i am awesome. in two thousand and eight al-jazeera documented a groundbreaking scheme. preparing some of india's poorest children for entry into its toughest universities. ten years on we return to see how the students and the scheme a helping change the face of india. super thirty at this time announces their. and live from studio three a team here at al-jazeera headquarters in doha i'm fully back to go welcome to the news grid kurdish civilians fear the worst size divisions

between global powers threaten to open a new conflict zone in syria they worry they'll become targets if turkey makes good on his threat to move against kurdish fighters along its border also at stake the relationship between nato allies turkey and the united states also on the grid keeping up what they call a peaceful pressure campaign the u.s. and canada co-host an international summit on the north korean nuclear threat twenty countries a participant but china north korea's biggest trading partner which has leverage over kim jong un's regime is not attending so what can be achieved and begging for forgiveness pope francis expresses pain and shame over the sexual abuse scandal in the catholic church as he arrives in chile the first leg of his not an american papal tour but he's been greeted by protests us today still reeling some the repercussions of a priest abuse scandal. and in venezuela

a fire fight between government forces and a former police pilots who join the opposition has caused a nationwide mania i'm here in the home is next they also use the hash tag a.j. news spreads. here with the news grid live on air and streaming online for you to facebook live and at al-jazeera dot com thank you for joining us a potential military conflicts nums over syria's northern border after a u.s. decision to form a new border security force led by. kurdish fighters is inflame tensions between washington and its nato ally turkey president typewriter one is now calling on nato to take a stand against the us the turks are threatening to launch a new military offensive against kurdish fighters who may consider terrorists iran and russia the key backer is a syrian president bashar assad say the new border security force will create more

instability and the chief negotiator of a syrian opposition group too has warned against washington's plan saying it will lead to a future partition of syria the u.s. led coalition though insists that the new force is part of its strategy to prevent a resurgence of eisel along syria's border with turkey and iraq now while that diplomatic showdown continues it's the civilians who are caught in the middle of it . they will become targets if turkey carries on its threats of a military offensive sin and has this report from the turkey syria border. is one of many kurds whose grandparents left northern syria years ago but he still has family in africa which is cool spy on the syrian side of the border to maine and his relatives there are growing increasingly worried as turkey prepares for a minute through operations against u.s.

backed kurdish why preview fighters. who are no friends of the white p.g. they recruit young boys and girls that's where my brother in law is fled after and moved istanbul four years ago the weapons provided to those find his body u.s. scares me my village is the closest to offer and we don't feel at peace while our people are there. the wife is in control of the land just beyond us will the u.s. reckons its fighters are key to why female eisel in syria. that infuriated turkey which considers the y.p. g. to be an extension of the p.k. k. a kurdish group which turkey the u.s. the european union deemed a terrorist organization. have never been for turkey six years ago after the syrian war. president footballers realises we can't go back to

syria we came here and worked in farming with other refugees from a mountain from aleppo everyone wants peace in syria and africa because it's the civilians that get tom the most many kurds who are living in religious near the border avoid t.v. cameras some have relatives and a friend were military action is planned and the villagers may also need to seek safety if the fighting that start the turkish military is massed on the border and ses it's ready to supply against the new border force which it sees as a direct threat at stake is the relationship of two nato countries senior. al jazeera turkey syria border and joining us now on the news green is nick danforth who's a senior policy analyst at the bipartisan policy center is live from washington d.c. very good to have you with us the turkish president is clearly very angry at the

u.s. support for the y.p. and this ripples border force and is issued an extremely strong warning even by his standards how worried are they in washington about what the turks might do. it's worth noting from the outset that this is not the first time that aired on has threatened to take military action against the kurds in syria there's been a series of these threats over the past year but this is certainly the most direct and the most forceful and as you say the most provocative which worth noting in this case the united states is building a border force for with the syrian kurds east of the euphrates the actual threat from turkey right now is to attack syrian kurdish forces west of the euphrates and so this is still not quite the nightmare sinister scenario for u.s. turkish relations but it's nonetheless worrying for much of the war in syria the united states and turkey

a naked have worked together jointly supporting forces that are fighting against bashar assad's government but we seem to be seeing now russia and turkey siding increasingly with each other where do you thing this liza relationship between the u.s. and turkey and what can the nato alliance which both countries are part of do about this deteriorating relationship. well and certainly as it became clear that the united states and turkey were not going to be working together to bring down assad the stress that you mention has intensified and it became clear the united states his focus was on isis and turkey's focus was on dealing with the wife e.g. the syrian kurds and this rift has only continued and widened what turkey is up against now which makes their situation even more difficult though is that they're not only. confronting the united states in this case but also increasingly at odds with their newfound russian partners it's actually in the section of syria that

turkey is threatening to attack now it's been russian forces that have been present working with the syrian kurds turkey's situation now is that both united states is doubling down on its support for the kurds in one part of syria and russia seems to be increasingly interested in bringing them into the diplomatic process and ending the syrian civil war leaving turkey with no one to turn to what about nato his role in all this nic i have a comment here from one of our viewers on facebook steven who says it's hard to get nato it to go against the u.s. given the u.s. is responsible for so much of nato funding do you agree with that. yeah i mean i think given especially that the other nato members from their point of view are also like the united states far more focused on the threat of isis and turkey is really unique in being focused on the threat from syrian kurdish fighters it's you know turkey is at odds rightly or wrongly with the consensus of nato on

this issue thank you for speaking to a snake in the danforth is a senior policy analyst at the bipartisan policy center he was joining us on the news great from washington thank you for your insight and you know there's a very good explainer on al-jazeera dot com about this border security force a u.s. is helping to set up along the turkey syria border the purpose of it how kurdish forces are involved the reactions of the various players involved in syria's conflicts to this border security force it's all explained there on our website at al-jazeera dot com and elsewhere in syria activists say the so-called deescalation agreements aimed at reducing violence have done nothing to stop the slaughter of civilians in a pocket of opposition territory on the outskirts of syria's capital damascus more than three hundred people have been killed in eastern guta in recent months and as osama bin jahvid reports it's not the only place where syrians a sufi. the. more bombs are being dropped by

syrian government and russian warplanes on the besieged rebel held district near the capital damascus is home to four hundred thousand people activists aboard dozens of air strikes on the air being and across the areas in the last twenty four hours they. are supposed to be part of a deescalation zone but at least three hundred people have died in air in artillery strikes since november. many of the wounded including children are dying because of the lack of medical supplies and. with get we hide inside the room all the toys. our message we are children who have nothing to do with this war the regime bombards us every day children everywhere else can study and drink here we have nothing and they're happy. feet i'm always very scared of the siege of began in two thousand and thirteen and the relentless when bodman has destroyed most of the city. as

a matter of fact the bombardment and the russian weapons being tested here against the poor people of syria have badly affected us no one has given support to our oppressed people and it's. you walk down the road with absolutely no money in your pocket you think of how you can feed your hungry and thirsty kids at home and all of a sudden another man comes across you asking you for some spare money to buy food for his kids and you feel confused whether to cry for your bad situation or for his worse situation. critics of the united nations and aid agencies say the world either doesn't care or just pays lip service while bombs continue to fall then is leaving over four hundred thousand people who live or living there even them to free to face a fate. by starvation. even in areas where fighting has finished such as. i saw the mines in what was the point to sell to get copper to continue to kill and maim as well as unexploded bombs dropped by u.s.

and coalition aircraft the group doctors without borders is calling on all warring parties and their allies as well as demining organizations and donors to increase mine clearance and rock and its suburbs and to help inform people of the risks to protect them from avoidable deaths and injuries. and that suffering is being repeated in many of the cities and towns across syria some of the job the others there. and we've been getting quite a lot of good comments on the situation in syria and the current tensions between the u.s. and turkey over this proposed border force along the turkey syria border a comment here from facebook on from poll on facebook from paul who says playing power politics with civilian lives when a creates future terrorism and another very good comment from emory also on facebook who says give picks shovels and concrete mixes to the u.s. backed forces and send them to rebuild syria the country they destroyed would love

to hear more of your comments on this and other stories we're covering on the news great today all the different ways to get in touch with us on the bottom right of your screen right now the hash tag as ever a j news grades onto other world news now and foreign ministers from twenty countries are meeting in an hour from now in vancouver canada to discuss the north korean nuclear threat the summit is being hosted by the united states and canada and will include south korea's key allies they're looking for ways to increase diplomatic and financial pressure on north korea to force it to give up its nuclear ambitions now china and russia have not been invited beijing is north korea's key trading partner and it's only allah is called the summits meaning less the meeting comes at a crucial time on the korean peninsula what have been signs of cautious from gris north korea and south korea have held direct talks for the first time in more than two years kyung young has agreed. to send its athletes to next month's winter olympic games in south korea and south korea is keeping the door open for future

talks and speak to a committee what in washington for its committee tell us more for us about this summit organized by the u.s. and canada in vancouver who's taking part and one of they hoping to achieve right well as you point out it is certainly notable that both russia and china not there and in fact the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov saying in fact that he believes nothing notable is going to come out of this meeting as a result still as you point out twenty different nations including canada and the united states the secretary of state rex tillerson along with christopher hill in the foreign minister in canada working very hard to try and bring all of these nations together with really two key goals fall in that is the first to make sure that there is sort of a better implementation of sanctions that have been put in place by world powers to isolate north korea from the financial system the global financial system and also to to prevent north korea from of aiding the measures that have already been put in

place at the level of the united nations so certainly what the goal is of these foreign ministers is to try and show there's a strong and united international front rex tillerson is efforts on north korea kimberley have sometimes been complicated by bellicose rhetoric from his boss president donald trump is there not a more coherent and unified approach to the north korean nuclear issue in the trump administration and what options are they considering right now. right there's no question that rex tillerson bill of the to do diplomacy on behalf of the united states has been complicated by the president's use of twitter or his very public statements whether it was promising fire and furious he did over the summer or whether or not it was even just something as simple as saying major conflict is possible it makes talks very difficult but of course in october when donald trump said that rex is wasting his time essentially undermining the secretary of state

his efforts certainly did complicate the process still donald trump's sort of top diplomat around the world has said repeatedly he plans to stay into the job through twenty eighteen he believes that the relationship with the white house has improved somewhat and he's continued to stay on message and that is that the trunk administration's approach is to apply maximum pressure is to apply peaceful pressure and they point to those talks and discussions that have taken place with between south korea north korea's examples of how it's working yeah and president trump has suggested in fact that he is responsible for north korea's willingness to resume dialogue with a soft korea i wonder though kimberly is the u.s. supportive of what the korean government is trying to achieve right now because. they have been tensions it seems to recently between south korea and the u.s. over how to deal with this north korean nuclear issue. and tensions too between

south korea and north korea over the fact that south korea attributed these sort of discussions getting underway between the two because of help from donald trump it's it's very complicated it's very nuanced and i think that's just exactly what we're getting to in terms of what's going to be discussed in north korea rather in vancouver with regard to trying to limit north korea's nuclear program is that words matter when you're dealing with multiple languages things can be inferred that weren't intended and so i think that's one of the reasons why these foreign ministers are trying to get together in vancouver to try and iron all of this out to present a united front so there are these misunderstandings and misconceptions moving forward kimberly thank you very much for that can really help it live for us in washington d.c. and as we mentioned china has not been invited to the summit in vancouver but it will significant influence over north korea which depends on its neighbor for ninety percent of its trade as rob reynolds rob mcbride rather reports from beijing china wants gentle diplomacy to work first and set of toughest sanctions.

tensions have increased and tensions have eased but the trains and trucks have continued to roll. but the friendship bridge undone don't some of the essential food and supplies that keeps north korea going rife's from china. ninety percent of north korea's trade is with china while chinese leaders say they fully implement un sanctions they seem equally determined not to allow north korea to collapse the whole freeze over time or north korea might be able to adapt well still managed to survive. so china wants to take a bribe to mary's to a competitor to cut off north korea despite sanctions there's evidence that some north korean businesses such as restaurants and hotels that should have been closed have stayed open. from china's perspective now is not the time for tougher

measures with the resumption of talks between north and south korea beijing wants to encourage the signs of a thaw toss in north korea and south korea have started talking to the eleven pics will be held at the start of next month i'm not sure if china has the political motivation to impose further severe sanctions. the fear for china is that just as there is a hint of an improvement in relations with north korea the u.s. and its allies are preparing to ratchet up the pressure and that will only harden pyongyang to position the north korean leadership say nuclear missiles capable of hitting the u.s. on the date for survival against hostile powers more threats from the u.s. and its allies might give leader kim jong un the justification to speed up the weapons program not slow it down rob mcbride al jazeera beijing. and for an even

better understanding of what's happening on the korean peninsula take a look at this great visual explainer on al-jazeera dot com it gives you a brief history of the two koreas how they went to war history of north korea's nuclear and missile tests their capabilities it's a really good breakdown of this crisis how it all began and it's own our web site al-jazeera dot com now to south america and venezuela where a fire fight between government forces and a rebel group has led to the fate of a popular figure and known writer mom it is here to tell us more about this story which has been grabbing the headlines in venezuela and beyond and really controversial in fact people are so fixated on the story fully and that's all because of one individual and this is oscar perez a former police officer and he's seen as a symbol of resistance wanted thora t's and followed by thousands on social media

the president his team were hiding outside of caracas when police found them and engaged in a firefight now according to sources close to pres his ok sion was leaked by a member of his own group witnesses say that they heard gunshots and explosions and then sirens a prez himself tweeted lived during this incident of a several hours saying he was trying to surrender. but i'm not going to carry this shooting at us with our p g's grenades grenade launchers snipers there are civilians inside here we said we'd turn ourselves in but they don't want to let us turn ourselves in we want to kill us and i want you. you know. we have injured we're going to surrender stop firing. and he posted his message at around ten am local time a police report says that nine people were killed and president nicolas maduro did

confirm this operation but did dot state dot mention the state of pres we all i mean comment to him frank i mean for a moment today an armed confrontation unfortunately occurred after all the conditions for their surrender represented to the group that resulted in two young professional police officers being killed but the rumors of his death have prompted a nationwide online conversation with the hash tag oscar pres hero of the people this is trending worldwide right now and this uses says that he is a hero to herself and millions around the world a true resistance fighter who was assassinated by a band of criminals led by the dictator nicholas. however maria it is of iraq who is a menace of prisons called him a killer and a terrorist saying that he tried to negotiate his surrender but never gave up his guns or put his hands up now oscar pres is a former special police officer who joined the opposition movement in venezuela and

you might remember him during this episode in june where he flew a helicopter over the parliament throwing grenades at the building since then he's been wanted by the authorities and has gained prominence in the anti maduro camp he has a social media part following in the hundreds of thousands. so get in touch with us what do you make of all of these latest developments coming out of it as well and that in touch with us using the hash tag new squids amazes me directly i met right here in the home it back to foley right thank you very much for that we are going to stay in the region and head to chile now where pope francis has arrived on the first leg of his latin america tour the pope has begged for forgiveness in chile a way he said irreparable damage has been done to children who were sexually abused by priests the head of the roman catholic church held his first mass in santiago

today three catholic churches were vandalized overnight in chile and police fired water cannon at protesters nearby they accuse the church of covering up child sex crimes committed by paedophile priests. and here i cannot but manage the pain and the shame shame that i feel for the damage done to the children that church ministers. are we are hoping to get in touch with our correspondent lucien human who is covering the pope's visit in chile for us we will bring her up as soon as we establish a connection with her in the meantime if you're watching us on facebook coming up next find out why switzerland has interacted a new law about cooking lobsters and still ahead on news great democracy in decline wire and econ of democratic values appears to be fading stay with us for

more on that story and others on the news great. however the usual quiet weather across a good part of the middle east northern parts a little more cloud coming through still some cloud just spilling out to turkey's ing out of the black sea towards the caspian sea and certainly a chance of one of two where wintry flour is that over towards the high ground towards afghanistan little bit of cloud there just making its way across cyprus over the next day or seven that will feed one or two showers into syria lebanon jordan just along the coastal fringes of the mediterranean sixteen celsius the top temperatures there for beirut there you go rather more cloud just sinking its way into kuwait you notice as we go on through where to stay low cloud temperatures here so high that around nineteen celsius but it'll be a few degrees warmer than that for us here in doha getting up to around twenty two

degrees stiffening breeze will pick up a little bit the dust in the sand as we go on through the next day or two so that's certainly something to watch out for meanwhile still a very came breeze there across parts of the most channel after the open most of the southern indian ocean of course we have got a tropical cyclone affecting marisha i will our unity on heavy enough rain though into northern parts of mozambique southern areas of tanzania because of very heavy rain still wearing to botswana and also affecting the our cong. benefit those people.

who witness documentaries that open your eyes. at this time on al-jazeera. discover a wealth of award winning programming from around the world they need more and find professionals to talk arity is to model the new generation to study finds powerful documentaries debates and discussions as prime minister you do need to be critical of all aside any and all sex is a challenge of perceptions the contours of this story are shaped by the interests of the countries involved only on al-jazeera.

the. headlines on al-jazeera and the stories trending on our web site al jazeera dot com the stories you're looking at at number one there mexican actress remembered and number two costar martin luther king that resonate today as the u.s. mocks martin luther king day on monday and the controversy over this new u.s. backed syria force also trending at number three there are five things you should

know about this force and why jerusalem is not the capital of israel another controversy which we've covered extensively here on the news great. recognition of jerusalem as israel's capital all stories and much more on our website at al-jazeera dot com. on al-jazeera thank you for your company don't forget you can comment on today's news all the different stories we're covering by connecting with us on social media all the different ways to do that on your screen right now don't forget to use the hashtag a.j. news great and also our whatsapp number cost nine seven four five a one triple one four nine let's return now to chile and the. visit to china a the first stop of his latin america papal tour lucien human latin america correspondent she joins us in santiago chile. the pope's message we heard a message of forgiveness today during mass in santiago how was that received by the

people there. i'm speaking to you now from they have told me where the masses first mile spiritually has just ended up people applauded when they heard what the pope had to say he actually made this speech over earlier we could hear it go from here at the presidential palace it was actually the first thing he said after arriving in this country where the issue of sex abuse by the church has really been taking center stage he of many people say the base that yes the church has to be forgiven but the book has to go. apologies for that we have lost our connection to lucien newman who was speaking to us there from santiago in chile where pope francis has arrived the first stop of his latin america tour the pope as lucy it was saying. the poor asked for forgiveness for the catholic abuse scandal as he arrived in santiago but the pro quo was greeted by protests in chile

which is still reeling from the repercussions of a local priest abuse scandal these are live pictures right now from chile's capital santiago where as you can see they are people protesting in police out in force we'll keep a close eye on the situation there and bring you all the latest updates on the folk until you see his visit to untangle is due to continue that visit latin america has already delivered a mass today in china's capital but again protests ongoing as you can see from those life h.s.a. moving on and the french president wants britain to do more to help hundreds of undocumented refugees and migrants stuck in cali in the north of france emanuel visited the port to meet refugees migrants and aid groups see is due in britain on thursday for talks with the prime minister there theresa may mccoy is expected to ask for more money and security cooperation to stem illegal immigration.

there isn't an open entry point to england and i want to be very clear here that will continue to be the case in no way we let illegal routes be developed here in no way would we let a jungle spring up or an illegal occupation of the territory. live to natasha who's in cali for us in the north of france natasha quite significant isn't it that this visit by the french president to kelly is coming just two days before he meets with teresa me. it is very significant and it's a point that the french president made he was just speaking a short while ago to police officers here in cali and he said that he was here in this city to hear the concerns of the people he was going to bring those concerns to that meeting with tourism a when he meets the british prime minister on thursday now what tomorrow michael says is that what's needed is

a new plan if you will for cali he wants britain to do more to help this city he wants britain stay more asylum seekers especially children and to pay more to help with the security situation here and you know kelly has become something of a symbol of europe's refugee crisis over the last few years hundreds of refugees coming here they don't want to stay in calif cause they're actually trying to get to the united kingdom just across the english channel but the people here in cali feel that they end up being the people who have to deal with the situation and they are simply fed up with that in fact if you talk to people here what they say is that they would like the u.k. border which is here all territory to be scrapped and for the u.k. to actually deal with this issue on their own territory if the people are fed up as you say natasha what sort of reception did emanuel get in today. what is interesting is of course that this region and the city was one where the

national front the far right party did very well in the last election and many people feel that the government simply doesn't listen to them in the polls so this was never going to be a very easy visit for him at all marco now he has visited a refugee center and spoken to refugees he's speaking to charities politicians local businessmen of course he spoke to the police and everybody has a complaint you know the charities say that not enough is being done to help the refugees local politicians and business people say they are very worried about for example the impact of briggs's and how that is going to affect this region that rely so closely on those links with the u.k. and then the police force say that they are just overwhelmed by the situation and people feel generally that the image of their city has been tarnished with all of this so it's a very difficult visit but there are of course those who do appreciate that emmanuel marco has come to visit this town quite early in his presidency in that he's kept his promise to come just before that franco british summit on thursday in

cali in northern france thank you very much for that natasha and as natasha mentioned has really been the symbol of the refugee crisis in europe where desperate men women and children get on trains and trucks to try to cross the english channel into britain even though the so-called jungle camp was torn down in two thousand and sixteen hundreds of people are still camped there in desperate living conditions and their numbers are growing the plight of unaccompanied children is even worse they often don't have enough money to pay people smugglers to get them safely across the channel and are forced to take great risks to reach britain many have died in the process younger refugees are also a target of people traffic is and criminals will have more on this thread speak to sue jakes who is the co-founder of care for calare which is a charity working with refugees and migrants in cali live from london thank you so much for joining us so on the news great has a situation improved or deteriorated even more for the migrants and refugees in

cali since the dismantling of the jungle camp. oh the conditions in cali are much worse than they were when the jungle comforts that there was some level of infrastructure in the company jungles the there was running water there were toilet facilities i mean that they weren't great but there was infrastructure and there was also ways of getting support particularly as you say to miners we could get lawyers in there we could get schools in there would have churches in there so there was an infrastructure in place and the conditions now are are so much worse especially for the health and sanitation perspective an interesting question here from one of our viewers entrées bull gerard who asks why do these people want to go to the u.k. most of the people who are in college who want to come to the u.k. have got family members in the u.k. they are looking at cost of these these young people many of whom are teenagers

they are looking for some family support they may have parents grandparents brothers sisters uncles in the u.k. and what we'll look what we're looking for is safe routes for them to be able to to make it over to join those family members and for a way to get them some support and the french president today said he wanted britain to do more to help these undocumented migrants and refugees whose responsibility do you think they are is it france is it the u.k. and what is a solution to this crisis. it's really challenging because they are between these two borders in effect and they are but they are at the end of the day two of the richest countries in the world and for refugees to be it living in these conditions and scrubland in freezing cold conditions and having let's not forget tents slashed sleeping bags purpose sprayed so that that makes the age that they're given their

own unusable it's we can as developed countries really do so much better and it's about putting things in place that will allow for the use of the laws that we already have and giving access to these people to do to proper support and make it you know if we've spent just a fraction of the amount that we spend on security and color on conditions for the refugees and helping them get through these processes then we just wouldn't have the conditions that we have right now. suge x. thank you so much for talking to us about the conditions in cali thank you for joining us on the news great suge x. is the co-founder of the careful kelly charity joining us there from london and there's more on this story on our web site go to the in pictures section and if you scroll down you will see some very powerful images of this crisis in cali

in the north of france how the refugees there have been affected how they've been living it's all on our website at al-jazeera dot com and these pictures date back from twenty sixteen when the camp was being cleared by french authorities live not arts are multi view wall here on the newsgroup taking a look at the different pictures the news agencies are feeding us these are a believer the capital of chile santiago we showed you these pictures earlier and they've been protests going on in chile today as pope francis arrived there on his visit to latin america as a first stop and people have been protesting the sex abuse scandal in the catholic church for which the pope on the first day of his visit to chile today apologized for but people still very angry of what's been happening in the catholic church and the way the pope has handled this crisis we'll keep an eye on those pictures for you and bring you all the latest from santiago as in when we have more information in the meantime let's check in with london news center and lauren taylor for

a look at the day's other news nor in. thankfully kosovo serb politician yvonne of it has been shot dead outside his office in the northern coast of autonomy treats an event of issues head of the freedom democracy justice party and was facing retrial for war crimes involving the murder of ethnic albanians in the treats in one thousand nine hundred nine in an interview such as more from belgrade . evanovich will store this morning in the me through it so north of the city they winded between albanians and serbs according to one of its lawyer nebbish of light the attacker used the pistol and shot evanovich five times he was taken to the hospital right away the doctors tried to reanimate him but he could not be saved he was shot in front of his office cost of a police said they were looking for that i cursed with have a police presence with a book on the scene serbian president alexander. called for an emergency national

security meeting over the killing the news also prompted a syrian delegation in brussels to walk out of the meeting would position their representatives in brussels while could you the serbian government's official dealing with kosovo said that whoever is behind this attack who are there they are serious oral binion criminals they must be punished evanovich had of course was supported called freedom democracy justice he had played a leading role in the go with nato and the e.u. he was facing go to trial for allegedly war crimes against nicole binion's committed in one thousand nine hundred nine in january two thousand and sixteen judges in kosovo sentenced him to nine years but the verdict was overturned by an appeals court a year later evanovich had denied all charges neighbors of a californian couple charged with torture after their thirteen children were found starved and some of them chained to their beds when talking about what they knew

about the family they say the children rarely left the house and when they were seen appeared small and pale parents david and louise turpin were arrested on sunday after one of the children escaped and phoned the police and are being held on nine million dollars bail that children aged between two and twenty nine are being treated in hospital. and he sixty one children have died from measles and malnutrition in the past four months in a remote part of indonesia the deaths are being blamed on the lack of doctors working in a smart regency which is located in the impoverished poor province step bason has more from indonesia's capital these children have been dying over the past four months and only now officials here the government here is raising alarm what is happening is that these children and their parents have no or hardly any access to health officials in that particular area there are only nine doctors for twenty two hundred twenty four villages and they're all based in the capital of the district

which means that these children with their parents have to travel for many many hours by foot by boat to reach any doctor and that's of course a very challenging fast sometimes even don't have any money to reach to go on this journey and there have been reports that children have been dying on the on the way simply trying to reach a doctor it's a forgotten part of indonesia historically has only become part of indonesia in the one nine hundred sixty s. many have been aiming for independence since then because they felt that they have been neglected by the by the capital ever since a city in central japan has used its emergency loudspeaker to recall packages of blowfish meet the regional health office for going to gori city is trying to track down four packages of blowfish because they may contain the potentially deadly liver a fifth package has been returned with a liver intact the fish known as food is an expensive delicacy but its liver is toxic and band handling and preparing food is very dangerous requiring chefs to

complete special training. and that's it for me for the moment back now to folly and. thank you very much for that laura now how democratic is your country well you can find out in the latest annual report from freedom house it's a u.s. based research body that quantified democratic freedoms around the world and this year paints a gloomy picture now here you can see the countries which are considered free accounting for almost forty percent of the global population the other sixty percent are considered only partly free or not free at all the report singles out more than seventy countries where political rights and civil liberties are in decline in colluding the united states it says attacks by the us president on the press enter dishy his appointment of family members a senior staff and a lack of transparency have damaged the country's reputation as a champion of democratic. reform on this let's speak to mike brown of this was

a president of freedom house which is the author of this report he joins us from washington thank you so much for speaking to us before we talk specifically about the u.s. which i'm very interested in hearing about let's look at the bigger picture first your report says democracy is under assault and in retreat around the world why's that. well our report documents really as you point out a very gloomy picture we see we have been tracking political rights and civil liberties for almost fifty years since the since the early seventy's and after a period of really major democratization around the world we've seen democracy in retreat for the last twelve years as you point out more than seventy countries have experienced declines this past year in political rights and civil liberties more than twice the number that have had improvements i think what's also interesting is that very influential countries one that i would single out would be turkey are are

experiencing major declines in democracy turkey over the last ten years has had the steepest drop of any country in terms of its freedom house course then you have countries like china and russia which had once been there had been hope that they might be liberalizing and that hope is really gone away and those countries are not only violating human rights in their own countries but they're also interfering with democracy beyond their borders let and then finally as you point out there's the issue of the united states i want to talk and i know that this is a clearly not a perfect democracy but over the years it's been a champion of these values and is a strong democracy and we've seen erosion over the past year when you say erosion of democratic institutions in the u.s. what are behind that what are the factors behind the decline of political rights in the us as he say. well one thing that i would say is that we have been tracking

a decline in political rights and civil liberties for seven years so this problem did not start with president trump on january twentieth two thousand and sixteen we've been concerned for some time about the declining levels of democracy in the united states but what we saw in the past year is that democracy in fact the declines accelerated and we we have twenty five different indicators of democratic practice that we analyzed for every country in the world and the three areas where we were quite concerned about was one in the conduct of elections where there's overwhelming evidence of the russian interference in in the united states elections over that came to light in the past year and really very little or no effort by the u.s. administration to try to protect against that in the future we also saw declines in the u.s. scores in two areas safeguards against official corruption and also transparency and these are very important indicators along with. other indicators and these are

things that we would look at other countries and we're concerned about the trends the united states i would say there are a couple of areas where we're quite concerned about what's going on but where we did not decline the united states a good example of that would be freedom of the press there's been a lot of attention in the united states and abroad to the attacks on the independent press from the trumpet ministration but but at the end of the day we concluded that the us press freedom is still very strong and vibrant especially compared to the rest of the world so we did not decline the united states in that category all told on a scale of zero to one hundred the u.s. score is now eighty six which is still very strong the u.s. is a very robust democracy but it's a little less right then and some of the european countries some of the countries to which united states is often compared like england or france or france thank you so much for speaking to us mike abramovitz from freedom house joining us that wash . now some breaking news to tell you about on the news grade and we're getting

reports that a member of the qatari royal family who had said that he was being held against his will in the united arab emirates is now on his way to kuwait abdul i've been funny had said he was being held against his will in this video message just a few days ago and when i hear you hearing reports that he has left the u.a.e. and is on his way to kuwait we will bring you more information as in when we have it of course this coming amid a gulf diplomatic crisis and the book a day of qatar by saudi arabia the u.a.e. and bahrain which began in june of last year. moving on and of the rape and murder of an eight year old in pakistan zainab allen sari has caused global uproar fouls ins took to social media to criticize authorities for their handling of the situation and now it's prompted a wider conversation online mom it has more to tell us about this right here yes thankfully now as police continue to comb through the evidence into who is

responsible for saying it was murder it's triggered a wider conversation in pakistan but on a topic that's very rarely talked about openly and often considered taboo and that's being child sex abuse now a range of pakistani celebrities have come forward to publicly reveal a vague were sexually abused as children all in a bid to encourage survivors to speak up now let's go through some of them for you for how all tough a p.r. guru sched painful story of being sexually abused by her cook at just six years old she says that my parents took action but everyone remained silent as if my as if it was my shame and the thirty four i realize how it impacted my life the only shame is keeping silent and then the actress nine digit mil was only just four years old when she experienced her first issue of sexual abuse adding that people told her

not to talk and to respect her family's honor but she says the cure now is literacy poverty alleviation and an empathetic education that counters all patriarchal and such a sick discourse on women and then you have a fashion designer this is my car and she said that she suffered abuse at the hands of a cleric now the son about based n.g.o.s say hill says that an average eleven cases are reported daily across the country and that the rape and murder of saying that prompted this recent campaign and just a few days ago the prominent t.v. hosts kiran others went live on air with her young daughter to protest the rape and killing of saying that she called for the need to protect pakistani society. so if you are in parks are would love to get your thoughts on this get in touch with us isn't the hash tag aging. ali thank you very much for that raina coming up next on in years great peter weir tell us about the leading u.s. olympic gymnasts results were using the hash tag need to to accuse the united

states former team doctor who is facing sentencing for sexual abuse charges distilleries. in two thousand and eight al-jazeera documented a groundbreaking scheme. preparing some of india's poorest children for entry into its toughest universities. ten years on we return to see how the students and the scheme of helping change the face of india. super thirty at this time on al-jazeera. al jazeera where every.

time for sports his peter and me to hash tag making headlines in the sports world again yeah it's a very uncomfortable topic. is the latest u.s. gymnast to use social media to announce that she too had been sexually abused by former team doctor larry nasser he has already been sentenced to sixty years in jail for child pornography position and will be further the same since this week on counts of sexually abusing many young athletes and he's k. he's home and has more. simone's biles was one of the most recognizable faces of the twenty sixteen olympic games in rio de janeiro's then nineteen years old she

won four gold medals in gymnastics but for a career that's been so public on monday biles revealed something that's been hidden i too am one of the many survivors that was sexually abused by laurie nasser in this lengthy post on twitter she did held her emotions attached the alleged abuse accompanied by the hash tag made to a symbol against sexual harassment in recent months by all the added this behavior is completely unacceptable disgusting and abusive especially coming from someone whom i was told to trust larry last year is facing sentencing in michigan state court this week after pleading guilty to seven counts of criminal sexual assault he was usa gymnastics team doctor from one thousand nine hundred six to twenty fifteen treating athletes at four olympic games and also worked at michigan state university for two decades he's admitted to sexually abusing young patients under

the guise of medical treatment dating back to nine hundred ninety eight twenty twelve olympic gold medalists gabby douglas mckayla maroney and allie reisman are also among his alleged victims make no mistake this is an american tragedy it's a tragedy. not only for these women and their families and the hundreds of other women who did this to you but also for country separate lawsuits have been filed against michigan state university and usa gymnastics accusing them of covering up crimes nasser is facing a minimum twenty five years in prison the hope is that no one else will ever need to save me two because of him home of al-jazeera. biled as you heard made that announcement to her more than one million twitter followers saying it was a lot harder to say the words out loud rather than on paper and in the several months since the scandal came to light

a lot of larry nurses victims have been using social media to share their experiences that included gold medalist gabby douglas who revealed in november on her instagram page that she also was a victim has been one of the most outspoken leaders against him and usa gymnastics she responded to simone biles i'm so proud of you you are incredible simone i stand with you i am shaking reading your post i know we will all get through this together and she had this to say about nessa doing an interview last year i think he's a monster and i think it is so disturbing to me what he did to me and so many other people this is so much bigger than just me i mean it's such a etc horrific thing to happen and i stand here with all the other survivors that i have. you know that have been abused by larry and other people that have been abused by anyone but it's just it's disgusting it's like a bit of a lighter turn to finish with and perhaps the most popular clip from the australian

open tennis grand slam today as roger federer do with an unlikely post match interview or actor will ferrell. in the immortal words of wrong burgundy. scray to be here with two tennis legends roger federer and john mcintosh i. tonight you seemed like a like a gazelle out there on the court. would you describe your game as a silk you could. maybe. maybe not quick question roger you're thirty years old you seem ageless are you a witch or a family or. which ones are better exactly like probably a vampire. but does it get annoying when they just scream cannot rajha i am not shot over and over again.

they remind me of my name it's good until the age of the stuff or getting your own name sometimes it's great. i'll be back with more in the eight hundred g.m.t. hour back to folly now. thank you very much for that b.j. that will do it for today's news great remember to keep in touch with us on social media at all times ashton as ever a.j. thing is great join us again on the great tomorrow at fifteen hundred hours g.m.t. to stay with a phone not to fix. a

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fears for the people of the syrian border town after in as turkey sends troops to attack kurdish fighters.