crisis has exposed dangerous kurdish divisions we explore how we got here and the impact on the wider region. also on the great charting the course of a rising superpower china's president xi jinping looks beyond the traditional five year plan as he outlined his vision for global leadership will look at how he's already laying the foundations and ask whether china can overtake the u.s. and a defiance on the streets of tokyo opposition supporters ignore a government order a strict in protest to demand the president's resignation and an end to his family's safety a role that's been met with tear gas in the capital alone may the u.n. says togo's government needs to address the demands of its people and to u.s. federal judges block president donald trump's latest attempt to restrict immigration sparking yet another round of divisive reaction online a major supplier connect with us throughout the show using the hash tag it's in your spirit. he with his great live on air and streaming online for you to facebook live and at al-jazeera dot com thank you for joining us the iraqi army says its mission has been accomplished after a lightning operation against kurdish forces they and their shia militia allies swept through parts of disputed kurdish held territory that you can see shaded here and it's left kurdish forces almost entirely confined to their autonomous region the iraqi army conquests include the contested city of kirkuk where they've taken control of significant oil fields and processing facilities without those economic ass's secession becomes even more difficult for the kurds is all goes back to a kurdish referendum held last month which resulted in a resound being yes for their region to break away from iraq the government in baghdad declared the vote illegal and it was opposed by regional and world powers al-jazeera as john stratford has more from a bail in northern iraq. iraqi government forces are in full control of the oil fields around kirkuk one of iraq's two main oil producing areas vital for the economy. before the peshmerga forces withdrew the kurdistan regional government was pumping around six hundred thousand barrels of oil a day from wells like these. this is one of the main processing units of the by has and feel it used to be exploited by the occupying forces of coke now thank god the fields have been handed over to the iraqi authorities when the peshmerga controlled this area the iraqi government accused the kurdish leaders of not sharing oil revenue with baghdad so it stops sending the seventeen percent of the federal budget as per the two thousand and five constitution to the region. now with the oil fields back under iraqi government control the oil ministry has vowed to increase production to one million barrels a day. and it's threatening legal action against the kurdistan regional government if it stops the flow to the turkish mediterranean port of jihan through a pipeline across the kurdish region of northern iraq the oil ministry isn't taking any risks. it plans to repair and reopen a pipeline that was damaged in two thousand and fourteen during fighting against eisel one that doesn't cross kurdish territory. as militia and iraqi government forces fill the streets in the nearby town to debase the shia song echoes from the loudspeakers. don't underestimate mr kurd we are the ancestors of the grandson of the prophet muhammad would be an accurate translation. prime minister hyderabadi says in taking back control of the kirkuk oil fields he has acted according to iraq's constitution for the benefit of all iraqis the kurdish government says it's being punished by baghdad and the international community for holding a referendum on eventual secession from iraq which was the kurdish people's right we are disappointed at the reaction of the international community they should not have let down the people of color to stop they have abandoned us at the time that we have done exactly what they have been preaching that mean people preaching of democracy human rights rule of law transparency and openness going to the public going to the source of legitimacy is this a crime the kurdistan regional government is around seventeen billion dollars in debts and revenue from kirkuk oil fields was vital to compensate for the seventeen percent of the federal budget the baghdad stopped sending this region in two thousand and fifteen now baghdad has not yet said when know if it will restart sending the money but with the oil fields firmly under government control the economic situation of this region could get even worse al-jazeera. now what's happening with the kurds in northern iraq has ramifications beyond iraq's borders take a look at this map on al jazeera dot com up to thirteen million kurds do not have an official country a homeland and they reside primarily in the mountainous regions of iran iraq syria and turkey and in each of these four countries kurds have had years of unstable relationship with government so one of the questions now is where does this crisis in northern iraq leave ah the kurds in the region well let's bring in peter galbraith now is a former u.s. diplomat and author who is also an advisor to the kurdish regional government he joins us on the news great from new york thank you very much for your time sir the kurds have no doubt lost a lot of territory in northern iraq and there are those who say today the kurdish dream of independence has no chance whatsoever now what do you say to that. i think that kurdistan's independence is inevitable the issue is that you had a referendum which was a completely well run transparent election with a huge turnout ninety two percent voting for independence under those circumstances it's really impossible to see how you keep kurdistan within iraq over the long term that the people of the country have absolutely rejected that so the only long term way to do it is through the kind of brutal repression that you had under saddam hussein and i don't think the iraqi government has the capability to do it maybe it doesn't have the will to do it and certainly the international community wouldn't tolerate it so there may be a standoff for some period of time but i think the destination of independence is inevitable but ironically the let you know it is a phase territory let me it's easy it's inevitable independence it is navigable and sorry to interrupt you but mustn't barzani the kurdish regional president underestimated is he not the death of international opposition to this referendum he's weakened today there are divisions among the kurds he some say he can't even remain in power how is independence still possible if there are divisions among the kurds on the way forward well i mean the reality is that basically almost every country that's become independent and twenty eight new countries have emerged since one thousand nine hundred one has had internal divisions the united states a third of the country supported britain during a revolutionary war so that compared to that the kurds are in fact relatively united and the point the other point i was going to make is that what was happening i listened to listen here to right you see that when there are accusations amongst themselves about what happened in these last forty eight hours and there's a blame game going on right now about what led to this current crisis. well for sure and there were there was a faction of one of the parties that basically cooperated with the iranians who were the masterminds of this attack on care cook. to arrange for the peshmerga to to withdraw when i spoke of unity i didn't mean of the unity of the leadership i met the unity of the population in desiring independence others other societies that have become independent have tended to be more divided with a segment that doesn't want independence that that doesn't exist in kurdistan the other point if i can come back to it is that the loss of territory while it's a huge blow to the to kurdistan and an economically to lose the care cook oil fields it also simplifies the situation because the territory that is now the kurdistan region is defined as the kurdistan region and it is territory with with basically no population no arab populations don't hop elations that don't want independence right and that makes it much simpler and you know small states tend to do better than big states and a lot of parts of the world right i want to talk to you about the regional and international reaction now and i have a comment here from one of our viewers a regular viewers on these great mom would say is the kurds are waiting for international support where is the u.s. in all this of course the back both sides in these crisis why have we seen so little international support and also we've heard accusations in the last forty eight hours that iran and the regional countries iran and other countries to know to be perhaps made a role in this crisis and the loss of territory that the kurds have seen in northern iraq what is your view on that. well certainly the kurds are extremely disappointed in the united states. you know that they feel that the choice was between them who have been a loyal ally of america and the shia militias that are commanded by general cus i'm still i'm amy the head of the iranian al could force and in fact while the u.s. has not provided m. one tanks and weapons of that kind to the kurdish fighters the peshmerga the unite the trumpet ministration president trump has permitted the iranian commanded forces including a couple of units headed by by people we call we had out of phase terrorists to use american tanks and other high tech weapons to attack the kurds so yeah there's a a lot of bitterness a lot of disappointment that the united states should be forgetting its friends and siding with people who are not pro-american thank you so much for your time said peter galbraith former u.s. diplomat joining is there from new york and talking to us about the situation in northern iraq thank you very much for being on the news great now to other world news and china's president has declared it's time for his country to be front and center on the world stage sheeting being laid out as vision heavy on aspiration but light on detail as he addresses the communist party congress which determines who rules china and its direction he spoke for almost three and a half hours using the phrase new iraq thirty six times china correspondent agent brown was watching on. president xi jinping can control a lot of things but he can't influence the weather to the superstitious and many people here are the damp grey start to this congress was perhaps a warning sign. in spite of the weather this was a day of choreographed unity after what has been a tumultuous few years for the party. but there was a stirring welcome for the president. this is as close as the foreign media get to the opaque workings of china's communist party. she reported on his past five years in office saying the party had achieved miracles he also warned serious challenges ahead. our country is at a strategic point in is development the future is extremely bright but the challenges are also extremely serious all party congress must assert their size and the high and the think of a danger in times of safety his address lasted three and a half hours if nothing else it showed that she now sixty four is healthy healthy enough to rule for another ten to fifteen years insists his supporters at one stage former president jiang zemin appeared to nod off think he was china's top leader twenty five years ago when i reported on the fourteenth party congress as china began to experiment with capitalism the new catch phrase is socialism with chinese characteristics in a new openness and economic anything seems to go anything that is political reform twenty five years on the faces behind me have changed but the backdrop remains pretty much the same and the prospect of political reform as remote now as it was then. the congress will now meet in secret for the next seven days of to which china's new leaders will be unveiled president xi is assured of a second term and this congress seems set to cement his position as china's top leader for a lot longer adrian brown al-jazeera beijing. well let's look more closely now at how she jinping is laying the foundations for china to take more of a global leadership role a big part of it is economic diplomacy she calls is one belt and one road initiative the project of the century likened to a modern silk road it spans more than sixty countries and involves building roads bridges pipelines ports railways and power plants is also a driving force behind huge new financial institutions that are countering the influence of the world bank and under she more chinese money has flowed to some of africa's emerging economies as bankrolling the continent for us cross border electric train lines and there are plans to invest sixty billion dollars into other development projects let's not bring in our next guest to the news great fossil good mole who's director of the asia and china program at the european council for foreign relations his rise kai from paris france thank you so much for being with us so china has emerged clearly as a global superpower and more assertive under xi jinping what has he done differently since he came to power and how do you see him executing china's foreign policy over the next few decades. first of all he's ruler and he styles are a complete cut from all of his predecessors since model they emphasized collective leadership of course as a correction after the director ship of emphasizes force the party rule the parties of word he repeated three hundred thirty one times today but it is clearly he's own roots it was a show of strength on his spot it came on stage with his two predecessors in tow these are people who knew as essential the sideline and probably in the case of chum to me he has boats and they sat and listened to him. in terms of how china is going to deal with the world right this is first to talk about the party comments everything and the party would be defended and china is equated with a party and therefore to defend china one has to defend the party i'm sorry to be snobbish about that but the rhetorical matters right he said he had a vision for all of china's place in the world but he was very short on specifics did we have more detail about what this vision is. we don't have a lot of tears from this speech although he did speak about for investors for example they use all kinds words that foreign investors will get more favorable terms that see if this happens. is talked about the power of the military the military is a term that he's used eighty six times in his speech and he promises that china will have the world's first army by twenty fifty right experts and i want to talk to think deeply about that about the army president xi has a implemented sweeping reforms to modernize the tinies ami the people's liberation army we seem trying to open its first overseas base in djibouti why is it important for china to have a strong military what's the main goal here is it to protect china's economic interests around the world or are they other ambitions i think there are several distinct goals and it's difficult to prioritize them it's one of them is relief cation it's still about iran and other one is defending what china judges to be its own territory in the sunshine a sea that extends very far and we quite for example the construction of artificial bases that that sea has supervised and mention in the past few years beyond that there's no question that he wants china to be a world that naval power right on par with the biggest navies have also got no i want to take a listen to what president xi had to say earlier on wednesday about climate change and about how china may take a leading role in limiting climate change take a listen and i'll come back to in a second. ecological environment management has been strengthened significantly and the environmental conditions have been improving we have been leading in international cooperation in coping with climate change becoming an important participant contribution and leading in the building of the global ecological civilization so quite an interesting comment there especially when you remember that donald trump is due in beijing in early november do you think president xi here is setting the tone for for that visit and is this a way for china to take over from a position that the u.s. is withdrawing for from. well obviously donald trump is make it easier for city to claim leadership over international institutions and even over much debtors and try mate is the choice of topic that sitting behind stone why not because it's also a profitable industry china has actually bert knishes from solar power to with power. it is leading today the world and indeed in twenty seventeen it has begun to turn around the investment from coal and traditional energy to substitutes to oil and china's industrial capacity may help a lot that below sea to appear as a standard there when of course donald trump has laid down the slack for somebody else to take it up thank you very much for speaking to us for joining us there from paris france thank you for your time now every time china's national congress meets government senses on high alert and social media producer is with us now what is different this year after all fall in the lead up to the conference a series of steps have been taken to stamp out online expression and commentary that may not fit within the communist party's narrative now with nearly one point four billion people and seven hundred million internet users it's certainly a big task now that falls under the cyberspace administration of china or the cac which president xi created it's gained sweeping powers over a lot of things including online content and in particular financial news as well as the licensing of news outlets and also messaging platforms this visual from the mercato or institute for china studies kind of gives us a sense of the bureaucracy that's been created from the provincial level all the way to the top and you can also get a sense of just the scope of their powers it's across society now the cac is the by . they that forced apple to remove virtual private networks or v.p.n. which weren't registered in country p.p. and allow people to get around censorship and in the lead up to the party congress the messaging app whatsapp was also blocked now facebook instagram and twitter are still blocked as well have been for years and it's not like china seven hundred million internet users have nothing else to use right they have their own homegrown services such as we chat which are hugely popular but online chinese platforms are still tightly restricted last week a new rule kicks in which makes moderators of group chats on services like we chats legally responsible for comments that are made by users and they've stopped allowing users to change their profiles their nicknames or their bio's now that's part of a broader effort to fight fake news they've also banned anonymous users and bots after learning some lessons from the u.s. election last year the government has also find its top three tech giants tencent alibaba and by due for failing to stop the spread of fake news along with violence and pornography now the cyberspace administration of china wrote about these moves in a article that was published in the main party journal last month and they said this if our party cannot traverse the hurdle presented by the internet it cannot traverse the hurdle of remaining in power for the long term so we've heard from them now we want to hear from you do you think china's gone overboard or are these kinds of steps necessary to me a favor away and share your views using the hash tag a j news grid. and you know we've talked about china and the us and you know the competition to become the global superpower china's competition will take a look at this graphic on al-jazeera dot com taking a look at the two countries and how much they spend on the military their economies export some very interesting figures comparing them and which i understand they're standing on the global stage and we've got some very interesting comments from our viewers on this story. on facebook here who says china is peaceful superiority will benefit the world more mold better than that of the u.s. russia and the u.k. thank you for your comment is sure you can keep them coming by using the hash tag a.j. news great on social media of course that's not turn to our view wall here on the newsgroup taking a look at the different pictures the news agencies are feeding us this is the u.s. attorney general jeff sessions who is testifying before the senate judiciary committee about. basically. justice department oversight we'll have more on this in just a few minutes lots of questions they're going to be asked to jeff sessions and will speak to our correspondent in washington about that in just a few minutes but right now let's check in with my intimacy in our london news center for the day's other news maria. hi there well we begin in kenya where supporters of the opposition leader raul or a danger have been rallying in nairobi on the day a top electoral commission a quit of the presidential election rerun people have been demonstrating the opposition stronghold kibera after president her kenyatta announced the presidential poll will still go ahead senior election official rolls in a calm day resigned saying next week vote will not be credible kenya's election chief also said it's hard to guarantee free fair and credible elections warned all parties to stop interfering ameda miller has more from nairobi. the chairman of the electoral commission has essentially backed dump some of the allegations made by one of the commissioners who's just resigned now dr combat had alleged that there was political a fear and see in the operations of the electoral commission this has been echoed by the chairman who says these interferences have to stop to allow for a free and fair election a rerun of the august election hasd is due to take place in just eight days and that's off to the supreme court last month ruled that the electoral commission hadn't drawn and transparent election at least when it came to the telling of results there were irregularities and illegalities now the commission at this point is not saying that elections won't take place the commission chairman is calling for dialogue to ensure that the election is won in the best way possible but they continues to be a lot of confusion the government of the governing body to believe party says elections will take place the main opposition raila odinga has withdrawn from the race saying elections won't be free and fair and they continues to be this confusion and doubt around whether the i.e.c. can run the elections as it should. but he's in somalia opened fire in a crowd of people to stop them protesting about saturday's deadly bombings in mogadishu more than three hundred people were killed in twin blasts in the capital the demonstrators have been trying to reach the site of the attack witnesses said they heard gunfire and several people were injured demonstrators were later allowed to gather at the site of the bombing somali has been appealing for blood donations to treat those wounded in saturday's attacks amnesty international is accusing security forces in myanmar of killing hundreds of revenge of muslims more than five hundred eighty thousand ranger have fled violence in the since august and what it's calling a systematic campaign against the muslim minority amnesty international says security forces are raping and killing fleeing inhabitants setting villages alight and burning to death the elderly sick and disabled is calling for an arms embargo on myanmar and criminal prosecution of its forces tanveer chaldron has traveled to a refugee camp at the bangladeshi border with me and ma to see firsthand what the conditions a light. a list ten to fifteen thousand people are stranded here in no man's land or what is called zero line between myanmar and bangor those brought out this area . this baby will have fled within the last two days that been stranded and has no safety to go to most of them people are exposed to weather the majority are women and children and elderly people the government has given permission to some of the aid agencies to bring critical care medicine and food but the idea they're still taking shelter in the pedophile in a manmade dike just doesn't make sense are coming under critical review by the u.n. agency and other international aid agency that why are still kept and we are on the border guard officer there were undertaking to shelters and could have prolonged this said we need a coordinated approach before we take them in that are incredible an area still the idea this people are still here is a major question what is behind the motive of the government to keep them here still in a very badly expose weather condition one of the stories we're following closely israeli authorities have approved another large set of plans for illegal settlement homes in the occupied west bank some one thousand three hundred twenty three settlement housing units have just been given the green light taking the total this week to two thousand six hundred forty six it's all part of an israeli government push to expand west bank settlement construction which is illegal under international law the e.u. has condemned the latest decision saying they are detrimental to peace efforts in other developments the israeli army has raided the offices of several t.v. channels and production companies in the occupied west bank confiscating equipment and closing down some of those companies and media companies raided included al could channel in hebron pal media in bethlehem and ramallah on the alexa and palestine channels in ramallah as well as the offices of transmedia and nablus and hebron israel accuses those companies of both costing material that quote incites tara. well i have much more from london a few later on in about thirty minutes time now but ali thank you very much and we just want to pick up on your final story there and the media raids and shutdowns in the occupied west bank we've asked some of the palestinian journalists affected what they think take a listen then usually about whether we are going to get the level there is no clear justification what the occupation says is that these companies gave services to media channels they accuse of provocation but there is no israeli definition for provocation and no way to measure any palestinian coverage that the occupation doesn't like can be deemed provocative this puts a knife to the throats of all journalists and media organizations like you. our jobs will definitely be affected but we can't stop working will always carry on it's clear that the occupation failed and facing the palestinian journalist with words so they reverted to the military and security options to shut down those companies and channels that will carry on working despite the measures of suppression that the occupation uses. i said. the company that provide us along with other arab and foreign stations with services was targeted. and may be connected to political developments israeli occupation wants to confirm that they're always present we want to stop our coverage occupation is stupid to miss that new technology allowed for other means our if you're watching us on facebook coming up next find out what malawi is doing to get more female politicians into on a mend and still ahead on the grid they're not quitting until their president does government protesters in togo back out on the streets defying a government order to stay with us. welcome back as we look at weather conditions across the levant and western parts of asia we've had these weather systems swing through these northern regions as we look at weather for thursday in should be fine temperature of the slightly below average there ten so as it stands generally looking fine around the caspian sea also fine back you look a little bit warmer nineteen degrees turkey good weather conditions for ankara very warm there for beirut are thirty degrees celsius with the wind coming out from the south heading through into friday still fine conditions expected and cooling off across iraq and iran temperatures in baghdad a mere thirty two degrees celsius here in the arabian peninsula will find the wind picking up once again i think of nights a couple of days so humidity continues to drop in the temperatures too edging down very slightly thirty six is a nice window how lovely weather conditions here at the moment fine conditions on the other side the potential promise of a bit of a risk of lifted dust there for mecca as temperatures reach forty degrees and just dipping below the forty mark as we have through friday now into southern portions of africa we've got one or two showers for the cape look at highs of seventy fine weather conditions across much in the movie a highs of thirty two in when talk. to navigating dangerous rapids. from the time we depart to the time we finished scares the fishermen dicing with death. i'm afraid of falling i'm afraid of dying but if i don't go i can't think my family the men who go to the extreme just to make a living. you have to be a strong swimmer otherwise. risking it all vietnam and this time on al-jazeera. my most memorable moments with al jazeera was when i was on air as hosni mubarak fell with the crowds in tahrir square talking. if something happens anywhere in the world al-jazeera is in place we're able to cover news like no other news organizations. were able to do it properly. and that is our strength. i am yes . yes yes yes. yes. yes. yes mine's on al-jazeera and the stories trending on our website al-jazeera dot com at number one there same story that was trending yesterday the life and death of the judgment author salman rushdie also trending the double standard in covering the latest somalia a bombing in which more than two hundred people were killed and also all you need to know about kenya is disputed election which is happening right now actually everyone scheduled for next week but a lot of controversy surrounding that election all those stories and much more on our website i'll just dot com. with the news great on al-jazeera thank you for being with us we had to syria now where celebrations over the defeat of i saw in iraq are turning to concerns about what will happen to the men women and children who want to go home to a city that's deserted and all but destroyed one so heart of eyes all self declared capital rockefeller to be kurdish led to a little crowd of horses on tuesday about two hundred seventy thousand people displaced from the city crowded into camps where conditions are miserable and there is barely enough food water or medicine to go around i'm very pleased to welcome now i mean i want to the news great he was with the un refugee agency u.n.h.c.r. he's director of the middle east and north africa bureau and regional refugee coordinator and is in doha for a syria fund raising conference which is hosted by kut i thank you so much for being with us here on the news great. let's talk about the situation in iraq a rocka liberated i saw is out. but civilians have paid an extremely high price in this battle of thousands have been killed many more displaced what is the first priority now as far as u.n. h.d.r. is concerned to help these civilians when can they return to their homes in iraq. it has been a big war a big bottle it took many month and during this fighting the people who took the brunt of this war are the civilians who are in that town even more of those who were trapped for a long time in the center of of. or quarrying in basements and in their own houses they have been used as human shields and i think the ones that suffer the most psychologically and otherwise are the women under children i think first and foremost we're looking at mounting an operation where we can provide psychosocial support for those water from a terrorist because they saw a lot of atrocities and a lot of them died and they have been deprived of their freedom that be deprived of food water sanitation and they came out of horrible conditions so that is one two we have to first support them where they are and then we have to work with the rest of the communities to make sure that their homes are repaired and that the services in iraq are town where people can go to allow them to return to what are the challenges that you're dealing with right now as far as trying to help these i.d.p.'s because right now they're i.d.p.'s actually internally displaced syrians right yes you know the challenges we're having now is to deliver to them food water sanitation and find them temporary shelter the second will be to really take care of their psychological side of things and give them counseling and to muster support financial otherwise to really repair and salvage what can be salvaged in iraq but the action is huge and that i take time and i want to ask you about that because it's not just iraq out where when you have a situation like syria where every day you're losing ground i mean some groups are gaining ground others are losing it today it's one group tomorrow it's another group what impact is that having on civilians and also on your operations on the ground it has been very challenging for so. millions have been moving from one place to another many people that we. displaced several times of them twenty plus times for us we're stretched very thin there are so many spots where the fighting is taking place seven million people are displaced inside syria another five point two million syrians us twelve million and there are another ten million who never left their homes but there is a repeat areas or what we call hard to reach areas are some of them the last contact with relatives they cut off from their livelihood from services so the whole nation really is in need of international humanitarian and you were here for a conference in. donor conference are you seeing money coming in to how we got some pledges and the whole idea about being here in qatar looking for funds is to ask the donors to pledge more but also to honor the pledges that were made. a war of course money taking care of people does cost money and so far the appeals are really funded at about forty percent and we are already in october we are appealing for the donors to come with more funds very quickly because the winter we have a huge literacy program it gets very cold in syria it gets they get snow the temperatures drop below zero and we have a lot of hundreds of thousands of people who are very much not prepared for this winter or trying as much as possible or emergency basis to really rush supplies to them thank you so much for speaking to us i mean a lot of the u.n. refugee agency joining us here on the news great thank you very much for your time now to talk go where opposition supporters are defying a government restriction on protests by taking to the streets to demand the president's resignation demonstrators are calling for constitutional reforms including a two term limit for president the government has agreed to introduce a change but the opposition remains skeptical about whether it will be applied to the sitting president fornia fenwick. so those are the latest developments. more background on what actually going on in tell. me is a hairdresser in togo's capital. he says police often crackdown on opposition supporters in bay neighborhood where he lives breaking into their homes and beating them and danny along with hundreds of other told police have been calling for the removal of president ford they don't want to leave power and we are starving in the country now we are told and we will move forward despite the fact that we are most of the time beaten by policeman. the protest ordered in august as togolese took to the streets to demand presidential term limits be reinstated at least two people were killed in september opposition in parliament protested a bill that would have limited presidential terms but would exempt the current president who was already on his third term the bill failed and the government called for a constitutional referendum protests erupted again leaving several dead. to reign in the spiraling crisis the internet was cut. the united nations has called on togo to address the demands of the people. it was the west african economic group that in a sim baker only heads has urged togo to set a date for the referendum but many say they don't want it. we will continue to fight we will protest on the streets towards the premises of us to tell them that we're not happy with them calling on the government to fix dates of the referendum which take do not want it's obvious that they are pushing the government the government has put conditions on where and when people can protest during weekdays we will make sure that protests will only be in one area peaceful protests public gatherings or meetings should be held at one specific place on weekends they can do as they used to marching on the streets followed by meetings back at the salon psuedo says that won't stop people like him. i am seeking something better for my country that it should be governed by other people not the same regime no matter what will happen no matter the circumstances i will always be there and he insists despite police harassment and government pressure he will continue to fight for the future of togo mohamed el by d.c. al jazeera to the u.s. now a democratic party politicians are using a routine senate committee hearing to question u.s. attorney general jeff sessions about a whole range of controversial issues for example the investigation into connections between president donald trump in a circle and russia then there is immigration sessions has been the face of the trump administration's decision to end obama era protections for undocumented migrants who were brought to the u.s. as children they're also expected to be questions about how he's undercut protections for gay lesbian and transgender people by here's some of the exchanges he and senators have had over russia taken as i have never had mating with any russian officials to discuss any kind of coordinating campaign efforts isn't about e-mails discuss with them i don't recall i haven't done any such thing to discuss with them russian interference in our elections no any discussion of the mini policies or positions of the campaign or a trump presidency. i'm not sure about that if i met with the russian ambassador after i gave a speech at the republican convention he was writing from this baker phone and we had a few. we had an encounter there live to al-jazeera jordan in washington d.c. has been listening in as we could hear that russia investigation is kaley the elephant in the room hanging over this hearing but is session saying anything new here. he's not saying anything new foley and in fact when one senator roust him whether he could describe any conversations that he had had with the prio us president donald trump he again said that he is operating under the idea that the president should have what's known as executive privilege the ability to have confidential conversations with members of the executive branch including the attorney general and not be required to make the substance of those conversations are public so that obviously didn't go over well with some of the senators there but more specifically coming to the ongoing russian investigation that is being conducted by the special counsel robert muller he did say under questioning by another senator that he would be willing to was have to sit down for an interview with muller but he would not say defended of lee whether or not any prior interviews with muller and his team have taken place so that is raising a lot of eyebrows here in washington they've also dealt with the immigration question of for the young children who were brought here by their parents without proper documentation they have talked about the conflicts of interest which the president has because he still has some active business interests even though that is explicitly barred by the u.s. constitution and there are other legal matters of civil rights matters the question of people who haven't actually been charged with a crime having their assets seized by local law enforcement and then going through all sorts of problems to try to get those assets back those arsonists some of the issues that are coming up during this regular oversight hearing of sessions department which is of course the justice department thank you very much for that all swans in jordan my force in washington d.c. as saying in the u.s. to federal judges iraq's president donald. tom slade his bid to impose restrictions on citizens from several countries entering the us the restrictions which would have taken effect this week talking to people from iran libya syria yemen somalia and chant the latest rulings in the state of hawaii and maryland do not however apply to north korea and venezuela which are also subject to a ban has been in committee hold here our white house correspondent who's just outside the white house committee this is the third time this administration has imposed a ban on certain countries and seen it blocked what's been the reaction from the white house well certainly it's the position of the white house articulated through the press secretary sarah sounders that in fact this these rulings undercut the president's broad authority with respect to national security and his ability to keep the nation safe that is what was issued in terms of a statement once the first ruling came down on tuesday of course now we have a second one from the federal court in maryland essentially taking into account donald trump's own words on the carroll court in maryland essentially taking into account donald trump's own words on the campaign trail in the ruling that this despite national security arguments amounts to a muslim ban something to the white house has vehemently denied the position of this latest federal judge is in fact that this is a violation in terms of the policy to protections in the u.s. constitution particularly when it comes to religious discrimination so what happens next and kimberly does this go to the supreme court. well the certainly there is another level before it goes to the supreme court and of course we know the supreme court already dropped from its calendar a previous challenge to an earlier version of the ban because it had expired but these travel restrictions have had continuous court challenges from the beginning we have heard from jeff sessions the attorney general on capitol hill he also spoke to this saying in fact that he will continue to press and challenge this because it is the feeling that it is the power of the president or a nine hundred fifty two law to and act measures he believes are necessary to keep the nation safe as well they point to the fact that two previous administrations one democrat one republican also identified the nation's named as being concerning in terms of travel restrictions and so expect this will continue to be a challenge not just from the white house but also from critics who say that this amounts to religious discrimination kimberly thank you very much for that can really help it live for us at the white house has now bring in andrew once again how people reacting online to this story will follow no muslim band then no muslim band now no muslim band ever that's what many people online are demanding this grassroots movements has started using that very hash tag no muslim ban ever now it started last month in the lead up to this hearing on trump's immigration restrictions but since then people have mobilized and organize several of these demonstrations which you're seeing now which have taken place across the united states now with the court's decision to block the latest version of the ban this has techno muslim band ever has grown stronger than ever there have been thousands of people in organizations that include the women's march the american civil liberties union or a.c.l.u. the national immigration law center they've all joined in to back this tag and movement now most of them are using it to support the judge's decision to congratulate the movement and to tell the u.s. government they will continue fighting against what they say is and. on the other hand some people say that this is not about muslims and the court should not be interfering here now this user asks when did venezuela become a muslim country this is a travel ban stop lying to people and calling it a muslim ban while others like this user say that the judge in hawaii has defied the constitution and should be fired now the no muslim band ever movement called for demonstrations today in lafayette square park that's right across the street from the white house and they're calling for an and policies which they say treats minority and immigrant communities as criminals including immigration bans as well as police raids they also want to provide supports for sanctuary cities so if you're following this movement online we'd love to hear from you and tell us what you think about u.s. immigration policies under the trump administration let us know using the hash tag . and to thank you very measured coming up next here with sports including the latest on america's take and the controversy. for solutions. thanks peter folly american football is a topic again it's an issue that has been a hot topic online for weeks if not months n.f.l. players neal during the anthem to protest a racial injustice league players team owners and officials have been meeting for a second day in new york trying to reach some sort of decision on how to move forward the stance was of course first made popular by former san francisco forty nine ers quarterback collin kappa nick first set during the anthem before opting to kneel during the twenty sixteenth season the gesture that has become even more controversial since the u.s. president donald trump called from needling players to be fired. gabriel elizondo joins me live from new york gabriel what was the big message coming out of the second day of the meeting. well those have been closed door meetings that we expect in the very soon between roger go dell the powerful n.f.l. commissioner and the owners of the thirty two n.f.l. teams we expect odell's can have a press conference here in the next hour or so if not sooner but i can tell you the overall message that we've been hearing over the last couple days is dialogue dialogue between the players the players' union the owners and the n.f.l. which is key because. what we are hearing and we expect to pick to get more clarification on this is that the n.f.l. most likely is not going to make the players stand during the national anthem the players that want to continue to take a knee most likely will be able to do that based on what we're hearing from the n.f.l. but i think the big message in the word that we're hearing is dialogue and that's what the n.f.l. wanted that's what the players union wanted and the owners wanted to start some sort of dialogue to reach some sort of consensus that can everyone can agree on and perhaps deal with this protest and this real controversy if you will moving forward gabriel you mentioned dialogue and i guess we are preempting and we all speaking hypothetically here but in your opinion what needs to be done to reach a fake compromise here. well it's tough because players either take a need during the anthem or they don't so there's not much of a compromise there in that regard however i can tell you that the n.f.l. is trying to hide in the scenes were told to reach out to the players' union and say is there anything we can do to try to get the players to continue with their protest and continue with their ideas that on racial justice issues but just not deal with it in this manner during the national anthem and that's really been the trigger point of all this we've heard that the n.f.l. is offering perhaps to give some money or some support to. organizations that support the cause of some of these players in exchange for them halting this protest with that could be a compromise but simply don't know if that will be reached here in these meetings or not gabriel elizondo thank you so much for joining us there from the big apple new york city this continues to spark a debate on social media in the last day they have been more than two hundred twenty thousand treats featuring the wood. and if we're going to look at tweets why not start with the u.s. president donald trump here unsurprisingly not happy with the decision because of disrespect now the hashtag boycott n.f.l. has been part of this narrative for months conservative actor james woods one of those joining in he's tweet attracting more than nine thousand likes and counting but of calls this is a topic that divides opinion leader away time to one's place to continue meaning he's accusing n.f.l. team owners of only caring about the money when have we heard that one before but i'd love to hear what you think about all of this the hash tag is a.j. news good you can also tweet me directly at the school system it now if you head to al jazeera dot com specialist media a program called the listening post has also done a really interesting analysis on how the media has covered the story and why it matters click on the show's tab and select the listening post. you would have likely seen the meat to hash tag over social media in recent days women have been sharing their experiences of sexual assault and sexual harassment and now gymnastics is part of it as well on facebook tatiana good to accused fellow soviet gymnast vitali sure of raping her one year before she won an olympic gold medal in one thousand nine hundred two that was obviously in barcelona she describes him as a monster who kept me in my own prison to be afraid for so many years and on twitter mckayla maroney well she revealed her experience of being repeatedly assaulted by u.s. team doctor larry nasser she says this included the london twenty twelve games just before winning an olympic team a gold these been charged with almost two dozen counts of sexual assault now one last story being spoken about big so i'm online a little earlier a horrific injury on the outing right of the n.b.a. season gordon hayward fell heavily and fractured his ankle six minutes into the boston celtics the season he was making his debut after signing in the off season for a cool one hundred twenty eight million dollars and that's all the sport folly here thank you very much that's set for this year's great today thank you so much for being with us and don't forget you can share your thoughts what i thought our own times is a hash tag aging is great on social media for me for me back when whole team thank you very much for watching with me again tonight i think if the injury. a new level of luxury has arrived. an experience that will transform the way we try . our impeccable service remains but no code breaking. business clients. the old firm for the sake of fairness to. whether conducting business or sharing especially. when the first of. a certain level that. saddam was. trying some of us. centuries in the school. introducing. us to use. 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