>> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello and welcome to the al jazeera news hour, i'm marteen dennis in do doha and distant as ever on air strikes on hospitals and schools kill dozens of people. rival energy giants saudi arabia and russia reach agreement on oil production plus. i'm mohamed at the center for unaccompanied children in

sweeden where a series of attacks country wide have left these people more vulnerable than ever before. turning afghan relics into works of art. ♪ but first the syrian president bashar al-assad questioned how any kind of truce can be achieved in his war-torn country as hopes are continuing to fade and they wanted a cessation of hostilities to begin by this week but the situation on the ground is as bad as ever. on monday at least 50 civilians were killed by air strikes which hit five medical facilities and two schools in the northern provinces of aleppo and idlib, france and turkey have described those attacks as war crimes while the u.n. says they were a blatant violation of international law and it's not clear who carried out the

bombings. on the broader question of a pause in fighting bashar al-assad said it will be difficult. >> translator: hear about the request of a ceasefire in a week but who is capable of bringing together these conditions in a week, no one. who will speak to the terrorist if the terrorist organization ceases to adhere to the ceasefire and who will make these accountable and we are speaking on the conditions all the terms are met, cessation of operations must be done with the aim of improving the security situation. >> reporter: let's go live now to our correspondent zaina in southern turkey right only the border with syria and there we see president assad pouring cold water on any possibility of easing hostilities or a truce. >> reporter: well, yes, the syrian president really reiterating the government's position since the start of the up rising, there cannot be a ceasefire as long as the war on

terrorism continues and it's fighting a war on terrorism, everyone who is anyone who is carrying a weapon and fighting against the state is considered a terrorist, the president also reiterating how he believes the syrian conflict should end and they have been forged on the ground in a number of areas across the country and the opposition calls those agreements surrender saying the government lay sieges to areas, prevent food and medicine from entering the areas forcing the civilians as well as the rebels inside forcing them really into submission, there has been no progress on the diplomatic front and staffan de mistura is in damascus and will hold talks with the foreign minister and the diplomatic track will discuss because talks are to resume on the 25th of february and the u.s. and russia did reach a deal a few days ago and

a paws in the fighting was supposed to take effect by the end of this week but there is no sign. the government is making it clear that it is not interested in any form of ceasefire, the rebels on the other hand saying that the cessation of hostilities is unrealistic because it will allow russia to continue bombing their p conditions and al-nusra the al-qaeda linked group are not included in that and can use the presence as an excuse to target their positions and the war rages on the ground and no sign really that there will be an end to the violence any time soon. >> i'm particularly in the area, that you're overlooking from the opposition right now where the northern corridor is being hotly contested, gains being made by the kurdish fighters and their allies and losses, significant losses being attributed to what is described as the moderate opposition. >> reporter: exactly, marteen

the northern corridor one of the most important areas for all of the warring sides in the confront. the government wanted it to regain control of border crossings, to cut the rebel supply lines and for the ypg it will allow it to connect the enclave in aleppo to territories under its control in the northeast of the country and for turkey it's a red line and doesn't want groups it supports to be weakened and doesn't want to see the ypg advancing to a group they consider terrorists and they resumed shelling, ypg positions and positions of ypg like the syrian democratic forces but those forces have taken a major stronghold for the rebels in the northern countryside and the sdf confirming really to us that they are not going to stop it. they want the border town of aziz a town that turkey has said

would be a red line and will not allow it to fall and turkey really relationship between turkey and the united states is also deteriorating because turkey says we are angry that the u.s. actually put us in the same basket as the ypg and called on ypg to stop making advances and turkey to stop cross border shelling and the situation is complicated, that border town is now a front line really because turkey and the opposition is accusing russia of providing air cover to the ypg and opposition increasingly being squeezed in aleppo providence. >> zaina live and here in the studio is diplomatic editor james base and it wasn't that long ago, five days ago or so we had the cautious optimism being expressed by the world powers associated with syria that there could be a pause in hostilities, a cessation within the space of a week, was that merely what you

are thinking? >> it's looking it's going to be difficult to achieve what they said they would achieve in seven days and peace talks in geneva collapsed and they had to try to reboot the process and went to the meeting about five days ago in munich and there they came up with to new commitments and yes we will get humanitarian aid in and have a cessation of hostilities and they set up a timeline and the timeline for humanitarian aid was aid rolling by the weekend and has not happen and hostilities cessation was supposed to happen in two days away and it's looking shaky. >> no syrian participation in that agreement coming out of munich, was that perhaps the fatal flaw? >> possibly the syrian participation is taking place right now, the big meetings as we speak the syrian foreign minister is meeting staffan de mistura the u.n. special envoy, he has been joined at that meeting by the humanitarian chief of the u.n. in syria and

the u.n. sources and i've spoken to u.n. sources in geneva and damascus says on the humanitarian side have not given up and have aid of five of the six places that staffan de mistura had ready to roll on pallets and ready to go and just need signatures signed by the two sides and there is an important meeting and not just the regime of damascus the high negotiations committee having a first full committee the main block in riyadh in a number of hours. >> thank you and we go to uganda because main opposition leader there warned elections will not be free and fair but promised supporters that he will win, he was detained and released twice in rallies on monday, police fired tear gas at supporters and some of them threw rocks and one man died in the violence and he is mounding his fourth challenge who has been in power for 30

years. malcolm web is our correspondent covering elections in the uganda capitol campala and despite being derailed somewhat yesterday in terms of adjusting his supporters still seems to be rather upbeat. >> this is the final day of campaigning with a lot of momentum and he is in compala and the crowd is supported and there are a lot of support there in the capitol city and in the areas and meanwhile they have a couple of rallies in the capitol with the prime minister the challenger in the race and a big day of campaigning the campaign has to end today with three days to go before they head to the

pol polls. >> reporter: all right malcolm thank you for the update on situation in campala and apologies for the quality of that line, it wasn't terribly clear, energy giant saudi arabia and russia are flooded with a global market and prices and meeting in doha the saudi and russian army made announcement with counterparts from qatar and venezuela and say they will freeze production at january levels but only if other major producers follow suit. live now to bernard smith who has been at that meeting in doha and so tell us more about what these four major powers have agreed. >> this was a fairly short meeting, called unexpectedly but we know that saudi arabia, russia, the world's two biggest producers of crude oil with

venezuela and qatar agree they want to freeze prices at january levels, this is the most delicate, gentle interventions in the oil market in an attempt to stop the decline in the price of oil and it has fallen 70% since 2014 and oil producing economies are feeling the pain. now the challenge is to get these other oil producing countries to at least agree a freeze as well and that will be the next step for these four ministers, particularly to persuade is iranians and they started increasing production after sanctions were lifted on it in january and saudi arabia oil minister he said that this was the beginning of a process, he said we will assess in the next few months and said we don't want any significant girat i ons in oil prices. >> outside the meeting that is

taking place in doha and we can talk to a former head of energy studies department of the opec secretary and joins us from dubai and bernard described what happened today the delicate ger -- intervention on the market, will this have any bearing on the price of oil? >> i don't think it will have a lasting impact, the prices have gone up a little bit since this announcement but after the market would understand it, you know, i think it's a beginning of a process rather than a final result that the market could look at because freezing the production at the january level is not going to cut supplies in any way. there is already too much oil on the market. >> okay, understood, do you think then perhaps this represents any kind of

concession on the part of saudi arabia which here too has been pretty resolute to commitment of maintaining levels of production and not reducing? >> well, look, compared to a few months ago saudi arabia already has reduced about 400,000 barrels a day compared to today's levels and saudi arabia, you know, is under intense diplomatic pressure to do something so this meeting is probably the result of this diplomatic pressure. >> sorry, what do you think of the inclusion in this group? there is saudi arabia, there is qatar and there is venezuela, venezuela obviously are representing the poorer opec nations and many applying pressure on saudi arabia to change policy. >> well, to be honest with you i don't think freezing production

is going to mean anything to the market unless other producers come into the picture which the meeting has stipulated so in the next few weeks or even a few months i think there will be a scurry of diplomatic activities to get other producers on board otherwise these four countries impact only two countries saudi arabia and russia. in fact, i don't think they will be able to do anything on their own. >> and is it likely the fact that russia the leading non-opec oil producer has at least made this commitment with these other o-peck members is that significant in itself and will they bring along other non-opec oil producing counties do you think? >> well it is significant because the russia is the largest non-opec oil producer

and we have not had anything from other non-opec oil producer and voices of norway and mexico and other countries that used to be in the non-opec group are completely absent from the current discussions. >> so to summarize then you suspect then there is no change as a result of this meeting? >> well, to be honest with you i think it does have a little bit of positive outlook that the dialog is going to continue, the market is going to be careful about its direction and it doesn't mean that prices are going to go up significantly but it also may not go down significantly so we have to wait and see how things play with the other producers. >> okay, very good to speak to you and thank you very much. >> thank you. still to come on this al jazeera news hour calls for the

president to step down, opposition supporters in the democratic republic of congo demand a strike. in havana you can look around for a construction site and can it keep influx with tourists and what cubans are hoping for and the challenges ahead. and in sport bad news for chelsea ahead of the champion league game with perry. ♪ south korea's president says the communist neighbor to the north has proven it doesn't want peace and has been addressing parliament in seoul about what she describes as provocations from north korea. last week it launched a long-range rocket into orbit that says it was carrying a

satellite but says it was covered for band missile technology. the hospitalized baby in australia is uncertain as she faces being returned to an off shore detention facility and being treated for serious burns which she suffered in a prison camp on the island of naru and as we explain from brisbon the hospital is refusing to discharge the baby. >> reporter: this brisbon hospital is where the baby's situation comes about policy to refugees is being held and australia's government says she and her parents will get at least 72-hour notice before immigration officials go in and take her and her family back to naru and that same guaranty doesn't apply to the other 264 people in a similar situation in australia but risking deportation to naru and overnight new zealand said it will take 267 people to the shore but they rejected an offer

by new zealand in the past and doesn't want incentive to people smugglers to bring more people to australia shores and people taken to new zealand and not coming to australia may act as some sort of incentive and you can hear car horns in the background and this small crowd protesting outside the hospital are encouraging cars to honk their horns as they go past and last night there was a big crowd outside the hospital, more than 300 people gatherd, trade union representing the staff and the hospital among them and students, i talked to some of them. >> people are livid and so angry and this is the expression of that anger and this is ordinary people not stepping back and watching people get tortured. >> asylum seekers in this country but this is to a head because it's such a travesty. >> the legislation in regards to asylum seekers and refugees is putting health professionals at

great risk in terms of their professional obligations, this is the obligation that the federal government imposes upon them with regard to asylum seekers and legislation. >> reporter: they say they will keep a permanent presence outside this hospital, small numbers during the day and rallies each evening, until they get they say some guaranty the baby and her parents won't be deported. australia's government said they will make the decision about the baby, her parents and the others in australia within two weeks, by the end of the month. now this week here at al jazeera we have been highlighting the fact that more than 10,000 unaccompanied child refugees have simply disappeared since arriving in europe in recent months and said many of them have become victims of trackicing and more children seek asylum in sweeden they any country in the world and many arriving as unaccompanied minors and social workers say many choose to go missing because they are fearful their applications for asylum will be

rejected and they will be sent home and end up living on the streets of towns and cities around the country and for those who choose to remain within the system there is yet another problem a tax against refugees and migrants have left many of them fearful especially among those trying to protect child refugees. al jazeera's mohamed has gained exclusive access to a center for unaccompanied minors in here where aid workers are more vulnerable than ever before. >> this may look like simple childhood fun but neither laughter nor levity come easy any more, reminded constantly as he is of that awful journey. >> translator: i was scared but i was so tired of the life that i had, i didn't think about the risks. >> reporter: originally from afghanistan his identity we are hiding for his protection set

out at age of 14, alone and afraid he paid smugglers what he could. by 15 he made it to sweeden where he spent months in a transit camp before finally being placed here at the city's light house center. there are 14 unaccompanied refugee children residing here and hardly makes the minors any less vulnerable now than they were before, the past several months seen an increase in anti-immigration sentiment in sweeden and with that a string of arson attacks targeting shelters just like this and extra precautions must be taken and the location of the centers are no longer made public. aid workers tell us it's not just the threat of violence the kids have to worry about. >> criminality and of course they are without the legal guardians and also trafficking, pedophiles, we have some reports of it. >> reporter: at a time when thousands of unaccompanied refugee minors have reportedly gone missing in europe it's

getting harder and harder to ensure these children stay safe. >> we cannot have that supervision of them what they do in their spare time because it's an open camp and they can go and come. >> reporter: like the other children living here he chose sweeden because the migration agency aids in bringing families of refugees under 18 who are granted asylum but hussein lost krot with his family and siblings a year ago and while he has applied for asylum he doesn't know if it will be granted. >> i'm afraid of what will happen to me if they send me back to afghanistan, one of my brothers was killed and another kidnapped. >> reporter: despite the attempts to bring up the mood at the light house it has been a challenge to keep the darkness at bay. >> when you are a refugee you don't have to time to process everything but when you come here to these camps, then you

have your own room, you are alone in the room and you think about everything. >> reporter: in hussein's room the atmosphere seems as bleak as his outlook. >> translator: i can't sleep well. i have nightmares. i go to see a psychologist for these problems but i still think about the traveling i did just to get to sweeden. >> reporter: now even at this shelter hussein's desperation only grows deeper as he wonders when and if this harrowing pilgramage will come to an end, sweeden. right now we can talk to ellen from the children's rights bureau in stockholm and thank you very much for talking to us about this terrible problem that is affecting so many kids in your country. do you have the capacity to meet the challenge because clearly sweeden has taken on more refugees per capita than any other country in europe.

>> well, hi there and thank you. well generally speaking we could say that sweden has a functioning system for receiving unaccompanied minors but as you are reporting with increasing numbers going from 7,000, 2014 to 35,000, 2015, the risk of rights violations or the kids end up in a bad situation is obviously going to be higher. >> do you think that sweden's migration policy or the policy with regard to refugees and asylum seekers was mistaken and do you think sweden has taken on more than it can chew? >> well, no. i think the opposite rather, that we have to put more resources in to protecting these very vulnerable children who as you have just been reporting it many of them risked their lives to get here but we can see that

you know with the additional numbers coming to sweden we are deeply concerned but for the increasing numbers of children that will not be allowed to stay and the ones that will not be allowed asylum because we know that the majority of these children they will end up going under ground and end up disappearing. >> who are the children not likely to be granted asylum in sweden? >> well, a group we have been working with for six months are morocco children and young people coming to sweden and we are very concerned because they are not granted asylum but yet they cannot be returned because of reasons they are not registered in their own country and don't have id or travel documents so they end up in a legal limbo which up until now adults in the system failed to take responsibility for and the result is that we have now lost

hundreds of children and young people living in the streets of stockholm being completely unprotected by the authorities. >> being in legal limbo i was just going to aid is a very dangerous place to be particularly for children. >> exactly. i mean, any child, any young person strides for having a future and having hope and having a good life and when you put a 18-year-old in this situation they end up with a sense of complete meaninglessness and we can see what happens with humans when we are put in that situation and the expectation is high and crime, being the victim of crime, committing crime, using drugs to survive to keep warm at night, i mean, they are really, really suffering. >> ellen talking to us live from stockholm and thank you very much indeed.

thanks. all right, it's time to look at the weather now rob is here and winter has finally arrived in spain. >> sometimes it just waits until february doesn't it and has been days of wind blowing down from the north on to the coast of spain and portugal and the bay and the persistent of the north brings a long fetch and first of all the sea has become quite stormy and the pictures gives you an example of that. persistent rain has been a bit of a problem and you have seen it was flooding in portugal and northwest of spain and flooding persists in the middle of portugal and still to confirm it but maybe the thing that tells you it's winter is the fact that it has snowed and of course much of spain is pretty high and say it's a high plateau and to get snow is not that unusual but it has not been around and here you go, this is the first proper snow, enjoyable for many, a pain

for others and i think mostly it will be giving at long lost and it's quiet in spain and the winds are cold and more snow to come and then we transfer to this line of cloud here. this is rain, persistent rain through italy and slovania and typical typically 40-50 millimeters and southeast europe 20 degrees in bukarest how about that. >> rob was there and still to come on the al jazeera news hour and intriguing case involving a dairy farm owned by zimbabwe's president robert mcgowbi and how some inmates in this prison are lifted up. and in sport tennis number one nadel says he is not scared of the zika virus as he prepares

for the rio open. ♪

♪ hello again and let's have a look at the top stories at al jazeera the syrian president bashar al-assad said the ceasefire can't exist while there is a war of what he calls terrorists and dozens were killed on attack on a hospital supported by doctors without borders and u.n. called it a violation of international law. uganda's main opposition leader warned that elections on thursday will not be free and fair and promised followers he will still win and he was

detained and released twice during final rallies in the capitol campala on monday. energy giant saudi arabia and russia agreed not to increase the amount of oil pumping as producers grapple with a flooded global market and low prices and say they will freeze production at january levels but only if other major producers follow suit. and we return now to our main story and that is the air strikes on the hospitals in syria, in particular the syrian providence of idlib and we have a doctor without border who joins us from southern turkey and thank you very much for talking to us, can you tell us what the situation is regarding the hospital that you work this conjunction with in idlib? >> mark arteen the situation with the hospital is that it's a pile of rubble and we have

confirmed that seven people have died and eight members of staff are missing and extremely difficult to keep contact with the team on the ground and it's extremely somber time and it was 30 bed hospital serving 40,000 people and now totally destroyed and it was hit yesterday around 9:00 a.m. by two missiles and a few minutes after by another two and leads us to believe it was a deliberate attack. >> and do you know by whom? >> no. we believe it was the syrian coalition and who in the coalition we don't know. >> how many people relied on this facility? >> i mean, we have 54 full-time members of staff and the community that it served was around 100,000 people and we had operating theatres and outpatient departments and the thing is when you destroy a hospital it's not just the surgery, it's not just the kind of war injuries, it's chronic disease treatment, it's a place for women to give birth, all of this is now gone, the same day,

yesterday, another hospital in the same area was hit and at least one of the hospital in the district around 100 kilometers to the north was also hit so we are seeing a number of attacks on medical facilities which is just horrific for the local population who have been living in a war zone for a number of years now. >> and with regard to your particular hospital how far would you say it is to the next, to the nearest facility now for the community who have been deprived of your clinic? >> several kilometers but i mean the thing is people are moving around all the time so it's very difficult for them to reach medical treatment, as i said there was another hospital in the area but that was also attacked yesterday so several kilometers to the nearest facility and not sure what they are offering there and it's extremely difficult for them to have medical car -- care and there is a hospital we run and

there are nine hospitals and today there are only three and it's happening across syria and it's difficult for people on the ground. >> we have seen such distressing pictures of people who are dying of starvation quite literally in certain areas that are besieged by anotherer government or rebel forces, what is your overall impression of the general health of the people of syria, those who haven't been able to get out of the country, those who are stuck in the country, what is their health like? >> it's very difficult for us to give a whole of syria picture, nsf doctors without borders support 153 and actually 152 with the destruction yesterday and throughout syria and 70 are in areas that are extremely hard to reach and you mentioned madaya and siege happening as a

tactic here and happening everywhere and we talked to people on the ground and 1.5-2 million people are currently living in conditions where it's almost impossible to access the healthcare they need and extremely concerned of aleppo with 250,000 people and one narrow way of access at the moment and obviously depriving people of access to medical care and food as was the situation in madaya is totally unacceptable and sieges used by tactics by the government of syria and by opposition groups and islamic state is totally unacceptable. >> taylor thank you very much and good to get the very latest on the situation within syria and a very gloomy picture it is indeed. and one ray of light conjoined twin girls from syria have been successfully separated by doctors in saudi arabia. it took 22 doctors and nurses to separate the four-year-olds who were born, joined at the head, the ten-hour operation took

place in the saudi capitol riyadh. zimbabwe prosecutor general is in court charged with obstructed justice and accused of ordering release of to opposition activists suspected of firebombing the president's dairy farm and harry is following the case. >> reporter: inside the magistrate's court here one of the most intriguing cases is being heard, it involves zimbabwe top prosecutor, he is accused of obstructing justice and this is where the story is interesting, a few weeks ago four men and some were civilians allegedly tried to bomb the dairy owned by the president's family and were stopped before they could do it and arrested. it's alleged the top prosecutor basically released two of them saying that they had turned state witness. some people thought he is

obstructing justice and maybe has a hidden agenda and why he was brought to court, arrested and out on bail. if the top prosecutor is found guilty he could get up to 15 years in jail. zimbabwe asks what is this really about and some say maybe it could be personal, maybe someone in his office doesn't want him around but many say this could be a much bigger issue and the president is getting older and could have something to do with the battle of who will take over from him and things are getting interesting on the ground and bizarre things are happening and the president's wife grace says some people in the military are trying to kill her son and officials say there was a bomb scare at a top hotel and zimbabwe has been relatively quiet over the last few years and people are saying things could start getting more interesting. the drc where opposition called for a nationwide strike and they are demanding president joseph step down when his term

ends in december and we go live to catherine our correspondent in the capitol and have people heeded the call to go on strike? >> marteen we have been going around the city and we are seeing that while small-scale business people are going about their business some of the larger shops remain closed and parents have not taken their children to school but we are being told this is mainly because of fear and certainty and we made some phone calls to eastern congo to the provisional capitol of the north where we are being told the situation is more or less the same and like you said the opposition has called for the strikes saying that the president must step down when his time expires in december, the 19th and joining me to discuss this is the government spokesperson, mrand thank you very much for talking to us and the opposition is

accusing the government that deliberately withholding money from the electoral commission, money to plan this election, is there no money, what is the situation? >> i can't say that there is no money. and they are just accusing without bringing in some alternative solutions. we do have problems here in this country as any other countries. we do have budgetary problems due to the reduction of our incomes, you know, that there is a drop for the price of the mineral resources such as copper, such as cobalt so we have to adjust whatever we have to expend in the budget. so this is a problem. and we have a location today with an electoral commission, $22 million not far than two or three days that it stops working

so it's not fair to say that to the government and lacking the will of giving to the commission, it is a way of working, it will do its work though we are fearing some delays because of the reduction of incomes. >> but surely mr. minister you knew about this election five years ago and surely you set aside some money. >> budgetary issues are not like, you know, a house where you can have a box to put money when there is a budget that is voted by the parliament. it's just retail on a paper that whenever we get to such amount we shallow kate it to these expens expenses, what is being done. so we can approach the budgetary issues like a private one. >> the president called for dialog with the opposition to,

you know, break the deadlock and opposition members are saying no we are not going to talk to them unless he is talking the peaceful transition and what is the dialog? >> i don't think we have the right information. i think you are talking minority within the opposition because the president called for a dialog following a message to the president by the majority of opposition, by the udps, udps is the first opposition party, they have 60 members of parliament but what we are talking of is small parties towards the members in the parliament, three members in the parliament, hardly ten or 12 so it is because the opposition asks for a dialog that the president wants to say, well, i am ready, we have to talk, we are going to talk about our elections, our

electoral process, how to have it without having all these orders, we have experienced it in 2006 and 2011. >> finally mr. minister the big question will the president step down, will he respect the constitution and step down when his term comes to an end in december? >> i can't tell you that the president will respect the constitution but about stepping down, the constitution is saying that the president steps down only when the new president elected is elected. so when was he elected is a question by the commission to answer so some are saying that there is a date but we don't see that date in the constitution. the president has stepped down when the new president is elected. >> all right, thank you very much. that was the government spokesman saying that the constitution says the president

will step down when the new president is sworn in, back to your marteen. >> catherine is live there in canshasha. and a group is hosted only u.s. soil for the first time. president obama says this is a sign of his personal commitment to strengthening ties between the group of countries. rob reynolds reports from california. >> reporter: president barack obama welcomed the ten azian leaders to the deluxe sunny lands golf resort in the california desert and portrays the summit as an informal and relaxed get together, yet it is heavy with symbolism, highlighting the obama administration's so called pivot to asia. >> economic growth that is inclusive creating opportunities for all, mutual security and the peaceful resolution of disputes, human dignity including respect

for human rights and development that is sustainable, that is our vision. >> reporter: obama wants to shore up economic and security ties and reassert influence in southeast asia but as obama met with the likes of cambodia's leader and a thousand people gathered nearby under a blazing desert sun to protest. [chanting] you bring a bunch of dictators to southern california killing the old people and suppressing the old people, the op presser has to stop. >> reporter: cambodia americans denounced the one who held power for 30 years. >> he is a dictator and never won election since 1993, never won the election and won through intimida intimidating and vote buying and stealing the vote. >> reporter: they say there is no democracy for the people of louse. >> the louse government is

corrupt and the vietnam people are coming in and killingly innocent people and it's all wrong and we are here to try and stop that. >> reporter: human rights activists say most of the leaders are antidemocratic and repressive. >> the problem with the summit is it gives the leaders legitimacy and at the end of the day the u.s. commitment to human rights is a lot of talk in practice when it comes down to it, the united states government has shown itself to throw itself in with the leaders as opposed to the people of asia. >> reporter: u.n. ambassador susan rice strongly disputes that. >> reporter: in asia as elsewhere we are obliged to deal with governments and those with whom we have significant disagreements like human rights and doesn't mean we are legitimizing them. >> the number one focus here is on economic ties and rice pointed out the trade between the states and the nation is

worth a quarter of a trillion doctors, rob reynolds, california. now the u.s. and cuba are due to sign and agreement which would bring them even closer together, the deal would allow for commercial flights between the two former foes for the first time in more than 50 years so can the island nation handle a big new influx of tourists? al jazeera natasha has been to havana to find out. >> reporter: like most cubans richard can't afford to travel but he says he is still seeing the world with each tourist he meets. he gets horse drawn carriage rides on the streets of havana with americans and more foreign investment arrives and he says this cuba in a time capsule won't wash away. >> translator: there is nobody like the cubans, not a mcdonald's or a kentucky fried chicken is going to change

cubans, that's a lie. >> reporter: tour rhythm -- tour rhythm is a tourism is here and it's opening like a flood gate and last year visitors rose from 3-3 1/2 million and cuba is struggling to keep pace with demands and airports hotels and infrastructure are in need of expansion and there are not enough hotel rooms so the rates keep rising. >> it's a shame that we would suffer and struggle for so many years because you do not change that reality in a few years. >> they are moving in this kind of. >> reporter: jesus is capitalizing on the moment, for almost 20 years he and his family have rented rooms in their homes for tourist and hoping the government will loosen restrictions and allow

people to own more than one house. >> i think it's the best moment until we open one of the things that we have a lot of recognition now and a lot of freedom of operation now. >> reporter: the people we spoke with say they are confident the government will devise a strategy to develop a country without over shadowing what makes it distinctive. >> excuse me, sir. >> reporter: whether it's next year or the next ten years, he says tourists are guaranteed to experience the cubano spirit. ♪ al jazeera, havana, cuba. still to come on the al jazeera news hour plenty of sport and why the suspended head of futbol is feeling confident about his future.

♪ and decades of fighting left afghanistan littered with decaying relics of war and one artist is turning these machines of death into her canvas and our reporter went to have a look. >> reporter: in afghanistan's former battlefields now graveyards for tanks, rusted carcuses of war machines are getting flowery make overs. >> wanted to try it to see how it works. >> reporter: she is the makeover artist, the 28-year-old iranian came to afghanistan on a visit last year, liked the people and decided to stay.

when you told your family i'm going to afghanistan, what did they say? >> you are crazy. >> reporter: when starting an art magazine didn't pan out she turned her attention to war, abandon by the soviets left and it took months to paint this tank in the valley and with a help of soldiers sent along to escort her she revived the once rust covered surface into a hunk of steel trimmed with traditional persian patterns. >> the environment doesn't have that much color and wanted to use very bright colors. >> reporter: this is an abandon carrier looked like before she found it. this is what it looked like after. in another neighborhood, before, after. and she insists her work is

neither political or antiwar and her only motivation she says is to have fun and get people to think. >> i just want to make some questions in people's mind of what is going on around themselves. >> reporter: perhaps the biggest impact of her work has been the fact she has taken grim reminders of violence and war and turned them into colorful attractions where afghans especially children can come and just have a little fun. it became beautiful. we love it says these afghan kids who play futbol on a nearby dirt field and says she would like to stay in afghanistan to paint more tanks and murals and artists leaving her colorful mark on an otherwise bleak landscape, al jazeera, kabul. time for the sport and here is fara. >> thank you so much and

champion's league knock out stages begin on tuesday and will host chelsea at the plant and will be without serg the defender suspended by the club after a video emerged online and made hohomophobic comments and inserted some teammates and the 24-year-old has apologized. >> translator: to think that two years ago i really fought with the management to bring this boy to paris and i think that given from what i saw yesterday this is the thanks i get and i think it's pathetic. >> reporter: chelsea will be without their captain for their trip to france despite training with the team on monday. john terry has been ruled out of the game, the 35-year-old injured a hamstring during chelsea 5-1 win over new castle on saturday. >> as your leader but i'm not the type of coach or manager who

will start moaning and moaning and moaning and we have to go on and the players will replace me, i have full confidence in them. >> reporter: the other round of 16 tie to kickoff on tuesday featured ben fika in st. petersburg and returns home to portugal having not played in over two months due to the russian winter break and the team features two former players. >> i think all players will be fresh to the end of the season and this was what i was saying before, mainly because we have had this and take the benefits of this when the other teams are completely fatigued from a long season so it can only be an event on the long run. >> reporter: the coach says politics will not come into play as the turkish club hosts russian side locomotive league on tuesday and warns fans not to

stir up trouble in istanbul and relations between the two countrys is tense since turkey shot down a russian jet on the turkish-syrian border in november and the second leg takes place next week in moscow. >> translator: it didn't even cross my mind. futbol is futbol and politics are politics and completely different malt tears and we will play soccers and 11 on the pitch from the team and go out from the clubs, i don't think any players think about politics. i'm a complete stranger to politics and don't understand politics and my understanding and passion is futbol and do not think about the angle of this game. >> reporter: former head of world futbol separate blatter is at headquarters for the ban and suspended president had his appeals hearing on monday and he said he was happy with how the day had gone. in november he was found guilty of ethics breaches over a $2

million payment approved by blatter. >> i hope i can start working again as soon as possible and return to the office as soon as the committee issues its verdict and prepare for 2016, there are important things that need to be done. i have not worked in several months. >> reporter: nadel says he is not scared of the zika virus and former one is in brazil ahead of the open this week and coming off a semi final loss at the argentina open and has qualified for this year's olympic games and having missed london with an injury and top seed in rio says he is confident organizers are doing all they can to control the spread of the virus. >> translator: and the things that the people told me and i'm not scared at all. yes, i'm going out and no i'm not scared but i know there is a risk but i feel happy being here

again and i'm not worried about this. if it happens. >> reporter: the florida panthers beat the penguins to snoop a losing streak and a goal in the third period and it was still tied at the end of over time so the game went to a shoot out and finland scored the game winner to defeat the penguins 2-1. and with a win in calgory on monday the ducks won and came back from 3-2 down in the first period to win 6-4 and the ducks have won eight of their last ten games. and that is all your sport for now and back to you. thank you very much. do stay with us at al jazeera, there is another full bulletin of news coming up, in just a minute or two so stay with us. ♪

♪ the temporary truce is distance as ever after air strikes on hospitals and schools killed dozens of people. ♪ hello, welcome to al jazeera, i'm marteen dennis and more to come on the program and saudi arabia and russia reach an agreement on oil production, plus. i'm at the center for unaccompanied children in sweden where a series of anti-immigrant attacks country wide left the