and taters al-jazeera live from london also coming up this as violent and worrying and dangerous a moment as that in my time a chilling report card on the situation in syria the un's special envoy briefs the security council in new york. billions of dollars are pledged to help iraq rebuild after i saw its fall below what's needed. colombia calls for help to deal with hundreds of thousands of venezuelans crossing the border to escape economic hardship. hello south africa's embattled president jacob zuma has broken his silence over the growing calls for him to resign in a forty five minute television interview zuma said the instruction from his party the african national congress to step aside was unfair because he's done nothing wrong has been given an ultimatum by the a.n.c. to resign by the end of the day or face a vote of no confidence. where found it very strange that. you now must go. because. we now have two new president who must come. not to follow in any policy of the abyss nothing of that nature summit of miller has more from johannesburg. president jacob zuma says that he's been victimized by the a.n.c. and its decision to recall him from office now earlier zuma spoke to the state broadcaster the first time we've heard from him since calls for him to step down intensified in recent weeks zuma says the demand for him to step down is unfair and hasn't followed normal party policy coming just two months after the party's elective conference when cyril ramaphosa was elected president of the party now it was him also use this interview today it seems to talk to the a.n.c. saying that if the citizen to fire him essentially is one that would plunge the party into crisis and would be one the party regrets the a.n.c. says if zuma doesn't resign by this evening it will press on with a motion of no confidence in parliament on thursday and this is how it will get zuma out of office allowing the national assembly to elect a poster as south africa's new leader and as soon as under a lot of pressure that says the whole of his associates the gupta family was raided and three people arrested the good does have been accused of using their relationship with the president to benefit from government contracts and also to influence appointments and policies childbirths has more now on the gupta family's ties with zuma. twenty five years after immigrating from india to brothers a.j. and brijesh one of the richest families in south africa they went from success to success with investments in media energy air travel mining and technology they first met president jacob zuma more than a decade ago one of the company of events wasn't long before several xoom is working for the govt is but their relationship didn't become controversial until the go to strew a luxury waiting in twenty thirteen and chartered a plane with more than two hundred wedding guests to an air force base that is reserved to state dignitaries it was a national scandal about the same time allegations surfaced that they had pushed president zuma on certain ministerial appointments allegations that gupta's and zuma denies i am in charge of the government i'm in charge i point. in terms of the constitution there is no minister who is the here who was appointed by the who does. but the accusation stuck the national ombudsman published a three hundred fifty five page report on the matter and twenty six doing its title state of capture the kind household term the normally media shy go tos had little choice but to respond i'm not a lobbyist or marcus to capture. as far as concern of that i'm a friend only. ok you did me as a friend of the people mad thing i've met off what all of the panelists explain and that i understand that captured is that. when you are taking any advantage of anybody a.j. good to say at least them two percent of their business is government related the image was tying to it now with the arrests of several members of the good family many will be looking to see how this case will impact the president. u.n. special envoy for syria has been briefed as best briefed i have on the security council on the current situation there and his update was a grim one stuff and a mysterious said the violence is the worst he's seen i've been now for years special envoy this as violent and worrying and dangerous a moment as any that in my time of day in your for far therefore i strongly rate the rate the appeal of this exhibit general to all concerned in syria and the region and beyond that to this collate immediately and unconditionally and urge all stakeholders including the us then i go around to use their influence to help reduce violence our diplomatic editor james bays is following developments for us at the u.n. headquarters in new york so some more strong language here does it make any difference to what we know about syria. no but everyone is very worried about the situation what was a tense and very grim security council meeting there now in a closed session session the special envoy stephanie mistura outlining the various military developments and worrying military developments talking about the only going offensive by the syrian government in eastern good and live where he said there was killing on a horrifying scale he said a thousand people about killed in the first week of february talking about the ongoing turkish operation in our freend talking about the u.s. strike on the syrian government something the russian ambassador said was totally unprovoked and talking about the israeli attacks in syria including on iranian targets the u.s. ambassador at nikki haley's saying that iran and hezbollah were digging in in syria to stay in the country so it is a pretty worrying situation which led to this comment from the french ambassador all the ingredients are present if we do nothing about it urgently for a major. regional and international confrontation i say one glimmer of hope or a bit of extra aid getting into east and go to the first since last november james . desperately needed a but i think the view privately from the united nations is too little too late this is one convoy that has been allowed in to eastern guth where they require a lot more than one convoy because they've been cut off for so long aid supplies to besieged areas in syria have been a continuing problem the u.n. trying to get them in often when there are aid trucks allowed in supplies are taken from the trucks by the syrian government certain items are removed from those convoys by the syrian government and i can tell you privately some diplomats believe this is pretty cynical that the syrian government allowed one more in just hours before the security council meeting we've seen this pattern before allowing a small amount of aid in to reduce the pressure around the council to table when there's an important set piece meeting like this taking place james bays there at the u.n. thank you very much indeed james. more than thirty billion dollars has been pledged to help rebuild iraq following the defeat of eisel well the seventy six countries promised donations at a summit in kuwait but mainly in loans which need to be paid back and the money falls well short of what iraq's government says it needs some is a done has the latest from kuwait city. iraqi officials say it's a case of a glass half full yes they didn't get the full amount they need for reconstruction they didn't get that one hundred billion dollars that the iraqi prime minister said the complete reconstruction of his country would cost about they got thirty billion dollars which the foreign minister of iraq said in today's world is not a small amount of money i've been speaking with the head of the iraq reconstruction fund and he said frankly we got more than we thought we would out of this conference there were very strong words of cum graduations from the u.n. secretary general there saying it was an endorsement and impressive indorsement from part of the world in the economic reforms that have been made in changes made in iraq was also a word of encouragement to from a regional director of the world bank saying he would encourage the private sector to come forth and invest in iraq some key questions remain though will all this money pledged to actually materialize we've seen in the past pledges made in two thousand and three adding up to thirty three billion dollars in a madrid donor's conference but a year later only a fraction of that has actually materialized and there is the challenge of making sure conditions stay secure and stable enough in all the parts of iraq that really need reconstructing so that money can be spent. ahead of iraq's reconstruction funds have you mentioned just says he is happy with the pledges made today this thirty billion dollars going to the private sector government for investment is going to be what you call it like revolving also gives the money back after a few years we don't expect that you are going to spend all this money in a day and then marry. within ten years in fact the plan for a close election the framework for at least close election and difficult moment is to stand forth until two thousand and twenty eight. journey prime minister benjamin netanyahu has key coalition partners say they're sticking with him for now pending a decision on whether he'll be indicted for bribery as recommended by the police and yahoo is accused of accepting a three hundred thousand dollars in gifts from billionaire benefactors is also suspected of backroom deals with the publisher of an israeli newspaper for favorable coverage. first of all i want to reassure you the coalition is stable and no one not myself not anyone else plans to hold elections we will continue to work together with you for the people of israel until the end of the term after i read the recommendations report i can say it is biased extreme full of holes like swiss cheese still to come on the program a controversial acquittal for the murder of an indigenous man causes candidate to rethink its jury selection. why a power struggle between palestine and competing factions is forcing lifesaving hospitals and clinics to close. welcome back look at the weather in the levant and western parts of asia first of all homesick quite a bit of cloud showing up on the satellite imagery that is still some snow across the eastern areas there with temperature minus one but otherwise fine conditions for tehran a lot of cloud likely for baghdad from this weather system and ready to run the eastern side of the mediterranean clouds certainly in evidence although with the flow coming up from the south across the road the implants that's going to be relatively warm with highs of twenty in beirut and then as we head into friday we're going to see more the way of rain developing across these areas with the northern parts of iraq and into iran some rain with the snow at higher elevations and cloud extending all way down towards q.h. city so that really stand across parts of the arabian peninsula during the course of thursday working its way south as we head towards the weekend but temperatures really for this time be are still way above average twenty six in doha twenty seven i've not really seen winter here at all and fine conditions on the other side of the peninsula with thirty four some ice from mecca conditions all the way down the red sea coast sunnah should see a maximum of twenty five percent across into southern portions of africa you see the satellite imagery some significant shower clouds across more eastern parts of south africa and still a chance i want to show is that as we head through thursday. martin our top stories here now syria south africa's president has denounced news by his own a.n.c. party to remove him from office calling them on fat jacob zuma faces a vote of no confidence if he doesn't step down by thursday. the u.n. special envoy to syria says the recent violence in the country is the worst he's seen during his entire four year ten year stuff under mr are told the security council as many as a fountain of people are being killed in the first week of february alone. a development conference held in kuwait to see more than thirty billion dollars worth of loans and investment pledged to help reconstruct areas of iraq destroyed by eisold but it falls short of the eighty eight billion dollars needed. by tomatoes former president has made a brief appearance in court after being arrested as part of a local corruption investigation. of his former ministers including the current chairman of oxfam international were detained by police on tuesday a special prosecutor says the men face charges of fraud and embezzlement related to concessions for bus routes they can muster has the latest from guatemala city. guatemala's fight against corruption intensified on tuesday with the arrest of a former president and nine of his ex ministers out of little cologne and members of his cabinet are suspected of having embezzled funds and committed fraud while helping set up a public bus system in guatemala city in two thousand and ten to see then to that of the political. as president of the republic in accordance with the constitution is the government or of managing public finances intervened personally and institutionally to facilitate a fraudulent procedure of creating a degree mint. prosecutor said there are questions around how the government auctioned off concessions and granted subsidies for the buses the current chairman of oxfam international and former guatemalan finance minister one i'll bet if went as was among those arrested for it is the tension comes as oxfam is already reeling from a sexual abuse scandal in haiti and elsewhere what a mall is no stranger to corruption scandals over the past decade international investigators have been working with local prosecutors to peel back the layers of corruption that plague this small central american country have in two thousand and fifteen mass anti corruption protests helped oust former president as molina he's now on trial accused of stealing millions of dollars from the country's customs offices. current president jimmy morales tried to kick out the head of the international commission against impunity in guatemala after he pushed to remove morales immunity to face prosecution in another graft investigation analysts say these political arrests are far from over you're going to see here i think the commission against impunity in guatemala and the attorney general's office are just scratching the surface without a doubt there are many more investigations under way which will take years to uncover in the upcoming. selection of a new attorney general will be pivotal if these investigations are to continue experts say guatemalans need to be vigilant to ensure the country's next top prosecutor has their interests at heart and not those of the political elite david mercer al-jazeera city. columbia is calling for international aid to help deal with the humanitarian crisis caused by venezuelans fleeing across the border colombian authorities say the number of venezuelans living in the country has increased by sixty two percent to five hundred fifty thousand people in the story he joins us live from the border town of kuta so under the means of dealing with this exodus for some time now has it got noticeably worst worse in the last few weeks and months. absolutely lower and at least fifty thousand people venezuelans have crossed that many of them this breach that they have right here behind me into their border city and decided to stay here in colombia and this is putting an increasing stress on social services in that these border towns and across the country colombe of course is not a rich country and it has to deal with the millions of internal refugees from its own internal conflict and it's now dealing with the an increasing and accelerating number of venezuelans who are fleeing from the. economic collapse in their country and that's why president manuel santos is now asking for help internationally in dealing with this influx of people he also put in place a series of new measures here on the border to bring what he called a level of legality and order to what is happening here it's not possible anymore for innocence to just cross illegally this bridge and they now in venice why they cited colombia will not issue any more border crossing cards. one million two hundred thousand of those that have been issued in the last six months here in colombia and he's looking for help in the thing and maybe other countries receiving more of these venezuelans there are more than five hundred thousand now here. i mean that's comparable for example to the number of syrians who asked for refugee status in germany that was sixty hundred thousand just to make a comparison there so that's that's what's happening here colombia ones to to help but it's a they cannot do it on its own you mentioned the refugee crises around the world and there's generally a reluctance isn't there from other countries to increase the numbers of people they bring in from other countries how likely is it that colombia will get the help that they're all skinful is that this. well there's no doubt that there's no end in sight to this situation right now and that the numbers of venezuela and spending will continue as long as the economic situation doesn't change it at the air. the secretary of state of the united states that their son was here last week he also promised that he will help with and bringing money to colombia to deal with this situation there was also a an international group called the lima group that was formed a couple of months ago to try both to deal with the situation because of course this is a not only a problem in colombia about across the region and especially to try and find solutions in venezuela that group there yesterday and on tuesday man in lima and they're criticizing their decision by the president of in this way that he called us and i thought to hold election in april twenty second without having reached an agreement with the opposition there they're asking for of any and so that to hold free elections to let all of the opposition parties participate to to free political prisoners there at least what many other countries in the region c.s. political prisoners let venezuelans abroad to vote with their hoping that this could help change the situation there to try and reduce the now that the level the amount of people that are crossing into colombia i just wonder i'm getting thank you very much. and has given what was billed as a rave to brics it speech saying a departure from the e.u. is a cause for hope not see it just the deep divisions between leave and remain that is to unite in a. confident person this is the result cannot be. should not be found by e.u. rules off to places. people who voted. in the thing in the history of this country. and i just say in all candor if there would be a second vote i really think it would be another year of. tom wallin wrangling and feuding it which the whole country would be the loser so let's not go there let's instead unite about what we all believe in an outward looking liberal global future for a confident united kingdom the head of northern ireland's largest unionist party says there's no prospect of restoring devolved government instead democratic unionist party leader arlene foster called for britain to take financial control of the region british province has been without a devolved government for more than a year since irish nationalists shin fein withdrew from a compulsory power sharing government with. a financial crisis in gaza is forcing hospitals and clinics to close intensive care bed to lie unused to save electricity and patients with contagious diseases are forced to stay in overcrowded rooms that are in the us a provided emergency funding for the hospital generators but it could be another week before this filters through and smith reports from gaza. mohamad also he has severe epilepsy this machine delivers a precise dosage of a drug every hour to control the two year old seizures. for thirteen days now the electricity the power as it has come from solar panels the hospital like all in gaza has not been give money for generator fuel embodied but i was astonished how long in the power goes off for one minute my son loses his life he should be in the i.c.u. he needs an x. ray well he couldn't do that. much of the rest of this pediatric hospital is in darkness. it's happening because the facts are dominated palestinian authority in the west bank is refusing to release money until hamas hands over the taxes it gathers inside gaza both sides agreed in october that the p.a. would take over governing here but deadlines keep being missed. this is the intensive care unit and twelve days ago the doctors here had to take really the incredibly difficult decision to close the unit to save electricity it's very energy and electricity intensive in here and that power can be diverted to keep the rest of the hospital open there are five beds in the three that were occupied or those patients have been transferred to another hospital. they get most six hours of electricity a day here the rest of the time generators keep people alive the hospital director who's worked through all garza's crises and wars over the last twenty five years tells us he's never seen it so bad. if someone comes up to midnight with something critical sometimes we can save his life in five minutes when we have electricity we needed to give electric shocks for resuscitation for x. rays for everything. in the few rooms with power crowded patients and parents some of these children have contagious diseases like viral meningitis they should not be kept like this but the hospital director says they have no option it risks a wider outbreak of disease and that's potentially catastrophic in this densely populated sealed off almost two million people. bernard smith al-jazeera garza dozens of protesters have rallied against philippine president regurgitate is sexist tirades against women as part of the rally in manila an effigy of detective was displayed on with attachments of tongues with sexist phrases which were then cut off last week to try to promote controversy after encouraging violence against women saying that soldiers should shoot female rebels in the genitals. or presently tatty has ordered a ban on sending filipino workers to kuwait after the body of a dead filipino maid was found in a freezer there two planes full of workers arrived in manila from kuwait on monday after the president offered the workers free flights home creates minister of foreign affairs is condemned to tatters statements suggesting it could damage ties between the country's. international aid has begun arriving in parts of tongan devastated by so i can get a military aircraft from australia and new zealand through emergency supplies to the pacific nation but residents still face a long wait for power and other services to be restored psycho said to have been the most powerful ever to hit the capital nuku'alofa it destroyed houses and even the nation's parliament house. kind of as government says it's looking at changing the way juries are selected for criminal trials sought an all white jury acquitted a white farmer of the murder of a twenty two year old indigenous man in the western province of saskatchewan daniel black has more colton bushy was in a vehicle with several others when he was shot in the head by gerald stanley stanley said his family and property were under attack and the gun had misfired when he tried to frighten those in the car for his trial defense lawyers rejected all potential jurors with indigenous backgrounds it took just fifteen hours for an all white jury to acquit stanley of second degree murder. protests erupted across the country last saturday against a verdict many saw as racially motivated indigenous activists say the criminal courts routinely deny them justice both as victims of violence and as defendants. their son all over again to say that his life has no meaning that this is allowed and then what does it mean for the rest of us like do we need to keep worrying that our lives are in jail danger by people who have racist ideas about members of bushies family headed to auto to press for change to the justice system after two days of meetings the family says the government is listening to them and they're keeping up pressure for action not just words of comfort as a family we want to be a part of that process so that these injustices are addressed. we feel just brother . the prime minister what concrete steps will he take since he was elected just over two years ago prime minister justin trudeau has been promising indigenous people redress and reconciliation so far he's talked of change but no specifics yet we have come to this point as a country far too many times. indigenous people across this country are. angry they're heartbroken. and i know indigenous and non-indigenous canadians alike know that we have to do better the federal justice minister says she's looking at changes to the jury system as protesters in the bush family have been demanding still indigenous canadians have heard promises of reform before promises that haven't been capped this time they say the outcome must be different than your lack al-jazeera toronto. a quick look at your top stories now south africa's embattled president says moves by his own a.n.c. party to remove him from office are unfair in a forty five minute television interview or jacob zuma says he has done nothing wrong seventy five year old who's facing dozens of corruption charges or faces a vote of no confidence if he doesn't step down by thursday from into miller has been following the story. now also use this interview i think to talk directly to the a.n.c. saying that its decision and if he steps down would plunge the party into crisis and he believes that this is a decision that the a.n.c. would regret. the un's special envoy to syria staffan de mistura says the recent violence in the country is the worst he's seen during his entire four year tenure staffan de mistura has told the u.n. security council the violence must be deescalated he says as many as a thousand people have been killed in syria in the first week of february alone. i've been now four years special envoy this as violent and worrying and dangerous a moment as that in my time on the plane you're so far. therefore i strongly rate to rate the appeal of this exhibit general to all concerned in syria and the region and beyond that do this collate immediately and unconditionally and urge all stakeholders including the us then i grant us to use their influence to help reduce violence more than thirty billion dollars has been pledged to help rebuild iraq following the defeat of i saw that's less than half of what the government says it needs dozens of countries promised donations at a summit in kuwait but mainly in investment or loans which need to be paid back iraq's prime minister says the country needs almost ninety billion dollars. but a minus former president has made a brief appearance in court after being arrested as part of a local corruption investigation of article on monday eight of his former ministers were detained by police on tuesday to face charges of fraud and embezzlement related to concessions for bus routes as the top stories here not just there to stay with us inside story is next news after you after that i found out. the south african president has still not quit everyone now agrees he must step down so why is the a.n.c. seemingly incapable of sacking its controversial leader this is inside story.