facing reality growing up when did you realize that you were living in a special place the so-called secret city getting to the heart of the matter the mean maher government calls you a ping gullied terrorist hear their story on talk to al-jazeera at this time. celebrations in ethiopia after the release of an opposition leader and hundreds of other prisoners as part of a government. alone

daryn jordan this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up the white house chief of staff reportedly tells democrats the president trumps pledges on immigration during the election campaign one for. pope francis wades into a centuries old conflict and calling for unity in the struggle for indigenous rights and we take a dive into a unique cave in mexico could help shed some light on an ancient civilization. if you go here has freed an opposition leader is part of an amnesty of prisoners jailed of anti-government protests in twenty fifteen the read a good dinner was released with more than four hundred others in a move towards political reconciliation by the state has more. america dina is a hero to his supporters and thousands of excited well wishes for the guard of honor to restore his convoy to nine miles from the detention center on the

outskirts of paris ababa to his home in the nearby town of braille. the leader of the aroma federalist party had been arrested after returning from a visit to brussels a year ago was accused of collusion with outlawed groups a charge she always denied myself i have very violated while it is there no. former member of parliament and it was a construction in the low. power. i have been always you know respect things that. anyway it's good that them out. his freedom came as part of government efforts to stem a spreading wave of violence and unrest which flared up in twenty fifteen has claimed hundreds of lives and threatens the stability of one of africa's fastest growing economies and generally the third in a move into defusing the tension ethiopia's prime minister announced he would release many prominent dissident politicians always out without

a party in their members who will decide is it makes their weeks what to do the right road to do all was originally out to do is a government the call for national debt or if it is real in the honest the we are for it but amnesty international and other observers warn that a few high profile releases will not be enough the regime has to do more stories rescind this reckoning loz has to instill judicial reform this security sector reform a complete overhaul of the electoral system without this. i don't think the people will be satisfied thousands of prisoners of conscience are still in jail accused of prosecuted for protesting against the government in a statement the us embassy said it was encouraged by the latest releases paul brennan al-jazeera. well momma damer is founder and editor of pride dot com that's

an independent news website about ethiopia he says the release is a direct result of the rumor protests i think you know. a year ago i said i'm jailed fighting for my people my people were let me for free in does essentially what happened today i think what gives a lot of people of him is him is this the young population that is demanding it is right that he's asking for more in ethiopia faces a challenge where the purposes are not going away in it has pushed the ruling party to a corner where now there are divisions even within the governing coalition where. members of the ruling ethiopian people's democratic front essentially embracing the protesters demands and calling for reforms i think they charge power struggle within the party and the fact that there is an assertive younger

generation of leaders within the ruling party in the in the fact that the protesters and the young people who are taking to the streets in the minding their rights this gives people a lot of them isn't because one way or another change seems inevitable in ethiopia is just a matter of how soon it will come in the way we are going to see more chains at least twelve people have been killed in twin suicide attacks and nigeria the bombers targeted a market on the outskirts of my degree at least forty eight people were injured and in could do no status in northern nigeria government of kidnapped two americans and two canadians and killed two police officers. the white house chief of stuff has reportedly said president donald trump's campaign promises on immigration were uninformed u.s. leaders reporting john kerry made the comments while discussing immigration reform with democratic politicians they want guarantees to protect undocumented immigrants

before backing a spending bill to avoid a government shutdown is adjusted the way he's looked at the south asia strategy afghanistan he's a very definitely changed his attitude towards the doctor issue and even the wall once we briefed him when i was at the h.s. he has evolved in the way he's looked at things campaign to governing are two different things and this president is very very very flexible in terms of what is within the realm of the possible syria's main kurdish party the p y d's urging the u.n. to act quickly to protect kurdish controlled territory in the country's north the parties warning that one million people live in the enclave of afrin which turkey threatened to attack took his president reza typo and says an offensive will be known soon to push out kurdish forces. have gathered on the turkish side of the border and provide links the syrian y p g kurdish fighters to turkey's outlawed p k k which has fought for autonomy for decades strongly criticized the us and funding

the y.p. gene which has played a significant role in the battle against isis you know the u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson says he will take his concerns into account but in a speech about syria there was no talk of stopping support the kurdish groups. the united states hears and takes seriously their concerns are nato ally turkey we recognize the humanitarian contributions a military sacrifices turkey has made towards defeating isis towards their support of millions of syrian refugees it's stabilizing areas of syria it has helped liberate we must turkey's close cooperation in achieving a new future for syria that ensure security for syria's neighbors. north and south korea will march under a unified flood of the opening ceremony of next month's winter olympics also sealed a joint women's ice hockey team for the games in china and south korea follows the first title meeting between the north and south and more than two years but the

apparent reconciliation efforts are provoking some opposition in the south with several petitions filed against them because you know that joins us live now from the south korean capital seoul toughly so not all south koreans are happy with their government's new friendship with the north how are people that feeling well there and i think many would welcome any efforts that would bring about a more stable and peaceful situation here on the korean peninsula but some are not happy about certain aspects of this agreement that was reached for example in a recent poll only four out of ten people agreed that the two koreas should march under a unified korean peninsula flag at the opening ceremony questions have also been raised by some critics about the fact that south koreans will be going into north korea to participate in joint training at a ski resort that is a pet project of the leader there kim jong un saying that this might be helping to promote tourism at that ski resort but the government maintains that this is all

under the banner of its idea of peace olympics that it is bringing about a situation where they can be less worried about potential provocations coming out of north korea while its athletes and its delegates are here in south korea participating in the olympics and they want to kind of set up a situation where it is conducive to having a more cooperative relationship with the north and kathy how significant is all of this that. well it is significant if you look at the fact that but for these talks even just last week the two koreans were the two koreas were not speaking officially at all for more than two years and of course it follows this period of heightened tensions on the korean peninsula it also follows several more increasingly tense times because of north korean nuclear and missile tests but

critics are pointing to the fact that it's it is just about the olympics that this doesn't look at the bigger picture of denuclearization on the korean peninsula and at a meeting of foreign ministers in canada the japanese foreign minister was warning his counterparts to not be naive about north korea's intent and the message there in canada was that sanctions must be stopped too and now we have the u.s. president donald trump telling reuters that china is helping when it comes to sanctions against north korea but suggesting that perhaps russia is not and just recently his secretary of state rex tillerson seemed to repeat that suggestion saying it is apparent to us that they russia are not implementing all the sanctions and there is some evidence they may be frustrating some of the sanctions so the united states wants to continue to push this campaign of maximum pressure against north korea and against its nuclear program even as south korea wants to push

a message of peace dialogue and engagement with north korea derren thank you. israeli forces have killed a palestinian man during a raid in jenin in the occupied west bank a number of palestinians were also injured in gunfire israeli media linking the incident to the search for the killer of a rabbi who was shot dead a week ago a military court has ruled that a palestinian teenager who was filmed slapping an israeli soldier must be kept in custody until the trial video of the incident went viral on social media getting international attention. has more from outside the military courts in the occupied west bank. well i had to mimi is no stranger to this prefabricated courtroom inside the office military prison she came in looking relatively relaxed exchanging messages with her father who was sitting waiting for stretching out her legs crossing them at the ankles where they were cuffed together and she heard the judge in the case the military judge deny her bail pending her trial which was set for january thirty first the judge justifying that decision not so much talking about

the aggravated assault charges related to the slapping that was caught in that video which went viral and made her such a cause celeb among palestinians a point of humiliation for many israeli nationals who saw the soldiers being confronted in this way talking more about the words that she used in that video he said that she was calling for stabbing attacks for suicide bombings and that incitement required her to remain in custody throughout the duration of her trial lawyer said that she was very disappointed with this decision that the real meaning of those words were about the inevitability of such attacks after the declaration by donald trump recognizing as far as united states was concerned jerusalem as the capital of israel she also said that she was disappointed that her arguments had not been this into arguments such as israel's obligations under the convention of the rights of the child and what she said was unequal treatment of settlers and palestinians living in the occupied west bank as well as that the judge reminded

a heads mother nor a man in custody until the start of her trial on friday the six. also to coming on al-jazeera including why tech giant apple is bringing large sums of cash back to the u.s. and creating jobs to us. on a profit. while on the other broad group of wiring people who are hard not to. hello at the moment is still cold in kazakhstan and parts of north iran where the cloud moves away temps is actually going to start to rise the next action is coming to live and at the moment and turkey that's spinning up so it's going to increase the breeze from the southwest over eleven and seventeen in beirut probably was rain twelve in aleppo but equally is a bit of a suddenly breeze everywhere so we've got plus six in tashkent minus one or that

rises to just above freezing the following day so it has suddenly drift and temperatures start to rise at the same time we've got the sun reappearing in beirut destructs temperature was able to feel better aleppo's down to nine again the rains gone through an anchor's at plus one in the sunshine but look at the amount of snow potentially falling out of that for eastern turkey northern syria and probably georgia maybe armenia as well south of it all but a breeze blowing currently i think will weaken to answer the gulf temperatures a steady in the middle twenty's typically around about thirty in mecca not much in the way of tired in the sky except maybe in the southwest of saudi up in the mountains. in southern africa we have had some big showers recently in south africa but the persistent rains for the north and will last in zambia for example.

al-jazeera explores prominent figures of the twentieth century and how and why beliefs influence the course of history the souls that leave did not get enough credit for ending up but didn't want to be the big historical figure but he was mandela the biggest in the world the prisoner and the president who came together to end up apartheid in south africa nelson mandela and f.w. de klerk face to face at this time on al-jazeera. welcome back up at recap the top stories here now jazeera ethiopia has freed opposition leader that a patina was detained during anti-government protests and twenty fifteen the

government released more than four hundred of those as part of what it says is a national reconciliation. the white house chief of staff are supporters said president trumps campaign promises on immigration were uninformed u.s. media said john kerry made the comments while discussing immigration reform with democratic politicians. and north and south korea will march under a unified flag at the opening ceremony of next month's winter olympics but the apparent reconciliation efforts are opposed by many in the south with several petition was filed against this. the technology giant apple says it will expand its u.s. operations and create twenty thousand jobs it repatriates billions of dollars in money from overseas as being the cash back out of the trumpet ministration bought in new tax laws that benefit business jabatan she explains. apple has long been criticized for its huge cash pile of some two hundred fifty billion dollars that it made through its foreign subsidiaries but refused to repatriate to the u.s.

in order to avoid paying u.s. taxes that's ninety four percent of its total cash under the new tax bill passed at the end of last year apple and other multinationals got what they loaned one to a reduction in the tax rate on those holdings from thirty eight percent to fifteen and a half percent however apple has to pay that fifteen and a half percent whether it repaired trees the money or not on wednesday apple announced its tax bill will come to thirty eight billion dollars a saving of some forty two billion dollars according to analysts the company also announced it will open a new campus in the u.s. twenty thousand more employees and spend three hundred fifty billion dollars over the next five years this is really good from apple's p.r. without is out there talking about an innovation find jobs money back in the pockets of their employees money being repatriated so this is a win win all around however it's not clear whether the expansion plans are new and apple hasn't announced any changes to its manufacturing model which is based around

asian factories nor is it clear how much of its money at times to repatriate it all analysts say much of any repatriated money may go to paying down the ninety seven billion dollars in debt that it incurred as it rewarded its shareholders in stock buybacks and dividends and giving its shareholders even more billions of dollars and that could spark controversy without the announcement of the new campus and more job creation in the u.s. but as for those jobs at the new campus many will be in technical support no luck. the gnomes but according to reports they will be paid an average of thirty six thousand dollars a year other investments will be in expanded data centers around the u.s. warehouses for equipment break this is an announcement that should be capitalized on by president trump who criticized the company during the presidential election campaign. on wednesday the dow jones at forty six thousand points for the first time an indicator of the president is used to suggest

a booming economy has also hit a record closing price so it seems like a president's jobs plan is working as he laid it out tax reform tax cuts he wanted seem to be taking it affect him in a very meaningful way in that jobs are going to be coming back overseas and most importantly money that's been overseas is coming back but the main beneficiaries off the downs rally and apples announcement will be the minority of americans already raking in the cash from their stock market investments she average hansie al-jazeera. pope francis is urging chile's indigenous people to end violence in their struggle for more rights he celebrated mass in the region which is at the center of a sentry's old conflict with the government at least ten churches have been set ablaze in the air in the past week from tomorrow latin america at its atlas in human reports. this is how indigenous map which is pray with branches

and cries to the sun and the earth and it was with their traditional rites not the catholic churches that pope francis began his visit to chile's most rest of region . but. we can hear alco sing of a sorrow that cannot be silenced who said trees of injustices that everyone sees taking place. the pope dedicated his homily to the my pooches acknowledging that their blood was spilt on this very air base chosen for the papal ceremony and it is still being disputed by seven hundred families thousands walked long distances from all over the region to attend even from neighboring argentina but. we are separated by the end is mountains but we are the same people with the same demands for the return of our ancestral lands that were taken from us. but many couldn't get here because of barricades put up by massed groups who clocked access

roads but yet our region has been beaten by too many conflicts says the pope is closer to god than we are hopefully he can into seed and i will be have for peace. three catholic churches were targeted by arsonists in the lead up to the pope's visit no one is taking responsibility. here. but the vatican spokesman told al-jazeera the pope is not here to mediate the pope called for his to be recognized as people but he made no mention of the key issue of land rights instead he warned against confrontation and violence. violence begets violence destruction increases fragmentation and separation

violence can turn even the most just cause into a lie. francis is repeated he for unity is what many wanted to hear but it's unclear whether it will contribute to easing the centuries old dispute in chile's poorest region. nearly two and a half thousand refugees have been rescued off the coast of libya in the last week the numbers attempting to cross the mediterranean to reach europe are down from last year however say tele to rates remain high with at least two hundred refugees drowned in the first two weeks of twenty eighteen similar to this time last year. now the u.n. says more than half of somalia's population needs emergency aid because of conflict and a major drought millions of been forced from their homes and hundreds of thousands of children remain. the u.n. says it needs one point six billion dollars in extra funds to deal with the crisis smith reports. most somalis are finding it hard just to survive day to day after

more than four years of drought and the continuing war with faces. the u.n. says it just managed to stave off famine in somalia last year but with poor rains forecast again this year more intensive aid will be needed to help the one in every two somalis who are displaced by widespread fighting or together over the smaller than two million a fifth of the population one into somalia says displaced away from their home this is fueling suffering it is fairly the levels of humanitarian need and they do not harbor neighborhoods and their ways to survive for more than a decade fighters who are linked to al qaeda have been trying to take over somalia bombings in the capital mogadishu and conflict nationwide makes it hard for aid groups to introduce projects that will help the economy grow long term and reduce dependence on a war has to be

a long term war on how. we support. that we are not in the third rio responding was born in the rise of the threat from al shabaab gunmen remained significant despite being forced from much of the territory they controlled by forces from the somali army and the african union reduced funding means twenty one thousand a year troops are due to leave somalia by the end of twenty twenty somali government leaders say they don't have the resources to plug the gap those troops will leave that risks more instability and rather than a group's helping somalia become self-sufficient aid workers are struggling to keep the population from starving to death bernard smith al-jazeera. police in pakistan say a five year old girl was raped before being strangled to death in the country's northwest her body was discovered in a field on sunday close to the city of mark done there's been outrage in the country over the murder and rape of six year old zainab ansari cases cause

widespread protests with accusations of negligence on the part of the authorities but he said the rest of the suspect in the ansari case police in myanmar opened fire on buddhist protesters in rakhine state regional governments as seven people were killed at an event celebrating the ancient american kingdom it turned violent out the demonstrators were told they were not allowed to gather at a sensitive site now brigs it will figure prominently in talks when britain's prime minister to resign may meets france's president emmanuel micro in london later on thursday people on both sides of the english channel are worried about their livelihoods once the u.k. leaves the european union that question about the reports from the northern coast of france where there are big concerns. for generations the fishermen of billowing sylmar have fished freely in u.k. waters under european union rules the northern french port is only fifty kilometers from britain across the english channel the fishermen worry it will no longer be

possible after britain leaves the. remaining fission english waters at this time of year so that is taken away from us life would be very hard he is one of the thirty five thousand tonnes of fish that are landed here each year two thirds of from u.k. waters and don't forget also that five thousand people here live on the seafront in the street and in large estates the processing industry so if we don't get that that fish from the u.k. waters that would impact also that side of the industry. fishing leaders say that unless a deal is made people on both sides of the channel have much to lose or you measure if there was a hard brecht's it it could be difficult for the english to bring their fish to france about eighty percent of british fish and up on the european market mainly via france. who are currently in northern france rather always being close to the u.k. . so when the french president and british prime minister meet on prince right people

hear her that britain leaders will work to protect their interest is a link is crucial and read. in three and develop it. trying to convince those of us and the british around to do more. it's unclear at this stage which way the olds are stacked but they're all signs that paris and london wish to stay on good terms on the agenda for thursday summit the possible known of the bio tapestry to britain the eleventh century art work depicts invasion of england by french troops it has never left france if it crosses the english channel now the symbolism lost on no one natasha butler al-jazeera. now space scientists in japan have launched the world's smallest satellite carrying rocket after a failed attempt last year blasted off from the ocean or

a space center on a mission to collect images of the earth's surface engineers built the many rocket from used parts found in the home electronics devices and smartphones hoping similar low cost models will feel demand for small satellites. archeologists in mexico have discovered what's believed to be the largest underwater cave in the world the network of flooded tunnels and chambers is around three hundred fifty kilometers long and divers found human bones and pottery and hoping to use them to gain a better understanding of the mayan civilization bullshitters and reports. deep underneath the state of kin tunnel row in eastern mexico near the sandy beaches of ken kuhn the tourist resort on the caribbean coast scuba divers explore what they say is the world's longest and largest underwater cavern on the floor. stretching for three hundred forty seven kilometers the freshwater caves are known as sea not dead dust off hosts the maze of underwater channels is not only extensive but also deep up to

one hundred meters in some spots it's on the sea in the sea not these muscle meaning of the scene there are about two hundred underwater caves in the secretary a system which we thought could be connected but we were not sure of it so now we know about the collection and the flows of water while the city can put them into the way. that scientists think the kids were used as a source of fresh water during the ancient maya civilization divers began exploring the mayan aqua firs in the one nine hundred eighty s. mayans considered the cave sacred to the portal to talk with the gods in north down a northern me a mother yourself it gives us a wonderful perspective a new understanding of how the leaders of the ancient settlements and how the ancient mayans developed it allows us to understand more clearly the rituals and the pilgrimage sites and finally the great pretty hispanic settlements that we know of which run along this cave system. at the peak of their civilizations in the six

to ten centuries millions master agriculture mouths and the straw namie as well as building hospitals and sporting arenas and they're credited with creating calendars and discovering chocolate. mayans abandoned their cities around one thousand years ago when spanish explorers arrived hundreds of years later they found most cities overgrown. this discovery by divers deep underwater may shed more light on what happened above so long ago. al-jazeera. time for a quick recap of the top stories here ethiopia has freedom opposition leader as part of an amnesty of prisoners who were jailed in the anti-government protests in twenty fifteen there at the dina was released with more than four hundred others he's always denied violating the law his release is part of

a government drive for national political reconciliation the white house chief of staff has reportedly said president donald trump's campaign promises on immigration were uninformed u.s. media is reporting john kelly made the comments want to stressing immigration reforms with democratic politicians they want guarantees to protect undocumented immigrants before backing a spending bill to avoid a government shutdown is adjusted the way he's looked at the south asia strategy afghanistan he's a very definitely changed his attitude towards the darker issue and even the war once we briefed him when i was at the h.s. he has evolved in the way he's looked at things campaign to governing in two different things and this president is very very very flexible in terms of what is within the realm of the possible turkish tanks have gathered at the syrian border prompting cold for the united nations to act to protect kurdish controlled

territories million people live in the enclave of africa which turkey has threatened to attack on killing syrian kurdish fighters. in turkey. israeli forces have killed a palestinian man during a raid in janine in the occupied west bank the number of palestinians were also injured in the gunfire israeli media are linking the incident to the search for the killer of a rabbi who was shot dead a week ago and israeli military court has denied bail to the teenage activist i had to meet me sixteen year old was charged with assault and incitement after she was filmed slapping and hitting two soldiers in the occupied west bank a cousin who was also arrested following the incident was released earlier this month. north and south korea will march under a unified flag of the opening ceremony of next month's winter olympics they will also feel the joint women's eye soccer team for the games and young chang in south korea but the apparent reconciliation efforts are opposed by many in the south with

several for titian's filed against him. but those are the headlines the news continues here on al-jazeera after witness statement after watching after. we understand the differences and the similarities of cultures across the world. so no matter where you call her. al-jazeera will bring in the news and current affairs that matter to. al-jazeera.