing to take into consideration the developments in the region in the world well we were saying earlier that sultan congress is really regarded as the father of the nation and so you see this. he is. a little absolutely and now with someone new taking over and is there a concern that he might not have the legitimacy to hold on to as much power as

self-interest has had and so we might see a bit more of a shift to a constitutional monarchy perhaps you know what's the important of was this election and smoothly this shows the legacy of have succeeded who is the crucial question question was a few minutes ago i was talking with friends in different places that it's about the legacy would be tested today and has been tested approved to be succeeded because all of this 50 years if the if there is if the if something went wrong to do this i'm going to see this something wrong was no approved to be right the procedure was a clear the physician was followed as should be the family made the decision it's been announced things are moving smoothly that is no. up as we see it so that is i think a man succeeded in the 1st exam exam after the test after test after certain clothes and that's a crucial actually as seems to have passed so far thank god and not so much i was

wearing a joining us from castle university so let's go live now to mahmoud outside in sana'a the capital of amman nabi yemen now mohammed sultan qaboos he was very much the quiet diplomats in the mediations in trying to end the war in yemen talk us through how he's being remembered in santa today. yes. messiah has played a major role in bringing to negotiating table the worrying side. namely the whole of these and also the international looking as governments even though that the such talks have interim resulted into any tangible results or kind of selman between warring sides on the ground but he has also played a major role on on opening aerial gate and also ground gates. to allow the diplomatic shuttling for the whole of these between son our man and

also for the medical shuttling for those who are injured or or who are all need urgent treatment outside yemen because of the international airport is closed and also banned by saudi arabia now with the nomination also with the bringing it to revealing to the public that the name of the success of the soul time cobbles and saeed many hope that the he will follow the footsteps of his predecessor and also will will continue the dover's in order to bring peace and settlement to yemen which is important also for our man because it's. bordering the man especially with the with the previous attempts by saudi arabia in order to to back some tribes their. own money border in order to have some kind of domination in the area which has been dominated by our mind for for years long. the latest of the

last. has been foiled by the. so time will come. when the saudi arabia is trying also to pivot its way in to for the oil pipeline to reach the arab sea which is one of the. one of the important goals for saudi arabia . to do it we're likely going to fulfill in the coming years so there are many big files for the for the success of small town clubs and saeed yemenis have always looked up for obama because of it's a cheese motive meant for work with. couples whose policy of a friend to all of me to none that has also helped also enabled. such a successful economy. there for us live in yemen's capital sana'a thank you.

on the other news now and the un security council has voted to renew an operation to deliver aid to syria but the number of border crossings involved and the length of the program have been hard to get or james bay is explains why i'm going to order. the vote came just hours before the security council authorization allowing a to be delivered across the borders into syria was due to expire russia had taken things to the brink and in the end it got its way this vote means the number of crossing points will now be reduced from 4 to 2 angering the u.s. and the u.k. who had no choice but to abstain they could have used their veto but that would have stopped all cross border a deliverers this day is potentially one of the saddest because it is the 1st time that the security council member has chosen to play politics with

humanitarian assistance and also a new play politics with the u.n. and humanitarian assistance but in doing that russia is playing dice with the lives of the syrian people in the northeast negotiations have been underway for weeks and right up until the vote u.s. ambassador kelly craft took personal charge of her country's efforts meeting with every other member of the council in an effort to persuade them it is the russian federation that vetoed a compromised proposal on december 20th and has sensed work tirelessly to divide the council the only reasonable conclusion to draw from these actions is that the russians actively triumphantly support the assad regime's to start its opposition it's estimated that one of the 2 border crossings now are no longer

authorized to operate. in iraq was responsible for bringing in aid for up to 1300000 people some of them will still get aid through other routes according to humanitarian organizations though others will not james pays out as era at the united nations. now people are voting in taiwan's presidential and parliamentary elections it's seen as a choice between moving closer to china or continuing to resist beijing's push for unification opinion polls suggest the current president saying when who is pro independence will win a 2nd term now china has announced the 1st death from an outbreak of pneumonia caused by an unidentified virus 41 people have been diagnosed 7 are critically ill the world health organization says it's a new type of coronavirus it's been linked to the sudden acute respiratory system since syndrome i'm sorry or sars epidemic which killed 775 people in china back in

2003. now protesters in mali have gathered in the capital bamako demanding the withdrawal of foreign troops there they want french military and u.n. forces to leave the country they say they failed to stop violence thousands have died in fighting that has spread to neighboring bikila faso and. now the mediterranean island nation of moulton is about to get a new prime minister joseph muscat announced his resignation last month over his connection to people accused of killing a journalist these barker reports from the capital the latter it is forever somber in malta but a shadow looms over the mediterranean island allegations of crime and corruption in big business and high office and the people want change while journalist and blogger daphne caradoc elisir delved deep and ended up dead killed by a car bomb in 2017 near her home her son matthew heard the blast. my model of the

house and a few minutes ago i heard the last i knew straight away it off the walls are all warm so i ronald of the hall. i saw the fire i saw the smoke. bob there was absolutely nothing else because of his arm this criminal organization has taken control over every single lever of the state and he's using it to fire off my mother as though she were our country's greeter standing me. 3 men arrested in connection with the murder awaiting trial last november 1 of multis richest businessman you can fenech was arrested and charged with being an accomplice to the killing he denies involvement fenech implicated the multis prime minister's chief of staff keith schembri as a coconspirator schembri was interrogated by police and released without charge he later resigned. revelations led to rare protests demanding prime minister joseph muskets immediate resignation many think his office had

a hand in the journalist death. premise which bowed to public pressure and step down kick starting a race to replace him former health minister chris furness the clear favorite for a few expect he'll be able to cure voltar of its political ills i don't think there will be overnight change with regard to stall structural issues i think the new leader which will be eventually been your prime minister of morals are. alone or will not be able and i don't i don't think there is even the will to change all this. in a final address to supporters on friday joseph muscat says he took the decision to resign for unity to win over hate recent scandals have led to a political awakening here and also the my protest against the labor party yes sure it remains really huge and enthusiastic and may suppose there is a myth that most i have something like the image crisis on

a global stage the question is was the change of leader will really make a difference the european union's watching the crisis in its smallest member state closely it's accused baltar of allowing dirty money to flow into europe using the island as a back door multitude lose e.u. voting rights if its next leader doesn't bring crime under control neve parker al-jazeera the letter. northern islands main political parties have agreed to a power sharing deal after 3 years of deadlock the announcement means that northern ireland will once again have a government devolved from the rest of the u.k. under the terms of the peace process the largest unionist and nationalist parties must enter a mandatory coalition the last coalition government collapsed in a disagreement about a green energy scheme that later widened of the longstanding differences now bog areas environment minister has been charged with deliberate mismanagement over the

draining of a reservoir which led to severe water rationing. could face 80 isn't jail for allowing industrial uses to drain the dam which is the only source of drinking water for the city of panic prosecutors say the deal of ignored repeated warnings that the dam was depleted. hello again this is al jazeera and these are the headlines iran has admitted its military shot down a ukrainian passenger jet by accident killing all 176 people on board president hassan rouhani says it's an unfit give a balloon the steak the plane crashed shortly after takeoff from tehran on wednesday after iran fired missiles targeting u.s. forces based in iraq western countries have been piling pressure on iran which it spent days denying that it was responsible for that crash as a bag has moved from tehran. the our forces defense systems shut the thing

down is that it was he said it was a mistake saying it's a mistake and it was the unit mistook the plane it was a sensitive time with the armed forces were heightened it said it was a human error did that happen on purpose they offer their condolences to the families of the victims and has the revolutionary guard to explain what happened to the public on state t.v. and washington has announced a new wave of sanctions on iran in the latest escalation following a u.s. airstrike that killed a top iranian general fail to get the steel and iron industries costing tehran billions of $1.08 senior officials have also been sanctioned just hours after announcing the sultan of a man's death the country's ruling family have named his successor hyphen bin tariq aside the culture minister will replace his cousin come to spin side aside. had

ruled oman since 1970 he died after what's believed to have been a long illness at the age of 79 he's been credited with modernizing oman and mediation between rivals in a volatile region people are voting in taiwan's presidential and parliamentary elections it's seen as a choice between moving closer to china or continuing to resist beijing's push for reunification opinion polls suggest the current president saying when who is pro independence will win a 2nd 10. and china has announced the festa eth from an outbreak of pneumonia caused by an unidentified virus 41 people have been diagnosed 7 others are critically ill the virus has been linked to the sars epidemic which killed 775 people in 2003 well those are the headlines next up its life apps taiwan's president seeks a 2nd time facing concrete you know advocates restoring closer ties with china will

this election movie ireland closer to the mainland who continue to resist beijing's push the unification taiwan's 2020 presidential election on al-jazeera. it's a mobile world. with cold texts. to help make our lives easier. but not everyone's benefit in. china mobile phone apps be designed to help make a better world. this series challenges app developers from around the world to visit communities who are missing out and then come up with an app that could help with being a life.