that is a mohammed ali joke. it is important as a biographer to recognize you do not have much in common with your subject usually. the job of a biographer is to understand the subject the best you can, often from a distance. that means really paying attention to the facts, doing your research. i did 600 interviews with 200 individuals. i interviewed many of them over and over. i counted the number of times he was punched. i worked with speech scientists to look at how they affected his speech rate. i dove as deeply into his life as i could because the biographer's job is to help you understand a person's life and how it was shaped and how it shaped us as a country and the people. with mohammed ali, one of the most important men of the 20th century i would argue, was a huge responsibility. the really important piece of biographer has to keep in mind is empathy. you have to try to empathize with your subject. doesn't mean you have to always celebrated more excuse him. the job is not to glorify were pretty him up.

trump, i think, had been a influence on mohammed bin salman. he gave him the wrong premises, a false premises, that he can change the middle east, that he can support him to and iranians out of syria out of iraq. but, again, mohammed bin salman should have an advisor who would trump, ashat even sincere in his promise, he deliver, because it's gigantic. for trump to get involved against the iranians in syria, consensuso get the from the pentagon, from the congress, to do such a thing. so he should know that whatever kushner and trump promise, they cannot deliver. to spend time, about effect, and how that is destabilizing the middle east. also, they have to speak in one not dual voices, so that we'll send the wrong message to binader like mohammed salman, listening to trump and listening to others, and assuming that there's a between them. play aically they can very positive role in impacting arabia, because they are the only ones who have kind of a leverage on saudi today. >> i do think the biggest wasalculation that he made to assume that if tr

are reports saudi arabia is demanding money from senior officials recently arrested crown prince mohammed bin solomon says it's an anti corruption operation but many say it's a way for him to increase his power so how far will he go this is inside story. we're . we're. i know that and welcome to the program i'm laura cairo he's stoking huge tension in an already volatile region saudi arabia's thirty two year old crown prince mohammed bin solomon has made a number of controversial decisions that many believe could forever change the kingdom and the entire region the developments in saudi arabia and what they mean for the rest of the world has been the focus of a conference in london on saturday that's where former diplomats and middle east analysts have been meeting to discuss the crisis and saudi arabia's future may have been solomon or n.b.s. as he's known was appointed saudi arabia's as a throne just six months ago but in that short period he's amassed a lot of power earlier this month he ordered the arrest of around two hundred princes government officials and business been and what he

he wasn't really as smart as mohammed. we should give him credit for being smart and now he has to perform for leader in economic and foreign policy. his most important source of power. [inaudible] it is plenty of power. it's an absolute monarchy sort of power. >> i think if you start to tinker with the traditional sources of power, authority and legitimacy, you are opening up a can of forms that you might wan not want to open up. especially at the same time you're engaged in such a wide-ranging attempt to reformulate the economic and perhaps socioreligious aspects of society. there is a danger perhaps of being spread too thin, even without all the foreign policy issues going on. if you try to do too much too fast, to what extent is it a band with to try to take on every front at the same time. they'll be another concern i would have going forward. >> i think mark probably answered jeff's question. he is with the state department in terms of how will these steps taken over the past several weeks impact the relationship bet

>> why isn't mohammed bin salmad nonstate actors. clearly iran has been involved have a they need -- they lot more ability to use for their own ends. you know, these are not conventional conflicts, but they are conflicts using the tools .ran has developed for decades as i said earlier, both in syria and now in yemen, we are taking withying to outsmart it your own proxies is a difficult task when your flow has been doing -- foe has been doing this expertly for years. that is the challenge they face. also the creations of state failure over the last seven years, because it has been almost seven years of turmoil on every regional front. it has really resulted in expansion of the opportunities available. going back almost 15 years, if you talk about the occupation of iraq after 2003. so this is kind of a fast-moving situation which has clearly pathways that have been felt by iran and their groups. i think the defeat of isis and in northern iraq and syria while obviously welcome is potentially another deeply concerning element if you are

he wanted prince mohammed bin salman to know that he is supporting him.ny other form of communication since he was detained? no. i texted him but there was no reply. let's talk about the stability of the leadership now. you say it is all about one man, it's all about crown prince mohammed bin salman. he's moved against some of the most powerful princes in the house of saud, including the former head of the national guard, prince mutaib, and others. do you believe his grip now is absolutely unchallengeable? yes, i think so. i do not think the royals can even gather and create a front against him for a number of reasons. number one, they are so fragmented. number two, they lack a leader. they don't have that leader, a moral leader, who can stand for values and for saudi arabia, who is totally independent and respected by all of them. and lastly, because he is using the stick of corruption, and if not all, most of them, somehow, they are involved in some form of corruption or abuse of power. so, he has the upper hand on those issues. so, i think he has won f

she wrote dear mohammed, my daddy really loves you. do you love my daddy? love lola. that so sweet and also really can work. [laughter] lonnie can't resist this so i stuck it in the envelope and lonnie called and said you should come and bring lola when you come mohammed loves children and i said it so happens we will be in phoenix in a few weeks, can we visit and she said sure as long as it's not an interview and you don't come with a tape recorder or cameras. no, i went to meet him. on spending five years of my life practically and i will spend the rest of my life talking about him so lola and i went to his house and he wasn't feeling well that would day and was not-- he did not come out of his room so we spent time with lonnie and she loved my daughter a lot more than she liked me, which is good. in a few months i found out he was going to be in louisville and line would be there for an awards ceremony and i went down to louisville head hung out with ali's brother and childhood friends and i was so nervous, i mean, what am i going to ask him or say to him if i get

mohamed would where to where does the u.s. play in all of this because i mean we have donald trump tweeting supporting the crown prince almost a blank check here do you think that kind of nudge him along that he's going to get a free pass and of course we know that relations between israel and saudi arabia are are right being they're getting closer and closer reports i've seen that even sharing intelligence here i mean you think the crown prince thought he had two really powerful forces in his corner and he was going to go out and make his bid in me fell flat on his face go ahead moment. yes i think that the saudi regime is counting very much on trump support and i think. our your good guest in the united states suffered a lot at the hands of the saudi ruling family because of his criticisms of trump if i'm not mistaken. there's rarely connection with saudi arabia of course i think is really more hurtful to saudi arabia than it thinks because in public or in the public opinion in the region people recognize israel as an aparth

mohamed bin some on the crown prince or we often call him m.b.'s is in a dangerous position for himself because at home he's he's taken on the purging of the religious establishment and the royal family and even the business establishment at the same time as he has. rockets and mortars coming in from yemen a war that he initiated. and neighboring states and many conflicts around him in the region most of which saudi arabia has had a hand in so you're right to criticize hezbollah for enter ference an arab affairs. it is a mockery because there is no country more aggressively pursuing interventions in regional states and neighboring states than saudi arabia and we should point to the arab league meeting on sunday which we have to do for. sure yeah but at the same time hezbollah is a political party and has been elected by the people of lebanon i think that it's an important distinction as well it is and it's not for the set it's not over the top not for the saudis were not to me there's no doubt about me show that i'm ok i have to let me let me i ha

advertising revenue and made saudi arabia pay for this think of and see this friedman even said mohammed bin saw him and instructed me not to write i mean this is a journalist this is a way this is good this is journalism at its very best in the west right on the head well i just love this story about prince mohammed bin so on throw in some of these princes into a deal did you that is rich culture and hold them and they started to cough up some money you know mr friedman forgets that also the lebanese prime minister to have an unplanned vacation in saudi arabia for eighteen days or one has to wonder how much he was squeezed for it well a lot of people do and there are that the lebanese prime minister has a lot of business interests with the saudis and the embarrassment is that the european press noticed it and basically the french president marker on even the french press admits it was not a big gain for but crawl actually they were both humiliated by mohamed bin someone you know the lebanese prime minister saad hariri and the french president and let me tell you that this is not further

i said yeah, sure, she asked me how to spellsa mohammed and then she broke her own. dear mohammed, my daddy loves me. really loves you. do you love my daddy smart love, lola. i didn't think they could resist us. she called and said bring lola when you come visit. mom and love children. i said we will be in phoenix in a few weeks can we come visit. and she said yeah, sure, as long as it's on an interview and you're not coming with the tape order and cameras. i said no, spending five years researching him and i want to meet demand. so lola and i went to phoenix with his house he wasn't feeling well today and he didn't come out of his room and we didn't get to meet him. we spent time with his wife and it was really nice and she loved my daughter a lot more than she liked me which was good. a few months later i found he out he would be in louisville for awards or money we went down to louisville and we went down to hung out with his brother and childhood friends and it was so nervous aboutat what i would say to him if i get a chance to meet him. i decided to go for a run

mohamed: it's amazing. gotten the market to price in a very high probability of a december rate hike and a significant probability of a march rate hike. we had a change in leadership and yet the fixed income markets are extremely calm. there were people warning once not, weo 2.40 -- we are are back to the average of the year. it has been a calm normalization. jonathan: rational or complacent? mohamed: a bit of both. rational is -- in that it has been well signaled and the fed took advantage of the windows it opened. a little bit complacent in the context of very low volatility. think of all that has been going on this year in the geopolitics and the politics and we have had the lowest maximum daily drawdown in the history of the s&p. we have had 56 record closes for the dow. it is a different mentality that supported risk assets in a way i have never seen a my career before. jonathan: there's enough going on to worry about. mainstreamhair consensus. big opening on the board that they can fill. essentially a

some say he's in a rush to take power from his father others argue mohamed been so money is on a path to reform saudi arabia but what risks is the crown prince running and kenny meet the many challenges he faces both at home and in the region this is inside story. with. with. their welcome to the program i'm jane dothan the erased in saudi arabia have spurred days of speculation and analysis there was the element of surprise the detentions took place on saturday night and without warning the elements of power most of those arrested all men of influence and an element of uncertainty is this about purging corruption or consolidating power the man behind it all drawn prince mohammed bin saul mon has been a figure of controversy for months now he's regarded as a progressive leader touting social and economic reforms but critics say m.b.a.'s as he's known is also a power hungry over the course of two years he went from being third in line to the throne to first so what all those arrests all about the detained individual spy on a range of sectors in saudi society eleven princes and several

the french press admits it was not a big gain for but crawl actually they were both humiliated by mohamed bin someone you know the lebanese prime minister saad hariri and the french president and let me tell you that this is not further the first time that western press is enthusiastic about people throwing people in jail and then getting money from them saakashvili did the same thing with shevardnadze especially with origin and they had nothing but praise for him now mohamed bin someone you know this and take corruption dr. about which friedman writes that a lot of soldiers who had nothing but if if use of support for their section well if you don't have a future support for it but you're in trouble here you're not going to be just of all knowledge. and you're going to get down he's walked the phrase the arab spring is a brand a failed idea that most leverage and it was as it was called the sunni winter and whether you knew it was it is a growth of islamism and attacks on christian orthodoxy across the you know the middle east and north africa but thomas friedman by referring to mohamed

well since he was appointed crown prince in june mohamed bin has flagged broad plans to transform both saudi arabia's culture and its economy just over a week ago he promised to return the king them to what he called a moderate islam well with me in the studio is undress krieger who is a strategic security analyst and an assistant professor at king's college here in london thanks so much for joining us here in the studio first of all what do you make of this pretty dramatic and pretty sudden shake up i mean if you look at twitter today i mean it was all about you know this is like a big bang of what's happening in riyadh a lot of things happening love conspiracy theories as as well i think there are two things happening here yes there is a clamp on corruption i think that's very important if you want to bring saudi arabia into the twenty first century you need to climb down on corruption but obviously how do you define corruption is a different issue i think there are two not more important underlying things one making the economy already that also means consolidating power over the ec

crown prince mohammed bin psalm on m.b.a.'s as he's known strikes him as not smart and not prudent and could be taking actions that could cause a war in the region we've already seen him fail to kind of bring qatar to heel failed to win the war in yemen why do we think that a confrontation with iran or lebanon would be anything other than a failure on his part. well i think that's b.s. foreign policy has actually been very consistent i think that it had to hear it very closely to the laws norms and conventions of international relations at the same time i think that. it is more than about national unity thing much closer attention it's iran specifically as the main sponsor of terrorism in the region and in the world as well as at some of its many of the region as the with these and others it's time to hold it just hold it accountable just before we married if we we will get to iran and i want to talk about iran and saudi and on and the issues you raise and just to stick with whilst about in terms of recent events and m.b.'s th

trump and crown prince mohammed bin oman and saudi arabia they see unprecedented closeness between the united states and the united arab emirates with mohamed bin diet they see the prospects for an alliance between the united arab emirates saudi arabia and israel as real and unprecedented and historic they think the power of the palestinians is at an all time low they think they have cost him us almost destroyed hamas routed it from from gaza and really destroyed its leadership they think that the palestinian leadership overall is ripe for a turn for turn over they're looking not at president abbas really they're really looking at someone like muhammad dahlan who supported heavily by the united arab emirates so the perspective within the white house i think is very different than many of us who are looking at the region and what i would call a more realistic way but the perspective in the white house is different and it's important to understand and take seriously because there. acting on it they're acting in close coordination with the saudis and the m.r. adi's and other palestinians

the economy minister has been replaced by mohamed al to wide tree while national guard minister prince mehta been has been released from office as well it was the last senior royal in government not closely connected with king solomon or his son so for more we can speak to jane cannon montt a senior research fellow in the deputy head of the middle east and north africa program at chatham house based in london thanks very much for taking the time to speak to us and i suppose there will be questions and concerns about the rationale or the motives behind this cabinet reshuffle jane there has been an ongoing crusade since twenty fifteen old centralizing power in the hands of the credit ratings i haven't been so this is to a degree that precedent to be repealed although it's not a key with a very strong. if this fish really has had a kind of system of dynastic who you many senior princes within the family have hired look to see welding senior ministerial positions having many people depend on them for employment and that's been a kind of move by consensus to diction of the among those senio

less than five months after the thirty two year old prince orchestrated a coup against his uncle mohammed bin nayef replacing him as heir apparent that move followed the much hailed riyadh summit with u.s. president donald trump notably those detained in this latest crackdown are being held at the same venue where trump was hosted. among those arrested on sunday was prince and why leave been a billionaire whose assets include shares in twitter fox news and apple one of his company's kingdom holdings has reported a ten percent loss in value since news broke of his arrest. is also the owner of rotana media group one of the arab world's most popular media outlets detained with him are the heads of other mass media corporations including n.b.c. group and a our team all of them arrested by the same royal decree saudi arabia's crown prince now has a large section of the entire arab wald's media at his disposal muhammad bin said man has spent the past two years positioning himself as a visionary willing to transform saudi arabia into a modern and liberal state he's pushed for a review on the ban

there is a senior political analyst marwan bashara says that the heir to the throne crown prince mohammed bin sylmar is flexing his political muscles in ways not seen before in recent saudi history. it's yet another reshuffle right in the kingdom of saudi arabia and at the heart of it is the crown prince mohammed bin so man who is clearly the man with power in hands being able to change things around within the kingdom and not only changing people but changing policies changing direction and taken on beast major mager a multi hundreds of billions of dollars projects like a new city like privatizing a bit of a run called the main oil company in saudi arabia so all in all he's taken a very aggressive stance that we haven't seen before in the modern history of saudi arabia where a new king or a new regime comes in not only changes cabinet not only changes a bit of the structure so that it is a new era of a new king but now we have the king of the conference really changing decades centuries long tradition within the kingdom so the latest reshuffle today is really a part of a longer. change d

sodhi leader chrome prince mohammed bin salman on the left of this poster with his father king salmon once it known he means business class with the detention of people on charges of corruption who are in positions of high authority and possess lots of money and who trades throughout most of the world's continent also proves that the economic side is considered important to our leadership. could be and walk away look at the. prints our lead been told is among those arrested one of the world's richest men. from riyadh's tallest skyscraper he controls luxury hotel chains broadcasters and a real estate empire and over twelve hundred bank accounts were reportedly frozen with more to come. traders at the riyadh stock exchange were initially nervous following the moves investors what he does there was a rush to control such vast assets that there would be a negative impact on the economy or even the oil price but the mood soon lightened . a little while. i were flushed impression is that there was a white welcome from investors and that there are important signs from these decisions that no

. >> mildred mohammed the ex-wife of d.c. mohammed is saddened over the loss of lives in recent mass shootings. >> these men have decided to take upon themselves to take the lives of other people. >> her ex-husband and his teenage accomplice took the lives of ten people in maryland and virginia 15 years ago. she shares her story on a panel in northwest d.c. helping people understand how domestic violence can lead to shooting. she says mohammed verbally abused her. >> my situation, i didn't have physical scars to prove that i was a victim. >> she believes the sniper shootings were a smoke screen for him to kill her. she relates to the wives of mass shooters devin patrick kelley and tev kneel. that should have prevented him from owning guns. >> we know that any time firearms are involved in any sort of unhealthy relationship, it increases the odds used in a terrible tragic situation. >> maryland legislator will smith will reintroduce a bill that failed last session. it will make sure domestic violence convicts have to give thei

crown prince mohammed bin salman is driving this spectacular dragnet.ng files on alleged corruption, abuses of power, while consolidating his own power. i am taken to meet one suspect. he does not give me his name. he says he spent his time with his lawyer, focusing on his case, i told not to ask about. senior officials conduct thing this crackdown say it is not formal investigation yet. they call it friendly process but it is clearly fraught. we have been told that when people walked here around midnight, they were understandably angry. people thought it would not last but then when they realised they were here to stay, they were furious. almost everyone here, 95%, are willing to make the deal, to give back what is said to be substantial amounts of money in order to get out of here. and so far, seven people have walked free. i was told they prove their innocence. many saudis will come an end to the rampant corruption in the kingdom. there are risks too. the crown prince risks creating enemies and uncertainties which could endanger the very stability an

matal been a dollar was detained he was the head of saudis national guard tabs arrest gives prince mohammed more direct control over the country's gods you ready controls the defense and interior ministries prince mohammed has surprised many by pushing back against saudi arabia's religious elite in two thousand and sixteen it took steps to rein in the country's religious police they have been back on the streets since june but are reportedly less vigorous about their chastising m.b.'s also allowed agenda make celebration of saudi national day in september despite a backlash from religious clerics and two weeks ago said saudi arabia must return to a quote moderate balanced islam that is open to the world and to all religions let's bring in our guests joining us in beirut joseph kitchin a middle east analyst and senior fellow at the king faisal center for research and islamic studies in london and his critic as a professor at the defense studies department at king's college london and also in beirut nicholas editor in chief of mideast wire dot com good to see all three of you joseph kitchen l

does mohammed think that ever be peace here they killed us left us hungry. refugee how can there be peace he asks. burnet smith al-jazeera. still to come on a day dedicated to ending crimes against janice we take you to the most dangerous place in the world to be a reporter. in the u.s. baseball pounds a new world champion. hello bellows just spent about twenty four hours and in the snow fall this snow storm study went through then disappeared into western russia but you can see it on the cloud through northern europe have it don't particularly deep is not particularly bright in michigan right back out to the atlantic so what's it doing well it's trying to bring slightly warmer air across what was recently rather wintry weather and it's succeeding to some degree the temperature up to about ninety in warsaw but moscow sitting in the blue at about plus one if you take it head next two days you'll notice that skirting around that cold air is what's coming into the atlantic service now on the edge otherwise it's all rain moscow still in the cold and the warmth h

saturday in a separate development the new anti corruption committee headed by the crown prince mohammed bin solomon has reportedly detained several princes as well as some former and current ministers but we've also been watching a major shake up of saudi arabia's cabinet with the replacement of the economy minister the national guard minister prince met bin abdullah has also been released from office he was the last seen in a royal in government not closely connected with king solomon or his son. of more and more all this we're joined by in black who's a visiting senior fellow at the middle east center at the london school of economics in good to have you back with us and so in the past year we've seen a great deal of change a lot of disruption perhaps to the traditional model or system of governance in saudi arabia how do these latest developments fit in with that. well the scale of what's being reported this evening looks pretty unprecedented we've had we've had two things that are separate perhaps related we talked about the replacement of the minister of the economy and the ministe

chief engineer mohammed to john attardi has made it his life's work to preserve the dusty archives.several times he saved maps and documents from destruction. lavoy million i thought you could come and i got on the ground and here at home i will model no one can not be forgotten by water young girls so forth and. there i was young good hard time going to any other girl didn't shut down after how much you can do you know how i don't know hardly any and she asked me how much of a mind he really knows when the last year only last night a lot of yes oh my gosh he is american not like a young girl letter he could have knowledge no knowledge if. any muslim. oh you don't know i don't i don't know what i want on behalf of the majority. leader and. despite little money and poor health i have tardy has systemized to finals and preserve the valuable data for the future i don't know one of the rugby league i love it or going to are they not wanted or india could make about what he did i know no. doubt about it i but i reckon you're right i mean there's just not a need no more no no no no no ple

welcome as city administrator. >> thank you, mohammed. don't know if anyone said it yet, but welcome to the new medical examiner facility. >> and you heard the mayor and supervisor breed talk about the hall of justice. we are trying to decant the hall of justice so we can demolish that building. i was watching the historic movie, "bullet" with steve mcqueen in the late 60s. they filmed a lot of the scenes in the medical examiner facility. i thought to myself, oh, my goodness. nothing has changed 50 years later. i don't know if there was even an upgrade or renovation. it was exactly the same thing. look at how we've evolved over the last 50 years, new technology. we were skinnier around the waist so it was for skinnier people and it was undersized and didn't meet standards. and this is a project near and dear to the city administrators' hearts. it started for me in 2013 when i was trying to get this facility to be part of the easer program and with the director of public finance we were successful in convincing our capital plan colleagues