Bonds one country is proving a stumbling block to the big asia Pacific Trading pact. Protesters on both sides of the political divide in lebanon have been turning out for mass rallies arjan numbers in beirut have called for a complete overhaul of the ruling elite and the political system which is split along sectarian lines the protests began last month and already forced the Prime Minister saad hariri to hand in his resignation a general strike has been called for monday and hauteur has more from the protests in beirut. Antipolitical established protesters are back to close roads they believe that this is the only way to maintain the pressure on the ruling elite to resign a few days ago they agreed to leave the streets after the Prime Minister saw those how do you as submitted his resignation but now people here believe. Those in power are progress than that they should have by now created a technocrat government which will prepare for early elections but those that mans have not been met those in power theyve been in power for 30 years are unlikely to meet these demands because it means giving up the power that they have enjoyed over these years so back to closing roads but the Lebanese Army and the Security Forces are also in the streets but i can tell you people here are uncompromising and demanding demanding a new change in leadership but at the same time there is another street in the country the other street is defending those in power. They turned out in large numbers to send the message to those trying to topple the ruling elite supporters of president michel came from across the country and converged outside the president ial palace in beirut suburbs a show of force but also a call for cooperation. There are too many protests squares the situation must not turn against each other or protest against each other we do a road map with 3 points corruption the economy and a civic nation there your rights so thats why we need to communicate with you and agree and put efforts together people here say they too are asking for reforms and an end to corruption but unlike the antiestablishment protest movement they are defending their leaders the president s son in law foreign ministers. Gave no indication he is leaving office he is a divisive figure who has been accused of corruption overstepping his powers and exploiting lebannon secretary and structure for political gains. Let us not block the road in front of us with demands that are impossible to achieve today because you will speed up the financial collapse. The priority is to delay that collapse and maybe prevent it. Mainly sectarian parties still command support among 11 odds 4000000 people but the street is divided and public squares and cities across the country antigovernment protesters are uncompromising lebanese from all sects have been coming together and the crowds chant the same slogan all of them means all of them they are rejecting the entire Political Class of lebanon socalled october revolution is now in its 3rd week the revolt against politicians who have been in power for 30 years has not lost momentum public pressure has reshuffled power the Prime Minister sato had d. D. Resigned last week but he could return to office as part of a deal politicians seem to be putting together and what they seem to be discussing are shares and divisions in the old practice and perhaps maybe just maybe thinking about do we give this socalled Civil Society 2 or 3 state seats to come down the street but the problem is what you hear here when you talk to people is we want a coherent independent competent government the major reform these people want is proving difficult to achieve and no one knows how long the political standoff will last its a dangerous stalemate on the economy on the brink of collapse much needed economic forums reforms need to be enacted but you cant do that without a government and its not just that if the Ruling Coalition those in power decide to clamp down on this movement it will be very difficult because using Excessive Force would definitely be condemned by the International Community whos really their eyes have been on lebanon on western countries providing support to the Lebanese Army so the Lebanese Army the Ruling Coalition theyre in a bind they know what theyre up against a street which is uncompromising but at the same time its not clear if they are going to take escalatory measures them sell. In order to end this movement. Iraq is also embroiled in an antigovernment protests and they are the Prime Minister is calling for an end to bloodshed on both sides speaking for the 1st time since announcing his resignation. Says protesters have achieved their goals but theyre damaging the economy he made no mention of stepping down but hes also met a delegation from the u. S. Congress who say they are backing the iraqi governments efforts are protesters are not giving up hundreds tried to storm the iranian consulate in karbala south of baghdad and raise the iraqi flag on the gate of the building and set fires nearby Security Forces fired shots in the air and then tempt to clear the crowds demonstrators have been calling for an end to what they say is iranian interference and iraqs politics and in baghdad demonstrators have blocked major roads schools were closed in the capital in other cities as teachers were on strike to show their solidarity with antigovernment protestors reports. Protesters set fires erected barricades and even lay down in the road at intersections in central and eastern baghdad as the work week began the roadblocks created traffic jams across the capital preventing people from getting to work some government offices and businesses were forced to close the normal club but we have one demand which is employees joints it is just like cos they cant participate by staying at home we want all the government ministries to stop operating we can only unite we are all one people here in Tahrir Square which has become the epicenter of the protests there were signs that people are settling in for the long haul this burned out skyscraper has been occupied since the 2nd wave of antigovernment protests began more than a week ago from the upper floors protesters can see the square and the bridge below leading to the green zone where Security Forces are. Isha and this was built during the Saddam Hussein era there was once a focus restaurant on top of one of its neck thing it is been abandoned since 2003 when it was bombed there in the u. S. Led invasion now its become an iconic landmark of these and precedented protests volunteers are trying to prevent this building from becoming a garbage dump we are here to clean this place and to have a city where as we know many people there killed here and its in people with no training so this is a place to be acclaimed as a kind of all the plays will soften the sally is a University Student and volunteer he says he knows being here is dangerous but this is a revolution what im going to do after graduation theres no jobs so this is this golden age of skilling like like this dust and there. We are we are just like peoples zombies no one no one knew no one know that there is people here have dreams want to do things in their lives moussaoui and other protesters say they feel proud for their role in what they regard as a historic moment theyre not following or answering to anyone in their eyes their old leaders are going to name aljazeera baghdad pakistans Prime Minister has refused to heed calls to resign as tens of thousands of protesters remain in islamic demonstrators gave them wrong con until midnight on sunday to step down they have a government as illegitimate and being propped up by the military the protests are led by the Prime Ministers longtime buyable conservative cleric a lot of fun for him on. The whistleblower who prompted an impeachment probe into the u. S. President says hell answer questions from House Republicans donald trump has repeatedly called for the name official to reveal themselves then cories to 2 began public hearings this month after several weeks of closed door testimony trump is accused of threatening to withhold military aid to ukraine unless it investigated its political rival show by donald trump has basically claimed that members of the media know who the whistleblower is and that they must reveal his identity the whistleblower gave a very inaccurate report about my phone call my phone call was perfect it was totally appropriate but he gave the report he or she but according to the newspaper existed he fake think they know they know what it is you know you just dont want to report it the whistleblower. Should be revealed because the whistleblower gave 4 stories so people would go oh the fraud i wont go that far but. When i read it closely i probably would. John hendren has more from washington d. C. In the impeachment inquiry into donald trump what is interesting is not necessarily who might testify in the coming week but who will not testify there are 3 officials from the White House Office of management and budget who have been asked by that inquiry to testify and reports are that they will not appear in this coming week that is apparently part of a coordinated campaign by the white house to prevent people from speaking to you know pietschmann require e. And in that case its significant because the allegation in the inspiring is that President Donald Trump withheld 400000000. 00 from the government of ukraine that is in military aid until he received a promise from the president of ukraine little mirrors alinsky that he would investigate joe biden the president s rival and that he would announce that he was doing so publicly so there is that end the fact that john bolton the president s former National Security adviser has said he will not testify without a subpoena so bolton is significant because he is said that that deal the Pressure Campaign against ukraine was a socalled drug deal and members of Congress Want to know what he meant by that and whether he thought that meant that anything improper was being done by the president of the United States and there are new reports that that partisan warfare is driving up interest in the 2020 election is a wall street journal n. B. C. Poll that finds that 72 percent of americans say they are highly interested in the upcoming election those are the kind of numbers we usually dont see until about a month before election day and that suggests there could be very high turnout in 2020 whatever happens with the impeachment inquiry. Trump has again threatened to withhold federal aid from california after its democratic governor criticize the u. S. President s Environmental Policies wildfires have been raging in the state for 2 weeks but all of back you ation orders have been lifted as firefighters do make progress and containing these places thousands of residents are returning to their homes 175 houses have been destroyed while another 35 have been damaged. So head on aljazeera there is so bad its equivalent to smoking 50 cigarettes a day why a toxic emergency has been declared in indias capital. And hopes of returning home syrians contemplate going back to their cities but it could be a dangerous decision. Hello again welcome back well here across north america we have seen the temperatures drop just over the last few days with a lot of heavy snow here across the great lakes and into the eastern part of canada as we go towards the next 4 days the snow will still be a problem as we look at the forecast map here and monday particularly over here towards on terrio as well as into quebec but down towards the south temperatures are slowly moderating coming back up to about average for this time of year so for atlanta we do expect to see 15 degrees on monday and clouds in the forecast as well as showers down here across parts of florida 29. 00 degrees as expected high for miami but elana your temperatures coming back to about 20 degrees there across much of the caribbean we are looking at scattered showers for much of the islands areas but down here across much of the south it is still going to be rainy for panama as well as coastal rica heavy showers across the yucatan with cosmos a good temper of 30 degrees there and then as we go towards tuesday we do expect to see the rain coming back into play for mexico city with a temperature of 22 degrees and then we have been watching the he wave across parts of paraguay and the temperatures are still going to be quite warm here on monday for since you dont see a temperature of 39 to greece but finally we are going to be seeing a break on tuesday temp just coming down to 26 with rain in the forecast across the region. Rewind returns with a new series and brand new updates on the best around to see. Green lines continue with. Prison remember. It was and the. Documents which reveal the collaboration between Libyan Intelligence Services on aljazeera. Watching aljazeera lets recap the top stories right now rival protests were held across lebanon both for and against the government antigovernment protesters converged in beirut repeating their calls for a complete overhaul of the ruling elite hours after supporters of the president staged a big rally. Iraqs Prime Minister has called for an end to mass protests against the government he says protesters have achieved their goals for now hurting the economy some of them tried to storm the iranian consulate and car over what they see as tehrans interference and iraqs politics. They whistle blower who prompted an impeachment probe into the u. S. President has offered to answer questions in this investigation again called for the a name to reveal himself. Thailand says a major Asia Pacific Trade agreement could be finalized by february there were hopes for progress on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership the ongoing summit in bangkok but that had a roadblock after new demands were made by india undertaking and as a china political analyst who advises the government on economic and Development Issues he joins us now from beijing so are you surprised that the agreement at this stumbling block. Well not really i mean modi is in a very difficult position the r. S. S. Who is very influential in the b j p a number of his ministers have indicated that they are opposed to this remember for india the current f t a Free Trade Agreement only involves about 6 percent of the total that theyre there so its a very limited also it is not a production powerhouse so theyre trying to figure out how they can approach this on the other hand does not want to be left on the sidelines at the r. C. The regional conference pensive Partnership Act is in fact put together i mean right now you have global headwinds you have a u. S. Which seems to be domestically preoccupied has skipped the last 2 the president has skipped the last 2 apec meetings and you know this is a situation where theyre trying to do it the other thing that people are paying attention to is the South China Seas issue which is also in the process of being settled or it looks that way so what do you see that can get india past past the stumbling block i mean how important is this well its very important to china and also because with the u. S. With china and india together youre talking about such a substantial part of the Fastest Growing areas largest populations etc i think in part that india is they need something to get them over the top i think this is something that they have to do modi has quite a big amount of political juice he can use and i think he might choose to do it here indias been badly in need of economic. Stimulus things are going down there so he will be looking to make a good deal but he has to make it in a terms that he can go back domestically and sell it how committed is china to making this happen. China is very committed obviously they see this is a part of what is going wrong with the w t o they still support the w t o but without the u. S. Involved theres a real question about how they can go forward the r. C. E. P. Is really the greatest regional hope that china has of creating a very large trade bloc and you know promoting this multilateralism that they see is very important not only to their own growth but and then eventually connecting that to the belt and Road Initiative i think theyve signaled that they are softening their stances on a number of issues especially because of these economic headwinds and you see that also in the South China Sea negotiations and are talking and joining us from beijing our thanks as always schools are shut flights are being canceled in a public emergency has been declared as toxic small chokes indias capital on the air quality index a result of 500. 00 is described as severe plus the result for new delhi is double that experts say its like smoking up to think least 50 cigarettes a day that is people are complaining of sore eyes and sore throats. Its suffocated and we thought coffee we food at that moment shall we make the weapon better and the pollution that will improve it doesnt feel like eat yet i mean because the human body is breathing shes pollution hes also putting us on the mental pressure thats not we say stiffly no phone. Around with. Them for a couple of swami is a distinguished senior fellow at Observer Research foundation he describes the difficulties facing those living in new delhi. I was in delhi yesterday a