zimbabwe's president sacks his deputy after accusing her of plotting to overthrow him. ♪ i'm shiulie ghosh, you are watching al jazeera live from doha. also coming up, the united states increasing security around the world as it prepares to release a new report on thousand the cia tortured suspects. a show of unity, gulf countries meet to discuss growing security threats in the middle east. and global deaths from malaria have halved since the

beginning of the millennium, saving millions of lives. ♪ well let's get a news update first from sinker ball b bob -- zimbabwe. the president has fired his deputy. she has been accused of treachery and corruption and of trying to unseat the president. she was one touted as likely to succeed the 90-year-old president. what is the president saying about this alleged conspiracy? >> reporter: well, he is right now in a cabinet meeting, and he said the deputy and 11 others have been fired for trying to remove him from office. he says he has evidence that she met with u.s. firms, and they

plotted a plan of how to try to remove him. it has been big news here for a couple of weeks ago. she went into hiding. she didn't speak for long. we didn't even see her in public. and now she seems to have come out fighting. she has been attacking verbally the president, saying what he is doing is not right, and what he is doing is not the right way to go about things. and this other newspaper here has more of what she has actually been saying. she thinks certain people within the ruling party are trying to make her look bad and sideline her, and she is saying that he shouldn't be lied to because people are trying to split the party. the president is expected to reshuffle the cabinet and he is expected to appoint his new vice

president in a couple hour's time. >> what does this say about the future of the vice president in zimbabwe. >> well, people are concerned. they know that the president has been a member of the party for many, many years. the vice president does have a following. a lot of women thought she would be the first woman president of simil zimbabwe. the main thing of course is the economy, which isn't doing very well. the community thought they could work with her, and hoped she would be around a lot longer, now that she is seemingly gone, who is going to replace here. the big concern is now it's very, very clear that the president is very much in

control of zimbabwe and the ruling party. he has brought in his wife as the head of the women's league. people are concerned about what does this mean for the economy? it doesn't mean a drastic change in the policy or that the economy will improve any time soon. >> thank you. the united states has stepped up security at u.s. embassies and military bases around the world. washington is concerned there may be a violent backlash to a report to cia torture techniques which will be released in a few hours. the report looks at the cia program launched by george w. bush after the 9/11 attacks at secret prisons in more than 50 countries detainees were subjected to sleep depravation, and water boarding. the public will only get a

censored summary of 480 pages. we pick up the story in washington. >> this is the most transparent administration in history. >> reporter: this week that assertion is yet again being tested. first the senate intelligence committee's report. >> i have grave concerns that the cia's search may well have violated the separation of powers principles embodied in the united states constitution. >> reporter: that's the head of the senate committee complaining about the cia spying on its staffers as it poured over 6,000 pages of documents to compile the report. the cia has spent months attempting to black out as many pages as it can. the conclusions, though, have already been leaked. not only wasser to -- was

torture not effective, the cia mislead congress on its totality. the secretary of state called the chairwoman to ask her to reconsider the timing of the release with widespread anonymous briefing underway from obama's intelligence officials that the publication may lead to lines have overseas. >> if some bad actors decide to engage in violence, really it's because we engaged in torture in the first place. >> reporter: warning about the potential of violence is a common tactic used by the obama baum. it will have to prove that violence will be the result if photos are published. >> there was a systematic, you know, policy established from the very highest levels of

government. >> reporter: potential international outrage is also being cited as a reason not to release 11 hours of a guantanamo prisoner being violently removed from his cell and force fed. >> it is very surprising, especially for a president that has said that -- that guantanamo has to be closed. >> reporter: and overarching all of these cases is the question of why the obama administration is opposed to accountability for practices it says it knows are wrong. former guantanamo detainee told us what he expects to see from the report. >> i don't think there will be anything new at all. in fact i believe that they will probably try to blackout some of those pages. we know there were images of the torture that have come out from

iraq, and that is key because we were asking as to why is has risen. that's where the torture began, was justified and continued, and as a result of responding to that abuse, is rose, and al-qaeda was never in iraq before the invasion, so the invasion itself was based on torture evidence if you look at the case, if you look at the man who was tortured in order to get a false confession. >> the united states said that releasing this could cause a backlash against u.s. interests abroad. do you expect that? >> well, that has been going on for the past 13 years. that's one of the reasons why people are acting in this way. why do you think the hostages in

syria are dressed in orange suits? it's that iconic image of guantanamo. and what we have got to see is this is supposed to give that accountability, why did obama say we'll close guantanamo, stop torture, and then say quite quickly that those people involved in torture will be immune from prosecution. who else could expect to be immune from such crimes other than people like the cia? it's wholly outrageous, so i think there has to be a process of accountability, people who are involved in torture should be allowed to be prosecuted and go through the system. the u.s. defense secretary has arrived in bagdad for talks on the fight against isil. chuck hagel arrived in the capitol four months after u.s.-lead air strikes began. he says the progress could only be achieved through an inclusive

government. an explosion in bah harrain southwest of the capitol. it is the second fatal attack in the gulf arab state in two days. a policeman was killed in what is described as a terror attack. leadersover the gulf states are gathering here in doha for their annual summit. it's seen as a critical meeting as gulf countries could decide to form a joint military command. andrew simmons reports. after a diplomatic rift, the air is clearer, and doha is now the venue for what is seen as a crucial annual summit. qatar saw the departure of -- ambassadors back in march. they accused them of supporting

the muslim brotherhood and giving refuge to opponents. after eight months the dispute was settled in saudi arabia, although what was agreed has yet to be made public. many say there is a big need for unity with growing conflict with islamic state of iraq and the levant islamic state. the doha summit may agree on starting to form its own joint military command, this could mean a gcc military commander being appointed initially to coordinate action with their partners and there may also be new measures to improve security in the gulf states themselves. but come believe taking the fight to isil could be at the expense of deposing bashar al-assad on the battlefield. >> bashar al-assad should step down, otherwise this is not going to be solved. because it is not [ inaudible ]

to have bashar al-assad on power, and having our -- our forces to fight against islamic state. >> reporter: it didn't only isil and the coalition they have joined that is concerning gcc states. there's concerns with egypt, iran, and the growing conflict in yemen and iran. so the theme for this summit is set to be reconciliation and l solidarity. but aside from the political and security dangers, there's also a major economic problem. plummeting oil prices looming in the background. andrew simmons, al jazeera, doha. jamal has the latest from the summit. >> reporter: leaders of the gulf countries meeting here in doha will be hoping that they will be

demonstrated they have put their differences behind them by the end of this summit. they hope to do that essentially in a number of ways, one of those proposed is through agreeing this -- increased cooperation on military fronts. we're hearing that that could potentially mean a joint military task force or a single commander that would oversee the militaries of all of the gcc countries. another front being discussed is on forming some sort of joint anti-terrorism police force, a more of a civilian police force that would essentially counter what is perceived as terrorism. but you have countries like saudi arabia, and the united arab emirates, which has described certain groups of terrorists, where others do not consider them terrorists. despite this, the theme of this

summit is one of greater cooperation of unity. the -- what has been on show so far amongst the leaders has been exactly that. they have spared no efforts to know that now the gcc is in unison. we'll wait to see if that becomes tangible. thailand has become the latest country to ban the transer portation company uber. new delhi says the firm could face criminal charges. the city banned the service on monday and there have been protests against the company. uber's drivers are independent contractors, using private cars rather than licensed cabs. we received this update from new delhi. >> reporter: while the indian government has passed t the -- responsibility of banning

the service, what is interesting going forward now is how these local authorities will deal with such a directive. how will they roll out a ban and make sure these operations and services cease to exist. and what kind of impact will this have on consumers, keeping in mind that millions of indians have grown to rely on them for their daily transport needs particularly in cities like new delhi. in terms of the reaction it has been very mixed. men and women saying banning these services is a knee-jerk reaction. it doesn't get to the heart of rape and sexual violence and the safety of women, and banning a service for the most part many people say has served them just fine since they have begun using it, and doesn't provide any solutions or answers that

indians have been looking for, for so long. coming up, the story of one of the world's most famous teddy bears with a big addiction to honey. stay tuned.

♪ welcome back. i'm shiulie ghosh, the top stories, zimbabwe's president, robert mugabe, fired his president, mujuru. he accused her of treasury and corruption and trying to unseat him. thailand banned the taxi

service uber a day after new delhi did the same. new delhi questioned the company after the alleged rapes by one of its drivers. and the u.s. government is stepping up security ahead of the release of a sensitive version of a report into cia's interrogation techniques. the report is said to report that the torture was covered up. good to have you with us. we know the obama administration did everything it could to suppress this report. it says it could be highly damaging and explosive to u.s. interests abroad. >> that's true, especially that there are reports that 55 countries have actually helped or participated in the program. 25 of them in europe.

and europeans have been quite adamant on not having their government participate in any such illegal activities. the more interesting part which is shocking but not surprising, is we have always known that torture does not lead to new leads. those who are tortured will say anything to please their torturers, and at the end of the day, it's another part of the long cia failures that have been going on for a while now, incapable of predicting things, and when the torture still doesn't work out. >> will it still be controversial, since it has been very heavily redacted. >> yes. but one needs to praise the american system for -- for being able to take on such important, such sensitive issues, and put them out to the public.

but the second even more important one is that once this is out, it is going to be clear that torture is illegal, that torture is criminal, that those who will torture in the future -- >> but these interrogation techniques don't go on anymore. they have already made that call. >> no, this is the thing. those responsible for that kind of torture, they have not faced criminal charges. now there is a sense that perhaps the -- the head of the american civil liberty's union have just written an article in the "new york times" saying, look, we should pardon, george bush, donald rumsfeld, and dick cheney ahead of time, because we will say it is criminal, but we will pardon them. so this will be the quid pro quo so that in the future no one will torture. those who administered, were in charge, or political authorized torture are all free.

>> but these formal officials who's names we won't know, but they are saying we were under enormous pressure after 9/11. we were given cart blanche by the government to do what it took, and now we'll being betrayed. there is a loss of faith with the senate. >> that's very true. at the end of the day those truly responsible are the political echelon, not those in the cia. they act on behalf of the political rep senttive in the country. so at the end of the day, as they say, the buck stops with george bush and barack obama, with donald rumsfeld and so on and so forth with the civil leadership in the united states. and that's why this is going to be important not only for what it shows the cia has done, but for the kind of political authorization that was extended by those in power in the

united states. >> okay. well that report due to be released in what, an hour and a half's time, thank you very much indeed for that. now the last-known french hostage in the world is free today after being kidnapped in molly three years ago. he was captured in 2011 by al-qaeda's north african arm. the french president says he is in relatively good health despite the conditions of his captivity. >> translator: our hostage, our last hostage is free. i just heard the good news from niger's president who will be making a statement when surge arrived. and i would like to thing him, and mali's president who invested himself a lot in helping us free our hostage. >> jackie is in paris and joins us now. what more do we know about his release? >> reporter: well, we know very

little at this stage, beyond what we have heard from the french president, basically that there have been discussions, negotiations involving the authorities in mali, and he will be transferred from mali to niger where we will be reunited with his daughter and then travel to see the rest of the family. people are speculating about whether or not any money will have changed hands as well, because france and other european countries are reputed to spend money paying ransoms to release hostages. now it's something which is officially denied, and yet there has been a certain amount of investigation done into this. for example, the "new york times" newspaper claims in the last six years france has spent almost $60 million paying ransoms to release hostages.

so there have even been criticisms from president obama. the americans and british say you should never pay a ransom to hostage takers merely gives them more funds and encourages them to kidnap more people. so we have no detail yet about whether a ransom was involved, but there is speculation surrounding that. >> jacky, thank you for that. now a new report from the world health organization gives encouraging news on malaria. the number of people dying from the disease is falling. it's mates that there were 198 million cases globally last year. of those 584,000 died. africa accounted for 90% of those deaths, the majority were

children under five. but the number of people dying of the disease is falling sharply. since 2000, the rate has fallen by 47% worldwide, and africa has the most improvement, with a 54% drop in the mortality rate. >> these are, i believe, historical results. never have we witnessed such a sustained progress in the fight against malaria as what we are -- we have been documenting over the last ten, 15 years. so good news, very good reasons to congratulate all of the community involved in the fight, but recognition of the challenges that still remain, and the figures that you quote, also remind us that still nearly 600,000 people are dying of an entire i will preventable and

curable disease, and that nearly 200 million cases of malaria, like the ones you were eluding too in bangladesh, continue to damage the lives and development of communities around 97 countries. i believe we have learned from past mistakes. what i believe we need to do is sustain the progress, the next five years are going to be critical. if we manage to sustain the progress, innovation has been and is going to deliver critical tools, game-changing tools over the next few years, and perhaps in five, ten years from now, we can potentially look ahead with sufficient confidence on -- on -- on a malaria-free world over the next 15, 20 years. since the 1920s, children all over the world have been delighted by the antics of winnie the pooh.

it's a very english bear also had a little known connection with canada. as daniel lak reports from toronto. >> reporter: one of the best-known, most-loved characters in children's literature was inspired by a real bear acquired a century ago by a soldier from canada on his way to war. >> august 24th, 1914, left port author, 7:00 am on train, bought bear, $20. >> $20. >> $20. >> reporter: thu new pet was called winnie after his hometown winnie peg. later the bear was housed at the london zoo, and that is where she came to the attention of author aa mills and his young son christopher robin, the rest is history. >> when i was young people would say you have to tell this story? and i would start off by saying

winnie the pooh was my great grand bear. >> reporter: an exhibit has now opened in toronto. now they are on display and online, a chronicle of how real life can lead to captivating literature. >> the appeal of childhood as a retreat, as a place we can all go back to and think of fondly, and reflect on with pleasure. the book really manages to -- to -- to ep pit miez that. >> reporter: the exhibit comes as the world marks the anniversary of world war i. a soldier's impulsive purchase, enriching the lives of the young other generations. lindsay is now passing on both the family story and tails of

winnie the pooh to her 20-year-old son cole. he has learned to love the books, just like so many millions of children before him. and all of the bare necessities of the news on our website, the address, aljazeera.com. the u.s. launched a hostage rescue attempt only when it figured murder was near. and in the process, may have precipitated the killing of another prisoner close to being released. the high-risk struggle to free hostages, it's "inside story." ♪ ♪ hole, i am ray suarez, how y