iraqi troops head closer to taking tikrit back from isil. nigerians get another chance to have their say after violence and technical glitches.

the arab league says that air strikes will continue against hutis in yemen until they lay down their weapons. the. >> we've had reports of air strikes in the strong hold in the north of the country. a strike is said to have killed dozens of fighters. they are still on the move and reported to be marching toward the southern city of aden. they have been battling sunni tribes and at least 20 fighters are said to have been killed there. a short while ago an update said they've stock piled huge amounts of weapons and ammunition. >> the coalition leadership has been targeting the air defense

capabilities that are being controlled by militias or artillery, antiaircraft batteries. today we're continuing on targeting dumps and are about to confirm that the organization is turning yemen into a huge stock pile of weapons and ammunition and all the cities and provinces of the public especially after the coup de tas of the government. >>reporter: air strikes hit targets across the country including in the capital. jets from the saudi-led coalition have bombed ammunition depots airports and long-range

rocket launchers. this is the aftermath of an attack on an air base in the capital. it destroyed helicopters, fighter jets and a fuel facility. the saudis have also deployed thousands of soldiers along the border to share with yemen. they are a group of militias this started a coup. they are retreating from areas in the south according to local forces. sunni tribesmen are on the move to recapture areas lost in the last few weeks. these are huti fighters killed in an ambush. >> the summit in egypt has been

dominated by yemen's deteriorating security situation. air strikes will continue until the hutis and the deposed president disband their militias. they also insist that the president who has fled the country is yemen's legitimate leader. yemen was on the verge of collapse. the move came after all over means to achieve a peaceful solution and restoring legitimacy. >>reporter: this after saudi media -- launched the attack

against yemen. the reports suggest the former president of yemen is willing to turn against them if sanctions against them are lifted. but the saudis apparently no longer trust him accusing them of colluding with the hutis to destabilize the region. >> let's get an expert here a retired air force general. it's clear this coalition has air superiority over yemen right now. after the fourth day of bombing raids, what's your view on how this operation is going? is it going to need a ground force to come in to achieve its objectives? >> that's absolutely right. air power can't win the war

alone. i'm not sure about forcing them into negotiations. you need ground troops to do that. situation is very complex in yemen. geography, demography it's all a big factor. there is no army. you get this sort of militia, street to street fighting, neighborhood to neighborhood fighting. also the hutis are also trying to provoke in the nearby northern border which i think will lead to a war of attrition. all these factors -- and he lost credibility of course -- so all these factors play into it. by the way if we could say, you

know, in the future some of the scenario that might happen is that it might you know the egyptian or saudis might have enabled ground troops boots on the ground and have some fighting with iranian troops. they would not leave yemen just like that. they worked hard to get their influence in yemen and would like to keep this influence there. >> okay. we heard from the coalition spokesman a little earlier that a large quantity of arms sent by quote, a regional country, were prevents from reaching the hutis. also they're careful not to target infrastructure and is taking care not to injure or kill civilians. >> you know in yemen, there is

70 million pieces of weapon. every yemeni got three pieces of weapons. so war means fighting and fighting means innocent people will die. but these people are a one-way ticket. you know they just say -- this is a very psychological factor like isil methodology of warfare warfare. so they don't get scared to die. they will go on to fight and fight after the -- you know i think the political situation at the moment is very hard to achieve. you need to have the yemenis to win the war and war sometimes leads to political solutions but these people need support from outside. i don't go with the arab putting boots on the ground that will

lead possibly to a regional conflict. >> good to talk to you, sir. let's get some analysis now. do you agree with what you heard just there that a political solution really is the only answer to yemen's plight? >> certainly for the time being, adrian, the saudis would like to finish the war as soon as possible, try to break the hutis from the air, break their psychology end their heavy arm armerment stock piles and put enough strategic pressure and -- lead to a protracted war against

the saudis. they think time is on their side and just as the air is working towards the -- is favorable to the saudis the demographics of yemen is favorable to the hutis. so it's early to see how this will work out in a sense. what we know is that enough knowledge about the capacity of each side and enough knowledge about the rational intentions of each side will allow us to make the analysis if you will or the scenarios for what could come next. for the time being, it's clear that the saudis would like a quick win and the hutis would like to have a protracted war that eventually would tire the saudis. >> great to talk to you. you can read more at al jazeera.com, his latest blog post there. about the arab league and the war in yemen.

aljazeera.com is where you'll find it iraqi forces are struggling to retake tikrit. the advance has been slowed by bombs laid around the city. tikrit has been in the hands of isil fighters since last june. >>reporter: only meters away from enemy lines iraqi forces prepare for what they call the final push into tikrit. >> our forces have advanced towards the outskirts to flush out isil. we have established fire contact with the enemy. members of the national police army, and elite forces are on the edge of the stay waving an iraqi flag as they force into the city center. they fire targets with machine

guns and rocket launches. they claim success and say the smoke is from an isil command center. >> we're fighting the hideouts of isil. thankfully we're making some gains. our security forces have advanced now on the gates of central tikrit and by the will of god we'll crush isil until none of them is left in iraq. >>reporter: optimism is high since u.s.-led air strikes on wednesday. the campaign began after the united states insist that shia militias pull back. the fighters have been instrumental to the tikrit battle since it began earlier this month. >> our iraqi forces are heading towards the city of tikrit. we are a collection of collaborating forces and by the help of god, we will be in tikrit very soon.

>>reporter: the government has predicted several times before that it will win back tikrit. gaining control is seen as a vital step to eventually taking back mosul, iraq's second city which isil took over last june. still to come here on the program, a fight for food desperate people in sierra leone defy a government lockdown. >> and tens of thousands come out in singapore to say farewell to their country's founding father. >> go one on one with america's movers and shakers. >> we will be able to

see change. >> gripping. inspiring. entertaining. talk to al jazeera. tonight, 6:30 eastern.

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top stories here on al jazeera. saudi arabia says it continues to take out huti air defenses missiles weapons, and storage facilities across yemen. the arab league says the campaign won't end until they withdraw from the capital and lay down their weapons. iraqi military forces struggling to recapture tikrit. u.s. air strikes are supporting the operation. the suicide bomber in the afghan capital kabul has targeted the home of a politician politician. it's believed a targeted member of parliament wasn't badly hurt but three people were killed including a child >> the prime minister of tunisia says the master mind behind the

attack at a museum there has been killed. eight other people were killed in that battle. 22 people died when gunmen attacked a museum on march 18th. the attack prompted tens of thousands of people to march in solidarity through the streets of the capital. france's president and italy's prime minister joined them. >> germany's foreign minister says that further crises in iranian nuclear talks can't be ruled out. iran is said to be considering demands from world powers for more cuts in its uranium enrichment program. >> as you know we have never

been so close to a deal. still, we have some political points that need to be solved and we'll work in these hours over the weekend to try to bridge the gaps. i will not go into the details of the negotiations. it's not the right time to do it. i hope we'll manage to do it in the coming days tomorrow, or afterwards the prime minister of israel says the deal being negotiated is worse than his government had feared. >> this agreement as it appears confirms all of our concerns and then some. even as meetings proceed on the dangerous agreement, iran's proxies in yemen are overrunning large sections of that country and are attempting to seize control of a strategic strait which would affect global balance and supply.

it must be stopped some voters in nigeria are getting another chance to have their say in presidential and parliamentary elections. >>reporter: on sunday many people are still standing in line to vote. this polling station is in the commercial capital. >> this morning, again, they are telling us they don't have valid ids. >>reporter: officials say logistical and technical problems are to blame. some people say that's not good enough.

>> it's quite unfortunate that such a thing has happened because of what happened yesterday -- in the first place, we had to stay here for a long time. then when it was around 3:00 o'clock, it was not functional. >>reporter: it's still not good news for some. people are ready to vote. >> everybody is ready to decide. everybody needed something and everybody know what they need. that's why they are trying to endure any situation this time around. >>reporter: officials say final results will only be announced when everyone registered to vote has done so. the delay means it could be some time until the final results are

announced. in places where things went more smoothly counting of results has started. those waiting to vote hope they too get a chance to choose nigeria's leader. guinea's president says that new measures will be taken to combat the spread of ebola including restrictions on burials and possible lockdowns. in neighboring sierra leon people are defying a weekend lockdown saying they need food. >>reporter: they came looking for food and then fights broke out when there wasn't enough. this is a neighborhood near freetown and a hot bed for ebola cases. >> people are desperate for food because of how the distribution is going. they think they'll not be able to get any food because of the number of people present. this has led to panic. >>reporter: many people were

taken into custody and police struggled to deal with the crowd. >> initially, we were overwhelmed. but we've been able to put the situation under absolute control. >>reporter: teams were sent door to door to look for unreported cases. the last few months the number of new cases has de-creted and the fear of complacency has set in. >> we just want to reenergize and remind people because we've been in this fight for almost ten months and people are beginning to tire out, become complacent. >>reporter: more than 10,000 people have been killed and just last week 79 new cases were reported in the three worst-affected countries. many understand the need for a curfew but for those below the poverty line stocking up is not an option.

>> because of this lockdown there's nowhere to get food for survival so when they heard about this supply they came around to have something for these three days. >>reporter: and it's not just sierra leone. guinea has also declared a health emergency. the president has ordered restriction and confinement in five regions. many are concerned the government may not be able to provide adequate food and medical supplies to the affected communities. new vaccines and quarantines are slowly winning against the deadly virus but for countries battered by the outbreak the fight against ebola is far from over. tens of thousands of people have paid their final respects to singapore's founding father. the 91 year old died monday after being in hospital with severe pneumonia. >>reporter: at 12:30 local time

the coffin of the former prime minister is taken from parliament house. his body has been lying in state since wednesday. draped in the national flag his body was carried by members of the armed services. a chance for his countrymen to see him one last time. the rain came down but that didn't deter the many thousands that lined the streets to pay their respects to the founder of this nation. young and old and across the social and ethnic spectrum clouds waited patiently. some families watching the funeral on their computers. it was a chance to pay tribute. >> he was a man of courage and conviction and we're here to pay last respects. we've been here 12 years and owe him a lot. >> he was a great leader and we should show our respect to him. >>reporter: le transformed the nation from a colonial -- to an

internationally respected economy. while some criticized his policy towards free speech and dissent, politicians lined up to pay tribute to him. >> singapore's transformation in one generation is a tribute to his leadership. >>reporter: the funeral service took place at the national university. here his elledest son and current prime minister spoke warmly of his father's achievements. >> mr. le went for the nobler dream of a multiracial, multireligious nation. singapore would not be based on race language, or religion but on fundamental values multiracialism equality meritocracy, integrity, and rule of law.

>>reporter: there was a military guard of honor and a 21-gun absolute. this country has been in mourning for seven days and monday a new political dawn approaches. his legacy will endure and be interpreted in many ways in the coming years. but how this island nation moves forward socially and politically will depend on the new younger generation. students from the southern mexican state of guerro have fought with police. the students have been demanding answers about the september disappearance of their classmates, the 43 students vanished last september. local media says that these students were travel in a hijacked bus police used force to stop it. later in the day, mass protesters attacked a police station. the city first known as

constantinople and now istanbul is working to transform. little is being done to stop it. >>reporter: it's a shop from a bygone anal pay age paying bygone rent. just under $200,000 a month. the shop could fetch more than $20,000 a month on the open market. he says he's being forced out. >> they say you will go. >>reporter: this is the shop. we've been here for the past 80 years. everyone knows us here at 125 c. if i leave here where will my customers find me? how can i rent a new place and set up a new shop? costs are so high you burn your hands. >>reporter: his landlord is

taking advantage of a new law that means tenants tenants of ten years or more can be evicted without reason. >> this is the heart of the city and is now shaped by -- spent lots of money and moved to shopping malls. >>reporter: this former cinema is next to a new and controversial shopping mall. a few blocks away another istanbul district is being renovated. home to some of the city's poorest people is almost all in ruins. talibashi is just part of the

$100 billion that the national government is spending on infrastructure projects in istanbul. the country's president and former mayor is behind the force to turn the city into a modern global metropolis. some will struggle to find a place in this vision of the future. villages and cities across the world switched off their lights to mark earth hour on saturday night. this was the scene in the french capital, paris. it used the energy from footsteps to repower the eiffel tower. argentina turned off some of its

landmarks. and this was the scene in new york city. the plug was pulled on some of the billboard lights in times square. earth hour is organized by the worldwide fund for conservation to raise awareness of climate change and its effects. >> as the world's most elderly nation - japan is dancing with a demographic disaster. people are living longer and birthrates are falling fast. no other country has a greater percentage of old people.