Other citizen this is a news outlet live from london coming up egypts former military chief of staff is arrested days after announcing hes running for president the u. N. Says turkeys military offensive in Northern Syria has displaced family found some people with many more in need of. The u. S. Justice Department Confirms that President Trumps attorney general has been questioned over alleged collusion with russia plus. Remembering the man known as the father of South African jazz has died of cancer. Im tatiana phantasm doha with all of the latest sports news the including rough and outs the vault number one calls it quits at the Australian Open quarterfinals. The last challenge seen as a potential threat to the reelection of egypts president Abdel Fattah Elsisi has been detained by the military. Has also called off his campaign the following minutes the chief of staff is the latest in a string of candidates whove been forced to withdraw from the upcoming president ial elections mohammed in how small. Just days after he announced his candidacy in his countrys upcoming president ial elections egypts military has arrested former Egyptian Armed forces chief of staff sami ana. In a televised statement the military said im committed violations when he announced his president ial bid without obtaining permits from the armed forces hes also accused of committing forgery to be included in the voter database there are two explanations for this one is that he actually. He miscalculated the level of support that he has within the military institution and within the security interests so within the hard pollen institutions the second one is he actually did not miscalculate this and he expected this step and this is not the end of the story youll probably see something a counterreaction on his part or all the part of his loyalists so its still too early to tell im an announced his intention to run hours after current president of the fatah has sisi declared his plan to seek a second term. Even before sisi made his candidacy official it wasnt just widely assumed that sisi would prevail in the march elections it was also widely expected that real opposition to sisi was likely to be thin on the ground potential candidates have either already withdrawn or seen their candidacy walk. Some have blamed an atmosphere of fear to other president ial hopefuls were forced to quit the race earlier this month one of them and what is said that the nephew of former leader anwar sadat said last week he wanted to protect his Campaign Workers from intimidation or arrest another former Prime Minister and air force general ahmed shafik had also announced his interest in running but he was placed under house arrest before being deported from the United Arab Emirates where hed been living in exile according to his lawyers was detained as soon as he landed in cairo and then there is Egyptian Army colonel ahmed consul in december he was sentenced by a military court to six years in prison after he announced his plans to run for president leaving many to wonder just how serious a threat the military men may have posed to sisi a former military chief of staff said not only is somebody with hes a serious contender he was the former chief of stuff the deputy head of the Supreme Council of the forces did winning body of them a lot of and he is much senior in terms of the military command and. So hes somebody who was very well connected with the americans very well connected. So hes not someone who was a lightweight anyway during ccs rule which has been marked by a crackdown on freedom of expression human Rights Groups have been placed under severe restrictions and many critics in the media have been silenced the question now how many more president ial candidates will be added to a seemingly growing list of those being suppressed. So what some analysts background where he was made militia chief the stuff in egypt in two thousand and five. The former leader Hosni Mubarak at the time of the revolution in twenty eleven he was closely involved in liaison ones with u. S. Officials including james mattis whos now the u. S. Defense secretary he was forced to resign by former president Mohammed Morsi in two thousand and twelve and subsequently formed his own party to fight in elections egyptian analyst im a khalifa says and the rest was not unexpected. Mr sandman then gambled and he very clearly lost he should have taken a quick look at the short term history with mr mcmahon saw somebody also belonging to the military finding his way to military tribunals for which he paid with six years of his life as well as mr much of who was in a rather comfortable house arrest at the marriott but it was such a restrictive environment that reuters journalist was impeded from merely interviewing him so the signs were all there but i think that mr annan was gambling gambling that mr sisi has shown some vulnerability has hammered some supports and theres also been some strife within military circles particularly within intelligence circles and i think he felt he may be able to capitalize on. The u. N. Says turkeys military offensive against the kurdish one p. G. In the african region of syria as this place an estimated five thousand people. The operation which involves shelling and air strikes is now its fourth day its believed some eight hundred thousand civilians are living that many of them displaced from other parts of syria some are said to be too vulnerable to flee activists say at least twenty three civilians have been killed as well as thirty eight kurdish fighters and forty three rebels fighting on the turkish side. Are free to surround it might and Free Syrian Army forces to the north east and west and Syrian Government forces to the south its for the most of those fleeing through government held territory so then clave inside aleppo city thats controlled by Kurdish Forces but the syrian observatory for human rights is accusing Government Forces of blocking them Stephanie Decker has the latest film on tackle the techie syrian border. The village of how man which is now been announced at the f. S. A. Have taken a significant why because it lies very close to the Turkish Border in the area just close to where we are just a further east of a hyundai and it does play into the narrative that we heard from the turkish Prime Minister just a few days ago that their plan is to establish what he called up to a thirty kilometer security zone pushing the y. P. Ji away from its borders it has been a fluid fight however on the ground there are incidents when villages have been taken by the Free Syrian Army and Turkish Forces and you know a day or so later retaken by the white b. G. But of course turkey has superiority when it comes to the sky theyre flying jets theyre bombing from the air and that of course carries with it a huge advantage when the u. S. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson says russia as the ultimate responsibility for the Syrian Governments use of chemical weapons it comes after at least twenty one people suffered breathing problems after an alleged chemical attack on a rebel held enclave near damascus rebels on the syrian observatory for human rights are accusing the Syrian Government of being behind the attack a similar attack was reported that are ten days ago causing seven cases of suffocation. Has been besieged by Government Forces since twenty thirty four hundred thousand people. Only yesterday more than twenty civilians most of them children were victims of the purge chlorine gas attack. Recent attacks and the really serious concerns that bashar the Syrian Regime may be continuing its use of chemical weapons against its own people. Whoever conducted the attacks russia ultimately bears responsibility for the victims and his and countless other syrians targeted with chemical weapons since russia became involved in syria to listen was speaking at a conference in paris to launch an International Partnership against impugn a safe of a use all of chemical weapons thats our reports. Well the u. S. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson really set the tone at this launch of this new anti Chemical Weapons Group here in paris when he said that those who use chemical weapons are carrying out crimes against humanity and that they must not go unpunished well they were ministers here for more than thirty countries and what they said that they would do is work harder to stop the use of chemical weapons to share intelligence on the matter to try and gather evidence of chemical weapons attacks all with the goal of trying to prosecute those who do carry out such atrocities now of course the focus here was very much on syria the Syrian Regime has been accused by the United Nations of carrying out several attacks over the past few years and we spoke to the u. N. Director in new york of Human Rights Watch and what he told us was that while this French Initiative is of course very welcome what is really needed is a full investigation by the u. N. Security council we shouldnt let the Security Council get off easy the russians have used their veto eleven times since the war started in syria in two thousand and eleven we cared let them get a pass here they can do things anything that this meeting that the french are setting up can do to put pressure on the russians and others to make sure that the Security Council gets back in its chairs does its business will be a good thing the u. N. Chief and tony harris said earlier this year that more needs to be done by the u. N. Security council to carry out that investigation into what is happening in syria but of course that vetoed by russia eleven times over this investigation means that the u. N. Security council has in many ways had its hands tied and the hope is here that perhaps what will happen in this group will help put more pressure on the Security Council and russia to try and do more to make sure that that pass is broken. Well in the last hour the United NationsSecurity Council has been meeting to discuss the chemical weapons situation in syria speak to kristen salumi who is at the u. N. Because they feel quite confusing of course the washer agreed in twenty thirteen that they would remove the chemical weapons from syria but now theyve called this meeting why well its interesting this was a last minute meeting called by russia and it appears to be in direct response to the accusations coming out of paris by the americans in particular russia took the opportunity to defend itself against these allegations that they are somehow responsible for Chemical Attacks in syria and to say that they are very open to a new investigative mechanism for chemical weapons in syria they tried to put the blame on the americans in the west for politicizing the process now russia said theyre all about accountability the initial report investigation mechanism as you say they did support but they withdrew that support they claim because the process was unscientific and politicized and this led to some angry exchanges in the Security Council room just a short time ago between the Russian Ambassador and the American Ambassador have a listen to what they had to say so did you go when you got a strong dusty not seem strange to anybody that this alleged episode the prosecutor which is just to be confirmed with but potatoes yet to be identified somehow coincides with the meetings of both parties on sochi. When russia doesnt like the facts they try and distract the conversation thats because the facts come back over and over again to the truth russia wants to hide that the assad regime continues to use chemical weapons against its own people and is it likely the council will take up the russian proposal. Well we heard from the United Kingdom for example that they are happy that this meeting was called and they welcome any opportunity to return to the table and discuss the issue of investigating chemical weapons in syria but weve been down this road many times before russias vetoed three past chemical weapons resolutions that were put forward by the west they talked about putting forward their own proposal in the past and that went nowhere and the american response today i think is telling nikki haley said that the United States when accept any russian proposal that undermines the ability to get to the truth there politicizes what must be an independent and impartial investigation so both sides accusing each other of being political of being unscientific here not clear how theyre going to overcome those differences at this point but if the goal of that meeting in paris was to get everybody back to the table and talking again at least its had that effect and as we heard from the human rights director just a short time ago in the show there cant really be any accountability nation globally if there is an action on the part of the Security Council which has the power to sanction and and hold countries accountable so will it go for it still you know not a lot of optimism here but again the fact that theyre getting back to the table and talking is at least some progress thats been made thats cost us in a way that with the very latest coming out of the u. N. Security council. Two car bombs have killed at least eleven people in the Eastern Libyan city of benghazi according to officials with eighteen more injured attack happened in the. District as worshipers were leaving a local mosque after prayers the victims are thought to include civilians as well as militia personnel theres been no claim of responsibility. Coming up on this news hour why u. S. Vice president mike pence has become a very popular man in israel aid workers warn that conflict in the democratic republic of congo has left three Million People at risk of starvation and in sports russias unofficial olympic team unveiled their look for chang. The u. S. Justice department has confirmed to aljazeera the tourney general Jeff Sessions was questioned last week over alleged collusion between Donald Trumps president ial campaign and russia sessions was interviewed for an inquiry led by former f. B. I. Director Robert Muller its believed to be the first time a member of President Trumps cabinet has been questioned in the inquiry john pass describe the accusations of collusion as fake news and a witch hunt can really help get joins me now live from outside the white house is it significant that now sessions is being questioned kimberly. It is significant as you point out were now at the cabinet level but weve had more than a dozen former or Current Trump officials that have been investigated but to this point in terms of sort of the the level of knowledge and power with regard to the investigation the russian vessel geisha which of course is looking into whether there were Truck Campaign ties with russia and whether or not the president in fact tried to obstruct that russia investigation Jeff Sessions has unique knowledge about that he was the Foreign Policy adviser on the president ial campaign he was also deeply involved with the firing of former f. B. I. Director james comey and to recuse himself from that investigation something that donald trump has complained bitterly about on social media in public feeling that the attorney general should have done more to protect him but when reporters asked donald trump in the oval office earlier today whether or not he was concerned about the interview and some of the questions that Jeff Sessions may have provided to Robert Mueller steam he brushed off those suggestions thank you overmuch where growth. Was. You know im not here because. You know i didnt but im not at all concerned you didnt get all you did you did not even a little bit you know hes going to do a good Job Committee the question everybody wants to ask her is donald trump going to be the next one in the hot seat. Right and you know its really unclear because the president has given four different answers to reporters about that one question whether or not he would speak to Robert Muller he said no he said yes he said maybe and as of january tenth he also said well see what happens it certainly would be risky for the president its not clear whether or not he would give if he did grant an interview whether that would