Britains Prince Andrew admits he made a mistake by staying at the home of a convicted sex offender. Thank you for joining Us Riot Police and Security Forces have clashed with demonstrators in dozens of cities across iran following an increase in fuel prices one person has been killed and several others injured as they try to enter an oil refinery in the Southern City of syria john doerr such a body of reports. Anger frustration and growing concern in tehran as people protested against a 200 percent increase in fuel prices. Many simply turned off their engines on major highways across the city to show their disappointment at the sudden decision to raise petrol prices overnight. As heavy snow blanketed the capital people still lined up at the gas stations to fill up. Quota for remarriage kyra 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 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 hurt 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 enclose a sun 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 paid to process 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 tower on. Its way to hong kong now where police fired tear gas at antigovernment protesters as they tried to clear roadblocks outside a major outside major Main University 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 beijings role in the territory rob mcbride has more now from hong call. 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 and 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 in the 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 will 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. There have been violent scenes in paris where police and demonstrators clashed on the 1st anniversary of the yellow vests protest movement tear gas and water cannon were used against hundreds of protesters after they built barricades across paris and set fire to cars he reports from the french capital. 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 for the movements 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 are 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 the 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 microbes 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. My call 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 accuse 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 yellow vests say they would join the microbe may face a turbulent winter had. 0 paris. The former lebanese finance minister Mohammad Safadi has withdrawn his candidacy to be the next Prime Minister in a statement safire the says they would have been difficult to form a harmonious cabinet supported by all parties he also said he hoped outgoing Prime Minister saad hariri would be designated again for the post and the government protesters took to the streets this week in anger against the fight is on the nation are calling for a complete overhaul of lebanons. Also being counted in sri lankas president ial election where rising religious tensions and the slowing economy have taken center stage some 15000000 sri lankans are eligible to vote and its expected that more people will vote in this poll than in the last election 4 years ago and smith takes a look at the key candidates in the race. Got a pirate to paxson knows as he bowed to the british priest that he could rely on support from voters within sri lankas majority thing. But he also needs support from minority muslims and tamils too if hes 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 people that party also courts nationalists is a big blue lanka get in with. The. Staff of sri lankas 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 that are coming forward to look for more of 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. But its read out his era. Still to come on aljazeera as rocket exchanges and their strikes continue between israel and gaza report on friction between hamas and Islamic Jihad plus. We will leave you on the 29 march to. Another break so battleground our rival parties are using the online world to get their election messages across. How the fires in New South Wales and queensland have been helped fast the world by a lack of rain and wind in high temperatures but more recently the highest temps of in further west perth has beaten its not just novembers all time spring record of 8097 so to 40. 4 in the city now purse will cool down in the next few days with west resta west australia will still be hot and then it will transfer to South Australia where is down here in the bottom right hand corner were warming up but only warming up the winds brief will be quite nasty i think in queens and then they tend to die down by monday thats an improving situation the rain though if its going to be there toll is tucked into tasmania just briefly touches victoria and then goes to new zealand now weve seen this time and time again stop particularly wet on sunday the sun should be out in auckland it is rather cloudy and wet today come monday the change of season now in a shoe is really showing itself weve had some snow substantial snow in our cartoons more likely just a little bit on sunday but take a look at this innocuous little low building here just south of the yellow sea that bills toxic cold air is coming out of the mainland and the massive plume of snow falls in north korea and its on its way to eventually towards her colorado. From lagos to jerusalem by i am on the go moses claimed soon. Form a milestone in history in babylon. 3 short films that show how people take a stand against evictions and mess drug and communities the 1st time they arrested i was 11 years old a. J. Selects on aljazeera. Time for a reminder now of the top stories on aljazeera one person has died nationwide protests against the fuel price hike in iran the cost of fuel has gone up by least 50 Percent Police have fired tear gas at protesters you know on call because they tried to clear roadblocks outside one of the main universities more than 120 protesters have been arrested after violent clashes in paris on the 1st anniversary of the yellow festival. Britains Prince Andrew has spoken publicly about his relationship with a convicted sex offender Geoffrey Epstein speaking to the b. B. C. The duke of york said he let the royal family down by staying at epsteins home after his conviction catherine stansell has more but 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 Geoffrey 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 paper stick on the right thing to do and 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 for this interview will be a trainwreck. I think that it will have the effect of putting far more pressure than has already experienced Prince Andrew why did he 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 the 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 you 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 belgravia a longing to go and marks on your friend your response. No recollection of ever slurred. You dont remember meeting her 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 for more on Prince Andrews interview royal biographer Christopher Wilson joins us live now via skype from devon sir thank you so much for joining us here on aljazeera now we just just saw some excerpts of that interview in our report but the full interview has just aired on the b. B. C. I know that youve been watching us watching it at tell us what the most important points that came out of it were. I think the most important point is that Prince Andrew said the queen has not been damaged by what has been said this evening and i think hes entirely wrong in that i think that he has dragged his mother a woman whos been on the throne for 67 years considered by all royal families around the whole world to be the exemplar the best example of how a monarch should behave and hes dragged his mom into this very personal problem which hes got and which wont go away in the report we had a commentator saying that he thought that this interview might be a train wreck was it a train wreck of an interview and if so why did he decide to to give the and. Well i think you have to look at it 2 ways 1st more damage limitation exercise on his part i mean these accusations have been around for nearly 10 years why is he now deciding that hes actually wants to speak publicly about an event which hes managed to dodge for all that time i think the answer to that has to be that there is something that we dont yet know but its coming down the turnpike quite soon i think were going to see that there are developments in the whole Jeffrey Epstein story you have to remember that the f b i i want to speak to you. Sandro and so do the french authorities because ive seen not mentioned in that film but also had an apartment in paris which Prince Andrew visited and the french authorities want to know what went on there and it may well be that something is happening in that direction which is forced him out and made him come to the table and give this very in my view embarrassing interview i mean certainly the reaction to it makes it look very damaging for him he says its not going to damage the queen but in you mentioned that you think it will but then again why do you think they let him do this interview especially the queen because the queen herself we understand approved the interview well i think thats not quite the case i think that what has happened in recent times if you look at if youre interested in what harry and meghan to doing. Now different ways of approaching the media which dont go through royal central we call it and i think that andrew pretty much has decided that hes got to come out for whatever reason happens to be and marking down so well you know its up to you you must do what you think youre going to do but you know the whole interview was a disaster for him because he said i dont know i dont remember i cant recall and yet on other occasions its quite clear that he has a pinpoint recollection of things oh no that was a shooting weekend he said when were talking about Something Else i never went up stairs and delaine maxwells has well theres a photograph of him up stairs and elaine maxwells house so there is a mixture of absolute pinpoint memory and complete forgive a lack of recollection and ive prayed in front of a jury that would not wash chris if i wasnt going to have to leave it there royal biographer Christopher Wilson thank you for your time. 2 new transcripts have been released as part of the impeachment inquiry into us President Donald Trump she have returned she has more now from washington d. C. As with the formerly private depositions that have been released publicly were not expecting any new bombshells in the impeachment inquiry as a result of these 2 releases but we are expecting more color and detail we do broadly know what both these advisers said to morrison the National Security councils top advisor on russia and europe said that he was told there was a quid pro quo that the aid the military aid to ukraine wouldnt be released until there was an investigation in to the bidens he also said that he had did have some concerns about the july 25th call between donald trump and the ukrainian president not because he thought anything was wrong with the call or anything illegal was going on but just because he thought that if it if it did leak out it may cause problems for the administration which of course it has of course problems but actually when he testified at the end of last month the white house and republicans were pretty happy because he said he didnt think anything was necessarily wrong with what President Trump was asking on that july 25th corps. As far as Jennifer Williams is concerned the special advisor to mike pence on russia and europe she said she did think of a july 24th call was inappropriate because it was so political she was another person who had listened in on it and she also said though that as far as she was concerned mike pence the Vice President and never discussed any investigations into the bidens effectively. In question weve often had is what was mike pence doing in all of this as well as she was concerned mike pence didnt mention to her anywhere and he politically motivated investigations into the bidens israel has targeted had massive air strikes early on saturday after rockets were fired from gaza this comes days after a cease fire that was meant to end the week of strikes a flare up that started with an Israeli Attack on the Islamic Jihad group every 4 said reports now from gaza. Israels assassination of the senior Islamic Jihad commander but. 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 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 well as army jihad fired hundreds of rockets it was in turn targeted by israeli airstrikes 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 the way im talking about no i think that it is not either said to take a decision to enter a war with israel so its not easy i think we have to have calculations about the pros about going to school this is about the results and the tactics how different our civil people how. Not to put more burden or 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 virtual goods in a lot i want to fire missiles. But in the aftermath of heavy israeli airstrikes 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 sunday 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 those days cease fire and in a sign of the continuing tension a senior hamas figure was even barred from paying his respects at a boil otters mourning tent is going to get this very angry that hamas did not join the fight against israel in that with the shooting that the 48 hour Israeli Escalation and it seems to me that we might even see further friction unfair the 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 the relationship kerry forsett ill just gaza as the u. K. s Political Parties fight for undecided voters ahead of next months general election theyre turning to Online Platforms for help and much of the content there is well pretty but is that the reports theyre also creating amateurish means designed to go file. We will leave the e. U. On the 29th march to the as. Its made to raise a lot but it also makes a serious point about the conservatives failing to deliver bricks it when they said they would this online video is the work of momentum the Grassroots Movement that supports labor leader Jeremy Corbyn one example of how Political Parties are using eye catching Digital Content in the battle for undecided voters and Boris Johnsons conservatives are firing back with a series of memes all with a similar message but with different treatments depending on whom theyre aimed at sean top and ben gearin the young new zealand is behind many of them were hired after helping australias center right liberal party score an unexpected election victory this year were posting 30 posts a day and more than 20250 a week that means you have to generate and publish a new piece of content every 20 minutes. Theyre saying what we call the boomer means because you have to create stuff out quickly i love this one here this sort of horrible mix of neil paying a very bold Canary Yellow this advertising professional who runs his own blog on the latest political means says this deliberately garish content is often counterintuitively popular with older voters we have seen some of the advertising the conservative party have done aimed under 30 fives and actually its got more of a sort of retro cool eightys vibe to it where its actually quite polished and well crafted in the way that city uses. The visual language of the internet in quite a quite nice way for the digital Team Momentum the emphasis is on spreading content with real people talking about their lived experience of issues Like Health Care but they say theyll continue to put out satirical videos too you can talk very seriously about the things this government has done you can talk seriously about things like grand fell into it seriously about things you know like excess deaths as a result of austerity but then you can also talk reverently because i think you know people are just always communicating one time in their communicating and so many in this campaign were seeing online content thats generating lots of laughs and then were seeing content thats getting laughed at now some experts say what really matters is simply that people are engaging with the outputs but are those sounding alarm bells. I think the important thing is that in trying to get those simple catchy messages across they dont lose sight of the importance of being honest with the electorate because sometimes the simple message isnt necessary the most accurate message well i cant hide it from you ive been thinking a bit about this general Election Campaign whats clear is more than ever before the search for hearts and minds is happening online as much as it is on doorsteps the aljazeera london. You can find that much more about the British Election coming up and Everything Else that we have been covering on aljazeera on our website there it is the address aljazeera dot com. And 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 petrol has gone up by at least 50 percent with a russian imposed on household but thats happened as them strangers attacked a fuel Storage Facility in the Southern City of suez john the anger follows the start of a recession and rises in the prices of bread and rice after the u. S. Reimpose the sanctions over Irans Nuclear ambitions. 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 other Living Expenses including fruit and vegetables it effects 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 of clashed on the 1st anniversary of the yellow vests protest movement tear gas and water cannon were used against hundreds of protesters after they built barricades across the capital setting fire to cars and rubbish things more than 120 people have been arrested Yellow Vest Movement began last november over rising fuel prices and the high cost of living the weekly demonstrations a sudden grew into a broader revolt against president Emanuel Mccraw and his Economic Reforms can call police or fire tear gas at antigovernment protesters there as they tried to clear roadblocks outside one of the main universities earlier chinese troops were seen on the streets help because we are barricades they went in uniform but their presence is controversial in the ongoing unrest over beijings role in the territory. Counting is underway in. Because president ial election former defense minister go to buy it russia is locked in a close fight with the current housing minister probably the assa minority groups fear the return of russia but the present government is expected to be punished for its handling of the april suicide bombings the left hundreds of people that those are the top stories stay with us coming up next a. J. Selects evictions takes a look at how people take a stand against losing their homes thanks for watching but i think. The Prime Minister. Should. Give the critics on the 31st of october i think in this country the greatest place on a pretty much it is delayed. Follow drama of bricks it on aljazeera. Tried suicide no no no no i dont really identify because its really really confusing. From im trying to identify my house. Im trying to identify my house my family. To go is a strange. Story. My background