the last time the caucasus was mapped was in the 1970s by the soviets. completely alone. the last time the caucasus was mapped was in the 1970s by the soviets. and so i had a chance to really contribute to the design of the trail by finding different potential routes to connect the known sections of trail with the unknown sections of trail. i was hiking by myself for eight weeks and there are no hostels along the way, there are no places you meet other travellers. so that sometimes makes it really difficult to just carry on. and at that point, when i was struggling the most, shepherds would be living up in the mountains, they don't have very much but they would see me walking in the mountains by myself and, you know, from a distance, a kilometre or two kilometres away, they would scream at me and encourage me to come in. they would offer me food and a bed to sleep in for the night. what i would leave, they would give me a care package of food and one of the most common things in it was jars ofjam, believe it or not. amazing fuel for the mountains. one of

is a young project, to build 3000 kilometres of network of new purpose—built hiking trail in the caucasusls, you have to be local armenians —— half would be local armenians —— half would be local armenians and georgians. it will go into the future, the next ten years, to finish. in the caucasus, there is a massive range of ecosystems, up north you have these massive alpine mountains, 5000 metres, but down to the middle and the south, is that he much everything else you can imagine. you can walk for days and not see people, not see buildings, be completely alone. the last time the caucus was mapped was in the 19705 by the soviet union. and so i had a chance to really contribute to the design of the trail by finding different potential routes to connect the known sections of trail with the unknown sections of trail. i was hiking by myself for eight weeks and there are no hostile5 along the way, there are no places you meet other travellers. —— hostels. so that sometimes makes it really difficult to just carry on. and at that point, when i was struggling the most, shepherds would be living u

the former soviet republic which is in the caucasus region was plunged into political crisis many of armenia's three million citizens are also struggling with economic turmoil. and there's been disquiet about zante and close ties to russian president vladimir putin. back on the streets of yera van and it's the main opposition leader nicole passion ian who's received a hero's welcome armenians are hoping it's the start of a new era. for independent research. s.f. area welcome to how are people reacting to this news. well you see even as we speak there is a massive rally going on in the public square. following the announcement there was an outburst of jubilation people down thing on the street are stopping their horns music playing loudly i heard fireworks even though with broad daylight this is a historic day and i mean you know. who will replace him who will replace the prime minister. well it's not clear at the moment what exactly will happen next but there need to be both a legal and a political process so with the new constitution there has the prime minister has resigned but the

the former soviet republic which is in the caucasus region was plunged into political crisis. many of armenians three million citizens are also struggling with economic turmoil. and there's been disquiet about such close ties to russian president vladimir putin. back on the streets of yet of on the main opposition leader. has received a hero's welcome armenians are hoping it's the start of a new era. of. independent research and not a. in yet of a not a good to have you with us again the last time we were talking on sunday arrests were being made prime minister sachs was making veiled threats of a security crackdown and now suddenly he says i got it wrong raul and steps down how do you explain this turnaround. it is difficult to give a full account of what might have happened behind closed doors but there are always a few factors at work one is security. for it to have much instability in fact there has been movement of troops on the border and though i'm a contract with the so. next door say to me tomorrow marks the annual grammar ations of the armenian genocide generally a p

the former soviet republic which is in the caucasus region was plunged into political crisis.any of armenians 3 million citizens are also struggling with economic turmoil. there has been disquieted about the close ties to russian president vladimir putin. back on the streets, the main opposition leader has received a hero's welcome. i many as i hoping it is the start of a new era. >> must get more on this now. the last time we were talking on sunday, arrests were being made, the prime minister was making bail threats of a security crackdown and now suddenly he says i got it wrong and steps down? how do you explain this turnaround? >> it is difficult to give a full account of the things that might have happened behind closed doors but there were probably a few factors at work. one is security. i mean it can't afford to have much instability. in fact there has been movement on the border and the line of contact with the republic next to her. secondly, tomorrow marks the annual commemoration of the army and genocide, this will review the population, the whole nation. this would h

miter it acts as a lifeline to the people who live high up in the remote mountain villages of the caucasus. the three hour journey begins at seven in the morning train driver our tour never knows exactly when or even if he will arrive at the destination but here in the caucuses manton's time is of little essence. sometimes when there's too much snow or frost we have to turn back. for. a few days ago a landslide here brought everything to a standstill a look out the window is anything but comforting. the lumber company that operates the train is in financial trouble six of its nine track maintenance workers have quit over unpaid wages. this is the village of cushing. our tour had to branch from the main track to get here visitors who have relatives lumber workers locals returning from the valley with building materials only the mattress second bring them here and what if someone has an accident. all we can do is call the moderates and arrange an emergency pick up what we're left lord with. there's no workshop here nor is there a proper road into the valley yesterday lydia says her husband t

the former soviet republic which is in the caucasus region was plunged into political crisis. many of armenians three million citizens are also struggling with economic turmoil. and there's been disquiet about socks and close ties to russian president vladimir putin. back on the streets of yet of on the main opposition leader. has received a hero's welcome. armenians are hoping it's the start of a new era. and brussels the european union and the united nations are co-hosting the seventh annual international donor conference for war torn syria officials at the two day event are hoping to beat last year's pledge of five and a half billion euros the syrian war now in its eighth year asco later that after a suspected chemical weapons attack in duma earlier this month western states blamed damascus and carried out errors fights against government sites and television the u.s. the mates some thirteen million people are in need of aid. this is deja vu news live from berlin still to come on the show the champions league semifinals kick off tonight in the english premier league superst

the former soviet republic which is in the caucasus region was plunged into political crisis many of armenians three million citizens are also struggling with economic turmoil and there's been disquiet about such close ties to russian president vladimir putin for. back on the streets of yet of on the main opposition leader. has received a hero's welcome. armenians are hoping it's the start of a new era. in the studio with me now political scientists might a man who spent decades analyzing russian and eurasian affairs hanna thanks for coming in to talk to us i just want to go back to some day the situation looking very very different to what it has just turned out to be sad to see walking out of talks with the leader of the opposition demonstrably during that making a bleak references to the possibility of a violent security crackdown and now this completely reversal what prompted this reversal to be of course don't know what happened behind closed doors but i think there are two factors which contributed to his decision one is that as we could see earlier in your program there were s

the bbc‘s rayhan demytrie explains what's at stake in this small south caucasus nation.er. cheering they have a reason to celebrate. on monday, after days of street protests, they forced an unpopular prime minister to resign. but on wednesday, tens of thousands returned to the streets to back this man. "come to the streets, don't let the governing party take away our victory." nikol pashinyan has led the movement since early april. he says a velvet revolution is unfolding in the country, and power is now in the hands of the armenian people. he wants the governing republican party to accept that and surrender. but armenia's acting prime minister says political forces should unite and decide what to do next. translation: today, we do not put any restrictions on the political agenda, and we did not do that before. so i believe the logical decision is that political parties in the framework of our constituion and law sit down and discuss it. instead, on wednesday, a nationalist party left the governing coalition, and armenia's second largest political faction joined the prot

i knew this before it is in the small caucasus country of armenia appealing for calm after thousands of people rallied in the capital yet of on their protesting over the country's former president being nominated as the only candidate for prime minister. is set to elect a new prime minister after switching to a parliamentary system in a popular vote the president's role will now be mainly ceremonial there's only one candidate in the vote for prime minister to be held on tuesday and that the country's former leader who's held office for a decade earlier pledge not to run for office if the political system was changed the opposition's been staging rallies across the country to denounce his nomination traffics be brought to a standstill in the city center and on sunday crowds stormed a local radio station. it's less than two months now until the twenty eighteen world cup kicks off in russia preparations are almost complete complete rather in the host cities and anticipation is growing the twenty eighteen feet for world cup is going to see the first russian referee to oversee games in tw

unrest has gripped the republic in the caucasus mountains after the former president stepped down torussell trott reports. anger on the streets of the armenian capital as police arrest protesters who brought the centre of the city to a standstill for the ninth consecutive day. then an appearance that few expected. flanked by bodyguards, the country's new president arrived to meet protest leaders and to call for dialogue to prevent what many here fear could become violent confrontation. shaking hands with nikol pashinyan, the man who has led the opposition demonstrations, the president reiterated his warning that there would be no winners or losers for a country that some say has struggled to modernise and is overly dependent on russia. real political power lies with this man, serzh sargsyan, who has led the country for ten years. he stepped down as president recently at the same time as the constitution was changed to vest supreme power in his new prime ministerial role. opposition supporters have criticised him over poverty, corruption and the influence of powerful oligarchs. his su

all sides will be keen to avoid a worsening of the crisis in the volatile south caucasus region, andts working to save the tasmanian devil from extinction have discovered a small but healthy population of the animals in the remote south—west area of tasmania. more than 80% of the carnivorous marsupials have been wiped out in the past 20 years by a form of facial cancer. as you mentioned, 80% of the species has been wiped out by a cancer which is contagious. so for us to find a small, isolated population that is disease—free is significant. do you think the animals you have found are disease—free because they have not come into contact with others that had the disease, or do they have some kind of resistance? we are pretty sure it is because this particular area in tasmania is very rugged and isolated. so they are on the coast down in the south—west national park of tasmania. it is surrounded by extremely high and rugged mountains, and also is a habitat that is not suitable for devils. there is an area they won't cross, making it isolated from other populations. what do you do with th

all sides will be keen to avoid a worsening of the crisis in the volatile south caucasus region, andasmanian devil from extinction have discovered a small, healthy population of the animals in the remote south west area of tasmania. more than eighty per cent of the carnivorous marsupials have been wiped out in the past twenty years by a form of facial cancer. but the fourteen creatures found in the australian state are all healthy. a museum in southern france — dedicated to the art of the painter etienne terrus has discovered that many of its canvasses are forgeries. a close examination carried out during renovation works revealed that dozens of them had not in fact been painted by the artist. it's estimated the cost of the forgeries amounts to almost $200,000. the bbc‘s tim allman reports. etienne terrus was a relatively obscure artist. a friend of henri matisse, he specialised in the use of light and colour. he studied in paris but spent most of his life and career in the pyrenees, where this museum displays his work — or at least they thought they did. translation: we have appoint

people there are demanding that the newly appointed prime minister stepped on the country in the caucasus mountains region has been shaken by rallies for over a week the face of. workers. calling for a new government elections the unrest follows the collapse of the goose nations between the opposition prime minister serious or ghastly and with tensions running high riot police have been deployed in the capital you're of on armenia recently changed to parliament three system where the president was relatively symbolic to rule on the prime minister again he's. stepped on as president this for a decade a ruling that for years he promised not to run for the prime minister's office but in april was part nominated by parliament and he was the sole that it. nearly six decades under the leadership of the castro family cuba has a new president miguel addai is colonel was the monk choosing to succeed the role castro we can take a look now at his path to the top job on the current be in ireland. a new chapter has opened in cuba as miguel de nail was officially named the country's new leader on thurs

armenia people there are demanding method newly appointed prime minister stepped on the country in the caucasus mountain range has been shaken by rallies for over a week tens of thousands of opposition supporters blocked roads calling for a new government election and rest follows the collapse of negotiations between the opposition and find minister serious or ghastly and with tension running high riot police have been deployed in the capital of your of. armenia recently changed her part of the system where the president has a relatively symbolic will and the prime minister gains more powers so i guess ian stepped down as president this month after a decade of ruling the country earlier he promised not to run for the prime minister's office but in april was nominated by parliament as the sole and. now after nearly six decades under the leadership of the castro family cuba has a new president miguel die as was the man chosen to succeed rule we take a look now at his part to the top job on the car of being an island. a new chapter has opened in cuba as miguel the canal was officially named the co

all sides will be keen to avoid a worsening of the crisis in the volatile south caucasus region, and with moscow. around 4000 people have fled renewed fighting in northern myanmar, where the burmese military is reported to be pounding ethnic kachin rebels with airstrikes and artillery. the united nations says thousands more civilians are trapped by the violence. myanmar human rights expert, david baulk, from the group fortify rights, told us more about this long—standing conflict. the conflict between the myanmar in military and the kachin independence army is one of the longest running in the world, it has been raging for more than 60 years. in essence, what the conflict is about, is the kachin ethnic minority population demanding a federal myanmar in which their minority and other ethnic minorities in the country have a substantive say about how the country is run and how it is governed. and the myanmar military have consistently refused to listen to the demands of the kachin and other ethnic minority populations in the country. and that is a big part of the reason why we have seen

the last protests while taking photos and from tbilisi georgia is guilty human rights watch south caucasus direct in the europe and central asia division very good to see all three of you us and you can jenna should imagine that this is a good moment for you. yes shane this is a miraculous beautiful miraculously the moment i see little as a metaphor because it's gigantic what has happened today this is what the people of our mean you know were hoping for and for. a final. in a final effort to come to the streets in such big numbers they could make their voices be heard loud and clear enough that the country needs change and that the government and the state are there to serve them and that they have to really now take the steps that they have voted for in the change from presidential to parliamentary system and therefore now it starts to be time for people's voices to be heard i just want to say one thing jane is that an armenian but i'm not from armenia i am of the asked for an armenian and i live in canada i happen to be in berlin for my professional work so but this makes no difference

all sides will be keen to avoid a worsening of the crisis in the volatile south caucasus region, andvides season, we've been looking at ways in which people are creating connections in a polarised world. well a sheep farmer in northern england is getting help during the lambing season from an unusual workforce. rodney beresford — who has 500 sheep in the yorkshire dales — has welcomed groups of asylum seekers to help him look after ewes and newly born lambs. spencer stokes reports. it's been one of the toughest winters sheep farmer rodney beresford can remember. looking after his flock spread across steep sided hills in the dales is tiring and time—consuming. but help is at hand. singing iranian folk songs, a group of 12 asylum seekers have arrived at ribblehead. some have been in the uk a few weeks, others several years. all waiting to hear if they are allowed to stay. within minutes, they are passing newborn lambs to rodney and learning about sheep farming in yorkshire. why are you putting that on the tail? it shortens the tail to keep the lamb cleaner. so they don't get... keep th

all sides will be keen to avoid a worsening of the crisis in the volatile south caucasus region, andd fighting in northern myanmar, where the burmese military is reported to be pounding ethnic kachin rebels with airstrikes and artillery. the united nations says thousands more civilians are trapped by the violence. a un humanitarian official working in myanmar has warned that thousands of civilians have been trapped by heavy fighting between the myanmar armed forces and the kachin independence army, which has been waging an armed struggle for autonomy for the kachin minority since the early 1960s. the conflicts between the myanmar military and the kachin independence army is one of the longest—running conflicts in the world, running for more than 60 years. in essence, what the conflict is about is the kachin epic 102 population demanding a federal myanmar in which their minority and other ethical and it is in the country have a substantive say about how the country is run. —— kachin ethnic minority population. the myanmar military have consistently refused to listen to the demands of

five degrees south of all this it's looking fine and say throughout iran is mostly five but the caucasus region seems likely up here as well so having seen some storms recently and the dust storms and dusty whether it's setting down to be thirty three in dire how about the same in mekele it warm climate is building to the south if anyone is going to get showers it's possibly more likely yemen and sunglasses seem to be right in the middle of the full cost weapons or been some useful rain recently in cape town still the western cape show you some clouds streaking across it but i don't think it is the right border it. welcome back a quick reminder now of our top stories on al jazeera final preparations are being made for a historic face to face meeting between the leaders of north and south korea it's hoped the talks will ease tensions ahead of a meeting between moon and the u.s. president donald trump later this year. moscow has taken a number of syrians into the children to the headquarters of the chemical weapons watchdog to support their claim that the alleged gas attack in duma was fak

behind residual rain pockets there over in western iran just east of baghdad and running up to the caucasus and eastern turkey much quieter afterwards the bugout if everything is warming up to the low thirty's i think by the time we get to tuesday the clouds building again in jordan southern israel for example and northern egypt and like my producer sheryl to even a thunderstorm to similar sort of things happening to the south where we see needs clear skies i think about time we get to monday with the exception that here of yemen and possibly south of amman the cloud is thickening enough for us for the terrain possibly but this here which looks a bit nine could well turn into a line of thunderstorms across the middle of saudi arabia up towards bahrain but things just cloud but it's how you get a hurry we have the more showers developing on the eastern side of south africa and the suit to i suppose it's early winter showers but they are of rain. the weather sponsored by cats are nice. big stories generate thousands of headlines collaboration with different angles from different perspectives.

through iraq and by across to north nishi for the shop potential look at the contrast in turkey in the caucasus up into the warm early spring twenty one degrees or so because it's twenty six in tashkent all that all water now the clouds thickens by the time we get to friday shall seem likely iraq western iran the real focus possibly some in kuwait as well given the things of the cloud you might find the same developing in next day or so across eastern saudi down through to bahrain qatar probably not the u.a.e. and back through the western side of saudi significant thunderstorms possible here and you know what that means but of what the flooding we've seen a bit of rain recently just teasing you in the western cape not really affecting the the drought in cape town but anyway the clouds fading away into and if anything it will be largely dry picture on thursday in south africa but not so for a girl and so i this does look quite wet. what makes this move to this era we live in for so unique this is really an attack on itself is a lot of misunderstanding big a distortion of what free speech is supp

jim jordan one of the cofounders of the caucasus caucuses on judiciary or oversight in this played a role. >> if we elect 16 new members of congress which are essentially there this time and replacing the ones that are there that freedom caucus will become the majority caucus. those kind of guys will. i don't think mccarthy will and i don't think the other establishment types will. lou: no one in the group would accept the fact that president trump representing the anti-establishment mood of the country the populist mood of the country the with the low blissed elites in the nonsense. the priorities are lying there. the agenda is in front of them and ryan fought it every moment that president trump was on. >> the house is supposed to represent the closest body politic more so than anybody else. lou: the ryan party, the chamber of commerce and the business roundtable the koch brothers and a couple of others. lou: they won't fight for and they don't have that kind of energy. >> well we need some energy. lou: let's get those folks over to the benches where they belong and let the hell-ra

these gatherings of senate party members recalled caucasus. -- ine republican party the republican party, we call it a conference. senate democrats still quality caucus. it was determined, around the time of this it'll work, senate party caucuses began electing -- around the time of the civil war, senate party caucuses began electing full-time chairman. committeessertive chairman assumed those duties. the very first democratic caucus chairman was a kentuckian, john , stevenson a former governor, serving in the senate from 1871 to 1877, indeed, three largely forgotten kentuckians served as chairman in this pre-majority leader eric -- leader era. today, i will focus on blackburn. vice adlai stevenson was set of he wasrn -- of blackburn the hero of more interesting narratives than any a congressman that ross the blue ridge have. his colorful personality -- blue ridge mountains. his colorful personality makes it unfortunate that he is mostly forgotten today. little is known of his childhood other than that he was born in 19 -- in 1838 in wilford county. joseph was a young brother of luke byr

george kennan next returned to russia in 1870 to do a theeering trek through north caucasus, a wild region virtually never traveled by westerners. this met -- led to more lectures and publications. he must have been a charismatic speaker because he earned some sort of world record by giving a for 200very night nights, consecutive evenings, except sundays, from 1890 until 1891. in his articles, the elder george kennan was rather pro-alexander the second's czar tos, which led the think kennan would be a good representative for them in the west. him go to penal siberia and it completely changed george kennan's mindset. siberianited the prison settlement, he was horrified, and became a supporter of the system of exile. tocarried out last letters families for prisoners sentenced to death, or who suspected they would not survive imprisonment. he became close friends with early russian revolutionaries and a founding member of the american friends of russian freedom. inwrote a series of articles "century" magazine that grew into a two volume book. book, iinally read the understood how grueling the

behind residual rain pockets there over in western iran just east of baghdad and running up to the caucasus and eastern turkey much quieter afterwards the bug out of everything is warming up to about the low thirty's i think by the time we get to tuesday the cloud building again in jordan southern israel for example and northern egypt and like my producer sheryl to even a thunderstorm to similar sort of things happening to the south where we see needs clear skies i think about time we get to monday with the exception that here of yemen and possibly south of amman the cloud is thickening enough for us for the terrain possibly but this here which looks a bit nine could well turn into a line of thunderstorms across the middle of saudi arabia up towards bahrain but things just cloud about how good of a hurry we have the more showers developing on the eastern side of south africa and the suit to i suppose it's early winter showers but they are of rain. rewind returns with a new series of air bring your people back to life i'm sorry i'm brian new updates on the best of al-jazeera documentaries th

the former soviet republic which is in the caucasus region was plunged into political crisis many ofarmenians three million citizens are also struggling with economic turmoil and there's been disquiet about such a close ties to russian president vladimir putin. i back on the streets of yet of on the main opposition leader. has received a hero's welcome. i mean eons are hoping it's the start of a new era. the news live from berlin still to come on the show the champion's league semifinals kick off tonight and the english premier league superstar most followed will be up against his former club as liverpool those roma will tell you all about. christophe as you know the french carmaker p.s.a. reports a jump in sales this morning that's right bryan revenue is up by more than forty per cent in the first quarter lifted by the acquisition of opel vauxhall last year and now the spike this rise in revenue the honeymoon between p.s.a. and opel is over as opel is still making also as the french parent company now says it needs more wage and job concessions from workers the opel staff say they'v

going to react to these months because og the main drive in the south caucasus. so we'll see how. he acts openly or behind the scenes. a former employee of cambridge analytics has been testifying about its role in the brags that vote the company is under scrutiny for harvesting personal data from millions of facebook users brittany kaiser told a u.k. parliamentary committee that a key backer of the leave campaign used information for political purposes or reports but humans as well personally kaiser was asked to testify as a woman who had worked on the political campaigns of both barack obama and donald trump in the united states working for cambridge analytical on the trump campaign she made it clear her role was to target small groups of people harvest their personal information and attempt to change their political opinions a practice she did without compunction then but have now decided it was disgraceful the iliad spent too many years using technology to take advantage of people's openness and get well and i won't stand by any longer to observe this privileged abuse of power