in the heights waving white flags israeli soldiers have called out to the group to move back from the fence prompting some to move to a nearby refugee camp it is thought many were attempting to seek help all sanctuary following airstrikes and the area. in other news israel is planning to ban fuel imports through the only commercial crossing into the gaza strip food and medicine will need permission to go through the most of them crossing israel says the decision is in response to hostility from hamas. u.s. president donald trump has arrived home to severe criticism after siding with the russian president vladimir putin on accusations of election meddling speaking after their summit and fed cast doubt on his own intelligence agencies which found evidence of interference. the european union and japan have signed a free trade deal that will eliminate nearly all tariffs presenting a united front as the trumpet ministration puts up trade barriers it is the use of

biggest deal today to creating a trading zone covering six hundred million people and nearly a third of the global economy or the day after warning the u.s. china and russia against starting a trade war the european council president says this agreement sends a clear message. we have. the largest bailout the world trade. this is a locked of strategic importance for the rules based international order at the time when the questioning dissolved. reoffending a clear message that we stand together against protection is. a u.k. based investigative agency has obtained documents revealing an expensive lobbying effort by the u.a.e. and britain and the us the campaign tried to influence media coverage of the arab spring and discredit the muslim brotherhood and. well those are the headlines on

al-jazeera the do stay with us inside story is coming up next thank you for watching. a wave of joy in russia are all for a thrilling and to a successful world cup but off to the euphoria what's next for moscow and the many challenges it faces at home and abroad and what lessons the cast of the hosts of the next games in twenty twenty two this is inside story. the at the at. the us.

over and welcome to the program i'm laura caro for over a month people around the world were captivated by a single of bent football's world cup in russia the highs of victory in the lows of defeat were shared by millions of fans watching on television and attending the games the hosts russia it's been a resoundingly success the president called it the best tournament ever but russia's government hasn't escaped criticism especially from rights groups who say it's use the world cup to distract from challenges at home i have a lot to get to with our guests in just a moment but first roy chalons has this report from moscow. the party is almost over many of the visitors have gone already but this country is still blowing the past month has been a tonic for russia often people here feel the world is against them perhaps now that perception is changing so we are enjoying the trip knowing places from russia

will be able to. rise to our reception to the brazilians russia is a big beautiful country people love for russia is so nice a world cup hasn't a raised accusations of russian or a tearing ism rights concerns or the fragility of autonomy but for a while at least it's allowed russia to feel positive about itself. without the usual undercurrents of confrontation. probably because of our problems with good drowned in politics and economics and this championship became a gulp of fresh air it let is brief and forget about everything next week we'll think about what's happening in our country but now we're just enjoying the celebration. officially the review is no less positive features president giani in frontino gave his verdict on friday a resoundingly thumbs up i lifted the new lifted to any is the best world cup ever

little went wrong much went right russian policing not renowned for its soft touch was on best behavior a country that often struggles with infrastructure managed to move fans to matches in cities hundreds sometimes thousands of kilometers apart. russia's world cup may be earning plaudits for its efficient security and organization but that by itself is not enough for a great party you also need a little bit of magic and that happened here on nikolsk us street in central moscow it spontaneously established itself as the beating heart of this well car place where russia and the world. got together and had a ball. before matches russians and foreigners to party after matches with little draw they partied hard i'm a list alexander bound of things there's a big demand for this new mood in russia russians and meantime to be in.

india's higher there against the rest of the world they were happy to or find it in themselves significant site of the treaties not the violent cycle but your case in part that you are able to be patriotic and or are to show your patriotic feelings in hospital that you wouldn't hosting rights for the world cup was important enough for vladimir putin that he personally accepted the honor in zero can two thousand and ten but interestingly he's been a marginal figure for much of the tournament one or two photo ops attending the opening match in the final the kremlin is perhaps realize that heavy handed official p.r. is not needed putin has left russians to present their best face to the world and it's worked well rich allen's al-jazeera moscow. let's bring in our guests now and joining us from moscow maria let min an

independent russian alice from london bill nor founder of gulf masses and contempt at the middle east and also joining us from moscow via skype raul paris a global football right at the associated press news agency a very warm welcome to all of you rob let me start with you because you've been there in russia covering the world cup you are now at the airport coming to us via skype as are just about to leave was it the best world cup ever. well certainly on the pitch if you do some really thrilling performances shock some great games that made it open field and indeed helps the television ratings and helps to sort of live out revenue fifty fun overseas stadiums as well they've already owned all i mean the russian state was able to mobilize all its resources to ensure that the right to remit is replacing the white infrastructures that are around them so in terms of back it's going to be hard to judge that whether it's the best ever if you have to take the long view of that of safety the legacy was the investment worth it

with the stadiums actually used in the long term by regular and club sides and indeed how do the people react to other actually changes in the country as well as a result due to the relaxation of laws they stay in place in the long term we want to be looking at from a purely perspective it was certainly an engrossing so i'm will absolutely get to the legacy in just a moment first of all bill your thoughts did anyone expect it to be as good as it was. well and terms of football no i don't think so i thought it was a superb world cup in terms of how russia handle it i think the russians did themselves proud i think that they should and sounds quite adept they were able to present an image of russia to the world that was open and hospitable and welcoming there is another side to russia of course that is the authoritarian side but mr putin was able to shed that particular garment and put on

a much friendlier coke. america's give us a feeling of what it's been like to be a police felt like to be russian even these past few weeks and months. well those were amazing weeks with people rejoicing on the streets of moscow and other cities and for other cities it is even more remarkable because in the rush hour we have more foreigners and we're more used to international events of course not of that scope what of course was totally amazing was these crowds of people speaking in different languages or repped up in their national colors the flags and painting their faces and the russians totally welcoming and as happy as the guests and happy to show rusher as indeed a hospital and welcoming country forgetting that the world was up against russia forgetting that in the myth that the foreigners were enemy is the national media

have a profile in the for for at least a few years now so it was indeed. i think one muscovites. in your food a gulp of fresh air it was unlike anything else that we've seen in the past two years so maria wants more close to the truth closer to the truth this open friendly country or the hostile enemy of the west. well i think it's more complicated than no country is just one thing and it is indeed true that russia is authoritarian and there are problems to say the least with human rights but it's not the whole thing in maybe disappointing to human rights activists but people are not over focused on human rights and even those who are could get distracted in actually enjoyed getting distracted in ensuring the world cup with everybody else well what is the other side of rusher i think we will be reminded quite soon it

will be interesting to see how this summit between trump in putin will go and what the results will be but of course the way the russian people were readjusted to being open and rejoicing and happy to welcome to house. foreigners from all over the world shows that in fact it is also there it just depends on what the environment and whether people are on the pressure or not they were not for the weeks of the world cup group how much do you think it helped so i say that putin very much a back seat during this world cup he was out the beginning and he was there at the end but not much in the middle and in the beginning in the run up to the event it was called putin's cup but it really wasn't was it. well he was in that very many games not known speed sixty big football fan but he was there front and sense that for him to basically get the reflected glory i think of the certainly the success that some staying here for russia managed to. detoxify the images you have she had

rights groups who say actually that's a matter of sports cleansing the fact you using a sports event today to distract people from some of the issues that exist but the fact he actually stayed away did not keep the politics of wife's case well kept and even though he did attend you had sudanese president charged with genocide and crimes against humanity was there of course that the vi p.r. is that this shows how it's very hard to detach the politics from the football but i think people recognize that during a world cup people just want to actually focus on the games and the matches do take over and the thrills the spills that life spain struck during the whole just germany getting out in the group stage and it really ensures that the actual clay is the stars and indeed the fans men and the local russians because they were the front and face of the likes my selves were going round six is in many cases cities that were closed cities during soviet times who aren't used to begin but so far in

his news you did seem very welcoming bill do you think that once the euphoria has rubbed off we can have a bit of a hard landing in russia and how hard that is going to be or will this positive vibe be able to carry russians through in front of a bit longer well i suspect it's going to be. a return to. what what russia was. you know a few weeks ago which is a hardline authoritarian state where critics are dealt with dissidents scourged i think the issues that russia faces haven't gone away the economic issues are very big and troubling for many russians i think that yeah they've had this opportunity to enjoy this world cup and good on em it's been a fantastic few weeks but i do think that those problems i thought they haven't

disappeared they're still there they're real and mr putin regardless of what he accomplishes with donald trump is still going to have to deal with and it's a question of how he deals them i suspect he will deal with them as he has done in the past which is to attempt to silence all criticism and when it comes to the economy has there been much of a boost seen why would we russians because of this world cup well i think yes i'm sure that the economy has taken a bounce up but again that that's that's a short term fix clearly there was a lot of beer and alcohol that vendors who benefited from this woke up and souvenirs and kids and and all those sorts of proceeds the big winner in this i suspect is in terms of the financial gain i don't think that it's going to have a lasting economic impact i could stand to be corrected on that but that's my interpretation. will be the stadium's putin promise that they'd be sustainable have

humans to vibrant football clubs was that a sense that you got some in some ways stadiums in very sort of remote places only very far from moscow. yemen they all scattered around the country i'm thinking wanted some bomber that was bill of rights than in the forest and some of them do not have top flight clubs they might have a team in the second division which means it's hard to sell them when they've got tens of thousands of seats and perhaps not the audience there and then we'll see in volgograd yes they just as the final was taking place of the slide around the stadium say yeah they didn't point for say next to the war it's a bear but that is generated from in russia and in many of these wealthiest anastasia's such that require a lot of infrastructure to be built it isn't necessary needs in the long term particularly will be stadia with ballast hospitality facilities and most of the question many russians will have could be put to bed it is spent on infrastructure away from the ball where although

a lot of questions within russia as to why so much money was spent on stadiums and as rob said so much hospitality infrastructure surrounding them well i think this is not something that will be questioned and there is a very astara limit to how accountable the russian government is to its people in fact i would say that it's not i think people are happy in those sit is where new stadiums were built or old stadiums were graded these were will be the places for people to use and i think the russian people in general i think that the expense is even if they are very high were worth it much worse than on other issues.