>> on the offensive against boko haram forces from chad and niger take back two towns. hello there i'm barbara serra. you're watching al jazeera live from london. influential cleric muqtada al sadr. greece's proposals to end tax evasion and stop spending good enough for its creditors?

european finance ministers meet. timing right apple unveils its new smart watch. hello there thank you for joining us. boko haram's grip on territory close to nigeria's border with niger has ended after a military campaign against the group retook two key towns. fighters from the group have it recently pledged allegiance to islamic state of iraq and the levant but ahmed idris is in the

area. >> for chad and niger defeating boko haram is crucial. it is the fear that if the group left unchecked will expand its area of control and be a larger threat. for the past 5 years it now has the hardware for a military victory. >> our people have the equipment to make sure of the vic victory. we now have the equipment as i said. >> the military asked in february for six weeks to clear the northeast of boko haram fighters for elections to be held. but forced to resort to the old tactic of suicide bombing by boko haram.

attacks in maidugery. >> taken over by incidents and a group of people by the nature i'm talking about i am not worried. we have good forces that can do it. >> before groups like i.s.i.l. come in. on friday the african union endorsed a force of 8,000 troops to combat boko haram. this is expected to strengthen the effort of the multinational force already taking on boko haram. mohamed idris, boko haram nigeria. areas around the kurdish

said they took back the nearby towns of avoijil. drove are i.s.i.l. fighters back from kirkuk. >> and iraqi forces have massed outside a town in anbar province. the influential cleric muqtada alsadr, comes from a family of shia scholars and is the son of the late grand ayatollah mohamed rose to prominence in 2003 when his militia the mukti army began a

campaign against islamic state of iraq and the levant. insistence then, instrumental in the he election ever of neweri al maliki.nouri al maliki.its humanitarian situation that aid agencies say is only going to get worse. jane arraf reports from baghdad. >> reporter: aman has been trying to get by on her own since she had to leave her home in anbar province. the mats will help cover her bare floors. it is not easy for a widow with four young daughters. iraqi government taking on i.s.i.l, there is less and less aid. aman is a bit luckier than most.

after being helped by the iraqi military to leave the town of baghdadi she is given some money to help pay the rent. more than $200 for this converted kitchen in a house. she had no choice but to leave home. >> translator: no one came to tell us to leave. we left because there was no water and no electricity. there were a lot of families who left. i was afraid for the children. >> reporter: her husband was a border guard. he was killed on an attack on his post four years ago. her father and husband's parents stayed behind. she hasn't been able to reach them since. after school she helps the girls with they're lessons her daughters are able to attend classes here, but tens of thousands of other children don't have access to schools.

making gains against i.s.i.l. but as they do there are actually more civilians displaced by the fighting. aid agencies thought it couldn't get worse than last year but it has. the united nations is making plans to help residents of tikrit and mosul once that battle starts but it's running out of money. >> we're worried about getting aid to those displaced by i.s.i.l. they haven't had access to regular assistance for some time and therefore we have to assume that their conditions are very serious. >> reporter: in tikrit alone fighting has uprooted almost 30,000 people. there are now 2.25 million iraqis across the country who can't go home. along the battle lines iraqi soldiers and their shia militia partners are replacing i.s.i.l. flags with their own but winning

the military battle is just the first step in helping those displaced from their home. jane arraf, al jazeera baghdad. to stop violence in rebel held districts of aleppo have failed. both the government and the rebels have failed to agree on how it would work. zeina khodr reports from nearby lebanon. >> reporter: this is what the united nations has hoped to stop but failed to. barrel bombs have killed hundreds of people over recent months and continue to fall in populated areas of aleppo city. >> the barrel bomb depopulated the city. more than a million used to live in the rebel areas. now there is 300,000. there was a mass exodus because

there was a time when dozens of people were dying every day. >> reporter: the syrian government told special envoy that it would temporarily suspend the attacks ifing the rebels came to agreement. that didn't happen. the government wanted it to be limited to the city. the opposition wanted it to extend across the aleppo cub side, all the way to the turkish border. there was no agreement. the u.n. then tried to save the initiative by suggesting a trial ceasefire, in one of the battle ground districts in the city. but the people of the district accused the u.n. of caving in to the demands of the government. they want a comprehensive settlement that will involve the

government stepping down and the ceasefire that would be enforce enforceacross syria. >> at first they wanted to free the fighting along aleppo province now it's across the district. >> reporter: syria's war is interning its 5th year. the u.n. was hoping the aleppo initiative could be the start of an initiative but the u.n. can only do so much without the backing of many regional and international players which support the warring sides. zeina khodr, al jazeera, new york. the white house has accused republican senators of interfering with talks over iran's nuclear program. 47 senators signed an open letter to iran's leaders claiming the letter would only last as long as obama is in

office. >> i think it's somewhat ironic to see some members of congress wanting to make common cause with the hard-liners in iran. it's an unusual coalition. i think what we're going to focus on right now is actually focusing on whether we can get a deal or not and once we do, then, once we do, if we do, we'll be able to make a case to the american people and i'm confident we can implement it. >> pati culhane has more from the white house. >> reporter: there is a saying in the area, imloks on this side of the river. criticize the president in, now we've seen the upper house the u.s. senate, 47 republican senators sending an open letter to iran's leadership, basically calling it a civics lesson.

the next president can change the deal unless the current president signs off on it. trying to kill the negotiations, the spokesmen went even further saying what republicans really want is a war. >> and staying with the u.s. president obama has declared venezuela's government a threat to national security. and announced new sanctions for human rights violations. he expressed concern over the venezuelan government treatment genetic opponents. 7 venezuelan politician he will not be welcome in the u.s. u.s. mexican border where agents are are intercepting record amounts of heroin.

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>> the stream, >> your digital community >> you pick the hot topics and express your thoughts the stream it's your chance to join the conversation only on al jazeera america >> time now for a reminder of our top stories. up to 200 boko haram fighters are reported to be killed in a joint offensive between niger and chad. recaptured from boko haram in fears clashes. iraqi and kurdish forces are pushing forward on three fronts and their fight to take back areas controlled by i.s.i.l. including taking control of the town of al bajil.

open letter to iran's leaders from the american congress. only calling the deal in effect during president obama's term of office. white house calling it a stunt. hardship in the east, food supplies are dwindling in ukraine. john hendren reports from donetsk. >> reporter: in separatist donetsk, grocery store went from ten supplies to one here in donetsk. >> it's impossible to find new suppliers. as for the future, we live one day at a time. >> reporter: at this grocery chain not far away, you can still buy meat and fish but choices are slim.

you can buy if you can afford it. meat and eggs have double in prices tea tripled. not happy about rampant inflation. >> prices have increased and salaries and pensions haven't. cooking oil used to cost 19 hrivnas, now it costs 30. >> here in separatist donetsk it's much higher. pensioners the unemployment, have to travel outside separatist trair territory to collect their money. for many that's prohibitively expensive and could take days. turning bustling shopping centers like this one into ghost

towns full of shuttered shops. donetsk minister of economic development says all new governments go through growing pains. >> does that mean things will get better in terms of prices? >> of course it will get better, much more better. so it will be two changes. first of all it's the range of goods. and the second is, it will be changing in price. >> reporter: before the economy here can stabilize it's likely the fighting will have to stop and the borders between ukraine and its self-described separatist neighbor will have to settle. neither appears within reach any time soon. john hendren, al jazeera donetsk, eastern ukraine. >> four spts, suspects, wasn't hurt,

suspects reportedly told police they saw the convoy was a rival cartel. one of the biggest challenges facing drug enforcement authorities in the united states, is how to counter the smuggling of cheap heroin into the united states. on the second in our series, adam rainey reports from the u.s. mexican border. >> you can put in a lot of heroin in here. >> they call it the trophy room where veteran border officers teach new recruits how to spot drugs secreted in cars into the u.s. market. soft drink bottles gas tanks even firewood is used to stash heroin. on the job officers have only a few minutes to decide if a vehicle should be searched. it's clear to those who guard the gates to the united states, that heroin coming from mexico is their biggest challenge right

now. >> we have seized double the amount of heroin that we did the entire year last year. and we're only what, maybe six months into the fiscal year. >> reporter: alerted to another drug seizure this time on the road into the united states. jesus is a special agent with homeland security. his task to dismantle smuggleing rings. >> in twe 14, we 2014 we had double the number. >> it doesn't stop the flood of heroin that top u.s. officials say has swamped u.s. cities, with so much money in play the cartels are watching too. >> that is mexico separated by

the border fence. as you can see those buildings the houses the residences have a direct line of sight right into the operations of the port of entry. and they can see what's going on, who's coming in, who's leaving. >> reporter: and smugglers told us there are many ways to get their drugs past the wall. sometimes tunneling under it, sometimes walking right across. and heroin is so valuable even in small amounts you don't have to take it over the border in cars. more and more officials are seeing people walk it from here in mexico over to the united states. sometimes they're seeing it strapped to old people's bodies and young children. customs, homeland security and local police just three of over a dozen agencies tasked with stopping the flow of heroin and other narcotics. still, some on the front lines admit the battle cannot be won because the market is insatiable. >> for many pound that we stop from coming into the united states, there's probably at

least 100 pounds more that we don't stop. so it's a drop in the bucket. >> reporter: deputy ahearn say he's one of the last on the line of defense before drugs get on the highways. adam rainey, al jazeera nogales, on the mexican border. >> you can find more at our website, aljazeera.com. now, fir first there were digital cameras then digital music players smartphones and now smart watches. yes, in the past couple of hours the much-anticipated apple watch has been unveiled. it's not only going to tell you your time, pay for your coffee

at the till, open your car dor as long asdooras long as you drive a bmw. apple expects to spell between six and 40 million in the year ahead. up to 10,000 not so reasonable, so wall street is divided on whether it will become apple's best-selling product. let's hear from tim cook as he launched the apple watch. >> the apple watch is the most personal device we have ever created. it's not just with you. it's on you. and since what you wear is an expression of who you are we designed apple watch to appeal to whole variety of people with different taste and different preferences. but the one thing that's

consistent, we crafted each one of them with the care you would expect from apple. and used incredibly buft materials. -- beautiful materials. >> joining us from san francisco is tim stevens leader of c net. thank you so much for joining us here on al jazeera so come on what do you think of the apple watch? >> it's certainly a very nice watch. i certainty have a dumb of others smart watches and it is the best of the bunch a very high and premium product and that extends into the user interface too. a lot of the smart watches are a little bit clunky a little bit difficult to use but toggling between apps, accepting or rejecting calls, are user interfacefaceinterface is easy on

the smart watch. >> the hugely successful product that we know it has for the iphone does the apple smart watch, the gear going with it is limiting for some people. >> right, i think we'll see something of a similar trajectory here. it doesn't do much different than what your phone does, specifically an foy 5 or newer those are devices it will be able to fair to. it will give you messages when you see an e-mail, lets you do things like make calls easily, things you can do from your phone as well, of course your phone will also tell you what time it is but it makes it much easier and much nicer to accept or reject a phone call, see a text message when you want to. a lot of functionality when it

comes to fitness tracking. your phone can track you if your phone is on you. but if you put it on the desk desk or the charging station it can't do that. >> a lot of fitness bands will do the same so if it does mainly what your phone does and what your fitness band does is it more than the sum of the parts? do you think that this will be an incredibly successful product? >> i definitely think ait will become that certainly but i think it will take some time. ultimately what is going to answer the question here how successful the apple watch becomes is how popular the apps become. that was very much the story with the iphone when that launched. that was an interesting product. didn't become successful in the until the iphone store launched. some demonstrations from things

like uber, you can request a car from your watch. >> tim stevens i'm so sorry we're going to have to lever it there but thank you so much for sharing your reviews views with us. continues to be dogged. the sports body is being blamed to turn a blind eye to doping. >> grit determination and any drugs that they could get away with. when the ruling body the uci voted in a new if the he president, he wanted to see how wrong the reporting was. doping still exists and previous leaders allowed it to happen. >> always going to prioritize the image of the sport and the business of the sport over the

honesty of the sport. that was a very bad that was given out at that time. -- bad signal that was given out stat. >> one of the highest was lance armstrong, he spent two days giving evidence to the commission. in a statement he said i'm deeply sorry for many things i have done however it is my hope that revealing the truth will lead to a bright dope free future for sport that i love. the report is highly critical ever pat mcquade and ver bruggen who will be asked give up an honorary presidentialcy. the head of. >> the temptations are huge to want these to win by any means necessary and when the culture or leaders of the particular sport like this turn a blind eye and don't fully protect clean athletes it's not easy for the

culture to go that way. >> other sports have carried out reports, one sport writer says it's a sign cycling has a long way to go. >> it to the degree cycling needs to win back the public trust and it says something to which the degree cycling believes that it still has a problem, a problem so serious that it feels like sunlight is the best disinfectant. >> cycling drew fans, imormts andendorsements and support. it would like another but the next hero to be clear and clean. >> two pilots have made their first stopover. after arounds ten hours in the air solar impulse 2 has landed

in the capital muskat. the journey is supposed to last five months and cover 10,000 kilometers. lots more on aljazeera.com. a show about innovations that can change lives. >> this is fighting a humanity and we are doing it in a unique way. this is a show about science by scientists. let's check out the team of . >> i've got a headset on, finger clicker, a heart break satellites through space to bionic eyes.