mourners pay their respects at the funeral of king abdullah as his half brother salman takes over. ♪ hello there. you are watching al jazeera live from london. also coming up. dozens are killed from shelling near damascus. and pro-russian forces in ukraine are capturing ground from the army. and fight for survival greece's prime minister rallies supporters as he tries to avoid a wipeout in sunday's election.

♪ hello, the funeral of the formal saudi king has taken place in the capitol hours after his death. he was buried after friday prayers in an unmarked grave in accordance with tradition. leaders from across the arab world attended the funeral. heads of state from turkey and pakistan and others paid their respects to the late heard. the new king has promised continuity and has called for solidarity among muslims. erika wood has this report.

>> reporter: -- from all over the middle east arrived to pay their respects. just after they arrived, they gathered for a simple funeral, lasting less than an hour the ceremony was a chance for foreign dignitaries to greet his family including his success or salman bin abdulaziz al-saud. international leaders passed on their respects through statements. the kingdom of bahrain said: and u.s. president barack obama said:

and a similar sentiment from the former president of israel. >> it is a real loss for the middle east and a real loss for the peace in the middle east. he was an experienced leader and a wise king. >> reporter: the u.n. secretary general said: an it's a legacy that standings out in saudi history, one his successor will have to choose how he will carry on. >> he unleashed a foreign policy that was far more dynamic interventionist and militant in some ways than any previous saudi king. he sent troops to bahrain to stop the uprising and this is

very unusual for saudi leadership but this is one of the things that he has done. >> reporter: countries like qatar and bahrain have announced official periods of mourning but saudi arabia it's a following tradition, will not. and always in tradition, the former king will be buried in a family plot. >> let's take a look at king abdullah. rob mathisson reports. >> reporter: the world learns of the death of one of its few remaining absolute monarchs. the path to power for abdullah was shaped from his birth by tradition and conservatism. >> translator: the problems of the world are caused by people jekting the principles of justice, terrorism and crime are the enemies of god and every

religion and civilization. >> reporter: young abdullah was taught by islamic scholars. his mother desended from bedouins. as crown prince he took control of the country in 1995 when the king had a stroke. ten years later abdullah became king. there were hopes that the fiercely conservative saudi kingdom would at last open up. >> during his reign he has inspired a greater openness in two particular areas in -- for women and in freedom of expression. there is an outburst of criticism, social criticism and also of government policy in saudi arabia that has happened with the -- let's say tolerance to some degree of the saudi government. >> reporter: he inherited a kingdom basking in an oil boom yet beset by terrorism,

unemployment. he encouraged more private enterprise. but that failed to address the issue of unemployment among young audis. women were avowed to vote. but domestic concerns gave way to global ones when the united states was attacked on september 11th, 2001 15 of the 19 hijackers were saudi citizens. the took on al-qaeda. his record on human rights however, has remained controversial. activists who demanded change through petitions ended up in yale, and political parties and public demonstrations were banned. king abdullah's next major challenge after september 11th, and al-qaeda was iran. they focused on efforts to

continue what the monarchy saw as increasing influence of iran. he seemed to support regime change in libya. but by sending troops to support bahrain protesters he may have shown fears of an iran uprising next door. he spent $130 billion on housing, employment programs and more. for more than eight decades the path of royal succession in saudi arabia has been cleared. that's because the title of king has passed along a line of brothers born to the king who founded the kingdom back in 1932. the king was the latest in that line of successes when he took

the thrown ten years ago. with hiss passing, though power shifts to his half brother, salman and his brother becomes the new crown prince. he is the youngest member of this generation. so what appears to be an attempt to ensure a smooth transition to the next generation the new king's nephew has been named deputy crown prince. king salman has tried to address some concerns in a televised speech. he says he plans to stay on the course his father has cede for the nation. >> translator: we are going to continue with the approach of father who built the state and is followed by his sons. we're going to continue to implement the car ran and the character of the prophet muhammad into our legislation.

♪ take you to yemen now where a big explosion has been heard in the north of the country. the blast is believed to have taken place in a shia houthi strong hold. it comes the day after the president and cabinet stepped down. protesters angry at houthi rebels have been staging demonstrations around the country, including in the capitol. demonstrators are threatening to close ports. at least 40 people have been killed in a syrian government shelling of a village east of damascus. and there was a grocery market and main square was hit in another town. nicole johnston has more from neighboring beirut. >> reporter: dozens of people have been killed and injured by

air strikes in the town. this is east of damascus. also reported air strikes carried out in towns in homs countryside. activists have been saying there has been a large increase in the number of air strikes over the last couple of days across syria, and this is because the weather has improved and the skies are cleared, so the government has been carrying out those air strikes. now the war in syria has spilled over into lebanon. on friday we had syrian rebels attack the lebanese army in the bekaa valley on the outskirts of a town very close to the syrian border. it's a porous border around 65 kilometers long, 10 kilometers wide and we know in that area there are fighters from nusra front as well as syrian rebels who have since pledged their alee vabs to islamic state of iraq and the levant.

the remember lease army says it has regained control of that area of the post that was attacked, that a number of syrian rebels have been killed as well as a number of soldiers from the lebanese army have been killed and injured. japan's government says it is trying to secure the release of two men held hostage by isil. the group said they would kill the men if a $200 million ransom wasn't paid. they are in talks to try to saven in. one man was captured after traveling to syria last year to try to rescue the other man. egypt's president speaking in an interview at the world economic forum in switzerland said he would like to see the case against three al jazeera journalists resolved. they have been in prison for 391 days. they were falsely accused of helping the outlawed muslim brotherhood. charges they deny. an appeals court in cairo has

ordered a retrial. >> translator: we don't have any interest whatsoever to put any citizen under detention, journalists or otherwise. outside the rule of law. but there is pint also that i would like to highlight here which is we are trying very hard after four years of turbulence to regain the rule of law and uphold the independence of the judiciary. still to come on the program as the first ebola vaccine shipt is due to arrive in west africa infections fall in the three worst-affected countries. plus facing possible jail time thailand's ousted prime minister accused the leaders of killing democracy and the rule of law. ♪

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i'm here to make the connections to your money real. ♪ hello, again, welcome back a reminder of the top stories. heards from around the arab world have gathered to bury the late king abdullah. protesters in yemen have been staging demonstrations against shia houthi rebels the day after the president and his cabinet resigned over ongoing political battle with the armed group. and at least 40 people have been killed in syrian government shelling. the united nations says the number of people killed in the conflict in eastern ukraine is now more than 5,000. intent fighting between

ukrainian troops and pro-russian separatists have seen a rise in the violence. charles stratford has more. >> reporter: we followed a rebel escort and head north out of donetsk. the rebels of this check point said we could go no further. ukrainian military had retreated from this village only hours before we arrived. the rebels were in control now. this is about 30 kilometers north of donetsk and up until yesterday, it was occupied be the ukrainian army. the pro-russian raeblebels have take oefrn in the last 24 hours. a few personal belongings are scattered around the bunkers and trenches they dug.

this rebel shows us a video he says he shot of ukraineian soldiers they had taken as prisoners of war. >> translator: i want to put this on the internet so their families know they are still live. >> reporter: he shows us graffiti he says were written by the ukrainian soldiers it reads russian alcoholics get out. i don't support either side this lady told me. i just want peace. the rebels tell us that the ukrainian military retreated to 3 kilometers down this road as we prepare to leave, explosions could be heard in the distance. [ explosion ] >> reporter: the rebels say they expect ukrainian forces to try to retake the village at anytime. charles stratford, al jazeera, eastern ukraine. voters in greece are heading

to the polls on sunday for an election that could have dramatic con skweenss across europe. the prime minister held his final campaign meeting ahead of the election. the opinion polls paint an uphill battle for his party. let's get more now from john. i know they have been holding a news conference. what have they been saying? >> reporter: they have come out with an estimated time frame for the difficult negotiation greece faces as of next week. you remember that the europeans gave it a two-month extension in order to conclude its final review. that took it to the end of february. on monday the euro group is expected to extend that a further six months. that's a little bit difficult for greece because greece doesn't have the cash reserves to hold out. and july and august are going to

be difficult months for greece when bonds come due. now the leader of [ inaudible ] who is likely to be the next prime minister said a sustainable mutually acceptable solution will have to have been found by then, and i'm certain it will be. in other words he is saying as prime minister i'm giving myself until then to see eye to eye with my european partners. >> it looks like it is so far ahead at the moment. what is the prime minister doing to try to turn things around? >> reporter: well his party has been trailing in the polls by 3 to 5 points in december. that lead has now widened, according to almost all of the polls to 6 or 7 points. however, we retained a solid 25 to 27%, which doesn't seem to be

ready to abandon him. he has done a couple of things in a defensive sort of way. he has avoided a direct television debate with his opponent and avoided a television interview across all networks. however, he has been arguing on the basis of his record over the last two and a half years, and that record has three main achievements. firstly the stabilization of the recession. the economy has now stopped shrinking. secondly the balancing of the budget at the end of 2013. and the surplus, and the fact that greece has now sold bonds again on international markets. and the quantitative easing announced today should enable greece to continue to borrow affordably once it graduates from itself program. he has of course -- he is entirely authorized to argue

that his party can guarantee that stability in the months and years to come. he also however, believes that his opponent does not guarantee -- is not in a position to guarantee similar stability. he says that a lot of the promises made by the radical left party are simply unsustainable and expensive. namely it's $11 billion social spending program announced last autumn which believes is simply unaffordable for the country, and he thinks they are simply setting up the greek public for a disappointment. >> john in athens thank you. france's top court has upheld the decision to strip a man of citizenship. >> reporter: he was sentenced to serve years in prison in march 2013 for recruiting fighters to go to iraq

afghanistan, and somalia. and in may of 2014 the prime minister signed a decree stripping him of his nationality. his lawyer challenged that but the constitutional council has upheld the original decision. it said that it was justified, given the current fight against terrorism. now the decision of the constitutional council has been welcomed by a number of politicians including the far-right heard marine le pen. >> translator: it's very clear that we need to establish an automatic stripping of nationality in the event of a conviction for this kind of crime, and we need to reestablish a double punishment. >> reporter: french law allows people to be stripped of citizenship in cases of terrorism. but this measure has only been used eight times since 1973.

human rights lawyers are afraid this could set a dangerous precedent where in fact there are two classes of french citizens those born in france and those born overseas. >> translator: it was no surprise since the president was already set in another case. it is not satisfactory because it endorses the fact that there are two types of french citizens, which has never been the french tradition. >> the ruling by the constitutional council comes two weeks after a series of attacks in paris in which 17 people were killed. the french government is currently working on new legislation to tighten security. two days of landmark talks between the united states and cuba have ended with both sides agreeing to meet again. the discussions in ha va that focused on restoring diplomatic ties. immigration and human rights

issues remain sticking points. >> i want to start out by saying don't have a crystal ball so i don't know how this is going to work out in five or ten years. what i do know is we know what has happened in the last 50 and we know that the policy that we had pursued over the last 50 years have served solely to isolate us and not to create the empowerment of the cuban people that we were seeking. the first ebola vaccine shipt -- shipment is due to arrive in west africa in liberia. news comes as the three worst-affected countries announce the numbers of infections is falling. >> reporter: life under the shadow of a deadly ebola virus in west africa a disease that has torn families apart and left

survivor survivors struggling to survive. there has been criticism of the initial global reaction since its first appearance in guinea in 2013. even though the current outbreak has been one of the worst in history, there is some hope that the effort to tackle the spread of the virus may have helped to slow down the infection rate. last week fewer than 150 cases were reported in west africa. a drop from its peak in december where there were about 550 cases recorded a week. now over the next two weeks, cynical trials will begin to determine if two new vaccines are safe and effective. 30,000 volunteers will take part in the trial, including front line health workers. the same version has already been tested out on volunteers in

the u.k. the u.s. and mali. while many hope this new vaccine will be successful the world health organization warns that the deadly epidemic is far from over. $260 million are still needed to fight the disease over the next six months. one of the issues is the up coming rainy season which poses a threat in high-risk areas, and failure to combat the virus could result in further economic devastation in affected countries. on friday sierra leone lifted its kwaurn tee measures. the hope now is these measures will stop the spread of the virus that has caused so much pain and fear in west africa. zambia's governing party is maintaining a slim lead in presidential elections with about 80% of the votes counted.

the low voter turnout of about 34% has been blamed on heavy rain. thailand's ousted prime minister says democracy has died in the country, along with the rule of law. she has condemned thailand's leaders after they banned her from politics and proceeded with criminal charges against her. >> reporter: the vote that removed one of the most recognizable names in thai politics for five years. the assembly voted friday to im impeach yingluck shinawatra. she twice addressed the assembly during the two-week hearing. nearly half are members of the

military. the basis for the impeachment she ignored corruption in her rice policy. some observers feel it was a move to oust her from politics regardless of the process. >> impeachment is illegal since we no longer have a constitution. the military government did this for political reasons. now they are working on a criminal case. >> reporter: just before the impeachment vote took place here thailand's attorney general confirmed he will file a criminal case. if convicted she'll face at least ten years in prison and not be allowed to re-enter politics. with the news of the impeachment what of the red shirts the supporters of yingluck's party? a thai leader says they still

take their queues from the party. >> they do not want to rock the vote. they want this government the military government to function because -- and to elect people just for themselves but i'm sure they are itching to come out. >> reporter: while yingluck's legal team said they will appeal the team said the impeachment was legal. >> without achieving both accountability and rule of law i don't think reconciliation will come. >> reporter: but both sides agree that military rule cannot drag on. scott heidler, al jazeera, bangkok. scientists at the european space agency have collected the first close-up data that will help them understand how come

mets form as it hurtles along. there's more information over on our website, aljazeera.com, aljazeera.com. >> announcer: this is techno a show about innovations ta can save lives. it's a show about science by scientists. let's check out the team of hard-core nerves. we go on the road to caltech. dr crystal dilworth is a scientist. tonight jelly fish - how it can help to produce submarines ,