local bus stops to virtually every station passengers clamber up the remaining seats people cram into whatever space they can find. two thousand people all together three times the officially limited capacity for those who want to able to find a place who can't afford a ticket there's always the routes. travelers have to remain alert a lapse in attention could be fatal. the danger comes not just from above. the moderate speed of thirty kilometers an hour a tree branch can cut like a machete. this is al jazeera live from studio fourteen here and. welcome to the olympics. south korea. at the

winter games opening ceremony in. a big step forward for korean relations right now we will have the latest live from seoul. the greater threat becomes. appreciation or respect for the given to the palestinians it's been. going to look at how much of an effect it will have on the u.n. agency which is looked after the spice palestinians for decades and after russia and then. there is a. twenty twenty six but the first if competition from a joint offering mexico canada and the united states. this. show you still has tagged aging expects.

you with a news great to live on air in streaming online through you tube facebook live and around zero dot com and in the past ninety minutes there's been a big development on the korean peninsula south korea's unification ministry has announced that north and south korea will march together at the opening ceremony of the olympic winter games in chiang next month this is a pretty big step forward and not just symbolically there's also going to be a joint women's ice hockey team it's going to be a ski resort in the north which will be used for training north korean supporters will travel to pyongyang to cheer on the athletes all of this announced after a third round of talks between the two sides it's late in seoul but we've got kathy novak with us to talk us through all of this and kathy i mean it's not the first time that we have had this sort of unification but certainly not under these sorts of circumstances and this amount of tension on the peninsula. absolutely it has

been quite some time since we've seen something like this and significant agreement if you consider the fact that before last week the two koreas hadn't had any official communication for more than two years and now you have them coming to this agreement to march together under the korean peninsula flag at the opening ceremony fully form a joint women's ice hockey team as you mentioned and significantly have joint training inside north korea that's happening at a ski resort of north korea which is known as kim jong un the leaders pet project there's also an agreement to have a joint cultural event not kumgang in north korea that's significant as well because south koreans haven't been able to visit that mountain for ten years since a south korean tourist was shot by a security guard in two thousand and eight and north korea has actually been pushing for some time to reopen this avenue for tourism from the south and to

welcome south koreans back to mt come down we see it as a site for some rare family reunions in the intervening period but this is a significant step forward and one that is likely to be welcomed by both sides as they try to promote this shift in this atmosphere of peace between the two koreas so does this also just that relations between the north and south are actually better than we might have thought i'm reminded of the fact that north korea said maybe about a week ago that our nuclear weapon their only pointed at the united states and it was a very pointed sort of comment but maybe all of this shows that combined with the winter games the seventy year anniversary of the two koreas might be things a bit of than we thought. that would be i think the hope of the south korean government that now there is a time for as president monday and has suggested a turning point for establishing peace on the korean peninsula look six skeptics certainly wouldn't go that far we heard just in the last twenty four hours from the

japanese foreign minister and a meeting of foreign ministers on the north korean issue in vancouver saying that the international community shouldn't be naive calling this a charm offensive by north korea and reminding the international community that north korea continues to develop its nuclear weapons program as that meeting was happening and these meetings those significant there have been three in the past two weeks have been focused solely on the winter olympics is something that south korea has wanted to talk about for some time and in the first round of talks one south korea did raise the issue of denuclearize ation north korea was not happy and it's also been talking in its state media about this issue of the suggestion that north korea might be trying to drive a wedge between the united states and south korea with these talks criticizing the united states criticizing u.s. president donald trump and as you mentioned just recently still reminding the u.s.

that its nuclear weapons are pointed at the united states so i think we are still some way away from having talks about denuclearization on the part of north korea but the hope from south korea certainly is that that may come in future beyond the winter olympics kathy novak in seoul thank you very much for that let's continue this with say one clue who is the managing editor of korea exposé he's joining us via skype from so we right to maybe temper some of this and not get too excited as kathy was pointing out this is all focusing on the winter games it's a good chance for there to be some unity but obviously winter games doesn't mean we're getting we're talking about denuclearization or anything like. say one that's come on here and can you hear me right it think we're having some problems i hear you now oh we've got to ok i'll shorten that question down this

time basically i'm saying should we gets too excited about all of this it is a step forward but i guess in one sense it's only the winter games as well we're not talking about denuclearization or anything you know we're not talking about to denuclearize ation and this is not the first time as the two koreas have tried to resolve it differences by participating together in the sporting event we've seen on into korean joins fourteen take place more than twenty five years ago will you've also seen two koreas marching side by side at the olympics specifically in two thousand it is in the olympics so let is really all of this going to change anything i guess as a symbolic gesture this is a good thing by in terms of real politics it will probably should not expect too much to have learned as a result of this sign of cooperation but what about as a springboard as an idea that it at least has got them talking they've held three

lots of talks in the last couple of weeks and it has resulted in something maybe it is the start of something just the start at least. yeah that is precisely how the south korean government looks at it and that is how it wants the international community to see it but at the end of the day one's lympics are over we're going to be back to the same situation we saw before we had a confrontation between will kill me on and washington the whole where whether north korea should have the right to possess nuclear arms washington has made it very clear that it should not have been under any circumstance and north korea has maintained that this is well within its rights so fundamentally i don't think the calculation really has changed but it does same time for the time being the tensions are certainly being lowered and i think people in south korea are letting out a certain cyo relief even though they do have some questions about what this all means is really going to cost south korea anything is north korea really engaging in this

gesture purely out of goodwill or is this going to entails an kind of financial cost say when just briefly how would you hear describe relations between north and south korea right now as i was saying to kathy our correspondent the north has been very came to say hey america is our enemy do you believe that that the two koreas are maybe cross that then we thought previously. as somebody who was born and raised in south korea i would tell you dead that is. the narrative that i have grown up with. many south koreans have been educated to believe that north and south korea are one nation their unification is inevitable by right now based on what we're hearing from the probably it seems dead the perceptions are changing people are starting to treat north korea more as an

opponent or at least a nuisance debt is very close by any of these engaging in these. you know frequent gestures of threats and and this is certainly not being seen by the south korean public as something that really affirms any kind of unity between the two parts of the peninsula so even though the olympics are a good thing i think ultimately people are questioning whether this really means something larger for the future of the peninsula ok say one quote thank you for your thoughts thanks for staying up for us as well there and so the history of the to korea's explained it out of there at a common when you actually look at how far apart they are you can see this but they're socially economically speaking as well it'll tell you the difference as you get a bit of perspective on as i say how far down and maybe this is at least a step forward for the two countries from morehead to the interactive section at al-jazeera dot com and search for two koreas. and get in touch with

us as well contact details coming up on screen again in fact plenty of you have already been getting in touch. on facebook has asked of this ever happened before hopefully you got that answer there from as they were talking about the fact that you know sydney olympics two thousand they marched together as well and they has been unification in the past tony is interesting said on facebook facebook dot com slash al-jazeera for the live stream all skeptics are just scared because they don't know how to react to this and it's probably a fair comment actually were sort of unstarted territories at least when tensions have been this high they probably haven't been the sort of reproach between the sides keep your thoughts coming through your questions your contributions the hash tag is a.j. news grid now for the first time in its history the un agency which provides funding for palestinian refugees says that very mandate is now under threat that is out of the trumpet ministration confirmed it is withholding over a huff the one hundred twenty five million dollars that had him up for the group is

a bit to explain here so we're going to start with the background on the second of january donald trump raised the subject in a two part tweet which actually it started by talking about aid to pakistan but he said we pay the palestinians hundreds of millions of dollars a year and get no appreciation or respect with the palestinians no longer willing to talk peace why should we make any of these massive future payments to them so that all set up and now that's exactly what's happened we'll start with this from imran khan who's reporting from ramallah they will hear from xenophobia and lebanon's berge refugee camp to see how the decision affects palestinians living there. it will be camps like these jalazone in the occupied west bank that will be affected most by the us decision to cut a refugee funding to the united nations relief and works agency otherwise known as . there isn't a household here that doesn't rely on whether it's health education a waste collection fifteen thousand refugees live here yeah it would be

a big problem with a lot on a lot if the agency wasn't here for just two days you would see thrashed by leg up . in places like gaza residents fear they will be left destitute because of the u.s. decision the israeli siege of gaza already creates acute shortages of food electricity and other essentials as well as causing high unemployment and infrastructure to crumble. i think you should have mercy on the people and belittling my husband isn't president i can't buy only eleven on syria jordan and elsewhere five million palestinian refugees are reliant on. the agency has a deficit and says this new cut further harms its operations we are going to be working relentlessly to extend the donor base to find other donors to come in to fill this gap because our sincere hope is that we will be able to maintain services to some of the most marginal and fragile communities vulnerable people in the

middle east we hope that regional security regional stability will not be threatened but that has to remain a risk in light of the u.s. reduction politically the palestinians say the u.s. is no longer a partner for peace this is another way sure does the heart of bend the thinking over there but as the leadership and it shows that we are parked. it shows the reading over the political progress of where the president and his administration would have come from to this issue it proved every day because of the euro zone and because of that another one u.s. president donald trump has already caused controversy nationally with the announcement that the u.s. embassy will move from tel aviv to jerusalem and that's angered palestinian president mahmoud abbas. learn here at this scenes of donald trump when he wrongly claimed that jerusalem is the capital of israel is a challenge to millions of muslims and christians this is favoritism for the sake

of the israeli occupation for the israeli crimes for the israeli attacks on our palestinian people this means that the u.s. has chosen to violate international law how can we trust has it been astray how can we trust this superpower we will never trust them again we will never accept them as mediators between us and the israelis the u.s. cut the funding has cemented the feeling here that the u.s. is now part of the problem and has picked the israeli side the u.s. president donald trump said he was looking for the deal of the century between the israelis and the palestinians or palestinians say that that deal is now history imraan khan al-jazeera jealousy in refugee camp in the occupied west bank. the lebanese government were all warning of the dire consequences for refugees the funding was cut now it has become a reality and people are worried palestinian refugees are poor as you can see they live in so-called camps neighborhoods and there's really no infrastructure and

palestinians are denied basic rights they're barred from working in many professions really is not a country. that has provided them with the services that they need that is why the refugees rely on. also run schools they provide relief they provide shelter to the refugees that is why many of them under what is our lifeline and already the organization was underfunded it had. a number of services already they. provide meals that doesn't exist any longer and. they provide the refugees living conditions. more than the palestinians. have left the country from four hundred fifty thousand the latest census shows that there are a hundred and seventy five thousand in lebanon many legally or illegally to europe

to find a better life so it's really a struggle living here many believe the decision to cut funding for an. administration to eliminate their right to return because gives them legitimacy. if . their case falls under. then they move to. third countries with the palestinian refugees is their right to return to their homeland. right before we speak to our guests just a little more background on this comes directly from the web site this is about where the money comes from and where the money goes up yes the u.s. is largest donor making up nearly thirty percent of its budget but you have got money coming in from all these these are the top ten donor countries and also down here interesting nongovernment stone as this one the foundation the realm of dread football foundation and here is the world diabetes foundation half of all these donations this is the important bit they go towards education that is on was

biggest project if you like out of all the other things there's also as you see here health support services relief and social services infrastructure all that but it's really education which will be the most important one there so we're going to talk to him about this head of the palestinian league for human rights an organization that helps palestinian syrians he's joining us from oxford so thank you for your time today as a man was pointing out in her report was already underfunded it now gets this hot how bad do you think the effect will be on its entire operation. thank you very much come all to be with you it's great to be with you again actually i am one of those refugees who studied at on a well funded school. this is how i managed to acquire all of my education my education that got me into oxford university i think it's effect is going to be especially in terms of the operations in syria because

a huge amount of on our budget the donation of the united states of america to underwear a huge amount of it went to syria of on a whopper a sions and there is no other donor even the second largest donor of the e.u. there is no other donor matches the donations of the united states especially in syria operation so the effect is going to be catastrophic especially for half a million syrian palestinians who are in refugee displaced inside syria and in the middle east can you go back to tell me about the school i'm quite fascinated by that your education through and now as you say you landed up at oxford university what was it like learning in one of those schools. well. growing up in the different refugee camps across the middle east on a war funds basic education for palestinian refugee kids from grade one to grade nine and basically it's that you kitchen that prepares us to go into syrian secondary schools and then syrian universities later on so basically these are schools some of them running

a double shift education. operations are basically where millions of. palestinian refugees were educated and as you highlighted in your report the vast majority are unaware are funding goes actually to to education but more so now with the syria with the syria crisis a big part of that is going to relief and aid a very vital relief and aid ninety eight ninety percent of palestinian refugees from syria and lebanon are living under poverty line so basically the effect is going to be very very massive but this i think it brings into the perspective other other major players that i think we should talk about and we should talk about the responsibility so. i made a point about the other countries who are involved. i guess you'd want them to step up and provide more if they can is it difficult to see that happening now the finitely. definitely i think i think there are two dimensions the first of an international dimension i think the e.u.

not only as the second largest donor of unaware but also as a measure broker in the middle east at large should also now step up its efforts in terms of the political dimension off of this whole unfolding because this because the genesis of this crisis is also a political one can send concerning the palestinian question at large but also more so i think it is time for it is a historic opportunity for the united kingdom government and the light of the anniversary of the year before the curation actually to address also one of the it's one of the most important and pressing issues in the region being it in mind the the place from where the palestinian refugees actually came from in the first place secondly i think there's also a regional dimension if you if you see in the governmental donors of the on a war the islamic development bank in two thousand and fifteen was one of the generous donors so i think also in terms of the regional players the arab states needs to scale up need to contribute more it's really embarrassing that only two

out of the only three out of the twenty major donors of the know are on the arab states so i think there's a lot of work to be done on the regional level excellent thank you for your expertise and your firsthand accounts of what it's like there really valuable from the u.s. so have a look at this on refunds crisis worries palestinian refugees it was actually written two and a half years ago a reporter's notebook from alvin amman correspondent. at a time when riches held a sit in at the group's headquarters in jordan the point i'm making is that we've talked about this funding is not a new problem and a lot of the issues there are still issues now including the antipathy towards the palestinian cause that something was just saying have a reporter's notebook there in the more section the more menu at al-jazeera dot com . now an israeli court has ruled that a palestinian teenager and her mother will be kept in custody until their trial sixteen year old i had to mimi was detained last month when a video of her slapping and hitting israeli soldiers went viral she faces

a prison sentence for assault starting throwing and incitements harry for so with the latest from off a military court in the occupied west bank. well ahead to me is no stranger to the pre-fab courtroom here at the offer military prison she came in looking relatively relaxed exchanging messages with her father and her legs out in front of her crossed where they were cuffed together at the ankle she heard the court though and in the form of the military judge say that releasing her in advance of her trial which was set for january thirty first would present a security danger to the israeli public he concentrated not so much on the assault charges and the slapping that was caught on video and made her such a cause celeb among palestinians and such a point of protest even humiliation and on the israeli public but on her words saying that she had incited other palestinian youths to carry out my post might attacks and even suicide bombings home responded that saying that totally

mischaracterized the nature of her words which were about the inevitability of such attacks talking taking place in the light of what donald trump and done in the clearing jerusalem the capital of israel as far as the united states was concerned she also said that she had hoped that the court would take account of israel's obligations under the convention of the rights of the child and her arguments about the unequal treatment given to settlers and palestinians in the occupied west bank in terms of how they're treated in the israeli military court system but she said that those arguments had fallen on deaf ears the judge indeed saying that the commercial rights of of the child were not a playable under military occupation in the occupied west bank her mother was also detained pending her trial which was shuttled referred to the sixth. and just staying in the region a moment longer will burn really the room in this one why is the israeli actress who played wonder woman trending today what's brought this on well there's been a lot of controversy around the name gal gadot but let's just explain this

particular incident today she's been selected as the beauty brand ambassador for revlon and the brand says that she's represented empowerment for women to express themselves with passion optimism strength and style but not everyone seems to agree with this following gotz appointment the creator of the muslim go online magazine among their rejected redlands changemaker awards and she explained on instagram that it was because get out was vocal in her support for the israeli defense forces actions in palestine now in a facebook post get out had used in twenty fourteen she wrote that she was praying for the israeli people i quote risking their lives protecting my country against her if it acts conducted by hamas who are hiding cowards behind women and children now in the recent award ceremony goddaughter a former i.d.f.

soldier herself will this stress by the lebanese designer. now again many were disappointed at the brand support for get off on instagram. and one you suppose this picture and i'll read the caption for you she said that i i don't have a problem with her wearing elie saab but i do have a problem with posting her picture from elie sabs account and bragging about an ex israeli soldier wearing the stress don't ruin one of the few things that make us proud to be lebanese people and the brand has since removed the picture now gal get out as reese her movie wonder woman was the highest superhero movie of all time directed and starred by women and although dot is seen as an inspiration for girls all around the world her movie was banned in lebanon because of her links to israel . so let us know what you think about the story is has. directly it's. pope francis is urging the indigenous people in chile to reject violence

whilst pushing their own course now three helicopters in a former catholic church was set on fire just hours before the pipe arrived in the outcome in a region whose stop there is seen as the most complex of his visits because it is at the center of a centuries old conflict with local groups here is the c. in human alice in america editors she is live in to move. the c.e.o. talk us through what's been happening today and then the gathering behind you. and hello come i would right now i think at the probably see behind me people leaving the mass it ended just a short while ago the pope has gone there were about one hundred thirty to one hundred forty thousand people here far less than what organizers had expected and when i asked one of the organizers why that was he and part blamed it on the fact that there had been barricades roadblocks put on some of the access roads by masked

people presumably radical indigenous activists to prevent people from arriving here this has been a controversial visit which has taken place on an air force base on land that is being claimed as ancestral by many in fact they have a lawsuit mounted and angered many but no one has claimed responsibility for these attacks on several churches leading up to the pope's arrival here it was a peaceful mass and the streaming into this controversial issue of the violence taking place here in the out by the region and of what he called the historic injustice against the my blue chip people he said that they had been suffered that they had been made to suffer that there was a lot of pain that their voices had to be heard and that their culture had to be recognized but he also had very harsh words for those who are. involved in acts of violence he said that violence makes it turns into a lie what is otherwise a just cause come out lucy

a thank you so much for that it's in human is to mco ensure they hope visits there and as i look at the live wall just now here in fact the the shots just change but let's pop this picture out here and we might hopefully see a change in picture this is the part leaving as lucy and human said he has left and now we just miss the shot before of the apartment below as it's known or is that it coming into view now this is the whole convoy going on here a lot of security as you can imagine a lot of people coming out to see pope francis in chile or right we'll leave that there and we will move one box over to sara live in london with more international news for us i've ever come out thank you well let's start in catalonia when new and returning members of the regional parliament have met for the first time since snap elections in december pro secession at raja torent was chosen as the new speaker but uncertainty remains over who the president could be separatist parties hold enough seats for a majority government and they want the former leader kallis pushed him out who is

in self-imposed exile in belgium to continue as leader a move that madrid says would be illegal has more now from barcelona. the first session of the new catalan parliament has now concluded and politicians accomplished their first main task that of the choosing a new parliamentary speaker that is such a strategic position because effectively he will be the one who sets the new political agenda moving food now asked widely expected it was the majority coalition of separatist parties those who favored this region breaking away from the rest of space who imposed their candidate not all those politicians who were elected in elections in december were able to take part today handful of them as still in spanish jails another group have fled to belgium to try and avoid charges of rebellion relating to the referendum on secession which was held back in october

the next task of parliament is going to be more difficult this could happen sometime over the next ten days and that is choosing the new head of the cattle and government the separatist party say that they want to reinstate the ousted leader who's demond currently in brussels but the opposition parties here in the catalan parliament have said they don't want a virtual president they won't accept that also at the same time the spanish prime minister mariano rajoy has said he will not accept calls to months candidacy and will once again impose direct rule on catalonia if that happens everything seems to suggest right now that the political crisis between catalonia and the central spanish government will. pakistan's opposition groups have gathered in a show of force in lahore to demand the chief minister of punjab province stepped down tens of thousands of demonstrators say that they want shahbaz sharif gone because of his alleged role in the killing of fourteen supporters of

a rival party in two thousand and fourteen at least one hundred others were injured when police fired on activists from the pakistan army tehreek party in the opposition groups a local stronghold the protests are being led by party leader at the hills country . a time military court has dismissed the case against a historian who was being prosecuted for insulting a sixteenth century king eighty five year old a select civil roxanna had questioned the official account of the king's role in a battle more than four hundred years ago the case was dropped for lack of evidence the scholar has welcomed the court's decision but refuses to apologize thailand's laws to protect the monarchy are some of the strictest in the world i stand by the fact i stand by did a truth. i don't stand by toes. and what i said was people to use their own pet theory and just to pass i didn't ask you to believe me i get them various

times it's all. right the historian as a scholar that's all i have to and that is it from london i'm going to have all of the day's news starting from six hundred g.m.t. now though it's back to come out in the ok thank you for that barbara if you're watching us at the news grid on facebook line we've got a story coming a few of one man who is so dedicated to the cause of the ranger refugees is actually started a school for them it's in malaysia doesn't even charge tuition so you can have a watch for that if you're on facebook live and then after the break villages living in pappu or a remote eastern province of indonesia say they are dying of neglect the areas suffering from amazing as outbreak of hunger crisis we're going to look at how the indonesian government is responding.

how low we've got some nasty weather pushing into the eastern med over the next couple of days that present we have got a fair amount of cloud just coming into us cyprus easing over towards syria lebanon jordan we can expect to see some very heavy showers longer spells of rain coming through here and over the high ground ferro dusting of snow was well that will make its way further eastward temperatures of anything falling back behind aleppo struggling to get to around nine degrees celsius hopefully by this stage though for lebanon and jordan it should turn a little drier and brighter to the east of our rain bad it should be fine and dry be connived as that heavy rain even making its way across much of northern iraq said baghdad will see some wet weather that it was brings with the possibility of some flooding problems across the great information i find in try here over the next few days temperatures in doha getting up to a pleasant twenty four degrees celsius little bit of a brace a possibility of a little bit of dust and sand flying around here meanwhile we still got some very

high and heavy rain into northern parts of mozambique not to millimeters of rain here in twenty four hours it's not really going anywhere too quickly either you can see the showers the cloud that stays in place as we go on through day into friday more big downpours coming through and some heavy rain for northern parts of madagascar. i am doing this for the benefit of saddam people. so they see the important. witness documentaries that open your eyes. at this time on al-jazeera.

al-jazeera as their want us to embrace the good schools of it to see what happens next iteration. of it if fired by the family or square model barricade of the full seven streets that lead to here the movies now it's been all about change people have gone past the fear barrier the mission of the national army is to search the entire the oil company x. and i'll just your stories about telling it from the people's perspective what they think is happening in their cultural. bias.

from a quick look at what's trending top story that. and we brought you with our face a little bit earlier about the sixteen year old palestinian go to one main in prison stuff there on bitcoin on iran. four year old write the string of the date in pakistan. it's a real mix of stories there some of them are a bit grim i will say that as well but always something new and interesting for you to look at it on to see the doc. and hong kong to pro democracy activists deciding jail sentences of between fourteen and eighteen weeks

for vera roles in the protests more than three years ago the judge rejected a request for joshua and rafael wang to be released on bail while they appeal the details now from the problem. oh i know now it's becoming a familiar sight because i'm off to see activists and foremost chidden leaders in court to face charges stemming from the so-called umbrello are all key pipe protests four years ago one of the best known faces of hong kong to mock prosy movement joshua long is facing more jail time this time for three months up to pleading guilty to criminal contempt thank you a lot of money but they have no mind when we look at how is it from we've become famous presidents that it's a question of going out to fight for democracy and i found her running the other activists sentenced to four and a half months prison is rafael wong he's now the vice chairman of her pro-democracy party i think the government is using the war as

a tool against protesters and to punish activists think it will solve political problem that's the real contempt of court ever in all sixteen demonstrators were arrested in the vendor twenty fourteen for refusing to leave a protest zone being cleared by police the high court judge said even though joshua long had only spent ninety minutes in the protest area his involvement in obstructing the clearance operation was deep and extensive the judge said therefore the only appropriate punishment was immediate imprisonment a series of trials timing from the twenty fourteen pro-democracy demonstrations have been held in the past year and many more are scheduled this year so far about one hundred leading activists are in jail are facing the prospect of prison sentences critics say the prosecutions are an attempt to stifle hong kong's to marcus e movement the seventy nine day long demonstrations in twenty fourteen defines hong kong's fight for democracy the other fourteen activists in court received suspended sentences or finds only joshua long and rafael long remain politically active they

are also the only two who are going to jail criminal concern is always there a serious matter but i'm also surprised at the same time at the. the lengths that these young guys would be getting that would mean and then to their political career an aspiration and at a time when hong kong need these young people to be in parliament to be doing political african see for hong kong joshua once known as one of hong kong first political prisoners he's already spent two months locked up on separate charges as he heads back to jail it's a label that's not likely to go away leaving a palin hometown. joshua wong is a fascinating character around six months ago a china correspondent adrian brown spoke to him for an edition of talk to al-jazeera part of a wider look at hong kong and the effect of twenty years of chinese rule talk to our busier in studio and in the field it is in the show's section at al-jazeera dot

com now the united nations security council is renewing its support for war ravaged afghanistan a u.n. delegation including the u.s. ambassador nikki haley visited the capital kabul earlier this week the first time in more than seven years they voiced concern over the security situation where al qaeda i saw and other armed groups all have a presence month the security council called for consolidating regional efforts for peace in afghanistan let's go to james bates diplomatic editor joining us from u.n. headquarters in new york what more is nikki haley had to say after this visit. well her and other ambassadors have been briefing the security council on this visit that had been kept secret as you say kemal the first visit since two thousand and ten i was there in kabul in two thousand and ten it was the last days of general stanley mcchrystal as the general in charge of troops in afghanistan he was

about to have to resign at that point it was the beginning of the u.s. surge and at that time they got of actually to about one hundred forty thousand u.s. and nato troops now they're down to about a tenth of that so the security council reassessing the situation nikki haley saying the fact that president trump has added a few troops to the u.s. number this summer has turned things around in afghanistan very positive about that but i think the thing that caught my eye the most was the fact that the very first thing that nikki haley mentioned as she discussed all the aspects of the situation in afghanistan was talking to the taliban and she said no quote we think the taliban coming to the talks is very important now contrast those comments today with president trump's comments when he announced that troop surge in august he said these killers need to know they have nowhere to hide there is no where beyond the reach of american might american arms retribution will be fast the president

then went on some day after an affective military effort perhaps it will be possible to have a political settlement that include clued elements of the taliban in afghanistan but nobody knows if or when that will happen it seems a very different emphasis coming from the u.s. u.s. ambassador to the united nations after this short trip to afghanistan area interesting thank you for that james bays that baze on the road on twitter if you want to connect with him now ethiopia has released the first batch of prisoners detained following the political unrest there back in two thousand and fifteen twenty six think one hundred fifteen people were freed including a high profile opposition leader met at a good dinner on monday the o.p.'s attorney general announced charges against more than five hundred detainees being brought under the people they were killed in a crackdown on protests by the country's or more people he said they had been excluded. from ethiopia we're i've got mohammed joe with me here in the studio to talk to us i've been following this and can you put those numbers into perspective

for me the one hundred fifteen and then onward from there. the first bunch of prisoners that the prime minister promised will be released but at least one hundred fifty five hundred and twenty seven more are expected to be released in the coming months but one makes this unprecedented what message is he and what makes many ethiopians celebrate the whole thing it's not just the release of these five hundred twenty seven prisoners because this is a drop in the ocean compared to the tens of thousands others still behind bars in various parts of the country it is the intention to close the mek prison and notorious plot in the heart of what the suburb that's been used for the past fifty years that has many people excited so why do all this now as we said the protests were twenty fifteen twenty sixteen watts and still ongoing and still ok and so

what's changed. well this is partly to quell bourse disturbances and the riots we've seen in the protests we've seen particularly in only your region and i'm her region the two regions inhabited by the two main purpose communities in the country so that is the but it also shows a winning in this. within the government probably led by the new prime minister while i'm in the lead for change that the ruling. party cannot continue to. lead ethiopia's a one party state and that these need for reform again if you look here is one of the. most robust economists in africa it's been growing up a possum for more than a decade so fur and it's positioning itself as a hub for all industries from all over the world to come and particularly produce

textiles it has a population of one hundred million people most of them poor jobless and this is one of the reasons why it's trying to reform and open up space so that eternal truck for investment trysting ok thank you for that update muhammad ali joining us here thank you now let's put a date in the diary april twenty second this is important if you live in capetown south africa and you've probably heard about this actually the day that the city is expected to run out of water. take us through this one unfortunately it is now in ninety days cape town may become the first city in the world to dry out now an unusual dry went to has appeared at the city's water reserves and this is concerning residents as well as business owners. i think days here is going to happen where the government wants to do it or not i think the water is going to run out and am. i at three scary to think all right i think it's a reality and. we do we did maybe have to do our part to use as less as as little

whatever possible we were going. in the last twenty years. because of. this predicament. other than to. the switch of all the taps they're all and countries in this world. that are always to do with with drought and with desert regions. in respect of the action now the crisis is so steep that some of the downs levels are below twenty percent and half of what they had before compared to last year's values. the is the waters kloof down for example is down to fifteen percent of its capacity and this is how it looks in twenty fourteen. twenty fifteen as

well and twenty sixteen and now currently in twenty eighteen now the city mayor and the water sanitation minister have both warned that unless behaviors change by april twenty second of this year water will be rationed and only available at collection points and limits it's just twenty five liters per person per day the situation there deteriorated significantly from last year and this is a consequence we had to intensify big levels of. we know that there was been gape you look a good you know and early you know we would be highly dependent on. for . so there is no possibility two of you have been doing this time is becoming very critical now it is becoming a crisis situation. and build hot days like this and we do see one

percent of our dams one point five every week while we are working as hard as we can to bring additional water on board capetonians must i'll say for. now cape town has a four hundred thousand residents many have swimming pools and sprinkler systems and almost two million tourists visit every year but going through the worst round in a century has just proven to be too much now the city has implemented some strict waste restrictions for drinking water such as no washing pavements or vehicles no irrigation watering or filling pools as well and there's a limit to toilet flushes and only two minutes showers there will also be fines for those who use water and access now the goal is to limit domestic use of water to eighty seven liters a day but only thirty nine percent off capetonians are using less than that and the

governments have created quite a useful calculates a hit that tells you how much water you're actually using taking into account. for example things like how long are showering or how many times you cook in a day so if you're currently in cape town and want to find out how you can curb what used to let us know as well connects us using the hashtag news would be directly after him on that. limited toilet flushes going to make we've got a story plus now it's about child soldiers of the lord's resistance army in uganda very serious topic but also a look at how music is relieving some of the traumatic experiences of a. defilement realize that somebody is now trying to speak with you in all tucked.

into groups they should be able to speak it but through music because over to express.

just looking a bit of breaking news coming off the wires here out of nigeria twin suicide bombing in my degree which i recall correctly is in the northeast of the country one of the areas which has seen a lot of violence unfortunately we're hearing eleven people killed and thirty four injured twin suicide bombings in my degree not much more information at the moment but we will bring you more when we have it in the meantime i'm going to turn. right over here andy richardson sports well the world cup gunboats africa and what we're talking about in june of this year for was governing body will decide where the twenty twenty six world cup is to be played a joint bid from the u.s. mexico and canada is the front runner with morocco it's only rival right now the

countries hosting the african nations championship but morocco has its eyes on the far bigger prize somehow mouche reports from casablanca. these were the scenes eight years ago when south africa hosted the world cup and in eight years the continent it could once again welcome football's biggest showpiece. morrocco has surprised everyone no with their last minute bid to organize the twenty twenty six edition and the man in charge of african football has given the country his full backing. synagogue and this is the hope and dreams and has it is unfair that a great continent like africa has only been allowed to organize one world cup in a century i think it is legitimate for us to want one of our countries to make this commitment and i'm myself as a president and committed to join in this bid and. the twenty twenty sixth edition there is the first expanded the world cup consisting of forty eight countries this

newly renovated one hundred the fifth stadium here in cousin blanka could be a showpiece venue but morocco has to prove it can handle such a big event it's building a good track record right now by hosting the continent second biggest tournament the african nations championship it's also staged the bigger africa cup of nations and the francophone games which featured one thousand seven hundred athletes and although morocco faces a stiff competition from a joint usa canada and mexico bid this confidence within the country that they can deliver the debate which we are facing is is is very hard you know we are competing against strong economies we are competing against america canada and mexico but then as i said. so to system has changed a lot of things have changed world also has has changed during the last years

basically in terms of infrastructure we are seeing more and more developments in the north african country has already had full failed bids you know. we see that morocco has perfectly organized the african nations championship and it can host the world cup in twenty twenty six moroccan football is on the rise russia twenty eighteen will be the first world cup for twenty years and they'll be hoping they can make it fifth time lucky with this bit. of sun how much al-jazeera casablanca world. well joining us from accra in ghana is one of africa's most prominent football rights is gary al smith very great to have you with us as ever just tell us how serious this bit is and if it has a realistic chance of winning the rights for twenty twenty six well i mean it couldn't be more serious than the fact that morocco has good for every single world cup since their last three at the sions were held so that tells you how serious

they out they've also made moves beyond the world cup to put themselves on the protest the way africa exam was seriously i mean our own these parts were very long time people have feel about especially how it felt more european than african and but in the last two years from a political economic point of view this seemed to be making moves to ensure that every cup feels part of the astoria which is why i like someone who said frank i'm glad i got the utmost in the african nations championships going on now to carry would you say that africa has a consonant is united behind the moroccan bid well i don't think we can really cares whether all comers but those along us it's on african soil i mean like the president of color said in that piece you have there that continent as was that it was in that century anyway and i'm freakout where that one cup company has that will be a great boon and definitely the continent from what i feel will be out in the country and what about the commercial competition can morocco compete with that bid

from north america. well what a lot of people say is that margo is essentially europe i mean go from there not to the south to get east to the west it's basically tourist magnet and you can't ask for more than that with the same argument that was made for south africa and morocco or commercial you can't do that if you look at all the kid manufacturers all the big. food manufacturers are all from i don't want to keep see anything you've got going to europe or north africa it's likely you can't get anywhere or as well so from the outside i don't think it's a problem at all and my report on france get more got them all and are telling me that even if they're all wanted to be hosted now today in morocco they can be ready for it ariel smith joining us there from accra in ghana thanks as ever gary for the insights into the ongoing work of greats will get a decision on those bits in june just ahead of the world cup let us know what you

think use the hash tag a news crew tweet me directly on and they are underscore sport more for me in the eight hundred new sabbath and now let's get back to come on lovely thank you very much for that and in that will do it for this newsgroup that's how you get in touch with us and he says hashtag a genius for twitter facebook and what's happening all up and running whenever you want to get in touch with us do it send us a story ideas send us your comments in this you questions we're always looking for your feedback and we'll see you back here in studio fourteen fifteen hundred hours g.m.t. that's. the

scene for us whether online what is american sign in yemen that peace is always possible but it never happens not because the situation is complicated but because no one cares or if you join us on sat there are people that that are choosing between buying medication and eating base is a dialogue i want to get in one more comment because this is someone who's an activist just posted a story join the global conversation at this time on al-jazeera. al-jazeera. every year. news has never been more available it's

a constant barrage of it with every day but the message is simplistic you have the brain good logical rational person crazy monster and misinformation is rife dismissal and does not hold well documented accusations and evidence is part of genocide the listening post provides a critical counterpoint challenging mainstream media narratives at this time on al-jazeera. north and south korea agree to march together under one flag at the winter olympics and field a joint ice hockey team.