al jazeera america. >> barack obama and real castro hold an historic meeting at the palace of the revolution. i'm david foster, you're watching ankle live from london. we report on former drc vice president guilty of murder, rape and pillage at the international criminal court. >> security in southeast security as kurds celebrate the spring festival after months of fighting. plus... >> if i was a lady player i would go down every, every night

on my knees and thank god that roger federer and rafael nadal was born. >> some tennis officials apologize after outrage from comments about female tennis players. and ten years after twitter's very first tweet. >> the u.s. president barack obama is having talks with his cuban counterpart real castro on the second day of the historic visit to cuba. this is the first visit of a sitting american president to cuba in 90 years after decades of distrust. a symboli symbolic reconciliation meeting of u.s.

president and cuba. the u.s. president was greeted by an honor guard. one of his pressing engagements of the day was laying a wreath at the memorial of jose marti. reporting live for us in havana, lucia new man, the trip has been laidelled with symbolism. what is happening, what is changing? >> yes, there has been so am symbolism. u.s. secretary of state kerry just said shortly before the meeting got under way that it was remarkable to have seen and heard the u.s. national anthem and cuban national anthem played side by side. something that some cubans would degre disagree with.

the u.s. president is also talking about ways that the united states can reach out to cuba to ordinary cubans not just the cuban government, and allow for more investment in cuba. he's expected to announce, for example, an agreement with google to allow for broadband internet here in cuba. you you know, it wasn't so long ago to get internet connections you have to use a telephone line, something from the last century. communications, investments by u.s. hotel chains, all those sorts of things are being discussed and will be announced more in detail throughout the day, we understand. but as i say there is this issues of human rights and civil liberties, they do not see eye to eye. president obama made it conditional on his visit here, when he'll meet with dissidents

tomorrow. obama has said, however, that he knows the change in cuba willen show. >> a lot of people are looking at this and saying that it's extraordinary that it's happening and undoubtedly its historic, but it's not a done deal, is it? there are those who are against it back in the united states. certain things have not been finalized such as the trade deals and the u.s. embassy, for example. let's say that mr. obama thinks that this could be undone? >> let's face t that's why obama came here. he's trying to do the best that he can, and apparently raul castro is trying to help him do that, to make this an irreversible process. the idea is to have the u.s. economic giants pressure

whatever government comes next. particularly they are republicans who are more poe posed to this easing of sanctions with the democrats. to make this stick. that will be the argument to have that happen. yes, frost has used his presidential authority to bring about all these charges, and the next were the could undo it. >> i know there will be a hughes correspondence between the tw i'll have that here. we've been out and about talking with the cubans. let's hear from andy gallagher. he is in in inside the studios, the broadcasters have an unique

mission. seven days a week via short-wave radio, they transmit to the pool of cure and tha they have been reporting on cuba's opposition movement, and for many here president's visit. >> the only thing is to use a leverage obama has to call for free elections. >> it's a sentiment echoed by many in the exiled community. for those who came here many years ago, answer move here is not well received. >> elia elizondo arrived as a teenager has been fighting for change on the island.

she thinks that the visit sends the wrong message. >> we're going to go there at a moment when there is more repression, when our visit will serve to empower those in power. >> among miami's old cuban americans there is still deep skepticism for the normalization process. they say it began over a year ago, and they're still not seeing the cone sessions they would like to see from the cuban people. but when you speak to young people, they see things very differently. many are ready to embrace a new approach. >> folks of my generation tend to be a little abou little bit more curious about what change in process could yield. i don't have the scars of being in exile the way my grandparents do. >> ultimately every cuban in

miami wants better things for the island. >> a former congolese vice president has been found guilty of war crimes including murder, rape, and pillage. the international criminal court convicted him for the crimes committed more than a decade ago. he will stay in custody pending sentencing now. let's go the hague now. it has taken time, what is the story behind on what bemba is said to have done? five years in the dark, yes, i think an outcome that the courts are pleased with, and complainers are hugely impressed

by, the story goes back to 2002. they had raised himself a private militia for various political purposes. but in october of 2002 he has sent 1500 of those soldiers across the board north to the central african republic where they are employed for the coup attempt. what they did when they got there, thoughs was not just fight along side the car's forces, they engaged in a systemic campaign of murder, rape, and pillage. they would split up into small platoons. they would go house to house. they would steal whatever they can carry. they would murder people and rape, women, girls, men sometimes. it was a terrifying six-month campaign. the judge detailed some of the offenses. it was horrible, frankly, to listen to some of the gross

humiliations that were meted out to some of the victims in all of this. the question is whether bembe was actually in charge. he said once they crossed the board they were under the command of the k.a.r. in the view of the court he was in control of his troops. he was in contact with his generals and even dished out disciplinary punishment for transgressions of the rules. so the court thoroughly dismissed the idea that he would no knowledge or control over his own groups. the panel of three charge were found guilty. he'll be sentenced at a writ date. he's theoretically facing the

rest of his life in prison. >> the islamic state of iraq and levan, isil, after fighters managed to break into an industrial area taking control of a town sources have told al jazeera that isil fighters have taken control of five check points. in the vicinity of oil fields to the east of homs. isil was able to step up on the offensive by pro government forces. russia has been asking for a meeting with the united states on how to control the hostilities. in syria right now. and russia's warning that it

could use force against those who are accuses of breaching in the pause in fighting if it happens. there have been violations, but significant reduction in the level of violence. what is supposed to happen is that there is a coordination center here at the u.n. in geneva. it includes u.s. officials including military officials, russian officials. military officials. and the united nations and they, too, have officials from other countries. they're supposed to look at all the supports of violations.

russia does not like that approach. it would like a more punitive approach to those who have violate violated and big question marks about what the russians are trying to achieve by these statements. the suggestion perhaps with the u.s. secretary of state on his way to moscow for meetings with his counterpart, the russian foreign minister, perhaps this is a bit of public arm twisting. >> james bays reporting from geneva. at least 36 iraqi security soldiers have been killed in separate suicide attacks.

attacks carried out by isil. 35 other soldiers were carried out in ramadi city. the attacks in central iraq targeted security forces. watching al jazeera. still to come in this program. while belgium police are now looking for this man in connection with the paris attacks. and australia raises its threat level over the great barrier reef to its highest over coral bleaching.

>> "inside story" takes you beyond the headlines, beyond the quick cuts, beyond the soundbites. we're giving you a deeper dive into the stories that are making our world what it is.

>> the u.s. president barack obama is meeting with cuban leader raul castro in havana. it is the first visit to cuba of a sitting president in 90 years. russia says it wants an urgent meeting with the united states on how to control what is temporary cease-fire in syria. kurds celebrating their new year. it is a different scene were last year's celebrations after months of fighting between the kurdish army and the pkk.

curfews have been in place in the city's much of the last four months. in eight months of fighting turkey says it has killed 3,000 pkk fighters and 300 turkish police and soldiers have died 250 civilians are thought to have lost their lives. and what human rights campaigners call collective punishment. let's hear from laurence lee where the latest curfew was lifted to allow kurdish new year celebrations to take place. >> the collapse of the cease-fire and this is what it looks like. every single person is checked on the district for explosive

belts. up and down the main comparable street almost every side alley is blocked by armed police. the turkish police followed us. nothing to jeopardize their control. there is no trace left of the pkk flags that were used to fly over sur. the decision by the pkk to fight turkey here left kurdish civilians with desperate choices. >> i've never seen anything like it. i had to leave home in these clothes and i've worn them for the last four months. i don't have a wife. my son and his wife went to stay with ol' relatives. i live with my friends. i won't come back here. >> we never left here. it was very difficult. i have my family with me, six children. we've been waiting for it to end. we had some food and water and

we managed to survive. before the cease-fire ended, the area had been getting back on its feet with the help of state money. now the regional government is having to pay to put families up in hotels fighting in these narrow streets caused huge collateral damage. >> they say they're still looking for explosive devices, but the explosive statistics speak for themselves. according to the turkish authorities, 300 pkk fighters killed and 3400 families have been displaced from their homes. there kurdish men watch the soldiers from the outside. none would go on camera over fears of repercussions, but the mood is one of fear and loathing. for all the sense of oppression by the turkish forces many kurds

say they wish the pkk had never picked its fight in such built-up areas. >> the illegal and legal groups started the struggle again in the city center this time but the state's reaction was very harsh. even if there were two neighborhoods supporting the pkk they damaged the whole city. they used to burn villages in the 1990s, now they're burning the entire city. >> during the park during the cease-fire where hundreds of thousands celebrated only a fraction turned out in a land that should have been full was now empty in a land where there is a huge kurdish military prance presence, and. >> the french are looking for the accomplice of salah abdelslam who was captured last friday. they believe he used false documents to move on to hungary last year.

the french police have found the 4-year-old's dna on explosives used in attacks in paris. the prosecutor is appealing for information. >> the collaboration has been intensified. el the team became more important as we were aware that we were dealing with a group who does not know the borders. >> a russian judge is said that the ukraine one pilot is complicit in the killing of two russian journalists accused of directing motor fire that killed the journalists in 2014. the judge said that she was driven by political hatred. she said that she should have been treated as a prisoner of war. the case has come to symbolize

the poor relations between the two countries. north korea has fired projectiles into the sea of japan this is just three days after pyongyang filed ballistics into the sea. it's first since early 2014. coral reeves are the most biologically diverse ecosystems. but it's great barrier reefs is losing it's color like never before due to something called coral bleaching. >> the great barrier reef is in trouble. the coral is starting to die. it's turning white and gray. a phenomenon known as coral bleaching. coral bleaching occurs during times of what is considered

abnormal environment conditions. last year was the hottest year on record and the trend is likely to continue this year. driving sea temperatures are a threat to coral. the heat disrupts it's special relationship with algae that helps it to grow and produce. the australian government has called for the highest level of alert. protecting the great barrier reef is no easy task. each passing day the effects of climate change are becoming more difficult to ignore. even in the water the distress signals are getting louder. al jazeera. >> the biggest tennis tournament grand slam involved in an argument about equality.

>> indian wells, the prize money for the men's and women's tournaments here is the same. a rare example of pay parity in sport. the man in charge of indian wells has caused a controversy after a remark he made about the women's tour of wta. >> in my next life when i come back, i want to be someone in the wta because they ride on the coattails of the men. they don't make any decisions and they're lucky. they're very lucky. if i was a lady player i would go down every night on my knees and thank god that roger federer and raphael in a de rafael nadal was born. >> the statements were called disappointing and alarming.

djokovic denounced those words but followed up saying: the argument of equal play in tennis and in other professional sport is isn't new. some say that women tennis players should be paid less because they play fewer games. it's the best of three sets as opposed to the set of five for men. but women's games can last just as long and attract more viewers 37 serena williams said that matches for women's players often sell out even before the mens. >> yeah, i'm totally surprised especially when me and the other women on the tour have done well, and he we've sold out before the men. >> tennis is one of the few sports where the major tournaments offer equal prize

money for men and women. but even then the salary of most male athletes far outstrip the female counterparts. the top ten earners were all men. >> ten years ago software developer in the u.s. sent a message that changed the way that millions around the world communicate. it was the first tweet and twitter would go on to become a social media giant. it's not been an easy ride. >> today 3 million people use twitter every month pushing out 3,000 tweets every second. that's 500 million tweets every day. the trouble these figures appear to have stalled. twitter's share price hit $69.

now it's sitting at around $17. and twitter is believed to be struggling to apractice new users as arch rivals facebook and google become increasingly dominant. >> at its launch it was heralded as a new and revolutionary way to communicate. during the arab spring five years ago it was widely used to help protesters organize. but since then it's been used to launch often vicious personal attacks. >> challenging personal invasion of what for many is a workspace by people who have sort of one-sided interests. >> twitter was criticized for responding too slowly to online harassment. it has set up a reporting system, but for some the public platform is too risky.

>> we've heard stories where people have been burned by tweets that were misconstrued or tweets said in the spur of the moment. >> twitter has struggled to earn the kind of money that google an has made online. they have been prompted to sell advertisement on the platform. >> they're monday advertising you. that's a very lucrative business. but the commercialization is against the interests of the people that use the platform who just want a quick means of communicating. >> users may be taking more care about how and what they tweet, but for many its appeal remains as it's always been, the

possibility to connect and communicate in realtime with an unprecedented number of people. al jazeera. >> just talk. talk. listen, and read our website www.aljazeera.com. [ "star spangled banner" ] >> president obama is in havana sitting down in talks with president raul castro. >> if you see violence, condemn it. if you see a bully, stand up to him. >> tough talk from candidates trying to woo israeli voters.