at this time on al-jazeera. we understand the differences and the similarities of cultures across the wound. so no matter when you call home al-jazeera international bringing the news and current of families that matter t.f. . out is iraq. facing the realities if a piece of machinery goes wrong is there a chain of litigation through which we can bring in the ecosystem to battle getting to the heart of the matter i don't think we need of the ball but some of my producers just to hear their story on talk to al-jazeera at this time. this is al jazeera. and live from studio fourteen here at al-jazeera headquarters

in doha welcome to the news grid we'll have breaking news on charges against president from former national security adviser also ahead from united nations sends an s.o.s. to the world a staggering one hundred thirty five point seven million people in need of aid across the planet and to deal with just a portion of them more than twenty two billion dollars is required the world stump up the money. by francis finally uses the word written journalist the prosecutor muslim minority group for forgiveness for all that they have he has been criticized for not addressing the issue directly on his asia trip here on the ground in bangladesh with the latest history in the making the world's largest battery has begun the specs the power in australia it's stored energy generated by a nearby wind farm i can provide electricity for up to thirty thousand place just for a short time we ask is this

a game changer for. and it's well made and the message this year and. more than thirty six million people have the buyer so many. people to talk about that we're following the global conversation. with. facebook live an al-jazeera dot com and we begin. this u.s. president donald trump form a national security advisor michael flynn has been charged with lying to the f.b.i. about his contacts with russia's ambassador to the united states now the office of the special counsel said a plea hearing for flynn had been set in about half an hour from now let's get more from our white house correspondent can be how get kimberly what about this news

what more do you have. got problems with talking to can be right now let's just say she's compiled this short film let's have a look at that. he was the white house national security advisor for only three weeks but in that time michael flynn's activities helped cast a shadow over an administration from which it has yet to emerge although the investigation by special counsel robert mueller has focused primarily on the alleged ties of donald trump's presidential campaign to the kremlin flynn ties the investigation to the oval office itself. the retired army general was a top spokesman for the campaign would you kill the family of a terror suspect yes or no i would i would have to see what's acceptable chances of that situation where you kidding me after taking over as national security advisor

his activities came under heavy scrutiny when it was discovered he had a phone conversation with the russian ambassador to the united states in december before trump became president it was reportedly the same day new sanctions were announced against russian government officials by president barack obama some reports suggested flynn offered to cancel the sanctions once in office they did not discuss anything having to do with the united states decision to expel diplomats or or impose a censure against russia but when reports surface flynn may have discussed sanctions trump fired him reluctantly what was wrong was the way that other people including yourselves in this room were given that information because that was classified information it was given illegally that's the real problem that discomfort with flints removal soon became

a lightning rod for accusations of obstruction against the president. the man initially leading the investigation into rushing collusion f.b.i. director james comey told senators the president suggested to him during a meeting in the oval office he should let the flame case go i don't think it's for me to say whether the conversation i had with the president was an effort to obstruct i took it as a very disturbing thing very concerning. well we vote rich folks that connection or live connection with can be the white house correspondent or can we tell us more about this dramatic news. well it's certainly significant in terms of the fact that we are going to see one of the highest level trump associates appearing walking into a federal court we certainly got a signal that this may be coming down in recent weeks given the fact that we saw charges against paul matter for donald trump's campaign chair as well as an aide and also

a foreign policy adviser to the campaign george papadopoulos but none really comparison stature and significance in terms of the influence on donald trump's presidential campaign to that of michael flynn given the fact that he held a position early on in the administration but the shortest tenure of any national security adviser in modern history in terms of presidential history and that is of course because of why he is now going to be appearing in court the accounts of interactions that he had with the russian ambassador prior to taking that post this lead to his downfall in terms of the mischaracterization of that meeting with syria kislyak or conversations rather to the vice president and also to now to the f.b.i. charged with making false statements so certainly in terms of significance this is big neck quite a conversation going along as you can imagine kimberly one comment from from for this book from joel she says but what about hillary question what with the perhaps more important at this moment is some real saying on twitter at the beginning of

the trump question mark what all the implications for the white house groet. well it is a question mark i mean what we can read from this and we have to kind of deduct from the signs and put together the pieces but when you look at these charges they are in some respects relatively and remarkable compared to what michael flynn could have been charged with lying or making false statements to the f.b.i. not to under play or downplay those charges and the significance it certainly is a federal crime but i think there was an expectation particularly from some hillary clinton supporters that there would be more but what this suggests is that michael flynn perhaps has been cooperating with robert mueller the special counsel and looking into all of this and is perhaps in exchange for providing information for perhaps a bigger target has been granted some sort of leniency in terms of the charges that

were handed down so what we expect from this and have to watch very carefully is whether or not in that potential exchange for information we could see more charges coming not only to michael flynn son who worked very closely with him but perhaps again the bigger target being potentially the president and the case for obstruction of justice or a kimberly thanks very much indeed a nother facebook comment what a shame from habib this is a what a shame to end this low michael flynn's long history of serving his country in this way what a shame or let's speak to melanie sloan who's an attorney with expertise in government ethics and a former federal prosecutor joins us live now from washington d.c. really what's your assessment of what's happened and the potential implications for the white house. well what a plea to false statements means is that flynn seems to be cooperating with the special counsel and i think that this is just the beginning there's going to be far more information that mr flynn is going to plead guilty in another half an hour to

making false statements and the reason bob mueller would have allowed such a low plea basically is because flynn is cooperating and offering other evidence this plea also indicates that he was in fact colluding with the russians being that's what michael flynn was doing he was talking with the russians before trump got into office and asking them not to react to the sanctions imposed by the obama administration this is exactly one of the things that has been charged that there was all of this contact with the russians and here we have evidence in a plea that michael flynn is going to stand up in court and say this so i think we're going to have so much more to come and i think that this must be a very bad day inside the trump white house the charge against flynn does add another prominent defendant to the special counsel investigation yes it absolutely does michael flynn is the national security adviser we haven't seen this kind of thing since the nixon administration where somebody so high up in the president's administration is pleading guilty to

a federal crime and anybody of any political stripe ought to be very concerned about what has been going on in the trunk campaign and trump white house in regards to all of this russia investigation and this also suggests that when donald trump was talking to jim call me about trying to stop the flynn investigation that is another piece of evidence that to suggest that the president could indeed end up charged with obstruction there we got another facebook comment from do you say referring to a previous facebook post a. shame what a shame the shame is that this administration was allowed to begin says the so what's your assessment of what's likely to happen next as the investigation continues. well we also saw news this week that jared kushner had been speaking to the special counsel there have been many many questions about christian or his role that he certainly attended meetings with russians before the campaign there are questions about donald trump junior's discussions and collusion with the

russians so i think there's much more to come and michael flynn is a very important piece of the puzzle because he knows so much he was so close to trump throughout the campaign and he will indeed now be cooperating in providing evidence to the special council so i think that there is far more to come but i don't think anybody should expect it too quickly you know trump has been putting pressure on richard burr in the senate intelligence committee to shut down the investigation and this too is going to help stop that there's not going to be a lot of willing congress to say you know we're going to end this investigation when the national security adviser is pleading guilty or a many will even though do appreciate your contribution thanks very much indeed of course that lots of conversation about this online and we'll have a plenty more on this program and throughout the night as this breaking story continues here at al-jazeera. now then twenty two and a half billion dollars that's how much money the u.n.

needs to provide humanitarian assistance around the world next year it is the largest aid appeal ever nearly one hundred thirty six million people need help yemen as you might expect is facing the worst crisis we've heard a lot about that with around twenty two million people in need the conflict there is lead to severe food shortages and an unprecedented cholera outbreak in nigeria fourteen and a half million people need help because of fighting ongoing fighting between the military and armed groups and thirteen million people need aid in syria as the war of course enters its seventh year more surprisingly the democratic republic of congo also has thirteen million people in need political and sectarian violence has displaced millions of people and they're at the verge of starvation and speak now to our diplomatic editor james bays he's got more from geneva topping the list of global emergencies as the u.n. comes up with its humanitarian appeal for twenty eighteen is the situation in yemen

the ongoing conflict the cholera epidemic and of course the problems made worse by the saudi blockade which is stopping the food and medicine reaching those who are in need this was the comment from the u.n. chief humanitarian officer mark local the largest humanitarian crisis that we're concerned about in the world at the moment is the crisis in yemen and. yemen has a population of twenty five million people twenty million. need assistance and. something like seven or eight million of them are right now right on the brink of famine and as you know we've been calling for. a full i'm winding of the blockade which is in preventing. humanitarian assistance and commercial food and fuel get into yemen yemen is just one of

a series of humanitarian emergencies around the world this is a time of unprecedented need these are record figures the u.n. saying that one hundred thirty five point seven million people are in need they've come up with a plan not with for all of those people but for some ninety one million people it's going to cost twenty two point five billion dollars it's worth telling you that they appeal for this year twenty seventeen they put out their appeal and they asked the countries for money they've got some money but only fifty two percent of that money so it's pretty certain that the u.n. with this massive appeal this many people in need is not going to be able to help all of them when we talk about thirty and a half million people needing aid in nigeria and that's where i'm going to dress now explains why so many need help. for displaced persons in the old days to nigeria and other parts of the lake chad region the united nations is estimating to

spend two point three billion u.s. dollars in two thousand and eighty to take care of their needs a lot of them couldn't access their farms because of continuing threats of violence from fighters in the region now if we look back at what happened in two thousand and seventeen the united nations required two point three two point one billion us dollars to help these refugees but what was eventually utilized was one painted media which left a wide gap now the united nations is also focusing on some of the crisis global crisis maybe exacerbate or even worse in two thousand and eight and that's a reason why it requires more funding to help these people affected by crises globally one percent increase was recorded on the requirements will be when compared to what was there for last year now a lot of people in the east nigeria especially those displaced by the violence

couldn't go back to their homes because of continued threats of violence so they will require some form of food and other assistance from the united nations and other non-governmental organizations. well we've been focusing on nigeria and and yemen let's now zoom in on the deal see michael issue bangle is president of the association for developments in the democratic republic of congo joins us live via skype from leicester in the united kingdom. what's your assessment of where we are in the d c and how is it this is kind of escaped on notice as far as the world is concerned with the kind of numbers millions and millions of people at risk right now. well the situation india are seeing is not only worsening but it's also expanding geographically so we have now a very huge number of people who have been displaced because of the violence

particularly in the region such as. you see that previously for the past seventeen years the sea has faced some sort of trouble walls have caused people to flee to move about but now that situation is getting worse and people are facing even more violence they are they are they are forced to flee and they're not. there they are very exposed and the threat of starvation and such will be very high so we are deeply concerned about the situation in the sea and before that the situation is not given enough attention by the situation on the ground is quite a very serious indeed and i understand that something like seven million children are facing these difficulties here and the number is increasing because now as i said before it's expanding the geographical we have when we talk of course side in this conflict on the other side more people again will flee so the something really has to be done urgently so that

those people could have a list on food but also most importantly to be to restore the security situation in the sea which is deteriorating because of the current political situation on the ground what is the ultimately what is the reason for what's going on here is really call flicked or other of the reasons for. well you have a president for example joseph kabila who nunn that has ended but unfortunately is trying to stay out of and that is causing conflict is causing people to revolt against the government and in trying to have him removed and also joseph kabila has been in power for the past sixteen years and as we said it has not been able to establish effective control of the country so part of the country still control the militia were killing were raping women and when you combine all those things you see the. effect that is trying to stay on will only make the situation worse and we

fear that he might be heading for a civil war which means that more again will have more people displaced more people killed more people raped children been kill if the babies are in the sea so there are also things happening see in this particular moment. all right michael appreciate your time in your contributions the program thanks very much indeed marcus schrenker speaking to us from leicester just before we pass on to live there is a facebook question stephanie are asking is there a way for regular citizens to help the u.n. get the funding they need to feed and help the people who need it globally way for us today nate stephanie us the answer actually is yes there is in the u.n. has a page where you can donate which we will put up on our website a little bit later and there also you have funds from other ways as well right people are coming up with really creative ways because they'd like this does take a long time to come to fruition or canot least because even with a twenty two billion dollars humanitarian aid goal there is still more that does

need to be done so this year that meant we had new more roads more schools and better food but many people are not wanting to wait on the government or for the on the u.n. for help they're taking things into their own hands using social media and tools like crowd funding to pick up the slack like a site called zoom all it's a crowd funding page for projects in the middle east one of them for example used the platform to raise money to buy ten ambulances and ten cars to get people out of aleppo in syria they successfully raise their goal of thirty five thousand dollars for their needs the video they post is very basic as you can see but it did work for what they were intended it to but if there is an internet connection then there is a possibility to connect with the world and to ask for help now according to the u.n. the occupied palestinian territories is among the top regions that need aid they estimate that palestine will need more than five hundred million dollars and twenty

eight team sites like build palestine are trying to tackle that and put a dent in those needs they give a platform for people to donate to grassroots causes to get aid and support into the occupied palestinian territories to the people that live there some of the projects literally include raising money to rebuild. told the gaza strip now crowdfunding sites can also help empower people to give them to give them optimism if you will take for example the how the twins they live in the gaza strip and are passionate about making videos telling the world what it's like to live in their city but they had been borrowing camera equipment from their friends until last year when they decided to ask you for help. i have.

experience. with. the police if. we're. going to. be. good to end on a good note there now if you've asked the public for help before if you've donated on the crowdfunding site like what we've mentioned do let us know you can tweet me directly at least. and as always you can get in touch with us with our hash tag nick thanks very much indeed i tell you what it says something about what's going on in the world when you have a special page here at al-jazeera dot com dedicated to the humanitarian crisis and

you will see very well all the different people from around the world affected from him out to haiti to yemen and so forth and if you keep on scrolling down you will succumb to the two inside stories one on man aside and the other on yemen as well which is which covers the situation there and always again these terrible pictures that rudi would make you think that something more would be done to stop this terrible business continuing ok we're going to show you some live pictures now this coming to us from the united states washington d.c. that i believe possibly getting out of that car we're expecting it anyway at some point we're expecting michael flynn who was fired as the president on the trans national security. and has now been charged appearing at the plea hearing where he is expected to plead guilty there he is right there going into the plea hearing he's expected to plead guilty this right in morning to this friday to lying about

to federal agents about his contact with rushes and bassett so that's michael from the arriving at the hearing we'll see what happens keep you up to date with that we hearing as soon as we get further developments now but francis has publicly use a timer for the first time on his asia trip he asked refugees for forgiveness when he met with them in bangladesh the pontiff heard avoided using the word while he was in myanmar which does not recognize the ethnic group and more than six hundred twenty thousand ringette have fled to bangladesh to escape a military crackdown in men miles reckoned state. will continue to recognize their rights we won't close our hearts to them we won't look in another direction the presence of god today is also a cold everyone of us needs to respond in the right way let's hear now from our correspondent charles stratford who has more from near the prolonged campaign back

to dish where many rich and you live. it's a word that the international community use the united nations use bangladesh uses to describe the refugees that have fled across this border in the last couple of months more than six hundred twenty five thousand of them the word is ranger and the pope finally used it in talking to a group of ranger refugees that traveled specifically to meet him from this area close to the myanmar border they met him in the car it was following that meeting that he said the presence of god god today is also called ranger this trip to myanmar and bangladesh has been diplomatically very difficult for the pope he has until now avoided using that word. there were fears of a potential backlash against christians in myanmar if he used it but for all intents and purposes it seems as if once being faced with these refugees refugees

with very terrifying stories one woman who met him spoke to reuters before that meeting and said that she was going to describe to him how she and other women were taken away by the myanmar military and raped she said she was going to speak to the pope and demand action from him it finally seems as if he had very little choice but to mention the name of their ethnic group and this is hugely significant ensuring international published a t. to a crisis in this country that can only be described as one of the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today. well there is a feature in asia pacific section on al-jazeera dot com on the on the. people who have become synonymous with this year with two thousand and seventeen telling us all about the. old question where are they from how they persecuted how many. how many have actually fled from. and so on ok let's go to the multi view we

can see the attendant press there in washington d.c. where michael flynn has just arrived. here and also alongside sue turton is standing by in london with more national. thank you nic gunmen have stormed a college in pakistan opening fire and killing at least nine people and injuring thirty six and these three men dressed in women's burkas arrived in a rickshaw and then to the agricultural training institute in the northwestern city of pasha all the attackers were killed after two hours of fighting with the army and police taliban has claimed responsibility saying it was targeting a safe house used by the i.s.i. intelligence agency that has more from us on that. and or dish carried out by that very good dollar bond don they of course claimed responsibility

immediately after their deadly in. the agricultural research. according to officials it did not get cleared toward war. dog ate all of the reports about that still remain edgy but a number of people are dead and many more are injured all happening at a time when the u.s. and pakistan are due to meet at the high level red the u.s. secretary of defense we're getting it. done will be really concerned about the groups operating from across the border in afghanistan and who are now carrying out deadly attack in flight. i'm a lazy in court has heard that the murdered half brother of north korea's leader was carrying an antidote to the toxin that was used to poison him kim jong nam died after the nerve agent v.x. was smeared on his face at kuala lumpur airport in february two women have been charged with his murder trial was told that kim had

a dozen vials of the antidote in his bag it's not clear why he didn't use it wrong and has been accused of orchestrating the killing a date has been set for the official abdication of japan's emperor akihito which will take place on a police search of twenty nineteen to be the first japanese monarch to step down in about two hundred years the eighty three year old who has had both heart surgery and cancer treatment recently said he feared age might make it difficult to fulfill his duties will be succeeded by his fifty seven year old crown prince not return. zimbabwe's new president has disappointed many by filling his first cabinet with senior military figures and ruling party loyalists but no opposition politicians the soldier who announced the military takeover which led to robert mugabe's resignation has been named foreign minister will veterans leader chris much fungo is the new information minister patrick chinamasa returns to run the ministry of

finance and the former commander of the brigade that's how the key role in the one nine hundred eighty three massacres which killed an estimated twenty thousand people is agriculture minister. has been gauging reaction in the town of chin harvey. the announcement by president of who is in the new government is dividing opinion zimbabweans who know the new leader is a businessman a cautiously optimistic he's picked the right team others say they are disappointed at how many military commanders and politicians in the new cabinet have strong links to robert mugabe and the former government. disappointed. to the expectation of the people of zimbabwe we were hoping that. would have a new beginning would have also a cabinet that is responsive to what the expectations of the. people expect a new policy. expected.

these university graduates hope the new cabinet will deliver on the president's promise to create jobs many graduates confines a job. twenty three year old innocent has a battle's degree and is known as a graduate on a good day he makes about ten dollars selling secondhand mobile phones on the streets for me is a disappointment. you know reasons of this place because this is what is the current situation i've just been forced to draw it was a bit of surprise and frightened with business and i was also reckons it was a this is what. economists say the new cabinet has to rework scrap some of robert mugabe's policies such as indigenization a controversial policy of black empowerment is the take away indigenization and he buried. it because there's no. interest

and he has to defeat and dissent. and they think they're better. and better different and immigration when i got recently made british and chinese envoys the european union and the united states say they are keen to re-engage with zimbabwe again after you. unemployment rate is. struggling zimbabweans hope president and i've got one knows what he's doing and that his policies don't scare away investors at the c.e.o. nothing will change the reality is that thousands of these graduates were lucky join other degree holders on the street economy doesn't drastically improve. chinoy is about. that's it for me for the news greg now back to the can so you thank you very much they will see you later just to say people watching from around the world big shout out to american from the philippines casting from australia and the sorry

from japan and wherever you are watching in the world we want to hear your thoughts on all the stories that we're covering right here on the news grid tweet us at a.j. english short facebook dot com slash news grid or indeed what's apis plus nine seven four five zero one one four nine of course grid is the hash tag. for facebook audience we look to jordan where women join the pipeline to the labor force. also ahead on the program piles and piles of trash in lebanon the government is being criticized for lack of action want to look for solution the gobby just health concerns that country. welcome back as we take

a look at the weather across the levant and western parts of asia you can see some snow towards all marty there but otherwise it's looking generally fine temperature not too bad for a couple there at twelve degrees some of the temperatures for terra bite that place and there are twenty degrees and sunshine all looking good around the eastern side of the mediterranean quite a woman in favorites in lebanon heading on into sunday not much change fine conditions expected to continue same really goes across much of the robin pinch a little bit cool there for reactors and make some of just twenty two degrees still pretty warm in mecca what a brit sprays blowing down through the gulf now so cooling it slightly in doha a maximum of twenty seven degrees abu dhabi there twenty eight let's head across into southern portions of africa it's a largely fine picture here too you see in the satellite imagery that there is a fair amount of cloud across eastern parts of south africa but you've got to get up into central parts franco and across northern parts of zambia to pick up significant share right to vittie said there i want to show is the eastern parts of south africa but cape town should be generally dry and fine and quite wet on the

eastern side of madagascar antananarivo seen some heavy showers for central parts of africa we've got a few showers for gabon and also for congo and congo we're expecting highs of thirty in the prevail.

sort out their dot com top story there from lebanon about attorney arrested november twenty fourth charged with spying for israel and more calls on the issue of slavery in libya that we've been covering in the last few days of disappointment when you come to. terms with talking to stories about the bottom and then on the right thing a lot of interest of course are with the latest developments bangladesh. which is struggling with another rubbish problem two years after it's brought it brought the last one under control but this time it's the way the waste is being disposed has public health service concerned so hard to report from beirut. lebanon's rubbish is being collected but it's what happens next which is causing

concern activists are warning of a new garbage crisis in the making and serious health risks. two years ago the streets of the capital beirut and surrounding areas were clogged with un collected trash and the stench filled the air the main landfill was full and there was nowhere else to go it took months before government leaders found a temporary solution since then the mountain of voice produced every day in the lebanese capital is taken to two new coastal landfills but they are quickly becoming close to overflowing. leaders are considering enlarging landfills and importing incinerators but environmentalists accuse them of not wanting to solve the problem. a proposal solves the problem in six months and the e.u. is ready to offer the twenty five million dollars needed the problem is environmentalist's looking for sustainable solutions for the politicians with landfills so they can reclaim land for development purposes. the situation is worse

outside the capital where there are no waste management facilities this is one of hundreds of open waste dumps and they are being burnt environmentalist say lebannon has never had a comprehensive waste management strategy. human rights watch is sounding the alarm with a report called as if you are inhaling your doubts the open burning of waste is dangerous say activists lebanese who live near the dumps complain about health problems. when they burn the trash i lose my breath and i can't breathe i use this inhaler because i can't take a breath. i mean my kids are growing up here and you know there is no way of protecting them what will happen to them ten to twenty years from now they will get diseases. activists are blaming the government for failing in its obligations staff at the environment ministry weren't available for comment there's actually very simple solutions to this problem and we're fortunate in lebanon that the vast

majority of solid waste could actually be either recycled or composted but at the moment around eighty percent of it is either being landfilled or dumped and some of that is being burned. the garbage crisis did spark several weeks of protests demonstrators accusing politicians of corruption not much has changed since then except that mornings about the public health emergency are growing louder senator as. well it speaks about some code you who's the lead researcher in the middle east and north africa division of human rights watch joins us live now from beirut. what's your take on this it looks sounds and no doubt smells like a absolute nightmare why have things not improved so for decades now the government has really failed in its obligations lebanon has never had a comprehensive waste management solution that respects people's right to health and covers the entire country instead we have jumped from one emergency solution to the next really all of them focused on beirut and surrounding areas some of the

wealthiest parts of the country and neglecting outer lying with us apologies as a result of this there's now about nine hundred open dumps scattered across the country and we found that at about one hundred fifty of them open burning of waste is taking place on a near weekly basis with serious health risks for the people living nearby but is there a solution to this because as always in these kind of confined urban areas space is a very big problem in the sustainable way of doing this where you kind of reduce the quantities of ways. absolutely so in lebanon is a small country and so there are relevant space issues at play but at the end of the day this is the government's obligation it's to put in place an actual waste management policy that respects people's rights will be founded as human rights watch is that this has reached the level of human rights violations so it's not enough for the government simply to say look it's difficult there's limited space we know from the composition of the waste in lebanon that run ninety percent of it

actually could be either recycled or composted but at the moment the vast majority about eighty percent is being either put in landfills or in dumps across the country and that's a massive problem and so again there are real solutions this is doable other countries have figured that out and it's not good enough for the government to say this is difficult this is actually a legal obligation they cannot continue to put the health of so many people at risk when they say it's difficult what way is it difficult for them. so again this is a question for them to answer we've been asking them the same question and really we started looking at this crisis at the iran twenty fifteen when garbage overflowed in the streets of beirut and gained international media attention what we found is actually this goes back decades this is the crisis in twenty fifteen was really just the tip of the iceberg and so this is been a problem now since the one nine hundred ninety s. where the government has really only focus their efforts on beirut on mount lebanon on the wealthier areas while leaving the other parts of the country essentially to

fend for themselves without adequate resources without adequate financial support. or about some we'll leave it there it's very good to get your perspective on this important story there in lebanon brass and co are just beaking to us. interesting sidebar as east timor if you take a look at our new section of al-jazeera dot com focusing on the toxic cost of rubbish rubbish scavenging where people as young as eighteen living in unimaginable say unimaginable circumstances appalling health consequences of course and if you keep on going and see some of the people who live at the dump including this little girl who's lived there all her life and a problem for some in beirut a lifeline for others here in east timor but whichever way you look at it it's a sad indictment about the modern world unto france which has the world's third biggest nuclear weapons stockpile behind the united states and russia unlike many countries there is no great debate about its nuclear arms as the majority of

french people support the option but with costs set to double to around ten billion dollars a year some may change their minds tony but the reports now from paris. when france carried out its first nuclear test in algeria fifty seven years ago it joined an elite club before nations until one thousand nine hundred six france carried out more than two hundred nuclear tests most of them in the south pacific that elite club is now stretched to nine countries. france is third in the list with three hundred nuclear warheads fewer than the u.s. and russia but more than china and the united kingdom while the french tend to think that as long as russia is a potential military threat to europe and as long as there are a number of threatening nuclear powers in the world it's safer to keep nuclear weapons than to get rid of them especially since are we already have a well functioning arsenal its nuclear deterrent known as force to flap or strike

force consists mainly of its triumphant submarines for carry nuclear warheads one is that see all the time at a cost of more than eight billion dollars they are the most expensive submarines ever built since one thousand nine hundred one france is almost hard it's nuclear stockpile but unlike many other countries there is little nuclear debate here. all political parties except for the greens and most of the general public seem to be in agreement that nuclear weapons are a necessity france's nuclear weapons stockpile pales into insignificance compared to that of the united states and russia and it cost the french taxpayer four to five billion dollars a year to maintain but this is not just a case of money for the french it's also about prestige many feel a collective pride that nuclear weapons ensure france does not have to rely on the u.s. or nato for its defense to be. with big muscles you have big methods so you can

say i am the. country but not for you isn't it ridiculous to use a nuclear weapon but just to show that you have them and this is a psychology. but pride costs france will soon need to modernize its nuclear arsenal and that will push annual cost up to between nine and ten billion dollars a year within the next decade and that is beginning to spark a debate ultimately it may be the cost that will prove the ultimate deterrent to france's deep and abiding relationship with nuclear weapons tony berkeley al-jazeera paris. well there is a course a legacy to the french nuclear weapons stockpile that's what we're going to talk about right now we've got the use of well under his a professor of international affairs a car university joins us live here in doha is welcome to the program and yes in this legacy which was the weapons testing that went on many years ago many decades ago most french test took place in the south pacific didn't they but but some took place in algeria and there is

a lasting legacy that obviously different. to about seventeen about seventeen nuclear tests in our journey up four of them over the ground in the region of the gun and about thirteen of them in the region of the missiles and the ground the explosive that happened to the little one thousand nine hundred sixty in the region of the guns of a long journey was about between three to five times the atomic bomb in. and it leashed countries like libya charred and even southern europe to three days after the test black rain poured over the portugal teacher was the philosophy of this particular test in which unfortunately about forty two thousand jillian's were used as guinea pigs and even to the consequences of but. still show in algeria of what one of the algerians called

a environmental cost because until today. people are born with so many defects they say there are birth defects whatever this is all from what would initially be the radiation sickness that was then passed on to three mothers to their children in the research had shown that about forty two different types of cancers exist in this particular lesion of algeria because of these nuclear tests. so many species or even plants no longer exist because of these particular. tests and even those of jews who were interned in after the. ninety in the ninety. one elections in which the islamic culture war and those who were interned these camps came out with so many illnesses that are related to these right and we're looking at some pictures right now of some of those who've been affected by it am i right in saying that that france buried some of the

contaminated parts of the remnants of the weapons if you like in the desert near where nomadic communities through yes they did some of the visible ones were killed and france for a long long time denied that such activities took place but few years ago because of the national from those deals with took part in this political experience and put pressure on the government that declassified those. tests documents and they sure would the. whole under of what happened in the from today well as a very troubling story i as a redo appreciate you coming here to tell us about it use of your analysts thank you very much thank you thank you now well the aids day is being marked across the globe but the united nations is warning that the target to eradicate the epidemic by the year twenty thirty will be missed unicef says that it's down to complacency that is putting the lives of children and young adults at risk of contracting hiv

well last year one hundred twenty thousand children under the age of fourteen died of aids related causes that's because eighteen children were infected with hiv every single hour if that trend continues they will be three and a half million new hiv infections by twenty thirty or not to good for henschel is the director of the hiv aids department and the global hepatitis program the world health organization he says there needs to be more focus on those who are stigmatized. access to testing and treatment and obviously also to prevention is certainly a major priority for the well here second is asian and for the global community more broadly speaking and more people have access to treatment but still we see too many new infections and forty percent of these new infections actually occur in certain populations what we call key populations these are persons we inject drugs men who have sex with men sex workers in sub-saharan africa we know this is

specifically affecting lesson girls and young women we also know that in many parts of the world specifically men have somewhat compromised access to services so we really really have to promote the access to the services but also we have to make sure that we specifically get to have access for those those populations that are. very severely affected and that that that need access most most badly so that is a strong focus and our campaign message this year is actually exactly that is everybody counts nobody should be left behind so we need to really focus on those that are traditionally statement ice and exclude it there is kind of surprising this is not because you think that we've got this problem nailed it seems it's actually getting worse with a conversation like on line well the conversations also growing online it's the biggest conversation today with the hash tag world aids day making it to worldwide

trends and the message this year is very clear and the stigma organizations like unicef united nations and world health organization are focusing on their campaign today to quote fight prejudice stigma and to improve education and europe and the world now and india for example the campaign hash tag let's talk is urging people well to talk about safe sex some celebrities even joined in on the conversation. actually. i think it's high time that we stop being aggressive. talking about sex. because it's really important at this time when we have to use condoms during sex and whatever sexuality but are we being safe so the efforts we put to get ready for a date why not one simple step and carry a condom with the. condom it's just a word don't we have. conversations about it.

so this well. let's all have some fun let's be a lot safer but most importantly. let's talk. of the internet has definitely changed the way that the conversation goes about hiv and aids nowadays you have apps soli about the virus like this one where you can search for the nearest clinic for tests you can just put in your location and find that they're now a dating app also called age zone is there for people who want to find a partner and they sed promise that quote it's an easy way to break the ice to start your dating again even living with hiv now you can even know more about using bot software that allow you to easily get information by talking to a robot like this one some of these tools didn't even exist ten years ago but now in africa alone there are five hundred million cell phones and this means access to

apps like this are just at people's fingertips a hash tag is really mobilizing to inform people all around the world now you also have this spot for example we found through the hash tag you equals you or undetected equals on transmittable they're trying to break the stigma that having sex with someone with hiv means that you will get hiv their campaign focuses on going undetected through medication so that you can have sex without transmitting the virus if you're taking part in any of these campaigns especially online we would love to hear from you for using those hash tags be sure to add ours as well with the hash tag a.j. news great nick that's all really fascinating live thanks very much indeed it was a fascinating story online about the man who adopts hiv positive children in india he's called a pastor reggie thomas and if you scroll down you can see some of the children. pop up in a second some of the children that he's been looking after all smiling happy faces

but it also learned that one hundred thirty nine thousand children under fifteen live with hiv in india is a long way to get that's the story of reggie thomas giving children with aids a child. so please get in touch with us we want to hear your thoughts here on the newsgroup about all the stories that we're covering just read as a journalist or facebook dot com slash aging news grid or what's up plus nine seven four five or one triple one four nine and a.j. grid is the attack now anyone who uses a laptop or a smartphone should know the importance of a lithium ion battery so when the us electric car maker tesla decides to make one strong enough to power an entire city the world takes notice it could be the beginning of a new era in renewable energy. this seemingly innocuous rural area south australia has suddenly become home to one of the biggest

sources of renewable energy in the wild built in sixty days the u.s. technology company tesla has built the largest ever lithium ion battery which is plugged into the power grid in the state of south australia the state's premier unveiled the john battery which is powered by a nearby wind farm this is an example of south australia leading the world the world's largest lithium ion battery it's right here in jamestown in south australia and it's already supplying power to the national electricity market australia is a major exporter of calls and is considered one of the world's worst greenhouse gas polluters the state of south australia is demolishing is coal fired power stations and switching to renewable energy that's imperative after a freak storm last year caused a statewide blackout highlighting the reliable supply of electricity the billionaire business tycoon mosque offered to build the battery most salient point here is that the system will be three three times more powerful than any system in

the on earth. this is a this is not like a sort of short like a minor foray into a frontier it's like you know going three times for anyone's gone before must also promise that if it wasn't completed on time it would be free lucky for him the forty million dollars project was switched on ahead of schedule it's a exciting development. story just kind of been the holy grail for the whole power business for two hundred years now because if we want to move towards variable renewables wind and solar produce their own trysting when they want not necessarily when we want and so some way of storing the excess that they're producing which can then be used when they're not generating has been something we've looked for for many years people nearby jamestown gave their verdict lifted our spirits because everybody's a happy about it and we have a question marks on that but the result in result will tail wind it because it's never been called into action we really don't know what's coming and. so when it if

it does do the job well and good if it doesn't it's just another one of those political. tesla's chief executive wasn't at the unveiling but the state's new power backup surprise i'm sure to please climate change and pollution activists and possibly pave the way for other projects worldwide. at developments in renewable energy right before we finish up this news grid just a reminder of the breaking news this hour in the u.s. president donald trump's format national security adviser that's right that's him right there getting out of his car these being charged with lying to the federal bureau of investigations about his contacts with russia's ambassador to the united states this is him arriving to give his plea the office of the special counsel said that a plea hearing for flynn is under way right now we anticipate that he will be pleading

guilty and of course we will be examining of the coming hours the implications that this will have this dramatic news will have for the white house and we've yet to hear from donald trump to be interesting to see what he has to say about this ongoing situation all right that will do it for this news great remember to keep in touch with us right they go to all the ways of doing it a.j. newsgroup is a twitter at a.j. mission at facebook equal facebook dot com. and you can contact us to through what we'll see you back in studio fourteen at fifteen hundred g.m.t. that's right.

hardly. the nature is news as it breaks the last time senegal qualified for the world cup was in two thousand to fifteen years on and hope to do even better in russia next year with detailed coverage hard to imagine that only seven years ago people were living right here raman shrimp now the sea has taken over their land from around the world donald trump is promising a major policy announcement on trade a potential challenge to khorat a missed opportunity

a rod. in jakarta school students are taking up weapons to fight in deadly street battles. one on one east investigates this violin phenomenon. at this time on al jazeera. on counting the cost the goldilocks oil price is there such a thing as the perfect price of crude for consumers and producers of financial bubbles and big point was the future of job creation in africa the only continent where the young outnumber the counting the cost at this time on al-jazeera. michael flynn president traumas former national security adviser is charles.