houthi rebels conned their advance south and yemen's embattled government calls on gulf nations for military help. hello there i'm felicity barr and you're watching al jazeera live from london. also coming up: a handshake in berlin and more pressure on athens to implement structural reform. the son of aing senegalese president and a candidate himself is jailed for cruchtion.

we corruption. and we meet the south africa cartoonist drawing discontent. hello, with the security situation in yemen continuing to deteriorate, the government has appealed for military help from its gulf neighbors. houthi rebels control of the capital sanaa back in september and have now set their sights on other centers like ta'izz. the port of aden is also in his site. president abd rabbu mansour hadi fled house arrest in sanaa and is trying to establish the government in aden. saudi arabia's foreign minister says the standoff in yemen can be resolved peacefully, he won't see a political solution but says gulf countries will take

the necessary steps if that doesn't happy. charlie angela has the story. >> residents are not going quietly, in return they're fired on and tear gassed. their city yemen's third largest was taken on sunday. with government buildings and its international airport now under houthi control. yemen is increaseingly divided by a north controlled by houthis and south ruled by president abd rabbu mansour hadi. holding back the houthi advance. >> translator: they are expanding in territory occupying airports and cities, attacking aden by planes. threatening and gathering their forces. we have expressed to the gulf cooperation council the united

nations and the international community that this should be a no-fly zone. >> reporter: this is what a gcc force could look like. originally set up to respond to military forces from bahrain qatar and united arab emirates it is a force 100,000 strong. here tribal forces gather in shabwa province to threaten houthi forces entering their territory. could force yemen into sectarian war with foreign powers backing opposite sides. speaking in riyadh, saudi arabia arabia'ssaudiarabia'ssaudiarabia's patent andsaudi arabiaarabia's prime

minister: >> they have the union many others who have come up strongly for president hadi. >> either way for the people caught in the middle, each day of fighting deepens the suffering in this impoverished country. charlie angela, al jazeera. >> the german chancellor angela merkel has told her greek counterpart city's that she wants greece to grow and be released from high unemployment. powrn has pledged to provide $2.1 billion to help ease greece's humanitarian crisis. crisis will give no money without reforms. this is something he will have to consider. >> our goal should be to make necessary reforms. those that previous governments

did not deal with. we must deal with tax evasion and force those who during the crisis have avoided paying their tax. >> translator: we want greece to be a strong country economically. we want them to beto have growth. we also want greece to come out of this high unemployment and we certainly want to make sure that this very high youth unemployment can be overcome and structural reforms are necessary for this a solid budget is necessary and a functioning administration is necessary. i think that's clear for both countries. >> let's get more from al jazeera's dominic kane. the two leaders look pretty friendly in that press conference but in reality how far apart are they? >> they seem quite far apart in one sense because mr. tsipras has spoken of the fact that greece could be defaulting quite soon and is in serious need of money very soon and more help.

and the german chancellor has stuck to her guns as it were, the message hasn't changed in many months that greece has to go through the are goals the really thought there was such a disagreement between the two sides, potentially there could be some really serious disagreements. but as you said, it was cordial both leaders spoke of the need to seek european solutions. one thing that was pointed out mr. tsipras referred to second world war debt and need of reparations and so forth. that is the thing he mentioned in the greek a couple of weeks ago as something he wanted to pursue. the german government is adamant that is not going to happen. in 1970s70s when germany was

reunited, they said, germany doesn't owe anybody. first official visit of mr. tsipras to berlin. clearly i don't think he wanted to say anything awas so outrageous that it would be clear as a sign of disagreement between the two. so you have a sense that this was getting to know you between the two sides but it wasly a sense that neither side particularly wands -- was a sense that neared side particularly wants to disturb the other. >> ordered to pay $230 million in fines. the court ruled that he illegally acquired companies and real estate while serve ising as a minister in his father's government.

nicholas haque has the story. >> president of senegal between 2000 and 2012 and during this decade long period, he was known as the minister of earth and sky, in charge of numerous deals, major strategic port for west africa, also responsible for the construction of a new airport. these are multimillion if not billion dollar deals and this is where the opposition who is currently now in power say he was involved in mass corruption of was known to be very -- known to show his wealth very publicly owning many properties, et cetera, et cetera. since the sentence has happened,

this prevents him from running in the next election. you have to remember that this sunday, the members of the opposition had voted in kareem wad, for six year term, but because of the conviction, he's likely to be able to run. >> condolences and tributes to the former prime minister of singapore continue to pour in. >> where people have been coming over the last few days to deliver their get well messages, now to send their condolences. tony wong was a teacher for decades. when he heard the news that lee kwan yew had dyed he died had put

him in pain. >> what's going to happen in the near future is not going to be bad. >> flags of the small nation were lowered to half mast, to honor the passing of whom many felt was the father of modern singapore. without lee kwan yew singapore as many know it would not have existed. he saw his home land occupied first by the british and then by the japanese. after training as a lawyer he became prime minister in 1959 a post he would hold for 39 years. under his leadership singapore was transformed from a tiny island with no natural resources to a high tech metropolis. his leadership also had a darker side. political opponents often found themselves in court some bankrupt. lee's people's action party was returned to power again and again with his oldest son now

prime minister. through it all he was unrepentant. >> if i ran owestern style democracy and took a straw poll and went according to the poll, we would have come to grief. >> while freedoms were sacrificed lee repaid his people with economic miracle sealing a legacy as one of the 20th century's most important leaders. lee kwan yew's body is now whind these gateswithin these gates for a private family wake. then the people will pay their respects. >> hundreds stood in line to sign books of remembrance. condolences from leaders around the world were being received throughout the day. scott heidler, al jazeera singh

for. >> republican senator ted cruz declares his presidential candidacy. first confirmed case of ebola in west africa, world health organization criticized for responding too slowly to the epidemic. it then gets into the food chain... >> that's hitting home >> it ends up on the dinner plate of people... >> techknow only on al jazeera america

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>> hello again reminder of the top stories on al jazeera. angela merkel says she wants greece to grow in order to overcome high unemployment. stichesstiptiontsipras is in berlin

for talks with merkel. karim wade. has been convicted of corruption in senegal. >> fight against al qaeda in the arabian peninsula despite not having a military presence in the country the white house says it can still handle any security concerns there. kimberly halkett. in washington, d.c. how can it maintain without a military presence there? >> it is obviously going to be a clalg. we should point out --

challenge. we should point out that the white house spokesman says they will continue some of the operations they have been. significantly impaired due to the fact that there was a withdrawal up to 100 special operations forces this happen. they were very critical in helping with intelligence gathering, and u.s. embassy staff being evacuated from yemen. there are challenges security relationship in yemen that has been taking place for years. drone strikes targeting aqap or al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. it has targeted successfully in the u.s. view dozens of aqap members so there is question now in washington the future that. the u.s. saying that it will be able to continue to to conduct those operations, and continue to work with president hadi, who

is in fact not in the capital sanaa but in aden, therefore is still a key ally that the u.s. will be working with in terms of its security operation. >> kimberly any sort of response to the u.s. to the fact that president hadi has now asked his gulf makes neighbors to interfere in aden? has there been any response of the u.s. to that suggestion? >> there certainly has been a lot of questioning by all righters at both the white house and state department briefings. the u.s. has maintained nothing has changed. pointing out the fact they are actively continuing to monitor threats, doing so and continuing to conduct strikes from djibouti, and agents inside of yemen.

there has been no discussion of nothing has changed in terms of the goals of their counterterrorism operations although in the short term it certainly has been hampered in terms of its efforts. >> kimberly halkett, thank you kimberly. >> the 2016 presidential race has kicked off by ted cruz saying he is running for presidency to reignite the promise of america a simpler form of taxation, and repeal of president barack obama's health care reform, to oppose iran's nuclear ambitions. >> i believe in you. i believe in the power of millions of courageous conservatives rising up to reignite the promise of america. and that is why today i sam

announcing that i'm running for president of the united states. [cheering and applause] >> iraqi security forces say they discovered a mass grave containing the remains of their soldiers. it thought the soldiers were killed by i.s.i.l. fighters. the discoveries was made just south of tikrit. it's unclear how many bodies were found. the work to recover tikrit is still ongoing. areas controlled by i.s.i.l. northeast of tikrit. forces are planning to storm tikrit city as soon as possible. the iraqi army had paused the offensive to give any receivables left there a chance to leave. >> translator: when we see that the time is right for the tikrit alliance we will storm it as quickly as possible. tikrit is in full siege. we are taking caution to not take any logs and -- losses and to protect forces inside the

city. morale is low. we will storm the city without any resistance or losses. >> israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu has apologized for any comments he made that were racist. accused left wing organizations for, quote busing in arab israelis to vote against him. netanyahu is expected to be nominated to form a new government. 20 boko haram fighters in northern nigeria offense took place across the border from niger. destroyed boko haram vehicles and motorcycles carrying fighters. it is the latest news in a joint force mission to take on boko haram.

ahmed idris reports. >> the droops are upbeat about this assignment after recent successes against the group. bit as their commander is about to lead them out the mission was aborted. a large number of borm fighters boample boko haram fighters were seen coming their way. posture they know foo well too well after six years of insurgency. our crew was ordered to get out of town. attacks are all too familiar. the last two months have been particularly tough for boko haram. >> the soldiers, fresh troops havearetroops have been injected into

the situation. from february to date to change the tide of the battle. >> reporter: battles have been won in many areas but the war isn't over yet. the military may have chased out boko haram out of many towns and villages but holding these same areas presents a difficult challenges. the same areas liberated from the military, keeping many away from their homes. >> some are simply tired of running. >> translator: we now put our hopes in the military. so far i'm encouraged by what we see but every day it is like living your last day. that's not a good feeling. >> reporter: and 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. ahmed idris, al jazeera northeast nigeria. >> fears of a regional water conflict appear to have eased after jeep and sudan signed an agreement about a large dam on the nile. could cut the water flow into the nile. ethiopia says the dam will not interfere with egypt's access to water. a report from the group doctors without borders have criticized the world health

organization approach to the illness ebola. >> all we know is the delay that was caused by the member states of the w.h.o. now cost valuable time in preparing a response. we're in a different place today, we should be much further along. this is not just a hatchet job against the who but is really a reflection that the world isn't prepared for an outbreak of this magnitude and what worries msf is if there's another outbreak in another part of the world with similar setup to the three countries in west africa we will have another problem and a problem that will cost lives. >> south sudan is in the grips of civil war are even affect wildlife with soldiers accused

of butchering to feed themselves. >> the flight plan is northeast then south shanty towns of juba give way huge tourist potential. >> we are leaving the main channel and heading east and we're going to come into the national park here. >> seen much of the world but this is something else. >> we could easily see nothing else and see nothing but wildlife and wild places no human influence but rite here we have one of those last great places on earth. >> this is east africa's largest intact savannah. millions and millions of antelope. south sudan has its own subspecious of giraffe elephant

herds, in sufficient quantity to make a full come back. then on the ugandan border, thousands of kilometers away, its potential goes beyond what you can catch out of it. south sudan has extraordinary beauty from the white nile, to the unparalleled wildlife, all this in a country ravaged by war, inaccessible to the most large of resources the tourist dollar. paul el cin gave elkin gave us an update. >> the situation is that wildlife are being heavily poached by civilians by the government army, by the army in option the spla in opposition and by the spla for commercial

bush meat hunting, as well as for feeding themselves. so there's a lot of pressure on wildlife populations. >> that's crushing news for communities, think want a chance to develop the resources they've got. >> if it is our will, we say no to the war. we need peace and we need development. our children have been deprived, no school. the most of the population are illilliterate. we hope it will come. >> south sudan war and instability. there is a hope for the future but now even that is at risk. nick clark, al jazeera, south sudan. >> now in south africa satirical cartoons reach a massive audiences, written in multiple languages and get multiple hits online. but the deposit says they are too controversial to be seen.

>> lamblampoons south african president jacob zuma. >> it was done because it was popular, it was still is just -- it's going to get people's attention. if you see advertising you look at what people think and say. >> it was hugely popular with the public but someone higher up didn't see the humor. south africa's state news brawblghtersbroadcasters abandoned it. >> it captures what zuma's all about. >> it's awesome pretty awesome yeah. >> another of his popular animations featuring an african

jesus also got him in trouble. he's not to offend but only to poke fun and fiduciary the boundaries. the killings at a satirical newspaper in paris in january only confirmed his views on freedom of speech. >> people will say bad things, so you just need to grow up about it and just accept it. >> he says his animations have had around 8 million hits online. that's because he is one of the first south african animators to feature local voices cultures and issues. >> it is rather refreshing for it to be south african. >> despite his popularity, he has had to struggle to get his work on tv. >> do you feel usual a bit of a -- you are a bit of a ground breaker in a way? >> ground breaker? i would say yes. to a certain level. >> but this artist says he has a

lot more ground to break to make african voices more mainstream. erica wood, al jazeera johannesburg, south africa. >> you can always find much more about our story over on our website, aljazeera.com aljazeera.com, for all your international news. our country is almost unique in people believing that global warming is not a human cause. >> robert kennedy, jr., a lifelong advocate of the environmental movement thanks in part to memories of his dad prior to his father's assassination in 1968. >> my father considered this part of our heritage and our