a budget deal before a midnight deadline. also russia rejects u.n. calls for a month long ceasefire in syria as the government strikes in italy and eastern guta . that evidence of a massacre and chilling account of rohingya man were killed and their bodies dumped in a mass grave in me and plus. this will be the end of protected areas in the area the bulgarian activists fighting to prevent one of europe's most ancient forests from being turned into a ski resort. welcome to the news that the white house says is preparing for a government shutdown congress struggles to approve a budget deal before midnight deadline the agreement struck by republican and democratic leaders in the senate is facing stiff resistance. in both camps a republican senator rand paul has delayed the vote with a long speech he's pushing for an amendment to maintain budget caps well let's take a close look at what this all means the two year deal seeks to lift spending caps on both defense and domestic programs raising government investments by three hundred billion dollars it's a high priority for republican defense hawks in congress the build proposes to raise military budgets by one hundred sixty billion dollars there's also a big boost in domestic funding covering areas such as health care education and environmental programs and that satisfied many democrats for now but not all of them are happy house democratic leader nancy pelosi says it doesn't address immigration she wants immediate legislation that protects young immigrants who entered the u.s. illegally as children there's also opposition from republicans many conservative budget hawks have been very good by the significant spending hike that's being proposed well kristen slim your correspondent is monitoring events for us from washington d.c. and the clock is ticking away christine and we seem really to be heading to a government shutdown again but the question is for how long. yeah it looks increasingly unlikely almost impossible that this is going to happen before midnight which is just three hours away here in washington d.c. the issue now is procedural the senate leadership can't bring this massive spending package to a vote because of one senator rand paul of kentucky they need all one hundred senators to agree to take this to a vote paul is not relenting he has an issue with this spending package and that issue is cost he wants to get an amendment voted on like many conservative republicans he's worried that the three hundred billion dollar increase is just too much it's going to raise the deficit to over a trillion dollars when you combine that three hundred billion dollars with the tax cuts that were recently passed doesn't look good for the balance sheet for conservative republicans who have been campaigning and railing against big government spending course democrats have their issues too as you mentioned immigration is a big one for them they wanted this bill to include some sort of deal for children who were brought to the united states says are immigrants who were brought to the united states as children some way for them to become citizens that's not in this vote either still the leadership of both the house and the senate do believe that they have enough votes to get this thing passed but it doesn't look like it's going to happen before midnight it looks like it's going to be a long night before they can get anywhere so it gets a bit past christine what happens after the. right so according to senate rules they can take a vote to close the debate at one am so four hours from now they can cut off senator rand paul and force the vote takes sixty senators to do that it's expected that will happen rand paul will get some time to respond probably three or four in the morning here before the senate can actually vote on this deal and then it has to go to the house so the house can approve it as well there's a whole process there that's another three or four hours so we're looking at ten hours from now as the earliest that both chambers of congress could pass this resolution we know that the office of management and budget has begun preparing for an appropriations lapse and they're advising other agencies to do the same for the bible leave it out of course but it's events with the clock ticks away kristen thank you. russia has rejected a united nations proposal for a while cease fire in syria halted fighting and strikes was to allow humanitarian aid a medical assistance to reach civilians speaking at the united nations the russian ambassador to the idea we would like to see a cease fire in the war in syria but with the terrorists. in agreement with the used. well inside syria for a fourth consecutive day bombs have been raining down on rebel held areas which were designated deescalation zones the local media say government and russian strikes have killed at least fifty seven people in eastern guta of the edge of damascus a state treating children and a medic now they've escalated their attacks there did it live province since a russian jet was shot down on saturday killing all the two hundred people in just four days to have a job reports of the latest violence. by thursday the bombing raids in eastern huda had only intensified at least two dozen were carried out and activists say they see no end in sight to this horror from the sky. oh i was injured because of a plane. the night before fires in the town of modest in the month the target of dozens of airstrikes. that's despite it being in the northeastern province of idlib a rebel held area and one of syria's so-called deescalation zones whose borders were agreed to by russia turkey and iran bombing raids carried out by russian and syrian forces have only intensified since a russian warplane was shot down by rebels on saturday when another blazes put out rescue efforts begin anew were seen as an escalation because isis has largely been defeated. the. zones were marked out around syria yes collation while the united states and russia were interested in destroying isis now that isis has largely been destroyed these deescalation zones have become up for grabs we see turkey rushing in to wrap up rain in the north united states say it's going to stay for the long haul in syria it owns twenty eight percent of syrian territory and the syrian regime is trying to grab the remaining rebel parts of syria including. which has been surrounded and bombarded last year. eastern huta near syria's capital damascus is also still in the hands of rebels and like it is also under intense bombardment dozens of men women and children have been killed in the last four days. many residents believe pro-government forces are pushing for a decisive outcome to the war in syria while the united nations has called for a month long truce to evacuate the wounded but that appeal hasn't made a difference even for those accustomed to the carnage of the seemingly endless conflict this most recent bombardment has been terrifying. well there is growing tension between major geo political players involved in the war in syria with the assad government accusing the united states of committing a war crime that follows u.s. air strikes in there is a province which the coalition says killed almost one hundred fighters loyal to the syrian government a de confliction line in the area is supposed to prevent direct contact between u.s. and russian troops the u.s. says the strikes were in response to what it calls an unprovoked attack on the headquarters of the s.d.f. a force that opposes assad but russia which backs are sad says the strikes are part of an effort by washington to control key economic assets in the region to prevent them from falling into the hands of the syrian government the us backed s.d.f. took hold of strategically aboard oil fields in the north of the euphrates river in september they had previously been under ice all control forces loyal to the syrian government to control land to the self more from our pentagon correspondent political hay. i've had a briefing with secretary of defense jim mattis he was off camera but on the record and he called what happened in syria a quote for plex in situation and he said because for years the euphrates river has been a kind of do not cross line that if the u.s. or u.s. backed forces or russian or russian backed forces were going to cross it they talk about it before and he said that didn't happen this time he said u.s. forces were embedded along with the s.d.f. and they saw tanks and artillery start rolling in and say that one shell got within five hundred meters of the s.d.f. headquarters says that is when they picked up the phone they called their russian counterparts and he says he doesn't think that the group that moved in is actually controlled by russia he called this a great success story because in his words two great powers did not fight each other still the russian ambassador to the united nations was less than pleased i asked him to remember that the. syria illegally in fact. they were looking like the. they claim. they fight international terrorism but we see that it goes beyond that. to confront those who really fight the international terrorist with the glove with the syrians say is is giving the secretary mabus didn't speculate on how many casualties were caused by the firing from u.s. jets and heavy artillery positions but he did say that they took out two of the incoming tanks and the heavy artillery positions the u.s. is calling this self-defense and warning that that happens again the elect again. well hillary mann leverett says a former u.s. . national security official joins but of washington d.c. good to have you with the skill of the program as leverage i mean the u.s. all trying to justify the strike called regime forces but their initial reason to be in the region was ready to fight all useful but i still find as were killed so it seems that the mission parameters have changed for the u.s. not really king those actors on the ground yes i think that is the significant principle of development here is a fundamental change in u.s. strategy since president trunk came to office if you recall during the campaign the presidential campaign that trump ran here he he essentially said the united states wouldn't become more involved in syria he was happy for russia and iran to do what he called the heavy lifting in syria but that has fundamentally changed as the domestic politics here in washington have really prevented the trump administration from working closely with russia and so their policy has changed it is now no longer or even really to fight i so which is largely defeated in syria their policy now principally is to prevent the rise of the resurgence of the syrian state under the assad government they have made the removal of the assad government yet again a goal of u.s. policy which represents a fundamental change and threat of course to the syrian government and its allies including russia russia is dubbing old the us presence a reason to remain in the area so always looking at the possibility of more clashes like this that may happen between the forces that are supported by these two major superpowers. i think we are looking at an inevitable escalation an inevitable rise in these type of clashes if not something worse you now have the united states as a matter of policy declaring that it will be a it will have a permit what it calls an indefinite presence or what others will rightfully interpret as a as a as an indefinite occupation role in syria that not only has has provoked the wrath of the russian government and the syrian government but all of syria's neighbors iraq iran lebanon even turkey is against this us policy and so we are not only i think going to see continued clashes between. u.s. backed forces and syrian backed forces but you are going to see i think continue clashes including by with turkey involving turkey perhaps iraq iran and even lebanese forces bring human law let's bring social into it let's bring in one of those forces that's the certainly issue and of course it's critical that. the focal point to the flashpoint potentially between key and the u.s. because of the issue of how sawyer supports various sciences. yes it certainly is it certainly is a flash point and i think you had the u.s. commander visit there just a couple of days ago which i think contributed to this atmosphere of crisis and really was very provocative for both the syrian side and the turkish side and u.s. policy is remarkably achieved this unification almost. of the syrian government with the turkish government policy in syria which i would have thought was almost unimaginable a couple of years ago but this u.s. policy toward the kurds has really united all of syria with all of its neighbors and external powers to really isolate the united states in a way which is going to be very troublesome for us. so we need to keep a very close over the coming weeks above for the moment hilary by leverage thanks for joining us from washington d.c. well i had hail the old as they would use our including market roads across asia after the plugged by more than one point. also why a massive lump of sound has made its way out of love the city was added to a museum plus. oddly welling's in pyongyang where the winter olympics is about to begin and finally politics will get one to. three years ago. it was crushed to death by the israeli military vehicle during a violent clashes the occupied west bank no the israeli lobby is attempting to sue the twenty one year old family and his entire village for the damage caused to the military jeep they accuse get about of throwing a fireball the vehicle has been called ripples. the israeli army killed a name in june two thousand and fifteen and now it wants twenty eight thousand dollars for damages to this jeep to crush the twenty one year old after his death ability family filed a lawsuit against the israeli state the case continues then in january this year the army build the family. this is a copy of the lawsuit given to us by the family lawyer. they reopened their so shameless that they are demanding compensation not because they want the money because they want to make it impossible for us palestinians it's not about the money they want us to give in but we say we have the right you won't break because. in june two thousand and fifteen there was a raid by the army and later mullah that turned violent the israelis say a below three of five all of the jeep which then swerved into him for over three hours the family says the army wouldn't allow medics to treat a villa as he lay beneath the jeep he eventually played to death the entire village turned out the funeral. lawyers say asking for compensation is part of a new israeli strategy to penalize palestinians for any kind of resistance are in slow motion. messing up their little. story honestly we're not used to seeing this sort of claim but if you take it in context where israel is going when it comes to killings fines and bills of votes in the knesset i think they're heading to a level where anyone who utters the word occupation can be harassed arrested and possibly find as you might be considered to insult the state and its inhabitants. al-jazeera reached out to the israeli ministry of defense for comment it says it has submitted a statement of defense to the court stating that the event in which the plaintiffs was killed constitutes wartime activity as defined by the law and therefore the state is immune from prosecution in this event in the light of the damage that was caused to the i.d.f. jeep as a result of the molotov cocktail through my the plaintiffs the ministry has filed a countersuit. remembered very fondly here anything as a martyr to the palestinian cause graffiti of his faith adorns the walls of the village and people here say they'll never forget about him. the family say they will continue to fight for justice for the law and they've named their new born son after him they say they would rather face whatever consequences there may be than pay the israeli army any money imran khan how does it go for the maalik occupied west bank. reuters report describes in vivid detail how a group of rangoon men were massacred last september by me m r security forces with assistance from their buddhists neighbors is the first time such an account draws on witness statements from what is villagers the security forces themselves the two journalists behind the investigation have been detained in myanmar and denied bail the following report by zhao de silva came contains pictures that some viewers may find disturbing. it's a chilling and detailed account of what can only be described as a premeditated massacre the photographs provided to reuters by buddhist village elder don't lie the first the news agency says was taken on september first and shows the ten ruhi captives lined up in a row the second taken the day after shows their slain bodies in a mass grave their ages range from seventeen to forty five among them were students fishermen farmers shop owners fathers they were all part of the same row hinge a community from the village of dean dean and then mars northern rakhine state but little in front of the building when they were taking them away they said they do not worry we will send your sons back soon we have taken them for me till i was born on all that you know six thousand rocking chair remained in the village as a hawk tobar and surprisingly their relatives are reluctant to move back that i will not go back there how can i go they kill their husbands we have our little babies how will they survive. myanmar's military says the ten men belong to a group of two hundred terrorists that had attacked them earlier but accounts given to the news agency by both ranger and buddhist witnesses deny such large scale attack ever happens in the village the writer story draws for the first time on interviews with buddhist villagers who confessed to torching rohingya homes bury bodies and killing muslims it also marks the first time soldiers and paramilitary police have been implicated by testimony from security personnel themselves the two reporters behind the story wallow in your story who are both myanmar nationals and were detained on december twelfth for allegedly obtained confidential documents the statement released by the military on january tenth confirmed what they were preparing to report ten right enjoyment had been massacred in that village their release coincided with a good. request by prosecutors to charge the two journalists under the official secrets act they've been denied bail and if convicted for police up to forty years increasingly on the silver how to zero a chilling and detailed account of what well as abraham is a senior fellow at the center for global policy who is the author of the wrecking gears inside me and martin genocide joins me now from chicago via skype good to have you with us on the program so now we're seeing report after report on the horrors that many thousands of ripping off facing inside nehemiah your findings are backed up with photographic evidence from various photojournalists the truth it seems that no one politician wants to act on or can act on how difficult is it to get those in power outside of me and bar to support the writing of vocally when this evidence is presented to them. when the engine had been displayed the most persecuted minority in the world who'd be the un they've also been described as the most friendliest minority in the world it would simply nobody advocating for them on the international stage and the evidence laid there says continuously coming there's absolutely nothing and there is a poor that we didn't know before i hear testimony to such as those myself just weeks ago when i was in accounts in bangladesh what makes this report very different is that is backed up by testimonials from their kind local buddhist themselves and security forces pair scenario who were encouraging and participated in the burning over the g.'s and the massacring of civilians so we know how and contra there to build evidence from multiple sources all pointing to the same direction of pre-planned massacres by the myanmar military and we also know nor that the two journalists that. are journalists there have been detained because they managed to get the evidence rather than on the trumped up charges of handling security and for mission as as what the man maher government claims if that is the case and twenty four hours ago i asked the author of an amnesty international report also on the same subject was an independent body listening to these horrific test of these governments that could take action against me and you've come up now with this report with photographic evidence with very specific testimony so do you think international capitals can remain silent. well there as you know for for the international community to act upon this so far you know we have had seven hundred fifty thousand were injured are being forcibly displaced and there's been absolutely nobody action from the international community whatsoever to take any sort of action and no we have consented to believe it and of massacres genoese a marriage ing not just of india and but also from other villages that too like tuli and. so this information is going to continuously camo him on a regular basis until the international community decides to step up and take action this will continue to happen and unfortunately you can no add me on maher onto a long list of generous aid being prepared to eat in the world did nothing except stand by for the moment we have to wait and see what happens to those reuters journalists in court yet we wonder what the international community can do and we've seen the un special rapporteur banned from going into me and my our we've seen the security council perhaps not be as. demanding of a response of the me and my our government perhaps because they have such a strong supporter in china of the security council and china refuses to get involved in the internal affairs of being mar with evidence like this with testimony like this could it change the mind of beijing for example and could that be a pivotal target if it happens. i think aging has been a bit of what's been happening here since the beginning. i don't think it's lately to change their mind are told they want access to myanmar they have much deeper jus political considerations and calculations going on they want access to me on mars so they can get access to the beer and the end in the ocean and thus they are able to serve only the regional nuclear rival and n.p.r. so this is much more deep in a calculations from changes perspective and once you if you insert this unknown group called the ranger nobody's really hared off unknown entity as simply doesn't fit and to be calculations so i really don't anticipate much of a change and be zhang's perspective by certainly do hope that the international community and individual nations can repair this issue to the i.c.c. to the international criminal court and i certainly hope that those are be the architects behaving this general said are brought to account which will see what happens or for the moment as it were he made it chicago thanks for joining us. stocks of closed door wall street for a fifth time with the six days and the close ten percent below all time highs search on january twenty sixth on the dow jones fell by more than one thousand points after a large gains of the first weeks of twenty eight they started dropping a week ago after the u.s. labor department said workers' salaries rose at a faster rate in january well that's good news for the economy investors worry higher wages will eat away at corporate profits to the federal reserve to raise interest rates faster listen to possible. make no mistake about it this was a huge stocks plunge the big question is what's causing it now there are a whole host of reasons but most economists and traders are pointing to three key things number one concerns over rising deficit spending the federal budget that's being negotiated right now in washington is expected to add at least three hundred billion dollars in deficit spending over the next two years add that with one point five trillion in deficit spending for the new tax overhaul plan that trump and the republicans pushed through late last year and you're seeing these huge amounts of money that is added to the deficit and that is really concerning wall street the second reason is inflationary concern and rising interest rates and the third being political uncertainty in washington with the trumpet ministrations continued fights public battles with the f.b.i. and the continuing russia investigation leaving the markets uncertain about the political future of the administration and how they're going to navigate all of this markets don't like any uncertainty and they don't like political uncertainty either well some markets in asia have been plunging as nervous investors risk to move with a wall street called this one saying loss three percent today putting japan's nikkei also tumble three percent putting the end track for a weekly loss of more than eight percent. still ahead here on the al-jazeera news while why brazil and colombia a tightening security all leveled at with venezuela. and violence in bangladesh of the former prime minister can lead to zero is given a jail term for corruption. and in sports a long awaited win for this cyclist of the divine tool on story all coming up with top feel like to. be nice pink skies by the time hot. or is the sun sets in the city of angels. hello the weather remained slushy dry across the central and southern parts of china a little bit more clout than we have seen a recently having said that i would towards the southwest and maybe into that southeast and cool winds coming in from a southerly direction so hong kong getting up to around twenty celsius twenty three in taipei we will still see the chance of what it sees showers coming into taiwan over the next actually days as we go wanted to saturday brightest guys coming in but notice the right there to central parts of china hong kong getting up to twenty two degrees celsius by this date but a while on the other side of the south china seas is looking fine and dry for good parts over in china but a chance of one or two showers into central areas of the philippines know the pot should be lottie settled and sunny but we have got some shabby rain just making its way into those southern parts malaysia still seeing some showers here the wetter weather will once again be across a good part of indonesia such a car to still not out of the woods he had recent flooding for the showers over the next as i type just getting up to around thirty degrees celsius meanwhile. there across the eastern areas of india is making its way eastwards it will stay largely drive the trees being a tempest in colombo twenty nine celsius and twenty six for karate. the weather sponsored by cattle and race. well as i learned to read so that i could read her every man's. tax returns to activism with a new mission i sell here with my doll the price builds on purpose of. digital dissidents within the technological for my little ways to get security occasions when there are deals in the capitalist part of the record series and this time on al-jazeera. with bureaus spanning six continents across the globe. to. al-jazeera is correspondents live in green the stories they tell. us about it. al-jazeera fluent in world news. welcome back to the al-jazeera news hour opposite whole robin a reminder of our top stories the white house says it's preparing for a government shutdown it's called west ruggles to approve a budget deal before a midnight deadline the agreement struck by republican and democratic leaders in the senate is facing stiff resistance in both camps. russia has rejected u.n. calls for a blood flow and cease fire in syria it was proposed to allow humanitarian assistance to be provided to civilians government forces backed by russian air support of wrapped up the strikes of its lebanese to the. in recent days both areas are supposed to be within so-called deescalation zones where the reuters report has details of the apparent killing of ten it wrecking your bed by being massacure the forces did happen for the first time such an account draws on testimony from villagers that security forces the two journalists behind the investigation to be detained did be a bar a did night dale. scores of aftershocks are hampering rescue efforts in taiwan as the search continues for survivors of choose days earthquake seven people remain missing after the bakley chewed six point four trevor killed at least ten people of egypt hundreds in the port city of whey led workers are beginning to to abolish dangerous buildings which were left badly damaged by the quake well rob brian todd joins me now from a leather and rob just twenty four hours ago we were talking about these this window of opportunity to try and find people alive it's still being called a search and rescue operation but for how long. that's right i think they're working on the principle that you do in these circumstances that you continue the search while there's a chance of finding people alive and this morning friday here in the search area hale they are working on the what has been assigned of life detective during the hours of darkness this has given rescue is some optimism here it was a search and rescue party in an area of this building over to one end of it that used to be a hotel on the first and second floors where they understand two of the missing people unaccounted for a couple who were visiting the city were meant to have been staying they haven't been accounted for anywhere else so they believe that if there is somebody alive it could be one of those so that's what they're working on but this is a very difficult place to work and operate as you could appreciate the first and second floors of the front of the building simply aren't there anymore what was the third floor is now at ground level it's true that that the rescue team put that probe that detected signs of life in its truth at the same access point that they are now trying to reach anybody if they are down there but this is difficult as you say it's over forty eight hours since this quake happens but these are experienced crews and taiwan is sadly very experienced with earthquakes you'll recall that almost exactly two years ago at about the same time in the run up to the luna you year period there was another earthquake very similar to this it jumped out a number of buildings people were trapped but people were still being called out dead hours and even days afterwards in fact one woman from that incident was pulled out for fifty three hours after the quake itself both for the moment we'll leave it there and monitor events with you through the day thank you. a military parade has been held in north korea a day before the winter olympics opening ceremony in the south the victim told crowds in the capital pyongyang his nation is ready to defend its sovereignty but with north koreans about to compete in the games the show of military strength was smaller than usual the reports of a city. one of the main and the big bad news. this was a patriotic celebration at home and display of north korea's military might for those. who didn't leave our army defenseless and keeps us happy it's our people's army just like its name so this army founding day is a great day for all of us thursday was the seventieth anniversary of the founding of the north korean army the military parade in pyongyang comes after the world witnessed advances in the isolated countries weapons program last year leader kim jong un praised what he called quote a world class military with the most powerful force despite punishing saying i would say that it's a show of defiance but it's a solo artist to fines. and government wants to emphasize that the. power and light need to remain side in the face you vote future no matter what this year's army parade was broadcast live on state t.v. and no new high profile weapons were displayed the toned down approach was likely a response to a criticism of the show of military force on the eve of the opening ceremony of the young training olympic. north koreans for dissipating in an unprecedented way at these games south koreans are hoping the only suspense and drama will be during competition. i feel very proud that a global event like the olympics is taking place in south korea kim jong un sr is expected to attend the opening ceremony in which no. north and south korean athletes planned to march under a unified flag should be the first member of the ruling kim family to step foot on south korean soil since the korean war in the one nine hundred fifty s. from government leaders to people on the street there is optimism that the beyond chain games will help rebuild the ties between the two koreas it's already being called the peace olympics natasha good name el jazeera. south korea bangladesh is former prime minister dizzy or has been jailed for five years for embezzling around two hundred fifty thousand dollars in donations for an orphanage her eldest son and four aides were given ten year sentences the seventy two year old has served as prime minister three times but the sentence could not bar her from running in december's national elections zero also faces a potential thirty other charges including allegations of orchestrating political violence she and her prime minister sheikh hasina have ruled the country alternatively since one thousand nine hundred war she says the allegations are part of a plot to keep her and her family out of politics there are fears that she is jail sentence could trigger political instability. protests have broken out in dhaka with police firing tear gas at zia's supporters her party has called for nationwide demonstrations of friday to protest against the verdict tanveer choudhry has been monitoring events from the bangladeshi capital dhaka. former prime minister and bangladesh nationalist party chairman khaled as the i was brought to this old central jail in a makeshift accommodation basically a day care center this central jail no longer exists here the central jail has been moved to i'm scared of the city she was brought to by a white s.u.v. it compensated by had done master cattle chil be kept there until from their order now the defense counsel told me they will file for it and pill read the high court that depends on how soon they get the certified right in their hand that could take weeks or when few days the court don't open till sunday a lot of onlookers there and curious people heavily cordoned off area and i would try to talk to a lot of people that didn't want to go on the camera because i'm heavy security presence and now we know a lot of people are there like god told us the country faces a serious political uncertainty in the year of the election if the ruling party with a smaller party goes into election without the main opposition party critics an expert told us that probably won't be accepted by a majority of the population and the country will go into a turmoil and uncertainty without the influence of election down the road. please the oldies have been deployed to protest outside the headquarters of the ruling party position supporters continue to demonstrate against the political class president. this week healed of the arrest of two supreme court judges are after the criminal convictions against government opponents has also declared a state of emergency accusing the courts of supporting a coup. the us has condemned that as well as decision to hold the presidential election of the twenty second of april saying there's no guarantee it will be free. the it will vote is a blow to the opposition which was calling for the election to be held in june it was a time to choose a candidate to run the gates president dickless the two wrote. it comes against a backdrop of an economic crisis which has left bitter a deeply unpopular estimates from the opposition led national assembly put venezuela's and you would have play should rated more than four thousand percent over the past year that's the highest in the world unemployment has thought of soared but venezuela has not reported official figures since april twenty sixth seen where the rate was seven point three percent with more than a billion people out of work last month the government raise the bit of a wage by forty percent public employees now are just over seven dollars and that the black market exchange rate but millions of people are still unable to afford three deals a day or basic medicines staple foods also in short supply will eric fogg's worth is the vice president of the council of the americas he says the election out of the does a setback for the opposition. well i think it's a huge problem they were involved in negotiations in the dominican republic to try to find guarantee that the election itself would be free and fair and in fact without those guarantees the opposition has no real comfort that they can actually contest the election in the fairway and so they face a dilemma the government has clearly positions this so that the ruling party and the president nicolas maduro will win and the opposition can either contest a flawed election or they can boycott that's not a very appetizing choice and the government has been very effective in dividing the opposition by jailing some of its leaders and by negotiating with some but by but not with others and so i think this is going to have a unifying effect for the opposition it's very clear that the united states and other countries in latin america and elsewhere in the region are clearly supportive of a decision not to contest the elections as well this is clearly a set up by the government to try to predetermine result and i think everybody recognizes that for what it is and it's not going to be a democratic election in any sense the colombia brazil have tightened security on the border within its way that its you hope to control the huge number of venezuelans trying to find a way out colombia is deploying more than two thousand additional soldiers both countries say they plan to count the number of venezuela migrants and to that territory brazil through a sense of sons colombia through registry do you have. to repeat to president what dural these are the results of your politics it is not the fault of the colombians and it is the result of your refusal to receive humanitarian aid which we have offered in all forms not only colombia the international community once again i urge you to allow us colombians to help to help the whole international community to help even as well and you not to suffer at least because of hunger and lack of medicine now it's a snapshot of modern city life part of a massive lump of fat that was clocking up a london sewer has gone on display in one of the u.k. u.k. capital's museums curators are hoping it'll give residents second thoughts about what they flushed down the toilet the farka went to take a look. historians often say that you could judge a civilization not from what it builds but from what it gets rid of which is why the museum of london has a brand new exhibit on display an extremely strange brace yourself. a latin name cumulus some of called it the beast of white chapel after it was found blocking up an east london sewer to us though it's a fun burg and this is just the tip of it in its entirety it was two hundred fifty meters long the length of two football pitches and weighed one hundred thirty tons sixteen african elephants. so what's it made of well as you can probably imagine a vast amount of fat to that sprinkling of human excrement and then all the city's indigestible things like summer tailed wet wipes cotton barbs things that can easily be broken up on the ground and it smells apparently like the rotting meat of the dirtiest toilet you can imagine it's also highly toxic to this case scenario if you handle that incorrectly it's down through something like a bouncer stays we thought about whether we should pay clits or freeze it put in freetown but instead what we've decided is to add try and that has we achieved some of the risks are the same. but it's not all over for the big east of white chapel although most of it has been carefully destroyed some of it was so rich in fact that it was also rich in energy it's been transferred into bio fuel to power london's number twenty four bus but like all good stories this is a cautionary one because thames water that looks after the drain spends more than a million and a half dollars every month to keep it strains blocked and most of that budget is gone on shifting this mother of all blockages so if there's a lesson to learn from all of this is be careful what you pour down the drain be careful what you flush because it could reappear. to haunt you and you parker al-jazeera london. or protestors of the bulgarian capital saffir rallied against a plan that could destroy some of europe's most important forests the bulgarian government which currently holds the presidency of the e.u. is supporting a scheme to turn the national park into a ski resort to say those behind the development are offshore companies involved in tax avoidance lawrence lee reports. european skiers enjoying the winter sunshine in the results of band scope may or may not know they were in the us to world heritage sites the beautiful ancient forest here supposedly protected by bulgarian and international environmental laws the plans to expand the skiing area by cutting down far more of the forests has been infused yes tickly backed by the government is economically lucrative but condemned by environmentalists is the rate of nature some of the trees are a thousand years old the bears and the wolves could lose their habitats if we allow this to happen including national park then these skiing projects can start in all our national parks we only have three plus in our nature parks so we will open the pandora box and this will be the end of protected areas in the area. it's as much about how controversial it is that protests against the scheme of being held in cities all over europe and beyond it's also claimed to be part of a much wider rotten story about the rule of law in the european union. the row over the legal and environmental implications of destroying the forests here in the apparent complicity of the bowl garin government elites have served to focus attention on this place in the way that the rich and the powerful in bulgaria really don't like at all because it appears that bans go is actually a giant money laundering operation dressed up as a ski resorts. that's according to people like nick he points a balance goes empty hotels and apartment blocks as evidence of tax avoidance that's not fair is the one behind it is absolutely empty that one is empty because a hotelier turned whistleblower who's watched anonymous companies build hotel blocks here apparently knowing there will remain an occupied the central allegation is this a trick to inflate prices artificially and wash dirty money through the pristine resort it's a truth the whole of bulgaria seems to know about but is only coming to light because of the ral and the future of the forest the biggest hotels are owned by that offshore company. the gondolas old by the offshore company they they lock down you know their conditions of work and they don't budge at all because for them they have the monopoly they don't care who even owns the resort is a mystery it was registered in the tax haven of cyprus under the name of an unemployed local man he is on paper the owner of so many companies he's one of the biggest foreign investors in bulgaria. the government. refused to say apparently it isn't in the public interest to reveal he wants to chop down the forests well why. it's the last thing we care about. business and tourism to be successful every company that wants to develop them follows the law and we would support it but on the question i can't give an exact answer. to people who already stand accused of environmental neglect despite receiving millions from the european union to sewage disposal human waste is allowed to run straight into the streams coming down from the mountain well they plan to do with the mountain itself if they're allowed to cut the forest down is anyone's guess. in bulgaria. while still ahead of the party continues the philadelphia eagles following that super bowl win for the victory parade just ahead and school students. the remove. most of the sport is tatyana. thank you very much the opening ceremony of the winter olympics might not take place for another few hours but some action in some sports began on thursday one of the highlights of the fast day was the debut of mixed doubles curling as an olympic sport and included a match up between the united states and the olympic athlete from russia team featuring a married couple. the u.s. winning not one nine three. gay jumping action also got underway on the day of qualifying for the men's normal hell event addressed by the end of johnny got the best school with one hundred thirty three point five points qualifying in second place was poland's kamil stock seen hail and in fed. was david back in. a limb pit bosses will be happy to see the games finally begin ofter a troubled build up lee wellings reports now from. finally politics gives way to sport the twenty third winter olympics in pyongyang has been used as a pawn in relations between north and south korea between russia and the limpid bosses to now one hundred two gold medals will be decided across fifteen sports on snow and ice and for south koreans pride can turn to excitement. here so it's likely to leave here because it's a for olympic gold are you worried about because i love worries because our passion is so hard so we can overcome any weather. forecast is for a record breaking cold weather sometimes love with a minus twenty celsius with bitter winds and while you expect that in a winter olympics it's causing problems for competitors skiers have complained about the effect on their equipment but american superstar lindsey vonn will be happy to combat the cold of the missing the last games through injury. fellow american mckayla schifrin is the new talent she's up against the nigeria women's bobsled trio was created a lot of interest and in the spirit of the famous film cool runnings yes there is a jamaican team too like the nigerians they are athletes turned winter sports women and there's the man from tonga pits a tough act to follow the opening ceremony star of rio twenty six thing when he competed in taekwondo he'll be cross country skiing here but most remarkable is the unified korea women's hockey to announce just one month ago as part of authority and attention south korea's medal chances lessened by all we could say but this matters more than schools the host nation does have high hopes of medals in speedskating particularly and hope success is always an important ingredient in a successful olympics as long as it's done fairly russia face the consequences of a systematic doping regime when it hosted in sochi four years ago controversially when the snow finally settles here they'll be not far short of two hundred so-called elin pick up these from russia and them no fanfare but every chance of medals for them this is the first of three consecutive olympic games in this part of the world in so years' time as a summer games in tokyo and then in four years time a winter olympics in beijing but this next fortnight is chung's time after time failure the guy previously and it's to be hoped that the sport is as fresh and clean as the landscape. long chang in south korea if you go to our website you can find a dedicated section on the piano chang lympics head to al-jazeera dot com for slash twenty eighteen. an investigation by the international cricket council into allegations of match fixing during the ashes has found no evidence of corruption in december a british newspaper claimed the bookmakers in india had offered to fix parts of the third test between australia and england in perth but after a two month investigation i.c.c. confirmed there was no sign any matches players or officials had been involved australia won the march on the way to regaining the ashes and there was a long awaited return to the top of the podium for mark cavendish on thursday as he once stated three of cycling's de by taught the british right to be stage two went to l.a. of of yani in a sprint finish it's covered dishes first victory since taking a stage of the abu dhabi top twelve months ago off to which illness and injury hampered his season he moves up to second in the overall standings behind fifty on . the parties continuing for the philadelphia eagles following the super bowl success over the new england patriots last sunday fans flocked to the streets of philadelphia on thursday to be part of the eagles victory parade schools government offices and even the city zoo was shut down for the celebration the eight kilometer route finished with a rally on the steps of the art museum made famous by the rocky films. i don't think words to really describe what is going on here today. i've heard sirens so many people in one spot so gritty in unity one thing to be a boy the philadelphia eagles you boy these guys are going to great things i've ever done in my life is it harder for us to bring yourself. with than we did it was a very cherished. later. things that are for as you wanting to upgrade to a cooler car a group of friends in siberia have built a vehicle carved entirely from blocks of ice driveable car but five tons of bodywork severely limits performance on the second home value will drop presumably significantly during the summer well that was the news hour with me to help robin martin dennis is up next after the break until and from the extra time companies. pay the scene for us where they're on line what is a very nice time in yemen that piece is always possible but it never happens not because the situation is complicated but because no one cares or if you join a sunset there are people that there are choosing between buying medication and eating this is a dialogue i want to get in one more comment because this is someone who's an activist just posted a story join the global conversation at this time on al-jazeera. we understand the differences. and the similarities of cultures across the world so no matter how you take it al-jazeera will bring you the news and current affairs that matter to you al-jazeera. a young so miley refugee thrilled to gain us residency in twenty sixteen. i was told i was lucky too good to hear i was a really really hard god answered my prayer but with anti immigrant sentiment under the trump presidency al-jazeera world ask sally was whether his american dream is still alive. in america at this time on al-jazeera. the marshall islands holds a toxic legacy from years of us. military nuclear testing. as the sea levels rise one on one east investigates the threat this followed poser's at this time on al-jazeera the head of the september twenty fourth national election survey showed germans a satisfied with the state of their economy this is easily a slow news biggest tech success story the company was bought by microsoft in two thousand and eleven we bring you the stories that are shaping the economic world we live in counting the cost at this time on al-jazeera. countdown to closure the u.s. congress has just two hours to approve a budget or shut down the government where live in d.c. . hello welcome to our dear live from.