getting to the heart of the matter the me and maher government calls you a gringo lead terrorist hear their story on talk to al-jazeera at this time. from satellite technology to three d. printing and recycled waste to solar powered classrooms africa is transforming young innovators are propelling change building communities creating employment and solving problems they're challenging systems and shaping you want it's about creative thinkers shaping their continent's future innovate africa at this time on al-jazeera. a ceasefire goes into effect in the last remaining syrian rebel stronghold near

damascus we're waiting for a news conference with syrian opposition leaders in vienna will take that live. hello i'm adrian fit again this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up we'll get a first look inside the ritz carlton hotel in riyadh where saudi billionaire prince albert he'd been to allow others of being held he says he'll be cleared of corruption charges within days plus. an uncensored gene my former flan well i still respect or. don't want to hear that u.s. diplomat bill richardson calls me an ass lead up powerless and afraid of the bill a free hand. china's ban on ivory forces craftsman to find new ways to use their skills.

against those stories in just a moment but first some breaking news out of afghanistan there's been an explosion in the capital kabul that happened close to the old interior ministry and several embassies these are the latest pictures from the area we understand that been several casualties it comes just a week after an attack on the intercontinental hotel in the city lived out of kabul and al-jazeera isabella shah who. what more can you tell us. they're doing it was nonstop here in kabul and the really big calm day a sunny day but. that the city was jolted with with a heavy explosion we could feel that the doors were slammed here we were like kilometers away from this explosion site now we spoke to some police sources there that they're telling us that they explosion happened on the road to the old into

did ministry a building now there are two checkpoints heavy guarded checkpoints now the secure the police source telling us that the suicide bomber it's a suicide car bombing that sousa car bomber has passed the first security checkpoint and has degenerated his. his explosive just right at the second checkpoint where on the left side of this checkpoint there is a school. and there is a high peace council a building now the source telling us that there are a number of casualties we still hear sirens of ambulances now it was. this is crowded with the with with the school with lots of. print printing press businesses people an office is private over this is it's a very crowded where this attack happened now the question is that how could the

suicide car bomber get through the first security barrier and then. did to meet his explosive at the second security checkpoint. dominate thanks indeed. a ceasefire has gone into effect in syria's besieged area of eastern ghouta near the capital damascus it was brokered by russia the area is the last remaining rebel stronghold there damascus has been under siege by government forces for almost five years it comes the syrian opposition members say they will boycott talks that russia is hosting in sochi next week decision was announced at the u.n. sponsored negotiations in vienna which have been extended for a day that there's been no breakthrough they're about to hold a news conference there meanwhile turkish forces continue their operation against kurdish fighters in affray in northern syria forcing thousands from their homes the violence has increased tension with the u.s. which supports the kurdish y.p. g.

forces in that area as they battle eisel let's go live now to an attack here draw this all together with al-jazeera stephanie decker starting step with that cease fire in eastern guta is it holding. well as of now it's exactly twelve hours it came into effect at midnight local time it seems to be but again it's early days in age and there are some groups inside that rebel held area that are not signed up to this cease fire so i think you know regardless of what is agreed on politically thousands of kilometers away we need to see how things unfold on the ground the humanitarian situation inside this area is dire the u.n. says four hundred thousand people they say it's the case of worst malnutrition that is being suffered there in this war because the siege has been so intense so let's see how it unfolds these cease fires have happened before it goes to a relative period of calm and then the fighting starts again particular we've seen

over the last two months or so bombardment from damascus and russia moving on quickly to the front that is closer to where we are turkey and it's eight days the first time major in that the weather is cleared somewhat not sure if that's going to have an effect on the fighting on the ground because it's been very very rainy and foggy now turkey is been keen to show the media its side of operations they took some of us inside to as this is a syrian city south of the border yesterday myself and join them on that and it was a good opportunity to see what life is like for people inside city. as we enter syria it is the free syrian army flag flies high here we are on a media trip into as organized by the turkish authorities they take us close to where there's been fighting with y.p. ji the kurdish armed group turkey calls a terrorist organization turkish forces are trying to push it out of the region

about the front line is just a few kilometers west of here both turkish troops and the free syrian army are taking part but no not particularly one of the f.s.a. fighters why he is involved in turkey's operation for some it seems it's personal. the love of the room. because they betrayed us and especially because they took. the displaced along with many. of the. conditions especially now in the winter. what our target courts are telling us is that the front line with the kurdish fighters is just further along. which is over to the side where there's been fighting but what is clear here on the outskirts of city is how much of a presence they are of course supporting the free syrian army fighters and syrian rebels that are already taking a large part in this operation that turkey has undertaken against. the wall while

we were here two bullets whizzed overhead. and we're told. to blame for this. sort of the you know they shot at us and our tires. are. pushed out of here in two thousand and fourteen but life remains difficult as her has to provide for thirteen members of her family she tells us she is. war has now become the norm she says. people are used to the shelling and the explosions the young children are still scared but we've been facing this for a few years now we're not afraid anymore. there is hardly any electricity here generators are the only way to get light or heat in the winter rain has left the streets thick with mud. the black paint on this will be for sale.

it seems some still dream of moving on from here. the landscape in this part of syria is dotted with tents millions of syrians are made homeless in their own country. we've been here for three years in the tent has never been fixed because of the ryan the tent leaks and there are seven people in one tent a situation is terrible. this is a country ripped apart by almost seven years of war millions of syrians have had to leave their lives behind. and as the years go by the war simply seems to change its form the guns seemingly impossible to silence. well as we wait for that press conference from the syrian opposition who we believe of said that they're going to be boycotting the which is the talks coming up in russia next week one really has to question what is happening at all these talks u.n. sponsored russia they've been going on for years adrian and this war simply drags

on it changes form you know the protagonists if you will the international players far more keen on establishing there are interests inside syria rather than finding any political solution it certainly is the military option that keeps doing all the talking for now all right stephanie thanks. for that reporting live from antarctica . billionaire saudi prince says that he'll be cleared of corruption charges within days he gave an interview to the reuters news agency inside the ritz carlton hotel in riyadh where he's been held since november along with many others these are some of the first images from inside the building the saudi attorney general says that many have already been released after paying settlements will prince all will have been to allow is confident that he'll be free soon. there's something no charges ok just i'm disgusted with him in the you know i mean but the rest assured that this is this is a clean operation that we have and we're just in discussion with the government on

various matters and that i can't divulge right now because we are coming into discussion with them but there's there should be at the end of the whole story and we may go back to because you know i mean my country i mean my kitty i feel torn to the bottom of the analyst well one couple on says that saudi arabia is desperately trying to raise revenue. i think there are two things here it's about money because the saudi. government is facing financial difficulties because of the collapse of the oil prices over the past few years. and is having very ambitious economic plan actually from the kingdom so he needs the cash money in order to do with this project but this is not the only issue the other issue in my opinion here is that he's trying to create a popular support for him because all these people are in fact corrupt so when he goes after these big fishes this big fish in saudi society and those have been.

pointed out for many many years as the heads of corruption i think he's trying to build this sort of popularity and presenting arms of this i would be would with the outside community as a form of and. i think that is the second the second factor in this in this whole campaign a weather update next to syria then we'll take you to honduras where security is tight ahead of saturday's inauguration of the reelected president quite a lot of protesters though say the vote was for dylan plus. they're making it up that they let me go they were begging me to stay u.s. diplomat bill richardson denies that he was asked by me and asked government to step down from a report on the edge of crisis we'll tell you. hello

there is throwing it down for some of us in the philippines at the moment we're seeing some really very very heavy rain see this area of cloud to gradually working its way towards the west still intensifying as it does so and that's what's giving a very heavy rain that system is going to be pushing a little bit further towards the west on sunday so force in the philippines the rains should begin to ease further south though and we're seeing lots of clouds gather over job for some of us here it looks pretty wet even as we head through into monday looks very very wet there further north so just a handful of showers if you're unlucky in singapore and k.l. and over towards australia we're seeing lots of weather across many parts of the north at the moment look at all these bright white clouds here the rain has been very heavy over the last week or so in fact daryn i see ninety nine millimeters of rain just in the last twenty four hours bringing our total for the month up to four hundred ninety six millimeters which is seventy over the average though we've seen

a lot of weather here most of it for the just in the last six days or so plenty more still to come as we head through sunday and monday so stay wet here different for us down in the southeast though very very hot here forty in adelaide but it all changes as the cold front pushes through and all monday is twenty seven. on counting the cost the problem with every day is the rich and famous discussed making the world a better place but who moves are afoot to open up and travel across the african continent plus the link between seafood forced labor in thailand counting the cost at this time on al jazeera.

again the top stories this hour on al-jazeera there's been a suicide car bombing in the afghan capital kabul it happened near the old interior ministry building at least eighteen people are reported to been injured that comes a week after the attack on the intercontinental hotel in the city. a cease fire brokered by russia has gone into effect to the rebel held area of. syria's capital damascus nearly four hundred thousand people live in the region that's been besieged by government fighters for almost five years now. and billionaire saudi prince albert had been told all says that he'll be cleared of corruption charges within days he gave an interview to the reuters news agency inside the ritz carlton

hotel in riyadh ways been held since november along with many other prominent business. this concert over the planned return some of the refugees from bangladesh to me and government leaders in may and monster repatriation centers in rakhine state were open and ready to receive some of them as of tuesday but across the border bangladeshi officials say that paperwork for the refugees is incomplete it comes as a former u.s. diplomat resigned from an advisory council after a heated exchange with leader aung san suu kyi bill richardson said he feared the crisis was being whitewashed me and mark uses him of pursuing his own agenda well bill richardson told of zero that he resigned from the hinge advisory council of his own accord. they're making it up that they let me go they were begging me to state a national security advisor ute on that last night i was there. what they said was that in public statements that i was pursuing my own agenda yeah my own agenda

was basically follow the kofi annan recommendations do something about the refugees stop the human rights atrocities release the two journalists that were detained because freedom of the press is a bedrock of democracy and a kofi anon recommendation of finding out what's going on yeah i was outspoken and unsung suchi my former friend well i still respect or didn't want to hear that this this commission was a whitewash she doesn't want to show moral leadership because she's afraid of the military the military has enormous power there. she says there's a separation of constitutional rights between the military and her she doesn't want to offend them she doesn't want to take them on but she should say to the military we're in a terrible mess stop these atrocities allow these refugees to move forward don't do

mass graves find ways to stop the human rights violations she's unwilling to take on a very powerful entity and that's the military all remaining members of the u.s. gymnastics board have agreed to step down off to form a team doctor was jailed for sexually abusing female athletes the esthetics directed michigan state university when asa wook also quizzed the university is now the focus of a federal investigation has died estabrook reports. one day after the u.s. olympic committee sent this letter demanding the resignation of the full usa gymnastics board all remaining members step down the u.s.o.c. threatened to strip the group of its power following wednesday sentence of dr larry nasser i just find you get boring the physician for the u.s. women's gymnastics team and michigan state university pleaded guilty to sexually abusing seven women athletes to be easy on the campus of michigan university friday

evening outrage students demonstrated over nasser and the school's potential complicity in the case just hours earlier a michigan state's athletic director announced his retirement i don't want anyone to perceive that i'm walking away i'm walking forward and walking forward in a way that based upon my deep assessment. gives the survivors first and foremost the sephardic department this university in my family an opportunity. to healing and step forward michigan state already faces more than one hundred thirty lawsuits from women and girls michigan's governor and attorney general say they are launching separate investigations u.s. education secretary betsy divorce says her department is also investigating i think there's going to be a broader look not just at gymnastics i wouldn't be surprised if the n.c.

double a which is the organization that oversees collegiate collegiate sports at large in the united states is under scrutiny as well here by the time it's all over with nearly one hundred fifty women have accused nasser of sexually abusing them including a limpet gold medalist ellie raisman who wants more answers this is bigger than larry nasser we have to get to the bottom of how this disaster happened if we don't figure out how it did we can't be confident that it won't happen again there could also be financial consequences for both michigan state and usa gymnastics the school could lose millions of dollars in donations usa gymnastics could lose millions in sponsorships dion estabrook al-jazeera when he saw in that report there was less his king who is a serious set of stuff writer for roll call he says that there will soon be stricter regulations in sports bodies. well i think that the first thing that we're

going to see on capitol hill is that early as the beginning of next week they're going to try and pass it least some legislation that will move in the right direction incrementally in terms of making it so that you're required if you're an organization like usa gymnastics or anything else that falls under the umbrella of the u.s. olympic committee to at least report to the proper authorities when you have allegations of sexual abuse it is a long undertaking if this investigation by the the energy and commerce panel or the house of representatives or anything that the senate might do actually goes on it seems like it could be similar to the investigations into steroids use in major league baseball in the united states which went on for years african union leaders are gathering in ethiopia of head of a major some is set to discuss ways to tackle the flow of refugees and migrants to

europe as part of a series leading up to the summit nicholas hunk reports now from dhaka why people there are so determined to leave yusuf in the us doesn't want to be here he's tried twice to go to france and failed both times. now he wants to go again he says he deserves a better life. if you do a new benefit me i'm a father my family depend on me i decided to leave senegal because my degrees and diplomas seem useless here. as a child he thought he would play professional football in europe instead he went to university and became a nineteen to near hoping to find work at home. but here in senegal he never found a full time job. my parents sold whatever they want to pay for my education they've never asked me to pay them back but i know i owed them because they have suffered for me and i'm ready to suffer for them and so is preparing to travel

again by road and see to the shores of europe despite joint efforts by police forces and coast guard from both european and african countries the trafficking of migrants and refugees continues. the u.n. estimates the people smuggling trade to be worth more than thirty five billion dollars a year and it's booming. more than three thousand people died last year most of them were african. and there are no official numbers of migrants have actually made it to europe some have drowned in the mediterranean others have died of thirst hunger in the desert and then there are those who have been taken as slaves. we were sold by senegalese traffickers not arabs our own brother has sold us to the arabs my family had to pay fifteen hundred dollars to free me. this is against his brother senegalese rapper who made it to france he paid for us to be freed and

sends money back to his family in this song he explains why so many want to leave africa he says it's the shame of not being able to support your children your parents is the shame of seeing your loved ones are able to eat the shame of a lead unable to provide for their family that pushes them to leave. and i feel like a slave here too and i feel stuck unable to get out of my current situation all i want is to be like my brother to be someone my family can depend on most africans wanting to go to europe legally get their visa application rejected. yes his family agreed to pay traffickers for his latest trip through morocco to spain it's a journey worth the risks he says whence again he packed his bag ready to go because hawk al jazeera the car but as well as opposition leaders have condemned the supreme court's decision to block their coalition from registering for upcoming

elections the ruling comes just days after the constituent assembly set up by president nicolas maduro announced that the poll would be held in april months ahead of schedule critics say that the duros depriving people of a free and fair election is. starting tomorrow and on sunday we're going to come out with more force with more will to defend plurality and political policies of venezuela that's why i would personally first just this political party to get the services we are going to sway the ins to defend this industry and to defend is as an instrument that can rescue democracy and freedom. tight security in honduras as protests continue ahead of the inauguration of reelected president on orlando hernandez the opposition has called for a general strike it says that the vote count after november surprise eventually lection was not conducted properly since then more than thirty five people have been killed in scuffles with police so mark you say merely there are fifteen

thousand five hundred national police officers that be working so that this inauguration is a peaceful one and that they'll be you know unfortunate incidents al-jazeera as john holmes reports now from to go to gulp. in honduras the top twenty percent own more than half the country's wealth many of the rest live like neftali and you hania just about surviving in a shack. inequality is an age old problem poverty's on the rise the majority of hondurans don't have a steady job despite a college education neftali can only find work selling ices he makes three cents on each one without with a comment much everything sometimes we eat sometimes we don't that's literally how it is the situation with employment is really difficult there are no opportunities . these are the issues that president juan hernandez couldn't resolve in his first term and will now face again at the start of his second but mr manders also has his

own problems there were serious irregularities and suspicions of fraud in the elections which he recently won many hondurans don't support him. two months of protests have left more than thirty people dead. we have come out as united people before the world to tell them that the government stole the election discontents increased again in the run up to now and it's his swearing in how is the president and this administration going to deal with a country in which many people don't recognize him as the legitimate president. of the president has called for a national dialogue he sent letters to x. candidates of other parties the church civil society and businesses to sit down so we can build our country and put new ideas on the table. and there are things to build on the president and on this is invested in infrastructure projects repaired ties with international lending will denies ations and reduced crime in what was

the world's deadliest country outside but war zones but the issues that helped stoke the protests remain there fast there had to these protests are about the needs of the population a population which is dying. of hunger a population which doesn't have a quality education a population in which if you are not enrolled in a political party you don't get help the. president and is now has four more years to tackle those problems and unite to divide the country behind him john home and. to goose ago. ivory stores across china have close after a ban on the trade came into force it means that there's a lot less work now for ivory carvers some of them though trying to find new ways to use their expertise as rob mcbride reports from beijing leach encourages one of china's master carvers using skills learned over a lifetime working with a material that he says has no equal ivory. is the

best material to work with not too hard and the not too soft in spite of the ban he is determined to pass on his skills to his apprentices his workshop like others in china is now using mammoth tusk from russia dug out of the ground from animals that died thousands of years ago early human ancestors first learned their carving skills with it and. now that you know. even thirteen thousand years ago humans were using the car so one of their earliest materials were worth with. as the biggest market for ivory in the world china's ban on the trade is seen as vital for the african elephant after years of ivory poaching and smuggling. lease says he never worked with poached ivory and fears his skills may now be lost

if carving goes out of fashion apprentice li yang is determined to learn the craft regardless. i don't make much money my family's and i really appreciated what i explain to my friends. in chinese culture he's been learning for eight years i do still considered a novice a basic apprenticeship is ten years it takes at least twenty years to become a professional carver and with more than fifty years experience leaching current reckons he's still learning though heidi you should try some ivory carving techniques traffic already been lost them and it would be very easy to lose their skills altogether and that he says would be not only china's loss but the world's problems bride al-jazeera beijing.

could tell us a very unforgiving here in doha the headlines on al-jazeera there's been a suicide car bombing in afghanistan's capital kabul it happened near to the diplomatic zone in the city at least four people are reported to have been killed seventy have been injured it comes just a week after an attack on the intercontinental hotel in kabul. a ceasefire brokered by russia has gone into effect in the rebel held area of eastern syria's capital damascus nearly four hundred thousand people live in that region that's been besieged by government fighters for almost five years. the saudi prince albert he'd been to law says that he'll be cleared of corruption charges within days he gave an interview to the reuters news agency inside the ritz carlton hotel in riyadh where he's been held since november along with many others these are some

of the first images from inside the building the saudi attorney general says that many have already been released after paying settlements princella lead didn't allow is confident that he'll be free soon. there's something they're not charges ok just some discussion between the government you know i mean but there's the issue of that this is is it going operation that we have and we just in discussion with the government on various matters and i can never decide now because we are in i mean there's a discussion with them but there's there should be a b. and b. and then of the whole story and we operate in because you know i mean my country i mean my kids i could have gone to the bottom of. i'm going to take you live now to vienna where a syrian opposition leaders are giving a press conference after a u.n. sponsored talks were extended into another day let's listen and. we had a short date. vienna which once again proved.

this. desire to continue to which is a bloody war on its people without any intention to engage in any sort of dialogue . it is just only normal that she is relying on you to be sufficient. you know little willingness to engage in serious political negotiations. international business for the regime has ended yesterday and the regime was in that she is looking she is continuing its run since you. and the light of our commitment to the diplomatic process and firm conviction that the diplomatic political solution solution is

a must which realizes that space enough.