>> hello, i'm darren jordan. you're watching al jazeera live from doha. thesingapore is in mourning after the death of its founder lee kuan yew.

ted cruz is putting up his hand in runnel for his party's run for president. >> abd rabbuh mansur hadi is trying to governor from aden after houthies have taken over sanaa. it was addressed at an emergency meeting at the u.n. security council. shia houthi already control sanaa and the airport and taiz. they are headed to aden where president hadi has taken refuge. >> in yemen it's going from bad to worse. at a meeting at the u.n. security council that was the key message from jamal benoamar.

>> yemen is far and away from a peaceful settlement. >> and grave comparisons of what the country is facing. >> and pushing the country in either direction gives the iraq, syria scenario. >> protesters angry that houthi forces arrived in their city, surrounding the barracks of security forces. >> we will refuse deject and denounce these militias. we will surround the police baraks with our bodies until they leave. >> first the houthies overtook the capital of sanaa and now they're closing in on president

hadi and his stronghold in aden. the security council once again called on the houthi to halt their advance. >> the security council condemns the elections unilateral actions taken by the outs jeopardizing stability, sovereignty and stability of yemen and express deep concern of the lack of implementation of resolution. >> the houthi leaders on sunday seemed to reject any efforts. >> the security council only meets when it sees the evil conspiring in a dangerous situation. >> the security council did leave the door open to take further measures, but they did not specify what those measures

might be. so far no actions by diplomats here at the u.n. has at all at allhalted or slowed the security crisis facing yemen a crisis getting worse every day. gabriel elizondo al jazeera united nations to iraq where security forces di covered a mass grave containing the remains of iraqi soldiers. it was found south of tikrit. it's unclear how many bodies were found. the soldiers were killed by isil fighters. meanwhile, five pro government fighters were killed in northeast of tikrit. iraq's defense minister said that they will storm tikrit as soon as possible. tikrit is the second biggest city under isil control and would be an important gain because it lies on the road to baghdad.

>> when we see that the time is right for the tikrit alliance, we'll storm it as quickly as possible. tikrit is in full siege. we're taking caution not to take any losses and protect civilians in the city. the terrorists are surrounded inside the city. their morale is low. when the time is right we'll storm the city without losses. >> the tunisian minister has president said that a third suspect is still at large. egypt, ethiopia and sudan has signed a deal in the dispute sharing of the nile. egypt said that it would worsen the water shortages. ethiopia's prime minister said that the dam won't interrupt any flow down stream.

it will be africa's largest and is expected to be fully complete by 2017. singapore has the gun seven days of mourning following the death of its founding father lee kuan yew. scott haidler has more. >> images of lee kuan yew overlook mourners at the hospital where he died. it's where people have been coming the last few days to deliver their "get well" messages. now they send their condolences. when a teacher heard that lee kuan yew died, he was in pain. he felt it was important to bring his two granddaughters here. >> what he has done,. >> flags of the small nation were lowered to half mast for

the passing of who many thought was the father of singapore. born in 1923, the fourth generation chinese singaporean saw his homeland occupied first by the british and then by the japanese. after training as a lawyer in britain he became prime minister in 1959. a post he would hold for 31 years. under his leadership singapore was transformed from a tiny impoverished island with no natural resources into a hi-tech metropolis. lee kuan yew also had a darker side. opposition politicians often found themselves in court and often in bankruptcy. through it all he was unrepent tonight. >> if i were to rule like western democracy, we would have

come to grief. >> while freedoms were sacrificed, lee repaid his people with economic prosperity. >> on wednesday the people of this nation in mourning can pay their last respects. in the late afternoon hundreds stood in line to sign books of remembrance. a special message from the people he led while condolences from leaders around the world were being received throughout the day. scott haidler singapore. >> a presidential candidate in senegal and son of a former president has been found guilty of corruption and sentenced to six years in prison. he has been ordered to pay $23,031,000,000 in fines. the court ruled that he acquired companies and real estate while

serving as minister in his father's government. nicholas, what more can you tell us about the court ruling and the background of this case? >> well, it's a historical problem. never has a high-profile leader been charged of such corruption, and never before has there been the sentence of a hefty fine of $213 million. in senegal that's quite a large amount. there is no opportunity for possibility for karim wade and a few others to appeal. his father, former president just made an announcement. he said that the president has

sentenced k a rim wade as the main political rival. >> briefly tell us what the charges are and why was he convicted of corruption? >> well, you know, karim wade was one of the most prominent ministers under his father's rule. his father ruled from 2000 to to 2012, and he was responsible for business portfolios and lucrative deals, the major strategic ports of west africa and also responsible for the construction of the new airport. these are multi billion dollar

deals. this is where it is said that he was involved in mass corruption. he was known to show his wealth very publicly, owning several properties etc. since the sinces this sentence, it prevents him from running for president. many had voted in karim wade as their president candidate. but given the six-year sentence,'s unlikely to be able to run. >> thank you. still lots more to come here on the program. the withdraw of u.s. troops from afghanistan as leaders from the two leaders meet in washington, d.c. >> it's to get people's

attention. >> politicians in south africa, and how that got one cartoonist into trouble. stay with us.

>> welcome back, the top stories here on al jazeera. yemen's embattled government has asked for help to bring the country under control. president abd rabbuh mansur hadi has been trying to govern from aden after houthi rebels have

taken over sanaa. in senegal karim wade has been sentenced to six years in prison and $213 million fines. in singapore, many mourn the passing of its leader lee kuan yew. >> ted cruz said that's running for the republican nomination for 2016. he made the announcement on twitter along with a 30-second advertisement. he's expected to make a speech later on monday. alan, so ted cruise becomes the first republican to launch his presidential bid. what more do we know about him and what he stands for? >> reporter: well, if you want to win a race starting before everyone else gives you a bit of

an advantage. that's what's looking to do. he's on the right wing of the republican party. he is a tea party favorite. he has been in favor of closing down the government in the past to pass some staunch conservative views and he'll certainly appeal to that end of the party. he's also making his announcement at a college in virginia, which is link to the fundamentally preacher james fall falwell. is he the top candidate? certainly not. there are on stalls that he'll have to overcome, but he will raise money. he is popular in texas. ale get a great deal of backing from people there. he's lag for small donations. he's not not going to be ruled out but i don't think he's likely to get the nomination

but who knows what will happen. >> there are other big names former florida governor jeb bush and senator marco rubio. >> you're going to be talking somewhere in the region of 15 candidates declaring from the people who said they're interested they might run is possible. of those 15 you're probably talking about eight being really serious contenders. and from that three or four going into the final battle. will ted cruz be in that final three or four? if he gets the fundamental christian vote and the likes of mike huckabee and rick santorum, then there is a possibility that he could be in the final mix and could get the final sway over the nomination. will he be the man who gets the nomination? chances are slim. the other issue is that he's

appeal together right-wing base, the christian conservative base while he's saying there are things on no change to the same-sex marriage, then there is the problem of appealing to the broader electorate in 6:00. >> alan, thank you. afghanafghanistan president ashraf ghani will be visiting the united states. the withdrawal of is likely to dominate the talks with president obama on monday. roslind jordan reports. >> when afghan president ashraf ghani meets with u.s. officials on monday, security will be the top of his mind. he wants president barack obama to delay plans to withdraw troops by 2015. the top u.s. general in afghanistan is inclineed to do so. >> i'm particularly concerned about the summer of 2015 for the

afghans. this is the first fighting season completely on their own. >> ashraf ghani is worried about the threat of al-qaeda and local militias. he is also very worried that isil might be trying to move in. >> we believe that the major presence of isil and rebranding, we take this threat with its dangerous rhetoric seriously. >> right now forces are in afghanistan to train and support the military. president obama had planned to cut the number to 5600 by the end of this year. and then withdraw the rest by the end of 2016. leaving behind a small number of troops to protect the u.s. embassy. the fear is that the afghan military will crumble. something that the new u.s. defense secretary acknowledged on a recent trip. >> president obama is considering a number of options to reinforce our support for

president ghani's security strategy, including possible changes to the timeline for the draw down of u.s. troops. >> some analysts say that some have to think long term and can't ignore the need to improve afghanistan's economy. >> at any point you could see a security collapse. but if the economy is able to be sustained then you're able to push back on whatever security problems you face. >> the obama administration is expected to announce changes to the u.s. troop deployment plan while president ghani is in washington. it's a recognition that experts say leaving too quickly could turn afghanistan into another iraq. >> in france, former president nicolas sarkozy is leading in the first round. the far right national front is in second place. >> it was quite a convincing

lead for the unp the center right party led by former french president nicolas sarkozy. we have to remember that the opinion polls are not an exact science, they're only a suggestion of voting tendencies. but very much disappointing performance by the socialist party, pretty much reinforcing the overall trend that the socialist party seems to be losing favor and in particular the french president françois hollande is not very highly rated at the moment. we must remember that this was only the first round of voting. in france there is a system of two rounds. it does give people the luxury of maybe registering a protest vote making some kind of a statement in the first round while then actually getting more serious in the second round. also these are local elections rather than national elections against sometimes vote in a different manner.

what often happens in elections in france is if the national front does well in the first round, generally people voting for parties that have been knocked out in the first round will then rally together and vote for which ever party is standing against the national front so we can expect to see lots of socialist party voters voting for the center right unp in the second round in order to keep the national front out. at least that would be the prediction of many people here in france. >> now it's been exactly a year since an outbreak of ebola was confirmed in west africa. the 10,000 people who died across liberia sierra leone and guinea we look at how people are coping with the stigma associated with ebola. >> when ebola was at its worst last year, julius was trying to save those he could. and that's when he caught the disease. >> fortunately, i survived it,

but working down in the community, people pointing fingers with me, oh, he's the one who came down with the virus. he's the one people say would die. and it has become discouraging and worrisome. >> even colleagues who showed no symptoms were made to feel isolated. >> the very people who no longer come around me because. >> despite the stigma, he is back at work. he has beat the virus and said now it's time to beat the misinformation about the disease. that's what liberia's government wants to do as well. in a few weeks the "world health organization" had hoped to declare the country ebola free, but that's now not going to happen because of a new case discovered days ago. it's left many here worried. >> i'm very, very discouraged

because it was a war. our children for the length of time that we delay their education, to hear interest is a new outbreak of ebola it is very very discouraging. >> ebola has spread at a crippling pace, all schools were closed in six months. and in one year the disease has crisscrossed borders killing 10,000 people across west africa. experts have trace the source here in guinea. this is the spot where it's believed that bats infected a toddler that triggered the epidemic and they hope the worse is over now. that could very well be the case with this empty ebola treatment center is anything to go by.

>> joined forces of niger and chad have killed several boko haram fighters in northern nigeria. it is the latest move in taking down boko haram. we have reports from the front lines of borno, nigeria. >> reporter: preparing for an attack on boko haram. the group is uplifted, but as they were about to go, the mission was aborted. a large number of boko haram were headed their way. every soldier is told to go to the trenches. from attack mode to defense. a posture they know too well after six years of insurgency. and our crew was ordered to get out of town.

attacks by the military and counter attacks are all too familiar. the last two months have been particularly tough for boko haram. the soldiers have been injected into the area. but we have new equipment. between february to this. >> battles have been won in many areas, but the war is not over yet. >> the military may have chased boko haram out of many towns and villages, but holding these same areas presents a difficult challenge. the fighters return to attack the same villages liberated by the military, and this is taken a lot of people away from theirs homes. >> but some are simply tired of running.

>> we don't put our hopes in the military. so far i'm encouraged, but living every day is like living your last day. that's not a good feeling. >> all around the northeast are signs of devastation. of sabotage and unprovoked violence. this deserted village we were later told is a notorious ambush point for boko haram. many have died here. territories may have been reclaimed but the human and material costs of this violence are irreplaceable. al jazeera northeast nigeria. >> an animator in south africa is reaching a huge audience by writing in different languages but some think it's too controversial. >> just an advertisement for fish and chips but it lampoons

the south africa president. it shows his family eating at their home at a controversial property because of the millions of taxpayer dollars used to upgrade its security. >> we chose it because it is popular. it will get people's attention. if you lack at advertising you look at what people think and. >> i it was hugely popular with the public, but someone higher up didn't see the humor and suite africa broadcast tv banned it but it has had plenty of hits online. >> it's awesome. >> another popular cartoon

showing a black jesus. the cartoonist is not trying to poke fun. >> people will make fun and say bad things. you just need to grow up about it and just accept it. >> he said his animations have had 8 million hits online. this is because he's one of the first south african animators to feature local voices, cultures and issues. but despite his popularity he has had to struggle to get his work on tv. >> do you feel like you're a bit of a ground break center a way? you're a back south africa talking to south africans with different languages. >> ground breaker --um, i could say yes to a certain level. >> but this artist said he has a lot more ground to break to make

african voices more mainstream. erica wood, al jazeera, south splash a quick reminder you can keep up-to-date with all the news on our website. there it is on our screen, the address www.aljazeera.com. that's www.aljazeera.com. [ ♪♪ ] this week on "talk to al jazeera" u.n.i.c.e.f. director anthony lake. >> you see children everywhere who have not given up hope. if they haven't given up hope, what possible excuse can we have for giving up hope as the syrian war enters its fifth year he says critical efforts are needed to stop millions of children becoming a lost generation. >> every one of those members is an individual child.