the standoff. and i welcome to our desire on live from our headquarters in doha with me in the soprano also ahead it stuns me that a member of congress were to listen in on a conversation. absolutely stuns me donald trump's chief of staff and gives an emotional defense of the president's reported remarks to a grieving widow. the result intervening in spain secession crisis as madrid prepares to impose direct rule on catalonia plus. across puerto rico it's not unusual to see these like this that have been absolutely devastated in the hurricane one month ago. why people feel like they're being deserted in the wake of a destructive storm. u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson has criticized the four countries imposing an economic blockade on carter for refusing to engage in talks to diffuse. the crisis in june saudi arabia the united arab emirates egypt and bahrain closed space and seven trade and diplomatic links with capa last month u.s. president to mediate between the parties had hoped the issue would be resolved quickly but now to listen says there's little hope of a resolution anytime soon while thompson is due to visit the gulf in the coming days he is the state department spokeswoman we want to see these countries keep their focus on the areas of mutual cooperation that we have and that includes the fight against terror terrorism and other things of that nature so i think the secretary is you know certainly discouraged that nothing has been resolved just yet he's talked pretty consistently although folks haven't haven't paid much attention to it recently about the disappointment that the nations haven't been able to do so the g.c.c. crisis we hope that they well we hope that they'll sit down and have talks but it seems like they're not ready to do that yet. acosta has more from washington d.c. . florence's comments in an interview with bloomberg news marked a significant change in tone gone was the optimism we heard three months ago when tillerson last visited the region instead he expressed his frustration saying there appear to be a real will unwillingness on the part of the quartet of blockading countries in. progressing with these talks in contrast saying qatar has been very clear that they're ready to engage now the fact that tillerson is returning to the region this following week and to push further these talks is a long ways from where the u.s. policy on this gulf crisis started back in june if you remember that's when u.s. president donald trump was quick to come to the aid of saudi arabia praising its leadership and in achieving this blockade and trying to claim credit that was a direct result of president trump's visit to the region since then the white house has been more silent on this topic while the state department has taken a lead here with tillerson returning again in this coming week. the executive director at the arab sent to washington and he says that isn't usual for seeing a diplomat to low expectations with these types of statements before a visit. comparing this trip. with the previous one going back to say the last one going back to july there was a lot more optimism on the part of the u.s. secretary of state and his team then we find today based basically on on their failure over the past four months to find a political solution to it to describe this but yet you know he's trying. to through this stop to try to kind of resuscitate if you will the earlier efforts that he spent on this conflict this is essentially a political conflict over different perspectives with regards to local regional and international politics and an attempt to dictate who got out and force it to abide if you will or adopt the same positions as the countries that are engaged in boycotting it but it's also based on misunderstanding but thinking only on the part of the boycotting countries they thought it was going to be an easy task it's going to be a short if you will project this time and that particularly since they received initial support from president they they kind of overestimated the impact of that support through the tweeting foreign policy that he engaged in during the first few days of the crisis and that they underestimated the reaction of the world and the ability of gotta do is stand this pressure to move on to other news from the u.s. now and the white house chief of staff has defended the president's reporting for a month to the widow of the slain some to donald trump is accused of being insensitive during a phone call to my johnson husband sergeant david johnson was killed in an ambush in may share this month a member of congress says she heard the president's comments but john kelly told a light house news conference that he was broken hearted by the criticism of trump's efforts to offer his condolences white house correspondent kelly how it has more from washington d.c. . the white house is continuing to try and contain the controversy surrounding the president's condolence call to the widow of sergeant lead david johnson he is one of four u.s. soldiers killed in earlier this month the president's chief of staff made a rare appearance to the white house briefing room speaking with emotion he says that he told the president not to make that call but if he did he says he advised donald trump to tell the family that the soldier knew what he was getting into something that donald trump denied just one day earlier he knew he was young and self into because he enlisted there's no reason why list the a list that he was where he wanted to be exactly where he wanted to be with exactly the people he wanted to be with when his wife was taken that was the message that was a message that was transmitted it stuns me that a member of congress with a listened in on a conversation absolutely stuns me. and i thought at least that was safe for now the democratic congresswoman who listened in on that call and who has been a critic of the president for some time fredricka wilson says in fact that it is her belief and she maintains that she believes donald trump did disrespect sergeant johnson in that call she knows the family well she has known him since he was a child mentoring him before he enlisted as a soldier still the white house is taking aim at the congresswoman saying that not only is her argument inappropriate in fact the chief of staff calling her actions selfish behavior. the support for spain from european leaders as they caught along the session crisis escalates but the news says it won't intervene in the dispute spain's prime minister money on the whole he has the backing of french president emmanuel mccraw and german chancellor angela merkel they met ahead of a two day u. summit in brussels but european council made a dumb choice has ruled out any european union role in the dispute between madrid and barcelona. of course for many reasons and the permanent conductor is the prime minister. hiding to the situation in spain is concerning but. position i mean if you're sincere and. clear the. room and the kind of mediation or. international. initiative for action well spain's government is preparing to suspend heart on years autonomy are final deadline of the day to drop the session plans was ignored in the process will begin on saturday when madrid decides which powers to take back from barcelona may barca reports from the cost long capital. spain's political crisis is deepening after failing to comply with the spanish government catalonia it will now be stripped of its autonomy to let a clock you form in the absence of a clear response we note that he has not answered our request and therefore we will continue procedure of triggering article one five five of the constitution to restore legality in catalonia the capital and president. had been given until thursday morning to clarify and revoke any independence claim last week he unilaterally declared independence and suspended it to allow for talks but instead of clarifying his position sent a letter to madrid calling for an end to repression and for dialogue. prime minister mariano rajoy has repeatedly refused to mediate with the secessionists we're now in uncharted territory article one five five has never been invoked in mainland spain before you can see devolved powers over the raising of taxes education health care in the police soon in madrid hands of the very worst you could see the suspension of the government and the arrest of its leaders it's hard to imagine any of these scenarios unfolding without more massive protests or perhaps even a change of tactics i think there's no possibility of course going like taking arms praising arms and or even like. seeing the birth of a terrorist group i don't think that is a possibility at all but some kind of more aggressive i don't want to say by land but more stronger organized an insurgency in terms of political insurgency and organization i think it's it's a problem. but madrid to show restraint and misty internationals urged the spanish government to avoid a repeat of these scenes of the day of the catalan referendum. they've also asked for two independence leaders jailed by spanish judge to be released the spanish government expects it to finalize plans for direct rule at a cabinet meeting on saturday. in response the catalan leadership say they'll now formalize independence with a vote of the regional parliament this tense standoff is entering a critical new phase. al-jazeera. still ahead on the bulletin and more violent protests in togo as demonstrators demand changes to presidential term limits and bell bounds well look at the magic inspired by harry potter twenty years on. hello the showers are gong the cloud is gone the winds died down a little bit it's just a matter of watching temperatures slowly forward as the season changes who are still up at twenty baku twenty two in tehran and the middle thirty's down the rocky plain and not much less right on the east coast of the mediterranean and there's a lot of change that in the next couple days than you wouldn't expect a very much change either we watch the winds and whether they have very strong winds down the end is a decent breeze going down through the gulf which come to trust you eight qatar and then ends up in the u.a.e. turns around and goes back up through saturday so that tends to drop the humidity and it has been coming down the temps just in up in the middle thirty's quite high for this time the year the doha for example high thirty's and forty's down in mecca now if we leave the dry arabian peninsula we're watching the season change it's been rather has been quite vicious in the last week is on the eastern side of south africa and showers will start to show up again here durban was hit quite badly and it's between durban jo'burg lines of that happening one small towns just got a few passing bright plans i think but take you into saturday's forecast is certainly something happening in the eastern cape president of taiwan even sudden mozambique and the line take shelter but swallowed but up toward zambia which could see showers as well. she was a society hostess in beirut in the 1940's she was in touch with a lot of people from the lebanese bureaucracy to make this work her code name was the power and she spied for mossad in lebanon before. she was doing it was something break. out just you know world to house a story of surely. the beirut spy at this time. good to have you with us on al jazeera and these are our top stories the u.s. secretary of state has criticized the four countries imposing a blockade on kotha rex tillerson says a saudi led. to negotiate despite being ready to engage the white house chief of staff has come to the defense of u.s. president donald trump's conversation with the widow of the slain soldier trump is accused of making insensitive remarks during a phone call to the widow of the soldier who was killed in an ambush earlier this month and european leaders a back in spain as the crisis escalates and brussels promised a muddy anatta for the sea of support from french president hollande german chancellor angela merkel but the e.u. says it won't intervene in the dispute between madrid and barcelona. to china now where the president is said to have his own political theory incorporated in the constitution it will be known as being fooled and has fourteen principles according to chinese state news agency and while the move is expected to further consolidate she's power putting him on power with mao zedong who founded china's ruling communist party well let's get more on this now with our china correspondent adrian brown who's joining us live from beijing just how historic a moment is this adrian for xi jinping for china and. well elizabeth we've had the chairman mao era we've had the dung shopping era welcome to the xi jinping era it is a very significant day for chinese politics throughout this congress president xi jinping has been stamping his authority outlining his vision not just for the next five ten or fifteen but twenty years now comes news that his name is going to be written into the constitution now only two other leaders have had their names written into the constitution that was chairman mao it took him decades for that to happen the other was done shopping the architect of all of china's many economic reforms his name was only added to the constitution after his death it has taken cheating paying just five years that's because during that five years he has turned the communist party upside down thousands of card or is have been purged in his anti corruption campaign and that campaign of course has also extended to the military many senior generals have been brought down before pensionable age that means the while shooting ping is now in a sense in the pantheon of china's leaders he's also built up a lot of enemies so the only way now for xi jinping to go is up he can't afford to retire and he doesn't want to retire what she jingping wants and he outlined it very clearly in his address just a few days ago is a country of china which is where socialism with chinese characteristics are still upheld but in a new era that is the xi jinping era he wants a modern china an economy based on homemade innovation and technology that's robotics you know electric cars artificial intelligence but underpinning all of it will be the communist party and we've heard praise from members of the communist parties politburo not surprisingly but what will all do a chinese make of the xi jinping for what do you think. well we went out into the streets just a short time ago to canvas opinion and a lot of the answers we got frankly were parroted it was almost as if they were prepared for the question but one man sort of scratched his head and said i'm sorry i don't really understand and i think actually that is going to be the more general opinion and feeling that you get in china today it really is a reminder that there is a parallel universe the the communist party congress is going on and will last until the middle of next week but for the rest of china it's pretty much business as usual but it has to be said that october twentieth two thousand and seventeen will go down as a very historic day in china it is the day that the xi jinping era well and truly began very interesting adrian thank you very much for that our china correspondent adrian brown joining us live from beijing thank you. now u.s. president all trump has boasted about has administration's handling of the devastation caused by hurricane maria and puerto rico do animation with the caribbean islands governor ricardo resing other presidents have the government's response was a ten out of ten that's despite critics saying the response was insufficient especially compared to how harlequins and texas and florida were handled. how do. i care is it ten. i'd say it was probably the most difficult. when you talk about relief when you talk about search when you talk about all of the different levels. and even when you talk about the lives saved. you look at the number of me this was i think it was worse than katrina it was in many ways worse than anything people have ever seen and many communities in puerto rico is still without basic essential them on pawn from the harken people to digging through rubble waiting for government aid that was promised but hasn't come alan fischer reports from point blank call. on him is good tired of waiting one month after hurricane rita struck his community was a mess so we called some friends we are in the process to clean up the creek because basically they create was there. a real damage i guess the houses and around twenty blanco is a ninety minute drive from san juan the island's capital the people here feel that far away from the center they are far away from a company far from the belief that anyone is going to help the government. there's almost no coordination problem here just staying with someone. but their reality is right here we see a national guard just providing water but just a couple of patients are no more we ask and then we're begging them for at least two out some excavator to clean over. the area and what we're being told is this isn't a one off but there are communities across this area that have asked for and waited for government help and now they're doing what they can where they can the hurricane they say it was a problem the greater tragedy is the lack of government action. not far away from here to the hurricane brought a flood that overwhelmed and destroyed the bridge that was a lifeline to a nearby mountain community so the locals built a pulley system which carries food and water and diesel we haven't heard. we are going to have a great we don't know anything. you know we are just disconnected. across the island people are putting in their own fixes to get what they need a local stream by the roadside suddenly with plastic piping becomes the only source of fresh water for clothes washing drinking and even some fun. there is no doubt puerto rico wasn't well equipped to deal with a storm the size and intensity of maria one of the federal agencies here see few places there's this island was pummeled by over one hundred fifty mile an hour winds what that does to the infrastructure that is in excellent condition versus ordinary condition it's still the same it's highly destructive because governor disputes things here are slowly getting better in fact he says they may be getting worse and many communities fear they are being forgotten after a storm none of them will ever forget alan fischer i'll just point to blanco puerto rico officials in the u.s. state of california estimate the insurance cost from wildfires more than a billion dollars nearly seven thousand homes and structures were destroyed most in the northern winemaking region the blazes killed forty two people making it to making them the deadliest in the state's history. now more than two hundred journalists have marched in malta and on of an investor that have jail as he was killed in a car bomb on the island daphne cut on i'm going to died on monday charlotte ballasts reports. walking in solidarity with their late colleague and friend murdered reporter a definitely. these journalists want to judge to protect. his sources contex on her phones and computers they could be unveiled in the inquiry into her days she really believed in what she was doing and she was right or wrong on each issue she believed in it she was always to positions and she wanted to root out whatever she thought was wrong and she she was driven by that by seeking the limelight most police are facing mounting pressure to ensure an independent investigation meanwhile investigators from the united states scotland yard and other forensic experts have been called him. laying it all voices we asked for the assistance of the f.b.i. and dutch counterparts because on the scene we realize that we might have difficulties collecting certain evidence however i reiterate the investigation is being led solely by the multiple east carolina glitzier was the country's best known investigative journalist she was killed on monday in this car minutes after she left her home in malta police believe the bomb was attached beneath her car and triggered remotely the mother of three knew she was a target and the last blog post on the day she was killed she wrote they were crooks everywhere you look now the situation is desperate two weeks prior she filed a police report saying she was receiving threats and the first bit of information i came out of the police force was. post on facebook by police sergeant and celebrating. and it took almost twenty four hours for that individual to be suspended. i want to go ahead alleged corruption against the most powerful people on the island who reports went as high as the prime minister joseph muscat linking him to the panama paper scandal who were triggered an early election and now her reporting has resulted in her days ballasts al-jazeera. opposition says three people have been shot dead in a day of protest they're demanding changes to presidential term limits. protests despite running battles with the police in the capital they want constitutional reforms including a two term limit for the president his family his rule togo for fifty years opposition leaders say that instead of listening to the demands of the people the government has orchestrated a brutal crackdown. that we have seen paramilitary forces spreading in large numbers of the place where the protests took place they were all. they came in make up trucks and they were attacking the demonstrators who were gathering. medical centers like this one a full of injured people who say they were attacked by the police. they parked our word to her and started shooting we were not even protesting we were just standing there i don't know what they were taking about they started shooting at us. opposition activists have been demonstrating against president hu in a sim basin school guest but in recent days the violence has intensified protesters say police attacks on them are provoked and unjustified also just. today it is getting worse i just received a seventeen year old and i have wounded two fifteen year old. how are we going to do this you're saying you want peace people in the streets we also want peace and for the normal constitution to be brought back and you. this is a still has plenty of support in tokyo the government has put conditions on where and when people can protest it's also cut the internet to control what it calls hate speech and misinformation under current laws the same baker who continue in office until twenty twenty protestors say despite police harassment and government pressure they'll fight to stop that happening victoria gate and be al jazeera kenya's opposition leaders has his decision to pull out of next week's election rerun remains on changed rolla during the made the comments after talks with top election officials he said he would reconsider his decision to quit if proper electoral reforms are carried out by the election board says a free and fair vote can't be guaranteed due to political interference. now it's been twenty years since the world fell under the spell of the boy was it harry potter the publication of the first book harry potter and the philosopher's stone launched a multi-billion dollar franchise jessica baldwin has been to an exhibition at the british library looking at the magic that inspired it. minerva mcgonigle several teachers and hubbard school of witchcraft and wizardry listed by author j.k. rowling as she embarked on the plot of harry potter alchemy potions her biology courses based on magical traditions found in ancient and rare books at the british library it's an encounter with real objects that helped form the books including a medieval scroll from the fifteen hundreds describing how to make the philosopher's stone which could turn any metal into gold or maybe even extend life and wants to really make the link between the magic that's betrayed in the x. on the whole history of magical writings and practice that we have in the collection still a sketch of hogwarts by rowling as she drew her expansive magical world twenty years on more than four hundred fifty million copies have been sold in seventy languages. harry potter has had a massive impact on the world kids who hated books are now inspired to read the next are considered cool and even muggles are interested in magic gustaf was a professional magician before he became a psychologist specializing in the science of magic but just because academics are interested in how magic works stop one of the few how is it that we see something but we don't do we have free will then how do magicians influence our decisions. into the five clubs well so a lot of interaction with computers is all based on a massive illusion every time you delete a form you put a fall into your waste paper basket you know really putting anything in a basket it's the soul just an illusion and so by understanding magic we might be able to and homes human computer interaction but what's the magic that continues to fuel the very lucrative hurry potter industry brings fans to wizard locations across london you can feel like you're with it or whatever but you wake up in the morning and you realize you know i didn't like magic so it does make me like you i don't know if i like this now. or that or different why. looking into the future it doesn't take magic to know that each new generation will come under the spell of harry potter jessica baldwin al-jazeera london. and i began as a problem in the headlines on al-jazeera the u.s. secretary of state has criticized the four countries imposing a blockade on a cutter rex tillerson says the cell the lead group was unwilling to negotiate despite being ready to engage the white house chief of staff has come to the defense of u.s. president donald trump's conversation with the widow of the slain soldier tromp is accused of making insensitive remarks during a phone call to the widow of the soldier who was killed in an ambush in the earlier this month. he knew what he was getting them selves into because he enlisted there's no reason a list you would use where he wanted to be exactly where he wanted to be with exactly the people he wanted to be with when his wife was taken that was the message that was the message that was transmitted it stuns me that a member of congress were to listen in on a conversation absolutely stuns me and i thought at least that was a good european leaders are backing spain as the council on crisis escalates in brussels prime minister mari allard a whole one support from french president and the new on that call and german chancellor angela merkel but the e.u. says it won't intervene in the dispute between madrid and barcelona. china's president is said to have his own political theory incorporated in the constitution it will be known as she's in pain for what has fourteen principles according to china's state news agency. the move is expected to further consolidate she's how putting him on ha with mao zedong founded china's ruling communist party. togo's opposition says three people have been shot dead in a third day of antigovernment protests demonstrators are demanding changes to limit how long togo's leaders can stay in power president for nothing based family has been and power for more than half a century kenya's opposition leaders has has decision to pull out of next week's election of iran remains unchanged during a made the comments after talks of top election officials had said he would reconsider his decision to quit if proper electoral reforms were carried out right those are the headlines on al-jazeera do stay with us risking it all that's coming up next. an indian mining company is heading to australia to build one of the world's biggest mines will it be an economic but no answer or an ecological disaster. at this time on al-jazeera.