>> going down to the wire. >> is it going well secretary kerry? >> we're working hard, hard. >> time is running short to close a nuclear deal with iran. civilian casualties. >> we do our best to prevent civilian casualties. we reply to a source of fire, we have no confirmation, this was a refugee camp. >> a saudi strike hits a refugee camp in yemen. raising the stakes in the war.

the race is on. david cameron seeks the queen's permission to dissolve parliament as he prepares for battle in the upcoming british elections. and the changing skyline. >> in five to ten years time my plan is to paint the city of el alto in colors. >> making way for change in bolivia. >> good evening i'm antonio mora less than 24 hours remain until the deadline to reach a nuclear agreement with iran. u.s. officials say there's a 50-50 chance of a deal being reached in time. but russian foreign minister sergey lavrov left the talks promising to return if there's a realistic chance of a deal. a major sticking points is iran's stockpile of enriched

uranium. the iranians said they would be willing to switch their stockpile to russia, but they moved away from that. sparking more proxy wars between sunni arab states and the country of iran. james bays reports from switzerland. >> the talks are in their most difficult leg. >> going well secretary kerry? >> we're working hard, working hard. >> u.s. secretary of state john kerry has spent most of the past two weeks here in lausanne trying to hammer out a deal with his iranian opposite number. kerry and mohamed java zarif have been joined by the p-5 plus one p-5 plus one countries. there's no deal ready to be signed yet.

russian foreign minister sergey lavrov decided to leave again arriving less than 24 hours before. the break from negotiations in the middle of the day the chinese foreign minister wang yee went for a jog. later he told reporters positions are narrowing, i'm cautiously optimistic we can reach a deal. in the high security of this lake side hotel the other foreign ministers apart from mr. lavrov are left to make a deal just hours before the deadline. secretary kerry and the u.k. foreign secretary phillip hammond took a walk discussing supposedly the remaining stickingsticking points. >> with a deal with such high stakes, it is not unusual for brinksmanship, going on until the last hour.

each side is hoping the other will bumming. the foreign ministers understand very clearly that they are running out of time and this process is no longer sustainable. >> talks are remaining on the main problem areas the future on iran's nuclear research and development and the lifting of international sanctions but time ahead of that deadline is fast running out. james bays, al jazeera lausanne. >> for more we're joined from watertown massachusetts jim go to see you the american delegation sounded a lot less optimistic and lavrov joked he wasn't paid enough to be optimistic and went home. will a deal happen? >> antonio i think lavrov's departure is not a good sign. maybe it's a diplomatic trip. sometimes people leave or threaten to leave to put pressure on parties but that

can't sound good. too big to fail? this is too important to fail. if they don't come up with something, they can go south really fast. >> what happens if they don't come back with something? >> i think congress moves pretty quickly to impose sanctions. i was on capitol hill two weeks ago meeting with democratic and republican senators in one on one briefings about the talks and i had members of both parties tell me that if they didn't get something in march then that would be a problem. and so if they move to impose sanctions then that could cause the whole thing to unravel i think they know that in the room. john kerry knows it, javad zarif knows it and it's the question can they go the last yard the last foot to cross the line. >> talk about unraveling, you've dealt with the iranians for years, you net with president

rouhani. what about this reversal on the spent fuel, are they trying to drive a hard bargain? >> i i i my guess is they are driving a hard bargain. had originally been proposed, then the new york times sort of backed off that, the americans came out and said no that's not true that's still being negotiated. you're right though, there is brinksmanship. i have sat in meetings in swits landis as a matter of fact with iranians on one side, mairns and americans and europeans on the other side, on a nondiplomatic matter it goes nowhere and the last three minutes, the iranians make a statement you say where did that come from? in the interim negotiations that happened a year ago that looked pretty bleak and then in the last 15 minutes half hour, they were able to settle it. so you just don't know.

>> let's say the iranians do come and you know with a last-minute agreement that works, reports are that there aren't just issues with iran but that there are issues within the p-5 plus one countries that are negotiating with iran specifically between france and the united states because the french want tougher restrictions. >> and i would say the french on one side who are making their views known and the russians sort of on the other side. remember we are bad u.s. russian relationship has already infected other areas of cooperation. hasn't done it on iran so far but you're right about the french. remember antonio a year ago last november we were on the eve of having this interim deal so-called joint plan of action and the french threw a fit and walked out. and then we had to wait a week and then they eventually came around. this is what the french do. you know there's all sorts of theories about why they do it but it's not surprising to me

that they do it but at the end of the day -- >> but in france there is a bipartisan agreement on the fact that they believe in controlling nuclear weapons around the world. the french do come from that position where as you are saying the russians are much more willing to be lenient with the iranians. was it good to have this day deadline for a framework or not? because what happens tomorrow night? >> yeah. well the answer whether it's good or not depends whether we get a deal. if we get a deal, it was ogreat idea. if we don't get a deal and it all unravels, it's a table idea. when they first announced on november 25th this new extension they said we have a target date of having a framework agreement and then we will finish up by the end of june. well that soft target, for political reasons turned into a hard deadline. congress made it a deadline and then the administration and the iranians both sides have said,

march was a deadline and they didn't know if they could continue beyond that. the good news is that disciplines the players. it makes them make the tough decisions that have to be made. the bad thing if they don't make them and the whole thing falls apart you're in a world of hurt. >> let's hope the deal doesn't fall apart and the deal was a good one. jim walsh thanks. >> thank you. >> now to yemen where the coalition is attacking the houthis from the air and sea. naval battles and fierce battles between tribes men and houthis. now the people who have fled the violence have become victims. kim vanel has the story. >> reporter: this was a camp in the north for those fleeing

the violence which has gripped yemen for more than a decade. houthis say women and children are among the dead but many that were killed are fighters. many are adamant that the houthis are to blame. >> we stress we do our best to prevent civilian casualties. we reply to a source of fire, we have no confirmation, this was a refugee camp. >> reporter: saudi led air strikes have hit at least 9 of yemen's provinces. target military base and weapons storage facility. which belongs to the yemeni republican guard. the focus isn't just an houthi strongholds but also on protecting the port city of aden. it's the main base for president a abd rabbu mansour hadi, and

houthi forces like this one. while coalition forces control the skies naval forces control the ports in an effort to keep houthis from rearming. iran denies it is backing the houthis but. >> there are a number of revolutionary guards that are operating underground but now operating more under the guidance of iran. >> reporter: the coalition says its military campaign will continue until houthi fighters and soldiers loyal to deposed president ali abdullah saleh had given over their weapons and open for a political solution. kim vanel, al jazeera.

>> drone strike killing two military soldiers in iraq, said the drone attack took place on march 23rd near the city of tikrit. but the u.s. led coalition did not conduct any manned or unmanned strikes in the region until two days later. syria is blaming turkey for capture of idlib the government in damascus says turkey helped those fighters stage the assault. meanwhile, citizens of idlib are now fleeing in droves. al jazeera's amiki imolu is on the ground in the besieged city. >> people aren't waiting to find out what's coming next. until last week, their city was thought to be one of the safer places in syria. because it was under government control. but the army lost idlib to these men linked to al qaeda.

>> we fought for two days in a row and gradually took control of districts and buildings. with god's will we are preparing to take over camps used by the regime. >> combined their resources under one banner. the coalition is thought about

winning hearts and minds. if great powers the regional powers are against me and my people are against me. >> after four violent years many in syria and abroad will find it difficult to know who to believe. especially when videos like this are posted on line. one organization accuses assad says it's part of a lie and smear campaign. >> when it bleeds it bleeds and they always look for something that bleeds.

>> reporter: he's defiant as usual even losing idlib to these rebels puts his side at a disadvantage. it is the biggest blow to assad's forces in two years. al jazeera. >> a guilty plea today from the british man accused of trying to start a terrorist training camp in the u.s. federal prosecutors said haroon aswat tried to start the camp in oregon. he pled guilty of supporting terrorism and conspiracy. he could face 20 years when he's sentenced later this year. separatists invited observers from a european monitoring group to document evidence, are a ceasefire agreement went into effect last month, more than 6,000 people have been killed since the conflict began last april. new developments tonight in the crash of the germanwings jet

liner. officials confirmed that the co-pilot andreas lubitz had been treated for suicidal tendencies in the past but the german prosecutor says his records do not show suicidal tendencies. he had also consulted with doctors about vision problems. today dozens of people who lost loved ones arrived at the staging area near the crash site where they vistaed a makeshift memorial. nearly 500 emergency workers are now in the area gathering evidence and searching for human remains. greece could be looking to russia for financial assistance. prime minister alexis tsipras will meet with vladimir putin next week. europeans said the reform plan submitted by athens fell short. greece is hoping for a life line of close to $8 billion.

russia says it would consider a request if it is made. suspending the vote count in nyjer as a close race is expected to go down to the wire.

>> the race is now on to be the next leader of britain. prime minister david cameron went to buckingham palace to ask the queen to dissolve parliament parliament. the consensus is that neither

party will win enough seats to be governing alobe. earlier this year cameron said the relationship with the u.s. was stronger than it had ever been but ed milliband met with obama at the white house. looking closer at the ties that bind. john terret has more. >> you can trace the relationship back almost 70 years, to 1946, in the aftermath of the second world war to mr. churchill. >> the whole of america. >> i avow my hope and faith sure and inviolate, that the in the days to come the british and american people will, for their own safety, and for the good of all, walk together in majesty

in juftsdz and justice and in peace. >> the former prime minister coined the word lecture tour and because churchill said it, it stuck. >> whenever a british prime minister visits the united states officials feel obligated to put the phrase special relationship into any relationship. david cameron met with barack obama, the white house felt compelled to highlight the fundamental importance of the u.s. u.k. special relationship and the special relationship between the people of the united states and the united kingdom. what is this special relationship? it's the phrase to describe the special diplomatic cultural economic relationship, with the

u.s. and the u.k. and to some extent canada. being two that had a admiration for each other that went further than working to bring town the iron curtain. >> this has been a tremendously successful visit and one we will long remember both in our minds and in our hearts. >> reporter: tony blair felt the necessity to come to the aid of the u.s., after the 9/11 attacks. those two great wars world war i and world war ii, later conflicts like the two gulf wars and joint missions in the balkans and afghanistan under the auspices of the nato alliance that cemented the good relations across the atlantic though it seemed to abate in the tony blair time.

it's true the british love america, americans disney and all things popular culture here. in return the americans love the accent the history and the royal family turning out in the hundreds to catch a glimpse of prince william and the dutch duchess. the u.s. has special relationships with lots of countries for example india australia, even france. it's likely this special relationship may have more meaning for brich government -- british government and the british people than it does here on this side of the atlantic. john terret, al jazeera. >> tom rogan joins us from washington d.c. to discuss the british elections and the u.s. british relationship. good to have you with us tom. you just heard john terret argue this relationship is more

special to brits than to americans. doesn't america rely on the british for foreign policy in general. >> good to be with you. i think it's broadly fair, but i think a lot of things are obviously true. the u.s. relies on the u.k. as an interlocutor, and also as a key partner in terms of dploiks diplomacy around the world. there is an anchor in your report that is important to the united states, second point british prime ministers and u.s.ness p presidents have for long time, whether it's blair and bush or reagan and that mucher have close relationships that are built on personal trust. whether it's shared experience in different wars or shared language and shared values. that's equally important and

it's been important for american presidents in the past and continues to be important at the present. >> let's look at the present you do look at the mutual admiration society between reagan and that mucher, and right of center george w. bush and right of center tony blare buttony blairbut history hasn't repeated itself between barack obama and david cameron. >> i do think that david cameron and barack obama have a close relationship. certainly you know in terms of the president having cameron over and taking him to basketball games and cameron doing reciprocal things. that might sound silly but they have conversations regularly and that is notable. sometimes it is easy to wash away and say it's simple politics but those reliable relationships do form the

construct of a broader foreign policy and i think cameron and obama do have a close relationship, that's pretty clear. >> really you know because tony blair was called bush's poodle. and so was there at all any reluctance on cameron to get close to president obama because of that? >> well, i think were there a -- you know were there a type of conflict situation there would be beyond what we see with i.s.i.s. or i.s.i.l. at the moment, there would be that concern potentially. but president obama is very popular in the u.k. has been very popular continues to be very popular. so for david cameron to position himself close to the president again when you've seen president obama visiting the u.k. there have been a big efforts by downing street to he show the

two together and in a close relationship. that says something that british prime ministers want to be close to president obama because he has that popularity in the u.k. >> do we have another counterintuitive situation where left of center obama will be rooting for right of cameron and ed milliband would be less supportive of american policies? >> i think that's potentially true and a key reason would be the august 2013 decision bid milliband the leader of the labor party to oppose david cameron's supported by president obama call of the u.k. to support the ban on chemical weapons, and democrats see milliband as an unreliable

partner. >> do you think cameron will remain prime minister? because it does seem that british politics will get messier by ukip, the independent party, and the nationalists in scotland taking seats away from labor. >> yes, it's very hard to call, i think at the moment, if you look at the opinion polling data and the analysts on the ground in london and across the u.k there's relative consensus 50-50, very unlikely to be a majority government. so whether it's labor that wins or the conservatives that win each party will have to form a coalition either with a group like the liberal democrats who have been in coalition with the conservatives since 2010 a centrist party or potentially labor forming coalition with a scottish nationalist party perhaps not informallily formally

but informally. >> definitely a complicated situation. tom rogan good to have you with us to show us the way through british politics. thank you. >> thank you. >> after pakistan promises to send troops to help the saudi coalition, and returning to his father's home land, president obama prepares to take his first trip to kenya as president. a

>> welcome back to al jazeeraamerica, i'm antonio mora, coming up in this half hour of international news, counting the votes in what's turning out to be very close presidential race in nigeria. president goodluck jonathan is behind. first of all, secretary of state john kerry and his counterparts from iran and other world powers

worked overnight in switzerland to work out tricky issues. they have less than a day to finish the deal over iran's nuclear programs. a drone strike around the city of tikrit. saudi led categorization launched new air strikes against yemen, their opponents the houthis said one of the strikes killed 40 people at a displaced citizen camp. pakistan said it will support saudi arabia in fighting the houthi rebels in yemen. a pakistani delegation is expected to arrive in riyadh. helping to evacuate stranded

pakistanis. nicole johnston reports. >> on sunday night 500 pakistanis arrived home from yemen, flown out of the port city of h isoudida. >> at knight there was a lot of bombing. it broke our windows. the houthis were the main threat to us because they were saying, why is pakistan backing the saudis? >> pakistan has said it will support saudi arabia but it hasn't explained how. >> translator: the prime minister of pakistan told saudi arabia's leaders that its security is crucial for pakistan. that's why we're sending a delegation to saudi arabia. the the. >> reporter: pakistan and saudi arabia have long military ties. they carry out joint exercises and there are 800 pakistani soldiers stationed in saudi arabia protecting the border with iraq. there's a strong economic

relationship as well. last year saudi gave pakistan $1.5 billion in aid. and pakistan's prime minister nawaz sharif lived in compile in riyadh for almost eight years. entering the conflict is a difficult balancing act with pakistan. while it has a strong relationship with saudi arabia it also has good relationship with iran. iran and pakistan share a long border and trade with one another and the government in islamabad doesn't want to create a difficult situation. 20% of its population are shia muslims. >> it could lead to sectarian tension in pakistan because the perception of the shias in pakistan would be that pakistan is siding with the sunnis in yemen and in saudi arabia. >> reporter: some say the sectarian violence can't get any worse than it already is.

>> yemen or no yemen. we have been besetted with mercenaries creating sectarian problems in pakistan. so it doesn't make a difference with us. we've lived with it. >> reporter: pakistan hasn't set fighter jets or extra troops to saudi arabia yet but behind the scenes it's deeply concerned. nicole johnston al jazeera islamabad. >> let's bring in mike lyons. good to have you with us. former ambassador to iraq, james jeffrey, said we are in a quote god damn free fall. we have got countries all the way to pakistan getting involved. how big a danger are we going to see this explode into a great regional conflagration?

>> it's pent up frustration egyptian president sisi talk about this allied force in the arab league, 40,000 soldiers. it seems that these military are leading these results that will lead to catastrophic results. >> the iranians are shia as are the houthis in yemen. is that what we are seeing a sunni shia quite divide? >> first there is a civil war the houthis have people in their congress people within their government, they took -- they obviously took over the government in a manner that wasn't satisfactory to both saudi arabia and the united states. they ousted the president but they're there now. i think that saudi arabia has gone way too far. the air strikes that they're doing right now if this continues to ratchet up i just think it's going to be a terrible situation.

>> what is the saudi objective to get the houthis to the negotiating table? >> to get them to the negotiating table they are going to have to offer something. they are digging into the politicians they are in the capital sanaa and while saudi arabia controls the air the houthis control the ground. the only way to get them out is to send in ground forces and that would be catastrophic. >> twill saudis end up invading? >> i don't see where that goes. you would see the houthis cross the border back into saudi arabia. from a military perspective this can't be contained. although they're bounded by the sea on their rear left, their rear flank the houthis could easily cross the saudi border. >> we suggested there could be a reverse invasion the houthis could go into saudi arabia. >> it is not even like i.s.i.s

it would be a tremendous fight that the saudis would have to put up. >> pretty tough terrain in certain parts of yemen too and as you said they have become entrenched in the cities, talking about urban warfare difficult to imagine the arab league would want to get involved in something like that. >> all it's going to do is spark potential violence, most of these arab nations don't want their countries to get involved in other arab nations. >> what about the u.s. role, with it will it be passive? create passive support? >> we're not in the game at all. we're standing off in the persian golf in the waters. >> a general policy standoff that the u.s. has pulled back too far? >> completely, we have no influence to do anything. maybe hopefully saudi arabia we're talking to saudi arabia about thinking twice to invade into yemen. but we could add ministerial

support and intelligence and the like but nothing more at there point. >> what about the danger for the united states? the yemeni government was helping the u.s. out with the drone program to go after al qaeda in the arabian peninsula based in yemen and by all accounts is the most dangerous arm of al qaeda at least when it comes to threatening the west. >> it is, the only upside is the houthis are sworn enemies to al qaeda as well. they have used the eastern part of yemen they've stayed away, a large country austere place lots of open desert. difficult for us to striking in unless we know what we're hitting but there's not a lot the united states is going to do there. >> do you think it's more likely that al qaeda will be able to operate freely in yemen? >> they will have more space and time, a chance to regroup themselves. they are fundamentally contained

there we're keeping an eye but we won't be able to strike. >> we do have the base in djibouti, can we still be launching our attacks? >> we don't have the ground spotting, i think that's the key. the air strikes that saudi arabia is hitting they can't tell where the targets are there is some question about hitting a refugee camp and that's the problem we have left completely off the ground in yemen we don't have that capability anymore. >> good to have you mike lyons thank you. >> djibouti is in a crucial place, in the horn of africa. >> this is the port city of djibouti. hundreds of millions of dollars

of overseas investment is pouring in, promising to turn this one quiet city into a bustling hub. sits over the strait that provides access to the red sea. with only about 30 meters across at its narrowest point the straight separates djibouti from yemen. djibouti is transforming itself into a shipping hub. >> what you want to do is create more jobs, and our models is in singapore hong kong mauritius. >> here, a fourth port for djibouti, the country has also attracted the attention of powerful nations providing yet another source of revenue. djibouti is also home to a number of bases for foreign troops including the biggest

u.s. base in africa. this military installations is a staging ground for counter counterterrorist operations in yemen and somalia. giving u.s. forces the opportunity to strike against yemen and somalia. over the years a number of other countries including germany, japan and spain have followed the u.s. and french example and set up bases in djibouti too. >> djibouti has benefited in various ways. first the foreign forces pay a fee to the djiboutian authorities. and there's the issue of job creation. actually over a thousand jobs have been created by the presence of these foreign bases in a country where unemployment is a major problem.

>> now, are the city of djibouti, one of the roughest neighborhoods. mohammad adow, al jazeera djibouti. >> the bardo museum in liberia lye tunisia has reopened. former israel prime minister ehud olmert was found guilty, convicted of taking money from an american supporter. imtiaz tyab has the story from jerusalem. >> despite being acquitted in this case in 2012 being spared a $19,000 fine and a suspended prison sentence, this case was revived after mr. olmert's former aid and secretary

presented new evidence to the court as part of a plea deal for herself. this was secretly recorded conversations between her and the former prime minister whether they were talking about this cash that he has now apparently received from that american businessman in the center of this case. this appears to have been enough to convince the court to convict mr. olmert who has said he will appeal this latest ruling but in the background of that is another major case that he is also fighting. just last year, he was sentenced to six years in prison in a separate corruption case. he has been appealing this case with the supreme court who will ultimately decide his fate. >> imtiaz tyab in jerusalem thanks. for palestinians today is land day commemorating the

first act of taking of palestinian land. for a small community of compiles it iscompiles itex islesthey settled a few miles away as their home became ruins. each year the group makes the tripp back to clean the cemetery and to remember. a former dictator has taken the early lead in nigeria's presidential election, officials have suspended voting for the night. easing tensions as results trickle in. the counting will rux tomorrow resume tomorrow morning. yvonne ndege reports. >> the results have yet to be announced including nigeria's most populace state lagos.

wuns thereonce there's a clear winner in terms of the national picture one candidate getting the majority of the votes there is another phase to this which is the win are of this election has to get also at least 25% of the votes in two-thirds of nigeria's 36 states. we know from the release of data so far formula electoral commission thatfrom the electoralcommission that muhammadu buhari is leading by 18 million votes. that could change. the electoral commission and the key candidates are calling on nigerians just to be patient and let the electoral commission do its job. >> yvonne ndege in nigeria. two of our al jazeera colleagues are still being detained 50 nigerian military, ahmed idris and ali mustafa.

al jazeera is demanding their release. concern over reprisal killings in one nigerian city as the election results are coming in. residents of kaduna in the country's northwest are barricading them indoors braceing for the aftermat. in 2011, violence broke out leaving 800 people dead. president obama will travel to kenya in july to attend a summit insummit. dozens of world leaders whose passport information was breached before attending the g-20 summit in september. an australian official mistakenly e-mailed out the

information including names birthdates and passport/visa numbers. a blogger is attacked and hacked to death five weeks after another blogger was murdered. and inclining the rules after bolivia's ancient history is affecting the style of architecture.

>> another blogger has been killed in bangladesh. attacked near his home by men with machetes, he was an outspoken critic of extremism. a third is believed to have participated in the attack. a prominent atheist blogger was also killed in bangladesh. a rhino went on a deadly rampage in a city of nepal on wednesday. residents scrambled for safety during a chaotic chase that left a 61-year-old woman dead and several others injured. authorities say the animal escaped from a wildlife preserve. it was corralled and will be

physically evaluated before being rereleased into the park. torrential rains in kashmir are causing rivers to burst their banks, leaving entire towns under water. a hillside collapsed in the middle of the night after seven months of devastating rains on the region. in bolivia a trend is being revived. contemporary architect with a traditional twist. daniel schwindler reports. >> there's nothing mistaking it. something changing. a new kind of building. some call them chalettts a mitchmixture of chalets and traditionally dressed women.

he calls it andean architecture. >> i've come to a break with the rules. for me, i'm proud to present this new style. >> reporter: it pay be new but it's very much rooted in traditional tastes and colors. freddy was influenced by the preincan ruins the type between 500 and 900 ad. he has built between six and 900 buildings and his order book is full. soon to be the proud owner of this property. >> translator: it's very bolivian. we're bolivian so we wanted the house to reflect that, with lovely bright colors so my children can enjoy it. >> reporter: the colors and design reflect taste among bolivia's indigenous community which makes up more than half the population. enjoying an increasingly assertive voice with the

election nine years ago of the country's first indigenous president, evo morales symbolized in prediction paint and mortar. it might not be for everyone but for some, it is very bolivian incorporating styles and colors. the buildings cost three times more and take longer to build. reflecting the workmanship, also contain a party salon an indigenous aspect. >> in five or ten years time my aim is to build the city of el alto in colors, like. >> some would say el alto and a decent sewage system could only improve. a style of architecture that's

changing the skyline. daniel schwindler, al jazeera la paz. shining light on the dark.

>> "the stream". >> your digital community. >> you pick the hot topics and express your thoughts. "the stream", it's your chance to join the conversation. tuesday to friday, 3:30 eastern. only on al jazeera america.

>> in our global view segment we look at how news outlets from around the world are reacting to various events. jakarta post says the lack of involvement in the middle east, u.s. absence in mid east fuels arab warfare. saudi arabia and its coalition have to take the lead in fighting the houthi rebels unlike in the past when the u.s. led the effort to stop saddam hussein in kuwait. another situation from england's telegraph the world needs a new arab army. the paper says that an arab coalition must not only take on the houthi rebels but possibly

iran as well. the author says the pending nuclear deal with iran will only grow its influence in the region. as for that nuclear deal an debt forl in israel's haretz says, it would be the worst deal yet separate peace and equates israel's seclusion from the negotiations with george h.w. bush's prevention of israel taking part in the first gulf war. a group of women is bringing solar power to a remote tribe in the philippines mountains. the ancient aeta tribe hasn't much changed its way but as marga ortega reports: >> deep in the mountains of lozon in the philippines live the aeta, the oldest tribe in the country. they have farmed these areas for

years but now the tribe has a new hero. she doesn't know how to read or write but now she's entitled the bringer of light. >> it gets very dark here in the mountains so it's good we have found something like this to help the others. >> she has come back with a group of other aipa women invited by a special college to learn how to harness solar energy and build their own batteries and solar lights. >> we didn't understand anything so we had to use sign language. >> now they've come to share what they learn. it is villages like this that the lighting project hopes to help. isolated and without access to basic services. the thoughts would be to empower women will eventually four

community. the aeta has always been known for their fire-making capabilities. now magda says she's happy to make fire of a different kind. >> when there is lights there will certainly be joy all around us. >> the aeta still call this new arrival fire. they're not sure how this will change them exactly but they know it will transform the future of their tribe. marga ortigas, al jazeera philippines. first time, the rhodes scholarship will feature its awards to china. rhodes officials say the chinese government will not have a say in the selections process. washington is not happy coming up tomorrow why despite that a new beijing backed

investment bank is attracting so many u.s. allies. that's it for al jazeera america's international hour. i'm antonio mora, fault lines is up next. i'll see you again in an hour. >> new york new york. eight point four million people call this city home. >> twenty-four degrees snowing hard in central park going down to twenty in midtown. snowfall one to two feet. so they're now saying we could have snow falling as rapidly as five inches an hour. >> this has been the coldest winter here in eighty-one years. and it coincides with a grim reality. more people in new york city are homeless today than at any point since the 1930s.