With security high on the agenda. Hello thank you for joining us a riot police and Security Forces have clashed with demonstrators in dozens of cities across iran after an increase in fuel prices one person has been killed and several others injured as they tried to enter an oil refinery in the Southern City of syria john the government says the rise is needed the call but few will smuggling for such a bar reports. Anger frustration and growing concern in tehran as people protested against a 200 percent increase in fuel prices oh many simply turned off their engines on major highways across the city to show their disappointment at this sudden decision to raise petrol prices overnight. As heavy snow blanketed the capital people still lined up at the gas stations to fill up. Quite a few remarks are that this is not a wise decision considering our horrible economy and sanctions we are under its a cruel decision because it wont affect the wealthy people only the poor people will pay the price. This time and this will 100 percent impact Everything Else its not just about the press of gas or commodities will be impacted for those shoes this will only her low income families they were supposed to increase subsidies 1st then raise the price of fuel they will find another excuse to cut their subsidies later. The protests have not been limited to the capital this was the scene in the Southern City of abidjan inclose us on province overnight here state t. V. Announced a number of individuals it described as unknown elements fired into crowds of people injuring some. The shock of this news has yet to sink in here with the new prices motorists now pay about 0. 13 a liter thats a 3 fold increase the government expects to earn nearly 2500000000. 00 from the price increase and says that it will help millions of families in need had that sort of out of the 1st payments will be handled within the next week or 10. 00 days and transferred to the families in model year a strong president believes that if there is going to be petrol price reform all of the new revenues will be paid back in full to the people. That many people here fear that this decision could have far reaching consequences it stems from a number of issues while iran has huge Energy Reserves its refining capability is limited and that makes it difficult to get fuel to the pumps. The government is also fighting fuel smuggling to neighboring countries thats because iran has some of the cheapest prices in the world due to its heavy subsidies and a weak currency the economy here has been struggling for years but since the United States withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal last year and reimpose a series of new sanctions on iran things have been getting much worse inflation is just over 40 percent with unemployment rates at over 14 percent officials here say that this fuel price increase will help people but its proving very difficult to convince ordinary iranians door so to pary aljazeera town. Theyre being violent scenes in paris where police and demonstrators clashed on the 1st anniversary. He of the Yellow Vest Protest Movement police fired tear gas and Water Cannons at hundreds of demonstrators after they built barricades across the city and set fire to cars and. The Movement Began last november over rising fuel prices and the high cost of living reports from paris. It was meant to have been a moment for the Yellow Vests Movement to shine again after a dramatic drop in support at weekly rallies with a movement 1st anniversary brought a violent fringe on to the streets of paris with protesters building barricades against police. After firing tear gas at as they started to target the crowd directly at a car is to hit me in the head we are strong and determined even though this isnt really representative of the whole Movement Across the country this is the side of yellow vest protesters alienated much of from this movement its trying to achieve these people hard core group of individuals who are themselves members of yellow dress prevent were clearly bent on vandalism. But it didnt start like this it began as a leaderless revolt against the rising cost of living and a planned tax on diesel an attempt by president emmanuel mccrum to reduce Carbon Emissions it morphed into a movement against mccrone himself drawing many tens of thousands of people from the far right far left and everything in between microbus forced to scrap the green tax and do more to help the poor but the yellow vests confused identity has led to its slow decline it has failed to transform into a Political Movement it has. Been unorganized it has destroyed every spokesperson that has emerged and it has failed to go into elections so on one side its it has a huge impact on the Political Landscape and on the other side has failed to put its mark on that landscape. Micron has dampened tensions by Holding Town Hall debate up and down the country half a 1000000 people have taken part allowing my chrome to win back some support in opinion polls but activists have accused the government of Excessive Force against demonstrators 24 people have been blinded 5 have lost homes the victims blaming a liberal use of stun grenades and rubber bullets. The French Economy is among the Fastest Growing in europe but poverty is growing to its powerful trade unions are calling for strikes and protests in december over Pension Reforms the yellow vests say they would join them mccraw may face a turbulent winter had. Paris. Police and protesters in hong kong faced off again over roadblocks outside one of the citys universities Police Used Tear Gas on demonstrators who responded with fire bombs early on saturday violence in the past week has focused on at least 5 of the citys University Campuses with protesters continuing to occupy the Polytechnic University earlier chinese soldiers were seen in gym clothes helping residents the spandrel protester barricades pride has more now from hong kong. They werent out for very long probably less than an hour late didnt have to travel far this is the base here and the soldiers basically came out to the road outside and started clearing away bricks and debris from this road around the perimeter of this base but it will be seen potentially as symbolic especially given the extraordinary times that this city is living through and many people will be reading it through the prism of their own politics on the one hand it could be seen as a very innocuous gesture Community Spirit by the local garrison here coming out of clearing bricks the way they werent dressed in uniform they were in their sports fatigues and they have been out before last year they came out to help with the clean up after a big typhoon in hong kong but of course this wasnt debris from a typhoon this was debris that had been left bricks that have been put in the road by protesters from the nearby University Campus and there have been angry confrontations between protesting students and citizens whoever they are trying to clear away the roadblocks they have put in place despite that all the chatter on social media seems to indicate that theres not been an angry reaction from protesters many of these students simply saying well let them clear it away well simply return the bricks when we are good and ready but there will be others in the pan democratic camp who will see this as a further step towards what they believe are the erosion of hong kongs freedoms within china. The hearings in the impeachment inquiry into us President Donald Trump are continuing with behind closed doors testimony from a white house official mark sandy is the 1st person from the office of management and budget to speak his testimony is expected to offer details on the holdup of military aid to ukraine that is at the center of the probe trump is accused of withholding aid from ukraine in a bid to get the countrys president to start an investigation into his democratic rival joe biden well reynolds joins us live now from washington so whats the potential significance of this latest witness well a mr sandy could provide some information as to who are heard the hold up on these weapons and the rationale behind that hold up it is possible that if he received some direct orders from the president or 2nd hand was told by his higher ups that the president wanted this done and for a certain reason then that would be another indication that the president from was a really at the center of this quid pro quo in which he dangled allegedly dangled weapons in a white house visit for ukrainian president selenski in return for the lansky initiating investigations in ukraine against hunger biden and joe biden and rob i mean i know its still relatively early but so far whats the assessment of these hearings are going to impact trumps reelection hopes. Well youre right its early and of course if President Trump is impeached. That would not be a good thing for him if hes removed from office then the question of reelection doesnt really arise but i think that friday was a bad day for the president he. Attacked marie giovan of it shay given of its a career policy scuse me a career diplomat who made a very positive impression on capitol hill and even while she was testifying he was true tweeting against her trying to sort of muddy her image and her reputation that didnt go down well i think with anyone and there were even republican defenders of the president who were saying that that was not a good move and i think that there is a certain amount in some places that supported the president of trump for teen. Thats a little difficult to quantify but living through this drama day in and day out one thing after another you know almost overlooked in the impeachment hearings was the fact that the President Trumps long term confidant and visor. Stone was roger stone was convicted in the in a court in new york of on friday and then put faces a long sentence so its just this drumbeat of scandal and controversy and tweets and and. Chaos at the uppermost level of the u. S. Government that i think as many people weary nevertheless having said that the president has his base there with him they go with him through thick and thin including the. A. Much touted the anecdote the president gave of him shooting someone on 5th avenue. And so you know time will go on well see what happened there was still a long way from the 2020 election rob reynolds for the moment for the latest from washington thank you. Still to come here on aljazeera turkey blames kurdish y p g fighters for a car bombing in northeast syria thats killed 19 people class. Some present versions Prince Andrew admits he made a mistake by staying at the home of a convicted sex offender. How much of western and Southern Europe has been suffering from flooding a big change in temperature even snow this is in england this is a must as she now admits lee were talking about a river overflowing its banks but you know dont build on the would be the the message from that nevertheless the rain is not just in this part of a newsgroup Society Yorkshire cross to wales as well as the whole of the circulation here and to give it more rain to is not welcome now its all gone south the air involved is quite cold weve had snow in spain we always got snow in france and a High Temperature in 0 of only 4 degrees on sunday to assess where its warmer rain and the amount of it is a big problem particularly in croatia but i think it is going to be involved obviously stretches back into north africa snows been falling in vast quantities the other half to one half metres is quite likely and not just on the high ground not temporary get on low ground as well in contrast to that is warming up again in the east not everywhere but 20 and should be about 8 out of warsaw about 14 so this part of europe has got the contrast in weather as the west again for you just a quick look at how far it goes it drags its heels in the Atlas Mountains on both sunday and monday with sundry rain. An inspiring quest for knowledge that led to remarkable achievements aljazeera world meets the algerian entrepreneur. Who helped pioneer computing in the arabic language and the egyptian islamic scholar honored for his contribution to arab culture both building successful lives abroad but never forgetting beverage arabs abroad the translator and the innovate sat on aljazeera. Welcome back heres a reminder of the top stories on aljazeera one person has died in nationwide protests against the fuel price hike in iraq the cost of a liter of fuel has gone up by at least 50 percent leave the russians on hold us there have been violent scenes in paris where police and demonstrators have clashed on the 1st anniversary of the Yellow Vest Protest Movement more than 100 people have been arrested police have again fire tear gas at protesters while cong as they tried to clear roadblocks outside one of the citys universities earlier chinese troops were seen on the streets helping to tell you that. At least 18 people have been killed and several wounded in a car bomb attack in northeast syria the explosion occurred in the turkish controlled town of albab which is there a leper the Turkish DefenseMinistry Says the attack was carried out by Syrian Kurdish fighters but there has been no claim of responsibility from any group turkey and its syrian rebel allies have mounted 3 separate offensives in Northern Syria against Kurdish Militia and of each. I think that what it tells us is that we have a very confusing and complex situation where there is no overall control in the state weve got as you pointed out several players the russians the so the Syrian Regime the turks and also some others who are involved in the state and whenever you get this lack of governance and control as we discovered in iraq and in the honest down you create a situation where terrorism. Is rife where you will have these sort of events happening and so what we will see is more of these incidents. As the confusion over who controls what whos responsible for what and who is saying war becomes. Overmore increased over time so i think the solution to this really has to be to restore the territorial d. And governance integrity of the state of syria if we are to ever hope for a reduction in the sort of terrorist incidents vote counting has begun in sri lankas president ial election were rising religious tensions and the slowing economy took center stage around 15000000. 00 sri lankans were eligible to vote in the election watchdog says there was an average 80 percent turnout the National Election office estimates that more people will vote than of the previous president ial poll back in 2050 and the election has come down to a race between the former defense minister go to buy a rajapaksa and the current housing minister a subject for another as a with National Security high on the agenda byrne its nice reports from colombo. Got a pirate to pacs and knows as he pounds to the buddhist priest that he can rely on support from voters within sri lankas majority think. But he also needs support from minority muslims and tumbles to if he is to win this president ial election many of them are nervous of the prospect of a return to power of the rajapaksa. Got a pie was defense chief and his brother mahinda was president at the end of the civil war which the u. N. Estimates killed 40000. 00 people that party also courts nationalists is a big blue langkow get in relation to. The. Staff of Sri Lanka Center for monitoring election violence say the poll has been free but not necessarily fair with reports of people being pressured on how to vote we have never seen that much influential factors like leaders leaders are coming forward from or one particular political party. Such as prima das is the only other realistic contender in this election he gets support from rural buddhists and minority groups who could swing the result in his favor. The Ruling Coalition is choice but this is a government that ignored warnings about the Easter Sunday suicide attacks that killed 263 people prompting rajapaksa to announce his candidacy we are hoping for a new future 3 lanka and. There are a candidate and the same there are many candidates so its going to be a very competitive place so i just hope there. You know whoever gets elected can deliver on their promises and ensure a safe nation and a prosperous nation and everyone can sort of believe in peace 60000000 people were eligible to vote they had 35 candidates to choose from. The run up to sri lankas last president ial election was marred by violence and widespread intimidation this time its been more peaceful it is though a tight race where passions are running high earner to make out is there a colombo. A judge in sudan says that the countrys ousted president bashir will learn the verdict in his corruption trial next month bashir faces charges of possessing illicit foreign currency and corruption hes admitted receiving millions of dollars from saudi arabia but says he didnt use it for private purposes police discovered foreign and domestic currency stockpiled at his home after his arrest bashir was forced from power in april after months of antigovernment protests heba morgan has the latest from khartoum. The corruption trial against saddam also president obama is in its 3rd month and on the mind the session on saturday the defense Team Presented the odds general as the main witness now the Auditor General was supposed to testify during the past 3 hearings but because he was out of town he has testified today and the judge has accepted his excuse of being out of town and agreed to listen to him this saturday now the defense team is also saying that the media has been trying to sway Public Opinion people in the streets have been saying that the president is not facing the real charges which he should face which are work crimes and crimes against humanity in the Western Region of darfur and the southern regions of blue nile and South Kordofan a newly appointed state prosecutors say that its not their job to hand over the ousted president to the International Criminal court where hes facing those charges as well as charges of genocide and an arrest warrant has been issued against him the state prosecutors say that it is up to the Justice Ministry and up to an elected government in 3 years time to decide whether the president will be tried for this crimes here in sudan or whether he will be handed over to the International Criminal court like many of the world victims in those regions have been calling for over the past few months israel has targeted hamas in air strikes early on saturday after rockets were fired from gaza it comes to days after the beginning of a cease fire that was supposed to end a week of strikes a fair up that started with an Israeli Attack on the leader of the Islamic Jihad group a very force that now reports from gaza its begun to highlight the friction between hamas and the slum of jihad. Israels assassination of the senior Islamic Jihad commander. Led to a fierce round of escalation and more than 33rd the deaths inside gaza. Its also revealed and made worse the frictions between hamas which governs the gaza strip and Islamic Jihad which through a rocket crews had been the trigger for repeated escalations in recent months. Has been pursuing a negotiated truce with israel it chose to stand back after the assassination but as i meet you hard fired hundreds of rockets and was in turn targeted by israeli airstrikes d a senior hamas figure tells me the difference is a well on the way to being resolved but that hamas had no interest in going to war you talk about being dragged towards a bigger conflict by whom by Islamic Jihad by their actions by by i know im talking about no i think that it is not either said to figure this is going to or to enter a war with israel so its not easy i think we have to have the calculations about the pros about that going to school as is about the results and the techniques how different our civil people how to or not to put more there than our people i think we have to put all these calculations in the chair but it is not easy i think its not a lot for any policy of to get this you know a lot say ok i want to fire missiles. But in the aftermath of heavy israeli air strikes one of which killed 8 civilians including 5 children there have been calls across gaza for hamas to do just that in the early hours of saturday morning 2 rockets were fired at the israeli town of a shaver intercepted by the anti missile iron dome system a few hours later israeli warplanes struck hamas sites here in gaza a sign babs that hamas is military wing had responded to public pressure. Theres been several protests since thursday cease fire and in a sign of the continuing tension a senior hamas figure was even barred from. Paying his respects at a ball otters morning tent. Is very angry that hamas did not join the fight against israel and with the shooting that the 48 hour israeli escalation. It seems to me that we might even see further fiction and further complicated relationship in the future. Israel said it killed in order to stop the rocket attacks he directed perhaps also hoping it would in hans hamas is control of the gazas weaponry the question now is whether his death has removed an obstacle dividing gazas 2 biggest factions or whether the events of the last few days have done yet deeper damage to their relationship or if will sit gaza. A quarter of a 1000000 people rallied in the czech capital prague on saturday to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the velvet revolution saturdays protest said an ultimatum for Prime Minister underage by business to sell his business or quit his job hes been facing allegations of corruption over his farming media and Chemicals Company the velvet revolution brought an end to decades of communist rule in the country but in a park the scene of massive gatherings in 1998 kickstarted the process was the site of saturdays protests. Venice is cleaning up after being hit by its worst flooding in more than 50 years volunteers across they tally and city are working to save historic artifacts including ancient music scores which have been salvaged from the now receiving floodwaters an exceptionally high tide on friday forced officials to close the iconic st marks square in the already devastated city center the square has since been reopened but venice is braced for another high tide on something. Britains Prince Andrew has spoken publicly about his relationship with convicted sex offender jeffrey obscene speaking to the b. B. C. The duke of york said he led the royal family down by staying at epsteins home after his conviction he expressed regret saying it was the wrong seem to do catherine stansell explains. But at the time and precedented interview with a Senior Member of the British Royal family and his connections with the convicted sex offender Prince Andrew spoke to u. K. Media about american billionaire Jeffrey Epstein you were staying at the house and convicted sex offender at the end of the day. With the benefit of hindsight that one could have. It was definitely the wrong thing to do. But at the time i felt it was the papers the right thing to do i kick myself for the day. Because it was not something that was becoming a member of. American billionaire Jeffrey Epstein hanged himself in his jail cell in august while awaiting trial he was accused of sexually exploiting and abusing dozens of underage girls in 2008 epstein was convicted of soliciting sex from underage girls despite this Prince Andrew remained friends with epstein he went before the cameras to try to rescue his reputation but royal watchers believe his interview may make matters worse thats thats i think that this interview will be a trainwreck i think that it will have the effect of putting far more pressure than has already experienced on Prince Andrew why the to visit a convicted sex offender why did he find it convenient to stay with him and why on earth should the queens 2nd some think that this was all on rable way to behave which it wouldnt be for any human being Virginia Roberts giuffre says she was one of Jeffrey Epsteins underage victims and she says she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew 3 times she says she met him in 2001 she says she dined with danced with you at night club in london she went on to have sex with you in a house in gravy or a longing to go and marks on your friend your response. Recollection of said. I dont remember. This is Prince Andrew with the woman he says he cant remember meeting his lack of recollection is a departure from the denials issued in the past Buckingham Palace has always denied the allegations against Prince Andrew calling them false and without foundation this was a very carefully orchestrated interview that took place here and it was sanctioned by the queen herself this is the 1st time Prince Andrew has spoken so directly about his relationship with epstein but the way he handled the interview may well lead to more questions than answers catherine stansell al jazeera london. Much more on that story and Everything Else that we have been covering here on aljazeera on our website there it is and the address of course aljazeera dot com. Now a reminder of the top stories on aljazeera one person has died in nationwide protests against the fuel price hike in iran the cost of a liter of fuel has gone up by at least 50 percent with a russian imposed on household things that thats happened is them a stranger has attacked the fuel Storage Facility in the Southern City of city. In tehran and the rest of iran everything is dependent on fuel prices if the price of fuel goes up in the night i date the price of rent will go up as well as all the Living Expenses including fruit and vegetables it affects everything which is very bad i really believe that it will paralyze a class of society especially the laboring class. Huge why did they make this decision because they dont have money left we are on the sanctions they want to take the money out of the peoples pockets they have a budget deficit. There have been violent scenes in paris where police and demonstrators have clashed on the 1st anniversary of the yellow vests protest movement tear gas and water cannon were used against hundreds of demonstrators after they built barricades across the city setting fire to cars and rubbish bins more than 100 people have been arrested police have again fired tear gas at protesters in hong kong as they tried to clear roadblocks outside one of the citys universities earlier chinese troops were seen on the streets helping to clear barricades they werent in uniform but their presence is controversial in the ongoing unrest over the chinese governments role in the territory. At least 18 people have been killed and several wounded in a car bomb attack in northeast syria the explosion occurred in the turkish controlled town of near aleppo the Turkish DefenseMinistry Says the attack was carried out by Syrian Kurdish fighters but theres been no claim of responsibility from any group. Counting is underway in sri lankas president ial election former defense minister go to buy rajapaksa is locked in a close fight with current housing minister saad the just premadasa minority groups fear the return of rajapaksa but the present government is expected to be punished for its handling of the suicide bombings in april which killed hundreds. These are the top stories stay with us the listening post is next looking at the role of twitter in the arab world and im going to have more news for you in half an hour thanks for watching. The 1st time the earnings are accusing saudi arabia of the spying aspect of this that process through assured them. And ask us to fight. This or is it because they accept this were at this. Critical of the saudi government. Alone richard just britain youre at the listening post here are some of the media stories were covering this week enemy agents within a court case in the us threatens to expose the relationship between twitter and saudi arabia in taiwan they call them the red media news outlets with allegiances to beijing reporters in nigeria are being jailed for what prosecutors call cyber crimes and others