off. our team on the ground monitoring what was going on there. you can see somebody there in bomb disposal equipment, obviously putting together of intelligence. what you are looking at is really a micro chasm of what happened across europe. seven detained in brussels, two in germany, and one in a northern suburb of paris. all of this dove tailing with the events on tuesday as that investigation continues into what happened at the airport and metro station. 31 people lost their lives in brussels, and those attacks have been linked to what happened on friday, november 13th at 8:45 local time in this evening at the theater in france and also in various cafes in the french capitol. more on that if you want it on the website, aljazeera.com. chinese police are reported to have detained at least 20 people in connection with the publication of a letter criticizing the president.

the anonymous open letter was published on a news website earlier this month, then quickly taken down again. florence looi now. >> reporter: a chinese dissident living in the united states says his parents and younger brother were taken by police on tuesday and haven't been heard from since. he says police have been harassing his family members for more than a week after he was accused of helping to circulate a letter published online urging the chinese president to resign. he denies any involvement in this. several employees of the website have also been detained. this is also being reported by a news agency who say that at least four employees of that website, including the ceo and managing editor have been missing and out of contact for a week. these developments come about ten days after a prominent journalist disappeared just as he was about to board a plane to

leave beijing. it is widely thought his disappearance has to do with the letter as well. the letter was published on a news website. it was published anonymously. the signatories calling themselves loyal communist party members. but they accused president xi of concentrating power in his hands, abandoning collective leadership. and it also urged him to resign for the future of china and its people. these recent developments suggest that the authorities in their eagerness to get to the bottom of this, to find out who authored the letter have been deepening and widening the crackdown to the extent of detaining family members of those suspected of involvement. and this is a worrying trend, because it suggests that not only the government very

intolerant of criticism, but there seems to be a pattern of going after critics. south koreans are refusing to be shaken by threats from north korea. the president has responded to what she called provocation by the north recently with missile launches and an atomic bomb test. >> translator: south korea will not be shaken by any provocations from north korea. north korea's reckless provocations will lead the regime on a path of self destruction. government leaders in north korea have opened their checkbook to fund a $24 million museum in cambodia. >> reporter: 45,000 figurines this is the main attraction at the new museum in sigh am reap.

through art and artifacts it pays homage to the agent civilization that built cambodians famous anchor watt complex. but the most remarkable thing is that it is entirely built and funded by north korea. the museum certainly has some interesting features, but the question is, why would the north korean government spend millions of dollars building a museum in cambodia about cambodia. the management here says the project reflects the close ties between the two countries. north korea even sent more than 60 of its top artists to paint the panorama. >> translator: i think that they spent 24 million to show goodwill, and because they see the potential for tourism. but some analysts have a

different theory, for the next decade, all revenue from this museum will go directly to north korea, observers believe this is a new way for pyongyang to circumvent international sanctions, and bring in much-needed funds. >> this is a business venture. i think it's one of those things where they are experimenting. they are in desperate need of hard currency, and this is one way of doing it. >> reporter: the museum certainly isn't advertising its north korea connection to visitors. when we told tourists where their dollars were going, they weren't impressed. >> translator: i don't think it's fair for come bodians. it's on cam bonian land. so cambodians should benefit in terms of developing our country. >> it wouldn't be a government that we would be supporting, really, but that might be in question. >> reporter: it's unclear how

lucrative the museum will be. right now business is slow. and at this rate, the north korean government will have to wait a long time to get a return on their investment. the brazilian president is warning any attempt to remove here from power illegally would leave lasting scars on brazilian democracy. a big march was held in support of her. she denies fraud in the biggest-ever corruption scandal in brazil. congress has green lit the process of impreaching her over allegations of bribery involving the giant oil company pet rebrass. at least 200 people may have been killed in a crackdown by security forces. charles stratford has the story. >> reporter: this 15 year and

her 8-year-old brother say they were shot in their legs. it happened during a crackdown in an anti government demonstration near their house last month. >> translator: i was in the backyard walking to the house when i was shot. my brother was in the house. i couldn't walk, i was bleeding. then i was hit again. when i was on the ground i felt the pain, then my brother came to help me, and he was shot too. >> reporter: sporadic protests continue. anger among ethiopia's largest ethnic group was parked by a development plan. the government says it wants to improve roads, development and services in the region. the aromo says it is land grab. they have for decades accused the government of corruption and ignoring their rights.

there have been protests across this region. it's the largest region in ethiopia. most local and foreign journalists have suffered intimidation, and have been detained and some local journalists that we have spoken to said they have been too afraid to try to cover the crisis. and human rights investigators say they are literally putting their lives at risk trying to gather accurate information. this investigator insisted we hide his identity. >> translator: it's very dangerous. they imprison people every day. people have disappeared. doing this work is like selling my life. >> reporter: this lawyer describes what he says are testimonies from familiar list of the dead. >> translator: me of those people were killed after the protests took place. many of the people were shot in the back. some were shot in the head, which shows [ inaudible ] people [ inaudible ] threatened and

that corroborates the reports we had from victim's families. >> reporter: the government says the claims are exaggerated. >> whoever they are, security officials who have been involved in [ inaudible ] for example, will be held responsibility. >> reporter: they recover at home. young people who so many say suffer the consequences of demanding a better life. charles stratford al jazeera. to san -- zanzabar where the president has been sworn in. >> reporter: the president is sworn in for another five-year

term. >> translator: a free and fair election is the only way to get the leaders we deserve in accordance with our laws. >> reporter: but the opposition leaders say his reelection is illegal and a fraud. they say they won the october polls. polling stations in opposition areas were empty. so it was a predictable victory for the ruling party. both the ruling party and main opposition party is strong. ruling party supporters tend to also support the union, which has been in place since independence in the 1960s. but the opposition believe it's their leader who should have been sworn in. past election tensions have lead to violence. but the streets have been calm

this time. in 2012, there was violence. these protesters were followers of a religious group. as leaders call for independence from tanzania, and for their interpretation of islamic law to be applied. two churches were burned. its leaders were tried and sent to prison. this man says he is worried some people could now be pushed back towards radicalism. >> this exercise of hijacking democracy, really may lead some people to say that we have to resort to other means. that's my feel. >> reporter: most people here are muslim. almost everyone at this mosque in the capitol supports the opposition. >> translator: it is

[ inaudible ] country that brought democracy here, but if they don't defend it, then we will have to find our own means and defend ourselves. >> reporter: the archipelago is close to the afghan content, but previously it was ruled by an iman. the two actions more recent list have just about got along. but now the main opposition party has withdrawn from what it says is an illegal government. malcolm webb, al jazeera. the republic of congo has partially lifted a communications blackout it imposed during presidential elections. the opposition is planning new protests haru matasa now. >> reporter: official figures show the incumbent won sunday's election with more than 60% of

votes cast. riot police are on stand by in case there is trouble. the leaders say protests are being organized for the coming days. they believe sunday's presidential election was rigged. >> the feeling of the population is they reject of the current system. >> reporter: the government says the polls were free and fair. on thursday a communications blackout to stop opposition candidates from publishing their own results was partially lifted. after days of frustration, some mobile networks are working again. opposition leaders have been able to speak about their rejection of the official results, both on local, private radio stations, and on stations based in france. some opposition leaders are using the radio to talk to their supporters, and they are telling them to come out on to the streets and protest. security forces know this. riot police have been deployed to opposition strong holds.

the president has ruled for more than 30 years. in his latest declarations he reiterates he will focus on infrastructure development and create jobs for the poor. >> translator: the president has a vision for the country. he still has a lot more work to do. he has big plans that will benefit the people. he wants to build more roads, hospitals, and schools across the country, especially in the poor rural area. >> reporter: congo is the fourth largest oil producer in the region. riots groups have accused the president of corruption and stifling calls for greater democracy. the president may have won this election, but it could be a difficult term. the opposition says the people of con go want change. now they have to give some

attention to addressing this new energy on the streets. haru matasa, al jazeera. lots more news still to come here on al jazeera for you. when we come back after this short break. do stay with us. ♪

>> this is part of the ritual to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the 1976 coup in argentina. this woman's brother was one that disappeared during the military rule. >> translator: my brother was part of the military. and he denounced that the authorities were killing people. making them disappear. he was taken too. on march 24, 1976, the military overthrew the government. the second wife of argentinian's strongman, it lead to a period where thousands of people were systematic kidnapped, tortured and killed. it was known as the dirty war. a year after the coup a group of women started coming to this

plaza to demand the release of their children. they claim that remembering what happened back then is the only way of making sure that it never happens again. >> reporter: the anniversary this year coincides with a visit of u.s. president barack obama. obama has announced the white house will declassify thousands of military documents with information about the role the u.s. played at the time. >> there has been controversies about the policies of the united states early in those dark days, and the united states when it reflects on what happened here, has to examine its own policies as well. democracies have to have the courage to acknowledge when we don't live up to the ideals that we stand for. when we have been slow to speak out for human rights, and that was the case here. >> reporter: human rights groups consider the visit offensive, because they claim the military

regime had the backing of the united states. they also say that documents release is long overdue. >> translator: obama will declassify documents now, but it is going to take time, and isle probably be dead when that happens. >> reporter: for 40 years people here have been waiting to find out what happened to their loved ones. in spite of the wait, there is hope that this announcement might bring them closer to the truth. coal-fired power stations are among the worst emitters of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide. we'll get more on that story for you in just a second, but before we get to that, let's take you to a live event at the pentagon. ash carter, the u.s. defense secretary, about to take us through, we think, some significant developments in the power structure of isil.

>> -- and our hearts go out to the injured airman and his family. like paris brussels is a strong reminder of why we need to hasten the defeat of isil wherever it exists in the world. today, the united states is as committed as ever to our european friends and allies. our enemies are one in the same, and together we continue to do more and more to bring the full weight of our vast military capabilities to bear in accelerating the defeat of isil. after the chairman and i spoke with our commanders this morning, let me update you on some new actions we have taken in just the last few days. first, we are systemically eliminating isil's cabinet. indeed, the u.s. military killed

several key isil terrorists this week, including, we believe, the isil senior leader serving as a finance minister, and who is also responsible for some external affairs and plots. he was a well-known terrorist within isil's ranks, dating back to its earliest it ration as al-qaeda in iraq. the removal of this isil leader will hamper the organization's ability to conduct operations both inside and outside of iraq and syria. this is the second senior isil leader we have successfully targeted this month. after confirming the death of isil's so-called minister of war a short time ago. a few months ago, when i said we were going to go after isil's financial infrastructure, we

started with the storage sites where it holds its cash, and now we have taken out the leader who oversees all of the funding for isil's operations. hurting their ability to pay fighters and hire recruits. as i have said our campaign plan is first and foremost to collapse isil's parent tumor in iraq and syria, focusing on its power centers in raqqa and mosul. in syria, motivated local forces that we support recently retook a town, and severed the main artery between syria and northern iraq, and as a result, it has become much harder for isil leaders and forces to travel between raqqa and mosul. i'm also pleased to see that iraqi security forces have moved from their staging base and are advancing to new position as

part of the early stages of operations to collapse isil's control over mosul. the u.s. marines we have sent where staff sergeant cardone gave his life are now requesting artillery fire to help the advance. in both syria and iraq we are seeing important steps to shape what will become crucial battles in the months to come. as our partners move forward, we're continuing to bring relentless pressure on isil commanders in mosul. and we have taken a significant number of actions this week. one of which, i have already mentioned, but second, we targeted abu sara, one of the top isil leaders paying fighters in iraq. and these precise actions came

after recent strikes that destroyed a significant quantity of improvised explosive devices and bomb-making equipment that could have been used against our partners headed for mosul. we believe these actions have been successful and have done damage to isil. as chairman dunford noted earlier this week, the momentum of this campaign is now clearly on our side. the united states military will continue to work intensively with our coalition partners to build on this progress, as our counterparts throughout our governments work to defend our homelands at the same time. one final note before we turn to questions. yesterday i spoke with my saudi counterpa counterpart. we agreed to convene a u.s. gulf cooperation council defense min steeral on april 20th in riyadh.

ahead of president obama's participation in a usgcc leadership summit. this will be an important forum, to strengthen u.s.-gcc defense partnerships, including discussing a way away for joint defense initiatives we all committed to during the camp david summit last may. chairman dunford and i are now prepared to take your questions. we have limited time to do that, but we want to do that. i'm going to ask you also, please to respect the fact that we're not going to go into any further details about how our coalition conducted the operations i mentioned earlier. any more details than that could put lives and our future operation at risk. so we're going to ask you to be

restrained in that regard as we intend to be as well. let me ask the chairman -- >> i just join you in expressing my condolences for those effected by the attacks in brussels this week, and to recognize staff sergeant cardone a great leader that we lost last week in iraq. >> reporter: mr. secretary, i realize you said you didn't want to go into more details, but i was hoping if you could at least confirm if this happened in syria. and more broadly, can you talk a little bit about -- we all saw a lot of al-qaeda senior leaders killed repeatedly over the years, number 3 was killed every six month or so. what do you think this actual death suggests in terms of plot,

particularly those involves the west? does it mean anything -- or do they simply just replace them. >> okay. i'll turn it over to joe after this. >> reporter: general dunford -- >> let me take your first question first. on the question of leadership. striking leadership is necessary, but as you note, it is far from sufficient. leaders can be replaced. however, these leaders have been around for a long time. they are senior. they are experienced, and so eliminating them is an important objective and achieves an important result. but they will be replaced and we'll continue to go after their leadership and other aspects of their capabilities. i would say it's necessary. it's not sufficient, but it's important. >> reporter: the marines this week in their support of the iraqi offensive operation, is this something we will see more

of do you think, as time goes on in the fight to get to mosul? and is -- can you talk about the accelerants that the secretary has talked about before, and whether this is a key part of what you want to see the military do more of in iraq? >> sure, we have talked about setting thes for success in mosul, and facilitating the iraqi forces and staging arrange mosul. and that has begin. these marines that were there were in direct support of that. we put the battery there to support the americans that are there, advising the iraqi forces, and also in a position to provide support to the iraqi forces, and from my perspective this is no different than aviation fires we have been delivering. this happens to be surface fires, but no different conceptually than the fire support we have been providing all along. aver the secretary and i do

expect there will be increased capabilities provided to the iraqis. we certainly do expect more of the kinds of things that we saw in ramadi, albeit a bit different, taylors for operations in mosul, but the primary force fighting in mosul are will be iraqi security forces, and we'll provide assist capabilities to make them successful. >> it appears to be more of a ground combat role than we have seen before? >> no, it's not. we have surface fires in other places, and we have used those in the past. so this is not a fundamental shift in our sup proech. this happens to be what was the most appropriate tool that the commander assessed needed to be in that location. >> reporter: secretary carter after this man was in an iraqi prison up until 2012.

he was released shortly after u.s. forces were pulled out in 2011, do you see this as a cautionary tail for releasing these prisoners who are already caught and captured? >> no, the -- the -- a number of the leaders of isil were in detention in iraq back in former years -- >> you are watching al jazeera. you are with the news hour here. the news conference coming to you live you can see it there. ash carter the u.s. defense secretary is taking us through the latest developments in the fight against isil. it is the second time they have eliminated a key member of the cabinet of isil. mr. carter saying it makes it more difficult for isil to travel between raqqa and mosul. he says in syria and iraq, we are seeing the shaping of the fight yet to come. he was basically saying -- flanked there by the joint cs