Got some pretty good clear skies you across much of japan over the next couple of days it stay dry and it will stay dry through the end of the week in the start of the weekend so 22 celsius intake and some pretty good sunny skies color to the north into her guide to the winds are coming from the colder north and west and weve got most of his guys across the Korean Peninsula as well the cloud begins to push in from the west on saturday but staying fine for most falls across into much of a central japan now vietnam is where were seeing the very heavy amounts of rain a lot of this in fact most of this really is coming from the remnants of what was a Tropical Storm so this will continue to impact northern and coastal areas of it and over the next 23. 00 days we could see as much as 300. 00 millimeters of rain certainly around 200. 00 fairly widespread throughout much of the country meanwhile 28. 00 celsius in hong kong feeling a bit humid but mostly dry with some sunshine and that rain is further to the south as well fairly widespread through much of borneo and well also see that rain beginning to push down across into job a sudden jihad into saturday but at the same time some of the heavy spells of a city across the northern portion of sumatra so here we could pick up about 300 millimeters of rain in the next couple of days. Another day another explosion. From one of the thousands of i. E. D. Strewn through the landscape of this lawless tribal region in pakistan with only the most basic equipment of phillis bomb Disposal Unit determined to counter the horrors of the relentless taliban onslaught. With faith a witness documentary. On aljazeera. The top stories on aljazeera a gas stove has exploded on a train in pakistan sparking a huge fire and killing at least 70 people the train was on its way from karachi to open the just outside islamabad. Story open schools and universities in lebanon have been cancelled as antigovernment protesters continue their sit in in parts of the capital Prime Minister sahadi resigned on tuesday but hes been asked by the president to stay on as a temporary caretaker until a new government is formed. Nearly 5 months of protests or purse hong kongs economy into recession for the 1st time in a decade the city has now recorded negative growth in 2 consecutive quarters. Fire has devastated an ancient castle on the japanese island of okinawa its one of the regions most popular unesco World Heritage sites rob mcbride reports. Surely consulates will never walk in i was best known. Tourist spots and had earned World Heritage status in 2000. The fire broke out in the main buildings before dawn the flames spreading quickly through the ancient timbers more than 10 fire engines were sent to tackle the blaze but there was little they could do local people looking on helplessly the full extent of the damage was revealed at 1st light many of the buildings reduced to smoking ruins the castle dates from the rio q kingdom which spanned 450 years until lock in our was an extra by japan in the 19th century. As a symbol of the islands heritage it had in recent days been holding an annual festival recreating rituals from the past. Aachen hours loss will be felt by japan as a whole think they understand sure a castle in a World Heritage site is an extremely important symbol of okinawa i feel my heart ache a stand my heartfelt sympathy to the people of iraq now or the castle had been wrecked and restored before from fierce fighting between u. S. And Japanese Forces at the end of world war 2 the government has promised to rebuild it once more problems bride aljazeera. Chile has been forced to cancel 2 Major Conferences after weeks of government protests the government has withdrawn from hosting the Asia Pacific Economic cooperation summit as well as a meeting on Climate Change. Reports. That. Thousands of people demonstrate on the streets of the chilean capital for the 12th day in a row while protesters marched chiles president. Made an unexpected announcement to Major International summits that were scheduled to be held in chile in the coming weeks would be canceled. But the. Primary concern and priority as a government is to reestablish order guarantee safety for our society. By pulling out of the Asia Pacific Economic conference or apec will no longer host the highly anticipated meeting between u. S. President donald trump and chinas xi jinping. Were expected to sign phase one of a new trade deal between the u. S. And china. The chilean president has also canceled the cop 25 Climate Change conference a United Nations sponsored summit that was scheduled to be held in cheerless capital in december the indications we have so far at this present moment is that they would continue to serve as the presidency of the 25th session of the conference of parties so the sort of leadership that theyve been providing in the past months will continue. For many demonstrators and filled santiagos iconic class a canceling of the International Summits seemed of little concern protesters said president s who are get a should instead be focused on addressing the demands of demonstrators id like to say. To the people watching us the received dont believe the media our media is saying to us you know what is this there ok ok there i was riding up to get the f. Peaceful protests just like this have been taking place every day for almost 2 weeks ensuring the demands of demonstrators have evolved over time what were hearing from people on the streets now are calls for the resignation of the countrys president. A military enforced curfew and state of emergency and she was recently lifted but the demonstrations that have swept through several cities across china havent ended. Apart from a distrust in the countrys political leaders demonstrators remain angry at cheetahs Police Forces who are using aggressive tactics like Water Cannons and tear gas to disperse the protests. A cleanup is underway after a Tropical Cyclone chiar changed course and brushed all mon waves of up to 2 and a half meter slammed into the south west coast on mines Emergency Management center has cut power in some areas of caution. Hundreds of koalas are believed to have been killed by bushfires in the eastern australian state of New South Wales the largest of the fires in lake happy spans around spans areas about the size of 2000 football fields and around 45. 00 homes have been destroyed but there are no reports of injuries in the fires are causing problems for australias largest city sydney is Andrew Thomas explains. Its sunny it should be a perfectly Clear Blue Sky like spring day in sydney but you can see the city shrouded in this moki haze at times on the opera house on the bridge were barely visible through the smoke now this is a smoke that comes from bush fires which are burning quite a few hours north of sydney ordinarily the smoke from them wouldnt reach the city here but theyve been quite strong winds from the north that have pushed back smoke down and in the city itself its been very still a lack of wind has kept the smoke here its from the air that you really get an idea of how hazy this city has been now the State Government and others have said that to most people the smoke doesnt pose any kind of health risk but those with acid ive been told to stay indoors and dont do any sport this is unusual for sydney its normally a city with very clear but on 1st day things a very different. Firefighters in the u. S. State of california are trying to save hundreds of homes threatened by wildfires on the outskirts of los angeles the flames are being whipped up by strong winds Utility Companies have cut power in several areas to help prevent electricity cables from sparking more fires. Its a crucial day for the impeachment inquiry and us President Donald Trump the house of representatives is due to vote on the rules that will govern hearings Going Forward meanwhile the former u. S. National security advisor john bolton has become the highest profile former official to testify but his lawyer says you wont do so unless a subpoena is issued. Reports. Impeachment investigators are eager to question john bolton the former National Security adviser to President Trump was a central figure in the administrations policy toward ukraine and one who d said to have used colorful language to describe efforts to compel ukraine to investigate trumps political opponents a drug deal is what boltons assistant said her boss called a july 10th meeting between ukrainian and u. S. Officials at the white house the assistant testified bolton walked out of the meeting after sensing other u. S. Officials had an agenda apart from solidifying the relationship between the 2 nations to get ukraine to investigate trumps domestic rivals i think that weve heard over the last several weeks a lot of lower level people and now the house is going to start moving up the food chain but boltons attorney said Late Wednesday his client will not accept the invitation to testify democrats will likely issue a subpoena but whether or not bolton complies is an open question hes been quiet since being forced out of the white house in september due to policy disputes with the president but 2 weeks before he left his position bolton visited kiev on official business and delivered this message to the ukrainian people people of the United States fought for their independence their sovereignty we understand what that kind of struggle means and the people of the United States are with the people of ukraine at the time ukraine was expecting the delivery of u. S. Military aid to. Helped fight russia but trump was temporarily withholding the aid as his surrogates continue to pressure ukraine to investigate democrats on capitol hill wednesday trump a nominee to become u. S. Ambassador to russia was asked to comment do you think its ever appropriate for the president to use his office to solicit investigations into a domestic political opponent soliciting investigations into a domestic political opponent i dont think that would be in accord with our values and no other assistant to john bolton is expected to testify on thursday to morrison is the director of european and Russian Affairs on the National Security council and named by previous witnesses as having Key Information into the president s decision to withhold aid from ukraine and drumming up expectations further is morrisons announcement on the eve of his expected testimony that he is resigning from the white house hi joe castro aljazeera Washington Well the House Resolution a sets of formalized procedures of the impeachment investigation into President Trump and when the hearings go public both democrats and republicans will be able to question witnesses republicans will now have the power to request subpoenas for witnesses and documents but the democrats hold the majority in the house so there are approval will be needed so the decision to move ahead to the next stage will lie with the Judiciary Committee here trumps legal team can get involved they can offer evidence request documents and crossexamine witnesses. Boeings chief executive has admitted the company made mistakes in the development of an important Safety System in its 787 max aircrafts dennis moment faced a 2nd day of questions from u. S. Politicians to 7 through 7 max jets crashed in indonesia. Within months of each other killing more than 300. 00 people 100. 00 has more from chicago. It was 2 days of intense grilling for the chief executive officer of boeing company and it happened 1st in the senate then in the house on what was the one Year Anniversary of the 1st of 2737 max flights that crashed killing a total of 346. 00 people and the criticism was harsh one senator said he would rather walk than take the plane another likened the plane to flying coffins and Dennis Miller the c. E. O. Of boeing had to answer for a Text Exchange in which a test pilot said that the planes problems were a green juice and then said that he essentially lied to regulators apologized and said the company had made mistakes but that did not stop heated exchanges like this one so youre saying youre not giving up any compensation and all your continued work and make 30000000. 00 a year after this. 2 accidents that cost all these peoples relatives to go home to disappear to die youre not taking your car pay at all. You know our board will make those terminate your not accountable if you stay in the boards accountable boeing says it has already made Software Fixes to its flight Automation System that would prevent crashes like those that happen but the question now is will the company face intense regulation from now on some senators and members of congress say it should this was after all a plane in which many parts were sealed certified by boeing officials themselves and on capitol hill many people are now asking why. The owners of his owen fiats chrysler have announced a merger that would see them become the worlds 4th largest automaker the automakers say the merger will help in the development of electric vehicles an autonomous driving. Well the Washington Nationals have left baseball fans in houston shocked us all so they pulled off a huge upsets a bit the astros in game 7 of the world series there harding wraps up the auction. Was our texas side washington d. C. Is united for the 1st time in franchise history the Washington Nationals have claimed their title as the best in the world series. Used to win the game started well for the Houston Astros in a winner take all final time the team are at home and put up the 1st 2 run suchi. Thank god they ended up being their only. 176 against the nationals answered back how we can jerk an anthony ran dont both hit a home run in the 7th any was when it all came down to this point to you was the Washington Nationals beating the Houston Astros 62 years to our side in franchise history was i was overjoyed i guess that that like the 1st 5 your team wins it is amazing the nationals are the 1st team in the world series to win all 4 of their away games disappointing this houston crowd this year. I can honestly say nothing would have surprised me i mean for more we started saurashtra a travelling booze i mean you name it weve been through a lot but like i said before these guys we stuck together if you want to live this thing up the nationals had a rough start to their season only winning 60 percent of their games but they pulled it together for the ones that counted i. Said was. That there c was. So. This team have done what no Political Party could unite their fan base in the u. S. Capitol. With the 6. Yacht the. Hard aljazeera. Hello again the headlines on aljazeera gas stove has exploded on a train in pakistan sparking a huge fire and killing at least 70 people the train was on its way from karate to roll up and do just outside islamabad. After morning prayers i was sleeping and suddenly i heard some passengers were shouting about a fire in the train after that we started jumping from the train i lost most of my colleagues. To reopen schools and universities in lebanon have been cancelled as antigovernment demonstrations going to new Prime Minister saad how to be resigned on tuesday but he has been asked by the president to stay on as a temporary caretaker until a new government was formed the israeli army has arrested a prominent palestinian politician during a raid on her home in the occupied west bank city of ramallah. As a former member of the Palestinian Legislative Council is also a leading figure in the proper front for the liberation of palestine a party thats been banned by israel. Nearly 5 months of protests have pushed hong kongs economy into recession for the 1st time in a decade the city has now recorded negative growth in 2 consecutive quarters. South koreas military says north korea has fired 2 unidentified projects all towards the sea of japan its believed the objects were launched from a central area of north korea japans coast guard says they landed in the sea more than 370 kilometers from its coastline at least 10 people have been killed when an earthquake hit the island of mindanao in the southern philippines a magnitude 6. 5 tremor sent panicked residents running from homes Shopping Centers and the hospital several buildings collapsed its the 3rd earthquake to strike the same area in the past 2 weeks firefighters in the u. S. State of california are trying to save hundreds of homes threatened by wildfires on the outskirts of los angeles flames are being whipped up by strong winds. Companies have cut power in several areas to help prevent electricity cables from sparking more fires those are the headlines on aljazeera the bottom line is coming up next. Hi im Steve Clements and i have a question is america an ally that can be trusted lets get to the bottom line. Ever since the United States adopted its america 1st stance nato has been lambasted crimeas annexation looks permanent south korea was told they should pay for the us bases in their country and theres a renewed attempt to get out of the socalled forever wars in the middle east so can anyone blame americas allies if theyre confused does anyone believe that the us will stand by them in their time of need does america 1st really mean america alone or in america on the sidelines of the big global challenges well were very fortunate today because we have 3 people in the room that have all d the answers to these questions kelly playhouses the executive editor of the american conservative magazine James Carafano works on National Security and Foreign Policy at the Heritage Foundation and richard fontayne head of the center for a new American Security great to have all of you with us here have a lot to get through today i was surprised by a comment that Bret Stephens in the New York Times made recently where he was agreeing with all people irans foreign minister zarif and is a wreath basically was saying that allies of america. Were in kind of a bad place today and that they should neither seek americas permission to do things nor look on at america to secure their security and hes basically saying our allies are in trouble so kelly let me let me start with you what is what is the state of americas allies in the world are how we organize our National Security infrastructure around the world in the right way or do our allies need to begin looking for other places to secure their their needs. I think i think the latter is correct i mean im im thinking of George Washingtons farewell address when he warned against foreign entanglements he warned that in pursuing these friendships partnerships treaties entanglements as he put it would put us in a complicated position and which we were basically selling and sharing our Foreign Policy basing our Foreign Policy on other peoples other countrys interests those entanglements were things that we built after world war 2 that had gone through horrific wars where we had world war one world war 2 nato was securing our security doing a deal with japan and basing u. S. Forces broad was something where we looked at is at that time is vital to u. S. National security and our allies around the world put a lot of trust in those relationships so you think going back to washington that we should we should never have done those well i think. Im paper that looks fabulous but when were looking at todays situation when you look at the kurds for instance and the reason why Bret Stephens wrote that column were talking about complex relationships based on expedience in our Foreign Policy we have basically maintain this relationship with the p k k that the syrian kurds to get rid of isis but at the same time our turkish nato ally has declared the p. K. K. A terrorist organization so were in a situation where weve brought turkey into nato in which they have completely different interests at any given time in the United States and then President Trump is being blamed for leaving the syrian kurds high and dry but yet theyre no longer serving our interests in the region so it gets so complicated that goes beyond the sort of heroism that youre speaking of and world war 2 are creating these alliances to bring peace to the world jim let me ask you should our allies. Be worried about the solvency of their relationship with United States right now you know and the reason for that is whats changed with trump and the reality is not much for the United States is a global power with global interests responsibility what knits america to the worlds really 3 regions europe the middle east and the you know pacific can the United States guarantee its interests in any one of those 3 areas without allies the short answer is no so what fundamental allies have we dropped and abaddon in europe nato is a strong as ever in the indopacific not only do we have the traditional allies like south korea and japan but we have emerging strategic relationships with countries like india so if anything our alliance our Partnership Structure and the end up as if it is stronger over the last decade and in the middle east you know change all the men names you want i mean who does the u. S. Go back to time and time again and israel which is our anchor into the region were back in a strong relationship with egypt we have an alliance we have a relationship with saudi arabia i got to tell you take take the word truck off of there and youre saying its all good but i want i want to play a clip right now President Trump on nato nato members must finally contribute their fair share and meet their financial obligations but 23 of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying and what theyre supposed to be paying for their defense. Now jim i know youre saying that nato has never been stronger never been better and i know that the president is just kicking the shins of our allies to contribute more and make it Even Stronger but i know that to be the argument but i was at that meeting if you sat down with those defense ministers and you sat down with those leaders they dont feel they feel like nato is wobbly they feel a little bit like americas commitment to the to our mutual security arrangement is not as robust as it once was take tell me where im wrong well. Every american president going back to eisenhower has complained about nato allies kicking in and even president at the end of the last nato summit said hey the alliance is great theyve kicked in 100000000000. 00 this is terrific you know what there are there is while this is nato but its not the United States thats wobbly if you go to germany today and you look at the state of the German Defense contribution concerning the size of their economy that looks a lot lot of if you talk about turkey if you look at where turkey has done some of its other own allies including you bringing in the s 400 as an air Defense System and sacrificing the f. 35. 00 which is an unbelievable asset which would not only tremendously increase turkeys ability to defend itself but would absolutely expand the capacity of nato to collective to selfdefense so yeah there is wobbliness in nato coming from washington rich what is your dashboard on this look like in the sense that i know from your roles here for new American Security that youve written that you sort of lament we have before i dont think you agree with jim do you that nato is in as healthy a form as it could be now i think its obvious that its not in part due to the fact that the German Military is as well funded and developed as it should be but a lot is based on washington and President Trump a particular and ensure an alliance is an insurance policy particularly mutual Defense Agreement like with nato where we say we will defend you if called upon to do so and you will defend us of called upon to do so now its mostly been the United States has called upon our nato allies to help. Said afghanistan and other places weve not had to come to defense of stone or hole in there somebody like that but of course thats their end of the bargain unlike any insurance policy against a threat that may or may not materialize you try to think what is the chances that if i need this its actually going to be there for me what are the chances not only that the American Military is big but the american president is going to use it to protect me if called upon to do so and given the president s rhetoric which is really most of what these leaders have to go by they wonder whether if push came to shove the United States would actually go to war to defend montenegro millet a nato ally or defend poland defend us tony or defend a country like that because the body language and some of the rhetoric of the president suggests that he would not do you think we should yes if theyre a nato ally we have made that commitment i think of one falls away then the entire the entire edifice crumbles you can have the debate before a country comes to nato about whether theyll be and thats the annoying kellys point is that these entangling alliances get us deeper and deeper into it sounds very much like pre world war one right it sounds a little bit like all of these side deals may get us into something where all of a sudden we have a kinetic conflict we have a war we have deployment of troops and and all other means of war brought in in something that seems smaller than we should be using american muscle and power for the lives so kelly come back to you for a minute on this on this question is i think its a fasting are we to an Inflection Point where you believe we need to the United States needs to come back and redesign its alliances and pull back a bit i do and i think they did take the example of russia and our evolving relationship with russia as an example russia has been increasingly aggressive as weve been increasingly involving former so very soviet countries into nato so as is as much as the washington establishment likes to say that that russia has been acting aggressively on. Its own its it has been in response to the fact that weve brought in these former eastern bloc countries into nato under our security overhaul in the balkans shock at all because of akio hungry so as much as we push they push back and i think that we have to sort of look at what are what are our policies moving forward who are the predominant powers were seeing russia playing a more productive and it role and things that are happening in syria right now theyve reach to russia i mean to china and vice versa and responses to some regional and global issues were finding our power diminishing as their power of china and russia have have escalated we need to like you said maybe recalibrate those relationships. And you know our footprint whether it be in europe or south korea in asia so i think its time for some sort of reckoning to sort of look at the past and find out and kind of consider where the mistakes of these entanglements are and how we can move forward i know that President Trump has sort of like upset the apple cart coming into washington and talking about. You know nato went in and their responsibility even the village to be of nato itself and you know thats upset a lot of people here in washington but i think looking forward weve seen the polls of the of the power structure change and we havent kept up to it couple kept up with it and i think in syria youre seeing that and stark relief right now so ive talked to a lot of supporters of President Trump just out in Middle America and one of the things that came up with something i heard you know 20 years ago but it still feels real to them is that america fought the cold war and china won and and that people feel as if for everything that they have expended in lives and Energy Around the. World other nations are free riding on American Power and that they look at it is a sort of an entitlement that is that is due them and jim i want to ask you and that is one would you agree with that because thats where a lot of president from supporters are that they say they want to see america get Something Back for all of its investment in the world they feel theyre due and when you listen to the president s rhetoric whether its on ukraine or talking about nato or talking to japan or south korea about doing more its almost a transactional arrangement you need to pay us to defend you well decide later if that security guarantee is is good if you buy a lot of weapons so should we bring something its i hate the word to use words quid pro quo but that has a transactional dimension to it to show americans that theyre getting something out of these commitments well like us i think not only is there an enormous enormous amount of continuity in our Alliance Structure and i would argue keli thats because it works in the Alliance Structures sustain because people feel like theyre giving them value to your point i mean when the data ive looked at in the polling is nato is actually more popular now more americans and its actually more popular among conservatives